Cook


 * Not to be confused with the Kuku Kuku no Mi.

A cook, or chef (料理人), is a person who prepares food for passengers or crewmates on ships or for customers in restaurants. All pirates become hungry eventually, and so many of them require a cook to prepare meals for them.

Marine bases and Marine ships need them to feed the soldiers and keep them healthy. Commercial ships or cruise ships require them to feed the passengers.

Role and Duties
For any character, particularly those traveling out to sea such as a pirate or a marine, the ability to feed themselves is a necessary aspect for survival. While it can be easy to get food, there are many problems presented: how to eat it, the edibility of certain artifacts (including the meat and plants on the mainland and the sea food in the ocean), means of preparation and, for the longer voyages, means of storage and rationing to allow the entire crew to survive between destinations. The purpose of a cook in the crew is to maintain edibles and crew survival between points. A good cook knows about the basics of all food taken on board the ship and the means to prepare it into something that can allow the crew to have something to eat. This cook also has a knowledge of the edibles and what to and not to eat on a voyage.

Cooks also have a key knowledge of the nutritional value of what to eat, allowing for the maintenance of good health of the crew and preventing common sea problems such as scurvy, making them responsible for maintaining the health of the crew, seconding only to the doctor. In fact, to a skilled cook, even the most rudimentary of ingredients can become the most wondrous and nutritious of meals. Finally, a cook is also the key behind the maintenance and stockpiling of food from the voyage and maintaining rations. While they are able to get their supplies from multiple sources, they are in charge of keeping watch on how much of what they have and making sure the crew gets enough both to allow for health and to make sure enough food is held through the journey.

Head Chef
A Head Chef (料理長) is the leader of a group of chefs in a single establishment. They are in charge of the other cooks within the organization, having the highest authority within its kitchen. Known head chefs are Zeff of Baratie, Cosette of the Germa Kingdom, the WCI 31 of Whole Cake Island and non-canonically Jessica of G-8. Head chefs normally have exceptional culinary skills which are far superior to the cooking skills of normal chefs, as shown when Zeff who is the founder and also the head chef of the famous sea restaurant Baratie, could personally cook one hundred meals for the Kreig Pirates and was able to train his student Sanji into an outstanding culinary master in his own right.

Large scale institutions with multiple kitchens can also have multiple head chefs, as seen with the WCI 31, thirty-one head chefs of Whole Cake Island.

Executive Chef
An Executive Chef (総料理長) is a rank that may be assigned to a chef who oversees everything in cases where an organization has multiple head chefs. The only known executive chef in the series is Streusen of the Big Mom Pirates. Streusen was able to give precise commands to all his subordinate chefs of the Big Mom Pirates to prepare a gigantic wedding cake of brilliant culinary craftsmanship without personally making it.

Sous Chef
A Sous Chef (副料理長) is essentially the second-in-command of a group of chefs of a single establishment, under the Head Chef. Vinsmoke Sanji was the sous chef of Baratie, under Zeff. Although Sanji tend to bicker with Zeff and the many other chefs there, which makes it hard for many to believe that he was ever connected to the restaurant, he greatly respects his colleagues there, a sentiment shared both ways. Trained by Zeff himself, Sanji proved himself to be a great chef, as he once intended to succeed Zeff as Head Chef of Baratie, although he wanted so more out of a duty of repaying Zeff for saving his life. Eventually, Sanji resigned from Baratie to join the Straw Hat Pirates, to pursue his and Zeff's dream of finding All Blue; he left on good terms with the restaurant, as the chefs there maintain a watch on Sanji's progress via newspapers, and Sanji became worried when Baratie was under the threat of Germa 66 and the Big Mom Pirates.

Other specialties and Positions
There are other types of chefs, including those which choose to specialize in certain fields, examples being artisans and pâtissiers.

An artisan is one who is able to not only make delicious treats, but also arrange it in a certain way to make it pleasing to the eye, like a piece of art. Though aided by their Devil Fruit powers, Charlotte Perospero and Cracker both claim to be artisans in their field of candy and biscuits respectively.

As for pâtissier's, or pastry chefs, they specialize in making baked sweets, such as cakes. Charlotte Pudding claims to be a master in chocolate, while Charlotte Chiffon is specialized with cakes, specifically chiffon cakes.

Story
After the Syrup Village Arc, the Straw Hat Pirates met Johnny and Yosaku. Yosaku was sick from scurvy, so Nami instructed Usopp and Luffy to make soup to cure Yosaku. Because the crew had no cooking experience, and would have no hope of surviving on the Grand Line without one, Luffy decided to find a chef for his ship (despite initially wanting a musician).

As Monkey D. Luffy has proven, the lack of a proper cook during seafaring trips can have a disastrous effect: while their cook Vinsmoke Sanji was absent, Luffy tried to cook for the retrieval team, only for his lack of culinary skills to create something completely inedible, and his poor rationing skills wasted an entire week's of supplies, thus causing them to starve during their trip.

There are certain cooks who specialize in only one type of food, making it the focal point of their respective establishments: Hatchan runs a takoyaki stand, Wanze specializes in ramen (in a rather disgusting method of preparation), and Charlotte Pudding is a chocolatier for her cafe.

Baratie
Upon arriving at the Baratie, the ocean-going restaurant, Luffy met a man named Sanji, who was the assistant head-chef of the restaurant. There he also met the restaurant's owner, Zeff, along with two partners named Carne and Patty. Luffy was impressed with Sanji's compassion towards Gin and tries to get him to be his crew's chef, but Sanji refuses multiple times. After the battle with Don Krieg resolves, the cooks at the Baratie all pretend Sanji's cooking is bad so that he will leave and go with Luffy. Sanji eventually does, on good terms with his colleagues, citing his dream of finding the All Blue.

Water 7
After infiltrating the Sea Train travelling from Water 7 to Enies Lobby, Sanji encounters the CP7 agent Wanze in the train's kitchen compartment. Wanze, also a chef, incorporates food into his style of fighting, Ramen Kenpo. Sanji's victory over Wanze is the first and only time the cook has made an exception in his policy of fighting with his legs alone, using knives to carve through Wanze's ramen suits.

Sabaody Archipelago
Just before arriving at Sabaody Archipelago, the Straw Hats encounter Hachi for the first time since Arlong Park. After the mermaid Keimi requested help in rescuing Hachi, the crew initiatially refused because of his role in terrorizing Nami's home village, Cocoyashi Village. The crew ultimately decide to help after being directed by Nami, although it is implied that Luffy was greatly influenced by the famous reputation of Hachi's takoyaki.

Momoiro Island
After the crew's separation by Bartholomew Kuma, Sanji is sent to Momoiro Island, the location of the Kamabakka Queendom. After the return of Emporio Ivankov to the Queendom, Sanji learns about the country's Attack Cuisine, which actively nourishes and strengthens the human body. In order to obtain the recipes, Sanji accepts Ivankov's challenge to win them off the Queendom's cooks, the 99 Masters of Newkama Kenpo.

Totto Land
After learning of Sanji's arranged marriage to Big Mom's 35th daughter, Charlotte Pudding, the crew arrive at the island of chocolate, Cacao Island, in their quest to retrieve Sanji. After landing, Luffy and Chopper immediately devour an entire cafe, which almost leads them to be arrested. They are eventually saved by the intervention of Pudding herself, who turns out to be the cafe's owner. Pudding invites the crew for tea inside another of her cafes, where she discovers their identities. After a brief discussion (including Pudding's revelation that she had already met Sanji, and that he had taught her a few things about making sweets), the crew parts with Pudding on good terms, and she promises to help them reunite with Sanji.

Later, in the Germa Kingdom, the Vinsmoke Family are dining in the throne room of their castle when a confrontation breaks out between Sanji and his elder brother, Vinsmoke Niji. Niji calls out head chef Cosette, who apologizes for serving Niji food which was not to his liking, but Sanji defends her from his brother's further attacks. Sanji then compliments Cosette's cooking, which shocks her and leaves her in tears.

After the Straw Hats initiate their escape from Totto Land, Big Mom ends up falling into her crazed eating disorder, demanding a wedding cake. She is directed at the Straw Hats, which prompts Pudding, Charlotte Chiffon, and Sanji to go ahead of the fleeing crew to make it in order to stop Linlin.

Arriving to Cacao Island, Pudding, Chiffon, and Sanji join forces with Buche and the rest of the WCI31, a group consisting of Whole Cake Island's head chefs, to make a replacement wedding cake.

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