One Piece: Sensei System

Back at the beach, Lucius set about preparing the rabbits with practiced efficiency. Years of farm life had made this kind of task second nature. He carefully cleaned and dressed the meat while setting up a proper fire pit, positioning rocks to create an ideal cooking surface.

"That's quite impressive," Nami observed, watching him work. "Most people I know would just throw the meat directly on the fire."

"Proper preparation makes all the difference," Lucius replied, arranging kindling beneath larger pieces of driftwood. "The key is controlling the heat. Too hot and the outside burns while the inside stays raw, too cool and you lose all the juices."

"Sanji would like you," Vivi commented. "He's our cook - the one we're looking for. He's very particular about proper food preparation."

"MEAT! Is it ready yet?" Luffy called out, bouncing around the fire pit.

"We haven't even started the fire," Nami sighed. "Luffy, why don't you and Usopp make yourselves useful? We need more coconuts for the marinade."

"Leave it to me!" Usopp puffed out his chest. "I once led an army of ten thousand men to gather"

"Just get the coconuts," Nami interrupted, giving him a light smack on the head.

As they headed toward the palm trees, Lucius turned to Vivi. "Could you help me gather some broad leaves? The big ones over there should work well for collecting seawater."

"For salt?" Vivi asked, already moving to help.

"Exactly. Back ho- I mean, where I'm from, we used to cure meat with salt all the time. It helps preserve it and brings out the flavor."

While they worked, Lucius showed them how to position the leaves to collect seawater, letting the sun's heat evaporate it into salt crystals. He also prepared a marinade using coconut water, explaining each step.

"The meat needs time to absorb the flavors," he said. "My old farm hands used to say-"

A tremendous crash interrupted him as several palm trees suddenly bent nearly horizontal.

"Got them!" Luffy emerged, his rubber arms wrapped multiple times around the tree trunks. Coconuts rained down around him like tropical hailstones.

"You idiot!" Nami shouted. "You could have just climbed up and picked them!"

"This was faster!" Luffy grinned, already cracking one open with his teeth.

"At least help gather them up," Lucius suggested, hiding his amazement at the rubber boy's abilities. "And try not to break too many - we need the water inside for the marinade."

"Oh! Like a mystery sauce?" Luffy's eyes sparkled.

"Something like that," Lucius chuckled. "Though I have to admit, I'm not used to cooking for quite so many people."

"Speaking of which," Vivi said carefully, "about Luffy's appetite..."

"I'm sure we have plenty," Lucius said confidently, surveying their hunt. "These rabbits are good size, and with the marinade-"

"MEAT!" Luffy interrupted again, trying to snatch a raw piece.

Nami smacked his hand away. "At least let him cook it first!"

While they prepared the meal, Karoo helped crack open coconuts, though he seemed more interested in drinking the water than collecting it. The duck had completely forgotten about his earlier mission to search for the missing crew members, distracted first by training and now by thirst.

"Karoo, didn't Sanji and Zoro ask you to find us?" Vivi suddenly remembered.

"QUACK!" Karoo froze mid-drink, looking guilty.

"Well, they'll find their way eventually," Nami said, though she sounded uncertain. "Though with Zoro's sense of direction..."

Meanwhile, sixty kilometers away on the other side of the massive island, two figures made their way through the dense forest. Or rather, they were trying to.

"For the last time, moss-head, we passed that rock formation three times already!" Sanji gestured angrily with his cigarette.

"Shut up, cook," Zoro growled. "The trees keep moving."

"The trees aren't- you know what? Fine. The trees are moving. The rocks are dancing. The whole island is probably spinning just to mess with your non-existent sense of direction."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"No, what could possibly make you think that?" Sanji rolled his visible eye. "What I think is that we should have found them hours ago if someone hadn't decided that 'north' meant 'walk in circles.'"

"I didn't walk in circles," Zoro protested. "The forest changed."

"Right, because forests regularly rearrange themselves just to inconvenience you personally." Sanji lit a fresh cigarette from the dying ember of his old one. "I'm just worried about Nami-swan and Vivi-chwan. If anything's happened to them because we can't find our way back..."

"They can take care of themselves," Zoro said gruffly, though there was a hint of concern in his voice. "We sent that duck to look for them anyway."

"Hours ago! And he never came back!"

Back at the beach, Karoo sneezed, spraying coconut water everywhere.

"Maybe he found them and got distracted," Zoro suggested, cutting through some undergrowth with one of his katana.

"That's the third time you've cut through that same vine," Sanji pointed out. "Because we're walking in circles. Again."

"If you're so smart, why don't you lead?"

"I've been trying to! But every time I turn around, you're wandering off in some random direction!"

"I'm following the sun."

"The sun that set two hours ago?"

Zoro's hand moved to his katana. "Want to say that again, dart-brow?"

"I'd love to kick some sense of direction into you, but we don't have time for this." Sanji paused, sniffing the air. "Wait... is that smoke?"

They both looked up, spotting a thin grey line against the darkening sky.

"Finally!" Zoro started walking. "This way-"

"That's the opposite direction!" Sanji grabbed his collar. "The smoke is THERE!"

"I knew that. I was just testing you."

"Sure you were. Come on, before you somehow manage to get lost vertically."

"Lost vertically? What kind of stupid-"

"With you, anything's possible. Remember when you got lost going up stairs?"

"That was one time!"

"It was three times! In the same staircase!"

As they made their way toward the smoke - with frequent course corrections - both silently hoped their crew was safe. Though neither would admit it, their bickering was partly to mask their concern.

"If they're hungry..." Sanji muttered.

"The witch will probably charge you triple for making them wait," Zoro smirked.

"Don't call Nami-swan a witch!"

"Fine. Quadruple then."

"Just keep walking, marimo. And try to remember that smoke rises UP, so if you start heading down, you're going the wrong way."

"I know which way is up!"

"Your track record suggests otherwise."

Their voices faded into the forest as they headed toward the smoke, their argument continuing but with less heat. They had a direction now, even if they couldn't quite agree on which way that direction actually was.

At the beach, unaware of their approaching crewmates, Lucius was about to learn exactly what Vivi meant about Luffy's appetite. The rabbits were almost ready, their meat seasoned and cooking over the carefully maintained fire, filling the air with an enticing aroma that made even Karoo forget about his coconut water fixation.

Looking at the amount of food they'd prepared, Lucius still couldn't shake the feeling that Vivi and Nami were exaggerating about their captain's appetite. After all, how much could one skinny teenager possibly eat?

He was about to find out.