Chapter 57

Sanji's flashback: Sanji's ship is attacked by Zeff and his crew. Suddenly a storm comes up and Sanji goes overboard due to a massive wave. Against all expectation, Zeff jumps into the sea to save him. A few days after the storm, they find themselves stranded at sea on a barren, inhospitable rock.

If You Have a Dream

9 years ago, a cruise ship was attacked by pirates, fresh from their journey to the Grand Line. They are the fearsome Cook Pirates captained by the chef pirate Zeff. The two captains meet, and hardly a second passes after the cruise ship captain asks their demands when Zeff commands his men to take everything of value. After pillaging, they bring back their spoils to the deck, in order to transfer it to their ship. Zeff notices something amiss with one of the bags that his underling set down, and he commands him to stop. The pirate knows he has been caught stealing food from the bag, and he starts to make excuses, but Zeff delivers a megaton force kick and sends him across the deck. Zeff reiterates that you should never touch someone else's food. Meanwhile, Sanji does not accept this fate and has decided to bravely attack the pirates with his cooking knives. He is easily beaten but does not surrender. The young boy does not want to die, until he has realized his dream to find All Blue. Upon hearing this, Zeff has a pensive look on his face, as if he is considering Sanji, but all the other pirates burst into raucous laughter, stating that such a place does not exist, even on the Grand Line.

With the storm getting stronger, Zeff orders his men back to their ship. But a large wave catches Sanji and he is thrown overboard. Immediately, Zeff snaps a mast off with a kick and grabs it while he jumps in to save him, against his better judgment. Unfortunately, an even bigger wave smashes both ships to pieces, and all is in chaos as the storm goes on.

After a few days, Sanji wakes up on a large rock, deserted at sea. He sees that he only has Zeff for a companion, and starts when he realizes the possible threat. After being kicked though, it is evident that he is in no condition to move so fast. Sanji asks about his ship, and Zeff guesses that there were no survivors. The wreckage of his own ship around him indicates that no one is likely to have made it. They have no choice but to wait for rescue, which they both know is unlikely, due to their precarious situation. He informs Sanji that the storm was two days ago, and they were washed up on this barren rock, stranded with no resources whatsoever. They still maintain their rivalrous banter, but Zeff at least deigns to give him a portion of some food that washed up with them. Sanji complains at how much bigger Zeff's portion is, but he only says that he needs more since he is bigger. Sanji isn't at all happy about this, but Zeff has complete control of the situation, and without this food, they face the horrible possibility of having to resort to cannibalism. Zeff tells him to stay on one side of the island, while he goes to the other, so they have a greater chance of spotting a ship.

Now alone, Sanji watches the sun setting over the ocean. He is very hungry and turns to look at his food supply, but thinks on what Zeff said earlier: Normally, it would be enough food for five days, but as chefs, they should be able to make it last longer. He hangs his head, starving but determined to stick it out. On the other side, Zeff holds a boulder aloft, and through a piece of wood clenched in his teeth, he says determinedly that this is the end of "Red Leg" Zeff. He brings the rock down on his leg, severing it just below the right knee. 

Mission 43

The chapter begins with rumors of the Pastry of Knowledge, considered one of the Seven Wonders of Eden Academy. It is said that a mysterious pâtissier randomly appears in the cafeteria and offers extraordinarily delicious desserts. As many of those who managed to eat this pastry have become Imperial Scholars, it has become rumored that the pastry makes one instantly smarter.

In the cafeteria, Anya and Becky play pretend with their matching sheep dolls. Becky tries to play a romantic story with a prince and a battle story with twins separated at birth, but Anya does not understand and refuses to play along. Becky tells Anya news about how they are going to divide them into new classes by ability at the end of the term. After hearing Becky's explanation, Anya is horrified that she might be all alone, so Becky encourages her to work harder. Becky adds that the grouping is rumored to be based on not just midterms and finals, but tomorrow's quizzes too, and is particularly disgusted at one of them being on Classical Language.

Anya and Becky overhear an older male student whispering to another student about the Pastries of Knowledge selling in Dining Hall 2, made by a formal royal chef visiting today. The student adds that eating one guarantees one for Imperial Scholar, to the shock of Anya and Becky, and that they are macarons this year. They quickly run off to get them before the limited supply runs out. Anya and Becky look at each other before they run off as well.

Anya thinks she could be a genius if she eats one, while Becky is excited to try macarons from a former royal chef. They soon see a queue of students for the pastries, but Damian, Emile, and Ewen run up next to them with the same goal. The server announces that there is only one order left of the special Pierre Pommier Macaron set. The two groups try to be first to get the last set but are stunned when George Glooman has already ordered the macarons. The server announces that the special item is sold out as George cheers for his luck.

Damian and Becky rush up to George and demand he gives the macarons to them. When George says they are his as he bought them with his allowance, the kids remind him what he owes them from last time. George concedes to give up four macarons out of the set of five macarons. They realize they have five people and decide to have a round of Old Maid to determine who gets the macarons.

Anya is unaware of the rules as she has never played cards before, so Becky quickly explains the rules. Damian and Emile scheme to stick Anya with the Joker, but Anya easily figures out which of their cards is the Joker with her mind-reading abilities and gets rid of all her cards. Damian and his friends are in disbelief and accuse her of cheating. Damian thinks the only other explanation is that she can read minds if she is not cheating, shocking Anya. Anya panics and suggests they play another round. She decides she needs to make mistakes on purpose. On Anya's turn, she purposefully takes the Joker from Ewen's deck. Damian and his friends laugh at Anya, tempting her to hit them, but Becky calms her down.

Damian's turn to take a card from Anya has arrived, and her facial expressions are very easy to read. Damian easily picks out another card from her deck. Everyone else gets rid of the cards, leaving only Anya and Damian. George comments that Damian is also terrible at the game, while Becky cheers on Anya. Anya panics at the thought of not getting a macaron, thus failing her tests and being in a different class from Becky. As Damian is about to take a card, Anya begins to cry.

George gives everyone their share of the macaron, except Damian, after purposefully taking the Joker at the sight of her crying face. Anya offers to share half of her macaron with Damian. Damian blushes and rudely rejects her in embarrassment, walking away. The four students eat their macarons. Anya becomes fired up after eating the pastry and studies excitedly until the quizzes the next day.

When their results come back, Henry Henderson shows that Anya's quiz results are just as bad as before. The other students stare at Anya in disbelief. Becky tries to cheer up the depressed Anya so that she will make it up on her finals.

At home, Loid and Yor look at Anya's quiz papers while Anya goes to her room to sulk. Loid notes that she would have done well on her Classical Language test if she had not lost so many points for spelling mistakes. He wonders how she did so well if they barely studied Classical Language and if she is acquainted with it due to her upbringing, but brushes it off as there would be no point in wondering. Loid tells Anya that he made her favorite hamburg steak for dinner, and Anya is quickly happy again. Yor adds that she tried to make dessert, and Bond barks in horror.

Xbalanque

Xbalanque was born with vengeance in his heart.

As one of the Hero Twins, Xbalanque, and his brother Hunahpu, knew their lives would eventually force them to face the Lords of Death, chiefs of the Underworld who murdered their father, but first they would need to master the arts of hunting with blowguns and the violent ball game Pitz.

As a test of their strength, they decided to defeat the vain and evil bird-lord, Seven Macaw, who declared himself the Sun and the Moon and replaced his teeth with glistening jewels.

The Hero Twins fired their blowguns at the perching bird-lord, knocking out several of Seven Macaw's glittering teeth. Ferociously he came at them, but only snatched Hunahpu and tore off the boy's arm. Cleverly, the twins enlisted the aid of an elderly couple and advised them to pose as dentists. Seven Macaw sought to ease the pain in his mouth, so, as they were instructed, the dentists pulled the rest of Seven Macaw's teeth and replaced them with white corn. So humiliated was the great bird that he died of despair.

It would be many years and several trials later that, at last, the Hero Twins were able to challenge the Lords of Death and avenge their father, but their final victory allowed them to ascend to the heavens, where Xbalanque was immortalized as the moon, lighting the night for clever hunters everywhere.

Rebellious Wizard

Li-Ming was born in Xiansai and brought to the Yshari Sanctum by the sorceress Isendra at the age of seven. Archmage Valthek decided to train her personally after he caught her studying forbidden spells. Li-Ming refused to ignore the needs of people around Caldeum, and saved the city of Lut Bahadur from drought by bringing water back. However, the attention of the Mage Clans was focused on Isendra.

Li-Ming discovered Isendra's mangled body shortly after the sorceress was assassinated in the eastern desert. She concluded that Isendra died unnaturally, and confronted Valthek. Even though he tried to stop Li-Ming, she left the Sanctum after besting him in combat. Li-Ming ventured to New Tristram, pursuing a sighting of a fallen star.

Employee of the Month

SpongeBob reminds Squidward that the Krusty Krab's Employee of the Month Award is about to be granted. Squidward tells SpongeBob that the award is nothing but a scam, and that Mr. Krabs only gives it out to make them work harder for less money. SpongeBob does not believe him and insists that Squidward take more pride in his work, but when Mr. Krabs warns him that Squidward might win the award, SpongeBob begins to worry.

SpongeBob tries to work harder by cooking Krabby Patties twice as fast. Squidward notices this and reiterates his belief that the award is a joke. Later, SpongeBob starts to wonder if Squidward is right. He then imagines a picture of himself saying that Squidward is only trying to make him lose confidence just so he could win the award for himself. The picture "convinces" SpongeBob to fight back, and SpongeBob formulates a plan to outpace Squidward.

That night, SpongeBob sneaks into Squidward's house and tries to destroy his alarm clock so that Squidward will not wake up. Squidward catches him in the act, leading to an argument concerning the award. Squidward says that he could get the award if he wanted to, and SpongeBob tells him to prove it. After SpongeBob leaves, they glare at each other from their windows until Squidward plays a lullaby on his clarinet that puts SpongeBob to sleep. Squidward then tries to sneak over to the Krusty Krab, but falls into a deep hole that SpongeBob has dug in front of Squidward's door. Upon climbing out, Squidward tries to barricade SpongeBob's door, only for SpongeBob to saw it down from the inside. They both make a desperate run for the Krusty Krab, setting several traps for each other along the way.

By morning, SpongeBob and Squidward grow tired and call a truce with each other, only to break it as soon as they finish shaking hands. They both reach the Krusty Krab just as it opens and begin overworking in an attempt to impress Mr. Krabs, smashing many of the restaurant's supplies and frightening Mr. Krabs out of his wits in the process. SpongeBob and Squidward then begin trying to make as many Krabby Patties as possible; the number of patties grows so high that it causes the Krusty Krab to explode into pieces. The patties rain down from the sky, leading several Bikini Bottomites to believe that they are free. While Mr. Krabs, face stuck in the empty frame, tries to make the customers pay for the patties, SpongeBob and Squidward eagerly ask him who the winner of the award is as Mr. Krabs shouts at them to stop, ending the episode.

Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles

Vol. 16: "The Duel of Captain's Succession"

バギー一味冒険記vol.16「次期船長決定戦」

Oda Eiichiro

Japan has just lost the greatest entertainer of this era. Let's reflect on it once more. The spirit of Akira Kurosawa.

日本は、今世紀最大のエンターテイナーを失ってしまった。もう一度復習しよう。黒澤明の心意気。

Chapter 58