Banban

On first impression Banban reads as a tipsy old-timer, yet that front conceals a cook of real ability. His clothing is plain: a green vest layered over an orange top, together with grey trousers.

Calm and unhurried whenever he turns up, Banban hides his cooking gift behind a drunkard's air. A lecherous bent runs through him too: he is so smitten with the women of Water 7 that Sanji guesses they are the true reason he refuses to leave town.

For all his years, Banban is a brilliant cook, and that skill turned him into something of a celebrity around Water 7. He draws heavily on the scarce salt the Aqua Laguna leaves behind to season his food, lending it a flavor so fine that even Sanji is struck by it. In his youth he was tight with Zeff, casually calling him a lad even after Zeff went on to captain a pirate crew. Rumors of the fabled All Blue first drew him to Water 7, where he came upon the special salt the Aqua Laguna had pulled from the sea; he opened a tiny restaurant aboard a little boat and stayed on for the salt and the city's lovely women.

One day a hungry Chimney and Gonbe steered Sanji to that floating eatery. With Banban dozing and diners fleeing the food, Sanji began cooking on his own, and the waking old man at once knew the knife work as that of Zeff's student. Amazed by a sample of Banban's dish yet unable to name its secret, Sanji scoured the city and pieced together that it relied on Aqua Laguna salt. Banban confirmed it and brought him to a rooftop, describing how the storm's floodwaters deposit especially tasty salt once sunshine follows, then sent Sanji off to collect it. In the end Sanji, Chimney, and Gonbe realized the chef truly remained in Water 7 for its beautiful women.