Chapter 68

Luffy badly wants the cook aboard, yet he will not press anyone who has not made the choice on their own, and so far Sanji has stayed silent. Everything changes when Yosaku stumbles into the Baratie, half chewed up by a panda shark, bringing word that he has located Nami and cannot do anything about it without Luffy's strength behind him.

As the crew prepares to leave, Sanji stuns everyone by declaring that he will sail with them as their chef. He confesses that learning the whole restaurant wanted him gone is what turned his decision. True to form, Zeff hides his feelings behind a grumble, muttering that he regrets ever letting the boy survive.

With his choice made, the cook signs on as the crew's fourth recruit, taking up the role of chef among the Straw Hats. On their way out, Patty and Carne spring one final ambush, only for Sanji to brush both aside effortlessly. The strained goodbye finally breaks when Zeff shouts heartfelt good wishes down from his balcony. Deeply moved, Sanji bows low to the man who raised him, and the ship sets off into a mix of laughter and tears.

The chapter brings the Baratie Arc to a close. Luffy declines Zeff's offer outright, holding firm that Sanji has to volunteer himself. It is also the first instance of Sanji and Zeff calling one another by their real names. The title carries on a recurring device, first used in Chapter 6, of naming certain chapters after the sequence in which crewmates join, a thread picked up again with The Second in Chapter 94. On the cover, Buggy's side story continues with the Kumate Tribe.