With a large head and thick neck, one would think he was either a rich man or a cook.
Redfoot Zepp's neck was indeed quite thick, but his head was fairly normal—though his figure had become so thin it looked out of place.
Looking at his skull-like profile, Shano observed for a moment before he finally managed to match the face with the memory he had.
"How pitiful... I don't even know how long he's been starving..." In the original timeline, it seemed Zepp and Sanji had been stranded for 85 days before being rescued. Shano figured he must have arrived earlier.
Shano thought for a moment, then bent down and grabbed a pile of food from the ship, heading in Zepp's direction.
He had taken over a million in cash from the hidden room and, when leaving the island, had gone all out, stocking up on food worth tens of thousands of Berries.
He thought he had bought too much, that the two of them wouldn't finish it in a month, but now it turned out to be useful.
"Junichi," he called, not forgetting about Sanji, "Take some food and go see if there are any others around. If you find anyone, rescue them too."
"Got it, boss!"
...
The wind and rain grew stronger.
It wasn't until Shano was almost right up to him that Zepp slowly began to notice the footsteps behind him.
"Hey, kid..."
Zepp kept staring into the distance, his eyes under his bangs shadowed, "Didn't we agree? One of us keeps watch on one side, and when a ship comes, we call each other..."
Thud!
A package of food was tossed out, rolling down the rocky slope to Zepp's feet. He glanced over at the sound, stunned, and his eyes locked on the package in disbelief.
"Bread?"
He instinctively reached for it, then paused, swallowing his saliva, straightened up, and sneered, "What, you think I didn't give you enough food, so now you're begging for more?"
"I told you, didn't I? I'm an adult, I eat several times more than you, so naturally, I need several times the food! I don't even have enough for myself, so don't expect me to share with you!"
Shano had a vein pop on his forehead.
Damn, this old man, showing off his pride for who? Don't I know that the bag next to him is stuffed full of treasures? You've got the time to drool and have some internal debate, but you couldn't spare a glance to see who the handsome guy is that's come to your rescue.
He couldn't help but feel a little mischievous and didn't speak right away. Instead, he continued tossing food toward Zepp.
Thud!
"Cookies?" Zepp stared in shock.
Thud!
"Canned luncheon meat?" Zepp's eyes bulged.
Thud, thud, thud!
Cured meat, chocolate bars, compressed rice balls... even citrus and bananas. The speed at which Shano threw food grew faster, and in no time, a small mountain of food piled up in front of Zepp.
"...This... this..."
Zepp was at a loss for words. Even someone as slow as him would've realized by now that it wasn't Sanji who could produce this much food.
Gurgle, gurgle~
The sound of Zepp's empty stomach rumbled.
Zepp suddenly tore open a bread bag and began stuffing it into his mouth like a madman. Within a few moments, an entire bag of bread was gone, and he immediately grabbed another.
Cough, cough, cough!
The dough, swollen with saliva, suddenly became stuck in his throat. Zepp hammered his chest, causing a dull sound to echo from his ribs.
"Here, drink this."
Shano passed him a water bottle, and Zepp immediately tilted his head back, gulping it down. The murky water, mixed with bread paste, dripped down his beard, and it was unclear whether it was tears mixed in.
Once the water was finished, Shano handed him another can of luncheon meat.
"It's food, real food... real food!!!"
Zepp raised the can high, inspecting it before looking again, "Such an amazing smell, such a delicious taste..."
Click
Zepp's nails dug into the can, prying it open with a single hand.
Ignoring the cut on his palm, he scooped out the dark red meat chunks and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing with his eyes closed in bliss.
"Slow down, don't choke."
Shano sighed lightly, sitting down on the large rock behind him.
Suddenly, he felt something uncomfortable against his bottom and fumbled around with his hand, pulling out a dirty, severed leg, already rotting and oozing pus, emitting a foul odor.
"..."
Shano gagged, nearly tossing the leg into the sea, but then he realized something and glanced at Zepp, who was still ravenously eating. He quietly activated the system's sacrifice feature.
Sacrifice: "Redfoot" Zepp's Severed Leg
Quality: Epic
Value: 2000 points
Appraisal Comment: The severed leg of the great pirate Redfoot Zepp. He once struck fear into the East Blue with his powerful legs and roamed the Grand Line for a year, surviving a shipwreck. After being stranded on a deserted island, he gave all his food to Sanji and even amputated his own leg for food. Sanji was saved, and Zepp knew he could no longer continue his pirate life, thus passing on the dream of finding All Blue to Sanji.
The part above his ankle was gone—probably eaten already by Zepp.
The remaining part had rotted, but it was a perfect candidate for utilizing as waste to earn some points.
Shano didn't immediately close the system panel and instead stared at the appraisal text for a while, lost in thought.
"This thing..."
He suddenly smiled, extending his empty right hand, letting the rain wash the dirt off his palm, "Speaking of which, this thing really did fool me into shedding quite a few tears back in the day."
A familiar scene from distant memories replayed before him.
It was a strange feeling.
As the rain cleared his hand, Shano turned his head to find the small mountain of food had been mostly eaten.
Zepp had stopped eating at some point. Holding a half-eaten rice ball in one hand, he supported his forehead with the other, his body trembling, facing away from Shano.
Why is he crying?
"Shameful, so shameful..."
Noticing Shano's gaze, Zepp turned his head. Despite grinning widely, tears were flowing freely down his face, "Benefactor, this is the best meal I've ever had. I thought I was going to die, really thought I was done for..."
Zepp suddenly flipped over and, in the pouring rain, knelt down, banging his head on the ground hard.
When he stood, his forehead was red and swollen, but he acted as though nothing had happened and slammed his head down again with even more force.
"It's not necessary, really."
Shano quickly reached out, wanting to help him up. It wasn't fair to let him do all the bowing—he hadn't even thanked Zepp for the free 2000 points yet!
"Benefactor, and my companion... I have another companion!"
But Zepp remained on his knees, tugging at Shano's pants leg, pleading, "There's a blond kid, he's also on this island, starving just like me for dozens of days... please, I beg you, save him too!"
How long has this old man been starving? And yet his grip is still so strong? Shano felt like his pants were about to be ripped off and quickly pulled them up.
"It's fine, I came with my companion too, don't worry. Just before I came over, I had him take some food and go find other survivors. We should find that kid you mentioned soon."
"That's good, that's good..."
Zepp finally seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He sat back down, gave Shano a grateful look, and then started devouring the food again.
Shano, however, turned to look in the direction of where the ship had run aground, feeling puzzled.
Wait...
Where's Sanji? What's Junichi doing? This tiny island should be easy to search, so how come it's taking so long to find a living person?
"Uh, boss?"
Just then, Junichi's guilty voice came from behind, "Can you come here for a sec?"
"What's going on?"
Shano quickly stood up and walked toward the figure in his line of sight, "Did you find anyone?"
"Uh, well, about that... it's hard to talk here. Can you follow me?"
Junichi laughed awkwardly, pulling Shano along toward the ship.
With a nervous gulp, Junichi squatted down and, with all his strength, managed to lift the ship a few centimeters, revealing a small figure underneath, dressed in a cook's uniform.
"Here he is, found him... though, well, he's a little flat..."