 Have you guys ever once experienced what it's like to starve to death? How horrible it is to suffer by losing both food and water in the vast ocean. People get hungry every hour of the day, and even the bad guys need to eat. If you're hungry, then I'll feed you. We can talk after that. Hello and welcome to One Piece 101, the series that breaks down everyone and everything in the One Piece world. And today we're going to be delving deep into the nostalgia-ridden days of East Blue in order to examine another of our all-important mental figures, Red Lake Zef. Zef is a rather weathered ex-pirate and current entrepreneur who sports an outwardly fierce and volatile temper. However, underneath all of this, and yes, there is a lot of that, resides a compassionate man striving towards a dream and who actively supports the dreams of others. Another very important thing to note right at the outset is that Zef is a true chef, meaning not just someone who prepares exquisite dining delights, but who has profound respect for food and its impact on life, which we will see several examples of going forward. For now, as a young guhr man, Zef captained his own pirate crew known as the Cook Pirates. However, this was far from a band of simple seafaring chefs, and they became an infamous presence as they sailed throughout the Grand Line on the hunt to achieve Zef's dream, which may sound familiar to us, but Zef's unwavering goal at this point in his life was to find the legendary All Blue, a section of water somewhere on the globe where the North, East, South and West blue seas intersected and thus contained fish from all over the world, and so was the chef's paradise. But as you'd expect in order to sail through the Grand Line, Zef was a powerful individual in his own right and possessed incredible strength, most of which was concentrated and expelled with his right leg. With this power, Zef has been said to be able to crush boulders with ease and even leave footprints in tough steel. Also rather morbidly, it has been said that Zef earned his epithet being red leg from his shoes, which often became stained with the blood of his enemies, gruesome stuff there, but certainly not the most gruesome aspect of Zef's life, which we will get into. For now, I should also say that Zef was the pioneer of his own unique fighting style, electing only to use his legs in combat due to the fact that the chef's hands were far too valuable to risk being damaged in battle. In regards to his role as captain, Zef certainly used his power to command respect, as well as to teach his crew about the value of food, as on at least one occasion he kicked a crew member for stealing food from a ship they were plundering, because you know despite stealing everything else of value, Zef refused to take the food necessary for the survival of his victims. However, despite his power, his ideals and his drive, Zef proved unable to attain his dream of finding all blue during his time in the Grand Lion and the Cook Pirates left the sea, proceeding to plunder the much more stable waters of East Blue instead. However, on one of their raids, Zef's life would be irrevocably changed, as during their attack on a cruise ship known as the Orbit, he encountered a boy named Sanji who attempted to defend the ship and blatantly stated that it was his dream to one day find all blue. At this point it should be said that both ships were becoming caught in an increasingly chaotic storm which would lead to their mutual destruction. In what little time he had to consider his own survival, Zef made the decision to save Sanji from the shipwreck and after the storm had passed, the two of them had ended up washed up on a rocky outcrop, which while some might say that this was good fortune, actually had the potential to be one of the cruelest endings to a life possible. This was because due to the nature of the outcrop, neither Zef nor Sanji were able to fish for food nor did they have access to any fresh water, with the exception of when it rained. However, there was one stroke of good fortune, which is that they had with them two bags, the larger of which contained vast treasures and the smaller of the two containing delicious, delicious food. And at this point, Zef's compassion was paramount as he decided to give Sanji the entire bag of food in order for the boy to survive as long as possible. However, in doing so, Zef acted like a bit to the dick, claiming that the bag of treasure contained his food, which was done because Zef knew that Sanji would have never accepted all of the actual food if he'd known the truth. And in that case, he almost certainly would have died. But this did pose one teeny tiny problem, which was exactly how Zef intended on surviving this ordeal. And well, here's where things get just a little bit dark because the only solution Zef saw in this situation was to sever his right leg with a rock and eat it to survive. And here's where the anime-only fans are going to scroll to the comment section without watching the rest of the video and claim that what the hell Grand Line review Zef did not eat his leg. He got it stuck in some wreckage while saving Sanji in the water. Get your facts straight, bruh. And I only make mention of this because every time this event comes up in a video, that is the inevitable pull of comments I receive. So let's address it here now. Here's the deal. In the manga, Zef did sever his leg with a rock and eat it to survive. It's gruesome as hell, but that's what happened. And the anime changed it, assumedly, because of how dark it was. Interestingly enough, something else the anime changed was how long the two were stuck on the outcrop, which in the manga was about 85 days, while in the anime it was something like 47 days. A change which was probably made because it would have been inconceivable for Zef to survive that long without food, you know, 85 days is a bit of time. And arguably, it still makes no sense that he lasted 47 days without food, but here we are. In any case, back to the actual story. Sanji eventually discovered this fact, and as they were both on the verge of starving to death, Zef promised that if they one day made it off the outcrop alive then he would start a restaurant dedicated to serving anybody who was hungry, be they pirates, marines, or the general public. And luckily enough, Zef and Sanji were rescued shortly after, and Zef made good on his promise, going on to open the floating restaurant Baratier. And this restaurant would go on to become a famed icon of East Blue for two reasons. First of which was that the food was phenomenal, and it was a fine dining experience for people across all levels of society. And secondly, because due to the fact that Baratier was still a seafaring vessel, and thus subject to the odd piece of piracy, it was manned by a staff of powerful fighting chefs, one of which would be Sanji, who Zef took in a mentor teaching him both how to fight and how to cook. And so Baratier would run quite smoothly for years on end, but all of that changed one day when a certain monkey-de-louffee accidentally damaged the restaurant, and Zef forced him to become a chore boy for an entire year in order to pay for the damages. That was just the beginning of Zef's headache, as shortly after an armada of starving pirates arrived, led by their Captain Don Creek, who demanded that Zef not only hand over enough food to feed his crew, but also that he relinquish the Baratier itself. And while this was obviously an absurd request, Zef did fulfil at least half of it, making good on the vow he developed on the verge of starvation, and he provided Creek with enough food for his crew. However immediately afterwards, he mobilised the chefs of Baratier and told them to prepare for battle. As luck would have it though, the current chore boy of Baratier just so happened to be the future pirate king, and he made a deal with Zef, offering to dispatch Creek in exchange for having his debt wiped, which Zef graciously accepted. And in regards to Luffy, Zef immediately saw his potential, and he told Sanji that he had no doubt that Luffy would prevail against Don Creek. This is because in Luffy, Zef saw a man without fear, and he believed that such individuals were the most powerful warriors of the sea, and Luffy proved this hypothesis by defeating Creek and forcing the armada to retreat. But also in Luffy, Zef saw a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he attempted to force Luffy to take Sanji with him on his journey into the ground line, so that his apprentice would have the opportunity to realise his dream of one day finding the all blue. And while Luffy declined this forcible invitation, Zef and the other Baratier chefs employed simple psychology to prompt Sanji to join Luffy of his own volition and pursue his dream. And so Sanji left the Baratier, but not before breaking down into tears and thanking Zef for everything. And while Zef attempted to remain his usual cold exterior self, the old man couldn't help but be moved to a couple of tears by Sanji's words, and he wished his apprentice good luck on his journey. A journey which Zef would come to follow quite closely, and in fact when Sanji was given his first bounty after the Anisobi Ark, Zef and the rest of the chefs delightfully shared the news of his infamy with their customers, immensely proud of their comrade. And while Sanji was on his journey, Zef would not remain stagnant, as the success of Baratier kept growing to the point where Zef eventually renovated and expanded the restaurant, adding several more floors to the flagship and developing two sister ships, the Tepanyaki Ship Nasukasira, which was modelled on the horrible drawing of one of Sanji's bounty posters, as well as the dessert submarine Sister Anko. Although it should be said that while Zef lived in peace, at one stage his life was threatened and used as leverage, for Sanji to temporarily lead the straw hats and marry Charlotte, putting Daughter of Big Mal, one of the four emperors of the sea. However, after the events of Whole Cake Island, Zef's life was no longer under threat, not that he knew it was to begin with, and he is once again seen feeding and demanding crew of pirates, proudly declaring that he will feed anybody who wishes to eat. Some more fun facts about Zef. For anybody wondering why Zef made the decision to eat his right leg, despite it being his primary weapon, it's because Zef uses his left leg to support all of his weight when he kicks, and so for the sake of stability, as well as for the fact that both of his arms were needed for cooking, Zef was left with no choice but to relinquish the leg that had made him famous. Despite this, Zef remained an incredibly powerful individual, as noted by Sanji during the Arlong Arc, when he received a hundred-tile true punch from Karobi, and went on to comment that if that was 100, then Zef's kicks must be the equivalent of a thousand. Prior to Luffy and Sanji departing the Baratier, Zef actually made reference to the first half of the Grand Line, and used the term Paradise for the first time in the series, which implies that Zef was at the very least aware of the New World. Rather mysteriously though, for a fairly legendary pirate, even in the first half of the Grand Line, Zef's bounty has never been revealed. Although the one-piece Fubiakar Dada book did confirm that he had one, and that's very intriguing to say the least because almost every other infamous East Blue Figure's bounty has been revealed. But for whatever reason, there is still an intentional mystery lingering over Zef, which may imply that he was worth quite a bit. Just as with Sanji, Zef strongly despises any form of violence against women, which is actually why Baratier does not have any female chefs, because Zef does run his kitchen in a particularly violent manner. And finally, a truly useless fact. During his pirate days, the name of Zef's previous flagship vessel that housed the Cook Pirates was called the Cooking George. But that pretty much does it for Zef. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line if you're Patreon, because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this, but apply to other anime manga series, then please do check out my second channel, New World Review, for all of your wider needs. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time, then please do head over to my Discord server, where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis. And finally, please do comment with who what or where you'd like to see featured in the next One Piece 101. Have you ever watched One Piece in the Funimation Dub? And if so, what do you think? I think it's not bad. I mean, if the Funimation Dub was what One Piece started with instead of four kids, then the impression of One Piece in the English-speaking Western world would be entirely different. Although I personally find it a bit difficult to watch the dub, because I've been watching One Piece subbed for well over a decade now, and the Japanese voices are just so ingrained in my mind at this point. Like to me, if Mayumi Tanaka isn't Luffy, then nobody is. With that said, it is a competent dub, and I'm glad that One Piece did see some sort of English redemption. Now do you determine if something is canon and not canon? Ah, very simple, for One Piece anyway. So something is canon if it was officially put to page by Urta himself. So that usually means being in the manga or the data books. Case in point, in this video, we discussed how Zef severed his leg, and the manga version where he ate it was the canon telling of the event, and the anime version, while it doesn't ultimately change the outcome, is the non-canon version. And so for the purposes of telling Zef's story in a video like this, we would always default to how it was presented in the manga. And for those of you who say that the anime is the final form of the product, you are wrong. The manga is the story, and the anime is an adaptation of the story. It's its own thing completely separate from canon. And not to get confused though, because sometimes Oda does have a hand in things like the films or even filler episodes, but that does not necessarily make them canon because they are separate media. So for example, Golden Lion Cheeky is canon because he's mentioned in the manga, and Chapter Zero also exists which is in continuity with the manga, but the events of Stronghold are not canon. What do you think would happen if Garp had Robin's Devil Fruit? Oh wow. Well, I think the world would get one hell of a fisting.