Chapter Text
"Nami, Nami!!! Look, there's an island up ahead!"
Luffy's voice cuts through the silence that has fallen among the crew of the Going Merry as he runs to the stern, waving a telescope around. Nami looks up at him, to the telescope and back to the map on the desk before looking back again and snatching the telescope from him.
"You're right. I see it... but there's something wrong," she mutters, seemingly to herself.
Intrigued, the newest addition to the team, Sanji, leans back from his perched position on the deck to walk towards the orange-haired girl.
"What seems to be the problem?", he asks, taking a much-needed drag from his lit cigarette.
"There's an uncharted island up ahead. It's not on the map."
Sanji attempts to lean close to check the map when Luffy claps a hand on his back, the other on Nami's, prompting both to bow down a bit, as if conspiring a grand plan before the map.
"We should definitely check it out, right?!", he yells excitedly.
"What? No!", Nami exclaims, backing away from them.
The navigator composes herself before placing both hands on her hips, looking like a mother ready to admonish her child.
"Luffy, we shouldn't make unnecessary trips when we don't know whatever's in that island, you know? And we have limited supplies thanks to someone," she explains to the captain, rolling her eyes.
Sanji watches with interest as Luffy grins apologetically. Just a day ago, what seemed to be a sufficient amount of food supplies dwindled to such measly amount, after the captain himself, Luffy, ate to his heart's content. He chuckles at the boyish antics of the man.
"I'm thinking dropping by for a day or two wouldn't hurt? Maybe we can get some few items here and there, noh?" the chef offers, shrugging his shoulders.
Just then, the unofficial first mate climbs up to the stern to join them. He grunts and leans against one of the wooden boards.
"What's going on?"
"Talk some sense to Luffy, we really don't need to stop by an unknown island for no reason."
"Yeah, no right. Luffy, let's just go straight to where we're planning on going." Zoro remarks.
"But where is the fun in that? This is our time to explore the world before us!"
Said captain walks down to the starboard, stretching his arms open towards the vast blue horizon.
"And who knows? Maybe something worthwhile will happen?"
"Alright, crew. The great captain Usopp's feeling some tension right around here? Someone cares enough to put me up to date orrr what?" another voice chimes in as the sniper enters the conversation.
Suddenly, Nami squints and picks up the telescope once more, aiming it towards the small island ahead. She leans forward.
"Wait."
She walks until she's next to Luffy.
"There's someone there, next to that stranded shipwreck." she whispers.
Sanji's eyes sparkle with curiosity and he makes a motion as if asking to borrow the telescope.
"May I?"
Nami hands the instrument to him and bites her thumbnail anxiously.
Through the lens, Sanji could vaguely make out the figure of someone laying on the sand, clad in black with a white coat, seemingly with one of their arms raised to the sky.
For a moment, he recalls his time with Zeff, stranded on that rock, awaiting help with nothing more to eat.
That person needs help, he's sure of it.
"I think we should definitely stop by." he whispers, putting the telescope down.
"Right, right?! I knew there's something. I can just feel it!" Luffy grins.
Defeated, Nami sighs again.
"Alright, captain's orders."
---
"I... I can't thank you enough. I thought I was going to die there."
"Before anything else, could you tell us what happened back there? How did you end up stranded?"
The orange-haired navigator surveys the woman currently sitting on a chair in the kitchen in their ship. Said woman clears her parched throat. Sanji perks up and offers the lady a cup of water and a steaming bowl of stew.
"Here, for the madam." he says.
The woman downs the glass in one go.
"I hope you won't mind if I indulge in a few bites before talking?"
"Take your time." utters Nami, finally settling down on one of the chairs nearby.
She spoons the food without hesitation and the corner of Sanji's mouth twitches upwards as she closes her eyes, savoring the good food before her.
"This is absolutely delicious, thank you, really, thank you!" she sobs as she digs in further in her meal.
He watches the glasses from the trembling woman fall off her face as she wipes the stray tears escaping her eyes. After a few bites, she lets out a breath.
"Alright, where do I begin?"
Soon, they find out that this lady, named [ ___ ], is a medical researcher, an apprentice to a well-known doctor from Shells Town. They were on a research expedition headed for Loguetown, where they were supposed to exchange findings with the doctors there, when a sea beast unexpectedly popped out of nowhere and wreaked havoc on their ill-prepared ship, ultimately sending it careening to the closest shore.
From her estimation, that was roughly forty-five days ago and originally, there were four of them who survived-- two guards, her and her badly-wounded mentor, from what she has seen. However, with most of their stashed food supply and medical equipment spoiled and damaged by seawater, there was nothing else she could do other than continuously monitor her mentor's condition and provide maintenance care. The two guards set off to hunt for possible food sources, but that was two weeks ago and they have yet to return and with her mentor's highly unstable condition and her quickly diminishing food supply left, she was incapacitated as well. Until last night, when the complications of old age and multiple injuries became too much for the doctor, and she finally succumbed to that everlasting sleep. [ ____ ], helpless as she is, quietly picked up a broken piece of wood and dug a final resting place for her mentor. And it was right after that, when her bones and muscles screamed at her to just stop, did she collapse on the sand, where the crew found her.
The designated cook of the ship fights the urge to hug the woman before him, out of respect of her space. He can totally relate to such experience, for he had once been there, but at the same time, he does not have an inkling of her current feelings as luckily, both him and Zeff survived that ordeal.
"Oh, [ ____ ]. I'm so sorry."
Nami, who was decidedly warier than him at first, did not hesitate to wrap a comforting arm around the other's shoulder. He knows that to some extent, she sympathizes with the experience of having to bury someone so dear to her heart by themselves.
"It's... it's okay. I'll manage... somehow."
She wipes the last tear tracks on her face with a sleeve and settles down, when the rest of their crew-- Luffy, Zoro and Usopp, enters the kitchen, dragging a few sacks of whatever behind them.
The swordsman takes one long look at the lady, and to the embroidered patch on her coat, before digging something from the sack he is carrying. He tossed two metallic objects at her, which she caught, thankfully.
"Must be from your friends or something." he offers.
"Oh no... these are patrol badges from the guards we were with."
The silence that followed seemed deafening, and Usopp cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Well... maybe our stop here isn't as bad as we thought. We got some supplies... I think?"
Luffy, miraculously sensing the tension in the air, walks towards [ ____ ]. He drops on the floor, and rubs a hand on her covered knees.
"We didn't see anyone else in the area. Won't you join us for now?"
---
"Care for some unbelievably awful soup, madam?"
It was late in the night and probably Nami, Luffy and Zoro were fast asleep, with Usopp manning the stern above. Sanji puts a plate of hot soup in front of [ ____ ], who was currently lounging on a stool, randomly drawing circles on the countertop with her finger.
She looks up, flashing a small smile before righting herself and grabbing a spoon.
"Not a madam but thank you, Sanji." she murmurs.
"Anytime."
He puts the fire out and sits down, watching [ ____ ] blow on her soup before taking a spoonful. The cook fishes out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket.
"You mind if I--?" he gestures toward the items on hand.
"No, not all." she answers quickly.
The flicker of light from his lighter emits a soft glow on both their faces, and they remained silent for a while before she puts her spoon down and leans back. Her eyes are trained ahead, not daring to look at Sanji.
"It's not awful."
He puffs out smoke and glances at her.
"What is?" he asks.
"The soup. You said it's an unbelievably awful soup."
He chuckles in that annoyingly charming manner.
"Of course it's not. I like to believe that I'm a pretty good cook."
"Then I'd have to agree with that assessment." There's a faint smile on her face before she added, "but why do you call it so?"
Sanji stands up and takes another drag from his cigarette, resting a hip against the counter and fully facing her. He looks back at her face, seemingly observing her.
She has been with the crew for a total of four days. They had resumed sailing towards Polestar island, where Loguetown is located. [ ____ ] said that regardless of what happened, she has to appear and inform the research facility in Loguetown of what transpired in the perilous seas and so Luffy enthusiastically informed her of their course and that she's welcome to stay, permanently, should the need arise.
During the first two days, she was nothing but quiet, keeping to herself-- wandering to the bow and back in the kitchen, where she'd just stare at Sanji preparing the day's meal. Soon enough though, she'd shown her prowess in her field, as she helped Usopp with arranging the gathered natural supplies from the island-- separating those which can be eaten and those with medicinal properties from those that are poisonous and can't be used at all. She also tended to Zoro's injury from his fight with Mihawk with the limited medical supplies they had on hand. When not doing anything, she would go back to the kitchen, helping Sanji prepare the food.
Really, she's something.
He smiles at her before looking away.
"There's this place, you might know of it. A floating restaurant?"
"Baratie?" she asks.
"The very one." he flicks his head to the left lightly, making his hair sway, "I was from there. I used to cook that soup and the old man-- the owner, would always say that it tastes horrible."
A small noise of disagreement issues from her mouth and he chuckles again.
"Turns out he was just trying to push me to leave the restaurant to pursue my dream."
"What's your dream?"
"Finding the All Blue," he snuffs the cigarette butt on the wet sink, "How about you?"
[ ____ ] removes her glasses and uses a piece of cloth to wipe the lenses clean.
"I wanted to be a doctor. My mother, she was sick with an incurable disease and my mentor was the one heading the research for a cure back in Shell's Town," she inhales sharply before continuing, "She died before we could even make a breakthrough. But my dream remains. I at least want to be a good medical researcher, to find cures to all that ails anyone."
Sanji touches her hand with a ringed finger.
"That's an admirable dream, I'd say."
"I know."
The smallest of smiles hints at her face and Sanji couldn't help but stare.
---
"It's not too dissimilar to when preparing herbal medicine." [ ____ ] comments while chopping up carrots.
The chef's melodic laughter echoed in the kitchen.
"I'm willing to bet that preparing meals are a tad bit more intricate, madam," he winks at her direction.
She scoffs and Sanji laughs once more. It has been a solid week and a half with her in the crew and to say that it's efficient having her on deck is an understatement. The woman is an all-rounder, definitely. Like a regular crewmate, she also partakes in their shift schedule on keeping watch and manning the helm. It also helped that the ship gained another feminine touch, and Nami is all too happy to take advantage of her presence in consistently nagging the boys to keep the ship clean and tidy. Sensing the opportunity to enchant yet another person with his extravagant stories, Usopp's been staying in the kitchen more than usual, intent on sharing every single bit of his amazing life story.
Before dinner, [ ____ ] would routinely check on Zoro to apply a salve on his wound and change his bandages, much to the swordsman's chagrin, and she would make it a point to always approach Luffy and ask how he's doing. Of course, being that their captain can be childish, he would rope her into doing or saying something absurd.
Most of the time though, she'd be in the kitchen, sharing stories with the man she could relate to in more ways than one, given their same experience and their status of being the newbloods in the crew.
"Say, Sanji. Care for a spar later?" she asks.
He stops stirring to appraise the woman.
"You know how to fight?" he clarifies.
"I know a thing or two," [ ____ ] shrugs.
He smiles and plates the food, before suddenly leaning close to her-- his intense gaze leveled at hers.
"Go easy on me, okay?" she whispers.
"Anything for the madam."
---
"You're quite talented, madam," he grunts as she dodges another kick.
[ ____ ] smirks, "Not a madam, please."
Unexpectedly, she delivers a lightning-fast jab at his stomach, which he side steps easily, before dropping down to do a sweep kick against her shin.
"Eurf!" she catches herself quickly and immediately gets back in position.
Sanji smirks back at her, flipping his bangs to the side.
"Again."
At some point, Luffy climbs on his favorite spot-- the sheep figurehead, hollering and cheering them on.
"Good fight! Good fight!" he yells.
Nami sits by the other end of the ship, watching with amusement in her eyes. It was clear that Sanji has the upper hand, the more experienced fighter, but [ ____ ]'s faring quite well on her own.
The sun is setting and the sky shimmers in shades of fire and gold in the back. As they push each other back and forth, the lady's fists and both their feet a blur as they move with grace and precision.
Finally, Sanji ends the spar with a clean spin side kick, hitting [ ____ ]'s side, making her crumple down the wooden floorboards. In a quick attempt to catch her falling body, he repositions his hand, fast enough to support her, resulting to her body trapped beneath the chef, his hand on the back of her head and his arms caging her in.
She heaves, "I said... go easy."
The blonde's eyes trail down her face, watching sweat collect on one of the dips by her collarbone-- her breathing heavy.
He wets his lips. Beautiful.
"Well done, madam." he compliments, "that was beautiful."
"Not... not a madam. Call me [ ____ ]."
"Of course," he whispers, his breath caressing her face.
Suddenly, the air becomes charged with tension as the two fighters stared each other down, their faces set in concentration. She could see the speckles of blue swimming in his gray eyes, this close to him. She gulps.
"That was decent. You trained?"
The spell breaks as Zoro's voice slices through the air. She avoids Sanji's gaze and favors the figure of the swordsman leaning against the deck. Her throat felt too dry to speak, but she says something to shift the mood.
"Before... before becoming a researcher... I was into kata discipline." she gasps.
"Interesting."
"I know, right?! You should really join our crew for real, it will be fun!" Luffy exclaims out loud.
Usopp whistles from the helm.
"Mr. Waiter's enjoying the moment, I see," he wiggles his eyebrows comically.
At the interjection, Sanji rights himself up slowly, dusting invisible lint from his pristine dress pants before offering a hand towards [ ____ ]. She accepts and almost gasps when a spark of electricity shoots up her arm and to her spine.
"S-sorry. I'll be right back," she stutters, running to the cabin all while feeling the burning steely gaze trained upon her back.
---
It was well into the night when [ ____ ] climbs back up to the stern, knowing that it was a particular blonde's night watch. She sees the bright ember on the tip of the cigarette hanging from his mouth.
For some reason, she feels the need to snatch it and...
Shaking her head as if to fling the thoughts out of her mind, she moves closer. The cold breeze blows his fringe away from his molten gray eyes and she finds his eyes staring back at her.
"Anything I can help you with, madam?"
She chuckles, "Not a madam, please, how many times do I have---"
"[ ____ ]."
She stops mid-sentence when he mentions her name with that delicious accent.
"Good enough?" he presses.
"Yes, thank you."
The lady quietly sits down next to him, hugging her arms to herself. He shifts and in the next moment, she feels the weight of his blazer on her shoulders and his hands, seemingly exuding such warmth through the fabric, pulls the lapels close.
"Don't want the madam getting cold out here."
She feels the rushing of blood to her cheeks as she takes a deep breath, detecting hints of cigar and his preferred cologne in the air. It hung over her like a warm, toasty blanket in a chilly night.
Silence descends and somehow, [ ____ ] finds it comforting to be in his presence with nothing but the sound of howling wind and flapping sails in the background.
Their other crewmates were fast asleep, she knows as she left Nami in their shared room and she did not see any of the three boys around.
She hums in contentment and accidentally bumps her head on his shoulder. Before she could move away, his arm loops behind her and his hand holds the side of her face in place, keeping her close.
"Stay like this, [ ____ ]."
Her heartbeat picks up and she can feel that telltale sign of admiration creeping up on her.
She finds it silly yet amusing. Somehow, in just under two weeks, she feels like she'd gotten to know Sanji so much. With their sessions in the kitchen, their playful banter and just recently, their spar. They all felt so natural, as if she had been with him far longer. Was it the shared experience of awaiting for help in a lonely island?
Her heart throbs at the memory of her mentor.
"A berry for your thoughts?" says the voice above, accompanied by a cloud of smoke.
She closes her eyes, "Just remembered my mentor for a bit."
"You did everything you can at that moment," he offers.
"I know."
Yet another dead air.
"You know, Luffy's right. If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can join us. I'd appreciate all the help I could get in the kitchen," she detects the hint of playfulness in his voice before he even continues, "Especially from such a beautiful woman like you."
"Oh, stop it," she giggles.
A particular harsh breeze blows and she snuggles closer to Sanji.
"You can always ask directly if you want a hug, madam. I'm not one to shy away from your good graces."
"Alright."
"Alright what?"
"A hug. Give it to me."
She feels him maneuver around before throwing the cigarette butt on the floor and squashing it with his shoe. He drops his hand to her arm and presses her closer to his body.
"Sufficient enough for madam?" his breath ghosts over her hair as he kisses the top of her head gently.
"Mhm."
"[ ____ ], look at me?"
Angling her head upwards, her eyes meet those blue-grays of his. It was a loaded stare, she can tell. His gaze drops down to her lips and she couldn't help but do the same to his. In her peripherals, she faintly sees the bobbing of his throat as he swallows.
With no one around them, and no one to break the atmosphere, she finds herself leaning closer and closer. The delicious heat of his hand on her arm keeps her grounded. Her glasses fog up from their proximity and he uses his other hand to remove them, carefully hanging them from his tie without breaking his stare.
The world blurs around her, but her focus stays unwavered. His warm hand creeps back up and cups her cheek, angling her face ever closer and when they are a hair's breadth away, he speaks.
"We'll be in Loguetown in a day or so, [ ____ ]. Please come back."
Her lips tremble in anticipation and she nods her affirmation.
Just like that, he kisses her. Softly and gently, as if she'd break if he presses further. Her eyes flutter close and she feels as if her nerve endings are on fire. Her spine tingles as he moves his hand from her arm, sliding to rest across the small of her back. In return, she arches into the kiss more, insisting-- demanding.
More. More.
His grip on her cheek moves to her nape, angling her head better and she shudders as her lips slot perfectly against his. Deeper, firmer.
"Sanji," she sighs.
Their kiss grows hotter and heavier with each passing moment. He devours her sighs and moans like a starved man. Her hand snakes its way to the back of his neck, playing with the fine blonde hairs.
He groans and it's as delicious as she imagines. Fueled by heat, his hands roam once more, lips still locked on hers. He pins her hips backwards on the deck bench with his strong grip and he pushes, really pushes---
Clak.
Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, they separate from each other. Their eyes fall on the object on the floor.
Her glasses.
She bites her swollen lips and looks back up at the chef. His face is rightfully flushed, most likely resembling hers if the heat on her cheeks is any indication. His thin lips are red and wet and she follows his tongue as he slides it across.
Eyes reflecting a debate within them, he concedes and sighs before placing a light kiss on her forehead and standing up. He offers his hand.
"Come. Let's get you to bed."