(Author's Note: Woo! One Piece fanfiction time! I never really planned on writing a One Piece fanfiction o.0 But then I saw this AMV for Indestructible by Disturbed and it was all about Zoro. Then I started reading the manga, then I remembered Chris Sabot does Zoro's voice in the Funimation dub, so I started watching the anime. Then I started reading this amazing fanfic by Fuyutaro Son called My Life in One Piece and then I started writing this!

I needed a break from FullMetal Alchemist too… writer's block is murdering me TT^TT

Anyway, this is going to be a romance eventually, but I'm no good at romance, so it might take awhile. It's definitely not going to be pages and pages of fluff though. It's going to be serious romance [I know so many people who will tell me so many things wrong with that sentence…..] But yeah, sorry if you love fluff :/ )

EDIT: Due to me confusing the hell out of myself, instead of Sanji and Nikette are now going to refer to each other as Nii-sama (Big brother) and Nee-chan (sister) instead of Brother, Sister, Sis etc. I was for no discernible reason writing a later chapter where Nikette was talking about both Sanji and Shanks and I was just getting confused, this makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to follow. Oh, and Nikette calls Shanks Aniki (more respectful way of saying big brother) I'm also going to keep all of Zoro's attacks in Japanese and probably Luffy's too ^_^)


The dull roar of chattering voices and clinking glasses filled the large dining room of the great sea restaurant Baratie. Guests filled nearly every table, and waiters rushed from table to table to keep everyone happy. The atmosphere was peaceful. Or at least, it was until a load crash sounded from above the dining room.

A tall, slender blonde haired young man calmly walked down the spiral staircase in the center of the room while more crashes sounded behind him. A loud, harsh voice shouted, "Sanji, you'll regret saying that!"

"Yeah, sure I will, Patty," the blond man, Sanji, answered in a bored tone. Finally coming out of the kitchen, the customers were greeted by Patty glaring daggers at the Sous Chef. With speed unnatural for a man so large, Patty launched one of his gigantic fists at the back of Sanji's head.

In one fluid, graceful motion Sanji ducked under the blow and spun around while raising his leg to kick Patty in the side of the face, sending the large man flying through the air. He landed heavily on one of the few unoccupied tables in the Baratie.

While most guests, and waiters, ran away shrieking in terror, one girl cheered, "Way to go, Sanji!-nii-sama!" Her crimson hair flashed the sunlight as she jumped in joy over seeing yet another fight between the two chefs.

"Nikette, don't encourage him!" Patty snapped, "He insulted my cooking!"

"That's because it tastes like bath water," Sanji replied, still in the same bored tone as before. By now he was down the stairs and walking towards Nikette. She now saw that he was holding an unopened bottle of wine and she remembered an elderly couple had asked her for the wine earlier.

Much to her surprise, the couple was still seated and didn't appear fazed by the fight that had just occurred. Smiling ear to ear, Nikette ran over to the table to pour the couple their wine.

"Why, that's the third time today those two went at it," the woman said, "Don't you ever get scared, Dearie?"

Nikette laughed, "No. But I guess after so many years you just get used to it."

"You must be very brave," the man said, "Those two are entertaining to watch, but I'd never be able to work with them."

"Oh I'm not that brave," Nikette told him, "They just don't bother me because they know I can kick both their asses," she finished with a smirk. By then she had finished pouring the wine, so with a flip of her long hair she turned around and walked back to Patty, who was now charging at Sanji again.

Sanji stepped to the right of Patty's punch and this time kicked him in the back of the head, causing him to run head first into one of the wide pillars that supported the upper floors of the restaurant. The pillar shattered, but that didn't keep Patty down, it just pissed him off.

The next time Patty charged, it wasn't Sanji that knocked him down though. Nikette snapped, her usual glare filling her eyes, "Would you two knock it off already!" before she jumped on Sanji's shoulders to get herself high enough to kick Patty's nose in, then on her way down her foot connected with Sanji's head. The other chefs had learned long ago not to anger Nikette. Her glare alone gave some cooks nightmares, and her ability to beat Sanji and Patty to the ground was well known.

"This is the third fight today!" she continued ranting, "Are you trying to scare away all out customers?"

"If that bastard would stop insulting my cooking, there wouldn't be any problems," Patty snapped, earning a punch in the stomach from Nikette.

"Either ignore him, or start being at least a half decent chef then!" she snapped in return before turning to Sanji, "And you! Keep your mouth shut before you scare away every last one of our customers! No both of yo—"

"M-Miss Nikette?" a soft voice from behind the girl spoke. She turned and her anger faded so fast Sanji thought he could see it rolling off in waves.

"Yes, what it is?" she asked the head waiter the Baratie kindly. He was a short man, with thinning gray hair and a very meek personality. But he was a kind old man, and Nikette considered him one of her closest friends.

"I'm sorry, but we, myself and the other waiters, can't stay here anymore. Three fights in one day is not uncommon, and we're becoming fearful for our lives. I'm sorry, but as if today we quit." He bowed politely to her and turned to walk up the stairs, presumably to speak to the owner of the Baratie, Head Chef Zeff.

Nikette watched him walked for a few seconds before turning back to Sanji and Patty and yelling, "Now look what you did! I'm the only waitress left now!"

Sanji laughed nervously and said, "Sorry, Nee-chan. I guess we did go a little far."

"Maybe now you'll stop insulting my cooking," Patty added arrogantly.

This remark had both Nikette and Sanji kicking the oversized chef through a few more tables as they both yelled, "Would you just shut up!"

Turning her back on the now unconscious Patty, Nikette looked around the Baratie and was not surprised to see the elderly couple really were the only ones left in the restaurant. Sighing, she walked over to them to clear away empty plates and ask if they needed anything else.

"Oh no," the man said, "We've been here most of the day. I think we've overstayed our welcome."

Nikette smiled and said, "Not at all. You're both free to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you, Dearie," the woman said, "But I'm afraid I couldn't eat another bite."

The man nodded and laughed, "I wish I could eat more! The food was outstanding! The entertainment was excellent as well. You weren't lying when you said you could kick their asses, were you?"

Nikette chuckled shyly, "Well, when a girl grows up surrounded by fighting chefs, she learns to defend herself quickly.

Both elders laughed and the woman said, "Well, you certainly learned to defend yourself, Dearie! Those two boys didn't stand a chance!"

"Oh, I'm not that good, Ma'am," Nikette tried to insist.

"Nonsense!" the man said, "I've seen plenty of fights in my day, and you certainly know what you're doing."

Nikette chatted with the couple for a few more minutes before they insisted they had to leave. They asked her several times if she would have trouble being the only waitress left, and she replied saying situations like this happened all the time. She was positive more waiters would show up in a matter of days, just like every other time Sanij and Patty scared away the workers.

Once the couple left, Nikette decided to talk to Head Chef Zeff and find out if the waiters really were leaving. She walked into his office and found him beating Sanji and Patty to bloody pulps. Decided it was in her best health to leave them alone, she instead headed to her room.

Unlike the other chefs and waiters in the Baratie who slept on the top floor of the restaurant ship, her bedroom was below the main deck. Most of the space down there was reserved for food storage, but a small space had been set aside for her. She had a small bed covered in more than a foot of thick blankets. At night she would tunnel under the blankets and build herself a warm cocoon.

The sun hadn't set yet, so instead of going to sleep, Nikette pulled out a small box she kept tucked against the space between the wall of the ship and her bed. The box was stuffed with dozens of unsealed envelopes. She grabbed a piece of paper, an envelope, and a pencil from a box next to her bed that served as a nightstand. For the next hour or so she wrote a letter, addressed simply to "Aniki", that told of the events that day, and other general things she could think of. Once she was done, she carefully tucked the letter into the envelope and put it in the box. She held the box against her chest and wished she could actually give the letters to her brother, but she had no idea where he was.

No, that's not true, she thought, he's in the Grand Line. But there's no way I'll ever be able to go there. With solemn thought heavy with the memory of her beloved older brother, Nikette fell to sleep with the box in her arms.

She awoke the next morning when she heard someone stumble and fall. She heard Sanji curse loudly and looked to see he had fallen over some crates someone had left on the middle of the path towards her bed. She knew no one had done it on purpose, but that didn't stop Sanji from cursing every chef on the ship, especially Zeff and Patty.

"Are you okay, Sanji?" she asked.

Sanji groaned but got to his feet and told her, "Yeah, I'm fine." He noticed the box she held and asked, "Are those your letters?" She only nodded as a sad look overcame her. Realizing he shouldn't have mentioned them, Sanji sat beside her on her bed and place a comforting hand on her head. "Sorry, Nee-chan. Guess I shouldn't have mentioned those," he said.

"No, it's okay, Nii-sama," Nikette replied, "It's just… why hasn't he at least come to check on me? Just to say 'hi', or see if I was doing alright? He hasn't come back once, but why? Did he just…did he just want to get rid of me?"

Cursing silently for making her think of all that, Sanji insisted, "No, that can't be it. Maybe your brother just knows you're alright. He knew the old geezer right? He must think nothing could happen to you. Besides, I've heard the stories told about him, and I have no doubt you've heard more. He's doing great on the Grand Line, but he's also in a lot of danger. I'm sure if he thought it was safe, he would have come back for you years ago."

Nikette nodded in reply and said softly, "I know, I tell myself that all the time. But I still wish he would come back, even if only to say 'hello'."

This wasn't the first time Sanji had seen Nikette depressed like this. He knew if he let her go she would sulk in bed all day, so he patted her head again and pulled her to her feet saying, "Come on. We're about to open and we don't want the geezer coming to get us again."

Nikette let out a deep breath, then smiled and said, "You know he'd only kick your ass though, right?"

"Yeah, I know. So let's go before that happens again." He turned and started walking out, knowing she would follow him. First though, she tucked her box of letters back behind her bed. Running to catch up with Sanji, she left the storage room not far behind him.

Looking around the main dining room, Nikette was happy to see the chefs had somehow managed to clear away all the broken tables and chairs, and they even took some old table cloths and wrapped them around all the columns to hide the broken one. Chuckling to herself, she made her way to the kitchen for some breakfast.

For the next two hours the Baratie filled up as usual. Nikette ran from table to table making sure everyone was happy, taking orders and delivering food. After a passing out plates to a party of eight, she slumped back to the kitchen and fell into an open chair.

"Nii-sama, Patty," she panted, "I hate you both so much right now." Taking the place of almost twenty waiters had left her feeling more exhausted then she could remember, even though this was not the first time she was forced to do this.

Laughed, Sanji ordered all the chefs to take their own food out to make the poor girl's life easier. Some chefs grumbled, but no one argued.

At least, not until a large crash sounded throughout the restaurant. The kitchen shook, spilling food everywhere. Chefs ran all over the place, trying to save what they could and clean up the rest. Pointing to a few chefs who were just standing around, Nikette told them to go see what happened. The nodded vigorously and ran to obey. Nikette was in a bad mood, and they didn't want to be on the receiving end of her anger.

"You don't want to see yourself?" Sanji asked her.

"I'd love to! But there's a marine out there, and I'd rather he leave before noticing any of the chefs are former pirates," she responded.

"Good point," he replied. She gathered two bowls of soup that she had managed to keep safe as well as a bottle of wine. She remembered the marine had ordered a specific kind of wine when he made his reservation, but that bottle was currently smashed to pieces.

"Outta my way!" Nikette shouted to clear a few chef's from her path before she rushed from the kitchen, throwing on her best smile as she headed for the marine's table. "I'm sorry for the wait. Here's your food, Mr. Fullbody," she said kindly. After placing the bowls of soup, she carefully poured both Fullbody and his date glasses of the wine.

Taking a small sip from the wine, Fullbody's eyes grew wide and he exclaimed, "So good! This flavor… and yes, the aroma! It is the unmistakable scent of the soil form Miko of the north land! Bitter with plenty of body and just a tad sour. This wine must be… the famous Iteruzbergerstein! Tell me Waitress, am I right?" (See note at bottom!)

Everyone in the dining room had stopped to listen to Fullbody's confident exclamation. The patrons seemed to be waiting anxiously for Nikette to confirm or deny his claim.

With a smirk, she said, "No, I'm sorry but you're not even close." She set the bottle on the table, then turned to attend to other guests. She heard snickers from around the restaurant and felt happy that someone so arrogant had made a fool of himself.

Not long after she celebrated her silent victory however, she heard Fullbody calling out to her. Returning reluctantly to the table, she was greeted by Fullbody pointing out a small bug she knew hadn't been there earlier. "Hey what is this? Is bug soup on the menu today, or did you make it just for me?"

"Bug soup?" Nikette asked, pretending she hadn't seen the bug while planning the best way to further humiliate the marine.

"That's right! What's this bug doing here, Waitress?" he snapped in reply, not quite hiding a smirk.

With a smirk of her own, Nikette responded, "Well, I'm no bug expert, so I can't say for sure, but it looks like he's having a swim. Or he could be drowning, it's kind of hard to tell."

The snickers from the diners were louder this time, and Fullbody was visibly enraged. Nikette saw him clench his fist, but she was surprised when he stood and shouted, "Don't you mess with me!" before he slammed his fist down on the table, snapping it in half and spilling the soup everywhere.

"Nikette?" Sanji called worriedly. He walked up behind her and glared darkly at Fullbody. "What happened here?" he asked.

"He put a bug in his soup because he knows nothing about wine," Nikette replied innocently, knowing full well what would happen next.

"To anger your chef at see is akin to suicide. Don't you ever waste food or harass my sister again!" the blonde Sous Chef snapped before grabbing Fullbody and beating the hell out of him.

Noticing Fullbody's date had been knocked back when Fullbody destroyed the table, Nikette walked over to her and asked if she was alright.

"I'm fine, but shouldn't you stop your friend? He might kill Fullbody!"

"Oh don't worry, someone'll show up to stop Sanji soon. This happens all the time."

"R-really?" she asked, clearly not believing Nikette.

"Yeah, that's actually why I'm the only waitress left here." Fullbody's date didn't saw anything else, though she didn't really have the time to. Patty had finally showed up and yelled at Sanji to let Fullbody go. He yelled at Nikette too, and asked her why she wasn't trying to stop Sanji.

"He deserves it." Sanji said darkly, "He wasted his food and harassed Nikette." Releasing the marine, he added, "So I simply taught him a lesson."

Growling in anger, Fullbody shouted, "I will shut this place down, you hear me?! No restaurant should treat it's customers this way! I will have this place shut down! This whole place is finished!"

"Then maybe I should just finish you off right now," Sanji snapped. He started to go after Fullbody again, but he was stopped when Patty and several other chefs grabbed him, just barely keeping him back. "Arrogant assholes like you really piss me off! You're not such a big shot now are you? Are you?!"

At that moment Head Chef Zeff came crashing through the ceiling with a scrawny kid in a straw hat underneath him. When Zeff rolled over, the boy gasped, "I can breath!"

While most of the chefs were worrying over their boss, Zeff simply glared at the ceiling and snapped, "Dammit! My ceiling! That's another thing that's going to have to get fixed because of you." He glared angrily at the boy, "This is all your fault, you brat!"

"How is it my fault? You attacked me!" the boy responded. They couldn't argue further though, because the chefs holding Sanji began begging Zeff to help them stop the enraged Sous Chef.

Nikette stopped paying attention then. She knew Zeff would beat down Sanji, then literally kick Fullbody out of the Baratie. She was more interested in the boy who had crashed through the ceiling.

"Luffy? Is that you?" she asked excitedly. "That straw hat… it is you!" She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Huh? Who are you?" he asked dumbly.

"What the hell do you mean 'Who am I'?" she snapped suddenly, pushing him back and slapping him, "Who the hell do you think I am?"

Luffy titled his head to the side, clearly trying hard to remember Nikette. "Nope, I can't remember ever seeing you before."

"Just how stupid are you?" she demanded. Her hair was tied back in an intricate bow to keep it out of the food, and she pull it loose, flipping it to show off its shocking red color. "Recognize me now?"

He looked like he was thinking so hard it hurt, but still he said, "No, can't say that I do."

"You dumbass! I'm—"

Nikette was cut off by the sound of a gun firing. She looked towards the front of the restaurant and saw a marine fall dead to the floor. Behind him walked the man holding the still smoking gun. He looked dreadfully ill and starved to the point of death. Eyeing the table closest to him, he calmly threw himself into the chair, propping one leg into the table.

"I don't care what it is, just bring me something to eat," he said, "Come on, this is a restaurant."

Patty reached him first and said in an overly and obviously fake kind voice, "Hello and welcome you damned crook," causing the other guests, whom Nikette noticed had backed away and lined the walls of the ship in fear of the nearly starved man, to gasp in horror.

"Look, I'm only going to say this one more time. Bring me something to eat and make it quick."

"Of course, right away," Patty replied, "But might I be so bold to inquire how you'll be paying for your meal?"

"Will a bullet be enough?" the man asked, pointing his gun in Patty's face.

"So you don't have any money then?" Patty said just before his giant forearms smashed into the table, knocking the man to the floor.

Sanji sighed and Nikette looked over at him. He made the slightest gesture towards the kitchen before turning and walking towards it, with Nikette following close behind.

Of all the things that normally happened in the restaurant, this was Nikette's favorite. She wasn't anywhere near as good a cook as the other chefs, but whenever a Beli-less pirate came starving into the Baratie, she and Sanji were the only ones ever willing to make them anything to eat. She would cut up and prepare ingredients that Sanji would mix together.

Once they were done, they just followed the sound of Patty throwing the man out of the Baraite's dining room. They found him curled on the ground, almost moaning in hunger. Sanji set the plate of food beside him while Nikette climbed onto the railing on the side of the ship. After setting the food, Sanji sat on the ground beside Nikette. "Eat up," he said as he let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

"Take it and leave me alone, I won't accept charity," the man replied weakly, "It doesn't matter how down and out I may be, just take this stuff away now."

"Stop your whining and eat it. I don't care what they say in there. To me, if anyone's hungry, they're a customer," Sanji said firmly.

But the man still insisted he wouldn't take it, so Sanji added, "It amazing, and terrifying, how cruel the sea can be. If you lose your food out there, you're basically signing your own death warrant. I know what it's like to go hungry because of the sea more than anyone. You can die for your pride if you want, or you can live and fight for pride truely worth having."

At those words, the man finally picked up the food. He scarfed down half the plate in a matter of seconds, then said, "This is the best food I've ever tasted."

Sanji smiled and said, "Well of course it is." Nikette smiled too, and was about to tease Sanji for bragging, but at that point she noticed Luffy watching from the second floor balcony.

"You!" she snapped, glaring furiously, "You still don't remember me, do you?"

Nikette's furious expression thoroughly convinced Luffy she would kill him for not remembering, but still he said, "I'm sorry, but I don't!"

"Dammit! It's me Nikette! Shanks' little sister! Remember now, Luffy?"


(Note: I have no idea what the hell the name of that wine is. I'm going off of the anime, which I can barely understand, and a very poorly translated online scan of the manga. It kind of sounds like what he says in the anime...

Another Note: Sanji and Nikette are not related! I just wanted to do a brother/sister relationship with Sanji for a few months, so I had to add that in.)

(Last Note: Please read and review! I want to know what people think!)