The late October sun rose over the Manhattan skyline as the city started to wake up. In an apartment on the Upper East Side, an alarm clock went off in a bedroom. The man sleeping in the bed gave a half-hearted attempt at hitting the snooze button before he rolled out of bed. Sanji stoop up, stretched, and went into the kitchen to make some black tea to wake him up, seeing as he didn't do coffee. He took the tea and a pack of cigarettes out to the fire escape to watch the sun rise. Sanji liked to come out here. He enjoyed watching the sun rise, sipping his tea and getting through his first smoke of the day. It helped him to think, and to remember. He remembered his old crew, those idiots who he risked his life for multiple times. He remembered Luffy, his crazy grin, Nami, with her long orange hair and how her eyes turned into berry symbols whenever money was mentioned. Usopp, and his stupid lies, Chopper, who always believed them. Robin and Franky, who seemed the most mature of the bunch, and Brook, the living skeleton who overused the phrase "yo ho ho!". And… him. Zoro. That moss head was completely different. Sanji always put up a show of being a ladies man, but had never really liked women. Sure, he always thought that he did, but that was before Luffy crashed that cannonball into the Baratie and Zoro came into his life. When he saw Zoro fight Mihawk, and how he had refused to back down because of pride, Sanji realized what he was feeling wasn't that "oh-my-god-what-is-this-idiot-doing" feeling, it was… something different. Zoro was the person who made him come to term to his sexuality. Sure, he was scared to death in Kamabakka kingdom, but that was simply because he wasn't a drag queen. But, he did end up spilling everything to Ivankov, in an attempt to get some information about the crew from him.
Then he remembered that day. That horrible day a hundred years ago. It had started out normally, with Nami announcing that the next island was only a few hours away. They docked, got off their ship, strode into town, Brook commented how empty it was, and then the Marines attacked. there were thousands, and Akainu himself, along with the three Admirals were leading the charge. They ran back to the Thousand Sunny, only to see it explode. Sanji heard Franky give a small whimper beside him. They ran into what looked like a giant castle, and after several minutes that seemed like hours, they finally ran into a room with giant steel doors and closed them did they stop to look around. Nami and Robin both had hair that wad burned and visibly shorter, Chopper and Usopp had both fainted, and Luffy was leaning against the door mouthing "never again" over and over.
Suddenly the Lights came on. "Welcome children!" a voice shouted "I assume that since you came in here you are volunteering for testing for my newest invention!"
"Who the hell are you?" asked Zoro.
"I? I am Dr. Vegapunk!"
"Dr. Vegapunk?" Franky asked in disbelief, "The genius scientist?"
"Ah, Cyborg Franky," Vegapunk commented, "I see you got hold of some of my earlier blueprints. Those modifications will have to go where you're going, of course,"
"What do you mean?" asked Franky.
Vegapunk clicked his tongue. "No more questions! I'm sure you want to escape from those Marines, right? Well let's get started!"
Sanji then heard a faint hiss as if some sort of gas was being pumped into the room, only briefly had time to wonder what it was, before he went unconscious.
.o0O0o.
The next thing Sanji knew, he was lying on a lounge chair with a face full of sunlight. HE took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and in a daze, he suddenly remembered.
"MEEEEEEEAAAAAAT" Luffy shouted, waking up the rest of the crew.
"What happened?" asked Nami.
"I have no idea, we must have been teleported somewhere… at least we're not separated this time." said Robin.
At this point, Sanji got to have a look around. They were on some sort of boat. they were all sitting on lounge chairs by a pool, but their location was not the weirdest thing. Six of them- Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Robin still looked the same, but Franky looked more like he did before the two years, except he didn't have a metal nose. He was feeling his chest and stomach, muttering "Skin. This is skin, no metal, skin.". and then, Sanji looked at the other two people.
Brook was no longer a skeleton. He was only recognizable because of his afro and because Sanji remembered Brook's wanted poster. The second person looked to be about eighteen. He was short, but not freakishly short, and had light brown hair. Sanji could tell it was Chopper because Chopper had his hat.
"Guys," he said slowly, "try your devil fruit powers."
"Why?" asked Luffy.
" As you clearly haven't noticed, Chopper and Brook are now human, not a reindeer and skeleton."
Upon hearing this, both Chopper and Brook looked down at themselves. Brook gave a merry "Yo ho ho", while Chopper gave a terrified shriek. Luffy pulled back his arm, and Robin looked like she was concentration really hard on something, but, to their astonishment, Luffy did not stretch and arms did not appear anywhere.
"Okay we need to figure out what's going on here." said Nami.
"Well, the first thing I think we should do is look around inside." remarked Franky.
Everyone agreed. So, they cautiously entered the depths of the ship. They entered a door marked "STAFF ONLY", hoping to find some answers there. The entire boat seemed deserted.
They then walked into a sort of conference room. It had a large map of the world on one wall, with a large red pin in the middle of a sea known as the "Caribbean", according to the map. There was a folder on the table. Nami reached over and picked it up and read it aloud.
"My dear Straw Hats," she read "obviously you are no longer in my laboratory, and, as some of you might have guessed judging from the map hanging behind you, you aren't even in our universe anymore. I have created a machine that will send you to an alternate universe. Basically, it sums up to this: you are on a small cruise ship. People who wish for a week of vacation will came aboard and expect you to serve them. This is in NO WAY a pirate ship. You are the employees. Luffy, you are the captain of the ship, obviously. Zoro is in charge of the gym and anything related to fitness, Nami is the cruise activities director, and treasurer"
Sanji noticed that Nami's eyes turned into berry symbols.
"Usopp and Brook are the heads of entertainment, Sanji is the chef, Chopper is the head of the infirmary, Robin is the Shore Excursions and historical Expert, and Franky is the engineer. Play your parts well, and when the time comes you will be returned. You cannot age or die, and you'll find that Luffy, Chopper, Robin, and Brook all lost their Devil's Fruit Powers and can swim."
"COOL!" shouted Luffy. Everyone shushed him.
"And Franky's body is what it would have looked like if he had never jumped in front of the sea train and became a cyborg. The ship's maiden voyage is in one month, so I suggest that you prepare yourselves and familiarize yourselves with the ship. Included in the folder is a map and blueprints for Franky, as well as some other useful things. Again, you cannot age or die, even if your body is mutilated, you will simply reappear somewhere else. You will not be able to age or die until you return to our universe. You will return in time, and I guarantee that there will be no marines where you return. But, the path will not open up to you until you are ready. Good luck. Dr. Vegapunk."
And that was it. They discussed some stuff, then got to work. The maiden voyage arrived, and it did take them a while to get used to the fact that they were serving others, they eventually got used to it. And, the thing about not aging or dying turned out to be true. Zoro fell into some machinery and it turned out to be an incredibly messy death, blood everywhere. He woke up in bed the next morning.
But all good things must come to an end. Spending fifty years together can get very tense. Arguments broke out, it was once a month, then once a week, then just about every day. Sanji didn't remember what the argument was that caused them to split up. It was probably something stupid. In 1989 Straw Hat Cruise Line disbanded, and they all went their separate ways. Robin went to Mexico and became a successful archaeologist. Chopper became a successful doctor in some small town in North Carolina. Franky became an Engineer in Chicago. Brook went to London, and Usopp went to Texas. The member of the Straw Hats that he knew most about where she was, was Nami. For some reason, she went to Los Angeles. She had become quite famous, actually. As for Sanji, he went to New York and opened up a second Baratie.
None of them knew where Zoro or Luffy was, though. Sanji had only seen Robin once, when she was showing something at the met and they met up for coffee and awkward conversation. She hadn't heard from them at all.
Sanji's cigarette burnt out, and he decided he should probably get ready for work. He showered, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark blue polo. Making sure he had his phone and wallet, he left his apartment.
The Baratie was located on battery park, looking out on the Hudson. It was an exact replica of the original Baratie. Sani was the owner and head chef. As he checked his phone, he discovered the one of his waiters was sick that day. So, Sanji decided he would fill in for the missing waiter. He got there at around ten, and the rest of the staff filed in by ten-thirty. Sanji was waiting tables from about one o'clock until four, and then again from five until eight, when the restaurant closed. Everything was normal until around 6:45, when he was on his second shift. He wasn't paying attention to the customer at the table, just his noted when he greeted him.
"Hi, welcome to the Baratie, do you have anything to drink in mind?" Sanji said absently.
"Ero-cook," said a familiar baritone voice.