A/N: Written as a birthday gift for Quatrina Raberba. Check her out—she's here at ffn, and if you haven't found her yet then you're missing out on some fun OP fics and I feel sad for you. Her ffn name is quatrinaraberba.

Title: Mystery Cake and Free Entertainment
Author: Karaleyn
Anime: One Piece
Pairings: None really.
Spoilers: This is set somewhere after Alabasta and before Skypiea, in some undetermined time. I just made up an amount of time that could have passed, so in a way this is TWT (Timeline? What Timeline). The only spoilers really present are the identities of the 6th and 7th crew members, with a very brief mention of what the 7th's power is. If you only know the crew through Sanji, I'm really not giving anything away other than primarily their names, and then some vague references to what the 6th is and what the 7th can do.
Warnings: mild language, humor, some laziness with characterization, Luffy making food. beware!
Disclaimer: One Piece and all that jazz belongs to the awesome!forever Eiichiro Oda. I'm just borrowing the characters for a birthday gift :grin:
Notes: No beta-reader but I read it over. I didn't know what to call that main room where the kitchen is so I kept calling it different things. Ignore any confusion. I also didn't know what was in their fridge so I took some artistic liberties, heh. Hopefully I got all the major shit. Also, I know I said I like to keep the stories early in the series for everyone to read, but I really wanted those two crew members in this one so, sorry to those who are pre-Alabasta. You could still read this if you wanted and it really wouldn't spoil anything except their identities primarily. I'm sorry, though. ... Anyway, main note is Happy Birthday, Quatrina! Yay!

Luffy considered the cake.

It was a very nice cake. It was dark and yummy-looking, and, and, there was chocolate on it! And there was a little picture of meat he made with frosting! Best drawing ever! And he put some meat in the cake too so it would taste better, just in case. And there was ice cream on the top (somehow he had forgotten ice cream melted that fast, so actually it was sort of runny-watery-ice-cream-soup-that-now-was-a-puddle-on-the-plate) and he had even stuck in a candle! Actually, he wasn't sure how many candles this sort of celebration needed, so he put in a bunch. But then a lot of them tipped over and fell out and got smooshed down too far when the ice-cream-soup soaked into the top and made it all spongy and soft and weird-gross (but not BAD-gross, because Luffy still thought it looked very good!) and in the end all he had was one sad little candle tilted in the center. So he left that one alone and the others were scattered on the plate in the ice-cream-soup.

So it was a nice cake. A nice and yummy cake. And Luffy really wanted to eat it right away but he had to wait.

He sighed and slumped down at the table, sticking his lips out in a pout and staring sulkily at his wondrous creation. Damn these celebration things! They always started out all great because he got to make fun cakes and put meat in chocolate sauce and pour ice cream on top and draw more meat with the frosting—but in the end, he still had to wait. He didn't get to eat the cake right away. He got to stare at it. And what fun was just staring at food? Pouting, he slumped down further and watched the cake sit there, gloating, because it knew he couldn't eat it yet—it knew!

He was a little tempted to just try some of it.

...Alright, no. He was a lot tempted. But then he thought if he tried some of it, they would know. And he had to wait.

And what was taking them so long? He'd asked Sanji to delay them for a few hours, not all day! Pfft. Last time he'd trust the Cook to take care of business. Luffy sulked some more. ...Or maybe it'd just be the last time he declared a holiday.

But it was time for a celebration!

And actually, it was sort of a celebration alone that Sanji let Luffy go at the kitchen without his supervision. He tried, of course, to stay behind. Ohhh, how he tried. And when Luffy was very firm about everyone leaving, he threatened. Yes, he definitely threatened. Luffy remained quite obstinate about it, though, even when Sanji lifted his leg up high and looked like he was going to kick him. He didn't, of course. He didn't have a reason yet. Luffy was sure Sanji would kick him if he got the chance, but Sanji didn't usually attack without reason.

Five hours. Five hours! It had taken that long just to figure everything out, and get all the ingredients out, and then mix them together and then make sure nothing blew up... Something almost did boil over once but Luffy was quick and threw it out the door before it could destroy anything. ...This seemed like a brilliant idea, at least, until he realized far later that throwing boiling frosting doesn't go as far as, say, throwing a ball does, and most of the frosting splattered across the deck before some of it made it out to the ocean, and then it looked really weird in the water, and Luffy got distracted with staring at it a moment, and then the meat was making strange noises and he had to run back into the kitchen to get it out of the water pot, and then he forgot about the frosting and now that he thought about it, it was still sitting there, wasn't it? But he couldn't exactly run out there and clean it up yet because what if everyone came back right then? And then the whole surprise would be ruined!

So Luffy sat here, staring at the cake. He stared at it for awhile, and then he reached up and poked it.

It didn't even jiggle.

He didn't know if cake was supposed to jiggle, but it seemed to him that it should. It would make it more interesting. And then everyone would eat more! Because it would jiggle and it'd be fun to eat and...! ...And actually that was the end of the thought, because jiggling on its own was cool, and that was that.

So Luffy poked the cake again, but all that happened was his finger made a small indentation and it felt squishy and a little gross. Maybe it was because of the ice-cream-soup.

After the frosting incident, Luffy had decided to add whipped cream. Except they didn't have any on the ship. What sort of pirate ship didn't have whipped cream? Sanji was the best cook ever but sometimes Luffy wondered about his common sense. So Luffy had decided to make some, because it was necessary for his Celebration Cake. ...But he really wasn't sure how to make whipped cream, except probably it was cream that needed to be whipped. He wasn't sure what cream was supposed to be used, and he thought briefly of using frosting too but then it would just be frosting and frosting-whipped-cream and that sounded sort of boring. So he went through the fridge and searched and searched until he found some stuff called 'heavy cream,' which he was going to use alone, but then he saw the milk and thought that would be good with it, and then he saw mayonnaise and that was white too, right? And it would make it thicker. And then he thought maybe he should make it really sweet so he grabbed a bunch of sugar. He poured it all in a bowl and then stared at it. He didn't actually have a whip, and neither did anyone on the crew, so he hoped hitting it a lot would do the trick. So he Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gunned it, and okay, so a lot of the mixture flew around the kitchen, and the bowl almost broke, but some of it stayed in there and the stuff that stayed in seemed pretty mixed! So that went on the cake too.

After the whipped cream was such a success, he had decided to put other good things on it. So he found some chocolate syrup and put that on. And then he put on some more meat. And then he tried to put on more meat, but it looked more like meat-with-cake than cake-with-meat so he had to remove it. Of course, he couldn't exactly put the meat back in the fridge, so he got to eat it. That made him really happy. By that time he remembered to put frosting on (this time he thought maybe he shouldn't boil it) and then he tried the candles and then he eventually ended up sitting there staring at the cake. It was at this point that he realized he hadn't done the most important part!

Sitting up, Luffy threw his arm across the room and snatched his drawing pad, snapping it back to him and tearing off the sheet he had prepared earlier in the day. On it, he had drawn a picture of each of the crew with their names beneath. At first he hadn't included himself, but then he thought it was important. Staring at it now, he decided to add one last touch: Going Merry. He'd meant to draw her in before but got distracted with making the cake.

He was just finishing the last flag when he heard commotion outside. Jumping up, he almost ripped the paper in his haste to tear the paper off and throw the tablet to the side. Glancing quickly at the cake to make sure it was doing alright (it looked very wonderful and yummy) and at the kitchen to see if it was passable (it was mostly okay except for the huge mess but he had the cake to think about above keeping the kitchen clean!), he dropped the paper down in front of the cake and ran over to the door. He slid to a stop in the center of the doorway just as everyone was walking across the deck.

Robin was smiling calmly in the back, looking down at Usopp and Chopper who were well into a conversation about some items they'd seen in town. In front of them, Zoro was walking languidly, idly glancing out to sea as ahead of him Sanji was trotting along behind Nami. They made it halfway across the ship before Nami suddenly stopped, causing Sanji to almost stumble into her from behind. Nami stared down at the deck, her eyes going wide then narrowed in the same movement. Sanji started to ask her what she was looking at when he noticed the frosting himself. "Luffyyy…" Nami said lowly before Sanji could speak, his one visible eye wide and wary.

Zoro came to a slow stop behind them, peering curiously over Nami's shoulder at the mess. Huh. Spattered white sticky stuff all over the deck. Zoro glanced up at Luffy, who was grinning hugely in the doorway to the galley. Ahh... this really did not bode well.

The last three had finally realized what was happening at Nami's growl, and before Luffy did anything other than chuckle proudly in his soft, happy way, Usopp popped up behind Sanji and stared with bugged-out eyes at the deck. "LUFFY! What did you do to Going Merry?"

Ignoring the question, Luffy continued to grin with his eyes closed in mirth. "C'mon, c'mon! Over here!"

Chopper peeked around Usopp, who leaned back and waved his hands. "We were only gone a few hours! You didn't break the ship, did you?" Normally Usopp didn't care too much about what Luffy did, but he got pretty paranoid when he came back to stuff being weird with the ship. It was Kaya's ship, after all! She entrusted it to him, and even if no one else called him Captain, in a way he still felt especially protective of Going Merry.

The others were eyeing Luffy in varying degrees of wary or dismay (except for Robin who seemed amused and Zoro who seemed almost entirely unaffected), but Luffy seemed uninterested in answering that question. Instead he just insisted, "Come in here! It's a surprise!" And with a final, bigger grin (which was a feat in itself—Luffy was a master of huge grins, though, and could handle such a job), he disappeared into the room. Glances were exchanged as most of them hesitated, but Zoro just shrugged and walked calmly toward the door. "No point in waiting out here. He'll just do more damage if we give him time," he said as he disappeared inside.

Sanji and Usopp eyed the white goo while Nami sighed, bringing a hand up to her forehead. "Ahh, I'm going to need some painkillers after this, I can just feel it..." she murmured to herself, walking to the room as well.

Robin smiled lightly, following closely behind Nami as Chopper trotted behind her. He glanced back once at the two who were just now moving.

Usopp sighed, shaking his head as he slumped toward the kitchen. "Do you know what he's doing?"

Sanji shook his head once, digging out a new cigarette and lighting it. "No. He just told me to keep everyone away for awhile." He closed his eyes, dragging in a breath and letting it out slowly. Opening his visible eye halfway, he glanced down at Usopp as he walked beside him. "I told him I'd kick his ass if he messed up the kitchen, though."

Usopp smiled, glancing over. "There's pretty much no chance that didn't happen, you realize."

Sanji smirked. "That's why I made sure I was in an ass-kicking mood before we got back."

Usopp laughed and Sanji's smirk grew, and together they stepped into the kitchen at about the same time.

The first thing Sanji noticed was the absolute mess in the kitchen, but before he had much of a chance to examine it he was distracted by the others standing completely still, staring at Luffy who was standing in front of the table with a huge grin and some strange alien form of food on a plate behind him.

"Alright! You're all here!" Luffy said happily as soon as the last two arrived. "Now we can celebrate!"

"What's going on?" Nami asked, and by the way she said it Sanji could tell she had asked before but presumably Luffy wouldn't explain until they were all together.

"It's a holiday!" Luffy said, grinning and closing his eyes merrily.

"It's a holiday...?" Chopper asked, confused but a little excited about the idea.

"Yep!" Luffy said, chuckling again cheerfully.

"Since when?" Zoro asked, leaning against the wall, his swords already set off to the side. His tone was casual and curious.

"I just decided!" Luffy said, and laughed, bringing one hand up to hold his hat down.

"So... if it's a holiday," Usopp ventured from beside Sanji, "...what day is it? What are we celebrating?"

"It's Nakama Day!"

"Nakama Day..?" several of them asked at once, bewildered, and Luffy only laughed and nodded.

"Yep! Nakama Day! It's been a month since Robin came and I decided it was time we had an anniversary and holiday for everyone! So it's Nakama Day and I made you all a cake and there's a picture!" He opened his eyes to smile brightly at them. "See?" He pointed to the drawing of all of them resting in front of the cake.

The crew stared at him, at a loss for words. Finally, Nami blinked and said, "...You did all this for us on your own?"

"'Course I did!" Luffy said, grinning. "What else would've happened?"

They stared at him again before Zoro broke the silence by pushing away from the wall and wandering over to the table. He stared down at the cake, seeing the drawing closer up. His eyebrow twitched slightly when he noticed that he looked rather like a flat panda with an unhappy face from the way Luffy drew him. "So," he said as he dropped to a seat and turned his gaze to the cake, "what flavor is it?"

At his movement, the others started to shift too. They wandered over to the table, small conversations starting quietly that mostly revolved around the question, 'Did you know he was going to do this?' with the answer inevitably being 'I had no idea...'

They all sat down except Luffy, who was grinning at them from the end of the table. "It's Mystery Flavor!" Luffy answered cheerfully.

Zoro sweatdropped. "...Is that so?"

Sanji eyed the destroyed kitchen, his cigarette dangling between his teeth. "Is that 'mystery filling' all over the walls too?" he asked, rather calmly considering how nasty everything looked. But he was willing to give Luffy a bit of leeway at first; it wasn't every day the Captain declared it Nakama Day after all.

"No," Luffy laughed, "that's whipped cream."

Sanji's eye widened as he stared at the several shades of white plastered and dripping all over. "...But we don't have whipped cream," he said suspiciously.

Luffy just grinned. "Before we can eat cake," he began cheerfully, either not noticing or ignoring the several wary glances at the cake, "everyone has to make a wish!" There were dubious glances at the malformed cake (was that meat on the top? Several of them sweatdropped at the sight) with its lone, tilting candle, sadly sputtering a flame. Luffy had almost forgotten to light it before everyone showed up—good thing Usopp and Sanji were so slow coming to the kitchen.

"Uhhh..." Usopp said, staring at the cake and thinking about the request.

Chopper leaned forward, his hooves on the edge of the table as he stared at the cake with sparkly eyes. "I wish—"

"Not out loud!" Luffy laughed, waving a hand at Chopper, "only think it or it won't come true."

Chopper slapped his hooves over his mouth, staring up at Luffy with wide eyes. "I almost lost my wish!"

"And once lost, they can never be regained," Usopp said solemnly, turning toward Chopper, "unless you go to the Land of Dreams and Wishes, and then you can."

"Really?" Chopper asked, eyes wide and excited.

"Yep," Usopp answered, closing his eyes and nodding authoritatively. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Alright!" Chopper said happily, turning toward the cake and standing as he leaned forward even more. He stared at the flame intently, obviously thinking very hard about his wish.

"Everyone else, too! Wish and we can eat!" Luffy urged, his eyes going wide with excitement as well. This was his favorite part! Well... except for eating the cake, of course.

"What if we're wishing we don't have to eat the cake?" Nami muttered half-jokingly, and Robin laughed lightly beside her.

"Then I guess it won't come true," she replied, leaning forward and holding her head up with one hand. She smiled at Nami before turning to look at the cake.

Nami smiled back slightly, though she also stared at the cake and its candle, thinking about her wish. Usopp and Sanji were already watching the candle flame flicker, and Zoro glanced once at Luffy before leaning forward and regarding the cake himself. Luffy leaned against the table and stared at the candle flame, thinking about his own wish. There was a moment of silence where everyone watched the cake and flame, until Luffy announced, "Ok, we all have to blow on it and the wish'll come true!" There was hesitation, then Usopp drew in a large breath and soon everyone else was too, until at about the same time they all blew. The candle flame sputtered and jumped, then flickered out. Luffy pulled back, laughing already and putting his hand on his hat. "Let's eat!"

Usopp, Chopper and Nami exchanged a look of dread, but Robin just looked amused while Sanji and Zoro seemed fairly resigned about the issue. Luffy plopped down next to Zoro and pulled the cake over, grabbing a knife he'd laid aside earlier. He raised the knife really high and was about to slam it down when Zoro caught his wrist and pulled the knife away. Luffy looked at him questioningly, but Zoro only said, "I'll do it or we'll get cake all over." Nami and Usopp sighed in relief; they preferred to leave unscathed by cake debris if at all possible, and they were the closest ones across the table to the cake. Chopper, sitting between the two, seemed unaffected by the idea of cake-splatter, and was instead staring wide-eyed at the candle still, as if he was waiting with bated breath for his wish to come true.

The cake was cut and distributed, and everyone stared at their pieces rather dubiously for a few moments before Zoro took a huge bite of his. His expression was rather strained and his eyes widened considerably, but he managed to keep a fairly straight face. Luffy looked at him expectantly until Zoro just glanced at him, then continued to eat his slice. Sanji was the next to try his, and though his expression bugged out a bit more than Zoro's, Luffy was already inhaling his own cake and didn't notice. Exchanging glances, the others took tentative bites of their own. They all managed to keep fairly straight faces, though Nami choked on the first bite and coughed while Usopp reached over and began beating her on the back, Chopper made a startled noise and asked worriedly if a doctor was needed, and Robin started laughing. The cake was... interesting. Strangely enough, it may have actually almost tasted decent if it weren't for the mayonnaise, meat, and copious amounts of sugar. As it was, they had mostly taken the smallest pieces they could and for several of them that was still almost more than they could handle.

Luffy, luckily, liked his own cake enough that, after being told no one else was very hungry for more, he just ate the rest. There was a small portion that stayed on the cake plate, though, as he got distracted with something else. He didn't notice the strange taste everyone else was trying their best to react to; for Luffy, he liked all food and this cake tasted strongly of meat too which made it even better. Conversation started up around the table again shortly after they began eating. However, what started out as a calm conversation quickly escalated into the typical loud laughter and challenges that echoed so often around Going Merry. Usopp was telling Luffy about something he had seen in town, which excited Luffy enough that he slammed his fists on the table and accidentally splattered cake down his side of the table, spraying into Sanji on his left. Sanji, who had chosen to sit at the end across from Robin and Nami, could not see who hit him as his hair covered that eye. Therefore, when he turned to the left and saw Zoro staring down at his plate and setting aside a fork, he assumed it was Zoro and not Luffy (on Zoro's other side) who got him dirty. His indignant yell at Zoro quickly became Zoro defending and attacking on his own, and soon they were fighting each other, nearly shoving cake into each others' faces as they knocked into the table. Robin, on the end across from Sanji, laughed clearly as she watched them, while Nami next to her stood up and started yelling at them to calm down. Chopper was watching the fight with wide eyes next to Nami while Usopp, ignoring them, continued his story to Luffy, who started yelling in excitement himself, demanding more details.

This continued in a similar vein far into the evening. At one point, after Sanji and Zoro had calmed down, drinks were brought out and everyone began drinking and laughing as Chopper toddled around with chopsticks stuck between his nostrils and lower lip, and Robin helped Luffy imitate Chopper with the help of arms out the side of his hat. Usopp, Zoro and Sanji were laughing hysterically while Nami grinned from the near-end of the table and Robin laughed along with. The attention switched to other stunts as the night wore on and lights had to be lit. Luffy did an excellent imitation of Sanji that had Usopp falling over laughing, but it was cut short when Sanji pushed Luffy's head down into the table with his foot. Usopp made a comment that had Zoro growling crankily at him, which resulted in Usopp leaning away while Luffy laughed loudly, slapping Zoro on the back. Chopper ended up in a conversation with Robin while Nami listened, and Sanji started making snide remarks about Zoro that got them into another fight. At one point Usopp, Sanji, Luffy and Chopper danced around the kitchen, arms around each others' shoulders, kicking their legs up in some demented parade, while Zoro laughed so hard his head was tilted back and his eyes were closed. Nami started laughing too, Robin had already been doing so, and soon everyone at once was laughing, with no other sounds on the Going Merry save that.

It was hours later when they finally calmed down enough that people began to calm down. The room was a mess—Luffy's earlier kitchen escapade wreaking havoc in one end while the other had been messed up with everyone jumping and running around. Sanji and Zoro had knocked over the cake plate in one of their fights, upturning the very last of the cake that Luffy never had eaten, and the remains were smeared across the floor. Zoro's swords were safely in the corner, but they were in about the only untouched area of the room. In the end, the splattered frosting out on the deck was the least of their worries, and it was well into the night with eyes starting to droop before they started to think about cleaning up.

Chopper had fallen asleep at the table, Zoro was slouched in the corner asleep as well, and Nami and Usopp looked close to following their examples. Sanji stood up and, pulling out his next cigarette of the night, raised his eyebrow at Luffy, who was leaning back on the bench seat, kicking his feet back and forth idly as he smiled at his crew. Robin had disappeared to the crow's nest to read shortly before, so only Luffy and Sanji were in any semblance of wakefulness in the room.

Bringing his and a few other plates over to the sink, Sanji glanced over his shoulder at his captain. "What're you doing just sitting there? It's time to clean up."

Luffy didn't answer; instead, he just watched his crew and continued to smile. Looking over at Sanji, he asked in a softer tone than usual, "Do you think they had fun?"

Sanji watched him over his shoulder a moment before nodding slightly and turning to the sink, filling it up with water as he reached for the soap. "Aa. It was a good idea."

Luffy was silent for a few seconds, and Sanji was just considering telling him to get his ass over there when he spoke up. "Thanks for keeping them away. I wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise."

Sanji shrugged, slipping the dishes into the water. "It was an easy enough assignment."

Luffy was quiet again, and Sanji decided to let him slip for just awhile longer. There was no doubt he had had fun that night himself, and he felt it was only fair to give Luffy a bit more quiet time before he had to get to his duties. After all, despite the fact the cake was... a very uniquely created monstrosity... Luffy had still spent quite a bit of time and effort on making it and planning for the day. He was actually secretly pleased with Luffy; ignoring the interesting choices of garnish, the cake itself was actually fairly well done. How Luffy had managed to make batter and bake it into a decent amateur cake would have been beyond him, but he suspected Luffy must have picked something up from all the times Luffy had sat there staring at him cooking while waiting for food. It pleased Sanji to see that Luffy had clearly understood something from all that time, even if that 'something' didn't help him for the entire cake. Honestly. Mayonnaise and sugar? Sanji had hoped at the first bite that some of the white stuff on the walls from the 'whipped cream' hadn't been what he thought it was, but it was. The meat was a given. He would have been more surprised to see a meatless cake made by Luffy than he was to see meat shoved into the spongy layers. But mayonnaise? It boggled the mind...

It took Sanji several moments to realize how silent it was in the room, and he almost turned around too late. Luffy was sneaking toward the door, glancing nervously at Sanji as he went. As soon as they saw each other, Luffy froze with one foot in the air while Sanji glared.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Sanji asked lowly, drying his hands on a towel. Nami and Usopp peeked their eyes sleepily open to watch, alerted by Sanji's tone.

"Out..." Luffy said, trying to be innocent but failing slightly.

Sanji raised his eyebrow. "Who's gonna clean up the mess, then?" he asked, spreading his hands to indicate the rather sad state of the kitchen.

"Not me!" Luffy said, laughing freely and grinning widely. He put his hand on his hat and declared cheerfully, "I did all the cooking!"

Sanji's eye twitched and he took a menacing step forward. "It doesn't work that w—Luffy!"

But Luffy had already sprinted out the door, laughing happily as he took off. Sanji swore and threw the towel to the side, running after him and yelling obscenities about the shithead of a captain who didn't even clean up after ruining his kitchen. Usopp and Nami exchanged a tired, amused glance, before closing their eyes and listening to the chase out on the deck.

"I give 'im five minutes," Usopp said through a yawn, his eyes still closed.

"Sanji or Luffy?" Nami asked sleepily, amused, keeping her eyes closed as well.

"Both," Usopp said, smiling with one side of his mouth.

"Three minutes," Zoro said abruptly, not bothering to open his eyes either. "And water'll be involved."

There was brief silence and then the sound of skidding and a loud slam. Sanji yelled Luffy's name loudly, furiously, and Luffy only shouted out a quick, "Sorry!" before laughing, adding to the sound of his sandaled feet thumping away in the opposite direction across the deck.

"Whaddya think that was?" Usopp asked, peeking one eye barely open as he considered the interesting sliding noise.

"That white stuff, I bet," Zoro answered, shifting to get more comfortable.

"What was that anyway?" Nami asked, yawning.

"More of Luffy's whipped cream, I'd guess," Zoro said.

"Looked more like punched cream to me," Usopp mumbled, and Nami and Zoro laughed lightly.

There was more pounding of feet around the deck, a few crashes as Luffy or Sanji was presumably caught by the other, and the occasional quick-moving laughter of Luffy as he rocketed to a new place. Sanji was getting increasingly more frustrated judging by his yells, but Luffy sounded like he was having as much fun as earlier.

The culmination of the fight happened just around three minutes, going towards four, when Sanji could be heard to yell furiously, "Stop moving, Luffy!"and, after a few moments of struggling and laughter, Luffy suddenly yelped. There was a crash, a groan, and the sound of something large splashing into the water. Sanji swore and, two thumps later (presumably he was throwing his shoes off), there came another splash. Echoing down, Robin laughed lightly.

Zoro smirked smugly in the corner. "Told ya."

"You should've bet, Zoro. Could've reduced your tab with Nami," Usopp answered, grinning to himself.

"I know better than to bet on Luffy," Nami answered with a smirk, shifting her weight.

Zoro and Usopp chuckled softly, and Chopper suddenly twitched. "Mmm, doctor need?" he asked sleepily, barely blinking his eyes open as he finally registered the sounds of fighting that had been echoing outside.

"They'll be fine," Zoro answered, stretching and settling himself further down against the wall as he yawned. "They always are."

Murmuring a sleepy assent, Chopper closed his eyes and seemed to fall back asleep.

Outside, they could hear water splashing again, and Sanji growling at Luffy who was laughing and apologizing sheepishly. Water sloshed across the deck, Sanji started dragging Luffy back, and Robin's laughter slowly died down.

Inside the room, Zoro shifted and peeked one eye open. "The real question is how long it'll take him to clean."

"Mm. And Luffy cleaning could be dangerous. Think we should move?" Nami asked, opening her eyes a slit to consider the others.

There was a brief silence as Sanji and Luffy got louder, before Usopp smirked and shook his head against his arms propped on the table. "Nahh. All the free entertainment's gonna be right here."

The others laughed lightly, agreeing.

I feel so bad for them eating that. I bet it tasted horrible LOL Though, I work at a bookstore that used to let people do presentations there, and sometimes there would be authors of cookbooks making their food. There was this local cookbook put out by this foundation, and had a ton of recipes, all with beef in it. They even had beef brownies! I luckily was warned just as I reached for a sample, because I'm vegetarian and yeah, that wouldn't have made me happy. But my non-vegetarian coworkers informed me that it was apparently really tasty, as strange as beef-brownies sounded. So! My point is, maybe it really DIDN'T taste so bad…. Well. Aside from the mayonnaise anyway XD Ewww XD

Anyway, everyone. That was YOUR free entertainment for the day/night/whatever-time-it-is-for-you-now. I hope it was entertaining in some sense… And have a good whatever-it-is-for-you :smile: