"I'm telling you it works," Usopp screamed out to his crewmates. In his hands at the moment was a new gadget that he picked up at once of the local shops he visited and the owner of the shop claimed he sold him a genuine time machine. "This one of a kind item will amaze you with its strange and unknown abilities." So far the only ones listening were Luffy, Chopper, and Brook. Franky was kind of listening, the machine interested him and he figured if it didn't work than he could use it for a new design that he was working on. Zoro was sleeping off to the side, somehow sleeping through the noise like he always does
Nami sighed as she looked up from her map. The sun was setting so she thought it meant some piece and quiet would come but it seems like she was wrong. "I swear they're all a bunch of morons," they had docked at a new island to pick up food supplies that Sanji needed and the cook had left no more than an hour ago but Nami was wishing he would come back soon so they could leave. "Maybe I should have gone with Sanji?" she was now regretting not agreeing to his offer. Before leaving Sanji asked if she wanted to join him but she had declined because she wanted some time to relax. Too bad she wasn't getting any.
"Do you miss Mr. Cook that much?" Robin sat down next to her on the other lawn chair, an amused smile on her face.
"What?" Nami nearly jumped out of her chair. "What the hell makes you say that?" she looked away in embarrassment, her cheeks a light pink.
Robin only smiled more. "Perhaps it is because you give him more attention and compassion than you do with the others. So I figured you must like him and therefore miss him."
Her words left Nami speechless. "Are you crazy!" For about five seconds before she exploded. "As if I would like that guy?" she crossed her arms and scoffed at Robin's words, acting like she said the most ridiculous thing in the world.
"If you say so." By the way she was smiling said she didn't believe what she was being told.
With a sigh, Nami decided to confess. It was the only way to make sure the topic never resurfaced. "Ok, so maybe I have a small crush on the guy but come on, he's practically the only normal one around here," she took a moment to re-think her words. "Well semi-normal." She still considered him a weird perverted cook that got on her nerves.
"What do you mean?" There was no humor in Robin's voice, she was honestly curious about what her friend had said.
"Well…" Nami looked around the ship and began her explanation. "For starters Luffy is way to much like a little kid for my liking. Maybe even along the lines of an annoying little brother, Zoro annoys me to the point I want to pull my hair out and can get lost in his own hammock. Usopp is almost as bad as Luffy when it comes to acting like a child and he's such scaredy-cat. Chopper is cute but I'm not into animals, Franky is half machine and so not my type, and Brook…well he's a skeleton."
"And…?"
"And what?" Nami wasn't sure what else she was supposed to say. She explained why she didn't like the other guys already.
"Mr. Cook," Robin said. "You didn't explain why you like our beloved chief."
Nami jumped a little but slowly she clamed herself, her chin resting in her hands. "Well I guess it's because he is less annoying than the other, and he's always doing such nice things for me, he always puts my life before his and will believe anything I tell him," She paused, trying to think of how to phrase her next thoughts. "And I guess it's because of how he looks at me."
Now Robin was really curious. "How he looks at you? What do you mean?"
Nami was silent, she had words in her but she didn't know how to say them. "It's hard to explain but I guess the easiest way is that it's just a feeling I get."
"A feeling?" Robin was enjoying this talk. It was very interesting.
"Yeah," Nami looked up at the sky, watching as the clouds and birds passed by with the wind. "It's like when he looks at me I get this strange feeling that it's a look that only belongs to me and no one else. Kind of like a pair of rare black pearls that only look good on me and no other girls gets to see them." she had never put her feelings for the chief into words before so she was a little surprised by how easy it was for her to say them.
"Hmm?" Robin took in everything that she had been told and gave her reply with a happy but amused grin. "Sounds like your in love."
"What?" Nami fell off her chair by Robin's words.
"Calm down," Robin helped her friend stand back up on her own two feet. "It was just a little thought I had."
"Well don't ever say something like that again." Nami huffed, wiping imaginary dust off her skirt. "As if I could ever fall in love with that guy. It's nothing more than a minor crush that will go away," she could hear Robin giggling and her mind flashed her a picture of Sanji with Robin's words screaming loud in her head. "I hope."
"I'm telling you it works!" Usopp cried again for the hundredth time.
"I'm saying it's doesn't," Franky cried back. "Ain't no way that stupid thing is a time machine."
"Well it is," Usopp held in his hands what looked like a compass but with three piece of wood below it with strange markings on it. "It's the "Time Compass" a rare item that can only be found on the grand line and will take us anywhere in time. We just need to hook it up to the ship and we'll be able to travel anywhere in time," he cleared his throat. "Or show I say any-when in time." Luffy and Chopper looked on in amazement.
"Well let's see it then." Franky told him to make it work, to prove that it wasn't just some stupid toy.
"Yeah, about that…" Usopp looked very uncomfortable. "I don't know how it works," Luffy and Chopper fell down in shock and Franky laughed at him. "But once I do then we'll be able to travel all over the time stream." Luffy and Chopper seemed to brighten up at that. Usopp twisted the three wooden pieces around, trying to see if there was a curtain patter of turns or symbols needed to make it work.
"Whatever," Franky walked over and took the compass out of Usopp's hands and walked towards the wheel of the ship. "As if just attaching this thing will make it work. I bet it's just a stupid toy for little kids," To prove his prove his point Franky attached it to the very middle of the wheel and everyone watched for something to happen. "See, nothing!" he laughed and Usopp sank to his knees.
"No way, it can't be true." He was utterly disappointed that his new gadget didn't work.
"Well it's true. Sorry to bust your bubble but you just gotta face that facts that – !" Franky spoke to soon.
The compass suddenly started moving, the arrow spinning out of control and making a strange high pitch noise. A bright white light started to appear out of the glass cover and soon began to spread all around the ship. Everyone looked at the light, even Zoro had woken up to watch in surprise and horror as the light surrounded them and their ship. Suddenly it felt like reality itself was being destroyed and their bodies were being thrown all over, their minds seemingly going crazy and their cries sounded distorted and strange. It was like they were trapped inside a giant spinning ball and there was no exit.
Or so they thought.
With a violent tremor the ship landed in water and shook everyone on board. They all cried out once they landed and waited for their organs to set back in their proper place before they looked around.
"W-Where are we?" Chopper asked, hiding behind Zoro and looking extremely freaked out. He didn't like any of what just happened and wanted to get back home.
"According to the Log Post we're still on the same island but in a different area." Nami answered, looking at the device on her wrist.
"See, I told you it works!" Usopp cheered triumphantly and Luffy joined him.
Franky scoffed and turned away. "It only took us to a different spot so I don't gotta apologize." He crossed his arms and seemed a little bitter about being wrong.
"It doesn't matter who was wrong and who was right," Nami was ready to hit them all. "Let's just get back to our original spot, wait for Sanji to come back, and then get the hell out of this place." She had enough of all this and wanted desperately to go back and take a much needed nap.
"We can't," Franky growled, throwing the compass at Usopp. It bounced off his head and landed in Robin's hands. "That stupid thing drained all our power so I can't use the motors to get us back and without any winds we're stuck here." The wind had not started up yet so for now they were stuck.
"So for now we're stuck here," Nami said, looking up at the clouds. "Wherever that is."
"Hey, I smell food," Luffy jumped up to bow of the ship and pointed. They were just outside a dark blue restaurant with one half in the ocean and the other half on land, a dark auburn walkway was set up for tables to set outside. The whole place screamed first class. "Let's get some food!" Already his mouth was drooling at the thought of eating.
"I could go for some grub myself." Zoro had to agree with their captain, some food sounded good right about now.
"What about Sanji?" Chopper asked, worried for their missing member.
"He'll be fine," Zoro let out a long yawn. "Just make one of the girls scream and he'll come running. After all he is a big fan of yours." He smirked and Nami didn't like how he phrased that.
"Oh, shut up Zoro!" He had better not have been listening to hers and Robin's conversation. She'll kill him if he was.
"What's going on out there?" they heard someone coming out from the restaurant and strangely the voice sounded familiar. "Sorry but we're closed so come back another time." The eight strawhat pirates gasped in shock as they looked up at who came out of the building.
"SANJI?" Their cries could be heard all over the island.
"Huh?" their cries reached Sanji, or his look alike, they weren't sure. "Nami? What are you doing back so soon and did you get a haircut?" he looked her over and the red-head was just standing there, mouth wide open.
It sure as hell sounded like Sanji, his voice was a bit deeper but it sounded and looked like him. "What's going on here?" they all wanted to know the answer to that.
"Hmm?" the man before them stared long and hard at them, a cigarette in his mouth. "Damn it," he sighed and pointed to the restaurant. "Come on inside. We can talk more there."
"Wait a minute," Nami stopped him before he could disappear inside. "Where are we? Just what the hell is going on here?" she wanted answers and she wanted them now.
"You guys are in the future, about twenty years." They got their answer.
"WHAT?" Too bad it only made them scream even more.
After getting over the shock of their sudden time travel they went inside to see a table filled with food, all made by the future Sanji. "Well eat up. By the noise I heard outside when you guys first arrived says your starving," he looked at a certain few. "Or the ones with the bottomless pits are."
"Yay! Food!" Luffy, Chopper, Brook and Usopp ran to the table while the other four walked like normal people did.
"See, I told you the Time Compass works." Usopp said between bites.
"Ok, I believe it now." Franky blushed, sadden how wrong he was.
"Time Compass?" Sanji looked confused as he set down the last plate on the table. He pulled out a seat next to Nami and Chopper and blew out some smoke.
"A new toy he picked up," Nami explained how he came running onto the ship all excited about a new gadget and how Franky was trying to prove him wrong. "Turns out the damn thing works and now we're here."
"Hmm?" Sanji put out his cigarette and seemed to think over what he was told. "Can't say I've ever heard of this Time Compass."
"Probably because when this was happening the Sanji in our time is off buying food products for us." Nami was worried. What if they were stuck in this time period forever? They needed to get back before the Sanji of their time period returned and found they were gone.
"I see," he lit another cigarette and Nami rolled her eyes. Twenty years into the future and some things never change. "Well you guys are welcomed to stay here until you figure out how to get back."
"Thanks, we really appreciate it." Nami smiled at him, something she usually does when he does something nice for her. She was expecting him to go all heart-eye for her but he only returned her smile, making her heart speed up. "Okay, this is different." She wasn't used to this Sanji. She was used to the idiotic-perverted cook that she had grown used too. This guy was twenty years different than the one she knew and he almost seemed...cool? Was that the word to describe him? "This is so confusing!" So far she was not liking their future trip. To her left Robin was sipping her coffee but Nami still heard her laughing. "Oh, shut up." She hated that her cheeks were starting to resemble her hair color more now and Robin's laughing wasn't making her feel better.
"Hey Sanji?" Luffy called between him devouring plate after plate. "How come your bangs are the wrong way? Did you not brush it right or something?" his question caused everyone too look at their future crewmate. It was true, his right eye was covered now and his left eye was being seen for the very first time.
"No, I just changed my style. I'm not going to keep looking the same way for the rest of my life." He explained, taking out the cigarette to tap off the lose ashes before sticking it back in his mouth.
"So where are we anyways?" Zoro asked, biting off a giant chuck of fish. "I don't remember this restaurant being here before?" when they first arrived on the island he had run fifty laps for training around the whole island and not once did he ever see this place.
"You're in my restaurant," his answer shocked them. Luffy was shocked as well but he was still eating everything in site. "After our trip here I found it to be a good place to live out my life and dream here. If memory serves I should open it in about the next few years."
"Wow, so this place is really yours?" Nami had to admit that she was impressed.
"That's amazing!" Chopper was also impressed.
"So what is this lovely place called?" Robin asked.
Sanji smirked. "All Blue."
"All Blue?" Nami did a double take. "You mean after the ocean that you dream of finding."
"Yep." Sanji nodded his head.
"So that must mean you found it!" She didn't know why but she was really happy for the guy.
"Yep." He nodded again, looking very happy at the moment.
"That's great," Luffy swallowed a giant piece of meat and grinned. "Congratulations!" he and everyone else cheered for their future teammate about his dream coming true.
"Thanks, but relax. By what you've told me means that we'll be celebrating a lot more soon enough." He didn't say anymore than that, only inhaled more smoke and let it all out with a giant puff.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Luffy asked, confused by the words he was told.
Sanji just waved it off. "Sorry, but I can't reveal too much about to future."
"He's right," Robin agreed. "If we learn more than what we're supposed too than we may end changing the past when we go back."
"Well if can't tell us about our futures than tell us about yours," Brook suggested, taking a long sip of his coffee. "I don't see the harm in telling your future as it in now. Your past self isn't here to change anything for you."
"I guess," Sanji seemed to think this over very carefully. "Of course I can't tell you everything and I'll probably have to vague about some of the details."
"That's fine," Brook put down his cup and put his chin in his hands. "So tell us Sanji, how is your future?"
"My future?" Sanji leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling to try and find the right words that wouldn't reveal too much information. "Well after our adventure ended and I found All Blue I went back to tell Chef Zeff about my tales, for a few months I saved up to open this restaurant here. Business is good, a couple of thugs run through here but nothing major. Currently I'm living with my wife and family and all in all I'm pretty happy." He put out his second cigarette to light up another one.
"WHAT?" The cries of his eight crewmates caused him to drop his light and smoke. "YOU'RE MARRIED?" Everyone's eyes other than Robin's were as wide as plates.
"Well yeah," Sanji seemed surprised and shaken up by their reaction. "I'm happily married, have been for the past eighteen years." He showed them his wedding ban and they all nearly fell of their seats.
"Nami! Quick, check if it's real!" Zoro shouted, his eyes were bugging out.
"Already on it." Nami grabbed Sanji's left hand and carefully examined the gold ban around his left ring finger.
"Well…?" they all pressed her for an answer.
She sighed and held up the hand again. "It's real gold. That man's telling the truth." She let go of his hand, trying to block the thoughts of wanting to steal the gold ring off his finger.
"Oh man," Zoro seemed appalled by all this. "What poor sap would be dumb enough to marry you?" he felt extremely bad for whoever agreed to be the pervert's wife. "Hopefully the woman got a good divorce lawyer."
"Hey," Sanji leaned down and kick the swordsman right out of his chair. "Don't speak ill of my wife." He seemed very upset.
"Why you…!" Zoro growled, very tempted to pull out his swords and cut off the guy's feet once and for all.
Robin watched all this with a happy grin. "So tell us Mr. Cook where is your wife?"
"My wife?" Sanji stopped being angry and straightened up in his chair once Robin spoke to him. "Right now she's visiting her family back home. She should be back some time tomorrow."
"I see," Robin nodded, saying she understood. "May we know who this wife of yours is?"
"Sorry," he shook his head and gave her an apologetic grin. "I would tell you but I don't want to risk my future with her not happening. I'm very happy with my life right now and I don't want to lose it."
For some reason the smile he wore bothered Nami. "Oh, come on," she scooted her chair closer to his, her leg brushing up against his. "You can tell us Sanji. We're your friends, so we won't do anything to you or your future wife." Although Nami had a feeling if she met the woman she probably make her cry within five minutes. For some reason she was very upset and she didn't know why.
"Sorry, but I can't do that," Sanji cleared his throat and pushed away from her. "It hurts me to keep something from you but I love my wife and I don't want to risk my future with her."
Nami was frozen in shock. Sanji had actually turned her down; he didn't do what she told him too? He always does whatever she wants?
"Whoa, sounds like this is serious." Zoro's voice could be heard in the background.
"Seriously, he didn't go all goo-goo for Nami." Usopp joined in.
"You think he's sick?" Chopper asked.
"I can hear you, you know!" Sanji cried, making Chopper and Usopp jump and Zoro grunt.
"What's going on down there?" A new voice could be heard and everyone turned to watch as a young girl walked out from one of the rooms upstairs. "Are you fighting with the customers again, dad?" a girl with long blonde hair and brown eyes looked down at them, her bangs covering her forehead and the left side was longer than the left. Her eye was still seen, only the eyebrow was covered.
"Aiko!" Sanji jumped out of his chair, a happy grin on his face. "Come down and meet some old daddy's old friends!"
"DADDY?" They all cried once again, staring in shock as the watched the girl climb down the stairs and walk over to their table.
"Well yeah, I did I was married," Sanji put his hand on his daughter's shoulder once she joined them. "This is my oldest daughter, Aiko. She's sixteen years old and a proud combination of me and her lovely mother." He seemed like he was glowing with pride.
"You're over doing it again, dad." Aiko told her father, a soft sigh escaping her. It seemed like she was sued to his weird behavior. "Hmm?" she felt eyes watching her and sweat dropped when she saw what types of looks she was getting. "Is there something wrong with them?" she wondered, a little considered by how they weren't moving.
"N-No way." Usopp had his mouth wide open.
"This is getting way to freaky man." Zoro was not enjoying himself. He wanted to find a place to sleep already and forget about this craziness.
"What kind of future have we stumbled into?" Brook cried both of his skull hands on his cheeks.
"Maybe he kidnapped her?" Luffy suggested.
"No, you dumbass," Sanji kicked his rubber head. "I didn't kidnap her. She is my own daughter. A creation of love between and my lovely N – !" he stopped himself before he let his wife's name slip. "I mean, my lovely wife." He cleared his throat, trying to act as if nothing happened.
"Who…?" Nami watched him walk back to his daughter and speak softly to her. Probably telling her not the say who he was married too or not give away any important future information. "Who's name was he going to say?" for a minute she thought he was going to say her name. "But that couldn't be it…could it?" she didn't have the answer to that and it bothered her.
"So you guys are my dad's crewmates of the past?" Aiko walked closer to them, looking over them all. "Well you all look the same to me as you do in this time period." She crossed her arms and didn't seem too impressed by them. She went from Franky to Zoro to Robin to Nami. Brown eyes seemed to enlarge for a moment before going back to normal size, but her eyes remained on the navigator.
"Is there something on my face?" she wondered, her hand already grabbing the napkin to wipe off any remaining food that may have stuck to her.
"So you're Sanji's kid?" Luffy asked and Aiko nodded. "Awesome! You gotta come on an adventure with us!" he had a wide grin on his face, already planning the type of adventure they would all have together.
"Yeah, thanks but no thanks," Aiko waved them off. "From the stories I've heard I'll stick to my own adventures."
"Oh?" Robin seemed to straighten up, an amused grin back on her face. "So tell me Mr. Cook, just what kind of tales have you been telling your lovely daughter?"
"Oh, you know…" Sanji rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "Just the usual stories." He gave a small a laugh that told everyone what they needed to know.
He basically lied and made himself out as the hero and them as the stupid sidekicks.
"Anyways, why doesn't everyone head off to bed?" he pulled out the chairs of both Nami and Robin. "We have plenty of room. So you don't have to worry about where you're sleeping tonight ladies."
"Thank you, Mr. Cook." Robin thanked him with a smile.
"Yeah, thanks." Nami for some reason couldn't bring herself to smile as much.
"It's my pleasure," he led them to the stairs. "Now you two ladies can sleep in Aiko's room and the rest of you losers can sleep in the shed."
"Hey! How come we get the shed and they get a real room?" Usopp asked in annoyance. They may be twenty years into the future but he was still being treated the same.
"Relax, there are beds in there. That's where the other workers sleep." He explained.
"That doesn't make me feel better." Usopp cried but his voice was falling on deaf ears.
"Other workers?" Nami asked, wondering what exactly he meant by that.
"The other cooks and waiters that work for me," He began to explain to them what his restaurant was like. "As of right now it's a holiday so I sent everyone home for a few days to be with their families."
"So it's just you and your family living here at the moment?" Robin asked him.
"As of right now yes, but once the holiday ends than the workers that can't commute to work will come back here and the usual life will start all over again." He said.
"I see," suddenly Nami's eyes started to shine. "I guess this means you're pretty loaded."
Sanji started laughing and put his arm around Nami's shoulder. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." His smile was having a weird affect on her. It was making her face heat up and she couldn't stand to look him in the eyes. She suddenly felt very embarrassed and shy.
"What the hell's wrong with me?" she desperately wanted an answer.
"Nami? Is something wrong?" Sanji asked, worry for her overtaking his face.
Her face started to become flush again once she saw this. "Everything fine. Just a little tired," she walked out of his hold and went to stand very close to Robin, almost like she was hiding behind her. Hopefully a good night's sleep will have her back to normal. "Wait a minute," a sudden thought occurred to her. "Aiko where are you going to sleep?" she just now realized that they were taking her room and kicking the girl out.
"She'll sleep with me," Sanji practically jumped towards his daughter. "It'll just be like when you were a little girl and you couldn't sleep without daddy there to protect you from the monsters." He was fussing over his daughter and it was a little creepy to say the least.
"No way in hell, dad," Aiko rolled her eyes at her father. "I'm sleeping at a friend's house tonight."
"But why?" he started to cry, a handkerchief clenched between his teeth. "Do you hate daddy?"
Aiko sighed. "No, I don't hate you."
"Then why don't you want to spend some lovely father/daughter time together?" he cried again, wanting an answer.
"Because you get to clingy in your sleep," Aiko shouted out, eyes glaring at her crying father. "I don't know how mom stands it but I give her props for putting up with it for so long." She added, climbing the stairs to her room to pack for her sleepover.
Sanji fell to his knees and swirled his finger around the clean floor. "Mommy likes it when daddy cuddles."
"Seems like he's still the same old, Sanji." Nami was glad to see that in some ways he was still the same idiotic man that she knows. This news made her feel better.
"Hmm?" Zoro made a noise and everyone turned to look at him.
"Something wrong?" Chopper asked, worried it might be a sickness.
"Sort of," Zoro looked up to the closed door that was Aiko's room. "It's just when she shouted at him…"
"Yeah?" they urged him to continue.
"She just reminded me of someone." His eyes landed on Nami, sharp black eyes that seemed like they were focusing all their might to try and solve a very completes riddle.
"What?" Nami asked, wanting to know why everyone was looking at her.
"Nothin'. Just forget," Zoro yawned, heading for a nearby door. "I'm beat. Let's go to bed already." He opened the door but stopped when he realized it was the brook closet.
"The shed's outside, moron." Sanji pointed out a window where the tip of the shed could be seen.
"Shut up! I knew that! I was just testing you!" Zoro yelled, his face a flushed pink from the embarrassment of his crappy lack of direction.
"Yeah right." They all knew that wasn't true.
"Please tell me he gets a better sense of direction in the future." Nami really hoped so. She was tried of the swordsman fighting with her on how she navigates, saying how she should follow the clouds.
"Nope," Sanji shook his head. "It's hard to believe but he gets even worst."
Nami looked at her green-haired crewmate that was currently fighting with the others about his mistake. "You're right, I don't believe it." It was strange, just standing next to him like that felt normal to Nami. It felt almost natural to be standing at his side and that feeling frightened her.
Night had come and all had slept peacefully until Luffy decided he was hungry and tried getting a midnight snack. He set off a giant alarm that woke up everyone.
"You idiot! Get out of my kitchen!" Sanji cried, literally kicking the rubber man out.
"But I'm hungry!" Luffy cried, his arms and legs grabbing onto the wall.
"Then wait till morning when it's breakfast time." Sanji kicked his head and sent the boy out into the dining room.
"Ow! Why do you have to have a stupid alarm for your fridge anyways?" Luffy grumbled, unhappy that his attempt for food had failed.
"I installed it after your first time visiting me. You ate three months worth of food on me so I had to put in an alarm!" Sanji cried, retyping in the alarm code to turn it off and back into lockdown mood.
"No fair." Luffy rolled around on the floor like a spoiled child.
"Oh, shut up and go to bed." Sanji had had enough and kicked Luffy out the door and the roof of the shed. He landed on his bed and once his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.
Nami watched all this happen from the top of the stairwell and couldn't stop the smile that was on her face. Moments like this were normal and she was used to them all happening almost every night. She was used to giant mouse traps or bear traps or a house but she hadn't expected an alarm system. "Nice thinking." She approved and walked back to the bed she had been sleeping in before the alarm woke her up.
Morning came and Nami woke with a sigh of content. The bed she was sleeping on was so soft and comfortable that she didn't want to get up.
"Aiko! Daddy's here to wake you up!" Sanji came bursting into the room and made Nami shriek in surprise.
"Sanji! What the hell?" she glared at him, throwing a pillow at his face.
He caught the pillow with ease and gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry Nami, force of habit. I'm used to waking Aiko up in the morning because she has such a hard time getting up."
Nami nodded, saying she understood. "I can relate," she patted down on the soft mattress. "This bed is so comfy that I don't want to get up myself." She stretched her arms above her head, to show just how comfortable she was.
"But of course it is," Sanji suddenly started to glow again, eyes sparkling and all. "My little angel deserves nothing but the best. Even if I have to climb up to the sky and grab a cloud for her to sleep on I will!" had it been anyone else they would have thought he was kidding, but Nami knew his words were true.
"Yeah…right…?" she had no clue what she was supposed to say to that. "Anyway, do you mind closing the door? I want to get dressed now."
He stared at her for a long while, almost as if he was surprised by her words. "Of course, Nami! No problem." He got over it fast and left her with a smile as he shut the door.
"Well that was weird." She jumped out of the bed and changed back into the clothes she had yesterday. "Maybe it's because I asked nicely? I do usually punch the guys when they come in my room," She figured that was it and started taking off the white nightdress. Sanji had been nice enough to let her and Robin wear his wife's sleeping clothes. Although it somehow bothered her that his wife was just two sizes bigger than her. "We better get home fast. I'm tired of being so mad all the time for no damn reason!" she pulled her shirt on with a hard thug and walked out onto the balcony. She had to say that Aiko had a really nice room and she was tempted to ask Franky to redesign her room a little like this one. The balcony faced out into the ocean and the beach so you could see all the beautiful trees and wildlife that came by.
"Wow, this girl certain has a good life," she was impressed by it. "I wouldn't mind living here myself." she mumbled the last part, not wanting anyone hearing her. Robin had not been in the room when she had woken up but that didn't mean the archeologist wasn't listening.
"I heard that," Nami cursed when she heard Robin's voice. Looking above her she saw the raven-haired beauty sitting on the roof of the restaurant, an amused grin plastered on her face. "I must say I am finding some very interesting things this morning." She was sitting crossed legged, feet dangling off the red roof and Nami caught a glimpse of something in her hands.
"What do you have there?" she asked, slightly wondering if she found some treasure or other valuable items.
"Oh, this?" Robin held the item high above her head, the sun hitting it and blinding Nami. With her well trained eyes she was able to see it was a picture frame but she couldn't make out the photo because of the sun's glare on the glass. "I found it in Mr. Cook's bedroom. It is a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day," Nami gulped when she heard those words, hands going up to shield her eyes from the sun and trying to get a better view of the photo. She wanted to know who Sanji's wife was but all she could see was the smiling cook, one arm wrapped around the woman whose face was being blocked by the light of the sun. Nami could just barely see that she had long hair that went down to the waist and it might have been the light of the sun but it looked like the same color as her hair.
"I must say that Mr. Cook and Mrs. Cook look very happy together. You can see in this photo that they really love each other." There was that smile again, a smile that said she knew so much more than she was letting on.
Nami scoffed and turned her back on Robin and the photo. "Well I can't see the damn thing so I have no comment for it." She pouted out, eyes closed, and arms crossed as she tried to hold in whatever she was feeling. Her chest hurt for some reason but she couldn't understand why.
Or maybe she did know and she was just denying it?
"Aiko!" she heard Sanji's cries of joy as his daughter returned and he ran out the door to greet her. "Daddy missed you so much." He jumped in the air to give her a giant hug but Aiko managed to jump away in time.
Sanji landed face first in the sand and Aiko was standing over him, one hand in her pocket and the other holding the strap of her bag. You could see in her brown eyes that there was some slight annoyance but on her face was a ghost of a smile. "It's way too early in the morning for you to be shouting so much, dad." Aiko told her father with a lazy yawn.
"But daddy loves you and what kind of man would I be if I didn't shout out how much I love my little girl?" he jumped to his feet in no time, flames of determination burning in his eyes.
Aiko sighed as she opened the door. "A normal one." she muttered to herself but Nami still heard her and couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry so much, Sanji," she called down to him, a huge grin on her face. "She's just at the age!" she knew what it was like to be a girl growing up and going through puberty. Even growing up in the conditions she did she still had to go through the same problems that befell every girl sooner or later.
Sanji looked up at her, a grin of his own appearing. "Yeah, I guess your right." He dusted off the rest of the sand and followed after his daughter into his restaurant.
Nami watched as she disappeared and had the same smile on her face as Aiko had. "This place looks really fun."
"Yes, it does," Nami jumped when Robin jumped down beside her, and cursed that she had said that last part out loud. "This place seems very lively and it appears Sanji is happy and by how his daughter looks says that she is happy here too."
Nami gave a small nod and looked out at the ocean. "Yeah, I guess your right," she had a distant look in her eyes, a look only Robin could see and understand. "I mean Sanji is very successful right now and you can tell that he hasn't let the wealth go to his head and he really seems to care about his family," her eyes remained glued onto the ocean. "Who wouldn't be happy here, living this kind of life everyday?"
Robin looked down at the orange-haired girl and patted her head. "You know you and Aiko have the same smile." She whispered softly in her ear.
"Huh?" Nami didn't even realize she was smile. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now. He's happily married and by the noise I'm hearing downstairs means we're probably heading back home." She walked off the balcony and crossed the room towards the door.
"You know," Robin called out to her, making Nami freeze once she opened the door. "If I didn't know any better Miss Navigator I'd almost say you were jealous of his wife." She leaned up against the balcony doors, arms crossed, and a knowing smile on her face as she waited for her reply.
"Jealous, huh?" Nami could tell this time that she had on a smile, a small and sad one. She turned around enough to face Robin to show her how pathetic she looked right now. "I guess you're right. I'm jealous." She said it and then left.
"I see," Robin looked back down at the photo she held in her hands. "You're jealous? That is quite humors. I wonder what she will say after she meets Mrs. Cook face to face." She said, looking back outside and smiled when she saw the small silhouette of a figure walking towards them.
Nami walked down the stairs with a long sigh escaping her, her hands hanging loosely by her sides in a defeated slump. She just admitted to Robin that she was jealous of Sanji's wife which meant she just admitted to herself that she had more than just a crush on him. She honest to god had real feelings for him and it hurt that the person she cared for was happily married and she had to watch it all. "Life Sucks!" she shouted inside her mind.
She came down to he dinning room and put on a fake smile that she was so used to by now that it was as simple as putting on a mask. "Morning guys." She called to everyone and walked to the table they had been sitting at yesterday for some breakfast. She desperately needed some coffee and food in her.
"Morning Nami!" she received greetings back from Chopper and Brook. Luffy and Zoro were too busy stuffing their faces to say anything. Strangely Franky and Usopp were nowhere to be seen.
"So how'd you guys sleep in the shed?" she sat down in the same seat she sat in yesterday, waiting for the whines and complaints that would surely come.
"It was great!" Usopp cheered and Nami wondered if her hearing was suddenly going.
"It was?" Maybe she was still half asleep and was hearing things?
"Yeah, it was really cool," Chopper had taken the seat next to her and had a big happy smile on his face. "The beds were really bouncy and comfy and there was a big TV and lots of room for us to play," He was explaining it all to her, his eyes getting bigger with each word. "Sanji says it's because he wants his workers comfortable. He says since they're living here then they should be happy and relaxed when they can call it a day." He seemed really happy about all of this, his innocents was practically radiating off him.
Nami laughed and patted his head. "Sounds like you had a good time." She had to admit that she was happy that Chopper had enjoyed himself. He was such a little kid that she had sort of taken on the role of a big sister for him. Robin had said she acted more like a mother caring for her son but Nami hadn't been able to retaliate because Sanji had gone into his weird lovey-dovey mood and wouldn't stop bugging her about how she would be the perfect mother for their children. "That was a long day." She rolled her eyes, remembering that day well. That incident was before Brook or Franky had joined them and before she even acknowledged her crush on him.
"Yeah, we had a blast!" Chopper cheered and Nami had to laugh. He really was such a little kid.
"Ok, now, it's time to calm down and eat your breakfast. We don't know what we'll find when he get back to our time so we weed everyone to be at full strength." She told him with a small smile on her face.
"Okay!" Chopper listened and took a giant bite out of his bacon and grinned when the flavor hit his tongue and sighed in content.
Nami giggled some before getting up to get her breakfast when a plate full of bacon, sausage, and eggs was set down in front of her, along with a fresh cup of coffee and the newspaper. "Thank you, Sanji." She smiled up at the blonde, already over the shock. She was used to him doing this stuff.
"You are welcome, Nami. I know how you like to read the newspaper while you drink your coffee." He grinned down at her before setting off back to the kitchen to grab more plates of food for them.
"Oi! Curly Cook, pack that stuff up to go because we are outta here!" Franky came bursting in with an equally excited Usopp behind him.
"We figured out how to work the Time Compass and now we can go back to out time period!" Usopp cheered as he held up the small device that had transported them twenty years into the future.
"You did?" Luffy asked with a mouth full of food.
"Amazing!" Chopper and Brook clapped for them, completely blown away that they solved their time problem so fast.
Zoro only grunted and went back to eating his bacon and drinking his booze.
"Yep," Franky and Usopp both gave each other thumbs up and grinned brightly. "Long nose and I woke up early and with our combined highly intelligent brains, we were able to solve out problem." Franky boasted and Usopp joined in, which only made Chopper and Broke clap louder and deliver them with praise that only made their egos bigger.
"Idiots." Nami mutter under her breath and Sanji and Zoro grunted in agreement.
Only those grunts started a fight between the two constantly bickering males.
"You got something to say Curly?" Zoro set down his cup and leaned back in his chair, trying to look tough and menacing.
"Nothing to you, scary face." Sanji replied, lighting up a fresh cigarette and taking in this situation very calmly.
"Wha…" Zoro sat in his chair, eyes and mouth wide with shock before he finally reacted. "What the hell did you just call me?" he jumped to his feet, swords pulled and aimed at the blond cook.
"Zoro!" Nami gasped in surprise and jumped to her own feet, hoping she could stop the fight before it even started.
Sanji pull out a buff of smoke and grinned. "I said "nothing to say to you, scary face"."
Zoro's cheeks turned red and he jumped at Sanji but was lucky held back by Robin's powers. "Mr. Swordsman, please do not kill Mr. Cook. You may disrupt the timeline and then we will all be in very big trouble." She calmly explained.
"I don't care," Zoro thrashed in the hold of a hundred arms holding him down. "I'll kill this bastard for making fun of me!" he struggled with all his strength but was able to point one of his swords at Sanji.
Nami was confused. "What are you so mad about?" she has never seen Zoro this mad before. "It's just a dumb name. He's called you worst." She can think of a million things worst to be called.
"He's upset because growing up all the kids called him scary face," Sanji spoke up, blowing out another puff of smoke. "And when he tried to look at little kids they would start crying and calling him a scary monster." He grinned and Zoro blushed.
Nami looked from Sanji to Zoro and groaned. "You can't be serious."
Sanji laughed when Zoro tried breaking free again. "He's quite sensitive about his face," he put out the cigarette once it had reached the end and went to light another one. "I must say it's good being a man of the future. It means I can make Mr. Big-Bad-Swordsman cry like a little –!"
He was stopped by Aiko hitting him on the head. "Dad, you're an idiot." She told her father and sighed.
"Aiko," Sanji whimpered, eyes watering with unshed tears and it looked like Aiko was regretting hitting her father. "You are so much like your mother! Full of a fiery ambition that shall never die!" or she was until he started acting like a complete fool.
"Nothing a girl does ever gets you mad? Does it dad?" Aiko questioned her father who only nodded enthusiasm. "I figured." She sighed, putting her hands in her jacket pockets and sat down next to her father.
"Um…hello?" Usopp cried over, waving his arms around like crazy. "Aren't you guys excited about going home?"
"I guess."
"Sure."
"Whatever."
"More food!"
"What's with the indifferent replies!" Usopp cried again only to be ignored by most of the crew.
"So what do we have to do, Usopp?" Chopper asked and finally everyone was paying attention.
Usopp began. "It's quite simple actually. You see, the moment we placed this device on the wheel of the ship it activated because it used the ship energy to operate,"
"So all we need to do is repeat the process but turn the dial in reverse and we'll be back home in no time." Franky finished.
"The only problem is the ship only has about half the power it originally had so we'll need some help to power the ship." Both Franky and Usopp said with a sly look on their faces as their eyes fell onto Luffy.
The strawhat captain stared at them blankly. "What?"
"Nothing," Usopp and Franky nodded to each other. Franky going one way and Usopp going over to Luffy. "But Luffy…" Usopp straightened up before moving into action. "Catch the meat!" he had on at the end of the fishing pole a large piece of meat and Luffy jumped at it. He chased after Usopp, mouthing watering at the thought of tasting the juices meat that kept running away from him.
"Luffy," Franky called to him. 'Use this to catch him." He pointed to a blue bike.
"Thanks!" Luffy grinned and jumped onto the bike. "Now I'll catch him for sure." He started moving his legs at full power, making the bike's wheels spin out of control.
"He does realize that the bike isn't moving, right?" Aiko asked her father as they watched Usopp dangling the piece of meat in front of Luffy's face.
"Nope," Sanji replied to his daughter. "He's to busy focusing on the meat that he doesn't see anything else." He let out a puff of smoke and sighed.
It seemed their way to power the ship was to use Luffy's ongoing energy. He was sitting on a workout bike with a giant cord attached to the bike of it, they figured the power he was generating by pedaling was being absorbed by the ship.
"How long do you think it'll take until he realizes the bike isn't going anywhere?" Brook asked, sipping his tea.
"Never." Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Chopper all answers. They knew their captain and they all knew he wouldn't notice anything until he caught the piece of meat.
"So why doesn't he just stretch his neck to grab the meat?" Zoro asked, coming up with a very obvious solution.
"You really think Luffy would think of something that obvious?" Nami replied, arms crossed and a bored look on her face.
"Good point." Zoro just shrugged his shoulders and sat down in the chair, wondering if he could get in a quick nap.
"Nami," Usopp motioned her over. "I need you to hold onto this fishing rod. Make sure it doesn't get to close to him or else he might eat you along with the meat." He handed her the rod and started walking out the door.
"Wait? Where are you going?" the coward better not have left her here because he was scared of being eaten. "If Luffy tries to take even one bite out of me, I'll make sure to put hot sauce in Usopp's shampoo so Luffy will eat him!" Nami had her revenge plan already if she needed it.
"We're going to the ship," Franky wrapped the cord around her feet. "We need the others help with the ship, making sure the power goes to the engine and isn't being wasted," he tied the blue cord tightly around her right ankle. "Make sure this doesn't come off. It'll be the only thing that will tie you to the ship and take you back with us. If it comes off then you'll be stuck here." He warned her before going over to tie the cord around Luffy's waist. He then handed the end to Robin who was to stay behind and make sure Luffy didn't make it come off.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Nami groaned, not liking how she was stuck in a possible situation of being left behind.
"It'll be fine, Miss Navigator." Robin smiled over at her. She seemed very confident in the plan.
"Whatever." Nami just scoffed and continued to hold the fishing rod in front of Luffy.
"Relax," Sanji put his hand on her shoulder and for some reason that made her tense up and her face become flush. "Everything will be fine." The smile he was wearing wasn't helping her feel better. It was only making her stomach jump around in annoying nervous flips.
"Ok, we're ready!" Usopp and Franky called out, signaling they were going to activate the Time Compass and hopefully get them back home.
"This had better work!" Nami shouted out, eyes glaring warning daggers if this plan failed.
"Here we go!" they yelled and for a moment there was nothing but then just like last time a high pitched noise started up and before long the same bright light started to glow.
"It worked!" Nami cheered in joy.
"Alright, we're going home!" Luffy also cheered and was strangely still pedaling.
Robin only smiled, saying nothing.
"Sanji? What's going on?" just as the light started to flow onto the blue cord and surround Nami, Luffy, and Robin did a new person appear.
"Daddy?" two more voices spoke out and Sanji jumped at them.
"Zeff! Belle!" he jumped forward, grabbing two little kids in his arms and hugging them tightly. "Did you miss daddy?"
"Yes! We're happy to be back." Both kids said at once.
One of the two was a boy that looked exactly like Sanji, blonde hair, curly eyebrow, and even his left eye was covered by bangs. He looked exactly like a younger version of Sanji. The next one was a girl and what had shocked them was who she looked like.
"It's a little Nami!" Luffy cried, finally he stopped pedaling from the shock of what he was seeing.
"What the…?" Nami gasped in surprise, her eyes remaining on the little girl that looked exactly as she did when she was little. The little girl that just called Sanji, daddy.
"Luffy? Is that you?" the first voice came again and the three strawhat pirates looked up and gasped again when they saw who it was.
"It's a big Nami!" Luffy cried out, eyes wide and jaw nearly touching the floor.
"Honey," Sanji jumped up again, hearts in his eyes. "How was your trip? Did you miss me, my darling wife?"
"WIFE?" Nami and Luffy both cried. Robin was only smiling, like she knew about all of this already.
"What in the world?" The future Nami looked past her husband's shoulder and onto her past self and her two past crewmates. "It can't be." she gasped in awe just as the bright light started to glow again and making the three time travelers disappear.
It felt like their entire world was being pulled from everything direction and their minds were starting to crumble from the pressure of it all. Their screams and cries could be heard all over but all that was there was darkness. They were falling but they didn't know when or if they would ever land. It seemed like they would just keep falling. Forever.
"Wake up," Nami jumped with a start. Her eyes wide and hands going out to defend herself only to be pushed back down. "Relax, it's just me." She looked up and saw that it was Zoro sitting above her.
"W-What happened?" she asked, holding her head as her mind started to spin again.
"Not really sure of that myself." Zoro replied, standing up to wake up their sleeping captain next.
"Did we come back?" Nami asked, searching for any clues that could tell her where they were.
"It seems we never left," Robin appeared behind her and helped her stand up. "I talked to some of the people that work on the docks and they said they never saw our ship leave or any sort of light or anything. All they heard was a strange noise and that was it." She explained to her confused crewmate.
"Was it all a dream then?" Nami asked, looking at friends for answers.
"It is possible," Chopper pointed one of his hooves to his ear. "Sometimes certain sounds can affect humans to point of hallucination. Perhaps the sound the compass made caused us all to pass out and made us dream we actually traveled to the future." It made sense and slowly everyone was beginning to wrap their minds around the idea. The compass had merely made them believe they traveled to the future when in reality they had just fallen asleep on the boat and had a very strange dream.
"Nami-Swan! Robin-Chwan!" Sanji's voice could be heard and everyone held their breaths, waiting to see what would appear before them. "I'm back my lovely ladies!" they all gave a sigh of relief when they saw it was the same old Sanji that had left the boat to get food supplies.
"Welcome back, Mr. Cook." Robin greeted him with a small wave before going to attend to her flowers.
"Nami-Swan," he came dancing up to her, hearts in his eyes. "Did you miss me my love?" he asked, hope filling his voice.
"You know what Sanji," she looked closely at him and saw his eyes flashing with anticipation. He was waiting for her to turn him down, just like she has done before. "I actually did." She smiled at him, taking the bag of groceries from him and bringing them into the ship's kitchen.
"Hold on a minute," Sanji put his hand gentle on her shoulder, stopping her from leaving. "Nami is everything alright? I mean, I'm not complaining, actually I'm really happy you said that but why did you say that?" he seemed both confused and unconfident in himself. There was a light blush on his cheeks and that look in his eyes that said he was worried for her and worried what her reply would be.
Nami only smile up at him. "Nothing's wrong," she quickly turned on her heel and smiled up at the sky. "Let's just say I had a certain premonition that I enjoyed seeing." She gave him a sly grin and continued walking towards the kitchen.
Sanji followed right after her. "I'm afraid I don't really understand what you're saying, Nami." He tried taking the bag back from her but she avoided his reach and stuck her tongue out at him in a silly fashion.
"You don't have to understand, Sanji," she set the bag on the counter and began putting things away. "All you really need to know is that I came to a conclusion about some thoughts and feelings that I was hiding from myself."
"Oh?" he leaned against the table, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Anything you want to tell me?" Nami didn't miss the hope in his voice when he asked her that.
"Maybe," she shrugged her shoulders, trying to act like she normally would. If not for her well trained ears she would have missed the sigh of disappointment coming from him. "Sanji, I have a question for you," She turned around to face him and saw he was giving her his full attention. "If you had a child what would you name them?"
Her question caught him off guard and he had to stop the nosebleed that was trying to flow free. "N-N-Nami? W-What brought this up?" his face was red, eyes wide, and legs shaking like mad.
"No reason. I was just curious." She gave him an innocent grin.
"Well…I guess it would depend on who I marry and what they would want," he cleared his throat when he said that, avoiding her gaze entirely. "Although I have had a name in mind for some time."
"Oh?" Nami was very interested now. "What is it?" her eyes were bright with curiosity.
Sanji had to stop himself from grabbing her and pulling her into a never ending hug. Nami was trying to have a serious conversation with him, this was a rare opportunity for him and he was not going to waste. "Well I'm kind of hoping if I have a daughter first then I would name her Aiko."
Nami had to stop herself from gaping like a fish. "Why Aiko?" she rushed the question out, desperately wanting to know the answer.
"Because," he put the cigarette out and stared into her bright brown eyes. There was a serious look in his eyes, one that Nami wasn't used to seeing. "Aiko means "Love Child" and that is exactly what my children will be. Children born and raised from the love of their parents." Nami was silent, her eyes watching his closes.
"Yeah," finally she spoke and she had a genuine smile on her face. "Me too. I want to name my daughter that too." unconsciously she put her hand on her stomach.
"N-N-N-N-N," Sanji seemed completely shocked and tongue-tied. His body was shaking so much it amazing the ship wasn't moving from it. "NAMI-SWAN!" He could no longer contain himself and grabbed her in a tight hold. He held her in his arms, screaming about his undying love for her and Nami for once wasn't punching him. "Nami-Swan, I'm so happy. You have no idea just how happy you made me by saying you wish to name your child that glorious name!"
"Trust me, Sanji. I think I know how happy you are," this time she put both her hands on her stomach. "Maybe even three times happy," she leaned into his touch, letting his scent and the sound of his heart bring her into a state of complete peace. "Now come on," finally she pulled out of his hug and grabbed his wrist. "That can't be all the food you bought, not with Luffy as our captain. I'll help you bring the rest back."
"Nami…" Sanji was completely surprised by her behavior. "I love you!" he hugged her from behind, eyes transformed into giant pink hearts.
"Yeah, yeah, down boy." she slapped his forehead and walked off the ship.
"Have fun Mr. Cook and Miss Navigator," Robin was there to send them off. "Or should I say, Mr. and Mrs. Cook?" she whispered so only Nami could hear, a knowing look on her face.
"No," Nami whispered right back. "Not yet anyways. Maybe in the next twenty years." She and Robin both laughed.
"Did I miss something?" Sanji asked, hands in his pockets because he wasn't sure if he would be allowed to hold her hand. He wanted too, he really wanted too. She was right next to him; he could feel her body heat and his hands itched to feel her smooth palm touching his.
"Not really," she put her hands behind her back and looked up at the setting sun. "Just a little joke between us girls," she smiled happily, her mind showing pictures of a happy life that was just waiting for her. "Say Sanji, since we're out why don't we have dinner together?" her reply was a very loud shout out of "Mellorine!"
/Twenty Years Later/
"Sanji?" Nami looked at her husband who was standing in the spot where her past self had been before.
"Now it makes sense," he said softly before turning around, giving her a wide grin. "I always wondered why you asked me that day about name my first born and now I understand," He walked to his wife and embraced her in a loving hold. "Nami, I love you." He whispered into his wife's long orange silkily hair.
"I love you too." Nami whispered into his chest, inhaling the scent of nicotine that's he had missed while she was away. Her eyes traveled over to her children, Aiko was leading away Zeff and Bell outside so they could have more time alone together. "Aiko, you're such a smart girl." Nami was proud of her oldest daughter and was glad she and her other two children were born. She watched Aiko wave her a small goodbye and an amused grin on her daughters face. Nami knew why she was grinning and couldn't stop the laugh that came.
"What's so funny?" Sanji asked, a little worried she was laughing at him.
"Not much," Nami went on the tips of her toes to deliver him a kiss on the cheek. "I was just remembering during this little time trip how jealous I was."
"Jealous?" Now Sanji was confused. "What were you jealous of?"
"Myself." Nami whispered into his chest once again, tightening her hold on her loving husband and closing her eyes with a sigh of content. Her life was perfect and happy and she wouldn't trade it for all the riches in the world. She was very happy being, Mr. and Mrs. Cook.