He could've sworn that she had smiled, yet it was obvious that without skin nor muscle tissue left, this was not possible. Brooke sat nearby the railing, both legs crossed, a cup of steaming black tea kept mid-air by her bone fingers, the blonde chef of the Strawhat Crew sitting on the opposing side of the small round table. While her eyesockets seemed to be focused on the waves, regularly crushing against the wooden side of the Sunny, his blue orbs were stuck to her facial structures, as though this would give him the ability to read her emotions all of the sudden. But to no avail, as everything kept in place. The eyes did not change in size like human pupils, the shape of her mouth without a single flinch. "... But you know, I think it could be quite fun!" Her voice addressed him, arguing with something doubtful he had brought up earlier. "Tsk." Sanji replied - even if it was more than a sound than an actual answer. "No arguing with that logic then, huh?"
It was not as if they hadn't followed their captain into crazier adventured head first. This certain island was rumored for the rough environment and the hostile natives, but upon hearing this information from their archeologist, he just seemed all the more eager to have a look at the situation himself. It was on their way anyways, and even with everyone complaining about it, Nami and Usopp in particular, it had been carved into stone the second he heard about the existence of the place. That they simply had to see why things were the way they are now, what happened to put such a pressure and fear onto the people - and of course if there was any treasure to hunt down. The older the island, the better, one could say in relation to these. Therefore their chances weren't too dim. Brookes empty vision shifted to the blond that accompanied her on the deck again at such an unholy hour. "That's the point. And you trust Luffy's judgement, right? So we will be just fine. You just wait and see!"
The female exclaimed, no worry swinging in her voice as usual. "I am sure he knows what he is doing." Well, probably. There only had be one time where she doubted their leaders decisions, but everyone made mistakes. This time it wasn't sounding like something they would be unable to handle. "Your tea is getting cold like that." The blackleg pointed out. "Only holding it like that till it gets cold would be a waste." He added. Not in a lecturing manner, but more of an observation. She in fact only had looked onto the wide sea or his face since she picked up the porcelain, instead of bringing it to what could be considered her lips to take a sip every now and then, more distracted than usual. "...Oh? OH!" She quickly fumbled with the item in her grasp, nearly dropping it before catching it again with both hands, no drip of the fluid inside spilled. "Yohohohoho! I'm a bit out of it today, it seems~!" She chirped before quickly drinking some of the lukewarm drink, just to make sure he wouldn't get upset with her.
Not that he had shown any signs for feeling that way, she simply wished to be on the safe side there. "It's getting quite late as well - I must be tired, sorry about that~!" Something he had already figured. Even if it seemed to be more of regular exhaustion than tiredness. Sure, it was hard to tell without being able to spot rings around her eyes, or her possibly having a muscleache, but their musician had been this way since the breakfast now, so it couldn't just have been that. Further proof was her sitting here, past midnight already, rather than escaping under the warm covers of her bed. With how talkative she normally was, she should've spilled what bothered her by now, but yet, no indication that she'd do so anytime soon. He stretched out one of his legs, nudging his own against her lower hanging foot without changing his sitting position, while keeping some kind of eye contact.
"So what's up for real?" Brooke flinched at the question, knowing quite well that it was an accusation. "What's up? Uh, the clouds?" She foolishly replied, chuckling quietly till he focused even more on her face, one visible eyebrow frowning now in more than just disbelief. "Brooke." Another fair warning. There was no use in trying to keep secrets from the rest of the crew. "..." Still no answer, this had to mean something. Sanji was no sure what, but it her hesitation was out of the usual. "Look, you know you won't get away with hiding something from us." She shifted in her stance, the cup placed on the table with a soft click as both her hands folded on top of her lap and her head turned to face the floor. "I'm not really hiding anything, Sanji..."
Her gestured spoke more than thousand words, and of course she was always bad at lying, whether to herself or others. Her communication and socializing skills overall seemed very rusty, no matter how much time she spend with them. What was now a lovely trait of hers to the entire crew still irked foreigners and new friends. "I am not..." The skeleton quietly repeated to herself. Sanji looked at her bored by now, she'd give in any minute. And if not by herself, then- Brooke shrieked, only to slap both hands over her former mouth as to not make any more loud sound that might wake someone from their slumber as a black patent shoe kicked her all of the sudden. Not painful, but strong enough to startle her. Probably the only lady Sanji would ever dare to kick, even in a playful way.
"I'm sorry, I am really I am, I just-" As if he had crushed a dam, the words flew out of her now like a river that broke lose, and he had issues to collect what parts of her speech were actually useful between the nervous babbling and rambling. Something unusual from the swordswoman, one of their most collected members, no matter the stress. "... Really?" He asked for confirmation, unsure if he had picked up that information correctly. "Ninety..." She replied with a weak nod. "So what about it? We know you're old Brooke." This made her blush furiously, clenching her teeth. "I know that! It's just... It's weird! It's like a whole decade more than the last time. Look, there's this big ole nine in front of it now! It's really weird."
The tips of her pointers poked together, unterlining her unreasoned nervousness. "But we should've celebrated that! Like, you don't turn ninety every day. And I'm pretty sure that not many people do that at all!" Sure, Whitebeard and a bunch of others they'd met during their journey were older, but compared to the average human, that was quite an age. Not to get started about how much she was able to still move around without any medical support! "But I'm so- so..." Brooke nearly made a sound he could've mistaken for a hissing. As his feet began to trap one of hers childishly while continuing the conversation, it became more obvious that she was still tense. "Just tell the others casually then? Even if it's a shame. I would've made you the biggest birthday cake ever."
She avoided his gaze without much effort, one eye being covered anyways by his hair. "I know, I know... But really, it's... You'll understand that when you're older." What an overused phrase he mused, as he could not hold back a soft laugh. Wasn't she able to come up with something better? This seemed to be the case as she felt silent again, hands wrapped around the sides of her teacup, while not showing any intention of lifting it again anytime soon. "Of course. So... You just want to let grass grow over it?" Brooke sighed heavily to this question and nodded once more. "I'd be very thankful if you would not tell anyone. It's not as though it is of any importance for our current plans anyways, correct?"
This island sure could be explored without anyone knowing that another year of her life had fully passed, and without any celebration of this in her opinion not-so-happy cause. "..." He just sat there for a moment, looking at her. Brooke didn't move either for a handful of seconds, before growing uncomfortable with his stare - moreso than usual. "So... That's some kinda secret between us~?" He asked, sounding quite pleased at the though, perhaps even pretended seductive. Brooke was now that one to look dumfounded. It was, of course. It was a secret, more or less, that only the both of them knew. So it was a secret between just them. The woman looked at him for a bit longer before resting her elbows on the table, hiding her face in her hands and laughing, while being unable to hide the reappearing pink tint on her cheeks. This stupid chef and his stupid eyebrow and his stupid everything. He took it as a yes.