A Sweet Taste

Ok, a quick update today.

Thanks for your reviews, I am glad you liked the story so far. I really appreciate it.

2. Blame the alcohol

She could clearly see that he was startled due to her sudden approach but if her calculations were right – and she had enough self-esteem to know they would be – he wouldn't mind the extra amount of alcohol in his drink. Although Nami had always noticed that Sanji wasn't a solid drinker like herself or anything near the bottomless pit that is commonly known as Zoro, she wanted him to exceed the imaginary mark just this once.

The chef, even though he was a helpless chain-smoking idiot, earned a lot of praise for his usually laid back drinking attitude and could actually be quite reasonable when it came to these kind of situations. But frankly spoken, Nami wanted him drunk.

"Nami-san is always so very thoughtful.", she knew he was smiling at her with faked happiness as she handed him the cup and sat down next to him. He and his silly ways of chivalry could really bother the shit out of her from time to time, though it proved to be quite handy in situations like this.

"I should not deserve such kindness for I am only a helpless fool, pale next to such generosity."

"Safe it. Less talking, more drinking.", as she patted his shoulder, ignoring his excessive love poems, she eyed the rest of her crewmates. A weird bunch they were. Though – the cook might probably be the only one able to help her work the way out of her little problem concerning the undoubtedly hard to break lock. At least he wouldn't mind being included in her silly plan.

"Yohoho, I am feeling the love vibe in my dead bones slopping over from the other side of the table.", Brook lifted his hat and caught Nami's eyes in surprise, "Miss Nami, might you be so kind and hand me a drink as well?"

"Get it yourself", her answer was probably not as polite as it should have been but the gentleman skeleton couldn't care less about such rude rejection: "Then might I be able to see your panties instead?"

"Like hell!" Of course he just had to ask. Again. Sometimes her male companions really had a talent to bother and annoy her with their silly little attitudes. And Sanji was definitely no exception: "I am delighted that Nami-san handed only me one of her drinks with utmost care and love. Such delectable moment shall not be left spoiled or wasted." With that he emptied his cup in one go, trying to swallow every single drop of it and in hopeful anticipation of the navigator's love he smiled with great joy after his accomplishment.

"Nami, look!", the voice of her captain suddenly caused a shift in her actions as she turned around to see Usopp, Chopper and Luffy happily dancing at the end of the table, "I am a giant dancing piece of meat!" All three of them were somehow attached to an enormous amount of well cooked, delicious looking filet which seemed to be prancing around them in some sort of wavy, self-inflicted motion. Only their watery eyes could express the excitement that had been built up until this point and the honest looks on their faces made Nami almost forget to be angry for disturbing her with such childlike behaviour. 'Don't even bother', she thought to herself, trying to remain relatively calm, 'Just stick to the plan.'

"Sanji-kun", her voice was as soft as a butterfly wing while lowering her lips to the cook's ears, "You should have another drink with me."

If it was possible to choke on a cigarette, the blond certainly made it seem to be 'the best death ever' when he started to nervously cough as he felt her warm breath come closer to him. Zoro had never made it a secret that the ship's cook turned into a complete and utterly embarrassing idiot when handling women. But he was still not stupid, maybe a little distracted, or even a little over the top. But not stupid. Nami's behaviour was surprisingly odd. She only acted that way when she was in need of something and who was he if not her slave and knight in shining armour?

"Of course my dear Nami-san, anything you wish.", he said, forgetting about the other idiots as they continued to express their admiration for 'Mr. Dancing Meat of Awesome' in shamefully misuse of its substance.

.,.,.

All went well from then, except that Franky almost killed everyone once he started to show off his coup de boo while literary 'spicing' it up a bit. Those silly jerks. When she had her hands on that map she would scold them for hours back on board the Thousand Sunny.

But now was not the time to worry about unnecessary details, it was time to take some action. Considering the tremendous amount of alcohol everybody had enjoyed so far and her precise calculations for the next opening of the storage room in question, she initiated step two of her plan.

"Sanji-kun, might you be so kind and take me the bathroom. I feel a little groggy and tipsy.", she kept her approach as subtle and innocent as possible, not wanting to catch unneeded attention from the others. The lovestruck fool was, of course, more than delighted and tenderly placed her left hand in his palm. Luckily for her, they left in silence and while the others continued to fill the air with shear endless laughter they shortly reached the hallway next to the cooling store and came to a sudden stop.

"Nami-san, I will patiently wait for you outside.", Sanji said while pointing into the direction of the woman's bathroom and regrettably let go of her hand during the process, "Take your time."

But the navigator wasn't really paying attention to his words and continued to outline their surroundings with utmost care. The couple she had spotted earlier had already left the spot, good. The store – and thus her treasure- was within viewing distance, also good. And even if somebody else, like Robin for example, was to make their way down to the bathroom, the insufficient, rarely noticeable lighting wouldn't give too much away. Good.

She took a deep breath as she imagined what she was about to do within a matter of seconds. If something went wrong, well, there was still a chance to simply blame the stereotypical scapegoat in this game - alcohol.

Sanji, already holding the next unlit cigarette between his fingers, looked down onto the orange haired woman next to him. Why was she not moving? "N-nami-san?", he smiled nervously as he tried to figure out if he had done something wrong to suddenly silence her in every possible way. But before he could establish eye contact with her, he felt her lips forcefully pressed onto his. Her fingers nailed into the depths of his hair. And her warm body firmly jamming his own into the wall behind them.