Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. This is for fun and to keep myself busy during the month-long hiatus.
2. Sanji
Contemplation
In a hallway dimly lit by moonlight, Sanji flitted from shadow to shadow until he landed in a particularly large one, and melted into it.
He found this secret room by accident, crash landing into it from a kick by Ivankov. From their frantic searching and shouting, Sanji realized that no one on Kamabakka knew of this room. He would be safe here.
Lighting the candle inside a dark lantern, he took out a scroll from his jacket, and before he could dropped it into the empty chest, he fell instead. Closing his eyes tired, Sanji tried to stay awake so he could take a look at the recipe. He's been here for a few weeks, and today he finally managed to get one recipe from a newkama.
"Who knew that those shitty cross dressers could fight so well?" He murmured sleepily, mind slipping into dream. He felt like he could sleep for a year…
When he almost fell asleep, he jumped up, gasping for breath. "Wait. I can't sleep yet. I have to finish kicking those newkama's butts so I can go find Robin-chan and Nami-san and escort them safely to Sabaody." He tried to stand up, but a shrill pain shot up from his right leg, causing him to immediately fall on his face.
"You have to be careful!"
"Chopper?"
"Your Diable techniques are powerful, and, because of that, they put much more strain on your leg than your normal techniques. If you don't rest after using it, you'll tear your tendons! Then you won't even be able to stand."
"But I can't just randomly stop in a fight!"
Chopper looked thoughtful. "Well, then you have to take breaks. You have to stop every ten minutes using it, or else your leg will be useless."
"Don't worry." Sanji stood up from the bed. "The fight would have been finished long before those ten minutes are up."
It took every bit of his strength to flip himself on his back. "Sorry, Chopper. Guess I need to listen to you more often."
The candle sizzled and flickered, bringing out the emptiness and silence of the room.
"I wonder how my two beautiful ladies are doing tonight? They must miss me so." Sanji sighed happily. "Brooks and Franky should be fine, Usopp… Well, he could probably bluff his way out of anything. The mosshead can die for all I care, …but he'll definitely live to disappoint me. Chopper … I hope he's okay. Maybe he landed on some island that made him Animal King again." He chuckled.
And Luffy…
"Found him yet?" Ivankov's voice boomed from the floor. Sanji jumped and shut the lamp window, and listened intently. No voices could be heard. Was he dreaming? No. He definitely heard Ivankov's voice from the floor…? Below him?
Sanji put his ear on the surface in time to hear someone apologizing.
"… no trace of him, Ivan-sama. I'm sorry! Not only did I lose to him, I also lost sight of him as well."
"It's fine. The voy is strong, that's not surprising. What Vi am surprised about is that ve haven't found the voy yet!" ?
"Is it possible that he had escaped?"
"No! He staked his manhood on the fight!" Sanji could hear Ivankov's high heels as he stepped down from his throne, looking thoughtful. "No, he must have found somewhere to hide. He's waiting to get the other cooking ways while our guards are down! Everyone! Stay alert. There's no telling when he will strike."
"Yes, Ivan-san!" Footsteps echoed up to him, slowly fading into nothing. Making sure that no footsteps approached his hiding spot, Sanji relaxed, turning the dark lantern until there's only a crack open.
"Guess I'm safe, for now. I need to make sure that this place doesn't get discovered." Sanji stretched out and finally started to relax, before he realized something.
"'Cooking way'? Shouldn't it be 'recipes'?" Sanji sat up, trying to think clearly. "99 newkamas, 99 recipes, right? So why did he…" He grabbed the scroll and ripped it open.
"Huh? "99 ways to prepare garlic"? Stop joking around!" The scroll was about to fly out of his hand, when his eyes caught the first line, "Recipe #1 – Mince coarsely then hot water bath for 30 seconds. Recipe #5 - …"
"No way… This only a part of the 99 recipes." Sanji glanced over the scroll, finding some 60-odd ways to prepare garlic for the numbered recipes. "So each scroll contains the ways to prepare an ingredient for a recipe. After I gather 99 scrolls, I will have 99 recipes."
"Alright." He stood back up, dusting his pants. "98 scrolls to go. I can't afford to waste time!"
Nami-san, Robin-chan, how was your day today?
I am one step closer to finish my training and getting out of this hell, and one step closer to finding you two. I hope you two had a wonderful day.
Wait for me, for I will come to take you back to Sabaody!
