Chapter Two –

Sanji stared up at the sky. He felt so sick that movement of his own felt like a death sentence. He was lying near the railing on his back, where all he had to do was roll over and puke into the sea if he had to. His eyes felt swollen, his tongue dry, and his throat was raw, and his stomach just seemed to continue rebelling against him. It had to be a combination of a bad hangover and motion sickness.

The weather was beautiful – not too warm, too cold, either. He could lay there comfortably in his jeans, vest and shirt without the threat of sweat. Next to him, Chopper was humming as he had a bunch of vials around him, a thick tome in front of him. He would play with a few things, record something in the book, then look at him with concern. Beyond him, Luffy and Ussop were playing tag, Nami and Robin were sunning themselves, Brook was carrying a cheerful tune with a violin, and Franky was working on something that looked like a canon. The sounds they all made carried over the water, which splashed against the ship as it continued moving through the waves – there was no land in sight.

Every once in a while, Luffy would cry out for food, and everyone looked at Sanji expectantly, but he didn't want to move.

He was too confused, too sick and too lost to do anything but stare up at the sky.

"Try this, Sanji," Chopper then said, holding up a glass cup with what looked like tea leaves floating in it. "This will assist with your motion sickness."

"I don't think so," Sanji said crossly, hand over his eyes. "Just looking at it is making me sick."

"I promise you, it'll help. Don't refuse my care. Otherwise, I'll have someone hold you down and I'll pour it down your throat," Chopper said menacingly.

Sanji looked at him between his fingers, then turned away, lunging between the pillars of the railing to heave over the waters below.

"SIXTEEN!" Ussop cried. "I WIN!"

"NOT UH!" Luffy shouted. "He's not actually puking!"

"Stop it, you bastards!" Chopper screamed back at them. "Don't make plight of his situation!"

"Sanji, are you dead yet?" Brook asked in mid-tune. "Because if that's the outfit you choose to die in, it's a rather pitiful one. No one can take you seriously with you looking like that."

"What are you talking about, Brook?" Nami asked, lifting her sunglasses. "Look at your outfit!"

"Show me your panties, dancing queen!"

"Ugh, NO!"

Sanji hung there for a few moments, watching the dark blue waters crash up against the hull of the ship. The water looked intimidating. Who knew what lurked in those depths? The creatures breaking the surface in the distance almost looked like whales, but Luffy kept shouting that they were sea pigs, instead. So when Sanji tried to imagine whale-like pigs swimming through the water, his imagination didn't stretch that way.

He expected dolphins, Great White Sharks, the fabled Kraken – nothing fantastic.

"I think I'm hungover," he moaned. "Why didn't anyone tell me to stop drinking? Why did I even think I could hang with Nami and …wait. Where's Zoro?"

"We're on our way to pick him up," Chopper said cheerfully, holding up his cup once more. "He wanted to train with the samurai for a few weeks, learn their secrets. After we picked Law up from his crew, we're supposed to meet Zoro on Windmill Island."

All of this flew over Sanji's head. He rested his cheek against the deck, wanting to be home with his boyfriend. Did Law know he was gone? Was the Sanji of this world with him?

Law better not touch him. He better have noticed a difference in personality. If Sanji found out that Law was molesting this Sanji of this world, Sanji was going to be pissed. It was still cheating if it were an alternate universe Sanji.

With a growl, he lifted his head and looked around for this world's Law. Somehow, the man was taking a nap sitting up near the soldier's dock, holding onto his sword for support.

"Chopper. Tell me everything," he said, slowly pushing himself to sit. "Who are you people?"

"What do you mean? You're Sanji, I'm Tony-Tony Chopper," was the answer.

"I'm sorry, this is really confusing. But while I'm familiar with all of you, this isn't what I'm used to," Sanji said with much difficulty. "Last night, I was out eating and drinking with – you guys, but a different…everyone was different."

"What do you mean, Sanji? We didn't drink last night. We don't do that," Chopper said.

"So, um… there's this situation. I'm not…from here," Sanji said slowly, using his fingers to indicate himself, then point down at the deck.

Chopper looked in the direction he pointed at, then at him with a tilted head. "No, you're from the North Blue. Your family was royalty that traveled the seas, and after you defeated your father and your brothers – "

"Whom I don't claim in any way."

"Of course! Why should you? They were an awful bunch! Your brothers were so terrible to you!"

"Yes they were!" Sanji agreed with a huff. Just the thought of his quadruplet brothers was enough to make him sick, his brainwashed sister with her Electra complex adding into the mix. He refused to think of his father, the abusive bastard. It took him years to get to this point in life, but alcohol had been a bad problem that developed as result of it. That was another thing he didn't want to think about, either. "I was so happy that once I started dating – er, well, I'm just…glad I lost contact with them."

"You're dating, Sanji? Who is it?"

Sanji waved it off. "N-no one. Um. Anyway. So, I'm not from here. This is…not my reality. I mean. I guess. I don't know how I got here but I can't be here. I need to go home. I have…there's people who are expecting me to be there."

"Oh? Another us?" Chopper asked curiously.

"Yes."

"That sounds so fascinating! What are we like?"

Sanji cleared his throat nervously. "Not like this."

"Is that why you can't fit in, right now?"

"Yes."

Chopper looked at him with concern. "Well, I'm not sure how to do this, Sanji. I don't know how to feel about it. What happened when you woke up this morning?"

Sanji thought about the kitchen. Then the apples he'd seen. So when he mentioned them, Chopper stood and walked off. He ended up dodging Luffy and Ussop's hands, and then Sanji watched with dismay as the reindeer joined in with the games, chasing the pair with outrage. Nami screamed at them to quiet down, and Franky yelled out with protest as they clamored over the canon.

Sanji slumped onto the deck with exhaustion. He looked at the cup Chopper had been trying to give him. His stomach lurched at the thought of having that stuff in there, when it could hold nothing at the moment. But then again, he thought about all the shots he'd had, the beer he'd drank, and suddenly he didn't feel good all over again.

He thought of last night when his boyfriend looked at him with irritation, fist balled on the countertop. 'You're not going to vomit all over me again, are you?'

Sanji had laughed and laid over his lap, too drunk to sit steady.

'Wow, he's already smashed,' Nami said with concern, beer mug empty.

'Get him another one, he'll pass right out,' Zoro said, finishing off his own.

'True friends make you drink until you die,' Ussop commented sarcastically.

'Another round!' Shachi cried, waving his money in the air.

'Another round!' Nami shouted. 'Fireball me!'

'Another round!' Sanji cried, but the words didn't come out right. When he looked at Law, the man looked pissed and uncomfortable, but Sanji thought that Law was just spoiling the fun with his attitude. Plus he kept looking over Sanji's head, and Sanji didn't feel good about it, because he knew who he was looking at.

'If you're going to spew, spew into this,' Ussop said, snickering as he passed him a folded paper cup from his pocket.

'You waited for this moment all night, didn't you?' Zoro asked him.

"My friends suck!" Sanji said to himself, against the deck of the ship. "You were supposed to cut me off, Law!"

"What?"

Sanji sat up with a start, regretting it immediately as his head spun, and bile coated his tongue. The other man stood in front of him, sword on his shoulder as he looked down at him with an expression of disgust.

"Here," he said, pointing at his own chin.

When Sanji wiped his face, he was disgusted to feel chunks there. He grew embarrassed immediately. "I don't even know what it was I ate, last night."

"You cooked us some sort of fish dinner. But that didn't look anything like it."

"Don't study my vomit chunks."

"Where is your doctor?" Law asked impatiently, then spotted the reindeer running about with a happy laugh. "This crew is insane. You think I'd be used to it, by now."

"Babe – I MEAN, YOU!" Sanji corrected himself hastily, scrambling to somehow hide the endearment behind his hands. But Law looked at him with such startled action that Sanji felt his face turn beet red. "NEVER MIND I SAID THAT. Tell me what happened last night."

"After you re-boarded the Sunny with supplies, Mr Blackleg, you prepared dinner. We set sail shortly after mid afternoon. By the time you served it, it was nearly mid-evening. It was how it is, now. Loud and chaotic. Nobody wants to discuss what happened because you implicitly instructed all of us not to mention what had happened with your family," Law said. Even his voice was different from Sanji's Law. It was lower, angrier, and when he spoke of the crew, there was much irritation in it.

Sanji stared up at him with fascination, and realized that even if this one wore similar skin as his boyfriend, the differences were immense. This one was at least fifty pounds less than his boyfriend – there seemed to be no meat to him. His arms and legs looked like they belonged to a teenage boy. But his face was harsher, and there were light splotches of white all over his exposed skin. His fingers were discolored, as if he'd stuffed them into a can of paint, with patches of white on his neck and over one cheek. When Law realized that Sanji was staring at these, he immediately grew self conscious and glared at him for it.

"What, Mr Blackleg?"

"N-nothing. Just…"

"Do you find my deformities so fucking fascinating?"

"No, I just…you remind me of someone. I really miss him, right now."

"Was he splotchy, too?"

Uncomfortably, Sanji didn't know what to say. He felt bad for staring, and he felt bad for not knowing what to say. He looked down at his hands.

"No."

"Then if you find it revolting, don't look at me."

"I didn't say that - !"

"Mr Tony! Your crewmate is in need of your assistance!" Law barked out over the noise, Chopper dashing away from the fun to run into the kitchen. Law then muttered to himself as he strode away from the noise, heading for the second third level deck, "Just a few more weeks. A few more weeks…"

Sanji looked after him with consternation, then rose to his feet. Hand over his stomach, he leaned over the railing trying not to be sick. Looking down into the waters, he saw movement just beneath the waves. It startled him, thinking that they were dolphins. The shapes were slightly reddish, scales glinting – the length of it suggested a shark-like creature. But Sanji had never been on the ocean – he hadn't really ridden a ship, and he had no idea what sea creatures looked like from above. So completely fascinated with what was lurking underneath the surface, he leaned far over the railing for a better glimpse of the creatures that were there.

There was a slip of sound, and a gush of water that sprayed over him – movement caught his eye, and he looked up just in time to see a massive, seahorse-shaped creature with red and orange scales looking at him. Its wide set eyes blinked three lids at him, tubular mouth curling inward like a snail retracting back into his shell. Then teeth emerged, and it gave a wild scream of deafening quality, Sanji freezing in place as he gaped at it.

A brilliant blue flash of light burst around him, and suddenly the sea creature was in pieces, and he was hauled off the railing like he was nothing.

Oh, he's strong, too, he thought with a shiver, looking at Law with delight. But the man was looking at him with horror, and his arm was outstretched, and it took Sanji a few moments to realize that something was utterly wrong.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! KID SANJI!" Luffy cried with laughter.

"EVERYONE! Inside! Before we're all shrunk!" Nami called out patiently, Robin and Franky moving around to pull up metal enforced tarps over the Sunny's railing to protect them. Around the ship were similar screams of moving creatures, and Law was stalking after the others with Sanji swinging in front of him.

"What happened?" he asked in bewilderment, then realized how young his voice was. When he looked at himself, his clothes were falling off. Then he realized that his limbs were short. When he touched himself, he realized that he wasn't an adult, anymore. He gave a shrill scream of dismay, Law giving a sound of consternation as he leaned as far from the sound as possible.

"Here, damn it," he said, tossing Sanji towards the trio that looked up at Sanji with utter delight.

"He's so SMOL," Luffy said with delight, hugging him tightly.

"SMOL Sanji!" Chopper cried, reaching up to hug him as well.

"HAHAHAHA! Look at his knees!" Ussop yelled, poking Sanji in the knee.

Sanji felt his eyes well up with tears and indignant action. Looking down at himself, he realized he was in the single digits of age. He wasn't sure when, he needed a mirror, but he definitely wanted to cry. Then he patted his pants pockets with frantic action, and retrieved the cellphone. It was still at 97%. He locked it quickly and held it tightly within both hands, looking up at Luffy, Chopper and Ussop with scared action. His shirt hem and vest pooled around his feet as his pants were discarded behind him, his shoes near the railing.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?" he screamed with dismay.

"You were hit by a water beast that turns grown men into children, rendering them easier for the creature to eat," Robin said to him patiently, sitting on her knees before him. She tucked his hair behind his ears, looking at him with affection. "They come around, sometimes. The effect will wear off within a few hours. I was wondering what it was you were looking at so intently."

"Sanji! Up! Up!" Luffy commanded, hands out to him. "Come to poopa Luffy!"

Sanji stared up at him with revulsion, then walked away from him. A couple of steps away, he paused in place. His eyes turned large with tears, and he sniffled. Everyone in the room quieted and stared at him with wide eyed consternation. When he realized how focused they were on him, he spun in place, glaring at them.

"STOP LOOKING AT ME."

"Let it out," Luffy said gently, crouching in front of him. "Let it out, Smol Sanji. Cry into my chest, buddy."

"No, mine," Ussop said, pushing him aside, arms out. "Come to uncle Ussop, and I'll share with you all grand tales of my adventures as God Ussop!"

"No, come to grandfather Brook, Sanji. Come sit on my lap. Let me serenade you with lullabies from my youth!"

"Come to me, precious baby, and let me find out what else is in your pockets," Nami cooed, arms open wide.

Sanji stared at all of them with disgust, then turned and stomped off towards the storeroom. He slammed the door hard behind him, and locked it. He sniffled, wiped his eyes, and looked at his phone. Still no service. He tried not to cry, but he had no control over his emotions as a child.

"I wanna go home!" he cried. "Where am I? FIND ME, Booface, you fucking bastard! You left me at the bar! I hate you! I don't know where I am!"

At the knocking on the door, he quieted. From the bottom of the door, a couple of hand rolled cigarettes were pushed in, as well as a lighter. He sniffled, then glared at the rubbery hand that pointed at them repeatedly.

"Smol Sanji!" came Luffy's loud whisper. "When you're done, can you make me a snack?"

"LUFFY!" Nami shrieked, hitting him. "Enough! Obviously, Sanji's in distress! Leave him alone!"

"Smol Sanji, hang in there! it'll only be a few hours!" Chopper said encouragingly.

"Smol Sanji! Don't smoke those! You're too young!" Ussop cried.

"Once upon a time, there were two young boys! One named David, the other named Sam! Sam went a-walkin' and when he didn't come back, David set out and found his neck snapped - !"

"WHAT KIND OF LULLABY IS THAT?"

"the moral of the story? Don't venture out without your mother's permission, o ho ho ho ho!"

"I wanna go home!" Sanji cried.

: :

A couple of hours later, Sanji emerged from the storeroom. Luffy, Chopper and Ussop had passed out in a pile in front of the door. He carefully crawled around them, phone held tightly in one hand, then hurried towards the bar counter where he'd woken up hours earlier. Looking over it, he realized that the apples and notes were missing. The candle was put back in a hutch nearby, and when he looked around himself, he spotted the ladder nearby. With another look at the trio passed out, Sanji shifted away from the counter, and climbed it. Emerging onto the deck, Sanji looked around himself. Then scrambled onto the wood, looking around. The afternoon sun hung directly overhead, and he shielded his eyes from it, then lifted his phone up.

Still no service. But the percentage was now 93%.

"No!" he exclaimed. He turned off the WiFi option, then locked it into Airplane mode. Hugging it to his chest, he looked around himself. The clouds in the distance were gaining them, and the sails fluttered with massive complaint around the mast. Down below, Nami was directing Law and Franky into dropping the anchor, and to close up the sails. Robin stood next to her, and suddenly turned and looked up at Sanji with a vague smile. Sanji ducked, and hid from that face of hers, intending on returning to the kitchen when arms sprouted up around him, hands waving.

"Argh! So creepy!" he yelled in fright, avoiding those playfully tickling fingers.

"Smol Sanji, are you still small?" Franky bellowed from below.

"I believe the word is 'duh', Franky," Nami said impatiently. "Sanji! Get down from there! go back into the kitchen! Those water beasts are still around! They can smell you!"

"Did anybody figure out what happened to me, yet?" he asked instead, peering over the rooftop edge. "Because I need to get home as soon as possible."

"Chopper and Robin are working on it!" Nami called back.

Sanji frowned because Chopper was napping, and Robin was just standing there with a smile on her face. "No, they're not! I want to go home!"

"Why would you -?" Nami quieted as Robin elbowed her, then she said, "Oh, right. Sanji, they're doing the best they can! Now, go back inside!"

"Where's my room?"

"Come into the kitchen, and I'll bring you there," Nami said, walking towards the door. Sanji waited a few moments, looking at the other three, then at the horizon. The wind was picking up, and he could hear thunder in the distance. It made him nervous. But he followed Nami's instructions.

Nami was waiting for him as he climbed carefully down the ladder, dropping to the floor a few rungs up. Then she gushed over him, reaching out to pinch his cheek, ruffle his hair.

"Stop that!" he snapped at her, causing her to look at him with surprise.

"You always want me touching you!"

"Well, I don't, now. I'm taken."

She laughed. "You are so cute! 'Taken' by whom? You didn't go through with your wedding! Did you promise yourself to someone else?"

"Yes," Sanji said nervously.

'Oh? Are we invited to the wedding?"

"Yes, only friends will be invited. That's our family."

Nami stared at him for a few moments, unsure of whether or not to continue this game. Then she decided not to, because Smol Sanji was staring up at her with a frown.

"Okay," she said with a shrug, leading the way. Sanji looked around himself, noting the precautions being taken as the small group prepared for the storm. Franky and Law stared at him with frowns as he passed by, and he felt self conscious – and, well, small – as he hurried past them. Nami walked into the first floor doorway, then reacted with an annoyed noise, covering her nose with one hand.

"Pee-you!" she exclaimed. "You men stink! Oh, look at the laundry that's piled up – maybe when you get bigger, you can finish that. Oh, and don't forget, you promised to clean the aquarium when you were able."

"What? Why should I do other people's laundry?" Sanji asked with mystification, looking at the big pile of clothes lying near the lockets. He looked around the room with revulsion. The beds were wooden bunkbeds – Nami pointed out his. Sanji stared down at the twin sized bed with disgust – he and Law shared a king-sized bed because they were both travelers that wound up on opposite ends of the mattress, and to think that he'd be sleeping in this coffin - !

"Because you do a lot of things around here, dear," Nami said, looking back at him. "Not only do you cook, but you clean, keep the ship in order. You make sure all the chores are done – "

"It sounds like I'm a slave!" Sanji exclaimed with horror.

"We paid for you, fair and square," Nami said, teasing. But once she realized that Sanji did not see it as 'teasing' she felt bad. She then remembered what Sanji's family situation was. And then she felt terrible.

She turned away, gut churning with violent guilt. She thought of everything that Sanji did for the crew – up early to cook, clean, attend to all their needs, doing their laundry, tending to the gardens, and all the little stuff in between – and felt horrid. Yes, the man volunteered to do it all himself – he knew it would be done, then – but to think about it now, he was probably only doing it to keep their positive attention…

She looked at the pile of laundry on the floor. Mens' underwear, shorts, shirts, socks, hat wear – what looked like Law's feathered sweater with Chopper's handprints all over it - made up a majority of the pile. Someone had even thrown their sheets down onto it. What was disgusting was how stiff the wad looked.

"Ugh, this room makes me think we're transporting zoo animals!" she exclaimed. She walked up to the lockers, and found his. "Here's your things."

"That's…where my closet?"

"This is it."

Sanji stared in horror at the slim design. There were coats and shirts hanging inside, folded laundry stacked neatly at the bottom, shoes stuffed into a container – but it was nothing like the walk-in closet he had at home. Hand to his chest, he wondered if that was all he was doomed to wear for the rest of his time here. He missed all his name brand things already.

Nami almost laughed at his expression, shutting the locket tight. "Maybe you can find something more comfortable to wear?"

"I…want to go home. I'd really like to know how to do that."

"It might take some time, Sanji. You might as well as get settled here, for the time being," she said, walking towards the door. "Take a nap."

"In that?" Sanji asked skeptically, looking at his bed once more. Walking over to the bunk beds, he reached up to pull himself up and looked down inside. He touched the sheets and pillow, and retracted his hand with a slight sniffle. They weren't even the thousand count sheets that he liked.

Nami watched his actions with a bewildered expression. Even as a child, Sanji had all the expressions she was familiar with, but this man wasn't the man she knew at all. It was a feeling when she looked at him, when he looked at all of them. There was something a little more vulnerable to his features than her Sanji – the way he carried himself, looking at the device and at them with an expression of dismay. She believed something had happened, but she didn't understand what. Robin was analyzing the apples he'd bought from the island the day before, but hadn't come to any answers just yet. Chopper had run some tests, but neither of them were sure of what they were.

His style of dress was so much different from what she was used to – she'd never, in all her years of knowing the man, seen him in a bowtie. Or move so stiffly. Or look so bloated.

That was the word – the man was bloated. He said he was drinking the night before, so maybe that was it, but this Sanji was definitely different from the Sanji she knew. His cheeks were fuller, his neck thicker, and his eyes didn't have that wide, sunken in look caused by his careful eating. Nami was mystified by the entire thing – she hoped that the pair were able to come up with something, soon.

"I want to go home," he moped, leaning against the bed. "I'm sure La – I'm sure people are looking for me."

"Who?"

"My friends."

"Us in your world?"

"Yes," Sanji said, looking at his phone. "I can't call them. I don't have service."

"What is that?" Nami asked, venturing close.

"It's my cellphone. It's an iphone SE6. All of us have an iPhone, except for Zoro, he's got this dumbass Samsung Galaxy 9, and it's so lame."

"What does it do?"

"It stores pictures, we can send messages to each other, watch Youtube – "

"What's a 'Youtube'?" she asked curiously, looking over the bed at him.

"It's an internet website that plays all sorts of things," Sanji told her.

"It's a magical book?"

Sanji stared at her for a few moments, then said, "Yes. It's a magical book. I need it to call my friends, though. I'm sure they're looking for me."

"Like a den-den mushi?" she asked.

"What's a…?"

"This," she said, moving to his locker and pulling out a sleeping snail. Sanji stared at it with horror, wondering how that living thing could be used to call out on. When she detached the receiver from it, the snail's eyes opened with a 'Gotchak.'

"EW."

"What do you mean, 'ew'?" Nami asked, hanging up, setting the den-den mushi on the top slehf of his locker. Then tittered. "It's time for you to get dressed, dear."

Sanji looked down at himself, realizing he'd regained his adult form. He crouched down to hide his underwear from her with an embarrassed action. Nami then turned away from the locker and walked some feet away, her back to him while he hurried over, scrambling for something comfortable to wear. He found some shorts and struggled to put them on – horrified that they didn't fit.

"How is this possible?" he asked, struggling to pull the waist up over his thighs. "There's no way!"

"To be honest, you and our Sanji are a little…different from each other," Nami said, hearing the struggle behind her.

"I drink too much, yes, I know! And maybe I sample too much of my stuff! I don't smoke enough," Sanji complained, throwing the shorts aside and looking for something else. "I know I said a thousand times that I'm going to lose weight, but why should I when I'm happy in my relationship, and my partner likes me the way I am? Where's Zoro's locker? Never mind. Found it."

"Who's your partner?" Nami asked curiously, almost turning to look at him and then catching herself.

"Oh, wow, these are tight, too, but if I suck it in - ! There." Sanji felt miserable. "Ugh."

"Who's - ?"

"The point is, I'm taken," Sanji said, fluffing out his shirt. "I swear, this is only alcohol weight. I was going back to AA. I wanted to be sober for my wedding – "

"You're getting married?" Nami asked, whirling to look at him.

"Well, sort of," Sanji confessed awkwardly. "The intention is there. I just…I was told I had to be sober for at least a year before…it came to that."

Nami looked at him, bewildered.

"It's a long story. I'm surprised he – that my partner is still there. I put him – er, through a lot, and…it's my own fault. That's why I need to get back home. Whatever happened last night, it can be fixed."

Nami stared at him in silence for a few moments. "Him. You said 'him'. 'He'."

"Please don't tell anyone," Sanji said tightly. "I have a feeling it's not very accepted, here."

"It is unusual. It's greatly unusual because of your woman problems – but…okay. Okay. You're not…our Sanji, you're…someone else. So. It's not that unusual," she said, stuttering slightly. But she continued to stare at him. "So…it's someone. One of us. Zoro."

Sanji fidgeted with his borrowed shorts. "I don't want to talk about it. It's complicated. But I am dedicated to one person. This is why the wedding was set the way it was, because…I make problems for myself. I shouldn't say that. I mean, the engagement. I guess when it happens, it'll… well, I'm expecting it, soon. When I'm sober. Sober-er. I expect us to be engaged. Soon. I know he'll ask when I'm a year sober."

Nami looked at him with confusion, unsure how to take the desperate rambling. "Oh. Okay."

"Nami, we're prepared," Robin said from the doorway, looking at them with her hands at her sides. Then she reached out and caught the pair of pants that her arms carried over from the deck, and tossed them to Sanji. Sanji took them gratefully, climbing out of Zoro's shorts and pulling on his pants with a sigh of relief.

"Luffy and the others are awake, and they are hungry," she told Sanji.

"Tell them to get their own snacks," Sanji said with a mystified expression. "Why should I do it? What's wrong with their hands?"

"You nimrod," Nami exclaimed, looking at him. "You realize what a disaster that will be?"

"Why? If we got supplies just yesterday?"

Nami and Robin just stared at him with consternation, Sanji looking at them with confusion.

"This is the New World, Sanji," Nami said slowly. "Currently, we are anchored in this very spot because of an fast moving storm that would expend too much energy for us to try and outrace and evade. If we survive tonight, our next destination is Wind Mill Island – and that's an expected three day trip, but if another storm intercepts us along the way, it'll be another day tacked onto that one. So with what supplies you bought the other day, with your great cooking skills, you will be able to make it last for that amount of time."

Sanji blinked. He had no idea of how significant this role was as this ship's cook. Yes, he was a very good cook – he went to culinary school for it. He grew up cooking. He could make a buffet style feast for his closest friends and then some. But that was a different situation. Once he realized he was in charge of feeding an entire pirate crew of nine people for a week's worth of travel, he understood that portions were important and content was definitely a stretch. He started to sweat. Luffy's voice in the back of his mind whispered over and over, "I'm hungry."

"Oh, my," Robin said gently. "We are probably going to starve for some time until you get into the rhythm of things. It's a good thing you keep a detailed record of your ingredients and your cookbooks in order to follow off of to produce meals."

Sanji thought of the notes that he'd woken up, to. Sweat dripped down his temple. "Um, about that…"

Robin looked at him with concern. "Uh oh, is there a language barrier? I was hoping that it wasn't so. North Blue language is a different sort of language, and while I'm learning, I'm certain to get certain characters misread."

"It's a good thing there's someone else that can help. They share the same language, right?" Nami asked with relief, wiping her brow. But her panicked expression did not change. She stared at Sanji for a few moments. "Please don't kill us, Sanji."

Sanji gave her a weak smile. He felt terribly pressured.