Enjoy peoples!

I searched my many pockets for some type of hair band and found three: one scrunchie and two elastic bands, all black. I was fairly happy with this discovery, after all, I would not have known what to do with my hair otherwise. I braided my hair because it's simple, looks nice, and it was tight, so I knew it wouldn't come out. After putting my shoes on, I looked at myself in the mirror and puffed my cheeks crossly. The bandages looked dumb but I didn't want to take them off because I didn't know how badly I was hurt. I just sighed and turned to go. I would have to tell Sanji that my name was Ja-neen instead of just Neen. Neen felt more like a nickname that someone gave me but I couldn't remember who or when. Frustrating...

I blinked. I was at the railing staring down at the lower decks and into the ocean. I turned around and looked back at the door. Did I even open it?

"Must have…" I murmured to myself then shook my head. "…Must have blanked for a second…"

I looked around, trying to figure out where to go. Sanji's door opened to the stern of the ship—I knew this because there was this great, big wooden tail for a rudder attached to the two lower decks. Facing his door, there was a stairway down to the second level behind me and to the right. The deck curled all the way around this level in a circle with only one other door into another cabin. I guessed it was Zeff's because, well, who else would have a cabin above deck?

I went down the stairs to the second level. I looked into the window next to the only door on this deck. There wasn't a light on, but there were all sorts of boxes, crates, and barrels, so I imagined it was the storage room. I looked around some more. The stairway going down to the first level was near the fish head that acted as the bow of the ship. I had to admit that I had no clue where I was going. I was about to turn around and go back when I heard a door open below me.

"Neen!"

I looked down to see Sanji's face smiling up at me. Before I could say anything, he bounded up the stairs and gave me a great big hug.

"I'm so glad you decided to stay! I would have missed you sooooo much!"

"Aack…Sanji…" I coughed, "…can't…breathe…"

"Oh, sorry!" He released me with a repentant and adoring smile and took my hand. "Come on! I'm in charge of teaching you!" He was already leading me back down the stairs, nearly yanking my arm off.

"Sanji," I said, speeding up to keep up with him, "I remembered my name. It's Janeen."

He stopped at the bottom and beamed at me. "Janeen! It's a beautiful name—a heavenly name!" He went down on one knee, still holding my hand, and looked up at me, his eyes sparkling. "It's as if the moon has heard my prayers and sent down its most beautiful angel to me to be with me and show me true happiness." He gently kissed my hand. "I am eternally grateful for this perfect, heavenly gift."

I blushed pleasurably and looked away. "Sanji…you're embarrassing me…"

He got up, his eyes still shining bright. "Of course, my modest angel. Let's go and I will teach you what we do here." He kept his hold on my hand and led me through the door he just came out of, going right into the kitchen.

Once inside, my eyes popped and wandered around the room in awe. The kitchen was huge! There were nearly twenty cooks, all making different dishes. I saw delicious appetizers, and a few entrées grouped together on a counter in the middle of the room. The air was filled with tantalizing smells and the sounds of sizzling food and clinking knives.

"Here, put this on."

I looked back at Sanji who was holding out a white apron. I took it and tied it around my waist.

"It's just so the customers know that you're part of the staff," he said with a smile, handing me a notepad and pencil. "Now, all the current orders are in, so you don't need this right now, but you can help me take out the completed dishes."

I nodded, putting them in one of my apron pockets and following him to where the platters were.

"Now, the tables are in circles around the dining hall and mentally numbered by us," he said, loading up a platter with five appetizers and somehow making all of them fit without crushing each other or slipping off. "Starting at the main entrance and going to the left are one through twelve and from the entrance going right are thirteen to twenty-four." He started loading a second tray with appetizers from another group. "There's an inner circle and just going left all the way around is A to H—eight tables."

"One to twelve, thirteen to twenty-four, and A to H," I repeated with a nod. "But, how do I know the difference between twelve and twenty-four if I don't want to count that far?"

"There's a back one-door entrance dividing the tables so you can do the same as from the front but just counting backwards." He handed me the five-plate tray and took the other with four up for himself, holding it next to his ear, balanced only on his fingertips.

I looked at him and tried to do the same but the platter swayed uneasily and he caught it with his free hand, not even jostling any of our plates the slightest.

"It just takes practice." He gave an encouraging smile. "You can hold the edge with your left hand until you're comfortable."

I nodded and glanced at the cooks. A few of them were murmuring to their neighbors, looking up at me from time to time. Then I noticed that quite a few of them had scars and a bunch of them had some sort of tattoo peeking out from under their clothes.

Sanji nudged me with a loving gleam in his eye. "Don't mind them. They just haven't seen one of your loveliness before." He motioned to the door and I followed him, balancing my platter carefully as we went. "You have table thirteen right now. The plate closest to you is the plate of the lady closest to the main door. Then, go clockwise with the plates and around the table to the next lady, serving all of them first, then continue with the gentlemen," he said, holding the door for me.

I only nodded, concentrating on keeping my platter in check. I froze upon entering the dining hall. The kitchen door opened in between tables eighteen and nineteen (I could tell because of our location compared to the main doors), so I had no problem finding table thirteen. I was amazed by the people's dress. When Sanji said "gentlemen," he meant it. The men were all wearing suits, tuxes, and there were a few Marines I guessed by their military-type suits. There may have been a few casual dressers, but the formal outnumbered them. The formal women all had their hair up nice and were wearing evening gowns. I looked over at Sanji who was serving table twelve with a smile and casually talking with them. I thought that I saw his show particular favor to the woman of the four at the table, but just shook my head. I took a deep breath and put on a smile, going up to thirteen. I placed the first plate and started going around, just like Sanji told me.

"Hello! How are we today?" I asked pleasantly.

One of the men looked at me, surprised. "We are doing just fine, but, it seems that—," he pointed to his head, "—you've run into a little accident."

I chuckled. "Yes, you could kind of say that."

Another man at the table spoke up, "I've never seen you before. Have you been working here long?"

I laid down the last plate and took a small step back. "Oh, just since this morning. It's a new, exciting experience for me."

He grinned, picking up his wine glass. "Well, you would never know. You seem very comfortable with yourself." He took a drink very casually.

I smiled at him. "Thank you. Now, if anyone needs anything, just call for me."

I headed back to the kitchen with my empty platter. Sanji was waiting for me just inside the door with his tray under one arm and a lit cigarette in the other hand. He grinned at me, ignoring the noise from the rest of the room.

"So…it's a 'new and exciting experience,' huh?"

I smirked back, leaning against the wall. "Yeah…" I was curious where this was going.

He leaned his hand against the wall behind me, his face inches from mine. "Just how 'exciting' is it?" he asked, breathing softly on my face.

I ignored the smoke and leaned forward, closing the gap partway. "I don't know." I batted my eyelashes, gazing up at him through them with the smile still on my face. "How exciting do you want it to be?"

I thought I saw him blush slightly as he leaned in. Just then, a big figure came up behind Sanji and whacked him across the right side of his head.

Hard.

I winced at the impact that made Sanji lose both his cigarette and platter.

The guy's voice boomed, "Damn it all, Sanji! I'm gunna kill ya if ya don't—,"

Apparently Sanji lost his cool, too, because he grabbed the guy's shirt firmly and glared darkly at him. "Whom…are you going to kill…Patty?"

I gingerly bent over and picked up his tray, also mushing his cigarette out and flicking it in the garbage. I tucked the tray under my arm with mine and looked at Patty for the first time.

Patty was a big dude. He was bald with a short, scraggly brown goatee. Around his head was a twisted cord tied in a knot on the side…He had Popeye-arms. I didn't know who the hell Popeye was, but it made sense to me at the time. His forearms were practically twice the size of his biceps which, by the way, were huge. He had two hearts tattooed one on top of the other on his left bicep. Patty was freakishly tall, especially to someone like me who's only 5'4".

Patty snorted and batted Sanji's hand away. "You if you don't keep servin' them customers out there. The customer's king, y'know." He turned to me with a sickly-sweet smile. "Welcome to the Baratie. We really enjoy having you here with us."

"Yeah, yeah, Patty," Sanji growled, "Go back to your sloppy soup crap."

"Why, you!" Patty snarled back, glaring daggers and looking about to pick a fight right there in the kitchen.

Some cooks were grinning at the scene and others were just shaking their heads. I could tell that none of them would do anything.

I went in between them with a weak smile and chuckle. "Now, now, you two," I said, putting a hand on each of them gently, "not here, please…"

Without another word, Patty huffed back across the kitchen and the cooks returned to their work. I was pretty sure that they were disappointed at not seeing a brawl. Sanji blew a small sigh and leaned back against the wall, touching his right temple lightly.

"Ow…"

"I take it you two do this all the time?" I asked, watching Patty as he took a swig of something he just poured in his cooking pan.

Sanji nodded, his eyes closed. "I win every time…This one just…" He hissed quietly. "Ow…"

I couldn't help but smile. "Aww…" I took his head in my hands and kissed it gently.

Immediately, the tenseness was gone and he melted in my hands with a very happy sigh. If I was his angel, he most certainly was in heaven.

"Come on, Sanji," I said sweetly, taking his hand. "We need to serve the customers now."

He only nodded with a dreamy sigh, following me to get more dishes of food for our happy customers.