Okay, I know I haven't updated all that recently, but why do you think that is? I got sucked into a new fandom. Which one?

HOMESTUCK.

It is so awesome and I am SO hooked. Hella complicated, but great.

Muffled shouts and voices rose form outside the galley, snapping Sanji from his thoughts. It sounded like Luffy had found something cool, which probably scared Chopper from the sounds he was making, and Nami sounded disturbed too. And then there was one more voice, a deeper male one, that Sanji didn't recognize. For a split moment he let himself believe that it was Zoro, somehow managing to find his way back to reality, proving to everyone that Sanji was not insane and had really been absolutely right all along. But the thought was discarded right away. Sanji knew Zoro's voice; it was deeper than the one he was hearing, and when agitated (which this voice definitely was, whoever it belonged to), it was way more gravely and rough. Funny how it could turn from a smooth baritone to a feral growl in a matter of seconds.

This one sounded way too familiar though, but he still couldn't place it. He dried his hand off on a towel and shook his bangs away from his eyes, muttering under his breath. Footsteps from outside were coming closer now, and Sanji reached to open the door, before it opened itself and slammed into his face.

He fell onto his bottom, very ungracefully and definitely not fit for a gentleman, clutching his bleeding nose tight. Just how many ties was he going to risk staining today?

Again, that somehow familiar but still not voice sounded from above him, clearly not at all sorry to have caused him pain.

"What the fucking hell is going on here?"

Sanji was about to tell this guy not to have such a foul language in front of the ladies, but that would have been kind of pointless, seeing as how this guy was him.

As in, literally, Sanji was sitting on the floor watching himself standing over himself.

"I…wait, what?"

Sanji quickly got up on his feet, unnerved by the same swirly eyebrow, the same baby-blue eyes, same blonde hair, same oh my god did his voice really sound like that? Christ.

The other Sanji -wait, there can't be two Sanjis- the latter Sanji was inspecting him with just as much fear-blend curiosity, possibly also wincing at the sound of his own voice.

"Bastard, who the hell are you?" latter-Sanji asked Sanji, earning a frown. "I'm Sanji, obviously. And you?"

"Oh no you're not, I'm Sanji! You are some impostor in my galley, cooking with my utensils, probably messing up my kitchen!"

Sanji fumed. "Your kitchen? This is my goddamn kitchen, and I'll have you know I know every single inch of it, and it's as clean as the day I used it first!" Who did that guy think he was? Because that certainly wasn't him, there was only one him and he was he.

….

Sanji's head hurt.

Latter-Sanji was about to shout back, probably making shove come to kick, but was cut off by Nami's voice from outside.

"What is going on here?"

It was only then that the Sanjis noticed everyone looking at them, either curious, scared, a mix of the both, or in one case, quietly amused.

"I go away for fifteen minutes and you're alr- WHAT."

Nami stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed the two Sanjis.

Her eyes traveled from one to the other, both with the same goofy expression he -they?- always got around women. Both with the exact same face, save for some blood on one.

After staring for a while, gathering her face, she knocked Luffy on the head.

"Owwie! Nami, what was that for?""I just KNOW this is somehow your fault!"

After a long time of trying to get a word in between everything people were saying; Robin interrogating, Nami and Chopper bombarding questions, Luffy making idiotic exclamations ("Maybe someone ate a Sanji-Sanji fruit?") and Latter-Sanji's somewhat malicious comments, Sanji just gave up on trying to make sense of things. He's started mentally calling latter-Sanji Green, since his tie was a light green.

It wasn't until Robin came to his rescue, saying that maybe they should talk things out over some refreshments, that Sanji finally got out of the hurricane's eye.

As he was about to go into the kitchen to cook something up, Green roughly pushed him out of the way. "You're not cooking jack shit in my kitchen, blondie." he threw over his shoulder as he walked inside, kicking the door closed violently.

"Your hair is the same as mine, you idiot!" Sanji shouted at the closed door.

"Is he always this friendly?" he asked Robin, who had curiously sat down nearby.

"Cook-san has a lot of built-up frustration. Things haven't been easy on him, so to speak. So to answer your question, yes, only normally he's far worse. I think you may have upset his balance."

Sanji hmm'd thoughtfully.

True enough, his spars with Zoro usually helped him vent energy.

He grew up on the Baratie. It was constant vigilance there; you mess up, you get a beating. You mouth back, you get a beating. You're in the way, you get a beating. It sounded rough, but it was Sanji's life, and he'd embraced it. It toughened him up, too, and helped him bond with some of the chefs.

After joining Luffy, things were much more quiet.

Did you scoff? I bet you did.

Okay, maybe not exactly more quiet, but there was less fighting involved, usually it was just setting Luffy straight, kick him out of the kitchen, case closed. Constantly getting into fights with Zoro helped him improve; helped them both. Luffy and Robin had their powers, improvements seemed to come in the spur of the moment for them. Chopper was always expanding his medical knowledge, Nami was always getting better at navigation, Usopp practiced targeting every day. Zoro helped Sanji keep his guard up, and his kicks hard. It was like these nice, heart-lifting conversations girls have, only it was violent and physical.

Never did Sanji think he'd miss the bastard.

The evening pushed the daylight away, and soon they were sitting outside, stomachs full, enjoying the comfortably chilly night air.

"So, er….Sanji. Kun. Think you can explain some things?" Green very nearly growled at Nami calling Sanji "kun" like she probably did with him, but settled down, probably also aching to know what the hell a second version of him was doing here.

Sanji took a long, slow breath, wondering just how he was going to even begin explain himself.

By talking, maybe? He humorously thought to himself.

"Well… for starters, I come from a different…time, I guess? Universe? I'm not sure. Anyway, I have a crew. You are my crew -or maybe not, maybe you're completely different- ah, hell with it. Let's just call it my crew to make things easier, yeah?" Sanji looked around, getting nods in confirmation.

"Right. So, my crew is pretty much like you, only we- ..we have Usopp. Still." Already noticing the dampening mood, Sanji hurriedly kept talking. "But the thing is, I- We, also have a swordsman. His name's Zoro, he's a big yutz but he's…important to me- US." Luffy stuck his hand up like a student asking for permission to use the restroom. "Ooh! OOH! Mr. Sanji!" Sanji nodded for him to continue."Is he your boyfriend?"

Sanji paled a bit from the utter weirdness of that question. He didn't have to say anything, though, since Nami knocked him over and prompted for Sanji to continue. And who was he to deny a lady, right? Aha ha ha…..

He sighed. This was going to be a long, hard process.

"So, basically, I went back in time and really, really screwed something up, big time. And I guess this is the outcome. "He gestured to his kind-of-crew.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, contemplating what this not-really-a-stranger-but-still-somehow-a-stranger had said. After all, time travel was a doozy to swallow.

"You have to go back." Luffy sounded, perking up with his whole body like usual.

Sanji nodded and sighed. "But I'm not sure what exactly I need to fix. And… if I go back, I don't know what will happen to you."

Chopper had looked so scared when Sanji talked about going back, and even Nami had a twinkle of fear in her eyes. "You mean, maybe, we won't exist?" Chopper squeaked. Sanji immediately felt like the world's biggest asshole, twofold. On one hand, he could save Usopp and get Zoro back, on the other, he'd be killing off his crew. Maybe all of them, maybe none.

"Doctor-san, we are essentially the same people. Maybe we won't disappear, only change."

"But that's a big maybe." Nami pointed out.

"He has to try!" Luffy loudly exclaimed, silencing everyone. Something was up; you could feel his tone shifting slightly from normal Luffy to about-to-do-something-important Luffy.

"If there's a chance -any chance- that we can get Usopp back, alive, and happy, then we have to take it. Otherwise, we're no better than the ones who killed him. And if this Zoro-guy is our friend, then we need him too!"

Dead silence fell on the crew again, each in their own, mental debate.

"I think we'll have to sleep on this." Green said, rising up from his seat, and the rest if them followed as if it had been a signal. They all tried to chat light-heartedly, trying to repress the depressing aura that had fallen over. They offered him a hammock, but Sanji said he'd find a hotel in the town.

Besides, it would have hurt to see no green blanket on the couch, and no one snoring in Usopp's hammock.

Sanji's mind ventured back to when they'd called beds in the Merry, although Nami had already called an entire room to herself, making the boys split one between themselves.

Most of them chose a hammock, because according to Luffy "that's what pirates do!", but Zoro had gone for the couch near the door.

Later, when Sanji asked about it, he'd simply said "trying to get as far away from you idiots as possible, might have to run outside if you start snoring", by which he of course meant "I'd like to sleep near the exit, in case something happens". Sanji knew that's what he meant, because like Zoro, he spoke in what Nami called 'Macho Code'. Zoro was too much of a toughie to say he wanted to be there if needed.

Stupid overprotective idiot.

However, Sanji didn't go straight into town. He read it from Green's body language; he knew what was up. Apparently, someone needed to talk. He lit a cigarette, noting how the pack was almost empty, taking in the sweet poison with gratefulness.

Soon, he was joined by another waft of smoke, identical to his own. Green had taken his jacket and tie off, wearing only a white shirt, whereas Sanji was wearing a light blue one.

Shame, now I can't really call him Green anymore. I suppose I could call him white?

..Nah, he stays Green.

The two smoked in silence for a while, letting the unspoken things say their say.

"…he means a lot to you, huh?" Green mused after a while. Sanji didn't need any clarification, knowing Green's mind like his own. Ha ha.

"Yeah. Not just to me, to everyone. He's sort of like this slimy, sticky, gross seaweed that somehow keep us together."

Green chuckled a bit, the first emotion besides annoyance Sanji had ever seen from him.

"You should go for it."Sanji frowned.

"You sure?"

Green threw the cigarette butt into the ocean, watching the salty water dissolve the fragile paper until it had sneaked into every airhole, leaving it to sink to the rocky bottom.

"…Yeah. If we stop existing, we can't feel bad about it, right?" Green looked down. "And…to tell the truth, the future -or past, or present- that you described, it seems… so much better than this. I love them, you know, and I'd do anything for them, but I always felt like this wasn't right. Like we weren't…completed. I know the others felt it too."

He smiled. "So. Go and make us all happy again."

Sanji felt a twinge of regret inside his chest, for leaving them like this, for maybe dooming them to be like this, and to be the cause of this in the first place.""Take good care of them." Sanji finally said, before jumping over the railing and onto the port.

"You too, shitbag." Green replied, watching his counterpart turn and run off into the night.

He sincerely hoped things would turn out all right.

Sanji ran, towards where he knew that machine-thing was. Doomed or not doomed, he'd give his own life to undo what he did. He was going to get everything back to normal and he was going to do it now.

He gritted his teeth, and fastened his run.

It was time to set things straight.

Bum Bum Buuuuum!

This is a very important thing; the Crew isn't complete unless everyone's in it! I hope I didn't confuse you with this Green stuff, but I needed to name him something other than other-Sanji.

"-same oh my god did his voice really sound like that? Christ."

We've all been there.