Disenchanted
The room was dim and still. Only the low breathing murmurs punctuated the otherwise quiet morning. Prince Sanji cracked open one of his eyes and peered across the room to the noise. He discovered a distinct feathery mass, huddling in the corner. He exhaled softly and shut his eyes. The shitty duck again. It was the third time he woke to find it in his room. Just before he went to bed, he made sure to lock the door and barricade it with a chair. Apparently it wasn't enough to deter his unwelcome guest, because somehow, during the night, it managed to skulk in unnoticed.
Prince Sanji rolled his head to the side and watched it again. Asleep with its head turned and tucked on its back, its bill hidden underneath the feathers, he wondered how the duck could sleep in such an odd position. It looked uncomfortable. Angrily he realized it was resting on a pile of dirty laundry, most of his, a few from the bears. A sort of makeshift nest, he guessed. Luckily for the overgrown duck, he was too groggy to care that his clothes were being used as a bedding.
Being a waterfowl, he thought it would be happier living by a pond or a lake, but instead it decided to stay with him and the three bears. Not exactly the safest choice considering Luffy Bear still tried to eat it yesterday. That bear had a bottomless pit for a stomach. A good solid kick to his head put an end to that, but he knew the bear was a very slow learner.
He turned away and stared at the ceiling for a bit. Life as a prince had its trials and tribulations. Bored now, he kicked off the blanket and hopped out of bed.
Prince Sanji started the morning like he did the previous mornings, preparing breakfast for the three bears. He decided on hazelnut waffles with whip cream, sprinkled with cinnamon. When the cooking was done, the bears were already seated at the table, utensils in their hands and their mouths drooling in anticipation.
For bears, it was very alarming how fast and quiet they could move. They dug in like ravenous...bears.
With the breakfast done and the dishes cleaned and put away, Prince Sanji got dressed. He was running late to his side job.
The day before, the flyer advertizing for a baker brought him to a funny little house made out of pumpernickel. The inhabitant, a strange skinny fellow, calling himself the Great Good Wizard of the East, needed someone to bake him an assortment of desserts and sweets for a top-secret project. At first, the wizard wouldn't tell him what the secret was, but eventually he blabbed the whole thing to him. Not that Prince Sanji wanted to know. He heard wizards were an eccentric lot. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
The job interview went quickly after Wizard Usopp made sure he wasn't some troll or wolf in disguise. Prince Sanji started immediately, whipping up some cake and cookies. He would have made more, but he needed to be back home. It was nearly time for the three bears' dinner. He left in such a hurry that he forgot to ask what his wage would be.
Just so he didn't have to hurry back to the cottage like the day before, Prince Sanji came up with a plan. He made brunch, lunch, and high tea for the three bears and hid them somewhere in the house. Hopefully they wouldn't find it right away.
He was on his way out when the duck nudged him from behind. "Huh? What do you want? Are you hungry too?" He stopped and tried to shoo it away. "I got something to do."
The duck wasn't listening to him and continued to chase after him, quacking at him.
"Leave me alone!"
"Carue wants to go with you," Chopper Bear spoke. He appeared, eating a croissant ham sandwich, their brunch.
"Carue? Who's Carue?"
"He's Carue," Luffy Bear said matter-of-factly. He was stuffing his mouth full of rice balls, their lunch.
Deflated, Prince Sanji shook his head. "Shit, I don't want him to come with me."
"Oh! Carue can stay and play tag with us," Luffy Bear offered. It wouldn't have been a bad idea except he was drooling excessively when he said it.
Carue didn't miss the hungry expression on Luffy Bear's face and panicked, quacking loudly again.
"He said you could ride him," Chopper Bear explained.
"Ride him?" He stared at Carue, wondering how that was suppose to work. He had never even ridden a horse let alone a duck. Didn't he need some kind of a harness and a saddle? "I don't want to ride him. I can walk."
When he said this, Carue became very upset. The duck cried and gave him his saddest eyes.
Prince Sanji wanted to argue against the idea. No way he was riding a duck. It was out of the question. Princes don't ride ducks.
"I would ride him," Luffy Bear exclaimed. "Sounds like fun!"
"Me too! Me too!" Chopper Bear jumped in.
"Shouldn't every prince have a faithful steed to ride?" Brook Bear interrupted. He held a dainty tea cup and was munching on a scone, their high tea. His final appearance bummed him out.
Prince Sanji gave up. He was outnumbered four to one and he was already late for work.
It was a tricky business riding a duck. Mounting took a couple of attempts. The bears tried to help, but Luffy Bear ended up chewing on Carue's leg, which earned him another hard kick from Prince Sanji. When he was finally seated on Carue, he felt uneasy like he was about to fall off. Now what? How was he suppose to control him? How was he suppose to guide him to Wizard Usopp's house? There were no reins.
By some unknown mean, Carue took off, startling him. He quickly wrapped his arms around his neck and held on to dear life. He barely heard the bears scream their good-byes to him.
Somehow Carue knew where to go and they raced along the brick road at breakneck speed. It wasn't long before they reached their destination. Suddenly Carue halted and Prince Sanji let go and unceremoniously fell to ground.
Grumpily, he glared at Carue. The duck simply tilted his head and gave him an innocent look before wandering off to graze on the tall grasses.
Prince Sanji reached into his coat pocket. He needed a smoke.
Standing up, he dusted himself off and straightened his necktie. The house looked the same as before, small and partially built. He got to the door intending to knock on it when it swung open.
"You got here just in time," Wizard Usopp shouted. He grabbed him and pulled him inside. "I send her off on an errand. We have to hurry before she gets back."
Prince Sanji's interest was perked at the mention of a female person, but he didn't get a chance to inquire who this individual could be. Instead Wizard Usopp shoved a sheet of paper into his hand. He glanced down at it and saw a long list of things to cook: doors, cabinets, shelves, windowsills and etcetera.
"I'm thinking about a mosaic background for the kitchen wall. I want a contemporary look. What do you think? Can you do chocolate tiles? Vanilla cabinet doors? And hard coffee toffee floors?"
Prince Sanji hesitated, gnawing on his cigarette. "I thought you wanted me to bake gingerbread."
"Yeah, yeah I do! But I was up all night thinking. If I'm going to build my house, might as well do it right and go all out." Wizard Usopp ran to his desk, snatched a thick book and flipped through the pages. "I want to do a different theme for each room. Cookies-n-cream for the downstairs bathroom. Strawberry shortcake for the guestroom. And check out this tutti frutti. This would look great for my workspace."
It was a little more than what Prince Sanji was initially told. The book Wizard Usopp showed him was a interior design catalog. Wanting to be open-minded, he took the book from him and peered at the pages. What he found surprised him. Honestly, they weren't so bad. There were a few layouts that he didn't care for, but the majority were original, creative and fun. The candy cane living room was his favorite. The red and white striped design worked well his eyes. Excited, they chatted over which room to start.
"Hey you numbskulls! You think could forget the home decorating and shut up," someone protested. Then there was a continuous sound of metal clanking. The racket was loud and annoying.
Prince Sanji followed source of the noise to a small cage hanging from the ceiling. Strange, he didn't notice a cage there before. What was even stranger was the burly, green-haired man inside the cage. He was sitting, his arms and legs dangling out of the cage, looking as mad as hell.
"Who's that?" he asked suspiciously. He didn't like the mean nasty look of the fellow.
"Huntsman Zoro, another guest to my home," Wizard Usopp replied irritatedly. "Seriously. I need a good moat around my house. I get all sorts of weirdos dropping by my house."
"Who are you calling a weirdo?" he spat back. He rattled the bars of his cage.
Wizard Usopp groaned and shook his head dolefully. "I forgot to feed him this morning so he's grumpy," he explained. He ran back to his desk and pulled out a slop bucket from underneath. Reaching the cage, he started tossing pieces of raw meat at him.
"Stop that!" Huntsman Zoro raged. Since the cage was so tiny, there was no room to maneuver and the meat smacked him in the face. "I don't want to eat that crap!"
"Now, now. Calm down. Just eat and go back to sleep." He continued throwing food at him, but this only served to further piss the huntsman.
"When I get out of here, I'm going to cut you into tiny pieces!" Huntsman Zoro managed to swing the cage forward a bit as he tried to grab the wizard.
Wizard Usopp yelped fearfully and hid behind Prince Sanji. "Don't make me use my ultra-powerful good wizard magic on you again."
Huntsman Zoro grunted in boredom. His eyes left the wizard and fell on Prince Sanji, the newcomer. "What are you staring at, curly-brow?"
Snapped out of his stupor, Prince Sanji took a step forward and snarled, "What did you say!?"
"Are you deaf as well as stupid-looking, dartboard?"
"Say that again, moss-head!"
"Tough guy! Why don't you come in here and say that to my face."
"Why don't you come down here instead, muscles for brain!"
They traded insults for a good hour until Wizard Usopp did something bizarre, knocking both he and the huntsman unconscious.
Not exactly the best second day on the job.