Night and Day

A Post-Piracy Sanji Side Story

By Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Ten - Help From An Old Flame

Harmony said a long goodbye to her friends on Sofserv and promised to return every year now that she had an eternal pose to guide her. She and Sanji boarded their yacht and set sail for Largo. Since the night before, they had exchanged but a few words. Harmony went to her cabin and closed the door and didn't emerge until long after sunset.

When she did she was surprised to find Sanji sitting in a chair in the galley drumming his fingers on a pack of unopened cigarettes. He looked up as he heard her come in and smiled. The only food on the table was a bowl of grapes. Harmony pouted lightly and sat across from him. She plucked at the grapes. Sanji tucked the pack of smokes into his breast pocket and went to the refrigerator where he retrieved all the food he had prepared while she was moping in her cabin.

Harmony stared at the bowls of pasta salad, cold gazpacho soup, tiny watercress and ham salad sandwiches and more and tried not to inhale them. When she had finished Sanji quietly put the leftovers away and did the dishes by himself. She remained at the table. "Oujousama," he said softly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Robin. I really didn't even think of it." 'Please don't be mad at me!'

'Oujousama…' she thought. 'He still thinks I'm just a little girl…' "It's ok. It was just such a shock. She was a sweet woman." She rubbed her hands together. 'I'm such a fool!' "I'm going to turn in. Thank you for dinner."

'She's still mad.' Sanji waved without turning away from his dishes and she left the galley. 'And disappointed in me…' He breathed a long sigh, finished up and went out to have a smoke.

It was a long ride home.

.x.

After a long while on the peace and quiet of the sea, Largo seemed twice as loud and vibrant in contrast. Only moments after putting their bags in their rooms both Sanji and Harmony were back to work, reorganizing things that had gone out of whack while they were away. As Sanji made his way toward his restaurants, cracking his knuckles in expectation of the disaster area he was sure he'd find he passed Clef who waddled as fast as he could down the hall. "Princess, Princess!" he cried. Sanji turned his head and saw Harmony only a few yards behind him. "Meeting! Right now!" he took her hand and started pulling in the direction he'd come from.

"What's the matter?"

"Those morons from the Camelot are honin' in on the Platinum Lounge. We gotta talk if we're gonna decide to out bid 'em or not!"

"Oh dear," she pouted and followed him, not looking up at Sanji at all as she passed.

Sanji slumped his shoulders. 'Like I'm not even here…' he thought glumly.

.x.

After a rousing session of letting his underlings in all three kitchens get a piece of his mind about the state he found them in, Sanji meandered toward Harmony's main theater. The sounds of the orchestra tuning up as they rehearsed in the early afternoon between shows greeted his ears before he opened the doors. In a moment, he wished he had stayed in the kitchen. On stage, Rupert Krähe was kissing Harmony's hand. She giggled and thanked him for filling in for her. "Well at least he's out of here, now," Sanji grumbled as he approached the stage.

"And how fortunate that you can stay till the end of the month!" Harmony chimed. "I'm going to be very busy with this new business deal."

"I am delighted to be able to assist you," Krähe said with his strange, rolling accent. "I've got to tell you, although we miss our dear Palast enormously, playing for the ever-changing audience here in Largo has been such a treat."

Sanji grit his teeth. 'Gag me,' he thought. "Ojousama?" he asked as he reached the lip of the stage. "Can I go check out the kitchens at the new place?"

Harmony glanced down at him. "The deal's not final yet, Sanji."

"I know, but I want to get an idea of what I'm in for. I assume I'll be in charge of their restaurants as well?"

"Oh, sure. Go for it," she said casually and turned her attention back to the handsome man in the tweed vest and khaki pants. "Mr. Krähe, I'd like to propose something to you…"

Sanji turned on his heel and marched out of the theater, not slowing his pace until he'd left the Sea Note. The late afternoon sun glinted off of the mirrored glass of buildings around him. People's voices chattered like birds along the busy street. He lit a cigarette and looked up at the marquis for a moment before going into the Platinum Lounge, one door down.

.x.

The casino next door was fairly unimpressive in comparison to the neat, tidy and new Sea Note. The carpets were an unattractive brownish color. In the middle of the lobby stood a huge, overgrown indoor aviary which was fairly spectacular, but detracted from the gambling floor behind it. Sanji shook his head. "I've been in this business for what, three months and already I'm thinking like a pro."

He wandered through the gaming floor around outdated slot machines and yards and yards of more of that awful brown carpet until he found the Platinum Lounge's largest restaurant. "The Nugget," Sanji scrunched up his nose as he read the sign. "Lovely." The maître d'hôtel was busy assisting a group of old ladies so Sanji slid right past them and headed for the swinging double doors.

Inside the kitchen which was gearing up for the dinner rush Sanji easily wove his way around frantic sous-chefs and wait staff as he examined the Nugget's inner workings. He was an intruder, but not really intruding, so no one bothered with him until a shrill voice shouted "Just what do you think you're doing!" Sanji stopped and pivoted toward the voice on the heel of his left foot. Standing with her fists on her hips was a beautiful older woman in a fancy burgundy colored velvet dress. Her hair was almost the same color and curled up and away from her angular face. "Get out of my kitchen!" she barked.

"Ah! What beauty!" Sanji cooed, darted toward her and went down on one knee. "What am I doing? Why, in the presence of one so ravishing I…" He didn't get the rest of his compliments out before being smashed soundly on the head with a large, oven-safe frying pan.

The head chef folded her arms, not relinquishing her bludgeoning implement and glared down at the impertinent man before her. "Oho," she purred raising a brow. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Sanji recovered and rubbed the sizable lump on his head. "Perhaps in the marketplace? I'm not sure, because I would have remembered seeing such a breathtaking…"

She held the frying pan up to swat at him again. "Wait. Yes. I have seen you before. You're that boy I…" She pursed her lips and looked around. Everyone in the kitchen had stopped and was staring intently at their head chef. "What are you fools doing! There are hungry people out there!" she bellowed and they went immediately back to work. "You," she said motioning to Sanji and putting the pan down at last. "Come with me."

.x.

She lead him to a small table in the back of the dining room and seated herself across from him. "Yes," she said quietly. "I remember you. What do you want with me?"

Sanji stared and blinked a few times. "I'm so terribly sorry but I really don't remember you."

She raised a brow. "You're kidding." He shook his head. "My name is Carmen. You defeated me in a cook-off in Rogue town several years ago." Still nothing. "The prize was an elephant fish."

"Oh! Yes!" he cried finally recalling what she was referring to. "That was an awesome fish."

"This isn't about the bloody fish!" Carmen hissed back. "What do you want? Money? A job?"

Sanji's curled brow raised. "What?"

"Don't be a cad. You're here to black mail me!"

His eye went as big as a saucer. "No! Nononono. Absolutely not. I really didn't even remember that contest until you brought it up!" She didn't seem to believe him. "I'm the head chef at the Sea Note. My employer is thinking of buying this casino so I came over to have a look. That's all. Really."

Carmen narrowed her well-makuped eyes at him. "Alright. I believe you. I know we're for sale. You're at the Sea Note, eh? That's Sairen and Clef's establishment, isn't it?"

At the mention of Harmony's name, Sanji deflated a little. "Yeah," he grumbled and lit a cigarette.

"Any idea what'll become of my restaurants?"

"Not yet. Deal's not done yet anyway."

Carmen's mouth curled up into a devious grin. She waved for the bartender to get them drinks. As she was on the job, she had a Shirely Temple and Sanji had a Vodka Collins. "You're the head chef over there, are you?" she asked.

"Yep."

"How do you like working for Miss Sairen and Mr. Clef?"

"Fine."

"You don't sound fine."

He shrugged. "Got nothing to do with work."

Carmen sipped her drink and watched him carefully. "You're in love." Sanji nearly spit his across the table. "And you're miserable because of it. She doesn't love you."

"Hey now!" he cried, both wounded and irritated at her assumptions.

"It's true, isn't it? Don't worry. I'm not psychic. I'm just good at guessing at these sorts of things. What's the problem?"

"This is none of your business…"

"I know, but I do so love match-making. Perhaps I can help?"

He glared at her, but she was strikingly beautiful and the glare didn't last long. "I don't know," he said and stirred the rest of his drink. "I think she got her hopes up about me…" He explained how he had met Harmony when she was just a girl and she had sailed with him for two weeks. In that time, the shy girl spent a lot of time at his side in silent awe of him. He had thought it was cute, but she was so young that the only feelings he had for her were of a brotherly sort. When they met again three months ago Sanji fell head over heals for the young woman she had become and thought she felt the same. Now he was sure that the image she had built up in her mind and in her heart did not match reality and she was disappointed in him. Sanji hunched himself over the table and moped. Carmen ordered him another drink.

"Well, what do you have in common?"

"I told you. We sailed together and we work together."

Carmen frowned. "I mean hobbies, not work. Does she cook?"

Sanji choked on his drink. "No. Two weeks ago she went to make herself a sandwich in one of my kitchens. I don't think she ever came away with a snack and we still don't know how the fire started."

This elicited a shudder from the fellow chef. "Alright. What does she do?"

"She's a performer. Singing, playing instruments, dancing…"

"Dancing. Perfect!" Carmen cried, standing up. "I will teach you to dance and sing and win your lady-love's heart!"

"Really!" Sanji clasped his hands together and stared dreamily up at her.

"Your lady-love, not me. Hello, Earth to Sanji. Focus!" She slapped him across the face to get the hearts floating around his head to disappear. "I will help you if you help me."

"Always a catch," he grumbled and rubbed his face.

Carmen grinned. "Guarantee me a job when you buy this establishment."

Sanji shrugged. "Sounds fair." He stood and shook her hand.

"Good! We start tomorrow, two hours before the dinner rush."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked back out onto the dazzling streets of Largo at night, not quite confident but at least hopeful. There was still that snob Krähe to contend with, after all.

More to come…