Sorry for the late update. My birthday is coming up soon and there is a little much to do right now, but I managed to update before the hell-weekend started at least... Enjoy!
Chapter 21
The warm water wrapped around Sanji's body like a comfortable blanket. A content sigh left the blonde's lips. After such a dinner yesterday it was good to finally relax. Somewhere along the dinner, Luffy had succeeded in persuade Brook and the royal orchestra to start play old sailor songs. Luffy and Ace had started to dance on the table and Zoro had burst out laughing with his mouth full of beer. Smoker tried to drag Ace down from the table, but the older brother ended up in his lap; feeding the merman strawberries instead. Sanji wanted to try to, but ended up missing Zoro's mouth and smeared caramel custard over his whole face. Of course the marimo wanted revenge and threw smashed potatoes towards the blonde. Sanji ducked of course and the potatoes hit Smoker instead. Then the food fight was in full swing. Sanji even saw Mihawk throw a chocolate cake at Brooke, but of course the king never got anything on himself. Normally, Sanji would protest in using food so carelessly, but he didn't bother to care about that right then. The merprince snickered at the evening. He wondered if it always was this crazy around Zoro and his court.
"Sanji! Saaanji! SAAAANJIIII!"
The blonde groaned and sunk down lower in the bath. After a crazy dinner yesterday, he and Zoro didn't get any time to see each other before bedtime, and today the marimo was all busy discussing the situation in Grand Line with Mihawk. Apparently there was some fuzz on the east coast with some Don Krieg and his gang. Sanji was sulking because of marimo-absence and he was not in the mood for any clingy monkey-boy. But Luffy had something else in mind.
"Sanji, there you are! We're going to the harbor and meeting a friend!"
Sanji sighed and heaved himself up from the water. With Luffy's help, it took around ten minutes more than necessary to get dressed. The boy was in such a hurry and threw clothes around everywhere so in the end Sanji kicked him out and showed him to stay put until he was finished.
The blonde merman inspected himself in the mirror. He wore an orange button-up shirt, black pants and a black vest over the orange shirt.
When he opened the door to his room, Luffy sat on the floor in front of him, patiently waiting for his friend to be finished.
"You ready? Great! Let's get going!" Luffy cheered and dragged the blonde with him out of the castle.
The town with the harbor was close so they didn't bother to take horses, much to Sanji's relief. Luffy was walking beside him with a huge grin and greeted almost every person that they met. People here seemed to be very fond of the strawhat boy. Sanji could understand that, Luffy was very charming in his own special way.
They walked along the main street that was lined with different stands that sold almost everything. It was mainly herbs, spices or vegetables and Sanji's interest was effectively caught.
"It's usually not this many people around here this hour", Luffy explained as Sanji took his time looking at all the different things. "But since hawk... eh, king Mihawk is here, his ship has brought things like fabric and porcelain to trade so that's what all the commotion is about."
Sanji only half listened and didn't even bother to give Luffy a nod for answer, the strawhat-boy had gotten his eyes on some fried squid anyway. Luffy had tried to sneak a stick with a squid on, but the salesman seemed to know him too well and was prepared. The older man with dark hair and brown skin swatted the boy on the head and told him to come back when he had money. Sanji apologized with a bow and gave the man some belis so Luffy could get a stick. Sanji would never survive the whining if Luffy didn't get one anyway.
They had walked to the end of the market now, and Sanji followed Luffy out on the doc. Many ship were anchored there but only one was big enough to be fitting for the king and his equipage.
"Oi, Luffy!"
The two boys tilted their heads upwards and looked up on the large ship. There stood a grinning man and leaned over the railing. He had tanned skin and red hair, grin splitting his face in two. There were also three scars over his left eye.
"Shanks!" Luffy screamed happy and ran up the gangplank, not bothering to watch out for the other people who walked on it.
Sanji followed the excited boy, being much more careful and glaring towards the sailors that was cursing after Luffy.
When Sanji stepped up on the deck, he could see the little strawhat boy clinging to the man named Shanks for his life. But the read-head didn't seem bothered at all and was just laughing at Luffy's attempt for a hug. Shanks' gaze caught the blonde leaning against the railing and his face lit up in a friendly grin.
"Hi there, you must be the new kid in the castle."
Sanji nodded hesitantly and shook the red-head's outreached hand. The blonde realized he only had one arm.
"His name is Sanji!" Luffy shouted and hit the blonde's back with an approving grin.
"I'm Shanks", the man answered, always looking at Sanji."I'm the captain of this ship and an unofficially advisor to king Mihawk."
"You know what Sanji?" Luffy butted in. "This hat is Shanks', and he told me I could borrow it until I'm old enough to get my own ship. Then I'm going to get an amazing crew and we're going to sail all around the world!"
Sanji smiled at Luffy's excitement. He liked the dream Luffy had very much, he himself would love to build a floating restaurant over All Blue so he could treat people at anything the sea had to offer.
The merprince watched the two old friends talk about something, then Luffy mentioned something and Shanks got all flushed and they started bickering. Sanji just rolled his eyes. Those two must really have known each other way too long.
"Oi Sanji" a voice below hissed.
The blonde turned around and leaned over the railing. Down below in the sea, Usopp was floating right beside the ships keel and looked around him suspiciously every few second to see so he didn't get discovered.
'Oh Usopp, yo' Sanji thought and leaned down more, grinning towards his friend. 'Climb up the wood steps and sit there, this side is towards the sea so no one will see you anyway'.
Usopp looked with skeptical eyes at the little projection of a stair right under the railing where Sanji stood. But Sanji gave him that look so the fishboy sighed and started to climb up the improvised ladder.
"So, how is it going between you and the human? Neither I nor Franky have heard anything from the two of you", Usopp said with a pouting face referring to Sanji and Smoker. "The seaking has been pushing me for any information of me knowing where the two of you are, and I can barely meet up with Kaya cause every time I see her sad I want to tell her the truth."
'Oh my beautiful Kaya! Is she so worried about me? Now I can die as a happy man' Sanji thought with a content sigh squirming.
"They are all worried about you Sanji", Usopp said with a low and serious voice. "Zeff has even asked Jinbe to keep an eye out in his country for you and Smoker."
'The old man even asked Jinbe?' Sanji asked with disbelief. 'Wow, he must be more worried than I thought.'
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Sanji", Usopp whined.
Sanji shook his head determined to silence Usopp.
'If the idea is good or bad doesn't matter. The stupid marimo is my destined one, and I think he's starting to realize that too. It's the fifth day now and there is only a matter of time. I must just get him alone with me somewhere.'
"So I take it things go well between you?" Usopp asked and looked a little more calm. "But Smoker said he would update me, but I haven't seen him lately either."
'Well', Sanji snickered. 'He's been busy with his own trouble.'
Usopp's eyebrows rose and the fishboy opened his mouth to ask what Sanji meant, but a hand grabbed Sanji's shoulder and their conversation was interrupted.
Usopp pressed himself up to the side so much he could and Sanji moved so the person behind him wouldn't notice the curly raven.
"Are you talking to the fishes?" Shanks asked with a grin.
Sanji answered with an faint smile of his own. A splash was heard and the blonde tilted his head and saw that Usopp was out if sight. He mentally sighed out in relief.
"Luffy tells me you're a good cook", the red-head continued and leaned over the railing beside Sanji, looking out over the blue ocean. "I would very much like to try your cooking sometimes when the occasion arise."
Sanji nodded with a grin and placed himself beside Shanks, leaning over the railing once again. They stood like that, in silence. Shanks had closed his eyes and enjoyed the salty sea breeze and Sanji peeked over at him once every few second.
"Maa Shanks", a whiny voice came from the other side of the redhead. "It's boring to just stand here, I wanna do something".
Shanks sighed and pushed away from the railing.
"Well then Luffy, how about we find Ben and then walk to the castle. I've missed Makino's food and I'm sure Sanji here wouldn't mind making us something so we can test his skills."
"Sanji's food, wahoo!"
Sanji chuckled and shook his head at the raven's cheery mood. He liked this man Shanks though. Luffy sure could get great friends.
"Phew, this Sanji sure knows how to cook. I think that even Luffy got content."
Mihawk looked up from the desk filled with paper as the red-haired captain walked in, patting his stomach.
"Indeed, dinner was very pleasant", Mihawk answered and motioned for Shanks to sit down opposite of him. "You should have been with us yesterday, it was very... entertaining."
"I'm sure it was", Shanks said and grinned at the expressionless king. "Zoro and the other seems to enjoy his company too."
"I'm not interested in Zoro's opinion right now. He's still young and a boy with a crush is troublesome. I mean, this blonde man can't even speak. We know nothing about him."
Shanks rolled his eyes and leaned back in the chair. Leave it to Mihawk to point out all the bad things.
"So that is why you asked me to judge him this morning? So I could tell you if Sanji is good for Zoro or not."
"Shanks, you are a very skilled person-knower. You can sense if a person has a good heart and soul. Just as your little friend with the strawhat, but he's still too young to know what to do with the ability of his", Mihawk explained and walked over to one of the windows. "Usually I trust Zoro's judgment, but any person that knows him can see he's lovesick. A lovesick person isn't someone you should thrust."
"Well," Shanks started and heaved himself up from the chair to join Mihawk by the window.
The king's sharp eyes was looking at two figures down in the garden. Shanks followed the gaze and smiled when he saw the prince and the blonde. The two youngsters were fighting over something. It didn't seem serious and their movements wasn't dangerous. Just a jib here and kick there. Zoro had even drawn his swords, but the blonde seemed very capable of defending himself without any weapon. Suddenly Luffy flew out from one of the doors, followed by a worried Chopper. Luffy ran in the two arguing men and all three of them ended up in a pile on the ground. That earned Luffy a kick and fist to the head, but the raven only laughed and soon they were all laughing, Chopper skipping and licking all three faces.
"I like him very much", Shanks finally stated and patted Mihawk's shoulder. "I think you do too. Zoro couldn't have chosen anyone better suited for himself."
"I agree", Mihawk said and walked back to the desk, face still expressionless. "There have been very few people that could make him forget Kuina for one second and make him smile. Sanji seem to be very good at that."
"If you already approved of him, then why did you ask about my opinion?" Shanks asked with a frown.
"Two opinions are always better than one", Mihawk said with a shrug. "Besides, I may be a little lovesick too. There was way too long I ate such a good dinner."
"You're very freakish your majesty", Shanks said with a suspicious look.
"I'm no such thing", Mihawk waved away the subject with his hand. "Prepare the ship, we'll be sailing back tonight."
I laughed and the tears didn't stop running down my cheeks when I pictured the food fight in front of me. It was hilarious! I hope you liked it as much as I did. The week is soon over, but there's just as much drama left! Hope you're ready for the wrap up, just a few chapters left of this story. It's kind of sad...