Luffy was sitting on the head of The Going Sunny, after having flung himself all the way from the middle of the town over to the ship. He had narrowly escaped the threat of landing in the sea. He was now staring off into the horizon vacantly, looking at the sunset.
"Captain?"
"Oh! Franky! I saw Usopp Nami and Chopper bringing in piles of food onboard and I got here as fast as I could." He smiled his gigantic toothy, uninhibited smile.
"Where are they now?"
"They're guarding the fridge."
"I would ask from what, but I think we both know why you're sitting out here."
Luffy turned his blank expression back to the horizon.
Franky felt a tap on his shoulder. A disembodied hand was growing out of his shoulder. He looked at it, as it pointed in a downward direction toward the island shore.
"Franky, drop the ladder!" Sanji shouted, he stood next to the remainder of the stranded Straw Hats, three of them were still carrying a flamethrower each.
The two men and one undead man let Robin clime aboard first. The wooden exterior of the ship was swaying with the waves at a slight distance from the shore. She leapt to catch the ladder steps, channeling the impact of the jump into her feet and hands right before she began her ascent. Once Robin was onboard she used her ability to receive all the flamethrowers and carefully lift them onto the ship.
Zoro bared his teeth as Sanji pushed in front of him to climb after her. He went up next and was followed by their skeleton companion as the ship was steered away from the island. The crew opted instead to drop the ship's anchor at a safe distance from the threat of bugs and marines.
Not very long after this, the resident chef had prepared a marvelous feast from the large mass of modest range of long-lived foods they had found.
The dining table was decorated with bowls of various pickle salads, appetizers swirled with sauces, and main courses dotted with pastes he had concocted masterfully. Sanji had even conjured up a cheesecake made from a tub of cream cheese that he had dug out of the back of the Sunny's freezer. He had combined it to delicious effect with the ground crispbread and jam from the pub cellar. A crackly caramel layer separated the crumbly bottom of the cake, spiced with cinnamon- from the mouthwateringly fatty, smooth layer of thickened cream cheese, which was topped with raspberry jam.
"This is amazing!" Chopper screamed, piling more food onto his plate before he had even finished all of his current helping.
The pirates were too tired from the events of the day, and too hungry—to say much. They simply ate in silence for a few minutes.
"It's impressive how creative all of this is." Robin broke the silence, smiling subtly as she ate another bite gracefully with her fork.
Before Sanji could explode into a dramatic gesture of gratitude to the woman Brook interjected.
"It's time I shared what I managed to find out on the ship. Y'see I ended up listening in on a fairly important meeting aboard that thing. The captain received a call from the guys fighting you by the market. He told the men to withdraw back onboard once the bugs showed up."
"So that's why they never came for us in the church." Zoro murmured, though the last few chews of a piece of a pickle.
"Yes," Brook continued.
"But there is more, they've apparently got another mission on this island. They plan to retrieve a lavish treasure that is said to be tucked away inside the depths of a local library once they have regrouped. They'll move out precisely at noon and make a beeline for the library."
Nami's eyes lit up and her attention had gotten exponentially better the moment Brook had said the word "treasure".
"Their ship is still not super far away from us. I'd suggest attacking it with our canons or somethin' but the hull looks to be made of really thick steel, there's not a chance in hell we can put a dent in something so huge and solid." Franky said.
"At any rate, we can't afford to attack them tonight. We're all too exhausted, meaning we'd be vulnerable." Sanji added.
"We need to stay on guard while we sleep tonight though. The ship's got great security systems, but I'd be more comfortable if we had a person each on deck throughout two respective halves of the night. That way you're both more or less alert, and you won't be too sleep deprived to venture out tomorrow." Franky said.
"I can keep a lookout for the first half of the night!" Chopper exclaimed. "I've barely been useful today, and I'd like to feel like I've done something."
"Great!" Franky poured himself a small glass of Epoh Island liquor. Zoro caught the cyborg's attention before he had time to put the bottle back down. He did a brief beckoning gesture with all fingers on his right hand, and then very clearly and proudly pointed at himself. He was leaning so far across the edge of the table he looked like he was going to commando crawl over it. Gee, what could this guy want? I wonder.
"Anybody else wanna volunteer for the night watch?" Franky sent the bottle to the excited swordsman.
Brook held his own glass up in the air.
"I'll help! I usually get up as early as 5 anyway."
Lowered it to his face and sipped it.
"Anyway, I'm already resting. For all eternity! YOOOOhoHOhOHoHoHoHoHoHo!"
"We still need to figure out when and how to intercept the navy." Nami said.
She pulled out the map she'd been given by Sanji and Zoro and began inspecting the small illustration of the building and its surrounding area. As they planned their assault on the navy, and their route to the building in the morning, the Straw Hats gradually relaxed. So much that it began to feel like an ordinary dinner once again.
After dinner Robin waited a while, pretending to be going to the library as usual. She then made her way up to the crow's nest.
Zoro pocketed the note she had snuck into his hand after dinner with a bemused smirk, as he followed suit.