notes: While this whole fic will assume knowledge of events through Skypiea, this chapter in particular contains spoilers and forshadowing of future events. If you don't like spoilers or forshadowing, uh...sorry!

"In the Event of an Emergency, Drink Hot Chocolate"

"But I don't understand."

They were all sitting around the galley table, the supper dishes uncleared and crusting over as they stared at Nami. The orange-haired girl, for her part, was looking steadfastly down at her plate. The flush in her cheeks was both sullen and defiant. Luffy's words weren't angry, or even complaining. He simply sounded - and looked - bewildered. "You knew the Log Pose was pointing down," he continued, "and you weren't going to tell us until it'd set?"

Nami said nothing.

"What were you planning to do?" Zoro asked, his voice harsh. His arms were folded in the way that meant he was particularly displeased about something. "Keep sailing us around in this fog until the Log Pose pointed in a direction you liked?"

Sanji wanted to snap at him, if only for the sake of reestablishing normalcy. He didn't like the misery on Nami's face, and he didn't want to face the feeling that something was wrong. This wasn't like Nami. The tension in the room wasn't like anything the crew had ever felt. Something was wrong.

Nami lifted her head and spoke before Sanji could get a proper handle on his thoughts. "No," she said. "I was going to wait until the fog lifted, then make for the next island."

"But the next island is down," Luffy pointed out.

Nami shook her head. "There's another one. It's visible from the last island. The people in town pointed it out - you should have seen it the day before yesterday, when we first set out..."

"I saw it," Chopper piped up. His brow wrinkled. "But I thought it was where the Log Pose was pointing..." His voice trailed off as realization set in. "Oh, Nami!" he said in dismay. "You weren't!"

"You were going to take us to the other island," Usopp said, picking up on Chopper's train of thought, "and wait until the Log Pose set, and then wait until the Log Pose set again, and pretend we were supposed to be there for an extra long time." He looked at Nami with a mixture of awe and betrayal. "That's the evilest thing I've ever heard in my life!"

"But, Nami, why?" Luffy said. It proved to be the main point after all. "What'd be the point of sailing the Grand Line if we skipped islands, and we've never not gone to an island, and you've never not told us about -"

"I don't want to go down!" Nami burst out.

Taken by surprise, Luffy stopped his unhappy babble, and they were back where they'd started - staring in bewilderment at their navigator. "It'll be horrible," Nami went on. "It'll be like Skypiea, and I don't want to go."

"But Skypiea wasn't horrible," Luffy objected. "The clouds were so cool, and Usopp got those neat dial things, and we made new friends, and I rang the bell for that Mister from North Blue. It was fun! Right, guys?" He looked around the table for support.

Skypiea, fun? Sanji didn't know if he'd have called it that. The cooking lessons had been nice and Conis had been both pretty and sweet, but...being attacked by a forest hadn't been fun. Being electrocuted hadn't been fun. Racing desperately to save Nami, only to find that his best efforts had only stalled the danger - that had been the exact opposite of fun. And now, seeing the look on Nami's face wasn't fun, either. In fact, it seemed to Sanji that Skypiea's tourism bureau was in serious need of an overhaul.

The others seemed to feel the same way. It was a long, slient moment before Usopp ventured, "The treasure was nice."

That was, aparently, enough for Luffy. "See?" he said triumphantly to Nami. "And I bet there'll be lots more treasure at the down-island, too! There's always treasure at the bottom of the sea!"

"There is not," Nami retorted. "There wasn't the last time we went salvaging. And I don't care, even if there is. Merry can't hold any more treasure, anyway. If we go down, there are going to be monsters, and crazy people wanting to kill us. Three of us can't swim, remember?"

"You don't know that there'll be crazy people," Luffy said, ignoring the last part of her argument. "Robin, tell her that there won't be any crazy people and she's wrong." He turned to the archaeologist appealingly.

Nami did the same. "Tell him he's wrong," she demanded.

Robin, Sanji was alarmed to notice, had lost her customary amused look. She was sitting with her chin propped up in one hand, tapping the fingers of the other thoughtfully on the tabletop. "Mr. Captain and Miss Navigator are both correct," she said gravely.

Everyone, even Zoro, stirred and leaned in just a bit closer.

"If Miss Navigator wishes to dock at the next island," Robin continued, "then she must have also heard the stories from the townspeople." As she spoke, two hands sprouted from the table at the wrist in front of her. Their fingers began to form a triangle. "There were originally three islands in these waters: Natsujima, which we just passed, Vesujima to the west, and Aeon to the north. The Log Pose progresses from Natsujima to Vesujima to Aeon. Aeon is visible from Natusjima, while Vesujima is visible from Aeon but not from Natsujima. Until two centuries ago, these three islands formed a major trade triangle. Merchants stocked their supplies at Natsujima, sailed to Aeon, and then could liesurely spend their time buying and selling between Aeon and Vesujima. However." Robin paused as the two hands growing out of the table changed their miming. Now they steepled together like a mountain.

"The island of Vesujima was actually the upper slopes of twin volcanoes, resting near a fault line. The island was wont to frequent earthquakes. Two hundred years ago, a large earthquake and the eruptions of the volcanoes occurred simultaneously. This caused the island to collapse in on itself. The island is nothing more than a crater now. The townspeople couldn't tell me much about what vegetation or animal life might be living there." Robin smiled. "No one I talked to seemed overly concerned about the incident. It seems that with the collapse of Vesujima, Natsujima has taken on even more importance as a trading post. Most people spend their time there or at Aeon, waiting for the Log Pose to set. So Miss Navigator's proposed plan is really quite common. But as Mr. Captain says, we do not really know how dangerous or safe it is to visit Vesujima. The citizens of Natsujima did not sound interested in such an idea." Having finished her talk, Robin withdrew the hands from the table.

"See?" It was Nami's turn to be triumphant. "Nobody even wants to go to a stupid volcanic crater."

"Well, I do," Luffy replied stubbornly.

Nami set her jaw. "Well, I don't. Bad things happen when the Log Pose points in funny directions. If you couldn't swim in the White-White Sea, you certainly won't make it in the Blue Sea, no matter what the Log Pose says."

Zoro snorted. He had not uncrossed his arms. "You're one to talk," he said. "I don't remember you getting fried once by Eneru up on Skypiea." There was a challenge in his voice, but for once, Nami didn't seem to want to meet it.

"You weren't alone with him," she said. The usual squabble, which Robin had so smoothy, nearly restored, had slipped out of her voice. The wrongness was back. Nami's time on Skypiea, Sanji was beginning to realize, had been a different kind of terrible from all of theirs. Eneru had not touched a hair on her body, but whatever she had been through - alone with the 'god' - had been enough to make her lose her nerve.

Even Zoro seemed to sense this. He backed down, now looking more frustrated than anything else. He didn't know how to deal with this Nami. Nobody did.

"Eneru isn't here anymore," Luffy was saying, almost angrily. "And I'm the Captain. If the Log Pose points down, we're going down."

Nami stood up. "Well, I'm the Navigator," she said. "And if I say we're not going down, then we're not and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Before Luffy - or anyone else, for that matter - could reply, Nami ran out of the galley. They could hear her sandals clattering on the stairs and she made for the refuge of her tangerine grove.

"God damn it!" Zoro exploded, making Usopp and Chopper jump in nervousness. He started out of his seat. "That woman has been more trouble than she's worth on this whole journey. Even if I have to beat some sense into her -" He didn't finish his thought, but the angry, long strides he was taking towards the door said everything.

Immediately, Sanji was on his feet and blocking Zoro's way. "Leave her alone," he growled.

Zoro glared at him. "I haven't got time for your sense of 'chivalry,'" he began.

"Mr. Swordsman."

The both of them turned at the sound of Robin's voice. "Perhaps," she said delicately, "you are not the person Miss Navigator needs to see at this moment. Shall we follow Mr. Cook's advice and leave her be? There is, after all, nothing we can accomplish until the morning anyhow."

As always, her words and the quiet, reasonable manner in which she said them had a calming effect on them all. Zoro, though he didn't look any happier, relaxed his stance. Sanji felt his muscles untense, almost in spite of themselves.

They had forgotten to account for Luffy. Just as Sanji was sliding back into his seat, and Zoro was doing the same, Luffy burst out, "Stupid Nami!" and bolted out the door. His footsteps took the opposite direction of the navigator's, going down and across. The door to the hold banged open and shut.

This time, when Zoro followed his Captain out, Robin didn't stop him.

Then it was just the four of them in the uneasy silence of the galley. Sanji didn't feel like thinking anymore tonight. It was time, he decided, to take comfort in routine. Standing up, he began to move around the table, finally clearing away the dishes.

In the background, he could hear Usopp and Chopper's worried conversation.

"What should we do?" Chopper was saying. "I'd like to see every island there is, but Nami's right...if Luffy and Robin and me can't swim..."

"We could use the diving barrels again," Usopp said, though he sounded doubtful.

"There are only three of them, though."

"We could take turns..."

Chopper said sadly, "But I'd like to stay together. It doesn't seem right, visiting an island without everyone there."

They continued for a while more in this vein, until Usopp finally turned around and said, "Sanji, what do you think?"

The dishes were now soaking in soapy hot water in the sink. "I think," Sanji said, "that we could all do with some hot chocolate." He had already put the kettle on. Robin was right. There was nothing they could do until morning, and the persistent fog turned the evening air downright chilly. Making a hot drink was the best he had to offer right now. It was something to keep his hands busy, every step an excuse to focus his entire attention on something other than on what was wrong. The chocolate needed to be melted - just so. The milk needed to be frothed without boiling over. The water needed to be at just the right temperature. They didn't have marshmallows, but there was some fresh cream in the fridge. Sanji found some cinnamon twigs he'd forgotten about in a cupboard. An additional sprinkling of powerded cinnamon along the surface of the cream, and a cold sprig of mint in each cup. Perfect. The best hot chocolate on the Grand Line.

Sanji set down a mug each in front of les miserables and another one by Robin. He put the remaining three cups on a tray and began carrying it towards the door.

"First watch tonight, Chopper," he reminded the reindeer, who gave an answering grunt through a mouthful of cream.

Sanji managed a smile. At least some things were staying normal tonight.

- - - - -

Nami was sitting, leaning against the trunk of one of the trees when he climbed the stairs up to the roof garden. She accepted the mug of hot chocolate distractedly.

"Do you need anything else, Nami dear?" he asked, doing his best to put more meaning into his voice than the words implied. "A blanket? A light?"

"No," Nami said. "I'm fine." She played with the mug in her hands in between sips. "Sanji...you do think I'm right, don't you? About not going to Vesujima."

He didn't know. Robin's history lesson had been fine and instructive, but they still didn't know anything. Were there people living on Vesujima? Was it a dead land? Was any of it above water? If it was under the sea's surface, could they sail the ship there like they did to Skypiea? If it could be seen from Aeon, would the people there be able to give more information? Sanji simply didn't know. All he wanted to do was to make the unhappiness on Nami's face disappear.

He said, with the utmost sincerity, "I'll stand by anything you decide, Nami. You'll never have to doubt me." But the words did not ring the way he wanted.

The face that Nami pulled told him as much. Sanji's stomach gave a lurch as he registered nothing but simple disappointment in that look. He had done it again, done and said the wrong thing. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Sanji knew what the right thing was, but he wasn't ready to face it. Instead, he waited patiently until Nami had finished her cocoa and put the mug back on the tray. Then, bidding her goodnight, Sanji turned and made his way back down the stairs.

He passed Usopp on the way, going up. The sniper gave him an uncertain smile. As Sanji went down the next flight of stairs towards the main deck, he could hear Usopp saying, "I'm scared too."

Nami gave an answering murmur that Sanji could not catch. The murmur became a stream of conversation, and there was even an occasional laugh.

Huh. Usopp. Homely, cowardly, weak Usopp who managed to do so easily what Sanji sometimes thought he wanted to do more than anything: connect with Nami. One of these days, Sanji was going to have to learn the trick.

If there even was one, his brain told him dryly. But he pushed that annoying little voice away and continued making the hot chocolate rounds.

- - - - -

He found Zoro on the main deck, leaning against the wall outside the hold. The swordsman didn't say a word as he accepted the mug of hot chocolate. Just downed the drink in one gulp and put the mug back on the tray. Sanji, who was used to his crewmate's utterly barbarian ways by now, didn't even bat an eye.

"How is he?" he said instead.

Zoro grunted. "Can't get a word of sense out of him," he said shortly. Privately, Sanji suspected this had as much to do with Zoro's natural reticence as Luffy's sulking. That didn't stop the swordsman from keeping his weight on the wall behind him light, nor from looking as alert as a hawk, or a shark, or a wolf, or any kind of hunting animal Sanji cared to name.

So it was always the stranger to see him in these moments, using his energy for so domestic a matter, his shoulders tense with worry over his unhappy boy-captain.

Sanji paused in the act of opening the door to the hold and tried, as he sometimes did, to make civil conversation. Funny how the topic of these conversations was always about the same person. Something about Nami's outburst, her fixation on Luffy's inability to swim, finally forced Sanji's uneasiness to the root of his tongue. "What would you do," he began, "if Luffy d- if he wasn't around anymore? What would you do?"

Zoro didn't seem surprised by the question. "Nothing," he replied simply. He shifted his weight and turned his head towards the door as if responding to some noise within the room.

Sanji understood. If Luffy wasn't here, there'd be nothing left in life worth doing.

"So you do get how Nami feels," he said.

Zoro shrugged. "I get her," he said. "But nothing can change Luffy once his mind's made up."

"So -- what? We should just let him do what he wants, even if he - no matter what might happen? We should just keep quiet?" Sanji stared at Zoro. He could never figure out the quiet swordsman. How was it that he of all people understood Luffy the best? How was it that Luffy trusted him of all people to understand him? "Why does he even need us?" he asked finally.

If Sanji was expecting answers, Zoro wasn't interested in giving them. After a few more moments, Sanji swore under his breath and pushed open the door. He stepped into the hold, leaving the swordsman and his maddening silence behind.

It took a few minutes to find Luffy. The boy hadn't bothered to turn on the light, and Sanji had to work from the little shafts of gold peeping down from the galley above. Finally, Sanji spotted his shape in the space between two crates. Luffy held the Baby DenDen in his large hands, turning it over and over with his fingers.

Sanji wondered who he wanted to call. His brother, maybe, or that pirate Shanks he was always going on about. Pity the Baby DenDen didn't have an overseas connection. "Luffy?" he said softly, approaching the huddled figure. "Have some hot chocolate before it gets cold."

Even in the worst of moods, Luffy never needed to be told twice when food was concerned. Sanji watched as he snaked a rubbery arm up to the tray and plucked the last mug off it. The arm wound back to Luffy's side, and the next few minutes were filled with the sounds of slurping. Sanji waited, trying not to wince at the insult being done to his craft.

Finally, a burp and a sigh. Sanji figured it was safe to put the tray on one of the crates and do a little prodding. "Nami's just worried about you, you know," he tried. Okay, more than a 'little' prodding.

Sanji thought that Luffy wasn't going to answer. He was startled when the rubber boy said, "I'm not afraid to die. So I don't know what Nami's so scared of."

How was he supposed to respond to that? So Luffy wasn't afraid to die. Then hell, that made him the only one. If nothing else, Sanji knew the edge in Nami's voice because he'd felt it for himself. The imperative to not die, the need to keep living above all else. It made you hold back, that need. If you wanted to be hurt with less, you had to fight back with less. It had been Luffy, not Sanji, who'd saved the Baratie, And even now, when he no longer felt the fear for himself, it remained as a fear for others. For Luffy, precisely because he wasn't afraid to die. He loved life so much, but he wasn't afraid to leave it; wasn't afraid to leave them. Sanji remembered Loguetown, looking up to see Luffy on the scaffold, smiling at his own death. The desperation of trying to reach him, knowing he wouldn't be able to, knowing his dream was about to severed along with Luffy's head. That was the thing. Sanji needed Luffy to be alive. Nami did; everyone did. Luffy had given them all the courage to dream, but he still held those dreams, up there in his straw hat and his grin. They needed him to stay, because they weren't ready to dream alone.

The words wouldn't make it past his lungs. The only thing he could manage was, "Maybe you're not scared, but that doesn't mean you should jump into the ocean every time the opportunity comes up. I don't like ruining all my clothes just to fish you out, you know."

"Then you shouldn't buy such expensive clothes," Luffy replied absently. It wasn't the answer Sanji wanted, but it was a logical response. And when Luffy started making sense, it was time to start worrying.

"D'you think Nami's really mad at me?" Luffy asked abruptly, breaking the small silence.

Another question they'd never had to ask before. Being on the Going Merry was like being caught in perpetual, squabbly crossfire. But arguments started, were carried out to their violent ends, and forgotten about as easily and naturally as - as - bread, Sanji thought lamely. Baking in the oven and eaten without a second thought. They'd never actally had a fight before.

Now, he said, "I think she's just worried about you."

Luffy mulled this over for a bit. "I like it best," he said thoughtfully, "when we're all having fun together."

Sanji had to smile. "We all like those times the best," he replied. Bending down, he retrieved the mug from Luffy's hand before the boy could start munching on it the way he did with fish bones. As he straightened back up, Sanji was relieved to see Luffy put the Baby DenDen back on the crate. Whatever was still bothering him, he didn't need someone outside the crew to talk him through it anymore. Then Luffy stood up too, brushing dust from his pants.

"I'm going to bed," he announced. He hopped over a crate to avoid colliding with Sanji, and made his way to the door. "G'night."

"'Night."

Through the wall, Sanji could hear Luffy and Zoro exchanging some words, Zoro sounding carefully neutral and Luffy's higher voice ringing more cheerful than before. Then the padding of sandals towards the hatch to the men's quarters. Sanji waited another moment. When it sounded like Zoro wasn't moving, he collected the tray and went outside.

- - - - -

He hadn't meant to talk with the swordsman again, but as he passed by, Zoro suddenly spoke.

"He needs us to keep him from drowning."

Sanji looked over his shoulder. Zoro was smiling slightly. "The moron can't swim, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Sanji relaxed muscles he hadn't realized were tensed, and continued up the stairs. Above him, in the tangerine grove, he could hear Nami and Usopp still having their conversation. Occasionally he caught words like "sea monster" and "liar" and "Great Captain Usopp." That was when Sanji noticed he could see the night sky and the stars blinking down on the waves. The fog had cleared, and taken with it the wrongness. Things were going to be okay. Sanji didn't know what they would end up doing, but he was sure they could get through it together.

He pushed open the galley door to find Robin the only one in the room. Chopper had gone off, presumeably to take his turn at watch. Robin didn't say anything until Sanji had crossed the room to the sink and begun washing out the dishes.

"The fog seems to have lifted," the archaeologist commented. As Sanji made agreeing sounds, she smiled and continued, "The reason why we're all upset is, of course, that we don't know much about the situation at all. We shall have to spend some time in Aeon, if only to gather information."

"Luffy wouldn't have liked to hear that," Sanji commented with a smile.

Robin smiled back. "One does not go against the Captain," she said. "It's always best to lead him around to the point. Miss Navigator has not fully learned the trick."

"I don't think it's possible to learn all the tricks when it comes to Luffy," Sanji said ruefully.

Robin laughed. "You may be right about that," she agreed, and stood up. "Good night, Mr. Cook." With a wave of her hand, she left the room.

Then it was just Sanji and the dishes. Funny how that worked out. Chore boy, shipwreck victim, junior cook, assistant chef, chef and fighter, and it somehow all came back to the dishes. Ah, well. Sanji supposed he ought to be grateful for any constant that remained in life. He worked on, slowly and carefully, savoring the quiet finish to a long evening.

- - - - -
notes: Part of what I wanted to do was explore the changes in the Straw Hats (and Nami in particular) between Skypiea, Davy Back Fight, and Water 7. I think the way they react to events in Water 7 came (partly) out of their experiences on Skypiea, so I wanted to see how they got from one point to the next. Also, I didn't want to trivialize Luffy's fight with Usopp in the canon, so I tried to keep the focus of this chapter elsewhere. Feedback on how well this was managed would be really appreciated, as well as characterizations in general. Thanks in advance!