When the light faded the crew looked around to see they were in a kitchen, presumably the Baratie's. They saw the faces of Sanji, Zeff, and a few others they figured they had guessed Right.

"Alright you lazy louts, we have a busy day ahead, and our wait staff ran scared." When Zeff had said that last part the cooks went into a mini frenzy.

"Uhg, I knew that they were worthless." One cook said

"They literally never did anything."

"I'm pretty sure Sanji scared them off." A few of the Strawhat crew members sent that cook a glare.

"Those cowards probably ran at the first sight of a fight," Patty complained the loudest

Zoro's lip twitched upwards "well he isn't wrong, even curly could handle the problem.". Before Nami could once again show Zoro how much she appreciated his and Sanji's rivalry, Zeff's voice interrupts, causing the cooks and the straw hats to listen.

"It doesn't matter what made those cowards quit, we'll have to take turns being their waiters till we find new ones. Now it's a matter of who" The straw hats noticed the air got tense, for the cooks, a few of the straw hats began to wonder if Zeff would call out Sanji for technically scaring the waiters off.

"You don't think he'll throw Sanji out there do you?" Usopp asked what the crew was thinking. From when he last saw Zeff his and Sanji's relationship was so odd, they never really showed the other any sort of respect or care other than yesterday if he recalled correctly.

"Sanji." The crew and cooks looked to Sanji who was holding a jar. The sight of it confused the straw hats but the cooks were obviously used to the sight of it.

"Not again head chef, that jar hates me I swear." One complained in a whiney voice

"Shut up, you've only done it twice bastard," Crane yelled at the other cook. This caused the cooks to start fighting, it was utter chaos. The straw hats looked at the scene then at Zoro.

"What?" Zoro asked obliviously ( and slightly offended) as to why they were looking at him.

"I know we keep saying it. It's just odd not seeing this type of fighting with people rather than you and Sanji-bro," Franky told the swordsman. Chopper, Usopp, and Brook shook their heads in agreement.

"The cook always starts it." Zoro argued back "and you guys got something to say you better say it." sending the peanut gallery a glare. Usopp and Brook huddled in fear, while Chopper and Franky were unfazed.

"Now, now boys, no need to fight." Robin calmly interjected a small smile that was supposed to look pleasant but promised pain if disobeyed. The men of the crew quickly quieted down and it would appear the cooks did as well though Zeff's threat was much less gentle.

"If you lazy bastards don't stop whining and trying to ruin my damn restaurant I'll feed you to the customers myself." The hard glare that followed was so intense it made some of the weaker members of the crew shiver.

"That's better, now you know the drill, take one and whoever gets the red is on waiter duty." After that the cooks took a stick, at the tip was painted white, and assumably red for the loser. The cooks who grabbed one nervously then cheered when they were not picked. When it got to Sanji's turn, who was the fifth one to take a stick, one of the cooks who were closest to the straw hats mumbled that Sanji never drew the red one but somehow still ended up playing waiter so they should just pick him and save the trouble. As if the Jar had heard the request it came up exactly as he said it should.

"You have to be shitting me," Sanji exclaimed in annoyance, on his stick was a bright red end, symbolizing he was the waiter of the day. The cooks started laughing at Sanji's bad luck, a few of the Strawhats joined in. When the laughter went down Sanji had an embarrassed look on his face and to the untrained eye, it looked like his face was red with anger.

"Hmmm, Looks like Sanji-san has always been bad at expressing his emotions," Brook noted plainly, having calmed down from laughing. That got a few wheels turning in the crews head, Brook wasn't wrong Sanji, along with Luffy, usually wore their hearts on their sleeves, though Sanji most of the time, and unlike Luffy who acted on those emotions, Sanji tries to hide that fact and pretend his emotions are as well hidden as he liked to think.

"You'd think with how he acts around us and women in general he'd be more willing to admit to his feelings." Robin pondered. Looking over to Sanji who angrily stomped out of the room, as he did the room started to fade in and out. The straw hats let out a startled cry.

"What's going on?" Franky asked in a panic, what was going wrong. Robin was dumbfounded herself and didn't have an answer for the cyborg.

Usopp quickly followed Sanji, and called to his friends to come quickly, the crew ran to the door and followed Usopp's voice. As they did the rooms became clearer, and they saw Usopp with Sanji downstairs, who was still throwing a hissy fit and getting the place ready for customers. The crew stood quietly for a moment calming down from what happened.

"I think we have to stay by Sanji." Usopp finally chimed in as the crew turned to look at him and he continued "it makes sense, we are watching his memories so if he doesn't remember it we can't see it." This was some basic deduction stuff, the girls should have figured a lot of this stuff out already, they seem distracted, though why Usopp couldn't tell.

"Is the cook still throwing a bitch fit?" Zoro suddenly asked, interrupting Usopp "Nice to know he always had them." Rolling his eye at the end saying that. "This is worse than the ones he has on the ship though." The cook was always on the verge of throwing one but this was ridiculous, he really had that stick up there back then didn't he. It made Zoro feel almost upset seeing someone he has fought with (respected), at such an emotional low point. He almost preferred his love mode over this melodramatic person he was seeing, it was just a stupid stick, why be so mad?

"Yeah, he does seem angrier here." Chopper noted, "he's always been temperamental but this feels like a different level." Chopper put his hooves on his forehead thinking hard about it.

"I wonder," Robin mumbled quietly, so quietly only Chopper heard her.

"Wonder what Robin?" Chopper asked, looking up at her. This caused the rest of the crew to look at her. She paused a moment, seemingly to collect her thoughts then spoke.

"Perhaps it's because he doesn't have outlets for that anger yet." She looked to the crew letting it sink in. Nami suddenly chimed.

"That actually sounds right, it looks like Sanji-Kun's relationships here were like his and Zoro's. He can't fight them, and so his main stress relievers are fighting, cooking and women aren't an option all the time with how the restaurant operates." Looking at past Sanji it dawned on her what that really meant. Everything he does for the crew and for the girls was because it made him happy to help, almost like he needed to help. Sanji was responsible for a lot of household chores on the ship. Sure he'd rope the men to help when he could but often he'd do it by himself (the girls offered but he refused to allow it). Yet every day regardless of how tired or stressed he was he always had the energy to fight Zoro or cook the girls (and the crew) snacks with a smile that never failed to get her to smile too. Nami felt her heart pang at the thought of that smile, it's been so long since she's seen it, not the last smile he had, that one was as fake as could be, she meant a real smile, she couldn't even remember when that was. The other one she didn't want to even think about, such a cruel look didn't belong to anyone she thought of as a friend.

"Nami-san?" Brook asked with concern clearly in his voice. Nami looks up at him, surprised he noticed.

"It's nothing Brook." She smiled to assure him she was fine "right now our concern is Sanji." She looked determined at the scene, while they were talking the day had passed by, the restaurant was full of customers and Sanji was running around tending to them. This surprised the crew, even Robin and Zoro were shocked.

"We weren't talking that long were we?" Franky asked taking off his sunglasses for a better look. " Who knows what we missed, we could have already lost a key part." He realized, almost panicked.

"YOHOHOHOH, that probably isn't it." Brook interrupts "When I was in the afterlife time moved differently, hours were like seconds when I wasn't paying attention perhaps this is like that." He offered. "Besides I'm keeping a close eye out, though I don't have any. Skull joke."

"That seems probable after all our hooded figure did say we were only going to see memories where the clue is," Robin adds. Then Usopp interjects.

"But why didn't the scene just change like usual, fade then come back?" He asks. Robin pauses to think about it.

"Maybe the memories are connected so we can't just fast forward." She says. Once again the crew is interrupted, this time by a loud crash from above. The restaurant starts to panic, the crew looks confused.

"What was that?" Chopper asked, looking around confused "it sounded like an explosion." Just then a cook ran down the stairs to Sanji.

"Sous chef!" He huffs as he catches his breath from running. Sanji just calmly looks at him, almost apathetically.

"Well, what? Spit it out." He ordered the cook, in an authoritative voice. The cook took one last breath and spoke.

"It's the head-chef! A Canon ball came through the ceiling and landed in his room. The horror of the situation was clearly on his face. Sanji, on the other hand, looked shocked for a brief second then had a look of annoyance on his face. The grand line straw hats looked worried but the east blue ones were unfazed.

"So it's that day huh?" Zoro realized almost immediately.

"What day Zoro?" Chopper asked, confused, Nami interrupted to answer, Zoro gave her a look of annoyance.

"If we're guessing right that cannonball was accidentally sent by us, well Luffy to be more exact."

"What? How'd ya manage that, did they refuse to serve him or something?" Franky asked.

"You'll see," Nami answered simply.

"Damn geezer better not keel over, lunch rush is starting soon," Sanji says before continuing to go back to work. The cook and a few Strawhats were shocked.

"I knew their relationship was bad, but I didn't think it would be this bad." Usopp was shocked at what he was hearing, chopper nodding and agreement. The cook seemed to share the same sentiment.

" Sous chef!!! How could you say that? I know you don't like him but he could be hurt or worse." He cried out.

"Shut up shithead." Sanji scolded him with a hard look. "That shitty geezer isn't going to go down because of one shitty cannonball, now if you're done being a useless dumbass, go find who did it." He ordered them back to work. He walked straight to the greeting desk where a couple was waiting impatiently.

"Wait is that?" Usopp asked, surprised to see him.

"It is," Zoro said, a look of pure annoyance on his face. "And here I thought dealing with shit cook right now was crappy enough."

"Yes I'm Marine Lieutenant Fullbody, with my lovely date, I have a reservation for two at your finest seat." Fullbody was an average looking man with pink hair, slicked back to give an air of superiority. His date was a pretty blond woman in a red dress, she was practically clinging to Fullbody's side, a coy smile on her face.

"Oh, this idiot." Nami deadpanned, he wasn't any trouble and he seemed incompetent when he interacted with the crew.

"Who is this Nami-San?" Brook asked, "Is he someone we should worry about." Nami gave a dismissive wave to that statement.

"No, not really, he's just the idiot that caused the cannonball to hit the restaurant." She signs "He sent it at us to sink The Merry. Luffy obviously went to send it back but for some reason he accidentally sent it flying back at the Baratie."

"Interesting." Robin said with a smile of curiosity "that one little mistake ended up changing the course of our adventure." Before anyone could comment on that past, Sanji grabbed their attention.

"Of course sir, I'll show you to your seat." Sanji politely leads the two to their table, it was really interesting to see Sanji in a more professional setting. Sanji played the role very well, and why wouldn't he? He's been learning it since he was a kid. Franky looked at his fellow crewmate, there was care in his work but he seemed dispassionate about it. He didn't have that gleam in his eye, the one that everyone had when they were doing what they loved. He had felt that after Tom's death and before joining the strawhats, none of his creations were made with any passion, care of course, but he never enjoyed it fully. It caused Franky to wonder if any of the others noticed or if it was just him.

"Now then, I'm Sanji, a cook of this humble establishment, but I'll be serving you today, what can I get you." Sanji's polite small smile was perfectly placed. He had managed to get a cigarette in his mouth, his manners were polite but kept restrained.

"We'll take our wine first, of course, make it snappy waiter," Fullbody said in a haughty tone, he was being polite, however just his attitude made you want to punch him in the face. It's a wonder Sanji was putting up with it, he didn't take kindly when you called him a waiter. Once Nami had actually called him that as a joke and for the rest of the day he avoided her, Luffy complained that the snacks don't taste as good when Sanji's upset and demanded Zoro fix it. Zoro defused the situation by insulting Sanji by calling him to cook, afterward, it was an unspoken rule you didn't call him a waiter. When Nami apologized he instantly forgave her of course, when she asked he had said it because "that's not what I am".

Despite all that, he kept his composure, though having sailed with him you could tell he was annoyed.

"Of course sir, I'll be back with your drinks in a moment." After giving a small bow, Sanji tended to some customers filling drinks and asking about meals. Then headed up the spiral staircase to the kitchen above, there his professional mask faded. He quickly stomped over to Patty, who was doing nothing, probably waiting for an order to come in. Sanji got right in his face.

"What the Hell do we pay you for, to stand around? You're on waiter duty too, finish up what you're working on, and head downstairs." Sanji barked at him, it looked exactly like what he did to Zoro too. Zoro for his part rolled his eye, the shit-cook has been a bitch since before he joined the crew(not that he didn't know that, it was just nice to have the ammo). For someone who calls themselves a ladies man, he sure acted like he was one of them. Patty for his part looked offended, he looked like he was about to argue, however Sanji, who was one step ahead, gave him a glare from the fridge. "Any arguing and I will kick you so far you'll land in the grandline."

Patty turned though under his breath he mumbled something, that neither the strawhats or Sanji could hear. Sanji pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge, he looked at it in disgust, then turned to another cook, who had fortunately been working when Sanji came in.

"Who chose this wine for the soup at table 10?" he asked in a tone of exasperation " This shit will ruin the taste of the food." he looked expecting an answer.

" Well, it was the customer, he very specifically requested it for the meal." the chef said while continuing to work, he kept glancing at Sanji, to see how his higher up would react.

"Whoever allowed this is getting their ass kicked." Sanji paused for a moment then a small mischievous smile spread across his face. "Actually this works out. Bring table 10's soup down as well, I'll take it to them from there" He turns, leaving the cook confused but complying with what he was asked to do. Sanji grabs a wine cloth and makes his way down the stairs. The group of strawhats followed behind, Usopp realized what he was doing and had a giddy smile on his face. Many didn't know this, mostly because of how the love cook typically acted, but Sanji was a bit of a prankster. He oftentimes would do little things to get a reaction out of others, Zoro or Luffy being his typical victims. He even used food in some pranks as long as it still got eaten and wasn't wasted, like when he put glass in Zoro's meal on Punk Hazard. It still baffled Usopp how Zoro could eat it without complaining, he actually looked like he was enjoying it more than usual.

As Sanji was walking through the restaurant the Strawhats could hear the patrons around admiring the Marine. It caused some of the Strawhats to roll their eyes or shake their heads. Just being a marine lieutenant wasn't really anything special, there were tons of better marines to admire (not that any of the crew would admit it). Sanji for his part went to the table with a polite smile on his face, as the couple took in the compliments from those around, seeming to beam more and more. Nami rolled her eyes, this was getting them nowhere, she knew it must have been important but she was getting a bit listening to the crowd compliment this loser was irritating. As Sanji walked over to grab the food, Fullbody raised his hand to get the crowd's attention. The Strawhats and patrons of the Baratie looked to the man expectedly, however the first group wasn't expecting much.

"So good! This..flavor." Fullbody was saying every word like it was the most important thing ever said. "And yes the aroma, it is the unmistakable scent it must be from Mikkyou of the north land, with plenty of bod, a tad sour. I'm absolutely sure. This wine must be. Iturutsubulga Stein.. AM I RIGHT WAITER?" He said it with the confidence that could rival Zoro's. The crew collectively waited to see what would happen next. Sanji walked over with two bowls of soup, one on his head, one in his hand, as the other was in his pocket, a calm, polite smile could be seen on his face. He was smoking a cigarette once again, he was as bad as Zoro and Luffy when it came to following rules he didn't like. Which only really was when cigarettes were involved.

"Not even close, sir." The strawhat crew could hear the victorious snarky undertone in his voice, it was once again subtle but there. "Oh and by the way, I'm actually the sous-chef. I'm only filling in for the waiters who all jumped ship yesterday." This caused snickers and poorly hidden laughter from the restaurant patrons. He sets the bowls down in front of two patrons and bows politely "Enjoy your meal." And then proceeds to walk away smugly. The strawhats were watching with varying degrees of satisfaction. Chopper, Brook, and Usopp were cheering Sanji on, despite the fact he couldn't hear them. Robin was chuckling while Nami had a wide grin. Even Zoro had a small smile on his face, although he quickly turned it into a scowl.

"Looks like cook-bro really showed him. I don't know what's redder the wine or his face." Franky said with a smirk on his own face. " Though it is weird to hear him talk so politely, I get why but, it just doesn't feel right." The faces of the other strawhats seemed to confirm what he had said.

"Yes it's quite interesting, something my ears aren't used to hearing, though I don't have ears YOHOHOHOHOO SKULL JOKE!" Brook said lightheartedly then turned a tad more serious as he continued " I must say I prefer when he's talking like his usual self." Brook had meant it, Sanji wasn't Sanji if he was not cursing like...well a sailor.

"Wait, he always spoke normally to us. " Nami thought back, "Even when he was around me, he didn't seem to censor anything he said, especially to Zoro and Usopp. " She had a confused look on her face "If he really was professional most of the time at his job then what changed with us?"

"Now that you mention it, that is pretty strange." Usopp added a hand on his chin to think about what Nami said. Robin decided to throw in her opinion.

"I suppose it's just a theory but perhaps Sanji already saw you as someone he could trust." She had been told a bit about how the crew was before and had a fairly good idea of how to explain. " Luffy always has a way of bringing out our more relaxed selves, he probably saw Luffy relaxing with you and started to do the same."

"That makes sense but it still doesn't fully explain why he seems so drastically different even when we were strangers." Nami added, her confusion only growing. Robin merely shrugged;

"It was just a theory, I didn't see it so I can only go off what I know." She looked at the cook as he bustled around helping customers. Her perspective on the love cook was slowly changing, though she herself knew better than anyone that time with this crew changed you. The thought was broken as Full body started making a scene.

"Hey waiter!." He yelled out, clearly wanting to get everyone in the restaurant's attention. Sanji seemed confused a moment, then gave a look of apathetic annoyance.

"I already told you I'm not a waiter." The cook told the man in a bored tone. He grew interested when he saw full body's date. "My, my What a beautiful lady we have here." His tone was charming, different than his usual approach.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He completely ignored full body "how about you and I share a glass of wine over there. Our wine selection is excellent." The woman gave an amused look at the cook's antics.

"Wow Sanji really is pushing this guy's buttons." Usopp noted " geez I guess some things never change, trying to take a guy's date is one of them."

"Well You can't blame him, we are pirates and we take what we want." Robin grinned glancing at Franky, who was doing his best to pretend like he didn't hear Robin.

"Now that I'm remembering, on the Baratie Sanji was much more charming than he is now. " Nami pointed out "It's hard for me to remember exactly how he was, I thought we were going to leave and I was kind of distracted at that time."

"Yeah, distracted stealing our boat." Zoro mumbled. Nami gave the swordsman a venomous look.

"If you bring that up again I'm going to triple your debt." The tone was harsh and I had a promise of going through with it if he didn't oblige.

"Evil sea witch." Zoro mumbled under his breath, Right before turning his attention back to the scene in front of him.

"Hey! Is it customary for restaurants to serve soups with insects in it?" He yelled out, the crew could see that he had a terrible poker face and was proud about something. Pointing to a Bug floating in the soup, yelling as Loud as he could;

"WHAT'S THIS DAMN BUG DOING IN MY SOUP!?"

Sanji for his part took a second to look at it before giving a polite, but smug smile.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about bugs, But that one looks like it's drowning, or it might be dead." The laughter that followed was deafening. The strawhats watching could barely contain themselves. Sanji was a smart ass through and through, he made sure everyone around him knew it. Fullbody for his part did not enjoy being made a fool, the more serious part of the crew stopped laughing, sensing something was about to go down.

"Kyaaaaa!!!" just as predicted fullbody reacted by slamming his fist on the table, spilling its all over the floor. This caught the rest of the strawhats' attention, they all looked to sanji, a few faces showing a tinge of fear. The air was thick as all had their eyes, past and present, to see what would happen. Fullbody glared at the cook, Sanji's expression was shadowed.

"It would seem like you have no idea who you're dealing with."

"You could have eaten that if you had removed the bug" Sanji responded, staring down at the broken dishes.

"What did you say?" Fullbody demanded, sounding angrier and confused, the man raised his fist, appearing ready to fight. "I am a paying customer, For a lowly cook, you sure are full of yourself."

"Fullbody, please stop, just forgive him." his date screamed, her plea fell on deaf ears. At that moment the crew knew fullbody wasn't coming out of this without broken bones. Robin was looking at the scenario, It only seemed to confirm what she'd been thinking about their little group.

"Can Money fill your stomach?" Sanji's voice was a low growl. His eyes not showing the immense anger that every strawhat knew was filling his body. The cooks who had been helping Sanji bus tables, looked at the scene horrified.

"We gotta stop the sous chef." One screamed out. "Stop him." Cried another.

"Don't see why, the jerk deserves it." Usopp crossed his arms. He was cut off however when Sanji went in, sending a barrage of kicks towards the other man. The straw hats watched. It wasn't like the previous victory cheers before, full body had insulted Sanji and the worst way possible, so they watched in support. When Sanji was finally done, full body was a bloody pulp, blood pooling at the floor as Sanji held him by the throat.

"Remember this, going against the cook at sea...is signing your own death warrant." Sanji looked the man in the eyes, the full fury that he had felt finally being seen.

"Don't you dare waste food."

*Scene to continue in next chapter*