The next morning, they awoke and made their way down to the food stalls. A line was forming at one of them, a wonderful smell of freshly brewed tea coming from a big pot being stirred by an old woman. Sanji recognized her from the day before. She and her husband had gone after the woman who had served them milk tea. He approached and his nose was instantly filled with the rich aroma of tea and spices.
"Young man." The old woman called. "You have our thanks." she smiled kindly at him and gave him a cup of tea with a few crackers on a napkin. Luffy was at his elbow, ready to snatch the crackers from his hand. Holding it out of his reach, Sanji smiled charmingly at the old woman.
"Thank you, madam. Can you tell me where that young woman from yesterday is? I want to check if she's alright."
"I'm fine, sir. These kind people took me in." She appeared from behind the stall, a wooden box in her hand. She set it down on the counter and bowed her head at him. "Thank you so much for yesterday, sir."
"Oh, please raise your head, miss. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn't have to bow." He wanted to touch his fingers to her chin, but remembered she didn't seem to like being touched. Now he understood why. She blushed at the compliment and picked up the box.
"Still, I'd like to thank you." She opened the lid and took out a satchel. "Here. You can make yesterday's milk tea with this."
Sanji set his tea and crackers down, not minding Luffy dove for them and stuffed them in his mouth, burning his tongue soon after with the tea. Inside the satchel were fresh and dried herbs, and as soon as he put his nose to the opening, he recognized yesterday's aroma. He hummed in appreciation and put his hand on his chest.
"Such a special gift from such a beautiful woman, I barely deserve this." He watched as she lowered her eyes and shuffled, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Thank you, miss…?"
"Katherine." She replied. Sanji opened his mouth to speak, but Luffy shoved him aside.
"Wanna join my crew?" He asked, crumbs around his mouth as he slurped his tea. Katherine worked her jaw trying to form words.
"What, just like that?" She managed to ask.
"Yeah." He stuffed another cracker in his mouth.
"I could be an undercover marine for all you know." Katherine was shocked at the amount of trust he was putting in a stranger.
"But you're not." His smile was large and inviting, even if it was full of crumbs. Katherine wondered if he was really a kind, big-hearted person, or just plain stupid.
"How would you know?" She watched him shrug.
"Go on, dearie, you were going to look for a ship to leave anyway!" The old lady intervened while she poured more tea for Sanji.
"I-" Katherine blinked.
"Great! It's settled then. Let's set sail! Thanks, grandma!" Luffy turned and waved at the old lady as he walked back to the ship.
"Oy, Luffy! Don't talk to old ladies like that!" Sanji barked at his back. His only response was laughter. He sighed and turned back to Katherine. "Miss Katherine, may I walk you to our ship?"
Katherine had gathered her belongings in a canvas sack and bowed to the elderly couple. The old lady had wrapped her in a hug, and Sanji noticed Katherine stiffening at the contact, but politely patting the old lady's back. When she turned to follow Sanji, she looked up at him.
"I didn't ask your name, sir."
"I am Sanji, a slave to your every whim." He bowed and took the sack from her, paying attention not to graze his fingers on her. She laughed weakly and shook her head.
"I'm not used to so much kindness." she frowned. "What am I even supposed to do on your ship? I never sailed before. I can't fight, I can't do anything."
"You make wonderful tea, and I bet you're even better company." Sanji reassured her. "As for fighting, maybe you should learn at least how to defend yourself. We get into a few pickles."
"Hm, I've seen your posters." She seemed worried.
"Don't worry." Luffy called from the deck as they approached. "We'll protect you! You're Nakama, now!" Sanji gestured for her to go ahead of him on the plank to board the ship and pretended not to notice the moisture on the corner of her eyes. On deck, Luffy properly introduced her to everyone, and turned to Franky.
"Can you put another bed in the girls' room for her?"
"Sure thing!" Katherine looked up at the cyborg and thanked him.
"Come on, we'll put your things away. It looks like the storm isn't going anywhere for now." Nami linked her arm with Katherine's and pulled her along. The woman baulked and pretended to adjust the strap of her bag on her shoulder in order to step away from Nami. The darker redhead didn't notice and continued showing her the Thousand Sunny as they walked away.
"What's up with her and touching?" Zoro asked.
"Abuse will do that to a person." Sanji muttered. They very rarely saw eye to eye, but this was one of those rare times. "We should teach her some self-defence." An affirmative grunt was his response.
"...and that leads us back to the aquarium." Nami finished her tour of the ship and smiled back at Katherine. "You'll fit in just fine, don't worry! And we can talk to Franky about building another patch by the others for your herbs. I'm sure Chopper will like having fresh ingredients for medicine as well."
Chopper had joined them for the tour, if only to have something to do. Katherine had spoken a lot to him about the herbs she was used to cultivating for teas and spices, and was surprised that a lot of them had medicinal uses. As they sat at the bar, a bell alerted them to something coming down the elevator. Sanji appeared at the door and opened the latch in the central pillar to reveal a tray with tea and snacks.
"Here you go, lovely ladies!" he served them. "Miss Katherine, I can barely wait to taste more of your teas, your blend is divine!"
"Just Katherine is fine, sir." She accepted a teacup with a smile.
"Oh, you wound me!" Sanji knelt by her and rested his elbow on the table instead of taking her hand as he wanted to. "Will you not give me the pleasure of hearing you say my name in thy sweet, sweet voi-OW!"
"Sanji-kun, leave her be!" Nami knocked him on his head.
"Oh!" Sanji stilled as he felt fingers in his hair. "Are you alright?" He lifted his head to look up at Katherine. She seemed to realize she was holding his head in her hands and quickly retracted her hands.
"Your touch has healed me, my lady, I thank you!" He smiled and stood, singing about making more snacks for them.
"Don't mind him." Nami took a sip of tea. "He's right, this is really good!" Katherine smiled at her. She was really proud of her creations, and loved to share them. She couldn't wait to make more.
The storm had died down to a windy drizzle by the end of the day, but Nami decided to set sail only the next day. Katherine took that opportunity to swing by the girls' quarters to get some more tea from her bag and met the cyborg throwing some folded sheets on the newest bed in the room. It was exactly the same as the others, to the far left against the wall.
"Here you go! A super bed!" he gestured.
"Thank you so much!" she bowed. Franky rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ah, stop that, it was nothing." Katherine smiled and held up the wooden box.
"In that case, would you like some tea?"
"I'm more of a cola guy, but thanks." He grinned at her. Katherine nodded in understanding and left for the kitchen. Something smelled really good as she opened the door.
"I told you to get out, I'll call you when dinner's ready!" Sanji barked.
"Oh." Katherine stepped back out of the kitchen. "Sorry to bother you." she mumbled.
"NO!" Sanji screeched, whirling around at the sound of her voice, dashing to the door and opening it further. He paused as she flinched away from him. "I'm so sorry, Katherine." he lowered his voice. "I thought you were Luffy. Please forgive me, do come in." He gestured inside.
"Stupid cook." a voice muttered from the table.
"Shut up, Marimo!"
"Are you sure I'm not going to bother you?" Katherine eyed the swordsman and the singing skeleton sitting at the table playing cards.
"Nonsense. Are you hungry? Dinner's almost ready, but I can whip you up a quick snack if you like." Sanji closed the door behind her as she stepped in and looked around the kitchen instead of sitting at the table.
"No, thank you, Sanji. I was hoping to borrow your kitchen, I wanted to make some iced tea for dinner. May I?" She eyed the only free burner on the stove.
"It would be an honour to share a kitchen with you." Sanji gestured to the stove and reached up to open a cupboard and grab a kettle and a glass jug. He set them both on the counter and went back to stirring his pot, occasionally watching as Katherine worked. She set the wooden box next to the glass jar and filled the kettle with water, setting it on the burner. Sanji turned the gas on for her, but she adjusted the flame to her liking. Next, she opened the wooden box and ran her fingers over the cotton satchels, looking at labels until she found the one she wanted. Carefully measuring out the dried herbs with a spoon, she dropped them in the jar. Putting the satchel and spoon back in the box and closing it, she tapped the counter and watched the kettle.
"Excuse me, miss."
Katherine nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around, coming face to face with Brook. She put a hand on her chest and sighed.
"Yes?"
"What colour are your panties?" He asked her point-blank. Katherine blinked.
"Um...Blue." She was unsure where this was coming from and was very uncomfortable, especially as both Brook and Sanji started fawning over her. The skeleton was snatched away from her by the green-headed swordsman.
"Don't answer him!" He scowled at her.
"I'm sorry!" Katherine lowered her head.
"Oy, shitty Marimo, don't talk to her like that!" Sanji stepped in front of her. Zoro just grumbled and dragged Brook back to the table. By the time they had settled down, the kettle was whistling. Katherine turned the fire off and took the kettle from the burner, setting it on a wooden cutting board. "You're not going to pour it?" Sanji asked her as he turned back to the food. Katherine shook her head.
"You should never pour boiling water over tea. The boiling water will burn the leaves, scalding it and the tea doesn't release all of its flavours." She explained, turning a small hourglass Sanji hadn't noticed before.
"I didn't know that." Sanji hummed in surprise.
"Tea is a very delicate plant and needs to be cared for in order to receive the full benefits." She watched the sand in the hourglass fall. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."
"Never apologise for something you are passionate about." Sanji smiled at her, watching her from the corner of his eye. Katherine pressed her lips together. "What?" He asked.
"Nothing, just...unused to support, I guess." she shrugged,
"Well, get used to it." Zoro spoke from the table without looking up from his cards. Katherine blinked in surprise at him, but didn't say anything. The hourglass finished counting time and Katherine finally poured the hot water into the jug. "We support each other here and you're Nakama now." He finally said after setting his cards down. Sanji saw a small smile form on her lips.