Chapter 2
When Vivi entered the kitchen, she was met with the delicious smell of perfectly cooked bacon and eggs. Even after a year of impersonating an agent of Baroque Works and living on Whiskey Peak, she still couldn't get tired of her partner Mr.9's exquisite cooking. He had never fully explained where he had learned to cook. He had only vaguely told her that in his childhood he helped in the kitchens of a fancy place. But she could understand why he did not go into more details about his past. They both worked in an organization organized around secrets. And even those secrets had secrets. It would be hypocritical of her to accuse him of hiding things from her while she was hiding the fact, she was a royal princess infiltrating a criminal organization in the hope of putting an end to civil war happening in her home country.
"Good Morning Mrs. Wednesday." The young man greeted her with his back facing her, he did not turn around from his task.
She was always surprised by his ability of detecting someone's presence without seeing them. It was a skill she wished she had. She smiled at his greeting even though she was aware he currently couldn't see it, and politely replied to his greeting.
"Good Morning Mr. 9. Breakfast smells delicious as usual. You spoil us too much by cooking for us every day."
She sat down at the kitchen table. Picking up daily newspaper laying in front of her. She deduced the blond man had read it before making breakfast. She had noticed that the newspaper was always opened on the few political themed articles. She assumed he liked reading about politics and diplomatic news. Perhaps it was an interest of his.
She checked that the man was focused on his cooking before opening the specific page article she was interesting in. The news on Alabasta's situation seemed to worsen every day. She bit anxiously on her bottom lip while reading the words written in black ink. She hurriedly changed the page when she heard the man moving around the kitchen.
He approached the table and placed a glass of lemonade and a plate of her usual breakfast food. She smiled at the thin layer of sweet tomato sauce on her omelet. She adored eating her omelett covered in tomato sauce a weird habit she picked up off her father. She had told Sanji once and since he had made the effort of cooking it for her like that every day. It was strange how he could be cold and impassive during their missions but then in his cooking he would pay attention to small details like these. She thanked him and took a sip of the sweet lemonade.
"How do you make the lemonade taste so good Sanji? Even the palace cooks could not make a lemonade this good!"
Her eyes widened when she realized her mistake, she desperately tried to fix the situation.
"I mean... I IMAGINE that palace cooks cannot cook like you ... since you know... I have never tried palace food...hahahahah..."
Sanji turned back to the stove pretending to believe her terrible excuse. He heard her laugh awkwardly behind him. He couldn't stop rolling his eyes at her bad lying, she sometimes blurted out crucial information without thinking. He could not understand how she had not been discovered yet. Perhaps because she spent most of her with their team, Mr.8 who was in on it, himself who already knew her true identity and Mrs. Monday who most of the time could be quite dense when it came to things that did not involve fighting.
Sanji picked up his own plate and while standing up leaning against the counter, he attempted to change the subject.
"Are Mrs. Monday and Mr. 8 joining us for breakfast today?"
Vivi shook her head.
"They're helping some of the men build new dorms for the new recruits."
Sanji nodded in acknowledgement while finishing his blueberry pancakes. Vivi was the one to start the conversation this time.
"So today is whale hunting... It is smart of Mr.0 to send us on this mission. That thing could probably feed us for a whole year."
Sanji scoffed.
"He probably just does not want to waste money buying food for the whole island." He grabbed their plates and started washing them.
"We'll leave in half an hour. While I finish this and go get my pistols, could you please go down the street and ask the weapon master to lend us two rocket launchers? I believe they'll be powerful enough to tear through the creature's stomach from the inside."
Vivi understood that Mr.9 was in mission mode, he was back to his ruthless planning.
"From the inside?" She repeated confused.
"I'll explain on the way."
A half an hour later, they were walking towards the docks. Sanji was tightening his tie thinking of all the recipes he knew that involved whale meat while next to him Vivi was tightening her ponytail a determined look in her eyes. Both had no idea that they were about to meet the pirate crew that would change both their lives.