One Piece:

Valentine, Be Mine

"Okay! Time to make my Valentine presents for everyone!" Mumei cheered, her bare arm shot up high in the air. Thankfully, no one was within ear shot to hear her, or they would have gone deaf. With no sleeves to roll up, she simply tied an apron around her waist and dove right into the cook book Sanji had offered before he disembarked with the crew.

As predicted by the most skilled navigator on the waters, the crew had landed on an island two and a half hours after the Valentine's meeting. Ironically, it was a spring island called Labu Labu island, holding a weekly festival for the special holiday that only came to the Straw Hat's attention a few hours before docking. A few members had mentioned how it strangely resembled the English word for 'love', but Mumei had exclaimed to them that it was named after the whale, Laboon. Of course, Brooke believed her and began running around the town aimlessly.

Worried for the man, Chopper followed him carefully with Usopp soon catching up to accompany them. And thus, the groups began to form. Luffy went off with Sanji, since the chef had most of his ingredients for his Valentine dinner already simmering on the stove, and he knew Luffy would get lost if someone wasn't giving him their undivided attention. That as his reason, Robin decided to tag along with the two, for, as she put it, 'adult supervision'. That left Franky, Hanzatsu, Zoro and Nami to form the third and final group. Hanzatsu was able to trek on land because Usopp had made her 'fashionable items', infused with her sea stones, to give her some limited time upon ground.

Nami was surprised to see that Hanzatsu was allowing Franky to be separated from the woman he supposedly loved, and even more surprised to see she was allowing Sanji to be with Robin! How was Franky suppose to win over Robin if she was spending so much time with the third wheel, as she knew the busty sixteen year-old would put it, instead? She remembered that the young girl had said she was going to spend the whole day with Franky to help him find the perfect gift for the female archaeologist, but was it worth letting them be separated? It was even worse if Robin was offering to spend her time with the other side of her love triangle. Why was Hanzatsu suddenly so lenient about love, when she was rocking the ship over the matter earlier that day?

"Okay, Franky and I are gonna go shopping now!" Smiling with a look that showed she was somehow very pleased, Hanzatsu outstretched her hands to the navigator.

"…What's this about?" Nami asked with her agitated expression again.

"We need money." Still, the water user smiled.

"I told everyone to talk to be before we land—And you're not even apart of our crew!" Nami hollered, not liking how sloppy their means of dealing were at the moment.

"Well, Franky needs it, not me, right?" Hanzatsu's long hair fell down her back as she turned her head backwards to look at the cyborg. Seeing his nod, her grin widened and she faced the red-head again, "And he couldn't see you before because he was busy working on weaponry. So, we'd like our sha—I mean, his share now, if you please."

'Sometimes, I think she resembles me a bit too much.' Nami sighed, as she slipped her fingers underneath her collar. Pulling out ten thousand berries from her 'secret wallet', she held it out to the two, and felt the feel of the cool air refill her hands too quickly once the money was swiped.

"Alright, we'll see you later, guys!" Franky called as he jogged down the side walk with the bandana-wearing female at his side, already discussing what to get.

Holding her head with one hand, Nami closed her eyes for a moment to regroup her thoughts. Suddenly, after a quick exhale, she blinked twice and looked from her right to her left. She had just remembered; wasn't she supposed to be with Zoro? Turning around in a small circle, she looked in all directions to try and find the man in question, but she couldn't spot his green mess-of-hair anywhere. Worrying to the smallest degree, she was about to call out to him before she saw him walk out of nearby store with a bag already in his hand.

"Z-Ah…Zoro!" she yelled with anger, shaking a fist as she stomped over to him.

"Hmm?" He looked over in her direction and blinked once, "What?"

"You can't walk off on me while I'm just standing there!"

"You were with Franky and Hanzatsu. I didn't think it'd be such a problem."

"Well, at least tell us when you decided to walk off on your own. What did you even buy, anyway?" She crossed her arms over her chest, calming down as she waited for his reply, watching him carefully take out an item from his bag.

"This." He said emotionlessly, exposing the bags contents in one hand; wax for his swords. Nami sighed as she looked up just then, seeing he had indeed entered a store for cleaning supplies.

"Of course," She dropped her angry position and placed one hand on her hip, "Look, Hanzatsu dragged Franky off to help him shop, so it's just you and me, okay? You need to stick with me and stay close, got it?" She warned him firmly, her index finger right in front of his nose.

"Why?" His question made her think; why would she need Zoro to follow her around? She could use him as a bag-carrier, but it's not as if he would want to go shopping with her. Odds are he wasn't even going to buy Valentine presents, which she had expected once he had asked for more money. It was then that she found a way to recover.

"Because you'll get lost without me, and," her lips curved into an impish smirk, visibly worrying him, "You can work of some of your debt this way. Come on, let's go Zoro!" Her blatant happiness at his expense was overflowing as she spun to face the street of shops and made her way step by step down the lane.

"Don't just use me like that! It's supposed to be Valentine's Day!" He protested, though he began to ensue her.

"Hm, hmm," she hummed cheerfully, "There are too many shops to pass up!"

"Sanji! Sanji! Look, look! It's a twenty inch pork cutlet! Can I have some, please?" Luffy hopped up and down as he pointed at the abnormally large piece of meet.

Just for Mumei's sake, as he took another drag, he heard himself think, 'That's what she said.' to keep up with their tradition. Seeing him smirking to himself for a moment behind his cigar, Luffy took that as a yes and sunk his teeth into the meat. Robin laughed behind her hand as Sanji had to fight both Luffy's jaws and the vendor's wrath. Sighing, the only woman of the three smiled at her two friends and was pleased she had chosen that arrangement. Even with the unpleasant scene before her, which Sanji was not enjoying to say the least, it made her remember why she had joined this particular crew, and why she never regretted a moment since then.

Still, the fighting continued over the pork, and it reached the point where Sanji threw the majority of his money at the man and walked off. Luffy frowned sadly to see how he had angered his friend, but then grabbed the meat and ran. The blond chef decided he might as well head home to see how Mumei was fairing with her recipe. That is, until he saw the perfect gift to get the ladies.

"Usopp, what are you doing with that?" Chopper blinked as he saw the handyman slap down some sort of sticker onto a piece of paper. The small boy blinked in curiosity as he watched his friend go over to the clerk and give him one third of his money, then hand over the paper he had just filled out.

"I'm just making arrangements, Chopper. You'll see." Usopp smiled beyond reason while his cheeks burned with blush.

"…Ah, I wish I had that much colour." Brooke sighed as he rubbed his hands over his cheek bones.

Chopper gave a terrified expression, "Ah…I'm confused." So he held his head in his hooves.

"Hanzatsu, what am I suppose to be looking for exactly?" Franky asked roughly as he continued to use his hand as a visor while looking through all the shop windows on the street.

"I don't know. Don't you have any idea of what you want to get for her?" Hanzatsu asked with a bit of an ill temper, her anger directed at all the incredibly girly shops.

"What?" The cyborg stopped his search to look down at her, confused to hear that he was suddenly shopping for one person individually.

Hanzatsu realized she let her goal slip and hesitated in one of her steps, "Well, like they say, ladies' fir—Keep your eyes on the street!"

"Oh, yeah!" Franky nodded and spun his head around in one swoop, completely forgetting the fact that his question was never answered.

"Mumei-chwan! I'm back to offer my—…Mumei-…chan?" Sanji couldn't find the strength to move once he laid eyes on the kitchen. There was pots and pans everywhere! Even as the chef, he never would have guessed they had that many in stock. He looked over into the kitchen space carefully, then scanned the rest of the eating area, yet he couldn't find the girl in question.

"Maybe she's in th—"

"S-Sanji-san?" He heard the small cry of the bandana crew's shipwright echo through the room. Taking a careful step inward, he physically began to search for her.

"Mumei-chan? I can't see you wh—AHHH!" He hadn't noticed the small black heap crawling out from under the table in time and ended up stepping on her right hand. With her head bowed he couldn't see her face, but her shoulders shook twice with while dropped lowly. Petrified, he dropped to his knees and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to console her, "Mumei-chan! Please forgive me! I didn't see you there! Are you oka—"

"Sanji-san…" she whispered. He paid close attention as she slowly raised her head to meet his gaze, his heart freezing within his chest. Once he saw her gleaming, teary eyes, he felt like he just realized he killed someone's cat, "Sanji-san…I can't do it! Agh, I'm so PISSED!"

"Eh…" Sanji was stunned.

"I mean, I did exactly as the recipe told me! But all I got was things that look like doggy doodie! It's not working! I can't make my gift for everyone!" She cried a bit in frustration.

Sanji felt a fierce battle rage within him. He was a firm believer in the policy, 'A chef's simplest dishes show their true talent', and 'Cooking can't be taught.' Even if it was for Mumei-chan, whose presence he enjoyed so much, he couldn't break or modify his mantra. It would be unjust and unethical. He had to think of another way to aid the poor girl before him.

"Well, why not tr—"

"Will you help me…Sanji-san?" She gave him the most chibi, the most adorable face he had ever seen, and he knew she wasn't even trying. Her small tears resting in the corners of her eyes, her sad expression, her lips slightly parted as to expect his answer anxiously. It was too hard to resist.

"…Let's get started."

Mumei gasped with a large, heart-warming smile, "Really? Oh thank you so much, Sanji-san! This means so much to me!" And within a second, he found himself being embraced by the tiny yet precious girl in what he felt to be a strong, heart-warming hug.

'Sometimes, I think I'm considered a pedophile.' "So, let's go started!"

Author's Note:

Full of shinanigans (sp?) Like Disney. I have been trying to finish this since four today. That makes me think I won't be able to finish by the end of the day. Besides, my keyboard went weird on me again.

PLEASE COMMENT ON HANZATSU AND MUMEI!

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