Hey, everybody! This is actually up a lot sooner than expected, since I'm putting of my last five (yes, five, so close, so close!!!) fics for the 30 fics challenge and the stuff I really need to write for "Timeless" to finish it. But you deserve it, since it is my main project (in theory).
I'm surprised so many people claimed to be hooked after the first chapter. It was just needed but mushy exposition. You guys must be starved for entertainment (XP). I'm really glad everyone was so pumped by the cute fluffiness, but this is where we turn on the angst. By the end of this we'll have cranked it up to ELEVEN!!! O.O
Reader Review Corner!!
Sora Tayuya: Thanks! I rather liked that little analogy; good job, brain. ^^ What could POSSIBLY make you think that? XP Well, Sanji is a little… overzealous. But yes, he is very much in lust. Thanks! I love making Nami jealous. XD Here you go! Psh. Zoro's hot EVERY day. ^^
Abra Cadaverous: I think so. Oh, don't do that!! You'll ruin the carpet. XP Thanks! Don't worry, he'll be okay… maybe… possibly. . Woot! Bash that Mary-Sue!!! (I hate her as well) He does deserve a hug, eh? *huggles* Me too!!!! As I said, I'm really hyper for some reason right now… *runs in circles*
IzumiTheMoogle: I did! And here's more! ^^ Well, all good things must come to an end. Why, Izumi-chan, I do believe that's the best idea you've ever had. ^^ ^^ Thanks for that. I'm trying, but stuff is piling up like the bodies on Marineford. O.O
Three-days-late: He is indeed designed to fail, poor guy. *pats* He should definitely pay more attention to Nami, especially since she's finally paying attention to him. XD Thanks! Um… basically, yes, that is what it is. Well, more or less he's in a weird kind of denial in this chapter… But anyway. You? You're not the one writing this mental torture of a fic! XD XD
Sandy Toehs: (With an h now? XD) Thanks!!! Oh Nami indeed. ^^ I shall! Don't worry, I'm really hyper, and I DIDN'T have a lot of sugar… I think torturing these poor characters gave me a weird adrenaline rush. XP
ArokenHalo: It is! Thank you!!! Yes, I got the message. Glad you're enjoying it! ^^
Silverchild of the winds: Uh, the SaNa pairing, or the OC? I'm assuming the SaNa… Anyway, thanks! Heehee, she is very sneaky. ^^ Well, at least he was careful about SOMETHING. Well, I was trying to make Zoro be Zoro, and he is kind of Zoro… ish. -_- I'm glad you didn't think that was just a random tangent. Again, thanks!
SmileyDJingles: Really? Thank you!!!
On to Chapter 2! Mush!
Kiss Kiss
By Dandy Wonderous
Chapter 2: Dragon in Queen's Clothing
Kissed me soft and gently, she tempt me, right then I stopped thinkin' consequences, guess I must have lost my mind for a minute…
-"Damage," Chris Brown
Sanji kept the diamond earrings pressed to his lips, staring out at the ocean and dreaming of Georgia. Where was she now? Probably at home, in bed. What would it be like to sleep next to such a beauty, hold her in his arms and…
What did she sleep in?
That question led to an interesting stream of thoughts that he relished, a grin growing on his face.
Maybe he could come back here, once he'd found All Blue and Luffy was Pirate King. Come back and settle down with Georgia, maybe even have a little family. What a strange notion, him as a father. But with Georgia's children, he wouldn't mind.
But what about Nami-san?
Sanji blinked as some part of his brain voiced this question. What about her? His grin faded as he stared at his reflection in the glass. Yeah, maybe he had feelings for Nami. But she obviously would never like him back, so it was a lost cause. With Georgia he was already loved back.
As he stared at the glass, his reflection seemed to shimmer and turn into an image of her. She smiled at him, her full, supple lips beckoning to him deliciously. He leaned forward as though he was going to kiss the window, so absorbed was he in the daydream.
Maybe he wouldn't have to wait until Luffy was Pirate King…
He quickly shook that thought away. There was no way he was abandoning the crew now; he loved them too much, and owed Luffy anyway.
But still, wouldn't it be lovely to be with Georgia tomorrow, and the next day, and the next?
Glass-Georgia beckoned to him with a slender hand, and he leaned toward the window again, reaching up to meet her imagined palm.
The second he touched the cool surface of the window, a shiver raced through his body and he collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
Nami rolled to her left and stared at the wall. Then she turned to her right and stared at Robin's bed. Then she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
No matter which way she looked, Sanji's ghost hovered before her, something small and glinting pressed to his lips.
She sighed and closed her eyes. He was there, too, closer now, so close she could reach out and grab his shoulder and make him look at her and tell her what was going on…
Nami opened her eyes and realized she was reaching toward the ceiling, her hand poised to clasp something that wasn't there.
She pulled her unruly hand back down and pressed it to her temple. "What's wrong with me?" she muttered aloud. "He just has a crush. He gets them all the time. Nothing new there."
So why did this feel so different? So… wrong?
The yearning from before returned to her, pleading her to go to him. She slipped out of bed, the floor chilly to her bare feet, and walked to the door. She rested her hand on the knob and considered, staring at the wood for some kind of answer.
"Navigator-san? Is something wrong?"
Robin's voice from the dark jolted her out of her reverie. The feeling ebbed away and she realized how silly she must look. She turned around and shook her head. "No, nothing at all. I just thought I'd get some water, but it's not worth the trip."
Robin regarded her coolly for a moment, and Nami felt suddenly naked, as though the older woman could read all her thoughts and everything in her heart. But then Robin nodded and laid back down. "Very well. Goodnight, Navigator-san."
"Night, Robin," she replied, laying back down in her own bed.
Don't worry about Sanji. He's perfectly fine.
"Ugh… what happened?" Sanji sat up slowly, rubbing the back of his head. The observatory had become pitch black, and he couldn't even see the walls anymore. Not a speck of moonlight filtered through the windows.
"Hello, Sanji dear."
Sanji's heart sped up joyfully at the voice and he turned to stare at the absolute vision of beauty and perfection that had been dancing through his daydreams. "Georgia-chan, my goddess! I understand now, I must be having a wonderful dream!"
Georgia was smiling at him, the smile not as pure or loving as it had been earlier. She took a few steps toward him, seeming to give off a glow of her own. "Well, we are in your subconscious, but this is no dream."
"No, of course it isn't," he cooed happily.
Her smile widened, taking on an edge that was cruel and harsh. "I see you don't believe me, so I'll prove it to you." She closed the gap between them and circled around behind his back. "When I do this," she put his hands on his shoulders, "you feel it. When I do this," she ran her hands up his neck and onto his face, massaging it gently and earning some soft moans of pleasure, "you feel it, too. And if I do this…" She put her hands back on his neck and gripped hard, blocking off his air stream. His eyes bulged in shock and he grabbed her wrists instinctively, trying to make her release him. She resisted, holding tight until his grip slackened and he stopped struggling as hard, then letting go. He fell to the floor, gasping for air and shaking.
"Believe me now?"
Sanji took a moment to respond, gulping and wheezing. "G-georgia-ch-chan?" he finally managed weakly, voice hoarse.
"Oh, don't give me that tone. Why are you so surprised that I just tried to kill you?" She bent down next to him and lifted his chin up so that he was looking in her eyes. "Ah, you were one of those. The kind that thought I was sincerely looking for love and not just a one night stand. Oh, how delicious!" She dropped his face and clapped her hands. "Your kind are the most fun to break!"
Sanji struggled into a sitting position, still trying to wrap his mind around Georgia's sudden appearance and abrupt change in behavior. "Break? What are you talking about?"
"Your imminent betrayal of your crew, capture, and probable death, of course," she answered brusquely, rising back to her feet and examining her fingernails disinterestedly.
Sanji felt suddenly like the world was spinning very fast underneath him, and he gripped the ground that he couldn't really feel tightly in an effort to stop it. There was no way, no way, that this could be real. This had to be a dream, a nightmare, it had to end, all he had to do was wake up, wake up, WAKE UP, DAMN IT!!!
"What's wrong, Sanji?" asked Georgia, voice sticky-sweet. "You look like your whole world just crashed down around you."
"What's going on?" he demanded, looking back at her. His eyes were confused and frantic, and she relished looking at them.
"They always want an explanation," she complained. "Well, I suppose I might as well tell you." She sat down on thin air as though there was a chair underneath her and crossed her legs, leaning back and regarding him coolly. "I'm a bounty hunter, in essence. I capture pirates for the reward, so I fit the definition. But I don't simply fight them and take them in; I like to play with them, as it were."
Sanji stiffened, fear gripping all his systems. A bounty hunter. He had been seduced by a bounty hunter.
'This can't be happening… someone wake me up, wake me up NOW!'
Georgia frowned from her seat, eyes narrowing. "How many times do I have to tell you, you are not dreaming."
Sanji flinched back. So she could hear his thoughts now.
"Of course I can hear your thoughts; we're inside your subconscious." She seemed to be getting annoyed.
The cook finally pulled himself out of his crouched position on the floor to sit cross-legged. "You still haven't explained what's going on."
"Then you should stop interrupting with your pointless dribble," she snapped. She waved her hand, and a floating tea tray, bearing kettle, cup, and a small teacake, appeared at her side. She poured herself a cup while continuing. "When I was younger, I ate the Neuro Neuro Fruit, a fancy little thing that allows me to invade a person's mind for a set amount of time and control everything their brain can, as I am doing to you now. All I need to do is make some kind of intimate contact, like a kiss, for example." She smiled at him over her cup brim. "I personally call it the Kiss Kiss Fruit."
Sanji gritted his teeth. "Mind control. Is that it?"
"Yes, if you want to put it so dully." She picked up the teacake's plate and materialized a fork from nowhere. "I can only hold your mind for seventy-two hours, and then it is off-limits to me forever, an annoying little limitation set by the Devil, I'm afraid. And I can only control one mind at a time. Not to mention it takes ever so much energy to be here." She took a bite of cake. "Oh, this is delicious! An original recipe? You've quite the talent for cooking, my dear Sanji."
"What do you mean, it takes a lot of energy to be here?" Sanji questioned, forcing his mind away from the compliment and how wonderful it normally would be to get praise from such a beauty.
"Oh, the further away I am from you, and the less time I've had you under my power, or the closer I get to my limit, the harder it is to keep you under control. As it is now, I can only control you for about half an hour, but that time will get longer as we approach the thirty-six hour mark. Would you like some tea?"
Sanji's tea-with-a-beautiful-woman and oh-shit-she's-gonna-kill-me senses did battle for a moment before he answered. "Hell no I don't want tea!"
She shrugged, finishing the last of the teacake. "Your loss."
He stared at her before finally venturing a question. "You said I'd betray my crew. What were you talking about?"
She waved the empty tea tray away and stood up from her imaginary chair. "I believe a demonstration is in order. First, I need to wake up your body." She clapped her hands, and suddenly a bleary picture of the observatory appeared behind her, going dark for a moment before reappearing, clearer this time. She turned to face it, motioning for Sanji to come stand beside her. He stood, but didn't come closer. She ignored his refusal and explained.
"This is what your body is seeing right now. Clear picture, isn't it? Nice resolution. You have wonderful eyesight."
Sanji stared at the picture as it moved forward, his body headed for the hatch leading out of the observatory. "Where are we going?"
She smirked over her shoulder at him. "Now now, wait for it, Mr. Impatient."
As Sanji's body began its descent, everything that was happening seemed to hit him at once. He was being controlled by a woman he had fallen in love with, and she was a bounty hunter, and she was trying to kill them all. The realization overwhelmed him, and he sank to his knees, still gaping at the picture.
She looked back at him and frowned. "Really, now, don't you think that's a bit melodramatic?"
Sanji put his face in his hands and ran his fingertips all over it, then moved them up into his hair started pulling at it. "This can't be happening, it can't…"
"That's starting to get old, really," Georgia complained. "Come up with something else to say."
She maneuvered easily through the ship as though she had lived on it her entire life. Sanji wracked his brain for some way to stop her, but no matter how hard he tried to get in touch with his muscles, he couldn't. It was quite literally like watching his body from somewhere else.
"I had heard about your crew," she explained conversationally as they walked. "You've been causing quite a stir in the Grand Line. Helping in the Arabasta incident, destroying Enies Lobby; you're all quite famous. And being such a small crew, I had a feeling you were close knit. I've been hoping for a chance to break the eight of you, and when I happened to recognize you from your horrendous bounty poster, I was rather delighted. It really doesn't do you justice, by the way. I was a bit worried, I admit, that I wouldn't be able to seduce you easily, but you fell so willingly into my hands, it was almost sickening. I understand why no woman would want to be with you, you're so pathetic!" She laughed that wind chime laugh, but this time it was nausea and not butterflies that Sanji felt in his stomach.
She stopped once they reached the library, looking around. "Everyone but Luffy has books in here, correct?" She walked Sanji's body down the rows, examining their titles with interest. "Schematics and shipbuilding books… Franky's, of course. Some of these are probably dear Usopp's as well, yes? Navigation charts, current and star maps… Nami's, obviously. Oh, look, even Zoro has a little section. All training manuals and books about swords, of course. Cookbooks, yours… You enjoy novels, Sanji? Stories of daring princes, I see. So childlike in your beliefs about love, aren't you? Oh, look here: Chopper's medical books. He has one of the largest sections; impressive for one so young. And here at the end, Robin's history books. The Demon of Ohara has quite a collection."
"Don't call her that," Sanji growled.
"Oh, come off it, dear. We both know you're not actually going to do anything to me." She stopped Sanji's body at the end of the shelves and plucked a random book from them. She flipped with disinterest through the pages before grabbing them violently and ripping them out. "Oops," she mocked.
"Stop! Don't you dare touch Robin-chan's books!"
Georgia blatantly ignored him, grabbing another book at random and renting the pages from their binding. She repeated the procedure with several more books, throwing the pages over his shoulder like confetti, until paper littered the library's carpet. The whole time Sanji begged and screamed at her to stop, crying that those books were valuable to his crew, especially Robin. She didn't pause, working her way through every section, ripping up maps and charts and diagrams, until over a hundred empty bindings lay among the scraps of pages.
Sanji watched with futile horror. She was right; there was nothing he could do, short of kicking her, and his kishido forbid such action. He waited helplessly until she finished with a satisfied nod.
"I'm reaching my limit for now, so I suppose I'll take your body back to the lookout and you can get back to your watch." She smiled at him mockingly. "Thank you for your cooperation."
"I'll tell him," Sanji growled at her. "I'll tell Luffy what's going on. He and Zoro will be more than enough to restrain me until your power has ended."
She laughed and walked up close to him. Gently she laid a hand on his chest, then moved it tantalizingly up to his face to stroke it. He shrank away as though her touch burned. "Silly, silly Sanji. Don't you get it? I can control anything your brain can… including your memory."
Sanji paled. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that, when you wake up in a few minutes, your memories of our little rendezvous while be completely locked away in your subconscious, and you won't remember a thing about it. You'll go about your day as normal, and, when I so choose, you will kill your unsuspecting crewmates."
Sanji took several horrified steps back. "No."
"Oh, my dear. You have no choice in the matter." She laughed. "For the next seventy-two hours, Blackleg Sanji, I own you. Mind," she leaned forward and tapped his head, and his vision started to blur, "and body."
"No!" Sanji screamed in anguish, before losing all consciousness.
Sanji opened his eyes and stared up at the lookout ceiling. When had he ended up on the floor?
With a start he realized he must have dozed off. Sitting up ramrod straight, he looked out at the moon. It looked like only half an hour had passed, and he sighed in relief. Surely nothing could have happened in half an hour.
Sanji got back up on the window seat and stared out the window. He couldn't remember exactly, but he felt like he'd been having a lovely dream about Georgia. She was eating a cake he made her, and complimenting it, and then her appreciation had gotten physical, he was fairly sure. Yeah, it was a good dream.
As he thought more of Georgia, a strange feeling grabbed him. He needed to tell Luffy something, he realized. Something important. But he couldn't remember for the life of him what it was.
He brought his hand up to his temple in concentration, and that was when he noticed that it was sore. He looked down at his hand in confusion and noticed that it was slightly red. He squinted and found little cuts on his palm, somewhat like paper cuts. Something in his mind surged, and that need to tell Luffy something grew alarmingly.
I must have rubbed my hands on the rigging. Damn, I should know better than to be so careless.
Sanji wasn't sure where the thought came from, but it made sense, so he agreed with it. The feeling subsided, and he put his hand down, chasing all thoughts of worry away. There was nothing wrong at all.
He looked out on the town as dawn neared, daydreaming of Georgia until it was time to start breakfast.
"The log pose will be set by this afternoon, so we'll try to set sail before dark. If you want to go into town, be sure you're back by then or we will leave you."
Sanji barely heard Nami's stern but empty threat to the crew as he mooned into the dish he was washing. If he looked into its gleaming surface long enough, he could see himself and Georgia, walking down the beach, kissing in the moonlight…
"Sanji-kun? Did you hear me?"
Sanji jerked out of his daydream and turned to Nami, startled. "Uh… Be back by dark, right?"
She frowned, hands on her hips, and he realized he'd gotten it wrong. "I said," she repeated irritably, "that you're guarding the ship today, since you were gone so long last night."
He felt a twinge of guilt in failing at his responsibilities, but his disappointment at being confined to the ship for his last chance at seeing Georgia was stronger. "But Nami-san, I was going to-"
"I'm sure whatever it is you wanted to do, you had plenty of time for it yesterday," she interrupted vehemently, and he cringed. He hadn't realized she was so upset that he'd made her stay up. "You got the supply run done, right?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Then you don't have any business in town." She turned away before he could protest further, ending the conversation. "Remember, everyone, be back before… Robin?"
Everyone turned to look at the archaeologist as she entered. Her normally impassive face was creased in a frown of concern. "I think someone invaded the ship," she announced gravely.
The crew crowded into the library and gaped at the mess. A new thick carpeting of book pages was on the ground, bindings strewn around, bits of charts floating through the air. "My blueprints!" yelled Franky, first to react. His nakama were soon adding their own shouts to the mix.
"No! This was my best navigation book…"
"My book on medicinal fungi!"
"Does the jerk who did this realize how long I worked on the blueprints for the Kabuto?"
Sanji stared forlornly at the empty binding of a cookbook he had picked up in Arabasta. He hadn't cooked from it nearly enough to commit the recipes to memory, and now they were lost among the sea of litter. He looked down at the ground and saw another page that looked familiar; picking it up, he realized it was a page from one of his novels. It was the part where the dashing prince freed the beautiful princess from the wicked witch's spell with a kiss, one of his favorites (not that he'd ever let Zoro or the other men know that). He folded the page to put it into his suit pocket, and accidentally cut his finger on the edge. He scowled at the paper cut, and then froze, eyes widening.
The paper cut. It was exactly like the other little cuts on his palms.
"Someone must have snuck on board last night and ripped them," Robin was saying, but it sounded as though it came from far away to Sanji.
He remembered dozing off last night. He remembered needing to tell Luffy something.
Could it have been something to do with this?
"Oi, Cook-bro? You okay?"
Sanji blinked and jerked his head up to look at Franky. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." He tucked the page into his pocket before the cyborg could see it. "This was just one of my favorite cookbooks, that's all."
"It doesn't make any sense," said Nami, frowning. "Why would someone sneak on our ship just to destroy our library?"
"Maybe they were trying to scare us," Zoro suggested, who, for his part, was far more concerned that someone got on the ship undetected than about the death of his training books.
"Who was on watch?" asked Luffy, and the swordsman looked at Sanji.
Sanji felt the twinge of guilt in his stomach again, distracting him from his palms for a moment. "I… I didn't see anything."
He should have admitted to dozing off. No, he should have told them about the cuts on his palms. Maybe he had sleepwalked and done this, or something.
Wait, what was he saying? How could he honestly suspect himself? Why would he have done this? It was preposterous. Inconceivable!
He couldn't help but glance back at his palms, anyway.
"I didn't see anyone, either," said Usopp. He shot a look at Nami, just as Sanji did the same, and she gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head. The chef silently thanked both her and Usopp for not mentioning that he got back to the ship late.
"Y-you… you don't think," said Chopper haltingly, and everyone turned to look at him. "I mean… what if whoever did this is still on the ship?"
For a second everyone was speechless, and then Sanji and Zoro cursed simultaneously and started to leave. Soon the whole crew was scouring the ship for any sign of an intruder.
They found no one.
Following the extensive search, the crew had left, albeit uneasily, for town, leaving Sanji to guard the ship. Chopper stayed as well, making more rumble balls and medicines for the next adventure or disaster. Now the little doctor was on deck, surrounded by an assortment of plants that Sanji recognized and chemicals that he would never know the name of, while he leaned on the railing, smoking a cigarette and fingering the little cuts on his palms contemplatively.
He still wasn't sure what to think or believe. It was a strange coincidence, that he scraped his hands and then the library was discovered destroyed. Not so much a strange coincidence, really, rather than a scary one.
What if I did do it?
Sanji couldn't even imagine it. It wouldn't make any sense for him to do anything of the sort.
He looked back up at town and sighed. He wanted to see Georgia more than ever now. Perhaps having her run her fingers through his hair, kiss his neck, tell him how much she loved him… perhaps that would calm him down.
He glanced at the doctor, still working industriously, and shook his head. He couldn't abandon his post, especially if there was the threat that someone was stowed away and could hurt Chopper.
"Oi. What do you want for lunch?"
Chopper looked up at him, then tilted his head in concentration. "Um… Whatever you feel like cooking, I guess."
Sanji mentally ran over their supplies. "That giant fish in my freezer; who caught it?"
Chopper beamed with pride. "I did!"
The chef smiled back at him. "So those little fishes are Usopp and Luffy's?"
"Yup!"
"Tell you what: we'll have those little fish for lunch, while the others are gone, and tonight I'll cook a feast with your fish."
Chopper's eyes shone. "Really?"
"Yeah. It's perfect."
The reindeer was alight with excitement, and it cheered Sanji up considerably to look at him. He tossed his cigarette into the sea and went to the galley to make lunch.
"Stupid old man and his bad directions."
Zoro, very irate, was standing by the pier after having walked in a giant circle. He'd gotten directions to a local tavern and followed them (by taking two rights and a left when he should have taken a left and three rights, and then another left), only to end up right back where he started.
After a few moments of glaring he decided that it was getting him nowhere and was about to start wandering again when he felt a prickle on the back of his neck. He looked up and saw three men leaning against the railing of a ship docked at the pier, two smoking, one holding a bottle of rum. They were all eyeing him, scowls on their faces, and Zoro gave them a stone cold look. Their flag indicated that were merchants, but the swordsman had been around enough to know that that could easily be a ruse.
The three men moved away from the railing at a call and went back to work, loading some crates sitting by the gangplank onto the ship. Zoro went off to find a tavern, thinking about the library and cataloging the suspicious group away in his memory, just in case.
Lunch had been delicious as usual, and now Chopper sat lazily on deck by his piles of medicines, warm and full under the summer island sun. He yawned, drowsiness setting in, and could no longer find the fears of intruders haunting him on such a beautiful day. He lay back and looked up at the bright blue sky, watching some seagulls that flew by, listening to the crash of the waves. His eyelids grew heavy, and he was soon fast asleep.
Sanji idly blew a smoke ring as he scrubbed Chopper's lunch plate. The soap suds burned the cuts on his hands just enough that it forced his mind to stay on the mysterious destruction of their library.
He had completely ruled out the impossible notion that he had sleepwalked and done it, but he still felt responsible. He had fallen asleep on watch after all, when it was his duty to keep the crew safe. He was sure that the intruder had slipped on and off during that time, and he cursed himself vehemently for allowing it to happen. But they had searched the ship from bow to stern, and he had checked it again, without telling Chopper, just to be safe. It was clear.
So what had the intruder been after? Perhaps he was looking for treasure maps or some other sort of information, but didn't want to get into a fight. That seemed the most sensible solution. The next question was, had they been singled out specifically or was this a random hit? Either option seemed likely, and he agreed with Robin that, once she had sorted out all the pages and gotten them back in their correct bindings, they might find a clue to what was happening.
The cook told himself all this again and again, but he didn't feel a bit more reassured than before. He simply couldn't get the feeling that he was forgetting something off his mind.
Hello, Sanji dear. Miss me?
Sanji dropped the plate at the sudden whisper in his ear. It landed in the water with a splash. "Who's there?" he asked aloud, spinning. The galley was deserted.
Don't you recognize my voice? Here, I'll remind you.
Before Sanji could do or say or think anything else, he had fallen unconscious, sprawled on the floor of the galley.
"Remember me now?"
"Georgia," he growled, getting up off the pitch black floor of his subconscious. "You came back."
"Couldn't let you get too complacent, now, could I?" She smiled at him, cruel and mocking. "You had almost convinced yourself that you weren't to blame for last night's little fiasco."
"It was pretty easy, considering I couldn't remember anything," he spat. "Why are you here?"
"I've already told you, I'm going to break you before you kill your crew and I take the bounty."
"Haven't you already done enough breaking?"
"Ohohoho, Sanji, you big kidder!" She waved a hand at him while giggling, as though to get him to stop being silly. "Last night was only a test run. Hardly anything horrifying."
Sanji felt a deep pit form in his stomach.
"Today we're going to do something much more interesting." She turned and clapped, and Sanji's body woke up and picked itself off the floor. "Everyone's left for town save you and darling little Chopper, correct?"
Sanji didn't answer, but because she could hear his thoughts, Georgia didn't need one.
Sanji's body exited the galley and emerged onto the deck as Georgia continued.
"Chopper is adorable, I'll admit, but I really don't have use for something worth only fifty beri. He'd take more to ship than I would get paid for him. I just can't have that, I'm afraid."
"I won't let you touch him!" Sanji yelled.
"Oh, there you've already succeeded. I won't be touching him; you will."
Sanji sank back in despair, grabbing onto the small hope that Chopper had decided to go into town to meet up with the others or find some herb he needed. But there he was, sleeping on the deck, so trusting of Sanji to keep him safe that he was taking a nap even with the threat of stowaways aboard the ship.
And Sanji was about to do something horrible to him.
"Your footsteps are so light," Georgia remarked. "Even with his sensitive ears he can't hear you coming. Or perhaps he's just so used to your sound and scent, he trusts that he doesn't have to wake up. Yes… I like that explanation much better. It really increases the irony of the situation."
"Leave him alone!"
She ignored him, getting closer and closer to Chopper.
At that moment, Sanji suddenly gave into an instinct he'd had many times before: to kill before you saw your friend die. Never before had he kicked a woman, but then it had been under threat of his own life.
Was he really going to let Chopper die because he had chivalry? No. He couldn't.
Sanji launched himself at Georgia, who had her back turned to him, watching what his eyes saw as he approached the little reindeer. He spun into a kick, and she turned just in time to see a foot slam into her midsection. She cried out in pain and was sent spinning away, hitting the ground with a loud, final smack.
Sanji squeezed his eyes shut, panting hard, the sound of her body hitting the floor reverberating through his whole being. He had kicked a woman, something he had vowed never to do. A woman he had had serious feelings for, no less! Even if she had been a monster, it still made him nauseous to think about what he had done, and he felt like crying. But Chopper was safe, and that was what mattered.
Finally he opened his eyes and turned to look at her broken body…
She wasn't there.
"Nice try," whispered a voice in his ear, and he froze as she leaned against his back and kissed his neck mockingly.
"You… how…"
"You really don't pay attention to anything, do you?" she chided, nuzzling his neck. "I can control everything here. So you can't hurt me, but I…" She twirled him around and slammed her fist hard into his stomach, sending him reeling back and gasping. "I can hurt you all I want. Now, where was I before your pointless interruption? Oh, right… I was killing your little reindeer friend."
Sanji sank to his knees, helpless, as his body loomed over Chopper, still sleeping peacefully, completely oblivious to his approaching death.
Chopper felt, through the vestiges of sleep, someone lift him from the deck. He couldn't focus on the scent, but he knew it was familiar, so he didn't wake up immediately. It was probably someone carrying him to bed, he slowly realized, because it wasn't safe for him to nap on deck. He tried to pull his eyelids open, to protest that he could take himself to bed, when suddenly the support under him fell away, and he was tumbling, tumbling, tumbling, until the cold fingers of the sea grabbed him and swallowed him whole.
"NO!!!" The scream ripped through Sanji's throat, but only figuratively; his body made not a sound as it slipped away from the scene of the crime.
"Aw, poor Chopper," Georgia said in mock mourning. "We'll all miss him dearly."
Sanji couldn't fashion a reply; he put his face in his hands and sobbed, great, heart wrenching gasps of pain and guilt that shook him worse than any gale. He only vaguely heard Georgia's explanation about needing to keep suspicion off him as she walked his body back to the galley.
Sanji was doubled over in anguish when suddenly he felt arms wrap around him, arms that only last night he would have killed for. The owner of the hated arms stroked his hair and kissed his neck, whispering softly, horribly, mockingly, "There, there, Sanji dear, it'll be alright somehow, just you wait and see…"
It was the last thing Sanji heard before his own hand hit his head with a heavy pan and he fell into darkness.
"Would either of you like to hear the tale of the great Captain Usopp-sama when he wrestled a giant bear and-"
"No."
Usopp frowned at his companions. "Then are we just going to keep walking in silence?"
"Yes."
Usopp pouted and continued walking between the two.
"…You see, Captain Usopp had been tracking this bear all night, because it had been terrorizing this village, and-"
"Usopp, I swear, if you say one more word, I'll rip out your tongue and nail it up to be our new Jolly Roger," Nami hissed threateningly. One look at Zoro told the sniper that he agreed.
He decided it would be in his best interest to shut up.
"Remind me why I'm carrying all this stuff," Zoro said after a few more minutes. He was referring to the three heavy bags of shoes and clothes he held under his arms.
Nami, who was carrying nothing, smiled at him coyly. "Just think of it as a form of training. You should be grateful, really. Oh, don't worry, I won't charge you too much for this opportunity."
"Witch."
The ship was almost in view. "I promise, you'll thank me one day, Zo-huh!?!"
They had rounded a rock that hid the ship just in time to see something tumble from it and land in the ocean. Before either Usopp or Nami could register what they had seen, Zoro dropped the bags and shot off toward the ship, throwing his swords down as he went.
"Usopp, grab my swords!" he called over his shoulder as he dove out into the waves. Soon he was past the break line, swimming frantically toward the Sunny. He went under and could just see Chopper, flailing weakly as he sank. His heart surging in relief, Zoro kicked like mad to get to him, and soon he had the reindeer in his arms, pressed against his chest. He swam back to the surface, forcing Chopper's head up first. The reindeer shuddered violently against him, and Zoro cradled him and headed back to the beach.
Usopp and Nami were waiting for him in the swells, worried. They tried to help him, but Zoro waved them away, carrying the doctor to the shore. He laid Chopper on the sand on his side, and he convulsed and coughed up a good deal of water. Zoro rubbed his back until he stopped and fell still, worry more plain on his face than Usopp and Nami had ever seen it.
Once it was apparent that Chopper was going to be okay, the worry was replaced with anger. Taking his swords from Usopp, he stomped toward the ship, cursing as he went. "That shit-cook, what is he thinking, letting this happen!"
"Z-zoro!" Usopp called after him, nervous but placating. "How is this Sanji's fault? Chopper probably just rolled over the side-"
Zoro's face cut him off, and he swallowed his words and looked down at his feet in fright. "If that bastard let someone onto the ship, I swear, I'll skin him alive."
Nami and Usopp glanced at each other, and then the navigator said sternly, "Stay with Chopper," and took off after the enraged swordsman.
Zoro knew Nami was following him, but he didn't care. She could try to calm him down all she wanted, but he knew Sanji had been late last night, and if he was shirking his duties again today, it would drive him over the edge. He didn't care what personal problem Sanji was having, he couldn't let it hurt the crew.
"Where are you, shit-cook?" he roared once he was on the deck. "You better be guarding the ship like you're supposed to!"
No answer.
"He didn't leave, Zoro," said Nami, the tiniest hint of doubt in her words. "He wouldn't leave Chopper alone, not after we saw the library."
Zoro didn't answer, yelling, "Shit-cook!" again and stopping toward the galley. He banged the door open and stormed in, eyes promising murder.
And then he stopped cold, another yell dying on his lips.
"Zoro?" asked Nami hesitantly. She looked around the frozen swordsman, and her breath hitched in her throat.
Sanji was lying on the floor of the galley, a huge, bloody bruise on his forehead, a dented pan lying next to him.
Zoro turned on his heel and took off at a run, not offering a word of explanation to Nami, nor to Usopp as he tore past him. He ran and ran in blind fury toward who he absolutely knew were the culprits.
But when he arrived at the pier, the merchant ship was gone, as though it had never been there in the first place.
Chapter 2 End
A/N: CHOPPER!!! I'm so sorry, the plot bunny made me do it!!! *sobs*
Anywho…
Nami opened her eyes and realized she was reaching toward the ceiling, her hand poised to clasp something that wasn't there.
You know, one of those moments when you wonder why the heck you're randomly reaching for the middle of the ceiling in the middle of the night… No? Just me? Aw well…
"When I was younger, I ate the Neuro Neuro Fruit, a fancy little thing that allows me to invade a person's mind for a set amount of time and control everything their brain can, as I am doing to you now.
This will all make more sense as the story progresses; I realize it's a bit confusing right now.
Sanji's tea-with-a-beautiful-woman and oh-shit-she's-gonna-kill-me senses did battle for a moment before he answered.
Tea almost NEVER fails to distract Sanji. For proof, I point to Little Garden and Kalifa.
Oh, look, even Zoro has a little section.
According to Oda, everyone but Luffy has books in the library, so… *shrug*
He hadn't realized she was so upset that he'd made her stay up.
Yeah, that's totally what she's upset about… XP
It was the part where the dashing prince freed the beautiful princess from the wicked witch's spell with a kiss, one of his favorites (not that he'd ever let Zoro or the other men know that).
Technically, Sanji only read storybooks when he was a little kid. Supposedly… .
"And she won't know it's him 'til chapter three…" (and if you don't know where this is from, shame on you! Except not really, since I'm not there to sing it for you…)
"Who was on watch?" asked Luffy, and the swordsman looked at Sanji.
I just realized this is Luffy's only part in the entire story. And that, my friends, is an author fail. -_-
Inconceivable!
Cookies for everyone who caught it. There was so much tension, I decided a random movie reference would lighten the mood. XD
Sanji's body exited the galley and emerged onto the deck as Georgia continued.
It's like "Room For Two" all over again!!!
Even if she had been a monster, it still made him nauseous to think about what he had done, and he felt like crying.
No matter how evil they may be, it would hurt Sanji to kick a woman. It's just the way he is. *pats*
I don't care if it's physically possible for Sanji to knock himself out with a pan or not. Physics and One Piece are mortal enemies, anyway.
Hope you enjoyed!!
So tired of derivatives, this is Dandy Wonderous, signing off (never drink and derive, children!).