Night and Day

A Post-Piracy Sanji Side Story

By Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Five - Rupert Krähe and the Palast Orchestra

Note: Based loosely on Max Raabe and Palast Orchester who I saw live at Carnegie Hall last year and was the best live musical performance I've ever seen.-aks

.x.

The topmost floor of the Casino Sea Note's hotel was bustling the day before Sanji and Harmony were to leave for vacation. Sanji's assistants fretted at him even as the doors to the elevator closed behind him. "Relax," he purred. "I have full confidence in you." The doors shut and he straightened his tie. "And if the place is shambles when I get back, I'll kill you all." He was certain that they knew that very well.

Sanji dodged a legion of assistants in the hallway and made his way to Harmony's apartment. "Miss Sairen, you can't possibly be thinking that The Looney Gen Band is good enough to…" the blue-haired MC rearranged a pile of papers he was clutching and sort of danced from one foot to the other as if the floor was too hot to stand on.

"Rubato, please do calm down," she said calmly as she signed something another assistant handed to her. "Gen-san will be playing where he usually does. I've brought in reinforcements to fill in for me on the main stage." Sanji smirked at the cool way she handled the chaos and seated himself on one of the sofas.

"Miss Harmony," her maid interrupted, "Mister Krähe is here."

As if on cue, Krähe practically floated in behind the maid. "Miss Sairen, it is indeed a pleasure," he drawled with a thick, rolling sort of accent Sanji couldn't quite place.

"Rupert Krähe!" she cried, her eyes lighting up. "Oh, it's wonderful to finally meet you!" Sanji felt his toes curl up in his shoes as the young woman rushed around the flock of assistants and clasped the man's hand.

Krähe was about 40, of average height, and had piercing blue eyes. His cheekbones were high and he held his head of slicked-back fair hair high. He wore a suit, like Sanji did every day, but of incredibly high quality and old-fashioned style. He took Harmony's hand and kissed it. Sanji's toes cracked as they flexed in his shoes with the urge to kick the stranger out of the picture windows to his left and into the great blue yonder.

"Sanji, this is my fill-in, Rupert Krähe of the Palast Orchestra. Rupert, this is our head chef, Sanji."

Krähe raised a brow at the blond on the sofa who stood slowly and pretended not to size him up. "Yo," he grunted as he took his hand. Both men squeezed hands, hard. Harmony was oblivious to the gesture.

"Rupert is the leader of the orchestra. What is it these days, 20 pieces?"

"Twenty three," he corrected, rolling every 'r'. "We've added two more violinists and a guitar player."

"Oh how wonderful! Sanji, you wouldn't believe their sound." Her attention swung back to the visitor before he got a chance to comment. "I'm so glad you could come and help me out!"

She led Krähe out of the apartment to help him settle his orchestra into the theater, assistants flowing in her wake, leaving Sanji alone. He lit a cigarette and sighed. "Ugh," he groaned. "When do we leave?" Then he remembered, he was going away on vacation with her for god-knows how long and this Krähe person would be in Largo all alone. Sanji smirked.

.x.

A sturdy ship with plenty of supplies for a long voyage, a crew of frog-man sailors, two passenger and a mysterious overgrown music box departed from Largo Atoll one Saturday morning and began its bee-line course southwest, following the direction of an antique Eternal Pose. Sanji stood on the prow and breathed in the spray. It had been six months since last he sailed. Having grown up on a floating restaurant and sailing with pirates all his adult life, he wondered at why being on land for so long didn't faze him. Then Harmony joined him and stood by his side. 'Oh yeah, right,' he thought and grinned. "You really have no idea how far Sofserv is from Largo?"

She shook her head. "When I left, I was eight years old and my father was trying to flee from people who were chasing him. I'm not even sure we went directly from there to here. It could be as long as a month's voyage, I think."

'Two whole months alone with her and without that snotty orchestra leader,' he thought smugly. "So why didn't you want Mokuhana Gen to play the main stage?" he asked, following his train of thought. "I like Gen. His music is fun."

"He's a bit much for the audience that's used to listening to me," she replied, making a face.

"A bit too racy, eh?" he agreed, lighting a cigarette. "Too bad. He really wanted to fill in."

"I know and he tries so hard, but his efforts have not gone unnoticed." Harmony put her hands on the rail and looked out at the horizon in front of her. "Clef and I have been talking…"

"Oh?" Sanji asked a little upset that she hadn't told him she was discussing the venue's future with her co-owner.

"You know how the Platinum Lounge next door isn't doing so well competing with us lately? They're thinking of selling and I'm thinking of buying."

"Blah, what would you want with a dump like that?" Sanji remembered his one visit to the casino next door and how filthy the bathrooms had been.

"Oh, we'd tear it apart, might even level it and just expand, but the point is I'd have a couple more theatres to play with. Clef wants more casino floor space and some more rooms for the hotel, but I want a really good, large theatre for another big-draw act."

"The Looney Gen Band?"

"You got it."

"Oh man, he's gonna flip out when he hears that!" Sanji cried.

"That's why it's really important not to tell him until the deal is done. I don't want to get his hopes up." Harmony's sea-green eyes stayed fixed on the horizon. He admired her openly, watching her pink hair lilt in the strong breeze, the way her sleeveless dress hung off her hips. His heart ached. Except for the first day he had arrived on Largo she had not shown him any affection whatsoever, as if he was simply another business partner. Finally, she looked up at him with a strange anxious twist in her eyes. "I can't wait to go home," she whispered. All he could do was nod then wander off to lose himself in preparing lunch.

More to come…