Chapter 2
The next morning Sanji is busy in the kitchen cooking breakfast as Yume walks into the dining room and takes a seat at the table. At noticing her enter the room, the cook turns around with hearts in his eyes to greet her. However, his expression falls when he clearly sees that something is bothering their guest, as she has laid her head on the table with a sigh.
"What's wrong my precious flower?"
Yume looks up at him and rests her chin on the palm of her hand as she sits up more in her chair, "It's complicated, Sanji darling. I don't want to bother you with my problems."
The cook takes a seat opposite her with a look of genuine concern, "If you talk to me about it I might be able to help you. A beautiful women like you shouldn't have to deal with these things alone, no matter how complicated they may seem."
The assassin observes him for a few seconds before answering, "I have feelings for two people at the same time, and I don't know who to go with, I don't want to lead one of them on if I'm eventually not going to return their feelings. It's happened all too fast….."
Sanji keeps his expression neutral however he is slightly surprised and can't help but wonder who these two people that Yume has feelings for are.
"You should spend some time with them, get to know them better, before you make a decision you might later regret."
"I know that...but whenever I try to talk to one, the other gets really jealous."
"Hmm... I could help keep one of them distracted when you want to talk or spend time with the other?"
Yume gasps happily and smiles. "You would do that for me?"
"I'd do anything for you, my precious flower!" the cook swoons.
The assassin giggles from the swooning and offers Sanji such a genuinely beautiful smile. He keeps swooning over the beauty in front of him, and Yume doesn't ask him to stop or reject him.
Zoro walks into the room and as soon as the cook locks eyes with the swordsman, Sanji turns away, going back to his cooking, ignoring the green haired man completely. Yume instantly figures out what's going on and stands up, excusing herself from the room.
"Thank you for your help, Sanji." She smiles at the cook, before turning and accidentally walking straight into Zoro. The assassin loses her footing and stumbles backwards, thankful to be caught by the swordsman.
"Thank you, Zoro..." She says softly, hiding her sudden blush as their faces accidentally became closer than expected.
At seeing this, Sanji grits his teeth and turns back to cooking. He doesn't understand why it is bothering him so much. ….. Wait? Is Zoro one of the people Yume likes?
Zoro gently helps Yume up and brushes himself off, as she leaves, before walking over to the cook, taking a deep breath and offering a soft smile.
"Let me help." He grabs a dish rag and starts drying the wet dishes from the dish rack.
Sanji narrows his eyes at the marimo, "Why? If you just want booze for doing this, don't bother."
"I don't want booze, I just want to help. Is that a bad thing?"
The cook doesn't reply and Zoro silently puts the dishes away while Sanji adds the finishing touches to the crew's breakfast. He places the plates, stacked with food, on the table in the dining area and calls everyone in.
As everyone takes their seats, Nami sits next to Yume and places her hand on the assassin's thigh. Robin glares jealously at the navigator as Yume blushes lightly, not noticing the glare or Nami's smug grin directed back at the archaeologist.
A few of the other crew members, however, do notice the looks between the two women, but say nothing about it as they eat and try to protect their food from Luffy.
Yume finishes her meal and quickly excuses herself to avoid the attention on her. She sneaks into the crow's nest, sighing in relief that it is empty, and makes a call on the baby den den mushi which is on her wrist.
"This may take longer than expected, but I'll get it done...Doflamingo..." She whispers before disconnecting the call.
Back in the kitchen, everyone has finished eating and has excused themselves from the table. Sanji starts washing up the dirty plates while a few of the members leave to the deck.
Surprisingly, Zoro stays behind and helps clean up again.
After a few minutes of silence and subtle glances to one another, Sanji sighs and turns to ask Zoro about something that has been bothering him since last night, "Why did you kiss me?"
"I wanted to," Zoro says softly, failing to mention why he wanted to kiss Sanji, since he isn't ready to admit his feelings yet.
The cook frowns as he dries his hands with a towel then turns to leave, "Don't do it again." If Zoro is one of the people Yume likes… I won't get in her way…."
The swordsman remains silent and leaves the kitchen a few seconds after Sanji. At spotting Nami and Yume on deck, he remembers his deal with robin and approaches them.
"Oh, hey Zoro," Yume greets the swordsman sweetly.
He simply grunts in reply and turns to Nami, "Oi witch."
Nami folds her arms across her chest, with an annoyed expression on her face. "What do you want?"
"Um..." He scratches the back of his head as he tries to think of a reason to get Nami away from Yume, "Usopp spilt ink over your maps."
It wasn't actually a lie. Usopp had spilt ink over Nami's maps last night, when he wanted to borrow the liquid for his new invention. It was an accident, and the swordsman had promised his wailing nakama that he wouldn't tell, but….. It was too late to take that back now. He mentally apologizes to Usopp as the navigator jumps up and stomps away, fuming with rage.
After seeing Nami walk away from Yume, Robin makes her way over to the assassin. She nods to Zoro as the swordsman leaves, and sits down next to Yume.
"Hi Robin," Yume says with a smile.
"Hello Yume-san." The other woman smiles back and gently places a hand on the assassin's knee.
Biting her lip, Yume nervously glances away from Robin, "Um… Did you want something?"
"I'd like to know more about you."
Yume blushes lightly, "Well, like I said before, I'm not very interesting..."
Robin simply smiles at the beauty in front of her and leans in closer, "Tell me everything, please."
The assassin sighs softly in defeat and gives in, "Ok...I was born on a pirate ship and raised in East Blue. Both of my parents are men though I've never met my biological father. I lived with my mother until I was 8, then I was kidnapped and sold into slavery...I escaped three years ago...and during that time, I was beaten, tortured, raped, and forced to train in assassination skills and ninjitsu."
Robin listens intently to every word Yume says and lightly rubs the assassin's thigh in a comforting manner, "Are you still being forced into working in assassination?"
Yume's eyes widen with that question before turning her head away, "Yes..."
A little over two weeks later, Yume is still on board the Sunny and Robin still can't stop herself from constantly thinking about what the assassin had told her. Occasionally she had tried to get more information out of Yume about it, but after seeing her get upset as soon as it was mentioned, the archaeologist had decided to leave it be for now.
Unfortunately, this was not her only problem. This competition between her and Nami over the assassin has been heating up over the last few days, each trying to gain the upper-hand and get the poor woman alone to further their advances. However, this is not the worst part. Despite her best attempts to keep her emotions in check, Robin has found herself slowing gaining feelings for the assassin, going over the line of friendship.
Meanwhile, Zoro had been trying to keep up his end of the bargain since he didn't want a certain blonde to know how he felt yet, and he did everything he could to keep Nami away from the assassin. But this was proving to be difficult as Nami seemed to be figuring out that the swordsman was helping Robin and so, she wasn't falling for his tricks anymore.
Zoro was starting to think that maybe it was time to tell Sanji how he felt about him, especially if he couldn't keep up his end of the deal with their archaeologist and he'd rather that the cook found out from him, and not from another member of their crew.
As for Yume, everything is getting more confusing for her and she's starting to rethink her current task. Her den den mushi rings so she hides in the kitchen, since it is close and currently empty, then answers the call.
"I'm getting impatient Yume."
"Don't worry Doflamingo...I'll get it done..."
"I want Mugiwara Luffy and Trafalgar Law dead before they reach Dressrosa." And with that the call ends, the assassin sighing as she walks back out and onto the deck.
Much to her misfortune, Law had overheard everything and instantly forces her against the wall, his grip around Yume's throat tightening by the second.
"I was right to be suspicious about you," he says darky, "I won't let you kill me or Mugiwara-Ya." Law growls and tightens his grip around her throat even more, strangling her.
Sanji is making his way to the kitchen when he sees what is happening and kicks law so painfully, that the Shichibukai drops Yume to the floor, and he groans in pain, clutching his stomach as he stumbles back from the impact. The blonde wastes no time in getting in between Law and the assassin.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Yume gasps and coughs as she looks up at the cook. She tries to speak but her breaths keep coming in sharply and she hears the swordsman growl and draw his sword.
"She's been sent by Doflamingo to kill your captain and myself."
Sanji's eyes widen but he doesn't move from in between Law and Yume, not even when the sword is brought a few inches away from his neck.
"I-It's true..." Yume whimpers and looks at the grass under her. "I don't want to though… Please believe me…."
The blonde glares at Law, while Zoro walks around the corner, instantly reaching for his sword as soon as he sees how close the tip of Law's blade is to the cook's neck. As he's about to draw his own sword, Sanji raises his hand, signaling Zoro to stop and not come any closer.
This altercation also draws the attention of a few other members of the crew, and Nami immediately comes over to help Yume up. Noticing that Sanji is simple protecting Yume and that this fight is not between him and the other swordsman, Zoro glances to the blonde, "Shit-Cook, come with me. I need to talk to you."
"Not now marimo."
"Whatever is going on here just let them deal with it themselves. What I need to tell you is important."
The cook observes Law and a few of his nakama who have gathered around, and decides to go with Zoro, trusting his nakama to step in if the Shichibukai decides to attack Yume again. The swordsman leads Sanji into the kitchen and shuts the door behind them, then instantly gets to the reason he'd brought the cook here.
"I-...I'm in love with you..."
The blonde gapes at Zoro and his eyes widen, "w-what?!"
"I-I'm in love with you..." Zoro repeats, with a slight touch of pink to his cheeks.
The cook blushes lightly as he glances away, "How long have you..."
"For a long time now..." The swordsman admits as he drops his gaze to the floor.
Sanji still doesn't look at Zoro and speaks so quietly to himself that the swordsman almost doesn't hear him, "But why..."
Zoro gets closer to the blonde, and places a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I can't explain it... Everything you do just draws me to you…"
The swordsman gently cups Sanji's cheeks, making the blonde look up at him, as he presses their lips together. He gently nips the cook's bottom lip, asking for entrance, and the cook closes his eyes, complying straight away, parting his lips for the swordsman. Zoro instantly slides his tongue in between the cook's soft lips and explores every inch of the man's mouth, drawing out moans from the blonde as he wraps his arms around the swordsman's neck, and lightly tugs on his hair.
As Zoro gently presses Sanji against the counter and begins to unbutton his jacket, he places kisses along the blonde's neck, but before he can continue,
"SANJI~! MEAT!"
The cook groans and gently pushes away from Zoro, buttoning up his suit jacket, before Luffy rushes in through the door. The swordsman sighs and whispers into the blonde's ear to meet him in the crow's nest later. Sanji nods and gets started on cooking for their hungry captain.
Back on deck, Law is still watching Yume closely as the assassin naps on the grass, her head resting on Nami's lap. The navigator gently runs her fingers through Yume's hair and Robin notices the swordsman glaring at the assassin.
The archaeologist had heard everything earlier and confronts Law so that he'd leave Yume to rest, not at all minding that Nami is comforting her right now. Nami notices Robin distracted with keeping Law from starting trouble with Yume and decides to tease the other woman by kissing their common interest on the cheek.
Law finally leaves the deck, off too wherever he pleases, and the archaeologist glares at the navigator from her spot. Nami simply grins and winks at the jealous woman, continuing to run her fingers through Yume's hair. Robin slowly makes her way over to the two girls and Yume finally opens her eyes to see both the navigator and archaeologist sitting on each side of her. When she sits up, both women pull her in for a gentle kiss on the lips.
Yume's eyes widen and she sits there silently, having no idea what to do in this situation. Thankfully, the den den mushi on her wrist begins to ring and she quickly goes somewhere else to answer it, not realizing that Law is close by.
"Yume? Have you joined a crew yet...you need to stop working for that shit head."
That...was the voice of Shanks. Why would he be calling her? The Shichibukai thinks to himself before his eyes widen at the response.
"Dad, I can't...no crew would want me anyway..."
Shanks sighs, "What about that person I told you about, why not join his crew? I'm sure he's asked you a million times already," The red head chuckles, obviously referring to Luffy.
Yume giggles a bit and sighs softly. "He has, but…. I never gave him an answer… I can't...I need to-"
"You should accept his offer."
The assassin lets out an adorable childish whine into the receiver, "Dad~ you're not listening to me~..."
Shanks chuckles and replies before ending the call, "Just join his crew Yume. You won't regret it."