A/N: I know I haven't updated in a long time, but that's what happens when you're in school…and when you have writer's block. Anyways, hope you enjoy and please review :)

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Chapter 9: Backstage Prince

Who hides in the shadows while travelling the seas?

Black-leg Sanji.

That's right – back in the day before the pirate cook ever had a bounty on his head, Sanji was a man who occasionally operated outside the crew. When there was no plan, he had one. If chances were slim, he was the one who got them through.

Since entering the Grand Line, Sanji surprisingly turned out to be the most cunning of his shipmates. Perhaps, luck was always with him when a situation turned advantageous. This was so in a place called Little Island when it was Sanji who found the house of wax. It was he who fooled Crocodile once, and he who fooled him twice later in the gambling city.

Even when the blonde was not operating in the back during battles, he still performed countless feats behind the kitchen doors. How he managed to create a splendid meal – coincidentally just enough for Luffy and Zoro's appetite – remained a mystery, but he kept them and the rest of the crew fed just as well.

Speaking of food…it really was the way to win a man's heart wasn't it? Well, one man's heart at least. The other would probably kill for a bottle of sake.

Sanji watched from the corner of the hall as two men entered his line of sight and approached each other with their heads looking curiously down at a sack they both carried. It wasn't until they almost bumped into each other that their heads looked up. Their bodies froze.

"Zoro," one man said stiffly.

"Luffy," the other replied back.

It was night but the two had been giving each other the silent treatment for the majority of the day. After seeing them avoid each other for the umpteenth time around dinner, Sanji had just about enough of them. He didn't know what got their panties in a bunch but he sure as hell knew that even a dispute as small as theirs would affect the spirit of the whole crew. It was irresponsible of the captain and the first mate. Nami would gripe about it and Usopp would just be too afraid to fix it, but Sanji would simply not stand for it.

After a moment of awkward silence, curiosity took over Luffy as he stared at the sack in his first mate's hands. "What's that you got there Zoro?"

The swordsman looked around suspiciously to see if someone in particular was around before he turned to Luffy. "I didn't steal this. It was beside me when I woke up," he muttered opening the sack for his captain to see.

"Meat?" Luffy cried almost lunging at the sack, but Zoro held him back with a hand.

"You want him to kill us?" Zoro growled.

"Ah," Luffy said quickly straightening himself as if he just remembered something important. Dragging his sack forward, he then thrust it open for Zoro to see. "I found this when I woke up. No good to me without meat though," Luffy said with a frown.

Sanji wanted to wring Luffy's neck for not even considering to not drink it the moment he saw it.

The swordsman, on the other hand, raised a brow. "Well, meat's just not as good without sake," he countered.

"Then let's eat it together!" Luffy announced, hands to his hips as if that was the greatest solution in the world. Then the two walked off to some far, dark corner of the deck to indulge on their newly found items.

The next morning at the breakfast table, Sanji made an announcement. "It's strange," he began while slicing a pair of carrots. "I knew there was both a bag of meat and sake somewhere on deck, but now it's gone."

"Ah, it's probably from the rough storm we had last night," Nami said sighing.

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed loudly and a little too enthusiastically. "A lot of things did fall off the ship."

Zoro roughly agreed too, if a little hesitant. Then he offered in a lower voice, "Luffy and I can do some fishing later to replace that meat…"

Sanji pointedly stared at Zoro. "And the sake?" he asked, knife half-raised in the air.

The green-haired man grit his teeth, averted his eyes, and with a strained voice stated, "I'll…restock at the next port."

Usopp gave a strange look and Nami sounded surprised as she looked at her companion. "Wow, Zoro. You're being really helpful, huh? I wonder why…"

"Yeah, me too," Luffy agreed while staring innocently at his first mate.

From the corner of his eye, Sanji watched the tension in the crew disappear as Zoro snapped at Luffy and proceeded to lunge at him. This was followed by surprised laughter and a good amount of ruckus by everyone else. Unbeknownst by the crew, the blonde cook's lips curled slightly upwards as he continued to make breakfast.

When it came down to being the most discreet, you can count on the "Backstage Prince."