Yume climbs out of the crow's nest, gently landing between the two swordsmen.
"There's a high tide coming, you should tell Luffy to move the ship."
Nodding to the women, Zoro shouts to Luffy and informs the rest of the crew. As Nami joins them, she turns to look at the assassin, who's currently staring over the railing, focusing on the water.
"Wave patterns are changing...they're going to get rough..."
Yume doesn't move from her spot, trembling slightly.
"We used up all our cola supply escaping from the marines. We won't be able to do another Coup de burst." Franky adds as he joins them out on deck.
"Yuu. Aren't you able to control the water? Is there any way you can change the currents?" Nami asks.
"Yes I can...but we will get separated. This will have to be goodbye for now."
"What do you mean? What are you going to do? I'm sure we can find some other way." Nami tries to reassure the assassin as she steps forward. They have been in difficult situations before, and gotten out of them well.
"I have to push your ship away from the high tide," Yume explains softly and looks at the waves. "It's the least I can do for you guys being so nice to me...I don't know if I'll find you again."
"Hang on a minute. If you are going to push the ship away, can't you do that from on deck?"
"Usopp you are right, but... it would only cause more problems later on, as I would have to be pushing the wave away instead. Plus this tide heading our way is from my attack earlier. It must have hit something and bounced back in our direction. If I move the water, it will only come back again later on. Therefore I must push the ship away, instead. To do that I need to be out there."
The crew nod in understanding, and as Yume gets ready to jump into the water, she gets pulled back onto the deck by Sanji.
"I will not let a lady risk her life in such a way. Yuu-Chan. I'm going with you."
"Oi curly-brows, you can't do that."
"He's right Cook-Ya, it's too dangerous."
"I can and I will. As you said, it's too dangerous, we can't let her go on her own. And what I do doesn't concern either of you."
"Sanji-kun... I don't know how you're planning to help me, but... I can't let you do this. What if it all goes wrong?"
"I can use sky walk to keep us out of the water. All you will need to worry about is pushing the sunny away. If anything goes wrong, I will deal with it. I will protect a lovely lady like you at any cost."
Sighing, Yume accepts the cook's help. However, a strong grip on Sanji's arm holds him back.
"I won't let you!" Zoro growls as he glares at Yuu.
"It's not up to you!" The blonde spins around and kicks the swordsman flying across the deck.
The gasps from the crew didn't stop the blonde from sweeping the assassin off her feet.
"Hang on tight, my precious flower."
"Sky Walk!"
Yume holds onto the cook as they go up into the air. She can now clearly see the high tide in the distance, rapidly heading towards the sunny.
"How do you need to do this Yuu-Chan?"
"I need to get close enough to the water to push the ship away, just hold onto my hips."
Sanji, follows her orders, and brings her closer to the water. Looking back at the crew on the ship, they all seem to be worried. Except Law and Zoro, they just look angry. Idiots, I've been through worse before…
Yume uses her ability to turn her upper body into water, plunging down and pushing the ship away.
Holding on to her tightly, he looks back at the oncoming tide. Things are a little touch and go for a while, but they manage to get the ship at a safe distance just in time.
"All done, Sanji-kun." Yuu informs, as she turns back to her normal form.
"You did great Yume-Chan!" he swoons as he safety lands them back on deck.
She giggles and smiles sweetly.
"Aw, why thank you."
"You need to join my crew!"
"Luffy, don't force her!" Nami scolds the ambitious captain.
Seeing her chance, she hugs Sanji tightly, pressing up against him. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the two swordsmen glaring murderously at her.
Sanji blushes furiously and returns the gesture, at a complete loss for words.
"Oi, get your hands off MY cook!"
Both swordsmen say angrily to the assassin.
Sanji doesn't hear them as he is lost in his own perverted little world. The rest of the crew glance at one another wondering why Zoro and Law are calling the cook theirs. All except for Robin of course.
Yume releases Sanji and walks past the two swordsmen like nothing even happened.
The blonde watches her leave with hearts in his eyes.
"Yume-Chan is so amazing~"
"She is far from it..." Zoro grumbles in a fit of jealousy, surprisingly the other swordsman agrees. "She's a pain in the ass assassin trying to mess everything up."
A few days later:
In the galley, Sanji is humming quietly while he cooks. Being so absorbed in his work, he doesn't notice Law walking into the room.
"Cook-ya..."
"Ah! Law, it's just you...what do you need?" The startled blonde asks sweetly.
"Just wanted some peace and quiet" The swordsman sits down at the table, facing Sanji, and rests his chin on the palm of his hand.
Sanji simply shrugs. "It does get crazy around here." He returns to his cooking, not noticing the eyes glued right to his ass.
The cook sways his hips slightly to his humming, while he works and moves around the room. Law intently watches his every move.
Neither of them even noticed Zoro sneak in and watch Sanji cook.
Spinning around, to place a few plates on the counter, his eyes go wide as he spots the two swordsmen watching him, and he blushes lightly.
"Don't mind us, we're enjoying the view." Zoro chuckles a bit and stands up, as he begins to help set the table.
The blonde glares at the marimo, and notices that Law is glaring at the green haired man too. Sighing, he turns around and puts a few pots and pans in the sink to soak. What am I going to do about these two? Do I even like them in that way? He can feel his cheeks heat up slightly at this. Ok, yeah I do...
Sighing once more, he grabs a cigarette from his pocket and walks out of the galley, grabbing a small plate of food along the way, then calls the rest of the crew for dinner. After wrestling the food away past Luffy, the cook makes his way over to Caesar, handing him the plate of food.
"Thanks." Caesar says softly.
Sanji just nods and walks back into the kitchen.
Taking a drag of his cigarette, he gets to work on the washing up, while the rest of the crew, and company, eat. After a while Law walks up to him with a plate full of food, placing it on the kitchen top next to him.
"Eat." The man orders. "I'll finish this up."
Behind them a few of the crew members have finished their meal, and have started to leave.
Zoro also decides to help, drying all the dishes. It's not that shocking to see Zoro help clean up after meals since he always does before leaving to train.
Sanji slowly picks at his food, as Luffy isn't there to steal it all, as the two swordsmen work. Eventually they finish their job, and Zoro leaves to the crow's nest. Law lingers around and starts to put the dishes away.
The blonde is quite surprised that the man knows exactly where to put everything since he hasn't been here long, and not even most of the crew know where things go.
Yume slowly makes her way into the kitchen and takes a seat in front of Sanji.
"I've decided to join the crew."
"Yuu-Chan, that's wonderful!" The cook swoons. "Have you told Luffy yet?"
"Are you sure about this?" Law adds. "Do even have any clue to what we are actually about to do? Who we are about to go up against?"
"You're going up against Kaido..."
Yume frowns and looks at her lap.
"The man who- ugh...never mind..."
"Yes, him too. But to do so, we are going up against Doflamingo." The Shichibukai answers.
Yume's eyes go wide at the name.
"I-I understand..."
She suddenly grips her head and falls out of her seat, hitting the floor. Rolling onto her knees, she starts to cry and panic, clearly showing signs of a past traumatic event.
Sanji rushes over to her, followed by Law, and tries to stop her from crying.
Yume begins hyperventilating and her body is shaking, it's as if she's remembering something.
Running away again? You just don't get it, Yume. You are never leaving! You're never going home because no one will come to save you! You're my pet and a freak!
Yume's breaths get short and she finds it hard to breathe. Her eyes are shut tight and she can faintly hear another voice calling out to her, but she is stuck inside her memories. Her chest starts to hurt, and she is feeling dizzy.
Sanji is pacing around the galley, watching as Law tries to get through to Yuu.
"Yume?" The swordsman speaks calmly and clearly to the women. "Yume, can you hear me?"
The assassin opens her eyes and clutches onto Law's sleeve.
"It's ok Yuu. Just try to control your breathing. Purse your lips and take slow, deep breaths."
As the women listens and does as the man says, Chopper bursts in through the galley, running over and trying to help.
"That's it, you're doing great." Law continues.
The blonde watches on, and finally calms down as Yume manages to breath normally again. For a while they stay there like that. Then Chopper helps the women sit up.
"Thank you..." She whispers.
The straw hat doctor convinces her to go to the sick bay with him, and they slowly take their leave.
Sanji is smoking a cigarette as he observes Law watching them go. Once the door shuts, the blonde walks up to the swordsman, and presses his forehead to the man's back.
"Thank you... For helping her...I couldn't do anything other than panic."
Law slowly turns around and wraps his arms around the cook.
Don't worry about it. Plenty of others would have panicked just the same in that situation. Besides, I was just doing my job as a doctor."
You're a freak! I told you no one will understand your weird power. Only I can help.
Y-You're lying! You did this to me!
Yume sits up in a panic, laying back down as if relieved to know it wasn't real.
"Yume, are you alright?"
Chopper asks softly, not wanting to be too loud.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I think I just need to rest for a while." She smiles warmly at the little doctor.
"That's good. If you need anything, just ask."
The little reindeer smiles back and returns to his work.
"Actually Chopper...could you tell Luffy I've made my decision please? Tell him...I've decided to join the crew."
The doctor's eyes go wide and he beams with excitement.
"Really!? Of course I will!" Chopper hurries off out of the room to look for Luffy.
Meanwhile, back at the galley, Law is still holding the cook in a warm embrace.
Zoro walks into for some water after his intense training, clearing his throat loudly. Sanji pushes Law away, hiding his blushing face as the other swordsman gets some water and kisses the cook's cheek. He smirks at the Shichibukai before walking out of the galley.
Sanji's cheeks blush brighter and he takes a drag on his cigarette, while Law curses the other swordsman for ruining his moment with the cook.
Walking back to the crow's next, Zoro nods to Robin as he passes, once she's finished spying in the galley once more.
The blonde leaves Law in the room, and returns to his usual swooning behavior over the navigator and the ladies.
Later that night:
Sanji is finishing his clean up in the galley. Remembering who is out on watch tonight, he grabs a bottle of sake, and makes his way out on deck. Unbeknownst to him, Zoro is walking towards the galley with the intention of getting sake for his night watch.
As Sanji hurries out the door, he bumps into Zoro. The swordsman manages to catch him, and the sake, before he can fall.
"Are you alright?" The marimo asks him, as he helps him to his feet.
"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks for that."
The swordsman chuckles, and as a result, gets a kick to the shin.
"What the hell is so funny marimo?"
"It's nothing and thanks for the sake." He chuckles again and places a gentle kiss on the cook's cheek.
"Oi… what did you do that for?" The blonde mumbles, as his cheeks turn pink.
"You still don't get it...Cook, I want to be with you and I don't want that Shichibukai getting in my way. I want to be closer to you."
Sanji blushes more at those words and surprisingly - not just to the swordsman, but to himself too - he wraps his arms around the marimo's neck and kisses him passionately.
He gets pushed up against the railing by Zoro and the blonde moans as the marimo slips his warm tongue into his mouth, caressing his own. The swordsman brushes the cook's hips as he places his hands on the railing behind the other man.
The bottle of sake lays forgotten on the wooden floorboards as the blonde pulls away slightly at noticing a dark aura radiating off from the lawn deck below.
Zoro looks behind him, smirking at the figure he sees.
"Get away from him." Law growls.
Sanji pulls himself out of the marimo's hold, and stomps down the stairs, pacing around the deck. Zoro follows after him but is stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Law.
As his emotions mess with his head, the blonde spins around facing the swordsmen and snaps at them.
"That's it! I've had enough! Both of you leave right now! And I don't want see or even speak to either of you until I figure things out for myself!"