Small gestures are always the most valued.
Enjoy~
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Chapter 12
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Bored.
So.
Damn.
Bored.
Leaning against the ship railing, Sanji stared listlessly out at the horizon.
Robin and Chopper were still out searching for their missing items.
Nami and Zoro had gone out for some reason to one of the villages.
Luffy and Usopp were playing checkers in the galley. In truth, they both were guarding it to prevent the blonde from trying to do too much when he wasn't even supposed to be out of bed.
That left Sanji with only two things to do.
Jack and shit.
The two in the galley had offered to let him join in on their checker tourney, but Sanji immediately declined. Luffy always pouted when he lost, and Usopp always tried to cheat. He had no desire to put himself through that kind of a headache.
"Dammit... there's gotta be something I can do..."
He thought of borrowing one of Robin's books, but he wouldn't be able to sit comfortably enough in order to focus on the words. Even now every move he made irritated his back, but the medicine that Chopper had been giving him made it tolerable.
The little doctor was obviously upset with him, but so far had not confronted him on hiding such a serious wound. Sanji was content to wait until Chopper decided to breach that subject. It would happen eventually.
Their reactions were not what he had expected at all so far, but it made him glad in a strange sort of way. He was able to see their concern. Their little efforts to help and talk to him were taking some of the self placed strain off of him. He was starting to understand more about this nakama business. Showing him that he didn't have to hide the pain like he did back on the Barati.
It was a drastic change of pace. No mocking. No harsh words to just suck it up and get back to work. It was genuine concerned effort to see he was okay.
It was nice.
A soft hum left him as he reached up and pulled out his cigarettes from the front pocket of the loose blue floral print shirt he was now wearing. He had left it unbuttoned since Chopper had instructed him not to wear any clothing that would rub against his back too much. That left out most of his custom fit clothing.
Which led him to a question that had been nagging at his mind for a couple of hours now. "Where the hell is my blue shirt...?" he muttered to himself as he lit up his cigarette with a flick of a lighter.
Taking in that smoke calmed his thoughts significantly. He wasn't allowed to smoke while in the girls' cabin, so he had been going without for the past few days. It was starting to make him jittery.
Now that he had his fix, his half lidded blue eyes glanced around the ship for anything that he could occupy himself with. His gaze fixed on the mikan trees above the galley. "Guess I could tend to those.. I don't think Nami-san would mind." he mused to himself as he pushed away from the railing.
He climbed to where the potted trees were, having to sneak past the galley door so the pair bickering loudly inside wouldn't hear him.
"What the hell was that?!"
"That was a brilliant move I like to call 'Captain Usopp's barrage'!"
"There aren't any catapults in checkers! Quit cheating!"
"That wasn't cheating, that was strategizing! Strategizing!"
"I'll strategize on your head if you don't take that move back!"
"Never!"
"As captain, I order you to take back that move!"
"Grrr.. You suck, Luffy..."
"You're just pissed because you're losing."
"Captain Usopp will defeat you yet, Strawhat!"
"Hahaha! Bring it!"
When their game resumed, Sanji rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs that led to the trees. "Leave it to those two to turn checkers into life or death..." he sighed with a shake of his head.
Once at the trees, he began to look over them to see if anything needed to be done. He always took the greatest care with Nami's trees. He didn't know if the others realized it, but he knew the trees were Nami's precious treasure. They were a part of her home, so he always did his best to treat them with as much care as he did with the woman herself.
"Hm.. They could use some water... Maybe a bit of pruning later. I'll ask Nami-san later."
His hands carefully examined the fruit on the trees to see if any of it needed to be picked soon. That was one thing Nami allowed him to do. He was allowed to pick any of the fruit when it was at its best. "A couple more weeks should ripen these... Wait a second..."
Something strange was sticking out from the back of the trees that caught his attention. He moved in close and saw light glinting off of metal. "What the hell is that thing..?"
Reaching out with his right hand, Sanji gently pried the object out of the mikan branches. The moment it was free his visible eye widened only to quickly narrow in a bland stare. "I don't believe this..." Object clutched firm in his hand, Sanji moved to the railing and looked down to the galley door below. "Oi! Usopp! Get your ass out here!"
A moment later the door pushed open, and out came both the sniper and the captain.
The two looked around curiously for their cook, but were puzzled when they didn't see him. "Sanji? Where are you?" Usopp called out with a tilt of his head.
"Up here."
The pair looked up to see the blonde leaning casually over the railing above them waving a very familiar looking pair of goggles in his right hand. "I believe you lost this." Sanji called out before tossing the goggles down to the slack jawed sniper.
Usopp had to shake out of his alarmed daze when he saw his precious goggles falling towards them. He practically pounced on them when they were in his reach and instantly hugged them tightly to his chest. "My goggles! Eee!! Thank you, Sanji-kun! Thank you thank you thank you!!" he cried out with glee, tears already welling up in his eyes from how thrilled he was.
Smiling happily on seeing his sniper so happy, Luffy looked back up at his cook. "Where were they? I thought we searched the entire ship."
Sanji gestured towards the trees behind him with his thumb. "They got caught in Nami-san's mikan trees. Was up here seeing if they needed watering when I spotted them tangled in the branches."
On hearing that, Luffy gave a laugh and folded his arms behind his head. "Lucky! Sanji's so awesome for seeing that! Maybe we'll find your knives sticking out of the ship somewhere too!"
"Heh, now that would be lucky..." Sanji trailed off for a moment when he noticed the flag atop the mainmast suddenly change position. "Huh.. The wind has shifted... It's coming from the east now."
"Hm?" Luffy glanced up and saw the flag blowing in the opposite direction from before. "Ah, so it has. Maybe it's a good omen."
Unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes, Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sure... Anyway.. Last time the wind shifted that monster storm nearly sank us. I think we should start securing things just to be on the safe side."
Usopp readily held up his hand. "I vote safe side too! Let me go tape these to my head, and I'll be right with you, Sanji-kun!" he called out before scurrying off to find a way to secure his goggles first.
Luffy chuckled at the display, but he soon turned his attention back to the blonde above him. Without giving it a second thought, he shot up his right hand to grab the railing near Sanji and hoisted himself up with a snap. The moment he had perched himself next to his cook, he looked out towards the open ocean. "If I asked how you were doing, would you give me an honest answer?"
The calm question had Sanji raising a brow, but a slight smirk twitched at his lips. "Probably not."
"Ah. I won't ask then." Luffy looked to Sanji expectantly. "Will you please join us? Usopp keeps cheating, and I need another pair of eyes to watch him."
The request was a bit odd, but it had Sanji's smirk growing as a laugh left him. "Sure. After we secure everything, I'll be your judge and deal swift punishment for any rule breaking."
Grinning brightly now that he had someone in his corner, Luffy bounced happily on the railing. "Yosh! I'm gonna kick Usopp's ass for sure now!"
That exuberance was just too much. Sanji smiled and shook his head as he looked out to the ocean. "Luffy.. I don't think I've thanked you."
Luffy's head tilted curiously at the sudden statement. "Thanked me for what?"
Sanji paused for a moment. His cigarette poised in front of his lips before he finally answered. "For picking me."
On hearing the simple words, Luffy smiled brightly and happily kicked his legs back and forth. "Sanji is so silly. I should thank you for saying yes. I knew you were my cook the moment I saw you. Nakama isn't just a bunch of people. It's the people you're supposed to be with." he finished with a resolute nod.
Sanji found himself looking back at his captain. "Supposed to be with?"
"Yes. We belong together. We'll sail this sea until we've conquered all our dreams!" Luffy exclaimed, his hands raised high in the air.
More groundless confidence, but Sanji was instantly smiling brightly. "I suppose 'Cook to the Pirate King' does have a nice sound to it."
"Of course it does! And WHEN I'm pirate king, I'm gonna have a huuuuge kitchen with everything in it, and you're going to cook for me until I explode!" Luffy cackled, bouncing eagerly on his perch atop the railing.
Grinning at the idea, Sanji lightly wagged his cigarette between his teeth. "I believe I can handle that. So,Captain Pirate King-sama, why don't you give me a hand making sure we've got everything ready in case we have to haul ass?"
"Yosh! And after that, Usopp's ass gets kicked!"
"Captain Usopp will not lose to you!" Usopp cried out as he came back on deck with his goggles literally taped to his head.
"Oh yeah?! I bet I can secure everything on deck faster than you!" Luffy jeered.
"Bring it, Pirate king!" Usopp cackled before dashing off to get ropes from the forward cannon room.
"Hey! No fair getting a head start! See, Sanji? He cheats! Cheats!" Luffy whined before hopping off the rail to quickly start catching up with the sniper.
As the two began scuffling and bickering over trying to best each other, Sanji let out a soft chuckle and looked towards the sky. "So I'm supposed to be here, huh?"
He noticed the way the sky was beginning to look a bit overcast to the east, but the sight didn't bother him.
"We'll weather any storm..."
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TBC
Look to the sky and dream about the future.
Later~