Sorry I didn't get this out earlier today, but prom's tomorrow and I'm getting ready (my dress is FABULOUS!).
Starting next week I have "Little Shop of Horrors" rehearsal (I'm in the chorus and helping with props (I'm not actually in drama, I just help because I like acting and because my boyfriend's in production class)) everyday until 9:00 (except on Wednesday, which is until 6:00), so I'll have to update this for the next two weeks on Saturday. The week after that I think I'm gonna update twice, and then the week after that the last chapter will go up. Sorry for the slow update schedule; once the play's over it'll all get better!
Reader Review Corner!
Dancing Nightmare: Eeeyah, thank you for your review! I'd read both "Hot Chocolate" and "Flowers For You and Me" before I had my account and loved them, so I was really excited to see that! Thank you!
ShoalinQueen: Then I hope you like this chapter, despite the slight SaNa tinge. And I'm sure you'll like the next chapter for the Sanji/Zoro stuff to come. There's a little here too, because I also like their nakamaship. And SanRob is actually my favored Sanji pairing, but Nami fit this story better…
This chapter is a LOT shorter than the last. It's basically the angst chapter that invariably comes in a story of this sort. Hope you enjoy!
A Chef's Hands
By Dandy Wonderous
Chapter 2
"I hope that's all the bullets," said Chopper as the second fell with a plink into the metal tray. He cleansed the wound while Zoro watched from where he leaned against the cabin wall. Only he remained with the doctor now; Robin and Nami had made a hasty retreat once it became clear that Sanji's pants would have to be removed to get to the wounds on his legs. Much to his chagrin, the swordsman had had to help with the undressing as the stupid cook refused to regain consciousness.
"How bad is his leg?" Zoro asked, nodding to the freshly wrapped gash. He did his best to sound like he had only a passing interest.
"He'll need to stay off it for awhile," said Chopper, knowing that such instructions would go, as usual, unheeded. "But it'll be fine once it heals."
"And his… shoulder?"
"The knife missed his bones. It'll be sore for awhile, but the damage is minimal."
There was nothing else to ask about, so Zoro hesitantly voiced the most important question. "His hands?"
Chopper's face clouded. He indicated the left hand first, which was bound and splinted to keep the crushed bones in place. "Maybe if the bones can set properly… But there were so many tiny fragments." He moved on to the right hand. "And this one… The wound will heal, but the damage done to the muscle and nerves may be irreparable."
"So…?"
Chopper ran a hand over his teary eyes. "He may never use them again."
A slight groan.
"Did you catch all that, ero-cook?" Of course he wakes up now.
"Enough," Sanji moaned. He was laying on his back, tilting his head slightly to glare with one eye at the swordsman. "Why exactly are you here?" His gaze floated to his body. "And why the hell am I in my boxers?"
"Idiot. It's not like it was my idea!"
"SAAAN-JIII!!!"
Zoro looked up at the yell. "Guess who's back."
The rubberman jumped through the hatch to the girls' room, landing with a slight bounce on the floor. He took one look at his chef, who raised his curly eyebrow, then turned around again. "Zoro! Let's go!"
"Go where?" asked both Zoro and Sanji together.
"To kick those guys' asses!"
"Idiot," said Zoro, restraining Luffy by grabbing his shoulder. "There's no point. We don't know who they are, and they're probably long gone by now." Not like I would mind getting a crack at them myself… He and Sanji might not have seen eye to eye, but to mess with one of his nakama's dreams was to mess with Zoro.
"Sanji!" yelled Luffy again. "Who did this?" Rage burned in his eyes as he looked at the cook.
"No, Luffy," said Sanji slowly. He used his elbows to push himself into a sitting position, wincing slightly from the pressure on his injured shoulder. "It's like marimo says; they're no where near here anymore."
Luffy gritted his teeth. "Like I care! I'll find them, I'll-"
"I know," Sanji interrupted. "But…" He smiled broadly at his captain. "I want to help."
Luffy stared back at him. The rage slowly faded, and then a smile grew to match Sanji's. He laughed loudly. "Yosh! Then you'll just have to hurry up and get better!"
"Whatever you say, captain."
Gentle waves rocked the Going Merry, and Sanji, alone now in the girls' cabin, lay back in Nami's bed, listening to the ocean. It would be dawn soon, but Sanji couldn't find rest, and instead stared at the ceiling, his eyes absentmindedly tracing the grains of the woodwork. Chopper had given him medicine for the pain before he left, but a dull ache was steadily making itself known in the cook's shoulder and leg. He didn't mind so much, though; the pain meant that they would be okay. It was the dead numbness of his hands that worried him…
"He may never use them again." Chopper's words echoed hauntingly in his mind. For the thousandth time, Sanji lifted his arms up so he could see the broken appendages. He gritted his teeth at the sight, then sighed and lowered them back to the mattress.
Losing his hands had always been a possibility, though one that he had avoided at all costs. His hands were his livelihood; without them, he was… well, useless. Oh sure, he could still kick things, but there couldn't be any powerful handstand kicks, and there was no telling how this would throw off his balance. But cooking… this was the reason for his existence, and now it was stolen, possibly forever.
He knew that, had it been in the defense of his nakama, he would gladly have sacrificed his hands, with no complaints. But…
"…Your reputation is still in danger of eclipsing our captain's."
"That's a shitty reason," he spat to himself, wanting desperately to kick the stuffing out of something (or someone). If you want to surpass someone you work hard. What kind of chef… what kind of person gets what they want by simply sabotaging their competition?
It would have helped a little if he could at least calm himself with a cigarette, but he couldn't even hold a smoke with his hands like this. This added frustration, on top of the virtual loss of his dream, his utter uselessness, his humiliation at getting carried by Zoro (oh yes, he still worried about that moment of patheticness), was just too much.
And I yelled at Nami-san, he remembered. The memory was hazy (as he had only been half-conscious), but he could still remember yelling at her… could remember that it upset her.
Light footsteps in the storage room above. The hatch opened and Nami made her way down into the room with the stealth and silence that only a thief can accomplish.
Still, it didn't make her invisible. "Nami-san?"
She jumped, startled. "Oh, Sanji-kun! I didn't know you were awake."
"Couldn't sleep," he said, once again using his elbows to push himself up. Thankfully, he had managed to get back into his slacks and blue shirt, with Chopper's help. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he added, with all the flirty tone he could manage under the circumstances.
"I just came down to get some things for me and Robin," she explained.
Sanji blinked, then immediately started to get up. "My apologies, Nami-san. I forgot this was your room; I'll just go-"
"Moron," said Nami forcefully, pushing him back down on the bed with one hand. He was strong enough to resist, but found any such rebellion against a woman (especially one that was touching his chest) impossible. "I've already said you could stay here for awhile."
"But where are you and Robin-chan-"
"Your room, of course." She smiled impishly. "Zoro wasn't too happy about being kicked out; he threw quite a fit."
"That lout. I'll remember to kick him later for not immediately surrendering our room to you."
"Don't bother; I just increased his debt a little for my suffering," she said airily.
"Ah! Nami-san is so beautiful when she's being crafty!" Sanji watched Nami pull some clothes out of the chest of drawers, making a small pile of things she and Robin would need. He took a deep breath; there were things that needed to be said. "Nami-san?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry."
She turned around, looking annoyed. "I already told you, don't worry about the room-"
"I lost your paper."
Nami stopped mid-sentence. She hadn't been expecting that. "Wh-what?"
Sanji was staring at the blanket that covered his legs, incredibly interested in a piece of fuzz. "When I was fighting those guys, I put your paper down where it would be safe. But I didn't go back for it. I'm sorry."
"Sanji-kun…"
"I'll pay you back as soon as I can," he continued, already calculating how much cigarette money it would take… Though as he got all his money from Nami anyway, it would really just add to the huge bill he, like the rest of the crew, had running.
Nami remained silent, unsure what to say. Any other time she would be all over him for losing the all-important map paper, but even she wasn't so heartless as to yell at him now.
He took a shaky breath. "And… I'm sorry for yelling at you. You didn't deserve it." He shook his head. "I was out of line, and I shouldn't have-"
He was abruptly cut off by Nami's arms, which wrapped around his shaking chest, careful to avoid the wound on his shoulder. "Don't be stupid," she admonished, keeping her voice as cheerful as she could. "I don't blame you for that."
"N-Nami-san?" He was surprised; he honestly hadn't expected her to hug him.
"I don't blame you," she repeated.
Sanji had made it this far. He had made it through the fight, and it's aftermath, and being carried, and learning about his hands, and not being able to make their supper (Usopp had stepped in), and not being able to smoke, without breaking down. But his strength to stay strong had left him, and, for a moment, Sanji let himself be weak.
"Th-thank you, N-nami-sw-swan…" he choked out around the tears that he could no longer hold back. She didn't pull away; her nakama needed her.
Things were silent in the cabin; Sanji's lament was not loud and wailing, but quiet, private, intimate. Nami kept her arms around him and leaned her head against his uninjured shoulder, sitting next to him on the bed. There she waited for him to cry himself out.
It didn't last long; not even ten minutes had passed before Sanji straightened up and used his shirt sleeve to dry the right side of his face. He took another shaky breath, then gave her a wide smile. "Mellorine," he said teasingly.
She pulled her arms back in mock disgust. "Ugh. I knew you were just seeing how long I'd hug you," she complained. But his eye said thank you, and hers answered, you're welcome.
"NAAA-MIII!!!" called Luffy from up on deck. "Where'd you go?"
Nami jumped to her feet. "I better go before Luffy and Zoro decide to steer the ship themselves," she said, more of an actual concern than a joke. She grabbed the pile of clothes she had gathered, Sanji watching her.
"Are you sure you don't just want your room back, Nami-san?"
She turned and smiled at him again. "Of course. The longer you stay here, the more rent I get!"
The sizzle and pop of bacon frying filled the room, and the smell of grease and meat filled the first mate's nose. He readjusted his top hat, watching his captain cook breakfast and waiting for the reaction to his report.
The large man was slow in answering. He spared no glance to the other man, giving all his attention to the meal. "And you're sure his hands are destroyed?"
"Of course, Captain."
He snorted, grabbing some kind of spice and sprinkling it over the meat. "I would rather you have chopped them off."
"Apologies, Captain." The man bowed, sweeping his top hat off and placing it against his chest. "We could hunt him down again, if you wish."
"Not right now. His captain is worth 100,000,000 beli, remember?"
"If he is anything like his cook, he should not be anything we cannot handle."
"I don't doubt your ability…" The captain tended the bacon awhile in silence. "We'll give it some time, then we'll see how he is. If he shows any signs of his hand healing…"
"Kill him?"
"Exactly."
Chapter 2 End
A/N: I always feel weird writing angsty cry stuff, like I'm intruding on something private (even though the people aren't even real!). It was longer in my head, but I later thought that that shorter section would fit the characters better.
Much to his chagrin, the swordsman had had to help with the undressing as the stupid cook refused to regain consciousness.
Oh Zoro, how I torture thee! For you ZoSan fans (I am NOT one, by the way), that's for you: Zoro took off Sanji's pants. Okay, so it's not really for you. But if that's what floats your boat…
The wound will heal, but the damage done to the muscle and nerves may be irreparable.
A few years ago my dad got run over by a boat trailer with the boat still on it. He's perfectly fine now, but at the time he had a few broken ribs, a fractured spine, a punctured lung, and a hurt hand. I'm not sure exactly HOW his hand was hurt, it just was. Long after everything else, even his spine, had healed, that hand's nerves were still damaged, and it wouldn't close or work properly. He finally had to give in and get surgery done on it, and even then they were afraid it couldn't be fixed. It was, however, and his hand works fine now. But that proves that I actually know a small amount about what I'm talking about. Having even one hand out of commission, by the way, really sucks. Try to pay attention to everything you use your hands for today; you're gonna seriously appreciate them more if you do. In fact, I'd rather lose a leg than a hand.
Chopper ran a hand over his teary eyes.
I'm guessing Chopper does a lot of his surgery type stuff (like removing those bullets) in his Heavy Point (that's the right one, right?) because it actually has hands.
"And why the hell am I in my boxers?"
Boxers or briefs, Sanji-kun?
"To kick those guys' asses!"
You know as well as I do that that's exactly what he'd want to do at this point.
I love Luffy. He's the best!
He and Sanji might not have seen eye to eye, but to mess with one of his nakama's dreams was to mess with Zoro.
I love Zoro, too (even though I torture him). Aw, who am I kidding, I love ALL the Straw Hats! I just happen to love Sanji slightly more.
…lay back in Nami's bed…
According to the diagrams of the Going Merry, the girls' cabin doesn't have a bed. But Nami was laying in one when she was sick, so I'm saying there is one. There's a couch, so maybe it's a pull-out.
He knew that, had it been in the defense of his nakama, he would gladly have sacrificed his hands, with no complaints.
You know he would, just like Zoro would give up his arms or his legs. Or how any of them would give up whatever was important to them. The Straw Hats are cool like that; that's why One Piece is pretty much my favorite story ever.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he added, with all the flirty tone he could manage under the circumstances.
When I write Sanji in flirt-mode, I tend to think of Tamaki (from Ouran High School Host Club) as a model. They're a lot alike when they're flirting.
"I just came down to get some things for me and Robin," she explained.
Robin and I. *is punched* Pointless Naruto Abridged reference! I love those guys.
"Don't bother; I just increased his debt a little for my suffering," she said airily.
Seriously, at the rate Zoro's going, he'd have to turn in Whitebeard, Blackbeard, Ace, Shanks, all the Shichibukai, and Dragon to the marines just to pay off Nami's interest.
…Usopp had stepped in…
Usopp cooks in the Rainbow Mist filler arc while Sanji is being depressingly feckless (AP English word!) elsewhere, so now he gets to cook some more!
…Sanji straightened up and used his shirt sleeve to dry the right side of his face.
At least as far as the anime's concerned, Sanji cries out of both eyes. Watch episode seventy-whatever, where he and Luffy are freaking out because they think Nami's gonna die; see, two streams of tears!
"Mellorine," he said teasingly.
I'm in the beginning of Skypiea now, and there's a part when they're going up the Milky Road when Nami falls back and Sanji catches her and is actually holding her. "Mellorine, mellorine!" Seriously, that guy has a one track, perverted mind. Before that, in the whirlpool before the knock-up stream appears, he yells, "Now, Nami-san, press yourself against my chest!" SERIOUSLY one track.
That last bit was not going to be in there at first, but I decided to add it as this chapter seemed depressingly short. It really doesn't mean much; just keeping the evil pirate threat alive.
Whew, those were a lot of author notes. Sorry you have to wait until Saturday for the next update! Really, truly. I'll try to make the next chapter worth the wait; it'll have a lot of (amusing) Sanji/Zoro nakamaship, a tiny bit more Sanji angst, and maybe a spot of happiness for the chef. Woo!
Ready to dance the night away at prom, this is Dandy Wonderous, signing off.