Fifth chapter! The previous chapter was longer than I thought but what can you do when you get carried away with the story? XP Reviews, follows and favorites are appreciated and they are the easiest way to support my work and cheer me on! :)
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There was a very gentle knock on the door and Chopper opened it, seeing Sara at the other side of the door,"Is Sanji-san here?"
"Is that my lovely Sara-chan?!" Sanji shouted cheerfully even though he felt like shit.
Sara stepped inside carefully and kneeled in front of the blond chef who was laying on the couch,"Just lay down, you don't have to sit up for me!"
"What brings you here?" Sanji inquired politely.
"I just came to see you", Sara said and blushed slightly again,"I heard that there was some gas leaking to your room...I am sorry about that..."
"It's alright! I am fine, you see?" Sanji reassured the young lady who managed a small smile.
"So how are you feeling?" Sara asked, smiling gently at the chef.
"I can't lie to a lady so I am honest: I feel like shit," Sanji answered,regretting his bad language but Sara just chuckled slightly at the answer.
"Well, at least you were honest," Sara said, still chuckling slightly.
"Do you have any books about cooking or any recipes in this mansion?" Sanji inquired: he needed something to do so that he wouldn't feel so useless just laying around.
"Actually, we have one old recipe book which could be interesting for you",Sara explained happily,"Would you like to read it?"
"Of course! Anything you suggest is fine by me, Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned and Sara stood up to leave but then she suddenly bend over him and kissed him to his cheek, close to the ear. Sanji was so delighted by the kiss that he almost missed Sara whispering one word to his ear:
"Escape"
...
Nami went to the mansion's library to check for any information for her maps. To her surprise there were one big bookshelf full of books about maps. She couldn't help smiling widely.
"Excuse me but...what are you doing?" Sara asked when she appeared on the door frame.
"I am drawing maps!" Nami answered honestly and returned to her work. Sara stared at her for a while before she stepped in to take a closer look at her work.
"You are pretty skilled!" Sara praised the navigator's work,"Why are you drawing these?"
"I want to draw a map of the world!" Nami smiled at the young girl.
"Such an ambitious dream",Sara sighed,"I wish I had one like that!"
Nami blinked,"Well it's not really a big dream comparable to Luffy's, Zoro's or Chopper's. We are a weird crew and each of us has got their own dreams they want to fulfill."
"Really? What kinds of dreams you have?" Sara inquired.
"Well, Luffy wants to find One Piece and become the king of pirates. Zoro wants to become the best swordman in the world. Chopper wants to cure every disease," Nami explained and there was a genuine trust in her voice: she didn't doubt her friends dreams.
"Then how about the others?" Sara inquired. Apparently she wanted to know everything possible or then she was just trying to be polite and chat a little.
"Well, Brook wants to meet up with his old friend, Usopp wants to be a brave warrior of the sea, Robin wants to solve the missing pieces in history and Franky wants to sail the dream ship he has built."
"He built your ship?!" Sara gasped,"I would love to see it! Ah, that reminds me, I haven't met Franky-san yet."
"You can come with us when we are preparing to leave tomorrow morning and then return back here,"Nami suggested and smiled a reassuring smile.
"Does Sanji-san have a dream?" Sara asked and a small blush appeared on her face. Nami noticed it but said nothing.
"Yeah, he wants to find All Blue."
"What's that?" Sara asked. The look on her face told that she had no idea.
"You don't know All Blue? Then you should ask Sanji-kun about it! I don't know a lot about it myself!" Nami suggested and Sara smiled brightly.
"Then I will go ask about it!" Sara said, rushing off from the library.
...
"All Blue?" Sanji asked,"Why do you want to know about it?"
"I heard about it from Nami-san and she suggested that I ask you about it!" Sara explained and smiled gently.
"Well, I don't know much about it either", Sanji sighed,"All I know is that it's a miracle sea of every chef. It's a place where you can find every fish on this world."
"Sanji-san, are you a chef?" Sara asked stupidly. She was somehow simple because she hadn't understood why Sanji had asked books about cooking or recipies.
"I am, indeed, a pretty good one!" Sanji praised himself and grinned. He was feeling a lot better than in the morning already.
"Could you cook something for me? I would love to taste food made by you!" Sara got excited and almost jumped off from her chair.
"Of course! Whatever for you, my dear Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned and stood up,"Any preferences?"
Sara shoke her head and smiled,"I leave it up to you!"
...
"Hey, Franky!" Usopp shouted when they returned back to the Sunny-Go,"Do you need any help with the sails?"
"Perfect timing!" Franky praised,"You know, I am meant to build ships, not sew sails!"
Robin chuckled slightly at the answer,"I could give you a helping hand too while I check something from my books!"
"That's cheating, Robin!" Usopp whined,"It's so unfair that she can use her powers to do her work!"
"Did you say something, Longnose-kun?" Robin asked with a creepy smile on her face.
"Nothing!" Usopp stated quickly and went to help Franky,"By the way, do you have any idea of who attacked the ship last night?"
Franky rubbed his jaw slowly before he answered,"Actually I have no idea. But whoever attacked the ship had nails strong enough to rip our sails like this,"he pointed at the sails and saw the horrified look on their sniper's face.
"Some sort of wild animal?" Usopp suggested. He rather hoped that it had been a wild animal than some zoan-type devil fruit user.
"I doubt it", Franky sighed,"Because why would a wild animal attack the sails when there was a hentai like me to be hunted?"
Usopp got Franky's point but he didn't like the idea of a zoan-ability. He would rather fight a fishman again.
...
"Hey Sanji! Join us for a party!" Luffy shouted happily and Sanji blocked his ears.
"You don't need to shout, you gomu-idiot!" Sanji preached,"I will be there shortly, just wait a minute!"
Luffy rushed off to the dining room on his own and left Sanji alone in Chopper's room.
"Are you feeling fine enough for a party?" Chopper inquired, he was the doctor after all.
"I am feeling almost perfect, thanks to your treatment, doctor Chopper," Sanji praised the small doctor who tried to hide his feelings.
"Praising me won't make me happy,you asshole!"
...
The party was as loud as the party they had the day before. They still had plently of food in their secret food storages which apparently had some master-locks in them since Luffy hadn't found them after eating all the food in his room.
Sanji had a chance to talk with the chef who was in charge of everything in their kitchen. He was rather curious about the recipes he had read from the old book Sara had brought to him. The chef had no trouble explaining all the details, in fact he was pretty delighted to share some information to a promising, young chef like Sanji.
...
Back at the Thousand Sunny, Robin was reading her books. She wanted to check if her assumptions were correct.
"Yo, Robin!" Franky greeted the archeologist,"What are you doing?"
"Something raised my suspicions in the story I heard", Robin explained shortly,"And I think I have enough proof now."
"Oh?" Franky voiced out, not bothering to ask because he knew Robin had the habit of leaving some things unexplained.
"Sara, Captain Dess fianceé, told me that the man who built the mansion had some sort of strange powers and he spent most of his life hiding in the mansion because he didn't want to cause any trouble to anyone."
"Something like a devil fruit?" Franky asked and Robin nodded.
"I though about that and then I found some information about the mansion's builder from someone else's diary. He had described the man was pretty shy and he rarely met any people and avoided all kind of physical contact with everyone."
"In other words?" Franky inquired.
"In other words, it could refer to the fact that he had no control over his powers and whoever he touched, fell victim to his powers. That would explain why he was so hated,"Robin explained and fell silent.
"Then what does it have to do with the situation nowadays?" Franky wondered what the connection to the present was.
"I can't say for sure but it looks like there are some other traditions in the mansion also apart from taking care of the big building," Robin suggested.
"Such as?" Franky inquired again.
"Well, this is just my guess,but it looks like the power Felix Dess had has been a part of the mansion's history ever since. In short, a person with a similar powers has lived in the building almost all the time. There are only few years gaps without sign of those powers."
"You mean that those people have chased people with that devil fruit or the devil fruit itself all these years?" Franky asked and Robin nodded slightly.
"That could mean trouble," Robin sighed.
"What do you mean?"
Robin looked at the cyborg and answered,"Well, does someone in that mansion have the power or are they looking for it?"
Franky gulped and understood her point: if there was someone in the mansion who could use the unknown devil fruit's powers just by touching someone, they were in trouble.
...