Aaah and here it is! Sorry to keep you all waiting, but hopefully it was worth it! Thank you ever so much for your patience!

Day 14, Monday

As he sat there, nibbling on his meatball sandwich and listening to Usopp as he rambled on about the exam he just had in Chemistry, Sanji had to wonder why he asked his friends for advice at all if he was just going to turn around and do whatever the hell he wanted anyways. Vivi-chan tells him to back off if his feelings get too strong. Franky warns him to not resort to playing dirty. Nami-swan instructs him to be patient and give the other his space. And he had neither backed off when his heart continued to run miles whenever they were in the same room together nor was he patient and virtuous, seeing as he was currently waiting for his chance to bring up Saturday again.

Man, I'm a real idiot. He thought to himself. This was so ridiculous. He was losing sleep, smoking more, turning a blind eye to his morals and his emotions felt like they were constantly being squeezed through a colander. Then again, it wasn't like he hadn't been here before; every woman he'd ever had a romantic interest in had made him go through this exact same syndrome. Maybe it was simply because Usopp was the first man he'd ever felt extremely affectionate towards that everything felt more intense than usual?

Or maybe, like dear Nami had said, he was just overdramatizing his feelings and turning the whole thing into a bigger theater than it truly was. He did, maybe possibly, have a slight habit of thinking that every crush was a sign of him finding his true love.

"-right Sanji? ...Sanji? Hey are you listening?"

He snapped out of his reverie when he felt a slight nudge on his arm. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"I was just saying how dumb it is that teachers always put trick questions on tests like they're trying to fool you purposely."

"Oh… yeah." He replied lamely.

Usopp glanced at him worriedly. "You okay? You're not usually this quiet."

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." Avoiding his eyes, he finished off his sandwich, mumbling between bites, "Guess I just have a lot on my mind."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Er…" I can't because it's all about you, damn it! "Not really."

The irony that this conversation was similar to the one they had two nights ago was not lost on Sanji, but unlike himself, Usopp didn't seem put out by it. He just brushed some crumbs off his fingers and said, "Alright."

He watched the other pull his dirty plate away, feeling guilt eat at him. "Sorry."

"What for? I get it if you don't want to think about it. In fact… Hey!" The student hopped out of the chair, walking towards the washing station. "You don't have to go to work until later right?"

He watched the other as he turned on the spout to rinse the dishes, replying absentmindedly, "Four."

"Perfect." Usopp shot him a cheeky smile. "You wanna go somewhere?"

That day was the first time Sanji saw Usopp's car. He wasn't exactly surprised the long-nose had one, most people did. He did; although, his Skyland hadn't seen the streets in a while, what with inflation causing gas to be ridiculous and making it more affordable to simply walk or take the bus. Still, from what he surmised, Usopp lived uptown where most of the upper-class resided – which most likely meant he drove to school. And he most certainly traveled around in a nice car, right?

But instead of the blazing red Firefly he had built up in his mind, what he approached instead was a dinky, dull yellow East Blue that didn't even have enough legroom for a mouse. He was disappointed to say the least.

Usopp hardly seemed to care though that he was driving around a car not even the Ugly Duckling would have stepped foot in. Sanji could see that an old kid's slingshot was strung around the rearview mirror by the rubber bit and that the cup holders were stuffed full with candy wrappers. There was a worse mess in back. He had only glanced but he could see books of all kinds strewn across the seats and sports drink bottles cluttering the floor, clacking together noisily with every stop and go motion of the vehicle. And sitting in the back window he spotted a plastic ship toy in one corner and a lamb stuffed animal in the other – he would have asked about the latter but Usopp had turned on the radio and a loud rock song was making the entire car thrum.

He forgot about it anyways once they reached their destination. The drive wasn't too far as they hit the highway and left the town behind. About twenty minutes into it, Usopp turned off on some unmapped dirt road that cut through the forest and soon stopped and cut off the engine after that, explaining they would have to walk the rest of the way. He figured out why when the trail narrowed and twisted uphill, making the way a little treacherous but nothing his well-trained legs couldn't handle.

Despite that though, Usopp had the lead on him, zigzagging around raised roots and uncertain terrain with ease. "We're almost there!"

"Are we going to the beach?" Sanji asked, having picked up the scent of sea salt awhile back and now he was pretty sure that over the sound of the leaves rustling he could hear the crashing of waves.

The African ducked under a branch. "Sort of! You'll see-" Usopp trailed off briefly and broke into a grin as the ground finally leveled out. "Right now!"

Sanji had to pause just to stare. He'd seen the ocean thousands of times. Hell, every summer he practically lived on the sea. There were millions of memories there: playing volleyball on the sand, swimming races against Zoro, rubbing suntan lotion into the beautiful ladies' shoulders, or cooking hotdogs on the fire pit. He spent countless hours making sandcastles and he probably still had that shark's tooth he found when he was nine tucked away in his treasure box in the attic. He wished on his first shooting star, broke his first bone and held hands with his first girlfriend there.

It was his childhood wonderland.

And yet, not once, had he ever left the soft sands of the beach to overlook the vibrant ocean on the cliffs before. (Which was nothing short of a miracle considering Luffy's innate instinct to find adventure and Zoro's ever increasing list of going to places he never should have ended up at in the first place.) The closest they had ever gotten was camping in the surrounding woods, building a real campfire to roast marshmallows and tell scary stories over it that really only ever scared Chopper and Brook. Well, unless Robin was the designated teller that night; her grotesque and ghastly tales, while marvelously constructed and wonderfully articulated, even sent cold shivers down his spine.

The man beside him sprinted to the bluff's edge, stopping just a few feet short of it under the shade of an ash tree and turned to face him, spreading out his arms. "Welcome to my secret place. Pretty cool right?"

"Yeah," Sanji breathed, coming to stand alongside him and looking down at the sheer drop, water far below spraying upwards as it impacted with the rock wall. It was a completely different feeling staring at the wild beauty from this angle. Here he could see the sea in its true form. This terrifyingly powerful mass of water that had no end to it. No… rather, it seemed to blend itself into the sky and twist into the land as if it would one day own them both.

It was absolutely stunning.

"I come here all the time, to think or to draw. You should see it on foggy mornings when the ocean vanishes; you can still hear the waves but it feels so calm and quiet. Or-or cloudy evenings! Man the colors." Usopp smiled and dropped to the grass on his bum, Sanji following more gracefully. "Most of all though I come here to get away."

That unexpected reason caused him to glance over at him. The other's smile had weakened and the crinkles around his eyes now looked more like frowns. But when he noticed his stare Usopp waved a hand, laughing it off. "In the same way everyone does. When life feels overwhelming, you know? My dad used to say: 'You just gotta take a break from it all and just enjoy things moving without you for a minute. That way when you return to it and realize nothing exploded while you were gone, you can tell yourself, 'Okay, it's not too big for me to handle after all'.'"

"Hmm… That's good advice." He replied as he lit a cigarette.

"Yeah. I think that's the only way he could get by sometimes after mom…" Usopp started to pull out tufts of grass and toss them over the sea cliff, watching the blades twist in the wind. "When I'm here, sometimes I pretend this is the edge of the world and if I just start sailing I won't find like… Australia, but something else. Real sea adventures like you read about in stories."

Sanji blew out a cloud of smoke. "Australia's the other way."

"Hawaii then!"

He decided not to correct him again. "I've always wanted to live on the sea. Travel the world and catch my own dinner. Think about all the different kinds of fish out there! There are thousands of species. Millions of meals that could be cooked. It's a cook's paradise out there."

"Yeah, right?" The younger beamed. "Ha, we could be a crew even. Yeah, a crew! I'm the captain and you're the cook. Merry's the rat catcher!"

"Wait, why are you the captain?"

"I'm a natural born leader of course! Hmm… we need more than that though…" He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Nami-san's been studying cartography for years. She'd be a wonderful navigator." Sanji added, unsure why he was playing along. "Vivi-chan should be captain though! She is the most level-headed of any of us."

"Mmm, she can be first mate!" At Sanji's glare, he laughed nervously. "Be-Because you know, first mates keep people calm and break up fights while the captain's too busy and- and anyways! Your sister could be the doctor."

"Chopper too."

"Yeah… that'd be a good idea. In case one doctor gets sick, the other is there to take care of them."

He flicked off some ashes, sparing the other a glance. "Maybe I should be captain since I'm making all the smart decisions."

"No! Sssh, you're the cook." Usopp smirked wickedly. "And what if I made Zoro the cabin boy? And Luffy?"

"Hmmm..." He considered. "Keep going captain."

They burst into chuckles. When they calmed, the artist spun more of his yarn, "Franky would be perfect to take care of everything. The ship and the cannons and stuff. Oh-oh! And Brook could sing us jaunties, yeah!" He squirmed excitedly, eyes bright at the idea of having his favorite celebrity onboard this pretend ship.

Sanji held in a laugh at the display. "Why would we have cannons?"

"Because we're going on an adventure! There are dangerous things out there! Sea monsters and pirates!"

"Heh, alright, whatever you say." He took another drag, saying on the exhale, "Robin-chan better be on this crew too."

"Well yeah!" He nodded agreeably. "And her only job is to have fun!"

Sanji smiled. "That's acceptable." He fought the bile in his throat to ask next, "And Kuro?"

"Hmm? Oh well… he'd be uuh… be my love across the sea of course!" Usopp said, tugging at one of the long sleeves of his shirt as if he were trying to make it swallow up his entire hand.

"He's not with us?" Something seemed off about that.

There was a quick shake of the head, black curls bouncing. "That's not how the stories go, Sanj'! Haven't you ever read the old tales? The men – and women! – set out to sea on perilous journeys, conquering the world's most unforgivable trials and returning as the bravest people in the kingdom, right into the arms of their loved ones."

"Like Odysseus." He remarked, wrinkling his nose at the reminder of that torturously long poem he had been forced to read a few semesters ago.

The student seemed strangely enthused though as he grinned. "Or Beowulf! Heracles too."

"Wait, so you don't like Shakespeare but you'll read all these other lame classics?"

"Hell no! Do you know how long the Odyssey is?"

"Yes." Sanji deadpanned, his right eye twitching. "Yes I do." He scowled when Usopp snickered. "Don't laugh at me shithead!"

"Aah, sorry, sorry." He replied insincerely. "It's just haven't you ever heard of SparkNotes?"

"That's not the same as reading it!"

A shrug. "Worked for me."

"You shitty cheater." He grumbled, hunching his shoulders some.

"Clever. Clever is the word you are looking for." Usopp retorted, seeming pleased with himself. He looked back out at the ocean, crossing his arms into his lap. "But yeah, I've always liked those kinds of heroes. They were like… the superheroes of classical reading! Their stories are all real manly, overcoming all the odds with their strength and smarts. I thought they were really cool."

"Heh. Somehow that seems to fit you." Sanji replied, twisting out his cigarette on the grass.

"Yeah? You think?"

He lent back on his hands, stretching out his long legs so they hung somewhat over the crag. "Definitely."

Usopp smiled, gesturing grandly to himself, "Well, naturally. One day I'll have an epic tale of my own you know. It'll be titled The Amazing Adventures of the Great Usopp."

"Hoo, wouldn't that be something?"

"It'll be the best thing you ever read." He brazenly boasted. "And the best part about it is, it'll be in freaken' English!"

Sanji tilted his head back, howling with laughter.

They stayed up there for a while talking, listening to the sounds of the ocean, and checking out the surrounding forest. Although, the exploring didn't last too long because Usopp found a large, hairy spider that he let climb up his arm and, while the vile monster was distracted, Sanji tried to make a tactical retreat back to safety. He tripped into a honeysuckle bush instead and was still rubbing berry sap off his skin by the time they were making their way down the trail. It wasn't until his phone buzzed from an incoming text – rolling his eyes at the message from Zoro complaining they were out of beer – that he noticed it was just a few minutes till three.

"Hey, didn't you miss class?" Sanji asked, angrily typing back to the mosshead to go get his own damn alcohol. And then, as an afterthought, added that he should get his lazy ass back to bed unless he wanted to fall asleep at work.

"Heh, yeah." Usopp replied. "Art. It's alright though. I can get the notes later." He ducked under a branch. "So, did it work?"

Trying to formulate a good comeback to Zoro's 'Cooks are supposed to keep the kitchen stocked' quip, he mumbled distractedly, "Did what work?"

"Did you stop worrying about whatever it was?"

His fingers froze over the keys, looking up in astonishment. With a sharp snap, he closed his phone, bounding forward to the other's side and throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Yeah, it did. Thanks."

The shorter flinched in surprise but shot him a quick smile. "No problem."

Within minutes they were climbing back into Usopp's toy-sized car, soon merging onto the highway again and heading towards home. While the scenery went by around them, Sanji reached out for radio, turning the volume down so he could be heard. "Hey, would you mind dropping me off at my place? I need to get ready for work. If I don't make it on time my shitty manager will probably demote me to dishwasher next."

"Sure, I don't mind. Where is it anyways?"

"Do you know where Anesidora Street is?" When he just got a noncommittal shrug as a response he said, "Well, just get onto Main and I'll lead you from there."

"Can do!" He responded and before anything more could be said, a jingle that was too cheery to be part of the stifled rock music cut through the air. Sanji's eyes were drawn to where Usopp had tossed his phone in the space above the stick shift, noticing the display had lit up. The caller I.D. read 'Kuro'. The driver spared it a look before turning his gaze back to the road.

He lifted a curly brow, enquiring, "Not gonna answer it?"

"Nah. I'll call him back when I'm not driving." Usopp responded, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel.

The cell quit ringing and after a moment, there was a ping, indicating a voicemail had been left. Sanji turned his eyes back to the road, watching the other cars around them move through traffic. "Huh. You're kind of a safety nut aren't you?"

"Sa-Safety-?! It's against the law for a reason yanno! Do you want us to crash, asshole?"

"Oh please. You know what else is against the law?" He reached out for the slingshot he noticed earlier, flicking its wooden handle and making it swing. "Hanging shit from your rearview mirror."

"You're making that up." The other accused. "And don't call it 'shit'. That's my lucky slingshot!"

He shrugged. "Go look it up if you don't believe me. And, lucky slingshot, really?"

"Don't tease me or I'll shoot you in the ass with it." Usopp threatened. "This baby's my Ginga Pachinko and it got me out of a lot of scrapes when I was a kid."

With that dinky thing? He thought, sparing it another look. Maybe in its prime it was more impressive, but all he saw was the cracked rubber of the sling and the chipping paint revealing cracked wood underneath. It looked about ready to fall apart! "Is that so?"

"It is so!" The music was turned the rest of the way down. "Alright, listen. People liked to bully me a lot in elementary 'cause I was small and uh… weird looking I guess. I usually ran away before anyone could get me but there was this one kid – ugh. His name was Choo, but we called him Spewy Chewy because he really liked to shoot spitballs at people." He shuddered unpleasantly, no doubt one of Chewy's unfortunate targets. "Anyways, he was a real jerk… and when he had his eyes set on you, he was real persistent too. He messed with me sometimes, would push me into the mud and pull at my nose and chase me down during recess to give me wet willies. It really sucked.

"When I was in fourth grade though, my parents took me to a toy shop and I saw this." He reached out for the slingshot, running a fond thumb over the handle. "I remember I started imagining how I would go around school, being some superhero and shooting exploding rocks into all the bullies' faces and everyone would look up to me. Even all the older kids! And since dad was a cop and protected people and all, I thought it would be neat to be like him too. Heh, I spent all my allowance on the thing and brought it to school the next day, believing my entire life was about to change. And then all my dreams came crashing down when I tried to hit Per- I MEAN! Uhhh… My first victim-"

"You shithead!" Sanji quickly cut in, "It was a girl wasn't it?!"

Usopp dawdled about nervously. "Uh well, girl is such a… strong gender to associate with P.P. Perona-"

"You are so lucky we are in a car or I'd be kicking you clear across the country right now." He seethed then added out of curiosity, "And P.P.?"

The other laughed uncomfortably. "Eheh, she was really obsessed about being a princess. All she ever wanted to play was Castles and Knights and she treated everyone like they were her subjects. She'd even make people pay 'taxes' to her just so she could take stuff she wanted from them. And no matter if we were playing or not, she insisted people call her Princess Perona. So we would call her P.P for 'Prim and Proper' since that's what princesses are but well, of course that sounds like peepee and well, we all thought it was real funny." Usopp seemed to be able to feel his glower because he whined, "Oh come on, gimmie a break! It was a long time ago and I missed anyways. She told on me and I got detention for a week."

"Good! You deserved it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just let me finish the story jerk." As if the trip down memory lane was making him more childish, Usopp stuck his tongue out at him. "So yeah, there I was: Hopes and dreams brutally crushed! And me, oh man! I felt like the stupidest kid on the planet because I thought I bought a slingshot that didn't work. I didn't realize that it took any skill to actually use. So when I went home that day – well you better believe I was in trouble. My butt still hurts from that spanking. And when my parents took away my brand new slingshot, I was pretty sure they were gonna toss it in the fireplace."

Sanji lent his elbow on the armrest in the door, laying his chin in his palm. "So what changed?"

"Weirdly, mom." He answered, pursing his lips some. "It was weird because I always saw her as real gentle and kind. She was always harping on dad if I ever even caught a glimpse of one of his guns. But, she was the one who eventually said I was allowed to have my slingshot back as long as I learned how to use it responsibly."

"In other words, don't shoot it at little girls like a rotten little shit."

"You made your point Sanji!" Usopp said, somewhat exasperated. "But yes, not to do that. She pounded all these moral and safety lessons into my head until I was having nightmares about them. Dad was the one to teach me how to use my slingshot properly. When I was finally given it back for keeps, I even got to recite the police Code of Honor. But I thought that was really – ahummm… prestigious because it felt official, you know?"

He smiled, still seeming proud about it. "For months, I had that thing in my back pocket and I was really good with it. I didn't shoot it at anyone and only played with it when no one was around who could possibly get hurt. But then my ninth birthday came around and I got one of those Giga Pet toys as a gift. It was a turtle but I liked to pretend it was an armadillo instead since they both have shells– and well never mind, that's not the important part. Choo found out about it and wanted to take it from me.

"So there I was just sitting on the blacktop one morning before class, minding my own business and playing with my pet when Choo and all his friends kinda just surround me. And these guys were fifth graders, so to me they looked like a bunch of terrifying giants. They said if I didn't give them my Giga Pet they'd beat me up."

Sanji's eyes darted to Usopp's phone again, hearing it buzz and realizing he was probably getting a text now. The driver just remained focused on the road. "What then? You knock 'em all out with your slingshot?"

"No, I gave them the toy. I didn't have a death wish! Shooting rocks at them was just gonna piss them off and then they really would have killed me to the point people today would still be finding pieces of me in the gravel. But I thought if I tattled on them I could get it back, so when class started I told my teacher about it." He frowned. "And he said that it was my own fault and I shouldn't have brought something like that to school in the first place."

"Wow, what a shitty teacher."

"Tell me about it. I didn't know what to do at first. I thought about telling my parents but if Choo took it home, he could hide it and lie about having it and I'd never see it again. And then this crazy idea hit me. You see, Choo and his friends always hung out at this same spot during lunch, under these two big pine trees by the sand box. It was supposed to be the 'cool' place or whatever. But it worked to my advantage because I knew exactly where they'd be. So during recess I promised one of my friends that I'd give him my cupcake if he told those guys this story I made up."

He snickered. "It was something about how, way before the school was there, some kid broke his neck and died falling down from those trees. And every year, on the day of his death, if anyone was under his trees and they did not give him a toy offering, he would appear and haunt them for alllllll eternity, wooooo." He hissed mockingly. "'Course I made it that day for my ghost to 'appear', but I knew they would never buy it. So when lunch came around, I got as many rocks as I could find and then climbed up to the top of the jungle gym – it was one of those dome shaped ones you know? I think they were called spider webs. Anyways, I sat down right at the top, pulled out my slingshot and started knocking down pinecones out of the tree."

"You didn't!" Sanji cried, laughing hard. "You little snot!"

Usopp beamed. "What? I didn't do it. The ghost did! And of course, before he ran off screaming, Choo was so very kind to that lonely ghost he just had to give him my Giga Pet."

He curled his arms over his midsection, his ribs starting to hurt. "That's genius. I can't believe you did that."

"I can't believe I pulled it off! I mean, it wasn't like I was invisible. I was just sitting there in plain sight. Of course, at the time I probably thought it was perfect. But I got my toy back all the same." He glanced at the rearview mirror, switching over lanes and getting on the exit ramp that led back into town. "So yeah, just remember: slingshots are awesome."

"Alright, alright. You have convinced me." He held up his hands pacifyingly. "But don't expect me to go out and buy one."

"Like you'd need one Mr. Black Belt." The younger jibbed, making his way towards Main Street. "Though, least I know that when we set off to sea, my cook will be able to fight with me when we get into brawls with other pirates."

"Still want to set off huh? You sure about that? There are monsters out there you know." Sanji joked.

An odd smile quirked up Usopp's mouth as he responded, "There are worse ones on land."

Between them, Usopp's phone rang again.