Hello, my wonderful readers :3
I'm sorry this is a bit late. please forgive me! . enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't One Piece, Luffy will. I also don't own any talking skeletons. Just sarcasm.
The early sun shined done on the Thousand Sunny, waking up the newest crew member of the Strawhat crew.
Sami stirred and blearily opened her eyes before glaring up at the sun. As she tried to get up, she hissed at the sudden stab of pain in her head. I hate mornings, I hate the sun, I hate hangovers, screw you world Sami began cursing everything that ever existed, in her head. I'm never drinking again… who am I kidding. It's a known fact that Sami is not a morning person and one to have terrible hangovers.
Sami groaned before looking at the other passed out crewmates and smiled. The scene she saw was adorable. Sometime in the middle of the chilly night; the Idiot Trio had gathered up and are now curled around each other like little animals with Franky and Brooke as pillows. How they find a cyborg and a skeleton comfortable as pillows will forever remain a mystery to Sami.
"Good morning, Dancer-san."
Sami blinked before looking up and smiling at Robin. "Good morning, Nico-san and please just call me Sami."
"I'd give up on that topic, Sami-chan, that's just Robin's way of giving nicknames. Good morning." Nami walked out her mapping room. "Also, call her Robin, no need to call us by our last names. Most of us don't have one anyway."
"Alright then, I will take that into note. By the way, would any of you like coffee or tea? I was just about to make some."
"I'll have tea."
"Some coffee would be lovely."
Sami nodded and walked across the deck before pausing and turning around again. "Um, do you mind telling me where the kitchen is?" Sami grinned sheepishly. Nami and Robin sweat dropped before smiling and giggling at Sami. Sami just rubbed the back of her neck, looking off to the side to hide her embarrassment. Nami grinned when she saw the action, it was exactly like the action a certain cook she knew would do when he was embarrassed. That thought reminded her.
"Robin, do you think you can go Sanji-kun before the idiots wake up and start demanding for food?" Nami asked the older women, before thinking of an idea and turned towards Sami. "Unless you can cook, Sami-chan?"
Sami shook her head and smiled. "No I can't, little San-chan once told me I'm a walking disaster in the kitchen."
"San-chan? Walking disaster?" Nami asked, curiously. "I never thought that Sanji-kun was capable of insulting a woman. And is that what you usually call Sanji-kun?"
"He is capable of insulting women, what do you expect with a tongue like his, he just never means it and is more of a joke and exaggeration than seriously insulting. In my case, what he said about me is 100% true." Sami replied. "The nickname is something only I and our other sisters can get away with, anyone else he'll beat the living shit out of them."
"Wait, you have more siblings?" Nami asked surprised. "How many?"
"Two older sisters and an older brother. They're not blood related but they might as well be with how long we've lived together and how we act." Sami replied before giggling. "Sanji gets really annoyed with us whenever we call him the baby of the family. Out of all of us Sanji is the youngest, so we always tease him about it."
The revealed information about the cook amused the other two female members immensely. As Nami took Sami to the kitchen, chatting the whole way, Robin made her way to the crow's nest. Robin knew that the navigator didn't trust the newest crewmember completely, she didn't either, however the navigator is perfectly capable of gaining information and interrogation herself so Robin was not worried. As Robin began to ascend the crow's nest she began to think about what was the cook's past life was like. What was the history? What were the people like? Did they have pirates? These thoughts whirled in her head before mentally noting to ask the cook later. As she opened the hatch and climbed in she was met with a very amused sight. Robin stared for a bit before closing her eyes and crossing her arms.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, as Sami was making coffee, Nami was asking her questions. So far, as the navigator has seen and heard, the dancer was being honest but she still needed to prove herself to the crew.
"Navigator-san, Dancer-san, I believe if you come up to the crow's nest you will find something very interesting." Robin's voice came out of nowhere, startling Sami when she saw a mouth and ear appear on the counter.
"Hi Robin." Nami said to the mouth.
"…Robin-san?" Sami asked hesitantly. "Do you have Devil Fruit powers?"
"Yes, I do." The mouth replied. "I have eaten the Flower-Flower fruit, it allows me to bloom my body parts anywhere that is within my sight."
"That sounds like a very handy power (pun intended)." Sami stared at the mouth. "What is it that you want us to see?"
"Come up to the crow's nest and you'll see. And Navigator-san, it's up to you if you want to bring a camera den-den mushi if you want."
Nami and Sami just looked at each other before getting up and walking towards the crow's nest, with Nami quickly grabbing a camera den-den mushi from the girls' dorm. As they climbed into the crow's nest they saw Robin smiling and pointing towards what was amusing her, soon they were also smiling and trying to stifle giggles and aws.
The two known 'rivals' of the Strawhat ship were fast asleep on the couch. Sanji, with his ears and tails out, was hugging Zoro in his sleep and was purring while Zoro squeezing him back like an over-sized teddy bear. It looked like over-sized children sleeping together; anyone that didn't know them would never think that they were pirate serial killers that kill only using swords and feet.
Nami quickly took some pictures for blackmailing later, making sure to take shots from all angles. When Nami was satisfied with all the pictures she took, she gave the 'ok' to Sami. Sami then walked up to the two sleeping men and smiled down at the sight before suddenly flipping both men onto the floor.
"What the hell?!" Zoro groaned from suddenly face planting into the hard wooden floor, before getting up and glared accusingly at the three grinning women. What gave them all the same shit-eating grin later was by the cook who also was given the rude awakening.
"Holy shitake mushrooms!" Sanji sat up with a start, with his hair flying everywhere and failing his arms sleepily before finally glaring at nothing in particular and mumbled "Who dares to disturb my slumber?"
"I dare." Sami smiled down at her brother. "So you still wake up that way, how cute."
"I'm not cute." Sanji mumbled, his words contrasting deeply with the action of rubbing the sleep from his eyes before glaring half-heartedly up at his sister… and realising she wasn't alone. He was met with three other shit-eating grins that came from the swordsman, the navigator and the archaeologist (through hers wasn't as shit-eating as the others). Sanji felt his ears heat up, like the other times whenever he was embarrassed and began speaking Sanji language. Well, that's what they referred it to whenever the cook was so flustered, he couldn't speak properly and no one understood him. Not even Luffy or Brook did and they were masters in the gibberish language, so that's saying something.
"Trying to speak three languages at once hasn't changed either too." Sami grinned at Sanji, as she reached out a hand to him, which he reluctantly accepted and was pulled up to his feet.
"Wait, so the nonsense that he was speaking was just a mix of three different languages?" Zoro asked, still doing nothing to hide his amusement of the cook's actions.
Before Sanji could answer, Sami already spoke. "Yes, Sanji can speak three different languages, so whenever he's upset or flustered he can't decide which language he should curse out in so he gets mixed up and begins muttering gibberish."
"What about the 'holy shitake mushrooms'? And 'who dares to disturb my slumber'?" Nami asked, mirth in her eyes. Again Sami answered before Sanji.
"It's what he does every single time he's startled awake." Sami replied, much to a disgruntled cook's annoyance. "Sometimes it changes to 'what the fudge cakes?!' too, depending the mood he's in."
"Seriously? That's priceless." Zoro laughed, ignoring the death stare being drilled into his head, as he continued to chuckle.
"I'm right here, you know." Sanji grumbled, trying to control his bed hair before looking over at Sami with a betrayed look on his face. "Why would you tell them that, Sami?"
"I think those traits of yours are cute." Sami shrugged and grinned again. "And I'm pretty sure Zoro agrees as well."
Sanji choked and blushed furiously, much to the amusement of the other three present in the room.
"Yes, those traits of yours are very cute, Cook." Zoro snickered before noticing something else that made him grin even more. "Like a cute baby animal, even your tails are puffing out. Your ears are flat too."
Sanji made an embarrassed, totally-not-a-squeak-like noise, before patting down his tails and willed his ears to stand upright again. As he finally got his furry body parts under control, he glared at Zoro and flipped him off, with Zoro returning the gesture.
"Ok, break it up." Sami came in between the glaring competition. "You kitties haven't had your saucer of milk yet, so don't start fighting so early in the morning."
"Sanji-kun? Can you go make breakfast before our idiot of a captain starts whining?" Nami asked nicely, trying to stop grinning and failing miserably. "And I am also curious about your past life, would you mind if you were asked a few questions?"
"I'm would like to ask some questions too, if that's alright." Robin inquired, having more success than Nami in suppressing her grin.
"Hai, it's perfectly fine for my beautiful angels to ask if they're curious." Sanji smiled goofily at them both before giving the swordsman one last glare and began descending towards the kitchen.
When the usual aroma of Sanji's cooking woke the other crew members they immediately rushed in and marvelled at Sanji's tails and ears before they began shovelling as much food as they can before their black hole of a captain eats it all. As the last of the food was finished, Sanji began cleaning up with the help of Sami. It seemed pretty much like any other day except his sister was there and the whole had decided to stay and ask questions to know more about their cook and newest crewmate.
"Where did you live before? What was it like?"
"Do you look any different from then and now?"
"Did you have any other siblings? What were their names?"
"How was your past life? Were you happy?"
"Can you show us some more of you powers?"
"Can you tell us stories from your past life?"
"Are you any different from your past self?"
"Sami! Show us some more of those cool dance moves!"
"Woah there, slow down. First, let me change into something more comfortable." Sami laughed as Sanji grinned and the crew gave confused glances at each other. Suddenly Sami was covered in a wall of blue flames, much like how Sanji was the night before and when the wall cleared Sami also had tails and ears that were identical to Sanji's, only hers seemed a bit more silver than gold.
"Much better." Sami sighed, while she patted imaginary dust off herself and checked her tails and ears.
"SO COOL!" Luffy shouted with stars in his eyes.
"You feel more comfortable in your fox hybrid form?" Nami asked, ignoring Luffy.
"Yes, it heightens our senses and our awareness, so we feel better this way." Sanji replied this time. "After comparing our human senses with our fox ones, we realised being in our fox form doesn't feel as 'dull' or 'slow'."
Nami nodded, satisfied with the answer before Brook decided to ask next. "What was the world that you lived in, like?"
"Well, it was very different from this world that's for sure." Sami began. "For one, when Sanji and I were born, pirates were long gone and the technology was more advanced. The also wasn't such thing as devil fruits and instead of five seas there were seven. There weren't as many islands but more like continents made up of a group of different countries."
"Oh?" Robin raised her eyebrow, the mention of technology catching the attention of Usopp and Franky as well.
"Also there wasn't only one government but several different and small ones in different countries, each one following their own set of rules and laws." Sanji continued. "Most laws were written down by the higher ups and they would let the people vote for which one they think is best. All the leaders were voted by the people in most countries, anyone could do it if they want to and if they received the right education for it. That's a way of explaining how it works. There's actually a lot more to it but that's a basic outline."
"That's seems like a very interesting system to follow." Robin mentioned filing away the information in her head. "But it seems like it works."
"It does, though there are still countries that are at war, the world is mostly peaceful." Sanji replied. "The technology is incredible too, and it's in a complete different way of this's world's current way of technology. Without Devil Fruit powers, the humans in that world came up with different theories to explain how certain things work and created inventions that would make absolutely no sense here. Some inventions were phones, T.V.s, computers, planes, cars and more that were everyday occurrences. Some more advanced were rockets, satellites and more."
"What do these inventions do?" Franky asked.
As the crew continued asking questions Sanji went back to washing the dishes while his sister continued explaining. He smiled as he saw the passion that fired up in Nami's eyes when she heard that someone had already accomplished making a map of the world, as Robin asked about the history and learning about some very interesting things about medieval torture methods (much to the other crew members' horror), as Franky and Usopp questioned as much as they could about the inventions (no doubt to try and recreate them later), as Brook asked about the music culture, as Luffy asked about irrelevant things that annoyed everyone but Sami, as Chopper asked wide-eyed about the advancement in medical achievements and finally with the swordsman having a spark of interest in his eye when Sami mentioned different fighting methods and making her promise to show him them later.
"Sanji, can tell us what you were like in you past life?" Chopper asked, when he was finally satisfied with the information he gained from Sami.
"He's not that different to how his is now, as in, he's still a little shit." Sami teased, poking Sanji in the side.
"Hey, that's harsh, Sis. You hear that? That was the sound of my heart shattering at how cruel you can be." Sanji gave an over exaggeration of placing his hand over his heart and giving a pained and hurt expression.
"WAH! SANJI, IS YOUR CHEST IN PAIN?! DOCTOR! Oh wait that's me." Chopper panicked, taking a few minutes of calming down from both twins, telling him it was just a joke.
"Its fine Chopper, Sanji was just being sarcastic." Sami glared lightly over at her brother. "And they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."
"Then they've obviously never met me." Sanji replied.
"…did you just…?"
"Made a Skulduggery Pleasant reference?" Sanji asked a rhetorical question. "Yes, yes I did. And you were the one who subconsciously allowed me to do it."
"…Its times like these that make me wonder what I did to deserve such a brother."
"Aw, that's so sweet of you."
"Sarcasm takes up like 80% of your personality."
"Who, me?" Sanji pointed to himself, with a surprised look. "Me? Sarcastic? Never."
"…I really hate you sometimes."
"Love you too."
Luffy suddenly burst out laughing at the strange verbal argument that the twins were having. He's never seen Sanji argue with any female in any way, so it was amusing to the captain to see the silly sibling play fight between his cook and dancer, reminding him of the times of when Ace and he argued too. His laughing was an invitation for the rest of the crew's amused smiles to grow wider, some even beginning to chuckle and laugh as well. They've never seen this side of the cook before, while it seemed strange at first, it gradually became funnier and it seemed like verbal arguments were a normal occurrence between the two blondes. Brook was the first to break out of the laughing session before looking over at Sami.
"Sami-san? Do you mind telling us what 'Skulduggery Pleasant' is?"
"Skulduggery Pleasant is a fiction book series by the fantastic, one and only Derek Landy. Both of us enjoyed reading it our past life." Sami replied. "Come to think of it, one of the main characters was a talking skeleton… wonder what it would be like if you two ever met."
"Oh, good god no." Sanji groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I do not want to be there if those two ever have a conversation. I can imagine those two just having a conversation on terrorizing people over a cup of tea."
"Well, I for one, cannot decide if it would absolutely amazing to have those two in a conversation or if would spell certain doom on humanity with the sarcastic humor and stupid puns that would sure to commence. Not to mention both a capable of being a mass murderer." Sami concluded, putting her hand on her chin as if in thought. Brook didn't know whether to be amused or slightly insulted. Instead he decided to ask his daily question to every young women he met.
"Sami-san? May I see your panties?"
"Huh?" Sami blinked. "Where did that come from? And to answer your question; I'm sorry but I must decline. But thank you for asking politely."
"No, thank you for being polite with me."
"EH?! HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?!" the crew shouted at Sami. Sami blinked again.
"…Well he was being polite about it, which counts a lot in my book." Sami replied. "Besides I'm not that bothered about underwear, it's not that different from bikinis. The only difference between the two, to me, is that with bikinis; girls have given their consent for everyone to see, while with underwear they did not."
"…" The crew just stared. You have a very amazing sister, Sanji.
Suddenly Nami began to assess what Sami was wearing, and she noticed with slight horrification at the state of Sami's clothing. Sami herself was clean and seemed fit but her clothing was a different matter. She was covered with a cloak, so Nami didn't notice at first, but Sami's clothes were old and worn, with holes here and there with stains that looked like they were never going to come out.
"Sami! How could you wear clothing like that?!" Nami cried out in despair, mentally going over her wardrobe, seeing if anything would fit the dancer. None, Nami deflated, Sami was too tall to fit in her clothing and too short for Robin's, not to mention Sami was on the flat-chested side and the clothes would not fit her frame properly.
"We're going shopping!" Nami declared, dragging a very confused Sami behind her to go and get her wallet. Robin followed after them, laughing softly to herself and prepared for a shopping trip.
"Wait, if I'm going out I refuse to wear anything like this. Why do you think I wear the damn cloak all the time?" Sami skidded to a stop, before turning over to Sanji. "San-chan, sweetie, do you mind if I borrow one of your old shirts, some pants and a belt?"
"I told you not to call me that." Sanji grumbled, ticked off when he heard the snickers the other male crew members made. As he brushed himself off after giving each man a good kick for laughing at him, Sanji waved at Sami. "Sure, go ahead, just make sure you return them and take one of the cotton shirts or a low-quality one. I don't want any wrinkles in my good shirts."
"I was the one who gave you sense of style. Don't worry I won't bring harm to your clothing, I know what I'm doing." Sami smirked back, before waving back to Sanji and walked down to the men's' dorm. Soon after a few minutes Sami came out, and what she wore surprised the crew. She had completely changed clothing that should have been a bit big for her, into a long sleeved button up, with high rise pants and a black belt that fit her perfectly.
"It's useful to have a brother whose body type is the same as yours." Sam winked. "Sanji and I are identical in every way except for gender and mind."
"You need to teach me a few pointers." Nami smiled, admiring at the handiwork of Sami. "But you still need clothing of your own, can't be borrowing Sanji-kun's old shirts all the time. Come one let's go."
The three girls left the ship chatting away and laughing. Soon the other male crew members left to explore the rest of the island, searching out their own interests or finish buying the last of the supplies. The only ones that were left were Sanji, who was finishing of cleaning the kitchen and Zoro, who decided to train. As Sanji finished the last of the dishes he stretched and walked out onto deck to have a smoke, relaxing instantly at watching the waves and the nicotine in his lungs. But because the world hates him he only got a few minutes of peace before something, or someone rudely interrupted his 'me time'.
"So, your sister calls you San-chan." Sanji could literally hear the grin in the bastard's voice. Sanji bit his now burnt out cigarette in half before throwing the remains into the ocean out of annoyance. He turned his head slightly and glared at Zoro.
"Yes, she calls me San-chan and if I hear you or any other male member on this ship call me that I will personally fillet you and serve you on tomorrow's menu." Sanji growled out in warning. Zoro's grin just turned wider before he's gaze turned curious.
"So, do you remember the song?" Sanji paused, staring at Zoro or a bit. He was surprised he remembered, Sanji felt a weird tug at his heart but he ignored it.
"Yes, I do." Sanji replied, turning back to face the sea. "The song I played on the piano was 'River Flows in You' by Yiruma, now that I have my memories back I remember even more."
"Not that one, the one that was sung by the girl, Dartboard." Zoro stared at the cook like he was an idiot. "The one that was sung by your sister."
"The song that Sami would always tried to sing to me every time in my sleep was 'Lavender's Blue'. It was a nursery rhyme but to Sami and I it was comfort song and a lullaby. It was the only thing left of our biological parents. It's funny how I don't even remember them one little bit but I still have a yearning for them and hearing the nursery rhyme they sing to me would instantly calm me down."
"Well it can't be helped. Even if your mind's forgotten, your heart hasn't." Zoro replied joining Sanji at the railing.
"That just sounded really cheesy, kelp head." Sanji teased, smirking over at the swordsman. "Don't go spouting poetry and positive shit on me."
"Don't make me regret being nice to you." Zoro muttered and instantly regretted the words the moment they came out. Sanji looked over with an amused look on his face.
"Oh? Were you trying to be nice to me?" Sanji purred out, bringing up one of his tails and stroking Zoro's jawline and closing the distance that was between him and the swordsman. To Sanji's great satisfaction he began to see the slight flush that was starting to rise from Zoro's neck. "Careful there marimo, giving out statements like that would make me think you might have a crush on me."
"In your dreams, Cook." Zoro scoffed, mentally patting himself on the back when his voice came out smoothly. Zoro honestly did not know about his feelings for the cook. On one hand, the cook was easily one of the most annoying and infuriating people he's ever met. He constantly calls Zoro names and insults him, always with that damn smirk. He's an idiot around women and is like a slave to them and treats them in a way that would definitely earn a punch to the face by Kuina.
But then Zoro also had his fair share of annoying the cook as well, calling him names and starting half of the fights they have. The way he treats women was only the cook following his own code of honour. The cook himself had told him that he didn't care if looked like an idiot to women if it made them happy, a view that he followed wholeheartedly and never discouraged from it impressed the swordsman. Sanji was also one of the most good looking men he's ever met, even with the weird eyebrow and slightly feminine 'pretty boy' look, Sanji gives off an aura that is completely masculine and confident, also something not many are capable of, Sanji looks completely comfortable in his own skin. While with others they would find every flaw and find them ugly, Sanji seems to carry all his flaws and everything about him with his head held high and his back straight. His smirk isn't that annoying either… Wait.
Zoro froze in mid-thought, his body going slightly rigid when he realised what he was thinking.
"Zoro?" Sanji looked over at the tense swordsman.
Zoro didn't answer. All he was registering was how the sun reflected off Sanji's hair, how his blue-grey eye resembled a storm at sea, showing all emotions that Zoro had trained himself not to show. He remembered all the times Sanji smiled genuinely, the times he saved the crew, his cooking, the fights and finally the annoying smirk. All he was registering was the cook.
He was on the verge of falling for the cook.
Well, shit.
All I have to say is
YOU NEED TO READ SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT! ...sorry, but really to those who have read it, you're fabulous and to those who haven't. I have just introduced you to something amazing, whether you want to read it or not is up to you but if you don't read it *shakes head* you're missing out on a lot.
Please R&R!
-Kagu-chan