A/N: Finally Sanji content!

Disclaimer: I don't own this.


Soon the climate changed.

As Harley, still restless, paced the starboard railing and tried to come up with someone she could offer to help who wouldn't just send her downstairs to sit with Vivi and Nami, there came a distinct bite in the air. The chill heralded the slow purpling of the sky overhead, and when the wind off the ocean had turned frigid, pushing Harley to circle the center of the main deck, snow started to flake down from the clouds.

Harley stopped to squint upward at the clouds and the little flecks of white. She'd only seen snow two times before—she held her hand out, bandaged palm up, to watch snowflakes collect. They melted seconds after they landed. A smile spread across Harley's face and she glanced around at the rest of the deck to see if any was gathering yet.

It took a few more minutes, but wet and mushy snow started to collect on the deck. Harley slapped her entire palm into some snow and all it did was drench her bandages and send a shock of cold through her arm. I should probably find something warmer, she thought as she glanced down at her miniskirt. She trotted downstairs to see if there was anything she could borrow.

She had to find multiple Strawhats to cobble a decent outfit together, as she refused to just wear shorts or a micromini with tights. When she had enough clothing, she visited the bathroom to change into a white long-sleeved button-down from Sanji, slightly too big overalls from Usopp, and a sherpa-lined denim jacket from Nami. She yanked a cream-colored beanie from Nami over her ears, shoved her belongings into her backpack in the storage room, and headed out to resume messing around with any available snow.

Harley was trying to smash handfuls of snow together when she heard Luffy and Usopp, both on the forecastle deck, talking to Zoro, who'd been assigned the job of lookout in the crow's nest. She glanced up curiously. "What's…that?" she heard Zoro say, audibly puzzled.

Both Luffy and Usopp turned around. Harley flung her snow aside and trotted up the steps to the forecastle deck to join the pair. They were staring out at the ocean, wide-eyed, and she followed their gazes— What in the hell?!

There was a big man standing on the ocean facing them, and with that jingly green-and-purple ensemble he resembled some strange jester from a fairytale. He sure didn't look amused or entertaining, though. His round, white face was drawn and tired.

"Hello!" the man called. "Sure is chilly today."

Usopp, Luffy, and Harley all sneezed. "Yeah," agreed Luffy with a pout as Harley wiped her nose on the wet bandage around her right hand, for lack of any other options. "It is chilly today."

"Definitely," agreed Usopp. "It's very chilly. In fact I would even say that it's freezing."

"Really?" said the jester.

He sounded so skeptical that Luffy, Usopp, and Harley were startled. The jester jumped in response and Harley furrowed her eyebrows. Wait a second. "Doesn't it have to be freezing for it to snow?" she called to the man.

"I don't know," said the man.

"Do you not—?" Harley started, intending to ask if he lived out here—but before she could finish the question, the ship started to creak. Then it started to sway. Both Harley and Luffy launched themselves at the railing to grasp onto it, and Harley stared as the seawater below started to run in unusual directions—

An enormous metallic ball burst upward, making the ship buck and roll. "What is that thing?" shouted Luffy, one hand holding his hat down. "A watermelon?!"

Harley opened her mouth to guess, but she was distracted when the metal shutters that comprised the ball lowered. At the same time a hippopotamus figurehead ticked upward, and at last a fluttering pirate flag was raised high above what was revealed to be a lacquered ship.

"Oh, crap!" yelped Usopp from where he'd been sent tumbling across the deck. "It's a pirate ship!"

"It's huge!" yelled Luffy.

"And what the hell is in the middle?" Harley added, pointing at a huge garbage can in the middle of the main deck. It was surrounded with men in long dark green coats.

The garbage can opened its brim to give one of the most aggravating laughs Harley had ever heard. "Don't tell me our underwater raid ship the Tin Tyrant surprised you!"

He cackled again—and as the Strawhat ship continued to rock roughly, metal ladders were shot from Garbage Can's ship to the Strawhats'. Harley scrambled up from the railing and slapped one wet palm to her thigh before remembering all her remaining knives were in the overall pocket or the shoulder holster beneath her jacket, but she didn't have a chance to correct herself—men in green flooded the deck, their boots thudding against the hardwood.

A few men circled Harley and cocked rifles at her. She gritted her teeth and lifted her hands in surrender. Where's everyone else?

She found Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro surrounded, too. The door to the storage room slammed open, making Harley jump, and she saw Sanji skid to a stop on the main deck. Men in green rounded on him with their rifles raised, and Garbage Can hopped onto the railing near Sanji, clutching a sword with meat speared on the blade.

Sanji, his narrow shoulders relaxed and his stance confident, fished a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He withdrew one and lit it. "So," he said. He took a drag and released a breath of gray smoke that swirled together with the flurried air as he returned the pack to his pocket. How can he go from so hot to so…Sanji? "What's going on?"

"Well, we're under attack," said Luffy. He was watching Garbage Can chow down on that meat. "And it's still snowing."

"The guns pointing in my face kind of gave that first one away," returned Sanji. He breathed out more smoke and asked, "What next?"

Harley studied Garbage Can. Her instinct was to try and flirt at him, but she couldn't even fake it for this freak. I guess we're all fighting, then? Harley thought, and she glanced at the men surrounding her, not even listening to the conversation continuing between Luffy, Usopp, and Garbage Can.

She caught one of the men checking her out. Good, a mark. "Hey, handsome," Harley said to the green-coated man, and he looked up at her, startled. She gave him a sultry wink. "Need any women on your crew?"

"Aren't you a part of this crew?" asked a different man, bewildered.

"Sure," said the first one at the same time.

There was a horrific crack, and most of the Strawhats on deck shrieked—a couple more of the men around her looked away, distracted, and Harley took the opening. She wrestled the rifle away from the closest man and whirled around him to use him as a human shield as she heard the entire ship descend into chaos.

As the bandages on Harley's palms turned slick with ink, she moved from shoving men into each other and clocking them in the heads with the butt end of the rifle to tripping a few overboard—she almost lost her grip on the rifle when there was too much ink dribbling from her hands, her heart pounding, and she managed to grasp it again just in time to crack it into the last man's forehead.

She released a breath when she realized there were no more men to fight. Harley straightened, looking at the green-coated men sprawled on the forecastle deck around her, and checked on the Strawhats. She snorted when she saw how quickly each of them had absolutely decimated these dudes. Pathetic

Luffy burst from nowhere to slam Garbage Can into the powdery sky. Harley, startled, squinted upward and tried to follow his arc, but he just twirled out of sight and into oblivion. She was almost tempted to laugh.

As Luffy thudded to the deck, the conscious men scurried into action, gathering their injured companions and sprinting back up those ladders to their own ship. Harley automatically started to tug at the inky bandages on her hands and leaned over the nearest railing to toss them overboard—beside her she saw the Strawhats and Vivi, who must've come up to see what the commotion was, jog up to the forecastle deck to watch the men flee.

Harley kept her bare hands over the railing, pointed at the snow-speckled ocean, and studied the unusual hippo ship as it rowed away. All the men were screaming, and in a couple of minutes the ship had disappeared entirely. What in the fuck was that about? Harley wondered, and she glanced down to check on her hands. The ink had stopped welling in her palms—probably because her heartbeat had already gone back down; that really had not been much of a fight—and she swung her sling bag around to dig out more bandages and a couple of clips.

Harley used her teeth to help herself wrap her palms again and turned toward Vivi and the Strawhats, all nonplussed or confused. "Uh, wow," observed Usopp. "Crazy. Those guys were really upset! What were they calling that old garbage can? Wapol?"

"Who cares what his name was?" said Sanji dismissively. He was still working on the same cigarette—Harley hoped, because from what she'd seen the dude already went through at least half a pack a day—and he withdrew it from his mouth to hold it between two fingers as he continued, "Don't worry about it. The guy's obviously a moron. It's probably best just to forget about him."

Harley closed the two clips around her bandages. In her peripheral vision she saw Vivi's pale blue ponytail turn toward her, and she found Vivi rubbing her chin in thought. "Did you recognize him, Harley?"

"Nope," said Harley. At Vivi's frown, she qualified, "I'm pretty sure I'd remember meeting a talking garbage can." She couldn't resist adding, "And my exes don't count."

Vivi rolled her eyes.

"Why're you asking?" Usopp asked Vivi. "Did you recognize him?"

"I think so, but I can't remember from where."

The forecastle deck lapsed into quiet as they all looked after the vanished ship. Abruptly Usopp screamed. "I forgot! The Merry!" He whirled and ran down to the main deck, and most of them followed.

As it turned out the crack from earlier had been from Garbage Can taking a big bite out of the ship. Harley helped Usopp start to repair the ship until dinner, and after dinner, the Strawhats scattered and Vivi resumed watching over Nami. Harley took a break from sanding wood with Usopp to glom enough snow together to fling it at Luffy, and as the entire ship descended into a snow fight, the sun set over the ocean.

After they'd dropped anchor, one by one the Strawhats broke off and wandered downstairs to check on Nami, and since no one came back up, Harley assumed they were sleeping down there. When the near-full moon was up and luminous overhead in a much clearer sky, Harley paused in her resumed wandering of the decks. She glanced around at the hardwood, lightened by the moonlight, and considered. It was unbelievably cold out here and she was kind of tired, but—it seemed awkward to go downstairs and join everyone. She didn't want to join all the Strawhats as they watched over their sick friend, all of whom Harley had met only a few days prior.

The door to the storage room swung open while Harley deliberated. Sanji emerged, having added a pale blue scarf to his usual slim suit, a matching blanket slung over one shoulder, and he had a fresh cigarette in one hand. "Oh, hi!" he chirped at Harley. She waved. "Do you want anything?"

"No thanks," said Harley. "Is everyone downstairs?"

Sanji nodded. "They all want to keep an eye on Nami." He fiddled with his blanket. "I'm taking watch if you want to head down there."

Harley shook her head without thinking about it and Sanji studied her for a second, that visible eye of his perceptive. "Well," he seemed to decide aloud, "shout if you need anything." He gave Harley a flourishing bow and strolled toward the rope ladder up to the crow's nest.

With nothing else to do, Harley continued pacing, as smoke spiraled up into the glazed midnight sky overhead. The freezing drafts from the ocean somehow grew colder and Harley halted a few times to automatically squint up again, half-searching for constellations. Of course she hadn't been able to recognize any in years. She sighed at one point, her breath coming out in a white puff, and decided to try Sanji. At least sitting with him would be better than trying to join all the other Strawhats or sitting alone in the galley.

Harley returned to the base of the mast. "Hey, Sanji!"

The blond audibly scrambled to poke his head over the side of the crow's nest. "Yes, darling?"

"Can I come up there?"

"Of course!" cried Sanji, and he answered so fast he almost dropped his cigarette. He managed to flail and catch it before it plunged to the deck. "Come on up!"

Harley gave him a thumbs-up and headed back to visit the bathroom first. On her way out of the storage room, she paused to scrounge up a blanket. With that she strode out into the cold winter air and toward the rope ladder hanging against the mast. It took a minute and a couple of near-misses, but she made it up to the top.

As soon as she reached it, Sanji reappeared to lean over, offering a hand. Harley grasped it and with minimal effort he swung her up into the crow's nest. "Thanks," said Harley as she set her high-tops down.

"No problem!" Sanji more trilled than said.

Harley let go of his hand and glanced around. The sea was outright gorgeous from this angle—it shimmered with starlight, softened by the glow of the moon. Nothing was visible in any direction, and despite the obvious enormous differences in climate, that immense expanse reminded Harley of the desert in Alabasta.

She looked back to find Sanji, who'd already sat against the mast again. "Nice view," she offered.

"Same here," said Sanji, and he flushed. "Uh, I mean—"

Harley could have let him continue to stammer for a few seconds, because it was kind of cute, but she elected to spare him instead. "You're right," she agreed with a toss of her hair. She plunked down to the hardwood floor beside him and pulled her knees up to loosely wrap her arms around them, the blanket around her shoulders staticky. "So since you're on watch, can I talk to you, or would that be too distracting?"

"Not any more distracting than you already are," said Sanji. Harley snorted and Sanji cleared his throat. "What's, uh, on your mind, dearest?"

From what she'd seen on Little Garden, Sanji seemed to calm down a few minutes into any given conversation. Harley asked him, "When did you join the Strawhats?"

"Not too long ago."

"How'd it happen?"

"Luffy," said Sanji, his face already returning to a pink Harley guessed was from the cold, "in an incredibly Luffy move, decided after he visited the restaurant where I was working that I was going to join." He withdrew his cigarette to exhale smoke away from Harley. "Turned out he was right."

Harley thought about Luffy. "He doesn't seem like the type to take no for an answer."

"Oh, he will," countered Sanji. He took another drag of the cigarette and continued, "He'll complain about it, though." Harley snickered and Sanji glanced toward her. "How'd you start working for Princess Vivi?"

"My mother was a lady's maid for the queen. This was always on the books for me."

"Even infiltrating a secret organization led by one of the Seven Warlords?"

Harley gave a startled laugh. "Not that part. At least it's interesting, though."

"Is there anything you'd rather be doing?"

Harley had to think about it. She hadn't thought past Vivi or Baroque Works in—she didn't even know how long. She hadn't been able to focus on anything other than Vivi since she was fifteen. That was a hell of a long time ago, thought Harley. The most she'd been able to do on her own over the past five years had been hanging out with scullery maids or assorted Baroque Works agents from time to time.

It felt ridiculous, and kind of embarrassing, that it was taking this long to answer the question. "I—don't know," Harley admitted, and she tugged at her beanie, pulling it a little further over her ears. "I don't remember having any free time."

"I didn't either," said Sanji, to Harley's surprise. "At least, not until I joined the crew. But I've loved what I've been doing." He glanced over at Harley and nudged her shoulder as if not even thinking about it. "Is there anything you like doing?"

That was a golden opportunity, but Harley forced herself to let it pass. Answer the man like a normal person. If she remained as unflirtatious as possible, Sanji might continue having a normal conversation with her, and he was much more likable without all the theatrics. "Uh, photography. If I had access to a darkroom it'd be cool to mess around with prints, too."

"Would you be a photographer, if you could?"

"Maybe?" said Harley, who had never thought about it. "I don't want to have to take photos for someone else, though. I guess I would freelance if that was an option."

"Nice," said Sanji. He pulled his cigarette away from his mouth to stub it out against the floor of the crow's nest. "When we've reached Alabasta and everything's been taken care of, maybe you could try it."

He seemed to be radiating sincerity, and Harley just looked at him for a second. It could have been because her eyes were tired, but the cut of his jaw and the slightly bumped line of his nose seemed softer in the moonlight, and for a second she felt a swell of endearment. Harley couldn't resist leaning over to give him a quick side-hug, making him jump. "Thanks, Sanji."

Sanji seemed startled—and he couldn't even seem to move as Harley let go and leaned away again. "Uh," he said, his voice an octave higher than usual, "no—no problem!" He laughed nervously.

Harley tried to steer back on track. "What do you want to do?"

Sanji's expression brightened and he was distracted at once. "I'm going to find the All Blue." He turned a little more toward Harley as he explained, "It's a legendary sea where the East Blue, North Blue, South Blue, and West Blue meet. There are varieties of fish there that don't even exist anywhere else." He grinned at her. "It's my dream to go there."

"That sounds fascinating," said Harley, because it genuinely did. "Has anything been written about it?"

Sanji launched into further explanation that was remarkably interesting. Harley prompted him with more questions and at some point the conversation shifted to Alabastan legends, and somewhere between talking and watching the stars, Harley leaned over to rest her head on Sanji's shoulder.

She was half-sure she continued talking to him for at least a few minutes, but before she knew it she'd fallen asleep.