Chapter 14
Prospects
"Sanji, that apricot pie was really delicious," Lily sighed dreamily, "Do you think you'll be able to make it again before the end of the season?"
"Of course!" The blond immediately twirled beside her. "I can also make jams for the winter!"
"Tori still needs to have some more," Liam pointed out, amused. "His orchards are beginning to be empty."
"If there's not enough left, I'll use the last ones to make a pie just for you, sweet Lily!" The young woman offered him a beautiful smile in return and the cook whirled round on the path, transcended. The three friends were going down to the village after giving the harvesters their packed lunches that morning. Around them, the sun of the first rays of autumn was beginning to yellow the leaves of the trees and the wind was still blowing warmly after having flown over the sea. The sea air perfumed the atmosphere at all times, to the delight of the inhabitants.
"What have you got planned for dinner?" Lily asked him then, rummaging through her bag to check her bait.
"I'd like to make roast tuna with mixed vegetables but plaice or mackerel will also go very well!" Sanji replied emphatically.
"It shouldn't be too complicated; I'll go to the southern tip just below the village."
"I can come and help you, sweet Lily!" The blond immediately offered.
"That's very nice but I know you're dying to hear from your crewmates," She reminded him with a smile. "Instead, go see if they tried to call and then you'll be entitled to rest."
"You're too generous with me!"
The dark-haired woman waved at them when they arrived at a crossroads and as she headed towards the sea, Liam and Sanji took another small path towards the young man's house.
Arriving in the workshop of the scientist, the cook immediately went to the Den-Den Mushi to check if he had recorded a message. Liam had indeed developed a very convenient answering machine system which allowed the crew to leave some information when they managed to pick up enough sound waves. This prevented the blond from wanting to stay for hours waiting for his friends to call. Unfortunately, at this moment, the Den-Den Mushi was sleeping soundly: the Sunny hadn't managed to reach them.
"The last data they sent me is from Drosdyn's door. It's the penultimate on their route, it's very far away," The dark-haired man reminded him kindly, seeing his disappointment.
"How long before they reach the next one?" The cook asked, turning to him.
"About twenty days, I think. But this is only theoretical because I've never taken into account the weather of each island. When I discovered the doors, I just wrote down the coordinates on my map."
"They should be there soon," Sanji noticed after doing a quick calculation in his head.
"Yes, and I've made quite a bit of progress thanks to their work. I have a better understanding of how data transmission works and I look forward to hearing their own observations," The dark-haired man agreed, putting away the last sheets the straw hat crew members had transmitted to him.
"Do you think it'll go to the East Blue this time?" The blond asked him as he took a cigarette out of his pack.
"Not completely," The scientist answered honestly, "This trip was a way to collect data to better understand how the doors work. Then, we'll need to move to the invention stage in order to use this new knowledge to our advantage. It'll certainly be necessary to build some sort of superpowered transmitter."
"I see."
The cook turned to the open window to light his cigarette and behind him, Liam sighed, embarrassed. "Sorry, I did my best but it's not quick…" Sanji shook his head as he blew out his smoke. "I know, don't worry. I was just thinking about the old man. It's gonna feel strange to see him again…"
Curious, the dark-haired man approached the window in turn. "Zeff, right?"
"Yeah. Red Foot Zeff."
"Red Foot?" His friend wondered.
"His pirate name," The chef approved with a smile. "At the time, he was known to fight only with his feet."
"Did a pirate teach you how to cook?"
The blond smirked as he dragged on his cigarette butt again. "He gave me the basics and his techniques with a good dose of discipline. I already had the will."
"And the talent, obviously," Liam laughed.
Yet Sanji shook his head. "Cooking is a matter of work. To learn about food, you need to use it again and again, until it has no secrets for you. Then, all you need to do is pay close attention to people to know how to prepare it."
"Pay close attention to people?" The dark-haired man repeated, intrigued.
Sanji nodded this time, his cigarette butt in his mouth. "Everyone has their favorite dishes, whether it's linked to personal tastes or to a flavor that brings back a memory. Cooking is about emotion and for people to appreciate my dishes, I need to remind them of this emotion."
"I had never considered cooking that way," Liam admitted, "I thought that… eating was a human need, that's all."
"That's the basics, that's for sure. But the old man and I know it's more than that. Eating is an indispensable condition for living and for me, knowing that I participate in perpetuating this life is a gift." The scientist stared at him for a moment and Sanji tapped his ash into the ashtray. "Cooking makes me happy because the people who taste my food are happy. It's as simple as that."
"It's a very noble goal."
The blond had a little smirk as he stubbed out his burnt cigarette. "Not everybody thinks like that." The scientist raised an eyebrow and the cook shook his head. "Let's just say that… my family never liked that character trait in me."
"Really?"
"They had other plans but unfortunately for them, nothing ever goes as planned, don't you think?" He pointed out, moving towards the Den-Den Mushi to end the conversation. "Can I try to contact the Sunny?" He asked him then.
"Yes, of course. We never know," Liam agreed.
Sanji quickly dialed his crew's number and hoped luck would be on his side as he patted the desk to help him wait. It had been nearly three weeks since he had had anyone on the other side of the Den-Den Mushi and despite the unshakeable faith he had in his friends, reassuring news wouldn't displease him. Here, he was cut off from everything. He had no way of knowing if the Marines were planning a dragnet or if the Warlords were moving. Anyway, he wasn't sure it would have changed anything…
A minute passed and no dial tone was heard so he hung up before resuming dialing the number. Sometimes a first connection took longer to create.
"Help!"
Sanji turned his head towards the window along with Liam. However, he had barely put the Den-Den Mushi back on the desk to rush out when the scientist was already walking through the door in the direction of the distressed voice. Lily's.
"Release her immediately!" Liam's eyes were blazing and he didn't seem impressed by the thirty or so pirates snickering in front of him on the beach. Behind him, part of the harvesters had gathered, alerted by the shouts, and although they tried to look threatening too, the faces were strained. Between the two, Sanji was dragging on his cigarette diligently.
The ship in poor condition a few meters from the shore testified to the disregard its owners had for their living conditions and their own appearance: they were all frumpy and unshaven. Even though they arrived here without even understanding how, they weren't interested in finding out. Their geographical position also mattered very little to them and their only concern was obviously to terrify people in hopes of making a name for themselves. They demanded that the inhabitants bring them all the treasures of the island without even realizing that, given their location on this mysterious ocean, they would neither gain a reputation nor leave with the slightest wealth since there wasn't any.
Sanji sighed at such stupidity. He hated rude, stupid men who only used the title of pirate to terrorize others. "You heard the young man, you better let her go," He added in turn.
"Or what, waiter boy? You gonna throw your trays at us?" The fat man who was holding Lily by the arm scoffed.
The blond rolled his eyes. These fools never learned. They were always convinced they were the strongest in view of their numbers and they always underestimated him because of his outfit. "If you think I'm gonna waste food on a baboon's face like yours," He grumbled then.
"That's enough, release her or you'll regret it!" The scientist exclaimed again, his breath short with anger.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." In a flash, the cook leaped towards the group that remained frozen in front of his speed. He whirled in the air and easily made a place for himself by knocking out a dozen men through the multitude of kicks he gave.
"Deuxième Hachis Hash! Flanchet Shoot!" His right foot landed precisely in the stomach of his main opponent with his last attack and the man let go of his prisoner's arm in shock. Immediately, Sanji pulled Lily behind him, blocking with his body the rest of the pirates who were rushing towards them. He then raised his right leg powerfully forward to stop them in their tracks. "Gentlemen, mind your manners. The young lady will first move away."
"Fuck you, you motherfucker!" A man spat, pulling a gun out of his pocket. "You're gonna pay!"
"He told you to wait!" Liam's fist smashed into the rude man's jaw, which fell backwards onto the sand, and Lily took the opportunity to join the harvesters who had quietly approached.
Sanji then cast an amused glance at the scientist who was glaring at the pirates beside him. "Not bad."
"What do you think? That we're completely harmless on All Blue?" The young man replied, smirking.
Sanji inhaled one last time on his cigarette butt before getting rid of it while nodding. "Very well. Let's send them back where they came from."
"Gladly."
The fight had only lasted a few moments. The cook of the straw hat crew had gotten rid of most of their enemies in one kick while the dark-haired man had also managed to send his attackers back to their decrepit ship. Finally realizing that they had engaged against adversaries stronger than they had believed, the pirates hadn't stayed longer and they had set sails at random, always ignorant of the particularity of the sea. Neither Sanji nor Liam had tried to hold them back.
Once their enemies had disappeared on the horizon, the blond had insisted that Lily come home to rest at least a little before resuming her fishing, but it had taken the intervention of the scientist for her to agree to return with the harvesters. The two young men had then returned to Liam's workshop. The scientist had indeed a painful right hand after his fight and for his part, Sanji intended to try his luck again to contact his friends.
Along the way, they were silent but Sanji suddenly spoke up. "Lily and you, are you…?" Liam stared at him, frowning, and Sanji gave him a suggestive look. The dark-haired man then shook his head, a smile on his face. "No. She's like a real sister to me."
"Really?" The cook wondered, suspicious.
"Really. She's the first to have opened her door to me when I arrived on All Blue. She understood my passion for acoustics and even offered to stay with her when I wanted to settle down. When I think of all the attacks they've already suffered back then, I don't know why she trusted me right away."
"Isn't that a reason to fall in love?" The blond sighed dreamily. "She's nothing less than beautiful and so brave…"
"Isn't she?" Liam laughed.
"Beautiful, generous and smart! What more could you ask for?" His friend insisted.
Faced with his stubbornness, Liam shrugged slightly. "You of all people should know that's not everything."
"How come?"
The scientist looked back at the cook and laughed in front of his confusion as they continued down the dirt road. "Well… I admit that your discourse towards women is unambiguous but regarding your current preferences, it seems that you chose someone who doesn't possess the attributes of femininity."
Finally understanding his speech, Sanji cast a surprised glance at the dark-haired man who continued his walk quietly. Shrugging in turn, he then took the time to light a new cigarette before shaking his head. "If you're talking about the mosshead, I see what you mean", He got annoyed, "Not a shred of tactfulness or finesse. Boorish manners and scary appearance. No generous shape and no praise whatsoever!"
"But?" Liam sneered.
Sanji sighed heavily, looking defeated. "But he's got a certain charm, I'll give him that. Some kind of… tenderness too sometimes. And intensity. A lot of intensity."
"That's what I understood," The scientist approved, remembering their multiple fights he had witnessed.
"Yeah… It's complicated," The cook conceded, dragging on his cigarette.
"It's not," His friend corrected him in a calm tone.
Sanji looked at him questioningly again. "Ah? Well, I'm used to no one understanding anything. And the same goes for me at a time," He mumbled then.
"One brings to the other what he needs, that's all. I don't see what's complicated."
The blond scowled slightly at those words. "Maybe but I don't get why it had to be that mosshead…"
"Who knows," The dark-haired man replied with a smile as they crossed the fence of the small garden of his house. They entered the house and Sanji checked that no messages were waiting for him with a quick glance while Liam placed the headset around his neck on the desk before heading to his freezer to apply ice to his hand.
The cook gave him a furtive look when he saw him apply cream afterwards. He had never had the opportunity to really talk to anyone about this aspect of his personality and apart from Zoro who gave it little importance, he didn't even know anyone else in his situation. Curious, he spoke again. "How long have you known?"
The scientist looked up from his care, confused, before understanding his question and shaking his head. "I think I always knew."
"How did your family take it? Did you tell them?"
Liam grabbed a bandage. "I don't think they took me seriously; I was a teenager. And then I never brought a boyfriend home and I ended up leaving so…"
"You had quite the bold attitude," The cook commented.
The dark-haired man shrugged. "I was already the weirdo of the family since I spent my time with my head in acoustic books instead of playing rides like the others."
"I see. You're kind of a rebel then."
"No. More the type to want to understand everything all the time, even when it concerns me actually. I wanted to test my parents' reaction rather than really confide in them. Maybe that's why they didn't believe me," He realized.
"You were a really weird kid," Sanji approved mockingly.
"So what? Everyone has their own quirks, Mr. Cooking Addict," Liam replied in the same tone. "What about you? How was it?" He asked then, getting serious again.
Sanji shook his head as he watched the scientist put the cap back on his tube of cream before washing his hands. "No one knows apart from the crew. It's still… new."
Liam gave him a puzzled look over his shoulder as he continued to rinse off. "Oh. Did you find out with him?"
"Yeah… And to be completely honest, until recently, I'd never have even believed that it was possible," The blond sighed.
The scientist then came back to him, a towel in his hand and a smile on his face. "Well, he must be really special then."
"He is," The cook agreed thoughtfully. "In every sense of the word…"
"I hope to find someone like that too," The dark-haired man said, this time examining his headset to see if it hadn't suffered. "Someone special who'll make me see things in totally unexpected ways."
At these words, Sanji couldn't help but sneer. "I hope you do but brace yourself just in case. Depending on who you run into, it might not be relaxing."
Liam put his headset down and nodded firmly, smiling. "I'm ready!"
At this moment, the Den-Den Mushi crackled and Sanji thought it was going to start ringing but the connection was probably bad because the answering machine engaged automatically.
"Liam? Sanji-kun? I don't know if you can hear me but we're passing through the last door. We'll be here in a few days."
The communication cut off and the voice of the navigator disappeared in turn. Sanji then felt his heart pounding, suddenly realizing that he had never loved Nami so much as he did now. Which was saying something.
It doesn't seem like it but there's a lot of information in this chapter!
That of next week is just pure happiness and I even have a little surprise for you…
You can try and guess!