Chapter 43

Protection

"Where are the shallots for the dressing?" Zeff looked around the worktop before frowning and looking up at the other cook who was absently slicing his apricots. Annoyed, he banged his fist against the counter. "Oh, brat! Where are the shallots?!"

A few steps away, Sanji jumped, suddenly coming back to reality. "They…" He cast a quick glance around him in turn, then grimaced at their obvious absence. "Shit!"

"Hurry up and you better concentrate a little harder!" The former pirate barked, throwing his boot at him. "The restaurant's full; I've got no time to lose!"

"I don't twiddle my thumbs, old fart!" The blond replied, pointing to the huge dish of egg cream he had prepared before slicing the apricots.

"So why can't I finish my dressing?" Zeff pointed out dryly, "You hired people, learn how to use them!"

"I already gave them something to do!" Annoyed, Sanji stuck his cigarette butt between his teeth before grabbing some shallots and peeling them in a flash then finely slicing them on a plate.

A minute later, he handed it to the old cook who snatched it. Sanji took his apricots back and watched out their two new recruits on the other side of the kitchen from the corner of his eye.

"Is everything going well with the puff pastry?" He suddenly asked them.

"No problem, chef!"

"What about strawberries?"

"Almost all washed and wiped, chef!"

"Blind bake the pies that I've already prepared then. I want flawless dough with even baking so make sure you cover it to millimeters, okay?"

"Yes, chef!"

Returning his attention to his task, Sanji grabbed a new knife and delicately removed the pits from the apricots before slicing them with a firm and precise gesture. They had just been picked from the All Blue orchards and the first harvests were looking tasty. It had been decided that the desserts of the week would be based on fresh strawberries and apricots then.

Satisfied, the blond placed his fruits in a mold whose dough was still warm. He poured some of his egg cream on top, then sprinkled the apricots with brown sugar. He then successively filled three molds before storing them a little further away to move on to the next ones, not without warning his kitchen boys not to forget to put the previous ones in the oven.

Indeed, the blond had hired two people a few days earlier. In the continuity of his new resolutions, he slowly learned to delegate to expand the influence of his restaurant and welcome more people at each service. Yet his suspicious and perfectionist nature hadn't prevented him from nitpicking about his recruits: speed, efficiency and talent in the dining room and in the kitchen were only essential prerequisites in the eyes of the cook and the list of qualities necessary to satisfy him was almost infinite. That's why despite the growing notoriety and appeal of All Blue, Sanji had had a hard time deciding and he had spent several days testing all the candidates in the kitchen as well as in the dining room.

Zeff hadn't commented on his method of selection. Being himself adamant about cooking, he didn't disapprove of this way of doing things. He had only demanded to be present regarding the evaluation of female candidates because he knew that the blond would be unable to be objective with women. In the end, two young men from islands near Vorgo had been selected and despite Sanji's disappointment at not having pretty young women on his team, it was better when it came to barking his orders bluntly. Indeed, he would never have dared to raise his voice in their presence…

Yet despite his drastic standards, the young cook was still not entirely confident in the abilities of his helpers. He regularly checked their work and for the moment, their presence didn't allow him to gain either in time or in efficiency. If he were completely honest with himself, his lack of productivity was also due to his own thoughts. It was distracting him without him realizing it and even though his relative slowness could go completely unnoticed given his proficiency, it didn't escape his mentor whose sharp eye knew how to detect the slightest changes in his cooking.

Sanji shook his head to free his mind. As frustrating as it was, Zeff was right and he had to focus on his preparations. It didn't matter that his friends had been back at sea for two weeks and that he couldn't foresee when he might call them again. They had all assured him to think of him at every opportunity on the Sunny anyway.

And it didn't matter that Zoro chose not to talk to him. Sanji had decided to believe it was because the swordsman wanted to stay focused on his goal and not because he had already moved on.

At last, it didn't matter that Liam had confessed his feelings to him and that the scientist now kept a careful distance, making their interactions non-existent or awkward. The cook easily understood his discomfort since he had literally disappeared following the revelation but despite his guilt, he didn't really know how to make up for it.

All these reasons didn't matter actually. Sanji couldn't control them and dwelling on the past would be useless. His priority remained All Blue and his restaurant. Nothing else mattered.

The end of lunch service was approaching when a breathless man burst into the kitchen through the back door leading to the terrace. Looking up from his preparations, Sanji recognized Vince, a local helping Tori in the fields. From his disheveled hair and distraught face, the cook instantly understood that something was wrong and he put down his knife, forgetting at the same time his first desire to kick him out for barging in like this.

"What is it?"

"P-Pirates," Vince replied, trying to catch his breath.

The blond immediately frowned. "Where?"

"A full boat arrived from the north and they-they're attacking the village! There aren't enough of us to… to stand up to them!"

At these words, Sanji glanced at Zeff who nodded back. Robbers disembarked regularly with the growing renown of All Blue and they had become accustomed to handling them discreetly. Sanji took off his apron then turned to his kitchen boys who had stopped their task when hearing the news, visibly anxious. It was the first time that they knew they were attacked since beginning to work here.

"You two, stop freaking out," he growled. "Your priority remains cooking, the last desserts and drinks must be served as planned. It's gonna be a good test for you: the old man and I are gonna take care of these scum and I want you to handle the end of service as if nothing happened. You have Amy and she's efficient, you should have no problem. Got it?"

"Y-Yes, chef!"

The blond nodded while shoving a cigarette in his mouth then headed for the door, Vince on his heels. Once outside, the cook didn't wait for Zeff to join him and he immediately took the dirt road that led down to the houses.

He quickened his pace when hearing screams as he approached. Given the noise and fat laughter he perceived, he suspected that their assailants were more numerous than usual and he gritted his teeth. The precautions he had to take to avoid being spotted didn't make his job any easier and he knew that the day would soon come when his identity would be revealed.

Finally arriving on the outskirts of the first houses, Sanji abruptly stopped, his eyes shining with anger. As he had feared, drunken pirates had fun chasing the inhabitants from their homes in order to loot them. Some of them were clearly violent and pulled out their guns faced with the resistance of some locals while others were happy to scare women and children.

At that moment, Zeff and Vince joined him and Sanji lit his cigarette. "Where's Lily?" He asked.

"Haven't seen her since this morning," the man at his side answered, "Probably still at sea."

Sanji blew his smoke skyward, his eyes fixed on his enemies. "Diable Jambe!" His right leg flared up and Vince cautiously stepped back. The blond was about to charge towards the houses when Zeff slapped his hand heavily on his shoulder.

"Relax, kid, you must keep a low profile."

"I can't let them destroy everything we've fought for so far," his protege growled, pale with fury. "I've come too far for some morons to come and screw it up now."

The old cook gave him a curious look before returning his attention to the looters. "Stop overreacting, it'll be easy to deal with them so don't do anything crazy or you're the one who's gonna ruin it."

Sanji felt his skin bristling with anger but he took the time to observe their adversaries: they were more drunk than dangerous at first glance but their number was a significant inconvenience and they could really injure the inhabitants who would oppose them.

"We can't let them do what they fucking want!" He got impatient, showing a pirate who came out of a house with his hands full. "They're gonna destroy everything!"

"Who told you we're gonna let them?" Zeff retorted, "Go and watch the restaurant instead, you never know if they try to approach it. I'll take care of the rest."

At these words, Sanji turned to the former pirate, in shock. "What?! Didn't you see how many there are?! They're gon-"

The blond barely avoided his mentor's wooden foot in the direction of his chest which would have broken his ribs but he didn't escape Zeff's furious gaze as soon as he straightened up.

"You better not finish your sentence, brat, and I'll even give you a proper demonstration if you think I'm past the age of being able to give you a beating!"

The old cook walked purposefully towards the dwellings then and Vince followed suit. Left alone, Sanji rolled his eyes when he saw Zeff advancing towards a pirate whom he kicked away in one fell swoop. He knew his former mentor was far from helpless but still, he wasn't as fast as before and Sanji didn't like being left behind when others needed help. He was the one who needed to protect the others, not the other way around. He already had an abysmal debt to too many people since he was born and he didn't want to add dishonor to his already overflowing guilt.

Yet he didn't forget that a few minutes before, he had placed his restaurant at the center of his priorities and defending it from looters while remaining as invisible as possible was a task of the utmost importance. Decided, the blond left in the opposite direction, determined to kick the bad guys if the opportunity arose all the same.

Sanji lent a hand to Amy in serving coffee, using it to make sure everything was calm. The last customers would soon want to leave and they would inevitably notice the attack that All Blue was undergoing if it wasn't quickly settled. The blond had decided that he would accompany them to the sea using the path that ran along the beach to the boats of Liam's team then.

For now, though, the conversations continued peacefully and Sanji soon returned to the kitchen while Amy took care of bringing the checks. He pushed open the hinged doors and saw that his kitchen boys had begun the dishes. He approved their initiative with a nod and got busy by gathering the many empty bottles. The two young men had started to carry out his orders when he had returned and even if his reappearance had clearly reassured them, they hadn't asked to resume their initial task and Sanji had appreciated their attitude.

Having finished filling the glass deposit, the cook went through the back door again to deposit them outside. He was about to straighten up when explosions were heard and he looked up at the village, suddenly anxious. He trusted the old geezer to be fine but he couldn't be on all fronts and it was possible that some inhabitants would be trapped in a house at the mercy of these pirates…

Sanji hesitated. The All Blue was deemed to be safe despite its location, but this was still fragile and bad publicity could undo all the efforts he had patiently accumulated.

Unable to stand it longer, the blond rushed back to the village without taking the time to warn his team. He just wanted to make sure everything was going well.

"If you move, I'll blow his brains out."

Sanji froze when the tip of a gun pressed against his old mentor's head about ten meters away from him. He had surreptitiously kicked away several pirates on his way and none had had time to figure out what had hit them. He had allowed several villagers to flee and quickly, the blond had noticed that some looters were lying unconscious on the ground. Sanji had then noticed that the majority of them were packing up, having probably lost their cheerfulness when they had seen that the island was better guarded than they had thought. They were hurrying to find their ship and abandoning their treasures now and Sanji had smiled when he had seen them slip away without asking for their rest until a sound of iron against wood had caught his attention and made him quicken his pace.

When he had turned up at the corner of a house at the western end of the village, he had found Zeff fallen to his knees under the blows of three men who had cowardly attacked him from behind. Sanji had obviously rushed in their direction and he had already put two of them out of action when the last one had seen him and drawn his weapon.

"What are you doing here, you idiot?" The former pirate suddenly reproached him despite the gun pointed at his head.

"Shut the fuck up, old man, I heard explosions! I had to come and see!"

"I told you I got this!"

"You don't, you moron! Can't you see?!"

"Shut up you two!" The man gave a violent kick in the back of the old cook who collapsed on the ground. "Don't forget I'm the one threatening him!" He growled, glaring at the blond.

"You're dead meat," his interlocutor threatened him darkly in return.

"You still have to be faster than bullets," the man sneered as he engaged the cylinder near the temple of the old cook he was holding captive.

Sanji's breath quickened in spite of himself. He knew that he could be fast, he was even one of the sharpest on the Sunny, but right here the target was at point-blank range.

"Cover your ears!"

A shrill noise brutally tore through the air and Sanji winced while their assailant couldn't help but want to protect himself by pressing his hands to his ears. Zeff took the opportunity to turn around and kicked him powerfully, which sent him crashing into the wall of the adjacent house. Trying to hold himself ready despite the infernal siren twisting his eardrums, Sanji quickly noticed that the pirate wasn't about to move since he was clearly knocked out and he sighed in relief.

A few seconds later, the noise finally stopped.

"Zeff! Sanji!" Liam stepped out of the shadows of the house and rushed towards them, worried. "Are you alright?" he asked, offering his hand to the old cook so he could get up.

The man accepted it before thanking him with a nod. "Good job, kid."

"Thanks! It's a portable defense system that clings to clothing. The sound focuses on the target person in this way!" The scientist explained, pointing to a series of small devices in his hand.

"Luckily some people are smart," Zeff agreed while glaring at the blond who had joined them.

"I couldn't stay back there listening to you all being slaughtered!" His protege replied in the same tone.

"And you left those two youngsters in charge of the whole restaurant? Dumbass."

"The service was almost over!"

Visibly irritated, Zeff turned his back on him to walk away grumbling and Sanji gritted his teeth, annoyed by his attitude. The old geezer was unable to show even a little gratitude to him and he ended up shrugging his shoulders.

He remembered that the scientist was still here then and their last discussion immediately came back to weigh between them when the blond returned his attention to him and Liam looked away.

Sanji couldn't remain silent this time though.

"Your system is very efficient and I must say I was a little stuck," he admitted, "Luckily you intervened."

"Oh, uh, no problem. It was a bit of a coincidence that I found you because I mostly focused on protecting the orchards but as they eventually left, I came here and saw Zeff had pretty much beaten them all by then…"

"Lucky us."

"Yeah."

Silence returned and Sanji shook his head. This situation was ridiculous and even if he had tried to convince himself a little earlier that it didn't matter, this permanent tension was unpleasant and it wasn't entirely Liam's fault. So it was up to the blond to fix it.

"Look, I'm sorry I left abruptly last time," he began. "I was surprised but that wasn't a reason to run away and I want to apologize. You didn't deserve that."

The dark-haired man awkwardly shrugged, his cheeks red and looking away. "You know, I wasn't very clever myself… I didn't want to hurt you or bring back bad memories…"

"You couldn't have known and I don't blame you, so if you agree, I'd just like to pick up where we left off before all that. What do you think?"

"I agree. The last few days have been… weird," the scientist said, suddenly relieved.

Sanji nodded in turn and a smile stretched his lips as the two young men slowly made their way towards the restaurant.

"I think your system would make a perfect alarm on the island and inside the All Blue, you know."

"I can work on a fixed detection prototype if you want."

"It'd be perfect."

"It'd have to be able to hang on all the materials to position it anywhere," the dark-haired man pointed out.

"What about fridges? Do you think that'd work? I know a captain who needs to be dissuaded from looting certain supplies…"

At the time, I was planning to do a half All Blue - half Sunny chapter but the scenes were too condensed to show the reasoning.

So the next chapter is about the crew!