"Can you guys shut the fuck up for just a little bit? I couldn't hear a thing that they're saying." Nami said. She and everybody left outside immediately crawled near the room to try and eavesdrop on the conversation happening inside.
"I wonder what they're talking about." Usopp thought out loud.
"How he could so casually talk to Ms. All Sunday like that?" Vivi asked, wondering how a pirate from East Blue knew Ms. All Sunday.
"Oh, that's probably because Zoro's from the fu-mmph!" Luffy was about to tell Vivi about Zoro when Nami shoved her staff in his mouth.
"Luffy, Zoro's secrets aren't ours to divulge and spread." she said sweetly, while thinking differently. 'No fucking way we'll let loose lips princess over here know about Zoro. An hour after we reach the next town, everybody and their mother would've known about his time travel.'
"They're coming." Usopp alerted. Everybody flinched, then positioned themselves to avoid suspicion.
Soon, Zoro and Robin walked out, with the former looking worse and the latter looking better, compared to when both entered. Zoro looked ruffled, as if he was happy to finally leave the situation, while Robin acted as elegantly as ever, like a goddess above mortal quarrels.
The four people who were on standby had different reactions on their faces. Nami's already surmised that Robin's at least a close ally, if not a future crew mate, and is already formulating schemes on how to make money with her. Luffy trusts Zoro, who seems to trust Robin, so he trusts Robin. Vivi is already convinced that Ms. All Sunday is up to no good, and now she's suspicious of Zoro in turn. Usopp's scared of Robin and is positioning himself behind Zoro. Sanji was simply infatuated with the new gorgeous visitor on deck.
"Let us meet again soon, if you survive." she told everyone, looking at Zoro slightly longer than she did the others. She then walked at the back of the ship and jumped unto the back of a giant turtle with a cowboy hat on, several meters away from the ship.
"Whoa it's a huge turtle!" Usopp exclaimed.
"The giant turtle had cowboy hat on..."
"That woman...I really can't grasp what she's trying to do." Vivi said, exasperated.
"Can someone now explain the situation to us?" Usopp reminded them.
"Will Ms. Wednesday be joining our crew?" Sanji said while posing on what he thinks his best angles are towards her.
"Are you really alright with me riding on your ship...I may just be putting you all into danger..."
"Oh please, it's already your fault that they found out about us and how we look like. If you didn't want us in danger, you should've done so to begin with." Nami said while poking her forehead.
"...sorry..." Vivi meekly replied back.
Under the sea, where there's barely enough light to illuminate a lone green-haired man, Zoro, blindfolded, focused on the breath of the water, of the sea around him. Under enough water pressure to crush lesser men, he remained calm.
From the shadows, an unsuspecting predator emerged. It was a lobster-like Sea King with longer claws, legs, tail, and a darker blue coloration. It immediately tried to simply eat Zoro whole with its mandibles, completely unexpecting of what's to come.
"Marlin Spear!"
Only using his hand in a bladed position, he sent a haki infused spear of water towards the head of the 9 meter long beast, ending it's life before it knew it. He then tugged on the rope around his waist three times and held unto the carcass. He decreased the hydrodynamic drag of himself and his catch while the crew pulled him above.
"Look at that! Mmmm! Giant shrimp for lunch!" the gluttonous captain shouted.
"I think that's a lobster Luffy. I don't think shrimps have such huge claws like those." the princess with hair similar to the clear sky informed him.
"We're gonna have to chop half of this of, at least." Sanji muttered, looking over at the near pristine catch they have, except for the arm thick puncture wound on its head. He started estimating in his head how much the crew could realistically eat off the lobster, in his head. 'Even if we store the entire tail and the legs, there's still several tons worth of flesh in there, but with Luffy we'd probably be able to finish it today. No wastes!' "Usopp, grab those Heat Dials! Luffy, grab the lime and lemons we have that look like they'll about to go bad. Marimo-"
Before Sanji could call Zoro out, Zoro's already dismantled the lobster's claws, legs, head and tail. "Which one do we keep?" Zoro asked Sanji.
Sanji grabbed the head and started carrying it towards the kitchen. "Store the tail and legs, Make sure to refrigerate the legs!" he told Zoro, who immediately carried the tail and legs to store them, giving no indication he even heard Sanji. "Tss, showoff." Sanji muttered, before prepping the ingredients he needs to make lobster soup.
"Sanji, we only have 15 Heat Dials. Is that enough?" Usopp came in the kitchen with a box of Dials.
"That should be enough." Sanji replied while cleaning his hands. "Follow me."
"Sanji, here's the old lime and lemons!" Luffy shouted at Sanji, carrying in his stretched grip a a dozen limes and lemons.
"Pull over those two cannons to me." Sanji told them to bring over the 2 usually uused cannons they had on either side of the ship. Sanji then position the parallel each other. He grabbed a few limes from Luffy, then he grated them over the exposed part of the claw and squeezed the juices on it. He used the cannons so that the claws don't touch the wooden floor as he started cooking the flesh of the claw inside the carapace of the claw itself using the Heat Dials.
"Usopp watch over the claws, make sure they don't touch the floor or it might ignite, and make sure to flip." Sanji ordered Usopp, as he then went back in the kitchen to start the actual cooking process of the soup.
While the guys were doing that entire process, Vivi watched over them, together with Nami. They were on the upper deck sitting on lawn chairs sipping on drinks Sanji gave them earlier. Nami only occasionally checked the Log Pose, and relaxed the rest of the time. Vivi on the other hand, couldn't properly relax as she fidgeted watching the boys.
"It'll be fine." Nami said.
"I really feel like I should be doing something." Vivi replied, as she felt underserving of relaxation while her country is gearing up to tear itself apart.
"If you really knew something else you could be doing that would significantly improve your situation, wouldn't you be doing that by now? For now, instead of stressing yourself essentially doing nothing, why don't you relax in the time being so that you'll be in better shape when you do need to do something."
Vivi, understanding that Nami was right, finally let her head down. She took a sip of her drink before heading off into dreamland. By the time she woke up from her slumber, the ship was already filled with the scents of citrusy barbecue and creamy soup.
Sanji then walked towards her when he sensed her waking. In his hand is a tray filled with her food and a refill of her drink. On it, she saw a bowl of creamy soup filled with chucks of what she could only assume is lobster, sprinkled with a bit of parsley, with a plate of sliced sourdough bread on the side, and a cleanly cut segment of the lobster claw.
"Bon appétit, mademoiselle! For lunch, we have a simple creamy lobster soup, wherein you could dunk your sourdough bread, or eat it separately, whichever the madam prefers~ There's also the claw marinated in a bit of citrus juice cooked inside its own carapace...I'm not exactly familar with young miss' palate but I did make an organ puree as well."
"Sure, I quite like organ meat myself. Even though Alabasta wasn't exactly poor, it wasn't a food rich country, and all Alabastan were taught to use up every edible morsel and always to finish their food." after she said that, Sanji pulled out a small bowl of the puree, from...somewhere.
"Ask and you shall receive, princess. I am at your service."
The Going Merry finally reached another shore. It was once again docked in a river, where the tree line was at least 40 meters tall. The flora was not only thick, but also incredibly alien and didn't look like the shrubbery they've already encountered. Unusual sounds echoed through the dark forest.
"Raise the sails!" Nami ordered while she kept an eye out towards the surrounding jungle, seemingly expecting for something, or anything to come out. "Five degrees to starboard! Zoro, get ready to drop the anchor...now!"
Everybody followed Nami's instructions to a tee, and the ship crawled to a stop. Nami finally released that breath she didn't even know she was holding. Everybody else finally started truly drinking in the sight around them, including Zoro's who's been there before.
"Woohoo! Our second island!" Luffy was very excited.
"Kyaaa!" Nami shrieked as a pterodactyl with blue feathers flew high above them.
"Terrified Nami is so cute~"
"Yeap, definitely not leaving the ship, no sir." Usopp declared, having finally gone down from his bravery high.
"Sanji! Prepare a pirate lunchbox! No veggies for max energy! I smell adventure ahead!" Luffy giddily said.
"Could I come along with you?" Vivi asked to join in.
"Even you?!"
"Yes...just standing around here sucking my thumb is going to do nothing but make me worry again. So I may as well try to clear my head till the Log Pose finishes recording...It'll be fine, Carue's going to be at my side after all." Vivi replied to Nami, then Carue dropped his jaw at Vivi's last sentence.
"Your "trusty bodyguard" looks too scared to even quack..."
"Then allow me to make a lunchbox of love for you, and also accompany you around the island, since your simian companion would likely prioritize his enjoyment over your care, princess." Sanji said.
"Hey, spaghetti brains, remember what I told you? We still need you to run around to search for the agents. I'll guard Vivi if you really can't sit still with only Luffy around." Zoro rebuked, as he's trying to keep as little changed variable as possible.
"Ah! Spoilers! LALALA!" Luffy shouted as he shoved each of his entire hand down each of his ear hole.
"Nope, you're staying here, by my side, mister. I am not going to stay put here, with only Usopp, while we're in this island. We are going to find their camp after we sort everything out." she replied.
"Wait, why does she want to have Mr. Roronoa by her side that badly?" Vivi asked the only other Straw Hat that isn't a participant to the conversation, or actively deafening himself to it, in Luffy's case.
"Well, quite simply, he's monstrously strong. Aside obviously from being the toughest fighter on the crew, he also exudes a very intimidating feeling that makes allies feel reassured by being near him, in my experience anyway. And uhm...how do I put this...he's very "experienced", so having his "wisdom" be accessible really helps." Usopp answered. He then walked over to Luffy and gestured to him that it was fine to stop shoving his arms in his head and deafening himself.
"Fine, but remember to keep your haki up and never put your guard down." Zoro ordered to all of them, his vision focusing longer on Luffy.
"Let's go! The adventure on Little Garden awaits!"
AN: Happy New Year!
Hope you guys like how I'm fleshing various things out a bit more than in canon.