Chapter 12

A taste of honey

After ten minutes of walking through huge fields of flowers, Sanji, Luffy, Brook and Franky had spotted the place dedicated to the honey harvest in the middle of a large landscaped garden. A large building welcomed tourists looking for information on the entire process but also on the bees of the island and the different ways of managing hives.

Following their guide, the four friends had begun by learning more about the insects within their habitat in the museum part, from their meticulous internal organization to their role in pollination through the production of honey to feed the colony. Afterwards, and to the captain's greatest joy, they had put on beekeeping suits to observe a modern hive in the backyard for the demonstration. On this occasion, Luffy was even allowed to spray smoke to release a comb that the beekeeper then grabbed to harvest the honey.

Now they were in the honey house inside from which both the purchase and tasting were organized. Not knowing which honeys to choose in front of the multitude of pots offered, Luffy reviewed them all with application.

"What about this one?" He asked the guide, his spatula of acacia honey devoured long ago, "It's a weird color!"

"It is chestnut honey," The man replied, "It's a very dark honey that remains liquid for quite a long time, very typical and generous, with a powerful, very strong taste."

"I wanna taste it!" The straw hat boy picked up a new spatula and closed his eyes in contentment as the sugar touched his tongue. "It's so good!"

A few steps away, Franky glanced at the long shelves that stretched out in front of them. "There are so many different honeys here," He noted.

"There is an unequaled variety," Their guide approved with pride, "Most of them are, of course, spring honeys but you can also find summer honeys because the nearest island is summery and some hives located near the coast allow their bees to travel for tens of kilometers."

"I thought that the reach of the bees didn't exceed three kilometers," Brook recalled, surprised.

"That's right, but Morto's bees are special. They're even unique in the world and thus allow unparalleled mixtures!"

The cyborg grabbed two pots at random to examine them. "How do you recognize them?" He asked again.

"It's very simple. Spring honeys are light in color, very sweet with a subtle and delicate taste and fragrance. Summer honeys are produced from all the flowers found in summer. Delicately scented, they have colors ranging from golden yellow to dark brown."

"Do you produce single-flower or polyfloral honeys?" Sanji inquired while trying to decipher the labels.

"Both," The man replied, "We regularly practice transhumance of the hives and if you walk around, you'll see several groups in very different fields."

"There's carrot honey?" Luffy suddenly wondered, pointing to a pot in front of him.

"I had no idea it existed!" Brook wondered at his side.

"Me neither," The blond admitted. He then leaned towards the pot his captain looked at with fascination.

"It's a rare honey drawn by worker bees from carrot flowers!" Their guide confirmed with a smile. "The texture is both creamy and fruity, it's very pleasant! It's also rich on the palate and a little acidulous. Depending on the origin, you find aromas of dried fruit, jam and coconut. Carrot honey is also naturally rich in beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant, and is known to improve the appearance of the skin, hair and nails. Its high fiber content also facilitates intestinal transit."

"This honey is awesome!" The straw hat boy got enthused, "I wanna taste it!" He grabbed another spatula and dipped it into the demo jar before swallowing it with delight. His friends then quickly did the same, curious.

"It'd be a hit at breakfast with the girls," Sanji said.

"On pancakes or crepes, that'd be super!" Franky agreed.

"I'm sure Chopper-san would appreciate it for its remedies as well," Brook added.

"We need some, Sanji!" His captain begged.

"We'll see how much we have left when we buy the honeys Chopper needs," His cook answered, counting his berries, "This carrot honey is rare so it's probably not cheap."

The cyborg then grabbed a jar of brown honey with red highlights to smell the contents before stepping back. "Wow, that one's super strong!"

Luffy immediately took it from his hands to smell it in turn before his eyes widened and the guide nodded. "The smell of buckwheat honey is full-bodied but its flavor is a balance between sour and sweet. Its texture is thick and creamy. Its taste of licorice and caramel lingers on the palate for a long time. Regarding its virtues, buckwheat honey contains minerals known for bones."

"It's highly sought after as an ingredient for making gingerbread," The cook confirmed.

"Do all honeys have specificities depending on the flower foraged?" Brook wanted to know, looking at the rosemary honey he had selected.

"Yes, they have!" The man assured him, "All honeys are invigorating, antiseptic and healing, but to these general faculties are added the medicinal virtues of the dominant flower from which it comes!"

"That's quite exciting!" The skeleton rejoiced as Luffy added the buckwheat honey to the pile he wanted to buy.

Soon, the arms of the four pirates were full of honeys of all kinds and Sanji decided it was time for him to go back to the city center to fulfill the few errands he had promised Nami to do. Beside him, his friends were still reluctant to leave. Luffy wanted to attend the extraction of beeswax and Franky was already learning about its qualities in order to clean the wood of the Sunny in a natural way. A little away, Brook was studying all the possibilities concerning the honeydew and propolis best suited to Chopper's recommendations.

For his part, the cook would have liked to add several honeys to their well-filled basket. Indeed, dozens of new recipes have popped in his mind throughout their visit thanks to the explanations of their guide. Unfortunately, he knew that he still needed to restrict himself and he was aware that the number of pots they would bring would already require him to make an effort not to bury his crewmates under sweet specialties. Deciding to not be tempted more than necessary, Sanji left for the city alone, asking his friends to meet him on the Sunny.

The sun was still high in the sky at the end of the afternoon, clear of any clouds, and the air was particularly mild. Around the cook of the Straw Hat crew, only the wind rustled among the trees and flower stalks that lined the path. It brought a unique scent of magnolia, daphne or even hyacinth depending on the field he was crossing. Here and there, a few hives were visible in the shade of small flowering trees, and the buzz of bees at work was never far away. Passers-by were rare and the calm of the island almost unreal.

This place was definitely one of the most beautiful islands the blond had had the opportunity to admire since he crisscrossed the Grand Line and he took care to engrave each detail in a corner of his memory to remember it. He even gave up lighting a cigarette to enjoy the scents. The tranquility and elegance of the place pleased him and he had no doubt that he would miss the island during a next stopover less conducive to such scenes.

As he crossed a field of daffodils to reach the city below, the whisper of the wind was suddenly disturbed by a characteristic mechanical noise of cutting. Thinking about the pruning of some trees their guide had mentioned, Sanji turned his head towards the small dirt road on the right from where it had come. It was near a field of blue star flowers which the blond soon recognized as clematis.

Curious, Sanji paused. Clematis were very delicate flowers that grew along vines and they not only had no need to be pruned but in addition, their fragility prohibited the use of any mechanical object to tend them.

The cook shoved his hands in his pockets and turned right to clear up this mystery. However, he had hardly advanced a few meters when the problem became apparent: squatting between the clematis a few steps away from the edge of the path, four men were cutting long vines full of fragrant blue flowers with electric pruning shears before laying them more or less delicately on a long wooden trestle behind them.

The blond refrained from going straight at them. Their guide had explained how complex the cultivation of these flowers was and their best gardeners spent long hours every day tending them to guarantee their brilliant vigor. The bees also came to use them and the pollen from these clematis in their honeys had been awarded several times for their excellence. Whether it was to sell them in the form of flowers or to try to make their own mixtures with their honeys, these men were ransacking the heritage of Morto without any scruple.

Noticing that he was alone, Sanji could have gotten rid of those fools in a flash but he wanted to stop them doing harm permanently and he refused to risk knocking them out too hard so they would collapse on the flowers. On the other hand, if he intervened more slowly, he took the risk of being seen and recognized.

Another cut was heard and a vine about ten clematis long joined the trestle on the ground. His jaw clenched, Sanji activated his Raid Suit deep in his pocket and a second later, he knocked the four men one after another, taking care to catch them to lay them on the stony ground each time. He then turned to look for something to tie them up, but he saw nothing. Finally, he decided to tear their t-shirts and tie them firmly with it. Regarding the clematis already cut, unfortunately he couldn't do anything and he just moved the trestle in the shade of a large cherry tree a few steps away to try to protect them. Hopefully, the florists in town could use them before they totally wilt.

As he straightened up, the cook felt a movement of air behind his back and he abruptly turned around.

"Well, I didn't expect to come across Stealth Black on this island."

Sanji felt his muscles tense as the surgeon of death eyed him curiously. He then cast a brief glance around him, on his guard. He hadn't heard the pirate approaching at all and maybe his crew was hiding somewhere too. Although they weren't enemies, they weren't allies right now either and Law surprising him with his Raid Suit really didn't sit well with the blond.

Aware of his mistrust, the surgeon pointed to the cherry tree behind his interlocutor thanks to his long nodachi. "I was resting in that tree when you turned up. It was you who startled me."

"What are you doing here? You don't meet Luffy as far as I know."

"Thank God for that." The surgeon contemplated the trestle of clematis for a second before looking up at the figure of the blond in his suit. "At first, I didn't understand how these men had been swept away without detecting anything, but everything is crystal clear now. I must say that this outfit provides perfect camouflage for moving discreetly. Definitely, Stealth Black has always been my favorite."

Furious with himself, Sanji deactivated his Raid Suit to make it disappear and avoid the gaze of the other man on him. He then looked angrily at Law. "Does that mean you watched them screw up those flowers and didn't do anything?" He got indignant while Law shrugged in return. "I don't care. It's just flowers."

Shaking his head, Sanji forced himself to swallow his anger. Luffy probably wouldn't care if he decided to attack Law but the blond didn't want the circumstances of their meeting to be revealed. He had made a stupid miscalculation. Of course, the crew shouldn't be spotted but his captain with his famous straw hat had been pacing the honey house all afternoon. Anyone could deduce that his crew was around now and so his cook could put those thieves in their place without using his Raid Suit. Caught up in his hiding habits, Sanji hadn't even thought about it and now Law knew his secret although he luckily didn't understand all the issues.

"What are you doing here?" He repeated with annoyance.

"Well, in case you forgot, my first mate is a Mink polar bear and honey is one of his favorite foods. We couldn't pass this island without stopping here."

Sanji sighed at this revelation. He was just unlucky. The presence of the Heart Pirates made sense now, but he couldn't see the rest of the doctor's crew anywhere.

"Bepo raided a large part of the hives this morning and while waiting for us to leave again, I decided to watch those ones," The other pirate continued. He then pointed to the apiary on the other side of the road, "This honey is obviously particularly tasty but the bees are aggressive."

At those words, the blond rolled his eyes. "So your men are damaging the hives themselves and you let guys ruin the flowers. Preserving the ecosystem is not your strong suit," He pointed out bitterly, "For a doctor, I thought life mattered more than that to you."

"Don't be so defeatist. My crew has spent so many berries on this island that its inhabitants will be able to live comfortably for months even if no one buys anything from them. I'm just worried about the health of my first mate and I know him well enough to know that he'll try to come back here despite the edema he risks from being stung."

"I am reassured," The cook grumbled, finally walking past him to resume his initial route.

"I'm counting on you not to divulge my presence to your crewmates," Law said as Sanji walked away. "I don't want to manage your captain without a good reason to do so and it seems that you have nothing to offer me right now."

"That's what you think."

Sanji quickly turned to get back to the main road, leaving the surgeon to imagine that he might be getting Luffy in his way again. In reality, he wouldn't. Not only because Law was right, the Straw Hat Pirates had no argument for him agreeing to spend time with their captain, but also for purely selfish considerations. Indeed, if his meeting with the doctor were to come out, his use of the Raid Suit would be at the same time and he didn't need to be asked questions about it.

"The plantings were amazing!" Usopp got enthused when all his friends gathered around the galley table in the early evening. "I've never seen so many different varieties in one place! With all the seeds I found, my inventions will be totally reworked!"

"There were medicinal flowers as well as poisonous flowers," Chopper continued, "I gathered information on many species I didn't know and I bought several rare bulbs!"

"They have developed very sophisticated greenhouse systems that allow them to recreate the climate necessary for each of them," Robin approved.

"Their knowledge in this field is among the most accurate," Nami confirmed, "Experts from all over the world are trained in Morto, whether they're botanists, gardeners or florists. We even ran into art students."

"Their honeys were so good and they had heaps of them!" Luffy showed them in turn, pointing to the mountain of pots that Sanji was trying to put away in his cupboards among his other purchases.

"I'll surely have honey for years," The blond admitted while opening another sideboard, "I don't even know where I'm gonna store all this…"

"Each one has specific properties and a very particular taste!" Franky added. "It wasn't easy to choose, these bees are doing a super job!"

"We also have selected several honeydews and propolis as agreed," The skeleton said, handing his bag to the little reindeer, "I hope they will suit you."

"I'm sure they'll be of excellent quality considering the flowers we saw!" The doctor reassured him.

"We bought several essential oils," The navigator continued, "For everything related to medical attention, we should be fine for a while."

"For the Sunny too!" The cyborg chimed in with satisfaction. "I took premium beeswax so Adam's wood is gonna be perfectly fed!"

"This island is a real paradise!" Usopp concluded, delighted.

As everyone approved, Robin turned to the last two crew members who hadn't spoken yet. "What about you?" She asked them, "Were you able to enjoy Morto's treasures?"

"This afternoon was quiet and their drinks were quite tasty," Jinbei answered.

"A little too sweet," Zoro said.

"Their specialties use a rather characteristic flowery taste," The Fish-Man admitted.

"Nami-san, Robin-chan! It's for you!" Sanji whirled to offer two majestic bouquets of multicolored flowers to the young women before whom he bowed. "I could not reasonably leave the island of flowers without offering some to the two most wonderful of them!" He declaimed dramatically.

"Oh my God! Sanji-kun, they're beautiful!" Amazed, Nami grabbed the yellow, pink and parma flowers that the cook handed her. Composed of tulips, ranunculus and lisianthus, its delicate scent evoked elegance as much as sophistication, and her smile grew even wider as she admired it.

For her part, Robin accepted a large bouquet with country accents composed of bright carnations, white roses and daisies topped with eucalyptus foliage. With a smile, the young woman inhaled delicately to smell the perfume before thanking their friend and Sanji delivered another lovesick tirade for his princesses.

Moments later, the cook promised his friends he would serve them a meal using the main ingredient of the island and the Sunny was leaving Morto when he added a little acacia honey to his already slightly grilled duck breast.

Behind him, two large vases welcomed the bouquets of Nami and Robin on the table and the blond hastened to offer his small appetizers with goat cheese and honey in beautiful and long matching spoons at their sides. Probably under the spell of their last stopover, Nami had given him permission to go all out with his preparations and the information hadn't fallen on deaf ears.

Yet Sanji had decided not to let his ardor totally take over because he also sensed that this was a test. If his crewmates were reassured about the quantities of food served at dinner, they would surely be less careful about their next meals and the blond would have more freedom again. Strengthened by this resolution, Sanji deliberately ignored his desire to test the tagine recipe with lamb and quince caramelized with honey which he had had the idea of as soon as he had entered the honey house. Indeed, this recipe was probably delicious but it required more work than others and he shouldn't give the impression of doing too much.

Instead, the blond had decided to serve a semolina with fragrant spices that would go wonderfully with the sweet tones of his duck breast. The next moment, he also grabbed the buckwheat honey to make a gingerbread that he would offer for dessert. Even though he still couldn't quite do what he wanted, it was only a matter of time. Soon, he would regain his full place in the galley.

Honey is sweet and tasty. It's nice and comforting, but just like little lies, it sticks.

And you don't get rid of it so easily.