"How we doing on cola, Franky?" The following afternoon, the Mugiwaras were about to dock in a new town and Nami was doing a last minute inventory check on the ship's fore while most of the crew was gathered there.
"Runnin' a little low, could use some more!" Franky replied with a thumbs up and a wink.
"I need some medical supplies, too!" Chopper added.
"O niku~!" Luffy interjected.
"Some gauze and antibacterial salve…" Chopper contributed some specifics to his list as Luffy continued to interject.
"O NIKU."
"If there's a place I can get some antibiotics, that would be ideal."
"O. NI. K–"
"Urusei!" Sanji snapped as he delivered a swift kick to Luffy's head. As usual, his demeanor turned on a dime from scathing to soft and sweet as he addressed his navigator. "We have plenty of meat, Nami-swan, but there are a few things I gotta pick up from the market~"
"Sake." Zoro was on the second floor overlooking the fore.
Even as he was looking at Nami, Sanji couldn't stop his eyebrow from twitching before he was able to turn to glare daggers at the swordsman. "Plenty of sake, you shitty marimo. Don't even try it."
"Not plenty enough for me, curly-brow," Zoro sneered. "Put it on the list, Nami."
"You think you can just order Nami-swan around like that, you mossy shit?"
Needless to say, it didn't take long for this relatively simple task to erupt into chaos.
When things had finally calmed down a bit, Nami discreetly pulled Robin aside on her way to weigh anchor. "You feeling okay? I heard you get up in the middle of the night, and when I woke up this morning, you were gone."
After the previous night's events, Robin couldn't sleep a single, solitary wink. Her thoughts were wild with every moment, touch and breath from the night before… with rosemary… wood smoke… tobacco.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, Nami-san."
"Oh no, don't worry about that! I just wanna make sure you're okay~"
Robin hid behind her trademark easygoing smile. As much as she cared for Nami and appreciated her concern, the last thing she wanted to do at the moment was tell her about… all this. "I'm fine, just… every now and then I have a little trouble sleeping. It'll pass, I'm sure." Technically not a lie.
Nami gave Robin's hand a quick squeeze as she smiled at her. "Well, if you ever need to talk, you know what to do."
Robin returned Nami's squeeze and smile, with a nod in affirmation, touched by her sincere attention. The amount of trust Robin had in Nami was innumerable, and she was quite sure that one day she'd actually be able to confide in her about… whatever was going on, but that day… was not today.
"Oh! Before I forget, would you mind babysitting Sanji-kun today? Last time we docked, he made us three hours late to depart 'cause he was in bed with a cocktail waitress," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "And I know if he's with you, he'll behave himself," she added with a smile, playfully nudging Robin with an elbow.
Robin held her breath for a moment. She didn't think she would have to confront this whole situation so soon… "That certainly sounds like him," she said finally, laughing despite her apprehension. "Of course, yes, I'm happy to help."
"Ah, perfect, thank you! I'd do it myself, but I'm gonna have my hands full with Luffy-kun. Gotta make sure he doesn't make any new friends… get us killed… you know the drill."
"Good luck," Robin replied, still laughing. "You'll need it."
.
.
Robin caught up to Sanji not long after the crew went their separate ways into town. She hung back at a bit of a distance, hesitant as she watched him root around in his pockets for his grocery list. In regards to the night before, there were a lot of avenues she could go down, all of them equally mortifying to her.
"I've been assigned as your chaperon, Sanji-san," she said finally as she approached him, politely smiling. Perhaps it would be best if she just… didn't mention anything about it at all?
"You don't say?" Sanji grinned as she stood at his side. "And to what do I owe the honor, Robin-chan?" he added, pulling out his pack of smokes.
"A certain cocktail waitress and a three hour delay," she said with a sideways glance and a sly smile.
At this, Sanji jolted, and his pack of cigarettes seemed to leap out of his hands, doing several somersaults in the air as Sanji tried frantically to catch it, miraculously managing to do so just before it hit the ground. Shit, he thought, Nami-swan promised she'd keep that little mishap to herself…
"W-well, Robin-chan, what had happ–"
She laughed, surprised to see him so flustered. "Sanji-san, please, it's fine! There's no judgment here, I promise." And it was true. Sanji was something of a philanderer, everyone else on the crew knew this as well as she did, but Robin wasn't one to judge, especially not something like that. Every pirate gets a little… pent up, sometimes.
For Sanji, that just happened to be… a lot of the time.
Sanji exhaled the breath he'd been holding, relieved that Robin was so gracious and understanding. Nami had chewed him out for a solid 20 minutes that day he was late (which he fully accepted without a word in protest; his actions completely warranted it). So, he expected Robin to, at the very least, reprimand him a bit. But all she did was smile and reassure him. Much like Robin at dinner the night before, he felt he didn't deserve it; he didn't deserve her.
"Well, then," he began, extending an arm out for her to take. "Let the chaperoning begin!"
Sanji decided to follow her lead and not bring up the previous night's events. He was keenly aware of how delicate the whole situation was, and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her away, especially now that he seemed to have made some progress in… whatever the hell he thought he was doing. So, as was typical anytime he got the chance to be alone with Robin, he kept their conversations light and breezy. It wasn't at all hard to do; Robin was, as usual, a breeze to converse with.
Eventually, they passed by a book shop.
"Sanji-san," Robin said this slowly, really not wanting to get to the next part of her sentence. "Forgive me for asking this when our time is limited, but–"
"Say, Robin-chan," he instantly recognized that look of longing on her face, and the pained hesitation in her tone. "How 'bout we dip in here? Looks pretty cool, ne?" he said with a casual nod toward the shop, feigning ignorance. He never, ever wanted her to feel like she was inconveniencing him. Any little thing, any small respite, and tiny gesture, anything to help her, he wanted to do.
"Perhaps we can spare few minutes," she smiled in relief and gratitude. He was always doing little things like that for her, to put her at ease. She always felt like she could never do enough to show him how much she appreciated it.
They made their way inside and Robin's entire countenance lit up. Sanji watched her as he followed close behind, mesmerized by just how… happy she looked. She almost seemed to dance from isle to isle, excitedly showing him books along the way, and he would nod and agree without really knowing what he was agreeing to, just wanting to encourage her and facilitate her happiness in any way he could. He found himself wishing, praying to whatever god was out there, that he could do something, anything to get her to look at him with that gleam and glow, anything to make her as happy as she was at that moment.
The ringing bell of the front door sounded, and two patrons entered, engrossed in conversation that Robin was far too distracted to pay attention to, but Sanji was not.
"… I guess so, but we've been in this town a while and haven't seen a single one of them."
"Just be patient. Tashigi-chan said the intel was solid."
His face paled. If Tashigi was there, then that must mean Smoker wasn't far behind. Robin was about to round the corner of the bookshelf and into the open before Sanji grabbed her hand to gently pull her back. Robin turned to look at him, surprised. He put a finger to his lips and nodded towards the front of the shop. Robin moved a few books aside on the shelf to take a peek, and her eyes widened. They both stood there for a few moments, running through various plans of action in their heads, when they heard the shopkeeper nearby.
"Oi, we've got a delivery out back, do you mind signing for it?"
"On it!"
Robin and Sanji's eyes met, and they nodded at each other, instantly knowing what the other was thinking. They followed the worker from a distance, carefully avoiding the line of sight of the two marines. The worker led them to a storage room door, and Sanji extended a lanky leg to stop it with his foot just as it was about to close.
"After you~" he said quietly, holding the door open for Robin.
Unfortunately for them both, they barely made it past the threshold of the door before the worker took notice and very loudly proclaimed, "Hey! This area is for employees only! Get outta here, y–mmph!"
Robin bloomed an arm to cover his mouth, but it was too late. The pair of marines had seen them both in full view.
"Is that…"
"IT'S THEM! STOP RIGHT THERE!" He immediately whipped out a transponder snail to alert Tashigi and the others of their location.
Sanji and Robin bolted through the storage room and out the rear delivery door as Robin bloomed arms to barricade the door shut, hoping to buy them some time. Thanks to that transponder snail alert, the streets were starting to fill with marines, so they were cautiously ducking in and out of alleyways. So much for Nami's hopes of keeping a low profile today…
"We should get out of town," Sanji said seriously as they took a moment in one of those alleyways. "Lay low until we can regroup."
"Yes, seems like a risk to head back to the Sunny at this point. I don't think they've seen our ship and we could lead them right to it. And if they have seen it, there could be an ambush." She then frowned, a thought occurring to her. "I'm not sure how we can make it out of town without being seen."
Sanji pondered this as a farmer pulled his horse-drawn cart near the alleyway.
"Cabbages turned out great!" said the farmer, pulling up the fabric shades to show off his produce. "You're gonna love 'em."
"Oh, Luke, I… I thought someone told you… Look, I get a much better price on produce from that new factory farm, I can't really justify paying more for yours."
"That's… wow, okay. Sure wish I'd known that before coming all the way up here… Look, I'm really falling behind on my finances, here…"
"What about your 'intimate farmhouse bed and breakfast' thing? Isn't that helping pick up the slack?"
"Yea, that… hasn't panned out at all… Could you just help me out? I'll lower the price, ten percent sound good?"
"Sorry, Luke."
Sanji grinned. Bingo. "Pardon me," he said as he casually emerged from the alleyway, Robin following close behind. "Luke, was it? I couldn't help but overhear. You have a bed and breakfast? On a farm? Outside of town?"
Luke blinked, a bit startled. "Sure do. Fifty berries a night."
"I'll give you a hundred berries if you can take us there right now."
Luke's eyes grew wide, clearly not believing his luck. "W-well this cart isn't really equipped to carry passengers, you'd have to ride in the back with the produce."
"Perfect!" He shoved the money into Luke's hands without waiting for a solid yes or no. "Pleasure doing business, Luke." With that, he was already helping Robin climb up and into the cart.
Luke, bewildered but pleased, climbed into the front seat. "You sure you wanna keep those shades down? It's a nice day out."
"Yes, please," said Robin. "I have a… sun… problem… I'm sensitive to it." She caught Sanji's eye and they both couldn't help silently laughing, despite their potentially perilous predicament.
"Well, all right then. Settle in, it's a long way out."
