Beams of morning light snuck into the infirmary, Nami's resting place of choice. It was one of the best-kept secrets on the Sunny; the most comfortable bed on the whole ship. Maybe Chopper had asked Franky to make it extra-hospitable for his patients, maybe it had just been a happy accident… Whatever the reason, it was now her second favorite place to sleep. It was so comfortable, in fact, that she was planning to completely ignore the morning light and sleep for at least another hour or two.

At least, that was her plan, until she could hear Brook teaching Usopp and Chopper a brand new song, seemingly right outside the infirmary door.

She groaned, frowned, tossed and turned a few times before finally letting out a frustrated sigh as she rolled out of the most comfortable bed on the Sunny.

"Ohayo, Nami!" said a cheery, in-unison Chopper and Usopp during the song's guitar solo break.

"Ohayo~" she yawned. As she passed, she wondered briefly if she should say something to Chopper about Robin's note, but thought better of it. She didn't want to sound any alarms unless it was absolutely necessary.

Nami and Robin were both quite similar in that they were very independent, and tried to handle as much as they could on their own, for better or for worse, so Nami kn–

"NA-MIIIIIII~" Luffy whined as he appeared, seemingly from nowhere, tackling her in a hug.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to ambush-hug me, Luffy?" she sighed, exasperated. "One of these days I'm not gonna realize it's you and you will get the shit kicked out of you."

"Hara-ga het-ta."

"Right. You're hungry, water's wet, and bears shit in the woods. Any other breaking news for me?"

"I'm gonna die."

"No, you're not."

"I am so!" He finally let her go. "I've been waitin' in the kitchen for an hour and Sanji hasn't even started breakfast."

Nami raised a curious eyebrow. "An hour?"

"Yeah! He's usually in there way before me, even."

"That is… strange."

"THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYIN'. Listen, Nami, I gotta plan," he put his arm around her, pulling her in tight and squishing her cheek with his, gesturing as if there was a presentation in front of them that only he could see. "Sanji's always followin' you around, right? So, if I stick with you long enough, you're gonna lead me right to him." He let out a perfectly placed shishishishi~, "Man, am I smart as shit or what? Foolproof plan."

She slowly peeled herself away from her self-satisfied captain. The prospect of Luffy being attached to her for an indeterminate amount of time was… a less than welcome one, to say the least. "Well, I'm heading to my room, and he's definitely not there. So how about instead of following me around for who-knows-how-long, you just… I dunno, stay near the boy's bunks, see if he shows up there."

"Psh. I like my plan better."

She rolled her eyes. Not only did she want to avoid Luffy shadowing her all morning, but she really didn't want him sticking his nose where it didn't belong, in case there was something really troubling Robin that she'd rather keep confidential. "And as I have literally just explained, it is virtually impossible for Sanji to be in my room. Where I'm going. Right now. So will you please–"

"Hai, hai, I'm goin', I'm goin'..." he said hastily. "But if I don't find him, I'm comin' back for you." It was more of a threat than a promise.

"Go."

He stomped away in a huff, muttering to himself. "Sheesh. Shitty Nami. Never lets me use my freakin' plans…"

"I can still hear you!" Luffy's idea of 'muttering' was about a 10% lower volume than his normal speaking voice.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Nami made it to her door. She was a bit concerned to see the note was still just where Robin had left it the night before.

She raised her hand to knock on the door, blissfully unaware of the chaos she was about to invoke by doing so.

Sanji had woken up first that morning. He'd immediately sat up, in something of a panic, and his first instinct was to prepare to tumble out of bed and get started on the breakfast he was undoubtedly late for. He was already going over recipes in his head, doing a mental inventory of what they had in the pantry, preparing himself to kick Luffy out of the kitchen so he could concentrate.

But then he'd caught sight of Robin.

She was on her back, head turned slightly away from him, one hand had come to rest on her chest while the other was on the pillow next to her, her long black hair nearly engulfing her as she soundly slept, making the cutest goddamn noises he'd ever fucking heard.

Just once glance was all it took. He couldn't even remember what he had just been worried about, literal seconds ago. Hell, he could barely remember who Luffy was, at that point. Any vague notion of leaving that room, that bed, for any reason, had vanished from his mind in an instant. The instant he'd laid eyes on her.

He would have been perfectly content to just lay there and watch her sleep, listen to her breathing, the slow rise and fall of her chest. Perfectly, eternally content, until he realized:

He had… other options, now.

He'd slid up behind her, gathering her in his arms as he pulled her in close, lips just behind her ear as he took a deep breath, intoxicating himself with the scent of sakura blossoms.

"Robin-chan…" he'd muttered. He could have left her undisturbed, let her sleep, sure, but they had now crossed a threshold that he'd never be able to come back from; he was now utterly and completely incapable of being anywhere near her without having his hands all over her.

Robin had lightly groaned, thinking she could try to turn around a bit, in an effort to keep this sleep-disturber at bay, before realizing that she'd already been turned around, and she was covered in familiar, juxtapositionally soft, strong hands. She turned around to face him, eyes still closed as she softly smiled, reaching up to affectionately touch his cheek, before her hand lazily slumped back down, traveling over his neck and chest.

"Morning already…?" she'd mumbled, still half-asleep. For some reason, she wasn't sure she wanted to open her eyes. Perhaps she was worried that, if she had, then this person touching her might disappear, like looking too closely at a mirage in the desert.

He chuckled as he took her hand and kissed her fingers, " 'Fraid so."

"Says who, exactly…?"

"Says the sun, pretty sure."

She huffed, defiantly nuzzling her face into his chest, "The sun… what a farce… who died and put him in charge, anyway…"

He kissed the top of her head and grinned. If Drunk Nico Robin was his favorite Nico Robin, Sleepy-Sarcastic Nico Robin was a close second. "Trust me, I don't like it anymore than you do."

"Oh?" She rolled onto her back, stretching the sleep out of her limbs. "What an odd thing to say, considering the fact that… You decided to wake me up at this ungodly hour, so… you know, could've fooled me…" finally, she'd opened her eyes to deliver a very sly, sideways glance, and was relieved to see this "mirage" was no mirage at all.

He laughed, once more reminded of his regrets in taking so long to realize how much fun she could be. "Nande? Way too early in the morning for that kinda' sass, Robin-chan~" And with that, he pounced on her, determined to punish her for this most serious transgression. In an instant, he was covering her neck, collarbone, and shoulders in kisses, smirking against her skin as his nimble fingers mercilessly tickled her.

Robin was crimson as she'd laughed. "Ch-chotto matte, I'll take it back, I swear…! I didn't mean… anything… by it…" she cackled. "Yamete…!"

Sanji had just been about to ask her if she'd learned her lesson.

And that's right about when Nami arrived, with her chaos-inducing knock.

"Robin? Daijoubu ka?"

Robin was so startled that she subconsciously bloomed arms and literally threw Sanji off of her in an instant, sitting completely upright in bed as she covered herself with a sheet..

"Mmhm, yes, I'm fine."

Sanji had landed on the floor and was absolutely petrified. He didn't even want to breathe, just in case.

"You sure? Your note had me kind of worried."

"Et-tou… I… I haven't been getting much sleep. That must've been it."

"Oh, that's right… but you're feeling better, now? Am I good to come in?"

"Ah… yes, maybe in five minutes?"

This was enough to knock Sanji out of his petrification. Five minutes?! he incredulously mouthed at her. He didn't even know where his goddamn pants were and she'd just given him five minutes.

I don't know, I panicked! Robin frantically mouthed back, helplessly shrugging.

"Sounds goo–"

In his panic to try and find all of his clothes, Sanji very loudly rammed his head into the nightstand. "Son of a fu–" he hissed, before stopping himself as he realized he was about to blow his cover.

"You sure you're alright in there?"

Her eyes widened at Sanji. "Mmhm. That was… my… books! Sorry, they fell out of bed again."

"Oh, of course, my semi-frequent 4am alarm," she teased.

Nami could hear Luffy desperately whining out Sanji's name at the top of his lungs in the distance, and it reminded her: "Before I go, would you happen to know where Sanji-kun might be hiding?"

Robin's face paled. Impossible. She can't know. Can she…? "Hiding? I'm not sure what you mean," she replied with a shaky voice.

For the second time that morning, Nami raised a curious eyebrow. It was a very… strange… response to a pretty mundane question. "Well, he's late for breakfast, Luffy-kun just accosted me trying to find him. I wasn't sure where to tell him he should look."

Robin breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she was just overthinking things again. "Oh! Have you… tried the crow's nest? He might have had lookout and fallen asleep there."

"I haven't, but that's a good point! I'll go make Luffy-kun climb up there and check. Be back in five!"

And with that, Robin collapsed back into her bed, in catatonic disbelief that she actually got away with all of that.

"Shit," Sanji mumbled as he put on his tie in front of the vanity. "I can't believe that worked." He was grinning despite how terrified he'd been mere moments ago. Few things on this earth actually scared him, and Nami's intellect was one of them.

"I was just thinking that," she replied, laughing as she sat at the side of the bed, looking for something to wear. Robin knew just as well as Sanji did how smart Nami was. It wouldn't have been a stretch to say she was the smartest person on the Sunny, Robin included. If there was any member of the crew that either of them ever had to be… concerned… about, it was Nami, no contest.

"Really thought I'd blown it for a sec, too," he was slowly scanning the room, looking for his smokes as buttoned up his suit jacket.

"God, So did I," she replied, still laughing as she brought his pack of cigarettes to him from the nightstand. "Speaking of… how's your head?" she softly placed her hand on the spot where he'd hit it, fingers under his hair, some concern in her eyes and she looked it over.

"Y'know… it's funny… suddenly I don't feel a thing…" his voice trailed off as he leaned in, brushed his lips against hers and–

"'Five minutes,' remember?" she interjected as she placed a hand on his chest and leaned away, raising an eyebrow as she smiled.

"Wakatta, wakatta, I'm nearly outta your hair, don't worry," he winked, hiding his disappointment behind his trademark smirk. It was something of a miracle how the mere sight of Robin was enough to make Sanji forget about the pure, unadulterated fear he'd just been gripped with, seconds ago. As soon as they were alone again, he'd gone right back to not giving a single, solitary shit about breakfast, the crew… any of it. For Sanji to pay no mind to something that was so integral to his entire being, his cooking… well, it wasn't something he'd ever imagined could happen. Not in a million years.

And yet, here he was.

He surveyed the room a final time, just to be sure he didn't miss anything. "You coming to breakfast?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it." Long gone were the days where she rarely, if ever, ate with the rest of the crew, after all.

He smiled and leaned in, leaving a quick kiss at the corner of her lips. "I'll send one of the guys to come get you and Nami-san when it's ready." He opened the door and paused there for a few moments before shutting it again and turning back.

"Forget som–?"

He went straight for Robin, holding her face in his hands, fingers laced through her dark hair, and his lips collided with hers in a very sound, deep, thorough kiss.

He threw his hands up in surrender, grinning as he proclaimed "Already gone~!" while an exasperated (yet still smiling…) Robin implored him to leave before they lost any more time.

Robin hadn't gotten the chance to get the question out, but Sanji had, indeed, forgotten something.

Nami's cocktail sat on the table, completely undisturbed from the night before.