Chapter 18: Return

Ichiji wanted to kick Yonji. The idiot was walking around as though he'd managed to conquer all of North Blue by himself. It was only one country. One exceptionally wealthy and previously nearly impenetrable country, but still. Yonji may have come up with a good plan, but he never would have had the opportunity to think of it or execute it without the navigator. She was the brilliant one. If only she weren't so annoying.

And it wasn't as though Yonji would keep his title of being the first to conquer a country with Nami's maps for long. With the information Ichiji had gained of the sea around Fen, he would soon have that country conquered and Quell would follow shortly.

~.~

"Hurry, Prince Sanji, the time to act is now!"

Sweat beaded on Sanji's brow at the pressure and the audience he had. Still, keeping cool under fire was one of the first things Judge had trained his sons to do. With one smooth motion, he turned the stove off and removed the pan of sautéing onions from the burner. Next, he grabbed a spatula and spooned the onions onto the chicken. He couldn't keep the onions in the pan, or else the heat from the pan would continue to cook them.

The room of assistant chefs was silent as the head chef looked over Sanji's work. Sanji hadn't cooked the chicken. After ruining too many main dishes, the head chef had finally worked up the nerve to politely suggest that Sanji start with the basics and then move his way up, as others learning to cook did. For this meal, Sanji had only been in charge of the onions.

With a hand to his chin, the head chef nodded slowly. "The onions have a nice translucent color, though they're a little overdone for this dish. You can tell because of how limp they are."

Sanji sagged at the criticism, but the assistant chefs rallied around him, several chiming in with encouraging words.

"It's an improvement, Prince! You should be glad of that."

"You're progressing well. It took me much longer to be able to learn how to sauté onions properly, and you spend a lot less time on cooking than I do."

"I would be happy to eat those onions. As the chef said, the onions may be overdone for this dish, but they would work well in other dishes."

"All right, all right," Sanji waved off. "That's enough of that. Thank you, but I know I still have a long way to go." They were finally on their way back to the main castle. It had been a month since Sanji had seen Nami and he was surprised by how much he missed her. On the one hand, he never wanted her near the violence of conquering a country, but, on the other hand, he wished she could have come with him and been close by.

At least he'd been able to spend some time cooking. He still wasn't good enough to make anything worthy of Nami eating, but he was at least moving in that direction. Some of what he made was edible now. And the chef and assistant chefs had gotten used to him hanging around when he had spare time, so were more willing to share their tips and tricks with him.

It took a while for them to warm up to him and stop being afraid and silent whenever he was in the room. Sanji was sure the change happened due to the diligence he gave to their words. When they realized that he respected them as the experts and that he had no intention of dictating anything to them, they'd opened up a lot.

Luckily, Niji didn't seem to have noticed that Sanji was slipping off to the kitchens whenever he had spare time. In the back of his mind, Sanji remembered how furious his father had been when he'd spent time cooking for mice and his mother. But that was a long time ago, before Sanji proved himself a successful general for the Germa 66 army. Surely, even if his activities were discovered, things would be different now.

"Um, Prince Sanji?" One of the assistant chefs began. His tone was more timid than what any of the other assistants had used with Sanji in days. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes," Sanji said, cocking his head as he stared at the man.

"Um, you're one of the princes of the Germa Kingdom and a general of Germa 66. You will never need skills like cooking in your life…Why do you want to learn?"

Sanji felt his face heating up. No way could he tell anyone that it was because he wanted to make a good meal for his bride that she would enjoy. "Oh, I just wanted to expand my abilities," he lied. "I wanted to learn something outside of war tactics, fighting, and stealth. That's all."

A round of admiration went through the chefs that Prince Sanji would take the time to learn such a useful and vital skill even though he didn't have to. He was also pretty sure he heard mutters about him being better than his brothers for wanting to learn something that many royals would believe to be beneath them.

He was too relieved over them buying his lie to be happy that for perhaps the first time in his life, he had been complimented over his brothers.

~.~

When Sanji arrived back at the castle, he asked the first servant he saw if Nami was there. He was relieved to hear she was and immediately sought her out. He wasn't sure what she would think of him going to her, but he'd missed her. He hoped she had missed him too.

He was surprised to find her in a courtyard speaking to Reiju, but had no problem interrupting them. He couldn't imagine what Reiju would want to talk to Nami about, though perhaps she appreciated having another woman around to speak to.

Nami was facing away from him, so Reiju spotted him before Nami. He cleared his throat and Nami turned to look at him, her eyes lighting up for a moment when she saw him. That look almost made their month-long separation worth it.

He smiled and held out his hand toward her. "I was hoping I could steal my fiancé away." Though he didn't say it as a demand, he didn't really mean it as a request. Reiju had probably had more time to be around Nami than he had. A man deserved time to be with his fiancé, especially if he was still getting to know her.

"Of course," Reiju said. "I would hate to get between you two." She waved to Nami before walking away.

Sanji still had his hand held out and was starting to get nervous when Nami finally took it. He breathed a silent sigh of relief, but then wasn't sure what to do next. He'd sought Nami out because he'd wanted to see her and talk to her, but hadn't had any actual plans in mind.

"Um, did your voyage go okay?" He asked. What a stupid question. Obviously, she was safe, which was the most important thing, and since she'd had to go with Ichiji, that hadn't been a guarantee.

Her eyes darkened and she pulled her hand from his as she started walking. He followed along beside her, hoping he hadn't upset her. He didn't see how he could have since he only asked how things went, but maybe things had gone poorly.

"It was fine," she said, her voice deadpan. "Reiju took me shopping in Fen and bought me some clothes. Ichiji seemed pleased with what we found. Then Yonji and I went back to Storm Pass after I returned and he took over Yashta."

"He what?" Sanji asked, freezing in his tracks.

"He took over Yashta," Nami repeated. "He hatched a plan for me to lead a fleet through Storm Pass, then he tricked the royal family and took over the country in two days."

Sanji was stunned. Germa 66 worked fast, but 2 days was a record even for them. How had Yonji managed that? He pushed his jealousy out of the way when he realized that Nami was clearly not happy.

"What's wrong?" He asked. It sounded like everything had gone fine while they'd been separated, so there must be something she wasn't telling him.

"Nothing," she said, her voice still deadpan. "How did your campaign go?"

"Fairly well. We were able to subdue the country and the rebel forces in a month and leave our reagents ruling in our place."

"Rebel forces?" Nami scoffed. "Do you know what that word means?"

Sanji frowned and stopped, grabbing Nami's arm to halt her as well. "Of course I know what it means. Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm well versed in everything to do with war."

"No, I don't think you really are," she argued. "I think you're versed in your father's twisted version of everything to do with war. Rebel forces are people who fight against the established government, Sanji. The people fighting you were protective forces, the rightful army of the country you invaded, fighting you to protect their people was their job and duty."

"We are the rightful government," he argued. Maybe Nami didn't know the history of North Blue since she was raised in East Blue. "We're working to take back what is ours."

"Yours? Your family conquered land belonging to others centuries ago and then lost it centuries ago. What you're trying to take isn't land that rightfully belongs to you or ever really belonged to you. You're working to steal land that belongs to others and never rightfully belonged to your family. You're no better than pirates. You have no more right to take over these countries than the Arlong Pirates do to take over East Blue."

"The land belongs to whoever is powerful enough to take it and maintain it," Sanji snapped back. "If these countries aren't good enough to prevent us from taking them over, then they're better under our rule. We will make a far better nation out of North Blue then each of those miniscule countries are by themselves. And what right do you have to criticize our supposedly piratical life when Arlong was only able to take over East Blue because of you and your maps?"

Even with his enhanced reflexes, he didn't see the slap coming, but he did see Nami walking away after. He stared after her, confused and angry. What was her problem? Why was she so upset and how could Judge want one of his sons to marry someone who was so clearly against their mission?

~.~

Reiju sagged against the back of a pillar, disappointed. She was glad she'd stayed to watch Nami's and Sanji's interaction, but it certainly hadn't turned out as she'd hoped. On the bright side, it looked like Nami was probably a good person who didn't want to be helping the Germa Kingdom any more than Reiju herself did…On the other side, Nami appeared to hate Sanji for being a part of conquering other countries. That certainly wouldn't help him rediscover the softer side he used to have.

She sighed. It had always been a ridiculous hope, but she couldn't help still wishing for it to come true.