Fic: Like Steel for Chocolate, Chapter 4
Title: Like Steel for Chocolate
Author: Maldoror
Rating: Up to light R
Pairing: SanZo principally, as well as a secondary Luffy/Usopp (there's no particular significance to the direction of those slashes.) A third pairing crops up briefly, but I'll scar surprise you with that when it appears ^_^
Warning: Big fat massive SPOILERS for various episodes up to manga ep. 440. I also play fast and loose with the OP-verse physics, introducing something that may or may not be alchemy or faint sympathetic magic.



Summary: Sanji's cooking has reached a whole new level. It's almost uncanny. Especially when his thoughts and emotions somehow get into the mix along with the rest of the ingredients.






AN: Posted at the eleventh hour! I'm off on my weekend break as we speak, but I thought you guys would like this before I leave.



Chapter 4: The Secret Ingredient



Sanji cleaned up the kitchen and put breakfast on the table like an automaton. His crewmates filed in right on cue. Franky, Robin-chan and Nami-san sat down at the table which had been scrubbed to within a breath of its varnish coating. Chopper hopped up to his seat on the bench after smoothing down a patch of fur that kept fluffing out on his back. Nobody reached for the food. They were all looking at him, except for Nami-san who was glaring at breakfast in a suspicious manner that wrung Sanji's heart.

He barely had the time to register the pain when Zoro walked in, dressed in the clothes he'd permanently borrowed from some Galley-la sap. He looked perfectly unaffected, as if he wasn't about to sit down at the table where he and Sanji had felt each other up last night with all their nakama watching. The man had steel composure that put his swords to shame. Or, more likely, Zoro truly didn't give a damn what the others thought. He seemed to have something on his mind. No doubt pondering whether he should kill Sanji outright or just castrate him a little.

Following on Zoro's footsteps was Luffy, who barged in shouting, "Wow, I'm hungry!" He was halfway to the table in a single bound, but stopped as if he'd hit a wall and looked around, head finally rotating on his neck all the way until he'd examined every corner of the kitchen. "Oh? Hey, I'll be right back. Sanji, make sure there's food left for me, okay?!"

Five minutes later, he tumbled back into the kitchen dragging a petrified Usopp, red from the back of his ears to the tip of his nose. "Let's eat!"

"Let's not," said Nami, and then blinked at Zoro who'd reached for a bowl of beef congee. He had to dodge Luffy's attempt to grab it first. "What are you lunkheads doing?!"

"Eating," Zoro answered, in the voice he reserved for painfully obvious questions. Luffy echoed with a muffled "Hmm-mm!", face buried in cold cuts.

"Those are leftovers from yesterday's breakfast, by the looks of it, so that should be fine. Just as long as we avoid last night's soba," Robin said. "And I believe there's something we need to discuss with our cook." Franky nodded, as did Nami and Chopper. "We've been comparing notes and reflecting on the odd events on board this past week. I suspect you've also been thinking as well, Sanji-san?" Robin asked, all demure and sympathetic, which only made it worse.

Sanji certainly had. In hindsight, a lot of things had become disturbingly obvious, though he was damned if he knew why. He stuffed his hands in his pockets helplessly, a curtain of bangs hiding his expression. What the hell could he say to defend himself?

"What have you been droppin' in the dishes, man?" Franky seemed to find all this amusing. "Aphrodisiacs?"

Sanji winced.

"Don't be bloody stupid. Sanji would never tamper with food. He worships the stuff."

Everybody turned to stare at Zoro, who stopped eating the congee to stare back.

"What?" he said, in a voice that normally came with a bandana tied around his forehead.

Nobody answered. Sanji received the same 'you got somethin' to say about it?' look as the rest.

"Franky's joking, Sanji-kun, nobody seriously believes you did this on purpose," said Nami, and even though she still sounded cross, the look she leveled at Sanji was perfectly open and honest. "And it's pretty obvious you got caught up in it too. But you have to admit, there's something freaky going on."

Sanji nodded wretchedly.

"Think back on what you've cooked recently," Franky said, seriously now. "Is there anything that you added - like possibly spoiled food or mushrooms that could explain all this crazy shit?"

But Sanji was already shaking his head before their shipwright could finish. What did Franky think Sanji had spent the last hour desperately racking his brains over?

"It could be something very subtle," Robin murmured. "Such as ergot in the flour?"

"No," Sanji said simply. "I can't explain what happened, but...the ingredients are fine. If they weren't, I'd have noticed."

"I'm sure Sanji's right, because not everybody was affected, and there were too many variations," said Chopper. He was still battling fur that kept fluffing out - every time he smoothed a patch down, some other tuft would stick up - but his expression was entirely scientific. "Say something had been added - by accident of course, Sanji, I know that - then that would mean people would react more according to how much they ate, but-"

"-but Luffy wasn't all that bothered, instead of having his head pop like a balloon after each meal," Zoro concluded between bites.

"Yeah," Nami muttered, "considering how much he gobbles down, that's saying a lot. His empty skull's usually the most affected by any mental stuff thrown at him anyway."

"Hey!" said Usopp, coming out of his semi-trance with a start, before cringing and going red. Redder, that is. But everybody else had echoed various declinations of agreement with the statement, including Luffy, though it was possible their captain hadn't quite understood what he was agreeing with.

"Very true. Instead, Luffy-san has seemed relatively unaffected each time." Robin was obviously off in Happy Intellectual land. "The exact nature of the reactions and their intensity have varied widely according to individual...It's not coercion, it's more like resonance. It brings certain feelings that match Sanji-san's to the surface, as long as something resembling that feeling is there. While on other occasions, the food itself is the only thing affected, and behaves strangely."

"Lobsters," Nami-san muttered.

"The effect seems to correlate with the strength of the feelings instead of the dosage," said Chopper enthusiastically, off in the same place Robin was. "I've been thinking hard about it, and if Sanji doesn't know where it came from, I can at least tell you that no chemical compound can possibly do that."

"But then what is it?!" Nami snapped, obviously not entertained by the cerebral challenge.

"I don't know. Isn't it great?! This may be an entirely new phenomenon!" Chopper burbled. Sanji was too relieved that his nakama believed him innocent of a gross crime against their friendship and the holy art of cooking to care that he was being eagerly described as a phenomenon.

"Maybe it's caused by the Triangle?" Zoro suggested, still acting way too unconcerned by all this.

"We've only been sailing in the Triangle for two days," Nami pointed out.

"Maybe it's because he's improved his fighting skills a lot!" Chopper said brightly, smoothing down a cowlick of fur on his nose. "Wouldn't the arts of cooking and combat sort of go together? For Sanji?" he added a bit more uncertainly when he noticed the incredulous stares.

"That could be an explanation," Robin mused. "Or perhaps this gift has been with him all along, steadily growing along with his abilities. Sanji-san is usually a levelheaded person, particularly when he cooks, and he derives great satisfaction from it. I've noticed how I often feel content or more relaxed after one of his meals which, I might add, have been getting better and better since I've come on board."

Sanji opened his mouth, either to mumble in stunned gratitude, or to point out that any cook's food should have that effect-

And it was as if Zeff was suddenly right there, grumbling in his ear. "You're going to cool that head of yours off before you cook in my kitchen, eggplant. A mediocre chef can do what he wants, but a real chef never cooks when he's angry."

- never cook when you're angry...

"Both theories are valid, but they don't explain why the effect has suddenly become so pronounced and volatile. Tell me, Sanji-san...did anything happen a few days ago? Something that would make you more emotional than usual?" Robin was phrasing it like a question, but the way she was looking at Zoro and Sanji, she was only being polite.

The silence hung there like a noose. What am I being coy about, Sanji wondered, they saw us tongue-wrestle right there on that table.

'-but it's not going to happen!'

Oh yeah. That was why. Sanji stared at the galley floor where they'd made love last night. It'd be nice to think he at least had the memories, but that was bullshit. Memories were inert, they didn't go anywhere, they didn't breathe and laugh and gasp when touched in a certain way; all memories could do were taunt him with what was never going to happen again and clutter up the kitchen floor where he was going to have to work day in and day out.

"Well, no matter," Robin murmured, and she and Nami stood up in synch. "Hopefully now that we've uncovered the problem, our next meals-"

"It won't happen again," Sanji said, looking away towards a corner of the kitchen. "I swear it." He'd rip his heart out before letting his nakama come under the evil influence of his emotions ever again. Ripping his heart out was probably going to be a necessary step anyway. Five days. Only five fucking days since he thought he might have found 'someone special' in Zoro and almost instantly dismissed the notion and fooled himself into thinking it was something he could ignore, and now-...Oh yeah, this was going to be a fun trip in the months to come.

The girls were already at the kitchen door. They nodded and smiled at him, a tiny drop of sunshine in the gloom, and then they were gone. Chopper, Usopp and Franky also stood up. Luffy continued to eat. Sanji wondered if their captain had actually paid attention to anything that had been said up to this point.

"C'mon, Luffy," Usopp muttered. "We have to talk."

"Hmmrf shure, 'bout what?"

Usopp looked like he was enjoying the prospect of talking about what had happened as much as Sanji was going to, and if Sanji had any room left for a little more guilt at this point, he'd kick himself for what he'd apparently done to Usopp and Luffy, and Sanji could kick damn hard.

"Stuff. Come on."

"Letsh finnish th'food firsht," Luffy managed to say through several mouthfuls extending his cheeks.

Usopp stared at him with a look of defeat. Because the food might have revealed it and egged it on, but that didn't mean that the feeling Usopp had stumbled onto wasn't real, or painful.

"It's not like I've got anything left to hide," he finally muttered, turning away. "So...yeah, I'm sorry I, um, did that last night. I wasn't myself. Forget about it, okay? It won't happen again." He walked towards the door, head angled so nobody could see his expression.

Luffy stopped eating so abruptly that Sanji supposed a badly placed fishbone was involved. But then their captain swallowed his food in one gulp, pounded his chest once and aimed a rare frown at Usopp's retreating back. "Why not?"

"Why not...what?" Usopp asked, slowing and looking back reluctantly. "Um, say, can we talk about this-"

"I liked fooling around. I want to do it again."

"-outside," Usopp choked, going scarlet. "You- no-you- Luffy, it wasn't- you didn't-..." Usopp gave the interested audience a look halfway between pleading and resentful, but nobody seemed ready to leave. The only nakama Usopp might have guilt-tripped out of that kitchen at that point was Sanji, and the latter owed a greater debt towards Zoro. Zoro, having finished the congee, was picking his teeth and obviously not going anywhere, so neither was Sanji.

"Look, I remember damn well what happened last night," Usopp snapped, "and it was me who- I mean- you never- you never were all that interested. I mean, you did get interested once I- oh god. But you weren't the one who jumped me, you never- you were never affected by any of this, just like they said, even though you eat ten times more than we do! It was just- You don't have any feelings for me, and I don't-"

"Of course I do," said Luffy, looking a little hurt. Luffy looking hurt had the stopping power of a bullet, because it happened so rarely. Even Usopp stuttered to a dead halt for a few seconds - and it occurred to Sanji fleetingly that the only other time he'd seen Luffy lose that sunny boneheaded countenance of his, Usopp had also been involved...

"You...have feelings...for- No, I don't mean buddies, damn it!"

"I know what you're talking about, idiot." Luffy's face had that look of innocent wisdom only he had ever mastered. "I thought you liked Kaya, and you just wanted to be friends with me, and that was okay because I like being friends, and fooling around just never came up. But if you like me even more than that, that's a whole lot better," he declared with a bright smile, which then transmuted into the kind of scowl that suspected Usopp had a pork joint hidden on his person and was holding out on his captain. "Why don't you want to make out again? I thought you had fun. I did."

Usopp stared, eyes glazing like he'd been hit with a large hammer. There seemed to be a lot of that going around.

Zoro lounged back, hands behind his head and chair idly balanced on two legs. "Chopper?"

Their doctor had been examining all this with scientific interest; Sanji had to suppose that now that there was a 'phenomenon' involved, their doctor was insulated from shock and mortification. "Yes?"

"You and Robin said the food brings emotions the person already has deep inside to the surface. So say that Sanji fed someone who does not keep anything at all inside but wears his heart and everything else on his sleeve at all times, would you expect any particular reaction? One that would actually be out of the norm?"

Chopper looked intrigued. "No idea. Though...Robin seems a good deal more, um, self-knowledgeable than us, and she showed little to no reaction. Involuntary reaction, that is. Whereas you and Sanji-"

"Oi," Sanji muttered, giving their doctor - but still emergency food ration in a pinch - a look that dared him to finish that example out loud, go on, try it.

A long silence ensued. Usopp stared at Luffy. Luffy stared back for half a minute, then started eating again. He'd nearly polished off the whole table. Sanji absently reminded himself to set an early lunch, because Luffy and Zoro were the only ones to have had breakfast. There was no doubt their captain would be hungry again by then.

Usopp looked terminally confused, and who could blame him; there were a lot of really big 'ifs' implied here, as well as the wildcard effect of Sanji's food, but...maybe Usopp had learned something these past few weeks, because this time, he didn't run away.

"Um...Luffy...we don't really know...kinda confused myself...coulda just been the food...but...um...next time we make landfall...do you...maybe...want to go out? With me? Alone? I mean, together? Alone together I mean. With just me. And you."

Luffy tipped the last bowl of pork and rice into his face and beamed. "Shure!"

Usopp nodded to himself as if surprised he'd had the guts to say that without drowning it in bombast or bolting for the door. He was thoughtful as he walked out without a further word. Chopper followed him, muttering about combs and static cling. Luffy followed on their heels, obviously looking forward to a brand new day full of adventure now that he was adequately fueled. Franky was the last, stopping in the doorway.

"I was joking about the drugs earlier, man. I haven't known you long, but I can already tell you're a good bro, you wouldn't do that to family. But can I say: hot damn! You're the best and most hellacious cook in the world! What an effect! Definitely Super! Hey, is there any of that soba left?"

Then Sanji and Zoro were alone.

Zoro was still tipped back in his chair. He put a foot against the bench and gave it a small shove away from the table, an obvious invitation.

Sanji was already talking before his rear end made contact with the wood. "I'm sorry, I know you're not going to forgive me anyway, and you shouldn't, hell, I'm not going to forgive myself either, but I am sorry, I know you didn't want- you know I'd never do anything to get between you and your dream or distract you or- or force-"

"I know," Zoro said with a shrug, his chair legs thudding back to the floor as he reached over, grabbed Sanji by the open collar and hauled him into a rough kiss.

"Muwhaaa!?" said Sanji, and then managed to jerk his mouth out of reach. "What the fuck did you do that for, you shitty bastard?! I was trying to apologize and put it behind us and you go and do that, what are you doing, are you looking for a fight?!"

Zoro scowled, hand still fastened around Sanji's lapels. "Do you want me to answer any of that drivel?"

"Why the hell did you do that? You don't want this!"

The statement was meant to be firm and cutting. It came out mainly angry and rather hurt.

Zoro heaved a big, annoyed sigh that managed to sound apologetic when put through the marimo-filters, though one had to know Zoro very well to catch that. "Look, I know what I said the other day; that you were distracting me and that I didn't want that, but I was really angry, okay? That was your fault, by the way."

"No it was yours," Sanji immediately countered. "You're the one who flipped me off and got me mad while I made the bread."

Their faces a foot apart, he could actually hear Zoro's teeth grind. "...Cook...can you shut your big yap for just one minute?"

"No," Sanji said on principle.

Zoro shook him by the collar, and spoke before Sanji could break away and kick him. "Shut up and listen. When I said I didn't want this a few days ago, I'd been going through months of this one-sided shit and yeah, it was distracting at times, and I resented that. A part of me was furious that you had the power to hurt me and confuse me, and you didn't know or care. But now you do know and care; you feel the same way. I watched you struggle with it too and I just realized last night, I don't want to see you go through months of this like I did. I don't care if you get roughed up in a fight, hell, I'll do it myself when you annoy me, because you're a tough bastard for all you're a lanky, trash-talking twit, but I don't want to see you get hurt where it can't be stitched up."

It turned out that Sanji could shut up for a minute. And gape. He could do that too.

"I think screwing our brains out last night helped make up my mind too, because that was fun," Zoro smirked, a candidly carnal expression that Sanji had only ever seen when Zoro faced some seriously badass opponents. Considering former context, it was rather unsettling, but it abruptly reminded Sanji that his food only seemed to unlock what was already there..."I can live without it if I have to, but I'd sure miss it. I bet it's good for endurance, too. Of course, getting into each other like that is going to be really distracting all over again. But that's our challenge to overcome. I got used to your flirting, your big mouth and wanting to kiss you every time we fight; we can get used to anything."

Sanji got rocked back and forth gently by his collar, as if to underline the next statement with added seriousness. "I can promise you one thing, Sanji; you won't ever compromise my dream. Because you don't want to, and I damn well won't let you, and same goes for you. Right? So, what do you say?"

"Oh, you mean I'm finally allowed to talk?" Sanji said, a little acidly. "Look- don't- it's not that simple, you idiot."

"It can be, but I'm sure you're gonna find a way of making it damn complicated."

Sanji made an exasperated sound, and then, as an afterthought, detached the bastard's hand from his collar. "The problem is that-...um...stop smirking and give me a minute here, I've had a long morning. It will be complicated if we hook up, because we don't actually get along all that well, and we're on a ship, you fucking numbnuts, we can't afford to- that's just- that's way too complicated."

Zoro shrugged. "Yeah, it could get messy, but this ship's been fine even when we fight on a regular basis, and it failed to sink last night because we boned each other instead. If things get ugly, we'll deal. If things get real ugly, Luffy will bang our heads together until we sort ourselves out. What's the other option anyway? Going around pretending we don't feel anything for each other now that we both know the score? If the last two days are anything to go by, that's what'd turn out to be really distracting. I'd rather face it head on. I'm sure it'll be rough at times, but at least it won't be boring, and this way we can have sex."

Sanji propped an arm up on his knees and let his forehead sink into his hand. "Right. Bonehead Logic. I'd forgotten."

Zoro's eyes narrowed, his primitive instincts informing him that he'd been insulted, but the higher mammal portion of the brain failing to kick in in time to catch it.

"You should be thanking me," Zoro said after a beat, "I'm saving you from your own undisciplined libido by the looks of things."

"Oi."

"It's sure that if we go around with our heads in the sand, your food's gonna get really weird-"

"My food is not-"

Zoro's smirk fastened on Sanji's lips mid-rant. The kiss was hot and hard, fingers pulling at blond hair, twisting Sanji's head around. Sanji made a mental note that next time Zoro interrupted him like that, the shitty swordsman would get a kick to the head, but because of the Soba Incident, he was willing to waive the cost this time.

The kiss played teeth against tongues, too hungry and fraught to calm down and melt together. A lick caught the corner of Sanji's mouth, a wet shudder of pleasure; he tilted his head so he could fasten their lips together properly, deepen it and go for the core...

Breath licked Sanji's lips as Zoro pulled back only as far as was needed to speak, harsh and curt. "We're going to find the All Blue, defeat Mihawk, fight for the One Piece alongside Luffy, and I pity the poor bastards who get in our way."

"We'll slaughter them," Sanji whispered against his lover's mouth.

"Damn right."

The bench scraped against the floor as Zoro pulled him closer, knees banging into knees. Sanji reached down and put his hand on Zoro's thighs to lean over and catch his mouth again. Zoro's grip on his waist steadied him, but it felt like the whole ship was slowly turning over, and when it finished rolling they'd be sailing on a course towards loads of complications and embarrassments, possible pain and pitfalls, and a whole lot of stupid fun and pleasure glimmering on the horizon like an elusive ocean...

"Ship ahoy- it's a ghost ship! Ghost ship straight ahead!" Chopper suddenly shouted. Sanji accidentally bit Zoro's lower lip as he jumped back a few inches.

"Ghost ship?" Franky grumbled - from just outside the kitchen porthole, the big lewd bastard. "Is it the real deal this time?"

"AGH IT'S FLOATING! THE KEEL'S NOT TOUCHING THE WAVES!"

"...I guess it is the real deal."

"Wow, Usopp, that was such a funny face you made there! Do it again!" Luffy shouted in delight - from just outside the starboard set of portholes. Sanji took a second to wonder how hard it was going to be to not get angry while cooking in the foreseeable future.

Zoro was smirking at him. Sanji felt his mouth twitch in response. Maybe it wasn't that complicated after all. It was certainly straightforward right this minute.

"Time to go to work, sounds like," Sanji murmured.

"Yep. I wonder if real ghosts can be kicked," Zoro added, with a parody of concern, "I don't want you to get hurt trying to fight them."

"I wonder if they can be cut. If they can't, just talk to them and watch their skulls implode."

"Huh-uh. Maybe they can't be killed at all and we're all screwed," Zoro said, bloodthirstily cheerful. "Only one way to find out. They could have a good sword on board."

"It's getting closer! It's getting closer, what do we do it's getting closer-"

"Don't panic, Chopper. Damn, I wonder how they're sailing when there's no wind?"

"AUGH! ON THE DECK! I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!"

"I SEE THEM TOO I SEE THEM TOO!"

"Will you two chill? Where's Luffy- oh no, not again. Luffy, come back! We need to figure out what the hell we're facing!"

It turned out that real ghosts were quite hard to harm, but could indeed be kicked. And cut. And pummelled. And electrocuted and shot and gored and- well, it was an interesting morning for everyone involved, particularly those without a pulse.



Robin took the glass of frosted lemon crush but refused to talk about last night's events, in a totally charming way. For his sanity's sake, Sanji hoped that what had happened after the Soba Incident was just a one-off thing, and that she and Franky would never have cause to use the Sunny's brand new Honeymoon Suite; a former small storeroom quickly retrofitted with a bed and lock which Franky had set aside 'for those who might need it', the dysfunctional, meddlesome punk.

Sanji distributed the lemon crushes to the rest of the goons in plain mugs, knowing he could have just as well used a bucket. The route back to the kitchen passed near the spot where Zoro was training in the sweltering heat; the ghosts this morning had not been strenuous enough for the big ape, and he was now on repetition twenty-thousand, or some other clinically insane number.

"Your drink is in the fridge, dumbass; it'd taste foul if it melted, and I have too great a respect for my cooking to let that happen while you pump your little muscles." Sanji didn't deign to even glance at the sheen of sweat over Zoro's bare back. At least, not more than once or twice.

"Thanks, pervert-cook, I needed a reminder that you have this deranged fascination for food." Zoro was looking at him over his shoulder even as he moved the weighted iron with a grunt of effort. His eyes seemed drawn to the way the faint breeze ruffled Sanji's bangs.

Sanji opened his mouth to retaliate, but it came to him that the way their lips were twitching upwards into involuntary smirks was making this less a trade of insults and more a game of verbal footsie, and it was excruciatingly embarrassing to be doing this in public with their nakama watching them curiously and slurping drinks. Time to leave before the mushy stuff got out of hand. Pray god the honeymoon period would be over soon and they could start trashing each other again like they meant it. At least while they were out on deck.

Finally Sanji was at liberty to take the frosted, sugar-decorated glass up to the tangerine grove. His Nami-swaaaaan looked a little dispirited in her sun-chair amongst the trees. She let him grovel at her feet for a while before waving away his apologies.

"Feelings for Franky?" Nami showed the extent of her vague-a-l'âme when she failed to hit Sanji over the head for the very suggestion. "Don't be ludicrous. I was just...I couldn't sleep...I just wanted to see what they were doing...But Franky- I mean, no."

"And what you feel for Robin-chan is perfectly sisterly," Sanji said, very gently and without the slightest hint of a question to embarrass her.

Nami scowled, the expression weak for her. Then she took the drink off the tray and sloshed it around in the glass. "You're right. Totally right, so you can pack that innuendo away, Sanji-kun, along with your undoubtedly steamy imagination. But...I guess I just wanted to have those feelings. Everybody else seemed to be falling for each other all over the place last night, and all I felt was annoyed. I...just wanted...to feel that for someone..."

"Nami-swann my sweet! You have to but say the word-" at which point Sanji's reflex romantic élan tripped over a rather large detail and fell flat on its metaphorical face. Ah yes. Black Leg Sanji was no longer a free man.

Nami rolled her eyes at his expression. "Yeah, that's right. You and Zoro. I was there, remember?"

Sanji did remember, despite a very decent attempt at repressing it. He was discovering all sorts of interesting fall-out from last night's Soba Incident, starting with Luffy asking him for sex advice right after this morning's battle, Chopper taking observation notes and measurements while Sanji prepared lunch, and the girls looking at him and giggling behind their hands in a lovely, dimpled way that had never, ever happened when he'd been trying to elicit that reaction on a daily basis.

"Humf. I think you two deserve each other," Nami said, without qualifying that statement. But her gaze became dull again and she was still staring down at her drink. "I just wish...I just hope I find someone who will make me feel that way one day..."

She blinked her beautiful eyes but didn't pull away from his fingers as he lifted her chin.

"You will." She opened her mouth, but he shook his head. "Trust me. You will, Nami-chan. And that man - or woman - will be the luckiest person in the world. Now, drink that up, it's getting warm."

"Okay," Nami whispered, then focused abruptly on the lemon crush with a highly suspicious look.

"N-no! There's nothing in it! I mean- not that I-" Sanji was waving his hands about in horror. "I wasn't thinking about a thing! Mind completely blank! As empty as the marimo's, I swear! I-"

Nami rolled her eyes. "'Marimo'. Oh, Sanji-kun, give me a break." She sighed and lifted the lemon crush. "I hope it was happy thoughts..."

"Only happy thoughts from now on, Nami-chan," Sanji answered just as softly, and leaned forward to drop a - regrettably brotherly - kiss on her forehead. She giggled and shoved him away, but only after he was done. And then she took a big swallow of the lemon crush and grinned.

"Ah, that's nice! It's so hot again. The weather should break tomorrow, and we'll finally get some real wind in our sails -"

"Hey Usopp! Want to go for a date in the crow's nest?"

Luffy was just below the tangerine deck, though the whole ship had heard that overly loud suggestion, and people back in Water 7 were wondering if they should see a doctor for that distant ringing noise in their ears.

"Whaaat?" Usopp wheezed.

"It's your turn on watch, right? And you said we should try to go on a date when we can be alone, and if we go up there we'll be alone, right?"

Sanji and Nami had wandered over to the railing to watch Usopp's face go red. He was slowly getting habituated, because Sanji only put that shade at 'Terra Cotta', though Nami argued it was still 'Lobster', or at the very least 'Vermillion'.

"Oh boy," said Sanji, lighting a cigarette and watching the circus, "Usopp's opened himself a can of worms."

"Oh boy," Nami-san echoed with a return of her old fire, "are you ever one to talk!"





Sanji argued for days on end with the wit of a lawyer and the passion of a poet. Now that he knew about the effect, it was no longer going to be a problem! Zeff had taught him to fight and to cook in the same state of inner serenity, his entire being focused on the now. So maybe he'd screwed up a bit during that regrettable episode a couple of weeks ago- okay, okay, he'd screwed up a lot ("and you can stop throwing that in my face, you bloody marimo, it was your fault too, if you hadn't- I'm so sorry, Nami-swan, of course we'll stop arguing!")

But his point was still valid: Sanji's emotions were now strictly under control whenever he cooked. Nobody had suffered any odd effects from his food since then, right?

Or at least, nobody had mentioned any effects. Though Sanji's overall mood was pretty damn good these days; it was possible his nakama just didn't mind…

Whatever the reason and despite Sanji's arguments, the shitty sign stayed nailed to the kitchen door, a perpetual reminder of his small lapse in control; a sign that was bound to puzzle and confound any invading Marines who might make it that far.



'By Captain's orders, but everybody else says so too

it is FORBIDDEN to make Sanji think too hard while he cooks

Also, Zoro has to keep his shirt on when Sanji is in the kitchen

signed MONKEY D LUFFY PIRATE KING ONE DAY'



Bastards...



TBC...


Link to Epilogue

Just the epilogue left, a small snippet of a future time, date unknown, and as much about nakama as about Sanji, Zoro and cooking...Out this Sunday.

And HUGE thanks for all the great reviews, because they made the week from hell survivable =_=