Chapter Twenty Five: A Heart Warming Conversation

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You purse your lips in dismay as Sanji sets a plate of dessert in front of you. It was beautifully crafted, with smooth white cream decorated in small fresh fruits and sprinkles. The dessert was just utterly breathtaking, and would have been utterly delicious. Would have considered the fact that you weren't feeling very peckish at the moment.

"Here you are Y/n-chan. I hope you enjoy~"

The corners of your mouth twitched down a little as you deflated in your seat. He didn't call you by his usual nickname. Sure, you had asked him to treat you more so as an equal, but it was clear that Sanji wasn't his usual self. What in the world did you do to make him act this way? How can you fix the situation when you didn't know what it was?

You would ask Sanji personally, but you were scared. And there was the fact that he always tended to avoid areas where you were, or averted the conversation away from him whenever you tried to talk to him.

You knew you could always use your Haki and see what was wrong, but you felt that it was kind of an invasion of privacy. Like your Master said, it was best to solve problems with simple solutions, unless the problem required a complicated one. Haki wasn't a tool for you to use on just anyone.

There were boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, and you knew that if Sanji wanted you to know what was wrong, he would tell you. But he clearly wasn't.

So what could you do? How could you solve this situation without using Haki?

You poked your dessert absentmindedly with your fork.

Think Y/n, think! What has all those friendship animes, manga, and video games taught you? What has all your friendships taught you to deal with situations like this?

Thinking back on your friendships, you blanched. Those relationships were relationships with practically no bumps in the road. Katakuri and Mihawk practically let you do whatever you wanted, and Crocodile was always that tsundere who would also relent whenever it came to what you wanted.

Doflamingo liked to spoil you rotten, Smoker, well, you both had rekindled your friendship and- OH.

Your eyes widened. Smoker! You could use your rekindling as reference to now! Huh, but how exactly did you and Smoker make up...?

Sighing in defeat, you slumped over the table, causing all attention to be averted to you.

"Is everything okay, Y/n-chan?" Nami asked. Her chair screeched as she pushed it back, standing up as she made her way over to you. "You look like you've been in deep thought."

The sound of rustling paper caught your attention, and you saw that she had set down the newspaper she was reading so that she could place a hand on your back, rubbing it soothingly. You gave her a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry about it! I was just thinking about some people I know." Technically not a lie. Your gaze drifted to the circular window. "Besides, you guys should be preparing for Little Garden."

Nami nodded her head, widening her eyes slightly. "That's right. Have you been to Little Garden before? What's the topography like? Are there things we should watch out for?"

Sitting up slightly, you leaned your head on your non-dominant hand, your other using your fork to prod at your dessert. It was silent with only the small chink of the metal on the plate. Your eyes flickered to a soft gold color for a moment, causing her to hold her breath. One word left your lips.

"Bugs."

Shifting your head to the side, you let out another heavy sigh.

Nami raised her eyebrows, moving back to her seat and picking up the Newspaper once again. Holding it over her face, she leaned into Usopp. "Don't you think Y/n-chan's acting a bit weird?"

Everyone could only watch you with confused eyes as you continued to poke at your food absentmindedly. Your usually large appetite was gone. It's been ten minutes since Sanji set down the dessert in front of you, but you hadn't even eaten a single bite, only resorting to poking and pushing it around with uninterest.

Usopp felt his hands shake a little. Does he tell everyone what's been troubling you? Or does he keep quiet? He should keep quiet about this, shouldn't he? You seemed to want to solve the problem yourself, so...

"Definitely weird." Usopp and Nami looked back to Zoro who's eyes were narrowed onto your form. "Weird enough for Luffy to notice too."

Their gaze shifted to Luffy who had suddenly clung to you like a koala. There was a small pout on his lips as his eyes drifted from your serious and contemplative expression to your uneaten dessert.

There was worry and concern in his eyes as he pestered you.

"Y/n, are you going to eat that?"

Luffy poked your cheek with a small frown. "Aren't you hungry Y/n? Are you not going to eat? You should eat something! You're growing! And you need energy to explore the island with me! Don't you want to explore the island with me?"

"You can have it if you want, Luffy," you spoke up after his insistent pestering. "I'm not feeling hungry right now. Actually, I've been thinking about a few things. I just have this weird feeling that everything is not going to go how I think it's going to go."

Zoro paused, eyes widening slightly when he remembered something. He had been about to call out to you when Vivi had spoken.

"Ah, but I think you should eat, Y/n-chan!" she said. "You haven't eaten much since yesterday. You can't expect to function at your best when you're hungry!"

"I'll be fine," you spoke with a reassuring smile. "Besides! I trained for this too. I can go a week without eating and sleeping and still be in tip top shape!"

Nami shook her head, face palming. She smacks you lightly in the back of your head. "That's not healthy! Who's irresponsible enough to let you even do that? Not sleeping for a week or eating?! That's ridiculous!"

You shrugged your shoulders. "All part of training with Saka-chan I guess. He's a very intense individual. Very stoic too. But he's a bit of a tsundere too, so that's kind of funny. Ah, that's right. I haven't seen him in a while. It's been two years now maybe?"

Eyes shifting to the newspaper, you hummed. "Ah, if you're done with the newspaper, could you pass it to me please, Nami?" Nami froze a little, her hand gripping harder to crinkle the paper. She opened her mouth to speak, but Luffy happily spoke up, interrupting her.

"I'LL DO IT!" Ripping the paper from her hands, Luffy happily shoved the newspaper in your hands. You held onto it, pulling it towards you a little, but Luffy didn't let go.

Instead, he tugged it a little towards himself as his train of sight caught on to a small image on the paper.

"Heyy! That's Coby! Zoro! Look!" You tilted your head down to stare at the upside down image. Coby? In the image you could see two boys huddling together on a ship. And those coats- Those were marines. And standing right there with that familiar dog head...

That was...

"Grandpa?" You spoke under your breath in surprise. He was in the East Blue and you didn't even know about it?

"Coby?" Nami spoke in confusion. "Isn't that your friend that you were talking about the other day...?" Luffy nodded his head with a large grin.

"Hey hey! Y/n!" Luffy excitedly asked. "Read me the newspaper! I want to hear what it says!" You couldn't help but laugh a little, ruffling his hair.

"Okay okay." You shook the paper to get a flatter view, adjusting it with your hands. "Vice-Admiral Garp's warship has arrived at Navy Headquarters. It seems like this photo was taken during the ride on Reverse Mountain. Your friend Coby seems to be going on Reverse Mountain for the first time from the look on his face."

You shuddered a bit. "I can't blame him, though. Reverse Mountain is scary."

You purse your lips before laughing. "Well I guess that Grandpa for you, always taking the harder way instead of going through the Calm Belt."

"Whoa! So Coby has entered the Grand Line too!" He turned to face you with the brightest smile. "Oh yeah! You don't know who Coby is, do you? Coby was this guy that I met who accidentally got on a pirate ship when he tried to go fishing!"

Oof that's bad luck.

"-but his dream is to become a marine officer! So I beat up fat Alvida and then the two of us went and found Zoro!"

You nodded your head. "Well it's good that he's on a path to achieve his dreams- oh." You blinked in surprise when Sanji set down a steaming bowl of food in front of you. Your eyes sparkled at the familiar dish.

It was chicken noodle soup.

You smiled softly. Whenever you felt down or were sick, Mihawk had always been the one to cook it for you. It was kind of funny that since you had been feeling a little down, Sanji was the one to make it for you.

Sanji chewed on his cigar, watching you with a sigh. "Luffy and Vivi-san are right. You've barely touched any of your food since yesterday. You say you're not hungry, but you should eat some of this soup. It's light and should give you some energy for the rest of the trip."

Eyes flickering up, you couldn't help the bright smile that filled your expression.

Something twinged inside of Sanji as he adverted his eyes. Sanji felt incredibly guilty. He knew it was his fault. He knew that your loss of appetite had been because of him. So why were you looking so happy at him now, when he had hurt you? Why is it that you look at him with those bright eyes, as if disregarding his cold treatment towards you?

He watched as you hurriedly grabbed the spoon, dipping it into the soup. It was silent as all eyes were on you, quietly blowing on the liquid. He could see that you seemed more chipper than you had been before.

Why were you so easy to please? Why weren't you angry at him? Why did you have to make this harder than it needed to be?

"Thank you for the food!" you exclaimed, happily taking a small sip.

Your reaction was everything to Sanji, and he felt his heart break at the absolute happiness that was shown in your eyes. Except it suddenly soured as it felt as though something were stabbing him in the heart. That ugly sinking feeling in his chest that made him feel as though he were suffocating was unbearable.

Nami, meanwhile, had found herself narrowing her eyes at Sanji.

She wouldn't say she was the most observant person (well, she was, but only when it came to the weather), she could conclude a few things from the small interaction between you and Sanji.

1. Sanji clearly wasn't being the lovey dovey person he was towards you.

No pet names, no heart eyes, if anything though, it seemed as though he were holding back. Especially when earlier she caught him casting a few occasional glances out the window to you. He had seemed contemplative, serious even, but when you eventually did turn your head towards the kitchen, he would always get right back to work.

2. You didn't talk much to Sanji.

There were a few things that Nami knew very well from you. Your personality was pretty straight forward. You liked interaction between your friends. New people, you were a little hesitant with, but with your friends, it was easy to say that you were outgoing. Every morning she would always find you greeting her with a happy smile, asking her what kinds of things she needed help that day.

But right now... Your interactions with Sanji seemed to have dwindled to the minimum. Her eyebrows furrowed as you happily slurped your specially made soup.

It was because of him, wasn't it? Sanji did something to hurt your feelings. No. Nami shook her head slightly. Sanji wasn't the type of person to deliberately hurt your feelings. Something you did must have affected him somehow, and now Sanji was attempting to put his distance with you.

Regardless of what it was, it was clearly hurting you. And all Nami could see was that it was Sanji's own fault.

With a quiet thump, you set the empty bowl down on the table. It was silent as you stood up, newspaper in one hand, and began walking out of the room. No one made a move to stop you. No one except the captain himself.

"Y/n!!" he called out, running to hug you. "Let's hang out! Let's go sit on Merry's head together!"

You felt the blood drain out of your face.

"Ahaha... I-I'm not too sure...."

"Whaaa? You don't want to hang out with me?" he whined, giving you the puppy dog eyes. "Pleease~? I want to spend time with you!!"

After a few moments of contemplation, you gave in. Giving him a smile, you let Luffy slip his hand into your own, intertwining each other's fingers as he pulled out out the door.

"LET'S GO!"

And with that, the door slammed shut.

Nami took that chance to glare hard at Sanji. "Okay Sanji-kun, what the fuck was that." Nami practically seethed, her glare menacing as she regarded the chef coldly.

Zoro hummed, leaning back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

"I have to agree, what was that, shitty cook?" Zoro spoke, a stoic expression on his face. "Did you have a sudden realization that Y/n's too good for you?" he jabbed. But even then, Zoro knew that it was not the case.

A realization that you're too good for him would never stop Sanji from pursuing you. And who's to say that he would even realize it in the first place?

Usopp nervously looked between the three crewmates, a bead of sweat beginning to dribble down the side of his face. He wasn't so sure if he should be involved in this at the moment. Nami was terrifying alone, but even Zoro seemed a little pissed off, considering how stoic he was at the moment. It was chilling to see how protective the two were over you.

He gulped loudly. And if Luffy hadn't left to, what he assumed to be, make you feel better, he was sure that Luffy would have been even more terrifying. With how naive and oblivious Luffy tended to be, there was never a single detail or thing that he didn't notice when it came to you.

He had seen it first hand yesterday when Luffy had been distracted by you sitting by yourself in the middle of the deck, straying as far as you could from the railings, when he suddenly said that you hadn't eaten for a while.

Usopp had felt a little startled that the boy would actually bother to pay attention to what you did, especially when Luffy had hardly been around you in the first place. But no, it seemed as though he were aware of what you were doing. Eerily aware.

Now in the present, Usopp couldn't help but think that Luffy knew there was something going on between you and Sanji. It was only right, considering his past actions. Or maybe he was so focused on you he didn't notice the change in Sanji's behavior? Usopp shook his thoughts out of his head.

Whatever the fact may be, it was irrelevant at the moment, with the harsh, one-sided stare down between Sanji and Nami and Zoro. His gaze shifted over to a worried Vivi and Karoo. They didn't seem to be too aware of what was going on, but they knew enough to know that Sanji did something to upset you, and vice versa.

Sanji let out a sigh, slipping a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket. With a small metal click, he flicked the thing to life, bringing up to his cigarette to light it. Placing the lighter back into his pocket, he took a long drag.

"I didn't do shit," was all he said, moving behind the counter to clean up the plates.

"Bullshit," Zoro growled. "We can all see it. Hell, even Luffy can see it. What the fuck has gotten you so freaked out?"

Sanji's lips quivered slightly, before he angrily turned around. "Freaked out? You think I'm freaked out? I just fucking told you, I did nothing, so shut up before I make you."

It was clear that this was a topic that Sanji wasn't willing to speak of. Whatever the hell is going though his mind, it clearly wasn't a good one. Especially if it were enough to make him angry and distance himself away from you.

Nami let out a huff, angrily standing up abruptly. Only the loud screech of wood on wood was heard as the chair slowly fell backward with a thump. With a grit of her teeth, she stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. If Sanji wasn't willing to talk, then fine, he didn't have to. Though it peeved her slightly that he didn't call her her usual nickname either.

Just what was going on?

Vivi and Karoo nervously looked at the two men and Usopp, wondering if they should leave or stay. Most likely leave, considering the thick tension in the room. But how could they leave, leaving Usopp there by himself in the middle? Her eyes caught Usopp, and it was like a strange connection went between the two of them.

Usopp opened his mouth to nervously speak, "V-Vivi! Hey! I just remembered that I had some cool stuff to show you!"

Yes, this was a totally good plan.

"You know I went to Loguetown and got some interesting weapons! Yup, weapons! Ahahahaha..."

He quickly stood up, glancing between Zoro and Sanji's harsh staredown. They didn't even bother to glance up at him. Wow.

With haste, he left the room as well, holding the door open for Vivi and Karoo, who took no time to leave as well. Once the door shut, Usopp let out a huge sigh, letting his body slump up against the door.

"What... What happened?" Vivi asked with a shaky voice.

Usopp shook his head.

"I don't even know." Wrong. He did know. He closed his eyes, before reopening them, letting them settle over at the Merry's head, where both you and Luffy could be seen laughing. You were curled up between his legs as he protectively held you, probably reassuring you that it would be okay.

"Just some drama, I guess," he muttered.

"About Y/n-chan?" Vivi inquired.

He was quiet for a moment. "Y-Yeah..."

It didn't even need to be said. It was obvious.

A silence fell upon the two of them, with only the laughter heard from the distance the only sound heard. They found themselves staring at you and Luffy, watching as you laughed nervously, occasionally glancing at the ocean before Luffy began to divert the conversation and hug you tightly.

Vivi let herself sigh, a soft smile overcoming her features.

"She looks happy," she commented as you giggled at something Luffy said. It was then that she remembered how downright terrifying you were when you had been drunk the other night. She shuddered. "But she's terrifying."

Usopp quirked a brow. "Terrifying...?" Ha, he could totally relate to that. "Yeah, she can be scary sometimes..."

A sudden shout from the lounge caused them to stiffen. From Merry's head,