- Black Leg -

The princess watched the snacks the cook put on the table. This atmosphere here was extremely mellow and she liked it. Their ship is home and a new safe place for her.

"Yeah," he sighed contentedly, "I know you have a whole life outside of us..."

An idea suddenly struck.

While there were moments the chef could be a bit overbearing at times, Nami came to respect Sanji's particular ways- that and it wouldn't hurt to reap the benefits as well. She loved the way he came looking for her attention and affections and she was never one to turn down free food (or some version of it, considering the money the crew made was her money and therefor she was in charge of handing out the finances).

"𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚜𝚘!" 𝙷𝚎 𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢. 𝚂𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊, 𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚍.

𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚓𝚒 𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚉𝚘𝚛𝚘 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚔𝚎.

"𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚓𝚘𝚋, 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚘. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙻𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚢 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍. 𝙸𝚏 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚠."

𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚢𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝙷𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝚃𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜.

a loud sigh left his lips , of course the damn cook wouldn't listen to him right now .  what an idiot .     ❛      you piss me off , shitty cook .      ❜     spoken rather harshly , but he does mean well .     ❛      you really are that stupid , you think luffy really only keeps you around to cook  ?  you must not know him at all then  .      ❜ 

"𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚎'𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸'𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞." 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚓𝚒 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔. 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛.

so how long are you going to avoid me?

we should really talk about it.

can we just clear the air?

sit down for a second and talk to me.

i wish you would just look at me for two seconds.

explain to me how that happened.

you handled that a lot better than i expected.

when were you going to tell me the truth about that?

i think it's time we started being honest with one another.

it doesn't do us any good to stay quiet.

you told me you'd tell me the truth. i'm still waiting.

i was hoping for some answers.

what more do you need to hear?

i saw what you did.

when did this start happening?

start from the beginning.

that was a little abrupt.

when did you learn how to do that?

so... that's new.

they called you [title]. why did they call you that?

is there something you're not telling me?

i'd like to discuss what happened between us.

this is going to be really awkward, i'm sure.

when did they start taking orders from you?

who died and made you king?

i missed the part where that was my problem.

you could have given me a heads up.

so... we're just not going to address that?

i saw what happened.

that could have been worse.

you made a mockery of them.

i appreciate what you did for me back there.

you didn't have to stand up for me, and yet you did.

how long have you been planning that?

i think it's about time i was included in these discussions.

you know i could have helped with that.

you got a little scary back there.

i was so certain they were going to kill us.

where'd you learn to pull a stunt like that?

did that really just happen?

i owe you my life.

give me a heads up next time.

you have more power than i thought.

there's still a lot of work to be done.

i'm not finished with it yet.

i can't give up just yet.

there's nothing noble about working yourself to death.

you think i can't handle this myself?

there's not enough hours in the day.

i realize you think you have to do this.

working like this helps me think.

i'll sleep when i'm dead.

your work ethic scares me sometimes.

i don't need your help.

do you ever sleep?

they need me.

no matter how hard you work, it won't bring them back.

do you realize how crazy that sounds?

i'm not stopping until this is done.

you need to slow down.

i feel like i'm wasting my life.

have you ever taken a vacation?

i can handle this on my own.

i'm nothing without my work.

you're going to get sick if you keep going like this.

you've proven your point.

you're going to work yourself to death.

there are worse ways to spend a life.

you can't keep going at this pace.

i don't have time to rest.

it needs to be done.

do you have any healthy coping mechanisms, by any chance?

there's no time to waste.

i think it's time for you to take a break.

everything was going great until you stopped me.

i can't sleep yet. not until this is done.

i'm the only one who can do this.

at least let me help you.

if i just focus on my work, i don't have to think about anything else.

i'm not asking you to take a break, i'm telling you.

did you really have to interrupt like that?

i'm not budging.

it's my life's work.

you're not going to convince me otherwise.

when was the last time you slept?

i'll help you finish the job if you promise to get some rest.

you're practically falling asleep standing up.

you can finish this in the morning.

let me get you to bed.

don't you get it? it's over!

working yourself to death isn't going to fix anything.

if i don't do it, no one else will.

i wish you would take some time to rest.

i'm not taking a break, if that's what you're asking.

you just broke my concentration, thank you very much.

i'm not going to bed.

i don't know how to quit.

they're counting on me.

too many people rely on me.

i can't disappoint them.

you need a vacation.

i wish you would just listen to me and slow down.

your eye bags have eye bags.

all right, that's it. i'm putting my foot down.

no more excuses.

what do you get out of this? this overworking thing?

without my work... i'm nothing.

no one else is going to step in.

i don't care about me. i care about them.

we have unfinished business.

if i stop now, it'll be like giving up.

i'm a perfectionist. it's in my nature.

better to pour myself into my work than something else.

i wish you would go easy on yourself.