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The next island they stopped at was a large commercial port, crowded with merchants and traveling ships. It wasn't anything particularly exciting for the Grand Line standards, but they desperately needed to restock the pantry before continuing their trip.

Nami was already dividing the crew’s funds when Sanji arrived on deck, heart practically in his eyes. “Nami-swan~! As always, your brilliance saves us all!”

She didn’t look up from the berry bills she was counting in hands. “Sanji, I’m not giving you extra money for ‘extra romantic ingredients’ again.”

“But Nami-swan, cooking for you is always a matter of lov—” He tried explaining but she cut him off with a lift of her hand

“No."

“A single extra berry would—” Sanji insisted, but it was no use.

“I said no.”

The blond sighed but was still content to simply bask in the navigator's presence, even when she was annoyed. After counting, she handed him the money and he headed back inside the galley to write down all the ingredients that needed restocking. Sanji had caught Luffy sneaking into the kitchen the night before, trying to steal leftovers again. Bastard had been lucky because Sanji had been far too busy shoving Ace behind the counter and pretending nothing suspicious was happening to properly punish him for it. Now half their stored food was gone and Sanji had even more supplies to restock because of his idiot of a captain.

He picked up his pen and notepad, taking notes of all the ingredients that had either been finished or were not enough for the next weeks on the sea. The pen scribbled over the paper fast, listing a variety of ingredients and the amounts needed of each of them. A sudden shadow fell over the shelves of the stocks room, right where Sanji was checking the carrots basket.

"Oi. Don't come up behind me like that," Sanji scolded but didn't bother to face the pirate. His hand reached up to light the lantern above his head. He hadn't turned it on before because the light from the galley was enough to light the tiny room, but now with Ace's figure blocking the door, the room fell in darkness again. The lantern ignited, casting a soft orange light over the shelves before Sanji's hand even reached it.

"You don't need to be so jumpy, I just came to check what you were doing," Ace replied with a grin, putting off the fiery finger he used to light the lantern before leaning on the doorway and watching the cook resume his task.

"I'm not being jumpy, you were blocking the light," he stated. "I'm counting inventory for restocking. We are low on most ingredients because of your idiot of a brother."

Ace chuckled at the words, the sound filling the small room. "I don't know, you could have stopped him from stealing food if you weren't so worried about hiding me last night."

Sanji stiffened for a split second before straighting up and turning to face Ace, eyes landing on his freckled chest first thing instead, bare as always. He forced his eyes to look up. Ace's grin really did infuriate him. "Well, I told you we needed to head to your cabin because someone could come in, so it's your fault."

"What can I say? I like the risk, it turns me on," he replied with a shrug, completely unbothered.

The blond blinked. He was unbelievable. "You—" Sanji didn't bother finishing what he was about to say, shoving the notepad and the pen to Ace's chest instead. "If you're so unoccupied that you came here just to provoke me, make yourself useful."

Ace blinked, then laughed again, but took the notepad anyway. He tried to follow as Sanji resumed counting aloud but it was slightly hard to keep up with the pace.

Once done, Ace handed the list back to Sanji, who looked down at it with a speechless expression. “…What is this?”

“What, did I misspell something? There are a lot of weird names in there,” Ace said, scratching his head, messing up the already messy hair even more.

"This has to be one of the most unintelligible handwritings I have ever seen," Sanji stated. He sighed in defeat and crouched down to count the ingredients yet again.

Ace sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. I asked Makino to teach me how to write and read when I was young but calligraphy was never my thing..."

Sanji finished and got back up, tucking the notepad and pen into his pocket before smiling, feeling a little guilty. Was he too harsh by saying that? "I didn't mean it like that. Your handwriting is far better than Luffy's, I must say. It's... somewhat readable at least. If you want, I can help you better your calligraphy one of these days," he offered.

Ace's sheepish behaviour vanished giving place for a grin to spread across his lips. "Like a date? Alone? I wouldn't mind having a teacher looking like that." His eyes flicked down to Sanji's lips.

The cook flushed red and pushed Ace's shoulder to move the bigger man out of the doorway, stepping back into the galley. "Do you always have to say things like that?"

"It's fun seeing you get flustered. You get red with the simplest comments," he said with a chuckle, following Sanji into the galley.

Their banter was cut short with the sound of footsteps and voices of the crew talking about the time limit they can stay in this island for before setting sail again. According to Nami, the log pose would take another twenty hours to lock onto the island's magnetic field, so that was the maximum they could spend here.

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Sanji stretched his body once his feet touched land. He loved his life on the sea but it was always a relief to step on a new island after spending weeks onboard a ship. The island was full of merchants with their stands selling everything you can imagine. Good. Sanji would likely not have issues with shopping for ingredients. He didn't waste any more time, heading straight to the street market.

Sanji was in charge of guarding the ship today but he really had to shop for the next weeks, so he had made a deal with Chopper, who was now guarding the ship instead. Then he could leave once Sanji was back.

"So, where are we heading first?"

Sanji turned back to see Ace behind him with that lazy smirk he always wore. His orange hat cast a shadow across the top half of his face but his eyes still shone with the usual playfulness he always carried.

"We? Since when are you coming with me?" Sanji asked, confused. He was pretty sure Ace was gonna hang out with Luffy. At least that was what he had heard.

"I was gonna explore the place with Luffy but I can't find him. He must have gone already," he explained with a shrug before widdening his smirk. "Plus, I wouldn't leave you all alone carrying so many things back to the ship." Sanji scoffed but didn't oppose to it.

They walked through the street market, eyeing the stands for the best ingredients. Well, Sanji was doing that. Ace was just tagging along, getting distracted ever so often. He was looking at some weirdly shaped knives on a middle aged merchant's stand when he heard a frustrated sigh from the blond a few feet away from him. He placed down the knife he was checking out and approached Sanji again. "What's up? Something wrong?"

Sanji lit a cigarette before bringing it to his lips. He flipped through the few scribbled pages of the notepad with a frown. "The list is huge. Chopper is waiting for me to go back to the ship so we can switch places. He needs to restock some of his medical stuff as well. This will take forever."

In these few weeks Ace had spent with the crew, he had noticed Sanji absolutely despised doing things in a rush. He watched in silence as the blond tapped his foot on the street floor dirt trying to figure out which ingredients to prioritize before finally speaking. "Why don't we split up?" He offered. "You can buy half the list and I can buy the other half and then we meet up?"

Sanji blinked. That could work. It would reduce the shopping time by half. But he needed to split things well. Some ingredients needed to be picked by himself specifically. "Yes, that's actually a good idea." He checked the list once more before handing Ace the parts with vegetables and fruits while he would go for the fish, meat and spices. "Here, take this." Sanji handed him a moderate stack of bills.

Ace took the list, squinting his eyes at it a little. "Parsnip." The word left his lips slowly. "Is that the weird looking yellow fruit?" Ace looked confused by some of the names but he couldn't finish reading the list before Sanji snapped it from his hands, face twisted with horror.

"Okay, you stay away from vegetables and fruits. Here, get the dry goods instead." Sanji gave him a different list containing things like flour, grains, spices, etc. "Ask the merchants for the amounts I specified on the list. I'll get the fish and meat and we can get the vegetables and fruits together."

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Splitting up turned out to be the right call. In no time they were back where they had left, now with several bags of groceries each. Ace was leaning against a wall next to some of the less busy stands, his boot kicking lightly at the dirt while he waited for Sanji to come back.

Sanji couldn't have missed Ace's bright orange hat even if he wanted. That thing could be seen miles away. Ace looked up when the blond approached, the usual smirk returning to his lips. "Bought everything you needed?"

"Yes. This island has a lot of good kinds of fresh meat and fish," he answered, seemingly less stressed now. He looked down to Ace's feet where the grocery bags sat. "Got everything I asked for?" Sanji crouched down, looking quickly through all the bags.

"What, can't trust me to shop alone for your kitchen?" Ace asked with a grin, fingers picking at a lock of the cooks pretty blond hair. Sanji's body tensed slightly and Ace could see the cook's ears turning red from the brief touch.

Sanji cleared his throat and stood back up, pulling the notepad out of his pocket to check the next ingredients on the list. "I was just making sure. Come on, we still need to shop for vegetables." With that he picked up his own grocery bags that he had settled down when looking through Ace's and starts looking for the fruits & vegetables area of the market.

"Yes, sir!" Ace followed, weaving through the crowded street while keeping up with Sanji's lead. He watched the blond stop by various stands to inspect the ingredients. Sanji was very focused on choosing the best kinds of all the fruits and vegetables he needed. Most of them didn't seem ripe to Ace but he assumed it was so they wouldn't spoil so soon.

He carried the grocery bags as he watched the cook shop. Well, watched Sanji and occasionally got distracted by whatever strange thing the merchants advertised loudly.

"Hey. Let's go." Sanji called out over his shoulder.

Ace looked up from a stand with piles of strange spikey fruits. They looked more like weapons than something edible, he thought. "On it!" He caught up to Sanji, falling into step beside the cook while he kept up the fast pace. "You're hot when you boss me around like this, you know?" Ace said after a few minutes, grinning when Sanji shoot him an irritated look over his shoulder.

He sighed and resumed his task, sorting through a pile of carrots, inspecting each one individually before picking a few. "I'm not bossing you around. But you are just like Luffy and that stupid mosshead. If I lose sight of you, who knows where the hell you'll end up," he clarified.

Ace chuckled softly at that, stepping close pretending to check something on the stand. "Come on, I wouldn't disappear on you like that, blondie," he cooed while placing a hand on the small of Sanji's back before sliding it down a little. Sanji's ears turned a deep shade of red. It made the scowl he shot Ace less intimidating.

"Will you stop that? The crew is all over the island right now, what if someone sees you doing that?" Sanji scolded, lowering his voice despite the irritated tone.

Ace shrugged. "Then they see. I still can't understand this big issue you have with them finding out," he said simply. “You think your crew doesn’t already suspect something?”

Sanji's eyes widened slightly. No, he would be able to tell if they had noticed something. “...They don’t.”

“Right.” Ace’s grin widened as he watched Sanji try to focus on his shopping again. "Look I have no issue with our little arrangement. I told you before, I like the risk."

Sanji shook his head, exhaling sharply through his nose. "That's not the point, though. The point is—" before he could finish his sentence, Ace's warm fingers wrapped around his wrist and tugged him sharply off the main street, pulling him into a narrow alleyway.

Sanji gasped at the sudden movement, stumbling a little before being backed against the wall. "Wha-" He could feel Ace's body caging him, the warmth seeping through Sanji's suit. What was he doing? And right in the middle of everyone too?! "Is your self-control so low you can't wait to be in a fucking room?!" He scolded, hand coming up to swat the man's freckled chest half-heartedly.

Ace shot him an amused look before glancing toward the entrance of the alley. "I'm flattered your first thought was that I was trying to make out but unfortunately I had other reasons."

Just as he finished saying that, the cause for the sudden pull walked right past the alley. A few feet away, a group of Marines made their way down the main road, chatting animatedly about something they couldn't make out. Thankfully the group hadn't seen them.

They stayed still until the voices of the Marines faded into the noise of the street market. Ace's hands had slid down from the wall, now resting lightly over his waist.

When he was sure the coast was clear, Sanji pushed Ace's shoulder half-heartedly with a scoff. "You could have said something instead of manhandling me."

Ace simply chuckled, enjoying the flustered look on the cook's face. "What's the fun in that?" His hand came up to play with Sanji's hair, twirling a small strand between his fingers. "I mean, I don't think you mind being manhandled by me. At least you never complained before."

Sanji opened and closed his mouth, unable to give an actual come back, instead swatting Ace's hand away from his face. He was so infuriating. "You're impossible." The cook pushed past him, scanning the street one last time for Marines before stepping back out into the main road. In the rush, they had left the grocery bags by one of the nearby stands. Thankfully they were still there.

Ace followed after him, bending down to pick them up. Sanji took a look through the list one last time, making sure they had everything before sighing. "We're finally done with shopping. Come on, we need to come back to the ship," he stated, making a mental note to warn Chopper about Marines patrolling the area.

They headed back, making their way through the croud of locals and travelers buying from the several stands selling various items. Sanji wanted to have enjoyed the market but Chopper also needed to shop for his own items and Sanji was the one escalated for guarding the ship today, after all. He paused abruptly making Ace turn back to face him. "I've been rushing you but the only reason I'm coming back so early is because I've got to guard the ship. You're a guest, you don't have to come back with me now. You can stay and enjoy the island if you want, I'm sure Luffy is somewhere around," he explained.

Ace appreciated Sanji's words, but he really had no intention of staying in the island. Hanging out with a certain blue eyed cook was far more entertaining. "And leave you to carry all this alone?" He lifted the bags up slightly to make a point. "Plus, if I go back with you it is granted I'll be well fed," he added with a grin.

"Not that I need help to carry them, but if you insist," he gave him a brief smile before turning on his heel. "I do have to use some of the older ingredients once we're back, so I'll cook something for us to eat. Don't think you won't have to work for your food tho." He started walking again, expecting Ace to fall into step beside him.

The Going Merry came into view not long after, anchored along the shore. "Chopper?" Sanji called out once they stop in front of the ship. The little reindeer popped his head up over the railing and waved before switching to his heavy point form, growing noticeable larger so he could help bring the supplies aboard. Sanji stepped onto the rope ladder, climbing half way up before taking the bags Ace passed up and handing them over to Chopper on deck. Once everything was unloaded, they made their way up onto the ship.

“I hope you didn’t have to wait too much. The list was really long,” Sanji said, glancing apologetically at Chopper as he put away a medicine book he had been reading.

“It’s okay,” Chopper replied. “I learned some new things in the meantime.”

Sanji smiled. “Thanks for guarding the ship. Also, be careful. We saw Marines patrolling the area. Warn the others if you run into any of them.” Chopper nodded and waved as he headed toward the island, leaving the two of them alone on the ship.

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