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“You really have given me a lot to choose from these past few days,” Sanji noted as he and Usopp stared at the decently full fish tank.
“The fishing's been really good lately,” Usopp said, turning away from the tank to rest on the couch.
“Well,” Sanji sat down as well, legs crossed, “Since you did all the work do you want to pick which one we eat for dinner?”
Usopp looked shocked. “Really? Me? It won't ruin the dinner plans or anything?”
“Of course not, this is me; I can work with anything,” Sanji smirked.
Usopp hummed, turning in his seat to look at all the delectable fish swimming in the aquarium.
While Usopp was watching the tank, Sanji was watching Usopp. His lips were pursed in thought like Usopp's, but the thoughts going through his head were decidedly different.
“Hey, what are you guys doing?” Luffy asked as he burst into the room.
“I get to pick what we eat for dinner,” Usopp bragged as Sanji unconsciously moved away from Usopp.
“What? No fair! I never get to pick!” Luffy whined.
“Usopp's the one that caught all the fish here, might as well let him pick,” Sanji said, pulling out and lighting a cigarette.
“You can help me pick Luffy,” Usopp offered.
Luffy looked suspiciously between the two of them, but didn't say anything. “Okay, sure,” he said instead with a shrug and hopped on the couch next to Usopp to pick out their dinner.
“What are you drawing?” Sanji asked, interrupting the amicable silence between them.
Sanji put out his cigarette in the ashtray in the middle of the table. The two had been just sitting in the bedroom at the sunken table for a while now in silence, but his curiosity from watching Usopp's pencil glide around his sketchbook got the better of him.
“Just sketching,” Usopp said with a shrug.
Sanji moved closer so he could look over Usopp's shoulder.
“Hey, you're drawing me,” Sanji said, surprised to see himself in Usopp's sketchbook.
“I'm just sketching what's around and you're around,” Usopp said. He might have been blushing, but it was hard to tell against his dark skin.
“It looks good,” Sanji offered.
The door opened and they both glanced up at Zoro who entered the room.
Zoro seemed to hesitate when he saw them sitting there.
“Uh, I just have to grab something,” he said, walking swiftly over to his bunk.
“Um, okay,” Usopp said, clearly as confused as Sanji.
“I mean good because I don't want to see your stupid moss head, but no need to tell us,” Sanji said.
Zoro just grunted and quickly left leaving Sanji and Usopp shrugging helplessly at each other.
It was a perfect day for cartography Nami thought when she shut herself in the library for the afternoon. There was a light rain that would be going until the evening, making the Sunny quieter than usual and she had a large mug of tea courtesy of Sanji so she stuck on her glasses and got to work.
She was drawing for about an hour when she heard the door behind her click open and voices.
“Robin probably has one somewhere in here,” that was Sanji's voice, “Probably not the same kind as the one I had growing up, but the purpose is the same.”
“Maybe we should just ask Robin if she has one. There's a lot of books here.”
And that was Usopp.
Nami tried not to spin around in her chair too violently to get a good look at the two men in the room.
“Hey Nami,” Usopp said, their attention now on her unfortunately.
“Would you like any more tea, my dear?” Sanji asked.
“No, it's still half full from earlier,” Nami said, trying not to look at them too suspiciously.
“We were just looking for a book we think Robin might have,” Usopp said.
“Well, I don't know what books she has, but that's her side,” Nami said, gesturing to the left side of the library where Robin's books were kept, “I'm sure she won't mind if you borrow one. She already said I can take whatever I like.”
“Alright, let's get looking,” Sanji said, walking over to the bookshelves with Usopp following.
Nami tried to get back to her maps, but couldn't stop herself from listening to what Sanji and Usopp were doing.
“Don't step on the couch with your boots on, dumbass,” Sanji groused.
Nami glanced over to them to watch Sanji grab Usopp's wrist and pull him back down to the ground.
“The shelf goes too high to see though,” Usopp complained.
“Then take off your shoes,” Sanji said.
Nami sighed to herself and went back to her maps. Nothing was going to happen with her here; she needed to stop being paranoid.
“Ha! I found it!” Usopp said a bit louder than they were talking before, “Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.”
“Well, it definitely is one, though not the one I used to have,” Sanji said.
“Looks like this one is separated by type. What type is the one you were telling me about?”
“There should be like an index, right? Check that.”
“I wonder if Luffy's is in here,” Usopp mused.
In an attempt to be inconspicuous, Nami lifted her mug of tea to her mouth and glanced over her cup at Sanji and Usopp.
Usopp stood with a large, thick book open in front of him. Sanji leaned over him so they could both look closely at it. Sanji's arm was resting on Usopp's shoulder so he could point something out in the book.
They must have felt Nami looking because they both looked up at the same time and met her eyes.
“We're bothering Nami, let's go look at this in the kitchen,” Sanji suggested.
“Oh, yeah,” Usopp agreed, sounding distracted, “Sorry, Nami.”
They left the room and it was only then that Nami realized she had tea dripping down her chin.
“Shit,” she muttered, wiping her mouth.
“What are you waiting for?”
“Just...uh, what if I mess up?” Usopp asked, the knife he was holding hovering just inches above a tomato.
“The tomatoes need to be diced so it doesn't matter if the slices are too thick or thin,” Sanji explained, “You're the one that wanted to learn a bit about cooking, so just do it.”
“I didn't exactly think that would mean just cutting vegetables. I'm already a master vegetable cutter you know. Back in my village I was crowned vegetable champion every year. In fact I was so renowned I had the village kids scared of me because they were named after vegetables and they were afraid I would slice them up too,” Usopp lied.
“Just cut the shitty tomato like I told you to.”
“Yes, sir,” Usopp said and slowly started chopping the tomato lengthwise like Sanji told him.
“Try to cut the pieces just a little thinner,” Sanji recommended, “Be careful of your fingers though.”
“Right,” Usopp said doing as instructed, “I think I'm doing okay at this.”
“When you're done with that one just pick another from the pile and then pass the sliced tomato to me so I can dice them,” Sanji said.
Usopp finished his first tomato and passed it along to Sanji to finish dicing which Sanji did quickly and efficiently.
As if emboldened by Sanji's skill, Usopp started chopping his second tomato faster.
“Careful,” Sanji warned again.
“You go fast,” was Usopp's excuse.
“Yeah, and I've been doing this since I was a little brat,” Sanji pointed out, “Start slow and then work up to fast.”
“Okay,” Usopp agreed.
They did a few more, Sanji focusing less on Usopp now that he felt the other man was doing fine on his own and continued to finish Usopp's work as well as some carrots in between tomatoes while waiting for Usopp to finish one. It was slower going than usual, but doing this with someone else, with Usopp, was nice.
“Ah!”
Sanji quickly looked next to him when he heard Usopp's exclamation to see Usopp's holding his hand close to his chest and a glimpse of blood.
“What happened?” Sanji asked, moving closer to Usopp's side.
“I-I cut my finger,” Usopp said, wincing in pain, “I didn't get any on the tomato though!”
Sanji sighed. “Idiot, come on,” he grabbed a paper towel and wrapped Usopp's hand in it, “We're going to see Chopper.”
“No, it's fine I just-” Usopp looked down at his hand and saw the amount of blood soaking the paper towel already, “Let's go see Chopper.”
They walked the short distance to the sick bay together, Sanji's holding Usopp's wrapped hand to put pressure on the wound, but not thinking much of it.
“He should be here,” Sanji said, letting go of Usopp finally to open the door, “But if he isn't you wait here and I'll go look for him.”
Luckily, Chopper was sitting at his desk doing some reading when they walked in.
“You have a patient, Doctor,” Sanji said.
“Huh?” Chopper turned and immediately saw Usopp and the bloodstained paper towel, “Ah! Usopp!”
“I, uh, cut my hand,” Usopp said.
Chopper jumped off his chair only to jump onto the patient's bed to inspect Usopp's finger. He unwrapped the paper towel, Usopp wincing at the sight.
Chopper hummed to himself, inspecting it. “Looks like it was just shallow enough that you won't need stitches.”
Chopper hopped back off the bed to get some bandages and some topical medicine to prevent infections.
“Just keep the bandage on for a few days,” Chopper said, getting to work, “And then come back so we can change it and I can check the wound again.”
“Yes, sir Doctor Chopper,” Usopp said.
“Asshole! Don't think calling me Doctor will make me happy,” Chopper said, wiggling.
Usopp got off the bed and went over to Sanji who had waited in the doorway the whole time.
“Sorry,” Usopp murmured.
“Dumbass,” Sanji said, bumping Usopp's shoulder with his fist, “For what?”
“I screwed up.”
“I'm just glad it wasn't anything serious, okay?” Sanji assured.
Sanji and Usopp both turned to leave so they didn't see Chopper had stopped dancing and was watching them or his eyes light up in realization.
It was a beautiful day out and according to Nami would be for the foreseeable future so Robin took the time to go water her flower garden. Maybe even check on Nami's trees for her since her friend was always so busy making sure they were going where they needed to be going.
When she reached the top of the stairs to the upper deck she heard chatting and peeked around the corner to see Sanji and Usopp hovering over Usopp's garden.
She smiled slightly at them and stuck an ear on the mast where they couldn't see so she could listen to their conversation while watering.
“How do you tell which seeds are which?” Sanji's voice asked.
“Memorization, basically,” Usopp answered, “The colors correspond to a different type each so if you know what colors go with which plants it's easy.”
“Wonder if they taste any good,” Sanji said, jokingly.
“They're man-eating plants not the other way around,” Usopp said with a laugh.
“I think the stuff you do is really interesting,” Sanji said suddenly.
“H-huh? Oh...thanks?” Usopp sounded flustered.
“Just, you do a lot of different things,” Sanji said, sounding awkward, as if he just realized what he said.
“It's nothing special,” Usopp insisted, “I just do what you can't do. Like you do what I can't do.”
“You remember that?” Sanji asked softly, “I said that back when we rescued Robin.”
Robin turned to look in their direction in surprise at the mention of what happened at Enies Lobby.
“It meant a lot to me,” Usopp said.
“I only said the truth. I could tell it wasn't just Merry you were upset about,” Sanji said, “Like you knew Merry couldn't go on too, but you acted like that was the only problem when you were scared we would leave you if you weren't useful and you thought you were useless.”
“Yeah...”
“It was stupid though,” Sanji sounded a bit riled, “Not only that you think you need to have some kind of use for us to want you, but that you really thought you weren't good for anything! That you thought just because you couldn't punch someone twice your size and knock them over, or slice steel with a sword, or kick someone's face in meant you weren't worth it. And you are such an amazing sniper and inventor, but you still thought, shit just thinking about it pisses me off.”
In a rare moment of clumsiness, probably at this very private moment she was hearing, Robin dropped her watering can on the ground causing it to rattle loudly and splash water everywhere.
The sound interrupted Usopp's “Sanji, I-” and the two walked around the mast to Robin's side to see what the commotion was.
“Ah, Robin! You were here?” Usopp said, surprised.
“Yes, just watering the flower beds,” Robin said, leaning down to pick up her watering can and quickly going back to her calm and collected self, “I dropped this though, sorry, did I startle you?”
“Do you need any help? I can refill your watering can if you like, do you want some tea?” Sanji fussed over her awkwardly.
“No, I'm fine and I've finished watering anyway,” Robin said.
“I, um, need to get back to the workshop,” Usopp said suddenly and scurried off.
“I better get started on dinner,” Sanji said and walked away in the opposite direction.
Robin just sighed in a mixture of relief and exasperation.
It was a rare day when the Thousand Sunny was calm and it was nice outside, but today was one of those days.
Usopp took advantage of it by working on a new project in the kitchen while Sanji cooked dinner.
They weren't talking much, just sitting in comfortable silence.
But silence never lasts forever on this ship and it was eventually interrupted by Franky barging into the kitchen.
It looked liked he was planning on just passing through, but he paused when he saw Usopp at the kitchen table.
“Yo, Usopp! What are you working up here for? Something wrong with the factory? I can fix it!” Franky offered.
“Oh, nothing's wrong! I just...Usopp's Factory is below so it gets kinda dark and it's really nice out today,” Usopp said.
“I could put a window there if you want,” Franky said, “It won't get as much light as the upper deck because it would be partially submerged in water, but it would give some natural light.”
Usopp's eye twitched. Was he really going to have to say it in front of Sanji and Franky?
“Well, I also wanted to hang out with Sanji. For company,” Usopp said.
Sanji didn't say anything and kept working. Usopp would bet even Nami that he was just pretending to be focused on cooking.
Franky considered Usopp for a second before his eyes lit up (not literally). “Oh! Oh yeah!” he said, “Okay, see your guys later!”
Franky left the room finally.
Usopp glanced over at Sanji only to see Sanji was looking back at him. They both quickly looked away and went back to what they were doing, but the silence was awkward.
It was a fun and festive evening on the ship.
It wasn't festive for a reason. Everyone was just in good spirits and wanted to have fun. Sanji made a large filling meal for everyone, even Luffy, and after dinner they got out the wine and sake and sang and danced and laughed and talked around the lawn.
Sanji was leaning on the deck railing as the party winded down some, smoking, when Usopp popped up next to him.
“Hey,” Sanji greeted.
“Hey,” Usopp returned, putting his arms over the railing.
“I liked your singing earlier,” Sanji said with a smirk.
“Oh? That?” Usopp chuckled awkwardly, “It wasn't that good.”
“Well, I didn't say it was good,” Sanji said, chuckling.
“But you said you liked it.”
“I did.”
“You mean you did say that or...?”
“I did like it,” Sanji said, voice low.
Suddenly, the distance between them seemed a bit too short. When had that happened?
And then there was the orange glow from the setting sun, bathing Sanji in a soft glow. And the soft violin wafting through-
Sanji and Usopp turned in unison to glare at Brook who had come up behind them to play a romantic tune on his violin.
“Hey!” they both yelled angrily.
“You both look like you needed some proper mood music,” Brook said, “You can just ignore me. I promise I won't lay my eyes on you...though I don't have any eyes! Yohohohohohohoho!”
After a few weeks at sea, the crew finally reached another island. That was good for Sanji because their food supplies had been running low.
Nami corralled them together on the lawn to organize everyone since it seemed there were a lot of supplies needed this time around.
Luffy was last to arrive, but he didn't really join their huddle, instead he tried to run past them off the ship already yelling about new adventures.
Nami grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping him.
“Hold on two seconds, I'm giving out the assignments,” she said.
Luffy pouted but stopped trying to run off the ship.
“Zoro, Brook, you're on Luffy watching duty,” Nami said, “Sorry Brook, but you're on double duty. Make sure Zoro doesn't get lost.”
“Shut up,” Zoro grunted.
“Yes, ma'am,” Brook said cheerfully.
Luffy finally got to run off with the two swordsmen in tow.
“Robin and I are going shopping for clothes and some other stuff,” Nami continued, “Franky, you're going with Chopper to pick of medical supplies and Usopp is with Sanji to get food supplies.”
Chopper jumped on Franky and the two left on their mission.
When Nami passed by Sanji and Usopp she leaned in conspiratorially. “Don't worry, this one's a freebie,” she said with a wink.
“What was that about?” Usopp asked after Nami left the ship with Robin.
He got no answer because Sanji had heart eyes from being winked at by Nami and Usopp just shook his head.
“Why do I have to pull the cart?” Usopp whined, following Sanji through the marketplace.
“Because I'm picking out the food,” Sanji said, stopping to inspect some cabbages, “Plus you're really strong now, right? A wooden cart should be nothing for you.”
“Of course not!” Usopp said, puffing his chest, “I just don't want to do it.”
“Uh-huh,” Sanji replied with a smirk and adding a cabbage to Usopp's burden.
“How do you know what ones are the best?” Usopp had to ask when Sanji stopped by a stand with various fruits.
“Each one is different, so I just have them all memorized,” Sanji said, “But it's not just about knowing when something is ripe; you have to know what a fruit or vegetable looks like before it becomes ripe since it might end up being stored away for a few days before being eaten.”
Sanji picked up a watermelon from the stand. “For watermelon, the best kind have a flatter side that is yellower than the rest.”
Sanji grabbed Usopp's wrist and placed it on the fruit. “Feel how it flattens out right here?”
Usopp didn't seem to be paying attention, his focus entirely on Sanji's hand on his.
Sanji suddenly let go of Usopp's hand. “Um, yeah so I'm getting this one,” Sanji said, “Since it's good.”
“Yeah,” Usopp said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Usopp didn't complain for the rest of the shopping trip.
An hour later Sanji and Usopp were back on the ship, putting away the groceries together.
“Looks like we're the first ones back,” Usopp noted.
“The others won't be back for a while probably,” Sanji said, “You know Luffy at new places, Nami and Robin will enjoy their shopping time as much as possible, and Chopper and Franky will probably get distracted by new things.”
“Yeah, you're right,” Usopp said.
“So,” Sanji leaned casually against the counter, “Since we're alone for awhile I wanted to talk.”
“Talk?” Usopp asked, leaning next to Sanji.
“Yeah, seems overdue,” Sanji said, his hands itched for a cigarette, but he resisted, “Do you know what we need to talk about?”
“I think I do,” Usopp said. His legs were shaking a bit; Usopp always did show his fear very easily.
“Are you scared?” Sanji asked.
“Yes.”
“That it will be what you think it is?”
“No, that it won't be what I think it is.”
Sanji felt his face heat up. If they were talking about the same thing, and Sanji really thought they were, Usopp was too cute.
“I-I like you and you like me...right?” Suddenly Sanji didn't feel as sure as he had been before now that he said it out loud.
“I do, but even now I have a hard time believing you like me too,” Usopp said, “Especially since I've liked you for so long.”
“Really? Since when?” Sanji asked.
“Alabasta is when it started,” Usopp admitted.
“Alabasta?” asked Sanji, shocked.
“When you got my goggles back for me,” Usopp blushed.
“Really? For that? You don't even have them anymore.”
“Actually,” Usopp pulled the cracked goggles out of his bag, still over his shoulder from grocery shopping, “They got pretty wrecked during those two years, but I couldn't get rid of them. They always remind me of you,” Usopp slipped the goggles back in his bag self-consciously, “But that was just when I started having a crush. I really started to like you after what you did for me after...I left.”
“I said it before, but I really just knew you were better than you thought you were,” Sanji said, “In the end I didn't even think I said any of the right things when it took you so long to come back.”
“No, you said everything right,” Usopp said.
Silence fell and they stood there awkwardly, not looking at each other.
“Well, since we're confessing. I think what I thought of you changed in Skypiea when you came to save me,” Sanji admitted after a minute.
Usopp looked at him finally, shocked. “B-but that's...”
“A pretty long time, huh? I'm not going to lie and say I knew from then that I liked you. Really, I didn't realize it until we met again and you looked...like that.”
Usopp looked down at himself, not seeing anything impressive. “Like what?”
“Oh, um, never mind,” Sanji said, blushing, “What I'm saying is it took me a long time to get to the point where I could admit to liking you and I don't want to wait anymore.”
“Me neither,” Usopp agreed.
Sanji grabbed Usopp's hand. “I know it wouldn't be the most normal relationship because of our circumstances, so I won't ask if we can “go out” but maybe we can keep spending time together and talk and maybe I can...can kiss you, if you want.”
“You can kiss me right now,” Usopp said, impulsively because Sanji was so close.
Sanji didn't hesitate to pull Usopp close to kiss him and neither did Usopp. They met halfway and managed to kiss with some creative head tilting to get around Usopp's nose.
Hands clung to wherever they landed first and they stood in the middle of the kitchen, pressed closer than they had ever been.
Sanji reluctantly pulled away. He looked around the room and Usopp tilted his head curiously.
“Someone's watching us,” he said.
Usopp concentrated and he too could feel eyes on them with his haki as well.
“Yeah, I feel it too,” he said.
“Wait, you have haki? Since when?” Sanji asked. He put his hands on Usopp's shoulders and put some distance between them so they could look each other in the eye.
“I unlocked it when we were in Dressrosa,” Usopp explained.
Sanji smiled. “You are so amazing,” he breathed and leaned down to kiss Usopp again.
Usopp was about to get carried away again, but he didn't forget that they were being watched and gently pushed Sanji away.
“Hang on, we're being watched remember?” he said.
“Oh, yeah,” Sanji agreed and they pulled apart to look around the kitchen.
They quickly spotted the source of the feeling. That being the entire crew peeking through the door window, minus Robin who cut out the middle man and stuck a pair of eyes on the door.
“Can we help you?!” the two yelled, bristling.
Luffy opened the door to point at them. “We knew it!” he said triumphantly.
“Knew what?” Sanji asked, stomping over the them.
Usopp followed so they were both standing at the door, facing the rest of the crew looking very proud of themselves except Zoro who was leaning against the wall pretending he wasn't eavesdropping as well.
“About you two being together,” Nami clarified, looking overjoyed.
“How could you know something that just happened?” Usopp asked, crossing his arms.
“What do you mean just happened? Hasn't this been going on for months?” Chopper asked.
“No, what you just so rudely interrupted was us finally getting together,” Sanji said.
“Wait, but you two have been making eyes at each other all over the place for a while now,” Zoro said, giving up his not paying attention act.
“We just liked each other and both kinda knew it,” Usopp explained.
“Well what took you so long?” Luffy asked, throwing his arms up in exhasperation.
“You all kept interrupting us!” Sanji and Usopp exploded.
Luffy laughed and ran off.
Zoro fell asleep standing up.
Nami tsked at them and left for the library.
Chopper chased after Luffy so they could play.
Robin patted them both on the shoulder as she went upstairs.
Franky loudly congratulated them before going to his workshop.
And Brook made an inappropriate pun.
As for Sanji and Usopp, well, they went back to the kitchen to finish what they started, but this time somewhere that would be hidden from the ever-prying eyes of their friends.