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Sanji had just put away the last plates after cleaning the lunch table when robin walked in with an envelope in her hands.
"Cook-san?" Her melodious voice filled Sanji's ears and he immediately dried his hands on the rag placed on his shoulder, preparing himself to execute anything she could possibly ask of him, before turning to give her his undivided attention.
"Yes, my dear?"
"It looks like a letter for you has just been delivered." She announced, waving the envelope lightly so it'd catch Sanji's attention. "Since I was already planning to come here and get a cup of your delicious coffee I figured I could bring it to you."
"That's so thoughtful of you, Robin-chan!" Sanji exclaimed, with hearts forming in his eyes and hands clasped under his chin, while sauntering to the dining table where he always kept a pot with fresh, steaming coffee.
It was only expected that by now Sanji knew Robin enjoyed having a cup of coffee at various moments of the day, mainly during breakfast, right after lunch and a couple of hours before dinner, so he made sure to prepare it to her taste, strong and with little sugar, just before the times she'd come into the galley.
An easy smile formed on Robin's lips at his reaction and readiness. Many people tended to consider Sanji's behavior to be over the top, but usually, she found it more amusing than anything, endearing even, in the way he was so dedicated to provide them with nothing but the best of his craft or the way he'd bend over backwards to fulfill any requests from either Nami or herself.
She leaned against the doorframe and waited for her mug to be filled, eyes leisurely following Sanji's precise and gracious movements.
"Here it is!" There was a twirl to Sanji's steps as he moved to offer Robin the steamy mug in exchange for the letter. "It's strong, just the way you like it, and very hot, so please be careful with your delicate hands."
"I'll be fine, cook-san, thank you. I'll take my leave now." She replied with another smile and went back to the grass lawn deck, where she'd been enjoying the clear weather by reading a book under the shade of a parasol.
Sanji watched her walk outside and waited until she wasn't on his line of sight anymore before pulling one of the dining chairs and sitting at the table. With the kitchen cleaned, he had enough of time to relax, read the letter and write his reply before he had to get started on preparing the crew's afternoon snacks.
Without even looking at the handwriting on the envelope he knew who the letter was from. He'd been expecting an update after the first one, or at least an angry reminder about a visit he still owed. The thought pulled a chuckle out of him as he grabbed a cup of coffee for himself and took a small sip.
The strong flavor coated his tongue and gave him the perfect kick to finally open the envelope and unfold the letter inside.
Hey, shitty eggplant!
Christmas is getting closer and you haven't visited yet, I might have to kick your ass when you finally do. There's snow covering everything and we constantly have to shovel it off so clients can get inside the restaurant without slipping or breaking a leg. I remember you used to do the job before you ditched us for that rubber boy. Good news is, I have your three brothers here now to do it instead!
The problem being they didn't seem to have any idea of what they were doing at first, it was like they'd never seen snow before, or if they had then they'd never interacted with it. It was a process to get them to hold the shovels properly, they kept trying to use them as weapons. I felt like I was teaching little kids, all with having to guide their hands and shout at them to throw the snow in the ocean instead of on each other's faces.
Despite everything, we managed to finish the job after a few hours and I thought I'd finally get some rest, but Patty and Carne had some other ideas, because of course they had.
They suggested we should do some winter activities together, "like the big happy family we are", in their words. The smirks on their faces were infuriating, yet I figured it wouldn't hurt for your brothers to do something normal for once in their lives and gave in.
Patty voted for a snowball fight first and we had to wait a couple of days for enough snow to collect on the deck again (away from the main entrance, obviously, or do you think I'd have let all that previous work go to waste?), and honestly, I should've seen it coming as it almost ended in complete chaos.
The eggplants wasted no time trying to hit each other, though with how intense the looks in their eyes were and how much their muscles were bulging, I was glad the snow kept either getting crushed in their grips or melted because of their weird powers, otherwise I feel like they could've imploded the Baratie. I'd have sent the repair bill to you if that were the case.
My relief was short lived given how frustrated they were getting with their failure in properly shaping the snow, I thought they were going to give up on it and start destroying the ship by hand regardless. Carne got in the middle of them before things escalated too much and hurriedly said we should try building snowmen next.
Once again, the eggplants looked incredibly confused at that, I swear I could see blue eggplant turning to his red brother and asking if "snowmen" was a race or something. And I'll probably regret asking, but what the fuck, how can they not know what a snowman is?!
We told them they had to stack big snowballs on top of each other and decorate them to resemble people, and they got excited real fast. One of them asked if he could decorate them with blood and I didn't even bother to reward that with an answer. Whoever it was better be happy I didn't catch which one of them asked it, because if I had then the blood used in the decoration would be his.
Patty, Carne and I were already getting tired at that point, so we quickly rolled the snowballs and let the decorating part in your brothers' hands. At first, I just gave each one of them a carrot for the noses and was ready to call it a day, however, I thought it'd be interesting to see what they'd do for their stupid colorful hairs and took a vegetable tray outside.
Red eggplant chose red bell peppers for his. He wanted to slice them to get a more accurate shape and there was no way in hell I could've let that happen, no waste allowed in my restaurant! His snowman ended up looking like a loser with ridiculously thick spiked hair going in all directions. Serves him right. He tried throwing some tomatoes in there to see if it'd made it look any better. It didn't.
He kept sulking after he was done, squinting and frowning at the snowman as if trying to understand how he'd managed to create something so hideous. He seemed truly baffled by it and I wasn't used to seeing him acting so weird, so I threatened to kick him overboard if he didn't stop.
Now, I don't think you're ready for this, but blue eggplant used actual eggplants for his snowman's hair! Hilarious, right?
No.
The whole ordeal was not funny in the slightest and I'm sure he was intent on getting on my nerves through all of it.
We had to compromise on the color of his hair after we realized using fresh blueberries was completely out of the question. Blue eggplant obviously tried to argue but I shoved some sense into him after he repeated for the nth time that blueberries weren't even the exact color either but were definitely more accurate than eggplants.
First of all, if they aren't a good match for you then why do you care if we use something else? Second, how could he not realize how small blueberries are, did he really want to use the whole restaurant's supply on a snowman? Also, fresh blueberries? Where did he think we were? We're in the middle of the ocean for fucks sake, we don't have a blueberry vendor at our disposal, getting fresh ones out here is incredibly difficult and expensive.
After hearing that, red eggplant piped in and sided with me, said it'd compromise our budget and he couldn't allow it (I assume the unwilling trips to the ocean I'd threatened him with previously had some influence on his decision too).
In the end the eggplants worked well enough in my opinion, we even used a particularly curvy one for those odd bangs of his.
Although, I have to concede and give it to blue eggplant, the color was a little off. A lot off, actually, and he was still not happy about it. He threatened to kick the snowman back into a pile of snow and, in turn, I threatened to kick him into a pulp.
The change in his behavior was immediate. After seeing red eggplant had accepted his fate I think he understood I wasn't kidding, so he calmed down and did the same, though he still pouted the whole time afterwards. It would've been cute if he wasn't a grown ass man with anger issues.
It seemed like green eggplant had also learned from his brothers and didn't suggest anything funny. He had many options to begin with, so I'm still not sure if it was just luck it was easy for him to find something he liked or if he was smart for not trying to cause a scene just for the sake of it.
Regardless, what's even the point of having so many different vegetables at your disposal when your hair looks like that... Actually, all of their hairs look outrageous and I can't believe I'm admitting this, but your emo bangs looks almost normal compared to whatever they have going on.
The letter crinkled in Sanji's hands as he closed his fits around its edges. Almost normal?! How dare the old geezer insult his perfectly styled hair! He felt temped to sky walk to the Baratie just to kick his peg leg.
He huffed, trying to calm himself down, and in the process realized the way Zeff was treating his brothers was the same one he used to treat him.
The effect the realization had on him was immediate. The anger completely vanished from him, being quickly replaced by a huff of laughter.
He'd had his doubts about sending his brothers to the Baratie, but, from Zeff's telling, as concerning as it could seem at some points, he found there was no reason for him to worry about it anymore. It was a relief they were all getting along and he couldn't shake the smile from his face.
He smoothed the letter back onto the table and resumed his reading.
But back to the snowman, green eggplant settled for using cabbage leaves with a leak attached at the back, it looked incredibly accurate.
Reiju was happy not to take part on all of the mess, said she was having enough fun just watching from the sidelines. And I can't really blame her, I too would hesitate to take part in any activities involving those three.
She still suggested banana peels for your snowman (what, you thought we'd leave you out of this? Ha! Think better next time) and I have to say, it was a spitting image of you. We even put an ugly tie on it, royal blue with printed yellow ducks, and I'm kind of considering getting a matching one for you, maybe it'll be your Christmas present.
I jokingly said we should leave this snowman outside to greet the customers and your brothers laughed at that! Not that cruel snort they let out when they're being condescending, but an actual, genuine laugh! It was a first and Reiju seemed as surprised as I was, even though she's lived with them for way longer. Maybe I should to talk to them… Is that why you sent them here? Is this the "Baratie Restaurant and Shelter for the Vinsmoke Kids" now? It worked with you back in the day, so I guess it might as well be.
As the last step, I got bean sprouts to make everyone's eyebrows and it was the perfect choice, they were really easy to mold into that ridiculous swirly shape. We also had to use the damn blueberries for the eyes and that blue bastard kept sniggering at me until his red brother shoved an elbow on his ribs. It was more than deserved if you'd ask me, if red eggplant hadn't stepped in I would've done it myself.
Because I'm becoming an old man, and getting way too sappy for my liking, I couldn't help but ask your dysfunctional siblings to take a photo with all the snowmen, and they seemed happy enough to do it without a single complaint. Perhaps they're getting sappy too… I'm sending you a copy of it so it can maybe put a smile on your face as well instead of the usual ugly scowl.
We let the snowmen up for a few hours after that, enough for the boys to have some more fun in the snow and for us to take a few more pictures (I couldn't risk my vegetables going to waste or getting too damaged).
Since the restaurant was closed on that day, Patty, Carne and I grabbed a few more ingredients from the kitchen and made vegetable stir fry and ratatouille for our dinner, and banana pudding for dessert. As expected from the Baratie senior cooks, everything was delicious, better than anything you could've made, I bet.
I thought nothing else was going to happen, but what do you know, there's never a calm moment here. The three eggplants were frowning and pouting because they had to destroy their creations, and what are they, seven?! I reminded them yours was still there, ready to greet the clients during service the next day, and they immediately perked up again.
Then, morning came and green eggplant didn't hesitate to kick it when he noticed the banana peels had gone brown. As I said, never a calm moment over here.
Nothing too exciting has taken place since that day and I know there're still a few weeks to Christmas, but, with how crazy the Grand Line is, I wasn't sure when this letter would get to you, so better safe than sorry.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, original eggplant, tell that captain of yours not to get into too much trouble, you still owe me a visit.
Sanji folded the letter and caught a glimpse of the photograph just peeking out from inside the envelope. He put the letter to the side and took the photo completely out to get a closer look at it, to fully take in the smiles on his brothers' faces. He didn't even try to fight when a mirroring smile formed on his own lips.
There was a warmth spreading in his chest and he knew he couldn't blame it on the coffee he'd been drinking—it'd long gone cold.
Sanji sighed, content, and finally got up to place the letter and photo in one of the cupboards' drawers. He took one last look at his kitchen, making sure everything was spotless, and walked outside.
The gentle breeze ruffled his hair as soon as he stepped out of the galley and he raised a hand to shield his eyes as he looked at the clear sky, at the sun shining above him, no signs of snow in sight.
He shifted his gaze to the vast sea around him, Wano now only a tiny dot on the horizon, getting smaller and smaller as the Sunny surged forward.
He leaned against one of the railings, lit a cigarette and took a relaxed drag, "I'm sorry old geezer, but you'll have to wait a little longer for that visit."