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Garchu is wonderful. Imagine being able to express love simply by touching someone skin to skin.
When I tried to garchu Nami-san, the kind goddess who had shared some fresh tangerines with me—“Use these for today’s snack,” she’d said—so I could show her my heartfelt gratitude, she punched me with everything she had.
All I wanted was to offer the one and only, greatest greeting in the world.
As I lay sprawled on the kitchen floor, the goddess looked down at me and told me, sounding completely exasperated, “It’s not like that’s unusual or anything.”
Cultures where people greet each other with physical contact weren’t rare at all.
There are places where people don’t just rub cheeks, but even greet each other with kisses. Oh. Not my village, though.
Maybe it’s because their languages don’t have many ways to express emotion, or maybe it’s the exact opposite—their people are simply that rich in emotional expression.
Most of the time, it seems people kiss friends or family to show friendship, affection, and sometimes joy.
The goddess was not only kind, but wise. By the time I got up from the floor, she was no longer there, so I praised her in my heart.
I see. So somewhere in the world, a culture like that exists. Once I heard that, everything made sense.
So that kiss last night, while I was asleep, must’ve been a sign of friendship too.
I shook my head, chasing away the sensation I’d almost remembered. Reaching toward the counter, I gently touched the goddess’s amber-like tangerines.
Now, what should I make for today’s snack? Feeling lighthearted, I strode through the kitchen from the entrance to the back and flung open the large refrigerator. Cold air washed over my whole body. His hands had been hot.
I quickly grabbed the glass container of mascarpone cheese near the front and cooled both my hands against it. Right. Today, I’ll make a special tangerine parfait. I’ll gently break down the fresh tangerines into a purée, then fold it into softly whipped cream. Add the mascarpone too, and there it is: a rich tangerine cream. I took the heavy cream from the refrigerator, and from the vegetable bag nearby, a carrot. I set the ingredients on the prep table, opened the cupboard, and took out a large bowl and a whisk.
Now then. The goddess’s tangerines. To roll up my sleeves, I reached for the cuffs of my shirt and undid the cuff buttons. My exposed wrist slipped into view. This hand.
He had—
Crap.
The memories of last night, which had been clinging to me since earlier, came flooding back all at once.
I had suddenly drifted up out of sleep.
Right after that, I realized both of my hands had been gathered together and held in someone else’s grip. I’d like to praise myself for managing not to open my eyes.
There are only three humans aboard this ship right now with human hands. Me, the goddess, and him.
Unfortunately, it was not the goddess. In my memory, the last place I’d laid myself down was the bunk in the corner of the stuffy men’s quarters.
He—Luffy—seemed to be staring intently at my hands while still holding them tight.
His palms were hot. He had that kid-like body heat. I felt like my own body was strangely overheated too.
Huh? I was just sleeping, right?
Did something happen while I was asleep?
What do I mean, something?
My inner panic cut off for a moment. Because something pressed down against my lips.
This was that, right?
I’d never experienced it before, but I’m pretty sure it was the thing called a kiss.
Why the hell was he kissing me?
My head was full of questions, but my body felt weirdly heavy, and I ended up getting drowsy again. In the end, with that bastard’s mouth still pressed to mine, I slipped back into sleep.
When I woke up, the morning sun was already high. Apparently, I’m far too tired.
I spread crushed biscuits across the bottoms of the parfait glasses. I’d made too many at breakfast, so I was reusing them.
To be honest, this morning, I had no idea what kind of face I was supposed to make in the kitchen, so I just kept mass-producing biscuits.
Then suddenly, the door slammed open with a bang. Luffy.
“Morning, Sanji! Is breakfast ready yet?”
He was acting exactly the same as always. Luffy looked over the breakfast plates lined up on the table with a huge grin. For some reason, he seemed to catch his breath for just a second, but right away he said, “Anything you make tastes good, Sanji,” and hurried into his seat.
Did he just compare it to someone else’s cooking?
After that, the rest of the crew came filing into the dining room one after another, and our usual noisy everyday life began.
So I thought I’d managed to shove last night completely out of my head.
Or so I’d thought.
As I brooded and moved the parfaits topped with orange cream onto a tray, it suddenly hit me.
Wasn’t that just a dream?
That conclusion fit the best. He hadn’t been acting any different this morning, and I must have just been exhausted and had a strange dream.
In that case, I was just a perverted cook who apparently wanted his male captain to grab his wrists and kiss him—but that was still better than it having actually happened.
Once I finally reached an answer, my mood cleared up, and I headed out onto the deck in high spirits with the tray in hand.
Ladies first, of course. Under a parasol touched by sunlight, I respectfully presented a parfait to the goddess seated elegantly on the bench.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Nami-san. The Goddess’s Tangerine Parfait: A Prayer for Love.”
“Thanks, Sanji-kun.”
This moment was supreme. I handed a parfait to Carrot, who was sitting beside her too. Maybe I should hand some to the lousy men fooling around and making noise nearby as well. I had just picked one up when—
“Sanji! I want one too!”
A hand literally stretched out from an unexpected direction and snatched the parfait right out of my hand. I nearly sent every single glass on the tray flying, but somehow managed not to drop it. Normally, I’d have given him a good hard kick for that, but this was no time for it.
The hand that had touched mine for just that one instant.
It was the same hand that had held my wrists last night. So it really wasn’t a dream.
My thinking had been wrong from the start.
Why hadn’t I thought, That was a dream, until just a moment ago?
The sheer impossibility of the act and his unchanged behavior were more than enough to make me conclude it had been a dream right away. And yet, until a few minutes ago, that hadn’t even occurred to me.
The truth was, I’d known from the very beginning.
The heat of those hands. The feeling of those lips. I’d known them for a long time. I’d touched them again and again.
Why? Since when?
“Sanji? What’s wrong?”
The voice snapped me back to myself.
Carrot, who had somehow come close without me noticing, was looking up at me worriedly. Standing blankly in the middle of the deck with a tray of parfaits in one hand probably did look like an emergency.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. More importantly, did you like it?”
“…Yeah! It’s really good. Thank you!”
All of a sudden, she threw her arms around me, and I ended up falling on my ass. I glanced sideways to check the tray. The parfaits were safe. There are far too many assassins on this ship.
As she rubbed her fluffy cheek against mine, shouting “Garchu!” I suddenly remembered what the goddess had told me.
Cultures where people greet each other with physical contact weren’t rare at all.
That’s right. He must be from some culture where people use kisses as a kind of greeting. In other words, that had meant good night.
As expected, the goddess is incredible. Would it really be so wrong if I gave her a garchu of gratitude?
My brain completely shut down under all that fluffy cheek-rubbing.
Which meant I never made it to the very important conclusion that, while I had absolutely no desire to be kissed by my male captain, I was, in fact, a perverted cook who had been kissed by his male captain and thought it felt nice.
It tasted like carrot.
Carrot took a lick of the orange cream sitting on top of the parfait and blinked in surprise. Sanji had called it a tangerine parfait when he gave one to Nami, so she had simply assumed the cream would taste like tangerine too.
Two days ago, the sautéed fish served at dinner had come with an orange sauce. She had licked it, expecting carrot, only to find that it tasted like tangerine instead. She’d been just the tiniest bit disappointed. It had been delicious, though.
But maybe Sanji had noticed.
Sanji himself was over near the middle of the deck, getting his parfait stolen by Luffy.
Just like always. But…
Watching the two of them, Carrot remembered what she had seen last night.
Last night, she had woken up feeling strangely thirsty, so she had quietly gone to the kitchen to get some water.
On her way back, as she walked down the corridor inside the ship, she suddenly noticed that the door to the men’s quarters was open just a crack. Normally, she would have pretended not to see it. But for some reason, at that moment, she couldn’t help being curious, so she quietly peeked into the room.
In the darkest corner of the room, inside one of the bunks, Sanji was having a terrible nightmare.
He was clutching his golden hair so tightly it looked like he might tear it out, his body curled up small. His breathing was rough, and faint, pained sounds slipped out of him.
Oh no.
Carrot hurriedly reached for the door, about to open it and go inside. But in the end, she didn’t.
Because from the bunk above Sanji’s, there came a small rustle, and someone climbed down to the floor.
It was Luffy.
In the darkness, Luffy bent down and quietly, very quietly peered into the bunk where Sanji was sleeping. Then he reached out and gently stroked Sanji’s head. Like he was comforting a child crying because the night was scary. Softly.
After he did that for a little while, some of the tension seemed to leave Sanji’s body.
Luffy took both of Sanji’s hands, still clenched in his own hair, and wrapped them tightly in his. Even then, Sanji’s breathing didn’t settle. In the quiet space, the only sound was Sanji’s shallow breaths repeating over and over.
Without letting go of the hands he held, Luffy leaned closer and touched his lips to Sanji’s forehead. Carrot could hear his voice, just a little. It sounded like he was telling him, “Calm down.”
Then Luffy pulled back slightly and kissed him slowly—his eyelids, the space between his brows, the tip of his nose, his cheek, and his lips too.
One by one, as if each place was precious.
By the time Luffy drew away from his lips, Sanji finally seemed to feel safe, and he began sleeping with calm, peaceful breaths.
Luffy stood up as if nothing had happened, then turned to look back at Carrot. He must have noticed her from the very beginning. Then he put his index finger to his mouth and grinned. His lips moved without making a sound. The room was dark, so Carrot couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like he was saying, “Keep it secret.”
He wasn’t threatening her. If anything, it felt like an invitation to be partners in crime, the way you hide a prank you pulled together.
Unable to say anything, Carrot gave a small nod. Then she went back to the bedroom, feeling strangely floaty the whole way.
Carrot stared down at the carrot cream and thought.
Why had Sanji been having a nightmare?
How had Luffy known that doing that would calm Sanji down?
Was last night the first time?
Or had there been nights just like that, again and again, maybe dozens of times, and she had simply never known?
Curious, she lifted her face again to look for Sanji. But there was no need to search. Sanji was still in the same place as before, standing blankly in the middle of the deck. The sight of him overlapped with the way he had looked last night. Before she knew it, Carrot had run over to him.
“Sanji? What’s wrong?”
Sanji looked at her as if he had just snapped back to himself. Then, right away, he smiled a little like he always did and gave her head a gentle pat.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. More importantly, did you like it?”
He really had noticed after all. Carrot had never cooked before, but wasn’t it a lot of work to make something different for just one person?
“…Yeah! It’s really good. Thank you!”
She threw her arms around him and gave him a garchu. This one meant thank you.
Luffy and Sanji were probably special, and there were probably lots of meanings only the two of them understood. Last night, she had peeked at just a tiny bit of that. There were so many things she didn’t understand.
But without a doubt, those tightly held hands and those kisses meant to calm him down had been overflowing with love. They had been very, very beautiful.
Over Sanji’s shoulder, as he looked troubled while she rubbed her cheek against his, Carrot could see Luffy.
He was smiling the same way he had last night, when he’d mouthed, Keep it secret.