Queen of the Pirates

The Sea Train

"Nami!" Sanji lovingly calls out. "Akari!"

"Oh, I wonder what he has cooked up for us this time," Nami says.

I open my eyes, wiggling to sit out better in my chair. "I've accepted that I am a horrible cook, so I'm glad that we have Sanji."

"Ladies, I have prepared the potato paella, my newest invention," Sanji has a single bowl in his hand and two forks in the other. It's nice to see him relaxed and wearing a t-shirt. "Would you like to try some?"

Nami graciously takes the bowl and forks; I swing my legs to face her, taking a fork from Sanji as she does the same. Each of us fill our forks to take a bite. We hum, "Delicious."

Sanji, with hearts bursting out of him, rushes over to the railing to shout out at the waves. "I can die happy!"

I laugh, having to take a few seconds before taking another bite. "Well, I'm glad that we could make his life worth it."

"At least he has two things going for him," Nami waves her fork around. "He can cook and is handsome. Too bad that isn't outweighing him being completely obsessed with women."

I open my mouth to ask about that second half of her first statement, but Zoro interrupts me.

"Shut up, bastard! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Yes, yes," Sanji smugly smirks as he waves Zoro off. "I'm sorry for waking you up, Mr. Cactus."

"What's that, Dartboard!?"

"What was that!?" he turns back around; anger having quickly washed over his face.

"Dartboard eyebrow," Zoro growls.

"What!?"

"Luffy! Luffy!" Chopper and Usopp's cheering pulls me away from the fight.

I pop out of my seat, tossing my fork onto the little table where two ice-cold drinks sit now forgotten. My hands grip the railing as I look to see why the two were cheering for our captain.

Luffy bursts out of the storeroom, a cloud of what appears to be chalk following him. The moment he is covered in the white power, he freezes in a goofy position reminiscent of his frozen self.

Chopper is cheering, Usopp has two fingers in his mouth to amplify his whistle, and I'm failing to keep the laughter in.

"The Frozen Me!" He can't stay in his position long, considering her isn't actually frozen. It is only a few seconds later that he falls to the deck and the chalk blows off.

Chopper is rolling around as the laughter rolls through his body, Usopp is pounding the deck as the laughter explodes through him, and I have accepted that I can't hold the laughter in anymore, so I don't.

Nami lets out a huff, coming to stand next to me. "You almost died from that, how can you joke about it!?"

"He's fine now, so I'd rather laugh than dwell on what could have been," I wipe a tear from my eye.

Luffy is heartily laughing as he pats the chalk off his body. "Did it look real?" He looks up at us, but the want for an answer is instantly forgotten when he sees the bowl in Nami's hands. "Huh? Nami! What are you eating!? Akari, what is she eating!?"

"It was identical, Luffy!" Usopp answers his first question, clapping as he lets the laughter continue to spill out.

"It has potatoes," I giggle.