Changes

Today I let my apple watch die so it wouldn't tell me to get off my fat ass.---

I rested my chin in my hand as I watched Zoro continue his training. "Hey, I know you're the last person I should be asking, but has Sanji been... acting different?" I asked.

The swordsman removed his sword from his mouth to talk to me, "How should I know?"

"I dunno, you've been here longer than I have. I said something to him a while ago and I just wanna know if I bummed him out for longer than I intended," I explained.

He shrugged, "Why didn't you ask Nami? Weren't you talkin to her earlier?"

I facepalmed. He's right, that would have been the best course of action but no, I'm an idiot. I suppose that leaves me with the second-best option. I stood up from my rock with a dramatic groan. "I guess it's time to make my second stop before Luffy comes looking for me, then," I sighed.

Zoro raised a brow, "So I was the first stop?"

"Well, technically I let Nami fill me in first, so you're the second stop," I corrected.

He hummed, "All I'm hearing is that I'm pretty much still first. Glad to be number one." With that conclusion, he turned around and took his swords back out.

I rolled my eyes, "Alright, Number One. I'll see you later."

"Right, go see second place. Maybe say somethin worse to that bastard this time," he grunted, cutting another bamboo tree down. I chuckled and turned to walk back to the base.

After I got back to the clearing, I basically did the most sensible thing when it comes to finding Sanji: follow the smell of food. It was pretty easy to find him in the small shack-like building off to the side of the camp. I walked over and peeked my head through the entrance. The blond was making rice balls.

I slowly entered the small wooden building and cleared my throat. He turned to me almost instantly. "Um, hello," I greeted awkwardly, not really sure how to confront him about this.

"(Y/N)-SWAAAAN~!" the man swooned, spinning over to me and clasping his hands together. "I missed you! How did your time away go~?"

"...I don't know why I was worried," I sweatdropped and watched as he pulled out a chair from thin air and motioned for me to sit in it. I did and watched as he went to make more rice balls, though still giving me as much attention as he was a second ago. I don't know why I was so worried; I don't think he was sulking for too long when I said it now that I think about it. "It was good actually. I was with Luffy, and we met up with Kid as well. I kind of owe Kid a favor now, which is scaring me the more I think about it. What elseee... uhhhh I learned a new Haki trick. And thennnn ummm Luffy almost died from a man-made illness. That's about it," I summed up, leaning forward with my forearms on my thighs.

"If Kid bothers you, you can always come to me~!" he offered, a big smile on his face.

I laughed and shook my head, "Sadly, favors are not something I can get help with. It's my bad this time. Anyway, what's up with you? Anything new happen?"

His smile faltered slightly. I almost got concerned again before he pulled out the black Germa canister, "I had to use this thing. Then-"

"WAIT!" I interrupted him, jumping out of my seat at the sight of the number 3 container. "Put it on again! Right now!"

"Ah, are you su-"

"YES- oh wait. I mean, you don't have to but uh, it would be reaaally great if you could put it on. Ya know, since you put it on already without me telling you to," I said, toning myself down a bit to not come off as demanding. I don't want him to put it on if he really doesn't want to. It came from people he burned bridges with, after all.

He grinned, "It's perfectly fine if it's for you, (y/n)-swan~!"

"Thank you so much! Let's do this outside!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the shack, bringing him over to the ledge near the ocean. I took a few steps back and took a seat, smiling widely. "Okay, okay, I'm ready now. Do the thing, please."

The blond stared at me for a second before coughing into his fist awkwardly, looking a little red. I motioned for him to transform, biting my lip in excitement. The PG kind. Don't think of anything, guys. Anyway, he held the black canister in his hand before twirling it around and throwing it into the air. A huge cloud surrounded him, the only thing I could really see being the spinning canister which had fire coming out of both ends.

After what I can only imagine was a sailor moon transformation behind that cloud, Sanji came into view. His hair was spiked up in some areas and he had a mask with black glasses over his eyes. His entire suit was black. It's just as I suspected, he's Number Three: Stealth Black.

I won't lie, I literally squealed. Like I was a pig. Or maybe a 13-year-old girl at a One Direction concert. I jumped up and inspected his suit, starting with his bullet proof cape and then his mask. I couldn't help patting his hair back down when I got to it, seeing as it reminded me of Red and Blue.

"I'm so glad you got one of these! I reaaaally wanted to see the material properly but there was NO WAY I was asking your asshole brothers," I laughed, taking his glasses off and putting them on myself.

He laughed and nodded, "Yea, they're a bunch of shit heads. They don't deserve your time."

"Your suit is amazing. Stealth Black was one of my favorites from the comic. He had some of the coolest powers," I told him. I promptly tugged his mask down afterward so his whole face was exposed like it usually was. "I think I'd rather see Sanji right now though. Sanji with a Stealth Black suit on," I said, very clearly drawing the line between the character and him.

His pale face turned red while I switched my attention back to the fabric of the cape. It's creators aside, this material is amazing. I wish Judge wasn't such an asshat because I would have asked him so many questions if he wasn't. "(y/n)-san..." I looked back at his face upon him saying my name. His expression was one of seriousness, with a bit of anxiousness mixed in there. I straightened up and let him continue what he wanted to say. "...I've been thinking about what happened back on the mountain."

"On the one that Kaido obliterated?" I questioned. He nodded. My hands fell to my sides and my fingers fidgeted from my nervousness. I wasn't meaning to drop this topic completely, I just thought that his excitement earlier meant that everything went back to normal. Even if normal isn't what I want right now, I was going to talk to him about it when we weren't about to start a raid on a Yonko's territory.

I fell back on my ass onto the ground before he went any further. I want to at least be physically comfortable while I am emotionally uncomfortable. He smiled slightly and sat down as well. "I just... I want to know if I made you angry somehow," he stumbled a bit with his words.

I shook my head, "No, you didn't make me angry. It's more like you confuse me even if that's not your intention."

He furrowed his curly brows and asked, "I confuse you?"

"Yes, more or less. It's like you're so bold every time that you see a woman that it makes it confusing to figure out if you're really serious about anyone. I appreciate every compliment and piece of attention you've given me, but I'm not someone that can ignore your affection like it's a regular thing forever. It does get to me, but I don't want to accidentally grow feelings for someone who falls in love with every woman he sees," I tried to be as honest as I could with my explanation. He took a second to process my words. I took advantage of this to continue, "So... what I'm saying is that I'd prefer you leave me out of your flirting, or at least try to tone it down for a bit."

The blond sat there completely stunned for a few seconds. With that being said, I stood up and began walking away. Or I would have if a hand didn't grab mine in an effort to stop me. I thought I would let him gather his thoughts for a while before he responded to me, but I guess this was getting resolved now.

When I looked back at him, his face looked so confused. "A woman like you could grow feelings for me?" he asked, his eyes wide.

I laughed and gave him a smile, "Don't sell yourself short, Sanji. You'd be the perfect guy if you'd stop being such a perv. Any woman would be lucky to have you. You're male wife material."

His mouth laid agape and his grip on my hand loosened. He basically became a statue. I took the glasses off my face and placed them back over his eyes. I continued walking away after that. He can do what he wants with that information, but at least now I know that things will change for my own sanity's benefit. Will I miss his attention? Yes, maybe a whole lot, I'm a sucker for it, but that's why I had to stop that here. I can only get so attached while watching him bow at other women's feet like 24/7.

Once I was back where everyone else was, I saw that Hitetsu was walking up to the center of the clearing with a large box. "Oh! (Y/n)! What were you doing over there?!" Luffy called out to me, smiling and running toward me.

I smiled, "Oh nothing. I just had to sort something out. What's going on over here?"

"Hitetsu is giving us stuff to use for the raid!" Chopper answered for him, coming up to me as well. Just as he said that the swordsmith dropped the box onto the ground and then took a seat back on his large, rounded stone seat. The two of them spun around at the loud thud.

"Let's go check it out then," I said, dashing between the two of them and opening the chest-like containers. Brook joined in on the inspecting of the new items just as the other two made it to either side of me.

It was full of samurai style armor, vibrant in color and very shiny. "Are you really allowing us use these?!" Luffy asked, his eyes shining brightly.

Chopper picked a helmet up and gasped, "Wow! It's a samurai helmet! I wanna show it to Usopp, too!"

"Maybe when we meet up with him and Franky, we can keep these to show them," I told him with a grin. He nodded quickly.

"We're warriors!" Brook laughed out, taking a chest piece out from the box.

The three of them were quick to put on the armor. They smiled triumphantly to themselves upon seeing the results of their playing around. Luffy made sure to strap a sword on himself once again in order to give him the finished samurai look. This action was copied by Chopper.

"Your enemy is that ill-famed Kaido. Are you all prepared?!" Hitetsu asked all of them.

They all shifted to pose beside each other and Luffy stepped forward to answer that question. "Kaido?" he repeated. "That loser... is about to be sliced up!"

The three of them proceeded to make a bunch of noises and strike poses with their new outfits. I'll admit, I tried to put the armor on. Alas, it was not made for women, so it did not fit right, and it looked weird on me. It was a sad realization. I love the look of the samurai armor; it makes everything look cool. Carrot agreed with my thoughts because she complimented Luffy and them.

"Oh, how cute," Robin chimed in addition to Carrots comment. "Just like bugs."

"BUGS?!" Chopper and Brook echoed in disbelief. "C-CUTE?!"

I laughed and patted the reindeer's head, "Hey, don't sweat it. Beetles are pretty damn strong. And they look cool."

"YES! Like Hercules beetles!" Luffy butted in, his eyes sparkling once again.

"Oh right!" the reindeer chirped, his memory being sparked for something completely unknown to me. Luffy probably showed him beetles before I guess. His obsession with them isn't as strange as I thought it was now that I think about. He likes strange strong things. And here we are, a crew of strange strong things. His interests don't really go outside that category, I guess. 

The conversation grew into more serious matters when Robin decided to inform us on the status of Onigashima. It would be winter at the shore of Kaido's island. The weather for the day is still unclear, but as long as there are no clouds to block the moon, we could have the full power of the Minks that will be fighting with us since the moon would be full. 

After this discussion, Luffy walked to the ledge where Sanji and Zoro were, looking out to the sea in a brooding manner. "Big Mom is here," he stated. "Big Mom is here, but not Jinbei. He said he'd meet us here when he was done dealing with them, but she got here before him!"

Zoro walked to his side and smiled, "There's still time, he'll come. If he's alive."

I smacked him over the head, "Jinbei isn't dead! There's no chance of it! You shoulda seen him stand in front of Big Mom. He told her to fuck off right to her face."

His eyebrows raised, "Really? I can't imagine that."

"Well, maybe because he didn't say 'Fuck off' but it was pretty much that," I clarified. He shook his head.

Meanwhile, Luffy looked to me and smiled, "I'm sure (y/n)'s right. He's alive, and he'll come in time."

I patted his shoulder, "For sure. He's super strong and so are his followers."

Speaking of followers, how many do we have by now? I keep thinking of us as the small but mighty Straw Hat crew, but really when I think about it, I think we have far more than 5k people ready to set sail for us right now. There's no way the samurai want more random outsiders to help in their cause though. Some of them are kind of wild, anyway.

---Another day another slayALSO. Listen. LIIIISTEN. I don't ship. If anything I complain about the inevitable that Oda seems to be setting up. Like Hiyori n Zoro(I like hiyori, its not her fault that im jealous). BUT BUT BUT I have been on tiktok. I've been on tiktok and it has directed my attention to a ship that I like. Frobin. FROBIN IS SO GOOD WHAT?! HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE?!