Chapter 307: Pirates Have to Have Sweet, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Love Too!
The next morning.
The faint sun had just peeked over the horizon where the sea and sky met. The Merry was docked on the shimmering coast, and a faint golden light shone through the window into the dormitory.
Reiner, who had just woken up, lifted the blanket and sat up, only to see Sanji standing in front of the full-length mirror in the corner, meticulously styling his hair.
Reiner, Sanji, and Brook were all people who paid attention to their appearance. This scene was not strange at all.
However, today, a hint of a good mood could be vaguely seen in Sanji's eyes.
"So happy so early in the morning."
Swinging his legs off the bed, Reiner stood up and walked over lazily. He grabbed a handful of golden hair and slicked it back, asking:
"Going out?"
"Mm. I made plans with Pudding before saying goodbye last night. I'm going over to exchange some cooking experience with her today."
Sanji replied casually, and as if to confirm what he had said, he subconsciously muttered to himself, "I didn't expect Miss Pudding to be such an amazing pastry chef."
"Exchanging experience, huh?" Reiner couldn't suppress a grin. "You have a lot of excuses. Isn't this just a date?"
"Shut up!"
Sanji's old face turned red as he shouted, "I've made breakfast for you guys in the dining room! I'll be back before lunch!"
"It's fine if you don't come back."
Reiner's words were relentless as he continued to tease, "If you have the skills, you can even sleep over at her place tonight."
"Who are you calling skill-less!"
"What! You really want to sleep over at her place tonight?"
"Hey! When did I ever say that, you bastard!" Sanji hurriedly retorted loudly.
Just then, perhaps having been woken up by the noise, Usopp, Franky, and the others also sat up from their beds one after another, rubbing their eyes and looking over, teasing:
"Yo, is Sanji going on a date?"
"Go for it, Sanji! I think that girl is pretty nice."
"Eh, who was it that was shouting yesterday that he didn't plan on getting married?"
"Hahahaha."
"You bastards!" A vein popped on Sanji's forehead in anger.
One day, I'll poison all these bastards!
"Alright, stop preening. Are you planning to style every single strand of hair? Compared to dressing up..."
Reiner pushed Sanji aside with his elbow, stood in front of the mirror himself, and glanced at him with a smirk. "How about I teach you a few tricks? It's all from experience, guaranteed to be useful."
"What's useful or not? Mind your own business. And I'm not going on a date."
Sanji said with disdain, but he still stood there without moving, waiting for Reiner to continue.
"For example, the form of address. Change 'Miss Pudding' to 'Pudding-chan'. You have a marriage contract, after all. Being a little more intimate won't make people think you're rude."
"Also, the professional title. Casually praise the other in a joking manner. It can be exaggerated or realistic."
"Every time I call Nami 'Miss World's Number One Navigator', she's overjoyed. Pudding is a pastry chef, right..."
Reiner explained to Sanji in detail while styling his hair.
Usopp exclaimed that he was an expert and hurriedly got out of bed to take notes.
Soon, Sanji finished getting ready, chose a wine-red inner shirt, put on a black casual suit, and left.
Reiner and the others also went to the dining room for breakfast.
The weather was nice today. White clouds lay lazily in the clear blue sky.
The sun was gentle, and the breeze was cool.
On the lawn deck, Robin was reading under a tree. Luffy, Chopper, and a few others were sitting on the ship's rail, fishing.
On the stern deck, Zoro was sweating as usual. Franky had returned to his laboratory in the basement to continue tinkering with his secret mech.
After breakfast, Reiner asked Nami to go for a walk in town, and on the way, to pick out some suitable formal wear for Luffy and the others for the wedding in a couple of days.
In Chocolate Town, at the window of a coffee shop called 'Caramel', Pudding handed a dessert to a customer.
"Your mocha and strawberry pie."
"Thank you. Goodbye, Lady Pudding."
"Thank you for your patronage. Please come again."
Pudding smiled and waved goodbye to the customer, then turned to look at the clock on the wall.
"It's already eight-thirty..."
"There's still half an hour left. Will Sanji-san really come?" Pudding thought to herself, a little nervous.
Although the two of them had gotten along very happily last night, and she could feel that Sanji was a very gentle person...
...but it was precisely because of this that Pudding was a little worried.
She actually began to worry if Sanji had only acted so gentle out of politeness last night.
It might sound incredible.
But in fact, Pudding, who was ranked second as the 'Charlotte Family's Favorite Sister', was actually extremely insecure inside.
She was a mixed-blood of the Three-Eye Tribe. Because of the third eye on her forehead, she was often bullied and laughed at as a child.
Coupled with the fact that she had yet to open her eye and awaken the ability of the Three-Eye Tribe, she had never been favored by Big Mom either.
Later, she grew out her long bangs to cover her forehead and began to learn to use sinister and evil ways to fake 'strength' to protect herself and hide her inner insecurity.
Although their time together last night was short, she could still feel Sanji's excellence. As a result, her heart became even more insecure. She began to feel that she was not worthy of Sanji.
"Pudding-chan."
Suddenly, a soft whisper from behind her made her body tremble, and a surge of surprise welled up in her heart.
Pudding turned around, overjoyed, and sure enough, she saw the face she had been looking forward to all morning.
Sanji stood at the door, smiling at her.
"Good morning. Have I kept you waiting, Pudding-chan?"
"No, no! There's still half an hour before our agreed time."
Pudding hurriedly waved her hands and then continued, "Good morning, Sanji. Please come in."
"Mm," Sanji said, carrying two bags as he walked into the cafe. "These are some tools and ingredients. I had a wonderful idea after I went back last night, so I brought them over to try today."
"That sounds like it will be very interesting," Pudding said with a smile and a nod. "Then let's begin. I'll just close the shop door."
"Is that alright? Am I disturbing your business?"
"Not at all," Pudding quickly shook her head. "I like to make desserts when I'm bored, so I thought of opening a shop to share my food with everyone."
"So I don't rely on this to make money. More importantly,"
Pudding smiled, wringing her fingers. "When I see others happy eating the desserts I made with my own hands, I also feel particularly happy."
Hearing these words, Sanji stood frozen on the spot, staring blankly at Pudding. He seemed to hear his own heart beating powerfully, 'thump, thump'.
He had been infatuated with countless beautiful women.
But this was the first time.
Not because of the other's beautiful appearance, or sexy figure, but simply because of one sentence, he felt his heart stir.
"...S-Sanji."
Being stared at so directly, Pudding's face turned red, and she nervously lowered her head to avoid his gaze.
"Ah, sorry," Sanji finally came back to his senses and said with an apologetic smile, "That was rude of me."
"N-no, it's fine. Let's sort out these things first."
Pudding hurriedly changed the subject. She took a bag of items from Sanji's hand and walked towards the baking room. "Can we make a new tiramisu today? I've been wanting to try it for a while."
"Of course. Everything is up to our dessert master," Sanji joked. "I will do my best to act as your assistant."
"M-m-master... I'm not that amazing."
Pudding was so embarrassed that her face, which had just lost its shyness, turned red again.
The joy of having her efforts recognized by others couldn't help but overflow from her heart and show on her face.
It had nothing to do with Reiner's words from the morning. Sanji's praise was from the bottom of his heart.
Their brief time together last night had indeed shown him Pudding's skill and her seriousness towards cooking.
Sanji went over to help sort out the things in the bags and asked, "Does Pudding-chan have anything else to do today?"
"Me? Emmm," Pudding thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any plans. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be free all day."
"In that case, let's leave the tools here for now. Let's go and prepare the ingredients for the tiramisu."
Sanji rubbed his chin and thought, "Let's see, Totto Land has Cream Island, Flour Island, Liqueur Island..."
"Eh? Wait a minute, Sanji," Pudding said, puzzled. "Don't I have all these ingredients here?"
"Mm, I know," Sanji nodded and said with a gentle smile:
"But Totto Land has islands with various ingredient themes. For a chef, this is a dreamlike place. Since Pudding-chan happens to be free, could you show me around?"
"And, gathering ingredients is also an important part of making a dish. I think it would be a very interesting experience to visit the various islands and gather ingredients with Pudding-chan," Sanji said with a gentle smile.
An... interesting experience...
After hearing Sanji's words, Pudding was so shy her face turned red all the way to the roots of her neck. "O-of course."
"Sanji-san, please wait a moment. I'm going to the washroom."
"Mm, I understand," Sanji nodded lightly.
After coming to the washroom, Pudding covered her flushed face with her hands, pouted, and looked at herself in the mirror, her heart pounding with excitement.
She didn't know why, but the Sanji today felt a little different from last night.
It was as if...
...he was more actively trying to get close to her?
The moment she thought of the scene where Sanji had just told her 'it would be a very interesting experience to visit the various islands and gather ingredients together', Pudding became even more nervous.
"Have I fallen for Sanji-san?"
Pudding held her hands to her heart. She wasn't sure what her feelings for Sanji were now.
She just felt very comfortable being with Sanji. All her worries could be thrown to the back of her mind.
Chatting with him was also very comfortable. The marriage alliance that had always made her fearful, he had never mentioned it in front of her, as if he were deliberately being considerate of her feelings.
For a moment, her heart suddenly felt a little bit of anticipation for the upcoming wedding.
"Will I really marry Sanji-san..."
Pudding couldn't help but ask herself this question. Then she tried to imagine what it would be like if she married Sanji.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but use her fingers to part her bangs, revealing the eye on her forehead.
The scene of being disliked and ridiculed by those around her continuously appeared in her mind.
If Sanji saw it, would he think she was disgusting...
Looking at the 'ugly' face with three eyes in the mirror, Pudding pressed her lips together tightly and clenched her hands with unwillingness.
Never before had she hated herself so much.
Pudding scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on her face to calm herself down.
After drying her face, she smiled at the mirror again, looking as if nothing had happened.
At least for today, she just wanted to share a happy mood with Sanji.
She had always been good at pretending. She could even control her happiness and unhappiness freely.
Walking out of the washroom, Sanji was leaning against the window, smoking.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Pudding walked over with a smile. "Let's go. First is the flour. Let's go to brother Katakuri's place first."
Sanji didn't seem to notice anything unusual and replied with a nod, "Mm. Then let's set off."
Pudding had a flying carpet Homie. Soon, the two of them set off on the carpet.
They went to Flour Island, which was managed by Katakuri, and collected some flour. It was a small town filled with bread buildings, and on the tallest building in the center hung a giant donut.
Pudding told Sanji that was Katakuri's favorite food and also shared many stories about this most popular brother in Totto Land, who would always gently take care of his younger brothers and sisters.
Next, Pudding took Sanji to Liqueur Island. The buildings in Liqueur Town were all in the shape of wine bottles and wine glasses.
Sanji told Pudding about the big drinker on their ship, Zoro, and claimed that if the other were to retire in the future, he would definitely come here.
Then they went to Nuts Island's White Town to collect fresh cream. As they passed by Biscuit Island, Pudding felt a little hungry.
On a whim, the two of them dismantled a biscuit soldier to fill their stomachs and were discovered by Cracker, whereupon they fled in a panic.
The two of them traveled between the various islands on the flying carpet. Finally, they returned to Cacao Island, and Sanji and Pudding began a battle of salty versus sweet.
Using the ingredients they had collected in just half a day, they made a bold and innovative tiramisu.
Innovation always has a lot of room for improvement. Unfortunately, this tiramisu was not very delicious.
But food should not be wasted. They had to eat it all up. The process was both painful and enjoyable.
On this day, they shared many stories with each other.
Pudding would ask Sanji what his companions on the ship were like, and what adventures he had experienced in his pirate life.
Sanji unreservedly told his stories to Pudding, starting from the New World and working his way backward.
Some of his experiences had even been published in the newspapers, and Pudding had read them, but she had never expected to hear a completely different side of the story from Sanji's mouth.
Pudding was surprised by the underwater Fish-Man Island a hundred thousand meters deep. Sanji was surprised that Pudding had never left Totto Land.
Hearing about the incident on Thriller Bark, Pudding felt it was gloomy and terrifying. At the end of the story, she found out that Sanji actually knew Lola, who was Pudding's favorite sister.
Sanji finally talked about how his cooking skills were learned in the East Blue from a cranky, one-legged old man who was his master and also his savior.
The story stopped there. It was already sunset, and Sanji had coincidentally stopped his story at how he had left the Vinsmoke family.
They had a tacit understanding not to let their painful experiences affect the other's good mood.
The soon-to-be-married bride and groom, with their wedding just the day after tomorrow, had not even mentioned the wedding once.
The two of them were so in sync, and even their gentleness was so compatible.
Under the setting sun, they sat on the coast of Cacao Island, watching the faint sun slowly sink below the horizon.
Sanji stood up. He should go back and cook dinner. A ship full of people was waiting to be fed.
"Well then, goodbye, Pudding-chan."
"Mm. Goodbye, Sanji."
"Um..."
Sanji had just taken a few steps when Pudding called out to him again, stammering, "Sanji-san... are you free tomorrow?"
"I don't have anything to do tomorrow. Well~, it will probably be very boring."
Sanji scratched his head and said, "If Pudding-chan is free, can I come and see you again tomorrow?"
Pudding's heart was filled with joy and excitement. She nodded emphatically. "Mm!"
"Then I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, Sanji!"
(End of chapter)
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