One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven-

"Is our navigator having another meltdown?" Robin asked as she came back to camp, now carrying a large salt rock with her.

"Hm, seems she's quite the picky eater" I hummed as I sat down my basket before curiously wandering over toward the ginger so I could see what it was she was doing seeing how, instead of helping us gather supplies, she had been sitting here this entire time working on something she claimed was important.

"Now that's what I call a gem—it's huge!" Nami gaped, eyes now sparkling at the sight of the salt rock in Robin's hands.

"Big? Yes" Robin nodded. "But it's not a gemstone" she corrected.

"Hey, that's a big salt crystal" Sanji grinned. "Nice find, Robin dear" he praised.

"I found it on the shore and I figured we'd find a use for it" Robin said as Nami started to eagerly examine the salt crystal.

"Not only is salt vital for survival, but without it, my food would taste awful" Sanji admitted as he put his focus back on his cooking.

"If I take half of the garlic and barley, I can make an antiseptic inferno ointment to heal the Sky Knight..." Chopper mumbled to himself as he thought over what ingredients he'd need in order to make the ointment he was talking about.

"Yeah, you need any frog?" Zoro asked.

"Why would he need a dead frog to make medicine?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as the swordsman only shrugged in response while still holding the dead amphibians out toward the reindeer as if expecting the doctor to take them.

"No, no frog" Chopper shook his head, making it clear he didn't need them.

"Zoro, you're not doing anything—I got a little job for you" Sanji suddenly said as he motioned for the swordsman to come over.

"Oi, Sanji, my swords were not meant to be used like this" Zoro frowned, eye twitching as he carefully balanced a burning stone atop two of his swords.

"Yeah, but disobey the chef and you probably won't eat, so it's your call" Sanji mindlessly shrugged as he ordered the swordsman to finally drop the burning stone right into the pot. As soon as the stone made contact with the stew, it started to boil just as Sanji put the lid right over it to keep the heat trapped inside and to prevent the boiling stew from spilling right over the edges of the pot.

"Ah! You just dropped a rock in the stew—is it good?" Luffy curiously asked.

"We don't eat it, it helps the pot cook" Sanji said. "The stone's heat helps cook the stew from the inside and out" he explained.

"Ah" Chopper nodded in understanding.

"That's interesting, I didn't know that" I said, barely flickering my gaze over toward the men as I continued to boredly hover over near Nami. Occasionally sneaking quick peeks down at whatever it was she was working on. I was pretty good at making basic stews and soups, but even I hadn't been aware of such a trick.

"Trust me on this one, you'll need all the nutrients in this dish to survive this place" Sanji assured us.

"Perfect then!" Chopper brightened.

"Smells like we got a winner" Luffy hungrily licked his lips as he tried to lift the lid to the stew, only to cry out in pain as Sanji kicked him in the head.

"Keep your hands off!" the blond snapped.

"Sanji, I'm hungry!" Luffy loudly whined.

"When are you ever not hungry?" I mindlessly mumbled.