One Piece: Grand Endeavours

Chapter Three: Outside

Luffy
I take a large mouthful of chicken and chew. Then chew more. It's like chewing through something held together with super glue and has the texture of cardboard.
"Ew..." I complain. "This meat doesn't taste like meat..."
"Yeah I'm not a great cook," NO78V/A says sheepishly, eating from a bag of toffee popcorn. "But I figured it would be better overcooked rather than undercooked."
"Yep," Sanji agrees. "You never want undercooked chicken or pork. Or any white meat. It's pretty dangerous. Luffy finish that bit of meat. We aren't wasting food."
"Fine," I mutter, taking another bite. "Yours is better...This is super bland..."
"So chicken isn't normally like that?" NO78V/A asks. "Oh. So do you buy not bland chicken?"
"No, you season it," Sanji replies. "With salt, pepper, spices and/or herbs."
"Oh. That makes sense..." NO78V/A says with a grin. "They taste nice."
"Ooh if you're a robot can you do anything cool?!" I ask eagerly.
"Um...Well I don't need to breathe so I can hang out underwater infinitely," he replies with a light shrug. "And I'm immune to poison plus don't need to eat or drink. Is that cool?"
"Yes!" I exclaim. "Wait if you don't need to eat then why are you eating?"
"Because I like food, it's good!" he replies cheerfully. "I prefer sweet food but eh."

"So now all these guys are unconscious are you going to leave?" Robin asks N078V/A as we gather up food and booze from the kitchen: they have so much meat!
"Probably," he says. "I mean I have no idea where to go but yeah! Going outside and seeing new places would be so fun...or seeing any places!"
"Join our crew! I offer with a grin. "We explore lots of places."
"Really? Yeah! Okay!" he replies happily. I grin even more. Normally it isn't that easy to convince them to join but he agreed almost straight away which is awesome!
"Well we all saw that coming," Zoro comments, getting a few chuckles from the crew.
"What do you mean?" I ask in confusion.
"It's you," Zoro says matter of factly. "As soon as you decided you liked him it was obvious you'd ask him to join the crew."
"Oh. Yup!" I reply, proudly, because it is definitely a good thing. "Can we go now? This place is getting boring..."
"Yeah that's probably a good idea," Nami agrees. "We should leave before another sandstorm hits or we'll be stuck here a while. Plus these idiots will probably wake up soon and realise we took their treasure and supplies."

We head to the exit and as soon as we get outside NO78V/A's grin widens.
"I've seen pictures of outside but this is so much better!" he says. "It's so warm and pretty! And the colours are so much more vivid!"
"It's a desert. Not much is here," Zoro says rolling his eyes.
"Yeah there is!" he counters happily. "There's fluffy clouds, bright blue sky, gold sand, pretty cacti, gr-"
"We get it. You're optimistic," Zoro interrupts, rolling his eyes again. "But the desert sucks. And if you keep obsessing over each little thing then we are going to get caught in another sandstorm."
"Don't be so grumpy Zoro!" I say. "He's never been outside! So all this is new. And, to be fair, he has a point. The desert is kinda pretty when you think about it that way."
"I'm just glad I'm finally outside!" N078V/A says with a slight forced smile. I know smiles and can tell when they aren't completely genuine. Or forced, really. "I didn't know the sun was so bright and warm!"At the end of his sentence his smile grows again and I figure that the brief lack of it was realising what he missed in however long he has been in there.

We finally get to the ship, just as the probability of another sandstorm hits. I sit cross leggeded and face N078V/A so I can learn some more about him as the ship leaves the island.
"Soooo, what do you do?" I ask. "Like hobby wise. Nami is a navigator for example." I felt the need to clarify because he has been in that facility his whole life.
"I really like sewing stuff," he replies. "I made this jacket for example but they never let me do it much. They said it was a 'useless talent'."
"That's not true at all!" Chopper comments and I nod in agreement.
"Especially given how expensive clothes are," Robin adds.
"Exactly!" Nami exclaims, eyes lighting up, probably at the idea of saving money on clothes if someone here can just make them. I just hope she repays him a little bit but knowing Nami, no. Definitely no. She really likes her money.

"So can we call you something easier?" Chopper asks.
"Sure," N078V/A says. "I mean if you can think of something. I've been unable to."
"What about Nova?" Usopp suggests. "0 is close to o and you have all the other letters." I think it's a cool idea- a nova is the cool space thing- but obviously if he doesn't like it we aren't calling him it.
"Ooh that sounds cool!" he says. "Way better than all the letters and numbers."
"Nova it is then!" I say with a grin. So our crew has grown again and we have more talents in our group that I couldn't do.

Nova
I am actually outside now: even better I am at sea! This is the greatest day of my life!

Now admittedly there is not much competition because my life in the facility has been very boring. Incredibly so. But that's okay because now I am actually outside seeing the world with the sea and it is all so cool and pretty! Plus if I never went through all the sucky stuff like being stuck there then I would of never met these guys and get the chance to be an actual pirate with adventures. I have my own room here and apparently I can decorate it however I want. I mean I don't sleep but I can use it to work on my sewing. It might be a good idea to invest in a sewing machine to get the bigger parts done quicker. I hear a knock at the door and it makes me jump.
"Yea?" I ask.
"Sanji has made dinner if you're hungry," a voice tells me. It's either Nami or Robin: I've only been here a couple of hours so can't be sure.
"Food!" I exclaim. Yay! I open the door and it's Nami.
"You are so going to get along with Luffy," she comments with a grin. "He really loves eating especially meat."

We head to the kitchen area and it smells so nice! It's a good food smell unlike the yucky burnt smell I always make when I cook anything. Sanji (I think that's his name) serves us all some rice in a sauce with some meat with stuff on it. I don't know what it is but it looks and smells delicious.
"Mushroom risotto with herbal chicken in a garlic crumb," Sanji says. I take a bite and it tastes even better than it smells. I try some of the risotto thing and unlike rice it isn't bland: it is without a doubt the best savoury thing I have eaten ever.
"So how is it?" he asks me with a large grin.
"It is the best thing I have ever eaten!" I reply, honestly. "Normally I'm not that keen on rice or most savoury things but this is crazy good!" I take another big bite of the risotto and finish it super quickly.
"Do you want some more?" he offers: I nod eagerly and get seconds. "And no, Luffy, I wasn't asking you. He's never had proper food before by the sound of it so we're making up for lost time." Luffy huffs. "There will be pudding though." Somehow my day gets even better because pudding means sweet stuff and I love sweet stuff.
"So no more meat?" Luffy whines.
"No more meat," Sanji confirms. "We do need to make supplies last."

Sanji brings out a large chocolate cake. Chocolate! Yay! This is definitely the best day ever! Meeting nice people, seeing the outside, being at sea and now cake?! Today couldn't get any better.
"This is even better than the rice thing!" I say. I could easily, and happily, eat the whole cake but there are other people so I can't. Sanji grins again so I'm guessing he likes it when people like his cooking? I mean that makes sense since he's a cook...he wouldn't want people to hate it. That wouldn't make sense. Why cook something for hate? It is hardly easy.

Duh. I really need to think more but there are so many distractions! Plus if I go thinking and planning constantly then there is no way that I'll be surprised as much. I wish I could cook. What I make is edible but it really sucks especially as now I know how good food can be. If food can be this good then I like it even more than before and if every day is as nice as today then it'll be awesome! Even if there are bad days they seem really nice so I bet it will be anyway.