Table For Two | Sanji

002

002 — SANJI ༄

"Hey, Sanji, how long until you cook again?" Luffy asks me in his whiny voice from across the kitchen. I can see the pout on his face from here even though I have my back on him. But he makes it so obvious all the time, and hell, I already have his face pasted in my brain because of how much this guy whines for food.

I turn around to him, my hands dripping with soapy water as I show them to him, gesturing that I am currently washing the dishes he just ate from, not that he understands what I mean. "Luffy, you just ate a worth of ten meals with enough calories. Barely a minute ago. And you're already thinking of when the next meal will be?"

"Your food is too good, Sanji, I can't think of anything else."

I can't deny that his reply gives me deep satisfaction, spreading across my chest like sweet venom that will someday have its effect on me. Someone who appreciates my cooking will forever have a place deep in my soul, which at this point feels like it's endless. My soul and my cooking. Almost everyone in my life has complimented my plates, except for those in my early days, when I was just starting to walk down this path and instead, they were suggestions and teaching thrown my way.

However, nowadays, it's only good things that people say to me regarding my skills. Except for someone. Someone who is in this very ship, probably hiding in a corner somewhere on the back deck, as usual, with her nose buried in a book that I just know she is not paying any attention to.

I return to the sink, my face morphing into a glare as my hold gets tighter and tougher around the dishes. God, thinking about her ruins my mood, which is all the damn time, because for some reason, Taika always finds her way under my skin and makes herself at home, and all I want to do is just scratch her off me like the bug she is. But she pushes, even when she's not even trying. I think it's her mere existence that has me seeing red.

Disgusting. She thinks the food I make is disgusting. Who gave her the right to voice that opinion of me? The first time we met, Taika not only insulted my plate but also my very existence. Cooking is my entire life, and I've never complained once about it. So who is she, to be the only one to complain? Get out of here.

That's what I did. I made her leave the Baratie after she told me I suck as a chef. Those weren't her exact words, but it's the same damn thing that she said. I spent four days making that incredible soup, and it wasn't for someone to come and tell me it looked disgusting and then proceed to give it to someone else. Nobody comes, bites the hand that feeds them, then leaves without repercussions. Not my goddamned hands.

I sound like a whiny child, but I swear, Taika is the only woman who tests my patience, the only woman who makes my blood boil and makes my temples burn. I'm a fucking gentleman, I worship the ground women walk on because they deserve it, they are everything in this world—and so divine—but this woman makes me want to be the man she claims me to be: the worst asshole she'll ever encounter. It makes me want to be mean, to push her until I make her cry, to make her hate me more than she already does.

Would she even take it? I'd make sure she did.

I'm fuming by the time I get out of the kitchen and stand by the railing, overlooking the main deck, Luffy long lost. I try not to, but my eyes scan the place looking for Taika anyway, and it makes me angrier. She steals all of my time and thoughts, and I'm still not sure how I'll make it happen, but I want them all back. I want back my time spent thinking about her, speaking to her, being angry at her, cooking for her, even though she hates it, I want back my thoughts wasted on her, those dreams—more like nightmares—promises of forever-lasting hatred, wasted breath, unheard words.

I want it all.
Back.

I find her on the back deck, where she usually stays for the most part of the day, only this time she's not alone—she's not sitting up, isolated, back against the railing with a book in her hands. No. Not now. Right now, Taika is lying down, staring up at the bright sky... with Roronoa Zoro taking the space next to her. Zoro, who has one arm under his head and the other pointing up at the clouds, murmuring words to Taika with a stupid smirk on his stupid face. She listens to him carefully, nodding once, before she opens her mouth and smiles.