"If you're on break, how's about I introduce you to some of the other crew members?” Ace suggested. “I meant to grab Marco yesterday but he was busy eating birdseed or something."
"We've met already." Sanji said slowly.
Thanks to that stupid blunder he made the other night, he could feel Marco’s annoying, leering eyes digging into his back wherever he went now.
"Oh, right. Well, if he's awake I'll introduce ya anyway. Doesn't hurt to make a good second impression."
Sanji followed Ace to Marco's office reluctantly. He had already started devising plans to get the First Division commander out of the way. If he could wrap him in Seastone chains and lock him in a storage cupboard somewhere, it might keep him out of commission long enough for Sanji to take care of Ace.
The problem was how.
"Hey, Marco!” Ace said as he barged into Marco's office. “I feel like you guys should be introduced properly."
Marco looked up tiredly from his desk. With a nod, he motioned for Ace to get on with it.
"Mr. Prince, this is First Division commander Marco. Marco - Mr. Prince."
Ace made a sweeping gesture from his hand over to Marco, then back to Mr. Prince. He then looked between them expectantly, probably wanting them to shake hands.
Sanji stuck his hand out first, and Marco grabbed it hard. He squeezed down hard enough to make the joints in Sanji’s fingers pop painfully.
After he let go, Marco's eyes slid over to Ace. "Ace, did you discuss that thing I asked you to earlier?"
"Yep! It's all good."
"I see."
Sanji could tell Marco's suspicions weren't going to ease up at any point. To be quite honest, he didn't feel like even trying to cozy up to the guy like he had been doing with Ace.
Even the thought of getting friendly with the man filled him with a disgust that he could barely disguise.
As they left Marco's cabin, Sanji idly wondered if he could poison him without anyone noticing.
Ace took his sweet time escorting Mr. Prince on the way back to the galley, walking side by side with him.
"So, that thing that happened when you fell asleep, is that narcolepsy or something?" Mr. Prince asked.
"Hell if I know. Marco told me it's nothin' to worry about at least." Ace turned to Mr. Prince with a grin. "Before I joined the Whitebeards, I had my own crew and my own ship, the Piece of Spadille. But we didn't have a cook!"
"You went to sea without a cook?" Mr. Prince’s eye narrowed skeptically. Ace was used to that reaction, a lot of people thought the Spade pirates were a load of idiots for the decisions he made as captain.
