. . . SOMETHING TO SAVOUR! featuring the straw hats!
contains! . . . lowercase writing, one piece, luffy being luffy, bad writing for a fighting scene 💀, pretty much a oneshot inspired by the live action episode where opla!sanji is introduced, but reader is the waiter, some dialogue lines are somewhat changed as well as those two guys who attempted to kill each other, the reader is called [name] so feel free to imagine that as your own name, bad flirting; brought to you by the waiter! reader. crossposted on ao3.
notes! . . . AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- hello :D, hope everyone's doing alright cuz I'm not! but don't you worry about that, I think I'll handle everything just ok 👍👍
sniff... sniff sniff-... sniff...
“hmmm... i smell...”
a familiar young man's nostrils flare as he sniffs the air like a dog seeking for a mere piece of meat, tilting his face upwards to get a whiff of the savour scented air coming from a nearby restaurant a few miles away. he held on to his straw hat by a hand that's placed on the top, just so it wouldn't slip off.
“...MEAT!”
as it were an instinct, monkey d. luffy bounced off the thousand sunny the moment it docked as he went off towards the direction where the smell was coming off from, drooling as he imagined the meat he'll get to eat today. meanwhile, both god usopp & tony tony chopper decides to jump off and followed after to catch up to luffy as well as call out to him.
as the other crewmembers were getting ready to get off the ship (excluding cyborg franky, he was in charge to look after the thousand sunny and was busy with something he urgently needed to fix), most of which watched as their captain, sharpshooter, & doctor headed towards the nearest village ahead through the thick forest.
“we haven't even gotten off and that idiot is already going after food everytime we dock at a new island...”
the navigator, cat burglar nami jutted out her hip as she places a slim hand over her forehead and the other on her hip, seemingly unamused as she closes her eyes shut at her captain's usual antics. but knowing him though, she couldn't name a thing could prevent this—after all, that is luffy's natural nature.
“we only docked here to have restock our suppiles after a month of sailing on the sea and the first thing he does is look for food.”
an amused chuckle erupts from nico robin's throat (including soul king brookwho laughed heartedly to himself), as the lady crossed an arm over her chest while her other arm positions itself to have her chin rest on her hand. robin wore a carefree and calm face, the opposite of what the ginger woman felt.
“it's amusing” her voice was as fruity and pleasant as it always is whenever she spoke, the dark-haired woman calmly walks past the other girl who eventually followed after.
it didn't take long for luffy to search for a restaurant nearby, savory symphony was the name, already dashing towards the place with no signs of stopping—luffy usually listens to his guts than his brain after all, hunger overtaking his mind.
standing in front of the restaurant, he takes a good look at the place overall—the strong scent of food wafting from the entrance to persuade and attract customers, the warm and cozy color scheme of the building; splashing of carefully selected colors going well together with the others, the creative design of the arch way and sign that displays the restaurant's sole name—before luffy heads on in without a second thought, approaching the direction of the hostess who was greeting people coming in or out, while subconsciously licking his lips when imagining the food he'll eat.
eventually, afterwards, the whole crew (not really) got themselves seated at a table by the kind hostess (also, nami had to hit both black-leg sanji and brook for attempting to flirt with the woman +trying to ask what color her underwear was) and waited for a waiter to come and serve them after skimming the menu.
“luffy, stop trying to eat the table,” nami speaks, gazing at her captain gnawing at the table with furrowed brows after smacking him on the head. then she sighed when the impatient luffy whined back. “but i'm hungry!!! the food's taking too long...”
“just wait. the waiter isn't here to take our order yet.”
nami turned her attention to the other crewmembers, glancing at roronoa zoro's direction specifically who hadn't finished ordering yet. as in—if he did. “okay, so is everyone ready to order?”
zoro, still looking at the menu with a squinted eye, said while staring down at the menu, “not yet,”
“did ya even read the thing?” sanji spoke while he eyes the grass-haired swordsman with a pointed gaze, holding his lit cigar between two fingers. usopp added along with a raised eyebrow, noticing the swordsman's mannerisms, “yeah, sanji's right. you've been staring at the menu for a while now, not even touching it either.”
then, after a bit of thinking and internal decision-making, zoro handed the menu to sanji who perked up at that as his curled eyebrows raised up.
“oi, you're the cook. pick something i would like.”
“huh? again?”
nevertheless, the crew's cook took the menu without further complaints and began skimming through the choices of varied beverages and meals, thinking to himself which suitable dish to select for the green-haired man (who was grinning smugly to himself for a some reason but, somehow, nobody took notice—too busy with something they're focused on—perhaps, except the observant archeologist).
“yohohohohoho!”
a heartedly laugh erupts from brook's moving jaw (but how would he be laughing in such manner when brook doesn't have a esophagus or vocal cords anymore?) while he examines every inch of the restaurant's interior, feeling intrigued and amazed at the exquisite designing (noticeable inspiration coming from music sheets; the musical symbols, clefs, lines, breaks, key signatures, etc.); after all, he is a musician and that is his passion for his whole life.
just witnessing people appreciate music in a kind way, even if it's only through creating a musical theme for a restaurant, brings him joy.
“the place is quite lovely. i assume the owner has quite a love for music, no?” the tall skeletal man rotates his skull to face the intrigued archeologist, who was also studying the place with an attentive gaze.
robin glanced and nodded with a soft, yet uncanny, smile. “it is indeed. it's no wonder the restaurant's called the savory symphony. It's a musical term, isn't it?”
“oi! listening to what i am saying: this here is my table. close to the kitchen so I can smell the beef.”
a loud voice of a man can be heard out throughout the restaurant, coming from a few tables away from the strawhats—his gruff voice that bounced off the walls made every person in the restaurant to turn and focus their attention on him and the other guy he was arguing with, listening clearly. luffy only stopped chomping on the table to look over at the scene that the others were paying attention to.
“maybe you ought to try a table outside,” the other man begins, jabbing with a thumb over his shoulder to where the exit is, while he casually sits in one of the seats in a relaxed manner. he wears dark glasses and has bubblegum pink hair pulled back in a half-up ponytail. despite his soft features, the sword by his side and his wrist resting on the hilt indicate that he probably is not one to play around.
“hah?”
the red-haired man, who had earlier called out for everyone to hear, got up right at once and tried to frighten the pink-haired man by sizing him up, but the latter remained composed and showed no signs of fear.
“cause’ right now, the only thing I smell is you.” the male with pink hair concluded his statement with a smirk on his face; one may infer from that that he is quite prideful.
of course, the other doesn't take this too calmly.
“RAHHH!” crashing of glasses and plates rang out after the man with messy red hair forcibly knocked off the fragile tableware in rage, frustrated of the guy who sat in front of him so casually—sitting in his chair of his table that he paid for.
the other patrons at the other tables start beginning to feel nervous of the situation escalating before them, yet no one took the place to prevent the two men from making their argument grow into a full physical fight inside the restaurant.
in the background while the duo were arguing as their voices (really, mostly the red-haired) go increasingly louder, there was rustling of clothing—it was faint and quick; like the thing or individual was in a rush to put on the unspecified clothing.
“now, now, gentlemen,” with footsteps that sound a lot like metal clanking against the wooden floor, the two men focus their attention on to the approaching figure instead of themselves—and saw a friendly-looking pretty individual in a formal black suit while holding a platter of fresh bread in one hand
now that he's focused on the person—are they a woman or a man? he doesn't know, but it's rude to assume when you don't know what something, or someone, truly is. plus, the waiter is really pretty—his perceptive gaze becomes lovelorn; if someone were to look a little closer, his pupils would appear to have changed into pumping hearts, and a light blush appears on his cheeks as he admires the attractive waiter from head to toe, almost shamelessly (gaining the cook a side-eye from thr green-haired swordsman, which he chooses to ignore).
however when he looks down at the person's legs, sanji briefly loses that loving expression and replaces it with one of confusion and curiosity. for a second he catches a shiny glint, as if the light bounced off something reflective, but the dark shadows obscure whatever he's trying to see, so nonetheless he made up his mind, shaking his head and assumes he's just seeing things.
“just so you know the rules here: we do not waste food, and there is no fighting at the symphony.”
the redhead doesn't back down and disregards the waiter's mere words with a brush off his shoulder, having an eager expression on his face. “no. this ain’t gonna be a fight. I’m just going to kill him-”
the other lets out a scoff, smirking a bit more as if to challenge the man. “i'd like to see you try.”
before the argument could escalate any further for the two angered men, the worker promptly takes a step forward to interfere and raises a straight hand in a stop motion, the smile (though stiff) never dropping off their face. “i’d like to pour you each a glass of ithürzburger stein,”
glancing between the two men with an expectant gaze, they added with a short bob of their head, “on the house.”
for once, the red-haired man considers this offer as his tense shoulders relax, then he nods and calms down from the anger he previously felt.
“okay, I’ll have that drink,”
this pleases the waiter for a moment, glad to not be dealing with not one, but two nuisances in the first few minutes into their shift. however, they changed their mind when the man's calmness completely gets washed away by a wave of bloodlust as his hand slowly reaches over to grab the handle of his axe attached on to his back.
“only after he apologizes for his bad manners.”
“over my dead body.”
the bubblegum-haired male abruptly stands up and goes to unsheath his blade as the other man takes out his double-bladed axe, both reeked in bloodlust and battle hungry gazes as they glared at one another. none of them were backing down from this fight (even if it were petty).
the waiter, however, wasn't letting this happen before their very eyes and interferes the fight from happening—tossing the plate up into the air beforehand—and attacked the two men by sending harsh blows using their legs.
“argh!”
“ugh!”
the red-shaded men let out grunts of pain in unison, the unnamed waiter hitting at least one of their weak spots as the individual knocks both of them down before one of them could slice a hair of theirs. the plate of bread fell down from the air and the waitperson, perfectly on time, impressively caught the plate and each single piece of bread onto its surface.
some people there were impressed by the employee's skills and reaction time, and from the other table where most the strawhat pirates sat; usopp, chopper, and luffy looked amazed at the waiter's fighting skills.
“that waiter's a good fighter,” luffy offhandedly says, with the captain's lips upturn into an iconic grin as tilts his face to the others; that most came to a silent shared agreement.
though, sanji seems to be focused on his thoughts when he got a quick look at the waiter's legs more properly as they lifted a leg to kick the two men. his expression was unreadable so no one wasn't able to tell what he'd been thinking about.
taking a breath, the waiter looks down and kicks the knocked-out swordsman to the head to make sure to themselves that he's completely unconscious for a sometime. a deep, weary sigh escapes their lips as they stepped past the unconscious bodies.
with a hand inside the pocket of their pants as they walk over to the next table, the individual clears their throat and acts quite like as if nothing happened.
“alright everybody, no cause for alarm, folks! please, enjoy your meals!” their voice was loud enough for all of the restaurant's people to hear audibly and clear as they smoothly pass by table after table towards a certain one, meanwhile the staff proceeds to go on doing their jobs like normal and the customers remain back to minding their own business either eating and/or talking to their friends and family.
though some, more likely new customers, were whispers towards another about the scene that just happened. meanwhile, the customers that came frequently and were familiar with the place and all the employees weren't as disturbed or the least bit surprised.
as soon as the unnamed worker approaches the strawhat crew, they place the plate of bread on to the table's surface—instantly, the rubber boy noticed and stretches over to grab almost of the baked goods, though chopper and usopp were luckly enough to have had grabbed some before their captain could get it all—and briefly fixed up their patterned necktie before promptedly speaking.
“hi,” they began, with firmness and exasperation—possibly from the previous scene that recently occured—but yet they still wanted to appear friendly as they put on a front of excellent customer service. one may notice they're vaguely confrontational.
“welcome to our shitty restaurant where the only thing worse than the ambiance—”
the waiter looks away from the strawhats' table to another table where some laughing punks were seated and having a good time; thankfully, they weren't making any noise that would disturb other patrons. As they settle into a stance after previously shifting their weight from right to left, the waiter reluctantly turned to face the pirate group.
“—is the food. my name is [name], what can I get for you?” the waiter stood with their head cocked slightly, their gaze blinked off sideways as if in thinking something else.
“one of everything!”
luffy proudly said that without a trace of hesitation, even as he was stuffing his face with the tasty bread. his voice was muffled as he happily chewed, relishing the taste—the waiter just remained mostly unfazed by his boisterous commentary.
the worker doesn't miss a beat when they added, “so, any drinks? perhaps one of our signature cocktails to help you choke down your meal?”
nami raises an eyebrow in response to the waiter named [name]'s veiled passive-aggression. the ginger woman crosses her arms and legs to make herself more comfortable, as she speaks up with indifference.
“giving us the hard shell right off the bat, huh?”
the instant nami spoke, [name] focuses their gaze and full attention on to the young lady. the waiter's attitude turns a 180° angle with their attention given to the bright ginger-haired pirate—this makes zoro involuntarily scoff in the background.
“ah, apologies, miss, I.. didn’t see you there.” the server chuckles a bit at their mistake, though it wasn't exactly neccesary, “would you care for an apéritif to start? we have several rare micqueot vintages in stock. Or perhaps, you’d like a glass of umeshu?”
with a smirk formed on their face, the corner of their mouth having smile wrinkles that formed over the years from merely cracking a smile or frown, [name] briefly blinks one of their eyes while still staring at nami—basically, winking at her. “you know, something sweet for someone sweet.”
nami reacts to this odd behavior with her face scrunched up into a grimacing expression. “is something wrong with your eye?”
“just blinded by your beauty.” is what the waiter replies with a dazed, dreamy look in their half-lidded eyes. this makes nami cringe slightly more for a brief second but she attempts to maintain a polite face. somewhat.
meanwhile, the other members—excluding luffy, who was looking out for the food from the entrance where the other waiters come out with a tray of food ready to be served to their perspective customers—appeared baffled, curious, intrigued, amused, and smug at the display before them.
sanji, staring flabbergasted, gets a jab to his side; causing him to grunt in pain as he looks at who nudged him—zoro. and that bastard had a smug, smirking face that made the blonde want to personally kick it off himself.
“that waiter acts a lot like you,” the swordman comments, letting out a brief scoff at the exchange between their navigator and the waiter serving them as he turns his head to properly face the cook, “like a carbon copy of you. but possibly, better.”
at that, the black-leg pirate fumes but he internally calms himself down to avoid causing a scene—why does it awfully irk him to have a want to tell off the waiter named [name] to knock it off and away from his dear nami-swan? while simultaneously having a connection with that server even though he probably hasn't met this person yet?
having nothing else to say to spit a remark at the stupid mosshead, sanji stays seated in his place while he watched the scene before unfold.
The difference I feel between LA Sanji and manga/anime Sanji is that I feel LA!Sanji has had some dating experience already, and is likely already out to himself (or publicly).
While MA!Sanji is a dumb virgin and is so deep in the closet/denial still.
