Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its contents, Oda Eiichiro does.

He still couldn't comprehend why he was here - here by the opposing pirates' side. They had an unbelievable stroke of luck every now and then, aside from the cheating they put into the rounds, and it had somehow gotten him picked up by the captain. Sanji would have much preferred being with his irresponsible crew mates in favor of the nearly mindless followers of the man, who had such low self-esteem that it wasn't even funny anymore. At least the women were easy on the eyes, he could definitely vouch for that. They dressed shamelessly - not as freely and openly as their navigator, of course - and radiated the kind of affection that made him want to prance around all day.

If only they weren't so busy being all over Zoro. Stupid swordsman.

Sighing, Sanji fiddled with the object around his head (what was it again? Visors? He couldn't care less.). It felt incredibly out of place due to the unfamiliarity of it, and he wanted to tear the thing off more than anything. He hadn't come to the Grand Line for this to happen. Now he could understand why Chopper was busy bawling his eyes out when he went up there for the first time. Not to mention, the object probably looked ridiculous on him. He didn't spend his precious time grooming his hair every morning to have it disheveled by a foreign band that made his eyes itch.

"You doin' okay, bro?" No, there was no way in hell he would even be figuratively related to this guy.

He grunted. "Yeah. I'm just dandy." Apparently the pirate was too dumb to notice the sarcasm oozing from his tone, and the bulky man walked away with a shrug. The crowd around him proceeded to grow louder, and their audacity stressed him. This crew was too rowdy.

At least Luffy seemed like he was winning on the final round. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, and the cook was sure that the boy would win. When companions were involved, their captain was no joke. But two things nagged at him: the facts that both he and Zoro were taken by Foxy after they consequently lost due to endless cheating and bad luck, and that this was the last round. Even if Luffy won, unless something happened and the deal was warped around like they had done with Robin and Chopper's case, only one of them would return to their original crew. Then again, they could go at it the fourth time and get the other back.

The whistle sounded and Luffy was declared the winner. The cook allowed the smirk to emerge, the overly expressive grin plastering itself all over his face as the young captain turned with a relieved look. However, their never locked eyes, never looked at one another - Luffy didn't even seem to be glancing his way, though it could have been his imagination. But the reality of it was that the youth turned to the group of women huddled around a figure and pointed to said person in midst of the feminine crowd, his proud smile saying more than his words.

"Come back, Zoro!" And Sanji immediately wiped the grin off his own face.

Oh. Well. There was always the chance for another game...

Foxy stomped childishly on the ground, throwing a fit like he always did after a loss. "Tch, fine! Then we'll just take the cook and leave."

Luffy simply blinked. "Hey, Split Head. Let's go one more round." A moment of angst, and the older captain was back on his feet in an instant.

"No way! My crew is already exhausted from the previous games they've taken part in, and with these last nine rounds of Davy Fight Back we did with you guys, they're too tired." Sanji felt his jaw drop in utter shock, and he knew he would find pleasure in beating his new captain to submission to let him go back. Not that he would, the captain was to be respected, no matter who it was. Yet his old one didn't want to accept the idea of losing his cook, it seemed.

"But we need Sanji! Who's going to cook me meat if he's not around?"

"The answer is and will be no. Come on, men! We're going." Ignoring Luffy's and the rest of his crew's cries of protest, Foxy motioned for his pirates to board his ship for their departure.

Sanji's legs refused to budge. He stood where he had been observing the final round, eyes glued to his former captain. Zoro came around from the corner, and they locked gazes before the cook promptly scoffed and turned away, grinding a cigarette between his teeth. It was Nami who spoke first.

"Sanji-kun..."

He didn't turn to look at her. "Yes? My crew's waiting." And in turn, she didn't respond. For a moment he felt extremely guilty for the harsh words, especially for having used them on a lady (and, not so secretly, his favorite person).

The Straw Hat Pirates looked down in defeat, devastated by the concept of losing their companion. Half the crew gave Sanji an odd and confused look when he began boarding the Going Merry, knowing fully well that he was coming on the wrong ship. He ignored the glares and quickly went into the men's cabin, returning to surface with a small pack slung over his shoulder as he stared off at the actual ship he would be traveling on. Before he could take even a single step away, Luffy shouted for him. "Hm?" he muttered, cocking his head to the side a bit.

"We'll get you back later. We'll definitely take you back. So be ready to cook some meat when it's that time!"

At this point, Sanji wanted to laugh from a mixture of both despair and disbelief. It was typical of Luffy to say something to that effect. He had known his captain would assure him in such a way, and he expectantly nodded, albeit absentmindedly.

"Be quick, shitty captain." Considering Luffy was no longer his captain for the moment and that he was becoming increasingly impatient with the idea of leaving Nami and Robin, he felt no remorse for these words. They would know he didn't really mean it to be offensive, anyway. It was also ultimately why he didn't lapse into a show of teary farewells for both Nami and Robin.

And again, as he was about to take a step for the second time, his movement was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Hey, ero-cook." Said pirate gritted his teeth, rolling eyes as he turned to face the speaker this time.

"What, shitty swordsman? In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to report to my captain."

"Don't think you're off the hook." Oh, no, he wasn't.

A vicious scowl was the response Zoro received as Sanji whipped around on his heels, half stomping and half trudging to his new crew. The Straw Hats watched his form growing smaller with each step, with Nami turning away and Robin pursuing her for comfort. Chopper followed, as did Usopp, but the captain and his first mate stayed where they were on the deck to watch the cook disappear from their view. Neither of them were fazed; they knew it wouldn't be long before Sanji returned, be it kicking and screaming or willingly and quietly. The others, despite their state of sorrow for losing him in the first place, knew this as well.

On the other hand, Sanji was quite convinced that he would grind a tooth or two out if he gritted them any longer. He was stressed, cranky, and currently very moody, all rolled into one. And it wasn't going to be pretty if anyone even looked at him the wrong way.

He could feel the piercing gazes and goofy grins as he climbed up the rope ladder. The pair that gave him a jolt and sent shivers down his spine was undoubtedly the fault of his captain, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it. The cook initially deemed Foxy to be an incompetent and overly sensitive fool; now he just wanted to kick the man like there was no tomorrow. Aside from the idiot of a captain, there was still several issues with the new crew he could easily point out: too many men, in which a majority were ridiculously obnoxious and overstepped the forbidden boundaries of stupidity, and the group was simply too big - with roughly 500 men, Sanji wasn't going to get along so well with everyone.

At least there was Porche and the other ladies. Now, them he could live happily with.

Stepping gracefully onto the deck, the crowd of pirates looked at him expectantly. Blowing a ring of smoke, Sanji glared back with tenfold the intensity.

"Listen up; starting from here on, I'm officially the cook of this crew. If I hear any complaining about the food, that's too bad - you're going to have to eat it anyway. And you're going to eat all of it." He stopped for a second to allow the words to sink. "If you waste so much as even a single bean, you're going to get it. Understood?"

For a moment there was silence, and when the crew burst into cheers and applauded his 'opening speech', Sanji wanted nothing more than to ram his head into the mast of the ship.