Making Connections

.

Patty answered the transponder snail with a cheerful 'You 've reached the damn Restaurant would you like to make a reservation? '

'Ah... not today. I 'm looking for Sanji? ' a woman replied in a sugary tone. 'Can you fetch him for me? '

The transponder snail was not exactly private. Heads swiveled at Sanji 's name and Patty shared baffled looks with Carne and Mince.

A girl calling for Sanji?

'Sanji? ' he managed to reply.

'He 's a cook. ' She snapped impatiently. 'Sanji. Blond, likes to smoke, snappy dresser, lovesick idiot, kicks like a bull. '

'Uh. Yeah, he 's here. ' Stunned he stuck his head in the kitchen door. 'Sanji you shit, you have a girl calling! '

Sound in the kitchen stopped. Eyes turned to Sanji who looked just as stunned, nearly losing his cigarette before he darted forward.

'A girl? Who? What? Hello? '

'Sanji? '

Half the kitchen was hanging out the doors and serving window and the customers were ignored.

'Namiii-swannn! ' Sanji twirled in a circle, obviously recognizing the voice.

'Get ahold of yourself! ' the mysterious Nami snapped.

'Just a minute, my fair flower. ' He picked up the snail. 'Back to work you lazy bastards! '

Patty protested as Sanji scampered upstairs to the private quarters taking the transponder with him.

'Did Sanji just get a call from a girl? That really happened right? '

'Who 's Nami? ' Carne added.

'Was she a customer? '

'She definitely knows who he is. '

'What 's all this? ' Zeff stormed over. 'Who 's watching the grill? If you burn that asparagus I will burn you! '

A few of the cooks scrambled back to work but most lingered shamelessly.

'Owner Zeff! Sanji got a call from a girl! ' Patty explained.

'A

girl?

Our Sanji? ' Zeff gaped as a dozen cooks nodded and tried to speak. 'Where is he? '

Fingers pointed.

'Then get back to work you lazy bastards. ' He aimed a sweeping kick at the gathering of cooks.

Patty ducked the blow and grinned at those stupid enough to go flying. Then he watched as Zeff stormed upstairs after Sanji, his steps getting softer and sneaky. Owner Zeff would share the gossip. The old man was reliable for that kind of thing. He went back to work.

~

Nami was relieved to find the Baratie was a listed transponder number. The snail change operator was able to make the transponder connection without questions and only a 3 berry charge. It was worth it to hear the instant recognition from Sanji.

'Okay, I have some privacy. '

'Thank goodness Sanji! I was so scared I was the only one! ' Nami fought tears clutching the receiver. 'When I woke up in that place ' '

'Oh Nami! Do you need me to come rescue you?! I would have come in an instant but- '

'No, no, Sanji. You did exactly right. The Restaurant is the easiest place to get in touch with. You should stay there. Have you heard from any of the others? '

'No, not yet. It 's been less than a week. Those idiots wouldn 't think to call. At least not right away. ' He leaned against the bedroom wall and pulled out a cigarette. 'How are you holding up? '

'I 'm doing ' okay. I just got away to do some thieving and stopped in a port town to try and call. I couldn 't find Usopp 's number, but I got you. I am so relieved. This means the others are probably back too, right? I don 't remember how we got here. We were at sea last I remember. '

'Yeah. That 's my last recollection. After Wano, all of us together ' '

'Yeah. '

'So, what 's the plan? I don 't like leaving you with that bastard. '

'I don 't like it either. Still, I know I can hold on. I 'd rather wait for Luffy before making any big moves. I 'm really out of shape and without my climatact I feel naked. '

Sanji swooned for a moment at the thought of Nami naked. He 'd been so focused on connecting with his nakama that he 'd forgotten he was speaking to such a lovely-

'Sanji you pervert!! ' she shouted at him, the snail growing teeth. 'Stop drooling and focus! I 'm going to bill you for this call. '

'Sorry Nami-swannn! Forgive me. I 'm focused. ' He pulled his attention back to the plan. 'So you want to wait it out? '

'Just for, I don 't know, a season? Three months and if we haven 't heard anything, we make our own move? '

Three months sounded like forever. Nami was the one who would hurt the most though, so he bit his tongue.

'I 'm doing what I can here. Morning runs and evening swims to get back in form. When can I expect to hear from you? '

how long will you be trapped and alone?

'I usually get to do some treasure hunting once a month. I get to visit my sister more often, but I don 't dare make a call from that island. I wouldn 't risk it being intercepted or overheard. '

'I understand. You stay safe there. Keep your head down and wait for backup. We 'll come for you. Three months on the outside, and you know our crew, Luffy 's probably already on his way. '

'Yeah and lost. ' She laughed.

'So, lost. ' He agreed. 'He 's probably in some dinky sailboat going in circles and starting fights. He 'll turn up riding a bird or something and claim he was trying to recreate how he met Zoro. '

Nami groaned. 'That was after he met Zoro. The two of them were just as hopeless together as separate. '

'Three months is starting to sound like a reasonable timeline. '

'We may be overestimating them. '

'Never. '

'Never. ' She agreed with a happy sigh.

'I 'll start planning the reunion feast part one. Any requests? '

'Roast duck? '

'With the orange sauce? '

'Yes please! '

'Anything for you! ' he enthused.

'I should go soon. They 're charging by the minute to use this snail and I ' '

'And you should be careful with your money. ' Sanji sighed. 'Farewell then sweet Nami-san. I will see you soon. '

'Soon Sanji. '

Gacha.

The snail drooped into sleepy hibernation. Sanji leaned against the wall and sucked in a lungful for smoke.

Soon. We can set sail and collect the others and get back on track. We will take the world by storm. We could never do anything less.

He let himself think about what it meant that Nami was back. Allowed himself to feel the hope for seeing the others. Sanji had managed to avoid the thoughts of what he 'd do if he were the only one who remembered. With Nami 's call he let himself hope.

XXXxxx

'Go, go, go! ' Usopp called to his small crew. 'I 'll cover you! To the fort! '

They darted through the woods jumping over trees and rocks. Usopp pushed himself to keep moving even as he fired at target after target. He 'd set up over a hundred on this path last night planning this little 'adventure ' for his three followers. He needed to be fast and accurate. Two weeks ago, running and firing at still targets would have been a cakewalk. He was hoping to hit 60% today with maybe 50% bullseye accuracy.

'Monster! ' Carrot cried, spotting one of his cutouts. Usopp peppered it with paint shots.

'Keep moving we 're almost there! ' he called as Onion slowed, breathing hard.

Instead of picking up the pace the boy stopped, hands on his knees. Usopp resisted the urge to curse. He dropped to one knee as he reached Onion.

'Climb on! Let 's go! ' He fired another round at a target and took off running after the other two boys. He was nearly caught up to them despite their head start.

Running with a clinging child was surprisingly difficult. Trying to use a slingshot made it even harder. Having that child shouting in his ear the whole time ' Okay so it was actually pretty fun. Usopp enjoyed inventing these games. It was like playing with Chopper and Luffy except that he was the captain. He ran and jumped and fired off paint balls. Finally, he climbed into their tree fort.

'Time! ' he called.

'Fourteen minutes and eleven seconds! ' Carrot called checking the watch.

The boys cheered. They needed to beat fifteen minutes to escape the magic cage ' which in no way resembled a certain birdcage deathtrap ' and take shelter.

'Sorry Captain Usopp! Thanks for helping me! I 'll do better next time! ' Onion promised.

'It 's no problem. It is a captain 's duty to make sure all his crew stay safe! The Great Captain Usopp could do no less! ' he struck a pose as the kids cheered. 'Now we celebrate our victory with a party! Like true pirates! Rigsby-sama paid me for my last job. Who wants ice cream? Do you think we should bring some for Kaya? '

Usopp let the boys scream and dance for a bit before giving them water and leading them back towards the town. Taking the shortcut, it was a half hour walk. The boys did very well running three miles and the sweet reward would make them more willing to do similar 'games ' with him in the future. The Usopp Pirates weren 't up for his full workout routine, but he couldn 't bring himself to abandon them completely. Their little crew had only been active for a few months and the boys were so much smaller than he remembered. He wasn 't sure how much longer he 'd be in Syrup, but he would make sure these boys had fun memories and good self-defense tricks before he moved on.

XXXxxx

Luffy was starting to think this might not be a dream. Having Dadan force him into a bath was a big clue. He never needed a bath in a dream before. It wasn 't fun. So ' if he wasn 't dreaming ' and he was back in Gao as a kid ' it was a mystery. Luffy shook the water from his hair and sighed. He wasn 't going to figure anything out here. The best thing to do would be to find his crew. If he was somehow a kid again then they probably were too.

Luffy did some hard thinking. He 'd made promises. He promised Ace that he would wait until he was 17 to set sail. Really, he had done that already so that promise shouldn 't count. He

was

older than 17 right now. He nodded to himself. He made promises to his crew. Nami wasn 't supposed to be hurt by that fishman ever again. Brook wasn 't supposed to be alone. Robin was supposed to live without hiding or tricking. He didn 't like all these broken promises. He didn 't like being separated from his crew. It was too much like Sabaody. His chest felt tight and his throat was really dry. Heaving breaths, he ran his knuckles over the sharp rock he was sitting on until the sting of it was enough to focus. Sweaty now, Luffy began pacing while he thought. He would go and get them all.

'It 's decided. ' He slapped a fist into the other palm.

'What 's decided? '

Luffy spun quickly, alarmed. 'Gramps! '

He took off running into the forest. No way was he getting punched today. Gramps hollered after him and slammed though the forest on his heels.

XXXxxx

Zoro growled a curse as he fought to get his breathing under control. There was no reason to be winded after taking down this pack of weak losers. Sure, he could have used less speed. There was no

need

to take out twelve men in under three minutes, but how was he going to get stronger if he didn 't challenge himself. Unsatisfied with his performance, he grumbled softly and began checking the unconscious men.

Only the captain of this bunch had a bounty. He 'd leave the rest to the villagers to deal with. On second thought maybe this was one of those towns where the mayor would pay the bounty and get reimbursed by the marines. If he could get paid now '

'Oy! ' he called to one of the cowards hiding in the doorways nearby. 'Who pays the bounties around here? ' he considered asking for rope too but one of the pirates was conveniently carrying cord.

He tied them tightly, absently looting the bodies and stripping them of their weapons. It was only when he had a small pile of swords, guns, and daggers beside a bundle of unconscious pirates that he realized no one had answered.

'Eh? Did you not hear me? ' he frowned at them.

The villagers jumped. Ugh.

This is why Nami deals with the money.

He didn 't even kill anyone. There was only a little blood and that guy probably wouldn 't lose the leg if a doctor showed up. These guys should focus.

'Look. I just want to collect my bounty, drink some sake, and move on. I have places to be you know. '

'Okay! No problem, sir. I 'll go get someone! ' a man behind a fish cart took off running down the street.

'H-here. ' A man approached from a restaurant. 'On the house. ' He handed over a bottle of sake, the good stuff too.

'Thanks! ' good mood returned, Zoro offered a smile to the old man. 'I 'm Zoro, what 's your name old man? '

'It 's no trouble, you saved my daughter and our business from those pirates! I am Hue. Did you say Zoro? ' he eyed the swords. 'Are you Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro? '

'I 've been called that. ' He confirmed.

For some reason that invited the villagers to stop being cowards and talk. Zoro nodded and made noises as they all flocked around and began thanking him. He sipped his sake and tried not to growl that he was a pirate not a hero. He wasn 't a pirate right now. He had to collect his bounty and get someone to take him to Nami. He sipped the sake and waited. He would have to train harder. He was still too slow.

XXXxxx

Jinbei took in the sights of Water 7. It really was a beautiful place. The island had come far from its days as a rowdy slum. The Puffing Tom train had revitalized the economy and the people here had taken every advantage to build more for themselves. The architecture was beautiful and he had to resist the urge to swim the canals. This was exactly the kind of place he wanted for his people; the kind of place Queen Otohime dreamed of for them. When the fishmen are granted their petition to live under the sun, Jinbei would like to point to Water 7 as a design template. Their use of waterways was remarkably similar to the familiar water roads on Fishman Island. It made him miss his homeland.

Strolling through town he considered how to approach Franky. He didn 't know a lot about the current situation on Water 7, but he 'd heard stories. He knew that the buster call on Enes Lobby had started with an encounter on this island between CP9 and Nico Robin. From the reports he 'd seen CP9 was already present undercover when the Strawhats arrived. The reports had of course been censored so the Warlord didn 't know how long they were there undercover or what for. He did know that for some reason the cyborg Franky was involved in CP9 's mission. The last thing he ' or any of them ' needs right now is the attention of a Cypher Pol unit. He needed to make contact discreetly and catch up.

Five years was a long time to be dragged backwards. As a Warlord he tended to do a lot of political jockeying. He needed to stay on top of the major players in the World Government, to know the movements of the marines, and to know the prominent pirate groups and where they are. None of the rookies from five years ago stood out as anything special. After Firefist dueled him for five days, he remembered having a handful of punk challengers who assumed he was growing weak. That duel should have been about five months back. Some of those challengers might still be on their way to seek him out. He couldn 't remember enough detail and he was scrambling for information while trying to keep his ignorance hidden. He needed a chance to see Whitebeard and to check in with the King before he made any big moves. No doubt Captain Luffy would be reclaiming his crew. He didn 't want to ask his captain to wait again. He might. He didn 't want to do that though.

He heaved a sigh and followed the scent of food. Perhaps a cup of tea would help sooth his anxiety. There was no sense rushing forward like a fool. Patience. Always patience.

Serene, he sipped his rooibos and hummed. The gentle sound of moving water and sea birds offset by the bustle of a busy trade port. Jinbei waited and listened. He watched the flow of people moving in and around the city. He noted the tendency towards masks and wondered if it was an indicator of some holiday festival or a fashion accessory. It didn 't seem to be a status symbol. Old, young, rich, poor, he could see all types beneath the masks however they tried to hide. It was common or expected enough that the locals didn 't look twice at a mask. Jinbei suspected CP9 enjoyed this strange custom, perhaps encouraged it. He could see the advantages for a spy. As someone avoiding those spies it was twice the frustration. Jinbei sipped his tea and focused.

Like ripples in the water he let his haki flow, pinging back to him when it touched a 'big fish '. He took his time, sipping his tea. He focused on the ebb and flow of the island around him. There were 25 potential threats in terms of pure fighting spirit. Three of them were certainly part of CP9 given the tightly coiled danger he found to be distinctive of Rokushiki techniques. Finishing the pot of tea, he allowed himself to relax. He didn 't know that any of the 25 corresponded to Franky.

For all that the young man was bold and a force to be reckoned with, he wasn 't sure how much of that was natural talent versus robotic enhancement. The flamboyant cyborg had brains, talent, and plenty of fight. Jinbei was embarrassed to realize he knew so little about the shipwright 's core that he didn 't know where the man stood in terms of strength of spirit. He could guess. Captain Luffy pieced together an amazing crew of talented individuals. If he had to guess Franky would probably be radiating power the same as most of his crew. The question then became if it was potential power or active. Jinbei pushed the puzzle aside. He wasn 't getting answers today.

Shouts and curses startled him from his musings as he paid the waiter. Two ladies with square hair framed an awfully familiar blue haired man. They were playing music and dancing, completely ignoring the negative reaction of the crowd. Jinbei watched as they moved down the street towards him. They bumped and grabbed at random passersby, generally harassing people and possibly lifting wallets. Franky didn 't make eye contact, but the firm press of paper to his palm was one of the smoothest handoffs he 'd ever experienced.

Jinbei waited carefully before allowing himself to pocket the note. He forced himself to finish his walk and even purchased a book before going back to his ship. The privacy of the captain 's quarters was exactly what he needed.

The note wasn 't as short as he 'd expected. Franky had taken the time to name all the CP9 agents and their target ' the mayor- who was apparently Franky 's foster brother. Jinbei took a moment to be grateful his ship was being repaired at Dock 2 not 1. He read the instructions for rendezvous and the contact information if he couldn 't make the meeting. Jinbei committed it to memory and then burned the note.

~

Franky grinned as Jinbei entered the hidden space. In another life he held Usopp hostage here with the Merry. He 'd bonded with the sniper and his capture afterwards led him to the Strawhats. It seemed an appropriate meeting place.

'Jinbei-bro! Lookin ' gooood! '

'Franky-kun. You look ' younger. '

Franky grinned knowingly 'Fewer upgrades since our last, for sure. '

Jinbei laughed and in a surprising move, pulled him into a hug. Franky hadn 't expected the fishman to be the hugging type. Franky was definitely not crying as he returned the hug fiercely. When he finally got all the dust from his eyes, he leaned back to look at the helmsman.

'Everything okay bro? '

'Of course. I 'm only glad to know ' '

'That you 're not the only one to remember? Yeah. So there myself. '

'You 're the only one I could reach. ' Jinbei explained. 'Even this was a risk. Robin is in Crocodile 's territory. Brook is in Moria 's. Everyone else is too far into Paradise or the East Blue. I usually stay between Fishman Island and Whitebeard 's territory in the New World. I had to force some damage to my ship and make accusations of sabotage. The Galley-La Company is famous enough even in the New World to justify the trip. '

'Oy! You damaged your ship! '

'A cracked rudder is all. I have the workers here giving her a full detailing to apologize. She 's getting some new finishing 's and a new paint job. The old girl will be the prettiest thing on the water when we set out. ' Jinbei assured him.

'Well I 'm glad to have you here bro. Hopefully we 'll hear from the others soon. Have you seen Zoro-bro in the papers? I wasn 't sure if I was imagining his name getting bigger. '

'I had the same thought myself. Pirate Hunter Zoro was famous before Luffy, but I didn 't recall him going on a spree like this. Ten bounties in two weeks? '

'It must be him. And if you 're back and he 's back, I have to believe that everyone is. '

'Good. Then I have some work to do preparing to quit as a Warlord. I 'll need to make arrangements with my crew and King. '

'A mighty task. ' Franky struck a pose in respect. 'I 'm working on plans for our new ship. Tell me Jinbei, how do you feel about hammock bunks and what is your favorite color? '

He passed the helmsman a cup of tea and grabbed a cola. They could talk about easier things. It looked like the crew might be able to come back together after all.