Nami was feeling pretty stupid right about now.
"Ready to go?" Cherry asked as she walked over to Nami and Reiju where they were waiting by the ship's den den mushi.
Of course it wasn't a fucking date. Cherry was going to be present just by virtue of being the one who was taking them on the shopping trip. For some inane reason, Nami thought she was going to be alone with Reiju, despite having just talked to Cherry only a few minutes before Reiju asked if she could come along.
"Alright, into the pocket. There's some air in there, but it'd be better to hold your breaths just in case. Worst case, there's some oxygen tanks in there with breathing masks, so you just have to find and put them on," Cherry explained, pulling open a seam on her waist and revealing a dark space within.
"It's alright. I can hold my breath for as long as an hour," Reiju responded, stepping forward and tentatively putting a hand into the pocket. With a *fwoop* sound, she vanished into it.
"Is it cramped in there?" Nami asked, hesitating.
"Why are you asking me? I've never been in there," Cherry shook her head. "Hurry up. Your list is way too long as it is, so we'll already be lucky to be back by dawn."
"It's not that long…" Nami grumbled before biting the bullet and getting dragged into the pocket herself.
It turns out that it was pretty cramped inside the pocket. Fortunately, the fabric-like walls had a lot of give to them, so she could move just fine and it wasn't as claustrophobic as she feared it would be. It was like being wrapped up in a stretchy silk cocoon.
Suddenly, Reiju's face appeared in front of hers and nearly made her yelp in fright, possibly losing her breath in the process.
"This place is kind of neat; comfortable too. I could totally fall asleep in here," Reiju said, apparently not bothering to hold her own breath. The question must have appeared on Nami's face, because Reiju answered, "I have built in oxygen stores, so it's no problem for me to talk. Besides, I already found those oxygen tanks Cherry told us about."
The silk cocoon parted further as she held up the tanks in question.
Nami wanted to say something, but didn't know if she should risk it when-
"Eep?!" Nami squeaked as a hand grasped her by the back of her collar, then hoisted her up and away from Reiju.
In a blink, Nami was standing on the outside deck of the Baratie, and not a moment later, so was Reiju.
"It's genuinely insane that you can do this," Reiju commented. "Moving to the other side of the world in less than a minute. Judge would kill for something like this."
"It's a good thing that he's such a wimp then, huh?" Cherry smirked. "The dining room is this way."
Nami found herself feeling a bit nostalgic, being back in this place. Things were so much simpler in those days, before the Grand Line turned her whole world upside down and inside out.
"Hello again, Ms. Harpin," the goldfish fishman maitre d greeted them. "Head Chef Zeff informed me that you are to be seated at the special reserved table, should you ever pop in unannounced again. Is that amenable to you?"
"Sure, I guess. Is it big enough for three?" Cherry accepted lazily.
"Of course," the maitre d gave a light bow. "If you'll follow me."
As they followed, Nami leaned in toward Reiju and whispered, "This guy's a lot more polite than the last time we met. He wasn't rude, but he was totally looking down on us."
"Probably because a bunch of no-name pirates waltzed into his work place," Cherry chuckled. "This was before Luffy's first bounty, right? I bet he gets a lot of losers coming in here thinking their hot shit only to get their teeth kicked in."
"Morr often than I'd like, I'll admit," the maitre d added with a smile. "Thankfully, most of our customers find it amusing. Our very own form of entertainment to add to the dining experience."
Nami flushed a bit as she realized he'd heard everything they said, but it was good that he didn't take offense.
"Would you like your usual, Ms. Harpin?" the maitre d asked as they were seated at the reserved table nearest to the kitchen.
"Your usual? How often have you come here, Cherry?" Nami interrogated.
"Only once, but I imagine my order was easy to remember," Cherry answered. "Yes, I'd like that please."
"One of everything, then," the maitre d turned to Nami and Reiju. "Will either or both of you need menus, or do you already have your order in mind?"
"I'd like a taste of everything," Reiju said, seemingly inspired by Cherry's gluttonous order. "Just a sampling, though, not full orders."
"Ah, that for me as well," Nami said. It did sound rather nice, and it wasn't like she'd get the chance to come here often.
"We can work with that," the maitre d scribbled it down on an order ticket.
"Oh, one more thing," Cherry piped up. She shouted towards the kitchen, "Hey, Patty!"
"Huh?! Which bastard is shouting at me?!" The top heavy man quickly pushed out of the kitchen. "You again, huh? You still good for the money?"
Cherry pulled a large fish out of her pocket. "Sanji told me to bring this along. He wants his old man to cook it, see if he's lost his touch yet."
Nami recognized the fish immediately. They'd fished up a few of them over the past few days, and Sanji still hasn't quite managed to make something truly special out of it. It always came out just okay, and not for lack of flavor either. It was the opposite, in fact; the fish had such a strong, unique flavor profile that he didn't know what to do with it.
The kitchen door was pushed open again and Zeff clacked his way over, snatched the fish before Patty could grab it, and brought it to his nose. *sniiiiiiffff*
"Hmmm…" Zeff hummed in thought. "Very unusual. I see why he needs my help."
"Sanji told me to tell you that he 'doesn't need help, you old coot,'" Cherry quoted with a smile.
"Hmph," Zeff didn't waste any more words and marched back to his kitchen, but Nami caught the corner of his mouth curling up as he turned.
Patty was still standing there, for some reason.
"Oh, right," Cherry placed a gold bar on the table. It vanished as soon as her fingers left it, Patty now wearing a wide, toothy smile as he, too, went back to the kitchen.
"What the heck, Cherry? That's paying way too much!" Nami complained.
"Oh, relax, you little cheapskate," Cherry huffed and balanced her chair on the back two legs. "There's nothing wrong with being generous with friends of friends."
"Ugh, as long as you limit your wastefulness to friends of friends!" Nami grumbled.
"I, for one, am enjoying being a spendthrift," Reiju smiled. "For all of Judge's wealth, he was such a penny pincher. All the luxuries we had available to us were basically stolen, too. Actually paying for stuff is a nice change of pace."
"Well," Nami worked her jaw. "We won't be stealing anything today, and I suppose I don't have to haggle so much, just for today."
"Oh, you won't?" Cherry asked. "That ought to cut the time we spend on this trip in half."
Nami threw a salt shaker at her.