Steel Heart

Ch 86 - How to Make a Group Call

Purupurupuru. Purupurupurupuru.

"Sanji! The snail is ringing!"

Sanji's eyes snapped open. He sat up from the grass and his hand went up to push his hair out of his sweaty face. He crossed his legs and slumped over them as he took in a shaky breath. What the hell did I dream?

He had dreamt that he was the sous chef at the Baratie again. They were low on staff, as usual, so he had to be at the front of house and serve some of the tables. What was unusual, though, was the patrons of the Baratie. They were all toys.

They all behaved the same as one would expect of the usual patrons of the infamous sea restaurant and Sanji had not given them a second glance. Then he went to check in on the table in the private room, the VIP section, and he had almost dropped the dish he was holding. There was a woman sitting there just waiting for him.

He couldn't see her face or her body. It was just a silhouette of a woman but she was definitely present. He could hear the laugh on her voice and even smell the womanly scent that came out of her mixed with the unmistakable smell of smoke and gunpowder.

She was just a breath's away from reaching distance and she was sitting under a light, yet Sanji could not see her face at all. She was seated at the table with her elbows on the surface and her chin resting on one of her hands. Then she moved her other hand towards him. "Come on, Prince Charming. Let's have a date."

He reached out a hand to her but to his horror, it wasn't his hand that shot out. It was his foot. It was going right for her head. He couldn't stop himself no matter how much he tried to force his leg to move or his body to turn. He sailed straight on to her. As he got closer, he could see the sparkle of her eyes. They were the eyes of an angel and they were crying.

He didn't wake up from Chopper's call or the snail. He had woken up out of fright.

"Sanji! The snail!" Chopper cried again.

"...Ah," Sanji said as he put a cigarette to his lips and flicked his lighter. It took four tries to get the flame going. He sucked in the smoke and then went over to the Transponder Snail, "It must be Kin'emon."

Catcha.

"This is the Sunny," Sanji stated.

"Oh! Sanji! It's me!" his captain's voice shouted back.

"Luffy!" Chopper, Nami, Brook, and Momonosuke cheered back.

"Yosh," Sanji said and nodded at the reindeer, "Chopper, connect our other snail with Usopp."

"Okay," Chopper said and hurriedly went to work.

Purupurupurupuru.

Catcha.

"This is Usopp!"

"Okay! This is Sanji from the Sunny. We have Nami-san, Chopper, Brook, Momonosuke, Pygmy, and Caesar here. Tell me your situation!"

"This is Kin'emon," a stern voice replied, "I'm at the Colosseum with Luffy-dono and Zoro-dono."

"Yosh," Sanji said, "Usopp, what about you?"

"We-" Usopp started to say but then he got cut off and the face of the Transponder Snail perverted.

"OW! This is Franky! I'm with Usopp, Robin, and a Nana toy!"

"What are you doing?!" Usopp hissed from their end of the phone.

"Nana toy?" the rest of the Straw Hats asked.

"OW! Listen, guys. We are currently with the King Riku Army, an anti-Doflamingo coalition in this country. It's an army of Little People," Franky pressed on, "Luffy, remember that Toy Soldier we met at the Colosseum? He's the Commander of the Army."