The sea breeze blew gently across the blue horizon, and seagulls cried occasionally overhead.
Everything was calm and beautiful—almost too calm. After days at sea, the endless blue started to make everyone restless.
After all the chaos earlier, the crew had finally settled down to rest. There was still quite a distance to go before reaching Little Garden.
Just as Sandy was about to take a nap, Sanji came sneaking over with a suspicious look in his eyes.
Sandy frowned. "What's wrong? Why are you creeping around like that?"
Sanji clasped his hands together with an oddly shy grin. "Didn't you say you had photos of beautiful women? C'mon, man! Show me! You can't keep good stuff like that all to yourself!"
Sandy chuckled. "I was just teasing you. I'm a decent person."
"Bah!" Sanji's expression flipped instantly. "So you were lying to me? You bastard! Do you know how long I've been waiting to see those?!"
Sandy rolled his eyes. "If I hadn't said that, how else was I supposed to make you confess?"
Their voices started getting louder, catching everyone's attention. The rest of the crew gathered, watching curiously as the two argued.
"You're shameless! Lewd! Completely unreliable!" Sanji snapped.
Sandy shot back, "How am I shameless? How am I lewd? How am I unreliable?"
"Where aren't you shameless? Where aren't you lewd? Where are you reliable?" Sanji retorted.
"Tch…" They both turned away dramatically at the same time.
Luffy tilted his head. "What are they doing?"
Usopp quickly shook his head. Zoro looked away in embarrassment—it was too much.
Vivi leaned toward Nami, her cheeks pink. "Are they… arguing over those photos?"
Nami facepalmed. For crying out loud… she's a princess, and this is what she's watching right now?
Realizing everyone was staring, Sandy and Sanji immediately threw their arms around each other's shoulders.
Sandy grinned. "So, how was our performance?"
He nudged Sanji subtly.
Sanji caught on fast and smiled. "Yeah, yeah! We were just doing a comedy skit! Definitely not fighting over photos of beautiful women!"
He nudged Sandy back.
Everyone's eyes twitched. You idiots, you just confirmed it again!
Sandy hissed, "You moron! Stop mentioning the photos, you're just making it worse!"
Sanji snapped, "What did you say?!"
"I said you're an idiot!"
And just like that, they started fighting.
Kicks, punches, yelling—it was pure chaos.
Luffy cheered from the side, eyes sparkling. "Yeah! Yeah! Kick him harder! Oh, Sanji, why aren't you using your hands?!"
A second later, Sandy's fist connected with Sanji's eye, leaving him with a nice black eye.
"Stop! Don't hit the face!" Sanji yelped.
"Alright, I won't hit anymore," Sandy replied—then smirked.
Sanji growled, "No way, I'm hitting you back!"
Sandy immediately darted behind Nami and Vivi. "Nami! Help! Sanji's trying to hit me!"
Vivi's face turned bright red.
Nami blinked. "What's wrong, Vivi?"
Vivi stammered, "N-nothing…"
Then Luffy piped up, "I know! Sandy just touched Vivi's butt!"
Usopp nodded. "Yeah, I saw it too! Sandy, you pervert!"
The ship went silent.
Smoke metaphorically rose from Vivi's head as her face turned scarlet.
"SANDY!!"
Nami and Sanji shouted in unison.
"Damn it, Straw Hat! And long-nose! What the hell are you saying?!" Sandy yelled furiously. "I'll fight you both!"
"What did you say about my Straw Hat?!" Luffy shouted back.
"And my nose?! You bastard!" Usopp added. "Ah—he's hitting me again!"
The ship erupted into a complete brawl.
Zoro sighed from where he leaned against the railing. "What a noisy ship…"
After who knows how long, everyone lay sprawled on the deck, gasping for breath.
Then, one by one, they caught each other's eyes—and burst into laughter.
Sandy, Luffy, and Sanji all had messy hair. Sanji's black eye stood out, perfectly matching Usopp's own swelling.
"Hahaha! Sanji, you look way too handsome like that," Sandy teased. "It suits your image perfectly."
Sanji groaned. "Luffy, we were supposed to be on the same side! Why'd you mess up my hair?!"
Luffy blinked innocently. "Didn't Sandy say he was on my side?"
Usopp groaned. "Can't you pick a side and stick with it?! We were supposed to team up against him!"
Nami and Vivi couldn't help but laugh softly at the ridiculous scene.
"Hehehe," Nami chuckled. "They're such a bunch of idiots."
Then Vivi suddenly noticed Zoro sitting nearby with a tissue pressed to his nose. "Zoro! You're bleeding! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Zoro muttered quickly, turning away. But inwardly, he swore: One day, I'm going to cut down that bastard Usopp.
(If Usopp knew what Zoro was thinking, he'd cry from injustice—it wasn't even his fault! Sanji had kicked Sandy, who dodged, causing Usopp to crash right into Zoro's face while Zoro was asleep!)
A few minutes later, Sandy stood by the railing with a mirror and a comb, dramatically fixing his hair.
Luffy's eyes lit up. "Sandy! Give me a hairstyle too! But not that slicked-back one from last time—it didn't feel right."
Sandy spat some saliva into his palm, slicked back his hair, and grinned confidently. "Man, I'm too handsome for this world. So many innocent girls will fall for me again. Being this good-looking is a sin!"
Everyone's eyes twitched.
Sanji, who had briefly thought of asking for a style too, immediately recoiled in horror when he saw Sandy using saliva.
He shivered. "No thanks. I'll do it myself. That's disgusting."
But Luffy was different—he didn't care at all. He'd already let Sandy do it once before.
Now, he eagerly leaned forward. "C'mon, make mine awesome this time!"
Usopp, panicking, shouted, "Hey! Luffy! He just used his own saliva! Don't—"
Sandy turned to him slowly, eyes gleaming.
Usopp froze. "Ah! Sandy's gonna hit me again!!"
And just like that, chaos erupted once more on the Going Merry.