One Piece: Dream of Immortality

"Alright everyone!" Nami gathered all of their attention on herself. "Remember, nobody goes anywhere without at least one person with them! Preferably you should move in groups of more than two, even!"

"Why am I on a leash?" Zoro grumbled.

"Because I can't trust you not to wander off!" Nami snarled in a deceptively sweet tone. "Who better to help you find your way than the navigator, hm?"

"I was just going to sleep on the Sunny," Zoro bemoaned.

"Sure, and then you'd decide that you're bored and go exploring anyways," Sanji scoffed. "Don't complain about being in such an enviable position."

"Remember our primary goals, people!" Nami continued. "Find and extract Cherry before she gets us into trouble, first and foremost! The secondary goal is to acquire information about where we are!"

Chopper raised his hand.

"Yes, Chopper?" Nami pointed at him.

"Can I find a doctor or pharmacist, to see what unique diseases and medical knowledge they have here?" Chopper asked.

"Of course," Nami agreed. "You can all do as you wish so long as you're back on the ship by sun down, and keep the goals I mentioned before in mind first."

Brook was sulking at the back of the room.

"What's wrong, Brook?" Usopp asked.

"I bet they have lots of songs and shanties here that I've never heard before, but I don't get to go out," Brook spoke in the most 'woe is me' tone he could conjure.

"Er, I'll keep an ear out for you," Usopp scratched his neck awkwardly. "Nami just doesn't want us drawing too much attention. Maybe she'll let you out if we discover the people here are cool with Chopper, Franky, and Carrot. She wouldn't have had you wrap yourself up like that if she didn't plan to let you go, eventually."

"Maybe you're right," Brook said, not seeming cheered up in the slightest.

Once they found a place on the docks to moor their ship, they set to work doing just that. Meanwhile, Nami faced down wearing an obvious wig and smelled like a tax collector.

"Can I help you?" Nami asked.

"The fee to moor your ship to the dock is two shillings," the thieving bastard said, looking smug.

Well, Nami didn't actually know what a shilling was, but she'd bet a million Beri that the bastard was trying to rip her off. He just had that look about him.

"Oh dear!" Nami crooned. "I'm afraid that we were just robbed! We were lucky to escape from those terrible pirates with our lives!"

Tax Bastard blinked. "That is unfortunate. The King's Navy will want to hear your account, if this happened anywhere near Port Royal."

Nami perked up, but kept a helpless look on her face. Not only was she about to get out of paying, but she was learning about the local authorities as well.

"That doesn't not change the fact that you cannot moor your ship here without paying the fee, however," Tax Bastard shattered her hopes. "If you have anything at all to barter with, I may be able to make a temporary exception."

"Well…" Nami began, racking her brain. There was no way she could reveal all the gold they had now. "I… I have this."

Nami pulled out a simple silver chain necklace. Even this was a bit much to pay to dock their ship, but she wasn't too attached to it.

The Tax Bastard looked at the necklace and made a suspicious expression. "I thought you said you were robbed by pirates?"

"It's the only thing I have left of my mother," Nami squeezed out some crocodile tears. "I managed to hide in time, and luckily they didn't find it."

She was really laying on the tears now. Even the cold, dead heart of a tax collector had to be moved by this.

"I see…" Sure enough, Tax Bastard was looking distinctly uncomfortable. "I suppose that is acceptable. Just be sure to find payment for any additional days that your ship remains here."

"Yes, of course," Nami sounded like she was forcing a chipper attitude through grief.

As she handed it over, the crew started to disembark. It was fortunate that they didn't look too much like the stereotypical pirate, but they were still a group of oddballs. Tax Bastard watched them all with a raised eyebrow, but didn't comment or look alarmed, so they were home free for now.

…

A cigarette hung limply from Sanji's half open mouth.

He stared blankly at the display of freshly caught fish in the local fish market of Port Royal.

"Sanji?" Pudding called his name quietly, worried that something was wrong. "Is something the matter?"

Sanji, unable to ignore a woman if he tried, snapped out of his fugue state and glanced at her. He did not light up with his usual excitement for the attention, however.

Sanji pointed at one of the fish on display. "Pink-striped Cod."

He pointed at another. "Yellow-spotted Bass.

Another. "Rhinoceros Snapper."

And another. "Frankfurter Eel."

Pudding looked back and forth between him and the fish. "Are they… tasty?"

"I can make something delicious with every one of them," Sanji bragged, but without any prideful flair. "That isn't what caught my attention, though."

"What's so special about them, then?" Pudding asked, not sure where he was going with this. She'd have to learn about fish later, because it was weirdly embarrassing to be caught on the back foot like this over their shared passion of cooking. Nevermind that she had always been focused on desserts.

"Each of those fish is from a different one of the four Blues…" Sanji spoke wistfully.

"That's… weird, I guess?" Pudding didn't understand what he was getting at.

Sanji ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the fish in question again. "The All Blue. The place where all the fish of the world come together in one sea; a chef's paradise. It's my dream to find it. That dream is a large part of the reason I chose to sail with Luffy."

"Oh! So, we found it!" Pudding brightened, then dimmed. "Why aren't you happy, then?"

"Because I can't be sure that this is it; and if it is, then that's frankly pretty disappointing," Sanji sighed and put out his cigarette, no longer in the mood for it.

"Why is that?" Pudding frowned.

"All the fish in each of the four Blues exist in their own balanced ecosystem," Sanji began what sounded like it would be a long winded explanation. "Those four fish I pointed out? All four are considered invasive species outside of their own home Blues. The Rhinoceros Snapper in particular is infamous for having caused problems in all three of the Blues outside of South Blue, and they continue to do so to this day. The sneaky buggers keep cropping up no matter how many get caught. Thankfully they taste pretty good, so fishermen are happy to catch as many as they can."

"That's where the problem lies," Sanji continued, deciding he no longer wants to look at the little menaces and walking away. Pudding followed at his heels like a lost kitten. "Because they're so good at out competing other fish, there probably aren't any of the less destructive species here. Since this place is presumably only fed through those sea bubbles, there isn't a regular supply coming in either. That's what the All Blue is supposed to be! All the seas of the world flowing into one place, providing a world of variety and keeping that variety in perfect balance!"

Sanji stopped and slumped against a wall. "Not… Not some kind of fishy arena where only the biggest jerks of the ocean can survive."

Pudding hesitated, then she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure that this isn't it, Sanji."

Sanji shook his head. "Legends are often exaggerated. The stories of the All Blue could have come from someone who found this place, and then got blown out of proportion over time. People love to embellish stories, especially when most people think they're make believe to start with."

Pudding wasn't sure how to cheer him up. That wasn't something she had much experience with.

Then an idea popped into her head and she blushed furiously. "If, er… If you find the real All Blue, then… then I'll kiss you!"

Sanji's eyes burst into flames. "I'll find the All Blue if it's the last thing I do!"

"Yeah…!" Pudding hid her face and silently wondered how she could be so bold.