Thank you for your kind reviews. That guess for Zoro and Nami is ... let's say to 25% in the right direction. Keep guessing! :)
Usopp makes sure that Luffy is secure in the attic before he leaves. He doesn't tell him where he's going, just in case, but Luffy doesn't ask. The blatant trust he has in him after so little time leaves Usopp speechless, and he hopes he's not about to make a terrible mistake. But if he doesn't go, he might just go crazy from all the worry and fear.
Sanji's working when he arrives. Usopp can't remember a time when Sanji wasn't working, apart from school and Hitler Youth, and he supposes it's a good thing. Who knows what the Youth might have had in mind for him otherwise, since he's the very image of a perfect german: Tall, strong, blonde, blue eyes. Sometimes, in his more honest hours, Usopp is kind of glad he's at the bottom of the food chain - but as he watches Sanji flip and turn the ingredients in his frying pan, cigarette easy between his lips, Usopp remembers the time he would've given anything to be as cool as Sanji. It wasn't all that long ago, before ...
"Knock, knock," he says as loud as he dares.
Sanji looks up, surprise on his face. "Usopp? What's up?"
"Hey." Usopp shifts uncomfortably on his feet. "Uhm, where's your dad?"
"Outside, telling off some shitty customers. You know how it goes. Why?"
Usopp imagines Chef Zeff bashing in the heads of some men in SS-Uniform with his wooden leg, no sign of what he went through, and feels a little better.
"I've got something to tell–" he swallows and shuffles up next to him. "I need your help. But you can't tell anybody!"
Sanji raises his visible eyebrow. "That you need my help? That's hardly new."
It doesn't sting a lot, because it's true and Usopp knows Sanji doesn't mean it that way. It still stings, though. "This is different. It's life and death."
Anyone else would have asked wryly if the bombs were coming, but Sanji doesn't. Sanji takes out a knife and starts chopping next to the stove, lets the silence between them stretch and boil. With every second slipping by, a stronger shiver passes through Usopp's body. He can't hold himself back any longer.
"There's a boy in my attic," he blurts out.
Sanji's finger still for the fraction of a second. "And by boy, I guess you don't mean Carrot."
"No," Usopp whispers.
Another pause.
"And you thought of this brilliant idea, how?"
"I didn't! He was just there, Sanji!" Usopp waves his hands wildly and Sanji pushes him aside to add the chopped up pieces to the pan. "It was my hiding spot and I found him there, alone."
For a while, there's no sound but the sizzle of the food. Then Usopp delivers the punch.
"He's starving, Sanji."
Sanji's shoulders sag and he closes his eyes briefly. "You're a shitty friend," he mumbles.
Usopp's heart pounds. "So you'll help?"
He gets a slight shove away from the stove. "Come again at seven. I trust you can make up a story for your Missus."
Usopp knows better than to say thanks, but he does it anyways, softly into the wind outside. He's not alone with this anymore.
-X-
For a while, everything gets better. Of course, Luffy is still hungry, but Usopp suspects he'll always be hungry, since that belly seems to be made out of rubber. But he doesn't look and feel like he's starving anymore. The downside: More food makes Luffy even more awake, he practically vibrates with energy. Usopp can barely keep up with him, and he can't spend every free minute up here or the others will get suspicious. The circles under his eyes must be deep, because Sanji chews up several cigarettes before he breaks one day.
"You look shitty. How's the bottomless pit?"
Usopp yawns. "Like a rubber ball."
It's a delicate code they're speaking, one that any officer could crack and if Usopp would be any less tired, he might think of something more elaborate.
Sanji lights a new cigarette.
"Is there another way up?"
"Over the roof," Usopp answers and frowns. "Why?"
"I'll be there at ten. You'll introduce us."
Usopp opens and closes his mouth. He knows he should refuse, because Sanji can't spare any time, it's going to be impossible. But it's also why he has to accept his help: Sanji knows how it feels to be exhausted and he won't allow it if he can't help it.
-X-
Sanji is punctual. Usopp has barely started to explain to Luffy that they're going to have a visitor, when Sanji slips through the window and lands in front of them. They stare at each other for minutes, while Usopp hovers nervously between them.
Then Luffy's face is split into half by one of his blinding grins. "You're the one who makes that delicious food?"
"Yes," Sanji says tersely. "And you better be fucking grateful."
"Shishishi!" Luffy offers his hand. "I'm Luffy, and I'm gonna be a Free Man!"
Sanji raises his eyebrow inquisitively at Usopp at the term, but takes the hand. "Sanji."
That's not enough for Luffy. "What's your dream?"
"Excuse me?"
"You need to have a dream," Luffy insists. "Usopp's gonna be a brave man, and you?"
"I," Sanji glances at Usopp for help, but then he surprises both of them when his mouth continues like it has a mind of it's own: "I want to cook everything!" He blushes. "I mean, everything, not only german, with all the original ingredients."
He doesn't need to elaborate for them, or take it back. Usopp knows he told the truth, and maybe Luffy senses it, too, because he nods and smiles, as if the things they wanted were perfectly in the realm of possibility.
-X-
They manage to keep Luffy relatively subdued this way for some weeks, at least they think they do. Outside, the world gets tense. Sometimes, Usopp worries about Kaya, wonders if the Reich thinks she's too weak, too sick to be german, but then he remembers that her parents are rich, members of the party and the father off being an honorable officer and then Usopp breathes a little easier - just for a while, before the next wave of paralyzing nausea hits.
They say the troops are stuck on stalemate in Africa, that they can't beat the English, even out from their homeland. And the east is restless. The Missus says the Führer should just steamroll the Sovjets.
Usopp doesn't know what he should pray for, because they need to win, but Luffy also needs to live, so he hopes the war just keeps them all away, tries to believe Luffy will make it. But he never thought the battle would come to him without a warning - all he gets is the crash echoing through the streets of the city, like a violent clap of thunder.
For one terrible hour, Usopp thinks it happened, if finally did; it's a bomb! - but the Missus turns up the Volksempfenger and he learns that it was an one-man english aircraft, crash-landing close by. There's no trace of the passenger, they say he must have taken a parachute. Everyone is asked to keep their eyes and ears peeled for the Englishman.
The Missus snorts. "They won't take long to find this idiot."
Usopp thinks she ought to be more worried, but he's just glad there weren't any bombs. He wonders if the English are as evil as they say, because they teach plenty of things about Jews that don't fit Luffy at all - maybe they're wrong about everyone else, too. If ... well, if anyone tries to hide him, though ... he can only feel sorry for them. But he isn't supposed to think about stuff like that, besides, he has enough on his mind as it is, so he excuses himself.
He's on Duty, as Sanji has dubbed it, which means he has to check as often as he can dare. They both know, instinctively, that Luffy should never be left alone for too long, so maybe Usopp should have known. Still, when he climbs up through the trapdoor, he is utterly unprepared for the sight in front of him. In fact, Usopp is kind of proud that he doesn't faint.
Luffy is no longer alone, and the man sitting next to him, taking a nap like he's never slept anywhere else, is definitely not Sanji.
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