Lunch rush at the Grand Line Plaza Starbucks was as strong and true as the sunrises in the beginning of the day and Bon Clay's commitment to wear pink on Wednesdays. Attracting business people from the offices which surround the mall and the university students from down the block, the café's regulars covered every trope on the coffee addict spectrum. Sanji greatly welcomed the never ending lines of customers to keep his mind off from the mishap earlier that day. After all who had time fuming over moss head idiots when there were lovely ladies to serve. Speaking of lovely ladies, the ever sophisticated Hina strode in front of Sanji's till. Sliding back her sunglasses Hina perched them on top of her long pastel locks. The blonde barista couldn't help but swoon at the older woman, commenting on her usual stoic elegant.

"Hina will be getting her passion tango tea lemonade," the woman stated and sidestepped to get a better view of the pastry case. Sanji enthusiastically nodded and grabbed a venti cold cup, flourishing the cup with the customer's name and drink order.

"Hina would also love to grab a croissant," the business woman added and returned her gaze back onto Sanji. Sanji smiled warmly and smoothly ran her transaction through. Hina dropped a few dollars into the tip jar and dropped her aviators back onto her face, and waved her hand at the barista in thanks. Not all of Sanji's regulars were as easy Hina. Sanji grimaced as a large poof of pink feathers pulled up in front of his till. Unlike the chic shade of pink Hina donned, Doflamingo's pink was obnoxious and loud. Doflamingo was an enigma, truly. He came to terrorize the staff at Starbucks on a daily basis. Did the man work around here? Did he even work? A quick peek at his designer accessories and footwear said otherwise.

"Hello Sanji, won't you give me a moment. I need to decide on what to treat myself today." Doflamingo smiled widely as he leaned against the counter, reading out loudly each item on the menu. Sanji chanced a quick glance at Bon Clay who returned gave a sympathetic look as he nursed his way through his own line of customers.

Sanji pasted a smile on his face as Doflamingo loudly contemplated the calorie count between a frappuccino and a smoothie. Finally after what seemed like ages, the man scrunched his nose and returned his gaze back to the barista.

"Never mind. I just want my venti two pumps lactaid milk extra hot no foam London fog. But I would also like whip cream and cinnamon dolce sprinkles on top. I don't want my drink too boring now!" Sanji nodded in confirmation and briskly wrote down his drink on a cup sleeve.

"Anything else for you today Doflamingo?" The man slams down his diamond incrusted tumbler onto the counter in response. Sanji added the mug to the terrifyingly long line of drinks. Doflamingo's pats Sanji's cheeks with a "good boy" and waltzed into the café to wait for his drink. Sanji eased his jaw and took a deep breath. Besides Doflamingo's eccentric personality the man tipped generously. They couldn't dare lose the irritating man as a regular when they all made minimum wage.

Sanji's mood immediately perked up when he heard a familiar greeting from his favourite customer. Nami bounced into Sanji's view and shined a bright smile at Sanji.

"My lovely Nami!" ,swooned Sanji as he whipped out a venti cup, and wrote her name in floral cursive, "your usual, as usual?"

"Just the spinach and feta wrap for today Sanji! I already have my drink!" holding up a cup and swaying it back and forth Nami winked back at the barista. Sanji flinched back almost crushing the paper cup in his hold.

"You're still drinking Tim Horton's?!" Sanji gasped, his eyes round and mouth gaping. Nami smirked and took a small sip from the aforementioned cup.

"Yeah! It's a white hot chocolate with chai tea bags! It tastes just like the tea lattes here, except half as much cheaper!" Nami exclaims and took another gulp.

"Nami you're teasing me right. That's kind of impossible, as our teas are handpicked from the freshest and finest ingredients." Sanji rambled. Nami shrugged and placed down the exact change for her wrap. She blew a kiss to her friend and slid back into the growing crowd of people in the café. Sanji didn't respond in his usual over the top gushing. Instead, he stood there paralyzed.

A true drama queen, Nami hummed in thought.

"Candy boy!" Ivankov hollered, walking into the store front as he tied his pink apron, "it's your lunch time!" Sanji whipped his head toward his manager, and all but sprinted into the back, ripping off his own green apron. This will not do. This will not do at all. A Tim Horton's drink that taste just like Starbuck's? Even worse, Nami was been brainwashed to think so? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Sanji slid out a card from his wallet.

A month or two ago, Sanji had helped out a pan handler which the mall seemed to attract to the dark corner of their streets. Sanji gave the pan handler a drink and a hot sandwich from his store. A few days later the man found him again and introduced him as Gin. He profusely thanked Sanji for helping him out during a particular rough time he was going through. In his thanks he decided he would pay back with what he considered equal payment: a Tim Hortons gift card. Sanji had been completely reluctant at first because he couldn't ever accept a gift in return for something he did out of good will. In the end he humbly accepted it. Gin wanted to show his thanks after all. Sanji thought he would leave the gift card long forgotten and tucked deeply into his wallet. He thought, of course, but shit went down. Tim Horton's went down. Sanji decided he needed to go on an impromptu undercover mission to Tim Horton's. He wanted no, nay, he needed to prove that Tim Horton's couldn't ever replicate a drink from Starbucks. Jamming the card into his black jeans Sanji marched his way off into the mall.

"This is totally like Jackass," Sanji muttered under his breath as he bee lined towards the food court, "I'm totally threatening the life of my taste buds."

The red cursive sign came into view as Sanji struggled against the torrent of shoppers. The large crowd of customers in front of Tim Horton's was not all that dissimilar from what one could find in Starbucks. A few annoyed shoppers around Sanji gave him dirty looks as he stood awkwardly at the end of the line.

Sanji hesitated adding himself to the line. This was absolutely embarrassing. Someone could recognize him. Even worse the green haired idiot could still be working. But a quick scan of the store front told him that it was clear of any stupid lawn haired bozos. With a cautious step Sanji slid into the line and before he knew it several customers queued behind Sanji. It was too late to back out now. The line moved mechanically as Sanji was pulled along to the front. Finally an attendant called him forward to their till.

Sanji stalled, faltering even when he was mere steps from the front counter. An unhappy grumble from behind propelled Sanji forward. Several long years working in the service industry had trained him to react readily to customers, despite the customer not even being his own.

"Hey there! What can I get you?" The man at the till chirped. Sanji slowly made his way up to the till and stared outright at the man in front of him. Despite the man's friendlessness, his overall appearance was terrifying. With a tattoo on the one cheek and scraggy, short hair he looked like a complete creep. He was even wearing sunglasses. Was that even allowed?

"I uh…" Sanji bit his lip looking up at the menu. "there's this drink-" Sanji stopped midway as Zoro sauntered out of the kitchen while he adjusted his visor. He slid right beside the attendant in front of Sanji and clasped at his shoulder.

"Hey Johnny, thanks for covering for me."

The said man grinned back, "no problem man."

He returned his smile back to Sanji, "He'll ring your order in for you!" Johnny scurried to the back, leaving Sanji alone with Zoro. Well as alone as one could be in a crowded food court in front of one of the most busiest fast food joints in the mall.

Finally Zoro glanced at the customer in front of him, "Hey what-" Zoro halted and let out a loud grunt.

"You."

Peering through the kitchen doors, Johnny snickered, "Hey Yosaku check out what's happening in the front. It's the guy Kiwi and Mozu were talking about."

Yosaku left the donuts he was prepping in his work station. He walked right next to Johnny wiping his hands on his chef's whites, "the dude who trashed Zoro in the trash room? I need to see this."

"What can I get you," Zoro grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at Sanji.

Sanji was taken aback. Honestly what kind of Tim Hortons was this? With an iron fisted boss like Mihawk, and thugs like Zoro and Johnny this was looking more like a correctional center than a coffee shop. Zoro stared back at Sanji right in the eye. Sanji gotta hand it to the guy. He was downright intimidating despite being decked out in horrible shades of browns, a visor, and a hairnet. Terrifying yes but was he scarier than Ivankov when he broke a nail? No. Sanji squared his shoulders and returned back a steely glare.

Sanji snorted, "If you call this customer service. I wonder how you treat people you actually dislike."

Zoro growled back, through seething clenched teeth and repeated "What can I get you today." Sanji couldn't help but notice the toned biceps on the Tim Horton's attendant as he flexed in a way he thought he could terrify the other man.

Sanji squirmed and looked away. Sanji couldn't give a single shit about douchebags who tried to scare off people by their size alone but douchebags who were actually pretty hot…Hold it Sanji. Don't do this. Especially now. He's the guy who landed you the next two Saturday frappuccino duty for crying out loud!

Sanji sighed and ran his hair through his hair, "I-I don't know. I just heard there was a drink here. Something like a Chai tea latte."

Zoro squinted back, slightly relaxing his arms, "yeah I think it might be the white hot chocolate with chai tea bags." Zoro quickly entered the order and looked back up at Sanji, eyebrows raised, "anything else for you?"

Sanji snapped out his card toward Zoro and the man grabbed with a deep frown. The Tim Horton's staff looked at him exasperatingly and returned Sanji's card, "Thanks. Please don't ever come back again."

Sanji threw a finger at the man and stomped his way to wait for his drink. The guy from before, Johnny, called out Sanji's drink. Sanji hastily grabbed the cup and left a brisk thank you. Sanji took a small sip and pulled back in alarm. It tasted exactly like the chai tea latte from Starbucks. Sanji was absolutely furious. But the drink wasn't the problem at all. Neither was the green haired idiot who was everything but courteous to him. Sanji was infuriated with himself. Furiously sipping away at his drink and throwing a final glance at the Tim Hortons he accidentally caught Zoro's eyes. Sanji whipped his head back and stalked back to his Starbucks. With red cheeks, and the ears to match the deep shade Sanji fumed. Sanji was supposed to be the token straight guy at Starbucks damn it.