Chapter Text
A few minutes after the odd interaction between the two staff members, Sora and her children where waiting for someone to collect their order. Niji and Yonji were growing impatient each passing minute, Yonji was practically bouncing off his seat. She noticed that Reiju and Ichiji looked tense and uneasy, which didn't make sense considering how excited they had been to come here in the first place.
Sora questioned this silently.
'Why are they so on edge?'
"Reiju, Ichiji, is there something wrong?"
They turned their attention to her and Ichiji spoke up after a moments hesitation.
"The staff here is acting weird, i think they might recognize us"
"No, i don't think they recognize us" Reiju countered "They seem more confused then anything." Reiju countered
Sora surveyed the room to confirm what they were saying, and she did. A pair of servers descended down the spiral staircase located in the middle of the dining hall with platters full of food that she assumed were for one of the few couples that were spread about the room. Their eyes looked over the room to look for the table the food belonged to.
The first server glanced at them for only a moment before immediately doing a double take, his brows furrowed in confusion and his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. He nudged the second server and whispered something in his his ear, not taking his eyes off them. The second looked towards their table and his face copied the others expression, his mouth was also slightly agape.
'What in the four blues?. . .'
They stood there for a few moments seemingly in shock, trying and failing to look like they weren't gawking at them before another set of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs, a repetitive 'tap' followed by a step. They seemed to snap from their trance, faces turning pale as the hurriedly went on their way.
As she looked toward the staircase with curiosity along with her children, she saw she saw a middle aged man with a stern face, light blond hair, a long braided moustache and a wooden prosthetic where his leg should have been come down the last few stairs and start scanning the room.
When his eyes finally landed on them they widened and mouth fell sightly open in surprise.
'What in the 4 blues is going on!' Thought she thought in frustration. The Man turned and started walking toward their table, a slight limp in his step but enough to be noticeable.
When he reached them she and her kids eyed him apprehensively.
he hesitated when he got a good look at them but spoke up after a moment
"I don't mean to disturb you Miss but do you mind if i ask you a few questions?"
Herself and her Children looked at the man with a mix of curiosity and suspicion, but her curiosity won over.
"Sure, i don't see why not" she replied in her usual soft tone.
"First, I should introduce myself. My name is Zeff, i am the owner of this restaurant."
Sora didn't sense anything in his tone that would imply he knew who they were, so she thought i was safe to assume he wasn't here with the intent to kick them out, his eyes looked at her questioningly, not with the animosity she had gotten from the people in the North Blue who knew who she was, where came from and who her former husband was.
"And mine is Sora, its nice to meet to you owner Zeff. May I ask what this is about?"
"Ah yes, i apologize for the way my staff has been gawking at you. They came to me saying that your children look exactly mine and i got curious." He responded hesitantly.
Sora's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"You came to me because our children look alike?"
"That's not all, my sons are not mine by blood, but are in every other way. We found each other a few years back and opened this restaurant together. . . This might be an inappropriate question, but have you had any other children? other than the ones sitting here of course."
Her face tightened and something in her chest twisted painfully at the mention of her deceased children.
Sora looked to her Kids that were sat around the table. They visibly tensed at the question the Chef had asked. A look of guilt crossed Ichiji and Niji's faces, they didn't look up from the table. Yonji and Reiju had pained, sad expressions on their faces. She decided to indulge him, Sora looked back to The Owner
"I did... 2 sons, they passed years ago. What are you implying?"
Zeff looked caught off guard by the hard look she gave him. Still looking at her, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper and slid it towards her on the table
"By any chance, do these two look familiar to you?"
Sora's curiosity was the only thing that that prevented her from stopping the man.
Zeff watched as she took the paper and carefully unfolded it. It was a picture, a very worn picture that looked like it had been folded and unfolded countless times.
The man in the center of the picture was obviously the same one as the Chef standing before her now except in the picture he was wearing a comically long chefs hat and a warm smile.
But that's not what caught her attention. What did catch her attention was the two boys he had his arms around on either side of him.
The one on the left, golden blond hair that covered half his face, an eyebrow that twirled the wrong way, arms crossed against his chefs uniform, failing to contain a big smile as he rolled his eyes.
On the Right side stood a boy with white hair that was tied back into a high ponytail, laughing as he half heartedly tried to get the arm that was wrapped around him off.
Her eyes widened in recognition and immediately tears sprung to her eyes, her hands started to shake, she gripped the picture tightly, as if it would vanish if she let go. Tears ran down the her face and dripped onto the picture as she gaped at it, completely speechless.
After a few seconds of being frozen in shock she stood up abruptly still gripping the picture tightly, tears streaming from her eyes.
She knew.
It was them.
The children she thought she had lost years ago, staring back at her from a photo of all things, Older, maybe 12 by the looks of it. . . Alive.
Could it be a coincidence? could it even be possible?!
She needed to confirm it
"Their names. . ." Her quiet voice shook as she spoke. "What are their names."
Zeff responded carefully
". . .The blonde one's name is Sanji and the one on the Right is Goji."
Gasps of shock and disbelief came out of the kids at the table. Reiju's eyes welled up with tears, Yonji looked like he was about to be sick, the color drained from the faces of the other two.
"Their. . . Alive?" Niji breathed out
Sora let go of the picture and burst into tears as it landed on the table, her knees almost gave out but she caught herself on the table before she could collapse completely. Sobs wracked her body as the realization finally dawned on her and she leaned on the table for support.
'They weren't dead'
'They escaped'
'Their safe!'
"Their yours, aren't they" it was more a statement than a question.
"Y-yes, these are-" she breathed in a long shaky breath before continuing.
"Their mine. . ."
Then all of a sudden she whipped around, grabbed the blue scarf around Zeff's neck and gripped it tightly with both hand, causing him to lose balance and almost fall over in surprise, he managed to stable himself before he did.
As he looked into her beautiful blue tear filled eyes he saw only desperation and longing.
"Where are they! Please i need to see them!" The women pleaded.
Still taken aback by the sudden confrontation he gently removed Sora's hands away from his scarf.
"They worked their asses off today, i sent them upstairs to rest about 20 minutes ago" he answered gently
"Please, take me to them!" She cried
"Of course, follow me"
The Children around the table watched the old man and their mother hurriedly make their way up the stairs, Sora a few steps ahead of him. They were to stunned to speak.
They just couldn't believe it.
The brothers they thought were dead, weren't?
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Niji wouldn't believe it till he saw them with his own two eyes.
2 years. . . He'd spent 2 years grieving his younger brother's that he had thought died.
Who he thought he killed. . .
His face twisted with anxiety as he reached across the table with a Shakey hand and slid the picture towards himself.
. . .That was them alright, standing in the picture, older, smiling. . . The realization hit him like a punch to the gut.
He's never actually seen Sanji really smile before.
Sanji had never actually looked at him with anything except fear, dread or hatred. . .
'he hates me. . . They both hate me. They never wanted to see me again- so why am i here? What right do I have to barge into their lives like this?!' Thought Niji as his face contorted into anger, anger that was directed at nobody but himself.
'I don't deserve to see them, not after what i did-i don't fucking deserve it.' He slammed his fist into he table, his knuckles turning white.
". . .Damn it" he muttered
He looked up at his siblings, they looked to be on the verge of tears, Reiju was openly crying into her hands from relief, Ichiji's head was on the table, his jaw clenched, eyes squeezed shut, gripping the back of his neck so tightly his knuckles were white, he was barely holding tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
He studied Yonji through his own blurry eyes. His hands were clenched into fists and his jaw was set. His eyes were still watery and red but, he looked. . . Angry.
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Yes, Yonji was angry, no he was pissed. Had he and the others really just spent 2 years of their lives drowning in an entire ocean of guilt and regret for what they did, just to find out that they were still alive?!
That they had in fact not killed them?!
That they had somehow faked their deaths?!
Don't get him wrong. He was relived that they were alive, and if the circumstances were different he would be ecstatic! But what gives them the right to do that!
Sure they had messed up, yeah Sanji probably didn't deserve what they did to him, he understood that much, But they never did shit to Goji! what gives him the right to do that!. . .
"Leave him alone you sick bastred!-NO, STOP IT, GET AWAY FROM HIM OR ILL FUCKING KILL YOU NIJI!"
Gojis desperate shouts echoed off the cold stone walls of the Dungeon, the sound as vivid as if it happened yesterday. He could still picture the look in his eyes, burning with a wild untamed fury that he had never seen in him before that moment, His hands trembled violently as he hopelessly struggled against the lock Yonji had put him in, angry tears he couldn't contain streaming down his face.
. . .No he wasn't angry.
They deserved it. They deserved every second of it. Because what they did to them was fucked up.
. . .Extremely fucked up.
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Ichiji's head was spinning
How
How. .
HOW!
It shouldn't be possible!
Images were flashing in his head. Images he wanted to forget.
He wanted to forget them so bad, damn it!
Sanji Laying unconscious and bloody on the the floor in front of him, his own cruel laughter echoing off the cold stone walls of Germa.
His stomach twisted in disgust more with each memory.
Goji, his arms pinned behind his back by Yonji, Screaming at Niji to stop as his foot, crackling with electricity, stomped down onto Sanji's shoulder.
Please just make it stop. He thought desperately
Sanji. . . Lying dead in a pool of his own blood through the bars of the dungeon cell. A heavy Iron mask encasing his head.
Goji's voice repeated his mind. The last words he had ever spoken to Ichiji.
". . .Are you proud of yourself, Ichiji " his voice was numb, questioning.
"Today, you have killed the two biggest failures of Germa, the biggest stains on the. Vinsmoke name. . . The very two people you were supposed to protect with your life. animosity was dripping from every word he spoke in that last part.
He would never forget the look in his eyes as he said it. Hatred, pure unbridled Hatred staring at him through the bars of their cell, strands of his usually tied back white hair falling over his face. Making him look like a wild beast instead of the calm emotionless brother he remembered him to be. Sanji's broken, lifeless body lying on the floor behind him. Ichiji knew for a fact that if Goji could, he would have killed him right there and then that day.
There was blood.
So much blood...
Sanji clothes, stained red. The wall, the floor. Everything, all he could see was red.
"This will forever be your greatest failure. . ." He continued.
"I hope you rot in hell, Vinsmoke Ichiji" spat Goji, venom dripping from every single word he spoke.
He looked down at his shaking hands on the table Infront of him.
Everyone's attention turned to him as Ichiji abruptly stood up from the table, his chair scraping against the floor as he did so and started to speak.
"I cant fucking do this!"
"What-"
Ichiji cut Yonji off
"I saw Sanji's dead body with my own two fucking eyes! I cant believe it until i see him standing right in front of me!" He snapped.
With that Ichiji turned and started walking towards the spiral staircase.
His siblings gaped at him, stunned.
"Well. . . i guess were doing this then." Muttered Niji, standing up.
"Might as well get it over with" added Yonji.
One by one, Ichiji heard the scraping of chairs as his brothers fell into step behind him.
Reiju hesitated for only a second before wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, standing up and hurrying after her brothers.
"I hope you realize what's about to happen Ichi" she said once she caught up to them.
". . . Lets just pray we make it out of this alive." he responded
"i don't know if i want to do that at the moment" said Niji sarcastically