Chapter Text
The moon and stars dimly shone in the night sky as Sanji escorted you back to the Going Merry. As he led you to the girl's cabin, you turned to him.
"Thank you for the wonderful night, Sanji. I loved it." The corners of his lips curled in a small smile.
"Anything for you, my love." Kissing him goodnight, you quietly opened the door and slipped into the darkness of your room.
As you climbed into your hammock and pulled your blanket over you, you felt something stir in your lungs. A sudden coughing fit erupted, and you tried your best to muffle it as to not wake Nami or Robin. Once you stopped coughing, you felt something in your mouth. Taking it out, your eyes widened in shock. Fear coursed through your bloodstream.
"No...! It can't be!" You thought, feeling the item in your hand to see if it was really true. In your palm was a single flower petal. "The hanahaki disease?!" Guilt washed over you and you held back the tears forming in your eyes.
"(Y/n)...Are you okay?" Nami sleepily called out. Taking in a deep breath to calm your nerves, you responded as normally as you could.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You can go back to sleep."
"Mm...Okay..." Once you heard Nami's even breathing again, you hastily shoved the flower petal under your pillow, praying it was somehow a mistake.
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Waking up the next morning you hoped it was all just a bad dream. The single pink flower petal under your pillow, however, proved to you that it was real. This single, lone petal spoke volumes. Coughing up flower petals could only mean one thing. An unrequited love. You mindlessly rolled the soft petal between your fingers as you tried to think about who it was. Your thoughts were cut off by Nami and Robin waking up, and you shoved the petal under your pillow once more.
"Soooo..." Nami started, doing her morning stretches. "How was your date with Sanji? You got back pretty late." All of your worries temporarily fled your mind as you remembered your date.
"Oh, it was wonderful!" You gushed, clasping your hands together. "He took me to this fancy restaurant where he had these exquisite dishes cooked and then when we were walking back, he asked me to dance with him on the beach! It was so beautiful, with the moon high in the sky, and the ocean waves softly crashing in the background." You sighed, reliving the night before. Robin gave out a chuckle.
"Oh, you lovebirds. You're so cute together." You bit your lip and averted your eyes as you all too suddenly remembered your situation. Climbing out of your hammock, you made your way to the kitchen. Sanji was humming contentedly while he fried up some fish and eggs. Seeing him in his element made you so blissful.
"Good morning, Sanji!" You said, giving him a loving peck on the cheek.
"Good morning, my love." His response lacked some of his usual bubbly enthusiasm of seeing you. You frowned a bit and felt his forehead.
"Are you okay? You seem a little off." He smiled, melting all doubt from your mind.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. The damn mosshead kept snoring." You laughed a little, and leaned against a nearby cabinet.
"I wish you two would get along better. He's my closest friend here." Sanji's brow furrowed while he began to plate out breakfast.
"He just rubs me the wrong way." Helping to put the plates on the table, you glanced over to Sanji, glimmer in your eye.
"As opposed to rubbing you the right way?" Sanji just stared back in disgust as you laughed.
Once everyone began eating breakfast, you looked around the table and tried to figure out who it was. Chopper? No. He's like, what? Eight? Usopp? No. He's sweet, but not your type. Luffy? Absolutely not. Too rambunctious. Nami or Robin? No. You didn't swing that way...that you knew of. Zoro? No, he's just a good friend. Who was it?!
After a few minutes of concentrated thinking, you felt a familiar feeling building in your lungs.
"Crap...!" You thought. "Not here!" Swiftly grabbing your napkin, you covered your mouth and coughed the flower petals into it. All eyes were on you.
"Are you okay?" Chopper asked, getting up from his seat.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," you lied, while removing the napkin from your mouth and placing it in your lap so no one could see the contents. "Just uh, wrong tube I guess." Everyone slowly went back to their previous conversations.
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"This isn't getting any better," you thought after having another coughing fit in the bathroom. Gripping the sides of the sink, you looked at yourself in the mirror. What were you going to do? How would Sanji react to you loving someone other than him? Would he leave you? A tear had begun to make its way down your face. Angrily and with a newfound resolve, you wiped it away.
"No! That won't happen!" You said, looking yourself straight in the eye. "You'll nip whatever is happening right now in the bud, and make sure that Sanji doesn't find out about this." Gathering all of the petals, you shoved them all in your pocket and took a deep breath. The only way you could stop this from happening is to isolate yourself from everyone except Sanji. It would be difficult, but if it rid you of these unwanted feelings, it was all worth it. Gripping the bathroom doorknob, you turned it and headed outside. Sneaking off to the crow's nest, you leaned against the wooden boards. You've spent your fair share of night watches here, but this time it felt different. You were purposefully separating yourself. Standing up and looking around to make sure no one was watching, you took the flower petals from your pocket and scattered them to the wind. As you watched them twist and curl into the horizon, you felt another coughing fit develop. You barely had enough time to duck down out of sight back into the crow's nest before the petals burst from your mouth. Unbeknownst to you, a certain swordsman saw you drop back into the crow's nest. Raising an eyebrow, he got up and made his way up the ropes to check in on you.
Laying out all of the petals in the floor, you counted again to make sure you were right.
"15?! It's only getting worse and worse! What am I doing wrong?!" You thought, holding back your tears. Upon hearing someone come up the ladder, you yelled out just enough for them to hear you.
"Unless you're Sanji, leave me alone!" The creak of rope pulling on wood stopped.
"Are you sure? I'm just making sure you're okay. I-"
"I just need to be alone." Zoro, already halfway up the rope, felt his mouth form a thin line. If you wanted space, he'd give it to you.
"Okay." He began his descent back down to the deck. Pulling your knees to your chest, you only cried harder. As you hiccupped in air, you were struck with a particularly violent bout of coughing. The petals shot out of your mouth despite your feeble attempts to stop them. You were brought to your hands and knees as the coughing continued. After what felt like an eternity, it stopped. Taking in heavy breaths, you touched your hand to the corner to your mouth. Shakily pulling it away, you saw a shiny red liquid. Before you could even call for help, more petals flew from your mouth, but this time accompanied by blood.
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"Dinner's ready!" Sanji hollered. People began to pile into the kitchen, waiting expectantly for Sanji's delicious cooking. Except you.
"Hey, where's (Y/n)?" He asked, noticing you weren't there.
"Last I saw her, she was in the crow's nest," Zoro said, leaning back in his chair. Sanji just glared at him while he gave everyone their meals.
"Then go get her, mosshead."
"She didn't want to see anyone except you, shit cook. You go get her." Sanji practically threw Zoro's meal down in front of him, putting on his blazer as he made way out the kitchen.
Gripping the ropes to the crow's nest, he felt uneasy with the silence in the air.
"(Y/n)? You up there? Dinner's ready." The lack of response urged him to climb faster. Climbing into the small wooden area, he was frozen with fear. Bloodied petals covered every inch of the floor. You were laying on them, body limp and blood leaking out of your mouth. Sanji rushes to your side, feeling for a pulse. Carefully placing you over his shoulder, he climbed down the ropes as fast as he could. Kicking the kitchen door down, he shouted for Chopper.
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"The hanahaki disease?" Sanji asked, staring at your resting face. You had lost a lot of blood, making your skin look deathly pale.
"Yes. I have given her something to reduce the intensity and frequency of the coughing, but the only way for it to be gone completely is for her to either overcome her love or be loved in return." Sanji's grave expression never left his face.
"I'm sorry, Chopper, but...can I be with her? Alone?" Chopper nodded, making his way to the door. "And...please don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay." Chopper said softly before leaving. Sanji pulled up a chair to you, having put the pieces together already. Gingerly taking your hand in his, he grazed his thumb over the back of your hand.
"Oh, (Y/n)...I'm so sorry."
Feeling something warm in your hand, you cracked your eyes open to see what it was, only to be met by Sanji's gaze.
"H-Hi..." You weakly called out, throat raw.
"Hey. How you feeling?" His look of concern just filled you with remorse.
"Terrible."
"Here's some water," he said, handing you the mug that was next to the cot you were in. Thanking him, you took a sip of the cool liquid, soothing your throat in the process. Gripping the side of the mug, you dreaded the conversation that was about to happen.
"I'm sorry," you whimpered pathetically, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. "You know I have the hanahaki disease, right?"
"Yes."
"I...I'm so sorry!" You cried out as best as you could with your throat in the condition it was in. The tears had started to flow freely from your eyes. "I didn't want you to know, especially not like this. I don't even know who it is..." Sanji bit down on his lip, a nervous tick you'd observed through your time together. He released your hand to wipe your tears.
"(Y/n), please, don't cry...It's not your fault."
"W-What do you mean?" Your innocently confused expression only made it harder for Sanji to say the words he knew he needed to tell you.
"I...I've fallen out of love."