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It all began when they docked on an autumn island. It wasn't a huge island but definitely not a small one either. Most of the terrain was forest, just on the west side was a small sand beach. And that was where they docked.
Of course Luffy wanted to explore it. He jumped around the deck and flew with his rubber arms over sunny’s railing, straight into the forest. And that was before they even hit the shore.
Nami pinched the bridge of her nose. „Why can’t he ever act responsible? We can’t just let him walk around alone, he is gonna stir up some trouble.“
Sanji started swooning over her. „You are always such a fountain of wisdom. What would we just do without a queen like you?“
Nami didn’t appreciate Sanjis antics today, at all. She was still tired of weeks spend navigating them through the insane waters of the grandline, with all it's sudden changes. To not even start with her just as insane and loud crewmates that she had to deal with every day.
„Sanji" she sighed. "Just follow Luffy and make sure he doesn’t breaks the island in two or whatever else is gonna happen if he stays unattended.“
„Of course my delicate flower.“ And with that Sanji followed Luffy.
Luffy was already far ahead, so he tried to get fast to him. On his way to catching up with his captain, he thought of all the things he could have done with his time instead. He could have done an inventory of their food, prepare a snack or collect mushrooms. This island had the perfect climate for them. He saw some which tasted very good with rump steak and a little gorgonzola on top. Sanji chuckled to himself, Luffy would have appreciated that thought. Speaking of the devil, he could see him doing a little stunt on a tree.
„What are you doing up there?“ he asked his captain.
„Ohhh, it’s you.“ Luffy answered him and hopped back to the ground.
„I just heard something so I wanted to know what it was. There is a woman near the rock outcrop.“
That got Sanjis attention. „I should check on her, maybe she is in need of a knight to save her.“ And with that Sanji ran in that direction and all but threw his task at hand, to babysit Luffy, out the window.
Luffy just laughed and ran after him.
The mystery woman crouched on the floor and apparently collected mushrooms and placed them in a basket. Attached to the basket was a small bag. She was right under a big branch of a massive tree. What a coincidence Sanji thought. She probably had the same thought about those mushrooms as me.
In an instant he was right in front of her and started his usual swooning. The woman looked startled. She stood up abruptly and promptly hit her head on the branch, so hard that the branch shook. She fell backwards and would have hit her head again on the ground, if Luffy wouldn’t have caught her.
Just now they both noticed that she had a baby in a dark blue baby sling attached to her front. Careful did Luffy lower her to the ground. She was unconscious and had a wound on her head from the impact. A little bit of blood trickled down her head through her thick and dark curls. She was probably around her mid twenties, Sanji guessed. Her skin tone was similar to Usopps.
„Can you hear me?“ Sanji asked her but unsurprisingly didn’t get an answer. He checked her pulse and her breathing. Both seemed to be relatively normal for her condition.
The baby started crying. „At least nothing happened to the baby“ Luffy said.
„Yeah, I don’t think the baby agrees“ came Sanjis reply. „What are we supposed to do now?“
„We can’t just leave her here now. Let’s just bring her back to the sunny and let Chopper examine her."
Sanji detached the baby sling from her body and retached it too his own front, mostly because he didn’t trust Luffy with the baby. He also took the mushroom basket and the attached nursing bag, which they found out about, after looking inside and finding a half full baby bottle, wipes, baby powder and two diapers.
Luffy carried the woman piggyback style. That awakened memories of Drum Island in Sanji. It had been the first time he started seeing his captain in a different way. He couldn’t remember much after the avalanche hit him. He had been in and out of consciousness a few times, but he sure as hell remembered the dedication with which Luffy had climbed the mountain in this raging snow storm. On his bare hands and feet and more then inappropriate clothing for the weather. He had done the impossible just to save Namis and his lifes. It definitely hadn’t been the first or the last time Luffy had saved him or the others. But it made him realise things, things about himself and how he saw Luffy. Later on Momoiro Island he learned to accept those things. Don‘t get him wrong, he still hated those people and the whole kingdom, the way they wanted to squeeze him in their own ideals and ideas about how people should express themselves. He won’t ever forgive them for violating his identity too such an immense degree and thinking that they know who he is but in reality just beeing ignorant and self-centered assholes. But what he did learn was that it doesn’t matter if you like men or women and that it’s possible to love both without having to decide on one sex. You just have to allow yourself those things. That didn’t mean he could just tell his captain how he felt about him, he wasn’t even sure if Luffy was capable of those kinds of feelings or if he was interested in the more bodily aspects such a bond could bring.
Luffy brought Sanji back to reality with his voice. „Sanji I know something is bothering you lately, more then usually. You don’t have to tell me, we all have our secrets but you don’t have to deal with it on your own.“ He cracked his knuckles. „You know that I will kick ass for my crew if they need me to.“ Luffy turned to him and smiled one of his huge almost blinding smiles.
„I know. Thank you captain I appreciate it.“ Sanji replied with tears in his eyes, that he tried to hide with bowing his head in a way that let his hair cover most of his face. Luffy probably knew it anyway, he had some kind of sixth sense when it came to his crew. He used this moment to check on the baby. It was sleeping. He placed one of his hands on it’s back and caressed the almost bold head with the other hand. It felt soft and unusual. He was almost scared to hurt the baby. It just looked so frail, like he could break it if he wasn’t careful enough.
Luffy watched him. „Hey Sanji, you are really good with the baby. You would probably make a good father!“ He grinned.
Sanji blushed a dark red. „H-how can you say that all of a sudden?“ He stuttered a little bit before he caught himself. „Besides, we are pirates! There is no time for something like that! And it‘s not like I have got a lovely lady to even approach such fantasies!“
Luffy studied him for a few seconds while picking his nose, before he flicked whatever he found into the forest. „I didn’t mean that you should become a dad right now. First you have to fulfill your dream and find the All Blue. Besides you have to help me become pirate King before you can settle down. And why would you need a woman for that?“
Sanji looked incredulous and and a bit disgusted. How he could have fallen for such a disgraceful person was beyond him. „Did you just really ask me what I would need a lady for in that equation? Do I have to explain you where babies come from?“ Which no, Sanji would definitely not do, thank you very much. If the worst case scenario hit, he would probably just try to distract Luffy in a "Oh look! There is a huge load of meat just over there" -kind of way. And then just hope that Luffy forgets about it later completely.
„Huh? I do know where babies come from. Dadan told us after Sabo found a book under her bed. I don’t know what it was called, but Robin has it too. The whole book is basically just a man and a woman doing all those things, in all kinds of positions and then talking about love. I don’t know what’s so interesting about it. Anyway, Sabo was so proud of his discovery that he read aloud different chapters in the book, to me and Ace. On day three Dadan got wind of it and hit all three of us really hard on the head. It was almost hard enough to compete with gramps. In exchange for not telling him about the book, she told us all this stuff afterwards. It wasn’t the best barter in my opinion.“
Sanjis brain stopped working halfway in the story. He must look like a fish right now, with the way he was gaping at his captain. He really shouldn’t be this shocked, after all Luffy was always good for a surprise, especially if you don’t expect it.
Luffy squinted and held his hand in front of his eyes. „Look! I can already see the sunny.“ With that said Luffy started running the rest of the way to the ship.
„Don’t run you asshole! You are juggling around the lady!“ Sanji called after him, but started walking faster nevertheless.
He climbed on board the sunny, careful of the baby on his front. It was a little bit challenging with the basket and the bag but he managed it.
He wasn’t even fully on the sunnys deck but could already hear his captain calling for their doctor. „Chopper, we have got an emergency!“ From his position he could see the curious look of their sharpshooter. He immediately ran over to Luffy and helped him lower the woman to the ground for now. Other than him was just Zoro on deck, who had been sleeping but had stood up as soon as he had heard Luffys shouting and was now watching the whole scene. Luffys calling didn’t just bring out Chopper but also their other crewmembers one by one. Brook and Robin came out of the library. Chopper himdelf ran out of the sick bay with his medical bag. Nami jogged from somewhere on the back of the ship. Chopper began to examine the woman. „What happened?“ He asked their captain.
Franky was the last to join them. He probably had been in his workshop, Sanji thought.
„She was picking mushrooms and Sanji kinda scared her, so she hit her head on a branch really hard and fainted.“
„The laceration isn’t too serious and her vitals are expectable in her condition, but for further examination we have to bring her to the sick bay.“
The baby made a „dah“ sound. Just now did the rest of the crew notice the baby.
„That’s suuuuuper cute.“ Franky exclaimed and struck his trademark pose. Nami sighed „I don’t even know if that’s worse than breaking the island in two or not.“ She pointed at Luffy and Sanji. „It's your fault that it even happened, so you are both gonna take care of the baby until its mother wakes up! But please Sanji, don’t leave Luffy alone with it, not even for a second! Do you understand?“
„Yes, Nami dear.“ Came it from Sanji.
Luffy started to complain. „Hey! Why is no one trusting me with the baby? That’s mean! If I’m gonna throw it in the air then of course I will make sure to catch it again.“
„You aren’t gonna throw anything in the air! Are you crazy?“ Nami shrieked before hitting him on the head.
Chopper changed to human point and carried the woman bridal style into the sick bay.
„I am impressed, shit cook. Never would I have thought that you would manage to make a woman fall for you. And now look at you. You don’t even know her but are already babysitting her brat.“ jibed Zorro.
Sanji growled. „Did the moss already start to sprout into your brain as well? Maybe I should kick it out.“
Both readied themselves for a fight, the moment Sanji caught a jucky whiff of something really nasty in his nose. It took him a few seconds but he added up the clues pretty fast.
He touched the babys back. „I think it needs a diaper change.“
Robin took the baby from Sanjis baby sling. „Don’t worry, I already changed diapers in the past. I will give it back into your care when I’m done.“ With that said she took the nursing bag. „We could let Zoro take on the task too, but he wouldn’t be as fast.“ With an, even in Sanjis opinion, gleeful and kind of evil smirk did she leave.
Zoro looked a little bit embarrassed and muttered. „This woman! I knew she wouldn’t hold her mouth shut.“ He sat back down, turned away from them before leaning on the mast.
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Luffy and Sanji were in the kitchen. Sanji busied himself with doing a few preperations for dinner. To be this close to his captain makes him a bit jittery, especially because Luffy isn’t his usual obnoxious self but rather unusually quiet.
Luffy sits at the table and plays with the little baby girl. Robin had told them, when she brought her back from the diaper change. The baby sling and nursing bag now stood near the kitchen wall accompanying the basket.
Luffy makes faces at the baby that’s sitting in his lap, while she tries to eat his vest, or to be more specific the lowest button of said vest.
„I really like playing with her, it’s so much fun! I would keep her with us on board, if I could.“
‚Oh god,‘ Sanji thought. ‚If it continues like that, he is gonna invite the woman to stay on board with her baby.‘ He wouldn’t have anything against another lady on the ship, but it would be way too dangerous for the baby. They are pirates after all!
He stopped kneading the yeast dough and put it in a bowl, covered it with a dish towel and washed his hands before he turned around.
„I don’t think that would be a good idea. The sunny isn’t a place for babies after all. Think about all the accidents that could happen. And let’s not even start with all the problems attacks from other pirates or marines would surely cause.“
Luffy looked like he thought really hard. „You are right, we shouldn’t rush things.“
„We?,“ Sanji asked. ‚He probably means the whole crew, this lunatic,‘ Sanji thought.
„Yeah, you and me together. „ Luffy looked a bit sheepish. A look Sanji would have never dreamed of Luffy could even muster.
„I-,“ Sanji paused. „What about Hancock? Why me?“
Luffy looked at him confused. „What about her?“
„Don’t you rather want someone like her and not me?“ „It definitely would make things easier,“ he joked. „And you shouldn’t forget that it’s a life long commitment too.“ He didn’t mention that it wouldn’t just be a commitment to a child but also to him. At this point Sanji couldn’t even comprehend what was happening anymore.
„Hammock is nice, but I don’t like her the same way I like you.“
„You mean as a friend right? As crew?,“ Sanji replied.
Luffy thought hard again. „The way I feel about you if different from how I feel about Zoro and the others, it’s special. Whenever I look at you I can’t stop doing it, especially if you look back. And when you talk about cooking, you just start glowing in a way that makes me wanna hug you. You are the most caring person I know, even if you always try to hide it and pretend that you aren’t.“
Sanji couldn’t believe his ears, did Luffy really like him too? He noticed the squirming Baby in Luffys lap. Sanji sat down beside Luffy and took the baby in his arms. She was unhappy because Luffy stopped to give her his full attention. He swayed her softly for a few seconds until she calmed down and then looked back to Luffy.
At first he just stared at him but quickly started to lean in a few inches to close the distance between them.
He pecked Luffy gently, but still firmly on the lips. It made him blush a little bit, he didn’t know how Luffy would react. It lasted just a for a moment but it still felt like he had changed everything just now. What if Luffy didn’t like it after all?
Without any warning Luffy was back in his face and kissed him again. This time it felt less chaste. Luffy was very eager, even if Luffy wasn’t very experienced it felt perfect for both of them. Sanji touched Luffys cheek with his free hand and deepened the kiss a little bit. He started moving his lips and Luffy surprisingly got the hind and mimicked the movement. It wasn’t the most skillful kiss Sanji ever had, but it felt like the best by far. It was the first time Sanji was in it with his whole heart.
Luffy was the one to break the kiss to take a breath. „That felt good, let’s do it again sometime!“
To hear this coming from Luffy of all people made his heart skip a beat, he was genuinely happy in this moment.
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Afterwards Sanji carried on with dinner preparations. And if Luffy got a few slices of the seating meat in advance, well no one would know.
Soon all of their crewmates joined Luffy at the table and dinner got served.
„It’s a Boulabaisse with Rouille,“ Sanji informed them. „You can eat the baguettes that I backed with the soup.“ For a change he sat down with them and fed the baby girl with the bottle they found in the nursing bag. Of course he had warmed the baby formula and tested it on his wrist before feeding her with it. Anything else would have hurt his pride as a chef, he wouldn’t serve anyone cold dinner so of course that refered her as well.
Most of them, including his captain, had already digged in. Just the girls thanked him sweetly for the meal before eating. Even Chopper sat with them.
„I applied an ointment on the laceration on her head. It’s nothing serious. She will probably wake up in a few hours, I’m surprised that she isn’t already awake actually, but I will go back in the sick bay as soon as I eat up,“ Chopper told them.
That apparently was her cue. The door flew open and said woman entered. „Where is my baby?,“ she shrieked. Immediately did she noticed the baby girl was sitting in Sanjis lap and snatched her from his hands.
„Are you okay sweety? They didn’t hurt you, did they?,“ she asked the baby, which of course didn’t answer. She started checking the baby methodically before finally calming down a little bit.
Luffy looked indignant. „Of course we didn’t hurt her! We are pirates, not some baby-harming madmen!“ He had stood up in the middle of his little speech.
The baby started crying from all the screaming and all the sudden hectic. The absent of baby formula just further contributed to her unhappiness.
„Everything is going to be fine, Aimi,“ she assured her and protectively turned her a little bit away from the crew.
Luffy spoke, „You should be a little bit more grateful towards us! Who are you even?“
I am Yayoi and that’s my daughter Aimi. I should probably apologise, I was just panicked when I woke up in an unknown place without her. It was very nice of you to bring both of us back here, you could have just left us in the forest after all. Even if it was kinda the blond guys fault, that it happend at all.“ Sanji guiltily squirmed in his seat. She continued, „But you treated my wound and keept an eye on Aimi, I am grateful for that.“
„You are welcome!“ Luffy exclaimed and smiled one of his 1000-watt smiles.
It warmed Sanjis heart a little. The rest of the crew had just watched the whole exchange without saying anything. Robin looked at Sanji with her all-knowing smirk. He pretended to not have noticed.
„I should go now, Yoyoi told them. It’s getting late and my family is undoubtedly worried about me.“ She gave Aimi for a minute back to Sanji and tied the baby sling on her front to put the little girl back inside.
„You could eat with us before you go. You have to be hungry for sure,“ Sanji told her.
„No thank you. I appreciate the offer, but I really shouldn’t let them wait any longer. Besides it’s a bit difficult to walk back to our village in the dark.“ With that said she gathered the rest of her belongings.
They exchanged their goodbyes and then the woman was gone.
Silence settled over them until finally Brook broke it. „It was so reviving for my old bones to spend time after all those years with such a younger again. Even if I’m already dead! Yo hohohoho!“
Everyone agreed quietly with him and started eating again, exept Luffy who looked at Sanji. And if Sanji used this moment to send a genuine smile Luffys way, then it was no ones business.