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Luffy stares at the all blue from one of the doors, it's one of his favourite things to do when he's not on the job. Soaking in the salty sea air as the waves rise and crash.
Luffy is a Cupid. He helps people find love. Is what he'd like to say but that doesn't always go according to plan.
He shoots people with arrows and hopes for the best.
And as much as he's had a good track record. There's this one client who he's always failed with.
Sanji
Despite being an absolute hopeless romantic AND bisexual mind you. The man has just never been able to successfully keep a relationship for more than a week or two.
" Oh it's Sanji again! "
Luffy says looking at his pocket watch, which double as a dial assigning his next mission.
Luffy closes the door, rolls the coordinates on the key to head to a bar.
"Nami! You're here too! "
" Yeah, you're on a job? "
" yeah, "
"Well sanji is over there flirting with a girl again,"
" I almost feel bad for the guy, "
" what do you think might be wrong, "
Luffy already walks over to Sanji bumping into him a little lightly touching his arm to let the arrow puncture then disappear.
The arrows are small and invisible to non cupids. The love ones being red.
Luffy walks back to Nami
" Dunno just giving him his 15th arrow and hope for the best, "
" shit, 15???? "
"Yeah, why? "
" Luffy you're not supposed to issue more than 7,"
"What do you mean? "
Nami pulls him to the side to open a door but Sanji walks up to them,
" Hey I think I bumped into you earlier sorry, "
Luffy stares at Sanji, mouth slightly ajar, he feels as if there's silence and Sanji's voice rings in his ears.
Nami pulls Luffy away apologizing to Sanji.
Nami opens a door to the main headquarters.
"How the fuck were you issued the same person 15 times that's ridiculous, "
" You're acting like we broke one of the vows Nami relax, "
Luffy says as he catches himself, he's sweaty as hell, wonder what that was all about.
" We might as well have if you'd stayed there. The first one at that,"
Luffy runs the vows through his head, most just being about loyalty to Aphrodite and keeping the humans at bay from the Cupid world and all that but the first one being.
" A Cupid Must Never Fall In Love. "
Luffy laughs heartily. It's ridiculous to even think about a Cupid being in love let alone it being him.
The worry lines on Nami's face never fade away.
" Luffy do you have any inkling of what kind of shit you just got yourself in. I'm surprised it raked up to a whole 15 before anyone or even you paced with Sanji's arrows. That's horrible, "
" Instead of screaming can you just fucking explain it to me what I did? "
Nami pulls up the vows from her dial.
" Look at this. If a human is hit by a soulmates arrow of a Cupid more that 7 times. The Cupids will start being attracted to the human. Especially the ones registering multiple of the arrows. "
" shit, "
"Shit indeed. You alone issued 15 for him. Do you know how fucked you are? "
Luffy swallows. There's no way right? Cupids don't fall in love. That doesn't even sound right.
They live, they serve and they're replaced.
Powers are granted to achieve everything , spreading love and happiness to all.
That's the task of a Cupid.
What's all this love bullshit.
"Can we issue a tracker for Sanji and Luffy? "
Nami asks Usopp.
" oh Aphrodite, right when I thought Luffy couldn't get any more careless, "
Usopp says to himself.
" Yes, any two individuals can have a relationship tracker. I'll register one for them on you, "
" Thanks, "
Nami says gratefully, turning on her dial to see both of their locations.
Luffy can't understand why there's such a fuss right now. If he were to fall in love why not at the 13? 12? Why not earlier.
He's never felt anything for Sanji other than care, he thinks to himself.
The boy's had a rough childhood and adulthood especially when it came to romantic relationships.
He's thought of love as a fairytale till he grew up and now he's been hurt so much that even the bare minimum has made him satisfied.
His partners have cheated, abused and emotionally manipulated him.
And Luffy had to see to all of them.
He'd wanted to comfort him many times, instead all he could do was his duties.
And he had broken some rules from anger.
Luffy never really liked rules but the one he got in trouble for before was for hitting someone with a black arrow.
" it's only for desperate situations when the Cupid society is at risk. Do not use it as a toy, "
And Luffy did, well not as a toy but a particular asshole deserved it.
He left Sanji's apartment with bruises, sobs could be heard from the inside.
And Luffy's body moved on it's own before he could register what he did.
The black arrows are used offensively for the Cupid. If a human threatens their existence or secrecy.
It can cause immense pain and memory loss.
And Luffy had removed every trace of Sanji from him.
Okay maybe he can now catch on that, it wasn't the 15th arrow.
The concept of love itself has been so foreign to him. Sure he's seen couples get together, he's seen them live and die in misery and happiness. In sickness and in health.
Yet he's only supposed to be a witness. This is not something that should be experienced by him. It's a sin. It's abnormal.
Aphrodite loves all her children, all her Cupids. They all work for her and reach heaven after their tenure is over.
Cupids are picked at 13. They're indoctrinated into the system to obey her as their goddess.
Yet as powerful as Aphrodite is. She can not control fate.
And so every few century a Cupid gets a soul mate. Fate being a cruel one to her children.
Yet like every other anomaly there is a solution. It's only heard as mythos but the punishment is said to be extremely undesirable.
Something even the Minotaur refuses to speak about.
Robin closes the book and grimaces.
"It seems Luffy is the unlucky one for this century, "
" Are you kidding me?! ? ! This shit happens once a century? "
Nami screams out.
"Seems like it, "
Luffy looks at his dial for the progress of the last arrow Luffy issued on Sanji.
And it's not going well.
They've basically not bumped into each other anymore. The initial high of the arrow fading away, the luck and fate of it not working out either.
Luffy sighs, closing the watch.
He decides to take a walk in the city, his mind still wanders to Sanji. He's spent a huge chunk of his life with him, his first relationship, his first heartbreak, his first kiss, his first...
Luffy's seen many of his firsts, if he thinks hard enough he can think back to his teens and anything before that is a little blurry. Yet Sanji feels like a constant in his life for some reason.
He feels someone who's been known by Luffy for so long yet Sanji has no clue he even exists. Maybe the club is the first time they even talked; he thinks to himself.
His hand itches back to his dial, he craves to know more, curiosity clouding his mind. He needs something to do, maybe not worry about it all. But he can't seem to help it.
He opens the dial to see that Sanji is nearby, the library a few steps away at that.
His feet move on their own as he opens the door to step in.
Sanji sitting in one of the tables, resting his head on his palm, reading a book, a coffee right beside him.
Now Luffy's not the one for reading, he wonders why he even stepped in here.
He fixes his hat, shoves his hands in his jacket and walks up to him.
Sanji looks up from his book to look at him, a smile blooming on his face.
" You! I meet you at the club yesterday, "
Sanji says, cheerfully, Luffy sits opposite to him, looking at his book.
He catches the view of different fish illustrated on the pages.
Sanji notices his gaze and pushes the book towards him.
"That's a Lionfish, pretty isn't it? "
"Yes it's beautiful, "
Sanji takes a sip of his coffee and turns a few pages.
" And here's the all blue, they say all the fish in the world can be found here. The oceans of the world is divided into 4 different segments and that's the joining point, "
Luffy stares at the page, he's already been there. His doors allowing his access to anywhere. It's his favourite place to visit and he knows it's Sanji's dream to go there.
It's the first thing that had caught his eye when he read his data.
A magical ocean where all the seas meet.
Luffy had spent hours pestering people on how to find this place, he's been told it's a myth over and over till finally Robin directed him to it.
She tried explaining it to Luffy, how to access it, why it's significant but all Luffy wanted was the code, he keeps it on him at all times.
" Everyone I've talked to has always told me it doesn't exist. You probably think I'm silly and childish believing in such fairytales but-"
" I believe you,"
Luffy says simply.
"You, you're just saying it to be nice aren't you?"
" No, I believe it exists,"
Sanji smiles brighter than ever, it's blinding to look at him but Luffy does, he stares in adoration.
"If I... I take you there,"
" Huh"
"What if I can take you to the all blue?"
Luffy can hear his heart thumping in his ears. He feels so vulnerable all of a sudden. He doesn't like this but he's already made a decision.
Sanji laughs.
Luffy decompresses, he was about to do a terrible terrible thing just then. This arrow business is a massive pain in the ass.