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Luffy darted across the frigid cold of Drum Island. He had to be careful, if he moved too recklessly, Nami would be injured even further. Luffy didn’t normally remember that regular human bodies were not as stretchy as his, but he took extra care in repeating it to himself under his breath every twenty seconds so he would not forget.
His breath fogged the air in front of him, and he looked around restlessly for any sign of Sanji.
He knew Sanji had a kind heart, that’s why he recruited him in the first place. He knew Sanji was smart and vibrant and a good fighter, and all the best traits that existed in all of Luffy’s friends.
What he hadn’t known was that Sanji would try and sacrifice himself to save Luffy and Nami.
It didn’t make any sense to Luffy. Luffy was the captain, that was the whole point of having a crew! People had to do what he said! And he had definitely not told Sanji to do that!
And now he had no idea where his new cook was amidst the snow, all while Nami’s breaths grew more staggered against his neck. He didn’t have time for this! There was no way he was losing two crew members in one day! That was too fast! That was too soon! People died all the time but neither of them had to die today !
Sanji--Sanji--Sanji where was Sanji ? He wasn’t that dark rock that looked like his shoe, he wasn’t the wisp of yellow grass sticking out of the snow that looked like his hair. He wasn’t any of the rabbits, despite them all kind of looking like Sanji if Luffy squinted.
Finally, in a small ravine, Luffy saw a lump of snow that looked a bit like Sanji. And when he approached the snow, it moved and made a most Sanji-like groan.
“Found you!” Luffy declared, hoisting his weight to one leg so he could keep Nami on his back and now also grab Sanji’s sorry ass as well.
He wiped away the snow, revealing Sanji completely red in the face with ice cold skin. Luffy gave the man a worried shake to figure out if he was still alive.
At first, Sanji didn’t react, his body somehow rigid and limp at the same time--like Luffy could snap him in two like an icicle if he wasn’t careful enough.
“C’monnnn,” Luffy groaned, shaking Sanji even more. “Wake up!”
Sanji’s eyes fluttered open briefly. He looked at Luffy in mild shock.
“You were s’posed to--” Sanji muttered, his words failing him.
“Don’t do that again! Ever! ” Luffy yelled, wrapping his arm around Sanji’s chest in multiple loops. “You're my cook! I’m the captain! You don’t get to die like that!”
Sanji stared at Luffy, his breath ragged and as uneven as Nami’s.
“Warm,” Sanji finally said, dipping his head against Luffy’s arms.
Luffy groaned and wrapped his arm further around Sanji, covering his ears in the process.
“Thhanks… cap’n…” Sanji mumbled.
“Just stay alive, and that’s an order!” Luffy said.
Sanji loosely nodded.
With Nami in one hand and Sanji in the other, Luffy turned his attention to the rest of the mountain before him. This doctor better be all that and a bag of chips, because it was rapidly becoming their last chance for the Strawhats to survive. Pirates couldn’t live on the sea if they couldn’t navigate and didn’t have food.
“Thanks for savin’ me,” Sanji said, his lips pressed against Luffy’s arm. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna make a large feast for you… with meat… and meat… and some… uh… meat.”
“With extra meat,” Luffy finished, his eyes trained on the mountaintop.
“Sh’yeah.”
With new motivation in his mind, Luffy ran backwards to try and build up momentum for a massive jump.
“You’re kinda cute for a boy,” Sanji slurred, just as Luffy was about to jump.
Luffy tripped over his own sandals in confusion and fell face first into the snow, resulting in the pained, weak groans of both his crewmates.
“Hey, what did you mean by that?” Luffy asked, twisting his arm so he could see Sanji’s face.
Sanji did not respond. His eyes were closed and his heart rate had slowed even further.
Luffy groaned and reset his arm so that he now had a clean view of the jump before him.
This time, Sanji did not interrupt him when he jumped, and he easily cleared fifty more feet of the mountaintop.
“I’m cute in general, not just for a boy,” Luffy muttered, his nostrils flaring in annoyance. Sanji was such a silly man.
His own body was beginning to slow down: the cold was getting him too. Whatever Sanji’s cold-brained silliness was causing him to think could be a problem for afterwards (aka a problem for never, since most problems didn’t exist anymore once you stopped thinking about them).
With the confusion thoroughly discarded, and there being nothing more impeding Luffy’s way, he headed towards the mountaintop to save two of his best friends.