Chapter Text
The All Blue.
A wide expanse of sea wherein creatures from all oceans gather and live in harmony. This is the place Sanji calls home. Swimming through schools of fish from seas beyond, Sanji twirls through the waves, greeting the ones he knows with a kind hello and smiling at those he doesn’t.
It’s his nineteenth birthday. Today he has the opportunity to swim up to the surface, just as his brothers and sister did on their nineteenth birthdays. His whole life has been spent at the bottom of the ocean, comingling with the sea life and wading through the water. But Sanji has a fantasy. A dream, held close to his heart, one that he’s shared with just his close friend Chopper, a foxfish that frequents the coral gardens just outside the palace.
Sanji is the youngest son of King Judge, ruler of the All Blue. They reside in the Germa palace in the center of the mixed sea with Sanji’s older brothers Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji, as well as their older sister Reiju. Their mother, Sora, was killed by a poacher from the surface. But before she died, she instilled in Sanji his greatest love: a thirst for adventure, and more importantly, for romance. She told him of the many wonderful things to be found on the surface, of ships and towns and streets, of fire and magic and the warmth of the sun. The way she described things was nothing short of breathtaking. Sora had a fancy for life, for whimsy and love that Sanji has found blossoming within himself as the years have gone on.
King Judge forbade the siblings from traveling to the surface until they were old enough to know better, until their fins were fully grown and their brains wholly formed. So now, at nineteen, Sanji can finally experience the wonders of the upside world that Sora so dearly loved.
Swimming up, the blue waters comfort his skin, feeling like a warm blanket. His golden hair waves behind him in cascading sheets of gold. He looks down, taking stock of the distance below him. Germa’s golden palace is but a speck in the distance. He’s made it far. The surface should be nearby. Sanji’s heart pounds with excitement. His blue tail glimmers in the catching rays of the sun, so much clearer here near the water’s edge.
He swims up, picking up speed. Fewer fish surround him this close to the top, but he can’t stop now. He’s almost there. Reaching a hand up, his pale skin seems to glow, turning almost as golden as his hair under the blue waves. The light grows brighter and brighter, and suddenly, there’s a warmth as Sanji’s hand breaks the water’s surface. Dry, hot, so hot it stings. Sanji propels upward, and his head breaches the top.
It’s bright. It takes Sanji’s eyes a few moments to adjust, stinging at the sudden increase in light. Then, he sees.
There’s nothing but ocean for miles, except for a sliver of land in the distance, and closer, something floating on the water’s surface. It’s brown, and big, and there’s a white bit on the pointy end that looks like a creature of some sort. Sanji scours his mind for what it could be. Sora told him of many creatures. A sheep? Yes, he thinks, looking at the horns swirling on its head, its rounded ears. It’s a ship with a sheep on the tip.
He swims closer, aching to see who could be on board. Because where there are ships, his mother always told him, there are humans. Two-legged, walking, talking humans. Beautiful creatures that inhabit the above world. Sanji longs to see one.
As he approaches the vessel, he hears the sounds of uproarious laughter, musical and joyful. There’s music playing from an instrument Sanji’s never heard before, and suddenly, many voices are singing in time together, albeit out of tune. Male voices, from the sounds of it.
Sanji stops a distance away from the ship, hearing the creaking of the vessel on the waves as the singing comes to an end, followed by cheers.
“Happy birthday, Prince Zoro! May all your days be full of life, full of booze, and full of women!” a grating voice calls. Sanji finds the speaker: a tall human with bright red hair that spikes up to the sky, wearing white clothing with a lot of gold on it.
“Can we eat yet?” a young man pipes up from where he leans on the mast of the ship. “I want cake!”
“Be quiet, Luffy, it’s Prince Zoro’s day,” another man reprimands. This man stands beside the redhead, a few inches shorter but with black hair. He’s wearing a completely different outfit, with no gold on it at all. He has metal on his face–glasses, Sanji’s brain provides. Sanji swims to the side a bit, to try to get a glimpse of this Zoro they’re speaking of.
Then, he sees him. He’s wearing a crown, nestled on a shock of green hair that reminds Sanji of his brother Yonji. Prince Zoro carries himself with a practiced ease, one tan hand on an amber bottle of liquid and another resting on the hilts of three swords. He’s wearing as much gold as the red-haired man, but his outfit is a deep burgundy so rich that Sanji’s eyes struggle to perceive it. Zoro keeps one eye shut, and Sanji can’t quite see from this distance but he thinks it might be injured. His heart pangs without his say so. He’s breathtaking.
Sanji doesn’t know how long he stays there watching. Zoro drinks from the bottle easily, his posture becoming more and more relaxed as he does so. The Luffy boy finally gets his food, the cake, a white fluffy thing that wafts a sweet smell. More and more humans rise to the deck of the ship, each giving a passing congratulations to Zoro. Sanji smiles, inexplicably enamored that he and the Prince share a birthday.
The hot sun begins to fade beyond the horizon as darkness falls across the sky. Light rises from the ship as the men light candles on fire, a sight that dazzles Sanji. He is filled with the urge to reach out and touch it, but he knows that he shouldn't. “Fire hurts, as can humans,” Sora warned all those years ago, and Sanji knows better than to ignore a warning from his mother. Still, he watches on as the night grows ever darker, entranced by that green hair and tan skin.
There’s a smell on the air, and Sanji’s instincts scream at him to dive below the surface. He begrudgingly does so, and what he sees worries him. What few fish there are here start swimming down frantically. Sanji’s heart lurches to his throat as he realizes what this means.
A storm is coming.
A big one.
He swims back up to feel water falling from the sky. Rain, he remembers. This is rain. It can devastate humans, especially those on the water. It can cause shipwrecks, and the humans can drown.
The waves start chopping angrily, slamming against the sides of the ship as the wind picks up. It’s not a large ship; Sanji has seen far larger shipwrecks at the bottom of the ocean. If it takes on too much water, the men will surely sink into the sea.
The humans spring into action, unfurling cloth sails with heavy rope, dropping their food and drink to man different stations. There’s shouting, fear striking through the dark straight into Sanji’s heart, and the merman panics. What can he do but watch?
There’s a flash of blinding light. A scream pierces through the whipping wind, and suddenly the ship is torn in two, alight in flame.
“No!” Sanji shouts, his voice swallowed by the wind. He needs to do something, needs to save them.
Mustering up his courage, he swims towards the sinking vessel, throat sharp and tight. Diving below the surface, he scans the sea for any signs of Zoro. He sees Luffy, and a scream rips through his throat as he notices the spear of wood piercing through the center of his chest, blood billowing out from his drowning form. Frantic, Sanji moves through planks of wood, through sinking treasure chests and floating fabric.
A flash of silver catches his eye. He looks and finds Zoro with a sword in his hand, hacking away at a tangled net wrapped around his ankle. His grip is loose, his swipes weak. Zoro is fading. Sanji races over, taking the sword in his hand. Zoro offers no resistance, beginning to float like unconscious bodies tend to. Slicing the net with the sharp sword, Zoro’s ankle is freed, and Sanji gathers the man in his arms and breaks the surface, clinging onto a floating piece of wood. Turning Zoro to the side, he hits his back on instinct, watching as the man coughs and spews seawater from his lungs. Satisfied that he’s not dead, Sanji slips the sword back in its sheath, then scoops the prince up in his arms again, one hand under his knees and the other hand around his ribs.
He swims with all his might, away from the ship toward the sliver of land he saw in the distance, careful to keep the man’s head above the water. They approach the beach, a sandy thing where the water ends, and Sanji deposits Zoro on the soft surface.
Despite every instinct screaming at him to leave, Sanji stays, watching over the man as he starts to regain consciousness. Curiosity takes him by the hands. He lifts the man’s eyelid, the one scarred shut in a beautiful vertical line. A gray, wrinkled eye meets his gaze. Sanji gasps, astounded at the injury.
A strong hand grips his wrist as he retreats from the man’s face.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Sanji startles, trying to no avail to snatch back his wrist. He doesn’t respond, too stunned by the reaction of the man he just saved from drowning.
“I’m talking to you, curly brow. I said, what the hell are you doing?” Zoro asks, his low voice curled up in what sounds like disgust.
“Saving your life, you moron,” Sanji responds indignantly, finally breaking free from the man’s brutish grasp. He scoffs, absolutely stunned. He thought he was rescuing a prince, not a beast. Sanji narrows his eyes at the man. “What, not even a thank you?”
“Maybe I was s’posed to die out there. Ever think of that, curls?”
“Excuse me for rescuing you on your birthday,” he retorts, ire for the man growing by the second.
“How’d you know it was my–hey wait a minute. Have you got a tail?” Zoro asks, eye bugging out of his head as he looks down.
“You’re seeing things. The shock of the shipwreck must have scrambled your tiny little brains a bit,” Sanji says, poking the man in the forehead.
“I did have a lot to drink, huh? Wait, what about the rest of my friends? Where are they?” Zoro asks, head whipping from side to side, confusion taking his face as he sees the empty beach.
Sanji’s heart takes a tumble. “Gone, I’m afraid. I could only save one.”
Zoro opens his mouth, then closes it, swallowing heavily. “And the Merry?”
“Is that your ship? Gone too. Torn to pieces by the storm.”
“I got molested by a talking fish, and now all my friends and my ship are dead and gone. Well, isn’t that just great,” Zoro says, smoothing a hand over his spiky green hair. He pauses, then feels his head again. “Where the fuck is my crown? And my–oh thank god, I’ve still got my swords.”
“Your swords saved your life. As for your crown, it was already gone by the time I rescued you. Sorry.”
“Save it, fish-guy. Just… go back to where you come from.”
Sanji’s heart twists. Some adventure this turned out to be. “Okay–”
“Zoro?” a beautiful voice rings out, clear as a bell in the calm night. Sanji yelps, slinking back into the water behind him and hiding beyond a large rock. He peeks out, and his jaw drops.
There, standing gloriously on the beach, is the most beautiful woman that Sanji has ever seen. Shoulder-length hair darker than the night, tan skin, and the most crystalline blue eyes. Statuesque height, dressed in deep blue robes that billow in the wind, swirling up the sand as their edges drift along the shore. She reaches down to help Zoro to his feet, then looks out upon the water. Sanji gasps, heart pounding as he ducks behind the rock.
“Who was with you?” the woman asks, tone dripping with warmth and familiarity.
“A fish,” Zoro replies, and Sanji smacks his head. So much for keeping things secret.
The woman chuckles, a gorgeous, melodic sound, and Sanji swoons, feeling warmth bloom from his nose. “So it was. You look a mess; let’s get you inside and you can tell me what really happened.”
“It was a fish, I swear!” Zoro exclaims.
“Whatever you say, dear,” the woman says.
Their voices get further and further away until finally, Sanji can’t hear anymore. He turns to the shore, a flush on his cheeks and a raucous pounding in his heart. He’s in love. He’s sure of it.