Chapter Text
It was a relatively normal day on the Thousand Sunny, well, normal for the strawhats. Luffy, Usopp, Franky and Chopper were playing an elaborate game of hide and seek, where the seeker had a baton that they needed to hit the hiders with to make them the new seeker. The Musclehead had recently barricaded himself inside the crow’s nest, on the count of a noise complaint from the ever so lovely ladies. The brute kept dropping his stupid weights whenever the wild things scrambled their way up there. So, the Marimo did the first smart thing he has ever done and locked the hatch to keep the others out. Sanji only discovered this turn of events when he went out to deliver the ladies’ afternoon drinks while they were sunbathing on the deck.
Now, he was in his kitchen preparing dinner, lost in the practiced slice of the knife, cutting perfectly even chunks of squash as if it were second nature.
At this point it was second nature. The blade, a small extension of his hand, sharpened and manicured to perfection, becoming one with the motion. This was his meditation, a careful measure of nutrients planned and portioned out. Sanji has lost hours of time in the kitchen, and yet none at all, mind always aware of the ticking clock behind him, and yet it still surprises him when he opens the door for dinner, only to find the sun low on the horizon, reflecting off the ocean. A spear of light hailing down from the heavens..
A shriek rings out through the Sunny, high and shrill, bleeding with fear. At this point, Sanji has long remembered the strawhat’s voices, what they sound like scared, when happy, their laughs, their cries.
This one though, he did not.
Maybe someone’s voice changed during their time away? A small pool of dread sunk in Sanji’s stomach, something didn't feel right. With swift motions, he turned off the stove, hung his apron, and ran out the galley door to see everyone on alert, all looking toward the stairwell.
A tense beat passes, the only sounds Sanji can hear are the Sunny’s sails and the small click of a lock.
‘Marimo’ .
Then, the sound of footsteps echoed out from below, heavy and bare. ‘ Franky..’ And the sound of someone else struggling, and apologizing, pleading. Sanji leapt down from the landing, taking a stand between the stairwell and the ladies, Chopper shifted into Heavy Point beside him as Franky grew closer. The words from the intruder now becoming decipherable through the wood.
“I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me, I’m harmless, please put me down, I'm sorry, I’m sorry-”
The voice was feminine in nature and Sanji’s heart ignited in retribution. How dare Franky scare this woman! Sure, she’s an intruder, that's no excuse to be rough with her. A revelation strikes his mind, the last island they were at was fishman island.. He feels the smile grow on his lips, this would be a mermaid! A mermaid that stowed away, for him! Wanting to be with him so badly, she went under their noses to join the straw hats, yearning to have Sanji at her side!
The fantasy broke when Franky finally came into the light. There was a much smaller person(by comparison) hugging Franky’s stupidly large hand with their whole body trapped within his fingers, caging them within his grasp. They were wearing a large knitted coat and thin, flowy pants with shoes. No fish tail in sight. Sanji felt his heart sink slightly at the sight. The person’s face though was obscured from view by their brown hair and strange hat. It was knitted with a front bill and had multiple colorful pins and buttons adorning the knitted fabric.
Sanji didn’t realize he had taken some steps forward until the cyborg dumped the intruder at Sanji’s feet, who immediately curled in on themself, trying to look as small as possible, their lanky limbs folding impossibly close, practically swallowed by their woven coat.
“Found this little guy when hiding, scared the crap out of me.” Franky said, scratching the back of his head while looking at the intruder on the ground. “Seems like he stowed away”
Sanji now could see the person’s face. They had a gaunt face with soft features and big, scared ,gray-green eyes. Something about them made Sanji’s mind want to reprimand Franky for treating them badly, to rescue them from danger, but he couldn’t figure out why. That sense of his only alarmed with women, and right now, he wasn’t certain he was looking at one. Then a shiver went down his spine as his memory unhelpfully supplied him with the last time this happened.. Tibany…
Sanji felt a nudge as Nami pushed past him, standing tall while looking down at their unwanted guest, arms crossed across her chest. “Who are you and what are you doing on our ship.” Nami stated, words firm and strong as always.
“ ‘M sorry…. ” Their words came out garbled from behind their knees and... It sounded like they were crying. Another pang of protectiveness hit Sanji. “‘My name’s Talling Azreal Irene…” they took a breath to steady themself “ And, I just needed a ride off of Fishman Island…no one with a ship had come there for almost a year and-and you all were the only ones leaving so…so I hopped on..”
The intruder, Irene, seemed to shrink in on themself even more, eyes flicking to all of his crew members in their field of vision. Fear was oozing off of them like a woman cowering in a fairytale, or like a child being taken by a stranger.. or Usopp, at everything. Sanji shook his head, as if to clear it from his twisting confused thoughts. His eyes scanned the shivering lump on the ground. They? He? She?, it was hard to tell, especially with it all bunched up like that.
Irene brought a hand up to the metallic pins on their hat, rubbing a couple nervously. The movement caused the large sleeve of the coat to slacken, showing their… bone thin wrist. Their skin practically see through, the sun catching the blue veins underneath...
The sun was unbearable, seeping into his skin as if cooking him alive. Like a roasted ham in an oven. Sanji huddled closer to the small ledge, chasing what little shade and respite the boulder provided from the harsh light. The small boy’s eyes were fixed on the horizon, the image burned his eyes, even when he blinked he could still see that damned horizon. Sanji brought his arm up to further block the light, seeing the sunlight illuminate his dry flesh, accentuating every vein and tendon underneath.
Sanji felt himself sigh, putting a hand in his pockets, then took a step forward, immediately gaining the quivering dude’s full attention. “What are your preferences?”
A beat of silence.
“E-Excuse me?”
“What are your likes, dislikes, what are you allergic to?” Sanji emphasized with a wave of his hand. Which only gained him another confused look.
Sanji grumbled slightly before reiterating, again. “Do you have any food allergies.” he stated with a little more bite than he meant, he took a drag from his cigarette just to do something, an excuse really to stop staring at the intruder for an answer.
“I…I’m not really a fan of seafood..” it came out as a whisper, quiet and unsure, but then grew louder as they continued. “It’s a texture thing.. and, how it's prepared most times, I also don't like mushrooms… or raw tomatoes..” their voice teetered near the end, nervously rubbing their hat pins again “I also don’t have that high of a spice tolerance…”
‘Not a fan of seafood..’ Sanji scratched his chin with his freehand, turning around to walk back toward the kitchen, mulling through recipes in his head, thinking back to what they have in stock and what they got from Fishman Island. All the meat from there was seafood so anything that had protein in it were the beans and tofu in storage. Sanji stopped walking to turn back to the group, Luffy was now asking the intruder questions, getting unreasonably up close. “Any favorite dishes?”
Irene looked at him with wide eyes, like Chopper caught at night, “uhm.. stew?”
“Stew.” Sanji echos before he turns back around, sauntering back to his domain.
-
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“You’re funny” Luffy said, smiling at the newcomer. He had sat down right in front of them with his hands on his sandaled feet, rocking slightly in excitement. The intruder, Tally? Tally, looked even more scared, which only made Luffy more confused. Tally just needed a ride, and decided to come onto the Sunny. Which just means a new friend! But Zoro’s voice in the back of his mind made him hesitate for a second. ‘You can’t trust everyone who says they’re harmless, they can easily lie to get the jump on you.’ but only for a second.
“Why are you scared?” Luffy was about to ask more, but he felt a fist hit him hard on the back of his head. “OWW!! Hey!”
“Of Course he’s scared! We’re pirates!! Not everyone is stupid enough to trust us immediately” Nami chastised, holding her fist up, threatening to strike again. Luffy continued to stare at the intruder, even as his hat lifted an inch or two from the bump on his head.
“Why are you traveling alone? Where’s your crew anyway?” Luffy asked, tilting his head like a dog. At the question, Tally loosened his grip on himself, bringing his arms down around his thighs.
“I travel by myself, catching rides with whoever takes me, or I go on to..” Tally was now looking more at Luffy and the others, but never in the eyes, right now he was looking at Luffy’s hat. “I’m a researcher of devil fruits, trying to figure out how they work and their properties outside of their gifted abilities..”
Luffy blinked. Robin laughed quietly. Then she spoke up. “It appears Researcher-San studies Devil fruits”
“Oooohhhhh” Luffy exclaimed, leaning back to smile at Robin in appreciation before snapping back to face Tally “Do you have a fruit then?”
“Oh gods no, I am not ballsy enough to eat one of those willingly. I would rather survive a sinking boat, thank you” Tally’s hands tightened, straightening his back “nothing against those who do, it's still really cool that you get powers.”
Luffy laughed at that, feeling his shoulders shake with the motion. He could hear chopper pad over next to Luffy, his fur brushing against his knee as he made his way past.
“Irene? I would like to give you a checkup, you have been on board for almost 4 days without us noticing and I want to make sure you aren’t hurt” Chopper held one of his hooves out to Tally, but still held close to Luffy’s side.
Tally tilted his head at chopper, looking at Luffy then chopper again “are they the ship's doctor?”
Chopper’s fur puffed up at that “what!? You think because I’m a reindeer I can’t be a doctor??”
Tally put his hands up in defense “nonono! I was thinking aloud! You just sound so young, that's all! I’m sorry!” they started to curl up again, scooting away a little.
Beside him, he could feel Chopper waver, leaning back on his heel “I am still the doctor, so get used to it!” the little reindeer yelled back, pushing himself to sound angry, but Luffy could tell it was forced. Chopper held out his hoof again, but Tally still didn’t take it, instead, he stood up. Now towering over the other two boys. Luffy followed quickly as he got to his feet, only to find he now had to look up to meet Tally’s eyes.
He wasn’t as tall as Franky, closer to Robin’s height, but appeared slightly smaller, with him slouching over like that. Chopper and Tally then walked away to the sick bay, leaving the rest of the Straw hats to their devices. Silently watching until the door was closed behind them.
“He definitely works for the world government,” Nami proclaimed, crossing her arms. “No one would travel alone through the grand line, especially the new world. Or he has a death wish.” she glared up at the clinic door “he’s hiding something..”
Luffy was about to retort when Zoro cut him off. He must have climbed down from the crows' nest, one of his swords was being put back in its scabbard. “I can agree with one thing, he is definitely hiding something. But I don’t think he works for the government, too scrawny”
“Not every government official is a blockhead like you, Zoro” Nami retorted, turning her attention to him, cocking her hip to the side, a sly smile meeting her face “or do you not remember that marine captain with the glasses?” she said in a teasing manner.
Zoro's back straightened at that, making a weird face back at Nami. “Tashigi is different-”
“Calling her by name are we~?”
“Shut up, Witch.”
“Who's Sushi again?”
“ Tashigi” Nami corrected “the marine from Loguetown?”
Luffy tilted his head impossibly to the side, his head practically reaching his elbow before Nami yelled “forget it!” and smacked his head back into place, stomping back to her lawn chair and sat down.
“I'm with Nami on this one, sorry bro.” Franky apologized to Zoro, his shaded eyes looking toward the clinic. “There's got to be a reason why he travels alone..” He scratched at this chest for a second before looking down at Luffy.
“What do you think, Captain?”
Luffy looked at the clinic door as he thought on the question. Why did Tally hide in the first place? What is more troublesome is how did his haki not pick up on another person being on board? Did Tally have something that blocked him from haki? Is it a food? Man I'm hungry…
“I dunno..” Luffy finally answered, his hair flowing slightly in the sea winds and his stomach growling gently.
-
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Sanji turned the knob until he heard the click of the burner turning off, letting the stew cool while he checked on the rolls. Making a full loaf isn't an option unless it's already fully sliced, Sanji had long since learned. If left on the table uncut, luffy will simply eat the entire loaf whole, the glutton. So, Sanji will only make loaves for toast and sandwich bread, that way he can make sure everyone gets their grain.
The rolls had been cooling on the counter for the better part of 30 minutes, perfectly crispy and warm. Sanji smiled to himself while he pulled the rolls apart, placing them neatly on the partially set table. 10 plates set and 10 bowls to accompany them.
After placing the last roll, Sanji looked at the tenth plate. He couldn't keep his mind off of them.. he barely saw the physique of them, with how baggy their coat is. But he could see how skinny they were, bird thin. Yet they have little signs of malnourishment, well, not that he could see..
Sanji took off his apron, hanging it on its hook before swiftly leaving the kitchen once more, quickly making a beeline for the sickbay.
“SANJIIIII!!! FOOOODDDD!!!!” Luffy whined above but he paid him little mind “I have not finished dinner yet! You better not go in there or so help me I will punt you into the ocean Luffy!”
Okay, he paid him a lot of mind.
Sanji could hear his captain deflate at his words, only slightly, just continuing the chant of “ food! Food! Food!” amidst the Mikan trees.
Sanji softly knocked on the doctor's door, hearing the soft chatter halt suddenly at a shrill yelp from said doctor. He heard the gentle click of hoofs against wood and the door slid open slightly, just enough for the small reindeer to stick his head out before opening wider.
“Sanji!” Chopper greeted. Behind him on the medical bed sat Irene who was sitting up straighter, looking at him with curiosity, readjusting their coat. “You scared me!”
“Sorry chopper” he said on reflex, eyes drifting to the newcomer “Come on” Sanji beckoned, turning around to walk back to the kitchen. He can't say anything about food or else Luffy[the fucker] will hear. So, Sanji hoped he, they? Understood. The cook normally would have just called out for dinner but he had to make sure the stowaway got their meal. The only other time he did this was when Zoro finally awoke after Thriller Bark, as much as he loathed it. Seeing the Marimo barely able to sit up, his breathing shallow, as if he breathed any deeper, it would tear his lungs..
Zeff taught him to always feed the hungry, no matter the alliance, no matter what they had done, nobody deserves to feel what he had felt. So, he spoonfed Zoro when he couldn’t lift his arms, he made soup for Nami when she got sick after Little Garden, he rationed the food during the trip across Alabasta and if he felt his stomach rumbling on those sands, he smiled through it.
Sanji ignored the hollering of the literal Monkey man on the mast, walking down the stairs, noting the extra, tentative steps behind him. He opened the door holding it for the newcomer and finally getting a good look at them. They were so thin … but it kind of looked more like lithe musculature than starvation.. While they were in Chopper’s office, they had taken off their knitted coat, revealing a delicate long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Said coat was tied around their waist, really showing how small it was.. He must have shown something on his face because the stowaway spoke up.
“Is there something on my shirt?” Irene asked, pulling on their shirt to inspect it. Sanji cleared his throat, embarrassed as he closed the door behind him. Irene was still standing there, eyes questioning.
“Uh-,no. Nothing. Take a seat” he gestured to the galley table “ your place is next to the high chair”
Sanji made himself scarce, grabbing their bowl and ladling in a serving of the beef stew. It was the last beef they had in the freezer from Sabaody. Luckily, stew is easy enough to add in the pre-cut squash from the original dinner he had prepared for that day. Sanji quickly made his way to the now seated individual, placing the bowl in front of them. Part of him wanted to wait, watch them to make sure they ate their fill. But there were still nine other bowls to fill, so Sanji turned his back and rang the bell next to the door.