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It's night watch on the 1000 Sunny and Sanji’s found himself taking the first watch. The brisk ocean air pushes past his face like a midnight kiss. Evenings like this make Sanji wish he had a beautiful woman to share with.
Love is a cruel thing, so he’ll settle for a smoke.
He reaches into his pocket for a cigarette, pulling it out of the box to indulge in one of his vices. Fumbling around his pocket for a lighter, Sanji can't find it in his pocket. Damn, must’ve left it in the kitchen.
“Need a light?” The voice startles him out of his thoughts.
It’s You, arm outstretched with a lighter cradled in your palm.
.
“Oh, thanks.”
Sanji’s thumb flips the top off. The lighter is a simple thing, bare of any designs and smooth with the sole exception of a carving on the side. A simple phrase is etched into it.
“Woe is Me.”
Sparking the lighter aflame, he can feel the warmth cascading outwards as it lights up his cigarette. The texture is a familiar one, the feeling in his mouth is one he’s known a thousand times before.
This one has a word written across.
“Amata.”
He still remembers when he left them out and you found them. He has no clue on why you insisted on writing all over them though.
“C’mon Sanji it’ll be cool, promise!”
Sanji watched you fiddle around with them, trying to come up with things to write on it for hours. When he asked why you were so adamant you only said “it's important to consider your words when you're writing a letter.”
Which doesn't make sense, they're just his cigarettes. He’ll just blow through them and pick up the next pack on the island when they anchor.
He takes a long drag from it, eyes dragging over the words. Mulling them over, you refused to explain what they meant. Running off to go bother that shitty Marimo.
The annoyance that rings through him when he thinks of you leaving Sanji to hang out with Zoro isn’t jealousy. He just finds Zoro infuriating, that's all.
He passes the lighter back to you, fingers brushes against yours. The warmth from your hands is heavenly against Sanji’s skin. For a brief moment he feels the ghost of your touch lingering on him.
It almost feels like a betrayal to pull away.
Your eyes are usually as dark as the sea itself, deep enough to drag in the most seaworthy of sailors. But tonight the moonlight is reflecting across the water and starlight dances against your gaze.
You're looking at the moon, and Sanji’s only looking at you . The light shimmers over your hair, catching the light and refracting it. The sea is a myriad of blues and even now as Sanji stands on the strawhats ship, he has wondered what it would be to see the four seas as one.
As the colors of the ocean mix and meld across your face, Sanji realizes.
Oh.
This is what the all blue must look like.
He silences the thought as quick as it comes. You aren't his type at all. You’re not like a fair maiden who makes his nose bleed at the thought of your name. You’re a lazy idiot who sleeps in every morning, someone who laughs when Luffy steals food off of his plate, So why is he thinking like this?
It's the antithesis of everything Sanji stands for!
As Sanji stews in his thoughts, smoke wafting into the cool night. The sound of waves lapping against the ship was the only noise heard for miles. And yet as much as Sanji tries to push away your presence, you remain regardless.
“The moon is beautiful isn't it?” you whisper and Sanji feels himself waver.
“What?” The words escape his mouth and for once he's grateful for the cold as his cheeks are dusted a light pink.
You're looking at him now, fondly, like Sanji’s hung the stars in the sky.
“Nothing, I just thought it was a nice view tonight. I bet you wish you could share it with Nami instead of me.”.
The statement is innocent enough, something the crew makes fun of him enough for Sanji’s love of women. But then why do you look so sad and why does it send a pang in his heart?
“Let Nami-swan have her rest. This view isn’t so bad I guess, Not with you here.” Sanji doesn’t know why he says that. Or why your gaze softens at the sound of that.
Sanji thinks back on something he overheard you tell Nami back when they were in the East Blue. He was shopping for groceries when he saw you beckon her across the street away from a group of smokers standing outside a bar. “I hate smokers, I can’t stand the smell.” He heard you say.
Yet here you are, standing next to Sanji while he takes a smoke. Why give him a light? You doesnt smoke, you said it yourself you hate them. So why the lighter?
“Why did you come here?”
“Because, Sanji, the moon is beautiful isn’t it?”