Chapter Text
There was a palpable excitement among the crew. They'd been at sea for three weeks and a half and as much as they all enjoyed each other's company, they were bordering on desperate for some space and stable land.
Ussop had spotted the island an hour ago and they’d been steadily approaching the growing piece of land. A huge snow covered mountain surrounded by what looked to be hundreds of pine trees was at the center of the island. Surrounding the striking sight of green and white, up until the edges of the island, were a variety of buildings and properties that seemed to differ between housings, stores and establishments. The smoke from all the fireplaces and bonfires showed signs of a well lived island, full of life and movement; it contrasted greatly with the deserted cold in the middle.
Besides the much needed space, the straw hats were excited to get to land for different reasons. Whether it be to restock on essentials or go shopping for personal items they all had their needs, but of course, the only thing on their captains mind was:
“Do you guys think we’ll get to fight someone strong on the island? Look at those woods! there’s gotta be something scary living in there, we have to explore it!” Practically vibrating with excitement, Luffy was jumping all over the place, trying to talk to every one of his nakama simultaneously while they were all scattered in the front deck.
“For sure Luffy,” Usopp says with a nervous laugh, “but unfortunately I’m deathly allergic to going to scary woods so, it won't be easy, but I'm going to have to sit this one out captain. It’s okay, just go on without me,” he finishes dramatically looking at the sky, with the air of someone who carries the weight of the world on their shoulders.
“Deathly allergic?!” Chopper cries out from where he sits on the swing, “someone call a doctor!”
Luffy's laughter roars all around them as he goes down the slide for the hundredth time, “you are a doctor! The best doctor in the whole world!”
“That doesn't make me happy at all you bastard!” Chopper giggled, kicking his feet back and forth unable to hold back his blush or his growing smile.
“All right, settle down guys, we have to decide who’s going to keep watch,” Nami said walking to the center of the deck with straws in her hand.
“Oh yeah, you guys should all draw straws to see who stays,” Luffy says, running back up the stairs to use the slide again, “no cheating guys.”
“What do you mean ‘you guys’?! You have to draw a straw too,” Ussop shouted.
“Ughhhh why? I’m the captain, you guys can't tell me what to do.”
“Luffy get down here or I’ll make Sanji feed you only vegetables for a month.”
“What!? you can’t do that!”
“Luffy I will literally do anything Nami tells me to.”
“Ughhhhh fine!” Finally, he stops running when he reaches the center of the deck, where the rest of the crew settles.
Every single one of them knows Luffy won't be the one that stays guarding the ship. Between his inability to stay still and the absolute magnet he is for trouble, the strawhats know better than to leave him alone. But they can’t let him think he’s got any privileges just because he’s the captain. The longest straw is always in the far left because that’s the one Luffy always goes for; they all know to leave that one for him.
“Since Sanji and Zoro do the shopping they can’t keep watch, but everyone else has to draw one.” They all gather in a circle and Nami hands them all to Sanji and one by one they all draw one.
“Yahooooo, I’m too good at this!”
They all pretend to be surprised and congratulate him.
Jinbe ends up drawing the shortest straw, much to everyone else’s relief. They’ve never discussed it, but all the straw hats felt that the Sunny was safest when Jinbe was keeping watch. There was a reliable air about him that brought all of them comfort.
“Guess I’m keeping watch,” Jinbe declares, sounding a little dejected.
“Don’t worry Jinbe, you'll only be alone for a couple of hours maximum. I was alone on a ship for fifty years and I'm doing just fine,” Brook’s ‘yohohoho’s’ and Robin’s laughter are the only sounds that break what would’ve been an awkward silence.
“That does not sound super at all bro.”
A bit reluctantly, Sanji reassures Jinbe, “don’t look so disappointed, after I’m done with the groceries I want to organize the pantry and get started on dinner so you can explore when I’m back.”
While the crew discussed their plans for the day the cook made a quiet exit towards the galley.
Sanji was more than ready to restock the pantry. He’s a talented chef and prides himself on his creativity and how it allows him to be resourceful with his materials, limited as they may be, but he can’t say that seeing the pantry running low doesn’t make him a little nervous. He has trauma, sue him.
He’s currently in the pantry triple checking his list to make sure he’s not missing anything. He’s looking to restock on all the essentials like breads, any protein available, flour, oil, butter, any condiment and spice he can get his hands on. Some teas for the ladies and sake for-
“I’m pretty sure you got everything the first time you made the list curly.”
Sanji had heard his boots following behind him since he stepped away from the group on the deck.
“Just making sure, marimo.”
Sanji knew he had the list memorized by now and triple checking was useless, but he needed an excuse to get away for a moment. It was just his luck that they were about to make land on a winter island on the anniversary of his mother’s death.
He had felt it before he saw it. He could always tell by the wind, how it shifts slightly at first; from a cool breeze that dances on your skin, to a cold that settles in your bones. One that no fire can quell. The cold tended to remind him of the time before the Baratie, the one he tried his best to forget. Though, not all of it. He kept the memories of his mother, those were precious to him. He just tried not to mix them up with the rest.
All that being said, Sanji considered it to be justifiable to be on his fifth cigarette before midday.
He turned around and made eye contact with him and immediately wished he didn't. Zoro had that look in his eyes, like he was trying to ask if he was okay without actually having to say it. Because of course Zoro knew he wasn't. Sanji wishes the moss in his head would just turn into mold already and infest his brain and make him as stupid as Sanji pretends he is. It would make things easier for them both. Before Zoro can say anything, Sanji beats him to it.
“You should be checking the list too, you know.” He says while walking past him out into the galley, “considering you're my mule pack. Close the door, would you?”
“You’ve checked it enough for the both of us,” he follows him out, lightly kicking the door shut with his foot.
They just ate breakfast an hour ago, but Sanji starts taking out all the ingredients for the sandwiches he’s going to give to the crew so they have something to snack on when they start exploring the island. He starts with Luffy's meat, meat and meat sandwich while the mosshead walks towards the couch on the other end of the galley.
Zoro has an annoying ability to always know what Sanji needs: if it’s a fight or to argue, if he needs silence and space or silence and company. And like the all knowing bastard he is, he settles on the couch, right on Sanji’s line of sight, closing his eyes and falling asleep like an unbothered house cat.
Damn him.
___
Sanji was impressed with the island's high quality produce. Being a winter island, the cold must make it hard to cultivate such a variety of fruits and vegetables. But everything Sanji was seeing was impressive enough to compete with what he’s seen in autumn or summer islands.
“Marimo, look at those oranges!”
“I see them curly.”
“I’m freezing and the sun is out, and I’m sure it gets even colder at night. How did they get oranges that perfect? They must have greenhouses here.”
“You’re freezing because you’re weak. This is nothing to me.”
Sanji shoves him and pokes his nose, “yeah and your ears and the tip of your nose are red because you asked Nami for a bit of blush.”
He shrugs, the tips of his ear turn a darker shade of red, “maybe I did.”
They walk to the cart with the oranges and ask the vendor about the theoretical greenhouses. “We have four main greenhouses on this island,” he said, bagging the oranges Sanji had purchased, “very little would be able to survive without them.” They thanked him and went to the vendor directly to their right, who was selling a dark, deep red meat that looked delicious.
“Excuse me sir, what type of meat is this?”
“This right here is deer meat, the freshest you’ll find in the whole island!”
Sanji smiles wide, “really? well I simply must-”
“Absolutely not,” Zoro said loudly, pushing Sanji along.
“What if we don’t tell him? I’ll make it so good I bet he won't even notice.” Sanji said, barely suppressing a laugh as Zoro kept pushing him forward.
“You’re sick curly,” he replies with a hint of a smile in his voice.
___
Much to Zoro’s chagrin, his hands had already been full the first ten minutes of shopping. They'd been at it for about an hour and Sanji was satisfied with everything they’d gotten. They had over five bags full of produce and Zoro's fingers were turning purple from holding so much weight. Even Sanji wasn’t that cruel, so he found him a wheeled cart to push around.
They had just finished grocery shopping and there were plenty of stores next to all the vendors and Sanji was feeling generous so he asked, “are you running low on oil for your swords?”
Sanji would not be admitting that he already knew the answer to that.
Zoro’s quiet for a second before replying with a simple, “yes.”
“We’re running low on cleaning supplies, this place looks like it might have something.”
They walk towards a charming little store, painted orange and blue with an effective sign that reads, ‘cleaning and disinfecting products.’ They walk in and see many tall shelves, all stocked with different types of cleaning products that exude an array of sweet and citrus smells. Sanji went towards the shelf closest to him and started searching.
“Marimo, smell this,” Sanji places a bottle under Zoro’s nose while he leans in to smell it.
“It’s a disinfectant, but it also has a strong lime scent. I think it could be good for the bathrooms. Should we get it?”
“Depends, if you’re thinking of making your curry any time soon then we definitely need to get that.”
Sanji barks out a laugh then immediately slaps a hand over his mouth, startled by his abruptly loud laugh in the quiet store. He turns his face away, “you’re disgusting marimo. Go look for your oil.”
Sanji gets a couple of more sprays when he looks over at Zoro, who has been staring at the same shelf for five minutes. He’s browsing the oil section with a wrinkle in between his eyebrows when Sanji takes pity on him and comes up next to him to hand him a bottle.
“Here, this is the one you like, right?”
Zoro grabs it, “where did you-”
“Literally behind you, idiot.”
He turns to see the choji oil on the top shelf, “whatever, how did you know this is the one I use?”
“It’s the only thing you ever buy for yourself, of course I know,” Sanji realized a second too late how that admission made him sound like he paid attention to anything the moss did, which he did not. Obviously. He quickly starts walking towards the cashier while he says, “you should grab a couple more.”
___
They were walking down the plaza where there were a lot of stores with display shelves for onlookers. They passed by one with a series of small plastic toys.
“Oi cook, look,” Zoro said pointing at a toy duck with a cigarette in its mouth, “it’s you.”
“Very funny,” Sanji fought back a smile because, damn, he thought, it did kinda look like him. His eyes immediately scan the shelves for his revenge when he sees a particularly rotund pig holding a beer with a very prominent beer belly. Sanji points at it immediately.
“Look, it’s you,”
“Okay asshole.”
___
They were on their way back to the Sunny when they came across a kiosk that radiated a smell that had Sanji’s stomach growling. Zoro noticed Sanji eyeing the kiosk.
“Want to try it? Smells good,” he says walking towards it and looking at the menu, “order for me Cook.”
“Obviously.”
He orders a fried catfish on a stick for both of them, a lime rum for Zoro and a lemonade cocktail for himself. They eat it as they walk back to the Sunny.
“This is good,” Zoro says over a mouthful of fish.
“It is. The batter could use more salt though, don’t you think?”
“Sure.”
Sanji rolls his eyes, “thank you, for your wonderful input.”
“No idea Curly, but if you think it’d be better like that then it is,” he says with a shrug.
He says it so casually, Sanji thinks to himself, like it’s totally normal for Zoro to just throw around compliments. Sanji gets the urge to kick him, but they’re in a pretty crowded space and he wouldn’t want to cause any collateral damage.
He can only scoff and say, “obviously.”
___
When they get to the Sunny they’re surprised to find Robin on board.
“I thought Jinbe was going to be on watch,” Zoro says while walking into the galley with Sanji and all the groceries.
“He was, but a waiter of the restaurant I had lunch at had some fascinating stories about a legend of this island’s forest,” she she was sitting in one of the stools with a book in front of her, “there’s supposed to be this creature living in the woods, the locals call it a Komaru. This book I found in the library about this island’s history has a section about the Komaru and the spirits called Kodamas, also believed to live in the forest. Given that our dear captain is in said forest with Usopp and Chopper, ‘looking for an adventure’ as he put it, I feel a need to familiarize myself with the legend. I prefer to do my reading on the Sunny, so I told Jinbe I would take over.”
“Wise and considerate as ever my Robin-chan,” Sanji could feel his eyes turning heart shaped the longer she talked. How could a single woman be- a harsh kick to his leg snapped him out of his daze.
“The hell marimo?” He kicked Zoro in the stomach and was about to do it again when Robin laughed at their antics. All his fight left him in an instant.
“Robin-chan, your laugh alone could turn this miserable winter island into a beautiful summer island,” again his good mood is ruined by Zoro, roughly throwing himself into the couch, huffing like an oaf as he lands.
“What the hell is your problem? Do you mind reeling in your orgre-ness in the presence of a lady?!”
“You two are too much.” Robin says, the remnant of her laughter still shining in her eyes.
“I’m just glad I can put a smile on that beautiful face,” Sanji says, twirling around her.
Zoro scoffs in the corner and Sanji’s about to take it outside when Robin speaks again, “I already had lunch with Brook, Nami and Franky earlier, and they all mentioned having other places they wanted to try for dinner. And I don’t think Luffy, Usopp or Chopper will be coming back any time soon, so I don’t think you should worry about dinner Sanji.”
“The way you worry about me makes me feel like my heart is going to burst-”
“I think you and Zoro should go to the restaurant I visited. It's by all the vendors, next to the library, you probably passed by it.”
Sanji can think of about a hundred things he would rather do than be in close proximities with Zoro, but Robin is looking at him in the eyes, and she’s so beautiful and perfect-
“What a wonderful idea!”
Shit.
He’s about to try to dig himself out of the hole when he hears loud cheers that could only belong to one person.
“Sanji! Are you here!?”
“It appears I was mistaken,” Robin says.
“That’s impossible, my dear, Luffy simply is an idiot unable to stay within the order of the universe.”
Sanji goes to quickly roll the cart with the groceries to the pantry so their captain doesn’t steal it.
Robin glances at Zoro and offers a quiet, “maybe next time”
Before Zoro can respond, Luffy barges through the door, “Sanji, I’m hungry!”
With all the groceries in the pantry Sanji had already started preparing his captain's food. He always kept meat seasoned in the fridge for occasions like this.
“I hear you captain, I’m assuming Chopper and Usopp are also hungry.”
“I think I burned all the calories I had and already started consuming my bones for energy. I have never walked so much in my life,” Usopp was dragging his feet towards the table with Chopper over his shoulders.
“That’s not how that works Usopp,” Chopper said as he was set down on the table.
“Chopper is right. After your body runs out of food to turn into energy it starts to break down your muscle tissue, but that would be after not eating for twenty four hours. Your body does not consume bones for energy, however after months of starvation you will lose bone density. But that won't happen by being in the woods for a couple of hours, only if you get lost and end up wandering the forest for months with nothing to eat. But surely an animal or creature would get to you before you can worry about losing the density of your bones.”
There are a couple of seconds of silence after that.
“Thank you for that lovely image Robin,” Usopp finally responds looking a little green.
“Of course.”
“Well, no one is going to starve on my watch. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes.”
“Yahooooooo!”
“Did you find anything in the woods captain?” Zoro asked from the couch.
“Boooo, no, but we’re going back after eating. We had to take a break because I got hungry and Usopp and Chopper wouldn't let me go into the den of wolves to eat them.”
“Never do that Luffy,” Sanji says, sounding horrified, “that would be a waste of perfectly good meat. You wouldn't even season them.”
Zoro lets out a bark of laughter.
“Oh my god, you’re just as bad as Robin.”
“So you plan on going back, captain?” Robin asks.
“Yep! We only explored the east of the woods so we’re going to see if the monster lives in the west.”
“You know a waiter from the restaurant I had dinner in told me that its nest has never been found. The only way to find it is if it finds you; if it takes an interest in you.”
“How do I do that?” Luffy asks at the same time Usopp asks, “How do I not do that?”
“He mentioned that it isn’t interested in devil fruit users, something about its abilities not working on them.”
“w-wha-what did you s-say?”
“Zoro you have to come with us! Chopper and I are devil fruit users so if we have you and Usopp the creature will for sure sense us!”
“Ye-yeah Zoro! if you come with us the chances of it finding us are definitely higher, so you should come. Definitely not to protect us, just to help us lure it out. I’m not scared or anything.”
Chopper immediately catches on to what Usopp is trying to do (so does everyone else), “yeah Zoro! you should come to protec- I mean to lure out the creature.”
Zoro wasn’t really in the mood to go explore, but he knew Usopp and Chopper would be more at ease if he was there with them. As much as he would hate to admit it, knowing that he provided his crew a sense of safety just by being around made him feel essential.
He looked at the cook for a second and saw that he was already looking at him, “we’ll get a raincheck on that dinner.” Sanji said, secretly glad he would get some alone time.
Zoro was less glad about it.
“Yeah, alright.”
___
“Are you sure you don't want to come, Sanji?” Chopper asked.
“I want to organize the pantry and I’m not going to pass up some alone time with Robin.”
“If you really care about her do her a favor and come with us and get eaten by wolves or something,” Zoro quips.
“You know I’d say the same to you, but even a pack of starving wolves wouldn’t eat your sweaty, smelly, gross-”
“Alright! we’re leaving bye guys!” Usopp interrupts before swords and legs are drawn.
They’re unboarding the ship when Sanji begs, “please for the love of my sanity, keep the moss on a leach. I don’t want to have to go out there in the middle of the night to look for the directionless bastard.”
“Careful Curly it almost sounds like you care,” Zoro responds, walking away with the rest of them.
“Yea, I care about getting a full night's sleep.”
“Right, god forbid princess doesn’t get eight hours of sleep,” Zoro was walking backwards now to maintain eye contact with Sanji.
“Wouldn’t expect an ogre like you to understand. What? with your two functioning brain cells, you probably only need an hour of sleep to regenerate those.”
“Two of my brain cells are worth thousands of yours, number four!” They're full on shouting at each other now.
“Those two brain cells can’t even tell the difference between left and right so I wouldn’t be too sure about that!”
Zoro was about to yell back another response when Luffy pulled him over the corner, “bye Sanji! bye Robin!” and then they were out of sight.
Sanji hadn’t realized he was smiling until he turned to see Robin giving him a knowing look. He feels his face getting hot and starts mouthing like a fish out of water for something to say. Luckily Robin takes pity on him and says, “you have a pantry to organize, correct?”
Bless her, “yes dear.”
___
Robin kept Sanji company long enough for him to make her some jasmine tea, then she went to the library to read more comfortably. It had been a couple of hours since the others took off, the sun was already starting to set and after finishing in the pantry the cook started preparing for Luffy’s appetite.
He had just finished the sweet and spicy chicken, with a non spicy version for the strawhats that preferred it, when he heard a familiar, “Sanji I’m hungryyyyyy.”
Luffy barged into the galley and jumped towards the food with his mouth wide open when Sanji kicked him in the chest and sent him flying back, “wait on the table or I’ll only give you the salad.”
Luffy whines, but goes to sit on the table when Chopper and Usopp walk in.
“So how was it?” Sanji asks.
“Easy, not scary at all,” Usopp said coolly as he sat on the table.
“Did you find anything?”
“No, Usopp’s screaming probably scared it off,” Luffy said, picking his nose.
“I was not screaming! They were manly battle cries, it’s very different!"
“They were so manly Usopp!” Chopper praised.
Sanji serves them each a plate and some juice before asking the inevitable, “and the moss?” He mostly asks for formalities.
“Oh, he’s totally lost shishishishi,” Luffy laughs with a mouthful of chicken and rice.
“Swallow before speaking,” he sighs, “how long did he last this time?”
“He got lost in the first five minutes of exploring,” Chopper says, taking a big gulp from his apple juice.
“Of course he did. Honestly I’m just impressed he made it to the forest,” he would be more upset that he was going to have to go look for him in a huge, freezing forest, but the second marimo said he was going with them, Sanji had been mentally preparing himself to go into that forest.
“Alright, well, any of you want refills?” Luffy, on his third plate, raised his hand with his head practically in the bowl.
Sanji serves Luffy his final plate and serves them the hot coco he got today in the market, puts all the left overs in the lock protected refrigerator and gets ready for his adventure.
___
As much as Sanji disliked winter islands, this one did have a charm to it. It was so lively; there were many small bonfires all around, surrounded by huddled people, soaking up in each other's warmth as they loudly talked over each other, laughing even louder. It was a lovely sight, but not nearly lovely enough to make him forget about the dropping temperature.
Sanji was cursing the cold with every step he took. The sun had set and it had gone from chilly to freezing. He was tempted to light diable jambe just for the extra warmth, but he didn’t want to scare the locals.
“Sanji-kun!”
Sanji’s passing by the town square when he spots her with Jinbe, Brook and Franky. They’re all in the back of a crowd that’s spectating a play that seems to be about a man being dragged by trees as he begs them to let him go. Lovely.
“Nami dearest, you look more exquisite than anyone has the right to in this miserable cold,” he would continue to rasp poetic about her beauty forever, but this dreadful temperature made it hard to focus and find the proper words to describe the sight of such an ethereal woman. The cold truly was the devil.
She was wearing a lovely coat the color of Robin’s eyes. He’d never seen it before, “is that a new coat dear?”
“Yes! I got it from one of the stores near the dock. The guy who owned the store was trying to sell it to me for one hundred berries, can you believe that?” she asked annoyed.
“The audacity,” he shakes his head.
“But I managed to lower it to fifteen,” she says with a proud smile that made her eyes shine.
“Absolutely brilliant!” he clapped.
“Hey bro, you have to join us, this dude is about to be killed by a bunch of trees,” Franky told him, pointing at the stage.
“I’d love to, but as a surprise to no one, Zoro got lost in the forest and I have to go find him before he gets frostbite.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that. Would you like any help? We could split up and cover more ground,” Jinbe offered.
“I appreciate it, but I think I’ll be alright.”
“Of course, with your observation haki, I’m sure you will,”
Sanji was a little startled at the compliment; he knew his observation haki was one of the best in the crew, but he’s never been outwardly praised for it. He hopes the pink in his cheeks can be blamed on the cold, “ah, thank you, but I’m usually the one that ends up looking for him, so i’m mostly an expert at locating the moss.” he laughs a bit awkwardly. “Speaking of, I really should get going.”
“Are you sure you couldn't use an extra set of eyes? I know I could, considering I don’t have any! Yohohoho!”
“Thanks Brook, but I’ll be fine,” he waves them goodbye and can still hear Brook’s ‘yohohoho’s’ when he leaves the square.
___
He walks into the forest and immediately lights diable jambe. The cold has not gotten any more tolerable and the trees, that reached maybe twenty feet, were abundant and close together enough that he didn’t have a lot of visibility without his flames. In hindsight, he probably should’ve brought a flashlight with him.
It wasn’t snowing so he could still see some of Chopper's hooves and the other’s footsteps. He followed them up until a certain set of footsteps started going to the left for some reason.
He shakes his head, suppressing a laugh. Absolute moron.
He spends the next thirty minutes like that, following Zoro’s footsteps and leaving a trail of water where the snow melted beneath his feet. As he walked the trees seemed to grow taller and taller; now, nearly an hour in, he was reaching the middle of the forest and they seemed to be as tall as a hundred feet. At this point the sky was completely covered, leaving him only with diable jambe to illuminate his way.
The forest was eerier than he was expecting, like the moon and stars, the animals seemed to avoid this section of the woods. The birds and rodents he could sense and hear all around him when he first stepped foot in the forest avoided this part, not that Sanji could blame them. He had the vague feeling that he was being watched, but he chalked that up to the natural human reaction of being alone in a dark forest with nothing but your burning leg for visibility. He was honestly very impressed and proud of Usopp and Chopper for willingly exploring this place twice.
He follows Zoro’s trail until he steps into a clearing; a big space full of only snow and fog, surrounded by the tallest pine trees Sanji had ever seen. At the very end of the clearing he can see a side of the huge mountain.
Surely marimo didn’t go up the mountain right? Sanji tried reasoning with himself. His sense of direction is bad, but there’s no way he thought he’d find the Sunny (the ship that sails on ocean) at the top of a mountain right? right?
He turns off diable jambe and sighs, at least he can see again. But his relief is short lived because the second he steps into the clearing he knows he isn't alone. It wasn’t a vague sense in the back of his mind anymore. No, there were eyes on him.
He tried to extend his observation haki to pin point where exactly the threat was located, but it was as if the presence was coming from the entire space; the mountain, the trees, the ground, every corner where the light didn’t reach, it was all just- observing him.
He saw Zoro’s footsteps on the ground, and they went straight through the clearing. Sanji scoffed, he is not too scared to enter a space the moss already walked through. Sanji prepares himself and starts walking. Still feeling eyes on him, he takes a couple of steps into the clearing. It’s only when he hears his biological father’s voice that he starts to freak out.
“Sanji.”
His adrenaline spikes from zero to a hundred in a split second. He turns and looks around expecting to see the owner of the voice that called out to him, but is only met with the empty clearing. “What the fuck?”
He imagined it, he must have imagined it. How the hell else would he explain hearing his biological fathers voice in the middle of a random forest on a random winter island? A flare of his haki spikes up on his left and he turns, automatically lighting up diable jambe, when he feels his blood turn cold.
“Looking a little pale there, brother.”
His brothers, less than ten feet in front of him, slowly walking towards him. Sanji’s head kicks into overdrive. This isn’t real, the fog that has covered even the trees is making him hallucinate. That has to be it, it’s not real. He wouldn’t say they ended on good terms, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to get revenge on him for something that wasn’t even his fault. Had they changed their minds?
No, these had to be hallucinations.
Hallucinations can’t hurt you. He repeats this like a mantra.
“Those are some powerful hallucination abilities you’ve got,” he shouts, knowing that whatever was causing this could hear him, “but I don’t have time for this.”
He sky walks one foot off the ground when the fake Ichiji’s legs catch him in the stomach, making him feel a pain that is very much real. Sanji lands on the ground, feeling like Ichiji’s kick fractured a rib. He’s so startled by it he feels a need to drop his lighter on the ground, leaving evidence behind in case this goes sideways.
“Weak as ever, but I can't say I'm surprised,” Yonji’s mocking voice hasn’t changed.
He’s up and confused as hell, but if they can touch him, then he can touch them, and if he can touch them then he can kick them. Should be easy enough.
He activates diable jambe and without giving him time to react, jumps and side kicks Yonji right in his ugly face (they may be quadruplets, but Sanji refuses to admit that he looks anything like them). He twists his body in mid air and uses his right leg to hit Niji in his stomach, sending him flying back. He quickly moves to the left, dodging Ichiji’s attack, putting space between him and his brothers.
Maybe the fog is some new Germa technology? Or maybe it’s still something else’s doing.
“When will you realize fighting back is useless when you're just delaying the inevitable. You’ll never be able to beat us,” Ichiji says, taking slow steps towards him while the other two get up and start to do the same.
“The way thing two and thing four just landed on their asses says otherwise, dumbass. How about you-” Sanji freezes. His voice, he sounds- why does he sound so young?
“Want to finish that sentence you brat?”
Sanji notices diable jambe is unactivated and tries to activate it, but he can’t. He starts to walk backwards, tries to sky walk, but his feet stay planted on the ground. He can hear his heart beat pounding in his ears. Why can’t he- he catches a glimpse of his arms. He holds them to his face and feels a primal dread seeping into his very being. They’re small, scared and bruised. When did-? Behind his small fingers he notices his brothers are within reaching distance now, and Sanji, he has to look up to make eye contact. Why is he so small?
An old fear takes hold of him then. He looks up at them again and wonders why he’s even trying to get away, he’s never been able to before. He feels a burning pain across his face as he falls to the ground, the biting cold of the snow seeping into his clothes, his skin. He distantly wonders what he was thinking about earlier, the silly words: diable jambe, skywalking. Where had he heard that before? Why was he thinking of such odd things?
“Finally, right where you belong.”
He sees their stances, ready to strike, and prepares himself like he always does; he curls into a fetal position as the beating begins.
“Such a disappointment.”
Sanji knows that voice. That voice has left him with more scars and bruises than his brothers have in their hundreds of beatings. Even devoid of humanity, his children were not as ruthless and as cruel as him:
Judge.
“You weren't even a decent punching bag for your brothers. Always crying too much, passing out too soon. They could bring you to the brink of death, but you would never die. You couldn’t even do that right. Couldn’t even do us the favor of ridding us of the stain you’ve left on this family.”
It’ll be over soon. Even when he feels the familiar metal cage on his head, the blood and dirt coating his skin, his weak bones cracking, his head pounding, the tears streaming and streaming and streaming and streaming- It’ll be over soon. He repeats it over and over again, knowing they’ll get bored soon. Soon, it’ll be over soon. But as he starts to lose consciousness, he also remembers,
It’s never soon enough.