Chapter Text
Prologue
Reiju had never joined in. She couldn't, she wouldn't. And so she faked her giggles to hide the horror in her eyes as her little brother was beaten black and blue by their siblings.
"I'm not on your side," she would say as she bandaged his cuts and spread ointment on his bruises. She didn't want those ugly marks to mar his small body that was so much more fragile than hers.
"I'm not on your side," she would tell him as she wiped the tears from his cheeks and gave him little candies she'd smuggled from his brothers to make him stop crying. She knew their father would just ignore his sobbing, but she didn’t want to see him like this.
I'm not on his side, she would think as she saw him feeding a mouse and pretended that she hadn't. She would never tell on him.
"I'm not on your side," she gritted through her teeth as their father made the public announcement that her little brother was dead. It wasn't true, and she knew it. But now she understood the extent of their father's shame.
"I'm not on your side," she didn’t say when he told her that he wanted to be a chef and her heart wanted to cheer him on. Instead she told him not to tell her about his stupid dreams. She felt very sorry when his face fell.
I'm not on his side, she thought as she pressed her hand over her mouth to muffle her whimpers as their father told him to never come back.
"I'm not on your side!" she yelled over the gunshots as she grabbed his arm and ran. She dragged him to the port to show him a cruise ship that was about to leave.
She knows what she has to say.
"Someday you will meet people who will treat you the way you deserve!" she cries as she forces him to look her in the eyes despite the fact that there are tears streaming down their faces.
Someday there will be people who will cross oceans for you.
And as she's about to push him away and tell him to go and never look back, she realizes, I'm not on your side, but I do want you to live. I want you safe. So she grips his little hand tightly in hers and sprints for the dock, ducking through the fray of battling soldiers.
Reiju presses Sanji to her side and stands tall as she asks for work for the first time in her life.