"Papa?" a small voice asked.

Sanji made a noise in the back of his throat as he stirred simmering liquid in a pot. This morning was busy for the Baratie; many patrons were waiting and hungry. The sky had just risen above the clouds and the chefs could tell it would be a clear morning. Finding the liquid needed more time to thicken under the flame, he turned towards the child standing behind him. Emi held her transponder snail plush to her small frame, purple eyes wide. Her silver strands stuck out here and there, and she let out a wide yawn.

"Can you brush my hair? Patty pulls too hard" the child asked.

Sanji sighed through his cigarette and glanced at the liquid. Deeming it to be safe to simmer longer, he picked up the child and maneuvered both of them out of the bustling kitchen. Emi leaned her head against her papas suit jacket, grasping the fabric in one hand and her snail in the other. The blonde haired chef walked with the small child in his arms to her room and sat down on the small bed, Emi settling on his lap. This became a daily occurrence: the three year old coming to find Sanji to brush her hair because the other chefs didn't do it quite right or pulled too tight. He took the brush and pulled it through the silver strands.

The three year old closed her eyes as her papa gently brushed her hair. She didn't mind the others doing it, but it did hurt more. Emi knew they didn't mean it but it hurt. A thought came to mind that she had for some time, and she put her snail down.

"Papa? There's a monster in my closet. Why won't it go away? Patty said if you yell at it to go 'way that they'd go away" Emi said, turning to face Sanji as he gathered her hair into a small ponytail.

He glanced at the small closet opposite her bed with a frown.

"There's no such things as monsters" he said, giving the child a reassuring pat on the head.

Emi gazed at him with wide purple eyes, clutching the edge of her pyjama top.

"It scary" she murmured, and Sanji let out a puff of smoke.

"It's your imagination, Emi. Don't let it get too crazy" he said with a grin, and the three year old blinked.

"I...imag...imagtin?" Emi said, stumbling on the large word.

"It's when your mind creates things that aren't there" the cook said, and Emi let out a quiet 'oooh'.

"Like when jii-jii wants me to eat greens and I want candy?" Emi said, eyes wide.

"Not quite" Sanji snorted, heaving the three year old off his lap.

"I imagtin it?" Emi asked as her papa stood up.

"Yes and it can't hurt you" he said, blowing out a smoke ring.

"Come on, let's make sure the other crappy chefs haven't burnt down the kitchen" Sanji said, and Emi nodded with a giggle.

"Make papa angry" she chirped as her papa walked out of her room.

Emi went to follow, but stopped as the closet door opened a crack. She gazed into the darkness of the closet and could have sworn she saw a pair of red eyes glaring at her. She shook her head and rushed after her papa. It was just her imagination playing with her mind.

It couldn't hurt her...right?

As the day went on, Emi began to forget about the eyes in her closet as she enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the Baratie and her beloved papa getting into squabbles with the other cooks. Sometimes she didn't understand why her papa would be silly with girls when they came in...she was a girl so why wasn't he silly with her? Maybe because she was smaller than the other girls. She would grow taller and older so maybe then her papa could be silly with her.

The sun began to set, painting the sky with vibrant pinks and purples as Emi played with Patty on the deck. The last patrons had left, and the cooks were relaxing. The giant of a man was holding her high on his shoulders and Emi could swear that she could see the entire ocean. Patty put the three year old down to the deck as Carne called to him, causing him to shout back. She rubbed her eyes as sleep began to close in on her mind. It had been a busy day, and the child suddenly had no energy left. She yawned and blinked when her papa picked her up. She leaned her cheek against the material, feeling her eyes close as Sanji brought the child to her bedroom. She had worn her pyjamas the entire day, and he puffed out a ring of smoke as he placed her in her bed. Her eyes struggled open as he turned to leave.

"My snail?" Emi said in a groggy voice, and Sanji turned to the barely awake child.

"I'll find it" he assured the three year old and turned to leave, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Emi lay back down, her eyes drifting shut as sleep caressed her. She had left her snail in the kitchen as she wanted it to learn to cook like her papa. Carne said he would teach her snail to cook.

A creak sounded suddenly, and Emi blinked as she sat up slowly. She looked around the darkened room and let out a yawn when nothing happened. She turned to lay back down, but another creak sounded. She snapped her head in the direction of the sound, and her eyes widened when her closet door creaked open. Her body began to shake as it creaked open again.

"I-it my im-imagtin" she stuttered in fear as the door opened wider.

She shut her eyes and buried her head under her blanket. A 'thump' sounded, and then all was quiet. Emi peeked out from her blanket and blinked when no one was there...except her closet door was open all the way. She lifted her head out from her blanket fully and slowly got out of bed. She gripped the edge of her top in her hands as she took a hesitant step towards the fully open closet door. She took another couple of hesitant steps towards the door, her heart pounding in her ears. When the three year old reached the closet door, she hesitantly placed a hand on the door. Her papa said there was nothing there, and her papa was the smartest man ever.

A creak sounded from behind her, and Emi turned around. Her eyes widened and she let out a scream.

The chefs of the Baratie were relaxing after a long day of feeding patrons. As the moon rose high in the night sky, Carne handed Sanji the stuffed transponder snail. He had found it behind his knives and he knew how much Emi cared for it. The chefs laughed loudly and some opened bottles of alcohol, intent on relaxing extra hard.

CRASH!

The chefs froze when they heard a giant crash come from the direction of the three year olds bedroom. Sanji's blood ran cold when he heard a terrified scream and ran to Emi's room, the other chefs not far behind. He crashed into the bedroom door and it slammed open. The cook stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the state of the bedroom: Emi's bed was knocked over onto its side and the closet was knocked over. Her clothes were strewn everywhere, and her window was smashed. Glass littered the floor and glittered coldly from the light of the moon.

"What happened here?" Patty said, eyes wide in shock.

"And where's Emi?" one of the other cooks said.

They knew one thing: Emi was gone.