I just felt like writing something to do with One Piece and the Straw hats in particular, so yeah, this is what happened as a result.
I clearly don't own one piece, despite my many wishes to... still upset I don't... still enjoy :D
What started as a regular day aboard the sunny, soon turned into a fight for a life, all because of one blonde haired cooks sense of chivalry.
The day started off as most days do aboard the ship, Zoro training with absurdly heavy weights while keeping watch, Nami tending to her tangerines, Usopp and Luffy fishing up dinner, Chopper mixing herbs to create remedies for illnesses they are likely to encounter during their travels, Robin reading on deck, Franky creating… something, Brook playing relaxing music, and Sanji cooking up the meals for the day when he isn't pulling Luffy out of the water. It was about as calm as a day as can be expected as pirates, no fights, no islands, no threats. Until the marine ship came into view.
Marines were to be expected, after all their captain and first mate were both part of the worst generation, not even including the rest of the crew, fearful in their own right if need be, so when Zoro spotted them in the distance, they could be forgiven for thinking they wouldn't have a problem with them.
The battle proceeded as expected, with Luffy, Zoro and Sanji taking on the strongest of the marines, with the rest of the crew taking on the weaker members, the one exception being Sanji dealing with not one, but three marine swordsman. Despite swordsman not being a huge threat to him after being accustomed to dealing with three swords through his daily duels with Zoro, the fact that there was three different angles he was being attacked from, caused a slight loss of focus which allowed one of them to disengage from the fight and change targets.
Despite not realising one of his opponents slipped away from the fight, Sanji was able to dispatch his two swordsman while the rest of the crew kept fighting with little effort, passing the beat down on to the marines who were following the defeated swordsman. It wasn't until these marines were either unconscious or retreating that he realised one of his previous opponents was missing. Looking towards the rest of the ship, he identifies his previous opponent in a situation he couldn't even begin to imagine. The swordsman he failed to keep tabs on was behind three distracted crewmates.
Nami, Robin and Chopper were all too busy to realise there was someone behind them, with each of them taking on a substantial amount of marines, struggling to defeat them all on their own. Each of them had begun feeling the effects of the fight, with chopper not willing to use a rumble ball to unleash the monster in case people required a doctor afterwards. In fact, they probably wouldn't have realised the swordsman was behind them at all if it wasn't for the yell that echoed throughout the ocean.
Nami. Robin. Chopper. Which person was he targeting? Was he only targeting one of them? Did his sword have sea prism in it? Did he have sea prison cuffs? Were they told to capture a specific member? These were just some of the thoughts going through the straw hat cook's mind upon realising his mistake. Sure his Haki could identify what his thoughts were, but with the moment of panic and indecisiveness, there was no chance of maintaining his focus enough to use it. When the swordsman prepared to lunge forward, there was only one possible way that Sanji could make sure that none of the others got hurt.
"SANJI!"
While Luffy and Usopp's voice alone would have been enough to have the crew worried, it was the voice of a certain three sword using swordsman that alerted the crew to the severity of the situation. He never called him by his name, often going by curly-brows or shit cook. So when they heard the green-haired first mate call the cook's true name, they knew something was terribly wrong.
Nami was the first to react to the noise, knowing the two rivals the longest and knowing that the swordsman wouldn't use his name unless needed, but despite this couldn't even believe what she saw in front of her.
Chopper being the most scared reacted almost as quickly as Nami did, turning around to see what was so terrifying to the captain, the swordsman who was never scared and the fierce warrior of the sea. Despite his medical training, despite being the ships doctor, chopper still couldn't help but cry and call for a doctor when he saw what happened.
Robin despite being the one who was always calm, the one who would never react, this was the first time anyone else in the crew saw sheer terror in her eyes. The first time anyone in the crew saw the archaeologist with tears in her eyes since Enies Lobby, after all how else would anyone react to the sight in front of them.
Sanji… unsure of who the swordsman was targeting, did the one thing he knew would protect everyone, was standing in front of all them with a sword through his midsection.
The swordsman and the rest of the marines would soon regret that action, with every member of the straw hat crew pulling out all the stops to ensure that the marines were gone, off the sunny and out of sight.
The one exception to this was chopper, despite the marines being around, the reindeer doctor immediately ran into his office to prepare himself and the room for the most important operation he had performed in his life.
Marines gone, Sanji in surgery, seven straw hats waiting on deck. The tension in the air greater than any that the group had even had to deal with before. Each of them blaming themselves for what happened, Luffy and Zoro for letting Sanji fight three swordsmen, Brook for not being quick enough to intercept, Nami and Robin for letting the swordsman get behind them and Usopp and Franky for not being able to shoot the swordsman to stop him.
After what seemed like days to the seven on deck, the doctor stepped out of the office, exhausted and upset, but to the relief of the crew, optimistic about the cook, but informing the crew that he had to rest for a few days if he was going to get better.
Sanji woke up to a pain in his torso and the sight of a reindeer with tears in his eyes.
"Sanji you're awake I was so worried I thought you were going to die without a doctor on the ship before I realised I was the doctor so I performed surgery an-"
"Chopper, it's alright I'm fine, thank you. Now if you'll excuse me I need to work on dinner before Luffy gets hungry"
Chopper didn't even get a chance to explain what happened before Nami, who unbeknownst to Sanji was sleeping in the corner tackled the chef in a hug, despite the doctor's concerns for his injuries.
"Sanji-kun you're ok!"
The tears in the navigator's eyes caused the chef to hesitate, and despite his instincts to laugh it off with a compliment and a poor attempt of flirting, could only return the hug, knowing that he is the reason behind the tears, despite his intention.
"Of course, that shitty swordsman had to be good for something in this crew"
"At least that means I don't have to hold back anymore"
The voice from the door, that same voice that would normally insult the chef and make fun of his eyebrows, showed an unusual amount of relief at his safety. After all, despite the constant fights and bickering, they were rivals, not enemies, neither wanted to see harm fall upon the other. Behind him were the rest of the crewmates, some awake and relieved, others asleep on the deck, none of the crew out of the view of the recently awoken chef.
Nami and Chopper laying on his chest, Luffy and Robin using their devil fruit powers wrapping Sanji in a hug, Franky and Brook with tears in their eyes and eye sockets respectively, Usopp asleep with black kabuto in hand at the door and Zoro with a smirk that hid the worry that he had been dealing with since seeing another swordsman defeat his rival showed Sanji that this crew was willing to do anything to keep each other safe, and would always worry whenever someone got hurt. For the first time since leaving the Baratie, Sanji knew he had a family, and it's a family that he would take a hit for any day of the week, knowing that they would do the same.