Disclaimer: I don´t own One Piece
I´ll never hit a woman
Sun was shining brightly, but it didn´t bother the Straw hat pirates. They had left the kingdom of Arabasta just a couple of days ago and they were still used to the burning days and freezing nights from the desert. Sanji, the blonde cook, was serving drinks to the women of the ship on the deck. Nami was sunbathing and the crew´s newest member, Nico Robin, was reading in another chair couple of meters away, sipping from her drink. Chopper was inside making some medicine and Usopp and Luffy were running around the deck away from the angry swordsman they had "accidentally" woken up.
"Get back here!" Zoro yelled, trying to catch the long nosed sniper or the childish captain.
"Easy Zoro, it was Luffy´s idea!" Usopp yelled, trying to keep the angry swordsman away from him. Zoro turned his glare to the said man, deciding to beat up his captain first.
"Yaiks!" Luffy squeaked, running away as fast as he could with Zoro close behind him.
"Robin, help me!" the captain yelled, begging help from the raven haired woman. She chuckled and lifted her arm, making another arm appear in front of Zoro and tackling him.
"What the-!" Zoro said as he fell to the ground.
"Thanks Robin!" Luffy called over his shoulder, running away. Zoro glared at her, growling: "You…"
"Is something matter, Swordsman-san?" she asked with a calm, fake smile.
"I´ll show you what´s matter!" Zoro hissed, getting up. He walked over to Robin but was stopped by Sanji kicking him in the head, making him fly across the deck.
"What the hell, you stupid cook?" he yelled, rubbing his head. Sanji lit a new cigar and yelled: "How many times do I have to tell you not to hit a woman, you shitty Marimo!"
"Too many!" Zoro yelled, attacking the blonde cook. They fought for a while until Nami hit them both on the head and yelled: "Knock it off!"
Sanji mumbled something under his breath, but stopped immediately when Nami glared at him. After she had walked away Zoro asked: "What the heck is up with that "never hit a woman" crap anyway? It´s like you´re looking down on them!"
Sanji shot up and yelled: "I am not looking down on them and I´ve never had!"
"Then what the heck is you reason!" Zoro shouted, also getting up. Sanji was about to yell back at him, but in the end he didn´t.
"Shitty Marimo" he muttered, turning around and going to the kitchen. The last thing he heard before entering was Usopp saying: "Well that was new. Is there something wrong with him?"
Sanji didn´t hear the answer since he closed the door and went to sit at the table. He sighed, resting his head in his hands. It´s not that he didn´t never want to kick a woman but he couldn´t. He couldn´t break his promise to his late father.
The setting sun shone brightly on a small island in North Blue, warming its occupants even though it was already late. A small boy was walking down the road, holding his mother´s hand.
"Mommy?"
"Yes Sanji?" the blonde woman asked with a smile, looking down at her son.
"What do we have for dinner?" he asked. His mother smiled sadly, saying: "Potatoes"
Sanji frowned, trying to hide his disappointment. He knew that they were poor and that they needed to save all the money they could to pay his father´s medical bills, so he didn´t complain.
"Sanji…" his mother started with a sigh.
"I know mommy" he said "Daddy´s more important"
"Yes" his mother said with a smile "And don´t worry; once daddy´s cured we can buy more food again"
Sanji´s small face brightened and he asked: "Is it going to happen soon?"
"I don´t know, but let´s hope so" his mother replied. That was enough to satisfy Sanji and he let go of his mother´s hand, running the rest of the way down and throwing the door to their house open.
"Daddy, we´re home!" he cheered with a wide smile. He saw his father sitting on his bed, a small smile on his face.
"Welcome" he said as his son jumped on to bed next to him. Sanji´s father was a young man in his early thirties, but his hair had already started to get gray because of his illness. Just like his son he had curly eyebrows, but unlike his sons his hair always covered another one of his eyes, sometimes the left one and sometimes the right one.
"We´re home honey" Sanji´s mother yelled from the doorway to her husband.
"I can see that" he replied, coughing in to his hand. Sanji´s smile fell.
"Are you okay daddy?" he asked.
"Yes, I´m fine" his father said, taking a towel from under his bed and wiping his hand with it.
"Don´t push yourself too hard" his wife said while putting the groceries to their places.
"I won´t" her husband said. She smiled and said: "Sanji, please help me with the cooking"
"Okay" Sanji said, jumping down from the bed.
"Don´t turn our son too girlish" Sanji´s father said to his wife, lying down.
"Cooking´s not girlish!" Sanji yelled "Only those who have enough ability to consecrate can make tasty food!"
His parents laughed at him goodheartedly, knowing how much their son loved cooking.
"Sure sure, of course" his father said. Sanji frowned and turned to his mother to help her. Making the dinner didn´t really take long and Sanji´s mother helped his father to the table. They ate in silence until Sanji´s mother asked from her husband: "What did the doctor say today?"
Sanji looked at his father, hoping for good news.
"He said that if I keep taking my medicine and resting I should be able to walk without problem in a week, but I´d still need to take it easy" he said, making his family smile.
"When you don´t need to take it easy anymore can we go fishing again?" Sanji asked hopefully. His father smiled and said: "Of course"
XXXXX
Late at night Sanji woke up to loudly noises coming from the village.
"Mommy… mommy, wake up" he said, shaking his mother slightly. The blonde woman opened her eyes and sat up slowly, asking: "What is it, honey?"
"What is that noise?" he asked, clutching the sheets. He was scared.
"I´ll go check" his mother said "Stay here and don´t woke up your dad"
Sanji nodded, not even having enough courage to leave the place he thought was the safest. He waited quietly for about ten minutes before his mother came rushing in.
"Sanji, get under the bed, now!" his mother hissed quietly, glancing behind her.
"Mommy?"
"Sanji, now!" his mother hissed again. Sanji jumped and did as he was told, not wanting to make his mother angry.
"Something wrong, dear?" Sanji´s father asked from his wife as he woke up when his son jumped off of the bed.
"There are bandits in the village; it´s been set in flames" she told, closing the door.
"Do you think they´ll find us?" her husband asked, but she shook her head.
"No, we´re in the outskirts of the town after all. I just thought it would be safer for Sanji to be under the bed" she said, walking over to the bed. She kneeled down and said: "Honey, stay there until we tell you to come out, okay?"
Sanji nodded, making his mother smile.
"Everything´s going to be okay honey" she said and stood up, turning to her husband "I´ll keep watch just in case; you go back to sleep"
Her husband looked at her but still nodded; he knew that the situation was worse than his wife said. She just didn´t want to scare Sanji. She walked over to an old cupboard and pulled out a small gun. She was pretty violent in her younger years and had stolen it from a pirate back then.
Sanji didn´t know how long he had been under the bed now, but to him it felt like forever. He yelped as he heard their front door burst open with a loud bang. He heard another bang, most likely caused by a gun. After that came a voice that he didn´t recognize complaining about something. Then there was a crash and his mother´s yell of pain. He wanted to get up and see if his mother was hurt, but he couldn´t move. He was paralyzed by fear.
"You bitch!" an unfamiliar voice yelled as he heard another crash. He flinched, praying that whoever was there wouldn´t notice him.
The noises continued about half an hour, but to Sanji it felt like hours. Then it grew quiet and Sanji was about to crawl from under the bed, but he heard a gunshot and froze. What happened? Was his daddy okay? Was his mommy okay? What was going on! He stayed under the bed until he heard his father say his name. That was his sign to come out, right? He hesitated but crawled out anyway, looking around. He didn´t see anyone.
"Sanji" his father called from the bed. Sanji smiled, but his smile fell as he turned around. Blood was dripping from his father´s mouth because of a bullet hole near his heart.
"Daddy!" Sanji yelled, going closer to his father.
"I´m glad you´re okay" his father said, coughing blood.
"Daddy, where´s mommy?" Sanji asked, trying not to look at his father´s wound. His father didn´t say anything but Sanji noticed that he was looking at the direction of the kitchen table. He was about to turn around but his father gripped his shoulder and said: "Don´t look behind you"
Sanji hesitated; he had always done what he was told, but he really wanted to see his mom. What should he do?
"But… I wanna see mommy…" he whimpered, looking down. His father sighed; knowing that if his son really wanted to see his wife he wouldn´t be able to stop it, and he´d see it anyway when he´d leave the house.
"Well go ahead, but I must warn you it´s not a pretty sight" Sanji gulped, but he still turned to look at the direction of the kitchen table. His heart skipped a beat and his eye widened as he saw the sight before him; his mother was lying on the table with no clothes on; her body bloody and beaten.
"Mommy!" Sanji yelled, running over to his mother.
"Mommy" he said, shaking his mother. She didn´t wake up.
"She´s dead, Sanji. I´m sorry" His father said, trying to sit up but failed. He was coughing blood.
"Daddy!" Sanji yelled, rushing back over to his father.
"Listen, Sanji" his father said "I won't live for long anymore"
"But daddy-"
"Sanji, I said listen" his father said "When I´m gone, wait till the noises from the village end. After that go look for your uncle. You remember him don´t you?"
Sanji nodded, holding back tears.
"I´m sure he can get you a place to live at and you´re a smart boy, so you´ll be okay" he said. Sanji nodded.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Why did they do that to mommy? Why did they kill her?" he asked. He couldn´t understand how someone could be so cruel. Sure he had seen and experienced violence before from the richer town's people, but that was just some hits and kicks. Never something like this.
"Sanji" his father started "Some people just are like that"
"Like what?"
"They´re just" his father paused "Bad people, Sanji. Hurt others for fun, especially women"
"But it´s not fair" Sanji said, looking at his mother´s body "Mommy never did anything to them"
"Sometimes life is not fair, and neither are the people" his father said, covering his mouth with his hand so that Sanji wouldn´t see the blood he was coughing.
"Well I´ll be fair" Sanji said, trying to cheer up his father.
"That´s nice to hear Sanji" the man said. His son nodded, saying: "I´ll never hurt a woman and I´ll always be kind to them, no matter what!"
"That´s my boy" his father said, coughing again.
"Daddy!"
"Sanji… did I ever tell you about a place called All Blue?"
Sanji shook his head.
"It´s a wonderful ocean with all kind of fish" his father told "It was my dream to go there"
"Why didn´t you?" Sanji asked curiously.
"Because I didn´t know where it was" he said "Nobody knows where it is"
"Well I´ll find it!" Sanji decided "I´ll find it and make the best foods from the fish that I get from there!"
"You sure a girly little boy like you can do it?" his father asked with a laugh, challenging him.
"Yes I can!" Sanji said, being sure of himself.
"We´ll see about that" his father said, coughing again. But this time much harder.
"Daddy!"
"Be strong, Sanji. Don´t let anyone… take away your… dream"
Sanji watched as his father coughed blood again, clutching his bullet wound. He took Sanji´s hand and smiled one last time before going to eternal sleep.
"Sanjii! Food!" the blonde´s captain´s yell interrupted his thoughts.
"Not ready yet, Shithead!" Sanji yelled as his captain came in.
"But I´m hungry" Luffy whined.
"Hey Sanji, we´re hungry too!" Usopp said, coming in with Chopper. Sanji was about to yell at them but then he heard Nami yell: "Just give them something; I can´t stand their whining!"
"Yes, Nami-saan!" Sanji yelled, taking something out of the fridge "Here´s your snacks, shitheads, now get lost!"
"Thanks Sanji!" the three yelled, leaving as Robin came in.
"Can I help you Robin-chan?" Sanji asked.
"No need to, Cook-san, I just came to get another cup of coffee" the raven haired woman replied, walking over to the coffeemaker.
"Idiots" Zoro mumbled as he came in to the kitchen to get more beer.
"What was that, Marimo?"
"I called you idiots, you stupid cook!" Zoro hissed and a fight broke out. Sanji smiled secretly; his life was nowhere near what he had hoped as a kid, but it was much better.
A.N: I´d like to know what you think, so please review!