x.o.o.x

There it was. All blue.

He had finally reached it. He was finally here. His new home.

Sanji watched the sunset on the balcony. It was beautiful and all he could have ever dreamed of. But he couldn't shake the feeling like he was missing something. Well. He actually knew what he was missing. He also knew he couldn't ever get it back.

It was the action and fun.

Those exciting, anything-goes years and adventures that he had experienced with the crew. Over. Done. Just like that.

Of course it seemed to end faster than it actually did. They spent weeks saying goodbye. Crying each day. Laughing every other. They'd talked about good times. About bad times. Especially when he had taken on that new look. Turns out the ladies liked nineteen year old Sanji better. The funny thing was that they had found a fountain of youth. Not after wrestling with Zoro into it of course.

Ah... Good times. Well... For him at least... Who knew Zoro liked those stupidly humongous muscles.

But after memories were discussed and farewells were said, the rest of the crew set sail.

After that he was alone.

No more fawning over the beautiful Nami-san and Robin-chan. No more pitless stomach to feed. No more cute reindeer to whip up some cotton candy for. And no more moss.

Well, annoying and alcoholic moss that sunbathed while taking a nap and stinking up the deck with their sweat from a stupidly crazy workout.

He was at sea. No. That was inaccurate. He was at the sea of all seas! The greatest in the world. The one that all chefs dream to see. And he was there. Living on the only island surrounded by it.

He had waited ever since he could remember. Spent weeks and months just dreaming what it would look like.

It was beautiful. Astonishing. And dare he say, more beautiful than any women he had the privilege to lay his eyes upon. And it was all his.

There was a lush green rainforest on the east side, the temparete forests next to it, the prairy next to that, then the desert and other different ecosystems continuing the chain all around a mountain in the center of the Weatherly Challenged island. The island was not only surrounded by all environments in the sea but the same on land. This island was the All Blue of the land as well!

Sanji was in heaven. He was going to live the rest of his days on this island surrounded by fish from all over the world united in one ocean led and dragged in through currents that end here. He had decided this even before he joined the crew.

Franky made him a home with a huge kitchen to cook all of the dishes he could think of, as well as a way of transportation around the island as well as to leave to get necessary items like cigarettes from the closet island near by. Which was far. But not far enough for Franky's state of the art fishingboat/cruise/submarine/whatever-you-pleased viacle to take him only a few hours.

In numbers it didn't seem so long but when you have to dodge rocks, go under coral reefs, and killer storms it was pretty hard. No wonder why All Blue was so hard to find.

The contraption that Franky made was modeled after the Merry. And though he was enthusiastic at first, he hated it. Being on the damn thing reminded him of the crew. The crew that was no longer with him. A sad thought yes? And he couldn't deny it.

He missed everyone.

But he knew exactly where to find them. Nami-swan gave him enternal log posts to every island the crew would reside in. Well, except for Luffy who continued to search for more adventures even after finding One Piece and Zoro who still hadn't become the strongest swordsman yet. But even then he still had his vivir card for his former captain. With Zoro he had nothing.

The wondering marimo would stay lost from him. He would probably never see him again either. Damn. And he would never get to exposed his true feelings.

The chef shook his head. How could he think such melancholy thoughts? He was at his ultimate goal! His dream.

It was getting dark now on the balcony. The setting sun had finished it's final stretch of the marathon in the sky. Streaks of red, purple, pink, and orange were replaced by the dark blue and black of the night.

He dragged his feet as he walked into his home; the thick glass door sliding open and shut automatically. His jacket dropped unceremoniously to the floor as he moved from room to marviously designed room.

Maybe an invigorating hot soak in a hot spring and a novel will ease his frighteningly fast dropping mood.

His pace quickened at the thought of something to warm his bones. Trecking to his room to snatch a robe and a book, he quickly made a beeline through the hallway and into his private hot springs behind his home.

It was nice and relaxing. He opened his book.

It was about a person who found himself somewhere strange and scary. He ran out and escaped his captors in an attempt to go home to his fiancé only to find her dead and been dead for several decades. His eyes were glued to the book. But hours passed and it got late.

He yawned. Damn. He would finish it another time.

Sanji rose from the bath and robed himself once more. He walked to his room and stripped down. After putting on some boxers he jumped into his king sized bed. As soon as his head hit his pillow he fell asleep.

x.o.o.x

He was itchy and his mouth was dry. Must have been because he forgot to brush his teeth before bed. He felt starchy sheets beneath him. Weren't his sheets made of silk? And what happened to the song birds that always sang in the morning? Where were the soft crashes of his beloved ocean against the soft sand beach? Why was it void of all noise?

Suddenly, like it hiked it way through a long windy tunnel, sound came back to him. It was voices. It was a bit crackly like it didn't come from live people. It sounded recorded. Then there was crunching next to him.

He opened his eyes one at a time.

There was fluorescent lighting above his head and the walls were an off white. The lights flickered and some were off completely making the room dim.

That wasn't right... He had several lamps in his home and blue walls. Besides, the night before he didn't closed his curtains so light would have seeped in. He closed his eyes again, waited a couple of seconds, and opened them again awaiting the sounds and feelings of his lonely home.

Nope. Still wrong.

He repeated his actions several more times until he realized the eating sounds stopped.

Then the telltale clicks of heels behind closed doors. They stopped, the door opened, the women in heels stepped in and closed the door behind her again.

"House! Don't you have any respect?" The lady's voice was full of power and very confident. But also like she was trying really hard to show her dominance.

A man replied. "What? He doesn't mind." Sanji could tell he could not be controlled by the women just by how nonchalant he sounded.

"That's because he can't defend himself." The women still tried.

"I never understood why you keep cable T.V. in a coma patient's room..."

Wait, coma patient?

"Because some people believe that they can still hear. Now get out! You owe me clinic hours!" She sounded like she was getting desperate.

"But mom..." The man replied in a sarcastic whiny tone. How dare he disrespect a women like that?

Sanji turned his head towards the man next to him.

"Listen you," he rasped,"Don't you ever speak to a lady like that or I'll have to kick your ass."

They stopped arguing. The man carried a cane and a folder with his name and the women looked like she ran wherever he was. She rushed to his side and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Hello, my wondrous flower. I'm sorry I'm not at your knees at the moment but I can't seem to find the strength to move."

The women continued to stare. House, as what the lady called him, spoke up. "What's your name?"

What type of question was that? He looked at the women for conformation that he should answer.

She nodded. "Please answer whatever questions Dr. House has for you."

Oh. So this asshole's a Doctor.

"Well?" House raised an eyebrow.

"Sanji. My name is Sanji. Shouldn't you know that from the file, Shitty-Doctor?" House looked surprised by his reply. Almost as if he wasn't expecting Sanji to know.

"Of course I knew your name. I wanted to see if you knew it too. How old are you?"

This was annoying. He just wanted to get out of here and back to his home. And this man couldn't get away with treating a delicate lady with such disrespect either.

"I'm not answering another shitty question until you apologize to Miss... Miss...-"

"Cuddy."

"-Miss Cuddy."

The doctor couldn't have looked more annoyed. Two more people who were obviously doctors as well walked in. A tall handsome dirty blonde man and a gorgeous women. His muscles leaped into action and before he knew it he was kneeling on the floor before the lady doctor holding her hand.

"You are such an exquisite beauty. I cannot think of what I could have possibly done to deserve being able to have your gaze rest upon me for even a mere second. To be able to worship the floor you walk. To be touched by the air you breath. I must have done something right in my life to be able to occupy a single moment of your time. Thank you for allowing me be within your brilliant radiance. May I have the pleasure of your name?"

All he heard was silence. Usually by now the women would have smacked him away claiming he was a pervert. Sanji looked up. The women was totally flushed and the man next to her looked ready to roll on the floor laughing.

The women cleared her throat and calmed herself before answering. "My name is Allison."

Sanji smiled. It was a success! He kissed her hand and rose to his feet. "My name is Sanji. As I described earlier, it is more than a wonderful experience meeting you. If I can, may I take you on a date once I'm done being bombarded with questions by this imbecile." Before she could refuse he turned to look at House and the lovely Cuddy.

Cuddy looked shocked and like she was about to pass out while House looked extremely impressed and interested. He looked at the dumbfounded lady and said a couple words of sorry causing her to sit on the bed that Sanji once occupied to try and process what in the world had just happened.

"So Sanji, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty one. Like it says in the file I'm guessing. And I'm a chef, the best goddamn one at that. I hate two things the most in the world, brutes who don't respect women and people who waste food. There are only several things I care for as well. I like cooking, women, cigarettes, and kicking ass. The most precious things to me are my hands and the people I care for. Is that enough shitty information for you yet? Couldn't you have just read all of that in the fucking file? It says my name on it, are you just too lazy to read it? You piss me off because you disrespected Miss Cuddy and you didn't even acknowledge the other lady in the room. Two shitty reasons to kick your crippled ass."

House surprisingly stayed calm despite the threat of Sanji. "No. It doesn't say any of that in your file. It only says your name is Sanji Black, you're half Japanese and half French despite your blonde hair, and that you've been in a coma since your fifth birthday."

Sanji snorted. That couldn't be right. On his fifth birthday he boarded the Orblitz, the cruise ship that he lived on until he met Zeff. He remembered it vividly.

"There's even an article in here about it." The doctor pulled out a page of a newspaper from the folder and read it aloud. "This march second a tragic accident just before Tout Bleu port. The Black family, founders of Baratie Cooking and Baking, headed to the Orblitz Cruise Ship in northern France for a family vacation but just before arriving an angry and drunk fisherman Mr. Fullbody crashed into their car killing Mrs. Black and putting little Sanji Black into a coma."

The legs that supported Sanji buckled and gave out. Which was weird because he was always on his feet. They shouldn't haved been unused to him standing for even a short period of time. He landed on his knees. All of this couldn't be right, but it somehow seemed familiar like he watched it in a play on an island or something. The main character went into a coma for many years and woke up in a hospital after loving her whole life already. But he wasn't that character. He remembered exactly what happened on his fifth birthday.

That day he was walking in the rain and he knew that he had to board the Orblitz Cruise in North Blue. When he did, he started to work there assisting the Chef.

House continued to read. "Here's a quote from the devastated father. 'I saw the truck come at us and I tried to swerve out of the way. My wife saw it too and protected our baby by injuring herself. The truck collided with us and I got stuck. I couldn't do anything as I watched my wife try to comfort our son. I still remember her words. 'Hush hush there. Don't worry. Maman is with you. Just look at Maman. See me? That all you need to see. You don't need to see anything else. Just me.' She stopped his crying and he calmed down. Nothing could calm down our son more than her. I remember the last things he said. He said, 'Okaa-San... Maman... Mommy. I'm scared and wet and cold...' 'I know Sanji. Don't worry. The pompiers will get us out. Let me sing you a song until then okay?' She sang him his favorite lullaby. It's called 'Sea blue, see you.' He fell asleep. She asked me that no matter what I had to keep our son alive. She said that is all she asked of me and then she fell asleep as well. Well that was what I thought at the time but when they got me free I found out she bled to death and Sanji went into a coma."

Sanji couldn't believe the nonsense he was hearing. None of it was right. He refused to believe it. He looked down at himself. He wore a white gown and no shoes. From what he saw he had looked like a coma patient but that didn't make him one.

Something wasn't right.

He remembered that he and Chopper were discussing whether Zoro was immune to comas or not seeing that the bastard slept all the time. Chopper clearly stated that Zoro would most defiantly never go into a coma because after about seven months he would loose all his muscles and those were very special to him.

Sanji laughed a bit. He remembered when the said Marimo freaked when they disappeared after turning nineteen again.

That reminded him. Sanji stood straight up. He did a squat. And another. And another. According to Chopper he would have lost all his muscles if he was asleep since he was five. He was twenty-one now so that was what, sixteen years? Now he wasn't a medical expert but he knew that was more than enough.

"Hold on for just a second Shitty-Home," the two women in the room giggled making Sanji beam,"If I was in a coma, I wouldn't be able to walk right?"

"That right. If you were normal. But you hit your head in the accident and damaged your brain."

Sanji bristled. "Are you calling me stupid Shitty-Doctor?!"

House sighed and shook his head. "You are in no way stupid. In fact I believe that you are extremely intelligent. I read in your childhood and you before the accident and I believed that you had an IQ of one-thirty and rising. But I also think that your number elevated as you grew up. Right now I would think that you have an IQ over one-fifty but now I'm not so sure."

Sanji muttered a 'Fuck you' under his breath.

"And injury to your head does not make you any less smart. Some people gain amazing abilities while others loosing some. But you did neither of these things. Well... You did get some peculiar shaped eyebrows..."

Sanji ignored the last comment. "So you don't know if I damaged my brain when I hit it because you have no proof. A shitty doctor with shitty conclusions." He was getting sick of the man. It was time to leave and go home. But where was he?

House ignored him. "But I know the injury did something because you shouldn't be able to walk, talk, or have more knowledge than a five year old. I already have an idea. If you answer my questions and prove them right, then I won't bother you anymore."

Oh! He knew where he was. He was probably at some marine headquarters. As long as they weren't about the crew he guessed it was okay... "Okay. Shoot. But you have to answer mine." Maybe if he played along he would get out faster.

House grinned. "Do you have any bruises or cuts?" It was a strange question. Nothing Sanji prepared himself for.

"Uh yeah... On my foot." He raised his leg to show his blue spot.

"When did you get it?"

"Two days ago."

"Remember how you got it?"

"Yeah." These questions were stupid.

"Alright. I'm done." House stood up and hobbled out of the room for a minute or two before returning with several pieces of paper. "These are your release papers. Sign them and you can leave."

This was happening way too fast for Sanji to comprehend. What happened? What did he have? And what about his goddamn question?!

Luckily Cuddy asked for him. "What the hell was that?"

The doctor rolled his eyes, which Sanji added to his mental list of why he should kick the man's ass. "He has a condition where he subconsciously heard the things around him and learned from them. His brain also memorized every moment and thing up to the accident and analyzed them and learned from them as well. He learned to love women from his mother and how to swear from presumably his father. But the really cool thing is that what happened to him hasn't happened to anyone else before in a coma. " He tried to walk out again.

"What happened in the coma?" The dirty blonde man spoke up for the first time since walking into the room. He had a strange accent that Sanji couldn't quite put his finger on. He knew that he heard it somewhere... But he had no memories of where. Some strange island perhaps? Orstig? Awstrigia? Hmm... Australia!

The doctor looked seriously annoyed; which pissed Sanji off. He was glad that the only doctor he had to deal with was little Chopper. Speaking of which, he should really get off this strange island to go visit him. He was sure that the dear deer would like to hear the stories that this whack job doctor came up with.

"Well, since you are too idiotic to figure it out yourselves then I'll explain it to you. This is, unless Sanji Black wants to explain to you." He turned back to the blonde. "Go on. Take your most wildest guess. I told you what I thought a couple of days ago. Prove my theory right."

Ah. Now Sanji got it. He had said that Sanji was in a coma but subconsciously heard and processed everything. If he got this right it would defiantly prove the doctor correct. But damn him. He already knew the answer, without help! He figured it out himself dammit. Fine let the doctor think he's a genius. That is, if he were right. It was defiantly a believable lie but he knew where his home was and that everything that had happened was defiantly real. He had the shitty scars to prove it!

"What this stupid doctor thinks what happened was I dreamt everything that had happened to me; my whole life. But he said that I memorized everything from my birth till my 'accident'," Sanji used air quotations for that word, "And I don't remember a single day. Then he's going to say that it has something to do with post traumatic stress. And I say fine. That explains my 'fake life' but it doesn't explain why I have the scars to prove them." Sanji held up his hand to expose his right thumb. There were three little scars on it. He had gotten them when cutting apples with Zeff just as they were opening the Baratie.

Allison stepped closer to study it making Sanji's heart flutter. "Could've gotten it before the crash."

House shook his head in disapproval. "If you had read the report than you would know they happened when he was in the coma."

Sanji snorted. "Yeah sure... Now you're going to say that since I hit my head it made it possible that in my mind I was hurt so my brain created injuries to compensate."

"And there it is! Aren't I just amazing?"

Miss Cuddy rolled her eyes as she handed Sanji his release forms. "You still owe me clinic hours."

Sanji signed them. The sooner he got off this strange island and away from these marines the better.

The next few hours seemed to pass horrendously slow. They got him some clothes. Fed him shitty cafeteria food and sat him down somewhere to wait up until now. He woke up at about eleven apparently and now it was seven at night. He just wanted to get home and read the rest of his novel.

He rubbed his starchy jeans. Man. They were really uncomfortable. His long-sleeved shirt was alright though, loose fitting and somewhat soft. It was cool outside. He could see the fall leaves blow through the air.

"Excuse me?" Sanji looked up to see a relatively small man who he recognized standing in front of him. "You are Sanji Noir if I am correct."

Noir means black. The chef's mind automatically translated for him. But damn. Finally someone came! No-one would let him leave otherwise. But it was fine because from what he saw, he could quite easily fight his way out of here if he needed to.

"Yeah. I am... Don't I know you?" What was his name? He and Luffy were friends right? "Aren't you... Er... Conny? Co-Coby!"

The man have a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness! I thought it would be a lot harder than this. Truthfully I didn't believe them when they said that you had the knowledge of a regular..." Coby's voice drifted off into the background as Sanji thought.

Why? Why was Coby here? Wasn't he a marine? That definatly meant he was at a marine base!

"...your lawyer and I have to get you your inheritance. Speaking of which we should go." The pinkette held out a hand to help Sanji up from his seat.

"What was that?" Asked Sanji as they walked out of the hospital. There was a long black vehicle waiting for them.

It was a strange feeling to know you had never seen something in you life, but to be really comfortable and familiar with the concept. Coby raced ahead an opened the door for the other to step in before himself.

"Take us to Harrison and Parker please,"requested Coby before answering Sanji's question. "I said we should go."

Sanji shook his head. "No before that."

The other man laughed. "Oops. I knew that! I'm your lawyer and I need to get you to your inheritance!"

"What inheritance?" As far as Sanji knew he was an orphan, except for his stepfather Zeff whom he knew was still kicking. Literally.

"They told you didn't they? Your family ran the Baratie Company. Your father ran it with your mom and his father-in-law. When they both passed, sadly, their fortune went to you." Coby perked up and pointed proudly to his chest. "That's why I'm here! To get you what's yours! Then you can go home."

Home... Back to All Blue...

What? Why was he so sad? He should have been ecstatic!

He didn't know he had a family! Where was he? Maybe this was the island he was originally from! From what he gathered he still had a grandfather here. And his family owned a cooking company? That was amazing. But what was that crap about Fullbody? The man would have been too young to have crashed and killed his parents... Maybe his father? Damn... That shitty family had it out for his family...

The car stopped and Sanji was shaken from his thoughts. Coby glanced out the window and squeaked, a strange sound to Sanji but he let it pass. "Oh! Your grandpa is here already!" He excitedly jumped out the limo and scurried to open Sanji's door.

Sanji braced himself. He would meet his first family member. He prepared himself for the worst. Maybe the guy was an asshole who disrespected women. Maybe he was a okama... Sanji shivered at that thought. But what if the man didn't even like Sanji?

The door opened but Sanji didn't look up. He just fumbled through his starchy pants for a cigarette. Why the fuck didn't he have some?!

A deep familiar voice chuckled and Sanji froze.

"Hello brat. Did you have a nice nap, eggplant?"