The snow was dancing gracefully in the air, making pirouettes and somersaults. Sanji considered it quite a nostalgic scenery. He grew up in a country where it frequently snowed, and each time the ground turned white his mother ran outside laughing like a kid and asked him to build a snowman together. That was the only good memory he had about his childhood, meaning before the Baratie. He was not sulking over it, but being in the North Sea simply made him feel uncomfortable.
Anyhow, the log pose had three needles. The chances to avoid unpleasant memories were at his favour.
"What the heck are you staring at, shitty cook?", Zoro said punching his shoulder. "You cannot see anything with this damn weather, so do not pretend to be on guard duty just to please the navigator"
"I am just having a cigarette stupid marimo..."
"If you do nothing every time you smoke we better start searching for a new cook, because you will die in that spot"
Sanji smirked at the logic of the moss head, he was indeed an addicted smoker.
"What's the matter? Is the capitan hungry again?"
"Nah, is just the witch who made me come all the way here to tell you we are about to reach the next island"
"Do not call my beloved Nami-swan a witch, you filthy animal!"
"Yeah yeah...just move your bony ass and go back to the galley"
Sanji observed the idiot turning his back and giving a dismissive hand gesture.
Not long and he was going to know what was lying ahead.
Two chances out of three...
\\
It was a nice island, quite similar to the ones in the old world. Constructions built in classical style and almost normal looking plants and animals. Everything was covered by a white blanket screeching underneath their boots. It would have been a boring and relaxing place to rest for a while, if it wasn't for the huge white cube ominously dominating the landscape and the crowd of people celebrating loudly in the town square.
"What is that big ugly building Robin-San?", Nami asked out of curiosity.
"It is a palace, a very powerful family being part of the world government resides there. We better resupply and leave this island soon".
Nami sighed in agreement. She wanted to buy new shoes, but this time they better split and just do the grocery shopping fast. Islands ran by the world government were dangerous and as pirates they had no business there.
"Ohi Sanji, you got the list?"
Failing to receive an answer the navigator looked for the cook. The man was staring at the middle of the town square, where all the people was gathered. It was really unusual for him to ignore her, so Nami decided to have a better look at the scene as well.
A huge painting was hanged few meters from the ground. Represented in the canvas was a pretty little girl with golden hair reaching her mid back. She was wearing a noble dress and was sitting on a sofa. Nami noticed that the painted smile was not reaching her eyes, apparently the artist did not put much effort in hiding her bored expression.
Right when Nami was about to wonder who the child was, the crowd roared and flames began to eat the portrait away.
"They destroyed the picture! Why to burn the painting of a little child?"
"Don't you know who that girl is?" An old woman standing next to the crew overheard the conversation and decided to answer to the red head beauty. "She is the only heir of the family living in that white palace"
"A child of the Celestial Dragons?", the navigator asked in disbelief. "Aren't this people scared to burn her painting?!"
The oldster let out a sad laughter, shaking her head. "No one here is really celebrating dear. That poor kid died years and years ago, the moment she left this island. Her body might still be moving, but her life finished back then. Today the world government is making us celebrate the return of her corpse".
Despite how creepy the words of the lady ringed, a happy voice brake in between, demanding the attention of the woman.
"A moving corpse, like a zombie?! That sounds so cool! I want to see it, where do you think is it going to be now?!"
Nami ignored her captain and an offended Brook starting a fight over zombies being more or less cool than skeletons, and spoke to the lady once again.
"Is that kid a zombie indeed?"
"Of course not, silly. But she is no less hopeless. The world government sentenced her to death twelve years ago for betraying the family and running away from this island. Now that she is back in town, her life has reached its end"
Nami grimaced at the idea of parents ready to kill their own daughter and throw a party over it.
"This is insane! Let's leave this place right now!"
"I fear that is not possible, darling. No ship, vessel, boat, submarine or anything of the sort is going to leave this land. The waters around the island are under strict control since the moment she placed a feet back on the island ground. No one is leaving this place until she is caught and executed".
Nami shared a worried look with Robin. The archaeologist understood they were in deep trouble. The navy and the world government were busy looking for someone else, but they were nonetheless wanted all over the new world. Being surrounded was making them easy catches.
"Navigator-san, we should try to keep a low profile until this mess is solved. The moment they find the girl we are going to make good use of the confusion and leave".
"What are you talking about?!", Luffy screamed disregarding Brook completely. "'We are going to help that girl!"
Nami rushed to slap a hand on the big fat mouth of her idiot captain, trying to limit the chances to start a commotion.
"Luffy quit saying bullshit, you do not even know her!", she growled. "This is the world government we are talking about, do not try to get us killed here!"
"If you want a place to stay I can host you until this obscene feast is over". The old woman smiled again at the navigator. "Being pirates in this island is not an easy thing these days".
"What?! How did you realise that?!", Usopp gulped in fear.
"You are not marines and honestly you do not look like merchants or fishermen either. All I had to do was to guess, I am not old and wise for nothing", she explained dismissively.
"Would you really be so kind to help us, ma' am?", asked Brook in his old fashioned way.
After a curious look at the skeleton the woman nodded once again. "Sure, I stopped serving that family the moment they sentenced my baby to death".
\\
His stomach was warming up with the tea prepared by the old lady. Sanji's trained palate could taste few drops of cinnamon honey and whiskey, added to savour the beverage. The result was his favourite. A delicate balance of flavours that enhanced the already good quality of the white tea leaves.
Tea saved for guests, Sanji concluded. The house of the woman was very poor and the fridge was quite empty. Even the fireplace seemed to be revived only recently, there were only few pieces of firewood in the room. This was not the kind of person who could afford expensive tea on a daily basis. Only on special occasions.
"So you were the nanny of that little kid, that's why you are helping us and you know so many things", Sanji heard the navigator discuss with the old lady. They were getting along and Sanji was surprised that Nami took at heart the story of the little girl. His Nami-swan was definitely full of surprises.
"Yes. She was a sweet kid...", said the lady wiping a tear from her cheek. "After her mother died I raised her myself, nobles are not that kind of parents as you understand...I loved her so much"
"What happen back then? You said she betrayed the family...?"
"She was the only heir, hence her future was written already. Take over the role of family head and enforce the rules of the world government, suppressing any freedom of thought and belief". The woman's paused a moment to sip her tea, savouring its taste with closed eyes, like it was a rare treat. "She was so scared of that, it was not in her nature. Her mother taught her well, for the little time she was around. She tried to ask her father to leave the title to some relatives, but he punished her so hard she was barely able to speak afterwards. No wonder she ran away and never came back until now..."
Sitting next to the navigator the raven archaeologist was listening intently to the conversation. At a certain point she took the chance to ask something she was failing to understand.
"Why do you think she came back now? And how the family knows about it? I remember clearly that the incident happened years ago. Even for her parents should be hard to recognise her by now"
The old lady rested her head in her hands and sighed deeply. "I do not know. This island is a forced stop in the new world because the atolls nearby do not have a good response in the log pose. Maybe she did not end up here on purpose"
Sanji felt his stomach close. He wished he knew that sooner, luck was never something to rely on. After this discussion he was not able to drink any more tea, even if it was going to get wasted.
"Pardon me...You didn't say how the family found it out...", he finally said, after a whole long time of silence.
"My dear boy, a livre card, what else?" The woman answered. "The piece left to the family is not big enough to track her, but still reacts to her proximity. They will hunt all night until that piece of paper is getting crazy".
\\
Zoro hated worrying about the stupid ero cook, but he felt a sense of relief the moment the blond man came back into view.
"Where have you been all evening you stupid womaniser?", he hissed in an annoyed way. "We are starving!"
"I just went to collect some wood for the fireplace", the other replied quietly. "I also bought some supplies for the old lady, her stock was running low"
The samurai observed the chef dropping the bags on the floor, beginning to put everything in place for the woman.
"Do not tell me you are into old hugs now! That's disgusting, geez..."
"Oldsters always deserve respect, older women even more. I am just trying to show some gratitude for the hospitality"
Zoro felt a little pissed off by the reasonable answer. There was no way he could reply back, so this argument was not going to lead anywhere. Usually it was easy to make the cook lose his temper, but in the last few days they never fought for good. Zoro needed a little spar with the cook once in while to not get bored. Not that the samurai was going to ask for it directly, he would look dumb to do so.
"You are acting weird ero-cook", he simply stated.
Without giving him an explanation the blond started working at the fireplace and Zoro decided to eventually leave him alone. He was not in the mood to get in the head of the stupid chef. Most of the time they were on the same line, even if normal people would think they could not stand each other. But other times it felt like...the cook was on a completely different page. These days it was just better to let him be.
\\
"Zoro! Where is Sanji?!"
Nami was screaming like the witch she actually was, trying to find the stupid cook to feed their captain. The old lady was cooking for every body, letting the idiot sleep on the job.
"How am I supposed to know?"
Nami glared at the swordsman. "'You were the last one who saw him! And you are the one who found that letter!" She angrily shook her head and left him alone to avoid a fight.
Zoro grimaced looking at the letter he found next to his bed.
-To moss head, I have some urgent business to take care of. Cannot stay here, will be back soon. Take care of my things and DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! Sanji-
Not only it was strange, but it was also very annoying. The damn cook disappeared without saying anything to anyone and left a letter to him asking to take care of the shit left behind?! It made sense that he did not left his things to Nami, she was likely going to sell everything to the second hand market to earn some money, but why not leaving the stuff to someone else? Zoro for sure was not the cook's guard dog.
"'Zoro-San, you look displeased", Robin noticed. "'Do you want me to take care about it?"
Without seeing anything wrong in that, Zoro quickly grabbed the bag that came with the letter and handed it over.
Robin gave him an understanding smile and opened the backpack to check what the chef left behind.
"He said to not touch..."
"Zoro-San, he also said to watch over his things...but you didn't", the raven girl pointed out. "I just want to understand what cook-San is worried about. I doubt he cares so much about few clothes, his wardrobe is more varied than mine. Even if those are his favourite he has plenty more, and he does not mind doing shopping either"
Surprised by the raven's argument, Zoro was suddenly curious as well. He observed Robin empty the contents of the rucksack on the table and waited to see what she could find. Not long after the woman was holding a chain with a silver plate between her fingers. He already saw it the few times Sanji was not wearing a shirt, apparently the cook never took it off. Why did he leave it there?
Robin was about to discard the chain and continue raiding the bag contents, when suddenly she took a second look at the chain and examined the pendant plate closer.
"What's the matter with the cook's necklace?"
Robin was staring seriously at the object, deep in thought.
"'Robin?"
"Zoro-San...have you ever seen Sanji wear this object?", she asked, without moving her eyes from the silver plate.
"Yeah... actually I reckon this is the first time he is not wearing it. Why?"
The archaeologist closed her eyes and passed a hand in her hair. Apparently she never notice it, trying to not stare at the cook for too long to avoid him getting the wrong idea.
"Ohi, what's going on?"
"I do not know if I should call the rest of the crew or pretend I did not recognise this object..."
Zoro was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Maybe there really was a reason why Sanji left his stuff with him? Everyone in the crew was like part of a big family, but between them it was different. They were not only friends. They were also rivals, and rivals are able to understand each other better than anyone else.
"Do not call them yet. Tell me, what the heck is that thing?"
Robin eventually stopped studying the jewel and focused back on the samurai.
"This is a camouflage device"
\\
The night before, Sanji took his decision. He was not going to wait for the world government to knock down every single door in the village until they found what they were looking for. He could not risk to have the navy arresting his friends either.
The only solution was to give the government what the government wanted.
He stared for awhile at the reflection of the naked woman in the mirror. A long time passed since the last time he saw her. Sometimes he would just see her to not forget her face. But all after all she was nothing but a stranger he rarely remembered about. A corpse who didn't belong to this world anymore, like the old lady said.
Sanji observed the woman, trying to take in every little change her body went through in the last few years. Her hair was annoyingly short, never letting it grow. She was a bit taller, but still thinner than most girls. The good thing was that now her breasts was much fuller. Last time she was a teenager, but now she was an adult woman any man would easily drool over. Sanji liked feminine curves but still...it felt strange.
Sanji was just studying the reflection without showing any emotion. He was never going to appreciate that body. Not because he didn't like it, of course. He loved every part and small imperfection of the image reflected in the mirror. But it was nothing more than that. A reflection.
Like a real ghost would do, the girl enjoyed to whisper to Sanji, time to time. She shared with him her feelings and her thoughts. Occasionally Sanji was able to ignore her, but other times he ended up buying a new black suit, clean shiny leather shoes, or stuff like that, just to please her girlish cravings.
In return the chef appreciated her point of view whenever some feminine taste was needed, for example she stopped him from serving any dish until the presentation of the food was not only appetising but also aesthetically perfect.
The only thing he immensely loathed about her was her liking for the stupid marimo. Every time they fought, Sanji had a hard time to shut her up.
Disregarding the thought of the darn samurai, Sanji grabbed the clothes he bought that same day and left the house of the old nanny.
He was ready to go back home.
NOTE: Hi all. Pls imagine this happened before the Big Mom arc. Thanks for reading!💋