Not a Dream But a Nightmare
By Cybra

A/N: A request from my captain Isotoperuption on tumblr for angst without romance. So then my mind swung in the meanest direction possible.

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

Sanji dropped to his knees on the lawn deck, staring out at the All Blue.

Or, rather, what had once been the All Blue.

"Where are the fish?" he asked pitifully as the other Straw Hats looked on in silence.

The grey ocean around them had none of the vitality of the waters surrounding the area had. This place of legend, this joining of the four Blues that even the most skeptical of cooks held out hope that one day someone would find to prove them wrong, was as dead as a graveyard. Not even Sea Kings bothered to swim here for lack of anything to eat, not even seaweed.

Whatever gods existed had forsaken this place long ago.

Here before him lied the ocean that had helped him survive pirates and starvation. The ocean he'd dreamed of for so long in spite of years of mockery, the impossible tales of crystal blue waters teeming with enough fish that no one would ever have to go hungry, had turned out to be nothing more than a sea cook's fantasy after all.

His short fingernails pierced his palms. No. This wasn't fair. Not after he'd been so patient. For so long, he'd been content to wander the Grand Line and the New World as the others achieved their dreams because one day during it all they'd find All Blue. He'd been sure of that. Just as sure as he'd been that his crewmates' dreams would come true. Theirs had come true. This was supposed to be his turn to experience that joy.

He didn't even notice the Thousand Sunny move beneath him, sailing farther into this dead zone. All he knew was that this place had to be wrong. This forsaken ocean couldn't be All Blue. There was no way. They must've made a wrong turn somewhere on the journey, and they'd instead found All Blue's opposite, the real thing still out there somewhere waiting to be discovered.

But the farther into this place they sailed (the Sunny for once silent with none of the laughter that accompanied the hiss of waves), the more Sanji's belief that this wasn't All Blue cracked. Sprinkled about on desolate islands where not even moss grew were the landmarks the old stories and songs had named. Weathered by time though they were, there was no denying the Great Stone Lighthouse or the Coatl Fjord. His mind cruelly identified each new marker even as he tried to retreat from the sickening knowledge that this abomination of an ocean was his All Blue.

They ultimately landed on a large island filled with scarred ruins, the stone structures charred as though lightning had reigned down from above only yesterday. The air itself seemed to pulse with electricity, as if the storm that had raged against these buildings so long ago was only taking a respite and would strike again at the slightest provocation. The clouds above rumbled ominously, dark and circling above like so many vultures.

Sanji thought Robin suggested that they go to explore and see what had happened, yet her voice sounded not shocked but resigned. For the first time, he realized she hadn't been able to meet his gaze ever since the knowledge of the Void Century had reached her hands. She'd even discouraged coming this way though he'd ultimately won the argument as he'd begged and bargained to give everyone anything they desired should it be in his power to give for just the chance to see if his dream could come true just like theirs had.

He couldn't even find it in his heart to be angry at her since there were so few pieces of it left in-tact to begin with. His emotions had been rendered numb, and he was grateful for that small mercy.

Bile burned its way up his throat and into his mouth as they stepped on shore, the earth beneath their feet cracked and dry. He gave one patch of thirsty ground its first taste of liquid in quite some time as he vomited up what little he'd managed to eat in the days (weeks?) since they'd first arrived in this barren sea. Chopper rubbed his back and Sanji was pretty sure the doctor was muttering soothing words, but the cook couldn't make them out as he heaved again and again.

Nami held him in her arms when he was through, cradling him close and speaking to him as though he were nothing more than a child who'd woken from a bad dream. He leaned into her embrace for a moment before moving away, separating himself from her so that he could save what little dignity he had left. The idiot swordsman in particular would give him hell to see him so weak, he told himself.

So they continued past hollowed-out homes and decimated marketplaces. A city that had once been so rich from trade, whose blackened murals told of more food than the populous knew what to do with, stood silent around them. The only sounds were the rumbling of the clouds and the crew's own footsteps scraping against the weathered, ancient stone streets.

They reached what once must've been a magnificent palace. Now it laid in ruin, still filled with treasures long forgotten. Though Nami gave a squeak of joy at the abandoned wealth, the sight of the faded gold and dusty gems to Sanji brought back memories of black despair upon opening a sack that should've contained lifesaving food but held only inedible material riches.

"It's only treasure," he said blankly. "It's worthless."

Nami shriveled at that and the disapproving glares he knew the others had to be giving her. For once, he didn't rise to her defense. He just kept walking the ruined halls of this castle of shattered dreams, not even knowing what he was looking for.

What he found was a mass grave.

In what once must've been an inspiring courtyard and a grand audience chamber were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of skeletons. The fleshless skulls of those outside gazed sightlessly upwards towards the black clouds that never stopped swirling about. Those inside the chamber were huddled into one massive group aside from the figure sitting on the throne.

Sanji approached the long-dead ruler and stood before it. Had this been a king or a queen? The clothes had rotted away too much to be able to tell, the only adornment left whole was an embellished golden circlet with a massive sapphire ruling over four smaller diamonds. He stared into those empty eye sockets even as Robin walked over to retrieve the book that the skeleton's hand rested on. He didn't hear what Robin translated from the writing there, deaf to all sounds but the rush of blood in his ears as if his very body was revolting at the idea of hearing of the last days of this place.

Without a word, he turned on a heel and walked out past the skeletons. He threaded his way back through the hallways of un-plundered loot even as the others shouted at him to wait. Swiftly pacing through charred streets and passing by the puddle of vomit that was almost completely soaked up by the dusty ground, he returned to the Sunny and headed for the galley.

His gaze swung downward to the transponder snail that dozed on the table by the couch. He walked over and dropped down onto the plush surface, staring at the snail before he picked up the receiver and started dialing mechanically.

"You've called the damn restaurant Baratie," a gruff familiar voice responded. "You want a reservation?"

Sanji sat in silence, swallowing.

"You there?" the voice demanded. "I haven't got all day for these—"

"We were wrong."

Silence from the other end of the connection.

The sound of the truth in his own ears ground what pieces of his heart were left into sand, each word creating a still-finer powder, yet Sanji continued on for this man needed to know what he'd sacrificed his leg for.

"There is no All Blue. It's all dead." A sob escaped him. "Zeff, it's all dead!"

There was no further conversation as Sanji fell to his side on the couch, clutching the receiver to his chest as he wept.