A/N: For 20 Years at Sea over on Tumblr, Day 7: Family (cross-posted). Why so angsty? I have no clue.
True Family
Over the course of his life Sanji had had three families. Though, he rarely counted his first.
In fact, he didn't even think about is blood family as his family at all, with the exception of his mother (and occasionally Reiju). They were just people he spent the first few years of his life with, they hadn't understood him and he hadn't understood them. The violence and cruelty they had wanted from him wasn't a part of his make-up, no matter how much it they showed to him.
And they had let him go, disowned him and pretended he was dead. The only really good thing he thinks they had ever done for him. Allowing him to move on and find what a true family was.
The cruise ship had been nice enough for a time but it wasn't until he was rescued from that rock with the old man that he had first known what a true family was.
At the beginning, it wasn't as if he recognised it, all he had known he felt was gratefulness to a man who had given up his dream and his leg to save a brat. But over time as the old fart raised him and taught him to cook at a level he had only really dreamed of, he had begun to realise it was more than that. Zeff wasn't just teaching him to cook, he was raising him, teaching how to be a person, a man, as best as he could. While he could be gruff and violent, he was doing a much better job than Judge had ever done and beneath it all there was a was a sense of affection, of caring for Sanji.
Around them, as each of the cooks found their place aboard the ship they seemed to slip into roles of uncles, cousins or much older brothers (occasionally a mixture of all three), or at least what Sanji thought of as fit these roles. Carne and Patty in particular seemed to fit most closely to the older brother category, but not ones like Ichiji and Niji had been. More in the sense that they felt at ease making fun of Sanji but wary of taking it to far so as not to incur the wrath of their father for bullying their baby brother. In all the annoyance and arguments between them there was also the sense of affection and the knowledge that if he truly needed help they would stand up to the occasion.
In the end, when Luffy recruited him, they pushed him to go and follow his dreams. Though at some points it did feel a little like he was being pushed out of the nest.
But it led to his third family and the Straw-Hats were a family, never mind that no-one ever spoke as such. He knew they were, and so did the rest of them.
The idiot Marimo was the older brother figure. Though the other man was only a few months older than him that was what Sanki knew he was. Maybe, that was part of the reason why he couldn't stand the idiot most of the time. He had too many issues with brothers with such as small age gap, for all he knew that the idiot actually cared for every one of them in his seemingly unemotional way (if he had had any doubts left, Thriller Bark would have blown them away, it wasn't just Luffy he sacrificed for, it was all of them).
Franky was something between an elder brother and an uncle. He might have thought maybe a father figure sometimes but he already had one of those that fit much better to him. Franky was a little quirky but good natured, willing to give life advice or just joke around with everyone.
Brook was something between an uncle and a grandfather. A little bit no right there, a lot of caring and music.
Chopper was the baby brother everyone attempted to look after, but also wanted to teach how to live in the world.
Usopp was that younger brother who was a little insecure in everything they did. That needed consistent attention to ensure they didn't fall too far into their head and worry about everything. (The two-year age gap and the completely different temperament was enough to separate him from Yonji.) He was the one that was fun to mess with so long as you didn't take it too far.
Luffy, or Luffy, was that little brother that needed constant supervision to ensure they didn't either do something stupid, illegal or both. The idiot who seemed to be able to pick just the right moments to say just the right thing that no-one else would think to say. Loved for who he was, despite his more destructive quirks, and seemed to be able to get what he wanted because no-one could seem to say no to him for long.
And the lovely ladies… nope not going there (little sister he adored and dotted on, beloved older sister/aunt/mother figure).
Those were his two true families. And he would do anything, sacrifice anything, for them.