Sanji's eyelids felt heavy as he opened his eyes. He sat up and immediately saw flashes of color, and felt a throbbing in his head, causing his hand to shoot up and his fingers to grip his head through his hair. Looking around and feeling slightly dizzy, he noticed quite quickly that he was sitting in the infirmary of the Sunny. Taking a deep breath to try and stop his vision from spinning, he looked to the table next to the bed and noticed a glass of water, grabbing it thankfully and taking a small sip. He replaced the glass on the table shakily, and lowered himself back down slowly; for now he would just lay and rest. Sanji knew it wouldn't be long before Chopper came back in to check on him. Their doctor never left anyone in the infirmary alone for more than ten minutes, unless he knew they were conscious and had perfectly passed a medical exam.
Sure enough, a couple minutes later the door was pushed open, and Sanji could see the top of the tiny doctor's hat enter the room. As the reindeer hopped up on his special stool to be able to see at the level of the bed, his eyes met widened comically in relief and surprise when he noticed Sanji looking back at him.
"Sanji!" He exclaimed, but nowhere near loud enough to make Sanji's head hurt, since a doctor knows better than to scream at his recovering patients. "How are you feeling?"
Sanji tried to manage a smile. "Good, I think," he reassured him, "A tiny bit of a headache, and sitting up makes me a little dizzy last I checked, but I should be good to go in no time."
Chopper gave him an unimpressed look, as he had heard that story a thousand times, even when some of the crew had been close to death. Speaking of which… he tried to remember what got him there in the first place. The more he tried to think, the more the dull ache in the back of his head grew. He reached back to rub it, and hissed as he unexpectedly pressed on some sort of bump or bruise. No wonder he wasn't feeling right in the head; he must have been hit.
The doctor seemed to somehow know that Sanji couldn't quite remember exactly what happened, and so he tried to help him piece it back together, "You remember we were fighting marines, right?"
Sanji nodded, "Yeah, there was a shit ton of 'em, but we easily broke their ship in half, and then…" he hesitated, as far as he could remember, he didn't have a single scratch on him as they watched the boat sink into the ocean. It was an easy fight this time. He scrunched his brow a bit, and mumbled, "What, I didn't even get hit before that!"
Chopper nodded, "Ah, yeah, you didn't get hit during the fight." And just as Sanji was about to tell him to stop messing around with the riddles, he finished, "You were hit by one last marine who managed to hide behind the door in the kitchen until after we thought we had won. Robin heard the noise and went to check it out, and when she found him she just threw him off the ship. He got really lucky, being able to take you by surprise, but all in all it wasn't a deadly blow. Bad, since it was to the back of your head, but not enough to cause anything life-threatening." Chopper seemed worried, and Sanji smiled genuinely at his concern.
"Well," he half grunted, as he had to put quite some effort into sitting up again, "Thanks, Chopper. What time is it? I need to start making the next meal for everybody…" And he tried to turn to swing his legs off of the bed so he could get up, but Chopper held out an arm and silently commanded him to stop. Sanji almost laughed, because he should have known that even with just a bump to the head he wouldn't be able to leave without a full examination. Sighing, he stopped trying to get up, and allowed the doctor to get on with his work.
Chopper smiled at Sanji, and pulled out the drawer containing all his equipment. After finding Sanji's blood pressure to be almost exactly normal, his pupil dilation to be fine (so, thankfully, no sign of a concussion), his reflexes to be as sharp as ever, and his response to basic questions unfaltering, the cook was granted permission to leave. As he slowly stood and turned to head to the door, he stopped, a thought crossing his mind.
"Chopper," he began, "how long have I been out for?"
"Oh!" the little doctor exclaimed, not believing he didn't remember to start with that basic bit of information. "Just a couple days," he smiled as if that wasn't a lot for just a bump on the head.
"A couple days!?" Sanji's jaw dropped a bit, and he was irritated with himself. A little hit on the head took him out for 48 hours? Either he was getting weaker, or it did more damage than it seemed to have done. Although he had to let it go because none of it mattered anymore, now that he was awake. He shrugged, not wanting to worry his friend, and simply said, "Thanks Chopper, you're the best!" walking happily out the door. As he left, he heard Chopper's usual cries of, "That doesn't make me happy, you jerk!" Sanji chuckled to himself as he headed to the kitchen.
Crossing the deck, he was spotted by none other than their captain. Luffy jumped up eagerly from his spot on the railing of the ship, and flung himself at Sanji happily. "SANJI!" the boy exclaimed loudly, and wrapped himself around Sanji's upper body.
Usually Sanji didn't have a problem with Luffy being loud, but this time, as Luffy yelled his name his head suddenly hurt. He saw flashes of white in the corner of his vision, bright and almost blinding, and for some reason he related the noise of the situation to the popping of multiple balloons. He uneasily stepped forward to keep his balance, but failed and ended up dropping to his knees. Luffy immediately let go of Sanji, and grabbed his shoulders to support him. Chopper, having just been leaving the infirmary, saw him in his half fallen position and rushed over.
"Sanji! Are you alright!?" Chopper's voice was high and panicked. Sanji grabbed his head forcefully, as this time he felt the noise like a whistle, sharp and high, and red lights similar to the ones that come from emergency alarms.
"Sanji, talk to me!" Chopper insisted, as Luffy helped him back onto his feet to lead him back to the doctor's office and up onto the bed again.
"I have no idea," Sanji choked out, "the noises- there were colors, and the sounds felt like other sounds- my head just…" He couldn't even figure out what was going on for himself, much less explain it to other people.
Chopper had a confused look on his face for a few moments. Both Sanji and Luffy looked at him expectantly, and after a couple minutes, the doctor's face turned to one of realization. He gasped a little, and offered his theory, "Sanji! Have you ever heard of synesthesia?" he looked questioningly at the blonde man.
"Sounds familiar," he nodded, "although I have no clue what exactly it means."
"Well, it's a neurological phenomenon where the experience of one sense involuntary triggers a second sense to be experienced along with the first. So, the people who have it have two or three senses that kind of connect. For example, if you hear a noise you may associate it with a certain taste, or if you see a certain number it may have a color associated with it, even when it has been printed in black and white, things like that. The only thing that strikes me as strange is that you've never had this until now. Usually the people who experience it have always had it, and it's not the result of damage to the brain. But I think, since your injury was to the back of the head by the occipital lobe, which controls sight, it's not surprising that your vision might have been affected in some way. So seeing color might have just been a result of that." Chopper had a serious look on his face as he finished his lecture, and if Sanji looked very carefully, he could see, in the air around chopper, a slight blue-violet color. Taking in the color he could see around the doctor with easy acceptance- it was really cool after all- he turned to look at Luffy. Observing his younger friend, he noticed that Luffy, too, had his own color around him. It was a deep red, not too far from the color of the boy's favorite shirt. Overall, both of the colors were almost completely translucent, so they were hard to notice, but in general Luffy's was easier to see. He made a mental note to contemplate the meaning behind these colors later, and returned to the conversation at hand.
"So…" Sanji started, trying to make things clear, "will it always hurt? Will the colors ever stop coming? Is it only with loud noises? Is it going to be with anything besides noises?"
Chopper rubbed the back of his neck hesitantly, "Um, actually, I've never seen anything like this, so I have no idea what will happen. Besides, each case is unique. You'll just have to find out for yourself, and let me know if anything changes."
The cook had been expecting that, and he agreed. He was sure after his head itself recovered from the trauma that even if he was still seeing colors it wouldn't be unpleasant. Luffy grinned, "Seeing colors with other senses!? Cool!" He patted Sanji on the back excitedly, "You're lucky, Sanji! I wish I could see meat when I heard noises!" And he laughed, holding his stomach and tipping back his head. The laughter was contagious, and their captains remarks were absurd as always, so Chopper and Sanji found themselves laughing along soon enough. This time around, the lightness of the situation caused yellow, but this time it was warm and not as eye searing as the other bright colors, dancing in rays across his field of view.
Sanji's laugh faded as he was struck by a familiarity in the color and feeling. When he realized what it was, he was almost in awe of the experience. "Sunshine," he mumbled to himself, surprised.
Chopper stopped laughing immediately, and looked back at the blonde man intently. "What about sunshine?"
Sanji shrugged, "That's what I saw, or felt, or…" he struggled to explain.
Chopper became again enthusiastic, "It's good you associate good things with good feelings! That makes sense." Then he double checked, "It was good, wasn't it? It didn't hurt your head or anything?"
Sanji nodded his agreement, "Yeah, this one was fine. The other ones made me feel like I was going to go blind. Or maybe have my head explode. Either one." He grinned playfully, to reassure Chopper he was feeling all right.
The doctor nodded thoughtfully, and with renewed spirit, Sanji jumped off of the bed. Giving Chopper a pat on the head and a last smile at Luffy, and he headed out the door without explanation; he had a meal to prepare. They both knew where he was going anyway, and the proof of their understanding was the rubber boy's cheer of "Yay! Sanji's cooking!" as he launched himself out the door after the cook.
Sanji was feeling strangely at ease with this whole situation as he entered the galley. Above any potential discomfort, he was amazed as to the sharpness and connectedness of his senses as he prepared the food. While cutting red peppers, he noticed everything in great detail; first the sound of the steel blade cutting through the firmer outside of the pepper with the same crunch as an apple being bitten into. It was then immediately followed by the lower, airy pitch of a hollow whooshing through the more porous inside, then the final softer crunch of the opposite side of the pepper. Finally, the thunk of the knife hitting the cutting board sounded like the connection between an axe blade and a tree, recalling a memory from when he would cut down christmas trees with Zeff in his childhood. One specific moment, like a picture of the memory, flashed in his mind in overlap with his vision. As he lifted the knife blade out of the vegetable, a thin disc of the same red followed the knife up, and faded away as he brought it back down to repeat the action. It was brilliantly complex when he stopped to think about it. He hadn't tried to notice, it was just what he observed; the sounds triggering memories, and the actions pulling colors alongside them. Within a fraction of a second, he had actually been cognizant of countless things, all a blur of sensations.
Interesting.
He continued to cook and take in the changes in his vision and thoughts that were triggered in the back of his mind. From the grey violin screeching of the rusty hinge on the cupboard door, to the deep orange glow the room seemed to take on when he lit the flame on the stove, all the way to the bronze muffled bell ring of the spoon hitting the side of the pot as he stirred.
In the background, on the deck of the ship, the cook heard Luffy excitedly telling everyone Sanji was ok and awake again. The cheerful voices and laughs reached him in smooth waves through the air and wooden walls of the kitchen, and once again he was surrounded by the faint warmth and sunshine yellow that he somehow already knew he would always associate with the sound of his nakama's happiness.
A/N: Hey guys! So, I just thought this up last night and I really wanted to do something with it. I really don't know exactly what I want to do, so if you have anything you really want to see happen, let me know in the comments! I know there isn't any hint of relationships at the moment, but I really do have my favorites that I want to incorporate. But I will also make sure to keep the action up and not let it turn into anything that takes away from the whole theme of perception.
Anyway, let me know what you're thinking, good or bad!
Thank you so much for reading, love you all!
\(^~^)/