To light up even the darkest of nights:

Prologue: Down and almost crying.

It was a cold winter night in December; the only thing to light up the dark was the moon and the stars. And even those seemed to glow only with a dull light. It was unusually quiet night at sea; the only sound was the waves crashing slightly against the side of the ship.

On deck stood a young man, his blond hair catching what little glow the sky sent, making it shine, it would have made a beautiful picture, if it wasn't for the tears that shone in his dark eyes;

Sanji was leaning against the railing of the ship, letting it support most of his weight. He couldn't sleep; rest just wasn't for him in times like these.

He had been depressed for a while now, there was no apparent reason, but then when was there ever an apparent reason for anything? The cook sighed in exasperation, he had never enjoyed musing about the justice (or rather injustice) of life; especially not when he should be sleeping soundly.

But what bothered him most wasn't the lack of rest; neither was it that he was depressed without reason; it was the fact that he felt like crying. He hadn't done that a long time (not since he left the Baratie 2 years ago), and he wasn't planning on starting again now! And most definitely not when he had no (yes you guessed it) reason for it.

Biting back that threatened to spill, Sanji pounded the railing hard, he had now come to the point where he couldn't care less if he damaged his hands; that was not a good place for a chef to be!

"You better watch out, or you won't be able to cook tomorrow" an annoying voice called out from behind him.

Sanji growled, before turning around to face the swordsman.

"And I'm pretty sure Luffy would hate that! After all you are here to, you know, cook." The green-haired bushido continued.

And somewhere deep inside that hurted Sanji more then anything; something just clicked. Like his fear had just been confirmed.

----------- So that was the prologue, please review and tell me if you want more!