I know, I know. I'm sorry about "Mightier than the sword", guys! Next chapter is coming up, I promise. Meanwhile, enjoy this short, sweet drabble. I always wondered about Sanji's past in North Blue so I came up with my own version of the events. Hope you guys like it.
Usopp's stomach was restless
It had been growling for the last thirty minutes, right after he woke up in the velvety darkness of the men's quarters and it had been getting worse ever since. For what seemed like an eternity, he lay awake, listening to the hushed murmurs of the sea through the Thousand Sunny's hull and tried his best to fall asleep again but the dull hunger would not let him be. After imaginary sheep number seven hundred forty-one jumped over the increasingly thornier bush, he finally decided to stop fighting.
He slipped out of bed, nearly kicking Chopper's sleeping form in the bunk under him and stumbled into the hallway. For a second, he felt disoriented while his muddled brain slowly reconstructed the ship's layout. He would never admit it to anyone but sometimes, in the late hours of the night, he still found himself reaching for doors that weren't there and looking for rooms that didn't exist anymore. The mental map of the Going Merry was a ghost lingering on his mind that returned at the most inopportune moments and was proving really hard to shake off.
Despite that, Usopp could not help but like their new vessel, courtesy of Franky, the most recent member of the crew. Even though it could never replace his beloved Merry, the ship definitely had its advantages. For example, he now had a nice, quiet place to work though it didn't tend to stay quiet for long. In fact, he had spent all yesterday evening working on a new sulphur-based compound which left him feeling lightheaded and queasy at dinner. Three quarters of his share had gone directly to Luffy's plate, a fact that he now regretted as he dragged his feet towards the kitchen in a dazed stupor. He hoped Sanji hadn't changed the combination on the fridge's lock.
He reached his destination, frowned and stopped a couple of steps away. Soft, golden light streamed through the slightly ajar door and he could see someone sitting at the dinner table, whistling a mellow tune. He hesitated for a second, trying vaguely to remember if he had heard anyone else get up before him, then took a step forward and pushed the door open.
A blond head bent over a small notebook snapped up at the sound of his footsteps over the wooden floorboards. Sanji's blue eyes narrowed a bit, trying to identify his silhouette etched against the darkness. When they recognized him, they regarded him with a quizzical look.
"Hey! I didn't take you for a night owl."
He raised a hand and waved him a small greeting. Usopp waved back in silent puzzlement. His gaze travelled over the neatly tidied kitchen and finally settled on the cook.
"What are you doing here?"
Sanji's eyebrows arched at the question. He looked down at the open notebook on the table and tapped a long yellow pencil on its side.
"Inventory, of course. What else?"
Usopp continued to stare at him dumbfounded.
"It's three in the morning."
His deadpan tone made the cook pause and shift in his seat. He twirled the pencil between his fingers and looked at the paper with a pensive expression.
"Yeah, I know. I couldn't get to sleep so I decided to do something useful..." He ticked off a couple of things, jotted down something on the lower right corner and looked up again. "What are you doing here? It's three in the morning for you as well."
Usopp's expression turned guilty as he made his way towards the table and pulled up a chair.
"I think the sulphur effects are beginning to wear off."
Sanji threw him a knowing smile.
"You're getting hungry now? I told you not to give all your food to Luffy. I could have just saved it for later."
"Yeah well, I didn't exactly have time to reconsider." Usopp hung his head in defeat as he remembered the captain scarfing down his share like he hadn't eaten in weeks. "Never mind, I'll just grab some fruit or something."
The cook just shrugged and stretched his arms over his head, popping his shoulder joints with an audible crack.
"Hope you like apples then. It's the only thing we have left."
Usopp groaned, letting his head sink even lower between his shoulders.
"Really?" Sanji just nodded and went back to ticking things off in his notebook. "Crap, those usually make me even hungrier!"
He looked at the cook with what he was hoping was a pleading expression and saw the blue eyes roll in silent resignation. Sanji drummed his fingers on the table for a while as if considering his options. His eyes quickly skimmed over the long list scribbled in the notebook, then focused on the glossy red fruits piled up in a bowl on the counter. When they looked back at Usopp, they lit up like a couple of blue fireworks.
"Give me a second! I think I have an idea."
Before Usopp could move, Sanji stood up and walked towards the counter, turning his back to him. His hands grabbed the fruit bowl, rummaged through a cupboard and took out a large glass jar. For a while, Usopp could only hear the sound of a knife slicing through apples but when the cook turned around a couple of minutes later, he was carrying a dinner plate and two chipped tea mugs.
"There!" He took a tentative sip out of one of the mugs, licked his lips and put it next to his notebook. "This should do it."
Usopp peered at the contents of the plate in the cook's hands. The apples in the bowl had been carefully cored and sliced into rings. Each one of them bore a generous helping of peanut butter and was topped with another apple ring, forming a pile of fruit sandwiches that stood nearly as tall as the glass jar on the counter. Sanji placed the plate and the mug on the table, gave the whole ensemble an appraising look and sat back on the chair flipping through the notebook absentmindedly.
"Wow, that was fast!" Usopp was about to dig in but hesitated as he glanced at the empty fruit bowl. "Are you expecting some kind of army to join me though?"
Sanji stared at him in confusion. For a second, Usopp saw the blue eyes linger on the wobbling mountain of food with a strange, faraway expression. When he spoke again, he sounded almost embarrassed.
"Sorry, I guess I got carried away."
Usopp just shrugged as he grabbed the nearest sandwich and popped it into his mouth.
"Never mind, this way we can share. There's enough for the whole crew here."
Sanji shook his head and stroke a line under a list in his notebook.
"Actually, I'm good. They're all yours."
Usopp frowned. Under the golden light of the kitchen lamp, his crewmate's pensive expression turned ever so slightly melancholic. For a while he just sat there wolfing down the sweet and salty treats until the initial wave of hunger finally subsided and he turned back to the cook with renewed curiosity.
"Come on Sanji! There's no way I can finish it all by myself." He took another long look at the apple rings heaped on the plate wondering what could have possessed the cook to overdo it this much. "I thought you hated wasting food."
"This is not wasting food. You just have to sprinkle them with lemon juice and they'll keep for at least twenty four hours more…" Sanji's fingers flew over the paper, writing numbers in rapid succession. "To be frank, I'll be happy if I never have to eat one of these again."
Usopp frowned and eyed the apple sandwiches suspiciously.
"How come? Are you allergic or something?"
"Huh?" Sanji looked at him distractedly. "Not really, I'm just sick to death of these things. You know when you have like ten kids running around, all screaming for a snack and all you have is peanuts and apples..."
The sentence hung in the air unfinished, as if the cook had caught himself rambling and pulled back at the last minute. He floundered for a couple of seconds; then went back to the unfinished list but the pencil in his hand remained hovering over the paper. Usopp waited for him to continue but Sanji kept quiet, his eyes glazed over in deep thought. Finally, he decided to break the silence himself.
"I see." He tapped his fingers on the edge of the plate. "Let me guess, big family?"
Sanji looked up as if snapping out from a daydream. The corners of his mouth curved in a smile again and this time, Usopp could tell it was a genuinely happy one.
"Oh yeah, it was huge! If you thought it was getting a bit crowded on the Going Merry, you should have seen my bedroom when I was five." Sanji beamed and took another sip out of the chipped mug. "Then again, my parents grew up with big families too. I tell you, I needed a notebook and a calendar to keep track of all my cousins!"
Usopp nodded in slight amusement. His hand hovered over the dinner plate and took another apple sandwich but never brought it to his mouth. He suddenly realized that he had never heard Sanji talk about his past or, at least, about his past before the Baratie. He had once made an offhand comment about being born in the North Blue but the conversation had quickly veered in another direction. Sanji himself had seemed reluctant about going into details so the matter was quickly forgotten but now, Usopp could not help but feel curious. After all, the cook knew all about his mother and Kaya. It seemed only fair to balance things out.
"It must have been fun, growing up with so many brothers and sisters." He took a small bite out of the sandwich and leaned back on his chair watching the cook go over his notes.
Sanji looked up from the scribbled pages and grinned.
"Yeah, it was great!" For a second the blue eyes lit up again as memories flooded them. "It could get a bit chaotic, though. There was always something loud and messy going on in the background. And my mom would go through all of my siblings' names before she remembered mine."
His voice grew a bit softer at the mention of his mother. Usopp snickered and rocked a bit on his chair. The hunger pangs that had dragged him to the kitchen were long gone but the pile of apple snacks on his plate was still considerably huge. For a second, he wondered if Sanji had been on some sort of auto pilot while making them and only snapped out of it when he had run out of apples to cut. Given the scenario the cook has just described, the explanation didn't seem too far-fetched.
"Did all your siblings have curly eyebrows?" He asked leaning towards the dinner plate again. "Because that's a pretty useful distinguishing feature."
Sanji shook his head and leaned back, still lost in his reminiscence.
"Nah, only my mom and aunts had them. I think it's a weird genetic thing like rolling your tongue or dimples…" He paused and threw a teasing glance in his direction. "Or that long nose of yours for that matter."
Usopp rolled his eyes and glowered at him.
"Hey, watch it! This thing right here is a beautiful creation of nature!" Usopp pointed at his nose with a hurt expression which just made Sanji's smile wider. "So how did you end up in East Blue anyway? Seems like you had it pretty good back home."
Sanji's smile wavered a bit. He turned back to the notebook, looking at the pages with misty eyes, as if yanked from a dream and back to reality. The sudden lost look on his face made Usopp regret his phrasing.
"Well, you know how it is..." The cook's voice acquired a quieter, somber tone as his fingers curled around the pencil, softly tapping out an irregular beat. "We lived in a small village, most of the locals were either fishermen or farmers. My parents did their best to make ends meet but they had only so many resources at their disposal… and there was another baby on the way."
Usopp nodded wordlessly. Sanji's paused for a second, took a measured gulp out of his mug and carried on.
"One day, this ship came along all the way from the East Blue. They were looking for new workers, mostly young, healthy kids willing to see the world. They were paying their families pretty well too. When I saw the way my parents looked at that money…"
Something twisted in Usopp's gut as the cook's voice trailed off. For a few moments he just sat there gaping like a fish. When he found his voice again, it came out louder than intended.
"Are you serious?! They sold you off?!"
The blue eyes widened at his unexpected outburst. Sanji looked at him in slight shock as if the thought hadn't even occurred to him until Usopp pointed it out. The stunned silence lasted for about five seconds before Sanji threw him an amused look and chuckled softly.
"They didn't sell me off, don't be so dramatic."
An exclamation of pure disbelief escaped Usopp's lips. He opened his mouth, trying to cobble together a more appropriate answer but what came out instead was exactly what he had on his mind.
"Well… That's pretty much what it sounds like!"
Sanji let out a long exasperated sigh.
"I know what it sounds like…" The faint smile fled his lips, replaced by a more serious demeanor. "But believe me, it was better that way. There was no future for me back there and my family would do much better with one mouth less to feed. It was a good deal."
Usopp just stared at him, not sure what to say next. The downplayed reaction seemed strangely out of place, considering Sanji tended to blow the smallest things out of proportion especially when it came to Nami and Robin. He opted for keeping silent and letting Sanji go on.
"Besides, I was kind of scrawny back then." The cook's voice turned almost reassuring. "Wasn't too useful for heavy lifting or manual labor so I ended up in the kitchen. All things considered, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I got to meet Zeff… and you guys."
He weaved his fingers around the still steaming mug and closed his eyes, breathing in the strong aroma. There was an uncharacteristic fondness in his last words that made Usopp lower his voice when he asked.
"So, do you still keep in touch with them?"
Sanji opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling as if considering his answer. Finally, he shook his head and shrugged.
"Not really. I tried for the first couple of months but after a while the letters stopped arriving. Life just dragged us in completely opposite directions." He paused and tapped the pencil on the edge of the table. "Sometimes I wonder if they'd even recognize me from the bounty poster."
Usopp snorted into his tea.
"You can't really blame them if they don't... That thing is hideous."
"Yeah, don't remind me." Sanji made a face as he balanced on his chair. "Maybe it's for the better. We may not be close but I'm pretty sure they did not want me to become a pirate."
He swayed back on the chair one last time and sprung to his feet.
"I'm going to bed. Are you going to finish that?"
He pointed at the pile of apple snacks on the plate. Usopp took one long look at it and shook his head.
"No, thanks. I'm turning in as well."
Sanji nodded and swiped the plate from the table. He turned to the counter humming softly as the sour smell of freshly cut lemon filled the air. Usopp yawned and slowly stood up, feeling sleep weighing him down to a shambling crawl. He was about to head back but lingered in the kitchen doorway and turned around at the last moment.
"Hey Sanji?"
The blonde stopped humming and turned his head to the side.
"Huh?"
"They would have been proud of you."
Sanji didn't answer. He stood completely still, hands frozen over the plate like he had suddenly forgotten how to use them. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds before the cook slowly turned around to face him.
"You think?"
The question, framed by a sarcastic smile, had sounded strangely hopeful. Usopp just nodded enthusiastically and gave him a toothy grin.
"Yeah! And if not, we already are."
His grin wavered a bit as the blue eyes widened in genuine astonishment. He saw the cook's mouth fall open, stammer something unintelligible; then give up half-way through. Before Usopp could get a word in, Sanji quickly turned around and went back to fussing over the browning apple sandwiches. When he turned back, he looked slightly flushed.
"Well, you better be!" He placed the plate with the apple snacks inside the fridge and looked at Usopp almost insulted. "Do you know what it takes to keep our captain fed?"
"You knew the risks when you joined." Usopp yawned again and rubbed at his eyes. "Are you coming or not?"
Sanji nodded and clasped the notebook shut. He gave one last look at the kitchen before flicking the light switch off and following the marksman into the dark corridor.
"Sure. I'm right behind you."
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