"You don't have to be afraid of me." The blonde man spoke as he kneeled down. His voice was gentle as he tried to coax out the small, shaking creature in the alley.
At first, he thought it had been an animal, but it seemed too large to be any sort of creature.
His second idea was that it might have been a young child. And sure enough, as he took a step foward, he found it was a girl.
A very young girl, perhaps eight or so? Her shoulder-length hair looked as if it once had been a lusterous black, but it had since lost it's amazing sheen.
Her blue eyes seemed laiden with terror as she crept further into the alley. The man eyed her red dress, the bottom torn slightly and the sides frayed.
She looked like she had been punched at one point. A thin ring of recovering blackness ran around her right eye.
Who could have done this to such a sweet, innocent child? He shook his head, not wanting to know as he held his hand out to her.
"Are you alright...?" He asked, half expecting her to take his hand.
It looked like the girl was forcing herself to nod, trying to stay away. "...I'm fine..." She whispered.
"You look so hungry...I'll make you something back at my home, if you wish..."
For a minute, she hesitated, nodding slowly after a long moment of pondering. The man suddenly wrapped his arms around her, hiking her up.
Walking towards a little house nearby, he carried her, all the while, feeling her body shivering.
"What is your name...?" He asked. For a moment, he listened, but heard nothing. Her lips were moving, but she wasn't saying a word.
"Come again...?" A second time, she said something, but it wasn't audible. Everything around them suddenly started to feel like it was shifting away. Turning into a bright light...
--
Sanji woke up with a bit of start, looking around to see the bright sunshine coming into the room. Glancing at his side quickly, he smiled as he watched Robin shift in the bed slightly, though she soon grew still with sleep again.
Tiredly, Sanji wrapped his arm around her before laying down, sighing.
If he'd been born a few years sooner, had never gone to Baratie, found a home in West Blue...Of course, would things have been the way they are now?
Sleep came to him quickly as he pushed the very idea out of his mind, leaving himself with one comforting thought.
Either way it would have happened, he would have ended up saving her. Somehow.