A/N: I've been listening to Muse's album Absolution while writing this. It's one of my favorites. ^^v
Blue eyes opened with a start and stared into darkness. The scent of soaked walnut was heavy around him. Where am I? Sanji went to rub his eyes only for his hand to knock against a hard surface closely surrounding him. He pressed his open palm against the damp polished wood. An immensely cold pressure was pushing back from the other side. Where the hell am I?! In a casket?! In a panic, he tried to kick at the container. His limbs were stiff, but he still managed to crack the lid open.
Icy black water flooded in, forcing the casket completely open. Holding his breath, Sanji looked around in the inky water. Nothing… At least nothing he could see with his usual vision. His Observation Haki told him that there were several giant sea kings lurking around him. He needed to get out of there, but he was so deep under the surface, would he even be able to make it before running out of breath?
Using blue walk, the cook made an effort to survive. On his way closer to the light filtering down from the surface, his pace slowed. With enough light in the water to see, he came across a school of rainbow trout native to the North Blue. Did someone try to dump him in the sea where he was born? The answer was no, because as soon as he moved further up, he came across blue-striped swordfish from South Blue. … What? Swimming all around him were various fish and sea creatures from all four seas in the world. All Blue?! He was in the middle of All Blue?! It wasn't under the best circumstances, but he finally found his dream?!
Sanji was so distracted by all of the fish that he forgot that he still needed air. That was when he noticed that he wasn't feeling the normal pressure to take a breath. He was a good swimmer, but no one could hold their breath for that long... unless they were a fishman and didn't need to breathe. The cook looked at his hands. No webs between the fingers, but his right hand had a very nasty burn scar covering most of it. He was no fishman. That was certain. Out of curiosity, he swam towards the top at a more leisurely pace. Still no pressure, no suffocation, no drowning. Reaching the surface, he took a deep breath and quickly realized that he didn't need to. His lungs felt no different above water than they did below. What the hell happened to him?
It was night but the sky was still lit up enough by the moon and stars for Sanji to see a ship in the distance. He had already exerted quite a bit of energy swimming to the surface from the bottom of the sea, but he didn't feel tired. Without a second thought, he began to swim towards the vessel. After setting a comfortable pace, his mind began to wander. Who would've put him in a casket and dumped him in All Blue? Why was he even in a casket in the first place? Then it came to him. The last thing he remembered was being shot by Pudding-chan. The bullet went straight through his heart… Did he die?!
An unsettling wave of anxiety passed over the cook. He wouldn't be able to figure anything out while swimming in the sea. Fed up, he sprung out of the water and took off with a sky walk towards the ship.
…
Landing with a light step on the rail and then hopping to the deck, Sanji took a quick observation. He immediately noted that the ship was abandoned. It resembled the ghost ship that Brook was riding on when the crew met him. The crew… The sails were in tatters. One of the masts was broken in half, the missing upper half most likely rotting in the sea somewhere. If there was any food on the ship, it had definitely gone bad by now… Yet, the cook didn't really feel hungry anyway.
Maybe there would be some salvageable clothing? Removing his suit jacket, the blond noticed that he was wearing his favorite suit. It was his favorite because it was Nami-san's favorite. The crew seemed to agree if they decided to bury him in it. The crew… Did they send him to a watery grave in All Blue on purpose? Did they abandon him on purpose?! Those assholes! How dare they think he was dead. … But he was dead… wasn't he?
An animalistic growl erupted from his throat as he shook out his wet blond hair in frustration. His hands hit two objects on the sides of his head. What the…?! He ran his fingers along the solid appendages until he reached the pointed tip of each one. Horns! Sanji pulled at one and his head followed in the same direction. They were definitely attached. No way! No way could he…!
"So you finally managed to wake up," a weathered voice came from a hooded figure across the deck. Sanji instinctively snarled then flinched at his own reaction. The dark man chuckled. "What's wrong? You don't recognize your dear friend who got you another life?!" He got up and glided unnaturally across the deck towards the blond man. A skeleton hand with long, bony fingers stretched out from under the cloak. "Let me jog your memory," the figure said as he tapped the cook on the forehead.