His blond hair whipped with the cold wind. He raised a hand to brush it back to it's place. It flipped up again. He sighed, and didn't bother with a second attempt at taming his hair in this weather. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, not sure what to do with them as he stood in front of a wooden door.
He could hear the ocean water splashing against the side of the ship; he could feel the sway the currents pushed into the ship. The sky was such a perfect blue that he would believe it if someone told him a painter had brushed it into existence.
He felt so at home on this deck, staring at the wooden door, but his nervousness was keeping him from going any further.
Sanji remembered bursting through that door, running with a grin taking up most of his face (or it at least felt like it at the time) at the successful prank he pulled. His victim chasing after him like a hound from the hot and fiery place. A laugh pealed in the air, pure and happy and innocent in a way that he hadn't been in many decades. It had been followed by a snarl that only made him laugh harder at the time.
The blond blinked and looked away from the door, leaning against the wall as he gazed down the railed deck.
He never liked the color scheme, but there was little he could do about it. He remembered drilling the holes in the Hand Rail for every Baluster on the ship. Mostly outside because the "grown ups" had decided the inside of the ship would be too dangerous for a kid like him. He proved them! Finished drilling and installing everything in three days. Even the carpenter was impressed!
He remembered mopping up the deck in the hot, hot sun with it beaming down at him and draining him of needed energy.
Sanji smiled wistfully and took a drag from the cigarette in his mouth before pulling it away to exhale a cloud of curling smoke. It was swept away with the same wind re-styling his hair.
The door opened and a couple walked past, laughing softly at something one of them said as they huddled against the wind to get to their boat. The two didn't notice him.
He took another lungful of his cancer stick before letting free in the wind and watching it twist away.
Sanji remembered he had fought for this ship, and everyone that had been on it. He didn't remember why, but he had left right after. There was a tinge of spite and fondness. He wondered how he left. Was it good? Bad? Maybe he should just leave.
He pushed off the wall, but couldn't get a second step before someone called softly.
"Going to leave without saying hello? Thought I taught you better, Twerp."
Sanji looked over his shoulder, the cigarette still between his lips. There was his mentor with his impossibly tall chef hat stepping around a corner.
"Sorry about that. Hey Zeff!" He waved a hand in greeting as he turned to face the man who saved his life so long ago.
The master chef only stared at the boy with those beady eyes.
Sanji sighed and turned back to his boat. "I only stopped by to see if this place was still floating." He walked away, hearing the step and thump of the peg leg behind him. "I also brought you guys some treats." He hopped over to his boat and opened the door to his supplies.
Sanji heard Zeff gasp behind him. There, in ice, were fish from every sea. Their eyes not even cloudy yet. "I found it- the All Blue." He said it with a prideful smile. "Sorry it took so long. It turns out the current changes were the reason why no one had found it. Nami -one of my crew mates- and I figured it out though!"
Zeff smirked and shouted back to the Baratie. "Oi! You worthless pieces of chum better get out here this instant! We have a guest, and he brought gifts!"
Sanji stared at his mentor, a little underwhelmed that that was all the reaction he got out of the old man. Then there was a hand in his hair, parting the way he had done so many decades ago when he had left. "Fix your hair Twerp. It looks like a bird nested there."