This turned out a lot sappier than I intended. Good God, what's happening to me.

Abandon

Once Upon A Time

Sanji could recall with vivid detail the bedtime tales his mother narrated to him when he was little. Of course he had not been one to take them literally—even as a child he had been a pragmatist. Rather, it was the soft, melodic voice of his mother that sometimes haunted him at nights. Stories were stories. Most of the fairytales she read to him were virtuous parables designed to teach little boys like Sanji how to live their life properly. At this point in his life, though, Sanji did not care much for morality. He was a pirate after all. The only lessons that stuck with him were the ones about pride and honor. And chivalry. Sanji had always been a bit of a romantic at heart.

From what he could gather, his mother had been a strong woman. Perhaps it was from her he learned to respect the female kind. Sanji's childhood was a blur for him. His parents had not been the richest of people and he could remember having to scrounge for food on more than one occasion. Then one morning his mother woke him up and took him to the harbor where the most glamorous ship Sanji had seen in his life up until then lied waiting. His mother took his hand and led their way to the front where the ship's captain stood. There was an exchanging of words—nothing but muffled voices in Sanji's young, inattentive mind—and suddenly Sanji found himself being led up onto deck. He remembered confusion—a painful stab of betrayal—and the fear that penetrated him. The next second found Sanji in the kitchen, the cooks glancing at him casually. "New boy, eh? This is your life now. I hope you like cleaning dishes."

Over the years, Sanji's memories of his former life drifted away. Nowadays at best he could dream up a faded image of his mother in his mind; his father was nothing more but a silhouetted figure against the beaming light. It was times like these, when he was at complete peace and peering at the calm sea during his watch, that the ghosts would come back to haunt him. Once upon a time. Sanji smiled slightly. The tale of Montblanc Norland had been told to him by his mother. Never lie, Sanji. It'll get you into trouble. An age-old lesson that he had never forgotten, but could never remember where he had learned it from until now. Sanji breathed out slowly, the frigid air tightening around him painfully. Damn Usopp for stealing the last spare blanket.

He could not really understand why old memories came to surface now. Then again, when he thought about it for a moment, Sanji could hazard a good guess. It was his conversation with his captain that prompted all this talk about fairytales and family. Sanji had never once mentioned his forgotten past. But he was not the only one to have done so. The whereabouts of Zoro's family were also a bit of a mystery. But Sanji knew that if questioned, the Marimo would probably give some kind of reply. Zoro was the type to keep silent about a lot of things. If you asked him directly, though, he had no problem giving an answer. He was just never much of an initiator.

Sanji, on the other hand, kept his family to himself. Zeff was the foremost parental figure in his life—he had no need to discuss the other family that had left him. Perhaps it was out of bitterness. He had been abandoned—even if it was for his own sake—he had still been left behind. Sanji deluded himself with that notion for a long time until he had that dream this morning where he saw his mother crying as she waved him off. Only the dream did not seem so much a dream as it did a lost memory. That led to a bit of frustration that he carried with him throughout the day. Even Zoro had sensed it and stayed away from him. Only their blissfully ignorant captain had failed to pay any heed. And it was today, of all goddamn days, that Luffy took it upon himself to annoy the hell out of Sanji when all he wanted was to be left alone. Breakfast and lunch had been loud and tumultuous—Sanji could not even count how many times he had thrown his captain out of the galley before finding the boy back again, laughing gaily at his cook's disgruntlement. But it was before dinner that provided the most interesting moment of the day.

"Sanji, I'm making a snowman! Look, look!"

Luffy bounded forward as Sanji walked out of the galley. The crew had docked at a winter island and their captain had wasted no time in hurrying to play with the "soft, white stuff." The blond barely looked at the lumpy shape of snow at Luffy's hands before continuing his way. "Maybe later," he muttered, cursing to himself as he drew out an empty pack from his pocket. Such was his luck.

"Don't be so boring! Come on!"

Suddenly, Sanji saw a rubbery hand latch around his wrist before finding himself being pulled back with alarming force as Luffy's arm retracted back to its owner on the deck below. Luffy laughed as Sanji crashed into the soft pile of snow.

"See? It's fun, right?"

The boy's laughter had only served in fueling Sanji's quickly arising anger and he snapped at his captain coldly. "I don't have time for any of these games, Luffy!" He stood up and began walking away when Luffy's voice caught him.

"Sanji's sad." The blond froze. "You should play with snow. It'll make you feel better." Sanji looked at his captain over his shoulder. Luffy was collecting the snow and had just finished plopping an oddly shaped head onto his snowman's body when he caught Sanji's inquiring gaze. He grinned. "Told you it was fun!"

Sanji groaned, shaking his head. He supposed it was Luffy's overwhelming childlike aura, but somehow he could never find himself mad at the boy for long. He made his way back to his captain's position and sat back on his haunches, watching with some dismay at the progress of Luffy's snowman.

"We never got snow back at home. It's such a weird thing!" commented Luffy, leaning his head back to catch the falling snowflakes on his tongue. "It's water but it doesn't look like it. It's so pretty and white and fluffy! I wish the whole ocean was like this!"

At the mentioning of his home, Sanji looked at Luffy. "Do you ever miss your home?"

"Of course! Everyone there used to make fun of me—calling me a troublemaker when all I ever did was play around—but I love them and I know they love me," replied Luffy cheerfully. "I'll probably go back after I become the Pirate King and then the entire village will have a huuuuuge party!"

Sanji smiled a little. Then he took the plunge. "Do you miss your family?"

Luffy shot him a curious look, almost as if he was not sure he had heard the blond correctly. "Umm…well, we saw Ace not too long ago…"

"Is he your only family?"

"Nooo… But I haven't really spoken to… But yeah, I miss them!" Luffy grinned and went back to his snow gathering. "Do you miss yours?"

Sanji had expected the question to come. But even then he did not know what to say. He sighed and waved a hand dismissively. "Never really knew my parents enough to miss them," he replied honestly.

"Really? Is that why you're sad? You wanted to know them better?"

Sometimes, Luffy's insight really astounded Sanji. He considered the younger boy's words. "Well… Heh. Maybe. But it's more like I'm wondering if I was wrong to be angry at my mother all these years for leaving me behind."

Luffy screwed up his nose and looked at Sanji with a deep frown. "Huh?"

Sanji chuckled to himself. Well, Luffy was insightful, not psychic. "Never mind, captain. Just talking to myself." He looked around the empty ship. "Anyway, where's everyone?"

"They went to town."

"Without us?"

"We're protecting the ship!"

Sanji shook his head and rummaged through his pocket, pulling out the empty pack. "I need a smoke," he murmured to himself.

"Smoking is bad, Sanji."

The blond looked at his captain. "Are you lecturing me about my health?" he asked nonchalantly.

Luffy laughed. "It's common sense!" he exclaimed. Then he eyed Sanji closely for a moment. "Sanji…you're like a knight."

This, Sanji could not help but crack up at. "A knight?" he repeated, laughing and shaking his head at the same time. His captain was a strange one all right.

But Luffy was nodding along obliviously. "Yeah, you know like those fairytale stories where there's always a knight or a prince? You're like them. Except you smoke and you curse and you're really violent sometimes—especially around Zoro—but you're like that."

Sanji looked at his captain with an amused expression, his former tension temporarily lifted. "And what exactly is your point?"

Luffy thought to himself for a minute. Then shrugging, he stated offhandedly, "No point."

"Did your mother used to tell you stories to teach you those lessons? To be a good boy and never cry and act like a man?"

"No. Ace taught me that stuff."

For a second, Sanji could detect something hidden in his captain's answer that made him pause. Luffy carried on as usual, but there seemed something off about him now. Sanji sighed and stood up, brushing off his pants.

"I think I'll head to town for a bit too. Can I trust you to watch over the ship alone?"

Luffy nodded. "Of course!"

Sanji could not help but notice that the younger boy had avoided looking him in the eye as he replied. But like all mysterious things about Luffy, he left this one buried in the dark for the time being.

"If you miss them, why don't you find them?"

Blinking, Sanji snapped out of his reverie and looked below him. Luffy was watching him cheerfully, two thermoses in hand. The rubbery boy snapped back his left arm and launched it at the post where Sanji was located, and the blond moved away automatically as Luffy came flying up. When the captain landed without too much disturbance, he handed one of the thermoses to Sanji. The latter opened it with some caution and sniffed the liquid inside.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Robin gave it to me when I said I was going to visit you," Luffy answered. He opened his own and took a slow sip. "Mine is hot cocoa. Nami made it for me!"

"Nami-san is so kind…" Sanji took a sip of the hot coffee. "Ah, Robin-chan too."

Luffy nodded. "So are you?"

Sanji frowned. "What?"

"Are you going to look for your parents?"

"Who said I even wanted to look for them?"

"I don't know, but I think you'll feel better if you do."

Sanji sat down on the cold floor. The watch post really did not allow for much movement and Luffy was already practically breathing on top of him—not that he really minded. "That's what you think, Luffy. Just forget about it. It's not even important. It'll disappear from my mind eventually," he said.

"No way. Family is important. You shouldn't forget about it so easily."

His captain was staring at him intently. Sanji calmly gazed back at him, gauging Luffy's reaction carefully. "I'm not concerned with my parents, Luffy. I was five-years-old when they disappeared from my life. To be honest, I don't even know why they came back now. Maybe it's some anniversary date that I subconsciously remembered." Sanji snickered and lit up a smoke. Relief.

"So you don't care about them anymore?"

Sanji looked sharply at Luffy. "They're a part of my past that I don't even remember much about. If we're destined to meet again, so be it. If they're dead, so be it."

"Then why were you so sad?"

"Sadness and surly pondering are two different things, Luffy," replied Sanji coolly, spotting the confusion in the younger boy's eyes.

"Surly pondering? What's that?"

"It means over thinking something completely insignificant."

Luffy laughed. "That sounds stupid."

Sanji grinned a bit as well. "It is," he concurred.

"You're my family."

Surprised by the boy's sudden confession, Sanji stared at his captain in bewilderment. Luffy giggled to himself, hugging the thermos close to his chest.

"My real family's history is a little crazy. Ace is the only one I'm close to. But that doesn't matter because you guys are my family now. You, Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper are like…four extra brothers. Nami is like an older sister and Robin's like an auntie."

Luffy squeaked a bit in shock when Sanji leaned over and kissed him—his first real gesture of affection since the day began. Luffy met Sanji's lead with enthusiasm. He did not like the way Sanji always distanced himself when he was feeling down. He was glad his cook seemed to be feeling better now.

"So Luffy…that makes our relationship incestuous doesn't it?"

"Hmm?" The young captain looked confused. "What's that mean?"

Sanji smirked. "Imagine Ace kissing you instead of me."

"Eh? Ace…kiss… Sanji!" Luffy wailed as he buried himself into Sanji's warm embrace. He snuggled deep into the blond's hold until he was comfortable and then looked up at his cook. "No, you're not my brother, Sanji," he began seriously. He gave one his more charming smiles. "You're my knight."

Once upon a time…

Sanji kissed Luffy's forehead, smiling in amusement as the boy squirmed around playfully. A long time ago, he remembered his mother reading him to sleep, her goodnight kiss always placed gently on his forehead before he drifted off to the world of dreams. That time had come and gone, and now he sat here, perched atop a snowy caravel ship with his captain lying contentedly in his arms. Perhaps his mother had implanted those early ideas of romance and chivalry into him, but that did not matter anymore. What mattered now was that he was old enough to listen to his own advices—he did not need his mother; he did not need his father; he did not need an origin. All he needed was this ship, its crewmembers, and the captain that commanded their lives—his life. That was all the happily ever after he required.

End