2.) Feels Like the First Time
Minato had been..almost...indifferent to being reborn.
It was just another thing thrown at him, he could adapt.
At least..that's what he told himself.
Minato-no Sanji, that was his name now, didn't like his new family. In Konaha they killed when it was necessary. When it was kill or be killed.
Yes they had their own assortment of assassination jobs, but those were never for innocent people.
His family. His family did. He didn't like it. But he made an effort to try and get to know them to love them, because weighed he liked it or not they were all he had now.
He no longer had his true home, no longer had Kushina, would never be able to have Naruto, he didn't even have his abilities any more and had been reduced to the size and strength of a toddler.
He had actually grown to love his new family a bit, even if he hated what they did. And then everything seemed to change once he had met his father.
He had been hopeful. He had never had parents before. He had been a toddler abandoned in the forbidden forest in Konaha the first time around, only to almost die then be saved by the toad sannin.
He never met his parents personally, so he had been hopeful that his father would give him what he hadn't had the first time.
He had been disappointed.
With one disgusted glance the fragile family he had built around him mentally shattered. And with it shattered his only anchor to keep him from falling apart from everything he had gone through in such a short time.
His brothers started bulling him to the point he could move. They got trained while he got left behind, ignored by everyone.
He had broken down, ran and screamed till his throat was raw, because he had nothing to focus on. Nothing to anchor himself to.
He had felt as if he was standing shakily in one place while the world raged, pulled, pulsed, and sped around him so fast that not even he could see what was happening.
Then he found out he could cook.
It became his new anchor.
When he could no longer stand the Vinsmokes he had made himself a stowaway on a ship that visited.
He was free.
He was able to get himself a job at a restaurant on a cruise ship, before it sank and through several sporadic events made him end up stranded on a small rock with Zeff the pirate.
He rationed his share of food the best he could and when it ran out and he started to starve he retreated into his mind to try and help deal with the pain of hunger. His anchor had started to crack.
When that would work no longer his body acted on instinct. He had gone to Zeff with the intent to steal whatever he had left. Which he knew probably wasn't much. To find that Zeff hadn't had any food at all and had instead given it all to him before cutting off his own leg to eat instead.
Zeff became his new anchor where cooking had failed.
When they were finally saved Zeff took him in and opened a floating restaurant called the Baratie. Sanji worked for Zeff there. He enjoyed it.
He started to view Zeff as a father, surprisingly.
Years had passed and then entered Monkey D. Luffy.
He didn't know what it was about the teen. But he felt himself drawn to him. So finally after Don Krieg was beaten, Luffy's swordsman had promised never to loose again, and the Baratie finally started to settle down again.
When Luffy asked he agreed.
So much happened after that. He met Zoro, and Nami, and Usopp, and Chopper, and Robin, and Franky, and Brook. They became his family.
Sure he bantered with Zoro often, more like a brotherly rivalry, it felt normal, felt like something he could have now. He treated both Robin and Nami with respect that women deserved, but he never flirted with them. His love for Kushina wouldn't let him.
He acted annoyed or mad to the other boys when they did something to earn it, he laughed and joked with them when their intentions were true.
They were his family.
He loved them.
He loved that he could act like himself around them. In Konaha he was always expected to act a certain way because of his position.
As a student of the Sannin he was supposed to act serious and confident. As a jonin he was supposed to be calculating. As a teacher he was supposed to be a mentor. As a husband he needed to be strong and protective. As the hokage he had to act respectful, strong, confident, and so much more.
But as a Strawhat, all he was required to act like was himself. He wasn't restrained anymore. Sure with Kushina he hadn't been, but that was only when they were alone in their little house, which ended up being rare.
It was still all strange though. He remembers being Minato. But he was Sanji now too. It wasn't like an undercover mission with a henge. But it wasn't like he had just moved from one place to another either.
He probably would never understand exactly what it was like. Or at least never be able to fully put it into words.
But this was his life now. Sure he missed Kushina and wished to see his son, who was probably his age or older now, but he couldnt leave the family he had now either.
And that was ok. He didn't want to.