Non-humans: Vampire Sanji

"Guys, I was thinking . . ."

Everyone looked up from lunch to Sanji, who was leaning against the counter.

"D'you think it'd be a good idea to . . . practice breaking out of control?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked with a frown.

"You mean breaking free of a vampire's control?" Robin asked.

Sanji nodded. "It'd be bad if one of you runs into a vampire and you're rendered helpless, right?"

"Yeah, I've been in that situation," Usopp remarked.

Sanji glared at him. "For god's sake, Usopp, that was ages ago, and you don't even remember, so don't give me that attitude!"

"Yes, mom," Usopp muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up," Sanji ordered. Usopp crossed his arms grumpily. Sanji kept his gaze fixed on the sniper as he continued. "Anyway, most vampires probably aren't going to be as friendly as me and only take a little bit of blood. They'll probably want to go for the whole shebang."

Brook shivered. "I certainly wouldn't want all of my blood to be sucked out . . . oh, wait; I haven't had any blood in years! Yo-ho-ho-ho!"

Sanji rolled his eyes and glanced at Brook, breaking his hold over Usopp. "Yeah, I think you and Chopper are safe."

Chopper breathed a sigh of relief.

"This sounds pretty important," Luffy commented. "Let's do it."

Sanji nodded. "Right. I'm thinking one at a time, maybe a bit each day until you can all do it. Any volunteers?"

"I'll do it," Franky offered.

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "I'm thinking you should go last."

Franky raised an eyebrow in response. "Why's that, bro?"

Sanji gestured to him. "You still have blood, right? But it would take some work to find out where to bite to actually get some without hitting solid metal."

Franky puffed out his (metal) chest with pride. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. So you go last."

Franky shrugged.

"I'll go, then," Zoro said, scowling. "I should have no problem breaking out of your pansy-ass control."

Sanji sneered, briefly baring his fangs. "Yeah? Bring it."

They glared at each other.

After lunch, the others went outside while Zoro and Sanji stayed in the kitchen.

"Just try to break free," Sanji said as they sat across from each other. "Think you can handle that, moss-for-brains?"

"Less talk, more action, curly," Zoro snapped.

Sanji fixed his gaze on him. "Shut it."

Zoro went mute. He opened his mouth, clearly trying to express cuss words towards the cook, but he could not. He scowled, settled back, and took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. Opening them, he moved his mouth again to no avail.

"Want to try again later?" Sanji offered, not once removing his eyes from Zoro. Zoro fiercely shook his head and continued mouthing silent cuss words.

About ten minutes passed before Sanji looked away. As he did so, Zoro was in the middle of attempting to speak, so all that came out was, "—ter, shit-cook!"

He scowled. "I want to try again."

"Later," Sanji said firmly. "Get someone else in here and let them have a go."

"Dammit, cook, I—"

Sanji glared at Zoro. "Shut up," he ordered. "Stand up. Leave the room, and shut the goddamn door behind you."

Zoro went silent, stood, and left the room, his hands clenched into fists the entire time.

A minute later, Robin entered and sat across from Sanji.

"I'm ready," she said calmly.

Sanji looked at her in surprise. "Robin-chwan?"

"Do I look like someone else?"

Sanji scratched the back of his neck. "Er . . . Robin-chwan, you don't have to do this if you don't want to—"

"Yet I'm here, so clearly I want to," she responded. "Go for it."

Sanji hesitated.

"Sanji?"

"Well—" Sanji smiled. "Robin-chwan, this isn't necessary—I'll be there to protect you, if—if you—!"

She steadily gazed at him. The smile slid off his face and he glanced away.

"I have to be able to protect myself if the time comes," she said coolly. "I wouldn't want to be paralyzed in the face of an enemy. Do it."

Sanji gritted his teeth and gazed at her. "Don't . . ."

He hesitated again.

"Sanji."

"Don't move," he said at last, keeping his gaze on her.

Robin froze in place. She pressed her lips together and visibly struggled to move. After a moment, she was able to lift her hand very slowly from the table, as if it bore a heavy weight.

For a moment she looked surprised, but then her eyes flicked to Sanji, who continued to keep his eyes on her.

"Sanji," she said slowly, letting her arm fall to the table. "I don't appreciate you going easy on me."

Sanji hesitated, then deflated. "Don't move," he said firmly, re-fixing his gaze.

This time Robin could not even lift a finger. About five minutes of struggling passed.

"Robin-chwan, do you want to try again later?"

Robin hesitated. "I suppose so," she said at last.

Sanji looked away briefly and Robin slumped slightly, taking a deep breath. She stood and smiled. "Thank you."

Sanji smiled. "What for?"

"You listened to me and didn't hold back. I appreciate that."

She nodded to him and left.

"She's so great," Sanji sighed, hearts filling his eyes. "Oh, Robin-chwan!"

"Sanji! My turn!"

Sanji snapped out of his lovesick daze and looked up at Luffy. "Oh, it's you."

Luffy sat across from Sanji and grinned. "Let's do it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sanji muttered. He stared at Luffy. "Don't move."

Luffy froze. He made a face, which was really the only sign he was struggling to move.

"Do—the voice—too," Luffy grunted, his eyes flicking to Sanji.

"You sure?" Sanji asked, frowning. "It must be hard enough trying to move."

"Do it!"

Sanji sighed. "Don't speak."

Luffy went mute. He was now frozen in place, unable to speak, and making faces as if fighting the toughest battle of his life.

Sanji did not remove his eyes. Over ten minutes passed before he sighed exasperatedly. "Luffy, look at me if you want to keep going."

Luffy's eyes immediately moved to Sanji's face. Sanji pursed his lips. "You sure . . . ? Okay."

Another minute passed with no change.

"Tell you what," Sanji said calmly. "If you can move or speak, I'll make your favorite tonight."

Luffy's struggle seemed to increase tenfold. All of a sudden—

"AAAAAAHHH!"

Luffy's hands abruptly clenched into fists, he tensed up, and a yell escaped from his mouth as an enormous wave of power swept the Thousand Sunny.

Sanji's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell face-first into the table. Outside, everyone did the same, either falling to the deck or slumping where they sat.

"I did it!" Luffy exclaimed delightedly, jumping up. He looked at Sanji and blinked. "Hey, Sanji? Are you okay?"

Sanji slowly lifted his head. "What . . . did you . . . do?" he demanded, breathing hard.

Luffy frowned. "What do you mean? I did it! I moved and I spoke! Why did you fall asleep?"

"I wasn't—" Sanji sighed. "Never mind. Did the others feel that . . . ?"

"Feel what?"

Sanji stood and went outside. Zoro was sitting up and holding his head. Brook, Franky, Robin, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were passed out on the deck.

"What happened?" Zoro groaned, looking around at the others and glancing at Luffy and Sanji. "You two, what did you do? Luffy, I heard you yell, and then . . ."

"Is everyone okay?" Luffy asked, finally getting the idea that something was not right.

"I think they're just unconscious," Zoro said, looking around again as Robin, Brook, and Franky stirred. "From whatever that was . . ."

Robin, Franky, and Brook slowly sat up and looked around.

"I have a most terrific headache . . ." Brook groaned. "Oh, dear, did everyone else faint too?"

"What was that?" Robin asked, looking unusually unnerved.

Franky scratched the back of his neck. "It was like . . ." he shivered. "Felt like I got hit by the train all over again . . ."

"I don't get it," Luffy said. "Why didn't anything happen to me? Why was it just you guys?"

Zoro and Sanji looked at him oddly.

Luffy blinked. "What?"

"Nothing," Zoro muttered as Usopp twitched.

Notes on vampire control:

- If a vampire commands their victim to freeze, the facial muscles and voice box will not be affected. This is why the victims can still look around with their eyes and speak when frozen in place.

- When giving commands, the intent and words must be there and understood. For example, if the vampire were to say "Ta gueule" ("Shut it" in French) to someone who didn't know any French, the command would have no effect, even if the intent was there. If Sanji were to casually say "Ah, shut up," to someone while looking at them, the words would have no effect, being an offhanded comment with no intent behind them. Of course, the words must be heard by the victim, so vampires cannot control the deaf unless they know sign language, in which case the victim must be looking at the vampire's hands, and this is a lot harder to force them to do rather than force them to listen to something . . .

- Resisting a vampire's control is like having or resisting Conqueror's Haki (aka King's Haki, the one you can knock out enemies with). If you have Conqueror's Haki and/or the power to resist Conqueror's Haki, you will be able to break out of the vampire's control.