Sanji sighed as he moved away from Zoro to seek some refugee from the bed; finding none he ran another hand through his hair.
"I was thirteen when I first met Ace. He was two years older than me and from the moment I met him I'm not going to deny that I liked him. But it wasn't just that, he intrigued me. He was so carefree, so reckless.I didn't know this at the time but he had already started to go under thanks to his mental condition," Sanji inhaled sharply.
"And this one night of summer we were hanging out. He must have been with his older nakama because I could smell the slightest hint of alcohol when he breathed. Anyway... He said that he wanted us to play a game and I said yes. I mean what was I meant to think at the time, he'd only asked to play a game. He said that we'd be betting and when I asked him what it was we'd be betting he pulled out a knife and ran it along my jaw. I should have run then..."
The knife only sliced the first layer of skin leaving Sanji with a cut along his jawline. What the older boy did next though was quite disturbing. He put the knife to his lips and licked off the blood dripping from it.
"We're betting blood. Sit down. I'll deal," Ace said pulling a pack of cards out of his back pocket and placing it on the bench table.
"W-What game are we playing?" Sanji stuttered wiping away the blood on his cheek as he sat down.
He watched as the red blood turned brown on his sleeve.
"Blackjack," Ace answered placing two face down cards in front of Sanji.
Sanji slowly picked up the two cards. A queen and a six.
"Fold," Sanji said putting the cards back on the table.
Ace smirked echoing Sanji. He turned over his cards on the table.
"20," he said mockingly.
"16," Sanji answered.
"That's a difference of four, so four slices for you," Ace stood up, walking round the table so he stood in front of Sanji.
He held the knife close to Sanji's left cheek, the blade hovering over his flesh. It was close, too close. Sanji clenched his eyes shut as he felt the cold of the metal against his skin.
Suddenly, the older boy drew back. Bent backwards as the the evil cackle erupted from his mouth. Sanji slowly opened his eyed to see Ace's arm flying towards him. The knife sliced down onto his left cheek. He let out a blood curdling scream as Ace kept slashing the skin below his left eye.
The tears streamed down his face as he desperately tried to suppress the memory. Zoro sat down next to the cook, his hand moving in a circular motion as he rubbed his back.
"We've all got scars. Some are deeper than others."