"No way, you're Reiju?!"
Sanji looked at her for the first time in years. Gone was the child he had seen in the pictures of his old memory. Reiju had grown up to become beautiful.
"It's nice to see you again," Sanji sputtered.
She began to say something but stopped before she even began the sentence as her gorgeous, purple eyes gave him a once over. She bit her lip and raised an eyebrow.
"It's crazy to see you all grown up." She said. He looked down at his shirt and noticed it was sticking to his stomach, highlighting his abs.
He could tell she meant it as a compliment, by her tone. He met her eyes and suddenly felt nervous, like he was on a date. "You look amazing." He replied.
She smiled at him.
Despite being her younger brother, he could not help admiring how attractive she was. Her skin was unblemished, and her sweet perfume was kicking his hormones in overdrive.
The carriage ride to the Germa Kingdom's royal castle was a bit awkward. After the initial shock of seeing his older sister settled, he realized he was still pretty tense being so far from his crew.
When the large cat pulling the carriage finally stopped, Reiju popped out of the carriage and he followed her inside the castle. Once again, his eyes drifted over his sister. Her skin shined in the sunlight.
She directed him to his room.
"So I know you probably are really tired, but when you're done getting settled, let's catch up!" She said, smiling again at him with her glossy pink lips.
Sanji was on the balcony in a white, frilled dress shirt as well as his usual black dress pants and shoes; the collar of the shirt was upturned and the first few buttons were undone.
He just had a hostile reunion with his younger brother, Vinsmoke Yonji, who was attempting to admonish him for refusing to comply with the arranged marriage plans. He then challenged Sanji to a fight in which Sanji managed to overpower him. If there was no interference, a broken face would not be the only thing Yonji would be running away with.
If that was not enough, he now had to deal with this.
Sanji turned his head back. He clicked his teeth and sighed.
"Why don't you go away already," he said.
Reiju was sitting on her throne with her legs crossed and her hands clasped together on her knees.
"How could you say that to your older sister who you haven't seen in 13 years?"
At first Reiju's attitude towards Sanji was equivocal. However now it was quite obvious that she was siding with the Vinsmoke family in viewing Sanji primarily as a means to achieve their ambitions. Sanji hated himself for having any hopes of seeing her again.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I cut ties with you guys under no uncertain terms!"
After they met up again, they tried to make conversation. The mood changed, however, when Reiju brought up the big incident where the four kings of North Blue were put down and their father's dream to bring the North Blue under Germa's control again.
However, when Sanji reiterated his break from the family and his continued refusal to go through with the wedding, Reiju attempted to convince Sanji to accept his royal heritage, saying that he would have power, wealth, luxury, and loyal soldiers at his disposal.
"It's natural for men to be hung up on power and fame. Why don't you enjoy being a member of privileged royalty rather than stay in a silly little pirate group?"
"Screw you!"
And that was the end of their conversation.
Crashing onto his bed that night, a million thoughts spun through his head.
Most of them concerned his sister. Despite the disdain he had for her role in dragging him back to the family, and her attempts to show him the benefits of a royal life despite knowing what he went through as a child, he could not help admire the unbelievably gorgeous woman she had grown up to be. Part of him felt wrong and guilty for thinking it. In fact, based on the way she looked at him when they first met again after all these years, he could not be sure she even thought of him as a brother.
He tossed and turned, but he could not fall asleep.
To be continued…
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