"So... curly eyebrows are rather distinctive." Vivi said, settling down at the kitchen table after grabbing the bucket of potatoes he was about to start peeling for dinner.

Sanji froze and inwardly cursed. He should have known she would recognize him, even if they'd never met in person before. Like she said, his eyebrows were a distinctive trait. "Yeah?" He asked. He'd hoped, though. His family had business all over the world, but he'd still hoped that the Princess from a (relatively) small desert nation wouldn't have recognized him.

"Hm-mm." She hummed in answer. "I didn't expect to find one of the Vinsmoke family out here."

He turned and pursed his lips. "Yeah, well. I don't talk about it." He gave her a look, and she nodded in understanding.

She knew several nobles or royal heirs that ran away or did everything they could to get out from under their families thumb for some reason or other. Rumor had it that the future Prince-Consort to the Goa Kingdom had run away from home when he was five to get away from his parents expectations. That, and she'd heard some things about the Vinsmoke family...

"So... just what are you making tonight?" She asked with a grin, changing the subject to something more pleasant. He smiled and started describing what he was making, and how it was just an experimental dish he'd thought of the night before.

He knew it couldn't last. When he saw his first wanted poster, and that ugly picture, he'd actually been relieved, despite all outward reactions. Sure, the swirl on his eyebrow was there, but the rest of his face was distorted enough that he wasn't recognizable. If not even his own crew, who saw him every day could recognize that poster as being him, then surely nobody else could? Especially people that hadn't seen him since he was eight?

But when his next poster came out, with an actual picture and the caption ONLY ALIVE on it... he knew. They knew he was alive, and they knew where he was now.

He had to prepare himself for anything now... He had to protect his crew. They didn't know his family, didn't know what they were capable of...

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of sandals being clapped together. "Have I ever told you that I grew up outside the Goa Kingdom?" Luffy asked behind him.

Sanji frowned, and turned around. "No." He said slowly. In fact, Luffy never told them anything about his past. They never even knew he had a brother until Ace showed up, never knew about his grandfather until he showed up, never knew... well, Luffy didn't even know about his father until Garp spilled the news, so that wasn't his fault. He'd thought Sabo was dead, so of course he wasn't going to mention that. But the Goa Kingdom? That was...

"Hmm. We'd see posters like this all the time." He hummed, holding up Sanji's poster. "Usually when a Noble kid ran away or disappeared and the family wanted them back. Sabo's was everywhere." He laughed lightly. Especially after his father saw them while they ran from that restaurant.

"Sabo?" He asked, confused and wondering what his captain's no-longer-dead-brother had to do with it. He was ready to run, ready to be run right off the ship in fact. He knew Luffy held no love for Nobles or Royalty, despite being friends with Vivi and the Royal Family on Fishman Island.

"Yeah... his dad was a jerk." He scowled. "He told us he was bet- cont-... supposed to marry the princess, but he didn't want to. So he ran away, and met Ace. Then they met me." He shrugged like it was no big deal. "He was being stupid, too. He didn't tell us, even though Ace told him about his dad!" He complained with a scowl. "Thought we would leave him over it..." The look on his face made it clear how much he thought of that, and how much he wanted to find his brother and probably hit him again for thinking like that.

"What did you do?" Sanji asked slowly.

Luffy looked at him for a moment. "When his dad finally found him... he threatened me 'n Ace to get Sabo to leave us." He said slowly. "Ace was mad, and being stupid, kept saying Sabo was better off in High Town, even though I kept telling him we should go get him... He said we would give it a few days for the guards to calm down, and go check on him. Sabo tried to leave again, but he tried to leave the island this time. He got shot down, and we thought he was dead, because we didn't go get him when we should have." Luffy was still staring at Sanji. "I'm not going to make that mistake again." He said simply, and left.

Sanji got the message though. Luffy wasn't just going to let him go to his family without a fight.

He... didn't know how he should feel about that.

He's... shocked is too light a word for this, really. All he can currently do is watch as Big Mom's fleet is unable to follow them, stopped by the Sun Pirates.

The only thing he could believe about this was that Luffy had come for him. That was the only believable thing about this.

He couldn't believe they'd managed to escape, could not believe they'd pulled it off and were now on their way to Wano to pick up Zoro and the rest of their group. Could not believe the nightmare was over, that he was home again.

A few days later, when the papers announced Luffy as the fifth Yonko, he couldn't help but laugh, even though he was both ticked off and devastated that the only reason his bounty was so high, was because he was a Vinsmoke. How was he supposed to lord it over Zoro now? Sure, his bounty was higher, but only because of his name!