Author's Note: This work is a sequel to my fic, Deep. Despite the risk of excluding potential readers, it is STRONGLY recommended (in fact, highly requested) that you read that first, as this fic will draw on elements and history developed in the first book. But, of course, you may do as you wish. With that said, enjoy!
South Blue - Abandoned fishing grounds
The old fishing net was huge, rough and biting on Sanji's palms when his fingers clamped down on the material, a hard tug doing nothing to dislodge the thick ropes from between the rocks. All that escaped was a stream of bubbles floating the long way up to the surface above. With them towered the net, wide and imposing, covered in barnacles and algae….and infuriatingly well-anchored to the ocean floor.
He'd have to take notes.
Like hell he'd lose another hunting competition with some good old-fashioned human ingenuity like this on his side.
This abandoned net, however, had overstayed its welcome, and it was a mere fluke that it hadn't trapped any larger species in the small cove beyond.
That sure as hell wouldn't be happening on Sanji's watch, so he gave one last fruitless yank before deciding there were easier ways. Easier ways that involved sharp blades as the best solution. But that was something he wouldn't be admitting to certain blade-obsessed individuals. Of course, his teeth were always an option, but he wasn't a barbarian.
So he reached to his belt, pulling from its small sheath a knife that soon made quick work of even the thickest sections of rope, freeing them from the cragged rocks, the ends now swaying in the currents like the sea grass below. He moved along the net's length, sawing through the secured sections until the last bits were loose.
Satisfied once finished, he returned his knife to its place at his hip.
Then his gaze was on the sky above, closing the distance swiftly as he swam up fast through the curtains of sunlight, higher and higher until, finally, his head breached that shimmering surface into the hot summer air.
His research vessel still bobbed nearby, shifting gently with the waves, its deck seemingly empty.
But as soon as he called out, "Yonji, throw me the hook!", a green head of hair sprouted up from behind the railing, with features nearly identical to Sanji's own, his brother lifting sunglasses to quirk an almost bored brow down at him before he gave an obnoxious, likely fake yawn.
"Took you long enough," Yonji replied, giving arms a stretch, the sun glinting off the silver bracelet on his wrist before he got to his feet, his tall—taller than Sanji, to the blond's constant dismay—form moving across the deck to the boat's stern.
Sanji swam over to meet him, leaning elbows on the back platform as his brother swung open the tiny door to the deck and reached out to unlock the mechanical winch attached to the outer wall of the boat, which housed a tightly coiled spool of metal cable.
"At least I'm not sleeping on the job. Might wanna take off your lanyard next time," Sanji teased, grinning when Yonji looked down at his bare torso, his lanyard and ID card swinging over a matching patch of white skin, a stark silhouette in a painful-looking sea of sunburnt pink.
Laughing, Sanji just managed to dodge the heavy hook attached to the cable when Yonji threw it at his head forcefully.
He dove back underwater to follow it, grabbing hold of the cable before it could sink too far and guiding the hook to the net, where he clamped it securely onto a section of the rope.
Then he popped back up, swimming several strokes out of the way as he called, "Okay, go!"
He watched as Yonji flipped the winch's switch, the machine whirring to life and starting its slow rotation, the net breaching the surface and soon wrapping securely around the spool as the cable pulled it.
Sanji ducked under again to check the progress, making sure the net didn't tangle, a satisfied smirk crossing his lips when he noticed a school of fish swim free from the cove into open water once more.
He hadn't set out that day to clear any old fishing grounds, but when a routine search for crustacean samples along the coastline had led to its discovery, well, he couldn't be too put out by the change of plans. And now, with the net slowly coiling out of the way, he could be sure it wouldn't pose any hazards to the local marine life.
The day had been slow, relaxing even, and that….
…. did not describe the pace at which the boat's engine started up above him, the blur of blades swirling a flurry of bubbles before the vessel floored it across the water's surface as soon as the last of the net was coiled.
"Oh, fuck you, Yonji—" Sanji grumbled to himself, his voice perfectly audible, even underwater, and yet, there was a reckless grin on his face as the boat sped away.
Because he didn't have to worry. He had something faster than a boat's motor, certainly faster than human legs, to help him catch up to his asshole of a brother.
A bigger gulp of water through the gills adorning his hips, just above which the human skin of his torso shifted into the deep saturated blue of a thresher shark's body, his whip-like caudal fin stretching out long behind him.
And a quick, powerful pump was all he needed to send himself hurtling through the water, following that trail of bubbles at top speed, a speed he'd been training for lately.
At first, it was hard to tell how fast he was moving when all that surrounded him was endless turquoise, but, sure enough, when an extra flick of his tail brought the hull of the boat closer and closer, his grin widened.
Then he dove deeper, several tail-lengths, swimming quickly downward and then up as fast as he could, zooming directly for the surface until he broke it with a great eruption of ocean spray, leaping completely out of the water into open air.
He shot up like a rocket, unable to keep a joyous shout from escaping his lips as the deck of the boat shrank beneath him, his body twisting gracefully as he reached the top of his arc.
Fingers brushed at his wrist to make sure the metal cuff there was still secure.
And then, proof that it was.
For it only took another second before he felt a tingling warmth crawling over his entire body, starting at the tip of his tail, shark skin quickly tiling away to morph back into human, the appendage soon splitting as both his legs kicked their way into existence once more. The warmth continued upward, over his wetsuit shorts, up his chest to his face, lungs sucking in a breath of air as soon as they were able.
Then he was falling, gravity taking hold, but his aim had been good this time. The open deck was flying right up to meet him, and he'd been practicing, enough that a quick flip in the air righted his positioning, the blond bracing himself just before bare feet landed nimbly on the white surface, sending the boat bobbing slightly under his weight.
Arms he angled up in a triumphant pose to amuse himself, and if anyone saw his own lanyard twirl up from the momentum to smack him in the face afterward, well, they'd better not say anything.
After all, that lanyard was proof of his identity, an identity he'd come to fully embrace in recent years.
He was Sanji Red. Marine biologist and director of the Allied Blue research center. Smart, charming, and as handsome as he could manage considering he'd spent a huge portion of the last five years of his life underwater.
Because, that's right, he was a merman. A real merman.
A real, badass merman who was completely—
"Lame!"
Yonji's voice called out from the boat's cabin, and thank fuck his brother was the only one with him that day, because one irritatingly smug look staring him down through the window was enough to deal with.
So the blond circled around to the stern, stepping into the small cabin to give Yonji a hard shove where he stood at the wheel.
"Shut up! Like you haven't tried it!" Sanji shot back as he ran fingers through his wet hair, finding his part and flopping it off to the side as he always did. "These bracelets change us so much faster than the last batch!"
It certainly fucking beat crawling up on deck and suffocating for thirty seconds before he transformed. And they didn't even have to remove them anymore to do so! Thanks to the combined research and handiwork of both Franky and their sister. But surely any appreciation fell beyond Yonji's capabilities.
"So?" Yonji replied, confirming this, but there was a teasing grin forming on his face. "Doesn't make you look any less dumb."
"Who's the authority figure here?" Sanji huffed, pushing Yonji's head aside so he could take a turn at the wheel. "Do you wanna swim back?"
"Do you wanna swim back?" Yonji growled with a playful shove of his own.
"I can keep pace with the boat clearly!" the blond quipped. "Your muscles will only send you straight to the bottom!"
He smirked, noting the self-conscious way his brother flexed thick biceps, as if to reassure himself of their existence.
"Kuina likes 'em!" Yonji replied.
"You're delusional."
"So does Nami."
Sanji laughed.
"You're even more delusional! And desperate! You need to learn to control yourself around people who clearly aren't interested."
Yonji scoffed, though he seemed content to let Sanji drive the boat as he moved towards the small mini fridge below the dashboard instead.
"Just 'cause you've had luck, think you can preach to me?" he muttered over his shoulder as he rummaged through the drinks within. "Zoro's gone for a week, and you can barely function."
Annoyingly, a sharp pang of longing shot through Sanji's chest, his hands twisting uncomfortably on the wheel, but he willed it down, quickly replying, "Not fucking true! I'm functioning now!"
"Barely," Yonji snickered, looking up at Sanji with a grin, only to obnoxiously mimic his landing pose from earlier.
The blond merely rolled his eyes, lifting his foot to lean his weight sharply onto Yonji's spine before he could stand up again.
Still, it was only a few more spiteful snickers before Yonji calmed, straightening from the fridge with a can of beer in his hand, tossing a hard iced tea at his brother.
And then the two of them had settled entirely, several minutes later, both taking a seat and making themselves comfortable as Sanji piloted the boat across the waves, enjoying the warm air whipping in through the open windows and the feeling of bliss, not a cloud, nor another vessel, in sight along the afternoon horizon.
It would take a few hours to get back to the research center on Reverse Island, but they should arrive in time for dinner, and besides, it was nice, this time together, just the two of them, Sanji's mix of mellow music coming through the dashboard speakers. The pair of them weren't often afforded it these days, with Yonji busy managing the docks with Johnny and Yosaku, and Sanji entirely swamped with his own ever-growing amount of duties.
They saw Ichiji and Niji less often now too, their older brothers having based themselves back in East Blue, taking care of the colony at Noah, particularly when their sister, Reiju, traveled for her research, to O.H.A.R.A. in West Blue to consult with Robin, or even to North Blue to compare data with Captain Smoker.
The more years that passed, the more their family's paths had branched….
But that was okay, because as dysfunctional as the five of them could be, they still had each other, right? And that was something they'd all come to accept and appreciate over the years since they'd reunited. It was something they weren't willing to throw away completely after the loss of their parents and decades spent apart, even if some were more reluctant to admit to that than others.
Everything was okay. Or so Sanji continually told himself, even if he'd much prefer to have his family close.
After all, he was certainly getting an idea of what his dad, Zeff, had been through managing B.A.R.A.T.I.E. on his own, seemingly every heaping responsibility piling onto his shoulders. Reports, patrols, pressure from the Government to help slow the effects of both climate change and human destruction on the archipelago's reefs—fucking hell, the list went on. It was a wonder Sanji's hair hadn't started to gray like his dad's finally had.
And it seemed the old geezer was on Yonji's mind as well when he finally spoke up after a few quiet minutes.
"No word from your dad?"
Sanji glanced over to see Yonji's brown eyes focused on him, his softer human features more serious than they'd been all day.
"Nah. I doubt he's hanging around Sambas Beach," Sanji replied, shrugging casually in the face of his persistent worries resurfacing when it came to the mention of East Blue. "'Specially not now. Too many tourists. He holes up at B.A.R.A.T.I.E."
Yonji snorted, but the furrow of his brows had grown anxious when Sanji looked over, his gaze redirected to the passing surf outside.
"What's wrong…?" Sanji asked quietly after a moment, his eyes landing subconsciously on the white trails of old scar tissue raking down his brother's cheeks.
Yonji didn't respond right away, just took another swig of his drink, then let out a sigh.
"You don't really think it's true, do you?" he asked eventually, his voice holding much of the barely masked concern Sanji had been holding onto for the better part of a week now.
Still, he feigned ignorance in the interest of Yonji's peace of mind.
"What?" he asked, with as much innocence as he could manage, even though he knew exactly what Yonji was referring to.
But he supposed Yonji knew him better than that, the man merely fixing Sanji with a deadpan expression.
"Great whites don't feed around the shore," Yonji said, unimpressed. "You know that shit. They hate humans. They wouldn't go near any beach." Still, a beat, and he managed to crack a tiny smirk when he added, "They're like your dad."
Yes, Sanji had figured this topic would come up. Even if he'd had it swirling around his own head constantly, it wasn't something he'd discussed out loud since the issue had first arisen. Certainly not with Yonji. The last thing he wanted to do was burden his brother with his own worries.
"I know, but that's why I sent Zoro and Kuina to investigate," Sanji replied, looking straight out to sea again with a resolute nod, as if to reassure himself as well with his words. "We have to be sure. And my dad said the reports are becoming more frequent. People are actually getting injured now…"
"So?" his brother muttered bitterly, prompting Sanji to shoot him a warning look.
"Yonji."
"What!" he shot back with a shrug. "Humans are dumb. The tide's probably dragging them into rocks and shit, not sharks."
"It doesn't matter," Sanji insisted, and huffed out a breath. "Soon enough I'll have the Coast Guard on my ass about sending a hunting party anyway. Something I'd like to avoid."
Yonji made a displeased sound.
"Still think it's a bad idea to send those two," he mumbled under his breath.
The blond smirked automatically, despite his brother's mood, his thoughts now drifting to the thought of a shark's sharp teeth clashing with an even sharper trio of blades. Not to mention the attractively feral grin that surely accompanied them.
"What, you don't think those two can take a shark?" he said.
"Fuck the shark, Sanji," his brother let out on an exasperated huff. "What if—?"
But Sanji couldn't help but interrupt with an instant obnoxious laugh at his brother's apt choice of wording, that attractively feral grin in his mind now changing context entirely.
And Yonji might have responded with an epic roll of eyes and a fake gag, but Sanji saw the hand hastily brushing at his mouth to conceal his own amusement.
He heard traces of it in Yonji's voice too when his brother eventually muttered, "I just mean those two aren't exactly fucking subtle," amidst Sanji's lingering snickers.
"You're one to talk," the blond said through a grin. "Anyway, Kuina's not stupid. They'll be fine."
He didn't get a response this time, cheeky or otherwise, and for a minute, he thought maybe his brother's concerns had been assuaged.
Sanji knew they were legitimate concerns, after all. Any time the human world at large brushed too closely with theirs, it made all of them nervous, Yonji more so than most. The reasoning lay somewhere behind those scars littering his arms, the hollow, distant look he sometimes got in his eye when he saw any of the rehabilitation tanks...
This was why Yonji liked to work outside, Sanji also knew, where he wasn't surrounded by walls. Where he was near the ocean, near open space and freedom that still comforted him, even after half a decade.
And Sanji knew there was one thing that always brought about that incredible feeling of freedom for himself. The feeling of flying.
He stretched out a leg to nudge his brother in the shin.
"Go try the leap," he urged, pleased when Yonji's dark eyes sparked back to life, even if just to glare.
"And look dumb like you? Fuck no!"
"It's fun!" Sanji insisted. "A concept entirely foreign to you, I know!"
"My idea of fun and your idea of fun are entirely fucking different!"
"Do it! Come on!" Sanji pressed, and then, as a different tactic, he stuck out his bottom lip and lowered his voice comically to ask, "Is the littlest brother scared?"
Predictably, this had said 'littlest brother' shooting to his feet so he could glower down at Sanji from a greater height.
"Shut up!" he growled. "We're the same damn age! You just wanna drive off without me!"
"Uh huh!" Sanji said happily, nodding his head. "And play my music the whole way!"
"Hey! We agreed on an hour each!"
"Then make the jump and I'll uphold the deal!"
Yonji's drink slammed hard into the cup holder on the dashboard, just before he stormed out the door, back onto the deck where he hastily climbed up onto the railing.
"And you have to do a pirouette too!" Sanji called out to him just as his brother dove off the side, barely able to grit out a "Fuck you!" before he disappeared beneath the waves to the sound of Sanji's laughter.
He didn't slow the boat, kept it steady at its pace, and in fact, he even contemplated speeding up, wondering if Yonji would murder him for it, but it was just a harmless challenge, right? Nothing he hadn't tried before with other green-haired idiots. And that one was far more lumbering than even Yonji. Not to mention, far more likely to get lost.
But just as his hand moved for the throttle, a telltale crackle sounded, and that trained hand immediately shifted to the boat's radio receiver in anticipation of the voice that came through a mere second later, one he was, admittedly, surprised to hear. He rarely received direct calls from his sister while out in the field, after all.
"Sanji! Are you there? Do you copy?"
Reiju's voice was sharp and insistent, yet he still felt the urge to push her buttons a little, smirking as he spoke into the receiver.
"Don't forget your radio etiquette, sis. Say 'over' when you're fin—"
"Get your ass back to base immediately. We've got an issue. A big issue," she interrupted aggressively, and her tone was serious enough to wipe the smile right off Sanji's face, his stomach doing an uncomfortable flip.
"What's the issue…?" he replied warily, his heart joining his stomach, soon picking up a rapid sprint in his chest when she replied.
"Your husband is the issue!"
And Sanji's mouth ran completely dry because that wasn't mere irritation in Reiju's voice. That wasn't her usual exasperated annoyance…. He knew the difference.
This was genuine worry and, dare he think it, fear, something that his strong sister rarely let show outwardly.
"Wh—is he back?" Sanji stammered, struggling to keep a good grip on the radio receiver when fingers gave a tremor of anxiety. "What's—?"
A sudden high-pitched ping coming from his phone, which he'd left atop the dashboard earlier. A notification. They were still near enough the coast that he had a signal. That wasn't the shocking part.
What was shocking was what lay in wait when he ripped his phone off the dashboard and laid eyes on the screen.
"Oh shit…"
Without another thought, he floored the boat forward in a panic, barely conscious of the string of curses Yonji shouted after him just before his grand leap crash-landed into the vessel's churning trail.