The sea was thankfully calm once again after the frankly terrifying storm they'd endured the night before. Sat out on the upper deck, back resting against the door of his room, Sanji tipped his head back as he blew the smoke from his mouth.
The light blue waters gently lapped against the side of the Baratie in the soft, pleasant winds of what had turned out to be a beautiful warm day.
The old man hadn't been too pleased to discover that the chefs' bright idea to let him try a cigarette had turned into a regular occurrence.
He didn't care about any of that though, or Zeff's insistence that fourteen was too young to be smoking, he wasn't hurting anyone but himself so who cares?
Zeff would say he did and it was true. The old man had already done far too much for him to the point where Sanji would be long in the grave himself before he ever managed to pay back everything he owed the ex-pirate of the Grandline.
Getting to his feet and stubbing away his cigarette in the ash tray, he walked to the fencing and leant down upon it looking out.
Sanji's eyes widened a few seconds later as he gasped.
"Man overboard!" He shouted; stomping his foot against the wooden floorboards in the hope the crew would hear him down below.
But there wasn't enough time to wait.
Unbuttoning his shirt and kicking off his shoes and socks he took a running start before diving down into the sea below.
He was sure he heard Zeff shout just before he hit the water.
Grabbing the guy he secured him in his arms before swimming round to the lifeboat at the side of the ship which thankfully hung close to the water and heaved him up into it. It took more energy than he'd anticipated to get himself in too as he flopped onto his back trying to catch his breath.
The lifeboat was raised a few seconds later as Zeff and his fellow chefs were all stood around with concerned expressions staring down at them.
"Sanji, what were you thinking diving in like that, you could have been killed?!"
He ignored the old man's concern as he sat upright, coming to kneel beside the guy he'd plucked from the sea. The green-haired stranger seemed to be around his age and also wasn't breathing which didn't fill him with confidence about his chances of a successful rescue. Tearing open the guy's shirt his eyes widened as he saw the scars and burn marks which littered his skin, not to mention the shackles on his wrists.
How did this guy stay afloat with those weighing him down?
He quickly began chest compressions.
"Come on."
After a minute or so Sanji could hear the crew throwing around comments like 'he's dead' and 'don't you think you should stop?' but he refused to give up. Not now, not after all that effort to save him. Thankfully he was soon rewarded for his perseverance.
"Guh!" The guy coughed and spluttered as his eyes darted open.
Sanji helped him to turn on his side as he violently expelled the water he'd taken in.
"Get it all out." He encouraged with firm hits to the guy's back.
When he seemed to have recovered, untrusting eyes stared him out.
"Where am I?"
"You're on the Baratie."
"What's that, a Marine ship, slavers?"
"No, uh, we're a restaurant."
The guy seemed to look around at the crew still staring down, their uniforms obviously helping prove the truth in his statement.
Sanji reached out towards the guy's shoulder.
"We should get you inside before you catch a-."
Suddenly a hand seized him by the throat as he was twisted to his front and slammed against the bottom of the lifeboat, a knee harshly pressing into his back keeping him down, and a knife dangerously poised to strike his neck.
"Sanji!" Zeff's voice called out.
Guns were cocked from above and trained on their visitor.
"It's okay; we're not going to hurt you." Sanji began calmly. "We just want to help."
"Why?!"
"You look hungry, and you need to dry off before you catch your death." He paused. "We can get these things off too." Sanji looked to the shackles. "And treat your wounds."
The guy furrowed an eyebrow, clearly confused.
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you want to help me?"
"Because you look like you need it right now."
The knee was slowly removed from his back before the guy backed off to the other side of the lifeboat, protectively grasping the knife.
"We're not going to take your knife, just don't stab anyone, okay? I don't want the extra workload while they get to lounge around recovering." He smirked as he took hold of the side of the Baratie and pulled himself back on board.
Sanji looked back down to the guy and held out a hand.
Surprisingly their visitor took the offer and let himself be lifted to the deck. He couldn't help but notice the hisses in his breaths clearly from disguised pain.
"Well first off, you need some food and a towel."
He went to walk to the stairs at the side of the ship but stopped as he noticed the guy wasn't behind him.
"Well come on then."
He began to follow.
"Sanji?" Called Zeff.
"Yeah, Pops?"
"Be careful, alright?"
He grinned.
"I'm always careful."
Zeff smirked.
"That's what worries me."
Sanji rolled his eyes as he led the guy off to the upper deck.
Opening the door to his room, Sanji used his hand to smooth down the sheets to make them look a little more presentable before motioning towards the bed.
"Here, take a seat."
The guy followed the instruction as his eyes stayed fixed on the floor, his gaze never moving to even look around at the room.
Sanji furrowed an eyebrow as he returned with a lock pick.
"Okay so let's get these off you first."
He went to take the guy's wrist but he recoiled.
"Woah, I'm just gonna' pick the lock, you're good, dude."
Slowly the shackle was moved closer to him once again.
"Thank you."
He got to work on the lock and managed to get it open with suprising ease, the second one, he found, was also much of the same.
"There, that'll probably feel a lot better."
The guy's wrists had been rubbed raw from the heavy shackles.
"Let me get the first aid kit."
Retrieving it from under the bed, Sanji grabbed some cream from the box and a roll of bandage as he began to clean them up.
"What's your name?"
No reply.
"Oh come on you don't need to be all secretive, like I said, we're a restaurant, we're hardly gonna' cause you any trouble."
"Zoro."
Sanji smiled at the quiet response.
"I'm Sanji, I'm working my way up to being the sous chef of the restaurant. Zeff is the Captain and the one who said he wouldn't even consider giving the position to me until I'm at least seventeen, but I think that's stupid."
He seemed to realise he'd gone off on an unimportant tangent as he quietly cleared his throat. Grabbing his pack of cigarettes he lit one up before finding a towel and handing it over to the green-haired guest. "Get dried and then I'll get you some food."
"Aren't you gonna' interrogate me or something?" Asked the low voice.
Sanji smirked.
"What, me?! Do I look like I interrogate people for a living? I suppose I do know my way around knives." He took a drag from his cigarette. "You need a shirt." Rummaging through his wardrobe Sanji pulled out a white cloth shirt. "Here, this'll probably fit you."
"Thanks." Zoro quickly dressed before handing back the towel.
"Those wrists are probably gonna' need more than just those but I think you'll survive. Knowing the old man he'll probably fuss over them later so for now we'll just focus on food. The restaurant's busy so you'll be getting a private dining experience out back." He joked.
As to his surprise he was sure their visitor had chuckled a little too.
Having sat Zoro down on a crate at the side of the kitchen he hadn't moved an inch since. Sanji was busy maneuvering through the sea of chefs in the cramped space sneaking lamb meatballs, bone stock gravy, and roasted potato skins onto a plate.
When he was done he offered a smile to Zoro.
"Come on, it's too hot to eat in here."
Heading out to the rear of the ship Sanji pushed open the door to the deck where a couple of chairs and tables were set up.
"This is usually the staff break area but for one day only I suppose it can be a dining room. It's got a great view of water." He teased as he placed the plate down on the table. "Eat up."
Zoro seemed to be cautious but did take a seat. As he dug into the food his eyes seemed to widen a little before he dug in faster.
"Hey." Sanji interrupted. "Eat slow."
And got daggers in return.
"Oh don't give me that, you'll only be miserable later and you'd be the one cleaning it up."
Zoro did seem to listen as he ate slower.
"I still don't understand why you're helping me."
"Because you're hungry."
"And?"
"And, let's just say I know what that's like."
"But you don't want to know anything in return? Or want anything?"
"I want you to eat your damn food before it goes cold; there's also a no wasting food rule on this boat, Zeff will throw you overboard if you break it, just a warning."
Their vistor smirked.
"Seems fair."
"Very."
"SANJI!"
The young cook jumped as the door was thrown wide behind him.
"Jesus you wanna' shout any louder?! What?!"
"Did you dice those onions with your eyes closed this morning?"
Sanji scoffed, mouth hanging open in offence.
"They are perfect; you're clearly the one that's blind!"
"And you."
Zeff turned to his attention to their visitor.
"Go get some rest, Sanji will show you where you can stay."
"Which is?" The young chef questioned.
"Your room."
Sanji scoffed.
"And where the hell I am supposed to sleep?!"
"Just share the damn thing."
"No way!"
"Then enjoy sleeping in the storeroom, eggplant."
Zeff walked off.
He growled before taking a deep breath to force himself to calm down.
"Right… fine…"
Sanji turned to Zoro.
"Come on."
"You don't have to-."
"It's fine, honestly, you do need the rest." He ditched his cigarette, stubbing it out into the ashtray embedded into the wall before opening the door to the maintenance area. "Just leave your plate, I'll drop by and grab it on my way back."
Their visitor nodded.
"It's a big ship." Zoro commented as they reached the upper deck.
"Ehh once you get used to it the place seems way smaller, trust me."
Sanji pushed open the door to his room.
"I'll bring you some food later, or you can just come back downstairs if you wake up before the dinner service, either is fine. You're not our prisoner or anything so you can have a walk around if you want to. And don't worry about the old man, he's got a bite to him but he's soft as crap when you get to know him; he means it when he says you're welcome here."
Their green-haired visitor nodded.
"Thank you."
Sanji offered a smile.
"No problem, now get some sleep, we'll see if you have anything else that needs patched up later."
"Okay."
"Come find me if you need anything I'll be downstairs."
He softly closed the door behind him.