Sanji Kitetsu Chapter 11
That was an agonizing half hour spent watching the rubber captain swing between wanting to save his nakama or not. Sanji honestly thought the bleeding swordsman wasn't going to make it when the three of them became completely covered in wax. Now that he's finally finished digesting his master's blood, Sanji looks around to make sure all humans who are still conscious have their attention on the pair of giant warriors locked in a tearful embrace. The moss head himself is not among them at the moment. He's fast asleep against a tree stump at the edge of the forest, not far from the crowd.
Once he is sure no one would notice, he quietly detaches himself from Zoro's haramaki and begins stretching out his arms, legs, head, and torso. His red sheathe stretches with him to form a set of plaid wine-red suit jacket and dress pants, tailored slim fit, the way he likes it. He painstakingly fixes every detail of his look, the matching vest, the polished black dress shoes with laces, the red satin tie, the black socks and white silk dress shirt, the golden cuff links and suit chain with tiny blue gems that match his hair and eyes. He doesn't get to do this very often, so he has to indulge in it every chance he gets. He waits until every crease and every strand of hair is in place before lowering himself onto the ground, taking care to hide behind a tree trunk.
Sanji looks at the snoring swordsman by his feet and relishes the feeling of power this new form gives him. With a few simple flexes of muscles, he could easily break that skull with his heel, but instead he toes the snoring swordsman, trying to wake the man to ask if there's anything the half dead master needs while he is in his human form. When no reaction comes, his eyes find the man's still bleeding ankles carelessly laid out on the grass.
Wounded, wide open, sound asleep, and not a care in the world after you let a cursed blade loose. I thought swordsmen are not supposed to let their guards down.
It's proof that he trusts you. The white sword giggles, the way she used to when Sanji first joined the team. Don't worry, he's always had amazing luck for someone who likes to walk so closely to death.
If... Sanji starts after a moment of hesitation. It's none of his business, of course, but he wants to know. If he didn't come out of this one alive, would you have made space for him?
Made space? You mean let him become a sword? The lady muses. There's no point. He can't be the world's greatest swordsman as a sword. If he died trying, that would've been the end of our promise, and that would've been enough for him.
Oh, THAT promise. Sanji decides that he should stop meddling in the moss head's personal affairs from now on. He subconsciously digs his hands into the pant pockets. He pulls out a lighter from the right, but the left hand comes out empty. He curses under his breath for forgetting to make a pack of cigarettes while he transformed. A smoke is out of the question, so his next best option to exercise this rare freedom is a walk. Maybe he'll run into some wild beasts to test his legs again.
If he wakes, tell him I'll be back with some bandages from the ship so he can patch himself up. The cursed blade feels the need to explain when he hears Kuina giggling once more. He did tell me to make sure he doesn't bleed to death. Sanji adds as he sets off into the forest.
The walk turns out to be disappointing. It seems all the fun in the forest has already been had. All Sanji ran into were dead bodies. Giant decapitated dinosaurs, a saber tooth tiger bleeding out one ear, the over-sized rhino the moss head killed for food supply on Carmen-chan's request earlier. Sanji tried to tell the stubborn ass that the thing is all bones and skin. Even the tiny bit of meat this thing has is probably too tough to eat comfortably, making it a terrible choice for food supply, but the shitty swordsman insisted that Luffy wouldn't mind.
Sanji hears a roar and tucks the rolls of bandages into his pant pocket in a hurry. Finally, a live beast! His mouth pulls back into a grin as he breaks into a sprint, but his excitement quickly turns into frustration as he gets closer and hears smacking, followed by the vibration of a large mass falling onto the ground. When he reaches the source of the sounds, the giant lizard is already motionless. Sanji looks up and finds the crew's beautiful cook panting slightly. Her hands hold a large frying pan right above the spot where the lizard head is bleeding.
"Tch, useless muscle head, taking so damn long to just hunt for some meat..." The redhead mutters as she sets aside her frying pan and tugs at the dead body, moving it only a few feet before dropping it again to catch her breath. "I should've done this myself from the start."
Sanji takes a step back. He has about ten minutes left in his current form, and it'd be troublesome if he doesn't get back to the swordsman before then. As much as he wishes to help the lady with such hard manual labour, it'd take too much time to explain who he is. He backs off as quietly as he can, but a twig snaps under his shoe.
"Who's there?"
Sanji gasps and momentarily forgets how to operate his newly formed limbs. He remains rigid as the fiery cook's hand finds the frying pan. Their eyes lock for two full seconds before Sanji manages to turn his human body around to make his escape.
"You! Hey wait!" The blond hears Carmen call as he dashes through patches of thick bushes. "Do you still remember All Blue?"