In His Shadow
One Piece

Disclaimer: I own neither One Piece.
Made after chapter 391 in manga.

She had wondered about it for a while now.

He had changed. Or more specifically he now acted differently towards Robin. Before he showered both of them with equal attention and stupid jokes but recently he had pulled back when it came to her.

He still defended her, made special food for her but he didn't call her with chan or swan or any other stupid honorific he had come with. Instead she was now Robin-san all the time.

It was strange. Strange enough to make her curious to the reason.

"Sanji-kun, do you have a moment?" She asked one day when the rest of the crew had already left the kitchen.

His eyes were immediately on her shining. "For you I always have time, Nami-swaaaaaan!"

She smiled and leaned slightly towards him. "I have been wondering about something... Has something happened between you and Robin-san? I mean you have been acting different around her lately..."

To her surprise his eyes lost that familiar shine and gained some seriousness. That made her even more curious and sure that something had happened. Perhaps he had confessed for real and things had not went well...

He left the dishes and sat down lighting his smoke. Usually she tended to scold him for smoking inside but this time she let it pass. She wanted to know what had happened to change the atmosphere around them so much.

He seemed to wonder what to say and she didn't feel the need to hurry him. She could wait as long as an answer was offered in the end.

"I don't want to be in her way." He finally said.

She blinked at the unexpected answer. "What do you mean?"

He breathed out smoke and then seemed to realize that he was inside and stumped the smoke.

"She is in love."

Nami blinked again and her mouth fell open. "In love?" She stuttered out. It was a hard thing to imagine. That cool and calm woman in love.

Sanji nodded. "Yes. And since I am not the one she feels for I felt that it was best for her if I backed down a little."

Nami was silent. It made sense since he always thought of their best. He was selfless when it came to the women he cared for. But there was a more pressing matter on her mind than the workings of his brains. "Who?"

He shook his head. "It is her business. He doesn't know and she doesn't want him to know. It is not my business to tell or interfere."

After that he refused to tell her more, not even her most revealing clothes gained her answers. So all she could do was observe. Robin was such a closed off person that she could not imagine that she would have told him anything which meant that he had found out on his own.

And if he could do it so could she. Or so she had thought.

It had been four weeks now and she had not once noticed anything strange in Robin, no sign of loving feeling or strange behavior around anyone. It was getting frustrating. She almost hoped that she had never asked Sanji about her.

He also still refused to talk.

So in the end she gave up. Unless something happened there was no way she could look past her mask. Sanji was better at that, the man truly understood women. A weird thought considering his behavior around them.

Then one day after a shiny and hot day she found that she could not sleep. No matter how many times she rolled over she was nowhere nearer sleep. It was much too hot inside but perhaps she could find some relief on the deck.

She tucked her pillow under her arm, rose the ladders and headed for the door.

And almost screamed when a hand suddenly gripped hers. Her head swirled around and her eyes widened. "San--!" His hand muffled her voice.

"Shh... Don't make noise." He whispered and stepped back. She looked at him bewildered, not understanding a single thing. He sighed and nodded towards the door. Nami walked towards it quietly and looked out of the round window.

"No way!" She whispered. Her head spin towards Sanji. "Seriously?"

He came to her and looked outside himself. "Seriously."

She turned her head around and looked at the scenery with disbelief. "I can't believe this..."

Luffy was sitting on the deck and Robin was leaning against him, her back touching his, her arms hugging her knees. Neither seemed to be talking and this far she could not even tell if they were awake. Nothing happened, they just remained the same.

As time passed, she could not help getting restless.

"How long?" She finally asked when she could no longer handle the silence and stillness.

"How long what?" He said back.

"How long have they been together?" She asked, a little annoyed at having to repeat herself.

"They are not together."

"What?" Her eyes turned back to them. "But..."

Sanji took a peak at them too before turning back to Nami. "She loves him but what he feels, only he knows."

"Eh?"

"But..." His eyes were still on her. Unmoving and shadowed. She could not tell what he was thinking at all which was quite rare.

"She is happy as things are. There is happiness in her every smile, there is a shine of contentment in her eyes. She has found her place in the world."

"Her place..." Nami repeated slowly.

Sanji nodded. "After being alone all her life, after being hunted, used and hated... After living by sacrificing those around her, avoiding all emotional contact... It is no wonder she gave up. When we first met her she was empty. Smiling but miserable." There was sympathy in his eyes, as if he could feel her pain.

"Then after she joined our crew... She slowly began to feel. There was a change in her eyes, in her smile. I was happy to see her gaining some measure of happiness. She came to care about us."

"Enough to sacrifice the world for us..." Nami murmured.

"Yes but she also gave up everything she had gained to save us. Her smile became empty and her eyes miserable. She was back in the darkness and she wanted to die to leave it. Her happiness never lasts for long... So she gave up." His hand was fisted and he looked angry and pained.

She couldn't think of anything to say.

"And then he came. Luffy appeared before her and he gave it all back to her at Enies Lobby. He gave her friends and a place in his life. For the first time she knows that she is surrounded by strong people who are all there for her. She knows that he will be there for her." He smiled gently and she started to slowly understand just how well he understood Robin, someone she still couldn't read.

"For her... It was enough of a reason to love him. Or perhaps the love was there before too but I noticed it only after we had escaped from the headquarters." He turned to look outside and smiled.

"He understands her pain, suffering and loneliness and that is why he gave his back to her... Though it is truly his shadow that he gave her."

"Eh?" She blinked.

"I don't know if there will ever be anything more between them but I know that she will follow him in his shadow and he will allow her to be there for as long as she wants to be there. That way he has taken away all of her loneliness. She can't be alone anymore because he will never pull away from her. He will never go forward too fast for her but will stop to wait for her to catch up with him. She is his shadow and as such she will never be apart from him."

Sanji smiled. "She will not ask him what he feels because she has everything she needs to be happy. And he will not tell her because she does not want to know."

He turned from the window and started to walk away. "I will not interfere because there is no place for me between them. There is no place for any of us. We are his friends but she is now his shadow. It is the only place in the world for her. She can only survive there."

He stopped at the door she had came trough some moments ago. "So let it be."

She nodded.

"I will now go to sleep. You?"

She shook her head. "I will stay here for a while."

His steps were retreating inside and she turned to smile at him for a while. "Thank you... Sanji-kun. I think I can understand her a bit better now."

He only smiled back before disappearing inside the cabin.

She waited there for an hour more. Nothing changed, nothing happened but she felt somehow touched. She felt that she truly understood both of them better now. And Sanji as well.

Luffy was truly amazing person. She had known that he was different ever since the moment she had seen him battling a lion for the sake of a dog. Then he had surprised her over and over again until at the Arlong Park he had saved her. At that moment she had thanked the Gods, she didn't believe in, for allowing them to meet.

It must be the same for Robin too. She too had been saved thanks to him. At one point or another he had saved all of them and given them back their dreams.

For her it had been at the Arlong Park as he had destroyed the place she hated and beat up the one person she hated more than anything. She had been freed and given a chance to fulfill her dream.

He had given her back everything that Arlong had taken from her.

She could understand Robin for feeling for him. She had never been truly alone but Robin had been. Luffy was probably the first person to pay attention to her, to save her and to accept her. It must have hit her hard. To have someone willing to go to any lengths for you, chasing after you to the end of the world...

"Thank you Luffy." She whispered for all of them and went to give sleep another try.