Chapter 3

Author's Warning: While not explicit, there's some implied/referenced torture and molestation in this chapter.


Zoro was pissed.

The cook had been back three days already. And he had immediately gotten back to work in the kitchen. Except…the damn cook wasn't cooking! Every meal was cold—sandwiches, cold porridge, salads, fruits, rice balls, and chilled leftovers. Furthermore, it wasn't as good as it usually was. The food was still tasty (the cook could have made cardboard taste delicious), but it was missing those subtle flavors Sanji always put in his meals as he experimented with different spices and combinations. Like the cook's technical skills remained, but his passion and love for the art were gone.

On top of that, he wasn't acting like himself. The scent of cigarettes didn't fill the kitchen because Sanji wasn't smoking them. And he was so quiet—none of his usual singing or humming while he cooked. There was no yelling and arguing even when Zoro went out of his way to push the cook's buttons. At best, Zoro would get a "Tch! Don't you have something better to do, Mosshead?" before the cook turned back to whatever food he was "cooking" or whatever part of the kitchen he was re-cleaning for the thousandth time. Even the girls weren't immune; while the cook would still overly polite and flirtatious, gone were his ridiculous posturings and impassioned speeches about love. Once or twice, Zoro had walked into the kitchen to get something, only to find Sanji with his head in his arms on the counter, his shoulders shaking with sobs; Zoro had quickly walked back out. As much as he begrudged it, Zoro had to admit he missed the old cook.

Hence why he decided it was time he made the man face some things.

Zoro sat at the dining room table, pushing his cold food around his plate as everyone else cleared out. The cook was collecting plates when he noticed Zoro was still there. The swordsman expected him to say something, to at least complain about Zoro just sitting there. But he just turned back to the job at hand and ignored Zoro altogether.

"Hey, Cook. This isn't very good. I want something else," Zoro said bluntly. Truth be told, based on the looks on everyone's faces as they had left, Zoro wasn't alone in his opinion. But the others were too polite to say anything. Good as it was, the constantly cold food was just unsatisfying.

More importantly, these were just the kind of things guaranteed to piss off the cook: wasting food and insulting his cooking.

"Oh?" Sanji said, still calmly gathering plates. Zoro pushed down his disappointment and prepared for the next step as the cook asked, "What did you want instead, Mosshead?"

"Seafood fried rice."

The cook's hand froze midway to grabbing the next plate. It was a low blow, Zoro knew. Not only did the meal absolutely require cooked ingredients, but it was also a common dish served at the Baratie. But Zoro had already pushed this far. Might as well keep going.

"Well?" Zoro asked. The cook put the plates down and stood up straight, his hands in his pockets. Zoro didn't miss how the other man's hands trembled before he hid them.

"Th-there's no…we don't have the right kinds of fish for seafood fried rice," Sanji answered. Zoro caught the almost-lie the cook had been ready to spin—that there was no fish in the aquarium. But Usopp's new fish-net invention last night had ensured them an undeniably great haul. So the cook had gone for his next cover. Time for Zoro to blow that one too.

"That's fine. Any kind of fish will work; I'm not picky," he pressed. Zoro could see the cook's trembling increase, becoming visible in his shoulders. A panicked look passed the other man's face as he searched for another reason not to cook the food.

"The vegetables…they're not the right…"

"You always make it with whatever vegetables we have leftover, Curly-Brow. Stop making excuses and go over there and cook."

Still trembling, Sanji walked into the kitchen, took a deep breath, and began gathering ingredients. He was taking as much time as he possibly could, as though hoping Zoro would forget this idea. And the swordsman could almost sense the release of tension from the cook's shoulders as Zoro got up from the table and walked out the dining room door…

…only to return a minute later with a fish freshly skewered on his sword.

"Here, you can use this one," Zoro said, plucking the fish off his sword and tossing it into the sink to be prepared. As he wiped off his sword and walked back to the table, he watched Sanji out of the corner of his eye as the cook expertly cleaned, cut, and chopped the fish like he always did.

And then paused, just staring at the pan on top of the unlit stove.

"You need to turn that on, Shit-Cook."

"I know that!"

"So do it!"

"I will! I just…just-"

"Just what, Cook? There's nothing to it. I've seen you do it dozens of times. Now cook!" Zoro shouted. But the cook just stood there, sweat pouring down his brow, one hand on the pan handle, the other above the knob to the stove, still not turning it. It was time for the main thrust. Zoro crossed his arms, prepared his stance. "You're afraid, aren't you, Cook?"

Sanji's head snapped back to Zoro, "Like hell I am, Shitty Swordsman!"

"Like hell you aren't! It's the fire, isn't it? You won't even light a damn cigarette because you're so afraid of it!"

"Of all the idiotic, preposterous-!"

"Oh, you think it's preposterous? Fine! Then let's go outside and prove it! Unless you're a coward?" Zoro could see how the cook bristled at the insult. That was the last straw.

"Fine with me!" the cook answered, tearing off his apron and stomping out of the dining room. Zoro followed right behind him.


Nami was pruning her mikan trees when she heard the familiar sounds of Zoro and Sanji arguing from the kitchen. When they suddenly increased in volume, she knew the two had opened the door and were stepping outside. While the two of them arguing and fighting was nothing new, she worried this time because of Sanji's physical condition. When the group had returned to the Sunny, he had refused to be seen by Chopper, insisting that his injuries had already been treated and he was fine. And when he had removed his own bandages sometime early yesterday morning before everyone else had woken up, Nami had assumed he meant what he said. But still she worried. And so, she stopped her pruning and turned to watch the altercation. Around the Sunny, she noticed several of the others doing the same.

The two combatants stood on the grassy main deck, facing each other and preparing to fight. Zoro only had out one of his swords, thankfully, and Sanji tapped his foot on the ground before getting into a fighting stance. But Nami couldn't help but be concerned. She wasn't much of an expert on combat, but she had seen the cook fight often enough that she recognized that his movements were far slower and more stiff than usual. There was no way Zoro didn't notice.

"I'll give you one last chance!" Zoro shouted. "Just admit you're scared of fire and we can end this farce, Damn Cook!"

"Not a chance, you shitty bastard!"

"Fine." The tone, the finality in which Zoro spoke that single word made Nami shudder. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, Zoro took his other hand and swept it over the sword until it was covered in flames. "Foxfire Style!"

Nami gasped aloud. From the exclamations and murmurs she heard from around the ship, she wasn't the only one surprised by Zoro's ability. She glanced over at Sanji, only to find the cook frozen in absolute terror, staring wide-eyed at the flames dancing across Zoro's sword. He looked on the edge of full-blown panic, gasping for breath and shaking all over, his back pressed against the railing.

"Little trick I picked up from Kin'emon." Zoro explained. He held the sword out towards Sanji, then took a step forward, "Now, Cook, anytime you want to admit-"

He was cut off by Sanji taking one last terrified look at the sword. Then the cook turned around and jumped the railing to fall with a splash into the ocean below.

For a moment, everyone simply stood there, stunned. Then Zoro commented, "I… did not expect him to do that."

"You idiot!" Usopp, Brook, and Franky yelled at the same time. Usopp was even brave enough to whack the swordsman on top of the head. Nami was about to join the three in berating him when she noticed Luffy quietly grabbing Chopper and heading for the hatch that led below to the docking station. With a glance at the others—who were still either yelling at their swordsman or searching the side for Sanji—Nami slipped down the hatch after the captain and doctor.

The two were already operating the Soldier Docking system when Nami got to the bottom of the ladder. Without a sound, she slipped behind some empty cola barrels stashed near the path to the storage room. She watched as the Docking system opened to one of the empty docks, then to the open ocean. Completely soaked, Sanji swam inside.

Once the cook reached the edge of the dock, Luffy reached down and helped him up, as Chopper fluttered around in a panic. "Sanji! You're soaked! You'll get cold! You could get a fever! Not to mention your injuries! Someone call a doctor-!"

"Chopper," Luffy said, a patient smile on his face, "You are the doctor."

"Oh yeah." Chopper immediately calmed down.

Sanji just stood there throughout the exchange, water dripping off his clothes and hair. He was looking down, his hair covering his face, but somehow Nami could tell he felt humiliated. Fortunately, he hadn't been wearing his suit jacket when he took his impromptu swim, but he didn't have time to kick off his shoes and his dress shirt, tie, and trousers were so soaked they looked uncomfortable.

"I'll go change," he mumbled, his shoes making squishing sounds as he turned to leave.

"Sanji, wait," Luffy stated. It wasn't an order, but Nami could hear the command in his tone. "We need to talk."

Sanji sighed, turning back to Luffy, his head still turned down. Chopper flittered nearby nervously.

"But first, your shirt's wet. Why don't you take it off and we can hang it up?" Luffy suggested. Sanji stiffened. For a moment, Nami thought he was going to protest. Then, with a sigh and an angry grunt, he undid his tie swiftly, dropping the soaked neckwear to the floor. He took a deep breath and then, with trembling hands, began undoing the buttons of his dress shirt. As more and more of the garment fell away from Sanji's chest and arms, Nami felt her eyes widening.

When Sanji finally passed the shirt to Luffy, still not looking his captain in the eye as he did so, it took everything for Nami not to gasp aloud. Sanji's chest, abdomen, and sides were covered in burns of various sizes and intensities, several of them in the shape of handprints. Most of them were peeling or had the remnants of blisters. The worst burns were on his wrists. The tissue there was an angry red with blackened edges on what flesh remained. The burns also weren't shaped like any of the others on Sanji's body. Nami stared at them, trying to figure out where they had come from, before realizing a horrifying moment later that they were in the shape of shackles. Metal shackles that had likely been heated to an unbearable intensity.

Chopper immediately went into a panic. "Sanji! These burns! Who did this to you?! No, that doesn't matter! You fell into the ocean! These will get infected! I have to treat you!..."

Luffy said nothing for a bit as Chopper continued his ramblings about Sanji's injuries. Finally, the Straw Hat captain placed a hand on Chopper's hat, stopping the young doctor mid-ramble. For a moment, Nami thought she was found out as the rubber man glanced back at the barrels she was hiding behind, but then he just looked back at Sanji.

"Sanji, your Observation Haki isn't working too well right now, is it?" Luffy asked.

If Sanji was confused by the sudden change of topic, he didn't show it, merely shook his head in response to Luffy's question.

"Ah well. We'll worry about that later. Why don't you get out of those shoes and pants too?" Luffy suggested. Once again, Nami thought Sanji was going to argue as he just stood there, his breathing becoming more rapid. Then he toed off his shoes and took off his socks. Nami let out a small sigh of relief to see that his feet appeared uninjured. But then he reached for his belt and dropped his pants, leaving him in a set of plain black boxers and Nami had to covered her mouth with her hand to keep the shocked noise from coming out.

As bad as Sanji's upper body wounds had been, the ones on his legs were worse. Burn wounds just as bad as the ones on his wrists encircled his lower legs from just below his knees to right above his ankles. The Marines apparently had taken no chances with the cook's forceful kicks and had ensured the powerful limbs had been strongly shackled. And Sakazuki had taken clear advantage of all that metal wrapped around Sanji's legs, using his magma powers to super-heat the metal and burn Sanji's legs horrifically. Just as Nami was wondering what her friend had gone through, being forced to take that torture with no way to escape it, she realized that other wounds continued up the cook's thighs and matched similar burns tracing down the cook's torso. Both sets of injuries led into the area covered by Sanji's boxers.

"Do…do I need to take these off too?" Sanji asked quietly, gesturing to his undershorts but never looking up. Luffy turned his head slightly in Nami's direction, paused for a moment, before turning back. Sanji didn't notice.

"Nah, you can keep them on," Luffy replied. "But…what happened?" He waved his hands at the wounds leading into the undergarments. At Sanji's flush and hesitation, he continued, "If you can tell me." Chopper simply stood by quietly, his wide eyes still taking in all of Sanji's burns.

Sanji took a deep shuddering breath. "There…there was one day there had me facing the wall. I still couldn't…couldn't move. He came in." Sanji didn't need to say who he meant. "Asked me the same fucking question he asked every day. 'What's the number, Black Leg? Just tell me the number and this will stop.' Every. Damn. Day." The cook's hands gathered into shaking fists and he took a moment to collect himself before he continued. "He…he told me he was…he was going to do something new that day. Grabbed my belt, dropped my pants, forced down my underwear. There…there was nothing I could do. I-I couldn't stop him."

His voice started breaking. Both of Sanji's hands went to his hair, grabbing it tightly. Luffy stood there, calmly and patiently, waiting for his cook to finish. Chopper looked near tears but was forcing himself to be brave for his friend. Nami felt near tears herself. I shouldn't have come down here, she thought. But too late now.

Finally, Sanji gathered himself enough to continue. "He wrapped one hand around my…around my…you know…" The cook choked back a sob. "And he used the other to shove…I don't know how many fingers…up my…my…it hurt, Luffy. It hurt so much." Tears were starting to fall down Sanji's cheek as one hand moved down to cover his eyes. "But then he…he started heating them up. Turning both his hands into lava. I thought I was going to die. I really thought I was going to die, it hurt so badly. I-I almost told him, Luffy. I almost screamed the damn number. Just to make him stop. I just…just wanted him to stop." The cook was outright crying now. Nami felt nauseous just at the thought of his horrific injuries.

"Is that why you've only been eating broth and water?" Luffy asked. Nami had never in her life been so glad that her captain for once had the grace not to ask someone, Can you poop?

Sanji nodded. "The…the doctors who treated me afterwards…said it would increase my risk of infection if I…if I…"

Luffy stopped him with a nod. "I get it."

The cook took a deep breath, trying to stop his tears. "After they treated me, they left me alone for a while after that. I'm not sure how long. Maybe a few days? I guess the doctors must have said something. No food either, but they had me facing away from the wall again and they left me alone. The…the next time I saw…saw him again…" Sanji took another deep breath, "…was the day he…he brought in Zeff."

The tears started again. Luffy let them for a minute before saying, "It's okay. I get it. But Sanji…"

With a sniffle, the cook stopped crying and lowered his hand, looking up at his captain. Luffy raised his own hand to the right side of Sanji's face, the side currently hidden behind his curtain of hair. The cook stiffened, his eye widening. Luffy continued, his hand lifting the hair away. Nami gasped.

A hand-shaped burn covered the entire right-side of Sanji's face, stretching across his cheek to his ear. The thumb of the hand had been pressed into Sanji's eye, leaving it as a mass of blinded scar tissue. Somehow, with his entire face exposed like that, Sanji looked more vulnerable than he had the entire time he'd been telling Luffy what Sakazuki had done to him.

"Oh, Sanji!" Chopper cried upon seeing his friend's mutilation, rushing up to the cook and hugging him around the knee, one of the few places the man wasn't seriously burned. Sanji placed a hand on Chopper's hat, but he continued to look at Luffy, his good eye filling with tears.

"…you have to let us help you." Luffy finished, finally letting the hair fall back into place.

The three of them stood there quietly for a few minutes, except for Chopper's sobs. Then Sanji asked in a weak voice, "Can I put my clothes back on now?"

Luffy nodded. "Go with Chopper. Let him treat you. Everyone should still be on the grass deck, so you can use the hatch in the energy room if you want. Go into the infirmary the back way. I'll bring you dry clothes in a few minutes."

Sanji nodded and began putting on his still damp garments. He winced several times as the salt water moved over the still healing burns. Once he was dressed, he and Chopper headed down the path leading towards the energy room. Nami waited, expecting Luffy to head up the ladder back to the grass deck.

"You can come out now, Nami," the captain said instead, once the other two were out of earshot. The navigator jumped guiltily before sighing and stepping around the barrels.

"How long did you know I was back there?" she asked.

"Pretty much the whole time," Luffy replied. "Sanji wouldn't have wanted you to see that."

"I'm surprised you didn't call me out then."

Luffy shook his head. "Zoro had pushed him into a corner, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to get him to talk to me about it another time. Just don't let Sanji know you were down here."

"I wasn't planning to," the navigator said. Then, after a pause, "You know, it's odd. I expected him to be more…angry, I guess, when he was talking about what happened to Zeff."

"He's been through a lot. We both know what that's like," Luffy replied. He got a thoughtful look on his face. "But he's still hiding something."

"Hiding something? Like what? What could he possibly be hiding that's any worse than…?" Nami left the sentence hanging.

"I don't know," Luffy answered. "But he is." Then the rubber man got his usual sunny grin. "I was hoping you could find out!"

Nami let out her breath in a huff. "Then I suppose you want me to tell you, right?" Luffy got another thoughtful look, a finger on his chin. "Well, that'll be ten thousand-"

"Nah!" Luffy cut her off with a grin. "You don't have to tell me. But I think it would be a good thing for Sanji if he told somebody."

"Told somebody what?"

Luffy shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever he's holding back."

Nami sighed and then shook her head. "You're impossible sometimes, you know that, Luffy? Fine, I'll get him to tell me… whatever it is."

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Now let's go back up." With that he turned and started walking towards the ladder.

"I wonder if the others have finished yelling at Zoro yet." Nami commented. Luffy paused at the first rung.

"He's worried too, you know." The Straw Hat captain said.

"Some way of showing it! What was he expecting with that little display?!" Nami ranted.

"The same as you. He was expecting Sanji to get angry," Luffy stated. Nami paused, waiting for the rubber man to explain. Luffy continued, "Or hoping he would anyway. But Sanji hasn't been acting like himself lately. Zoro will never admit it, but he misses the way Sanji was. He hates seeing Sanji like this. So he got impatient. And pushed too far."

Luffy turned back around and started heading up. Nami followed. At the base of the ladder, she said, "I'm just saying, he's got a lot of nerve to be saying and doing all this now. When we went to pick Sanji up, Zoro couldn't even stand to stay in the same room as him."

Luffy peered over his shoulder at her. He had a knowing grin on his face. "You know why he left though, right?"

"Hmm?"

"Because even though he doesn't like to admit it, Zoro's sometimes a coward, too."


The others were still gathered on the grass deck when they came up. Zoro sat in the middle of the group, sporting several new bumps, his arms crossed and looking completely unrepentant. Despite what Luffy had said earlier, Nami wanted to slug him.

"Luffy-kun! Is Sanji alright?" Jinbei asked immediately. Nami noticed his clothes seemed a bit damp, most likely from going after Sanji before realizing he was safe in the docking system. The others began to gather around their captain, ready to flood him with similar questions. Luffy grinned and held up his hands.

"Yep, yep. He's safe. Chopper's gonna give him a check up." Luffy assured them all. Nami noticed a few sighs of relief.

"So…what was that all about?" Usopp asked. Nami saw Jinbei wince and she was pretty sure she did as well. While they had told the others that Sanji had been imprisoned by the Marines and handed over to the Big Mom Pirates, they hadn't shared the details of exactly who had taken the cook prisoner or what had happened to him. Especially not the details of the phone call.

"You saw it," Zoro answered bluntly. "He's afraid of fire."

"Okay, but…why?" Usopp pressed. "This is Sanji we're talking about. He sets himself on fire on an alarmingly regular basis."

"The real question is what's changed?" Robin asked, cutting straight to the point. Nami looked away from the others, noticing out the corner of her eye that Zoro did too. Luffy didn't, but he seemed to be contemplating how to explain what had happened to their cook. Finally, Jinbei took a deep breath.

"Luffy, with your permission, I think it's best we fill everyone in." the fishman said, turning to his captain. Luffy nodded.

"Go ahead, Jinbei."

With that, the helmsman turned to the others and began explaining how it was the Magma Magma user specifically who had taken their chef captive, forced the Transponder Snail number out of him, and then had murdered his mentor right before his eyes before shipping him off to the Big Mom Pirates in hopes of starting a pirate war. When Jinbei finished, the rest of the crew stood with their jaws agape.

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?!" Usopp demanded. "No wonder he's terrified of fire! Sanji's our friend…he needs our support!"

"Usopp…you didn't see him then…" Nami felt tears begin to gather in her eyes remembering Sanji's blank, empty smile back at Big Mom's chateau.

"See him when?" the sniper demanded.

"I asked the others not to say anything, Usopp," Luffy cut in.

"Why?"

"Because the cook was a few onigiri short of a bento when we met up with him in Big Mom's territory," Zoro answered. The sniper's eyes widened.

"You…you don't mean…?"

"Usopp, Sanji was not okay when we saw him. And after the call, we weren't sure how he was going to be when we got him or after we brought him back," Luffy explained.

Franky rubbed his chin. "I'd figured Curly Cook had been unusually quiet lately, and I thought the Marines had probably roughed him up, but…"

"I assumed he had been horrifically tortured," Robin stated in her usual macabre way. Brook chuckled nervously.

"Robin-san, dear, maybe not the time…"

"In any case," Nami said, rubbing her eyes and deciding to take charge and change the subject, "Sanji-kun's going to be recovering for a bit and he's going to be off cooking duty in the meantime. So until he's comfortable with using fire again, we'll need to make a cooking schedule."

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna do it!" Luffy raised his hand enthusiastically.

"Alright, so out of everyone here, Usopp, Robin, and myself have the most cooking experience," Nami stated, ignoring her captain entirely. "Franky and Chopper can manage meals sometimes. Hmm…I wonder if it's a good idea to include Zoro and Brook…?"

"I can cook, witch!" Zoro growled from where he sat.

"Yohohoho! I am willing to put my culinary skills to the test!" Brook insisted. Nami sighed. Sorry, Sanji-kun. She could only hope the chef's kitchen would survive the onslaught of inexperience she was about to put it through.

"I wanna help too!" Luffy cried.

"NO!" Nami and Brook shouted at the same time.

"Hold on a second," Zoro stated suddenly. "You should let Luffy cook too."

Nami and Brook stared at the swordsman in horror. Had Chopper been there, Nami was certain he would have shared their expression. Memories of Luffy's last attempt at "cooking" filled her mind.

"Zoro-san! I am sorry, but absolutely not!"

"He has no ability to cook!" Nami voiced.

"He'll use up all the food!"

"The rice was raw!"

"And all of that is exactly why you should let Luffy cook," Zoro insisted. "Let me explain. I have a plan."


Once the cooking schedule was done (And Luffy was put at the very, very end after everyone else had gone twice, and they would definitely be pulling up to another island to restock after his "attempt"), Nami posted it in the dining room. Then she went into the kitchen and got to work on dinner. It wasn't long after she had the stew simmering on the stove that she heard the infirmary door open followed soon after by footsteps and then a quiet, "Nami-san?"

The navigator turned to see Sanji standing at one of the entrances to the kitchen next to the fridge, fresh bandages visible from under his fringe of hair and peeking out from the sleeves of the sweatshirt Luffy had gotten for him. The rubber man had gone ahead and gotten Sanji a dry pair of sweatpants as well, figuring it would rub against Sanji's burns a little less than the cook's typical dress clothes.

"I can do that, Nami-san, you shouldn't have to-" he said, starting to walk into the kitchen. Then he froze at the sight of the flame under the stew pot.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami called, walking between the cook and the stove, blocking his view of the visible flame. Sanji relaxed considerably, but he still looked pale. She began gently pushing him out of the kitchen, careful to grab his shoulders, which she remembered being burn-free. "I have it handled. And Chopper told me earlier that you're on bed rest for the next few days." She began to steer him back towards the infirmary.

"Wait! Please!" Sanji cried, grabbing her hands. He glanced at the door to the infirmary. "I'll rest, just…not in there. It's too…too…"

Nami peered past him to the open infirmary door. It just looked like Chopper's infirmary to her, but realized to a man who had just spent a month in a trapped in a Marine prison, it likely felt too dark and lonely.

"Fine," she relented. Then realized this gave her the perfect opportunity to do what Luffy had asked her. "You can stay. But either sit at the counter, or if you get too tired, rest on the couch."

"Yes, Nami-san!" the cook instantly agreed, taking a seat at the counter. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes while Nami stirred the stew and then checked on the baking bread in the oven. When she glanced at Sanji, she was surprised to find him staring aimlessly at the counter, lost in thought, rather than watching her like he normally would. It was time to act, she decided, taking off her light sweater and adjusting the top of her shirt.

"Sanji-kun," she said in a flirty voice, leaning over the counter so the chef had a good view of her cleavage. He glanced up…and his face flushed and eye widened. Good, she thought. This was much more the reaction she had been expecting. The red-head flipped her hair and fluttered her eyelashes. Sanji gulped.

"C-can I help you Nami-san?" he asked, trying to maintain his composure. Nami twirled her finger in her hair and licked her lips. The cook suddenly held his nose, trying to stem the blood flow, even as his eye got even wider. Almost there.

"I was just wondering," the navigator said softly, leaning in even closer. She could see the telltale heart starting to form in Sanji's eye, "if you had anything you'd like to talk about, Sanji-kun. Anything on your mind?"

The blonde shook his head, still with that love-struck look but also looking a little confused. Nami reached out a hand to caress his jaw, just below the bandage on his face.

"Luffy thinks there's something you haven't told him. He's worried about you," she stated. "And so am I."

A look of surprise froze on Sanji's face. Then he turned away from her hand, looking down and away so she couldn't see his face. But she could see how his hands shook as they sat on the counter.

"I-I don't understand. Why does Luffy think…?"

"You know how perceptive he is. He said he had talked to you earlier but felt like there was something you were keeping from him," the navigator explained. His hands continued to shake and his breathing grew more rapid. "What's the matter, Sanji-kun?"

"I-I…that is…it's-it's nothing," the cook sputtered, still looking away.

"Sanji-kun," Nami said, her voice growing heated with warning. She dropped all the flirtatious behavior. "There's something. And it's bothering you. What is it you're not telling me?"

"I-I can't!" The cook's hands trembled even more violently before he balled them into fists. His face was turned away but she could see he was grinding his teeth. He seemed angry or at least upset, but it was difficult to tell. Time to bring out the secret weapon.

"Maybe this will help calm you down first." Nami opened a drawer, pulled out a lighter and a pack of Sanji's cigarettes, and placed them on the counter. Sanji glanced at them, idly picked up the lighter before putting it back down and pushing it away. It wasn't his of course (that had been confiscated by the Navy when he'd been captured), but it would have worked just the same.

Rolling her eyes, Nami took out a cigarette and picked up the lighter. The cook tensed, but she hid her hands behind the counter so he wouldn't have to see the flame. Once it was lit, she offered the cigarette to Sanji. "Here."

There was still a trace of fear in Sanji's eye and his hand shook as he took the cigarette, but as soon as he breathed in the first puff of smoke, Nami could see him finally begin to relax a bit. He was still pale and thin and his face was staring at a view no one else could see, but his shaking seemed to subside and some of the tension left his shoulders.

"Better?" she asked. He took another deep breathe of smoke and released it before looking up at her and nodding. "Good. Ready to talk to me?"

He suddenly looked ready to run or at least look away again. But instead he took another deep inhale, as though trying to force his nerves to relax, and looked Nami in the eye.

"You can't tell Luffy what I'm about to tell you." Sanji stated, unusually serious. Nami nodded.

"I promise."

"The day…Akainu…Sakazuki…whatever the hell his name is…" The cook's hand without the cigarette tightened into a fist and he stared down at the countertop. "The day he ordered Zeff…to be…to be…"

Nami placed a hand over Sanji's clenched fist. "It's okay. I know what you mean. Go on."

Sanji took a deep breath. "He didn't do it himself. He ordered one of his subordinates to do it." Another deep breath and he was looking Nami directly in the eye again. "It was Garp."

Nami gasped. "Impossible! He wouldn't-!"

Anger flashed across Sanji's face. "That's what I told myself. But he did. I watched it."

"It's not that I don't believe you, Sanji-kun," she assured the cook. "But I'm just trying to imagine what Luffy will-"

Suddenly the cook grabbed her arm. "You can't tell him, Nami-san!"

Nami was startled. "But, Sanji-kun, it's his grandfather…"

"I know, Nami-san. Please. That's exactly why you can't tell him." Sanji pleaded. "It would break Luffy's heart to know that his grandfather k-killed… my old man. So please. Don't tell him."

"You really want to keep this a secret from Luffy?"

The cook nodded. "I-I can't bring myself to tell him."

Nami looked into his good eye, moist with unshed tears. She couldn't help thinking about his other eye, burned and blind now. It was the eye she had first seen when they had met the cook, way back in the East Blue, back before he had started parting his hair the other way. And now she would never see it again.

Once more, she wondered how he had felt, trapped and tortured in a dark, lonely cell and then forced to watch his parent be murdered right in front of him while he was helpless to stop it. The thought reminded her of Bell-mere.

She could do this much for him.

"Okay. I won't tell him. I promise."


Author's Notes: I had to really study the design drawings of the Thousand Sunny for the Soldier Docking station scene. While there definitely seems to be a path back to the Energy Room and a ladder there that leads to the Aquarium Bar, I'm not sure that there's actually a back way to get from the Aquarium Bar up to the infirmary without going onto the grass deck. Maybe there's an outside ladder? We'll just say there's a ladder.

-Somehow, I think I somehow made Luffy the most serious Straw Hat this chapter.