Back on them requests, eh? (I'm sorry I won't do that again...) But this was another request from guest reviewer EACT, to not spoil the happenings of the chapter, the full request will be included in my endnotes.
IMPORTANT WARNING: This is a warning to all ANIME-ONLY'S, who are not aware of what is going on in the MANGA right now. This chapter will SPOIL MAJOR PLOT POINTS, so I will encourage all anime-only's to just skip this chapter and come back to it whenever I remove the warning (aka when the anime is caught up). I will also write in the notes of a chapter if I remove warnings on any chapters, so that you have an idea of what to read at what time :)
Without further ado, for all manga-readers and those who don't care about spoilers. Enjoy!
Story set: After Zou
Encounters when food shopping
Between the time he left the Baratie and his supposed engagement to Charlotte Pudding of the Big Mom Pirates, Sanji encountered her three times.
1. Alabasta
On the fourth day it stopped raining and Sanji snuck out of the palace to buy some spices he had wanted since the day they had first arrived. Of course with the country in a state of civil war and the strawhats trying to prevent anything too disastrous from happening, he hadn't had the time to go food shopping... Until now. After buying everything he wanted and definitely more than he needed, Sanji found a small café and decided that he could do with a good cup of tea and perhaps something sweet. He ordered a special ginger tea along with one of Alabasta's unique desserts called: Kunafa. Right as he had placed his order, someone took a seat opposite him.
"I'll have whatever he's having," the girl smiled and the waitress nodded before leaving their table.
"Long time, no see, sister," Sanji said calmly. There was no need to fear her. If she wanted a fight, she would have wanted to catch him off guard and she would have waited to reveal herself until he had no longer been surrounded by people. Because right now in this country, the strawhats were seen as heroes (by those who knew of them) and there was no way Reiju wouldn't know about it, smart as she was.
"Yes, it truly has been a long time. About three years I think. I still remember the look on your face, when Yonji and I walked into the restaurant. You looked so shocked when you saw us, though I don't think Yonji noticed you. He can be a little slow at times." She rested her head in her hand, tilted her head slightly and smiled sweetly.
"I'm surprised you didn't come back though. Would it not have been easy for you to drag me back? Or are you afraid that I'm still stronger than you?" Sanji threatened and smiled back at her.
"Afraid?" She snorted, "Of you? Oh Please! Give me a break. What do I have to fear? I have dedicated every single day since you left to becoming stronger, while you stood behind a counter making food for peasants and outlaws."
"And which one are you then?" Sanji countered calmly, "Peasant or outlaw?"
"You little-"
"Your order," the waitress interrupted and put down two plates of cake along with their tea, "Enjoy."
"Well, it doesn't matter," Sanji said and took a sip of his tea, "I believe in cooking for the hungry and that's all there is to it."
They sat in silence for a while. Sanji was enjoying his tea and cake and Reiju was... probably doing the same thing.
"When the time comes..." Reiju said, "You'll regret what you did."
"Yes, when hell freezes over."
"Then..." she stood up, "I'll turn hell into my personal ice fortress." With that she left and Sanji wondered what Reiju was doing in Alabasta. In the end she never finished her tea and cake. Sanji got annoyed at the way she was wasting food, but at the same time she was acting the same as he was before he met Zeff. He would have prayed for her to find someone who could open her eyes, but Sanji knew his prayers would do no good. She was too far from salvation.
2. Water 7
At this point Sanji gave up searching. He had lost Chopper and Robin-chan a good twenty minutes ago when they had stumbled upon a bookshop. This normally wouldn't have been a problem, Sanji enjoyed reading and he could sacrifice some food shopping time to explore the great literary world. However, at some point Chopper and Robin must've left the shop, because Sanji was sure that he was the only person in the bookshop. Not wanting to leave Robin-chan alone after the events of Enies Lobby, he immediately began searching for her. Sanji was aware that Robin was most likely still with Chopper, which meant that Sanji's searching wasn't as urgent as it could have been and Water 7's interesting food stalls were just as luring as any girl.
So now Sanji had accepted the fact that he probably wouldn't see them until they met back up with the others and he decided to just dedicate himself to the city's delicacies. He made his way to one of the bigger streets so that he wouldn't have to rent a boat and started down a path that was sure to leave him very poor. Then someone grabbed hold of his arm and walked with him.
"Declaring war against the World Government, really now? I thought you were smarting than that?"
"Well, in defence of my own intellect, I was just following my Captain's orders... But then again, I would have done the same if I had been the one to make the call, so it doesn't really matter."
"So you are admitting that you are stupid?" She chuckled.
"No, I'm saying that I have loyalty and that I care for my family."
She stopped walking, let go of his arm and looked at him coldly.
"Loyalty? Care for your family?" She hissed and her hands gripped tight onto nothing but air, "You know none of that, you betrayed us, betrayed mother... betrayed me!"
Not wanting to cause a scene, Sanji dragged her into an alley, where no one could overhear their conversation without Sanji knowing about it.
"Look, I never approved of what you did. I did not betray you. To betray someone you would have to have been loyal to them. We might be blood, but we were not and are not family," Sanji said calmly, but hiding his anger. Sanji would never understand her, never understand how she could look at herself every morning without feeling guilty, without thinking twice about her actions. She had so much blood on her hands, it made Zoro look like a saint. He knew what drove her though: Power. In every sense of the word. He was not going to deny that she was a hard worker on top of being both talented and bright minded, she just used her gifts wrongly. She was a warrior, she had influence through her name, she was charming and beautiful, she could outsmart any man or woman who dared to go against her, but she was a devil in human form.
"We are blood!" She almost screamed ignoring Sanji's statement all together though she still had some control in her. She was a professional after all, but Sanji knew he was the one person she could not keep her cool around.
"Blood does not equal family. Love does! I did not love you, I did love our brother nor our father and I did not love the woman who dared to call herself my mother!" Blood was going to Sanji's head, but he couldn't help it. As much as he infuriated her, she also angered him.
"On that we can agree, she was not your mother, you did not deserve her! But I did and you took her away from me!" She swung her right arm at him and he blocked. She swung again, but he was not about to let his guard down and they both knew that they couldn't start a full-blown fight in the streets of Water 7. Not that Sanji could fight her anyway, but she did not need to know that. She pulled away.
"Your actions at Enies Lobby will have consequences. Mark my words, your crew will be dead before long." She took off and Sanji kicked the building next to him.
3. Fishman Island
Sanji should have known when he went food shopping alone. He should have known that she would just mysteriously show up and talk shit about something she shouldn't stick her nose in. But even though Sanji should have known, she still startled him when she suddenly started speaking.
"Strawhat may be an idiot, but he has guts, going up against Big Mom like that."
"Don't insult my Captain." Sanji answered, but something about Reiju felt different from the last few times they had met. Sanji couldn't describe what it was, but Reiju acted like she had just won some kind of fight and he did not like that. Not a bit.
"I'm just stating a fact. You may be stronger than two years ago, but you don't stand a chance against a Yonkou."
"We'll see about that," Sanji answered and wanted to leave, but she blocked his way and continued talking.
"Oh we will. And it'll be soon too. The tea party is only a few weeks away."
"The tea party?" Sanji asked, but she gave no answer.
"It'll be like a family reunion," she laughed falsely, "Our brothers will all be there and father too!"
"What are you talking about?!" Sanji yelled and turned a few heads, but Reiju just pulled on an angel face and people simply smiled and went back to their business. Reiju walked towards him and for a moment, he thought she was going to attack, but she went straight past him.
"You can't run forever, my sweet little brother." Reiju whispered and disappeared, leaving Sanji confused and alone in the crowd.
A week later he would come to know the meaning of her words. She had won the first battle.
So the request from EACT was: "Sanji meeting up with his horrible family again". Since we don't know too much about them at this moment (Chapter 829) I decided just to included Reiju.
Also, there are a lot of little things in this chapter which are basically drawn from my own theories on Sanji's backstory, but I won't elaborate on them in any upcoming chapter. Feel free to ask if you are interested and leave your own theories on what you think happened to Sanji and his family. We can start an interesting discussion!
Lastly, fave if you enjoyed reading, follow for more and leave a review with your thoughts. It is much appreciated :)
