The gift

Blue, everything was blue around him, with bubbles. What nice bubbles, but where were they going? He looked up and saw a light. The light was small at first, but it grew brighter and brighter, until it made his sight blurry.

Sanji opened his eyes fully in fright, what the hell was that? What?. Where… he looked around to notice his usual, dirty cell…oh. Sanji took a deep breath and rested on the floor a little longer. Now he knew the world hated him. He was still here, but at least he felt a little better physically, though he was still hungry as hell and weak.

After some time, he turned his body to the other side where he was laying and found a surprise gift sitting close to him. Immediately, Sanji sat up and moved closer to the gift they had left for him. It was a plate with fresh fruits, cheese and two pieces of bread on it. Sanji swallowed his saliva, he didn't know what to do. Should he eat it, should he save it for later or should he not touch it? What was going on and who had left it for him? Sanji's mind work overtime, but he didn't know the answers for all this so he tried to think positively.

If he didn't eat the fruit, it would get spoiled like the cheese. Maybe the bread he could still save for later. That was what he decided to do, and started eating slowly, the taste of the fresh fruit in his mouth felt like heaven to him. It was so delicious on his tongue and the fluid he so needed ran down his throat. Why hadn't he appreciated the taste of fruit before!? Or any kind of food, he really didn't know. But right now, that he could eat something again, he could not stop himself from been truly happy to eat it!

What to do now, he wasn't sure, but one thing he had to do every time he saw a little light from that one window – he had to make a sign somewhere with the only thing he had – the knife. That sign would show him how much time he had spent there, how many days. He didn't have anything else to determine how many days had passed, after all.

Sanji still felt hurt by Zeff's actions, but he found himself not giving up like he thought he had. He wasn't happy, and didn't feel the need to go back home anymore, that was for sure. He didn't want to stay in this disgusting shitty cell all his life either. He could survive by himself, even without a place to called home or someone that loved him, as long he could live in peace in that place. So he managed to find his strong will, not to come back home, but to survive this and become stronger. Much stronger…and his dream.

At first, he struggled to stand up. He almost fell down since his legs felt too weak, but in the end Sanji managed to stand up by himself and find the knife. He was glad they hadn't taken it from him after all this. With a little smile, he started to carve a line into the wooden floor. It was a hard work at first, but Sanji put all his effort into his carving. It didn't come out very well, but it was enough.

One line for one day. Sanji carved three more lines in different places beside that one line in the floor. That would be the time he had spent here since he had woken up the first time.

That what he was going to do from now on. He had to know every little thing he could, so when someone came to save him, he would know how much time he had spent here.

Of course he was also scared of these lines, in a way. Their meaning would show him the hard truth, how much time he was really there! What if it was going to be more time then he wanted to know, what if it end up forever? Sanji felt a shiver down his spine and hugged his legs close to his chest – he would have to believe it would not continue much longer.

The days continued on, and Sanji kept carving lines. Those lines continued on in a weird unsymmetrical series of lines, until Sanji decide to continue them in a new row. It was a weird hobby, but what else was there to do? His kidnappers weren't the talking kind, and they only brought him a little food from time to time. And it wasn't even every day! Sanji was pissed at them, what were they trying to do anyway?! Torture him with hunger and keep him alive only to torture him more when they brought the little food they did?! Fuck those assholes. Maybe he should just kill himself now and spare himself the torture! But Sanji wasn't ready to lose his life, especially not for those kinds of fuckers!

His revenge would be to stay alive and live well, that would be his ultimate revenge. Not to forget his dream was too precious to him to give up on, it was his dream! He would have to suffer, he really wanted to cry so much but he could not let himself due to his pride.

TBC