Sanji couldn't get up. He felt as though he was suffocating in that man's voice. He couldn't breathe and he choked on the tears that were falling in a waterfall down his face.
"Sanji-kun!" the girl shrieked.
"What is it Mai?" Sanji asked.
"Are you having fun? With me?" Mai asked.
Sanji nodded even though he knew the girl couldn't see him.
"Why are we out here?"
The eight year old boy looked around the barren island trying to think of a way to make this into a game for the seven year old Mai. He couldn't tell her why they were really there, and why their clothes were worn out, and why they hadn't eaten for days. She would only be scared, Sanji didn't want her to be scared. It was his duty to protect and take care of her.
She had been unconscious when their ship had got wrecked and they had washed up on this island, the only survivors from the wreckage. He had pulled her onto the dry sand and forced air into her lungs to make her cough up the water she had swallowed. When the ship started going down, Mai had hit her head on something and blacked out. Sanji was not surprised that when she finally opened her eyes she did not remember a thing about what had happened. In that respect he was sort of glad. He remembered as he pulled Mai through the water all the lifeless corpses that floated on the surface. He had been sick shortly after getting to shore.
"Let's play a game," Sanji suggested standing up next to the girl.
Mai was a little bit shorter than Sanji and her hair was a few shades darker than his. Their eyes though... Both the children eyes were a beautiful, dazzling ocean blue. Sanji didn't have the long fringe covering his left eye back then and both his eyes were visible.
"What game are we going to play?" Mai asked.
"We're going to go exploring," he said in a tone that he hoped made it sound exciting for Mai.
The little girl jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Sanji didn't understand how the seven year old was so energetic when they hadn't eaten for three days now. Then again Mai had been sleeping while Sanji stayed awake the last two nights to watch over her.
"Let's go," she squealed dragging the exhausted Sanji along behind her and through the mass of decaying branches.
There was nothing edible on this island, Sanji had checked the full extent of the island twice already. The island also seemed to be deserted. Mai had let go of Sanji's hand so she could crawl along the dusty floor when the branches dipped lower. They were crawling for ten minutes before Mai suddenly sped up and disappeared out of Sanji's view.
"Mai!" Sanji called after her as he too sped up.
The mass of branches came to an end and he was able to stand up beside Mai and take a proper look at their surroundings. Sanji looked straight ahead of them. There was a cliff edge, and at the edge of that cliff there was a man sitting next to a sack.