This is the second chapter! I really appreciate those who have reviewed so far! Those two reviews helped me write this chapter! Again, I hope to do the characters justice. Enjoy and please R&R!

Chapter 2

Don't Flatter Yourself

"Who the hell are you?" the leader of the gang stood up straight and removed his hand from Sanji's waist. His face was contorted in anger and annoyance. "It was just getting good, you bastard. Leave."

The figure in the distance was silent. Silent was an understatement. There was a strange aura surrounding the man and Sanji was unsure if it was the aura of a devil or a saint. The band of idiots obviously felt his intense presence, as the prince noticed their bodies tense in what seemed like fear.

"Hey!" the leader yelled angrily, taking a step towards the man. "I said, who are-!"

It happened so fast that Sanji didn't even know if he could believe his own eyes. The leader's body disappeared from his peripheral vision that Sanji had to look in order to see what happened. The green-haired individual was on top of him, pinning his head to the concrete ground with only one hand, pushing viciously against the leader's cheek. The leader looked to have been knocked out upon contact of the ground. Much closer, Sanji could see his savior's enormous, muscular body and tan skin. The man was wearing a Sunlit High uniform, so why had Sanji never seen this man before, if they went to the same school? Sanji wasn't able to see the man's face, because his back was facing him.

"A-Aniki!" the rest of the gang called in unison. The boy released Sanji, and in his weakened state, the prince slid to the ground, leaning against the wall for support.

The boys rushed onto the green-haired student and in an instant, Sanji felt like he had been thrown into an action movie. His savior began to wail on his attackers; punching faces, kneeing ribs, kicking shoulders. It was amazing. Sanji hadn't seen such oddly-skilled fighting in his entire life. It looked just like street-fighting, but there seemed to be more to it. The man ducked and dodged every blow and counterattacked every other blow. Four to one and the team of one won. Within a minute, five guys were groaning in pain or unconscious on the ground.

The man didn't even seem to have broken a sweat or gotten hurt.

Sanji was at a loss of words. Everything happened so fast, Sanji thought he'd be the next unconscious person.

The prince, for once, could only think of a few words to say. "Th… Thank you. For saving me."

That was when his savior turned to look at Sanji from his standing position. The man's outline was cloaked in the shadows of twilight, but the last bit of sun from the horizon was able to illuminate the man's face. He owned a scowl on his expression, mixed with a frown. His eyes were narrowed in anger and annoyance and his fingers were curled into a fist, splashed with some of the blood from the gang. Sanji's eyes widened at the sight of this anti-hero and simply stared, trying to read his expression.

The long silence ended immediately when the angry-looking green-haired student frowned and replied, "Don't flatter yourself."

Sanji immediately returned a frowned and stared with dead eyes at his so-called savior. "Eh?"

The green-haired student bent down and started rifling in the leader of the gang's blazer, fumbling for something. He straightened up when he pulled out his desired object and stretched for but a moment, revealing to Sanji that he was holding a pink purse. It was rather hard to believe that that pink monstrosity actually belonged to the monster of a man, but then why…?

The mysterious man then began to walk away. Sanji instantly started to debate whether to stop him or let him go. He wanted to stop him and barrage him with questions and thanks, but how would he do that without giving up his pride? Then again, he just had the shit beat out of him. Well, he couldn't lose the little dignity he had left. Sanji decided to say nothing as the man disappeared into the horizon, along with the setting sun.

….

"What the hell happened to you?!" Zeff yelled at Sanji, stomping his peg leg on the ground, rattling the floor.

Sanji was too busy cleaning his wounds to answer his adoptive father. He winced in pain when the anti-oxidant swab dabbed at his cut skin on his cheek. He leaned weakly against the counter of the kitchen and slowly exhaled, continuing to dab the infected spot with the swab.

"Answer me!" Zeff ordered with the voice of an angry dragon.

"I fell down a set of stairs," Sanji lied with his eyes closed. If Zeff knew the truth, the man would charge down there and murder those poor fools. A tense silence followed Sanji's lie, and the prince knew that Zeff knew he was lying. Sanji looked up to find Zeff looking intently at him, stroking his braided beard.

"Sanji…" Zeff began with a solemn look on his face. However, his voice trailed off and he walked upstairs to his room without another word. When the door shut gently, Sanji frowned. He couldn't tell Zeff what happened. He just couldn't. It was too embarrassing. Sanji took a look at his hand; shaking and trembling, unable to stop.

Sanji should've just taken the low road and beaten them up before they had the chance to do that to him. He never felt so disgusted with himself, being felt up in broad daylight. Well, sort of daylight. That didn't matter! Anyone could've seen! Wait… Sanji's eyes widened a bit at the realization that someone did see. That student with the green hair.

Ah, shit. Sanji grieved and covered his eyes with the crook of his elbow, embarrassed beyond belief. How would he face his classmates tomorrow? Luffy, Nami, Usopp… He had to tell them, no matter how humiliating it was. They were his friends and they had to know. Sanji then pondered the fact on why had had never seen his savior before, if they went to the same school. Ah. He wasn't his savior. "Don't flatter yourself" meant that the green-haired student didn't beat that gang of idiots to save Sanji. Why was he there again? For that pink purse that he fished out of their leaders pockets? Sanji chuckled to himself. The leader must've stolen it from the green-haired guy and he just wanted to back. Sure, his savior saw him get felt up, but Sanji saw that he owned a pink purse. They were even.

….

"What?" Nami replied in disbelief, bug-eyed.

Sanji exhaled deeply and leaned further back against his seat. "They beat the hell out of me. Then the biggest guy touched my stomach."

"That's horrible!" Usopp digressed and frowned at Sanji's expense. "What a bunch of dicks!"

Luffy slammed his fists together, looking angrier than anyone else in the classroom, although only the three of them were listening to Sanji's tale. "Those bastards. I'm going to kick their asses!"

Luffy actually started to stomp out the door, but Sanji grabbed his arm before he could get too far away. Luffy turned to Sanji and made a pouting face, but Sanji shook his head disapprovingly.

"No need. Somebody already did it for you." Sanji lightly frowned and shut his eyes, replaying the scene in his head. "He defeated them like they were nothing. It was amazing."

"Someone saved you?" Nami asked with a curious glint in her eye.

Sanji scoffed, "Not likely. He was only there for-!"

Sanji was interrupted by the loud squeals of a group of girls across the classroom. They were all huddled together with giddy smiles on their faces. Sanji narrowed his eyes curiously at them and listened in on what they were so excited about.

"No. WAY!"

"I swear! He was amazing!"

"Do you know his name?"

"No, but he did look kinda familiar."

"I can't believe there's another gentleman like Sanji-kun!"

The prince rose an eyebrow at the mention of his name. He shot out a brilliant smile and said loudly, "Excuse me, ladies, but what's all the fuss about?"

They all turned to look with blushed faces, but then they were filled with shock.

"Omigod, Sanji-kun! What happened to you?"

Sanji touched his bandaged cheek lightly. "Oh, this? Just an accident." Sanji didn't want to go into any lying details, as he was sure he'd regret it later.

"Well, I was just telling my friends about how a man saved me yesterday evening," one of the girl's explained quietly, looking embarrassed to be talking to the Prince of Sunlit High. "A bunch of guys from Moonlit High School stole my purse when I was walking home from school. He must've seen and ran after them."

Sanji's eyes widened in surprise when the girl held up a pink purse and she continued, "He came back minutes later with it and told me to be more careful. It was… amazing." The girl shut her eyes and blushed, looking like she was daydreaming.

Sanji could hardly believe it. The green-haired guy beat those jerks up for her purse? He was an asshole! Why would he care about her? Sanji had so many questions, but he couldn't ask anyone about it.

"Hey, Sanji, I think-" Usopp began, but Sanji interrupted him with a glare that resembled a thousand knives of fire.

"I. Know." Sanji was beyond pissed off, but he wasn't entirely sure why. The green-haired man treated him like he was just an afterthought, maybe not even a thought at all. Yeah, he saved him, but not on purpose and certainly not to help him. That damned… MARIMO! That was a perfect nickname for him. He had the hair of a wad of moss: marimo. The marimo had literally said three words to him and he was already on his shit list.

"It's weird, though," the girl continued out loud, though it sounded more like she was thinking out loud. "He was wearing our school uniform. Why haven't I seen him before?"

Sanji frowned in disappointment. So nobody knew him. Perhaps he just didn't come to school because he felt that he was 'too cool for school'. That theory seemed to fit his personality, but how could you go far in life without going to school and getting an education? Did he just not care?

The suspense was killing the prince. Killing him. He had to know more about his savior and fast. Sanji decided his project for the following weekend was to find more about the marimo. He smirked loosley and glanced out the window. It was a sunny day.

To be continued...