Angel of Death Fruit

Book One: Deadline

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter 18 – March 5, 12:02 am (earlier)

. . . wait. What's. . .

Still clutching Sanji, Nami felt breath on the top of her head.

Nami's eyes widened. Impossible. . . is. . . ?

She could still feel something blowing. And it was warm, like breath. And she was right near Sanji's body, but if he was dead, he couldn't breathe. But how could he be alive after that? She'd watched Stoker kill him . . . right? There's. . . there's no way. . . am I just. . . is this. . . oh God am I freaking out?

"Ish . . . she gone?"

Nami paused, wiping away her tears. She looked up to see Sanji was looking down at her, eyes wide open and a concerned look on his face. "SANJI-KUN!" The shock sent her into more tears and she held him tightly, afraid he was going to disappear again if she let go, burying her face into his chest. "I thought you were dead! I thought she killed you and took you away from me and I was so scared and I-"

"I diddin hab a choish – peas dowen cwy!"

"Don't you dare scare me like that again!"

"Sssh! Sshe ight ear ooo!"

Why the hell is he talking funny? And. . . how is he alive? "But. . . how?"
Sanji grinned, proudly showing her the piece of sea stone he was holding between his teeth. Nami laughed nervously even as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks as she embraced him. "I should've known you'd come up with something like that – even if it's a Devil Fruit powerful strong enough to grant immortality. . . it's still a Devil's Fruit in the end, isn't it?" she said, gently touching his left cheek.

"Ken I shpit thish out now?"

"Of course you can," Nami said.

Sanji turned his head to the side and stuck his tongue out, letting the sea stone drop to the floor. "That thing tasted like shit and had sharp corners – it really sucks trying to keep a rock in your mouth for that long without people figuring it out and – mm!" Sanji wasn't able to finish that thought before Nami had wrapped her arms around his shoulders, stood on her tip-toes, closed her eyes, and kissed him.

Ah HA! You're kissing him! I told you-
Excuse me? Little busy here. Go away.

Nami found herself enjoying the kiss a little more than she'd expected – for someone who was such an inexperienced kisser, Sanji wasn't that bad at it. It was simple, kind of sweet, and made her feel a whole lot better – things were going to be okay now. It felt warm and secure, like everything was going to be all right again.

He's safe – oh God he's safe. I don't have to worry about her taking him away again.

"Nami-san. . ."

Sanji had broken away from her and was looking at her in amazement. He seemed to be stunned speechless, but then his eyes wandered upwards and he winced a bit as Nami heard a slight crackling sound. The cook sucked in and gritted his teeth – something was happening to the Garnish. Nami lifted the hair covering his eye in concern and curiosity.

There it was – the Garnish, a bright blue design almost identical to the tattoo on Elizabeth Stoker's leg. Little by little, the blue was crackling away and turning black – and apparently it was causing Sanji pain. "Are you going to be okay? It's turning black, Sanji-kun. What does that mean?"

The cook sighed, breathing heavily as he tried to handle the pain. "That's a good thing – it hurts like hell but it's a good thing," he said. "Blue means you're alive and haven't completed the Mercy Task. Black means it's over and you're going to live. And red. . . red Garnishes are only found on the dead bodies of her victims," he said, shuddering. He took a deep breath and the last of the blue vanished. "It's. . . it's done."

Nami pressed her forehead to his chest. "No. No it's not."

"Huh?"

"Luffy and the others, and your sister, they're all here," she said. "And possibly still fighting off Stoker's men, including your uncle. I don't think he's as good as Zoro, but it didn't take much for him to take me out of the running for a little while. We need to help them out. . . and maybe get rid of Elizabeth Stoker for good."

A blank expression worked its way onto Sanji's face. "Um, right."

"Sorry, Sanji-kun, I know how you feel about hitting girls but. . . I don't think Luffy's going to just stand for this woman walking out of here," said Nami. "First off, she hurt you. Second, she hurt your family, and Luffy seems to like Sanae enough that her being hurt would bother him even if she wasn't your baby sister. Third, she sent her men after the rest of us – Luffy, Chopper, Sanae and I were attacked when we got here. I don't know what happened to Zoro and the others, but she's definitely done some horrible things."

Sanji shook his head."I never said I LIKED the woman!" He sighed. "I don't like her, but seriously? The person I dislike the most from all of this isn't her – it's my uncle." He gritted his teeth. "He lured me away from my home when I was a kid and gave me to Elizabeth Stoker for money. I trusted him! He's my damn uncle and he SOLD ME! Never mind the Garnish or all that but do you have any idea what it feels like to be SOLD?! It was like I wasn't even a person to him! I was just. . . some kind of. . . thing!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"No, it's fine, Sanji-kun. No one sold me like that, but I know what it's like to be used."

Sanji turned away. "Right. Arlong."

"And we both have bounties, so I'm sure people are going to try and collect on them."

". . . yeah."

"So as far as Stoker goes. . . you understand that something has to be done."

Sanji turned back to Nami, a sad, conflicted look on his face. "I guess but. . . letting go of my kishido like that isn't. . . I know most of you don't get it. I know that you were a little mad at me over what happened in Enies Lobby with that soap woman and all, Nami-san, even if you did say you'd respect me for it."

"Sanji-kun. . ." Nami said, folding her arms.

"It was a promise I made to my parents – not hitting girls, I mean," Sanji said. He clenched his eyes shut. "The last one I ever made to them. It was about a week later that I had to leave home, and then they died trying to find me. Making a promise like that to your parents is huge where I come from. It's the last thing I have from my parents. I. . . I never even had the chance to say good-bye to any of them. Not Sanae-chan, not Akito-san. . . as soon as I understood what had happened to me I had no choice but to just leave everything. I had the clothes I was wearing and that was it. I had to get out of there as fast as possible or else I would have died. I was. . . terrified. So over the years I held onto that promise."

Nami grabbed the bracelet Nojiko had given her. "What happened?" asked Nami.

"I hit Sanae," said Sanji.

Nami sighed. "Sanji. . . you're siblings. If I had a beri for each time Nojiko hit me I-"

"It. . . almost killed her."

". . . what?"

Sanji looked a little panicky. "Not on purpose! You might call it one of those 'freak accidents' – I didn't mean for it to happen the way it did, I swear!" Sanji said. "We were fighting about. . . something. . . on the docks near our house and I hit her really, really hard. She fell down, hit her head against the wood and fell into the water – she was out cold." He swallowed. "When I finally realized she wasn't coming up I dove in after her and pulled her out but. . . she looked really, really bad. She'd taken in a lot of water and she wasn't breathing and she was starting to turn blue. . . if it weren't for one of the local fisherman coming by. . . Nami, I could have killed her. I almost KILLED my baby sister! Do you have any idea what it's like to live with that!?"

Nami closed her eyes and folded her arms. "It must have been hard, Sanji-kun, but you said it yourself: it was an accident. They were upset because something bad had happened to one of their children. I mean, maybe it was a stupid thing to do to hit someone that young, but honestly? Why do you think they tried to find you when you vanished? They loved you so much they made the ultimate sacrifice for you. . . just like the one Bellemere-san made for me and Nojiko."

Sanji stayed quiet, looking away, but Nami touched his cheek and turned his head to look at her. "Sanji-kun, I'm certain that they loved you. Sanae loves you, too – she's spent two years wandering around the Grand Line wondering if she could find you or your uncle before your deadline passed. And Luffy was so angry when he found out, and everyone wanted to come find you. You mean something to us – I won't make you strike that woman but we might need your help to make sure she can't do this to anyone else. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I. . . I'll do what I can," said Sanji, hanging his head.

"Okay," said Nami. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. "But. . . please. Promise me this. If a woman is trying to kill you. . . I don't care if it's a pirate or a Marine or a bounty hunter or anyone, please, just run away or dodge or something. . . just don't get yourself killed." She squeezed him tighter. "I got really scared we were going to loose you! I didn't want you to die on me!"

"Nami-san. . . you were worried about me?" Sanji asked, surprised.

Nami looked up at Sanji, unsure of what to say next. "I. . ."

"Nami-san?"

Just say it, Nami. Just say it.

"Nami-san. . . you're scaring me. . ."

What have I been trying to steer you towards this entire time?

What have you been flushing over and trying to ignore since this whole mess started? What did you dream about when Kenji knocked you out?

What did you do as soon as Sanji vanished?

What were you willing to do when he wouldn't tell you and Robin what was wrong?

What have you been denying to yourself this entire time?

Nami, just go out and SAY IT!

Sanji was starting to panic. "Nami-san? Nami-san, what's wrong?"

Tears began to flow from her eyes. "Damn it Sanji-kun! I love you!"

Author's Notes

So it's Sanji's birthday according to Oda. Seemed like a good day to update.

The seastone in Sanji's mouth was a simple yet really good solution to how I was going to handle this part of the plot. I had several early ideas, including Stoker being a transsexual (and therefore, once Sanji figured it out, allowing him to fight Stoker without complication) or some kind of comedic chase scene around Sanji between Nami and Stoker. This, however, just seems both simple and effective. And totally Sanji-like. Seriously, he pulls off stuff like this anyways. Mr. Prince. The Puffing Tom. And didn't he try playing hero up against Enel, too?

I know this chapter took a while. Here are some reasons:

One: 17 credit load this semester. If I don't drop anything this means I won't have to take anything above 15 credits per semester from here on out (current plan is a 13 credit followed by a twelve or MAYBE another 13). WOO-HOO!

Two: I got a Wii. Eventually I got One Piece: Unlimited Adventure. Needless to say I've been playing it. . . a lot.

Three: Initially there was going to be a fight scene in this chapter. However, here's the problem: Sanji. He's not an easy character to handle.

Not sure when the next chapter is going to be out. Until then, enjoy!

Oh, and thank you to everyone who's reviewed or added me or this story to their favorite/alert list(s)!

Dixxy