A/N: Hello everyone as you can see I've changed the name from Lost Lullaby to Paradigm Shift. I thought it suited it better. Anyways I just wanted to thank everyone who's already added this story to their alerts and fav's I really appreciate it. And a special thanks to the ones that reviewed the last chapter, it really made me ecstatic to get feedback. :)
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Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
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This had not been on his to-do list. Not at fucking all. In fact this was so far off from how he had planned to spend his day that he was actually surprised he didn't hear the maniacal laughter of Fate in the back round; pleased as she would be at how perfectly she had managed to screw him over today.
Bang!
"Son of b…" he grit his teeth, the searing pain that just shot through his arm really creating quite the distraction. He quickly ducked behind another ally wall, getting as far out of those bastards line of fire as he could. Che, he would love to just run up and beat the shit out these stupid thugs but, glancing down at the small, trembling bundle he was carrying, he sighed. He wasn't about to put the scared little girl in his arms in any unnecessary danger. If he could just work his way out of these shitty alleyways he could get the girl somewhere safe and he could then proceed to kick the asses of all these shitty grunts that seemed to be crawling out of the damn woodwork.
Glancing around the corner of the building he was behind and seeing all was clear, he set off in the direction he hoped would lead to a more populated part of the city. He thought back to how this morning had started while dodging a few more bullets shot his way.
Yeah, really not how today was supposed to go.
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Earlier that morning…..
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Sanji tilted his head up to face the sun and let his eyes close. Feeling a slight breeze stir his hair and ruffle the white button down he was wearing. He took a deep breath of fresh air and exhaled. He was loving this beautiful, cool weather that seemed to come with this particular area of Paradigm.
"What's this place called again Robin?" he called, turing away from the railing to see the lovely girls lounging on a couple of lawn chairs.
Robin looked up from the book she was reading and lowered her sunglasses to address the cook. "Its the Land of Spring cook-san, and I believe that the city we passed last night was the city of Gran Granada, Paradigm's capital."
Sanji smiled and nodded, "Robin's so smart! I guess it makes sense that such a huge city would be a capital."
"Thank you cook-san," she gestured to the book in her hands, "I've been reading up on this country, just in case we run into any trouble and need to know something."
Nami looked up from her magazine, "Well at least someone will know how to deal with the locals when Luffy manages to blow up something." She sent at quick glare at the back of their captain who was messing around with Ussopp and Chopper over on the other side of the deck.
Sanji chuckled, "Lets hope it doesn't come to that…," then he paused and grimaced, "…you know what, never mind, optimism in the face of Luffy's ability to destroy public property is useless. Better to be prepared."
Hearing a shout that sounded suspiciously like a "Hey!" coming from the opposite side of the ship, Sanji deiced to wonder over and see what the others were doing.
They were all gathered around the railing and seemed to be staring at something on the other side. Luffy, sitting precariously on top of the rail, peered over and pointed down at something.
"I bet we could eat it!" He said, an excited grin on his face. "Ussopp, I order you to go get it."
"What? I'm not just going to jump into the ocean and grab onto something that'll probably try to eat me!" Ussop yelped, alarmed at the thought of, once again, being dubbed as a potential meal by some terrifying creature. "Besides, why would you think we could eat it, it doesn't look very edible to me at all." Ussopp said, still looking slightly terrified and more than a little confused.
Luffy pouted, "It looks like a big worm to me."
Ussopp gaped at him, "Why in the world would you want to eat a worm?"
Confused, Sanji got to the railing and bent over to see what they were all staring at and felt his eye widen.
The sea water was a crystal clear blue, allowing him to see right through to the bottom.
Wow, just…wow.
Sanji propped his arms up on the railing and relaxed, gazing down at the scenery. When he thought about what the All Blue would look like when he found it he always got a very clear picture in his head and this, this came very close.
Colors, in what looked like hundreds of different shades, coated the coral formations that littered the ocean floor. Small schools of tropical fish flitted in and out of natural bridge ways and coves. Exotic looking crustaceans scuttled over the reef and the occasional predator would send them all scattering. The sun shone bight and made everything glitter like tiny little crystals covered it all.
He beamed. Beautiful.
Today was shaping up to be a much better day than yesterday had been. He had woken up early that morning and then headed off to the galley with a bit of a spring to his step. He wasn't too sure why he had woken up in such a good mood; but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the marimo. Sanji still wasn't too sure why he had offered to help him last night, but it had been nice. It would have taken a lot longer if he had had to do all on his own and he just hadn't had they energy for that. So when Zoro waltzed in and offered to give him a hand he had been kinda relieved, if not a little confused. In the past he'd always had to force the swordsman to take his turn to help clean up after a meal. So the unprovoked assistance had come as a surprise, but not by any means an unwelcome one.
That was another thing. Sanji never thought that Zoro had ever really paid enough attention to him to be able to so easily tell that he was tired. He'd always been able to hide his fatigue really well; mask it with a smile so as not to worry anyone unnecessarily. But Zoro had noticed and, well, maybe not cared precisely, but he had been decent enough to lend a hand. See, nice.
Sanji had always secretly respected Zoro and he had to admit that he really enjoyed the fights they got into. He'd even gone so far as to purposely provoke the moss ball just so he could let off some steam; and he suspected Zoro of sometimes doing the same. It was just their dynamic, the way they did things. But they'd never been as outwardly friendly as they had last night and Sanji was a little startled to find that he was hoping interactions like it would continue to happen more often.
Even so that thought that had popped into his head last night was dismissed as a simple brain lapse due to his exhaustion. He may respect and even kinda like the shitty swordsman, but he certainly didn't love him.
"You're lying!"
Sanji's head shot up from where it had been hanging in thought and turned to see Luffy, with a serious, determined look on his face, trying to throw Ussopp overboard. The sharpshooter was screaming his head off and clinging to the other side of the rail and Chopper was freaking out and trying to tug Luffy off of Ussop.
"Ahhh, I think I just saw it move!"
"No you didn't you lier, now get in there!"
Sanji shook his head and chuckled, calming the weird quickening of his heart. Straightening up he moved to save poor Ussopp from their crazy captain but stopped when he noticed what it was that Luffy was so determined to drown Ussop for. He tilted his head to the side. Hmmm, he thought, it does sorta look like a worm. You know, if there were worms the size of my leg. He looked beyond the thing to see another one. Or the ship's mast. He squinted and leaned forward a bit more.
"Is that… Are those tree roots?" he questioned out loud, to no one in particular.
"Tree roots?"
Sanji started, a little freaked that someone had manage to sneak up behind him. Then narrowed his eyes when the deep baritone of the voice registered in his mind. He turned to see the stupid marimo straining to look over Sanji's shoulder at the tree root thing. When Zoro turned his attention to the sour look on Sanji's face he actually adopted a superior look on his. The smug bastard.
"Oh, did I scare you?"
"Che, you wish. You couldn't scare Ussopp let alone me…."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh…." Came Ussopp's voice in an embarrassingly high, girly octave. "Don't let the worm eat me!"
Zoro raised an eyebrow.
Sanji scowled, "Okay, bad comparison."
The bastard had the audacity to laugh.
…Wait a minute, he laughed? No scathing comment, no snide comeback?
"Are we seriously doing this?"
"Hmmm?" Zoro looked confused.
"You know, this," Sanji waved a hand between them, "being civil to each other."
Zoro was quiet for a moment before he shrugged. "I don't see why not." Then he smirked. "But you're still a shit cook."
Sanji scoffed, "And you're still a shitty plant."
Zoro made a grab for the swords at his side and Sanji lifted his leg and brought it back, about to take a swing at moss ball's head when Chopper voice made them pause.
"Someone please stop Luffy before somebody gets hurt!"
Sanji sighed and dropped his leg. "I suppose we should save Ussopp before Chopper develops an ulcer."
The corner of Zoro's mouth twitched upward and he relaxed the grip he had on his sword.
"Agreed."
—
After they had convinced Luffy not to throw Ussopp overboard to investigate the strange root, worm, tree thing; they all made their way over to the girls in the hopes that Robin could explain the mystery.
And, as Sanji knew knew she could, Robin proceeded to explain.
"They are indeed tree roots captain-san. They come from the Heaven's Tree I told you about last night, the one that grows on Paradise, in the middle of Pardigm."
"Wait so this tree is actually big enough it have roots growing at the edge of the country?" Ussopp asked with an amazed expression on his face, one that was mirrored on Luffy and Chopper.
Robin grinned and nodded.
"Wow!" shouted Luffy, "We've gotta go see that. I bet theres all kind of cool adventures to have on a giant tree!"
"Now wait a minute, " Nami interrupted before Luffy could get himself too worked up, "We've got to resupply at the nearest town we land by and not to mention we're supposed to be lying low. Not traipsing through an entire country to look at a big tree."
"Wahhh~ thats no fun." Luffy cried.
"Navigator-san is correct. Anyways from what I've read the island the Heaven's Tree grows on is a sacred place, protected by the inhabitants. Even Paradigm's other island citizens aren't allowed on Paradise."
"No fair." Luffy whined.
"Yeah, yeah well life's not fair at the best of times." Sanji said he moved his arm to jab his thumb in the direction of the galley, "Come on, I'll make you a snack before we land."
Luffy cheered up immediately at the prospect of some of Sanji's cooking and ran off to the galley. "Yay! Meeeeaaattttt!"
Sanji watched him take off and laughed. "He's like a little kid I swear." He looked toward the others gathered around, "Well, come on everyone, no need to let him monopolize the rest of the food."
Everyone smiled and headed for the kitchen. Robin moving to get Franky and Brooke so they could join everyone.
Sanji lagged behind and noticed Zoro doing the same, slowing his stride to mach Sanji's pace.
"Yeah marimo?"
"That was a nice thing you did."
Sanji shrugged, "He needed a distraction and besides, I'm out of smokes right now so I could use something to distract me and cookings a good way to do that."
"Uh huh, sure." Zoro shook his head, amused that the cook got evasive when someone called him out for being kind.
—
The marketplace in the city of Meadowcoast was bustling with activity. So much so that Sanji found it hard to maneuver around all the people without accidentally nocking anyone over. It was actually starting to piss him off a little. He was just starting to contemplate whether or not he should say "fuck it" and shove his way through when he managed to finally break out of the crowd to the food stall he had been trying to get to.
This was the last stop of the day and he was glad that all of the shopping was almost done with. They had docked the ship on a small strip of beach surrounded by cliffs, the perfect place to hide a ship as big as the Sunny, and had had to walk about three miles inland before they ran into this town. They then broke off into groups. Robin, Nami, and a reluctant Luffy headed to the bookstore and clothing shops, Franky wondered off to find a store for mechanics, and Zoro, Ussopp, and Chopper were enlisted to help Sanji shop to replenish their food supply; Brooke stayed behind to watch the ship.
He had just sent the other three back to the ship with what they had already bought, it was getting late and he just needed a few more spices so he could get them on his own. He had also figured that they'd need extra time to get back to the ship anyway. What with the shitty meathead having all the direction sense of a gnat. So even though he had ordered the damn swordsman to hold onto Ussopp's shirt if he needed to, he had doubted moss head would take his advice. So to avoid a complete disaster Sanji then proceeded to threaten Ussopp within an inch of his life to keep ahold of Zoro and not let him get lost. It was with a certain amount of satisfaction that he had waved them off and watched them disappear into the crowd with Ussopp clinging onto Zoro's haramaki and Chopper trotting behind them.
The trip had been surprisingly pleasant, with only a few arguments with the shitty swordsman breaking out. All and all it had been a nice day, not counting how damn crowed it was.
And so, when he felt a kid bump into him and take off without a word he didn't think anything of it. And when he was similarly almost run over by a couple a rude, ugly looking bastards that just kept running he was about ready to kick someones face in, sure, but he still considered it a nice day At least, that is, until he heard one of the aforementioned thugs yell.
"Get back here you fucking brat before I have shoot you in the leg!"
It was then that he knew he had spoken too soon and today, was indeed, going to end up a shitty day.
—
What proceeded was a chase that ended up leading to a less wealthy, more shady area of town. Cause really, what else was he going to do? Not go after the bitches threatening a little child? He didn't think so.
He watched as the kid slipped into a dark ally and sighed.
Dammit, of course this would end up in some dark fucking ally.
Running a bit faster he arrived at the mouth of the backstreet just in time to deliver a swift kick in the neck to the nearest gun toting goon. Not giving tweedle dee time to recover from the shock of seeing tweedle dum go flying past him to hit the far wall, Sanji then proceeded to knock the gun out of his hand and bring his knee up to smash into tweedle dee's stomach. The guy curled into himself and Sanji sent him flying too with a quick kick to the head.
Relaxing his stance he made sure that they were both out cold before shoving his hands in his pockets and sauntering over to the poor chid frozen at the back of the ally.
"Hey, its okay, you won't have to worry about those guys bothering you any more." Smiling softly he squatted down to the kid's level. Now that he got a closer look he noticed it was just a little girl. 8 maybe 9 years old.
"Yo..you're n…n…not gonna hurt me a..are you mister?" came a small, scared and trembling voice.
He felt his features soften much more, even while the strain from the clenched fists in his pockets was sure to be turning his knuckles white. I can't believe those pieces of shit were trying to hurt her. I should have kicked harder. He thought viciously.
He plastered on a big, comforting smile. "No sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you." He told her, hoping his voice only sounded reassuring and that none of his anger at the dynamic duo had bleed through.
She seemed to relax a bit, which was good, and she timidly tried to smile back.
"T…thank you then. I didn't think I could out run them any longer."
Sanji's heart melted at the adorable look on her face and he took note of the way she was still panting a little. He should get her home soon.
"It was no problem at all, I was happy to help. I couldn't let anyone hurt someone so cute anyways."
He bit back a chuckle at the way she blushed and ducked her head down, grinning. Instead he just smiled wider and asked, "Would you like me escort you back home little miss?"
She giggled at the name and seemed to lose all fear of him, stepping up she held out her small hand.
"I'm Seri, whats your name mister?"
"I'm…" Sanji paused. Quickly standing up to his full height he turned around to face the front of the ally. Lowering his voice he told Seri, "Stay behind me alright. It looks like those goons had some friends."
He felt her grab onto his shirt and nod. Listening to the swiftly approaching footsteps he tensed. No element of surprise this time and if these ones had guns as well he couldn't move out from in front of Seri; she might get hit, and he refused to let that happen.
From around the corner three more assholes appeared and blocked the only exit.
He glared at them "What the fu…" he hesitated, not wanting to use that kind of language in front of a child, "…heck do you want?"
The one in the middle, a mean looking one with a big scar on his cheek, leered and said, "Well looky what we got us here fellas. Looks like pretty boy heres the reason Mell and Ned are out cold." He took a threatening step forward and waved a gun toward where Seri was still clinging onto him. "Just hand over the kid. If you do, we may even be nice and leave your face the way it is. Hate to have to mess up something so pretty." Scar-face spat, evidently trying to seem intimidating.
Sanji just snorted, "I'm not sure if you're trying to threaten me or if you're coming onto me, but I'm really hoping that this is a threat and not you attempting to ask me out." He smirked, "Cause, lets face it, theres no way I'd ever even consider being seen with you in the general vicinity; let alone anywhere near me."
Scar-face sputtered, looking a strange mix of enraged and insulted, and Sanji took the chance, now that they were a bit distracted, to dig out his new packet of cigs and lob it at the surprised thugs. The moment he saw their attention drawn to what he had thrown he used his considerable speed to pick up Seri and dash forward to leap over the idiots heads and take off sprinting down a different ally. They recovered quickly and set off after him not giving him as much of a head start as he had hoped for. He went to turn around a corner and skidded to a halt right before a bullet went flying past his face, just where his head would have been.
He turned and thought to himself, while he ran down a side ally instead of the way he had been headed, Fan-fucking-tastic. Of course theres more of them. That makes perfect sense.
This was so not how today was supposed to go.
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To be continued…
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Ja ne~