Sanji whipped around to see what had made that noise, legs ready to sprint at the speed of light.
Nothing.
You're a dead man…
He felt his heart drop, and shoved the books he was holding into his suit, sprinting towards the direction that he remembered the exit to be. He heard something behind him that sounded like a handful of wooden marbles dropping onto the floor, and that did nothing but fuel his fear and adrenaline. The shelves passed him in a multi-colored blur, and the whispers were louder than ever. His stomach rose to his chest when he saw a maze runner turn a corner and was facing him. He immediately turned a nearby corner, and dashed faster than ever.
He was hungry and needed a smoke.
NOW.
His reflexes weren't fast enough to interpret an attack from another Maze Runner that turned the corner when Sanji was about to, and he felt claws dig deep into his flesh, just missing the books, stabbing pain surging through his torso. He ran the other direction, clutching his wound and slowing down slightly.
He was about to turn a corner, when he felt a hand drag him behind the bookshelf, and another hand over his mouth, muting him as he was pushed against another human being. Their body heat calmed him down slightly, but the fact that a maze runner could slaughter him made complete calmness adverse.
"Shh, don't move."
The maze runner turned the corner, and looked around, completely ignoring Sanji and whoever had just saved him, despite the fact that they were no more than ten meters away.
The Maze Runner growled in frustration, and thundered off.
When it was finally out of earshot, a voice came behind him.
"Didn't young master tell you to not go through any doors?" They said, letting go of him.
When Sanji turned around, he felt like exploding.
Nami fitted into the category of sexy, Robin fitted into the category of Beautiful,
This girl was just plain adorable.
It was a girl around his age with short, silver, shoulder length hair and large red eyes behind round glasses, in contrast with her silver knee-length coat and red tie on her neck. A belt with circular bottles of liquid rested on her hips beneath the coat, consisting of a range of colors, from blood red to mercury silver. Sanji was too focused on her face to notice her flat chest.
"I asked you a question, didn't young master tell you to not go through any doors?"
'YOU ARE SO CUUUUUUUTE!' Sanji responded, completely ignoring her question. "YOU'RE LIKE A LITTLE BUNNY! I WOULD RUN THROUGH THE WHOLE ENTIRE MAZE FOR YOU!"
She just stared.
'You do realize that you were almost killed by a Maze Runner, right?' She asked again, still retaining her calm demeanor.
"YEAH! THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH MY LITTLE BUNNY!"
She giggled, and that giggle evolved into a laugh.
"Please." She sniggered.
"I am a guy."
Those words hit Sanji like a rock, and he just stared at him.
'Guy? Don't be silly, you look so much like a girl.'
"I just prefer my hair long. I normally have it tied back, and I didn't have time to tie it up before you were cut into sashimis."
'By the way, this… Young master you were talking about, is it… Mosshead by any chance?'
"Ah, yes, it is Young master Zoro-sama." He readjusted his glasses. "Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself, I am Hochi, the librarian here." Hochi said, giving him his hand. "And I suppose young master Sanji-sama here is trying to find a way out?"
Sanji stared.
'You… You know my name?'
"Yes young master."
'Why're you calling me young master? I'm not mosshead.'
"You are young master Zoro-sama's loved one, are you not?"
'Well, I know he loves me, but… I don't think I return the feeling…'
'Huh.' Hochi reached for his belt, and pulled off a bottle of black liquid the color of night. The cork made a wet PWOOMPH as it got pulled out of the bottle. Grabbing the body, Hochi slashed it in an upwards-diagonal direction as if parrying an attack with a sword, spilling the liquid. However, instead of hitting the floor like Sanji had expected, the Black liquid stayed in the air like water in a gravity-less place.
'What the heck…' Sanji stared at the sorcery that Hochi had just preformed, but the librarian didn't respond.
"Shelf 584, row 5 column 558"
As if it had understood every command that Hochi had ordered, it zipped past Sanji in a flash of black, and turned the corner like a miniature flying Maze Runner, while Sanji just stared as if he had just witnessed a paranormal activity.
Which was exactly what was happening.
'How…'
"Like I said, I'm the librarian here. I know the name of every book in this library, what they hold, where they are, everything."
'No, How did you do that? Sending that liquid to shelf 584, something something something.'
Hochi just smiled.
"Demons are wonderful creatures, they're immortal, they can do magic, they're destructive, they can give living orgasms devil fruits, they're simply wonderful.'' He pulled out another bottle, this time filled with red liquid as red as blood. "I have a type of magic that controls potions and liquids, that black one was ink, and this red one is healing liquid."
Hochi emptied the bottle like he did with the black liquid, and sent it floating towards Sanji's wound, of which he was still clutching, and he immediately felt relief in his body.
"Thanks."
'No problem. By the way, I wouldn't recommend taking those books out of the library, it'll make it easier for the Maze Runners to track you.' He said, pointing at Sanji's coat.
"Oh…"
'No worries young master.' Hochi grabbed another bottle from his belt, this time containing a liquid the color of the sky. He emptied it out like he did with the other liquids, and gestured for Sanji to give him the books. Sanji hesitated before handing them over, and Hochi threw it up into the air. However, instead of hitting the ground, when the books were at about Hochi's eyes, it stopped falling, and floated in midair. The librarian surrounded the book in the liquid, and closed his eyes.
'Transfer.' He muttered as the books slid out of the liquid, and he took the empty bottle, filling it up to the brim.
'Here young master, drink this.' Hochi gave Sanji the bottle, and the chef just stared at the liquid that he had just been handed, hesitating whether to drink it or not. He gulped before shoving the bottle into his mouth, eyes clenched as if it tasted bad.
Turns out it didn't, it just tasted like lemon and cotton candy.
'Notice any difference Young master?'
Sanji smacked his lips.
"No… but…" His eyes widened, and stood bolt upright. As if he was an emotionless robot, he said: "The blue door with the yellow handle leads to Zoro's regrets and the Red one with the pink handle leads to his heart." Sanji shook his head and stared at his hands as if he was in another person's body. "Did… did I memorize that?"
The librarian smirked.
'Transfer transfers the knowledge from the book to the person. So now you have the knowledge of the doors in this realm.'
"Hochi…" Sanji stared. "I really can't thank you enough."
'No problem young master, I'm just doing what young master Zoro-sama wants-'
A loud roar echoed through the library interrupted Hochi's sentence, and Sanji immediately knew what it was.
A Maze Runner.
'Run.' Even Hochi had a scared look on his face. 'It's an abnormal, RUN!'
Sanji didn't need telling twice, and grabbed Hochi's hand while he ran for his life.
'Young master!' He shouted. 'Why're you taking you with me? I can buy you time!'
"Doesn't matter!" Sanji growled. "You and I need to get to somewhere safe, NOW!"
'Young master! Hiding and running won't work!' Hochi said in a despondent voice.
'It can teleport!'
Sanji almost tripped over his own feet when he heard that sentence.
And apparently Hochi's statement was true, when a Maze Runner appeared in front of the two out of nowhere.
Instead it wasn't a normal Maze Runner.
It was much larger, walked on all fours, and was towering over the two like a building.
"Shit." Sanji mumbled as he ran in the opposite direction, gesturing Hochi to follow him.
It teleported again, and landed in front of the two, making them stop in their tracks with fear.
'Young master, run.' Hochi said, gesturing behind him as he got out an
orange liquid from his belt. 'I'll fend it off.'
"But-"
'I SAID GO!'
Sanji didn't need telling twice as he bolted the other direction, refusing to look back.
Shivers scuttled down his spine as he heard a wet SQUELCH and then a scream. But yet, the voice in his head told him to keep running.
However, that voice never really was dominant.
He skidded, and turned around to face the monster.
Hochi was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, staring at the ceiling with dull red eyes. He was too weak to grab another bottle of healing liquid, and if he doesn't, he'll certainly die.
"HOCHI!" Sanji shouted, bravery overcoming his cowardice. "I'M COMING!"
'Young master…' His words were barely audible, and he turned over to the cook slightly, smiling a weak smile.
'Run…'
Almost immediately after he said that, the maze runner ran towards him, ready to rip his guts out.
Everything went black.
Unknown time later…
"Young master?"
He couldn't hear the voice at first, but then it came again, in a muffled gurgle.
His head hurt.
"Young master!"
He thought it was a dream.
His head hurt.
"Young master! Wake up!"
His eyes snapped awake, and was face to face to a childish and feminine face that he recognized immediately.
'Hochi! Did you beat him?'
Hochi stared.
"Young master… you beat him."
Sanji responded with a confused stare.
'What? I don't remember…'
"Explains that then."
'Huh?'
Hochi sighed before pulling out a book from his coat. It was a signal blue hardcover about five inches thick, with the title: History
'What is this?'
"Turn to page 1,253, and start reading."
The pages of the book flipped, and stopped when he say the number 1253 on the top right corner.
He couldn't believe what he was reading.
Compared to the rest of the book, this passage was written in a red and much more creepier text.
That abnormal doesn't know who he's dealing with now, does he? It's time to show him what I really am. The body is mine now. It's been too long since I've last taken over his body. I feel what he feels. I think what he thinks.
Sanji-dono was surprised when he didn't feel any fear.
In fact, he didn't feel any emotion inside him.
He had lost control over his body to me.
I, in Sanji-dono's body, walked up to the Maze Runner, and it raised its claw, ready to slash.
Sanji-dono felt a pulse surge through his eye, and felt all humanity leave him, leaving nothing but me inside of him.
This was no longer the levelheaded cook that everyone on his crew knew him to be.
This was now an emotionless vessel that had only one objective.
Cave his skull in… I ordered, whispering inside his head.
He obliged.
The second before the claw was about to tear his head right off; Sanji-dono stared up at it, and channeled his energy into the air around him. Sanji-dono is much more stronger than I had remembered him to be. He seems to have mastered blood manipulation.
The Maze Runners claw stopped in midair, and I could smell confusion.
Hochi-chan is just staring at him like he's some kind of ghost.
He then yelled in anger, and leaped up in a blur of black and yellow, so fast that the Maze Runner didn't have time to react. It screamed in pain and agony as Sanji-dono lashed a kick at his face, charged by my power.
He's stronger than I remembered him to be. Stronger than when I possessed him to save him from getting ambushed by the Okamas on Momoiro Island.
Uh, they were so ugly, this Maze Runner looks like a puppy compared to them.
He kicked another leg to the neck, and followed by a machine gun of kicks at his chest.
Well done, Sanji-dono. You've done well.
Since my work here is done, I'll just go back to sleep.
He collapsed, and Hochi-chan came rushing over to him.
Sanji stared at the word him where the red text ended, and black text started.
It was all black when I heard Hochi call my name. My head hurts.
He realized that this book was telling the story of his life.
"By the way, young master, why didn't you tell me?"
'Tell you what?'
"Oh, I see now, you haven't realized it yet."
'Realize what?'
"Well…" Hochi began.
"Sanji-sama." He smiled.
"You are a class E demon: Lust."