Suffering in Silence
By Dixxy Mouri
Royalty
"Sanji-san . . . can I ask you a question?"
It was sometime after they left Whiskey Peak and begun their mad mission to bring Vivi Nefeltari, the princess of Arabasta, back to her kingdom. They were en route to Little Garden, a place that the mysterious Miss All Sunday had tried to dissuade them from traveling to. It was late, with Sanji up in the crow's nest to take watch when he received his unexpected visitor.
Sanji gave her a smile – she wasn't his Nami-san, but she was still quite cute. "How can I help you, Vivi-chan?" He grinned like a fool, shuffling over to give her room to sit with him. "Are you hungry and craving something only I can make you? Are you lonely and need someone to keep you company?" The princess took the seat beside him, but was staring at him strangely, like she was studying his face. Sanji frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Vivi looked around to make sure they were alone. "It's . . . have we met somewhere before?"
Sanji laughed, his cigarette between his fingers as he leaned against the edges of the crow's next. "Come now, Vivi-chan, when would we have possibly met before? When and where would I have ever met the Princess of Arabasta before now?" But as Vivi continued to look him over, it slowly dawned on him that it actually wasn't outside the realm of possibility.
Vivi-chan . . . is a princess . . . I guess it's possible . . .
Sanji kept a straight face once it dawned on him. Of course. It was entirely possible he'd met a much, much younger Vivi at some point in the past. Although the most common place for royal families to have chance encounters was the Reverie, it wasn't the only place it could have happened. There were parties and meetings and treaty signings . . . lots of places it could have happened.
He did vaguely remember the tears of a five-year old princess with blue hair at a party . . .
. . . and her pet duck . . .
. . . SHIT.
"I don't know, maybe it's nothing but . . . you just . . . seem . . . familiar . . ."
Sanji put his cigarette back into his mouth. "Vivi-chan, that's ridiculous." No it's not – you'd fallen and scraped your knee, and they made fun of you. I gave you a chocolate bar to try and make you feel better because I didn't want to see you crying. You thanked me and gave me a hug. He cracked a grin. "Maybe you've been dreaming about me at night?"
VIvi frowned. "That's not it and you know it."
"Vivi-chan, please, I'm just a simple cook – Luffy found me working at a restaurant in the East Blue and . . ." Sanji slowed, seeing the expression on Vivi's face change. He felt his throat go dry. There was a sign of recognition in her eyes. Don't . . . don't . . . brush it off like it's nothing, Vivi-chan . . .
". . . you gave me a chocolate bar."
Sanji nearly swallowed his cigarette.
Vivi leaned closer, touching the side of his face. ". . . yeah, yeah that was you, wasn't it?"
Internally, Sanji was in full on panic mode. Externally, he tried to keep it together, but he could tell he was falling apart. "Vivi-chan, I . . . I never . . . I never . . . I never met you before-"
"Didn't . . . didn't one of the Vinsmoke children disappear a while back?"
"W, well, you see, um, sometimes there's, um, accidents, and, um, distant cousins-"
"-oh my God." VIvi's eyes went wide before covering her mouth with both hands. "It is you!"
Sanji felt his stomach sink and he stared at her in wide eyed horror. In all his years of running, this was the first time anyone had figured out who he was. He gripped the Going Merry's railing and bit down on his cigarette, trying to regain his composure. "I . . . I . . . you . . . um . . . I . . ." His eyes were frantically searching the deck for a sign of the others, but it appeared he and Vivi were alone.
Vivi put her fingers over his lips. ". . . you don't want the others to know, do you?"
Sanji stayed quiet. There was no getting out of this. She knew. She really knew.
Vivi leaned against the side of the crow's next and crossed her arms. "If I promise not to say anything to Luffy and the others, can you talk to me about it?" she said. She closed her eyes. "I'm not stupid, you know – I know what those people do. And I know that they'd been searching for their third son for quite some time now – at least the past ten years." She slid to the deck, looking up at him.
Sanii's hands were shaking. "You don't know what it was like," he said. He felt as if his spine wanted to rip itself from his backside. Every nerve in his body wanted to start twitching uncontrollably. It was the first time he'd acknowledged who he was in a very long time, and the feeling made him ill, even to the point where his stomach was starting to lurch and he thought he might lose his dinner.
He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder as he struggled to rebuild his composure. He turned to see Vivi was giving him a sympathetic smile, quietly offering him a hug. He gladly accepted, enjoying the moment for what it was – someone who understood the position he was in, someone he could trust with that information. He couldn't even trust the other Straw Hats with this, but her? She got it. She knew what they were like. Luffy would probably try to pick a fight with them – that would be a disaster.
"It's okay – I promise I won't tell."
"Thank you, Vivi-chan."
"But you need to tell them eventually."
Sanji didn't have an answer for her.
Weeks later, Sanji introduced himself to Sir Crocodile and Miss All Sunday as Mr. Prince.
When Vivi found him in the casino fifteen minutes later, he greeted her with a smile, but as she led him back to where the others were being held captive, he saw a pout on her lips.
"You know this doesn't count as telling them."
"I know."
"You still need to tell them eventually."
Sanji frowned as they ran. ". . . yeah. I know."
Author's Notes
I want Straw Hat Royalty Bros to be a thing now. Can we make that a thing? Please?
Note: If you read this on , you may have seen a slightly different version in which Vivi and Sanji met at Reverie. However, Chapter 832 made that extremely unlikely – Vivi would have been six at the Reverie twelve years ago, but Sanji ran away thirteen years ago. If they met at a Reverie, Vivi would have been two. So random royal party it is.
Dixxy