Nami ushers him outside and quickly gets them into a black car with 'taxi' written on a sign on the top. She asks the driver how much it'll cost to get where they're going, she says the name but Sanji doesn't recognise it. The orange haired navigator seems irritated at the driver's answer and tells him haughtily that if she can get them there for less than that and faster by directing him then the drive is free, if not she'll pay the fare twice. The stupid driver laughs and takes Nami on with her bet. Sanji winces inside, he loves Nami dearly but he knows not to ever bet money with her because Nami never bets to lose, he also knows never to underestimate her navigational skills. These are two things that Zoro's never learned, which is why the stupid man is always goddamn broke and in debt to the navigator.
A surprisingly short drive later they arrive where Nami wants to take him, they don't pay any fare to the grumbling taxi driver of course, Nami's routes are always better.
The building that they arrive outside of looks ordinary enough, outside hangs a sign with a circle painted on it in metallic paint, this gives Sanji absolutely no clue as to what's inside but he trustingly follows Nami inside anyway. Inside is some sort of shabby-looking waiting room filled with beaten up chairs and magazines that look like they might be older than he is. Nami approaches the desk and talks to the man there in a quiet but slightly threatening voice, her face is all picturesque beauty and light though. The man at the desk has green hair, darker than Zoro's and cut in some stupid style with two solitary curled bits by his ears, the weirdo is even wearing eyeliner.
Sanji looks around the office and finds himself a little creeped out, the entire office is decorated around the theme of cats. There's a cat cushion on the sofa, cat posters on the walls, little cat figurines on the coffee table and the desk. There are a few other people in the office, sitting on the sofas and reading the ancient magazines.
"Just tell him that Nami is here and calling in that favour." Nami says tersely in a steely voice.
"Fine, but he doesn't have time to just see anyone who walks in off of the street." The green haired man sniffs disdainfully and struts off to another door with a stupid walk.
"Are you sure about this Nami? This place looks a little…" Sanji trails off not knowing the right word for this place. Dubious? Shady? Creepy? Run down?
"It's fine, this guy is good and he owes me." Nami says shaking her head dismissively.
Behind the office door Sanji can just pick up a conversation between two men, one of which is the guy from the desk.
"She's what?" The second voice yelps in what is clearly intended to be a quiet voice.
"I told her that you didn't have time, I'll make her go away." The man at the desk says with no such pretensions to quietness.
"No! God no! She'll- quiet you idiot, she can probably hear you!" The second man hisses. Quickly this second man steps out of the office and smiles tensely at Nami.
"Ah, Nami. So good to see you, what can I do for you?" He asks with a worried twitch in his face.
Sanji stares, this guy looks freaking odd. He's tall and skinny with ridiculous clothes on, he's got jeans on which is normal enough, although not exactly what Sanji would call office attire, for some reason the man is wearing gloves indoors when it's perfectly warm. But by far the most noticeable piece of clothing is his hideous shirt. It's bright yellow with large mismatched purple splotches on, almost like a giraffe on acid, and it's paired with a clashing deep blue tie. His face however is the oddest thing about him. The man's features are all pinched and odd looking and his chin is adorned with this… thing. It's stripy and freaky looking and Sanji hopes that it's just a goatee wrapped up in something but it looks almost… organic. And it seems that the man's awful fashion sense extends to his head as well, he's wearing awful pink heart shaped sunglasses as well as a stupid white floppy hat on his head. All in all the man is completely bizarre looking and Sanji really hopes that this isn't who Nami took him here to see.
"Jango, I have a friend here who needs your help. This is Sanji." Nami says gesturing to him and crushing Sanji's hopes that he's not going to have to talk to the weirdo.
"I'm afraid that I'm much too busy to see this gentleman today Nami, as you can see I have clients waiting." The man, who Sanji assumes is called Jango from Nami's statement. Sanji has to admit that he breathes a sigh a relief that he won't have to see this oddball.
"He has memory problems. Something which I see that you apparently share Jango." Nami states, her voice hard and threatening. Jango's face twitches at that and he tensely looks from Nami to the people waiting in the waiting room who are all looking at him expectantly.
"All appointments rescheduled to tomorrow. Beat it!" He yells suddenly and grabs Sanji by the arm and flings him toward the direction of the office that he just came from.
Sanji turns and shoots Nami a worried look but she ushers him towards the office. With a sigh Sanji obeys and walks morosely into the office, why is it that everyone that he meets is a total oddball? He'd thought that Zoro and Usopp with their odd appearances were weird when he met them, if he'd have known then that the two of them would seem positively ordinary on the grand line then he's not sure he would have gone so easily. It seems that this trend is continuing in this world too, everyone he has the misfortune of meeting is bizarre.
Sanji turns around when he gets into the office to see the guy with the heart shaped glasses walking into the office backwards in some sort of creepy moonwalk. He hangs his head and curses his bad luck.
"So, what's your problem then?" The man asks suddenly as he turns to face Sanji.
"I could ask you the same thing." Sanji glowers, he doesn't like this man's tone of voice or his odd appearance.
"No, no. I mean your memory problem, isn't that what Nami said? Tell me about it, sit down." Jango says gesturing to the chaise lounge behind Sanji.
"I'm not sure you'd believe me, I'm not sure I believe me." Sanji sighs admitting his doubts out loud for the first time. He sits down in the long chair feeling drained, he hates the strangeness of this whole situation, he hates the doubts about himself and everyone else that this world is giving him. He just wants to go home.
"Believe me, I've heard some pretty strange things in my time. Try me, I might be able to help." Jango chuckles and sits down on a fancy chair at the foot of the chaise lounge.
"How can you help?" Sanji snorts disbelievingly and rests his arms on his raised knees.
"I'm a hypnotist, I help people get their memories back among other things. Didn't Nami tell you what I do?" Jango questions with a grin. Sanji's eyes widen in surprise, but he's not certain as to whether or not this weird looking guy can help him, he doesn't exactly look reputable. But then again Nami wouldn't take him to someone who would do him any harm, she is trying to help after all. And really, how much worse can it get?
"So tell me everything." The man prompts.
So Sanji does. He tells him about his life on the grand line, all about Luffy and the crew, he tells him about devils fruit powers and All Blue. He tells Jango about the island with the lotus eaters on it, he describes the vagueness that the priestess described his unknown wish with and finally he tells him about eating the lotus and waking up in this world. He expresses his worries about how different his friends seem in this world compared to his and, worryingly, how different it seems that he must be from how he thinks of himself. Through it all the man listens quietly, occasionally asking questions here and there about the interesting parts of his story, Sanji suspects he's looking for inconsistencies as if he would make something like that up. When he finishes Jango leans back in his chair thoughtfully, he strokes the weird thing on his chin for a while.
"I think that Chopper's correct in that you're not making this up. You are indeed remembering these things, your memory is too consistent and too detailed for a fabrication." He says quietly.
"You're the first person who's not looked at me like I'm crazy when I talk about this stuff." Sanji says thoughtfully as he looks at the odd looking man. Zoro gets this pained look whenever he tries to tell him about what he really remembers. But he supposes that he can understand that a little, it must be unpleasant for Zoro to see that he doesn't remember any of what he 'should' remember and lots of a life that Zoro insists that he never lived.
"Ah you'd be surprised at the things you hear in this job, what you've told me isn't the strangest thing that I've ever heard." Jango chuckles to himself. He leans back in his chair and gives Sanji a thoughtful look.
"You know, I've had people come in here before who think that they're in the wrong world, where the memories that they have don't match up to the life that they've found themselves in, like you I suppose. They all think that they're superheroes or crime fighters, Robin hood or Jesus daring swordsmen or even pirates. They're usually people with lives that they don't like who've snapped and made a new life for themselves in their heads." Jango muses, stroking his weird chin thing.
Sanji bristles at that, so for all of his patient listening Jango does think that he's made this whole thing up! He's about to set the stupid hypnotist straight when Jango continues talking.
"But those people are different to you. They imagine adventure and danger because they've never lived through any, they don't know how lucky they are to live safe lives. But when you talk of the danger in your life you speak about it like a man who's seen too much. Your recollections seem so real that I almost think that you must be right, so I have to ask, if you're so convinced about the reality of your memories, why are you here?" Jango asks curiously, his long gloved fingers tapping rhythmically on the arm of his chair.
"I..." Sanji flounders, but then he recalls Zoro's worry about him he remembers the quiet worried looks that his nakama have been sending him. If there's any chance that this world is real then he owes it to his nakama to try and remember, just as much as he owes it to the nakama that he remembers to get home.
"I need to try, just in case I'm wrong." he answers firmly.
"Well, if you want to really give this a try you have to actually be open to being wrong. Your mind has to be open to memories coming back. Could you accept it if it meant that you were wrong and that the world of your memories was just a dream?" Jango asks, raising an unusually shaped eyebrow.
"Yes. Prove me right or wrong, I need to know." Sanji insists desperately, he hates this uncertainty that he's living in. He just needs to know.
"Right then, lean back and relax." Jango instructs. Sanji settles back into his seat and tries to loosen up his muscles, he doesn't know what the hypnotist is going to do but he has to trust in the man's methods. Jango produces a metal ring from his sleeve on a string and dangles it before Sanji's face.
"I'm going to count and then you'll fall into a deep trance, got it?" Jango asks seriously. Sanji nods and focuses his gaze intently on the metal ring. Jango begins to swing the ring rhythmically, it's rather hypnotic in fact.
"One, two, Jango." Jango intones.
Sanji blinks and looks at Jango as the man catches the ring again and tucks it into his sleeve. Was that all that was supposed to happen?
"Was that it?" Sanji blinks confused. He's not certain if that was some test before the real hypnosis, perhaps he was just testing that particular pendulum, maybe he has more.
"That's it." Jango smiles and stands up, taking time to stretch his back out as if he'd been still for a long time.
"What a rip-off! You didn't do anything!" Sanji yells irritatedly. Jango turns and shoots him a smug smile.
"What time was it when you came in here?" the stupid looking hypnotist asks with a smirk.
"I don't know, about nine I guess. What does that have to do with anything?" Sanji demands leaping up out of his seat after the other man.
"Look at the time." the hypnotist smirks from behind his pink heart-shaped glasses and gestures to the clock with a white gloved hand. Sanji glances up at the clock and is astonished to see that the clock reads twelve, as if to back the clock up his stomach rumbles hungrily.
"I- how?" Sanji asks already feeling in his bones that the clock isn't wrong.
"You were in a trance, people often lose track of time in that state." Jango answers with a shrug. Sanji stills as the thought washes over him, the hypnotist has already done whatever it was that he was going to do. So... where did that leave him?
"Well, was I right or wrong? Tell me." He asks nervously, his hands tensing at his sides. Is Jango going to tell him that he has gone mad? That he's not really a pirate and his life here with Zoro is the real world? Or is he going to confirm Sanji's memories and say that he has somehow ended up in the wrong world?
"You tell me." Jango says vaguely and Sanji's eye twitches, he's had enough of this vague bullshit.
"I don't remember anything new, does that mean that I was right or not?" he sighs exasperatedly.
"I'm afraid that telling you the answer to that would upset the process. Let me know if you have any problems." Jango smiles and ushers Sanji out of the office.
"Hey, give me an answer you-" Sanji snaps turning around only to find that Jango has already shut the door in his face.
"bastard." he mutters at the shut door.
"Oh, Sanji. How did it go? You've been in there for forever." Nami chirps as she gets out of her chair with a stretch and drops the magazine that she was reading unceremoniously onto the table.
"I've... no idea how it went, I don't remember any of the last three hours. He was going on about some crap about not remembering things when you've been in a trance. I don't think it worked at all." Sanji huffs irritatedly.
"Huh, well at least we're not paying for it. Come on, let's get you home. It was worth a try." Nami sighs morosely.
Together they gather up Nami's things under the irritated glare of the man's green haired assistant and leave the creepy cat-themed office. Sanji has to admit that he feels a lot better standing out on the street again with a cool breeze blowing on his face. Nami adjusts her hat and scouts around for a taxi whilst Sanji enjoys the gentle hum of the city and the pleasant weather as he tries to leave his worries about the hypnotist behind him for now.
Suddenly he feels something… buzz in his pocket and out of nowhere there's sounds of music coming from somewhere. He fumbles in his pocket for a few seconds and pulls out the small buzzing thing. A glance at it tells him that it's the same device that Zoro had been using to talk to people, a 'mobile' phone or something. He turns it over so the small screen faces him, vocals have now started and a picture of Zoro is displayed on the screen with his name across the top.
'Man it's a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun.' The phone sings to him. Sanji blinks dumbfounded at it, he… he remembers this song, somehow he knows what words come next.
'I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone, but you stay so cool.' Sanji feels his mouth moving silently with the words, he knows this song. But… he's never heard this before, this phone thing has never done this since he woke up, so how does he know it? The song continues and he feels a creeping sense of familiarity steal over him. Something about this reminds him of Zoro, and it's not just the man's picture flashing on the screen.
Zoro. At the thought of the man's name a taste of steel fills his mouth and unbidden an image of the man flashes before Sanji's eyes. After that several more flash before him, Zoro sleeping in bed with the bed sheets wrapped around him chaotically, Zoro smirking at him over the top of a glass of beer, Zoro sitting on the floor in their flat surrounded by papers and files completely engrossed in his work.
"What the hell?" He breathes shakily as he catches onto a lamp post next to him in an effort to stabilize himself, his other hand still holding the phone. Regardless of his shock the song continues from the device in his hand.
'And if you say this life 'aint good enough, I would give my world to lift you up, I could change my life to better suit your mood, 'cause you're so smooth.' Sanji stumbles and feels himself sliding down the lamp post onto the floor, although he can't see anymore from the images pouring through his vision.
He can feel Zoro's skin under his hands, feel Zoro's breath at his ear. Snippets of motion now fly before his eyes, Zoro executing a perfect sword strike against an opponent and somehow Sanji knows that this was at a competition and that Zoro won that fight. He sees his own hands rousing Zoro from sleep as the man lays slumped over a desk in what Sanji senses is his office. He's starting to hear Zoro now as well, he can hear rumbled greetings of 'morning' in that rough sleepy voice that Zoro has when he first wakes up.
'And it's just like the ocean under the moon, well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you.' Sanji clutches at his chest feeling a sudden tightness there and a prickling behind his eyes. An image of Zoro's face contorted by rage and pain flashes before him followed by a series of similar visions of the two of them caught in some sort of argument. A sense of desperation and panic force themselves into his heart, as if he's about to lose something precious and it'll hurt worse than anything he's ever felt.
'You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, gimmie your heart, make it real or else forget about it' Over the now overwhelming flood of images that are swarming through his brain like bees he hears Nami's voice in a worried shriek. He feels her shake him and a hand pressed to his forehead.
'I'll tell you one thing, if you'd leave it'd be a crying shame, in every breath and every word I hear your name, calling me out.' Pain starts to bloom inside Sanji's head, the images are coming faster and faster now and he can't stop them. It's too much too fast and it hurts. In a detached sort of way he realises that he can hear himself yelling and screaming in pain and Nami's panicked voice speaking to someone.
The world becomes dark and slowly Sanji opens his eyes, the street is gone and the world is just blackness. Zoro materialises leaning over him in detail that Sanji wasn't aware that he could remember the swordsman in, he can see small flecks of colour in the man's otherwise dark eyes. Sanji's propped up on his elbows and he realises with a gulp that Zoro is in fact… lacking in clothes. Sanji feels his face redden and he manages to keep looking Zoro in the eye. A familiar smirk steals across Zoro's face and a flash of a million other identical smirks shove their way through Sanji's brain painfully. Zoro's mouth opens and he begins to practically purr the words of the song into Sanji's ear as he leans closer and presses his hand to Sanji's chest. The voice is somehow both the singer's voice and Zoro's own and it sounds like whiskey and sex all in one.
"Out from the bayou, you hear my rhythm from your radio. You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow, turning you round and round."
Sanji fails to suppress a shudder of want at Zoro's voice or at the slightly predatory smile Zoro shoots him when he pulls back a little.
"Go to sleep lover." Zoro purrs and kisses Sanji just as the world goes completely black, silent and, thankfully painless.
A/N: If any of you were wondering about the song it's called smooth by Santana, you know how ff feels about links so I'll leave you guys to google on your own. Thanks for reading and all the wonderful reviews so far! 3