Sanji sat up and yawned. He had gotten a good night's rest, despite the fact that he had been disappointed at not being able to pick up any girls. Swinging his legs over his bed, he climbed the ladder and exited to the deck, where the sky in the east was turning a vivid orange-red. He entered the kitchen and started getting out ingredients and other things.

In just ten minutes, he'd finished mixing up the muffin batter and was pouring it into the tray moulds. After sticking it into the oven and setting the timer for thirty minutes, he got out some eggs and began cracking them into the pan he'd placed on the stove in order to make scrambled eggs.

The first batch of eggs was finished fairly quickly. Sanji grabbed a fork and took a bit to taste-test it; make sure that they weren't overcooked. But upon tasting it, he spat it out into the sink almost immediately: the taste was vile.

He rinsed his mouth out with water and tried another bite, only to be met with the same results. He spit it out again and wiped his mouth. Something strange was definitely going on.

"Hey!" he yelled, looking out the door, where Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper were playing a game. They looked up. "Usopp, get in here for a moment!"

Usopp looked at the others, shrugged, and made his way over to the kitchen. "Yeah?"

"Mind tasting this for me?" Sanji shoved a forkful of eggs at Usopp.

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"I need a second opinion. Just taste it."

"Okay…" Usopp took the fork and popped the cooked egg in his mouth. He chewed it and swallowed. Sanji looked at him expectantly.

"It tastes great!" said Usopp, smiling. "Right up there with your usual awesome cooking!"

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Can I go now?"

"Sure…" Sanji waved him away and started cooking the second batch, bothered by the fact that his taste buds seemed to be off today. Maybe he was coming down with a cold?

Once everything was done, he yelled for the guys to come in and sweetly called the girls. The men came running in, ready for their morning nourishment, while the girls walked behind them. They sat themselves and Sanji served up the muffins and eggs.

"Where's the moss-head?" he asked, noting Zoro's absence.

"He was still sleeping when we left," said Chopper.

"Geez… I hope he didn't eat that weird mushroom again…" Sanji stepped outside, where the sun was fully above the horizon now. When the light touched his skin, it burned as if he had stuck it in a fire. He quickly stepped back inside to the shade, blowing on the spot that had burned.

"Uh, Chopper, do you mind waking up the idiot? I'm going to make some more eggs…"

"Okay!" Chopper unquestioningly left the table and ran back to the men's room. Sanji started cooking more eggs, a bit distractedly.

"Good breakfast, Sanji-kun!" Nami complimented, swallowing a bite of muffin.

"Meah! Itchs r'lly gud!" Luffy mumbled around his food.

The others said similar words of praise as Chopper came into the kitchen with Zoro. Sanji discreetly picked a corner off of one of the muffins and tried it, only to find that it had a disgusting flavor equal to that of the egg. He spat it into a napkin, deciding to keep his troubled taste buds to himself for now, figuring that they would go back to normal later – maybe he'd just had too much to drink last night?

They finished their breakfast soon enough, leaving Sanji to clean up the dishes. He was still thinking about what had happened – the horrible taste of his food when everyone else said that it was delicious, and the morning light burning his skin. Not only that, but why did he feel so damn thirsty?

He decided to try stepping outside again. The sun was higher than it had been, completely illuminating the ship. When he stepped outside, his skin burned and sizzled – he could actually hear a hissing sound.

"Tch!" he muttered, stepping back inside and shutting the door. While running cold water on the burned area, he tried to figure out what was causing his sudden extreme sensitivity to light.

The door opened and sunlight poured in. Sanji jumped out of the path of the beam and looked to see Luffy grinning in the doorway.

"Hi, Sanji!" he said happily. "Can I have second breakfast?"

"There's no such thing as second breakfast," Sanji said. Luffy walked over to him and started poking him.

"Aw… come on, Sanji… please? Second breakfast? Pleeeeease?"

Sanji smacked his hand away. "No means no—"

He stopped speaking, suddenly noticing Luffy's wrist. The way the blue veins were delicately crisscrossed, how thin the skin was there, how easy it would be to break open…

"Sanji? What's wrong?"

Sanji now looked at Luffy's face, intending to answer, but his eyes were drawn to his neck. That soft place just below the mandible would be so easy to open, and it was pulsing so rhythmically…

What the hell am I thinking!?

"Sanji?"

"Nothing's wrong!" he snapped, fighting a strange urge that had come upon him. "Get out!"

"You're mean…" pouted Luffy, leaving the kitchen and shutting the door behind him. Sanji leaned against the counter shakily.

What was wrong with him? Was he really getting sick after all? He felt his forehead, but it seemed like a normal temperature… then again, his hands would probably be the same temperature, so that wasn't a good way to check. Maybe he was flushed? It didn't feel like it, but it didn't hurt to check.

Searching the drawers, he found a small hand mirror and lifted it up. His eyes widened. In the mirror, the kitchen was reflected – behind Sanji. In fact, everything was reflected except for Sanji himself.

Vile taste of normal food. Burning sunlight. Thinking about blood. Not reflected in a mirror.

Well, shit.

Okay, he thought. Calm down. There are worse things than being a vampire. You just have to tell everyone else, and then we'll be able to find a cure… wait. If I tell them, Nami-swan and Robin-chwan will—

"Eek! Sanji-kun's a vampire! How scary!" Nami shrieks, running away.

"I can't ever be with him now!" Robin wails, running with Nami.

"He's a monster!" they yell together.

"I can never let that happen!" Sanji yelled out loud.

"Let what happen?"

Sanji turned around to see Franky standing in the doorway. "Um… nothing."

"Okay, whatever. Strawhat wants to know when lunch is."

"Tell him it'll be at the usual time," Sanji sighed. Franky nodded and left.

But how, he thought, did he even become a vampire? He couldn't recall being bitten – but vampires had some way of wiping the victim's memory, right? Still…

It would be difficult to keep the truth from his crewmates – he already felt guilty about planning to lie to them – but he just couldn't let his Nami-swan and Robin-chwan think of him as a monster!