Regrouping

Sanji was slightly puzzled by what Gin had said to him before leaving. It had been almost an afterthought, but the look in the pirate's eye had suggested something more.

"I left my jacket on the top deck," Gin had said with a smile, blood dripping down his chin. "Keep an eye on it for me, will ya?"

It seemed a stupid thing to say, so Sanji decided to go up to the top deck and have a look.

He found the jacket. He wasn't expecting what was under it.

Sanji loved women. It wasn't just their beauty and grace, but everything they stood for. That was why he refused to raise a hand to one, even if it killed him. Women were precious treasures to be protected and cherished. Hence why, on seeing the mangled and emaciated form curled up in Gin's jacket, the blond chef felt the urge to chase after the damned pirate and kill him properly. However he couldn't possibly do that until his new charge had been cared for, so instead he dashed off in search of what remained of the first-aid kits. This poor lady's need was far greater than any of the other chefs.

While carefully cleaning her chewed wrists Sanji took the time to consider her appearance. She had long, grubby pale hair in three braids that fell almost to her knees, pale, translucent skin that clung to her sharply boned face and slender hands with calluses that marked her as a weapons user of some kind. Her clothing was torn and dirty, but of high quality: loose, ankle length dark green deck trousers, a flower patterned halter top in shades of green under a black haori and black slippers on her feet. She also looked vaguely familiar, but Sanji couldn't place it. He had certainly never seen her before. At least, he thought not; it was hard to be sure when she wore a blindfold. A blindfold with old bloodstains on it, suggesting something the blond chef really didn't want to contemplate.

A soft gasp as he finished cleaning her wrists told him she was awake.

"Hello, princess," he said gently, not wanting to frighten someone who had been so cruelly treated. "You're on board the Baratie in East Blue."

"Gin?"

"Ah, he left you here," Sanji said flatly. "Good riddance to the shitty bastard."

The girl chuckled, the sound more like a coughing fit than anything else. "He wasn't so bad," she protested faintly.

"Meh," Sanji grumbled, not wanting to argue.

"Isn't the Baratie a restaurant?"

"Oh yes! The best in the Blues!" Sanji said brightly. "And I have some food here just for you, princess!" He picked up the plate from the table. "Can you hold it yourself?"

"Don't think so," she admitted hoarsely, fingers trembling as she raised her hands towards her face.

"Hey, don't worry beautiful: I won't let a lady starve. Let me help you sit up and I'll feed you myself," Sanji said warmly. He would do anything for a damsel in distress, and having a starving, helpless damsel in his care spurred all his chivalrous instincts into overdrive. "Then when you're feeling better I'll sort out a bath for you. A lady should be pampered after such an ordeal."

"That sounds wonderful," she admitted as he shifted her into a sitting position. "Can you tell me how I ended up here?"

So Sanji told his lady guest about the battle between Don Krieg and the Baratie as he carefully fed her the meal he'd prepared with his own hands and watched her regain colour and weight before his eyes in a way that seemed utterly miraculous. When he found her she'd been skinny and emaciated, but now she had mature feminine curves that were a delight to the eye and her skin glowed. Really glowed.

"You are glowing with health, mellorine!" he gushed, setting the scraped dinner plate aside. "You were beautiful before, but now you look even more stunning!"

She giggled, a much healthier sound than the earlier hoarse chuckle. "You shameless flatterer, you. That was magnificent food Sanji-kun, thank-you." Her warm smile made Sanji melt into a puddle of blissful goo. "Now, you promised me a bath?"

"Certainly, my lovely!" Sanji said, leaping into action. "Let me help you up."

"I can stand on my own now," she assured him, levering herself off of the bed, "but could you carry my case? It has my clothes in."

"Anything for you, mellorine," Sanji assured her honestly.

"Call me Fox, Sanji-kun," she said, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder as he picked up the wooden chest she'd been curled over when he found her.

Wrapping his other arm around her shoulders Sanji led the lovely lady Fox to the bathroom, standing guard outside while she bathed so as to be on hand if she needed anything. The blond chef found he couldn't really hold a grudge against that idiot Gin, considering the pirate had left such a beautiful woman in his care.

Being so wrapped up in his guest, Sanji barely noticed that his own injuries didn't really hurt anymore. Had he been paying attention he would have realised that his ribs were no longer broken and that his numerous bone-deep bruises were almost completely healed. However the lack of pain passed the chef by completely as he threw himself into catering to the every whim of the white-haired beauty Gin had left on the Baratie's top deck.

Fox eventually persuaded Sanji to leave, suggesting he check up on the Luffy the rubber-man and citing her need to sleep. Sanji had no problem giving up his room to her and reluctantly left to tell the shitty geezer about his guest and check up on the crazy guy who had defeated Don Krieg. As he wandered down the corridor he was torn between a floating in a passionate haze at how utterly stunning Fox looked after her bath in a fresh set of clothing and storming along in black rage at what had been done to her face. Don Krieg, disgusting iconoclast that he was, had ripped out a woman's eyes! Seeing her sunken eyelids had made Sanji want to cry. At least the damage to her wrists had not been as bad as it seemed; he had re-bandaged them for her after her bath and they looked like they would heal cleanly.

Luffy seemed fine, if obsessed with recruiting Sanji for his crew. Not that he was going to leave; he owed the shitty geezer too much for that. Zeff had just grunted when Sanji told him about Fox, but the blond doubted the old man would mind hosting her until she was fully recovered. He did wonder how she'd ending up in such a situation though.

However his lovely guest was temporarily driven from his mind when the entire staff of the Baratie not only insulted his cooking but outright wasted it. Then the shitty geezer punched him in the face. Not being able to take it any longer, Sanji stormed out of the dining room.

Sitting with his back to the door and trying to calm down, Sanji was startled by a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you doing out of bed! You need to rest!" he scolded Fox, leaping up and quickly cradling her hands in order to check that she hadn't aggravated her injuries.

"Sorry, Sanji-kun: I'm just hungry," she admitted candidly. "You are a fantastic chef; you do know that, I hope. You've probably ruined my appreciation of anyone else's cooking for the rest of my life."

"I…" Sanji paused as the words being spoken in the dining room reached his ears. "Yes. I know."

Then the panda shark crashed into him, launching him back into the dining room.

On deciding to leave, Sanji wasn't surprised that Luffy immediately agreed to take him along. What did surprise him was the rubber-man's agreement to take the charming lady Fox along as well when she asked to join them. Her explanation was that her home was on the Grand Line, which was all Luffy needed to hear before loudly agreeing to give her a lift. Sanji didn't mind at all: Fox was lovely to look at and caring for a pretty lady was its own reward.

Yosaku was annoying, but the bounty hunter knew quite a lot about the Grand Line and was the one navigating so Sanji didn't to more than prod at the man. Luffy was mostly oblivious and Fox was asleep in the cabin, so the chef took care not to be too noisy. Disturbing a lady's beauty sleep was not the done thing at all.