Chapter 31

Once upon a time

"Oh my God, this tea room is beautiful!"

Nami had just pushed open the door to the small, warm entrance decorated with elegant tea ware, her arms still full of bags. Behind her, the crew rushed to follow and her friends agreed as they entered. Their captain's insolent luck the day before had changed the situation and given the impressive quantity of berries they had now, the navigator had offered to enjoy an extra day on the island. Indeed, it had been a long time since the Straw Hat Pirates had granted themselves a real moment of truce, always on alert in case they encountered new enemies or simply too broke to enjoy anything on the lands they were.

Nami and Robin had decided to enjoy shopping for a good part of the day while the boys had preferred to have fun at the town's water park after stocking up on plenty of food. In the end, at snack time, the crew had met in front of the tea room that the girls had reserved.

The place was renowned for serving the finest teas and tastiest pastries, which had convinced everyone and their captain first. Inside, large armchairs with soft multicolored cushions were installed on either side of wooden tables decorated with fresh flowers and long lamps hanging from the ceiling, diffusing a dim light for quiet conversations. Along the walls, climbing plants completed the picture of a natural oasis in contrast to the urban city center where they were.

A waiter quickly guided the crew to their table and while some immediately grabbed the menu, others admired the decor a little longer.

"There are so many choices!" Chopper observed after a few moments browsing the drinks and treats available, impressed.

"Everything looks so yummy!" Luffy confirmed, his tongue hanging out.

"The selection turns out to be rather difficult," Brook agreed at his side.

"What are you gonna choose?" The little reindeer asked him.

"A natural Silonibari black tea," the musician replied. "It's perfect for adding milk and will undoubtedly enhance the rum baba that I intend to try!"

"Oh, that's a good idea! I'm gonna have the Paris-Brest with the strawberry and vanilla tea to add milk too!" The reindeer got enthused.

"Strawberry and vanilla tea? You sure it's tea?" Franky pointed out, just sitting down opposite to them and frowning.

"It's a matcha green tea flavored with strawberry and vanilla," Sanji explained while observing the silky petals of the rose placed in a vase in front of him, "The aromas are light and especially sweet."

"I see. Quite original," the cyborg said.

Seated on the left of the cook, the navigator leaned towards him. "Sanji-kun, do you think I'd like Amanatsu Oolong? I'm tempted to try a tangerine tea."

"That's a great idea, Nami-san! Amanatsu is a lightly oxidized tea that develops floral and sweet aromas. It goes very well with a strong flavor pastry like dark chocolate or lemon and it can also be enjoyed as a cold tea!"

"Oh, that's interesting. I'll have a slice of Tonka pie on the side then," the redhead decided.

"I'd like to have the cherry pie but which tea do you think would go best?" Usopp asked him in turn and Sanji took a second to think. "Plain green tea or matcha. The tart is sweet while green tea has a natural taste reminiscent of earth. The contrast will allow you to appreciate both flavors."

"Okay then I'll have the Sencha Kamo with its intense and deep taste!" The sniper rejoiced.

"I'm gonna have the Perfecto tea!" The straw hat boy exclaimed.

"Perfecto tea? What is it?" Chopper asked.

"It's a fragrant green tea combined with flower petals," Jinbei read, "It has many colors visibly."

"Are you sure, Luffy?" The sniper wondered.

"I don't think this is your kind of tea," Nami added.

"Why don't you choose the Symphony of Happiness flavored black tea like me?" Franky suggested. "There are rose petals and with a millefeuille, it'll be even more super!"

"But my tea is Perfecto!" The captain insisted, emphasizing the last syllable as if all the flavor was in the title.

"So that's because you like the name," Robin noted with amusement.

"I suggest you have a rooibos tea instead," his cook chimed in. "These are the only teas that don't contain theine or caffeine and you don't need to be full of energy all night. You might like the peach melba rooibos."

"Oh…"

"Sanji-kun is right, it's more appropriate," the navigator agreed. "And since it's thanks to you that we're here today, you can have a whole cake as compensation," she offered him, in a generous mood.

"Really?! That's awesome!"

Luffy immediately began to stamp in front of the images of desserts and with Chopper, they embarked on a big discussion to know which one would probably be the best. Not far from them, Robin was still hesitating.

"I'd like to have a white tea but I'm not sure I can decipher all their subtleties in order to select the one that I'd enjoy the most," she informed the cook. "You who know us so well, which one would you recommend to me?"

"Oh, you'll probably like white peony tea or lavender tea, Robin-chan! Although knowing your preference for strong flavors, if you chose a coffee éclair, I'd recommend the tea with ginger and lemon myrtle. It has a very comforting touch of honey!"

"I trust you," the archaeologist thanked him.

"It's impressive, you know all these teas by heart and you're able to describe and associate them without even smelling or tasting them," Jinbei noted.

"I know their properties," his crewmate explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Talking about them reminds me of their scents and the associations come to me instinctively. It's kind of weird," he admitted after a moment. "It's like my body already knows the answers whereas I usually use my senses to imagine the best combinations."

"Maybe your body recognizes the ingredients even if you no longer smell them," Usopp suggested.

"The human body is such a mysterious machine," Brook marveled, "The reflexes are still here even though the principles at their origins are inaccessible!"

"I'm trying to bring them back," the blond admitted. "I know I haven't lost my knowledge, but without my taste and smell, I feel like I have to cook with one hand tied behind my back. I can get by but I'm not as comfortable anymore…"

"What you are experiencing is destabilizing but we know your strength and determination to overcome each ordeal. That's why we have no doubt that you'll also overcome this one," Robin assured him.

As everyone nodded, Jinbei looked back at the menu. "I'll have the yuzu cheesecake and I'd like some green tea. Maybe the Gyokuro Katsura?"

"It's a superior quality green tea that is rather velvety and sweet. It'll pair well with the lemony taste," the cook confirmed.

"Zoro, what are you gonna choose?" The sniper asked him then, turning to the swordsman at his side. The man had closed his eyes in his seat and didn't open them to reply. "The Kunko Wakocha."

"What is it?" Chopper asked, trying to find it on the list he was still reading with Luffy.

"Really, mosshead? A smoked tea with whiskey barrel shavings at four in the afternoon?" The cook stared at him.

"Eww," Nami grimaced.

"It must be super special!" The shipwright exclaimed, curious.

"And what do you have for dessert?" The straw hat boy wanted to know, brutally interested. The swordsman shrugged his shoulders, his eyes still closed. "Nothing. They're all too sweet."

"I'm taking Zoro's dessert!"

"I've already given you permission to have your own cake, don't push it," the navigator reprimanded him.

"They have mint macarons, you might like it," Sanji suggested. Zoro shrugged again and Luffy decided that he would eat his macarons in case his first mate wasn't completely satisfied.

Their waiter returned at this moment to take their orders and Luffy asked him for the largest strawberry cake. Everyone then gave him their choice until the man naturally turned to the only one who hadn't spoken.

"What will you have, sir?" He asked the blond who was observing the rose again. All eyes turned towards Sanji and he shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "I don't feel very hungry, thank you."

"Sanji-kun, come on! It's not every day that we get the opportunity to come to a place like this!" The navigator pointed out to him.

"All these pastries look really good; you don't need to be hungry, bro!" The shipwright added.

"It's not that, it's just… I'm not gonna be able to enjoy it anyway."

At these words, his friends shared an embarrassed look.

"Can't you imagine the taste like you do to advise us?" Usopp tried.

"Imagining it doesn't bring the flavors back, quite the contrary," the blond replied with bitterness. "I feel like I'm constantly chewing plastic so it'd be a waste and that's something I wanna avoid."

A sad silence fell around the table then and the waiter was about to leave when the swordsman suddenly spoke again. "He's gonna have a slice of praline tart. And some… uh, black tea. A chocolate tea."

The crewmembers all turned towards the swordsman to stare at him in bewilderment as he put down the menu he had opened to presumably read it at random and the waiter hesitated, glancing at the stunned blond.

"What are you talking about, mosshead? I just said I didn't want anything! Besides, this tea absolutely doesn't go with this cake!" His companion was indignant.

"So what? You said you can't feel the difference."

Sanji's eyes widened and Zoro narrowed his own. "You always say that eating isn't just a matter of filling your stomach but an important moment of sharing with the crew. That's why you insist that we all be together at mealtimes so why don't you take your own advice?"

The cook opened his mouth to respond but ultimately found nothing to reply and past the astonishment, Chopper was the first to react.

"Zoro's right! Meals are quality times for socialization in addition to providing the body with necessary biological elements. You have to eat, Sanji!"

"That's a very convincing argument," Robin agreed with a smile.

"Even if you don't feel anything, you'll still benefit from it," Usopp added.

The cook sighed, defeated, and Luffy congratulated his first mate with a big slap on the back. "Okay, but I won't eat a slice of praline tart with chocolate tea, the flavors are too similar," he muttered, grabbing the menu. "Give me an Oolong Formosa tea instead."

"With pleasure, sir."


Sanji woke up with a start, his heart pounding. Yet around him, the Sunny was calm, plunged into darkness and gliding gently on the ocean. All his friends were still sleeping peacefully near him and the cook knew instantly that he had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, the images from his nightmare were still dancing before his eyes and the terror he had felt earlier was making him shiver uncontrollably.

Without a sound, he stood up and grabbed his clothes, making sure his pack of cigarettes was in his pocket as he left the boys' quarter. Outside, the sun hadn't yet risen.

As he leaned on the railing, the cool sea breeze did him good and Sanji lit a cigarette in the hope of completely making the awful feeling that gripped him disappear. The cook let the smoke escape above him then, looking up at the sky which was still cloudy due to the autumnal climate of the island the crew had left the day before.

After their delicious snack, everyone had returned to the ship cheerfully and Jinbei had grabbed the helm with Nami to study their next route. For his part, Sanji had happily prepared a light dinner with scallops and leek fondue. Their food stock was at its highest and the blond had been able to choose precisely what he wanted without fear of making too many mistakes.

He had not had a better night than the previous ones though and he had felt some frustration before remembering that his identity as a cook wasn't the only torment he endured. Indeed, he couldn't ignore that his agitation had increased lately because of the turmoil Zoro was causing him a little more every day.

The emotions that the swordsman had revealed in him before their separation were now coming back to torture him even more and guilt was never far. He had never explained himself to the fencer and the more time passed, the more he knew that the discussion would be difficult. But what was Sanji supposed to say today? Even if he now admitted to having been afraid of his crewmate's revelation, the fact remained that he had surely broken his heart by refusing to acknowledge his words. He had no excuse, only his cowardice and this irrational fear deep in his stomach.

That day, he had missed his chance without thinking that life would no longer offer him the opportunity to make up for it. He had almost married and joined forces with an enemy crew, then the fighting had ensued on all sides. For his part, Zoro had also made encounters and discoveries that had pushed him on his own path.

Then they had met again, similar to those they had been and at the same time, so different. In the meantime, they had grown up and experienced an incredible number of events and revelations at an unimaginable speed, each on their own. Yet, and although their personalities had always opposed them on many points, they had once again shared the same objective in order to fly Luffy's flag and protect their friends.

Their fight side by side against Kaido's Calamities had been no exception to this rule and if Sanji hadn't pushed the swordsman away before fleeing, he knew that Zoro would have come back to him at that moment. He knew the fencer and what he had been willing to give him was a promise he would have never broken. But since Sanji had ignored him, Zoro had gone his own way and the blond had been erased from the landscape.

The swordsman remained present for him as a crewmate though, and Zoro had this unflinching loyalty which bordered on the deepest selflessness. Indeed, despite what the cook had done, he offered him unexpected support every day when Sanji felt his own identity fragmenting. Zoro reminded him that he was and had always been the cook of the Straw Hat crew, regardless of the images he had created for himself or that his family had imposed on him.

"Up already, cook?"

Sanji didn't jump despite the sudden quickening of his heart and he only turned his head to see the swordsman walking towards him. Zoro had been on watch last night and he was probably coming down from the crow's nest to finally find his bed.

"I wasn't sleepy anymore." The fencer settled beside him and studied the horizon for a minute. "No longer sleepy or didn't wanna sleep?" Sanji remained still, his cigarette in the corner of his lips, and the silence stretched on the deck. "Does that change anything?" He finally asked, "The sun will rise soon anyway."

"If you can't sleep, go see Chopper."

"I already did."

The swordsman turned towards him at these words but the cook kept his eyes fixed on the sea. "He can't do anything for me because sleeping isn't the problem. It's what wakes me up every time that he can't erase."

Zoro remained silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on his crewmate. "How are they?" He asked him suddenly.

Surprised, the blond turned towards him in turn. "Who?"

"Your brothers, your father. Those who give you nightmares."

Sanji's only response was to observe him before shaking his head and slipping back into contemplation of the sea below. "I don't know," he finally whispered. "They're… those I never could be."

Zoro considered his answer for a few seconds and he was about to ask another question when the cook beat him to it.

"Have the others told you about my sister? Because I have a sister too. Reiju isn't perfect but she's not fully bad either. And most importantly, I have a mother."

The swordsman raised an eyebrow and Sanji felt pain grip his chest instantly. His cigarette shattered between his clenched teeth and fell into the ocean.

"She's the one who haunts my nightmares the most, probably because I know I'll never see her again," he admitted breathlessly. "You know, she sacrificed herself to try to save her children but she failed."

Sanji was now staring at the dark waters as if he wanted to drown in them and Zoro looked at the horizon for a moment. In the distance, the sky was clearing and his voice echoed on the deck when he finally spoke again.

"Did she really fail?"

The blond turned to face him, clearly surprised. "She's dead, mosshead."

"Yeah. But you're here. Isn't that what she fought for? For you to be here today, free to be yourself?"

At these words, the blond's figure froze in front of him and Zoro quietly looked at him. He then shook his head and lifted the chin of the cook who had instinctively tried to hide his eyes shining with tears.

"You've always been stupid, cook…"

Sanji didn't try to shy away from his gesture, feeling the warmth of the swordsman's fingers on his skin long after Zoro had removed them. A strangled laugh escaped him and he would have liked to lean against his crewmate but the man had turned away to finally go to sleep. The cook furtively wiped his eyes and refocused on the waves to catch his breath.

Zoro was right, he was stupid. He had been so stupid that day. Why hadn't he trusted him?

Today, nothing was the same anymore and even if he wanted to go beyond the limits he had imposed on himself in the past, he felt like he had no right or possibility to do so. He couldn't ask the fencer to give him everything again when Sanji couldn't give him anything as high as the purity of the swordsman's feelings. He had ruined their relationship and that stain would never go away. What would Zoro do with a love as imperfect as his? His crewmate was the future best swordsman in the world and his passion had shone with the same determination and sincerity while Sanji had only offered false pretense and betrayal in return.

Why would the swordsman want to stay with a broken and deceitful man like him? Zoro had loved the one he had known, a cook who had given him the illusion of being his equal, driven by the same iron will and righteousness as him. The Sanji of today was nothing like the bold and confident person he had shown him. On the contrary, he was so ashamed of himself that his own mind was trying to erase him and Zoro had no use for a companion who would slow him down or didn't have the guts to take responsibility for who he was. The first mate of the future Pirate King had fallen under the spell of an image and now that he knew the truth, he was probably feeling betrayed and deceived.

As dawn finally broke through the clouds, its light gently illuminated the Sunny and Sanji realized that if his life wasn't a fairy tale, it almost had been.

Once upon a time, there was a prince who had met the eyes of a proud fencer.

The prince didn't like his title and preferred to call himself a cook.

The swordsman only loved his blades and had barely looked his way.

Their relationship had been stormy from the start and their rivalry had spread like that.

The cook had hated the rude behavior of the fencer who had made fun of his chivalrous habits every hour.

Their enmity had driven them to challenge themselves as much as their loyalty had urged them to protect their friends.

And then one day, the swordsman had blurred the lines.

Their two hearts had caught fire in secret and it had been too late.

Proud as he had always been, the swordsman hadn't shy away but it was the cook who had looked away.

He had refused to believe, far too convinced that he could never please.

Now the prince's true identity had been revealed and his feelings for the swordsman had come back to haunt him.

Unfortunately, his past had also caught up with him and the fencer had seen a whole other man right beside him.

His companion was a fallen prince who had wanted to be tough but he had never been enough.

He had never been worthy of the swordsman's honesty.


Fairy tale is clearly not on the agenda but Sanji's background and personality inspired me at the time!

I tried to keep the rhymes and poetic language but the translation made it very hard…