My longest chapter yet!
The Straw Hats just had a lot to say.
.:Chapter 8 – All Blue:.
The gold cuffs weren't coming off, that much Sanji was sure. His sadistic biological father didn't bother with empty threats. He had insane amounts of power and little empathy. So if Sanji wanted to keep his hands…
If Sanji wanted to continue cooking…
Forlorn, Sanji's thoughts trailed off into another memory, jumping back to a darker place. Wall to wall of solid stone filled the screen, and a little Sanji – face obscured by cruel iron – glanced up with tired eyes. It was clear he'd been in that dungeon for a while now.
"How long did they keep him in there?" Chopper worried. "Forever?!"
"Chopper, calm down. He's obviously out now." Usopp gestured to their current Sanji…strapped in an eerily similar headpiece and being assumedly tortured. "Er, not that he's doing much better," the sniper mumbled incoherently.
"Sanji always said he was raised by Zeff," Nami pointed out. "Plus, we just saw a memory with him where Sanji was at least younger than thirteen."
"Between the ages of eight and twelve? That's at least four years in the dungeon?!" the reindeer squealed.
"Yeah, soooo not forever," Brook clarified.
Zoro's scowl could pierce through metal.
Little Sanji stood as he heard someone approaching. A Germa guard appeared with a tray of food which he slid through a slot in the wall. Sanji knew the drill. He walked to the metal bars of his prison and turned so the guard could unlock the mouthpiece of the iron mask. Even then, the helmet never came off. It was a constant brutal weight on the boy's neck. Sanji picked up his tray of food and returned to the center of the cell where he had a makeshift table.
Quietly, he chewed at his little feast until he heard a sudden whimpering beside him. He peered down at the hungry little mouse watching him eat. Without hesitation Sanji placed his entire plate on the floor beside it. Sanji watched how happy the mouse became and smiled through the crumbs on his own face.
They had seen so many instances where Sanji could have become bitter. Where he could have lost his will, his heart, his kindness. And yet, here he was, at what the Straw Hats could only assume was his lowest point, still feeding anyone who was hungry before him.
While watching his new friend fill their rumbling stomach, little Sanji's smile froze as he remembered his dad scolding him for feeding the rats, for trying to be like his mother who was gone, and Sanji was silently crying again before the memory shifted once again, into something even farther back.
A smaller Sanji yelled in pain. "Ow!"
Plates clattered against the counter as Sanji stood on a crate back in the kitchen, clutching at his hand.
The palace chef came running in at the prince's cry. "What happened?"
Sanji, ever honest, held up his bleeding finger.
"Are you alright there, Master Sanji?" Sanji nodded, but the chef sighed. "His majesty ordered us not to allow you into the kitchen."
Sanji stared up at him with puppy-dog eyes. "Oh, please, I beg you! Let me stay."
"How could anyone deny that face?" Nami's eyes watered as Chopper cried, "Let him cook!"
The scene smoothly transitioned to a Sanji with many bandaged fingers and a wide smile. The chef had clearly been accommodating to the little prince. "All finished!" Sanji declared proudly only to have a sad dish in front of him consisting of a whole fish and whole bananas marinating in some questionable sauce.
The chef looked as concerned about the concoction as the Straw Hats, but little Sanji loved what he saw. He packed it up, put on his rain gear, grabbed an umbrella bigger than he was and marched out into the rain with the dish securely on his back.
Robin and Nami fangirled.
Sanji in his raincoat…
"He can't get any cuter, can he?" Nami said with heart eyes.
Usopp muttered, "There they go again."
"But he's so adorable, bro!" Franky cried, smacking Usopp's shoulder in his enthusiasm and sending the sniper flying flat on his nose.
A soldier approached the boy as he was leaving. "Where are you going all by yourself?"
"To see my mother."
The Straw Hats gasped.
"So this is before she died," Chopper said.
Luffy smiled at the screen. "I bet she's nice!"
"What makes you think that when the rest of his family isn't?" Nami questioned.
"'Cause he's bringing her food," the captain laughed.
The cook also looks happy to be going, Zoro thought. He hoped that meant Sanji got his looks and his heart from his mother's side of things. It most definitely wasn't from Judge.
"But the weather is awful," the soldier said, trailing after the prince. "And the medical ward is so far."
"I'm fine," Sanji said. "Stop following me!" The soldier let him go easily enough. As an afterthought, Sanji turned to him and added, "Don't tell my dad, okay- ah!" He slipped and flew face fist into the wet ground.
"Little Sanji loses his balance a lot," Luffy snickered.
"He was a bit of a klutz, wasn't he?" Brook said with a soft fondness. They would have never guessed watching him as he was these days.
Without a word, Sanji pushed himself up with a couple grunts and carried on. So what if he was covered in mud now. He had a mission! To bring this food to his mom.
It would definitely make her feel better, he thought. She'll be un-sick in no time!
"He's trying to cure her!" Nami and Franky cried together.
"With food!" Chopper sniffled.
Usopp wormed hurriedly away from Franky's shackled fists as the cyborg pounded into the floor with a sob. "It's. so. unfair."
As Sanji made his way through the strange military town of Germa, the storm grew worse. The wind kicked up, sometimes too strong for Sanji to move his feet, but he ignored the calls to take shelter and marched on. That's when he was cornered by a hungry dog.
"Honestly has the worst luck of anybody I've ever met," Zoro grumbled.
Sanji squared his shoulders, and a familiar look shined in his little round eyes. It was a look that the Straw Hats knew well. The one adult Sanji got when he was determined to protect. And little Sanji was going to protect that food. It was going to his mother no matter what.
"Go away, dog!" he growled. "I didn't make this food for you."
Of course, he was still Little Sanji, and as the dog charged at him, he screamed, throwing his umbrella into the air and falling flat on his face again.
Luffy laughed. "Good one, Sanji!"
Just as the dog was about to snap at his backpack, Sanji elbowed the mutt out of the way and ran. He was chased all the way to the medical ward and, exhausted and soaking wet, poor Sanji presented his dish to the nurse there with a resounding frown.
It had been destroyed.
Frowning deeper as the nurse questioned whether it would be a good idea to serve such a meal to the queen, Sanji wordlessly pushed the dish further into her hands. He knew it didn't look as good as when he first made it, but he had tried so hard…
"Give our little bro a break, damn!" Franky was still crying. Always emotional. Forehead now pressed to the floor like he was praying. Robin patted his back, though she, too, wished the universe would give their tiny cook a break.
The nurse sighed, resigning herself to try some to appease the little boy.
It did not go well.
Much to Luffy's amusement.
"I bet it still tastes good," he said. The others gave him weird looks (albeit not surprised ones).
The memory jumped forward as little Sanji poked his head through a door after pushing it open, expression still somber. He entered the room quietly. At the creak of the door, a pair of light ocean-blue eyes opened, long lashes dark against alabaster skin. They belonged to a delicate woman, who sat carefully up in her bed. Her golden hair was parted so her bangs covered one eye and the rest hung in waves down her slim frame, cascading over her medical gown.
Sanji's mother.
"Wow, she's beautiful," commented Nami, while Luffy pointed and declared, "It's girl-Sanji!"
Zoro stared. Curly definitely took after his mother.
"Oh, Sanji!" The woman smiled Sanji's smile. Her voice was as sweet and smooth as honey. "It's pouring, and you still came to see me? Your father will be so furious if he finds out."
Chopper didn't understand. "Why would Sanji not be allowed to see his own mother?"
Sanji stared at his feet, nervous to approach any further.
"Here, your majesty. He brought this for you." The nurse placed a perfect plate of food in front of the queen.
"Huh? That's not Sanji's." Luffy frowned. Sanji's mom needed to see what Sanji made. He bet she'd love it!
The blonde woman assessed the food for a moment, then turned slightly to smile at her son. "Sweetheart, did you make this food?"
Robin and Zoro smirked at the same time. She knew.
Sanji wrung his hands together, not meeting her eyes. He nodded with a grunt, fidgeting. The woman wasn't fooled. She immediately turned to the nurse. "Ebony! Don't be presumptuous! Please bring me the food Sanji really made. At once."
"Well, I would, but - you see - it got ruined on the way over here and there's no salvaging it, so I threw it away-"
"Bring it in!"
"Right!" The nurse bowed and scurried off.
"You don't throw away Sanji's food," Usopp muttered, shaking his head seriously.
Surprised, Sanji looked up and watched as his mother was presented with his real dish.
"…"
"Is it supposed to be purple now? It wasn't purple before…"
"Shush!"
Sanji's sweet mother made no reaction to the color or the clear distinction of strong odor. Instead, she happily trilled, "Look at that! There are omelet rolls, and fish, and a banana, too!"
Lower lip out, Sanji tugged at the hood of his raincoat in shame. "Ah, mom, I'm sorry. I messed it up."
"Tsk. That's why he's so nervous," Zoro said. It hadn't made sense when he was so happy to go see her before.
"He feels he messed up, so he gets shy and timid," Nami also noticed.
"He didn't mess up at all," Luffy said. "He got the food to her, didn't he?"
"He's used to being scolded for the smallest mistakes. So indoctrinated into thinking that perfection is the only acceptable outcome." Robin smiled sadly. "It must be why he overworks himself, even now."
Nobody liked that.
The crew never expected perfection from him or any one of them. Being human meant you made mistakes, and that was also why you had friends to help you out during those times (or to smack you upside the head when you're being stupid). But maybe Sanji needed to be reminded of that occasionally, so he could remember it was okay. It was okay to just be Sanji.
And the Straw Hats vowed to do just that for their cook. Whenever he needed it.
Little Sanji tugged harder on his hood, shrinking in on himself. "I was running and I tripped in the street. It got smooshed. And it's all soggy, too…"
The woman only smiled wider. "Let's try," she said, bringing a forkful up to her mouth. She laughed sweetly as she chewed, making a delighted noise before swallowing. She looked down at her perfect little cook. "Mmm, yummy!"
Sanji's sad eyes rounded in surprise, and then his bandaged, raincloud-of-a-face instantly transformed into sunshine. Cheeks rosy beneath the band-aids. Blue eyes brighter than the woman's. A smile almost too big for his face. "Really?"
"Really!" she laughed.
Sanji leapt into his mother's arms, hugging her close. "Thanks, mom!"
"Oh goodness," Robin said, tilting her head with a humored smile. "It's no wonder he thinks so highly of women."
"They're the only people who've shown him any kindness," Zoro chuckled humorlessly. Sure, the extent of the love-cook's obsession with the opposite sex had to have happened after puberty hit, but his favoritism was always clear even when he internally pined for anyone beautiful. Chivalry to an extent Zoro never understood. But perhaps there was an underlying root to it all.
"Will you cook for me some more?" the woman wondered. This was the perfect question to ask little Sanji, who eagerly nodded and gave a toothy grin. His mother loved that face, that much was obvious.
However, the lovely face of the woman faded away, replaced by a headstone.
Little Sanji mourned beside it.
The Straw Hats sunk. The small window of happiness was over.
"I m-miss you, m-mom," Sanji cried, voice fading out as his memory shifted back to the slightly older version of himself which sat quietly in the dungeon with his plate of food still on the floor for the mouse.
I miss you, mom. I miss you.
Then her voice echoed around his iron clad head. Would you cook for me some more?
"Those were probably some of her last words to him."
All the Straw Hats were on the floor with squiggles of depression above them, Usopp groaning, "Why would you say that, Robin!"
As his mother's words sank through him, Sanji stared at the food on his tray in a new way. In a way a cook would. He grabbed hold of his butter knife and carefully cut his bread into pristine pieces, as if he was dicing the loaf. And when he looked up from his plate again, that signature spark of determination and optimism were back in those blue-blue eyes of his.
"You… You want me to bring you stuff to cook with?" the guard was suddenly asking as little Sanji stood before him, hands grasping the iron rods keeping him locked away. The boy nodded eagerly.
And then, a montage of days passing painted the screen of Sanji's memories as the mini cook worked away with tiny equipment at his disposal, all set up in his cold and lonely dungeon cell.
The Straw Hats gaped.
Even so small, even in his situation, he was still the Sanji they knew and loved.
Optimistic. Resourceful. Wanting to make people happy.
And even locked away with no hope of ever seeing the light of day or another person again, Sanji remembered his mother – her kindness, her encouragement – and re-ignited his spark. His passion. Even with nothing, the cheerful, idealistic Sanji with a passion for life that they would each go to hell and back for managed to persevere. To persist. To be the light in the face of darkness. Insistent on dreaming even when dreaming within his circumstances might have seemed pointless.
Sanji never let the hatred of others dull his heart or crush his spirit.
The Straw Hats couldn't be prouder of their gracious, over-spirited love-cook.
It was during this desolate period of Sanji's life where one memory solidified among the rest.
His nose stuck in the pages of a book, his voice sighed out in wonder:
"The All Blue…"
The Straw Hats' smiles grew as they watched Sanji's eyes glitter. He had no idea the adventures his newfound discovery would send him on.
"A place with fish from all four seas?" He gasped. "Legendary waters!"
Before his newfound dream could officially manifest, however, there were footsteps approaching his cell again. Sanji knew it wasn't lunch or dinner time yet, and he glanced up just as the visitor spoke.
There were three of them.
"Look at that," the red-haired boy announced. "Told ya! It's him."