.:Chapter 12 - Stowaway:.

The Straw Hats, as a collective, were pissed.

More so, however, they were heartbroken. Even as the relief of little Sanji's escape was still fresh in their minds, they were devastated. Because their cook had thrown himself right back into the hell they had so desperately been rooting for him to get out of! He had needlessly suffered.

It was infuriating.

Those brothers of his... Zoro was all but growling. All he needed was one move from his arsenal. Just one. Precise and practiced. Three swords for three Vinsmokes who had it coming.

They'd better hope they never crossed paths with the swordsman after this.

Luffy stared off into space, almost like he wasn't seeing anything. But he was: Sanji and him facing off with an audience of Germa soldiers and Nami. He couldn't help but wonder how much longer it would be at this point in Sanji's memories until they reached that moment. Because something had definitely changed in Sanji's thought process from when he left Zou to when they met up with him on Whole Cake, and he wanted to know what.

Onscreen, Sanji had returned to the land of the conscious, back in his quarters in present-day Germa, face five times its natural size from all the bumps and bruises. Reiju, unsurprisingly, was beside him as caretaker.

The cook-prince wondered if this was what his life would consist of again. A back and forth between the torture from his brothers and the pity from his sister.

"How awful it must've felt for him," Robin said, "to perfectly relive his past in such a way."

Curly's thoughts, plus his crew mate's observation, did not help Zoro calm down. He tried his breathing tactics again.

Reiju held up a microfiber facial mask in front of Sanji's puffy face, medicinal cream slick on her fingers.

"Ready? This'll hurt."

"Yeah, because how he got the injuries in the first place was painless," Usopp muttered. With Vinsmokes as family, who needed enemies?

"Just put it on already," Sanji griped.

Reiju had barely placed it on him when it suctioned to his skin.

"Barely tingles…" he started, until the mask suddenly zapped at his face, throwing his head back.

Usopp balked. "Eeee, I take back my snide comment!"

"What kind of medical procedure is that?!" Chopper screamed.

Sanji squirmed in pain. He went to grab at the electrocuting mask until Reiju reminded him of the sensitivity of his cuffs. He groaned, throwing his hands in the air, having to just deal the best he could until it was all over.

"Damn," Franky chuckled, though there was no humor in his voice. "Bro's whole body's a minefield. Talk about super bad luck."

The process took way too long, in Sanji's unbiased opinion. But finally, when the vibrations stopped and the mask became nearly invisible, Sanji could see normally out of his eyes again. Seeing his reflection, his face seemed magically back to normal.

"Witchcraft," Brook murmured in Chopper's ear with a seriousness that sent shivers up the reindeer's spine as his eyes widened in horror.

"The swelling has gone down," Sanji noted. His face still ached like a bitch, though.

Reiju explained, then, that inflammation was the only thing the mask fixed. It repressed the body's natural response to an injury. It actually slowed the recovery process, but she said it was better than Sanji showing a wounded face to his fiancée.

"How are looks better than recovery?" Chopper demanded, doctor mode suddenly activated.

Sanji studiously ignored the comment about his fiancée.

"The Charlotte family never takes their spouse's last name," Reiju said slowly. "You won't be a Vinsmoke anymore."

"Ah, she's trying to make him see how easy it could be for him again," Robin noticed.

It was true, Zoro thought, that the cook hated being a Vinsmoke. With good reason, sure. But to hell with the Charlottes, too. There were…other names Sanji could take if he wanted…

"If you get along well enough, you might live a happy life."

"Shut up."

Reiju sighed. "I don't know what you're expecting from me. You came here on your own."

Sanji's eyes trailed down to the light reflecting from the gold on his wrists.

It was true he did come here on his own; however, he hadn't come back to appease his family. Or to marry Big Mom's daughter, no matter how lovely she was. He had come to put this to a close.

He had had every intention of returning to Luffy and the others - if they wanted him back - when it was said and done. When Germa could no longer follow him to the ends of the Grand Line until they got what they wanted from him. When the Straw Hats were no longer at risk of being under Big Mom's control. When his friends were safe from being dragged into Vinsmoke Judge's war games.

Nami gasped. "Wait! He disbanded from the crew because marrying Big Mom's daughter meant his crew would become her subordinates!"

"And his captain worked under no one," Zoro said, expression steady. "The cook understood that."

Luffy tilted his head innocently, while Usopp muttered at the swordsman. "You weren't this levelheaded about it back when we first found out he left."

Zoro snapped at him, teeth sharper than usual.

"I WAS STILL PROCESSING EVERYTHING!"

"But he wasn't going to actually marry the girl," Franky noted. "We could've handled ourselves."

"Hmm." Brook scratched at his afro. "I believe he was severing anything they could possibly hang over his head… Unfortunately, he was unaware of the other factors they found to blackmail him with instead."

Robin, introspective, tapped at her chin. "The thought of that awful part of Sanji's life casting its shadow over us most likely motivated him as well. Hearing the name Vinsmoke after all that time free from them had to have dug up a lot of traumas he had buried."

"His trauma probably worsened his anxiety, also," Chopper said. "And it's not like we had time on our side." The reindeer looked down at his hooves with a frown. "But…he promised he'd come back."

Nami frowned, too. She had been so afraid Sanji was never coming back, that she'd let him get away so easily while Luffy was gone, and that she'd never see him again. The main reason she didn't like talking about Whole Cake was because it had scared her more than she was willing to admit. And they had made it through okay – right? So, there was no point to dwell on it.

Luffy didn't understand the problem. "He did come back."

The Straw Hats sighed, and then the screen had their attention again as their cook's inner thoughts shifted.

He had planned to return, yeah.

However, Sanji's reality had changed.

The longer he stayed here, the more he remembered how devastatingly lucky he had been to escape his family's clutches the first time…

Germa castle swirled away with a shift of memory, and Sanji was back in the distant past.

The Orbit.

That was the name of the ship docked at the island that was being burned down by Germa 66.

That was the vessel with the wine bottle as a figurehead.

And that was Sanji's one and only chance of escaping alive.

Little Sanji knew this. Knew — as he naturally gravitated toward the kitchen and hid among the storage crates — that he had one shot, and he couldn't miss. It was all he could think about as he waited. Just waited. And waited.

"He's shaking," Nami murmured, worried about what life would throw at little Sanji from here on out.

After what felt like ages, the absent crew started returning to their ship, rambling amongst themselves about the attack on the town and how they had better get out now while they weren't a target.

That was when a handful of them came face-to-face with a raggedy child, blonde hair as wild as the look in his eyes.

The men leaned back, shocked. "It's a kid!"

Sanji stared at his feet, trembling hands balled into fists at his sides.

"Please," he said, lips quivering. His adrenaline hadn't stopped since he confessed his dream to become a cook to Reiju in the dungeon, and now he was actually away from Germa and he couldn't screw this up. Reiju said he couldn't. Couldn't mess up. This was his one chance.

He couldn't mess it up!

"Please let me stay with you and work on your ship!" he got out in a rush. "I'll do anything you ask — I promise! I just want to be a cook! I'm begging you! I'm begging you! Please! Please…" He tugged at his hair, desperation overflowing. "Take me with you. Take me with you." Tears streamed as he pleaded. "Take me with you. Take me with you." He couldn't stop. Had to beg. Couldn't mess up. "Take me with you! Take me with you! Take me with you! Take me with you!"

"How terrifying that must've been for him," Robin sympathized.

"It's so engrained in his head that all he does is make mistakes, that that's all he can think about," Nami said sadly.

Chopper, even with watery eyes, smiled at their little Sanji. "But he's not backing down. They gotta take him."

In a flash, the memory was gone, and Adult Sanji was back onscreen.

Yeah , he thought. He got lucky.

What made him think that this time he could do this on his own? Was he really so full of himself?

Zoro frowned. Cook's oblivious to his own self-deprecating nature, isn't he? That was why he made things harder than they had to be sometimes. Zoro's said it before and he said it again now.

"Overthinking is pointless."

Luffy agreed, nodding seriously. "That's why I never think!"

The Straw Hats pursed their lips in silence.

Well, it was too late to ask for help.

He'd already caused everyone so much grief. He didn't need to keep bringing trouble upon everyone. Trouble that followed him everywhere. Clung to him like a plague.

Even after Germa was behind him…

Memory shifting back to The Orbit in a blink, little stowaway Sanji donned a new chef outfit, blue scarf replacing his Vinsmoke yellow. The kid had grown a bit, filling back out since his days locked away, and maybe a few months older. He only recently became comfortable enough to break out of his shell. In the beginning, he had been wary and untrusting and shy; yet eager to be useful so they wouldn't throw him overboard or something.

"I can't even begin to imagine how the poor kid transitioned from life on Germa to life on that ship," Usopp said. The others agreed. It was a vast change, and a swift one at that. Surrounded by people who held so much more variety than clones and super soldiers.

But once they stopped asking him questions – like where he came from or what happened to his family – and simply assumed they had been lost in Germa's attack, the walls Sanji had built around him slowly began to crumble, his natural spirit for life shining through.

Now, he was animated as he enchanted the crew that had pitied him enough to let him work in the kitchen with them.

"You don't know about the All Blue?" the boy was gushing.

The Straw Hats chuckled.

Dirty dishes were piled around young Sanji, obviously more chore boy rather than a certified cook. But he didn't seem to mind. Was just happy to be there.

He did mind when the crew laughed at him, though.

With a cute pout and a furrow among his curly brows, he held firm to his beliefs. "It's out there somewhere — I know it! They say it's a dream, but I'll find it. I'll show them that it's not a fairytale."

His scowl turned back into an excited grin within seconds.

"To cooks who have taken to the sea—" like himself, he thought proudly "—it's an irresistible paradise." His signature determination sparkled within the blue of his eyes.

"I'll make it someday!"

And he would, if the Straw Hats had anything to say about it.

Sanji was the type of person who always believed wholeheartedly in their dreams with them. As passionate about his crew's ambitions as he was his own.

They would do the same for him, a hundred times over, which was a driving thought to begin with among the Whole Cake rescue team during that tough period.

Most of Sanji's days on The Orbit seemed to be about daydreaming about the All Blue, a result of his newfound freedom… A word he was still trying to wrap his head around.

Of course, it was right after he had gotten comfortable with the crew that the ship was viciously attacked. The quarterdeck went up in flames, and the main mast was completely destroyed within minutes.

"Oh god," Nami and Usopp groaned together.

Damn that idiot's luck, Zoro cursed. Seriously. The hell was up with it?

The invaders were too powerful for that dinghy ship, clearly. And the young cook scurried through the chaos. Covered in dirt and scratches, Sanji pushed through smoke and debris and bodies, sliding onto the deck to come face-to-face with the raiders. The Cook Pirates smirked down at him, led by Red Leg Zeff.

The Straw Hats gaped.

"Zeff?!"

Luffy roared. "With two legs!"