Chapter Text
The warm, low beaming sun strokes Sanji’s face as he starts to turn in his bed.
It is still early and the calm breathing of his crewmates is hanging in the air. Everyone is so used to the occasional snores that it’s not disrupting anyone’s sleep and Sanji knows getting out of the bed won’t either.
Bare feet tiptoe slowly across the floor towards the wardrobe where he picks up some fresh clothes and gets dressed swiftly to then make his way to the galley.
At this time of the day the routine kicks in and even without thinking his body and hands just automatically work through it. First the rough breakfast preparations, then a cigarette at the rails.
It doesn’t change. That’s how he works the best. Follow the routine.
He pulls a cigarette out and does a quick check in the little box - two left.
His eyes trail across the waves and he lets his mind wander.
Sometimes it wanders to the past, about what adventures they had mastered. How many different places they have seen and people they have met. How many fights. How many parties they threw and the laughs they shared.
The past catches him and he tries to embrace it and understand that he is somewhere else now. Someone else now. He’s not who he used to be. The child that was worthless.
“That’s not who I am anymore…” he mumbles through some smoke.
Sometimes his thoughts drift to the future. Where they will go and where fate will lead them.
Will they find the path their Captain is leading them to? Will they find the One Piece? The All Blue? All their dreams?
Sanji gently strokes over the immaculate wooden rail of the Sunny and feels a certainty filling his heart. It feels full and he knows that they can reach their goals.
With a smile on his lips he returns to his routine and goes into finishing breakfast.
Sanji puts the plates down, places some cups and flasks with various drinks like milk, water and juices on the table.
He tosses the bacon in the pan and fills some plates with the pancakes he prepared as the door behind him opens forcefully.
“I think I had the worst sleep ever,” Zoro bellows, not even considering lowering his voice this early in the morning.
“I’m not even surprised with the amount of naps you had yesterday during the day.”
“Shut up, shitty Cook. I need my sleep,” Zoro pushes back on the snarky comment. Sanji just laughs it off, throwing some bacon onto Zoro’s plate and giving him a knowing look. Zoro grabs some freshly baked buns and starts his breakfast.
Sanji can’t help but just lose himself in watching the swordsman for a short moment. As much as they fight with each other, they do linger in each other's company more often than not. Most times not talking at all and when words fall then it’s insults. Any interactions are kicks and punches. But for some reason Sanji wouldn’t want it any way less than what it is.
“Shomshing wrong with my fashe?” The swordsman mumbles through a mouth full of crumbs and bacon.
“Ugly as always.” The blonde just declares and turns back to prepare some fruit bowls, ignoring Zoro’s growling.
At this time of the day their insults don’t bite as hard and it is nearly a comfortable part of the routine, too.
Sanji had to admit some time ago that the way he feels about his crewmates is undeniable… though the way he thinks and feels about the mosshead is written in an entirely different book. Did it start when they were in Skypiea or did it start before and he only really noticed then?
Was there maybe something already there the moment he heard Zoro’s pledge to Luffy, that he will never lose again?
To witness such loyalty and commitment shook Sanji to the bones.
And did it just intensify the way they worked together so many times in Enies Lobby? There were these moments; it was just them against the world. That’s how it felt to him. Nothing could stop them.
The cook couldn’t deny that maybe he was seeking confrontations with the swordsman on purpose. Just to … just to what?
Sudden shivers run down the blonde’s spine which make him halt in his tracks and glance around the room.
“What?” The swordsman snaps, at once more serious.
Sanji turns to Zoro then lets his gaze glide from one window to the next.
“Not sure…” Sanji puts down the utensils to have a look through the thick glass panel right next to the sink.
An orange sheen of sunlight is hitting the waves and parts of the ship he can see from this window.
There is an eerie aura outside and it makes him feel uncomfortable in a way he cannot explain.
Trying not to make Zoro more suspicious he peels himself off the sight and turns to his task.
“Nevermind. Probably just still tired…” Sanji mumbles. Glancing at Zoro he gets the feeling his words don’t meet belief in the swordsman but Zoro doesn’t pull him up on it. For sure Zoro felt it too but it was too short to start any commotion about.
No further words are shared before the rest of the crew makes their way into the galley and the first one joining them is Robin, enjoying some tea before starting her breakfast. Sanji is glad about the additional company, making his obvious lie to Zoro less awkward in a way that they just cannot talk about it now anymore.
Robin is shortly followed by Nami, Chopper, and Usopp and to no one's surprise they can hear Luffy all the way from the sleeping quarters when he wakes. And for sure it doesn’t take a heartbeat before he enters the galley loudly announcing how hungry he is.
Distant bangs of a hammer indicate that Franky currently has other priorities over breakfast and it’s fair. Even though he said the ship is finished there might be things popping up here and there he needs… no, he wants it to be perfect.
Signs of a headache are creeping across Sanji’s forehead when he starts piling the dishes and cutlery from breakfast in the sink. It pulls on his eyebrows and he can’t help but rubbing frantically across to smoothen the lines, worsening his pain.
“Are you ok, Sanji?” Robin asks quietly, as she is the last one to leave the galley.
“Yes, my lovely Robin-chan.” Sanji hums quickly and gives Robin a warm smile. “Just a little headache. I’ll check in with Chopper in a minute.” He reassures her and with one last nodding look at the cook, Robin leaves as well.
Something is odd though. Not as it should be. He is not sure what it is. He can feel it inside of him and tries to shake it off with a deep breath out.
It’s been a few days since they left Water Seven and they haven’t seen anything strange. Was that it? Was that what bothered him? The calm? The peace? That nothing had happened and usually they would stumble from one thing into the next?
Sanji honestly considers to just ignore it, if it wasn’t for Robin’s worried face that keeps popping up in his thoughts and he changes his mind.
Taking a deep breath he leaves the galley and keeps an eye out for their doctor. He can see him sitting on one of the swordsman’s weights, adding probably barely anything to it while Zoro is lifting it with one arm.
The little reindeer is counting happily how many times Zoro is lifting him high as Sanji approaches apprehensively.
“546… 547… 548… 540- … 49?” Little black eyes fall with a palpable amount of curiosity on him.
“Chopper. Do you have a minute?” The cook doesn’t necessarily want the mosshead to get suspicious but the pain behind his eyebrow is urging him to press on.
“Sorry, Zoro. I’ll come right back to you!” The other one does nothing more than nod lightly and pays him and Chopper no further attention while continuing his workout.
Sanji’s fingers are itching inside his pocket clinging onto the crumbled nearly empty cigarette packet. He will get one right after he talked to Chopper but now he needs to get these thoughts out of his head.
Arriving in Chopper's office he hesitantly sits down on the chair and crosses his legs. Leaning against the backrest.
“Is everything ok, Sanji?” Chopper couldn’t hide the immediate concern. Sanji wouldn’t show face here too often but usually when he did, something was up.
“Don’t worry Chopper. Just need your advice on something.” He mulls over how to phrase the next sentences before continuing. “Sometime this morning when preparing breakfast I could feel some lingering aura outside the ship. Ever since I’ve got some strange headache—” Mid sentence Chopper jumps off his chair, waddling to his cabinet and gets a stethoscope as well as a little light from a drawer.
“Well… and…” Sanji continues, unsure if Chopper needs to hear more right now when he starts to shine the light into the blonde’s eye without any warning. Tears pull right away on the corner of his eye as of the unexpected brightness. A steady hoof pushes his fringe aside and repeats the process on the other one.
“Mhmm… normal. Open your shirt.” Chopper proceeds, totally in his element. Little specks of various colours float in front of his vision while his hands automatically reach up to the buttons on his shirt. It feels awkwardly difficult to open them right now and a piercing pain is catching him off guard making him put pressure with the palm of his hand on his forehead instead.
“Sanji!” Chopper jumps forward, holding on to his shoulder to give him some support.
“Maybe I just need some rest, Chopper…”
“Lie down here!” The reindeer swiftly changes into his human form and easily supports Sanji to rise on his feet, guiding him over to the hospital bed. Sanji welcomes the opportunity to relax, sinking his head into a comfortable pillow that Chopper pulled out of nowhere to push under his head. The flickering in his eyes continues to grow and the cold of the stethoscope gives him a brief distraction.
Seconds, minutes, a lifetime passes while Chopper listens to Sanji’s breathing, his lungs and his heart.
Sanji loses his hold suddenly, sinking into the mattress. He falls. He starts screaming but it’s inaudible. He can’t hear it and Chopper acts like nothing happens.
Darkness pulls him down. Down and further. His hands cling into the edges of the bed and he is trying everything to crawl back out. Back out of this hole. Back up into the room. Back to the Sunny. The more he climbs the further down he slides.
Chopper! Help!
Pitch black.
… black.
…
Black…