the beast and the bandit

Sunflower

Mutton was in a particularly good mood that day, neighing alot and letting Luffy pet him.

"Can I hold the reigns today?"

Luffy asks face bright with a smile

No

"Yeah sure," is what Sanji ends up saying.

"We're going to the docks today?"

"Yess, we're going to another island. I go there every year on my birthday,"

Luffy misses a turn and Sanji holds the reigns alongside Luffy.

Who begrudgingly agrees to give up control. Sanji's just glad mutton hasn't decided to completely give up yet.

They travel in the little boat again, this time Sanji feels more confident, more sure of himself. That everything will be alright just this once, for them. He sees land and looks behind him, Luffy vibrating with excitement but somehow more reclusive that he had been the last time. Sanji smiles. It's a good day.

The island is full of greenery the earth smells like the river and silt. It's fertile and soft, it gives away when you step on it. The sun beats down on the two, yet it feels comforting away from the cold city they both live in.

They walk alongside each other, Sanji leading Luffy towards something, there's a skip in his step the excitement showing in his body language.

"Where are we going?"
"You'll ssee,"

Sanji takes them through a narrow path, full of bushes and trees which feel as if get taller as they keep walking, deeper and deeper into the forest they walk till suddenly Sanji halts, Luffy bumping into him.

Sanji pulls aside some grass as if he's revealing something behind a curtain and Luffy finally gets to see it.

"It's a garden!"
"And a lake, " Sanji muses, the clear glistening water reflecting in his eyes.

Luffy jumps at the sunflowers, beaming and giggling as he lays on his back.

"Thiss garden, I've been maintaining it for yearss, it'ss alwayss in full bloom during my birthday,"

"They've all been grown with love,"

"Yess, with love..."

Sanji sits beside him and starts folding the hem of his pants then dipping his legs into the water. Luffy joins him.

"Cold,"
"Mhmm,"
" Oh if I knew of this place I'd come here everyday,"

" Me and my family ussed to come here every week. It wass our little get away outsside the kingdom. Mom loved the ssunflowerss, they were her favourite,"
"They're my favourite too!"
Squealed Luffy, he tore a flower from the stem and tapped at sanji's temple.

"They remind me her of me you"

They spoke the same time.

" Ssunflowerss remind you of me?"

"Yeah see, the flower petals are golden, like your hair. Just like the sun,"

Sanji feels his cheeks heat up, he tries to hide his face, Luffy just asks;

" Your mother's favourite child hmm?"

"Yess, the otherss were my father'ss favourite. But I've alwayss...loved my mother alot more,"

Sanji took in a deep breath.

"I've thought about this day for yearss, how I'd react, where I'd be."

" Maybe I'd be alone in my housse, or I'd come here to grieve, but I didn't imagine. I'd have ssomeone with me here on my 21sst birthday,"

Sanji looks at his hands and smiles,

"I've come to accept myself. Finally. And I don't feel that unhappy anymore. Maybe that'ss what thiss entire journey wass about. "
Sanji looks at Luffy, tears welling up in his eyes; he tries to will them away.

"I've dreaded thiss day for yearss and yearss, now that thiss day is almosat coming to an end"

Sanji says looking at her sun setting in the horizon.

"I'm content, "

Tears finally roll down his cheeks, as he sees the last hues of yellow dissolve into the sky.

"Can I kiss you?"

Asks Luffy, tentatively.

And Sanji gives him a puzzled expression,

"I said can I kiss you?"

Luffy says again a little louder.

"Ye...yess?"

He leans in and presses his lips on Sanji's. Who stares at Luffy in awe of the moment, he feels closer to him, the distance between them before now almost gone, as Sanji shrinks to the size of a human.

He's still taller than Luffy, still has his long blonde hair but his hands are human, his feet too, his clothes feel almost like a blanket.

And Luffy grins.

Sanji pulls him close and hugs him tight, rubbing his face on his shoulders.

"Sanji! Sanji Sanji, it's you, "

Luffy says touching his now changed face.

"It's me,"

Sanji sniffles, his blue eyes bright as the blue sky looks at him with love and adoration.

"The curse, it's broken,"
"Mhmm"
"My mother, my father, my brothers..."
"What...what about them,"

Sanji's sobbing now and Luffy pulls him in for a hug.

" Nothing is impossible..."

Sanji laughs, he puts his hands in his pocket, the cold metal of his mother's ring can almost slip through his fingers now, he pulls it out.

"You wanted to see it right?" He says, his eyes still glimmering.

Luffy picks it up, it's a beautiful gold as it shines in the sunlight.

Sanji takes it from him and slips it through Luffy's ring finger.