• ғʀᴇᴇ • (σηε ριεcε x ғεм!яεα∂εя)

|| 010

Sanji: the Metaphor
Part 1

--

⚠️‼️SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR WHOLE CAKE ISLAND ARC‼️⚠️

--

The deck was filled with noise.

He could hear footsteps, faintly, as well as the thumps when something gets knocked over. Their shouts are muffled but it still somehow manages to grate on Sanji's ears.

He thinks of Nami and Vivi to soothe his annoyance.

Right now, they were probably laying on their sunbeds, wearing nothing but their bikinis as they let the sun tan their skin. Sanji swoons just imagining it.

"...uffy..!"

Another shout. Different from what he's used to.

Sanji inhales a bit of his cigarette, his stiff shoulders relaxing once he feels its effect. He stares up at the kitchen ceiling, milking the peace that eluded him from the moment his father decided to poison the children inside his own wife's womb, then puffs out the smoke and gets back to work.

He places a slice of lemon on the rim of everyone's glass, making sure not to dislodge the decorative umbrellas already placed in the drink.

He picks everything up and arranges them strategically on the tray next to him-Nami and Vivi's drinks in the middle, significantly taller and prettier and surrounded by a variety of flowers that separates it from the rest-and heads out to the deck.
‎
‎
‎
‎
Luffy spots him first. He greets him with a voice louder than what his eardrums could handle, but the delight is genuine enough for Sanji to let it slide.

Luffy gets up from his seat on top of Merry and runs to him with Chopper and Usopp hot on his heels, racing each other like siblings competing for their father's praise.

Sanji tells them to pipe it down, like he'd done thrice already just this morning.

They don't listen.

Their shouts wake Zoro up, and he grumbles groggily and glares at him when their eyes meet, but he still thanks Sanji with a pat on his shoulder when he hands him his drink. Sanji shrugs his hand off with an added insult to his hair.

Unfortunately, Zoro was already too far away to hear it.

Nami sees the drinks on the tray and moves to get up, but Sanji doesn't let her. He twirls towards her and Vivi and serves them the drinks he spent all his efforts on, and Nami lifts up her shades to look him in the eye while they speak.

"Nami!"

Nami turns towards the call, and Sanji feigns annoyance when it halts his conversation with her. Vivi shrugs in a way that says what-can-you-do and turns to Luffy as well.

Luffy waves his two arms around like he was signaling a ship to dock, and it makes both Nami and Vivi and secretly Sanji, laugh.

Sanji opens his mouth to speak to them again, but Nami and Vivi had already gotten up and were walking towards their captain without another glance back. He was left standing, alone and abandoned, hungry for something his stomach can't digest.

He watches as Usopp drags them into their circle, their faces bright and eased and content.

There was a wall between them, and Sanji is reminded once again that he was nothing but a starving beggar peering through the windows of a transparent restaurant.

He is silent when he picks up the empty glasses, setting them neatly on the tray, before making his way back to the kitchen.

His steps are as heavy as his heart. His mind is buzzed and hazy, and there is dread in his stomach. He is going to throw up. He is used to this.