𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡 { 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙟𝙞 | 1 }

Chapter 16:Recovery

Third pov
With a couple of Teach's members hot on his tail, Sanji ran for his life. He could hear them bickering about who got to kill him first, and who got to carry Victoria back to Teach. Sanji looked down to Victoria.

'I'll protect you with my life, Victoria-chan. You hear me! I will!'

"Bastards, I'm not letting you get my Victoria-chan!"

Quickly, Sanji kicked over some empty water containers, which sent them rolling towards the people chasing them. He got a quick glimpse, and saw that they had all fallen from the water containers. He didn't let a moment go, and ran off before his enemies could recover, and resume the cat & mouse chase.

Eventually, Sanji found himself in the car. He quickly laid Victoria down, and buckled her up. He swung himself inside the car, and started it up. He swerved off, sped down the street. He checked through his reverse mirror, and found that his enemies had only just gotten out of the water container dilemma. As he drove, he would do quick glance checks on Victoria to see if she is okay.

When Sanji was way out of Blackbeard mafia territory, Sanji drove straight to Victoria's house, and ran in. Immediately, Robin, Nami, Ussop, Marco's girl friend (Kira) & Ace's girlfriend (A woman named Itami) flocked over to Sanji, and started to treat Victoria's wounds.

"Wait, where are the others?!" Kira asked.
"They asked me to run, so that Victoria-chan wouldn't be in danger.." Sanji said breathlessly.
Itami bit her lip. "Damn it Ace.."
"Nows not the time to worry! We need to treat Victoria!" Nami demanded.

Luckily, Kira is studying abroad to be a nurse/doctor/scientist. She took control of the whole situation, and did her best to take care of Victoria. In the end, it turned out that Victoria's wrist bone was bruised, and needed to be in a wrist cast.

Once Kira was finished treating Victoria, immediately the others (Luffy, Zoro, Thatch, Ace & Marco) came back with injuries of their own, that can be easily treated. In the meantime, Sanji sat with Victoria up in her room. He awaited for her to wake up.

He was about to grab out a cig, but thought better, as he was smoking in Victoria's room.

'She might not like me smoking in her room.'

So, he packed away the smokes, and watched Victoria sleep instead. He couldn't help but admire her long blonde hair. It always glowed in the light the same way a fire did to darkness. Sanji reached out, and ran his fingers through her hair.

'Its soft...a-and smooth.'

His fingers left her hair, and lightly brushed over her smooth skinned cheeks, then finally down to her lips. His thumb stroked her lips ever so gently, and really wanted to place a kiss on those peach pink lips.

He sighed. "Victoria-chan...I'm so..so in love with you."

Then at that moment, Victoria started to move & shift in her bed. Sanji watched as she stretched her arms, and then fluttered her shamrock green eyes open. Just as she was about to sit up, Sanji stood up.

"L-Lie back down, Victoria-chan."
She looked up at him groggily. "S-Sanji?"
He smiled. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're awake! I-we have all been worried sick about you!"
She rubbed her head. "Damn it....what happened to Teach?"
"They managed to defeat Teach, but it wasn't enough. They came back with injuries, but Kira-chan is taking care of them." He held her hand. "I really am glad that you're safe..."

She watched Sanji. She wanted to understand why he was acting this way towards her. Since the whole incident with Nami, Victoria still believes that Sanji & Nami are dating. Victoria wanted to move away, but the feeling of his hand on hers had made her feel fluttery.

"Sanji..." Victoria started. "Where's Nami?"
Sanji stiffened. "S-she's downstairs. She's been so worried about you!"
"Really...?"

Things went quiet so awkwardly & suddenly. Victoria secretly watched Sanji very closely. She just had this urge to observe every fine detail of Sanji Vinsmoke, from his hair, his stubble, the way his adams apple would curved, how his eyebrows moved, to the way his eyelashes would feather themselves against his cheek bones.

'This man right here, will be the emotional death of me.'

"S-Sanji?" Victoria called.
"Yes Victoria-chan?"
"Are you & Nami...dating?"
Sanji was so shocked, that he flinched. He shook his head. "No, we're not."
"But what about you & her hugging! A-and that date-"
"We were hugging because she was saying goodbye to me. Its..our way of finishing the relationship. And..the date didn't go well."

"What? But you told me that it went well-"
"We kissed. But when we kissed...I wasn't thinking of Nami.." Sanji looked at her seriously. "I was thinking of you."

The space in the room went silent. Victoria stared at Sanji with wide eyes, and a fast paced beating heart.

'Me? Why me?!'

Just as Victoria parted her lips to say something, a knock on the door sounded.

"Hey Sanji, hows Victoria holding up?"

Its Ace.

Sanji bit his lip, a shadow crossing over his eyes. "She's just woken up."
He let out a whoop of relief. "Thank god!"He walked inside the room. "I'll go get Kira and-oh...did I interrupt something?"

"N-No!" Victoria blurted out, then looked at Sanji. "We'll talk about this later."
"Vi-"

She was already out of bed, and following Ace downstairs.