Little Fish

Part 7

Emi opened one eye as sleep finally released its grasp on her. She raised her head sleepily, blinking and smiling when she saw her papa sitting there beside her. He continued smoking a cigarette, the smoke billowing around his head. During the night, Sanji had transferred the toddler to her physical bed. It was better then sleeping in his lap.

"They're gone now. Luffy defeated Don Krieg" he said, and Emi smiled.

"Yay Luffy!" Emi said, smiling widely.

She struggled out of her blankets and toddled over to her papa. He stood up and picked up Emi, and the three year old rested her head against his shoulder. They walked out of her bedroom to the circular stairs, and the clang of pots reached her ears. It seemed like everything had returned to normal. Sanji placed her on the ground and she skipped to the kitchen, tummy growling.

"Patty! Patty! I'm hungry" she announced, running to the chef.

Patty grinned and lifted her up onto his shoulders.

"What would you like? I know you will love this food I made" he grinned, plating some food from a pot.

It looked like rice drenched in sauce, and Emi could feel her mouth watering. Patty then placed the plate on the table. The toddler gave a small excited 'oooh' and immediately dug in when the chef put her on a chair.

"Yummy!" Emi said with her mouth full, rice and sauce dotting her cheeks and chin.

"Swallow your food, squirt" she heard her jii-chan say.

She swallowed the mouthful and smiled widely at Zeff.

"Jii-chan! You okay!" Emi shouted happily, which caused the older man to scoff.

"Of course I am. You thought some wimpy pirates would take me down?" Zeff groused, causing the toddler to giggle.

"Emi don't eat that crappy chefs food, you'll get sick" she heard her papa say as he came up behind her.

She giggled as Patty and her papa went head to head over who's food was worst. A thought came to the three year old, and her smile vanished. Her beloved snail companion was forever gone, never to return. She would never talk to her companion, or show it the best hiding spots for hide-and-seek. Tears burned the back of her eyes, and she tried to rub them away but more kept coming. Small sobs shook her body as she mourned her snail companion.

"Emi? What's the matter" she heard Patty say as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"M-my snail" she hiccuped out as more tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"What do you mean? It's right here" her papa said, causing the toddler to hesitantly look up.

Her eyes widened when her stuffed snail companion sat in front of her on the table. But...how could it be? She saw it being thrown in the ocean. She looked up at Sanji with confusion, which he smiled in return.

"I got it back" he said, and Emi threw her arms around her snail, crushing it to her chest.

"My snail" she giggled.

She was so happy she thought her chest would burst. Her beloved snail was back! Not only that, but her papa and jii-chan were here and no scary pirates.

"Oh! Papa! Where's Luffy" she said, glancing up from her snail.

He smiled and ruffled her silver hair.

"He's sleeping in another room. Come on, we'll go wait for him to wake up" he said, and Emi nodded.

She hopped down from the chair and followed after Sanji, clutching her snail in her hands. They walked to a smaller room, where she giggled at how loud Luffy snored. Her papa sat by the window while Emi sat on the ground by the bed, playing with her snail.