Chapter Text
For the short amount of time their little crew had been together, they had gotten pretty good at weathering storms.
Zoro spat out salty water courtesy of the last rogue wave that crashed over the side of the Merry.
Yeah, they had gotten pretty good, but this was one hell of a storm. He was dragging their drenched captain behind him like a ragdoll, all the seawater rendering him useless in the situation they found themselves in. Finally he reached his destination, whipping the door to the galley open and throwing his burden through it. Nami was already inside manning the whipstaff, navigating the rough water as best as she could. She fixed him with a glare when he narrowly avoided hitting her with their soggy captain, but she had long since stopped barking orders, so it seemed things were fairly under control.
He shut the door without exchanging any words, mentally checking them both off the list of crewmates confirmed alive and kicking, then squinted up at the main sail through the downpour.
"Hey Usopp!" he called out over the wind, cupping his hands around his mouth, "you got a handle on it up there?"
There was an affirmative cry from Usopp, who seemed to have just finished his work in drawing up the sails. There was also a shriek of terror in response to lightning striking the sea, but it didn't strike Usopp, so Zoro considered him checked off the list. The only one left was-
Right, where was that stupid curly brow? Last Zoro saw him, he was scurrying off to secure some odds and ends the choppy waves sent crashing around in the store room - something that should've been done already, which spawned a brief yelling match between them about who dropped the ball - but that wasn't the point. 100% chance he would've been tripping over himself to get to Nami when his task was complete, but he hadn’t been present in the galley. Interrupting his thoughts, Usopp finished his mad scramble to get down from the mast and clung to him like he was a life preserver.
"Zoro! If you stare up at the rain with your mouth open like that you could drown! It happened to my third cousin-"
"Need to find the cook," he said impassively, cutting off Usopp's anxious babbling. "Hole up in the galley with the others. Take over for Nami if she needs a break."
As for Zoro, he still had a job to do. He'd rest when he knew the whole crew was safe. Once Usopp was sent on his way and the door to the galley slammed shut in the wind, he resumed his battle of trudging through the rain.
Going below deck got him out of it for a bit, at least. He fought off a shiver as he descended the stairs, the cold starting to set in. His first stop took him to the store room. It seemed that Sanji did actually finish his task, as it was looking secure if not a little mussed from whatever had been rolling around. There were some mild scrapes along the floor that may or may not have been new, a bit of dust kicked up into the air. No cook to be seen, though.
Their ship wasn't that big, all things considered. And it wasn't as if the cook was easy to miss with his stupid suits and his (also stupid) mile long legs. Yet everywhere he looked, he got nothing. Men’s quarters, anchor room, bathroom - he even took a peek into Nami's room. Perplexed, he had gone back up after that to do a thorough sweep of the deck, drenching himself again when he had just started to air dry.
Still nothing.
Which led to him back below deck, again. He stood in the store room once more, feeling more than a little agitated. His fingers twitched with the instinct to go for his swords. A member of the crew disappearing into thin air wasn't a problem he could cut, was the issue. He took the momentary aggression out on a nearby barrel, slamming his fist down hard on the nicked wood.
"Hey, shit cook! Everyone's up in the galley, so if you're hiding out, say something!"
The whimper he got in response was so unexpected, his anger fizzled out immediately. It took him an embarrassingly long moment to parse that barrels don't whimper.
"Cook?"
Zoro's eyebrows knit together. The tiny noise didn't really sound like something that would come from Sanji, but who else would it have been? If he was hurt and hiding it like an injured cat, Zoro would drag him up to the others to deal with it, no qualms about it. But when he leaned over to look behind the barrel, he was inexplicably met with the sight of...some kid. They were curled up impossibly tight in the space between the barrel and the wall, clutching at some kind of odd metal helmet that obscured their face.
"Uh," he started. The small body in front of him flinched at the sound, somehow hunching in even further. Another nasty wave smashed into the side of the ship, jostling them both. "You- stay right here."
Receiving no response, he abruptly did an about face and retreated to the galley, head buzzing with confusion.
"What do you mean you don't know where he is?!"
Zoro dodged another utensil Nami sent flying his way, some kind of rubber spatula. The cook wouldn't like that.
"I mean I don't know! I was looking all over the ship for him and then I found that kid! And I don't know what's going on with that either!"
She made an exasperated noise, like all of this was his fault. Usopp was avoiding eye contact with both of them where he'd taken over the steering. Hadn't looked up since the yelling began, the coward. Nami seems to decide against throwing anything else at him, crossing her arms before she speaks next.
"I don't know how a kid got aboard without us realizing, but it must've happened back in Loguetown. And Sanji...I hope he's okay. He could be hurt somewhere."
"Maybe the little kid is Sanji!" Luffy offered helpfully, mouth full of a stale dinner roll from...somewhere. Water was dripping off him and adding to a growing puddle around his seat. The cook wouldn't like that, either.
Anyway, what a dumbass thing to say, even for their captain. Zoro felt a mild camaraderie when he and Nami ordered him to shut up in unison, which set him back to eating his bread with little protest.
"Look," Nami began again, frowning, "we're out of the worst of the storm, and we should be in calm waters soon. I'll go get the kid and make sure they’re okay, you just keep looking for Sanji.”
Now that he could do. He told her as much before making his way to the door, though a thought made him pause.
"Oh, yeah. Kid's got some torture device looking shit on their head, too."
Another incredulous look from Nami.
"Great to know, love how that was just an afterthought-"
He was gone before she even finished her sentence. Work to do and all that.
Turned out he was in a rush for no reason, really. Another methodical search of the ship brought no results, just an increasingly tight feeling in his chest. Sanji was simply not there. Was there an unseen enemy aboard the ship that had done something with him? Had he just gone back above deck and been swept overboard? Was he drowning somewhere while Zoro uselessly poked his head into rooms and looked behind crates and barrels?
He shook his head to clear it, finding himself back in the last place the cook was supposed to have been. There wasn't much to be seen in their store room, but he did his due diligence in searching it again. One thing was different, at least: the hatch to Nami's room was open, soft candlelight flickering up from it. When he got close enough, he could hear her speaking softly.
"-don't have to, it's okay. Can you tell me how you got onto our ship?"
She must've taken the kid down there. Probably easier than bringing them above deck, especially with the weather. He couldn't hear if she ever got an answer, so he took the initiative to head down himself. He was at a loss in his search, anyway.
The scene he saw from the top of the stairs was...interesting. It was probably the softest expression he'd seen their navigator wear. She was perched on her little couch, legs drawn up to mirror the position of the skittish kid seated beside her as she questioned him. The freaky metal helmet was still firmly in place. Zoro coughed, making himself known before speaking.
"Still haven't taken that thing off?"
"Still haven't found Sanji?" she snarked back. Fair, but it stung. "We're talking right now, and he isn't comfortable with anyone touching him."
Okay, so the kid was a boy. Hard to even tell with the way he'd been curled up like a pillbug both times Zoro had seen him. He sank back further into the couch as Zoro finished descending the stairs, looking like he'd disappear into the cushions if given half a chance.
"I'm telling you I turned the damn ship upside down-"
"Why are you looking for me?" the boy interrupted with a tremulous voice.
Zoro blinked. "Huh?"
"If you're here to take me back to father, I didn't- I don't know where I am. I didn't mean to run away. I didn't mean to." His sentences all came out in rapid fire, voice growing more wobbly by the second. "I'll be in trouble-"
And then the dam broke, the tears that had been welling up all spilling over at once. Anything more he tried to say got lost in hiccups and sniffles. And Zoro, for all intents and purposes, was just standing there like an idiot. As stupid as it had been, Luffy's earlier suggestion played in his head on repeat. Hadn't they seen more insane things happen?
Okay, he could think it through, even if it wasn't his strong suit. The fact was, they were down one Sanji and up one random kid. There were no enemies in sight, and no signs of a struggle. Nami mentioning Sanji's name had set the kid off in a bad way, that was something. The other stuff he had started going on about wasn't helpful, considering they didn't actually know a thing about Sanji's family or his life before Zeff - he didn't talk, they didn't ask. The kid was...blond, not that being blond was that good of a point.
The gears in his head worked overtime as Nami comforted their unexpected guest. He just needed...something. Something definitive.
"Nami."
"Do I look like I'm free right now?" she asked, somewhere in the middle of shushing the boy and giving him a throw pillow to cling to and pick at with his nervous hands.
"Get that helmet off him. Need to check something."
Sure, he could get it off - any of his swords could cut through it like butter. But even he knew that had to be the shittiest way to go about it with the kid already freaked out and in tears. Likely figuring the same thing, Nami gave him a dour nod.
"Okay, listen, I'm just going to take this off of you. Have you ever seen someone pick a lock before?"
The kid responded with a shake of his head, along with a quiet protest that he wasn't allowed to show his face (what?). But after a bit of gentle prodding from Nami, she was working the lock with a pin plucked from her hair, talking him through the process. He had picked apart all the pillow's tassels by the time she was through, but the tears had subsided.
"I'll be in trouble," he murmured as the lock clicked open, echoing his earlier protest.
"Not with anybody on this ship." With that, Nami removed the lock, pulling the helmet open and away from the kid's face. She seemed shocked by the weight of it, abruptly dropping it to the floor and gasping at the mark it left in the wood.
Zoro inwardly grimaced at it, too. But that wasn't what he was concerned with at that moment. He squatted down, getting on the kid's eye level. It didn't cut down on how imposing he was, based on the fearful look he got in return. Either way, he saw what he needed to: that distinctive curly eyebrow. He didn't even know if he should feel relieved or not.
"It's him," he muttered, sharing a glance with Nami.
The kid's- Sanji's eye flicked down to the swords at his side and then back up before he inched further along the couch, closer to her side.
"Miss Nami?"
It was almost laughable how similar it was to the needling, reverent tone he always used when fawning over her. Except this wasn't funny. After recovering from the shock of their realization, she tentatively held her arms open. Mini-Sanji hesitated only for a moment before dropping the pillow and flying into them, apparently deeming her the safest person in the room.
Well, he wasn't wrong about that. Zoro stood up to his full height, catching her eyes again.
"We know where the cook went, but what now?"
"Tell Luffy?" she responded with a half shrug, rubbing small circles on mini-Sanji's back. Her eyes drifted back to the helmet on the floor. "I don't think I'll bring him up there yet. It might be too much."
"You mean Luffy might be too much. I'll handle it."
He was the first mate, handling it was this thing. Even if he had no idea what they were going to do about this one. Before he shut the hatch behind him, he could just barely make out mini-Sanji asking who 'the cook' was. His eyebrow twitched.
He was the first mate. He could handle this.
Separated from these events by approximately 11 years, 19 year old Sanji stirs without any memory of having gone to sleep. It was cold, wherever he was. He blinked blearily, sitting up from the frigid metal wall he had been slumped against and taking in his surroundings. It wasn't the tightest space, but he wasn't sure he could comfortably stand in it. It was featureless, smooth metal wrapping around to form a cylinder.
Weird dream.
He squinted a bit, mentally correcting himself - it wasn't all metal. There was a glass panel in front of him, fogged up from the cold. Hesitant, he crawled forward. A swipe of his hand left a streak through the fog and sent tiny drops of condensation rolling towards the floor. He peered out, wiping his hand on his pants leg.
A sterile laboratory setting, devoid of any color. Impossibly large and full of an ungodly amount of tech. And as far as his eyes could focus, that dreaded '66' was proudly etched into every surface.
No way. No fucking way.
Sanji shrank back from the glass, heart suddenly hammering in his chest. It had to be a dream. A nightmare.
He could handle this.