OP Fic- Mona Lisa
Just a little ficlet that fits into my song-fic chapter story over on ff.net. Posted here for archival purposes (and in case anyone wants to read it!)
Title: Mona Lisa (When The World Comes Down)
Rating: PG- nothing too serious here
Warnings: Only that the circumstances surrounding this fic shall never be explained...
Characters: Sanji, ??? (I'm not giving the second one away:))
Spoilers: Up to about Chapter 490 (Thriller Bark) as well as Water 7/Enies Lobby
Word Count: 2574
Title: Mona Lisa (When The World Comes Down)
Rating: Actually, could probably make this one PG-ish. Nothing too scarring.
Warnings: None, really, other than a situation whose origins shall never be explained.
Characters: Sanji, ??? (I’m not giving it away. You have to read it:))
Spoilers: Up to about Chapter 490 (Thriller Bark) as well as Water 7/Enies Lobby
Word Count: 2574 (My goodness, they’re getting longer…)
Mona Lisa
Here’s another pity, and there’s another chance.
You try to learn a lesson, but you can’t.
He was insulted. Insulted, and tired, and completely unsatisfied.
But mostly insulted.
The Sunny had made port at a lovely summer island upon leaving the fog-shrouded Florian Triangle behind, and he had gone off alone to shop for supplies. Everyone seemed to be on edge, even with the addition of the skeleton-cum-musician, and the tension was grating on his nerves. Usually he could depend on the idiot swordsman if he wanted to release some pent-up tension, but Chopper had expressly forbidden the two of them to spar in any way, shape, or form, so there was nobody for him to even practice with.
And Zoro was…odd, but considering the events of Thriller Bark, that wasn’t all that strange. But Sanji couldn’t help but wonder, even when the swordsman was recovered, if he would be the same. He was moody and introspective of late (because he couldn’t train), but he seemed to be searching for something within himself, and his insults weren’t as sharp or as barbed as they used to be. In fact, he seemed to call the cook names more out of habit than spite, and every time he looked at Sanji there was something dark and intangible in his eyes. Sanji put it off as him merely being irked that Sanji had attempted to steal his thunder, but until he had decided to speak to the rest of them again, there wasn’t much the blonde chef could do (short of kicking him in the head. And that would make Chopper mad).
Therefore, all of these events had conspired together to make him rather irritable, and even the soothing balm of his two lovely ladies could not quite dispel the fact that the ship had become far too loud in recent weeks. He had bought the supplies and stocked them away quickly before taking the meandering road from the beach and strolling through the lovely countryside, which seemed to have an overabundance of sheep farms, when the voice had hailed him.
And this was why he was insulted.
“Oi, youngster, fancy a little sparring match?”
Really, what right did that old geezer have to call him ‘youngster?’ And how dare he presume that just because he was blonde and slender he was weak enough to pose no threat to an elderly blue-hair? But he was nothing if not a gentleman, and he intended to politely tell the idiot that a sparring match against Blackleg Sanji would only result in broken bones (and not on his side), when the words died in his throat.
The man addressing him was leaning casually against a tree and gazing up into the branches in a contemplative way, head cocked slightly to the side. But that wasn’t what had shocked the cook. This man…he was young. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Sanji, and he spoke like he was eighty! What did…wait…
“Do I…know you?” he asked cautiously. Something was shooting warning signals up his spine, and although the stranger looked harmless enough in his unassuming high-collared jacket and baseball cap, there was something familiar about him. Something that told Sanji that maybe…maybe…he could hold his own in a fight.
If we can burn a city in futures and in pasts,
Without a change out lives will never last
‘Cause we’re goin’ fast
“I believe we’ve met before, but I don’t think we have ever been properly introduced,” the other man replied formally, smiling (he had a rather nice smile) and extending a hand. Sanji had a vague thought that this man had a nose that was almost more ridiculous than Usopp’s before the stranger continued, “My name is Kaku.”
“Sanji.”
“You’re one of Strawhat Luffy’s crew, are you not?” Kaku pushed himself off of the tree.
And then it clicked. “And you’re one of those government agents that tried to kill us back at Enies Lobby,” his gaze hardened. “So what is this?”
“A sparring match,” Kaku shrugged. “That should be evident, should it not?”
“What’s the catch, nose-boy? You gonna pull something and try to kill me?” Sanji narrowed his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Never. I’m nothing but a man of my word,” Kaku held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Sanji gazed at him carefully, surprised to see nothing but honesty in his eyes. “Admittedly, the simple fact that I work for the government and you sail as a pirate would automatically make us enemies, but right now I am not under any obligations to capture you.”
“Because you screwed up, right?” Sanji smirked. “Because we kicked your tails. Literally.”
“Precisely. The government has decided that we are no longer capable of capturing you, and therefore have given us rather mundane tasks…taking care of low bounty pirates who don’t even know the right way to hold a sword. Needless to say, a decent fight is hard to come by. And you looked like there is some unresolved tension you need to get rid of, so I thought that perhaps we both could gain something from a little confrontation. After all, with our brief meeting aboard the sea-train, I was only able to tell that you are indeed a competent fighter, as nobody should have been able to break through our Tekkai so easily as you almost did, but I would dearly like to see more of your skill,” he explained, crossing his arms and smiling.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“And you’re not gonna try anything funny,” Sanji jabbed his cigarette at the other man.
“On my honor,” Kaku put his hand over his heart.
“Alright, then,” Sanji finally conceded. He was still wary, of course, but he figured that he could take the agent in a fight. The only reason he had been knocked off his feet last time was because he hadn’t been paying attention, but that wasn’t going to happen again. “Just let me stretch a bit. I haven’t had a good fight in a while.”
“By all means. I would benefit from a little warming up as well.”
What can we do better? When will we know how?
A man says from a sidewalk to a crowd.
Sanji shrugged out of his jacket and loosened his tie before his hands froze. This man…he…he couldn’t deny how wide his eyes had gotten, because Kaku had just bent backwards…all the way to the ground…and propped himself on his hands, staying like that before kicking his feet up and flipping over, using his hands to propel his body until his feet were once more on the ground. “Impressive.”
Kaku glanced up and nodded before Sanji bent his knee and pulled his heel up, raising his leg so that it was parallel to his body and straight up in the air. He crossed his arms and smirked, knowing that the other man would recognize the stretch as being incredibly difficult to hold. And he was right. “I could say the same for you. I hear tell you fight only with you feet. Is that true?”
“I’m a chef. I wouldn’t be of much use if I screwed up my hands, would I?” Sanji replied, finally lowering his leg and sinking to the ground, doing the splits without even a hitch in his fluid movement.
“I suppose that makes sense. Would you be at a disadvantage against me, then?” he asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“Feh. I fight with that stupid Marimo-headed swordsman all the time. This is nothing,” he assured the older man.
“I hope you don’t regret those words,” Kaku pulled his swords from where they were leaning against the tree. “Well then, shall we?”
“Bring it.”
If we can change the weather, if you wanted to yourself
And if you can’t I guess we all need help.
Sanji was splayed out on the soft grass, chest heaving and hair sweat-soaked as he chuckled and lit a cigarette. He felt completely relaxed, the tension that had been weighing on him all but gone. This Kaku…he was good. He fought with his swords and his legs, and Sanji had been pleasantly surprised at his technique. Truth be told, sparring with Zoro had become almost boring and routine: they knew each other’s moves so well that it was almost like a training exercise of sorts, and their spats never varied. But this was a challenge to both his body and his brain, and he relished fighting against such a skilled opponent.
“Well,” Kaku finally said, his sentence punctuated by heavy breaths, “I can see you certainly have earned your bounty.”
“You’re not half-bad yourself,” Sanji assured him, glancing at the other man. Kaku had shed his heavy, wide-collared overcoat after the match and was dressed in a simple t-shirt; he had one knee pulled to his chest as he lay on his back and gazed up into the branches of the tree above them. “How did the stupid Marimo beat you, anyway?”
“He was better than I,” Kaku replied thoughtfully. “But Jyabura has spoken of your special attack. It would be something useful for me to learn, I would think,” he said in an offhand way.
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t mind learning some of that Rankyaku stuff you specialize in. I have a disadvantage against some enemies because I need to be in contact with them in order to do damage, but if I could turn air into a weapon…” he shook his head.
“I could teach you,” Kaku offered.
“I’d never ask you to. Besides, if you did, the government would know where I learned it and you’d be in trouble,” Sanji had to point out. “We don’t have time for that anyway.”
“The offer stands,” Kaku replied. “But your little crew has its own share of special powers. I hear tell that Franky the Cyborg joined with you, now?”
“Luffy wanted him on the crew. And Luffy generally gets what he wants,” Sanji smiled. “Believe me, I had no intention of joining his little quest, but he’ll wear you down, that’s for sure. Although I think the main reason he wanted me was because of my cooking skills.
“By the way,” Sanji sat up and studied the other man closely. “How old are you?”
“You mean, because of the way I speak? Yes, your captain was rather curious about that as well,” Kaku chuckled. “But I would think that a gentleman like yourself could appreciate a more refined way of speaking.”
“There’s a difference between ‘refined’ and ‘elderly.’ I thought you were an old man,” Sanji muttered.
“Sorry. But we all have our oddities, don’t we? And I’m twenty-three,” he added. “That can’t be much older than you yourself.”
“Nineteen.”
“You seem older.”
“I never had time to be a kid,” Sanji countered. “I worked as a chore boy on a passenger ship until the storm, and since then I’ve worked as an apprentice cook and finally the sous-chef on a sea restaurant. At least until Luffy spirited me away.”
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Kaku studied him closely. “You have something else in your past that has shaped you and aged you beyond your teenage years. I don’t expect you to tell me,” he added as Sanji glared at him, “but I can tell.”
“You’re right,” Sanji finally conceded, continuing to smoke and gaze at the tranquil countryside.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down,
If it doesn’t matter then just turn around
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve eaten a Devil’s Fruit, right?”
“Yes. For fun.”
“Zoan?”
“Yes.”
“What do you turn into?”
Kaku sighed and scratched his head, raising the cap and showing off a little more of his reddish-gold hair. “You have to promise that you won’t laugh.”
“Why would I laugh?”
“Even that stoic swordsman crewmate of yours thought it was amusing. And sometimes I fear that I cannot control my temper when something about me is made light of,” Kaku admitted, a slight blush staining his face.
“You and me both. You see this?” Sanji pointed to his curled eyebrow. “Stupid swordsman gives me flack about it all the time. But really, who’s he to talk? He’s got green hair.”
Kaku stifled a chuckle at that and finally nodded. “You won’t laugh?”
“I won’t.”
“Alright, then.”
There was a moment’s stillness, and suddenly an oddly geometrical giraffe was facing Sanji, before the Zoan user shifted again and a full giraffe was in his place, baseball cap still firmly on its head. “Well,” Sanji cleared his throat. “I can’t think of a better animal for you. You much have incredible reach with those legs.”
“Thank you,” the giraffe spoke, inclining its head. “You’re the first one to notice and appreciate that. Jyabura just laughs at me.”
“Hey, he’s a wolf with a moustache. He shouldn’t talk,” Sanji snorted.
The giraffe nodded its head slightly and twitched its ears, and Sanji smiled in amusement because the noise they made was about the same one Chopper made when he twitched his blue nose. A second later, Kaku was standing back on the ground in his normal form, and he gazed out at the horizon for a moment. “I should get going.”
We say, and we do
All the lies, the truth
Yeah, we’re goin’ fast
Sanji was forced to nod, although he quite enjoyed the other’s company, government assassin or not. But as Kaku turned to walk down the hill, a rather pointed growl filled the air, and the older man blushed again.
“Hey,” Sanji sat up, sticking his cigarette back into his pocket and pulling up a thick-bladed leaf of grass which he stuck in his mouth instead. “Come back to the ship. I’ll make you dinner.”
“No, that’s perfectly alright. I would not want your crew to know you’ve been interacting with me,” Kaku kept his back turned.
“It’s fine. Zoro’s the only one there anyway, and he liked you. Always prattles on about what a great ally you’d make if you weren’t working for the enemy,” Sanji said.
“Well, it is an honor that the great Roronoa Zoro thinks highly of me,” Kaku replied.
“Really? I think if he ever said anything like that to me the world would end,” Sanji quipped back, and this time Kaku did laugh; a clear sound that held no malice or enmity whatsoever. “Come on, Kaku. You’ll never taste food like mine anywhere else.”
“And I completely believe you are telling the truth,” Kaku turned and grinned. “Alright, then, Sanji. After all, what can it hurt? I can be gone in an instant if anyone looks at me suspiciously.”
“I knew that was you I saw flying over the buildings that day in Water 7,” Sanji placed the connection instantly.
“Yes, I was also the one who discovered that the keel on your previous ship was irreparably damaged,” he added. “I’m somewhat of a carpenter, you know.”
“Well, be thankful we have one now, or else Luffy would probably ask you to join,” Sanji paused before clapping him on the shoulder. “Shall we?”
“Lead the way.”
And so, the unlikely duo of pirate and government agent made their way down the winding dirt road to the harbour where the Thousand Sunny lay waiting.
We don’t need our bags, and we can just leave town.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.
Possibly the strangest idea/pairing of characters I’ve ever written, but the plot bunny hit and the story came out incredibly smoothly. I’ve rationalized all of the reasons why these two would get along well in my head (and compiled a list of sorts, so bear with me!)
1. They’re both capable of being incredibly polite and formal, and yet can lose their temper almost as easily (and generally over trivial things).
2. For the most part, even their enemies respect them. After all, Sanji keeps making friends (Gin, Bon Kurei, Duval, etc.)
3. Their near-inhuman flexibility. Not really something that connects them personality-wise, but they do seem to have a lot of similar moves, which leads to…
4. Fighting style. Many people seem to associate Kaku more with Zoro because of his swords, but he’s nearly as proficient with his feet (and also darn good with those throwing-knife things of his, and Sanji has proven he’s no slacker when it comes to knife-work).
So there you have my odd rationale for why this story came about, and I hope that somebody out there liked it:) The next story is (predictably) ZoSan (again) for anyone who was wondering, so look out for that!
One more note: I’ve taken ‘Kaku talks like an old man’ (which mostly seems to add ‘-ja’ to the ends of sentences in Japanese) to mean, in English, ‘Kaku talks weirdly formal.’
Title: Mona Lisa (When The World Comes Down)
Rating: PG- nothing too serious here
Warnings: Only that the circumstances surrounding this fic shall never be explained...
Characters: Sanji, ??? (I'm not giving the second one away:))
Spoilers: Up to about Chapter 490 (Thriller Bark) as well as Water 7/Enies Lobby
Word Count: 2574
Title: Mona Lisa (When The World Comes Down)
Rating: Actually, could probably make this one PG-ish. Nothing too scarring.
Warnings: None, really, other than a situation whose origins shall never be explained.
Characters: Sanji, ??? (I’m not giving it away. You have to read it:))
Spoilers: Up to about Chapter 490 (Thriller Bark) as well as Water 7/Enies Lobby
Word Count: 2574 (My goodness, they’re getting longer…)
Mona Lisa
Here’s another pity, and there’s another chance.
You try to learn a lesson, but you can’t.
He was insulted. Insulted, and tired, and completely unsatisfied.
But mostly insulted.
The Sunny had made port at a lovely summer island upon leaving the fog-shrouded Florian Triangle behind, and he had gone off alone to shop for supplies. Everyone seemed to be on edge, even with the addition of the skeleton-cum-musician, and the tension was grating on his nerves. Usually he could depend on the idiot swordsman if he wanted to release some pent-up tension, but Chopper had expressly forbidden the two of them to spar in any way, shape, or form, so there was nobody for him to even practice with.
And Zoro was…odd, but considering the events of Thriller Bark, that wasn’t all that strange. But Sanji couldn’t help but wonder, even when the swordsman was recovered, if he would be the same. He was moody and introspective of late (because he couldn’t train), but he seemed to be searching for something within himself, and his insults weren’t as sharp or as barbed as they used to be. In fact, he seemed to call the cook names more out of habit than spite, and every time he looked at Sanji there was something dark and intangible in his eyes. Sanji put it off as him merely being irked that Sanji had attempted to steal his thunder, but until he had decided to speak to the rest of them again, there wasn’t much the blonde chef could do (short of kicking him in the head. And that would make Chopper mad).
Therefore, all of these events had conspired together to make him rather irritable, and even the soothing balm of his two lovely ladies could not quite dispel the fact that the ship had become far too loud in recent weeks. He had bought the supplies and stocked them away quickly before taking the meandering road from the beach and strolling through the lovely countryside, which seemed to have an overabundance of sheep farms, when the voice had hailed him.
And this was why he was insulted.
“Oi, youngster, fancy a little sparring match?”
Really, what right did that old geezer have to call him ‘youngster?’ And how dare he presume that just because he was blonde and slender he was weak enough to pose no threat to an elderly blue-hair? But he was nothing if not a gentleman, and he intended to politely tell the idiot that a sparring match against Blackleg Sanji would only result in broken bones (and not on his side), when the words died in his throat.
The man addressing him was leaning casually against a tree and gazing up into the branches in a contemplative way, head cocked slightly to the side. But that wasn’t what had shocked the cook. This man…he was young. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Sanji, and he spoke like he was eighty! What did…wait…
“Do I…know you?” he asked cautiously. Something was shooting warning signals up his spine, and although the stranger looked harmless enough in his unassuming high-collared jacket and baseball cap, there was something familiar about him. Something that told Sanji that maybe…maybe…he could hold his own in a fight.
If we can burn a city in futures and in pasts,
Without a change out lives will never last
‘Cause we’re goin’ fast
“I believe we’ve met before, but I don’t think we have ever been properly introduced,” the other man replied formally, smiling (he had a rather nice smile) and extending a hand. Sanji had a vague thought that this man had a nose that was almost more ridiculous than Usopp’s before the stranger continued, “My name is Kaku.”
“Sanji.”
“You’re one of Strawhat Luffy’s crew, are you not?” Kaku pushed himself off of the tree.
And then it clicked. “And you’re one of those government agents that tried to kill us back at Enies Lobby,” his gaze hardened. “So what is this?”
“A sparring match,” Kaku shrugged. “That should be evident, should it not?”
“What’s the catch, nose-boy? You gonna pull something and try to kill me?” Sanji narrowed his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Never. I’m nothing but a man of my word,” Kaku held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Sanji gazed at him carefully, surprised to see nothing but honesty in his eyes. “Admittedly, the simple fact that I work for the government and you sail as a pirate would automatically make us enemies, but right now I am not under any obligations to capture you.”
“Because you screwed up, right?” Sanji smirked. “Because we kicked your tails. Literally.”
“Precisely. The government has decided that we are no longer capable of capturing you, and therefore have given us rather mundane tasks…taking care of low bounty pirates who don’t even know the right way to hold a sword. Needless to say, a decent fight is hard to come by. And you looked like there is some unresolved tension you need to get rid of, so I thought that perhaps we both could gain something from a little confrontation. After all, with our brief meeting aboard the sea-train, I was only able to tell that you are indeed a competent fighter, as nobody should have been able to break through our Tekkai so easily as you almost did, but I would dearly like to see more of your skill,” he explained, crossing his arms and smiling.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“And you’re not gonna try anything funny,” Sanji jabbed his cigarette at the other man.
“On my honor,” Kaku put his hand over his heart.
“Alright, then,” Sanji finally conceded. He was still wary, of course, but he figured that he could take the agent in a fight. The only reason he had been knocked off his feet last time was because he hadn’t been paying attention, but that wasn’t going to happen again. “Just let me stretch a bit. I haven’t had a good fight in a while.”
“By all means. I would benefit from a little warming up as well.”
What can we do better? When will we know how?
A man says from a sidewalk to a crowd.
Sanji shrugged out of his jacket and loosened his tie before his hands froze. This man…he…he couldn’t deny how wide his eyes had gotten, because Kaku had just bent backwards…all the way to the ground…and propped himself on his hands, staying like that before kicking his feet up and flipping over, using his hands to propel his body until his feet were once more on the ground. “Impressive.”
Kaku glanced up and nodded before Sanji bent his knee and pulled his heel up, raising his leg so that it was parallel to his body and straight up in the air. He crossed his arms and smirked, knowing that the other man would recognize the stretch as being incredibly difficult to hold. And he was right. “I could say the same for you. I hear tell you fight only with you feet. Is that true?”
“I’m a chef. I wouldn’t be of much use if I screwed up my hands, would I?” Sanji replied, finally lowering his leg and sinking to the ground, doing the splits without even a hitch in his fluid movement.
“I suppose that makes sense. Would you be at a disadvantage against me, then?” he asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“Feh. I fight with that stupid Marimo-headed swordsman all the time. This is nothing,” he assured the older man.
“I hope you don’t regret those words,” Kaku pulled his swords from where they were leaning against the tree. “Well then, shall we?”
“Bring it.”
If we can change the weather, if you wanted to yourself
And if you can’t I guess we all need help.
Sanji was splayed out on the soft grass, chest heaving and hair sweat-soaked as he chuckled and lit a cigarette. He felt completely relaxed, the tension that had been weighing on him all but gone. This Kaku…he was good. He fought with his swords and his legs, and Sanji had been pleasantly surprised at his technique. Truth be told, sparring with Zoro had become almost boring and routine: they knew each other’s moves so well that it was almost like a training exercise of sorts, and their spats never varied. But this was a challenge to both his body and his brain, and he relished fighting against such a skilled opponent.
“Well,” Kaku finally said, his sentence punctuated by heavy breaths, “I can see you certainly have earned your bounty.”
“You’re not half-bad yourself,” Sanji assured him, glancing at the other man. Kaku had shed his heavy, wide-collared overcoat after the match and was dressed in a simple t-shirt; he had one knee pulled to his chest as he lay on his back and gazed up into the branches of the tree above them. “How did the stupid Marimo beat you, anyway?”
“He was better than I,” Kaku replied thoughtfully. “But Jyabura has spoken of your special attack. It would be something useful for me to learn, I would think,” he said in an offhand way.
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t mind learning some of that Rankyaku stuff you specialize in. I have a disadvantage against some enemies because I need to be in contact with them in order to do damage, but if I could turn air into a weapon…” he shook his head.
“I could teach you,” Kaku offered.
“I’d never ask you to. Besides, if you did, the government would know where I learned it and you’d be in trouble,” Sanji had to point out. “We don’t have time for that anyway.”
“The offer stands,” Kaku replied. “But your little crew has its own share of special powers. I hear tell that Franky the Cyborg joined with you, now?”
“Luffy wanted him on the crew. And Luffy generally gets what he wants,” Sanji smiled. “Believe me, I had no intention of joining his little quest, but he’ll wear you down, that’s for sure. Although I think the main reason he wanted me was because of my cooking skills.
“By the way,” Sanji sat up and studied the other man closely. “How old are you?”
“You mean, because of the way I speak? Yes, your captain was rather curious about that as well,” Kaku chuckled. “But I would think that a gentleman like yourself could appreciate a more refined way of speaking.”
“There’s a difference between ‘refined’ and ‘elderly.’ I thought you were an old man,” Sanji muttered.
“Sorry. But we all have our oddities, don’t we? And I’m twenty-three,” he added. “That can’t be much older than you yourself.”
“Nineteen.”
“You seem older.”
“I never had time to be a kid,” Sanji countered. “I worked as a chore boy on a passenger ship until the storm, and since then I’ve worked as an apprentice cook and finally the sous-chef on a sea restaurant. At least until Luffy spirited me away.”
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Kaku studied him closely. “You have something else in your past that has shaped you and aged you beyond your teenage years. I don’t expect you to tell me,” he added as Sanji glared at him, “but I can tell.”
“You’re right,” Sanji finally conceded, continuing to smoke and gaze at the tranquil countryside.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down,
If it doesn’t matter then just turn around
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve eaten a Devil’s Fruit, right?”
“Yes. For fun.”
“Zoan?”
“Yes.”
“What do you turn into?”
Kaku sighed and scratched his head, raising the cap and showing off a little more of his reddish-gold hair. “You have to promise that you won’t laugh.”
“Why would I laugh?”
“Even that stoic swordsman crewmate of yours thought it was amusing. And sometimes I fear that I cannot control my temper when something about me is made light of,” Kaku admitted, a slight blush staining his face.
“You and me both. You see this?” Sanji pointed to his curled eyebrow. “Stupid swordsman gives me flack about it all the time. But really, who’s he to talk? He’s got green hair.”
Kaku stifled a chuckle at that and finally nodded. “You won’t laugh?”
“I won’t.”
“Alright, then.”
There was a moment’s stillness, and suddenly an oddly geometrical giraffe was facing Sanji, before the Zoan user shifted again and a full giraffe was in his place, baseball cap still firmly on its head. “Well,” Sanji cleared his throat. “I can’t think of a better animal for you. You much have incredible reach with those legs.”
“Thank you,” the giraffe spoke, inclining its head. “You’re the first one to notice and appreciate that. Jyabura just laughs at me.”
“Hey, he’s a wolf with a moustache. He shouldn’t talk,” Sanji snorted.
The giraffe nodded its head slightly and twitched its ears, and Sanji smiled in amusement because the noise they made was about the same one Chopper made when he twitched his blue nose. A second later, Kaku was standing back on the ground in his normal form, and he gazed out at the horizon for a moment. “I should get going.”
We say, and we do
All the lies, the truth
Yeah, we’re goin’ fast
Sanji was forced to nod, although he quite enjoyed the other’s company, government assassin or not. But as Kaku turned to walk down the hill, a rather pointed growl filled the air, and the older man blushed again.
“Hey,” Sanji sat up, sticking his cigarette back into his pocket and pulling up a thick-bladed leaf of grass which he stuck in his mouth instead. “Come back to the ship. I’ll make you dinner.”
“No, that’s perfectly alright. I would not want your crew to know you’ve been interacting with me,” Kaku kept his back turned.
“It’s fine. Zoro’s the only one there anyway, and he liked you. Always prattles on about what a great ally you’d make if you weren’t working for the enemy,” Sanji said.
“Well, it is an honor that the great Roronoa Zoro thinks highly of me,” Kaku replied.
“Really? I think if he ever said anything like that to me the world would end,” Sanji quipped back, and this time Kaku did laugh; a clear sound that held no malice or enmity whatsoever. “Come on, Kaku. You’ll never taste food like mine anywhere else.”
“And I completely believe you are telling the truth,” Kaku turned and grinned. “Alright, then, Sanji. After all, what can it hurt? I can be gone in an instant if anyone looks at me suspiciously.”
“I knew that was you I saw flying over the buildings that day in Water 7,” Sanji placed the connection instantly.
“Yes, I was also the one who discovered that the keel on your previous ship was irreparably damaged,” he added. “I’m somewhat of a carpenter, you know.”
“Well, be thankful we have one now, or else Luffy would probably ask you to join,” Sanji paused before clapping him on the shoulder. “Shall we?”
“Lead the way.”
And so, the unlikely duo of pirate and government agent made their way down the winding dirt road to the harbour where the Thousand Sunny lay waiting.
We don’t need our bags, and we can just leave town.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.
Possibly the strangest idea/pairing of characters I’ve ever written, but the plot bunny hit and the story came out incredibly smoothly. I’ve rationalized all of the reasons why these two would get along well in my head (and compiled a list of sorts, so bear with me!)
1. They’re both capable of being incredibly polite and formal, and yet can lose their temper almost as easily (and generally over trivial things).
2. For the most part, even their enemies respect them. After all, Sanji keeps making friends (Gin, Bon Kurei, Duval, etc.)
3. Their near-inhuman flexibility. Not really something that connects them personality-wise, but they do seem to have a lot of similar moves, which leads to…
4. Fighting style. Many people seem to associate Kaku more with Zoro because of his swords, but he’s nearly as proficient with his feet (and also darn good with those throwing-knife things of his, and Sanji has proven he’s no slacker when it comes to knife-work).
So there you have my odd rationale for why this story came about, and I hope that somebody out there liked it:) The next story is (predictably) ZoSan (again) for anyone who was wondering, so look out for that!
One more note: I’ve taken ‘Kaku talks like an old man’ (which mostly seems to add ‘-ja’ to the ends of sentences in Japanese) to mean, in English, ‘Kaku talks weirdly formal.’