Property of Sanji 19
a/n: this chapter is still un-beta’d as my lovely beta is away for the holidays, but I’ve read it through myself and it appears to be fine. Please forgive anything that I’ve missed but I thought you all might like a little Christmas present of a chapter containing ALL THE FEELS! Merry Christmas!
Sanji opens his eyes to the grey ceiling paint that suggests some kind of official institution, he turns his head and sees bars. Prison then.
Zoro’s hand desperately clutching his arm as they tried to pull them apart, his golden eyes brimming over with tears until, suddenly, the bailiff pulling at him pulls out a nightstick and cracks Zoro over the back of the head with it. The light in Zoro’s eyes goes out, his grip fails and the two of them are wrenched apart. The limp, ragdoll like Zoro is pulled away from him, leaving a trail of blood drops on the floor. He screams and kicks, trying to get to Zoro, trying to rescue him until pain blooms in the back of his own head and the world goes dark.
“ZORO!” He gasps, bolting upright. His head throbs at the movement but he ignores in and leaps to his feet. He’s in a cell, bars are on all three sides and a wall behind him, but no one else is in the other cells in the long room, no one else is in the room at all. Most importantly Zoro is not there.
“HEY! HEY!” He screams desperately, throwing himself at the bars and rattling them as hard as he can. His heart is rushing at a million miles an hour. Oh god, oh god, he needs to find Zoro before it’s too late!
“PLEASE! SOMEONE, ANYONE!” He yells at the top of his lungs, wrenching on the bars with all his strength. They creak but won’t bend or budge.
The door at the end of the room opens and it takes Sanji a second to recognise the man’s face. Gruff expression, white hair… he was at the hospital, the one who was with the woman that accused him of burning Zoro. Smoker!
“Smoker! Let me out! Where’s Zoro? Please!” He pleads frantically, reaching through the bars towards him. Smoker sighs and slowly walks towards him.
“He’s not here.” Smoker says with a sigh as he walks closer, he stays out of Sanji’s reach though and leans back against the wall opposite the cell.
“I can see that! Where is he, is he okay? Tell me!” Sanji begs, his heart hammering in his chest.
“You were arrested for assault, your lawyer managed to negotiate it down to a night in the cells and a hefty fine, based on your ‘emotional state’ apparently.” Smoker says in a way that doesn’t answer Sanji’s question at all. It does provide other information though. He’d been unconscious all night, it felt like… morning now so it’d nearly been a whole day! That made Zoro’s lack of presence in jail with him all the more alarming!
“So where is Zoro? The court took him, but where? Shouldn’t he be here or something?” he presses nervously.
Smoker looks away, he seems… ashamed somehow?
“Well… legally speaking Zoro isn’t a person. I know he is, obviously, but… the law says he ‘aint.” Smoker mutters, scratching at his stubble.
“So?” He asks through gritted teeth.
“Well, if you had a pet- a dog or somethin’, and the court ordered that to be taken from you… it wouldn’t got to jail with you. It’d go to an animal shelter.” Smoker says uncomfortably.
Sanji stares at Smoker for a while. His body feels stiff and numb and his hands are shaking on the cold metal bars. He manages to work his tongue enough to swallow but it doesn’t erase the lump in his throat.
“You mean to say,” he says shakily, “that Zoro’s been taken to… the institute?”
It was the only place that he could think of that was the equivalent to the pound for dogs. It was the place that mates were shut up and locked up in until they found new owners.
“Yeah.” Smoker nods, looking Sanji in the eye at last.
“Th… the Royal Institute? My father’s…?” He breathes shakily, hoping with every cell in his body, every fibre of his being and every reach of his soul that Smoker will say no.
“Yes.” Smoker says instead.
Sanji sucks in a harsh breath and stumbles backwards, it’s too much, it’s too big an idea to get into his brain. He trips and falls, landing painfully on his ass and cracking his shoulder blade on the steel edge of the bed. He feels like he’s suffocating, like he’s drowning. He gasps in another stuttering breath and coughs out a sob, tears spill over his lids instantly and stream down his face in big fat wet droplets.
Zoro is gone, he’s been taken from him and returned to the institute. He’s in his father’s control and his father right now is doing everything he can to destroy him, and that means Zoro. His father took him from him deliberately, tricked him into it, just so that he could have Zoro somewhere that Sanji couldn’t protect him and do… anything to him. And it was his fault.
He howls like a wounded and dying thing and doubles in on himself, the shame, hatred and above all grief balling into a dense mass in his gut that feels like a black hole, sucking the rest of him in.
“Oh Jesus, don’t… don’t cry.” Smoker says awkwardly.
Sanji hears the creak of the door to the cell next to him and a stiff hand extends through the bars and pats him tensely on the shoulder once, then twice.
“It’ll… be okay.” Smoker manages to say, but it won’t. It’ll never be okay ever again because he’s lost Zoro!
Sanji can’t speak, he’s barely managing to coordinate breathing in without choking on his own tears and sobbing and howling uncontrollably. The hand withdraws and Sanji curls into himself on the floor.
He had one fucking responsibility, for Zoro. All he had to do was to keep him safe and happy. And what did he do? He gave him away. He gave him away out of anger and ego in a courtroom where he couldn’t take it back and he gave him to a man who hates him, who has no respect for Zoro as a person and wants to hurt him to make Sanji suffer. Zoro loved him, trusted him and he betrayed him. Zoro had finally relaxed around him, warmed to him and he’d thrown it all away.
And it wasn’t like the other man hadn’t tried to warn him, the clever Zoro had seen what his father was up to and tried to warn him but Sanji had silenced and ignored him like a child or an animal. He is scum. He’d been given Zoro, a chance to be truly loved by someone with such a beautiful soul and he’d lost it. He doesn’t deserve to live. He wants to puke, he wants to die to spare him the pain of knowing what he’s done.
But how he feels is nowhere near as bad as Zoro is going to be feeling right now. Zoro had spoken of the harm that the employees of the institute liked to inflict on him when they threw him in solitary, locked up in a featureless box. No doubt his father was doing his best to ensure that Zoro suffered as much as possible. And Zoro had to be thinking that it was all Sanji’s fault, he had to be regretting every laying eyes on him, Zoro had to be cursing himself for trusting him at all.
It goes around and around in his brain, what he’s done, what Zoro must be going through, hating himself for even existing. He cries and screams until his throat is hoarse and calls himself every name under the sun, he cries until he feels dehydrated and sick and then hurls. Eventually his eyes dry, probably so he doesn’t shrivel away by bawling out his entire supply of body fluid. Eventually he is silent and empty on the floor of the cell. He hates himself for wanting to die, for being too cowardly to even face his own guilt. No, now he accepts what he’s done, he accepts that every breath is too good for him but that he deserves to suffer as much as possible, he could suffer for eternity and it would never make amends for what he’s done.
A familiar red shoe and wooden peg leg come into view and pause whilst another pair of booted feet step closer. A key jingles in the lock and the cell door swings inwards. Zeff comes closer and stops. Sanji sits up unsteadily and stares at Zeff’s foot and his peg leg, another person hurt because of him, he was a disaster area. He should be cordoned off and kept somewhere far away from decent people so he couldn’t wreck any more lives.
“We’ll be out in a minute.” Zeff says gruffly, Smoker shrugs and walks off. As soon as the door to the cell block shuts Zeff stiffly kneels down before him and looks him in the eyes.
“Talk to me, little eggplant.” He says quietly. It’s the same thing that he said when thinking about his mother dying had nearly made him sick, when he’d bottled up all the pain until it nearly killed him. One day Zeff had just knelt down and said those words, it’d all come pouring out then.
“Why… what’s wrong with me? Everyone who loves me is taken from me, and it’s always my fault!” Sanji sobs. And it was true, his mother loved him and because of him she’d drowned, Zeff had rescued him and lost a limb in the process and now Zoro was back in the clutches of the institute.
“I’m not dead, I’m still here. And I love you little eggplant.” Zeff says gently, pulling Sanji close. Those last words are whispered quietly, like a secret. Zeff has never said them before and probably never will again, it breaks Sanji’s heart.
“You lost your leg and because of me, Spandam could destroy your dream whenever he wants! You’d have been better off if you’d let me drown, everyone would!” Sanji bawls, pressing his face into Zeff’s shoulder. Zeff growls and pulls Sanji off of him, his hands painfully sharp on Sanji’s shoulders.
“You listen to me brat, I didn’t do this so that you could regret me saving your life! You gave that boy a chance he never had, he won’t regret having you in his life and I certainly don’t, so don’t you dare insult us both by wishing you were dead!” Zeff snarls, shaking him.
“You’re right, Zoro’s current situation is your fault, so are you going to sit here and cry about it or DO something?!” The old man challenges.
Sanji looks up at the gruff old man, the only real father he’s ever had, more than he deserves. He sniffs and rubs his eyes fiercely with his palms and wipes his nose on his sleeve. He forces himself to his feet and stands. His heart still feels like its in a million pieces, he still wishes he’d never been born, he still wants to curl up and cry until he dies. But this isn’t about him, it’s about Zoro.
“I’m going to do something. I’m going to fight this and I’m going to win, I have to.” He says solemnly. Zeff grins up at him and stands up, creaky with old age.
“That’s my boy. Let’s go.” Zeff grins, slapping him on the shoulder and leading the way out. He follows him out of the police station and expects to see Zeff’s old beat up car, instead his own slick blue flying car is waiting, with Franky leaning against the side. The cyborg straightens up when he sees him and snags him into a tearful hug.
“Oh man, Sanji! It’s going to be okay ‘lil bro! We’re gonna get through this okay? Okay?” Frankly wails, squeezing him tightly.
“Why? Car?” Sanji gasps out as Franky crushes his lungs. After a second the cyborg puts him back on the floor and casts a surprised look at the car.
“It’s mine, remember?” Franky smiles at him. Sanji suddenly remembers that last year he gave Franky the rights to both of his cars as a birthday present, the cyborg had always been complaining how hard it was to trick them out when he wasn’t the legal owner of them so Sanji had given them to him as a gift, Franky still drove him everywhere so it was fine. He grins, Spandam must have been pissed when Franky drove off in them with all the paperwork.
“How are you holding up buddy?” Franky asks, rubbing his shoulder gently.
“I-” Sanji searches for a word but then just shakes his head. “I just want to get Zoro back, that’s all.”
“Well we need to get back to the Baratie then, everyone else is there. Your Zoro has a lot of friends doesn’t he?” Zeff remarks as he climbs into the back of the car
“Yeah, he does.” Sanji agrees and follows him.
“So do you.” Zeff adds as they take off.
The flight only lasts about three minutes, the Baratie is hardly far from the police station, situated as they were at the dodgier end of town. They land, get out and head to the back door of the Baratie. Sanji can’t help but notice that the place is closed right now, he suspects that Zeff shut down for today for him, Sanji can’t think of the last time that happened.
He opens the back door to the Baratie, the one that leads to the kitchen. The inside is packed, Vivi and Igaram are together at one side by Robin and Nami, Luffy and Ace are loitering by the fridge and Usopp and Brook are by the ovens. Before he gets to greet anyone though Luffy hurls himself towards him with his fist raised at the same time that Nami shrieks and leaps for him.
Sanji closes his eyes, deserving anything that they do to him but… surprisingly nothing happens. He opens his eyes again and sees that Zeff has a shouting and squirming Luffy pinned painfully to the floor with his peg leg and Robin has Nami contained in a wrap of hands.
“Let me at him! He betrayed Zoro!” Luffy shouts, slamming his fists on the floor.
“He TRUSTED you!” Nami screams, squirming in Robin’s grasp.
“KNOCK IT OFF!” Ace roars suddenly, causing both of them to still.
“We all want Zoro back and, as much as it hurts to admit, ripping Sanji limb from limb isn’t going to achieve that.” Ace adds with a glare at Sanji.
Nami sniffles and drops her gaze to the floor, cautiously Robin’s hands let her go and, when she doesn’t lunge for him again, disappear. Zeff lets Luffy up as well with a warning look.
“Well then, if that’s over with, we have work to do.” Igaram says, coughing elegantly with a little ‘mah’ noise. They all enter the kitchen and shut the door, Zeff goes off to the fridge and starts cooking, it’s his default state. Franky sighs and leans against the counter by the oven with Usopp.
“Hm, one thing.” Vivi says brightly and walks to Sanji. He thinks that he sees it coming before anyone else does when Vivi smacks him hard and fast across the face, she was so quick that no one else could react.
“You’re a stupid, stupid man.” Vivi hisses at him, her fingers curled into a tight fist. Her tense shoulders loosen a little after a second or two and she reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose.
“That’s it, I just needed to get that out. I promised Zoro that I’d keep an eye on you and stop you doing anything dumb, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t make you pay.” She says, returning to the stunned Igaram’s side. Sanji’s cheek burns but he doesn’t even move.
“So, what’s going to happen now?” Franky speaks up, breaking the silence. Igaram seems to shake himself and look at Franky.
“Well, I know that they took a swab of Sanji’s blood when they knocked him out, it’s being tested at two separate government labs right now. Both tests need to independently match up before they can be entered as evidence. If they prove Spandam’s case false then it’s pretty much over, they hinged the espionage charge on the fraud case so if the first is thrown out, so is the second. Zoro and everything else that Spandam bought Sanji will be returned.” Igaram says simply.
“So that’s it? Why go to all this trouble, unless Sanji really isn’t his son.” Nami says, casting a suspicious eye on Sanji from across the room.
“I am his son, believe me, I wouldn’t be around that bastard for any amount of money.” Sanji answers curtly, his lip curling angrily at the mere mention of his father.
“You don’t exactly look like him though, or any of your family.” Igaram points out academically.
“I have an entire abusive childhood worth of memories of him, I didn’t just show up in his life. Or do you need me to detail them for you?!” Sanji snaps angrily. He notices the surprised and slightly pitying looks on the faces of the people around him suddenly directed at him. He breathes out slowly and tries to remind himself that this is something he’d never normally talk to anyone about, besides Zoro of course.
“Sorry, I’m just… losing my shit here without-” Sanji cuts himself off and clenches his fingers in his hair. He’s losing it without Zoro. He doesn’t finish his sentence however and everyone seems to know what he means.
“So… it’s all going to be fine then? How long do those tests take?” Usopp asks, as if Sanji hadn’t snapped at all.
“I would say that they’ll be done tomorrow, unless there are complications with the results not lining up we should hear about it in court tomorrow morning. We’re already scheduled to appear then anyway.” Igaram shrugs.
“So Zoro will be back right after that then?” Luffy asks brightly. Sanji shakes his head, it’s not going to be that easy, he doesn’t know how but his father wouldn’t spend all this time, money and scandal for a brief warning.
“Don’t plan for everything to go to plan.” Zeff says over his shoulder as he tips some ingredients into a pot.
“So… let’s assume then that for whatever reason Sanji fails this DNA test, it’s not like Spandam isn’t rich enough to bribe some labs anyway.” Nami nods thoughtfully.
“Well then, Sanji, I’m going to need a list of everyone that you’ve spoken to your father’s company about in the last six months. Start from yesterday and work backwards. Chances are he’ll try to call those people to give evidence.” Igaram says, pulling a large notebook out of his coat and sliding it and a pen over to Sanji.
Sanji sighs and tries to remember everything as he writes it down, he wonders who he spoke to that his father got to. He wouldn’t be surprised if Nezumi was on there, and Cabaji no doubt is out for his blood too. He writes and writes and the more he does so the more isolated he feels. He looks around the room and sees Nami, she’s only here because of Zoro, as are Luffy and Ace. Igaram and Vivi are doubtlessly only here as a favour to Zoro. Robin and Franky are here to take down Spandam and Usopp… he’s never really been sure why Usopp liked him, maybe he had a dark past and was only here for himself too. All these names that he’s putting down are people that he thought that he could either trust or speak to in good faith, perhaps some of that faith was misplaced. His heart aches for Zoro, Zoro was always just around him because he wanted to be. He had the chance to leave and decided to stay, he defended Sanji against everyone. And now… now because of him he’d been taken away.
“Where… where do you think that Zoro is right now? Smoker said that the institute took him but…” Sanji trails off, looking up. Nami sighs and looks into the distance
“Well, this hasn’t ever really happened before.” Nami admits with a shrug.
“If you’d returned Zoro he would just have been put back into the institute as before, gone to classes and stayed in his dorms. But… this isn’t like that. I doubt they’re letting Zoro go free, especially as he finds it so easy to escape when he’s allowed to wander around.” Nami explains.
“Yeah, if Zoro had been left to roam around the institute as he had before he’d have been at our house within half an hour.” Ace agrees with a tense nod.
“They’ll have him locked up somewhere.” Luffy adds in an unhappy tone.
“Well…” Nami starts with a frown but shakes her head as she cuts herself off.
“What?” Sanji presses, leaning forward urgently, he needs to know. Nami’s worried eyes turn to him and she chews on the end of her hair for a moment.
“Your father isn’t going to go through all of this trouble if he expects to lose, so… he has to have a longer term plan for Zoro. If he thinks that he can get to you through Zoro, which he can, then he’s going to try to hurt Zoro as much as possible, and seeing as you’ve pissed Cabaji off as well…” Nami trails off sadly and returns to chewing on her hair.
“Blackbeard.” Robin states in a dark tone, her eyes hard and angry.
Sanji sits still and stares wide eyed, the text from Zoro’s report is repeating endlessly through his mind.
"Zoro's disobedient and feisty nature can, in my expert opinion, only be corrected by a firm hand a forced sexual submission… Zoro does not fear physical pain so psychological reconditioning will be far more effective”
Sanji thinks that he might be sick.
Could Zoro be there right now? Could he already be tied up by Blackbeard being forced to… to… oh god. It wasn’t like Spandam or Blackbeard had much to fear if they did harm Zoro and he still won, the most they’d get charged with is vandalism of property, and even then seeing as Zoro isn’t technically his right now he might not even be able to bring that charge about.
How can he ever atone for this? If that really is what’s happening then how can he look Zoro in the eye when he gets him back, because he has to get him back - there is no other option. How can he look him in the eye again knowing what he’s responsible for? When he knows what his foolishness is costing the other man? And that’s if Zoro is still Zoro when he gets him back, Zoro did say that no one has ever survived Blackbeard with their mind in tact, they come back as empty shells.
Why was he worrying about forgiveness anyway? He didn’t deserve it from Zoro, not after this. Hell, maybe when he gets Zoro back he should just hand the other man his swords and accept his no doubt short fate.
“Stop that.” Ace’s voice jolts him from his agonising spiral. He gasps and looks up, Ace is sliding into the seat next to him, the rest of the room is empty, evidently everyone else left for food some time ago and he hadn’t noticed. There’s a cooling bowl of soup before him.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but I have. I also saw the news, there were cameras recording you two, not that you noticed I suppose.” Ace states, pulling a newspaper out of his duffel bag. He slides it across the table to Sanji. The cover picture holds his gaze, it’s him and Zoro being wrenched apart by the authorities, their faces are mirrors of each other, both showing desperation and agony. The next photo after it shows the same picture just a few seconds later, Zoro’s gone limp, his fingers falling from Sanji’s hand. His face is a picture of soul-wrenching agony, his mouth open in a scream as he desperately tries to grab back onto Zoro. It makes his heart hurt to look at his moment of failure so closely.
“I saw the way that he looked at you, I heard what he said.” Ace states simply. He flicks his fingers in a slightly nervous gesture, flicking a flame onto his finger and off again.
“Zoro never looked at me quite like that. We were friends obviously but… never really anything more. I thought that perhaps Zoro couldn’t feel like that for anyone, not after his life and not after losing Nami- although apparently he didn’t lose her. I’d thought that what he and I had was as good as it was going to get. But you…” Ace cuts himself off with a shake of his head and his finger traces the outline of Zoro’s desperate expression on the page below him. His dark eyes contain a certain amount of… resignation that he’s never seen on his face before, he’s given up. Perhaps he’s given up on the idea of Zoro ever loving him back, he remembers Zoro’s story about his and Ace’s past and Sanji actually feels sorry for him again. He knows that he’s fucked up beyond all manner of fuck-up-itude but… at least he knows that Zoro loves him, or loved him at one point. It’s certainly more than he deserves to have had Zoro ever love him, let alone if the other man loves him right now or ever will again. He would completely understand if Zoro never even wanted to be in the same country as in him the future. He starts to feel the bleak depressive spiral come back.
“I know what you’re thinking, you think that Zoro will never forgive you for what you’ve done. And maybe he shouldn’t, I’m not sure that he should.” The firestarter says, giving Sanji a hard look that he entirely deserves.
“But Zoro isn’t like that, I know you love him and he loves you, etcetera, etcetera, but I know him better than you do. I’ve known him for longer and I know how Zoro works. And… if your heart is in the right place, Zoro will forgive you almost anything. Believe me, I would know.” Ace sighs, holding a flame in his palm before sharply extinguishing it. Sanji’s mind flicks to the burnt out hole in Zoro’s arm, the swordsman’s first instinct had been to protect Ace from him, from the authorities, from everyone. There had been no question in Zoro’s mind about forgiveness, as far as the swordsman had been concerned Ace had never meant to hurt him and he’d done so out of love and protectiveness. The worst that Zoro had done was to try to make Ace feel bad about it one time, and only because he’d been attacking Sanji. Ace had nearly crippled Zoro for life and taken away his ability to use his swords, but Zoro had forgiven him instantly without question or reservation.
Could… could he be so lucky too? Did he even deserve such treatment? Definitely not but… it doesn’t mean that his heart doesn’t ache for it.
“So don’t spend your precious time feeling guilty, spend it getting Zoro out of there.” The other man says with an air of finality.
“And, it’s not that I don’t hate you any more, because I do. But the only reason that I didn’t punch you when you came in was because I’m not sure that I could make you feel any worse than you already do. Which is some comfort for me at least.” Ace says and leaves the room.
Sanji eats his dinner alone, not really tasting it at all, after more work on outlining who might be called in court if this test falls through he goes to bed alone. It’s the same small single bed that he slept in when he lived here with Zeff, he slept in this bed when Zeff helped him put his life back together.
He remembers being curled up under these blankets knowing that his father wasn’t all that far away, he remembers pulling the blankets over his head and vowing to never go near the man that he hated so much again. As soon as he’d made that promise his life here had grown, he’d fallen into step as Zeff’s protégé, he’d been happy and successful. But he couldn’t wish for it to have been different, if it had been then he would never have met Zoro.
He wonders where Zoro is now, he knows that Nami and Ace think that he’s with Blackbeard but Sanji just can’t believe that his father would be able to move so quickly. Even with his father expediting things it had taken a week from his father announcing that he’d have a mate to the day of their ceremony. Besides, Zoro no doubt suspected that Blackbeard would be his destination as well and so of course he’d try to buy time. No, Zoro was out of that man’s hands for the moment anyway, but he needed to win this trial and quickly. He realises with a sense of self loathing that he’d been so preoccupied about his trial that he’d barely paid any attention to Zoro that morning, he hadn’t even slept with him again!
He bites his lip and forces himself to sleep, he’ll need all the mental agility he can get tomorrow for the trial and he doesn’t want to be sleep deprived.
The next morning Sanji and Igaram are standing outside the court building waiting for their case to be called in, meanwhile Sanji is trying to smoke as many cigarettes as he can at the same time in a futile attempt to calm his nerves.
“Remember to keep your temper under control this time, you’ve already made a bad impression on the judge. I need you to be a saint.” Igaram warns him, wagging a finger in his direction. Sanji glowers but nods as he exhales smoke, it was hardly his fault that Zoro being taken away from him made him kick off so much, he was having his goddamn heart ripped out at the time!
“And when you’re questioned keep your answers short, don’t give Lucci enough rope to hang you with, he’ll twist your words.” The lawyer adds worriedly
"Prince vs. Prince?" The court clerk calls out, making Sanji jump. He and Igaram file in together.
"Mah, now listen, I have something up my sleeve so just keep quiet and trust me." Igaram says quietly. Sanji bites his tongue, he wants to point out that he had trusted Igaram last time and the other man hasn't stopped Zoro getting taken away.
They sit down at the front of the court, adjacent to his insufferably smug looking father.
"The police department and court lab have returned their results, I have them here." The judge announces holding up an envelope in her hand. Sanji glances over at his father, he looks far too confident, he must know something that Sanji doesn't. The judge's elderly fingers slide under the sealed envelope flap and tear the top open, she pulls out two pieces of paper and reads each silently for a moment.
"Both of these results agree, therefore this court will accept them as binding, are we all agreed?" The judge says, looking at Igaram and Lucci.
"Yes, your honour." Both Lucci and Igaram nod.
"Igaram, the second test result that you requested after your client so rudely interrupted things last time are here too. They both match as well." The judge adds, with a stern look at Sanji. Sanji's eyes widen, was this the trick up his sleeve that Igaram had spoke about? Lucci and his father look surprised too, evidently they didn't know about this either - perhaps they had been too busy gloating as the love of Sanji’s life was torn from him.
"It is the conclusion of both labs that the DNA of Sanji Prince does not match the supplied DNA of Spandam Prince, and therefore he is, without doubt, not his son." The judge reads aloud.
The court as a whole sucks in a breath, Sanji feels like his heart has stopped. He... He really isn't Spandam's son? How did that make sense? He certainly wasn't conning the man, he remembers his whole life and he was definitely there!
"However, in comparison with the maternal DNA supplied by the Royal Institute records on request of the defendant’s lawyer, it is the verdict of both labs that Sanji Prince has an undeniable maternal link to the mate Shakuyaku, more commonly known as Shakky." The judge reads.
"Cheating whore!" Spandam snarls quietly, though his voice carries far.
Sanji's jaw snaps shut, how dare he insult his mother?! His fists ball and he moves to open his mouth to shout at him when Igaram's hand lands on his shoulder and his voice speaks into his ear.
"Remember what happened last time you opened your mouth in here?" He says in a whisper. All the fight evaporates from Sanji's blood as a flash of Zoro being dragged from him appears in his mind.
"Filthy, fucking slut!" Spandam snarls a little louder.
With his mind numbed by the memory of losing Zoro he can see that Spandam is trying to bait him, he can also see that it was what he was doing before. Well, it won't happen again. He closes his eyes and breathes out calmly and faces forward fully again in silence.
"Are you quite done?" The judge asks Spandam in an unamused tone.
Igaram coughs in his strange little 'mah' way and stands up again.
"His crudeness aside I do believe that Lord Prince is correct in his conclusion. My client was likely born as a result of Shakky’s infidelity. And whilst that is against the terms of her contract with Lord Prince here, it isn't something that my client can be punished for, or even something that he was even aware of as I'm sure you could gather from his shocked expression." Igaram says smoothly.
“As my client is his mother’s son, the defence proposes that he was conceived outside of the master-mate relationship but was unaware of this. Thus, the fact that my client’s DNA does not match Lord Spandam’s is no grounds for fraud. Furthermore, as this was not fraud Lord Spandam is not entitled to gifts that he gave my client back as he was not tricked into giving them. If he wishes to exclude my client from official records and his will then that is his own prerogative. The burden of proof here is on the prosecution to prove that my client did know his parentage and somehow decided to defraud Lord Spandam, otherwise my colleague will have to concede the case.” Igaram continues confidently. Sanji’s mouth turns up into a smile, this was what Igaram was talking about. Unless Spandam and Lucci could prove that he was a fraudster, which they surely couldn’t as he wasn’t, then he had to win!
"Thank you for explaining how court works Igaram, I was unsure until now." Lucci shoots back sarcastically.
"He raises a good point, I really hope that you have more evidence than this gentlemen." The judge says with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course we do. I would like to question the defendant." Lucci says stiffly. Sanji glances up at Igaram who nods. He lets the court clerk guide him up to the witness box and swear him in, he vows not to lie and to be severely punished if he should be caught doing so, he wonders what his father is going to do when he's up here, lie probably.
Lucci prowls in front of him, looking like some big predatory cat.
"Sanji, did you know about the results of this DNA test beforehand?" Lucci asks him smoothly.
"That was the first time I'd heard it." Sanji answers, shaking his head.
"But did you know that Lord Prince wasn't your father before today?" Lucci questions him.
"No." Sanji replies flatly, remembering Igaram's earlier advice to him about not saying more in court than he had to, everything that he said was considered evidence and could easily be used against him, especially by someone as sneaky as Lucci or his father. Although Spandam wasn't his father anymore, or ever actually, that pleasant idea was going to take some getting used to.
"Remember that you're under oath." Lucci says sharply.
"If the prosecution could stop insulting my client's memory and intelligence that'd be great." Igaram interjects, making Sanji grin.
"Get on with it Lucci." the judge reprimands.
"So tell me about the shipwreck where you lost your mother Shakky." Lucci says, leaning against the bench casually. Sanji shifts uncomfortably, he doesn't like talking about this but now he really doesn't have a choice.
"We were at sea, on a ship called the Orbit." Sanji starts with a sigh.
"Was Lord Prince there with you?" Lucci interjects.
"No." he says shaking his head.
"Why? Where were you going?" Lucci presses.
"I... I don't know, I don't remember. I know that my mother and I left in a hurry, I hadn't packed anything much. But I don't remember much more, it's all a bit blurry after the trauma." Sanji answers, he genuinely doesn't remember, in truth he hadn't thought about WHY he was at sea since that day, only that he had been. It was actually a little odd, why would his mother have brought him out to sea for no reason? It wasn’t as if they had relatives in foreign countries to visit, why had they been at sea? He keeps his worries to himself though, he hardly needs Lucci questioning him more on it.
"That's a little implausible, and convenient for you." The lawyer says nastily.
"Really? You think so? I think it would be more convenient for me to be able to tell you so you'd stop questioning me." he points out flatly.
"Continue." Lucci orders, clearly unimpressed with Sanji's argumentative nature.
"There was a storm and we ended up on deck, there was another ship near us and the two crashed into each other, destroying them both. Zeff spotted me and pulled me out of the water, I was drowning so he saved my life, he lost his leg in a chain in the process though. We got caught up in this huge wave and ended up stranded on a tall bare rock spire, we were too far above everything to help anyone and there was no other land around.” Sanji says, able to see that rock in his mind as clearly as he could the day he landed on it.
“We could do nothing but watch as my mother and everyone else was either swallow by the storm or drowned. There was nothing on that rock, no food, no animals and no life but us. It rained enough so that we didn't die of dehydration, we went three months without food, I wanted nothing more than to die in my sleep, to get out of that hell." Sanji says, wrapping his arms around himself as he tries to stay grounded and not get completely dragged into the memory. The clawing hunger starts gnawing at him, as it always does when he thinks of those times, he knows that he'll need to eat as soon as he gets out of court now.
He looks up and realises that everyone else in the room, the judge, the jury, even Igaram is staring at him. He feels wetness on his cheeks and hurriedly scrubs at them.
"Sorry." he apologises hastily, his voice cracking slightly on the word.
"So you were rescued then." Lucci says with an uncomfortable cough.
"Obviously. Zeff and I were finally spotted by a boat, he saw it first and flagged it down, got us both on it - I was too weak to even walk then. We got back into the country and we worked to set up his restaurant, I lived with him." Sanji explains with a weary sigh.
"Why didn't you return to your own father? I understand that this restaurant is in this very city. Surely you wanted to see your own father if you thought that's what he was, unless you knew even then that he wasn't?" Lucci says innocently, obviously trying to trick him into admitting something.
"I didn't know that he wasn’t my father, but I didn't want to see him. I owe Zeff a debt that I still can't repay, I don't expect you to understand that. He saved my life when I would have died, I owe him for that, but he lost his leg to save some brat that he didn't know from Adam. He kept my mind together when I hated him for taking a quick death from me, I owe him more than I can ever hope to repay. The least I could do is to stay by his side and help him rebuild his life." he snarls at Lucci, the slick bastard could never understand what that was like.
"But you didn't try to even contact him? Why is that?" Lucci presses harder.
"Because he was no father to me, not in the real sense. He was cold to me at best, he'd hit me or my mother whenever he was angry, I hated him." Sanji says tightly, he knows that it was never his fault but part of him is still the same small kid ashamed that his father hurt him and hateful because he couldn't protect his mother.
"Do you have any proof that Lord Spandam was anything other than kind and loving towards your mother?" The lawyer cuts in sharply. Sanji's jaw snaps shut in rage.
"Photographing him abusing us was never a priority, no." he answers through gritted teeth. Lucci’s smirk becomes self confident and cocky.
“Please only say things that you can verify in court please, rather than just spuriously accusing my client of abuse.” Lucci reprimands him, Igaram sighs but motions for him to continue.
“Other than that, I never wanted money and the only person that I loved was dead. I didn’t want to go back to my father and I had a new family at the Baratie.” He finishes.
“But you returned as soon as your father tracked you down and asked for you to.” Lucci points out.
“He showed up and demanded that I come with him, I told him no, he threatened to destroy the Baratie if I didn’t, so I didn’t have a choice.” He argues back, remembering all too well the day that Spandam had by chance darkened the Baratie’s door when Sanji happened to be waiting. When Spandam had made his threat it was just like being a kid again, small and scared of the man that could cause him pain just because he was bigger, stronger and meaner. He’d never been able to protect himself, and he’d done a poor job of protecting his mother, but the least he could do was to protect Zeff and his dream.
“Can you substantiate that claim either?” the goddamn lawyer asks in a patronising tone.
“I have a whole bunch of people at the Baratie that you can check with, yeah.” Sanji responds primly, he really wants to kick Lucci’s face off right now.
“Cheats and criminals you mean? I’ve seen the records of the people you employ.” Lucci smiles smugly.
Sanji sits on the steps outside the court watching the world go by, he should really go home to the Baratie but he’s not sure that he can manage that just yet. He’d told Igaram that he’d see him later and just sat down and not moved. They’d gone round and round in circles in court, with Lucci pestering him over and over in a million different ways about how he surely knew that he wasn’t Spandam’s son. The only bright side was that when Lucci started bringing up pictures of Sanji’s cousins and demanding to know how Sanji could possibly not have realised that he wasn’t related to these people, Igaram then promptly stood up and agreed that, yes, any idiot could see that Sanji wasn’t related to them. He then proceeded to ask why, if it was so obvious, Lord Spandam had only just realised it and managed to fall for what would apparently be the most pathetic con ever. That had shut Spandam and Lucci right up.
He turns a sealed envelope around in his hands over and over again, he’s been doing so for the last ten minutes without opening it. Smoker had caught him after the court was adjourned and given it to him.
“Spandam wasn’t your father, but we did find a paternal match in the criminal database. I printed everything out in here if you want it.” Smoker had said to him and then disappeared in, quite literally, a puff of smoke leaving Sanji with an envelope and a million questions.
Does he really want to know who his father was? It wasn’t as if they’d ever been there for him, the only man who ever had was Zeff. Zeff had showed up the moment his old life ended, when his mother drowned and he tried to leave everything else behind. Despite the massive size of the sea they had literally ran right into Zeff’s ship and before Sanji had known what was happening there were big strong arms hauling him to the surface. They had both searched desperately for Shakky until they’d washed up on that pillar. They had both spotted her then, when they were too far away to do anything. She’d looked up at them both and seemed… relieved, almost happy and then with one big wave she was gone forever.
He slides his thumb underneath the flap and rips it open, he’s about to slide it out when he hears the familiar sound of a peg leg and looks up to see Zeff walking towards him. With an elderly huff the old man drops down to sit next to him.
“What’ve you got there eggplant?” Zeff asks. He doesn’t ask how court won, obviously if Sanji had won he’d have screamed it in joy at the old man, and since he hasn’t Zeff doesn’t need to ask. He always liked that about the man, he didn’t say much but when he did speak he said smart and well thought out things.
“Paternity results. Spandam wasn’t my father but they found the man that is in the criminal records database. Do you want to see?” Sanji says, holding up the envelope to the old man.
“You’ve read it then?” the chef asks with wide eyes.
“No…” Sanji answers, looking down at the opened envelope in his hands. In them he holds the answer to who is father really is, or was.
“Sanji… I-” Zeff frowns, picking at the hem on his shirt.
“You know what?” Sanji interrupts suddenly, surprising both himself and Zeff.
“I don’t need this fucking noise. I’ve got enough to deal with right now.” He snaps angrily.
“All this piece of paper shows me is who gave me half of my DNA. It won’t tell me if that person ever loved my mother, or if she was nothing to him. It won’t tell me why he left her to deal with my father alone, it won’t give me his reasons or his life story, none of it!” He exclaims, waving the letter about. He looks at Zeff and his face and his emotions soften a bit.
“I can’t choose who I’m related to, but… I can choose who my family is. My mother was family, and you… you’re family. You gave everything for me and you never had to, my mother gave me life but you preserved it.” Sanji says, running his thumb across the envelope.
“I don’t need to know what’s in here because I already know who my father is. You’re the only father I ever had old man, and you’re the only one I want. That’s more than any piece of paper can tell me.” He says gently. He slides his hand into his jacket and pulls out his lighter, he runs it along the edge of the envelope and holds it up as it burns.
“Shitty kid.” Zeff says in a strangled tone, Sanji looks over with a small smile to see the old man staring resolutely ahead and blinking a little quicker than normal, and if his eyes seem a little shinier than they usually are well… that could just be a trick of the light couldn’t it?
“Stupid old bastard.” Sanji agrees with a gentle smile and drops the flaming envelope to the ground before it burns his fingers.
“Well that’s touching, it’s important to have your family around you when things get tough isn’t it?” A voice laughs from behind them. Sanji turns sharply to see the tall, fat and imposing figure of Blackbeard looming behind him. He leaps to his feet, defensive and angry.
“Whoa, cool your heels blondie. I thought I’d come to congratulate you, not fight with you.” The guy laughs loudly, his golden tooth shining in the light.
“Congratulate me?” Sanji blinks in confusion. Zeff rises up by his side and glowers suspiciously at Blackbeard, Sanji doesn’t miss the way that the nefarious man takes a small step away, Zeff might be old but he was one of the best fighters around and misjudging him even now could be fatal.
“On not being related to Spandam, that slimy little man has done the gene pool a favour by not reproducing. I always did think that you were nothing like him.” Blackbeard grins.
Privately Sanji agrees but he doesn’t want to tell Teach that. More importantly, though he can feel his temper flaring he’s learning to keep it under control. His father does have Blackbeard on some kind of deal, he is fully expecting this to be some sort of trap or ploy.
“Anyhow, I thought that I would wish you luck for winning your trial. And I know that funds must be a little tight after you gave your money away, so I wanted to give you something. Just a little donation, maybe you could sell it and afford a better lawyer.” Blackbeard smiles in a way that shows all his teeth and makes Sanji think more of a shark in the water than it does a friendly gesture.
Blackbeard snags his hand and presses it into his own. Sanji can feel something in his hand, something hard and inorganic but warm from the heat of Blackbeard’s palm. The man pulls him forward so that his lips are practically on Sanji’s ear.
“Because you’ll need all the help that you can get.” He says in a sinister voice before releasing Sanji’s hand and striding off into the distance with his loud, creepy laugh following him. Zeff’s hand lands on Sanji’s shoulder and snaps him out of his daze. The old man shoots him a questioning look and Sanji brings his hand up and unfurls his palm to see what it was that Blackbeard had given him.
Inside his palm, twisted from what was probably a pair of bolt cutters lies a largish golden padlock. It gleams in the light and Sanji has a million visions of it hanging at his love’s throat, smooth and lustrous in the light. He’d had his signature swirl engraved into it and Sanji can’t help but let his eyes be drawn to it, except now the subtle engraving is highlighted by dark dried blood in the swirl’s grooves.
It was a message, plain and simple. Blackbeard has Zoro, and he’s not safe at all