#mostly because Zeff can’t tell with that helmet

[khryptid]

BRB, just thinking about newly escaped baby Sanji stowing away on Zeff’s ship, helmet and all.

Option 1:

Zeff finds Sanji tucked away fast asleep in one of the overflow pantries (c’mon they’re called the Cook Pirates for a reason) and of course immediately kicks the kid. Sanji startles awake, flinging themself backwards in the same way they’d try to escape their brothers, only to let go of the one meaningful thing they’d managed to take from Germa. Sliding across the floor only to stop at Zeff’s feet is a book titled All Blue.

“Where’d you get that?”

“It’s mine! Give it back!”

“What? A fairy tail book for a little kid?”

“You’re wrong. It’s real. The All Blue’s real, and I’m going to find it one day.”

“ha ha Ha HA HA HA,” Zeff’s slow chuckle grows into a full bellied laugh, “how about a meal, Little Eggplant?”

Option 2:

Zeff knows someone on his crew’s got to be messing with him. First, it started with his spice rack getting rearranged. Dammit, he knows it’s unconventional, but he had them in order of the flavor profiles he used the most. Then, the ginger cookies he had stashed away for his next watch shift were just gone, not even the wrapping left behind. But worst of all, worst of all, someone had messed with the things in his quarters. Not much, barely enough to be noticeable, but his maps, the precious books he’s collected about the All Blue, he can tell have been rifled through.

Meanwhile, Sanji has been putting their Germa training into practice. (I mean there had to be a reason they were supposed to be Stealth Black) Somehow sneaking around the pirate ship is easier and harder than it was sneaking around the castle. While there’s certainly less space on the ship, they find it almost simple to avoid the ship’s inhabitants in ways they never could seem to avoid their brothers. As for the ship itself, it’s practically paradise. The kitchen is fully stocked—though whoever organized it seriously needed their head checked, who thinks basil goes next to chili powder—the food was pretty damn good, and best of all, the captain has a stash of books on the All Blue hidden away in his room. Now if only they could get this helmet off, they’d be set.

Zeff still ends up finding Sanji eventually, but rather than kicking the kid awake, because it’s definitely a kid who’s been messing with him and not one of his crew, he takes a good long look. Eyes catching on the metal contraption wrapped around the kid’s head, but settling on the book tightly clasped in too small hands titled All Blue. It’s not one of his, but it certainly explains the intrusion upon his private collection. Making up his mind and without waking the kid, he returns to his kitchen to plate up something simple yet hot and filling. When he gets back to the little nook, the kid’s still asleep, still tightly grasping that book, and setting the food on a crate at eye level, softly kicks them awake.

“Oi, you got a name stowaway?”

“Sanji”

“Nah, you look more like a Little Eggplant to me.”

#one piece #one piece fluff #found family #sanji #vinsmoke sanji #black leg sanji #red leg zeff #zeff #gender neutral pronouns for Sanji #mostly because Zeff can’t tell with that helmet #but future gender fluid Sanji for the win