Chapter Text
It had been as normal of a day as you could hope for on a pirate crew. They had chosen to make landfall for supplies en-route to Little Garden; it was supposed to just be like any other food run… until it wasn’t.
“Sanji! Let’s go buy some food in the market!” Luffy exclaimed.
“I’ve already told you I’ll make you something when we get back to the Merry.”
“Boo!”
Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Startled he turned quickly to find the old woman who’d barged into his and the mosshead’s conversation the previous day stood with a baby tucked against her.
“Ahhh, at last, I’ve found you!”
“Can I help you?”
She smiled joyfully before holding out the small bundle.
“This is your son.”
He scoffed.
“Look, I’m sorry but I don’t have time for this.”
“Just look; he resembles you, doesn’t he? I tell no lies, child.”
Despite still not believing her words Sanji still leant close towards the baby, his eyes widened a few seconds later as the breath in his lungs left sharply in one swoop.
The child’s hair was still lacking which didn’t offer many clues but a striking feature elsewhere certainly did.
“He has my eyebrows…”
“Like I said, he’s your son.”
Immediately defensive he stared down the woman.
“If this is some kind of joke then I’m not laughing.” He snarled.
“I would never lie about something like this.”
“How do you know that for sure, what if this is just some set-up?”
“The green-haired boy you were touring the island with earlier, he is your partner, is he not?”
He would have been stunned by the woman so openly talking about a private subject if not for the fact that her guess was in fact correct.
“How did you?”
“The boy belongs to both you and your partner.”
“What?! But that’s… that’s not possible!”
“I’m a devil fruit user, particularly one who can help people have children despite infertility.”
“So why the hell did you do this to us?!”
“Because I heard your inner thoughts.”
“Oh so you’re a mind reader too?”
“It may be an ancient art in this day and age, but once my people would practice such an ability. In short, I heard your thoughts and helped with an ability only I possess.”
“So how did you?”
“It required me to only touch both you and your partner and the connection created this beautiful little boy. I believe he is going to have his father’s green hair, but everything else is his Papa.”
Sanji felt sick.
“And you never thought to ask?! How the hell am I supposed to explain this?!”
“He loves you, he’ll understand.”
He scoffed.
“No he won’t.”
“Why don’t you hold him for a while?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because-…”
Because the second I do I’ll never want to let him go.
“Here.”
The old woman carefully handed over the baby, the small bundle fitting perfectly into his arms.
“Damn it…”
He gently stroked a finger across the little boy’s head before looking back to the woman.
What the hell was he supposed to do?
Sanji briefly closed his eyes and took a breath.
“Look, you don’t mention any of this to the green-haired guy, okay?”
“Why not?”
“Because he doesn’t need to know.”
She didn’t seem too pleased by the idea.
“That boy is his son too!”
“And his ambition is to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman; he can’t do that if he’s worrying about a kid!”
“Do you really think he would ever be that selfish?!”
“No… No of course he wouldn’t… but he shouldn’t even have to choose because of a mess I created. I mean, you only did this because of what I was thinking about, right?”
“Mostly, yes.”
“Then this is my problem, not his.”
“Sanji!”
Nami rushed over, she furrowed an eyebrow as she noticed the baby.
“Who’s this?”
He took a breath.
“Apparently… this is my son.”
Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped open.
“WHAT?!”
Sanji wrapped the young boy up tighter in the blanket covering him.
“You’re kidding, right?!”
He shook his head.
Trying to keep calm he glanced back at the woman wordlessly before heading off in the direction of the dock.
“Sanji!”
Nami rushed to catch up with him.
“What do you mean this is your kid?”
“What do you think?”
“But you’re-.”
“Bi.” He answered in counter to her statement.
“But you and Zoro, you’re…”
“I know that.”
“So you?”
“I didn’t cheat on him.” Sanji stated firmly.
“You know how bad this looks though, right?”
He scoffed in annoyance.
“Of course I do but there’s not exactly much I can do about it is there?!”
He took a breath to calm himself.
“Sorry, Nami-swan.”
She shook her head.
“No, what I said was stupid; of course you wouldn’t do that to Zoro.”
“He’s not going to see it that way.”
“Sanji…”
“Let’s get back to the Merry.”
Sanji was sure he was living in a nightmare.
“He’s my son.”
Those were the words he’d used when his partner had asked the question ‘who’s that?’ as he’d walked aboard ten minutes or so earlier.
And then all hell had broken loose.
He’d never heard Zoro sound so angry and being the target of all that rage was triggering something deep inside him he’d hoped he’d buried a long time ago.
“You kissed me for the first time after Arlong Park, we started dating in Loguetown, that was around nine months ago, Sanji!”
“I didn’t sleep with anyone!” He attempted in defence.
“You sure about that ‘cause the kid that looks exactly like you says otherwise?!”
Sanji grit his teeth.
“And just what are you inferring?!”
“Well babies don’t just happen; you can’t exactly deny it when the proof is lying in the girls’ room!”
“I’m telling you that I didn’t.”
Zoro scoffed.
“And I’m supposed to believe that?”
“Yes!”
“Sanji, just stop…”
“Zoro, I… I didn’t do that to you… I would never do that to you.”
The swordsman pinched the bridge of his nose.
“When you were telling me how I was the first person you’d ever fallen for like that actually you were off shacking up with some random girl and ended up getting her pregnant!”
The baby began to wail.
“Keep your voice down you’re scaring-.”
Suddenly Zoro grabbed him by the collar and slammed him back against the railing, his back hanging out over the edge.
“STOP LYING TO ME AND TELL THE TRUTH!”
“I AM!”
“Stop it!” Vivi shoved Zoro away and stood between them. “Stop fighting!”
Nami emerged from the galley with his still shrieking son in her arms.
Straightening his ruffled tie he quickly walked over and took him from her, pressing a kiss to his forehead in an attempt to soothe him.
“It’s okay, baby.” He cood softly.
“Zoro!”
Vivi shouted after the swordsman as he stormed off through the hatch and down into the men’s room, slamming it behind him.
Sanji jumped slightly before taking a breath and focusing on his son.
Their son.
He truly hated himself for having to lie, but it wasn’t fair on Zoro to throw something as monumental as that onto him, especially so early into their voyage.
No, he would have to play along for now.
A face came into view as Vivi leant down to smile at his son.
“Hello baby… did the grumbly green man wake you up from your nap?” She looked to him. “Can I hold him?”
He nodded.
“Sure.”
The princess carefully accepted the transfer and proceeding to gently rock his son back and forth while singing what appeared to be a lullaby in a language he’d never heard before.
“Alabasta must have a native tongue.” Nami commented before a hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Zoro’s just being Zoro, he’ll come around.”
Sanji sighed.
“I doubt he will this time.”