Chapter Text
Day 119 or 121 (Earth Surface Time)
They both exchanged a look of disbelief before turning their attention back to the Guardian.
“You want… what?” Luffy asked again, because surely, he could have only misheard.
Yet, the Guardian, a man with skin as black as ink, two huge wings and fire on his back, said the same stupid thing again.
“Present me a piece of his body in exchange for his memories.” He repeated with his mouth in shape of a beak.
Sanji’s soul was hot next to him, the warmth familiar now even if it had been only three days since Luffy met him in this form, while behind him were the footprints scorching the ground in black. His flames were beautiful, the gold impossible to miss when they were in the middle of the storm where the visibility was almost null, bringing out his brilliant blue eyes, but it didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t touch anything tangible without burning it to ashes.
Plus, it wasn’t like Sanji had left a body behind when he used the Cornucopia to save his life!
Luffy knew the quest wasn’t going to be easy. He didn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t found the shard of the mythical seashell when he had woken up alone in their hidden place, and it was obvious that without the help of Sanji’s mom and Ace, Sanji wouldn’t even be here with him at all.
Still, how were they ever going to find a piece of Sanji’s body now? Luffy had packed up everything he could in his bag before leaving their hidden place, but he would have known if he had seen a hand lying around somewhere when he started to climb the volcano!
He glanced at Sanji and with his head down and shoulders slumped, Luffy could see him gradually lose hope, something he couldn’t let ever happen. There had to be something, anything, that could help them get Sanji’s memories back.
Sanji raised his head, showing a sadness so pure in his eyes that Luffy wanted to cry in his place.
“I’m sorry, Luffy.”
He then looked at his untouchable hands, closed and opened them, but he could try as many times as he wanted, he knew he couldn’t hold anything without destroying it, even if he had something to give to the Guardian.
When he looked at Luffy again, he tried to smile to comfort him, as if it wasn’t him who was suffering the most right now.
“No.” Luffy said in a final tone.
He wasn’t going to give up so easily, not after everything they went through, and certainly not if it made Sanji so sad.
And, anyway, he had an idea.
He put his bag on the ground and started to rummage through his and Sanji’s stuff.
“Luffy?”
Sanji was looking over his shoulder, now curious, a tiny little hope coming back in his eyes when Luffy gave him a quick smile, reassuring, before going back for what he was looking for.
“Where is it? I’m sure it was there…” He mumbled.
Luffy took out clothes, Sanji’s wallet, his lighter, and finally…
“Ha ha!” He cried with joy and grabbed the toiletry bag in his hand.
Before opening it though, he had to make sure his idea could actually work.
“You only need something that belongs to Sanji, right?” He asked to the Guardian.
The man looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here and kept quiet, his hard glare less and less friendly, but Luffy’s inflexible look won in the end and he sighed.
“Yes.” He reluctantly confirmed. “But he’s the one who has to give it to me. Not you.” He smiled with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “And since he was never supposed to complete the quest, he will never be able to, no matter what you try.”
Luffy ignored the taunt and turned towards Sanji who had a frown on his face again.
“This is yours.” He said, showing the toiletry bag in his hand. “And contrary to me, you use a lot of products and you even have…” He opened the bag and found immediately the comb. “… this!”
There were a few strands of hair stuck between the teeth and Luffy smiled, relieved.
“Look, look!” He exclaimed, jumping on his feet to show the blond locks to Sanji.
“It’s… mine? You’re sure?” He tilted his head, uncertain.
Luffy nodded fervently.
“Of course it’s yours! I don’t carry just anyone’s stuff!”
Sanji’s flames flared up and by now, Luffy knew it meant that he was happy, and with the way he looked at him with wonder, Luffy could even imagine a blush hidden behind the golden fire.
“Shishishi!
Sanji might have lost his memories but his soul apparently liked Luffy a lot, and it showed, much to his great pleasure. Luffy never doubted Sanji’s love for him, not since he reciprocated his feelings months ago, but it made Luffy even more happy to see how deep Sanji’s feelings went for him.
Luffy took out the few strands of hair between his fingers and looked at them, hit by a strange feeling of nostalgia. He remembered how soft the blond locks felt like, even though Sanji hadn’t be able to take care of his hair as much as he wanted in the wild recently, hygiene becoming second priority when dinosaurs wanted to eat them at every turn.
Now it was all it remained from the man he loved, physically at least, but not for long he hoped.
The Guardian eyed him and held his hand, palm up.
“Remember, you can’t be the one to give it to me.”
Luffy stood up and nodded. Clearly, there were rules impossible to bend but he really didn’t care. His goal was still the same, to give Sanji back his memories, to bring his Sanji back to him, whole, safe and sound, no matter what.
He looked at him, the man with the most beautiful soul he had ever seen, and it didn’t matter if Sanji’s soul was the only one he had ever met, he was still the only one for whom Luffy could feel so much love just by looking at him.
“Ready?”
Sanji wasn’t, and it was probably what Luffy regretted the most about this whole situation, because if the love was still there, the complicity and the easy way to know exactly what the other was thinking with only one look had been lost with his memories.
It was okay though, because they were going to get them back.
“Put your hand above his and trust me, okay?” Luffy said to a very confused Sanji, but he did what Luffy told him without question.
“I still can’t touch- Wait!”
Luffy had already let the strands of hair fall on Sanji’s hand when he cried, and he retrieved his hand as quickly as he could but he had already brushed a blond lock, still slowly burning when it touched the skin of the hand of the Guardian.
Guardian who was now frowning at the simple trick but still kept the blond hair, unbothered by the scorching heat against his palm.
Luffy smiled, proud of his little mischief, and Sanji had a matching smile on his face, in awe.
“I received a piece of his body.” The Guardian said before crushing what was left of Sanji’s hair in his fist. “In exchange, I’ll give back his memories.”
Without any other warning, a gust of wind hit them, pushing Luffy back three steps and forcing him to close his eyes for a second.
“Holy shit!”
Luffy immediately reopened them, surprised by the familiar tone in Sanji’s voice and the loud curse he had let escape. When their eyes met, Sanji smiled, a beaming smile so warm that Luffy’s heart stopped for a second, entranced.
“It actually worked!” Sanji exclaimed, happy. “Luffy, I remember!”
When he noticed Luffy’s lack of answer, his face softened and there, Luffy saw love in his eyes again, directed at him and only him, and he felt the corner of his eyes starting to water, immense relief suddenly flooding in his body.
Sanji raised his hand before stopping himself mid-air and drawing it back, his golden soul still as untouchable and dangerous as before.
“I’m back as promised, Luffy. Sorry it took me so long.” He said with a soft voice and a shy smile.
It made Luffy laugh actually, unable to stop himself, while ugly tears fell on his cheeks, and all his worries, fears and doubts which he felt since Sanji’s disappearance seemed to vanish instantly.
“Luffy…?” Sanji was looking at him with a bit of concern now, clearly resisting from touching him to comfort him, and it made Luffy’s heart jump in his chest, in a very good way.
“I’m so happy!” He said between two hiccups to reassure his Sanji. “I’m just so sooooo happy!”
The frown on the golden face changed into an amused expression and it almost looked like everything was back to normal.
“Yeah… Me too.”
“And I’ll be happy when you’ll leave.” The Guardian butted in, clearly not moved by the fact that Sanji just recovered his memories and what it meant for the both of them.
So they ignored him, sharing a look full of love and joy, grinning at each other. Until the Guardian sighed and Sanji took pity on him and turned his attention to the man.
“I guess we should thank you for helping us.”
“Yeah! Thanks Birdman!” Luffy said enthusiastically with a tap on the birdman’s back.
“I’m not a bird, I’m a pterodactyl!” The guy shouted at them and Sanji snorted, the sound a beautiful melody to Luffy’s ears.
It had been a long while the last time Luffy heard him laugh like that, so carefree and relaxed, and Luffy enjoyed the moment even more.
“So, what do we need to do for the rest of the quest? Is Sanji going to have his body back? Do we need to bring something from his body again?” Luffy started to question the Guardian, restless, oblivious to the fact that the man was starting to lose patience.
“Why do you even ask me?! You already cheated for the first task, I’m not going to help you! Plus, he’s not even supposed to complete the quest, he’s not a Predestined!”
“Hey, shitty Birdman.”
There was an underlying anger behind Sanji’s calm voice and Luffy noticed that his eyes were shining brighter than usual.
“Who cares about Predestined and stupid fates, we’ll make our own path, together, whether you like it or not.”
Luffy nodded, even though he wasn’t really sure what a Predestined was, but he didn’t need to know that to agree with the rest of Sanji’s statement.
“And if I wasn’t supposed to complete the quest, then why did my memories even come back?”
The question seemed to shut the birdman up and the way his wings flogged showed how unhappy he was.
“Now,” Sanji’s flames on his body flared up and burned stronger than it ever did before, but as much as Luffy knew how hot they were, he didn’t feel like they could hurt him anymore, as if a bubble of warmth was hugging him and protected him from harm. “I’d like to kiss the love of my life so how the hell do I get my body back?”
Luffy suddenly turned red, not expecting Sanji to be so straightforward in front of someone else, but he was also extremely happy and couldn’t nor didn’t want to hide his growing smile.
Sanji had the same smile on his face and winked at him, playful.
If only he could kiss him like they both wanted to…
Luffy was really looking forward to the moment when the man he loved would have his body back.