[video]

[concasse]

... Nami-san’s gone home.

[The announcement comes early afternoon, after Sanji has tracked down all available housemates to share the heavy news; after spending thirty minutes alone in an empty room, leaning against the door frame and smoking while he stares dead-eyed at the stripped bed, and struggles to remind himself the tray of food he brought with him needs to go back into the fridge; after telling himself around breakfast, when she didn’t come to join them at the table, that she was probably in her mikan grove for the morning, and it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to disturb her; after waking up at the crack of dawn, grumpy and disheveled, thinking that at least with the Valentine’s Day shit over, he and his nakama could look forward to some semblance of peace.

...

His expression isn't grieved. Nor his tone. He keeps his gaze steady and serious] You all better wish her the best, you hear?

[He'll stick around to answer anyone who responds, then check on his nakama. And after his duty is finished, he's heading for the sea, and will stay there well into the night.

He's done all the talking he can manage. Now? He just wants to be left alone.]

[ooc: Action is open for castmates, and for anyone who'd like to track Sanji down, if they want /o/]

Comments

[Action]

[inkdrops]

[Oh, that smile. Miyabi's always loved it when Sanji smiled like that - it was infectious. Her own smile reached her eyes as Sanji took her little gift, and she actually utters a quiet giggle. He's so cute, and she's just so, so happy he's still here. It would be so hard for her, if both of them went away at the same time. She can't even bare to think of that. But it's good that he's smiling like that, it means that he'll be okay.]

I know you will. [There's a pause, as she muses something for a minute, then starts to just laugh again.] ...Sanji, do you know what the word for 'pirate' is in my language?

[Of course he won't, she's sure of that, but humor her a minute. There's a reason for this she's just realized.]

[Action]

[concasse]

For 'pirate'... [Even before he sets to thinking about it, Sanji knows he won't come up with an answer. And indeed, it isn't long before he grins repentantly and shakes his head.]

No, I don't have a clue. [While there have occasionally been some uncanny overlaps in their languages, it's not anything that would fashion Sanji a native of Japanese.]

[Action]

[inkdrops]

Kaizoku is the word for pirate in my language. [She takes a moment to look around with a little smile on her face, running her hands through her hair absently. It's still weird how it ends so suddenly now.] And the word for 'family' is...kazoku.

They're very similar, aren't they?

[Action]

[concasse]

Kaizoku... [The word rolls of his tongue with natural fluidity, and there's a subtle ring to the word that he appreciates - all the more because of the resemblance Miyabi points out, that has him smiling.]

Pretty fitting, I should say. [Piracy in and of itself isn't a glamorous profession, but being with the Straw Hats - being here, in Luceti, and bearing that title - has always blurred the lines between what society considers a pirate, and what it's become for him.

Kaizoku. Kazoku. Family. They're one in the same, at the end of the day.]

[Action]

[inkdrops]

I don't think, before I met you all, I would have thought that.

[Pirates really are bad people, it's a universal thing known throughout worlds. And maybe these people have done a few unsavory things for all she knows, but there's never been anything infinitely bad about them. Not a single one. They've always just seemed like normal, everyday people. Closer now, of course, but still. They're still people.]

But you're all different, I think. A little or a lot, I can't be sure, but...I'm happy to know you, and be with and around you. Ehehe, you really are like my family. My pirate family.