Chapter Text
It had been years since you left the Strawhat pirates. They had helped you avenge your sister's wrongful death and became your weird little family all in one. Even though you had left them, you had never forgotten them. Collecting all their bounty posters and news clippings every chance you got.
When Luffy finally became King of the Pirates, part of you wished you were there to witness the moment, you knew it must have been something amazing. Not to mention getting to experince the epic party that for sure followed.
All the lies that the government told about the Strawhats and many other pirates had come to light, everyone learning the truth about what good a lot of pirates had done for the world. It made it so many young kids started to idolize Luffy and the rest of the Strawhat crew. Once one of the kids in your town had figured out that you sailed with them at one point they wouldn’t leave alone, getting you to tell them stories whenever you were in town.
Today happened to be one of those days, but with the nice weather you were more than okay with being trapped by the kids. You were sitting on a bench just to the side of a small park, a couple of kids were sitting in front of you, while some others were running back and forth since they couldn’t sit still.
“He bounced on the ground?! People can’t bounce like that!!”
“He did! Luffy bounced so high that we couldn’t even see him in the sunlight! And when he came crashing down the ground molded around him perfectly! Like a Luffy shaped hole in the ground!”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
That voice, it can’t be.
Your head snapped so fast you wouldn’t be surprised if ended up hurting your neck, but there standing behind the bench in an amazing suit was Sanji. Lit cigarette hanging from his lips, just like you always pictured him.
“SANJI!”
The kids were forgotten as you leaped over the bench and threw yourself into his hold. You could be directly compared to Luffy when he would wrap his limbs around someone, and even though you couldn’t stretch like he could you wrapped yourself around Sanji the best you could. Holding Sanji close until you remembered that you were still in the middle of the town with a bunch of children staring at you.
“What are you doing here Sanji?! Not that I’m not happy to see you!”
“In short, supply stock up, but I may have pushed to stop here to see you again.”
The smile across your face wouldn’t leave as the two of you left the kids behind who still wanted to hear more stories, though you didn’t hear a word as you brought him back to your home.
Sanji couldn’t stop the smile on his face when he noticed the little things around your home that were directly connected to the Strawhats. The crew's bounty posters hanging above your desk all over the wall, a scrap book on your coffee table filled with news clippings about each of them and what Sanji loved most, the recipe box he had gifted you when you left sitting on your counter. You may have left the crew, but just like how you never left their hearts, it seemed the Strawhats never left yours.
You had poured two glasses of wine, pulled out an ash tray for him and plopped yourself on your couch. Patting the cushion next to you for Sanji to sit.
“Tell me everything that’s happened since you’ve changed the world.”
***
The two of you had gone through an entire bottle of wine and a full meal Sanji put together from what you had in your home by the time you finished talking. The whole time you got to hear stories after stories about each of your friends and what happened after Luffy changed the world and became King of the Pirates.
Even if he achieved his dream, Luffy’s story was probably easiest to guess. He got his title and the treasure that went with it. He reached his goal and really all he wanted to do afterwards was to visit his family, then continue to travel the seas and eat as much food as possible.
You had learned that Zoro defeated Mihawk and became the world's strongest swordsman from the News Coo, but Sanji filled you in on the parts that the newspaper didn’t cover.
“It was 14 days straight on the same island Zoro spent training for those two years on. I was stuck there the whole time making sure they both didn’t die from starvation! Luffy lasted about 2 days before leaving to explore the area and fighting these random monkeys. The fight was supposed to be to the death, but I think they both had a small sweet spot for each other and Zoro left Mihawk on the brink of death before letting Chopper take care of him…Now that mosshead is lost in Wano somewhere trying to figure out his family history.”
You learned from that story that not everyone was still travelling together. Nami was still with everyone, she needed to continue to make sure they didn’t get completely lost while at sea, but the main reason was she needed to change so many of her maps knowing that Luffy had fully changed the landscape of the world when he destroyed the Red Line.
Usopp on the other hand wasn’t with them anymore, at least right now. Him and Franky had rebuilt the Going Merry for him to sail home when they were in the East Blue. As soon as the sniper was with Kaya once again everyone knew they needed their own time to reconnect.
“I better get an invitation to their wedding.”
“If not, I'll make sure to bring you as my date.”
Sanji wasn’t as open about what he was up to, until the All Blue came up. Through the majority of your dinner he couldn’t stop talking about seeing it all come together once the ocean finally settled beneath the destruction Luffy caused. He and Zeff had even gone on a short trip together so Sanji could show his father the one place they both dreamed about.
Chopper continued to travel with everyone. Not only because the crew was useless in terms of medical sense, but also because he wanted to keep learning about every sickness that he could and help everyone that they came across.
Robin was currently away from the group. After finding and reading all of the ponyglyths she had actually returned to Alabasta and was working with the now Queen Vivi in creating a second O’Hara. The two were passionate about preserving histories and with both their influences it was a match made in heaven in creating an information utopia.
“Oh! What about Brook? I saw he went on tour again!”
“He did! He's back now, it was just a short one to show off all the songs he wrote about our journey…”
“Andddd?”
“And to experience ‘the hords of groupies.’ His words not mine! Though I don’t blame him.”
You gave him a small smack, but at this point of the night it was basically a light tap with how much of the wine bottle was empty.
Finally you learned about Franky and Jinbe. Jinbe had instantly gone down to Fishman Island after the red line fell. Not only to help his friends and family, but to be a representation of the Strawhats. It was their territory after all and with all the destruction they needed to see that it wasn’t truely meant to harm them, but to save everyone in the long run.
Once the new Merry was built Franky followed Jinbe down to Fishman Island. His expert building skills coming in handy to help rebuild a lot of their structures, as well as him getting more time to connect with Tom’s brother.
“And what about you Y/N? What have you been up to?”
You were incredibly tired at this point. You were lounging against Sanji’s shoulder and your eyes were struggling to stay open. Sanji wasn’t as tired but wasn’t about to leave as he kept an arm around you.
“Nothing compared to you guys. Started teaching in the school here, it’s great work but a little lonely.”
Sanji gave you a sympathetic look. One that told you that he understood what you were trying to say. That you were upset that you left them all, and missed them all dearly. He pulled you close into a hug, but before he could pull away you grabbed onto his shirt, making it so he couldn’t pull away too far.
“Stay the night, please.”
“Of course mon amour.”
***
The two of you had slept quite peacefully wrapped up close together under your blankets. Though your wakeup was less than peacefull, even if it did fill you with a sense of joy.
“Y/N!!! SANJI!!! WAKE UPPP!!!”
You were instantly covered by Sanji’s body as he protected you from the dog pile of your old crew jumping onto your bed. Everyone who was still travelling together was here in your little home attempting to squish you with their bodies love, it quickly managed to bring tears to your eyes. You missed this bunch of weirdos so much and having them back, even just for a day was something you’d cherish for a long time.