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Sanji steps out the back to take his last smoke break of the night. The rush has died down considerably, and in a few hours they'll be closing the kitchen. Past 8pm, it’s considerably dark outside, the street lights are on, and there’s a slight breeze. If Sanji weren’t wearing a jacket, he might be cold. He lights his cigarette and pockets his lighter, taking a big inhale.
Sanji thinks about later tonight, coming home to Zoro. Getting to have a cup of tea, reading his book, plus Zoro’s too warm body, acting as a breathing weighted blanket. He lets out a particularly harsh exhale, thinking about the two more hours of his shift left. He enjoys the rest of his cigarette, before dropping it on the ground and stubbing it out.
Just as he’s about to go back inside, Sanji hears an aborted meow. He turns around, scanning the area to see where that sound could be coming from. There’s nothing he can see immediately, and when he tries to listen for another sound, all he hears is the wind. Sanji once again reaches for the door, but hears another meow, this time a little louder.
Sanji whips around and paces around the back of the building. The back of Baratie is facing a road, their dumpster up against the building on his left and nothing on his right. He doesn’t exactly want to climb in a dumpster, but needs to find the cat that’s making this sound so he knows he isn’t going crazy. He approaches the dumpster to find it locked, predictably so the cat isn’t inside.
Now closer, the meow is even louder, and Sanji walks around to the other side of the dumpster. There, curled up in a straw hat, is a frail cat, looking up at Sanji with the saddest eyes. The cat, clearly abandoned, is multi-coloured, black, white and orange. There’s a scar under its left eye, and patches of fur missing. Sanji can feel his heart break at the clear cruelty of the world that this cat has faced.
“Awe, poor thing.” Sanji mutters. He crouches down, and the cat meows again. Sanji would love nothing more than to take it inside, but there are obvious health concerns, nevermind Sanji petting it, though he would do nothing more than to give the cat all the love in the world. “Okay, I can’t help you right now, but if you stay right here, I promise I will be back in two hours, and I’ll take care of you, okay?” Sanji knows this cat doesn’t understand him, but the answering meow does a lot to reassure him.
Sanji feels bad for leaving the cat outside, so he picks up the straw hat with the cat inside, and places it beside the backdoor, feeling a little better about the cat being closer to people and the light. The rest of his shift is done quickly, only thinking about the cat and how underfed and sad it looked. If anyone is curious about Sanji’s urgency they don’t say anything.
Two hours later, Sanji grabs all his stuff, including leftovers, and leaves out the back door, where the cat thankfully remains. It seems to have been sleeping, but lifts its head at the sound of the door closing. Sanji scoops up the hat and cradles it close to himself.
“See, I told you I would be back. Let’s get you to a hospital.” Sanji says, speed walking to his car. Despite the late hour, there’s one animal hospital open 24/7 and Sanji quickly puts the address into the GPS and only runs a couple yellows to make it there quicker.
Once they arrive, Sanji goes to reception and explains what happened, and where he found the cat. They’re admitted right away, no one else in emergency at this late hour. Sanji waits in the waiting room, and is only realizing he should update Zoro on what’s happening. He calls Zoro and explains the situation, who offers to come, but Sanji reassures him, saying it shouldn’t be much longer, only wanting to make sure it's okay.
“You can just tell me if you’re bringing the cat home.” Zoro says. Sanji scoffs, rolling his eyes as if Zoro could see.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I won’t bring it home, I just want to make sure it’s been properly looked after, and that its going to make it.” Sanji reasons.
“Right. It’s an animal hospital, Curls. I’m pretty sure they got it taken care of.”
“Well, then for my own piece of mind, I’m waiting. I’ll see you when I get home.” Sanji retorts, and hangs up after hearing Zoro’s responding grunt. He itches for a cigarette, but not wanting to leave, Sanji settles for just bouncing his leg up and down. He keeps glancing at the door and the clock, waiting, impatiently. At 11:20pm, a nurse comes back and Sanji stands and meets them halfway.
“Well, we’ve examined the cat, he’s a male, about a year old, and severely underweight. We’ve created a file for him, and given him vaccines. It’s clear he’s been on the streets his whole life, but we’ve taken care of the obvious wounds. He’s tough, and lucky to be alive. It’s a good thing you found him, and brought him in.”
Sanji let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He’s so relieved that the cat is going to make it.
“Can I see him before I go?” The nurse nods, and leads Sanji into a room, where the cat is now sleeping in the hat, with a towel lining the hat for more comfort. His fur is trimmed to make the missing patches less obvious, and there’s a bandage wrapped around his torso.
“He seems really attached to the hat, started yowling and swiping when we tried to take him out. We were able to sanitize and add a towel before replacing him back in the hat.” This cat gives Cat in The Hat a run for his money.
“What’s going to happen to him now?” Sanji asks, watching the little cat.
“Well, I’d like to watch him for a few days, slowly feed him, get him a little more healthy and lively, then most likely an animal shelter. His scrappy appearance might put off some folks, but I’m confident this is the start to this little guy’s new life full of love.” The nurse watches Sanji, watching the cat and encourages him. “You can pet him if you want, no fleas or diseases. He’s pretty calm, aside from the hat.”
Sanji approaches the bed closer, his heart just melts at how he’s curled in a ball in his hat. He hesitantly places a couple fingers on his head, petting him. He seems to wake up a little, and the cat leans back into Sanji’s hand. He lets out little aborted purrs.
He’s not sure if it was the moment he first found the cat or this exact moment, but Sanji knew there was no way he wasn’t coming home with this cat. Damn Zoro for being right for once.
-
Whoever said owning a cat was one of life’s greatest joys, must have been a dog owner. While Sanji and Zoro never expected to be cat owners, Luffy, the cat Sanji rescued, has been living with them for two months. After slowly increasing the amount of food they fed Luffy, to avoid refeeding syndrome, over the course of two months Luffy gained back the weight to be healthy, and got acquainted with his new living arrangements.
Once Luffy clearly determined this was his new permanent residence, he showed his true colours. Which were; hungry, curious, adventurous, goofy and clingy. Of course, Zoro and Sanji still loved him all the same, and were happy to see him with a personality and happy where he lived. But it doesn’t come without a lot of learning curves and crazy stories of what Luffy has got up to.
-
Sanji misses the days where he was able to wake up nicely. With Luffy running around, most days he’s awoken with loud sounds and crashes around the house. Sometimes at all hours of the day, most of the time when he is sleeping. This morning, it was a beeping noise coming from the kitchen.
Sitting up, Sanji wipes the sleep out of his eyes trying to wake up. Glancing over, Zoro is still deep asleep, with no signs of waking up. Grumbling a bit, Sanji gets out of bed and makes his way to the kitchen to see what Luffy has gotten up to.
Flicking the light on, he’s greeted with the sight of the fridge doors wide open and Luffy sitting comfortably on the middle shelf, trying to open last night's leftovers, of spaghetti and meatballs. The beeping is the fridge being left open too long. Having been caught, Luffy looks up at Sanji and meows innocently.
“Good morning to you too.” Sanji greets. Sighing exasperatedly, Sanji picks up Luffy, who still tries to stretch over and snag the meatballs, and carries him over to his food dish. Placing him down, Sanji goes and grabs Luffy’s breakfast before he tries and steal any other foods he’s not supposed to have.
-
Zoro is pulling the popcorn out of the microwave to put in a bowl for movie night. Sanji and him usually try to have a monthly movie night with their friends so they can hang and catch up.
Zoro makes his way back into the living room to find Usopp and Chopper browsing through the movie selections. Sanji is fluffing the pillows and blankets around Nami. Robin is calmly reading her book waiting for the others to be ready.
Luffy, as usual, made himself comfortable on someone's head, Robin’s to be specific. His head seems to flick around watching Usopp and Chopper as they debate on a movie, to Sanji swooning over Nami, and Robin as she turns the page in her book. Coming over, Zoro places the large popcorn bowl on the coffee table, and picks Luffy up, off of Robin’s head.
“Luffy, what did we say about climbing people?” Zoro questions exasperatedly. As he holds Luffy up under his front legs, his lower body seems to extend the longer Zoro holds him up. All Zoro gets in response is a meow and a slow eye blink. Rolling his eyes, Zoro gently tosses Luffy onto the couch, who flails midair before landing on his feet, on the couch.
Meowing again, Luffy turns back towards Zoro, seeming to try and leap up onto his shoulders, but gets distracted by the bowl of popcorn. Turning his focus, he prepares to leap into the bowl when Sanji comes out of nowhere and catches him in midair. Securing him on his shoulders, Sanji takes a seat beside Zoro on the couch, while the others get comfortable, Usopp and Chopper finally coming to an agreement on a movie, The Menu.
As the movie started, Sanji lost track of Luffy, and the next thing he knows, Luffy is jumping up onto the TV stand and sitting in front of the screen, pawing at the food shown on screen.
“Luffy get away from the TV, that's not real food.” Zoro tells him tiredly, this is not the first time Luffy confused food in shows for real food. Luffy continues pawing at the screen, sniffing in between. Usopp, being the closest, gets up and picks Luffy up, who stretches to stay as close to the TV as long as he can.
Their friends are able to keep Luffy distracted and occupied for the rest of the night. And when the last movie ends, Luffy is stretched out asleep across both Zoro and Sanji’s shoulders, snoring away happily.
-
“Zoro, did you know that Luffy can stretch from one counter to the other?”
“Why do you know that curls? I thought you banned him from the kitchen?”
“Yeah, and how do you expect me to do that? It’s not like he’s really keen on listening to us!” Zoro comes into the kitchen, to see Luffy reach across to the other side of the kitchen, readying himself to eat the bread, through the bag. Sanji grabs him before he can pounce, cradling him before he can act again.
“Wait, I saw online that putting aluminium foil on the counters works to keep cats off them. Apparently cats don’t like the texture. We can try that.” Zoro suggests. Sanji strokes Luffy’s back, who is trying to wrestle out of Sanji’s grip. Sanji shrugs.
“It would be interesting to see if it actually deters this freak. It’s not exactly practical when I need to cook, but leaving Luffy home alone, it’s one less place for him to get to.” Sanji throws Luffy on the ground, who meows in response, walking back into the kitchen to walk between Sanji’s legs. He ignores Luffy, making his way to the cupboard and unrolling aluminium foil onto the counters.
“Well, this seems like a waste of product, but maybe not if it works.” Sanji comments. Once the counters are covered, they both look down at Luffy, who looks at them, meowing. “Maybe we walk away, to make it less obvious…” Sanji says, slowly walking out of the kitchen.
“Nah, I want to record this. The videos I’ve seen are always funny, I’m wondering how he’s going to react.” Zoro says, pulling out his phone. He takes a few steps out of the kitchen, lining up the shot. Luffy has a second sense when people are taking his photo, so he walks up to Zoro, leaning up on his hind legs to sniff the phone. Zoro strokes down his back, taking a couple pictures before Luffy gets down.
Most of the time, Luffy will swipe food from right underneath their noses, but when it comes to the kitchen, he usually tries to be sneaky about it. Probably from the amount of times Sanji has scolded Luffy. But it’s also a losing battle. They still can’t figure out how he gets into the fridge.
Luffy looks back at Zoro, who is still posed, and glances up at the counter. His tail is flicking back and forth, ready to pounce. He crouches, and then leaps up onto the counter covered in foil. The instant his paws touch the foil, he bounces even higher, yowling as he goes. He predictably lands on his feet, hisses at the counter and runs out of the kitchen.
Zoro stops the recording, and starts cackling. He replays the video a couple times, which only makes him laugh harder. Sanji comes into the room, cradling Luffy, who’s meowing forlornly. Zoro feels a little bad.
“Curls, you have to see this video.” Zoro says leaning over to show Sanji.
“Luffy is crying, and you’re laughing!” Sanji scolds, but watches the video anyway. Sanji’s lip curls up in amusement, but he quickly scolds his expression. “I don’t like the idea of it hurting him.”
“He’s not hurt, he’s just being dramatic. He landed on his feet, always does.”
“Well, I still don’t like it. This would be good if we’re not home, but otherwise, he’s fine. I usually catch him before he does any real damage.” Sanji brushes through Luffy’s fur. “You’re okay. Maybe, if you learn not to jump on the counters, you won’t have to be in this much emotional pain.”
-
Zoro would like it to be known that going for a walk with a cat was not his idea. Sanji thought that since Luffy grew up as a stray that he might miss the outside, so he went out and bought a red harness and the two of them took Luffy out on a walk.
When they first get outside, Luffy is a little skittish, glancing every which way when there is the slightest sound. But he soon gets used to it and then starts pulling on the harness to go faster.
As the three of them make their way down to the nearest park, Luffy would curiously sniff and chew on the grass and dandelions they passed. Sanji or Zoro would always pull the plant out of his mouth before continuing on their way.
When they finally get to the park, Luffy is pulling harder on the harness, wanting to go explore every corner of the place. Zoro and Sanji walk to their usual place under a large oak tree and set out the blanket they brought with them. Letting go of Luffy’s harness for one second is enough for Luffy to take off and go running up the tree behind them.
Prancing up, Luffy jumps from branch to branch before he stops on one that a beetle is resting on. Sneaking up behind the beetle, Luffy crouches and leaps at the beetle catching it in his mouth. As Luffy lands on the other side, the branch breaks and Luffy goes careening back towards the ground.
Luffy lands on his feet, on the top of Zoro’s head, causing Zoro to fall over. Zoro grumbles, but gently picks Luffy up to check if he is hurt, and finds the beetle still in his mouth.
“Hey! What did we say about eating things that aren’t your food?” Zoro tries to wrestle Luffy’s mouth open to get the beetle out but Luffy seems intent on keeping the beetle there. It isn’t until Sanji glances over to see what he has in his mouth, that the beetle comes to life and buzzes in his mouth that Luffy spits it out right at Sanji.
They don’t take Luffy to the park together after that.
-
“Hey, Curls. Look what Luffy can do.” Zoro calls entering the kitchen holding Luffy under his front legs. “He looks like a slinky.” Sanji looks up to see Luffy stretched, his head bobbing around trying to see Zoro.
“Zoro! Bring your phone, Luffy is curled up in his hat!” Sanji shouts.
“He’s gotten a lot bigger since you’ve found him, I’m surprised he still fits.”
“He looks like a cinnamon roll.”
“He’s really cute when he’s sleeping.” Zoro observes, taking several pictures.
“What the fuck are you doing up there?” Sanji shrieks. Luffy looks at him, eyes shining in the dark. He’s on top of the upper cupboards in the kitchen. It actually looks quite terrifying. “And how the hell do you plan on getting down.” Sanji turns on the light, and Luffy meows.
He walks back and forth across the cupboards, peering over the edge, and then looking at Sanji and meowing. “You’re on your own. You got up there, you’re going to have to figure out how to get down.” Luffy paces a couple more times, before making a jump to the counter, missing, and clipping the counter on his way down, landing on his feet.
“Crazy cat.” Sanji mutters.
One of Luffy’s favourite places to break into are closed doors. Especially the bathroom, when Zoro is trying to poop. The incessant scratching, and the swipe of a leg underneath the door. As if they’re trying to hide something from Luffy in here.
“Go away, Luffy!” Zoro shouts. He gets an answering meow, and more scratching. Then it stopped suddenly. Thinking Zoro finally got some peace, the door swings open, and Luffy trots in. “For- Luffy! Not now!” Luffy is undeterred. He brushes up against Zoro’s legs, looking for attention. Zoro lets out an exasperated sigh.
Not receiving the attention he is looking for, Luffy jumps up onto the sink and leans over on Zoro’s shoulder, butting their heads together. He eventually climbs on top of Zoro to lay across his shoulders, purring loudly.
“I can’t get a moment of peace. Not even on my own toilet.”
“Luffy, what the fuck are you doing in the freezer!” Sanji shouts. He opened it for barely a minute, and Luffy somehow managed to get in behind the drawer. “I can’t close the freezer with you in it. Get out!”
-
Sanji glances at the straw hat across the room, reminiscing when he first rescued Luffy. While Luffy is a constant reminder that Zoro and Sanji will not be parents to human children, they’re very happy with their fur baby. They’ve had Luffy for a year now, and while he’s calmed down a bit, there’s rarely a dull moment with Luffy.
But Luffy also knows when either of them are having bad days, and comforts them like he has a sixth sense for it. He’s always down for a nap, as much as Zoro, and is equally excited for adventures. Since the walk in the park, they figured out that taking Luffy for hikes is much more productive. Sanji doesn’t always join them, but it’s a great way for Luffy and Zoro to expel energy.
Right now, Sanji is home after his closing shift, cozy in bed, tea at his side, book in hand. Nothing is quite as relaxing as this. Especially with both his boys, Zoro wrapped around his waist, his face digging into Sanji’s back, and Luffy nestled in between Zoro and Sanji. Both fast asleep. Gazing at them, Sanji runs a hand through Zoro’s hair and scratches at Luffy’s head.
Sanji thinks Zoro is turning a bit more into a cat as the months go on, Zoro’s snoring sounds pretty similar to Luffy’s purrs. But Sanji wouldn’t have it any other way. Luffy keeps things interesting. Everyone who meets him is just filled with joy and is immediately taken with him.
Sanji can’t help but think this is a much better life for Luffy, than the one he was living. A life full of love.