The Chef's Siren

“You can’t take everything from him, Y/N!” The man yelled at me as I felt my heart wanting to beat out of my chest. My dress was torn from the man standing before me, his blonde hair pushed into his face as if he’d been sweating and breathing heavily.

“I didn’t kill my husband, William! I told you he died from a heart attack!” I screamed back, keeping my hand over my daughter, trying to protect her from the man. He had nothing but rage and anger in his eyes. I’ve never been more scared, even when I was married to that Tyrant.

“He died sleeping next to you, Y/N. You could have suffocated him in his sleep,” William yelled at me once again, the pocket knife in his hand shining off from the window light. I felt my daughter's hands tug on the back of my dress. I was scared, but I wasn’t going to let this man hurt my daughter when she meant the world to me and was the last thing of Thomas that I had. The door behind him knocked as William glared at me, slowly placing the knife into his pocket to open the door to a red-head woman with blue eyes, my sister. She looked at me and then the man with the sight of worry and then anger.

“Who are you?” Willam asked, looking over at my sister. She could tell something was wrong by how her eyes panned to each face in the room. I wanted to scream for help, but I didn’t want to risk anyone else life but my own.

“I’m here to babysit Macy. Y/N was planning on taking a walk on the beach to process her husband's death.” My sister spoke, clapping her hands as if she were praying for her own life. I nodded my head as she walked into the room. Past the man, I gently nudged Macy into my sister's arms as I made my way out the door. William followed behind me.

“Now, I won’t feel bad for beating a mother in front of her child,” Williams's voice made me shiver. It wasn’t my fault my husband passed away, and I’m being blamed for his murder. Worse, my husband was a powerful man who knew who would be after me.

“You don’t have to do this. I don’t understand how you would believe I was a murderer.” I kept walking as I felt something cold and sharp touch my back.

“Just keep walking. We’ll “talk” at the beach.” William's breath was inches from my neck. I die today and orphan my daughter. It’s bad enough that I’m a widow now. But I will not orphan my only child. I kept walking, keeping my head down, trying to ignore the eyes of witnessing people. There was no way they would help me. Even if they tried, it would put them at more risk, and I couldn’t live with myself if someone got hurt for my actions of screaming out for help. I finally felt my feet hit the sand. The rows of boats docked on the shore, some covered in crews and some just as empty as a ghost town. Right as I hit the ground, he stuck me, sending me tumbling down onto the sand.

“You killed him! I know it, you wouldn’t be so damn calm! A good wife should be crying her eyes out!” He screamed at me as I touched my busted cheek. The feeling of blood dripping down my face caught my attention. I felt like my world was becoming blurry as Willam kept screaming his words, turning into nothing but a single buzzing noise. I could hear the moving around on the boats as they all stopped to pay attention. Everyone's eyes were on me and William as he kept swinging once with the knife, losing it in the sand.

“Why can’t you just die like him? All you ever do is sit on your ass! Useless bitch!” He swung again; instead of hitting me, he grabbed ahold of my hair, yanked me off the ground, and took my feet.

“Say something!” William screamed in my face, his spit splattering onto my bloody cheek.

“Let go of her.” One of the men from the ships spoke, leaning over the railing. He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, his blonde hair over one eye, and a nice suit and tie for a Pirate. I felt Williams's handballed around my hair, making me moan from pain, touching each strand of hair break from my scalp. William stopped moving as I clawed at his hand to let go of me. It hurts. It hurts so bad. Why can’t I cry?

“Stay out of this Strawhat!” William yelled back, throwing me back to the soft sand. I was barely able to pick myself up, my head throbbing in pain, running my hand through my hair and removing the lost pieces. I glanced back up at the strange man who was looking at me with mercy in his eyes as if he could almost feel my pain.

“I’m not letting you get away with this. You can’t just hurt an innocent woman and pretend you won’t get your ass beat,” The strange man yelled out from the deck of his ship. His crew was looking at them and slowly stepped back as if the smoke from his cigarette was becoming too much or the anger in his eyes was becoming too much.

“I said stay out of this boy!” William yelled again, making me flinch as he picked up his pocket knife buried under hot sand.

“I’m not going anywhere till you stop this or till I come down there and beat the shit out of you!” The man yelled again as his crew came up behind him, holding weapons, even one man with lime green hair holding three swords next to his sides.

“Fine, you can deal with this bloody mess of a bitch” William must have spotted the rest of the crew. I wouldn’t have blamed him for wanting to run. I tried to run. It’s just that everything felt so dizzy as if the world was moving underneath my feet. I fell back onto the sand, watching William leave as if he was defeated with nothing but words and a glimpse of what threat he could have faced. I could hear footsteps heading towards me as I stared up towards the sky, watching the blurry clouds pass. Till I was face to face with the strange man as he leaned looking down at me, the smoke blowing past my face.

“Are you ok?” His voice was nothing I thought it would be, not harsh or cold from the smoke but warm like silk falling through my ears. My throat felt too dry to speak from the pain. I nodded yes, trying to sit up from the hot sand as it coated my light blue dress. The man reached for my cheek as I pulled away from him, wincing as some of the small rocks off the sand gathered inside the already painful wound.

“May I? Please, it looks nasty,” The man spoke, kneeling to look me in the eyes as he took his tie off, cleaning the blood and sand off my face.

“Who are you, and why do you save me?” I asked, barely being able to make a sound as he kept touching up my face, lightly dabbing the blood away from my cheek and neck as a frustrated glare spread across his face.

“My name isn’t important right now. I’m just a guy who’s making sure you okay.” He spoke like he never wanted me to know who he was, but I wanted to know someone who saved my life. I would at least like to thank him properly.

“You didn’t have to help me back there. You know William was right.” I moved my dress a little, stopping him from touching my face more, hearing a low grumble escape his face.

“I just can’t stand people who beat up the innocent,” He spoke, sitting on the sand with me.

“Why do you think he was right? He was beating the shit out of you, miss-” He paused, looking at me like he wanted me to say my last name.

“Just call me Y/N. I’m widowed.” The words on my tongue felt like poison like I had just swallowed the worst food I’d ever made.

“Sanji, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m sorry I had to meet you like this.” Sanji smiled a little, looking at me as he helped me off the sand. I dusted myself off, glancing back up at him.

“Thank you, sir, but I really should head home. I left my daughter with my sister.” I could still feel the throbbing pain in my head and face as I tried to stumble off the beach, my feet sinking into the sand with each step.

“You said you were widowed, so your husband passed?” Sanji asked me, still standing where we were. His question caught me dead in my tracks as if the idea of speaking about his death made me want to cry, but no matter how badly I wanted to, the tears wouldn’t fall on my face.

“C-correct, my husband passed away a few days ago. It’s just me and my daughter Macy,” I told him, placing my hands over my stomach like a proper lady, one that I’ve been yelled at to be.

“Let me come with you. I can better clean your wounds and help you and your daughter.” Sanji's tone was light-hearted as I faced him. I must look like a mess in front of this gentleman, but what he offered was nothing more than what a man of honor would offer.

“That’s kind of you, Sanji, but I can’t get you mixed up into this more than what you already are now.” I touched my face again, looking at the blood still dripping from my hands.

“I understand that, but I can’t just leave a beautiful single mother alone with her child unfed and hurt,” Sanji spoke, trying to sound confident as he started to walk closer to me.

“Please, I’ll escort you home and make you something nice.”

“Thank you, but my daughter and I will be fine.”

“I’m not taking no for an answer.” Sanji started walking past me and walking toward the town. I felt my heart race.

“Sanji, you're not even going the right way!” I panicked a little, racing after him. My home was towards the right of town. He was heading straight for town. The last thing I need is for the townspeople to see me like this more; they may start assuming the worst.

“So, who are you? You came off a pirate ship?” I asked, walking along with Sanji, his hands never leaving his pockets as he walked beside me.

“Sanji, I’m straw hat cook and “Charmer” according to my crew.” He rolled his eyes, looking at me with his strange curly eyebrows.

“How about you? Who was that man that was being an ass to you?” He asked me. I felt my face turn red, thinking about how he defended me like that, so heroic for no reason.

“His name is William, and he’s my ex-husband's work “friend.” I was to believe they might have been lovers at one point,” I spoke, avoiding eye contact as long as possible. Just the idea of that made me sad. I didn’t care that Thomas wasn’t interested in me; I cared about the fact he never told me how he felt, and now here I was, dealing with a stranger who saved my life, a broken-up cheek, and a daughter at home with my younger bur responsible sister at least I can be there for Macy she will need all the help.