[ he can barely comprehend how exactly he'd ended up in this place, much less how he landed himself in this sudden debt he's supposed to pay out in six months. six months, which would have seemed like a lifetime back on the baratie, but these days, he's meant to be out on the open seas, swiftly heading towards the grand line without a second to spare outside the company of his crewmates. yet now, there isn't a drop of ocean in his sights, nothing but some old vehicle he barely understands that seems to almost mock the color of the very sea he hoped to be sailing across. ]

Luffy, where the hell are you? [ he mutters to no one at all, nothing but the heat of the open air as he peers around the collection of other cars scattered similarly through the scrapyard, seemingly prepared for anyone else meant to fall in this same bizarre predicament as himself, hoping that one of them might be one of his very own friends from home.

though he should probably try to learn how to use the car, he instead gives a hop to climb up onto its hood, long legs hanging over the side as he reaches into his jacket pocket. to his relief, a unique golden lighter still sits there, but with a few more pats, he realizes there's something else missing.

fuck.

lifting his head up just as someone walks somewhat close within the parking lot, he gives a wave to try to get their attention. ]

Excuse me! [ and if it's a woman, he'll definitely add a charming "beautiful" to the end of the greeting, of course. ] You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette on you, would you?

[ not knowing a doctor means that there's plenty of value in medicine, not of the monetary kind since sanji's hardly interested in trying to make a berry — or whatever it is that people mean to exchange in these parts — but in making sure people he cares about are plenty taken care of, and it hardly seems like this medicine is getting all its use sitting forgotten in this building. but almost instantaneously, sanji meets the conflict of his own recklessness when the door locks behind him and the water begins to rise. good of a swimmer that he is, it'll hardly matter much once he loses all opportunity for actually breathing, once it reaches the top.

release code it says but hell if he knows the code as he tries to search amongst the scatter of notes and papers for some sort of writing that would indicate as such. most of it speaks of things that bear no interest to what he's looking for, talks of inventory and stock, shuffling through hastily, eyes glazing over each word in a rush — and halting suddenly as one seems to stab him in his very gut, as if he could feel its sharpness, digging deep into his inside.

VINSMOKE

he feels a lump in his throat, fingers beginning to shake as his eye lock into that single scribbled word, shaken by its simple legible placement on that piece of paper. his breathing falls shallow, and his knees grow wet as if the water has begun to rise past it, but his mind remains distracted, hand reaching slowly for that paper ...

and stopping suddenly, jolted out of the trance as he hears some kind of sound at the window — a tapping or banging or other noise — and sees someone on the other side of it. ]

( open to doing literally any kind of threads, in various locations at various times of the month. sanji is taken from the netflix live action version of one piece, directly from the end of season one. feel free to dm me for plotting or discussions, especially if you'd like to do something beyond the prompts above! ♥ )