I adore your Kuina lives au! It’s super good and I love the thought put into it, could you explain her dynamic with Sanji that you thought of caudr I knows she’d hate him
I actually think that her relationship with/opinions of Sanji would be more complicated than simply disliking him 🤔 the way I see Kuina in this AU is that she only values the opinions of those she respects—if some random guy on the street scorned her for her sex or her position as a swordsman, she would think nothing of it, as they haven’t proven themselves to her on a human level. However, if someone she trusted or respected were to treat her differently, it would gut her. For example—if Zoro, her best friend (and in some ways her inspiration) happened to suddenly resurrect and then say some sexist bullshit, it would destroy Kuina’s self esteem in a way nothing else could. This is because she respects and values his hypothetical opinion of her.
To put this in the context of Sanji, though—initially, he wouldn’t bother her much. He’s just some other random that she needs to prove wrong or die trying. She wouldn’t entertain him and his fawning (more likely she would just ignore him completely), but it wouldn’t get to her, either. However, as they spend more time together on the crew, she would begin understand him better. She’d start to see the things that he keeps under wraps. The more genuine pieces of himself, the earnestness, the heart. The way he loves the crew and puts every bit of himself into every meal he makes for them. His strength in battle, his way of understanding things she might not get at first (such as Nami’s sentimentality, or chopper’s home sickness). The way he almost seems to match her as Luffy’s other limb. And yet, he won’t fucking fight her. He kicks the boys sometimes, when they piss him off. A bonk on Luffy’s head when he tries to steal off someone’s plate, tripping Usopp up when he’s doing his “Sanji impersonation.” Kuina tries replicating these actions—to test the waters—and she gets nothing. Even when provoked, he waves off her rudeness with a smile and a weird little wiggle. It is devastating. This person who she’s grown to respect—to even entrust with her crewmate’s lives—does not see her as someone worth fighting in turn. Though she didn’t care before, every little special treatment would grate on her and remind her of how she will never be the same in some people’s eyes. She was okay when she thought that only unreasonable people believed those things (which surely means that her father had just been unreasonable) but now it’s someone who she has come to love and would like to consider her friend (and does that mean he’s right? Was her father right, too?).
It would cause tensions to rise. Kuina would get angry before she gets sad. The others would notice, but Kuina would never want to admit to anything which she considers shameful, and these self-doubts are her greatest shame. Sanji would notice, too, and it would be heartbreaking for him as well, but he wouldn’t be able to understand the issue. He would likely just continue trying to be extra nice to her (to cheer her up! A lady should never have to feel anything but happiness!), but it would just exacerbate the problem.
Eventually, it would all come to a head. Sanji takes one too many hits for Kuina (which she could have handled just fine) or refrains from putting any extra pressure (trust) on her in battle, and she would finally snap. She would shout at him, angry and hurting, about how much it kills her that he doesn’t seem to think of her as an equal who could handle the same things that he does. She’d say how much she wishes she didn’t care about his opinions of her, but how she can’t not because of how she can’t not respect him. I like to think that she might even cry. She’s usually so put together, so it’s jarring to see her this rattled and emotionally injured by something. The crew is shocked about the extent of her feelings (sans Luffy who has empathy powers basically lol. And maybe Nami, who I see being very close to Kuina in this AU), but no one so much as Sanji. He’s devastated. Nothing could have prepared him for being the one who made a woman cry.
(The straw that broke the camels back could be thriller bark related maybe? Sanji is the one who takes the deal? Or maybe he just tries really hard to stop her, and she does it anyway? Actually yeah, I think I like that. When he’s doing the whole “you’ll have to find a new cook” speech, he says some shit about how “a lady should never be the one to do something like this.” In the moment, she handles things fine (bigger fish to fry and all that), but later, after waking up covered in bandages, he says something again about how it “should never have been her responsibility,” and god forbid apologizes to her, and she loses it.)
After Kuina’s outburst, things get really quiet. Which is strange, frankly, for the straw hats. She settles down immediately and would try to act like nothing happened (hah). Maybe she even gives a sort of detached apology for losing her cool like that (as she still kind of sees this whole thing as a personal failing, despite herself). The crew by and large would try to keep things “normal” and would still joke around, but there would be an unusual stillness in the air. Sanji, however, would be silent. He would cook the meals, but he wouldn’t know how to handle much else. He’d be sweet to Nami and Robin, still, but it would be subdued. With Kuina, he would mostly not speak. He’d probably try, but he would struggle with addressing her. A cute nickname no longer feels sweet, and polite honorifics would leave a bad taste in his mouth. Calling her just “kuina,” though? It’s a bit hard to take that step, when his whole life he’s learned that he needs to treat women better than he’d treat a man. So, when he’d serve her plate, he’d lower his eyes and try to be innocuous. And, even though perhaps she shouldn’t, Kuina would feel bad. Again, she unwillingly still sees this as her own failing. Consciously, she knows that her sex should have no bearing on who she can be, but she still carries scars from her childhood. Emotionally, she feels that she’s the one who was apparently deemed unworthy of Sanji’s trust. So, I think she would try to smooth things over. I imagine that they would be in the galley alone after dinner (Kuina waited until everyone else had left and is sitting on that bench thing off to the side. Sanji is starting to clean up). She’d tell him that “it’s all fine” and “it’s not your problem.” She’d try to explain that she has issues that she’s projecting onto him. And Sanji, who has been doing some soul searching as of late, listens to her, and then he walks over, and kicks the bench. (Similar to how he threatens the others by kicking their surroundings, I imagine). He’s very obviously nervous and would probably be shaking like a leaf, but he did it. Kuina, who had been trying to be nonchalant and may have been talking with her eyes closed, is surprised by it. Slowly, she’d pop wado out of her sheath as a question, and Sanji, who finally understands, would answer by insulting her. He’d say “don’t be fucking stupid,” or “you’re a damned idiot,” and then, they would fight. And it would fix everything.
The way this basically turned into a fic needs to be studied lmao. I’m glad you’re liking the au, and I hope this was compelling! I’d love to hear other people’s takes on the matter if anyone has one
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