One Piece Zosan Soulmate AU, where at 18, you get the ability to summon a familiar. An animal of any kind, natural or mythical. The familiar is there to keep you company and help you get through your life. On a rare occasion, you bond with your familiar so much that it becomes your soulmate and turns human - but that’s not the norm because you have to love your familiar with every fiber of your being, and it has to return this feeling. It’s hard work, and most people don't even bother because you don't have the desire to only live with your soulmate until your familiar turns into it.
Judge always told Sanji that he couldn't summon a familiar because he had modified him, so he didn't have one or couldn't reach his. In his eyes, he’s too weak to deserve one with all his emotions.
On the quadruplets' 18th birthday, Judge, in his generosity, gave Ichiji, Niji, Yonji, and Reiju permission to finally summon their familiars because he knew they would use them like weapons. Sanji is left outside of the ceremony because he doesn't have a familiar and thus doesn't need to know how to summon one. He really wanted to watch but couldn't sneak past the guards in front of the throne room.
So he watched as his siblings all walk out of the ceremony with big animals as familiars. Ichiji got a lion with wings that’s taller than him. Niji had an eagle with an iron beak and claws that could carry him on his back. Yonji’s familiar turned out to be a huge silverback gorilla with stone fists that could fight with brutal force like crazy. And Reiju got a big snake that could spit venom over fifty feet wide and had a blade as it’s tail tip. The deadly Germa soldiers just got deadlier.
But it wasn't easy for the four siblings. Their familiars couldn't bond with them due to the fact that they weren't able to form an emotional bond. They had to punish them often for destroying property of the kingdom and not listening to orders. In the end, the four animals turned out to be scared, violent creatures who learned to listen because of pain and punishment.
Seeing this, Sanji was actually happy he couldn't summon one. He wouldn't be able to stand the sight of his familiar being punished because it would please his father. Because - let’s be for real - Sanji was the punching back of the family, his familiar certainly would be, too.
One day, after his brothers had beaten him up badly and chased him through the woods with their familiars, Sanji sat under a big tree crying his eyes out. Suddenly, his name echoed through his mind as if something or someone was calling him. He thought he was finally going crazy because the calling didn't stop even after hours.
He was still sitting under the tree when a different name appeared in his mind. And in the beginning, he was irritated. He didn't know anyone by that name. But when the name was said time and time again, Sanji felt the need to say it out loud. He bit his tongue because why would he say a random name he never heard before? After some time, the voice disappeared, and Sanji sighed, relieved.
But it wouldn't stop there. In the course of the next months, it happened again and again! At random times and in random situations - but often when he was beaten up or experimented on. Months turned into a year and the name always came back.
After a particularly hard beating from his brothers - which left him bleeding in the woods again - the name came back to him. The need to say it got stronger with every moment. He was weak, on the brink of passing out and he didn't care about being weird. With blood dripping from his mouth, he sat up on his knees and breathed out the name.
Nothing happened and he wanted to scream. Because why was the name torturing him for months and when he finally gave in, nothing happened?! He raised his head to the sky, hands clawed in his hair and opened his mouth in a silent scream.
But then a warm wind blew over his body. There was a presence right in front of him. Lowering his head, his breath caught in his throat.
“What took you so long?” A voice rumbled through his mind - the voice that had kept calling his name for the past year. “Why are you bloody? Who did this to you?”
The voice was concerned but also filled with contained anger.
Something clicked in Sanji’s mind. He wasn't going mad…it was him calling his name. He was…but how?
Sanji felt tears spilling down his cheeks while his senses began to dull. The blackness of losing consciousness pulled him in. He swayed and fell forward. But he didn't hit the ground. He fell against a big, soft snout. Green hair tickled his face.
“I’m dreaming…” he mumbled against the fur, combing a bloody hand through it.
“No, but you should rest for now. We talk when you wake up.”
The dark, rumbly voice kept talking until Sanji was sleeping against the side of the massive, green Tiger - which would make sure no one was laying a hand on his human ever again, not under his watch!
(This is now turning into a fic over here 😁)