🥘

no because actually the mere CONCEPT of zeff seeing his boy again, that boy he watched flourish from a tiny, starving little thing into a man standing beside a king of pirates, and his boy is so small again, so hurt again- and hes ashamed, is the thing, sanji is so ashamed of himself again, a shame zeff must have worked so hard to try and get out of him, make him proud, but the thing sanji was proudest of is *gone* to him, and he doesnt have the courage to try again- and hes a mess, sanji knows he is, right, and zeff of course knows hes a mess too because how could he not, thats his boy, of course he knows, he knows everything- and he knows sanji thinks zeff will be ashamed of him for giving up. and zeff is- angry, yes, but not ashamed, never that, this is his treasure we're talking about- sanji is his treasure, he could never be ashamed of him. hes angry the way he was over a decade ago, on the baratie, when his boy refused to spread his wings, kept himself caged out of a sense of duty. its fear and shame that keep him caged, now, and zeff will never stand for it. and zeff is an old pirate, he knows what addiction looks like, what withdrawal looks like, knows the lifelong consequences- he knows sanji couldve died. knows his boy couldve been taken from him so many times. but he survived, hes still HERE, hes HOME, and now hes going to help, hes going to be there as long as he needs to be there to keep his treasure safe.