Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Before metropolitan cities tore down and took over the land, there used to be small villages spread across in vast and remote woodlands. The villages didn't have fancy names, so they were merely called "Village of the East" or "Village more East than the Village of the East." In this story, it will be centered in a tiny but lively village between the Village of the North" and the "Village near the Lonely Mountain." Winter came here the earliest and flowers bloomed first, hence why the village was called "Village of Spring Flowers." Many female villagers were fond of the name, so there was a large migration of new families.

Spring arrived early and following the blooming of spring flowers, it also bloomed several quirky love bugs. There was one young man, who was heavily dosed with the love pollen, and this young man's name was Sanji.

He was a handsome man of twenty-one with short and elegant golden hair. Fair skin, lithe body, and a charming attitude attracted several young village women. However—a sad however, indeed—he had one big flaw: he loved everyone who was a woman. Women, captured by his charms, immediately broke from the spell and felt disheartened because he flirted others in the exact same manner. Within a week, sometimes quicker, the woman slipped from his grasp. Not even after spending a quarter of his fortune could keep a woman by his side.

One day, his chivalry finally received a reward. He was able to form a friendly relationship with the woman whom no man could ever woo: Miss Nami. Their relationship lasted a month now, and this was a glorious record. She did request pricey gifts, but she was a sweet and lovely lady.

"Your first date with Miss Nami?" Sanji's friend Usopp shouted in exclamation, "Oh my god, Sanji! That's amazing! Congratulations to you!"

The blond man grabbed Usopp's hands away from what he was doing and began to twirl and dance around, "Thank you Usopp!"

"I've heard that she was very hard to get! How were you able to do it?"

"I-I have no idea!" Sanji suddenly let go, and Usopp was sent flying into a corner that was stacked into old blueprints. All of the neatly arranged papers scattered into all directions; soon after Usopp let out a small groan of pain.

"If this date succeeds, I will never let her go! I want to marry her, and I build a house and she raises our children—"

"Yeah, I hope it succeeds too," Usopp sat up and rubbed the back of his head and scrambled to get the blueprints. "Just promise me something, Sanji."

"Hm?"

"Remember one time when you suddenly abandoned everything and left the village for months because you fell in love with the lady from the Village By the Sea, just to find out she was already engaged? Please don't do that again. At least tell us beforehand that you're leaving-" When Usopp looked up, he realized he was only talking to himself. "…what the?"

Usopp sighed and resumed collecting the scattered papers. It was awful watching his close friend wanting to fall in love, but he was never able to keep a healthy relationship because he loved women too much.

He placed the blueprints by his feet and clasped his hands together, "Please, let this date succeed…and he to only fall in love with one person." When he lowered his hands down, a faint sound caught his ears. He hadn't noticed before, but the sound might have been playing during Sanji and Usopp's conversation. The sound was hollow but very clear; it was a sound of a wooden flute.

"No wonder he left without saying anything…" A smile formed across his cheeks and he sighed again. "He has to please every woman in the world…"

Sanji ran back to his home, half of the building was constructed into a quaint bakery. He rushed in to grab a small basket draped in a large dark blue napkin. Inside, he packed in a bottle of wine and three loaves of bread he baked this morning. As quickly as he ran inside, he rushed out and into the deep part of the woods. The flute was still playing, and it got louder the further he ran. Minutes later, the forest cleared away into a spacious field, encircled by trees and vines. There were several clusters of stone in the middle of this special field, and he tentatively walked up to it. He carefully placed the basket of food on the stone, and when he stepped away from it, the music stopped. He felt a strong presence of eyes staring at him. Sanji couldn't tell where the possessor of the eyes hid, but he knew whom it belonged to.

"Good morning faerie," Sanji called out, "I brought some food for you to eat." He waited for some sort of response, but—as always—there was none. He had a strong desire to see the mystical creature, but no matter how many times he visited this area, the faerie never revealed itself. "I also brought cups," he picked two glasses out of the basket and raised them up, "I thought maybe we could share a drink together?"

Again, no response. There was not even a flutter of a leaf in any of the trees.

Sanji let out a short sigh and quietly removed one glass out of the basket, "Then, I'll take one home." His smile swiftly returned when the music started to play again. Although, he could sense that the faerie didn't like him, the mystical creature loved eating his food. When he visited the special field in the late afternoon to retrieve the basket, everything inside that was edible was gone. In its place were several rare gemstones, stones that only a faerie could easily find.

"Faerie," Sanji called out, and the music paused, "I need to leave early because I have somewhere to go. Please don't take it as if I got tired of your songs. I really do love listening to your performance. I-I'll see you tomorrow," Sanji took a short bow and turned around.

He felt a faint quiver in the air as he left the forest.

-.-.-

Sanji arrived at her house when the sun was perfectly high up in the sky. It located several meters away from his village and on a steep hill, overlooking the Village of Spring Flowers. When he saw a slender figure come out from the petite door, his smile was so large it would have split his face in half.

"Good afternoon Sanji!"

"Miss Nami!" Sanji pranced up to her and kissed her hand, "How are you this afternoon?"

"Looking forward to meeting you, of course!" Nami giggled sweetly, and Sanji almost collapsed onto the ground, "Welcome to my home!" Sanji joyfully skipped inside and saw a very adorable home. The walls were a soft orange with round couches and cushions in the lounging room. Close to the entrance was a small kitchen with the basic appliances: the oven, the sink, and the prepping table.

"Your house is so adorable."

"Thank you!"

"It's as sweet as you!"

"Sit anywhere you want, I'll get the snacks."

"I'll help Miss Nami—"

"Oh, it's okay Sanji! I invited you, so you're my guest! Please, sit in one of the couches and relax." Sanji obliged and sat on the yellow couch. It sank under his weight and enveloped him like a warm hug.

"I'm sorry that you needed to walk so far to come up here. I'm not used to living with so many people, so when I moved here I decided to built my home a little away from the village." Nami said as she knelt down to set the cups and a small plate of cake in front of Sanji.

"Oh no, i-it's alright." Sanji replied inattentively, shamelessly peering into Nami's revealing V-neck blouse, "You don't like crowds right?"

"I don't really like human interactions," When Sanji raised his head, she let out an angelic giggle, "You know, all those neighbor interactions? Too close and rumors can spread like wild fire."

"Ah, I understand." Sanji bitterly chuckled, as he often became a center of rumors.

After she placed her own share of cakes and juice, she sat on the opposite side of the couch, "I hope you will like my cake. I'm not a really good baker, and it's a bit embarrassing to bake something when I know you're better at it."

"Oh no, please don't think that," Sanji hushed her and picked up the plate and a fork, "I love to taste cakes that others made because it can give me inspiration."

Nami grinned, "If you like how my cake tastes, do you think you can create a cake modeled after me?"

"F-For you?" Sanji's eye gleamed, "Could I?"

"Of course! I want to know how you see me. How you think I'll taste like." She whispered in a teasing manner, and Sanji's adam's apple plunged as he swallowed hard.

"So, how do you like my cake?"

"Oh, it's—" Sanji quickly took a bite of it, and his eyes widened in surprise, "I can taste orange!"

Nami giggled, "I added two tablespoons of bitter orange marmalade into the batter."

"I can taste the bitterness too."

"Here, I have juice. I promise it's not bitter."

Sanji took a teacup of what appeared to be berry juice. When he titled his head back to drink it whole, the cold liquid slid down his throat in a pleasing manner. The taste was not what he expected. It wasn't berries at all.

"Miss Nami, what juice is this? I've never—" All of a sudden, his words were caught and he collapsed onto the wooden floor. He gasped and coughed and he scrambled for air.

As Nami stood up from her seat, something magnificent happened. The floor beneath her foot started to melt away and slowly etched throughout the walls of her house like a spider web. The fluffy couch melted, the tea set vanished. Sanji got the strength to look around, and all that was left was the sad and empty hill, and he was writhing on the dirt ground.

He craned his neck to peer up to the beautiful maiden, who might not be as innocent as he hoped.

"W-Who…what are you?"

Nami crossed her arms, "Some say enchantress, some say sorceress, but I prefer a witch."

"W-Witch?" Sanji gasped a gulp of air, "I thought witches were extinct!"

"That's an attempt to calm humans down and to also protect my family. It's not nice to be burned at the stake you know."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Nami's amber eyes gleamed with excitement, "For fun."

"W-Wha-?"

"Of course not. I have a reason to." Nami frowned, "You hurt my friend's feelings."

"Who? I-I can apologize to her once you set me free. Please!"

Nami's frown deepened, "Where you stand, you won't even want to approach my friend. My poor friend," Nami shielded her face and faked a cry, "So heartbroken and in so much pain."

"A-Am I going to die…?"

To his relief, she shook her head, "No, but although you're in pain now, it will all be gone. A little curse is what you will have." She was right with her words because he could breathe better now, and his strength slowly returned. However, as he tried to sit up, he saw his hands and feet started to shrink into his sleeves. There was an awful shuffling sound, and to his shock millions of dark orange colored hair sprouted out of every pore of his skin. A painful tug of the ears and nose, and they stretched long and far: the nose grew and formed into a snout; his ears were pulled to the top of his head and became furry and pointed. His ultimate shock was his voice: he felt something disappear in his throat and when he opened his mouth to shout, only high pitched barks came out. When all of his cells calmed down he crawled out of the crumpled heap of clothes as a handsome adult fox.

"Wow, so cute." Nami complimented, "Exactly how I imagined."

Miss Nami! Sanji shouted in his mind, Please stop kidding around! Turn me back!

"Not until you find my friend and apologize."

Who is your friend?

"Think of all of the people whom you might've hurt their feelings. Come on, think. Your brain should still work."

I can't…I can't come up anything in this state…!

"Hmph, then I guess you'll be stuck like that until you die." She patted her dress off and wiggled her fingers. Between her hands a large broom materialized and she swiftly mounted on it. "See you soon, maybe?"

Miss Nami! Sanji screamed (in his head, sadly) as he watched her soar into the sky. Gathering the sane pieces he had left, he mustered his arms and legs (or were they just legs?) to run after her. This was difficult to do, considering he was only used to walking with the hind legs. He tripped and sometimes got tangled in his steps, but he was somehow running. When he ran down the hill, he realized this was a big mistake. Once down the hill, it was a maze of trees and it was hardly visible to see the sky. He craned his ears and vaguely heard sounds, so he decided to follow that. He stumbled and dashed toward the sound, and made it out of the forest.

Wait…this is…!

Sanji realized that he wasn't following the sound of Miss Nami's broom, but it was just the lively sound of villagers in the Village of the Spring Flowers. One of the villagers laid his eyes on him, and his face blanched.

"A fox!"

"Not again!"

"Killing my chickens! I won't forgive you this time!"

"Usopp, come and help! There's another fox!"

Sanji's eye widened in horror because his village had a huge fox problem and were trying to get rid of the pesky animals. Before he could think of running away, something flew past him, merely missing his forehead. Usopp and the other villagers were shooting at him.

Usopp stop! It's me! Sanji barked, but no one understood him. Several slingshot bullets shot and Sanji scurried to head back to the forest when one hit him. He let out a cry and was thrown onto the ground. His left foreleg grew numb, and he realized that was where he was shot. He felt the angry crowd gaining closer to him. Was this it? Was he going to die by his close friend because he was a fox?

"Is it still alive?"

"It is! It's still breathing!"

"Kill it, kill it!"

"Wait!"

Out of the frightening crowd approached a figure. The angry crowd shimmered down, but there was still a tense atmosphere. Sanji heard this voice before, but it wasn't Usopp. Who, he could not recall because he blacked out.

To Be Continued

A/N: As I mentioned in the summary, the rating might go up to M.