The sun shone mercilessly down on the playground. Their warmth had already heated the sand in a sandpit so that the children could only enter it with shoes. Luckily there were several sandboxes so the kids could play under the shady sandboxes. Loud laughter reached his ears. The children from the beetle group squealed happily as they played catch, while the sunflower children peacefully held a small sand cake competition.
In all the joy of the trip, a little blond boy padded awkwardly through the sand. His goal was the climbing frame, which looked like a large ship. Ordinarily, any child would try to climb the tallest pole, but Sanji didn't want to go up high and be seen. He went down the small wooden stairs that led to the "dungeon" of the climbing frame. There he chose the room that had the smallest window. So he didn't run the risk of being seen. Hardly anyone looked in the lower part of the ship anyway. This was the room for the children who didn't deserve it any other way. At least that is what Sanji's brothers spoke of.
Small tears rolled down the thin face and with a sniff Sanji felt his cheek. Yonji, his little brother, had previously brutally hit him with a sharp-edged stone. The only thing his other two big brothers had said was that Yonji hadn't hit exactly because Sanji was still conscious.
"They are all so mean to me!", Sanji sniffed and wrapped his thin arms around his knees.
This trip was stupid! His brothers teased him and the only one who could help would be Reiju, but since his older sister was in the preschool group, she hadn't come with them. But Reiju was the one who always took care of his injuries! Who should do that now? The teachers never helped him because they were too afraid of his father and Sanji didn't like him either!
Whimpering, the blonde made himself even smaller and hoped that he would finally wake up from his bad dream.
"What are you doing here?" Asked a girl's voice, startled.
Sanji looked up in surprise. He didn't expect anyone to follow him.
"Did you run after me?"
"No, this is my hiding place!" Replied the girl indignantly and now held her arms behind her back.
"I didn't know," Sanji defended himself meekly, but made no move to leave the hiding place.
"Are you hurt?" She asked and leaned forward slightly.
A strand fell in her face and now Sanji also recognized who the girl was, because a beam of light fell directly on her head. The orange-haired girl was named Nami and she also had a big sister named Nojiko. Sanji remembered the name because she always had an orange for breakfast. This is what her hair looked like.
"Yes," he replied to her now, even though the scratch could hardly be overlooked.
"Here!"
Nami had pulled a plaster out of her green summer dress. It's good that she always had some in her pockets! She also hurt herself enough often when she stumbled.
Since Sanji made no move to take the plaster off, she sniffed briefly, put her treasure in a corner and stuck the plaster on the injured area.
"Why are you helping me? You don't even know me!" Sanji muttered, embarrassed.
"You're Sanji, aren't you? You always get beatings from your brothers, I don't think that's nice at all! Why do they do that to you? My big sister Nojiko would never do that! She should hear that, then she'll do it Your brothers will definitely have a fire under their bums!", Nami scolded angrily.
"Otherwise Reiju, my big sister, will help me. But she is in the preschool group and not with us today," he explained and looked at Nami in amazement.
Why didn't she laugh at him for being so weak and letting his brothers beat him up?
"At least she'll help you! But why doesn't she scold your brothers? Your parents scold you too, right?"
"My father doesn't care because I'm a pushover."
"But that's not true! You are always so nice and you can bake the best sand cakes! Your cookies for Christmas are so beautiful too! You are also kind to everyone and you help too!", Nami defied and couldn't believe what she was saying heard there.
"I'm just weak, my father always says that! So please don't reveal my hiding place, otherwise my brothers will do much worse things!", Sanji sniffed.
"I'm not going to tell you! What do you think of me? I'll help you with that!" Nami said indignantly and puffed her cheeks with indignation. "Did someone betray you right away?"
"So far nobody has helped me except Reiju," he reminded her.
She sank into the sand next to Sanji and sighed loudly.
"It's a shame that you can't sail away with the ship," said Nami absently.
"Then I would be gone a long time ago and be somewhere where I am accepted as a cook," Sanji thought aloud.
"Do you want to become a chef?"
"Yes, my mom was very good at cooking until she got weaker and sick. She was also happy when I brought her something to eat that I had cooked myself!"
"Then why doesn't your mom help you when your brothers are so mean?"
"Mom fell asleep a long time ago and looks on from above. I suspect that since she was so weak she can't protect me properly, even if she wanted to."
"Here," Nami offered as she held her peeled orange in front of Sanji's nose. "I always feel better when I eat one of Bellemeres oranges! They are really delicious!"
Sanji nodded briefly, before he gratefully took a piece of the sweet fruit.
"They are really very good!" He smacked in amazement.
"I know!"
"They taste much better in a sauce where you can eat fish with it! The juice must also be really good!", Sanji assumed enthusiastically.
"Seems like we already have someone who wants our oranges!" Grinned Nami. "Can we try your dishes then?"
"You can even try them first!" Sanji agreed with a smile. "It would be so nice if you were right and we could sail off with the ship! Then I would cook and there would certainly be room for your oranges on the ship!"
"I don't want to leave Bellemere and Nojiko. But I have to someday if I want to be a navigator!", She replied and was looked at with wide eyes.
"You want to become a navigator?", Sanji asked astonished.
"Yes, I can also draw maps very well! I am always allowed to draw the treasure maps for the games because I can do it so well!", She declared proudly.
"With them I always found the treasures! It was just stupid that my brothers always took them away from me," Sanji grumbled. "But that fits! You will be a navigator, you can also draw where we've been and I cook!" can also buy something new! "
"That sounds great! Whether we can both get rich from it? Then I could buy Bellemere something nice!"
"That would be really nice! It would be even better if all the people could come to us. Can you attach boards to a ship so that you can walk and sit on it?"Sanji mused, completely distracted by his pain.
"Good question. Usopp can certainly help us! He's really great at handicrafts, he probably knows that!", Nami remembered.
"Yes, but he won't want to do it on our ship. He's too scared to fall into the water!", Sanji interjected.
"Yeah, that's right again!" She giggled.
"Thank you, Nami!"
"What for?" She asked.
"That you helped me, of course! I got a plaster from you, you shared your delicious orange with me and you didn't tell me!", Sanji explained and counted it off on his hands. "You are a good friend!"
"Sure!", Nami replied and held out her little finger to Sanji. "And we are now giving each other the great Indian word of honor that at some point we will see the world together on a ship! You as a cook and I as a navigator!"
With flushed cheeks, Sanji accepted: "A promise is a promise and will not be broken!"
"And now you come with us and bake a big sand cake with us!", Suggested Nami and grabbed Sanji's hand. "When you are with us, your brothers don't do anything because the teachers have to look!"
"I'm not afraid either!", Sanji beamed. "You don't need to be afraid either, I'll protect you then!"
Hand in hand, the two went back to their group of lions, who were already vying hard against the children of the group of sunflowers. With Sanji in the group, the lion team won and even the angry looks of his brothers couldn't take away the joy of having found a best friend.