2 Years later [Year 1505]
Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji were kicking Sanji on the ground. Kai sneered at them from the other room as he could tell exactly what was going on with his devil fruit. He was creating small shields in front of Sanji to protect him from the worst of it. When the three left he stayed still for a bit before he felt Reiju take Sanji into another room. He decided to let her treat him this time and walked away without anyone knowing what he did.
He was now 6 years old and had a high degree of control over his devil fruit. While not nearly good enough for what he wanted to do in the future it was far superior to what anyone else knew about, including his Mother and Reiju. He had only showcased a fraction of its power to anyone as he knew to always keep his cards hidden until forced to reveal them. By now he has many scars all over his body but his face and hands were untouched.
These scars were all thanks to three things, the experiments that he had to go through as a kid, his fathers beatings and recently his little brothers beatings. Although if he used his devil fruit he could easily beat them, he couldn't let Judge know that he could use it yet and if he used only his physical strength it would be a close match but he would probably still lose, only drawing unwanted attention to himself in the end. Although he was very strong for his physical age, those three were monsters!
He walked through the hallway 'coincidentally' arriving when Sanji and Reiju were leaving the room. He walked up to Sanji and patted his head, "You're a good kid you know that?" as he forced a smile at him that only Reiju could see through as being a painful one. In his head he thought 'As soon as I can i'll get you to Zeff.' before looking up from Sanji and patting Reiju on the head too "Thanks for helping him this time Rei. You must really love your little brother. Wahahah!"
She shook her head at his antics and said "He's much better than my older brother, he's really mean." as she pretended to pout.
Kai pretended to cry and said "Sis doesn't love me anymore." as he wiped a fake tear. Sanji tried to cheer him up, think he was really said, which only caused Reiju to laugh and add "He's also an idiot."
"Oi, i'm not an idiot! Take that back! I have all these fools in the palm of my hand! It's all part of my master plan! You'll see!" Kai yelled as he chased her, shaking his fist causing her to giggle as she ran away, leaving behind a confused two year old Sanji.
"Ara, I see they're at it again." Sora said as she walked up to Sanji and picked him up. "Do you want to learn about history? You're about the same age as when I first taught Kai to read and write poneglyphs." She joked, still not realizing he actually did know how to read them, as he had just recently become literate after years of studying.
Sanji started to shake his head violently as his Mothers lectures always bore him. He let her carry him back to her room while not listening to her talk about history at all because he was too busy staring at a cookbook in the corner of the room.
Kai felt all this happening with his power and smiled to himself. He hadn't got Sanji a Birthday gift yet had he.
…
2 Years later [Year 1507]
"I made this for you guys!" Sanji beamed as he handed a purple plate to Kai, Reiju and Sora.
"Delicious!" Kai and Sora immediately said as they scarfed down the food. Reiju was a little slower trying not to show her expression on her face as she finally said "It's really good Sanji! What did you make this time?"
"You're supposed to be able to tell from the taste!" Sanji exclaimed, disappointed. Then he muttered "I'll do better next time." The other three looked at each other and smiled as he had said this so often they lost count.
"Hey chef! Wanna hear a story?" Kai asked after he set down his meal. He had gotten used to the awful taste of the food and wanted to tell Sanji a story. "Sure!" Sanji replied as he sat down on his mothers lap while Kai started his tale. "..and they call that the All Blue! Where all fish live together!" he finished and looked at Sanji who had stars in his eyes.
"Woah! Cool! Can we go there? Can we?" Sanji asked hopefully. Kai cut him off saying "No one has ever found it before!" Sanji looked sad before Kai said "So you just have to be the first one! I promise you that one of these days I'll take you out of this place on an adventure! When that happens I'll help you sail the seas until you reach your dream!" Sanji looked at his brother and said "Thank you Aniki!" before he ran off all excited.
Reiju and Sora looked at each other a little concerned because they knew that Kai kept his promises. Especially after he couldn't protect his Mother from taking the drugs when he promised to protect her. But they didn't say anything as they knew he was a smart kid and wouldn't do anything rash.
Kai turned to look at his Mom and used his fruit to see that she was doing worse than before. Before he could even say anything Sora hugged him and Reiju into her chest stopping him from speaking. She knew what he was thinking but didn't want the 8 year old to worry about her. She had a sad smile on her face as she felt her shirt get wet with his tears. "Kai. It's not your fault. It was my choice." She whispered into his ears so only he could hear as she knew he blamed himself.
Kai nodded and understood that she was right but he couldn't forgive himself for letting his own mother poison herself and taking not only his own, but also Sanji and Reiju's mother away from them. He and his mom were the only ones who knew as he helped her hide it from Judge so she and Sanji wouldn't face his wrath.
And so life went on as normal. Sanji and Kai would get beat up by their three brothers and Reiju would laugh at them while it happened and walk away, before returning later and helping them bandage up while apologizing profusely. Sanji started to become a better cook and his food was now edible. Kai continued to train his devil fruit while starting some body training as his body was more mature than the average 8 year old. Sora watched over all of this with a truly happy smile on her face. She truly loved her three children and seeing them happy was all she could wish for.
…
One year later [Year 1508]
Kai told his Mom and Reiju his plan. He would sneak out and get two body doubles for him and Sanji when the time is right. Reiju would use her poison to make them unrecognizable and when they escaped Kai would piss judge off to make him order Reiju to attack them pretending to be hit. He would leave the body doubles and escape with Sanji with his devil fruit ability. It was a pretty flawless plan. However, it meant that Reiju couldn't leave. But all three of them knew. It was impossible for her to come. For two reasons, one is that Judge actually cared about her and her power, and the other is that she cannot refuse Judge's orders.
…