Thick with an ever-present smell of basil and cinnamon, the Land of Spice and Flames was too hot and too eye-watering for Zoro. How the cook could stand to be there for more than a few minutes without getting a headache was beyond him, but he guessed if you cooked with the stuff all the time, maybe you just didn't notice. LOSAF was like being in one Sanji's dishes, the flames licking up around the surface in vents like a gas range. Everything beside the fire, as far as the swordsman could tell, was made of food and it was nearly impossible to get Luffy to focus on their mission.
"Oi, Luffy!" he barked, scowling at his captain. "We're supposed to be looking for the Queen!"
"Queen?" Luffy blinked, halfway up the trunk of a chocolate orange tree.
"The one the shit cook messaged you about! He said he spotted her ship in the harbor."
"Ohhhhh."
Rolling his eye, Zoro cast a glance around their surroundings. No signs of their crewmate or the aforementioned Black Queen. He didn't know the details—or had elected to ignore them—but he knew that somehow they had made this bitch all but invincible with those sprite-things that had helped them get into the Medium. She had been making trips from Derse recently, paying visits to their lands and causing all kinds of problems, seemingly just for the hell of it; he couldn't wait to take her down. Fishing into his pocket, he pulled out his modified trasponder snail and squinted at the Parleypal screen while typing on its tiny keyboard.
santoryuSwordsman [SS] began parleying diableBlackleg [DB]
SS: oi where are you eyebrow?
DB: _ Busy!
SS: that doesnt answer the damn question!
DB: _ Big mountain in the middle, even you can't miss it!
SS: shut up!
diableBlackleg [DB] keelhauled parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]
"He's at the mountain," Zoro grunted as he shoved the snail back in his pocket.
"Then let's go!" Luffy cheered with an eager grin, hopping down from the tree. "I can't wait to see what it's made out of! Maybe meat!"
Back on the road—made of blocks of cured ham, as best as he could tell—they headed north toward an imposing mountain billowing smoke. Was it a volcano? Zoro snorted and vaguely wondered what a food-volcano would erupt with, anyway…maybe gravy? As they grew closer, the air became more savory-scented, a mixture of grilled beef and garlic that made Luffy salivate in anticipation. Huh, guess it was made of meat after all. Far beyond the mountain, the swordsman saw the crystal-blue shoreline and a river that wound its way to its base. In fact, several rivers seemed to feed into it, reminding him vaguely of the treacherous one they had crossed to get into the Grand Line. Squinting, he could just make out what looked like a large vessel of some sort anchored in a natural harbor.
"There he is!" Luffy called out as they ran along, grinning ear to ear. "Looks like he has friends!"
Which was partly true, of course: the cook was with a small army of his world's consorts. They were yellow and blue foxes, only as tall as Sanji's knees and seemed to be dressed more for a nice dinner party than the battle they were engaged in. It appeared that Queen had sent in her minions ahead to do her dirty work, the field swarming with massive ogres, writhing salamanders and tricky imps currently. Some leagues away, but approaching swiftly, were another group of larger underlings Zoro couldn't quite identify at that distance.
"Aww, he started without us!" their captain whined.
"Looks like there's still plenty to go around," Zoro sneered, drawing his swords and placed Wado between his teeth.
Reaching the outskirts of the fight, Zoro glanced at the scattered bits of grist laying unclaimed and knit his brows when he saw how some hovered over what looked like splatters of red jelly. It was a mockery of blood, that was for sure, but why was there so much of it? He knew there was no way the consorts were doing that much damage with their improvised spears and the way the jelly had landed, he'd swear someone was using a sword. That's when he all but stopped in his tracks to gape.
At a glance, the swordsman had thought something seemed off about the Sanji's movements, but now he knew for sure. Surrounded by a gang of Pastry Imps, the cook had jumped up into a handstand on the head of one to execute his devastating Party Table Kick Course. But upon dispatching the group, instead of kicking the middle imp as usual, there was a glint of steel and a spray of jelly from its chest before it burst into grist.
What. The. Hell.
Before Zoro could question if he had been imagining things, a round-bellied Pot Pie Ogre barreled its way at the cook, who turned on a heel and was more than ready for it. Appearing from thin air in his hands were a pair of long kitchen knives that he gripped with a calm, deadly grace. Then as if it were the most usual thing in the world, the cook leapt forward and sliced into the underling's armored body, twin diagonal cuts in the shape of an X. The knives were nearly as sharp as Zoro's own swords, easily tearing open the ogre's crusty hide to let forth a gush of chicken gravy and peas before it exploded into grist. One enemy dispatched, Sanji flipped and set himself upon another, the battlefield his own personal cutting board as he lashed out with knife and leg alike in a flurry the swordsman had never seen.
Wado dropped from his shock-slackened jaw and it took a great deal of stupid fumbling to catch it before it hit the ground. Shoving the hilt back between his teeth, he was glad Luffy had already run off to join the fun and couldn't see how red his cheeks went with embarrassment. He shook his head with a grumble, silently cursing the cook for throwing him off like that…but he just couldn't get it completely out of his mind.
Sure, he'd seen Sanji fight and had watched him use knives when cooking, but never combining the two. He was…good. Really good. Not that Zoro would give him the satisfaction of saying so, but damned if it wasn't the beginnings of a decent swordsman. Though didn't the cook have some sort of stupid, no-fighting-with-my-precious-hands rule? It seemed out of character—no matter how effective—but with a shrug he charged in and thankfully let his mind run blank.
"About damn time you got here!" Sanji snarled around a cigarette, sending an imp flying over the swordsman's head.
"You try getting Luffy to focus when everything's food, see how long it takes you to get anywhere!" he shot back, taking out a wave of imps with a simple swing. "What's with the knives?!"
It was out of his mouth before he could stop it and Sanji actually laughed while using said knives to carve apart the armored back of a Rock Candy Salamander to expose its weaker, taffy center to a flaming Mouton Shot. Zoro had to stop himself from staring again.
"They have food as their armor, so why shouldn't I use them?!" he called with a shit-eating grin as he glanced at Zoro. "Why, are you looking for lessons?!"
Throwing him a heated glare, the swordsman refused to even dignify the question with a response and rejoined the fight, much to Sanji's amusement. The cook supposed it should be no surprise that Zoro was, well, surprised. He had to remind himself that no one had seen that particular fight where his enemy was using ramen as armor and the cook had been forced to use knives to get at the body beneath. But when Sanji had begun exploring his world, he learned fairly quickly that like everything else, even the monsters were food and he did what he did best.
Pressing on, he too turned his attention back to the battle. It was going well before his crewmates arrived, but now the tides were turning in their favor. Sanji couldn't help a smile hearing the ruckus Luffy was causing by trying his damnedest to not only fight the underlings, but to eat them as well. The three had separated into different sections of the field, carving their way through the onslaught as the cook's consorts realized they were not exactly needed and made their hasty retreat. He didn't blame them, of course, and was thankful for their support until Luffy and Zoro arrived.
Thunder sounded from the distance as a massive storm rolled in from the ocean, heading their way. The sky began to darken and Sanji could feel a strange energy in the air, as if it were growing thicker. Glancing away toward the approaching reinforcements, he scowled with a snort: wasn't that always how it went? First came the useless fodder, then the slightly stronger fodder, and then the heavy hitters would step in once they assumed their enemies had been tired out. But this was the Monster Trio they would be facing and they did not tire so easily.
"Incoming!" Sanji called over the fray, casting his gaze around for his crewmates.
"They better be worth while, I'm getting bored!" he heard Zoro respond.
Laughter from Luffy was confirmation enough that they were both still nearby and in no danger. In fact, it was kind of nice to be doing something as a group again, even if it was getting overrun by underlings. The field looked less and less like a grassy plain and more like the floor of a school cafeteria after a massive food-fight. The waste of all that food turned the cook's stomach, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Trees in a nearby forest were thrown into the air violently as a previously unseen force launched from the shadows to lop across the hills toward the battlefield, belching out flames and smoke as they went. Easily twice as large as the Rock Candy Salamanders, these amphibians boasted translucent red skin and long tails that ended in a ball of spikes.
"Shit! Red Hot Salamanders!" the cook warned, pointing toward the approaching horde. "Stay clear when you cut them, their insides are boiling sugar!"
"Your stupid land is shittier than you are!" Zoro snapped, gritting his teeth on Wado's hilt.
"Sanji's land is the BEST!" Luffy countered with a cheer of delight at the prospect of a new 'snack' to try.
It started low, easily mistaken for the thunder until they could feel the vibrations in their feet. While the salamanders charged on, the underlings that had been long approaching from the harbor finally reached the field. Towering over those below them, the three creatures were easily ten feet taller than the dreaded Pacifistas the crew had dealt with back home. These monstrosities were known as the Acheron: hulking and humanoid to a point with long, muscular arms that left their knuckles to drag on the ground, four beady little eyes and they boasted a mouth overflowing with jagged fangs. Wonderful combination, this. Zoro narrowed his eye and glanced back at the approaching salamanders before turning to address the Acheron currently looming over him. There were three, which meant one had been dispatched to deal with each of them. How did the Queen know? Expression souring, he pushed the thought away since it didn't currently matter: they were here and they needed to be eliminated quickly before the bitch showed up herself.
From the corner of his eye, the swordsman saw Sanji dismiss his knives, which made him study the underling a bit closer. Unlike the rest of the creatures they had been fighting, these did not appear to have any of LOSAF's influence in them: dressed in purple tattered cloaks, their bodies were black with green swirls and their eyes were red. These must been personal minions of the Queen, he surmised, rushing his Acheron with blades ready. Luffy and Sanji seemed to have the same reaction to their own Acherons, seeing rubber limbs go flying and snapping and a blur of black and flame. Unfortunately like the Pacifistas, these underlings were particularly tough and while they were making progress against them individually, it would not be fast enough to be rid of them before the salamanders would reach them.
Soon enough, they were overrun by the swarm, their mere presence raising the temperatures of the battlefield to uncomfortable levels. Zoro could feel sweat begin to roll down his back and he made a noise of irritation, turning from the Acheron to deal with a salamander that was trying to take his head off with its spiked tail. Forgetting the cook's warning, he swung a deadly arc into its side and had to leap away with a surprised grunt as a fountain of molten sugar gushed out.
"I told you to watch it!" Sanji called, already knee-deep in the creatures in addition to dealing with is own Acheron. "Don't let the sugar harden!"
"Don't let the what—?!" he was in the middle of responding when the injured salamander swung its tail again and connected with his side.
Zoro was sent tumbling, leaping up on his feet again with some bruised ribs and cuts to show for the trouble. True enough, when he had assumed the creature mortally wounded, the sugar had hardened in the cooler air to seal the gouge his sword had left in it. Fine, point taken, cut the damned things up until they bleed all the way out. Got it.
So embroiled with the current fight, the trio didn't notice that the sky had darkened considerably more and the black clouds shimmered with bursts of lightning. It wasn't until a white-hot bolt struck near the battlefield that they even gave it any acknowledgement. Smoke cleared away from the crater the strike left, revealing a tall figure standing within. Zoro could feel his insides grow just a bit colder despite the heat: the Black Queen.
Hailing from Derse, the Queen had been heavily altered by their prototyping and seemed none too pleased for the treatment. Her dress was a horrific mixture of colors in swirls and stripes and dots, eyes narrowed as she drew a red hilted katana from a scabbard on her hip, its blade dark as night. Not for the first or last time did Zoro regret trying to attack his kernel sprite with Kitetsu, now facing a super-powered replica in the hands of a woman who wanted nothing more than to see them all dead.
Luffy scowled at the Queen, his brows coming together. Part of what bothered the captain most about her was that of all the many objects involved in the prototyping process, the figure head of the Mini Merry had been added, causing the Queen to boast the ship's curved horns and face. It was just wrong to see it currently contorted into an expression of disgust and hatred as her ringed finger pointed accusingly toward the trio.
"Marimo…which sword is that?" Sanji asked, having been pushed back close enough to the swordsman that he didn't have to yell anymore. No one else in the group had swords, so clearly it was Zoro's doing.
"What does that matter?"
"You know it matters! It's Kitetsu, isn't it?!"
"I thought that orb-thing was attacking me!" he tried to defend himself, bristling.
"So you took a swing at it, with THAT sword?! Of all the shitty choices you've ever made..!"
"Shut up!"
Teeth clenched, the cook felt his skin crawl. Even being warped by the game's magic, Sanji knew that sword when he saw it: Sandai Kitetsu. Cursing under his breath, he tried to wrap his mind around exactly how screwed they were when a salamander threw itself into him and sent him flying.
Glancing over at the sudden movement, Zoro shifted his stance as if to engage the salamander but found the way blocked by Sanji's Acheron and the swordsman growled.
"Get out of my way, you shitty ape-thing!" he ordered, leaping at it.
As he fought, he became aware that the remaining Acheron was still keeping Luffy occupied along with at least half of the salamanders. Considering that only a few were surrounding him, it left him to wonder exactly what the objective was until he heard a familiar sound of steel clashing against hard leather.
Not just any steel, but the echo of Kitetsu; he could feel the real sword hum slightly in his hand, as if it were the one engaged in combat. It didn't take him long to put two and two together and renewed his efforts to get through the pair of Acheron barring his way.
"Shit!" he hissed, leaping back to dodge a crushing punch that erupted a spray of rock and dirt into the air from where he had just been standing.
Between the massive fists being flung at him and the salamanders crawling over one another to gnash their teeth and swing their tails at the swordsman, he could catch only brief glimpses of the fight going on. Though, 'fight' was a relative term, considering that the cook seemed to be doing everything in his power just to block and dance around her attacks. Of all the stupid weaknesses to have, it had always been one that Zoro could never understand and it pissed him off more than anything else: even if the Black Queen looked like a cobbled-together abomination of scraps from the ship, Sanji would not lift a finger—or foot—to harm her. Defend himself, sure, but what good was that going to do him right now?
Without realizing it had happened, Sanji found that at least ten of the salamanders had formed a ring around himself and the Queen. He searched around for an opening, but was forced quickly to back to avoiding her attacks—or blocking them when it was required. Which would have been a whole hell of a lot easier if it wasn't for that damn sword! Teeth grinding at the butt of his nearly spent cigarette, Sanji cursed to himself and barely ducked under a swing that had been intended to lob his head from his shoulders. Not for the first time he wondered: of the trio, why had she singled him out?
Going after Luffy would have made much more sense, considering he was their captain and leader. Hell, even Zoro would have been a key target. But as far as he could tell, the Queen's forces had arrived, separated him from his crewmates and was now attacking him mercilessly. As if sensing his confusion, she sneered and came after him again, each swing backing him closer and closer to the ring of salamanders.
"Hope is a powerful thing," she offered when her blade met with his shoe. "Dangerous."
Behind him, the salamanders ignited, forming a living wall of flame. Shit. He leapt away from her.
"It is said," the Queen continued, pressing forward again even as Sanji tried to dash past and away from the fire. "That Hope never truly dies."
Shit.
"But tell me, do you believe it? I am curious: is your Hope so strong that it could continue to live—"
Sanji gave a hiss of pain as he actually stepped backwards into one of the salamanders, the molten gummy sticking to his leg and gluing him in place. Just a moment's distraction, but it was enough.
"—when you have ceased to?"
Kitetsu gave a thrum of delight that reverberated up Zoro's arm and the swordsman felt his heart skip a beat. Ignoring as best he could, he focused on crushing the two Acheron blocking his way, taking a deep breath and drawing out a power from deep within. The air around him shimmered oddly before growing dark and from the æther he materialized two additional heads and six more sword-wielding arms.
"Kiki Kyutoru: Asura!"
For a moment it didn't look as if the Acheron had been phased, but their chests then began to spit open where the blades had cut, carapaces rupturing before they exploded into a shower of grist. There was no time to celebrate the victory, however, as he was stopped dead by the outraged howl of his captain.
"SANJI!"
Standing in the ring of fire still, the Black Queen looked over with a satisfied grin, the blood-gorged copy-Kitetsu held firmly in her hand. Leaping over his Acheron altogether, Luffy charged at the Queen recklessly, winding his arm up for a punch. Zoro bolted toward the ring of salamanders as he could practically feel the demon sword laughing gleefully in his hand. If he wasn't sure he was going to need it, the swordsman would have sheathed and tossed it away from him for its trouble.
Making use of their distractions, the Queen parted a way through the wall of writhing bodies and reached her hand up to the sky. From the storm above, a fearsome flying underling that looked like a cross between a dragon and a ship descended at her call. Throwing the swordsman and his captain a mocking wave, she easily leapt up to safety on its back and was carried out of reach—despite Luffy's best efforts, his fingers just barely grazing the beast's underbelly before he could stretch no further.
With a frustrated cry at her hasty retreat, Luffy's arm snapped back to him and he rounded on the Acheron he had ignored and vented his fury into its chest with a vicious, Gear Second salvo of Jet Gatling punches. Having the strongest enemy under control, it left Zoro to focus on clearing the ring of salamanders that had clambered closer together until there was practically just a pile of them…and somewhere under that gooey, blazing mess was the cook. Snarling, he dug his heels in just as he reached them and prepared to spin.
"Tatsu Maki!" he roared, his blades birthing a tornado that sent the whole flaming mess flying.
Where they landed, he couldn't give a shit, completely unconcerned with their half-melted corpses splattering all across the battlefield. Zoro focused instead on his nakama, now freed. It was on the small circle of ground spared by the eye of the tornado that Sanji knelt, all but doubled over with his head hung and shaking hands clutched tight over his abdomen. The swordsman's breath hitched and he lowered his swords, rooted in place by a growing sense of trepidation.
Fingers that had gone pallid gripped desperately, but blood still seeped readily from between them. His immaculate suit jacket and shirt lay open from where the katana had sliced through them, the blood beginning to turn pale blue cloth to a blossom of purple. The cook's breathing was a shallow, wet wheeze that turned to a violent cough when a shudder of pain shook his frame. Zoro approached unsteadily, sheathing his swords as he did.
"Luffy!" the swordsman finally managed to call when he forced down the lump in his throat. "Get a hold of Chopper!"
"N-no time f—" Sanji began, head shaking just a bit.
"Shut up, cook," Zoro cut in, kneeling down before his injured nakama.
"How bad…is it?"
What Zoro had assumed—or hoped—was a shallow slash, he found was far more severe. It didn't appear that the cook's guts were spilling out and he wasn't gushing blood, but he had seen enough sword injuries to tell when something was nicked. Or ruptured.
"Just a scratch," he lied, stomach knotted with a mixture of icy dread and boiling fury. "That bitch took off, but she won't get off so easy next time. Next time, her head ismine."
Despite the situation, Sanji still managed a weak snort of amusement. It gave the swordsman some hope that things would be fine. But the closer he looked, the more severe the situation seemed: in addition to the obvious abdominal injury, the cook's leg had been badly burned where it had been trapped in the molten gummy, the skin an angry red. Even though he was pale everywhere else, Sanji's skin was slick with a fever's sweat. He also could not lift his head at all from where it hung, visibly struggling to even remain kneeling. But worst of all, his lips were showing the first signs of turning blue.
Sanji was going into shock.
"Zoro!" Luffy called out as he rushed over, still holding his transponder snail. "Chopper says things are bad! He can't get here!"
"What do you mean he can't get here?!" Zoro hissed and stood abruptly, hands curling into instinctive fists.
"He says that the transportalizer to this place got busted! Franky is trying to get it fixed, but he says it's gonna take a while!"
Luffy stared at Sanji with wide, horrified eyes for a long moment before he sought Zoro with a grave, pleading look.
"Zoro, what do we do?"
"I…" the swordsman looked down at Sanji, his hands falling open again. "I don't know."
"We gotta do something!" Luffy insisted.
"What can we do?!" Zoro snapped back, fear creeping into his own features now. "Chopper's the doctor, not me!"
"Mountain," Sanji muttered. "Get…get me there."
"The mountain? What's about it?" the swordsman looked up it as if it would offer him answers.
"Are there doctors?!" Luffy asked hopefully.
"Bed," he managed to reply before coughing abruptly, gagging on a mouthful of blood.
"You want to sleep?" Zoro sounded incredulous. The cook was obviously delirious.
"Idiot…Quest Bed," Sanji corrected him after spitting. "Mine. It's in the mountain."
Oh hell no. Zoro hadn't paid much attention to the ever-changing rules and facets of this 'game' they had gotten themselves into, but he had heard Robin talking about the Quest Bed. Apparently they each had one hidden somewhere in their land and they unlocked great power in whoever used them. But to use them…
"No way," he refused, hands balling up again. "We wait right here for Chopper."
"But Zoro! Isn't that a good thing?" Luffy pressed, brows knit together with confusion at Zoro's refusal. "Nami said if you sleep on one of those things like Robin did, you wake up all better and have magic powers!"
Zoro growled, cursing under his breath. Of course Nami fed him that bullshit white lie, what else would she have said? No one would have dared tell Luffy the truth, unable to face causing him that kind of pain.
"And you get cool clothes!" their captain added hopefully, desperate to change Zoro's mind.
"Zoro, please," Sanji whispered, his voice cracking with desperation.
It was jarring to hear the cook actually use his name, enough so that he closed his eye and tried to rein in his racing thoughts. Deep breath in. Let it out. Far in the background he was vaguely aware of the gloating Kitetsu, but he pushed the voice deeper down and focused instead on the situation: Chopper was not going to make it in time and Sanji was dying. Option one was to wait and hope the cook could hold on long enough not only for the diminutive doctor to reach them, but to administer treatment. Too much time, little chance of success. Dead cook. So that left Sanji's suggestion of the Quest Bed. The mountain wasn't terribly far, maybe a five minute sprint—eight tops. Put the cook on the bed and then what? Wait? Still ended with a dead cook, but only temporarily.
Better it being temporary, he finally decided with a heavy sigh.
"Alright, stay put Luffy and wait for the others," he instructed, kneeling down again.
"No way! I'm coming with you!"
"Do you think he's gonna fall asleep with you hanging around?!" Zoro snapped, clearly in no mood to argue.
"Um," Luffy blinked, taken off guard by the outburst. "Well, I guess not, but…"
"Just stay here, alright?" he asked a bit more gently.
"Alright. You'll come back when he's better, though, right?"
"Right."
Luffy chewed at his lip, battling his instinct to stick with them no matter what. But Zoro seemed to know what he was doing and he trusted his first mate. He would take care of Sanji, even if they didn't get along most of the time, because that's what nakama did. So finally he gave a nod, crossing his legs under himself as he sat down.
"I'll wait right here, so don't get lost coming back!"
Sanji chuckled and had the situation been less serious, the swordsman might have jumped on his case for it. Instead, he busied himself with the dilemma of picking the cook up off the ground. It was no simple task, that was for sure, being sure Sanji kept pressure on the wound to give them as much time as possible to reach the mountain. Ticking of an unseen clock sounded in Zoro's ears and he settled one arm around the cook's back while he prepared the other to scoop him up under the knees.
"Hang on," he advised before proceeding.
As gently as he could manage, Zoro hefted the cook up into his arms, cradling him against his chest so that the cook's upper legs were pressed up against where his hands held the wound. Despite his best efforts, however, Sanji uttered a sharp yelp of pain and shuddered, clinging to himself all the more intensely with his fading strength.
"Hurry," Sanji groaned, resting his clammy forehead against the side of Zoro's neck.
The swordsman needed no further prompting as he took off at a sprint. To say the trip was nerve-wracking was an understatement, having to keep a fine balance between speed and safety. Too slow and he wouldn't reach the mountain in time, too fast and the jarring nature of being carried would make reaching it pointless. The cook's fate was literally in his hands and with every passing minute, he could feel the body in his arms growing lighter not by any magic but because his spark of life was flickering dimmer and dimmer.
"Don't you dare check out before I get there."
"Or what?" Sanji mumbled back after a minute, during which the swordsman had tensed, fearing the worst.
As it was, he could scarcely tell the cook was breathing as the shadow of the mountain fell over them. Looking ahead, Zoro could just make out what looked like a natural cave that had been converted into some sort of temple. The archway boasted carved pillars and a symbol at the top resembling wings.
"Is that it?"
Weak nodding against his neck was confirmation enough as he took the last stretch of race at an all-out charge, knowing there was precious little time left to him if he wanted to save the cook. Either he toughed it out or was too far gone to feel it, but there was no negative response from Sanji at the breakneck pace; somehow that was more troubling.
Nearly breathless by this point, Zoro all but skidded into the heart of the temple and cast his gaze around wildly for a bed. Frustrated desperation was just starting to creep in when Sanji gave a snort, reaching one shaky, blood-smeared hand outward to point to a raised slab of stone at the center of the chamber baring the wings upon it. True, it was surrounded by four spires that vaguely resembled the posts of a bed, but how the hell was he supposed to know the thing would be made of stone? Grumbling something about the game being stupid, he approached it slowly, his legs suddenly feeling heavy.
Kneeling carefully beside the stone slab, the swordsman was reluctant to pry Sanji from his chest to lay on the cold surface but did so anyway. Curled up on himself, the cook looked far younger than he was, more fragile than he should have been. Zoro stood dumbly over him, unsure of what to do next. Was something supposed to be happening?
"Marimo," Sanji wheezed.
"What do you need?"
"End it."
Zoro froze, eye widening as the heavy request was made with so few words. What more did the cook need to say, after all? It was pretty damn clear what he meant, considering his other option was laying there in agony while he waited for his body to give out. It was the right thing to do, the most merciful, but the swordsman still found himself standing there motionless. Telling himself that it was temporary, that it was a simple matter did nothing to help. So what if Sanji's consciousness would be instantly sent off to merge with his dream self? It still boiled down to the fact that the cook was asking Zoro to take his life!
While he was struggling with the concept, Sanji groaned and used the last of his strength to roll himself onto his back. Panting with the effort, he peeled his visible eye open to look up at Zoro, finding it difficult to get his vision to focus. It was a mess, he was a mess, but he drew some comfort having the swordsman with him and was even more thankful that Luffy did not have to witness what was soon to follow. Sanji would rather die a thousand deaths before he would subject his captain to that. That wasn't to say, however, he didn't regret shifting the responsibility to Zoro.
"C'mon," he chuckled, voice raspy. "Only chance you get to actually make good on your threats."
Even on his literal death bed, the cook could still get a raise from Zoro, the swordsman growling with a heated glare.
"Those were just words and you know it, dumbass!"
"Yeah. Still, here we are."
Zoro cursed unintelligibly to himself under his breath while his hand reached for Wado despite the protesting whines of Kitetsu, the cursed sword still hungry for the blood its clone had spilt. So be it. Shadows cast over his expression, the swordsman stepped over his nakama and drew steel, hand trembling just slightly on its white leather hilt.
Killing had never been a problem for him in his path to becoming the world's greatest swordsman because that was the nature of the path itself. Blood was spilt and lives were ended. Accepting that had come naturally to him, but this was something different altogether: Sanji was not an enemy. He was an asshole, sure, and most of the time Zoro would love nothing more than to kick the ever-loving shit out of him. But at the end of the day, they were nakama and that meant that no matter what, they would protect one another.
He supposed that even meant killing him if it was what was needed of the swordsman. Didn't make it any easier to swallow, though.
Knowing well what he had asked, it didn't stop Sanji from regarding the raised weapon with understandable anxiety. He was already dying, but self-preservation was human nature and each member of Luffy's crew were exceptionally good at clinging on to life in the most dire situations. Part of him railed at 'giving up' like this, trying to convince him that he could still hang on until Chopper could get to them. But he knew better. Robin had shown great leaps in abilities when she returned to them as the Witch of Space—an undignified title for such a lovely woman, in his opinion—and they would need as much strength as they could muster if they held any hopes of defeating the Black Queen. Still, it was his life being ended right before his eyes and the cook swallowed thickly as his heart labored to race.
"Oi, look at me," Zoro muttered, waiting until that one blue eye met his. "It'll be quick. Just, don't watch it. Watch me. Okay?"
Sanji nodded slightly, not sure exactly why it helped him but it did. Zoro took a deep breath, raising Wado up with both hands, tension twitching in his muscles as he positioned the blade to be directly over the cook's heart. A vague thought surfaced in Sanji's mind that made him smile with a snort of amusement.
"What?" the swordsman paused, brows knit together at the unexpected noise.
"Queen takes stomach, Knight takes heart," he muttered deliriously, light beginning to fade from his eye.
With an alarmed intake of breath, Zoro feared that he had waited a moment too long and with no more time to hesitate or put it off, he plunged the katana down into the cook's chest and gave it a firm twist. Sanji gasped—more in surprise than pain—and a hand shot up instinctively for the blade before Zoro turned it. The hand paused, fingers trembling briefly before the appendage fell limply onto his chest and the cook went still.
Long moments passed before Zoro would yank Wado free and his legs gave out, leaving him to fall to his knees beside the stone slab. There he knelt in utter silence, staring in wide-eyed horror at the empty vessel before him. No matter the reason, no matter how merciful, no matter that the cook had asked him to, the fact remained that Zoro had killed his nakama…and fuck if it didn't tear him apart from the inside out.
Uncharacteristically, he let the sword fall from his hand to clatter on the chamber floor, eye frantically cast around for any signs that his action had not been in vain, that some good came of it. Nothing happened at first and the swordsman began to panic, believing that he had done the wrong thing, that the cook was gone foreverand it was his fault and he would have to go back to Luffy covered in Sanji's blood and explain why.
Then, the tops of the bed's spires lit up with a blinding white light, forcing Zoro to lift a hand over his brow to shield his eye, squinting in the sudden glare. Gushing water caught his attention and he looked to the side, observing the chamber more closely for the first time. There were stone spouts protruding from the walls shaped like fish and when the light began, water flowed from their gaping mouths and worked to fill a channel that ran around the perimeter of the room. Glancing up again, he saw the wing symbol appeared above Sanji's chest, as if there hadn't been enough glowing shit in the chamber already to blind him. The effect lasted for a few seconds before the orbs of light met with the symbol and exploded in a final flash before the room began to dim once more.
What that…it?
In the moments of silence that followed, the notification alert of his transponder snail going off rapidly shocked him so badly he nearly fell over. Fumbling at his pocket, he retrieved it and squinted at the screen: he had several messages. It seemed he had missed several on the trip to the mountain, as well.
captainMugiwara [CM] began parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]:
CM: did the magic bed work?
CM: you GOTTA come see skaia its all GLOWY!
CM: i saw WINGS!
Wings? Like the bed?
sakuraReindeer [SR] began parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]:
SR: * Luffy said you're going to a mountain with Sanji! Is he okay?! *
SR: * Please be careful moving him, he could get worse! *
SR: * LUFFY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT A BED?! *
SR: * FRANKY CAN'T GET THE TRANSPORTALIZER FIXED IN TIME ZORO I'M SORRY! *
SR: * Skaia is all lit up! Just like with Robin! *
SR: * OH NO BUT THAT MEANS ! *
The swordsman frowned and felt bad for the little doctor; it must have been rough knowing he had been powerless to help.
mikanNavigator [MN] began parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]:
MN: I CAN'T LEAVE YOU 3 ALONE FOR 2 $ECOND$ WITHOUT 1 OF YOU GETTING HURT, CAN I?!
MN: Don't you DARE tell Luffy about the bed! If you do, I'm increa$ing your intere$t to 67%!
He was already never going to be able to pay her back, but it wasn't like he was going to tell Luffy the full truth anyway.
sundayArchaeologist [SA] began parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]:
SA: }{ Hm, it seems that I am no longer alone in the pantheon. }{
SA: }{ I hope that it did not trouble you too badly, swordsman-san. }{
SA: }{ After all, we all must ascend if we are to win this game. }{
Zoro scowled with a narrowed eye. Always with the mysterious, cryptic talk. He scanned the rest of the jumble, making note that Franky had fixed the transportal-whatever and that yes, Skaia was in fact glowing. Scrolling through the walls of text, he sought out one name in particular. But when he at last reached the latest log from the cook, it still showed the end of the last conversation when he had asked where Sanji was.
The tension had his hand nearly crushing the poor snail as he stalked out of the chamber before it gave a notification ding and his eye darted to the screen, stopping in his tracks.
diableBlackleg [DB] began parleying santoryuSwordsman [SS]:
DB: _ Do me a favor. Get my lighter. I need to set these pants on fire.
Blinking at the message dumbly for a moment, he couldn't help but smirk and turn around to get the cook's lighter from his old body. It still turned his insides cold to see it, broken and empty as it was, but knowing that Sanji was alright again somewhere else—Prospit, wasn't it?—was good enough for him. Any lingering pain in his chest he wrote off to fatigue as he stepped out into the sun and started back to where he had left Luffy.
"Your pants look like pumpkins!" Luffy guffawed.
Zoro was doubled over, tears in his eye from how hard he was laughing. So much for 'cool' clothes.
Sanji bristled furiously, hands clenched into fists as he nearly ground his cigarette into pulp between his teeth. Wasn't it bad enough that he had to die for this shit? No, he supposed not, he had to be humiliated on top of it. Well if that's how it was going to be, he was going to make them eat their laughter. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he swung his leg like a scythe at Zoro's head…and the move sent a crescent blade of light flying that the swordsman was just able to duck under with a surprised snarl.
"Watch it, shit-cook!" he barked with a glare.
"UWOAH! How did you do that, Sanji?!" Luffy gaped, stars in his eyes.
"Our Prince of Hope," Robin chuckled with a bemused smile.
"More like Prince of Idiots," Nami sighed, shaking her head as clearly nothing had changed at all except for Sanji's clothes.