Only Human

Disclamer: I don't own One Piece.

Author's note: I was up at 4am and decided to do a SanjixNami one shot.

Nami had thought she could do it. She had been sure of it in fact. Maybe her common sense had no place on the Grand Line. They had all barely gotten throught the storm she had been sure would be a piece of cake for this pirate crew to sail through. But she had been wrong. It was a mistake that had nearly killed them all. She felt gulity because Sanji had gotten seriously hurt.

Now, she had never been very worried about Sanji before. She had never needed to be. Sanji was very easy-going, and like most of the crew, never very serious about anything, but, unlike Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp, he knew exactly when to be serious. That rare quailty that Nami amired was what had nearly killed the blond chef that night the storm rolled in. That was four days ago.

Sanji still hadn't woken up from his comatose sleep. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of his chest, Nami would have thought he was dead. At times, he stopped breathing completely. She would be watching him and the next, Chopper would be pounding on his chest. It scared her.

Sanji was usually always so strong. For him to appear so weak reminded Nami Sanji actually was human. She hadn't even been this worried when Zoro had been patched up shortly after Kuma had tried to kill Luffy. This was different.

The thought of losing Sanji seemed more real. He was just as strong as Zoro or Luffy, but somehow Nami had always thought of him as more vulrable than the two other crew members. It was probably due to the fact Sanji was the least effected by fighting. Sure, he got stronger, but he wasn't over-muscled like Zoro and, like with Luffy, you couldn't see his muscles straining. Sanji's muscles worked effectively, but he also relied on speed as a major factor in his fights more than the others since his fighting style required close combat.

Chopper was still ocassionly finding splinters of wood from the mast when he changed Sanji's bandages. That was to be expected. After all the mast had nearly impaled him.

Instead of her. The bitter thought brought a sour taste to her mouth. Sanji had been standing on the other side of the deck when he saw the mast break off and almost hit her. Despite the Sunny's expansive deck, Sanji had pushed her out of the way in time. The push had been forceful but gentle. Only Sanji could think to be gentle while saving her life. It was almost as if by reflex for him to always be gentle when dealing with a lady no matter what the situation.

The mast had hit him, knocking him against the wall by the stairs, tearing deep into his chest and torso before it was caught by the wind and blown away. Blood had seemed to explode from the wound. Sanji's soulful eyes reflected pure pain. "SANJI!" Nami screamed.

"It's okay, Nami...I'll be fine..." Sanji smiled even as blood started to spurt from between his teeth. Nami sat beside him, unable to cry out. Even she could find her voice, she doubted it would do any good against the wind.

After what seemed like years, the storm stopped. Franky had carried Sanji's limp body below deck where Chopper bandged him in the treatment room alone. The whole crew was strangely quiet. Even Zoro didn't bother to take his usual nap. He just sat there, looking slightly worried.

For Zoro, slightly worried was like a small child afraid of the monster under his bed. Sanji was one of the few opponets Zoro could also call a true friend, a brother who always had his back. Now, with Sanji like this, he couldn't fight, couldn't stand back-to-back with Zoro.

Luffy, his usual cheerful demeanor gone, was taunt as a bow string. One of his namaka was hurt. Of course he'd be like this. Luffy knew Sanji and Zoro were perfectly capable of handling anything, but, as captain, Luffy felt it was his duty to protect them.

The door opened and Chopper emerged. The crew rose as if pulled up by the same invisible string. Chopper's fur was smeared with blood. He had a sad but hopeful look on his face.

"Well?" Nami was suprised to hear Zoro be the first to speak.

"Sanji is stable." Chopper replied. The words for now seemed to hang in the air like thick mist. "And Nami, he said he loves you."

Nami tasted salty tears run down her face. Sometimes, she thought, Sanji cared too much.

But, then again, he was only human.

Author's note: Please review! Hope you enjoyed this. I'm going to do a companion piece soon with Robin as Sanji starts to recover.