Dreamless
By: Liete
Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters mentioned.
A/N: Well, I thought I wouldn't be writing for One Piece again, but I found this in my fanfiction folder and figured I'd finish it.
The Going Merry couldn't be fixed. The thought still overwhelmed Sanji as he stood in the kitchen of the ship for the last time. Usopp was leaving them, because he hadn't shared Luffy's idea of buying a new ship. The two had fought, and in that fight everything that Sanji believed held them all together shattered.
"Sanji, we're leaving." Luffy stood in the doorway, his face betraying any evidence that he had just been crying and also belying the happy-go-lucky boy he usually was.
Only minutes before he had been clutching the straw hat over his eyes and trembling in his vain attempts to hide his tears. The weight of reality crushed him, that much was certain. The captain's burden, as Zoro had put it. Perhaps Luffy had always believed that being a pirate was nothing but fun, defeating a vile villain, and setting things right in one area before moving onto the next. That your nakama would be with you until the bitter end. Now Luffy had lost two of his nakama in mere hours, with another missing.
"Right, I'll be out in a minute," Sanji replied. He took one last look around the kitchen that had been his home all that time and sighed. They all probably shared some of Luffy's ideals, at least the part about all of them sticking with Luffy until the end. The money they had finally obtained would fix the Going Merry, they'd recruit a shipwright there in Water 7 to keep Merry up to speed, and the adventures would go on forever. All of them together forever. It was the idealistic wish of a child, but somehow being a Straw Hat made it seem possible.
They were all waiting for him, off the ship and spaced apart and not looking at each other. They had to pass Usopp to get to town, though he was sure that none of them really wanted to. Chopper was still sniffling and whining softly, and Sanji could see Luffy clench his fists and square his jaw defiantly. It was almost like the moment was in slow motion, with the rest of the world fading away to only Usopp and the five of them. They walked past Usopp without a word. No goodbyes, no apologies.
He wanted to kick the shit out of both Luffy and Usopp, tell them to grow up and get over it. They were nakama, and even up until a couple hours ago they had been joking and getting along like they always had. Sanji knew it wasn't that easy, though. To push aside the hurtful words, the fight, and Luffy's turned back, it simply couldn't be done. Usopp had challenged the captain for the rights to the ship, and by doing so indirectly challenged Luffy's position as captain.
Funny how Usopp had always joked about being the captain and now the ship was his.
It made him mad at Usopp, as well. Usopp had questioned Luffy's respect for him when Luffy had stormed the Franky House not because of the money, but because the Franky Family had dared to hurt one of Monkey D. Luffy's nakama. Nami had told him about his fear of coming back to tell them that he had lost the money, when all that mattered was that he had been hurt. Luffy had his priorities straight, and money was meaningless compared to someone he cared about.
There was no use thinking about it now. Luffy and Usopp had made their decisions, and there was no going back. There was still the matter of where Robin had gone, and they were in for a hell of a night. Sanji shook his head and followed the still trembling back of his captain into town.