"Marimo, wake up."
The blonde looked around, what seemed to be an endless amount of blue filled his vision, not a cloud in sight. Small waves crashed upon the shore of an empty beach, fresh sand without footprints and no other company besides that of the green haired swordsman that was lying on the ground beside his feet.
Where was he? Where was the rest of the crew? Most importantly, where in the hell was Nami?
And, how did he even end up here, with Zoro of all people?
He heard a grunt as his foot connected with the swordman's side gently, Zoro stirring awake and slowly wearing the same confused face the cook was previously wearing while analyzing their surroundings.
He wiped his eyes of sleep, although he could barely remember falling asleep. As a matter of fact, he could barely remember anything at all relating to how they ended up on the beach.
"Hey, ero-cook, where are we.. ?"
The blonde looked closely at the swordsman, not providing his question with a response but rather a face that answered it regardless.
I know just about as much as you do.
All he knew, was they were alone. No boat, no people, based on the fresh appearance of the beach and no boat docked to be seen. A small forest surrounded the area past the sand, possibly could lead to some town or village..
It seemed as if the two had thought the same thing, both staring at the forest and each other in agreement.
They headed towards the forest in haste, Sanji taking the lead before Zoro had the opportunity to get them lost when they already didn't know where they were. Zoro's hands remained close to his sheathed swords incase trouble were to show up as they ventured into the green abyss beyond the sand.
"Damn cook, where in the hell are we going?"
Zoro was unpleased, as the forest seemed to look the same regardless of how far they walked.
"Hell if I know, I don't even know how we ended up here but it'd be nice to find someone who can tell us where we are."
The swordsman grunted at that, and continued following the confused chef. As he was about to lose himself in thought, he heard the cook curse and start running. He assumed it was an enemy, but upon reaching to where the cook had ran, he realized they were right back at the beach where they had started in the first place.
"Are you kidding? ...There is no way we back-tracked! We were walking north and still ended up back here?"
Sanji was at a loss for words, quickly inspecting his pockets to luckily find a pack of cigarettes, just like he had left them before he somehow ended up at the shore of the mysterious beach. However, a lighter didn't accompany his pack of cigarettes, nor did his pocket's carry one as they usually did.
"Marimo, go back to the edge of the forest and get some wood for a fire. Don't wander too far in and get lost, because I sure as hell don't want to be looking for your lost ass while I try and figure out where we are."
Zoro sighed, irritated but not up to arguing when there was so much confusion about where they were. He complied with Sanji's request, heading towards the very edge of the forest to cut some smaller trees for wood while mumbling something akin to "shit-cook".
"I don't understand." The blonde sighed.
"Understand what?"
"How we're here.. wherever here is. I can't remember what happened to our nakama either, it's as if I just woke up here with no recollection of how I fell asleep."
"Same. Not exactly sure what the plans are from here but we need some."
The fire was small. Wood from the forest in the area wasn't burning as wood usually did, which proved difficult for the men as the air in the atmosphere was cold due to the season.
Zoro's swords were laid out at his side, as he reclined into the sand seeking some warmth that sitting up wasn't providing. He was watching the cook carefully, trying to figure out if he could remember anything involving the blonde that could've got them into this situation. Again, nothing came to mind.
Said cook was rummaging through his pockets, so far finding nothing beyond his now open pack of cigarettes (one currently being smoked due to the fire lighting it), and a golden chained watch. He puffed out the smoke, finding some sense of relaxation in watching it fade with the chilly wind, but still couldn't stop obsessing over where they were.
He glanced down at the clock, and after watching it for moments without seeing any movement, he became startled.
Was it broken? Water damaged? Had a gear stopped working?
The first and last possibilities just didn't seem realistic. He had recently gotten the watch tuned up, and if his memory served him correctly (which it hadn't been the majority of the day), it was working properly the last time he used it.
He didn't remember being wet when he woke up either, so the water damage part was also unrealistic.
Then it clicked.
They must be caught in some kind of dream! If there wasn't time, the forest lead them right back to where they started albeit them walking north, and neither one of them recollected just how they ended up there in the first place, it had to be.
Still, the question now at hand was how they landed themselves in a dream world in the first place...
"Nami, what did you dooooooooo.. ?" cried a confused Luffy as he looked down at the two unconcious bodies on the floor of the deck.
The redhead simply shrugged, looking at the two idiots she accidently placed in a coma. She figured it was an advantage, getting away from Sanji's persistent affection was one plus, a period of silence without the two's bickering was a second.
She could barely see any reason to be disappointed with the outcome of the accidental mess, besides the fact that Luffy would be crying for meat again within the next hour, and the cook was too far in a coma to make him anything.
"Luffy, I put this in their drinks the other night.. I wasn't exactly expecting them to be knocked out like this however.. I was hoping it would only last a few hours.."
Luffy grabbed the pink colored bottle. The name was suspiciously stupid, Rabu-Rabu, and there was basically no further instruction or explanation on the bottle besides a single sentence that stated:
To fulfill the desires of thy who posses this bottle, and those possessed by the contents of this bottle.
The first part made sense to Nami, for her desires were as mentioned above. To get the annoying cook off her ass, and to have the two quiet for a while so the ship would get a break from all the fighting the two had been doing lately.
Problem was, she didn't know it was going to send them into a state of unconciousness that had lasted over a few days at this point.
Luffy continued to try and make sense out of the statement, and Nami left him to muse while she wandered off to enjoy the quiet atmosphere the ship had so long gone without.
By the time Sanji hit his fourth cigarette, he finally began logically looking at the possibility of running out of them by the end of the night. He reluctantly placed the box back inside of his pocket to remove any further temptation to smoke another as he pondered the situation at hand.
Zoro was quietly snoring on the other side of the fire. Small shivers racked his arms as the cook watched him carefully, assuming it was due to the cold winds. He figured he wasn't going to be sleeping for a while to come, as he tried to understand what he, and the swordsman had fallen into, and how to get them out. He slowly took off his black jacket, and placed it over the sleeping marimo in hopes that it would ease some of the breeze off of the tan skin.
The jacket didn't fully cover the moss-haired man's torso, but Sanji decided it was better than nothing. Although he figured he'd suffer from the cold in due time, he enjoyed the small numbness that came with the wind. It helped to remind him that despite this ridiculous dream world, he was still alive. Or so he liked to believe, because knowing his luck, he could damn well be in hell and his punishment would be to live with shitty-marimo for the rest of eternity.
That thought alone gave Sanji more shivers than any amount of wind power could.
And with that, he quickly decided he had no other choice but to figure out how to wake them up, and fast.
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