The battle was finally over; finally the world-weary travelers that had come this far could lie down and let themselves know that it was finished.
No-one was left standing upon the blood soaked field, it was impossible to tell who was alive and who was dead as bodies leaked the precious crimson fluid from so many wounds.
Sanji lay upon his back, clutching his hand over the gaping wound upon his chest, gritting his teeth. Every single breath pained him, lancing through his broken form like a thousand fire hot needles. He had no regrets, no fear of what may come. The soft sound of breathing beside him let him know that Zoro was there, the man he'd served so closely with for so many years, one of his dearest friends and more. He opened his mouth, only wanting to spend his last moments to tell the other man something he had meant to for so long.
Zoro could feel it, the warmth of the blood at it soaked into his shirt and spilled down his forehead, splattering onto the ground around him. His fingers finally fell from the hilt of his swords, his third lost long ago. The quiet noise of Sanji's breathing beside him was all he could hear, all that kept him from slipping into the darkness that called to take him.
"Is this going to be the end for us?"
"…probably."
"Shit..I don't want to die.."
"Eh..it was bound to happen someday.."
"I know, but I never got the chance to see it…"
"Maybe next lifetime.."
"Do you think there will be one?"
"I don't know."
"Shit.."
"What now?"
"It's so fucking cold, I thought it would be warmer, I thought the light would be warmer.."
"Yeah..me too.."
"Goddamn marimo head..don't..I.."
"I know, you don't need to tell me."
"How could you know? I tried to hide it.."
"You suck at hiding things."
"Yeah, I know, I guess I shouldn't be surprised..so?"
"So what?"
"So, do you.."
"Yeah.."
"I'm glad.."
Silence, that was all that greeted his last words, the sound of Zoro's breathing fading, Sanji couldn't know what had happened, he couldn't move enough to look over, to see if the man he called friend, and now perhaps even love, was still alive.
"Zoro? Zoro?! Goddamnit..it wasn't suppose to be like this.."
He gritted his teeth, tears welling up in his eyes and spilling down his blood covered cheeks, it wasn't supposed to end like this, he didn't even know if Luffy had won, if he was alive, if he was the pirate king…
The pain in his chest was too much, the energy it took to cry draining the last of his spirit from him, the darkness came, claiming him, leaving nothing but emptiness..