Zoro was woken from a rather unpleasant dream by the sound of cannon fire that filled his head with a deafening roar. He had fallen asleep about an hour ago when he had started to feel nauseous and his head throbbed along with the multiple wounds he had sustained from a previous battle against the war lord Kuma. He gritted his teeth as a fresh wave of pain filled his body.
"Hey moss head wake up we have trouble." His shoulders gave a hard shake as he realized Sanji their bastard cook was shaking him hard. "Come on wake up!" He was given another hard shake resulting in him groaning with pain. Zoro opened his eyes with some difficulty to see the cook's face inches from his own. Almost as if on autopilot his head struck the railing as he jerked away from the cook pain forgotten for a few moments.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing you damn curly brow." His head throbbed from his earlier greeting with the railing and his voice sounded blurred almost like his mind was not able to clearly hear his own words.
"Waking you up you damn marimo. Now get up it's the marines." The blond grabbed the swordsman by the arm hailing him to his feet as the ship gave a violent shake. Zoro stumbled his back connecting with the railing behind him the grip of the cook's hand on his arm was the only thing keeping him from falling backward into the sea.
"Sanji It hurts..." Zoro tried to form the words but nothing seemed to be working right. Sanji's furious expression became one of worry as the swordsman fell to the his knees one arm wrapped around his stomach and chest his other arm still clenched in Sanji's hand.
"Hey what's wrong with you? What hurts?" The blond said clenching the man's shoulder with his other hand noticing the swordsman's breathing was coming in ragged painful gasps almost like his lungs could not get the oxygen they needed. Realization punched him in the face as he recalled what Brook had told him back at thriller Bark. About how Zoro had tried to sacrifice his own life in place of luffy's. The swordsman was obviously in pain. He must have had a dream about his fight with the war lord Kuma bringing back the pain his mind had finally forgotten about. He did not have any time to call for help as another round of cannon fire hit the Sunny sending him sprawling on the deck almost on top the swordsman. Zoro's eyes were clenched shut and sweat collected on his face. The pain he was feeling must be horrible if he did not even react with how close Sanji was to him.
"Shit" Sanji scrambled to his knees a hand braced on Zoro's shoulder pushing the swordsman down with as much gentleness as he could muster so he was laying on his stomach not wanting him to hurt himself anymore as Nami started barking orders at the rest of the crew. He knew he should help his other crew mates but Zoro was from the looks of it getting worse with every passing second.
Another wave of fire hit as a marine ship crashed into the side of the Sunny he was standing on marines spilling onto the deck from wooden ramps with cries of fury. Zoro flinched as his head once again connected with the railing sending his mind almost into darkness. Sanji got to his feet with blinding speed in front of his weakened crew mate knowing he was all that stood between Zoro and the marines. They seemed content on getting to the green haired swordsman behind him which made it a bit easy to take care of them but it was difficult to as there was so many of them. Working as a team the marines managed to separate Sanji from his crew mate with either swords and guns causing Sanji to defended against them.
Zoro in his delirious state felt his arms wrenched behind him and shackled with chains that wrapped up to his elbows. He panicked trying to shake off the hands that gripped him but only managed to wear himself out even more. His eyes opened finding Sanji struggling to get to him through the marines that had him pinned to the wall of the sunny. A brief glance around revealed his other crewmates in similar situations with half of them unconscious or on the verge of it. With a groan he was hauled to his feet almost thankful for the grips on his arms as his head swam with pain. He flinched as a marines grabbed the front of his shirt steading the swordsman.
"Come on move it." The marine said giving a hard push to Zoro's chest.
"Sanji." His cry was weak as he once again found the eyes of the blond who cried out with anger as the marines pulled his friend toward the railing where a plank had been laid between the two ships. His eyes widened as he realized just what was going to happen. Sanji called to the swordsman again kicking one of the marines in the face sending him crashing to the deck fear licking over the words as he caught a glimpse of the swordsman being lead away his arms shackled all the way up to his elbows with chains and a thick iron band circled his wrists.
"Zoro no!" His legs spun connecting with at least five of the marines surrounding him leaving an opening in their wall. Running forward he reached for his friend who stared at him with wide eyes not being able to hide his fear of being separated from his friend.
"Sanji!" The cry was panicked and full of pain as the swordsman fought his captors trying desperately to break free of the chains. The cry that came from Zoro tour through Sanji's heart as a hard object slammed into the back of his head flooding his vision with red. Zoro never cried for help he was to proud for that. He hit the deck hard the breath knocked clean from his lungs. He gasped as Zoro yelled out his name again.
"Sanji help!" Zoro gave one final pull against the marines planting his feet into the wood of the bridge stopping their movement if for only a second teeth clenched together.
Sanji gritted his teeth gasping for air, blackness overtaking his vision, the last thing he saw was Zoro being struck on the back of his head with the butt of a gun sending him falling into the waiting arms of a following marine.
Sanji did not know how long he had been out till small hooves gripped his shoulders.
"Sanji are you okay?" A voice filtered through the blackness that still lingered in his mind drawing him back to reality. He groaned his eyes opening to thin slits not from anger but because of the sun that shone directly into his eyes. As if sensing his discomfort a shadow moved in front of his eyes revealing his tired and beaten captain. Luffy smiled as he saw Sanji's eyes opened but vanished as chopper revealed he had a small concussion. He tried to sit up against the protest of the doctor but feel backward onto his elbows his head tilting backwards.
"Sanji don't try to move." Chopper said shifting into his strength mode to push him back to the deck.
"Hey where is Zoro?" Luffy asked scanning the deck with the same expression as Nami. There were quite a few dead marines laying around the deck but the swordsman was nowhere to be seen.
Sanji choked as memories of the battle filled his mind. Chopper gave a startled cry raising sanji into a sitting position in case he got sick but was shocked to see the cooks expression. Sanji had gone pale and he stared of into the distance.
" Sanji?" Nami placed a hand on his shoulder worry filling her eyes.
"They took him." The words were so quiet that only Nami heard them and she gave a slight gasp her hand going to her mouth. He wanted to comfort her, tell her it was alright but his thoughts were on Zoro's last expression. The memory of that expression of pure terror and fear sent a tear rolling down his cheek.
"They took him and it's all my fault." Sanji buried his head in his hands his body racked by silent sobs. This was all his fault.
"How could this possibly be your fault Sanji." Luffy asked his arms spread to either side of him. "You had no idea that the marines would attack and if i can remember correctly before i got knocked out i saw you standing between Zoro and the marines so this is not your fault and i do not want to hear that come out of your mouth again. Do you understand me?" Luffy almost shouted that last bit but he was furious at not only losing Zoro but to also hear his cook talk like that. Sanji stared with wide eyes at his captain but nodded that he understood.
"Right now that that is over let's go get Zoro back." Luffy said smiling at his crew.
"Luffy i want to do that just as much as you but there is one tiny problem about that. We don't even know where they took him." Nami stated still crouching beside Sanji.
"I know where they took him." A new voice joined the discussion belonging to their newest crew member Nico Robin. Franky and Brook stood of to the side helping Usopp to his feet.
Sanji raised an eyebrow. "You do robin? You know where they took Zoro?" Sanji asked not believing his ears. She nodded a slight grin on her face. Sanji sighed a sliver of hope blooming in his chest. He may get to see Zoro again.
"Yes i would recognize that mark on their ship anywhere. That particular mark belongs to the Alchemist a rather nasty bounty hunter who was after me for a while back in the days but he either lost my trail or lost interest in me but if Zoro is being take to the Alchemist we have to get to him first or we may lose him forever." Robin said the only one with a calm expression. Sanji felt that small sliver of hope he had melt away as he faced the wall one set of words running through his mind. We may lose him forever.