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They can't quite spare a moment to stop, but Luffy does so anyway. There's marines and Pacifistas after their heads; Zoro's already taken one of the latter down. They're all able to handle them more adeptly, now, but its still more trouble than they need or deserve.

Luffy raises his arms in something akin to triumph, acknowledgment at how far he's come and how far he has yet to go. Tears shine on Rayleigh's cheeks, but neither Zoro nor Luffy can detect them with the distance between them.

"Thank you so much, Rayleigh!" he calls, "For everything in these past two years! I'm gonna do it! I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

Zoro can't help but grin. He feels fondness and respect and like this is right where he belongs, as a first mate by his captain's side. All of the ugliness between him and Sanji lay forgotten.

"Go straight to the top, Luffy!"

They share a look, thanks and acknowledgment, before Luffy takes off running through the grove. Zoro follows, matching his pace. They don't look back, hearing the din of marines both ahead and behind them.

The pair stops in their tracks, with the marines spreading out to block the path. The captain wastes no time, winding back a punch with the intent to throw it, to sweep them all out. Before he gets the chance to, the shrill sound of Perona's hollows fills the air.

The marines all drop to their knees, stricken through with the hollows' horrors. She floats into their field of vision — followed very closely by Sanji. He's looking very much smitten, walking after her like a puppy.

"I knew this was your doing! You couldn't have sailed off quietly, could you?" she fires at them, going so far as to poke hard at Zoro's chest with her sharp nails. Perona then turns and swats at Sanji, "And isn't this your dog?"

"He's mine, thanks!" Luffy chirps.

"Right, whatever. You guys really should get going, anyway. The marines brought battleships."

"What?!"

"Just get running, okay? I'll hold them off for you — and there's no need to thank me, just get this freak off my ass."

"Thanks, pinky!"

Luffy begins bodily hauling Sanji away from the pink-haired girl, past the fallen marines. Zoro follows after nodding his thanks and good bye to her. He keeps a few steps behind Sanji and Luffy — the former of which having decided to run at a decent clip himself. He feels weird and angry about having zeroed in with Sanji, again, but moreso about their ugly parting.

Even if it is Sanji, it didn't have to be that ugly and final. It occurs to Zoro that the other male might be able to feel what's he's feeling on that same basic level, when he turns to look back at him. Its an odd expression; anger and shock.

He taps into the Sanji-section of his head to see what the other is thinking.

Shame rings out, clear and turbulent, blanketing the horrible mixture of desperation, anger and … Self hate? He wants to shake Sanji, slap him, and ask if he's okay all at once. Zoro nearly trips over his own feet as he runs, its all too much.

There's just no break from it.

Chopper's voice cuts through the air, from above; little savior, "Everyone! There you are!"

Maybe he did become a little badass.


When they get on the Thousand Sunny, they can breathe for just a minute. There's still the task of getting ready to sail, of course, but they're all here, all together, safe. It feels right and true, even if there's still something hanging over the space between Sanji and Zoro. That'll be addressed later, surely; now is a time for nakama.

Luffy bows deeply to his crew, a rare, sort of somber expression on his face. Righting himself, he addresses them.

"Guys … I want to thank you for going along with my selfish whim for two years." he says, nearly grave; resolve drips from every syllable, sinks into the wood of the Sunny, "And I have another request of you."

They listen, all eight of them, positioned around their captain. He crosses his arms over his scarred chest.

"I want to go after Blackbeard. After going to Fishman Island."

Zoro can see Usopp shift nervously next to him, but he says nothing where he would have before. Good, he thinks. He's not sure why Blackbeard, but if his captain says it with such finality, then there must be some good reason. Nami pipes up, anyway, from her perch at the edge of the ship, next to Robin.

"Blackbeard … ? Why him?"

The boat bobs and sways.

"He's the one who brought my brother Ace to the World Government."

The statement falls in front of everyone where they can see it, swallow it, digest it. Luffy still has that on his brain. A thick pause falls over the crew.

"Then yeah. Of course." Zoro says.

The silence holds them, pulling them all into their own thoughts for a few moments more. Luffy then breaks into a grin, a laugh. He reaches down to grab Chopper and put the small doctor up on his shoulders. A small 'oh!' escapes the reindeer, but he doesn't look particularly bothered.

A wave of relief and acceptance comes from Sanji. Zoro shifts where he stands.

"Thanks, everyone! Now let's set sail for Fishman Island!"


The events at Fishman Island can only be described as bloody and arduous, but the same can be said for many of their stops. Its like they attract trouble most days, and go seeking it out the rest of the time. As they sail on from the other side of the Red Line, the latter is true.

Not only are they looking for trouble, they're looking to take trouble's head.

Zoro finds, normally, that he likes the downtime as much as he likes the action, the adventure, the fights. He can train and relax and drink at his own leisure, spending his days under the sun doing whatever he likes.

But its different now, even a few hours into it. The New World has been fraught with strife and surprises already. They were welcomed to it by a sea of fire. The log poses act differently, here, and navigating is going to be even more difficult. He might have patted Nami on the back out of sympathy. Moving around the ship in a complicated sort of dance that he's long since perfected, Zoro does as Nami bids. They all do.

Its relatively smooth from then on. They have to escape a cyclone with a Coup de Burst and a whirlpool with some expert steering and navigation, but that's nothing particularly to the crew as a whole. Once the immediate danger is out of the way, Zoro takes to his training.

This is simple, this is true, this has an end. He likes simple, likes clear-cut goals. That's what makes serving under Luffy so great — his captain appreciates all that too. As he does his push ups, climbing into the hundreds, his repetitions slow.

More waves of emotion are coming from Sanji. Strong ones. Its bright-red desperation flashing in his mind, the edges of it dulled by dimly pulsing dark yellow confusion. The mix is ugly. He can't tell where the other man is just from these waves, of course, but he has an inkling.

There's been a small altar room specifically for the crew members dedicated to the Old Faith — which happen to be Brook and Sanji. They spend their time in there every day, deep in prayer as needed. Zoro doesn't understand the rite and ritual of the Old Faith — neither why nor how. He's never prayed to any God.

Sanji happens to be somewhat private about his convictions, whereas Brook can occasionally be found talking to Robin (who takes a purely academic interest in any religion) or Chopper (who's just curious) about the holidays and traditions. Luffy just plain doesn't get it, either, but he said, "If its important to Sanji and Brook, then its important to me!" and allowed them their time and space to worship.

Zoro rounds his push ups to a neat three hundred and gets to his feet. Leaning against the railing of the ship, he considers. He's not particularly interested in talking to Sanji, especially with the whole soul mate thing looming, ugly and bright, over their heads. But he does think that drawing boundaries — and getting that talk out of the way as quickly as possible — is important. Zoro's only boundary might very well be "stay out of my head and my way and I'll stay out of yours", but its a boundary that needs to be drawn nonetheless.

So he moves to the prayer room, walking past Usopp and Chopper trying to juggle Nami's oranges with Luffy as a cheering audience.

He pauses at the entrance to the small room, quickly waiting and listening against the wall by the door.

He's speaking in his North Blue dialect, that strange and lilting language. That very same desperation and confusion he felt before is touching the cook's voice, though Zoro can't tell exactly what's being said. He repeats a single word a few times, rolling quietly into more prayer.

It doesn't take much of a genius to figure out what he's praying about with such fervor. Irritation grows, swells, in his core and he can hear that give pause to Sanji's words. But only for a moment. He finishes his prayers and spends a few moments more in there, presumably to give reverence.

When he comes out, he's got a freshly-lit cigarette poking out of his mouth and a look of surprise on his face at the sight of Zoro. This quickly turns to irritation to match Zoro's own.

"Eavesdropping?" he asks, contempt plain to hear.

"I wanted to talk to you."

He drags off his cigarette and exhales before remarking, "There's a first."

Zoro scoffs, tch, "Trust me, its not like I want to do this."

"Spit it out then."

Sanji leans against the wall, arms crossed, eyes trained on Zoro's. Everything about his posture screams that he doesn't want to be having this conversation, but at least he's enough of a man to stick with it anyway. Maybe the appraisal gets broadcasted in the Zoro-section of Sanji's mind, because the blonde makes a bit of a face.

"Its completely obvious you hate me in a different way, now." he says, "So if I stay out of your way, then you stay out of mine."

More anger. It flares, blood-red flashing into white-hot. Its getting harder to block off.

"Gonna be kinda hard, huh, nakama mine? You're inescapable and I hate it." he practically spits the last part and Zoro nearly flinches at the venom in his voice; he taps his temple with a free hand, "You're up here, too."

He wants to ask what he even did to make Sanji hate him so; it feels out of the blue entirely. Its definitely something past their old rivalry now, something ugly and sinister. Guilt shines amidst the rage.

Zoro wishes it hadn't happened at all. That must be why Sanji loathes him; its the only thing he can think of. Yeah, he's probably just pissed because he royally fucked up his chance to get zeroed in with some pretty young thing. It makes sense …

"Yeah, I'm aware." he says evenly, "That doesn't mean we can't ignore it. I'm fine with that."

"Oh, bullshit. I don't wanna have to spend the rest of my life trying to—"

Luffy's voice calls out, cuts their heated conversation neatly in half.

"LAND HO!"

Zoro moves to the main deck without another word to Sanji, where most of them have gathered already. Sanji follows suit, smoke trailing as he walks. Calm, he feels calmer in Zoro's head; still irritated and guilty, though. Doesn't matter.

Luffy is standing on the lion at the front of the Sunny, holding onto his hat and pointing. There's land indeed, and they're drawing closer to it every minute. Chopper shuffles up to join Luffy on the figurehead.

The glint and gleam of the island is easy to make out, even from a distance. Nami steps up to the front as well, peering out of an eyeglass. She seems to hesitate, to doubletake, adjusting it so as to see better. Once she confirms, she turns back to face the rest of the crew.

"It … It looks like the foliage is made of … crystal?"

"Huuuh?"

"Is it pretty?" Chopper pipes.

"Uh, very! But it looks … sharp." she puts the eyeglass at her belt, once again compact, "We'll figure out who's going with who when we get there, but two groups should be fine."

"Hey, who died and made you captain?" Luffy grins, hops down from the lion with Chopper, earning a snort of laughter out of Zoro. Nami fumes.

"Do you mean who chased me down and made me navigator?" she snaps.

Luffy's smile spreads bigger as he attaches himself to her, tight, "And I'd do it again, too! You don't see anything like a village or city … ?"

Spat forgotten, the navigator shakes her head, "It might serve to take a sail around the island, but I did see docks. Must be through the weird crystal forest."

"We'll drop anchor and see what its all about, then!"