Sanji's eyes were snapped shut, and were staring at the darkness while he suffocated on the red string that was strangling him.

The red strings had apparently covered his whole entire body, stabbing a sharp pain through it.

His eyes snapped open as he felt his cheeks throb like his racing heart, and felt like exploding.

The last thing he saw before passing out for good was a silhouette charging towards him with a sword in hand.

"SANJI-KUN!" Nami screamed once she walked into the dining room. "ZORO!"

The two pirates were lying on the ground, facing upwards at the ceiling with blank eyes, Sanji's eyes staring with emptiness in his blue eyes, while Zoro's right eye was a shade of blood red that made the hair on the back of her neck stand bolt upright.

"CHOPPER! GET OVER HERE!"

'What?' Chopper yelled as he smashed the door open. The moment he saw Sanji and Zoro, he felt his heart drop.

'WHAT HAPPENED?'

"I DON'T KNOW! I JUST ENTERED THE ROOM AND THEY WERE LIKE THAT!"

'LUFFY! GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME GET THOSE TWO TO THE INFIRMARY!'

Sanji blinked. He thought he died. His throat feels like it had been squashed underneath a boulder, and he couldn't think properly.

"Th… The heck just happened?" His voice echoed. This was when he realized the room he was in. It was dark, and his eyesight only lasted for him to see a few meters around him, no more no less. However, Red string was coming out from the walls past his vision, (If there are any) from the roof to the floor, from wall to wall, everywhere, like a spider net. A select few were binding him in place, so strong that it was rending him useless and weak.

"Hello?" His voice echoed through the void of string. "Anyone there?"

No response.

"Hello?"

'I see you're awake now…' A voice echoed back. It wasn't a human voice, and sounded more like it belonged in the depths of hell.

"Who's there?"

'Oh, you don't need to know my name.'

"Then what should I call you? Voice in the dark? Mr. Demon? Spiderman?"

'Just call me… Flerus for now.'

"Okay then Flerus, where the bloody hell am I?"

'Let's just say… You're inside Zoro.'

"WHAT?"

'No, not like that. You're inside his soul, and this place's his heart. That's all I'll tell you for now. '

"And what're these things-"

'I said that that's all I'll tell you for now.'

"But-"

'SILENCE YOU PHESANT!' Flerus screamed in a much more demonic tone than before, so much that it sounded like it belonged to somewhere even hellish than the depths of hell.

Hells hell.

Was there even such thing?

"Ugh, I'm gonna stay here for the rest of eternity, aren't I?"

'Possibly. If you want to get out, good luck.'

Flerus cackled a spine-tingling laugh that sounded like a ravens crow and sent shivers down Sanji's spine.

Then it all went quiet.

Eerily quiet.

So quiet that the only thing Sanji could hear is his breathing.

He eventually got bored and fell asleep.

Unknown time later…

"Cook!" A muffled voice echoed in the darkness. "Cook!"

"COOK! WAKE UP!"

Sanji snapped awake, and was face to face with an annoyed Zoro who was hanging onto the strings that were everywhere.

"Finally, you're awake." He grumbled.

Sanji felt like falling back asleep, until he realized something was wrong.

Zoro's left eye…

Was open?

It was open, but in contrast with his dark right eye, his left was red as blood.

'Zoro… Your eye…'

"I know, I know." He grumbled as he grabbed one of his swords, and drew it.

'What're you doing?'

Sanji knew.

He was going to kill him.

He was going to slash him into sashimis.

'Mosshead, don't you dare.'

Zoro didn't listen. He just crept over to Sanji, and raised his sword.

He knew that he was going to die, and cringed.

The only thing he felt was his leg dropping to his side.

Sanji opened his eyes. Zoro looked like he was in pain, and he had cut the two strings that had kept Sanji's right leg in place.

He did the same to his left leg, and he was eventually was dangling and the only thing that prevented him from falling into the abyss of strings were the strings on his arms.

Zoro looked like he just had been stabbed in the heart now.

He raised the sword again, slashing the strings, and Sanji grabbed onto a nearby red string.

'Mosshead, what're you doing?' Sanji asked while he looked around him, examining his surroundings.

'Besides, where are we?'

Zoro didn't answer.

'Mosshead?'

"You ask a lot of questions." He groaned before gripping onto the strings around him. "I'm not gonna answer any of them, but I'm getting you outta here."

'Are you serious?'

"Follow me."

Sanji hesitated before clutching some strings and followed Zoro through the labyrinth of strings.

Minutes passed before Zoro stopped climbing, and grabbed onto a nearby string.

"Grab on."

Sanji raised a curly eyebrow.

"I said grab on."

He stared before climbing over to him and grabbed onto his shoulder.

Zoro closed both his eyes, and Sanji just waited.

Seconds later, he felt something warm beneath his feet. Almost like his Diable Jamble technique, only…

He looked down and stared.

Beneath their feet, cyan flames rose from the ground.

'Is this supposed to happen?'

Zoro didn't answer.

Sanji felt dizzy, and shook his head to make sure he was still awake. That was when he felt extreme pressure on his face.

Sanji's jaw dropped.

They were in some kind of portal, and shades of Purple, black and blue with hints of yellow were zipping past the pair, and all he saw was a blur of color. They were traveling so fast that Sanji's hair was slicked back, revealing both his unique eyebrows. He felt like screaming, but nothing came out. Zoro on the other hand, was completely unaffected. He must've taken this route before.

Sanji's eyes stung, and he shut them tight. Zoro didn't however.

Seconds passed in darkness.

'Cook, we're here.' Zoro said, and Sanji opened his eyes.

They stung as if someone had thrown sand into them, and he took the part of his hair that used to be his fringe, piling it over his left eye.

Sanji had expected to be back on the Thousand sunny, but instead, Zoro had taken him to a corridor that was covered in black.

"Where is this?" Sanji asked as he looked around.

'Let's just say you're inside my soul.' He responded.

"I know that."

'Okay, so- wait, WHAT?'

"I said I know that. That place with the strings is your heart."

Zoro stared at him, eyes beady with surprise.

'Who told you that?' He whimpered. Sanji had never seen him so worried.

"Well, back in the heart, I heard a voice who called himself Flerus, and he told me that."

Zoro looked even more worried.

'Cook.' He began. 'I need you to keep on running. Don't stop running, even if you think you're safe. If you hear whispers or see a black, humanoid shape, run. Run in the opposite direction as fast as you can. And whatever you do, do not let yourself get captured by that thing. Don't go through any doors, unless it's a gold one with a white handle.'

"Why?"

'He's probably gonna hunt for you the moment he discovers that you're gone. There's no way you can fight back, he's too strong.'

"What do you mean he's too strong, and who's he-"

'SHUT UP!'

"DON'T SHUT UP ME, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE-"

He was expecting Zoro to get into a fight with him.

What he didn't expect was Zoro grabbing his cheeks, and pushing his lips into Sanji's before he could protest.

He stared at him while Zoro's tongue played around in his mouth for a full minute before trying to push him away, Cheeks redder than blood and heartbeat faster than the speed of light.

"Zo-"

Zoro was stronger, and kept the blond in place, continuing to kiss him before he could finish saying his name, and pinned his hands against the nearest wall, mouth not breaking contact with his.

"Wha-"

'Shhh…' The green-haired swordsman whispered as he put a finger over Sanji's mouth, saliva dripping from his smiling mouth.

Sanji was too frozen stiff to do anything as Zoro continued to kiss him.

The chef was too busy thinking whether he should fight back or stay still. He was about to make a decision when the man kissing him stopped.

He looked around him, as if examining his surroundings, despite seeming to know them like the back of his hand.

'He's coming. Run.' Zoro said as he turned away from Sanji and drew his swords, ready to fight.

"What-"

Sanji stared in horror as a blood curdling scream echoed through the corridors of the black maze, and Zoro got into a battle stance. 'Run, I'll buy you time.'

"But-"

'RUN!'

Sanji did as he was told, and ran in the opposite direction, not daring to look behind him.

He was at least fifty meters from Zoro when he heard a scream.

He kept running.