Irkalla Island

By: Ellipsis the Great

DISCLAIMER: One Piece and everything affiliated with it belongs to Eiichiro Oda Shonen Jump, etc. All I own is the plot…

Summary: The Straw Hats are forced to leave their chef behind on an island after breaking an ancient artifact…when they return, they find that their chef may not be their chef, anymore…future ZoSan.

Rated: M.

Warnings: Angst, mentions of torture and non-con, slash (in the distant future). More warnings later if needed.

Chapter Three: Smoking Hands

He woke up suddenly, breath coming in sporadic bursts. Panicking as he realize he wasn't sure where he was, he pushed himself back in the bed, eyes darting all around the room until they came to rest on the person sitting beside him.

Zoro—the real Zoro? Or had all of yesterday been a dream? Was this another trick?—stared at him, completely blank-faced. And that, somehow or other, served to convince him that this had to be the real Zoro. A fake Zoro would have started worrying over him incessantly, or gotten pissed at him and shaken him or even slapped him, as if Zoro would ever slap an injured crewmate. Even if that crewmate was Sanji. And, well, they had fought while one or the other of hem was injured before, but this was far different from the other times. And either way, Zoro had actually never laid a hand on Sanji.

"I'm real." Zoro spoke finally, seeming to have read his thoughts. "And I'll throw you overboard again if you argue."

And that was what fully convinced him that this wasn't some fake. Only Zoro solved problems by throwing people overboard.

With a sigh that hitched in his throat a little, Sanji gave a weary, relieved nod. "I know."

"About damn time." Zoro muttered grumpily.

"You threw me off the ship." Sanji said.

"You said we should." Zoro replied. "And I was getting sick of you acting so…not like you. It was annoying, and I will throw you over again if you start back up, so don't push me."

Sanji pursed his lips together, although he wasn't sure if he was doing it due to disapproval of what Zoro was saying, or to keep himself from doing exactly what Zoro was warning against.

Zoro eyed him for a long moment, then reached down, picked something up off of the ground, and offered it to Sanji. It was a pack of cigarettes.

"You want one?" Zoro asked. "We found 'em in the kitchen one day and saved 'em…and I don't figure that woman let you smoke…"

Sanji blanched and shook his head frantically. "No. I don't…I don't smoke anymore. Get those things away from me!"

Zoro jerked back, blinking. "Don't what? You're a friggin' chain smoker, dart-brow. I may not know much about that shit, but you don't just quit."

He looked away from the other man, a blush coloring his cheeks. "She…after a while, whenever she caught me craving a cigarette, she'd…light one and make me smoke it—well, sometimes she didn't have to make me—and then she'd shove it into my mouth and make me eat it. That shit's really nasty to eat, so I usually gagged, and it was still lit so it burned the inside of my mouth more often than not, too."

"Fuck." Zoro cursed under his breath, almost too soft for Sanji to hear. He withdrew his hand for a moment, uncertain of how to respond or proceed.

Sanji, for his part, was staring at the cigarettes. It had only been five months, after all, and he was still jittery from the withdrawals, and God a nice, cool cigarette between his lips would help calm him down like nothing else…

Zoro seemed to notice where Sanji's eyes were, and pursed his lips. "D'you…want one anyway? I'll try to hold it steady for you, since…" He trailed off uncomfortably.

Sanji grimaced, torn between the addiction that still hadn't completely gone away, in spite of everything, and the lingering fear of what might happen. But this was Zoro, and they might have always gotten along like cats and dogs but Zoro was anything but cruel.

"I'll stop if you freak out." Zoro said, tapping the pack like he'd seen Sanji do a thousand times before pulling out one of the cigarettes and waving it rather enticingly.

Sanji's eyes followed the cigarette of their own accord, and Zoro smirked, putting it to Sanji's lips until finally Sanji opened his mouth and grabbed it. Pulling a lighter out of nowhere and flicking it on with the fumbling uncertainty of someone who didn't know what he was doing, Zoro lit the cigarette.

"Shit." Sanji sighed, sucking in a deep breath of tobacco and holding it for just a moment before he blew it out of his nose in a thick puff of smoke.

"Chopper's gonna be pissed—he'd have been excited to know you stopped smoking." Zoro commented, watching him with an unreadable expression on his face. "Although considering the reason behind why…maybe not so excited."

He managed a weak laugh, and then they settled into a long, surprisingly comfortable silence that was only broken by the sound of him inhaling and exhaling the best cigarette he'd ever smoked.

"You really think she'd have…made me into one of those pet things?" Zoro asked, lip curling up a bit into a disgusted sneer as he took the cigarette away and let him blow out the smoke.

"She said she would." He replied, shaking his head when Zoro tried to give him the cigarette (which was all but finished) again. "She…could have just been fucking with me. I dunno."

Zoro grunted, eyeing him and stubbing the cigarette out on a bedpan. He seemed to be thinking of what to say next, and finally came out with, "Would you really have killed her for it?"

He pursed his lips together, but nodded. "Yeah."

"Even though she's a woman?" Zoro asked uncertainly.

"…Yeah."

"Even though…it's me?"

His head snapped up. "Even though…of course! You're my crewmate, aren't you? We might not get along well…and fuck if that isn't the understatement of the year…but we're still nakama. We're still friends, sort of." He smiled weakly. "Friends who try to cut each other in half or kick each other's heads in on a daily basis, but…y'know…friends."

Zoro's answering smile was grim, but visible. Then the door opened, cutting off whatever the green-haired man had planned to say.

"Oh! Sanji's awake!" Chopper said delightedly. But his smile quickly dropped, replaced by an apprehensive expression. "D'you…know who we are?"

"Chopper? Best doctor on the Grand Line?" Sanji asked.

"Your compliments don't make me happy, asshole!" Chopper said, scowling even as he blushed and did a little dance of joy. Then, calming down a bit, he looked at Zoro. "You can go to lunch now, Zoro."

Zoro nodded, waving the cigarettes at Sanji in a way that Sanji took to mean that the surly man would help him smoke again later. Then he turned, stuffed his hands (and the cigarettes) into his pockets, and left without saying anything.

"How do you feel, Sanji?" Chopper asked.

"Like shit." Sanji replied promptly.

Chopper tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it, eyes drifting to the bandages that marked the place where Sanji's arms now ended. "I'm sorry, Sanji. If we had gotten there sooner…"

"Don't, Chopper." He said. "Just…don't. Please."

Chopper nodded slowly, then scuttled over to his desk and grabbed the large box sitting there, slipping into his 'professional doctor-mode' when he next spoke. "You've been asleep for nearly two weeks since we took you from the island. You were hysterical almost anytime you were awake, so I had to keep you sedated. Yesterday was the first day you became lucid enough to actually talk to us, and finally realized that we're your real crew." He grimaced at the memory, and Sanji mirrored the expression, but neither commented on it. "You were hooked up to a catheter and a feeding tube up until yesterday, but I took them out—luckily before you woke up and Zoro threw you overboard."

Sanji nodded slowly, only half understanding what Chopper was saying but getting enough of an idea that he didn't want to ask any questions about it. Instead, he asked, "What's in the box?"

Chopper chewed on his bottom lip hesitantly, then carefully set the box on the chair Zoro had been using and opened it—it contained a pair of pristine hands that sent a shiver up Sanji's spine at how…familiar they looked.

"Franky and Usopp have been working on them since you came back." Chopper explained, his voice soft with trepidation. "I'll have to…to remove some more of your arms in order to install them, but Franky says you'll hardly notice they're fake once they've connected and healed."

Sanji figured that that was probably a lie to make him feel better, but decided not to call Chopper (or Franky) on it. "When…"

Chopper gave him a stern look. "I want to get you back up to a normal weight before we do any sort of surgery on you." Chopper said with the no-nonsense tone of someone who had had to argue over this with someone more than once before this. "And…and make sure that you can handle it mentally as well as physically."

"What do you mean?" Sanji frowned.

"You've been unstable since you got back in just about every sense of the word." Chopper said, hurrying to add, "You have every right to be, of course! But I want to make sure this won't…do anything to upset you."

"You think giving me hands will upset me?" He asked, his voice breaking mid-sentence and rising an octave.

This time, Chopper's look was dry; like Sanji had just proven him right. But when he spoke, he was obviously choosing his words very carefully. "I think you're very tired and in a weakened, vulnerable state right now—physically and mentally—and I don't want to do anything to exasperate you and hinder the healing process."

He wanted to argue some more, but suddenly he wasn't sure what exactly they were arguing about and what good arguing would have done, anyway. And he was tired, so there was no point in arguing over that, at least. "When do you think you can do it?"

"It'll probably take about three weeks to get you up to an acceptable weight." Chopper said. "After that, I should be able to better ascertain your mental condition, but hopefully you'll have calmed down enough that we will be able to operate then."

"Three weeks?" His voice shook. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what three weeks felt like; time had gotten so distorted, back in his dungeon cell… "Chopper…?"

"Yes?" Chopper looked at him concernedly.

"…How long…was I on the island?" He kept his eyes closed, not daring to meet Chopper's gaze even though he could feel the doctor's eyes on him.

"Five months." Chopper answered after a moment's pause. "We didn't have much of a problem getting to the island and finding the artifact…it only took us a month or so…but the Eternal Pose that…that woman gave us to get back with…didn't bring us to this island. It's only thanks to Nami that we were able to find it again, or…or we might never have…"

"I see." Sanji murmured.

"I'm so sorry, Sanji!" Chopper burst into tears, sobbing into his hooves. Sanji's eyes snapped open to look at the tiny doctor, widening at the sight of him. "It took us…so long to get back, and…and you…lost your hands…!"

"No…Chopper…" He reached forward—to grab his young crewmate and pull him into a hug, to pat his head, to do something that he quickly realized required hands, whatever it was. He let out a frustrated cry, then yelled, "Somebody! Get in here!"

Chopper kept crying, apparently unaware of the stress he was causing his patient, and Sanji kept yelling until Robin came into the room.

"He's crying." Sanji said rather plaintively, arms waving around willy-nilly. "I can't…Miss Robin, I can't…"

"It's alright, Mr. Cook." She said, seeming to immediately understand the cause of his ire. She turned to Chopper, petting his head soothingly and fetching a tissue. "You shouldn't get so worked up, Mr. Doctor—you'll upset your patient."

"Oh, no!" Chopper exclaimed, aghast. "I'm sorry, Sanji, I didn't think—!"

He shook his head. "No, don't…I…no." He blinked his eyes furiously, squinting to try and keep them open. "I'm tired…"

"Then go to sleep, Mr. Cook." Robin said. "Mr. Doctor and I will leave you alone, then, alright?"

He nodded, yawning.

"Come on, Chopper." Robin said, gently shepherding the ship's doctor towards the door. "I think you could use a nice big mug of hot cocoa to calm yourself down, hm?"

Chopper nodded miserably, looking back at Sanji with wide, innocent eyes that made Sanji flinch in spite of himself. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he just shook his head and let Robin lead him out.

Robin, for her part, merely smiled at Sanji and gave him a short nod before closing the door behind them.

Back in the bed, Sanji shuddered and leaned forward, breathing a little heavy. He wasn't quite sure why, but once Chopper and, in turn, Sanji had calmed down, the room had suddenly become oppressive and cold all at the same time. But now that Chopper and Robin were gone, it was back to normal. He frowned, but decided that sleep would (hopefully) help him figure it out.

It would do something, at least, so he maneuvered himself back into the blankets—whatever Chopper said, he wouldn't be anything but grateful to have his hands back even if it turned out he still couldn't cook—and closed his eyes.

But after what felt like hours of tossing and turning, he was even more exhausted than he had been before and not a blink closer to being asleep.

Growling, he tried to work out why, and finally settled on an answer that made him distinctly uncomfortable. But since nothing else had worked…

He slipped out of the bed, nearly collapsing on his wobbly, practically useless legs, and carefully lowered himself to the floor. Then he slid himself over to the metal cabinet a few feet away from his bed and leaned against it, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He let out a deep, content sigh that startled him when he realized that sitting like this was more comfortable to him than laying in the bed had been.

But he shrugged it off, because at least this way he could get some sleep. Just before he drifted off, he wondered if next time he could get Chopper to leave the sink running…so that the dripping noise would help lull him to sleep…

TBC…

A/N: Poor Sanji…he can't sleep in a bed anymore…T^T But, well…I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Just a quick heads up: as you guys know, I try to update on Wednesdays, but I could possibly be late next week. As some of you know, I've been studying abroad in Japan for the past semester, and I'm leaving for home on Friday. And as I don't think any of you know, my family started moving to another house recently, so I'm going to be jetlagged and busy as nothing else when I get home. I'll try my hardest to get the next chapter up on time, but if I don't…this is why. Sorry!

Love you guys! See ya next!

-EtheG