Chapter 7
Ussop choked on his saliva and ended up in a coughing fit. It wasn't a pleasant experience at all. A woman with the VERY same hairstyle he did with Sanji had just walked in the door. He took a quick glance at Zoro. This is bad. He cleared his throat, catching the attention of everyone around the room.
"It's almost midnight and I should go now, and uh you wouldn't mind accompanying me would you, Zoro-kun," Ussop practically dragged Zoro out of his chair and to the door. "R-Robin, I trust you'll be able to handle things yourself."
"Ah, wait, Ussop, you can go home first, I'd like to sit through this last one," Zoro said in a daze, not taking his eyes off the blonde stranger. Blonde curls and piercing blue eyes… Could this finally be her? "Your name, please?"
"It's Sarah Faust. But you can just call me Sarah," she bowed her head slightly and curtsied.
"Alright Sarah, why don't you, do whatever it is you do to convince us that you're the girl we want. That you're the girl we need," Robin placed her hands on her lap. Her voice was calm and gentle, but her face was cold and hard.
"Oh, well, about that? I think Mr. Roronoa could supply you with answers," She said sweetly, but Ussop felt his stomach churning.
"Me?"
"I see, and what may that be, Zoro?" Robin prompted. Ussop gulped. He can feel the blood draining from his long nose like a thermometer with decreasing temperature.
"Well yes, Mr. Roronoa," Sarah sent her a beaming smile and lifted her bangs, revealing somewhat curly eyebrows. "We've met."
"It's you…"
"You know her, Zoro?" Robin raised an eyebrow, highly unamused by the whole ordeal.
"Yes, it's her. The girl I met at your party!" Zoro said excitedly, standing up from his seat. "The one I was looking for all this time."
"Um, Zoro-kun, I think we should leave, ah… Zoro-kun?" Ussop knew when he was being ignored. And he usually was, but he normally didn't mind. It only meant his jokes were too stupid to be put up with. But right now, he minded. Because Zoro was in a daze. Over this girl. This girl.
"Right, Zoro, would you kindly take our designer home?" Robin came to Ussop's rescue. "I was supposed to drop him off tonight, but Franky had just asked me to dinner, didn't you dear?"
"Huh?"
"I did?" Franky was confused.
"You told her you were going to take her to… to the Baratie," Ussop squeaked, elbowing Franky's ribs and shot him a panicked look they both know so well.
"Oh, right, right, sorry about that Robin, I was kinda out of it," Franky apologized. "We should hurry though, they'll be closing soon."
"Oh," Sarah tilted her head innocently. "I didn't know they're still open this late. I mean, I just ate there a few weeks ago, and I was so sure that the sign says they close at ten."
Ussop swore he saw her shot him an ugly smirk. He was so sure that for a moment, Sarah looked absolutely like a guy. "Ugly witch", he mumbled. But she kinda has a point. The Baratie does close at ten.
"Oh my, yes, it does close at ten, Ms. Faust," Robin smiled sweetly at her. Ussop shivered. "But when the head's chef a close acquaintance of yours, you have your advantages."
"I'd expect as much from the wonderful Ms. Nice Robin," Sarah's face fell a bit, but she quickly regained her composure and smiled.
"Now Zoro, if you will," Robin gestured to Ussop.
"Ah right, whatever. See you tomorrow?" Zoro looked at Sarah hopefully.
"Of course, Zoro," Sarah smiled sweetly at him. "You wouldn't mind if I called you that would you?"
"Ah, no, not at all…"
Ussop had to drag a lovestruck Zoro out of the room. Snapping his fingers in the green haired man's face, "Oi! Oi! Zoro! Hey, snap out of it man! You were scary back there! It was so unlike you. I thought she had you under a spell or something. Zoro?"
"Huh? Oh. Hey yeah, so I'll take you home right?" Zoro said distractedly.
"No, I'm taking you home," Ussop corrected. "To my place. We need to talk. She's—"
"Perfect…"
"Yeah… What? No! You see what I mean, man?" Ussop cried out worriedly as they reached the elevator. "This isn't you! This… Oh yeah by the way I was in your house the other day and I accidentally knocked Wado onto the floor and yeah, the sheath kinda cracked a bit so just let me just take this time to apologize while you're in a daze and unable to respond properly and—"
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Zoro yelled, grabbing Ussop by the collar, hoisting him up in the air and slamming his back against the wall of the elevator.
"Heeeee! Z-Zoro! I w-was lying! Lying!" Ussop cried frantically, wriggling and squirming under Zoro's firm grip and glare. "It's just that I didn't know how to bring you back! I- I mean you were in a daze man! In a trance! Under a spell of some sort! You weren't you and I had to snap you out of it and—"
"It's none of your business," Zoro grunted and drops Ussop on the floor as the elevator doors opened. "You wouldn't understand."
"But Zoro, he's a guy!" Ussop cried as they reached the parking lot and walked towards his yellow BMW. "It's you who don't understand!"
"She's not a— WHAT? Ussop! You're out of your mind! She's clearly a woman with those boobs and that kind of face and—"
"Trust me on this one Zoro," Ussop said with a serious face as he got into the driver's seat. "I'm a professional when it comes to lying and cosmetics. I know a fake when I see one."
"SANJI!" Chopper cried out, pushing through the throng of doctors and nurses and rushing to his friend's aid. "What happened to you? Did you get mugged or something? Luffy and Ace were worried sick! They even called Sabo and Kidd!"
"I'm fine Chopper. The walk back just took a bit longer," Sanji smiled weakly as he collapsed into his friend's arms. "Ran into a couple of thugs, that's all. Can you uh, maybe patch me up and lend me a couple of dry clothes?"
"Of course Sanji!" Chopper fidgeted over his friend. "Hey, a little help here? Law! Law can you help me a bit here? Sanji is—"
"Wow, what happened to you?" Law whistled, seeing Sanji's soaked and bruised body. "Thought you had some wicked kicks?"
"It was raining hard," Sanji shrugged as Law and Chopper led him to a large white room with the sign 'Tony-Trafalar'. "I underestimated them. Thought they were just some random thugs trying to mug me. Guess I was wrong. Nice office."
"Thanks," Chopper and Law said simultaneously as they helped him sit on the bed. Sanji unbuttoned his shirt and threw the wet cloth on the floor as he kicked of his shoes and socks.
"What happened to your coat?" Chopper asked as he started tending to Sanji's wounds while Law brought him a towel and some change of clothes. "Did you forget to bring one?"
"Nah, left it in the cemetery," Sanji said nonchalantly, unbuckling his belt and shrugging off his pants. "Don't worry Chopper, it'd probably still be there tomorrow. Hey, a little privacy here Law?"
"Nice view, what can I do" Law commented and turned around. Chopper did the same, blushing slightly.
"So," Sanji put on a large shirt and sweatpants. "Shouldn't you call Ace and Luffy to tell them I'm fine now?"
"Oh right! I'll go call them right away!" Chopper said, and dashed off.
Sanji chuckled. "Couldn't he have used his phone to call them?"
"Kid does the strangest things. Have you seen how he hides?" Law laughs. "So, about those thugs. You wanna tell me more about that?"
"Right. I was supposed to ride a cab home when it started pouring but apparently no one wanted a drenched man in their car. So I tried calling Ace, but got directed to voicemail. Meaning he's either drinking with Marco and the gang or doing something I don't want to think about."
Law looked amused but said nothing on the subject. "Go on."
"So I thought of borrowing some clothes from either one of you, then to try calling Ace again. Or maybe hail a cab or something"
"Wait, sudden thought, why didn't you call Luffy?"
"He's supposedly busy with auditions. Didn't want to disturb the guy," Sanji shrugged. "Anyway, I was on the way to St. Merry's when a couple of guys blocked the way. Said they were gonna kidnap me or something. Bullshit. I fought them of course, but this Enel guy was really fast and—"
"Enel. Why does that name ring a bell?" Law mused. "Anyway Sanji, go on. I think your life is turning into one of those cheesy drama flicks on late night television."
"What? No thank you. My life is complicated enough," Sanji sighed, remembering Zoro. What the hell's happening with his life anyway? First the party, then Zoro and now this. "So anyway this Enel guy managed to land a couple of punches and kicks, hence the bruises."
"How'd you get the guy's name anyway? If they had the slightest drop of common sense within them, then they wouldn't have given out their names. Otherwise they'd be really easy to catch."
"Well there's this other guy, who's name I didn't quite catch. Something like Panda or Spandex or something, anyway, he was kinda stupid and cowardly and weak. Kept saying "Enel help me!" or "Enel beat the guy up!" A good kick in the head knocked him out cold though. The Enel guy was kinda tougher to beat, but he got knocked unconscious as well after a couple more blows. His punches and kicks sting though. They should still be out there where I left them." Sanji finished. They didn't look like the usual punks either. His life just keeps better and better.
Chopper came back with a batch of bandages. "Ah! Sanji! I wasn't done patching you up yet! Take your shirt off! And I have to inspect your legs and feet as well for any bruises of broken bones."
"Yeah Sanji, strip," Law smirked.
"Shut the fuck up Law," Sanji glared at Law. "And Chopper I'm pretty sure I'd feel it if I have bruises or broken bones. And I don't. I'm fine now. I've got a great doctor like you after all, Dr. Chopper."
"Calling me a great doctor doesn't make me happy at all you bastard!" Chopper squealed happily and started dancing around the room. "And that won't distract me from patching you up!"
Sanji groaned and Law laughed while Chopper proceeded to strip Sanji off his clothing, save the boxers and started a thorough check up. Patching up here and there, checking for broken bones here and there. Sanji swore Chopper is the most paranoid doctor he's ever seen. But he's also undoubtedly the best he's ever known as well. It's kinda cute when Chopper fidgets over every small injury he and Luffy and the others have, though it can be a bit annoying when he tries to forbid them from doing certain things while injured, like cooking that one time he broke his wrist. It was horrible. Not so horrible in the sense that Robin had cooked for him, but in the sense that he wasn't able to do that one thing he loved the most.
"So anyway, I've called Ace, and he's relieved to hear that you're fine. He and Sabo will be coming over shortly. Smoker's coming too. I've asked a couple of doctors and guards to check the area from here to the cemetery to see if they'd see a couple of men lying unconscious on the street or side walk," Chopper informed him when he finished the check up and bandaging. "At first they looked at me like I was crazy or something, but they did what I told them to do and came back carrying a couple of men. One had short cropped blonde hair and really long ear lobes, which I suspect are due to the heavy gold studs he wears and the other had weird purple hair and a mask which covers about half his face. When the doctors removed his mask they found scars on the areas covered by the mask and a crooked nose, which seems to have been broken a few years ago, but never properly corrected."
"So they were still there," Sanji smirked. "I knocked them out good huh. Did you bind them properly though? They might escape."
"Well, we bound them with leather belts to the bed," Chopper explained with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I wanted to treat them but the other doctors won't let me. Well, anyway, Smoker's coming to arrest them for assault and hopes to interrogate them as well as to why they attacked you."
"I'd like to be there during the interrogation," Law grinned madly. "Seems like fun. And who knows, maybe I could be of assistance in the event that they're stubborn and keep silent."
"Somehow, I pity those two," Sanji laughed and hopped off the bed as Law exited the room. "Well I'll just go wait for them in the lobby. Thanks for the clothes and stuff Chops."
"Chops?" Chopper tilted his head adorably and Sanji laughed.
"Nothing. See you later, Chopper. Oh and if you can drop by tomorrow, I'm having the weekend off so maybe you'd like some cotton candy?"
"OHHHHHHH!" Chopper squealed, his eyes shining. "Yes! I'll ask Law to take my shift, I'm sure he wouldn't mind since Kidd's gonna be here tomorrow for therapy and YES OH MY GAWD SANJI I LOVE YOU!"
"Don't mention it Chopper," Sanji grinned. "You can bring Ussop with you if you like, or a friend. Thanks for the treatment."
"You're welcome Sanji! Thanks also for—"
"SANJI!"
The blonde had about a second to comprehend what's happening before a couple of men tackled him to the floor.
"We were so worried man!" Ace bawled. "When I got home and Luffy was complaining about dinner, I knew something was wrong! What happened? Where were you? Why didn't you call?"
"SANJI! DINNER! MEAT!" Luffy cried, holding tightly on to Sanji's leg.
"Gah, stop it Ace, Luffy, you're crushing me!" Sanji tried to shove them off him, but to no avail.
"GUYS! BOTH OF YOU! GET OFF SANJI!" Chopper wailed, pulling on Ace's hair then Luffy's leg. "I just patched him up!"
Ace quickly got off Sanji and pulled Luffy off his leg. "Patched him up? Sanji, just what happened exactly? Chopper said something about you being in a fight with a couple of men, so we brought Smokey along."
"Why don't you go ask Law or something," Sanji groaned as Ace helped him up. "I'm tired."
"B-but Sanji! I'm starving!" Luffy teared up at the thought of going to bed hungry.
"I can whip you up a couple of dishes when we get back, but no seconds," Sanji shrugged, dusting his pants. He had a soft spot for hungry people, even though Luffy's always hungry.
"YAY MEAT!" Luffy cried happily, crushing Sanji with one of his bear hugs.
"Luffy! Stop!" Chopper wailed.
"Hey, me too! I want Sanji's awesome food too!" Ace chimed in.
"Guys, stop, you're killing me…" Sanji kicked them both off him. "Seriously, guys, I'm partly sort of injured here."
"But you're usually so cool with injuries," Luffy pointed out. "Remember that time you broke your wrist last year, but was still able to cook up that awesome feast for my birthday?"
"SANJI! You told me that Robin was the one who cooked all that food! I thought I told you not to use your hand!" Chopper was frantic. Sanji thought he looked adorable, but decided to keep that to himself. The kid may be seventeen but acted like a seven year old at times.
"I didn't," Sanji assured him. "I used my other hand. And Robin did help. A bit."
"Oh, well then that's okay then."
"Sanji let's gooo! I'm starving!" Luffy whined, pulling on Sanji's sleeve.
"You wouldn't mind a moment would you, Luffy?"
"Eh, ah Sabo! You wanna eat too?"
"I'd love that, thanks, but Sanji, Smoker needs to ask you a couple of questions first. It seems that those two men who attacked you were part of separate gangs. Enel's a part of Upper Yard."
"It's the name of that gang that uses taser and electrocuted about 20 people in that bank robbery a couple months ago. And apparently Enel's the head. I'm surprised he didn't try to electrify you."
"Smokey!" Ace walked up to a tall beefy guy with smokey white hair and a two cigars between his teeth and patted him a little to hard on the back.
"Gah, fuck you Portgas," Smoker growled. "Go hit on someone else, literally or not."
"Gladly," Ace replied smugly, earning him a swollen cheek. "Can we like, minus on the hitting part?"
"Ahh no fighting and smoking inside the hospital!" Chopper cried and rushed to tend to Ace's new swelling cheek. "What is wrong with you people!"
"Ah, right. Well fuck that. Portgas should be an exception. Plus there are no sick people here anyway, so it's alright to smoke, alright? So chill kid," Smoker shrugged and took a seat by the bed. "Just close the door and we'll be fine. So anyways, I'd like to know just what it is that happened, if they said anything of importance or anything like that. Details and shit. You know the drill."
"Well all he did was lay a couple of punches and kicks before I knocked him out, so no taser there. The guy was quick, I'll give him that, but two years of training my legs in that hell of a kingdom? The guy didn't stand a chance." Sanji shivered as he remembered his horrible experience with Ivankov and his people.. He was more concerned about the why, which he hopes he'd learn from this Smoker character. "All he kept saying was "Shut up Spandex or I'll shut you up myself" or something like that, while the other guy kept going on and on, shouting "Help me Enel" and "Get him you bastard" then he's squeak like a rat whenever that Enel guy'd yell at him.
"Right, about that other guy," Smoker started, trying to keep a straight face. "Spandam, not Spandex. The guy was once a Cipher Pol agent turned sour. He's weak and cowardly, so he makes up for it by using deceptive and cunning ways to climb up the hierarchy until he became the boss of CP9. Not much of a surprise though when he tried to frame Nico Robin and Cutty Flam." Sanji stared at him with wide eyes.
"Shocking for you huh," Smoker noted. "Well, you may know Cutty Flam as Nico's husband, Franky. They were accused of terrorism, due to Ms. Nico's knowledge in ancient text and Franky's supposedly having blueprints to an ancient top secret weapon. Classified information there so I can't talk anything about that, and you shouldn't either boy. None of you in this room are. So anyway, according to Spandam, Cutty Flam burned the blueprints. No evidence, no case. And the judges claimed Spandam's accusations as false, since Ms. Nico was a well known archeologist and has contributed much to world history."
"Right, I'm glad I gave that shitty bastard a good kick," Sanji muttered. "How dare he accuse a lady!"
"Long story short, Spandam became under probation and went on a rampage, sending the CP9, who were then still under his orders, on an assassination mission: to kill the judges of Enies Lobby. It was a good thing Luffy and that Zoro guy were there to hold them back until the higher ups appeared. The chief Garp was able to intercept and blah blah blah too many things to say. Point is, things were cleared up, Spandam escaped and that was the last we saw of him." Smoker finished. All eyes were on him and Luffy. "Until today that is."
"Nah I was just hungry and Smokey promised lots of meat for me and booze for Zoro if we'd help."
"Briber," Ace teased.
"Boo! Boo!" Chopper jeered and made a face.
"So… what does this have to do with anything?" Sanji asked.
"I dunno, thought maybe you'd want to know about their background."
"... You serious?"
"Yeah, I'm serious. What do you think I am, A clown? I'm a fucking officer. I don't mess around."
"Right."
"Not what the kind of explanation you were expecting, huh. I can tell."
"Well, I'd prefer to know why they attacked me."
"Well from your story, all I can say is Spandam's an idiot and that I pity Enel for being with a sorry shit like him. But don't worry, that friend of yours, Trafalgar was it? He volunteered to play good cop bad cop, in which he is both. Said something about successful interrogations require either pain or pleasure." Smoker shrugged. "Doesn't matter really, as long as we get more information about the two."
"Well fine, I'm going home first. Just give me a call or something when you find the necessary information or whatever Still have to cook for these two," Sanji gestured his thumb at the now salivating brothers at the mention of food.
"Three!" Sabo corrected with a lopsided grin. "I'm in since Sanji's cooking."
"These three," Sanji repeated. "See you tomorrow at lunch, Chopper?"
"Okay!" Chopper squeaked as the four of them left the room. Smoker stood and was about to leave as well when Chopper blocked him at the door. "I know you're an officer and all that, but hospital rules are rules!" He pointed to the trash bin and gave Smoker the sternest look he could muster, which isn't much.
Smoker raised an eyebrow, amused by the little doctor. He took both cigars and used the wall as a makeshift ash tray before dropping them in the bin. "There, happy?" He grunted.
"Yes thanks—"
"Wow Chopper was able to convince you to not smoke huh?"
"Trafalgar," Smoker frowned. "So how did it go?"
"Okay, so I was trying the whole flaying thing until they talked—"
"Law that's inhuman and unsanitary! No! No! NO!" Chopper cried. "I don't think they're deserving of that! It's an awful process you know!"
"Of course I do! Skinning only the epidermis, triggering the pain receptors enough to leave them howling and wailing in pain, but not deep enough to have them bleed to death, I think it's a wonderful technique." Law held up a small plastic bag examining its contents adoringly and threw it at Smoker. "Here, you can have this. If you have it investigated at some lab of some sort, you'd know who's it is and what it is. Though if you go see the two men now, I'm sure you'd have an idea on whose it is. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to answer your questions."
"LAW DID YOU ACTUALLY SKIN THEM?" Chopper screeched, taking the bag from a very confused and amused Smoker. After examining it for a second, he paled and dropped it on the floor. He felt his legs grow weak and shakily made his way towards the bed. "LAW! Wh-where's the rest of it? Did you administer anaesthesia?"
"What? It's not like the ugly mug needed it. And no Chopper, no anaesthesia. I need him to be somewhat traumatised by the pain so whenever he sees that, he'll freak and... Now that I think about it, maybe it isn't such a good idea... Oh well," Law shrugged nonchalantly. "And besides, he's gonna have his sorry ass in Impel Down! For all we know he could be sexually active in prison hence, I thought I'd be nice and give him a free cut. You know, to avoid certain diseases and stuff. I'm surprised he hasn't yet. Men his age are usually well, you know. Anyways, that's only a piece. After I left, the other doctors probably went and finished the job. With anaesthetics this time I'm sure. No one enjoys pain like I do. Besides Kidd I guess. He's in the other room making sure they don't try anything funny."
Smoker curiously picked the bag up from the floor and sent Law a disgusted look. "Trafalgar is this…"
"Hey, you gave me permission to do whatever to make him talk, so I did and well, he'd be ready to talk if and when you show him that. He'd cringe and maybe pass out or roll up in pain, but he'd definitely talk. There's still more from where that came from," Law winked suggestively. Smoker cringed. "Oh and don't worry, I don't usually do this. I'm a surgeon after all. But there are special cases like these where my sadistic services are needed."
"You guys hired him... why?"
"Law is an exceptional surgeon for his age. Setting aside his occasional act of scaring the patients, he's pretty good with his hands. Um… that came out somewhat…" Chopper blushed. "I mean, he's really good on the operating table. All his patients come out somewhat shaken, but very much alive. There's been zero deaths in the Merry since. Well, setting aside those who die naturally or of incurable diseases…" Chopper's voice trailed off. "But we'll find a cure for those one day and—"
"Yeah I got your point, Chopper. Still, Trafalgar, you are one sick bastard." Smoker shook his head as he headed out.
"Thank you for that very wonderful compliment, officer," Law smirked. "Have a good night, Officer Smoker."
Smoker waved with the hand holding the small plastic bag containing a small piece of skin.
A/N:
There's a reason why Enel's so weak. This is because I paired the Enel of Skypiea arc, with the Sanji of two years later. Meaning the Sanji now can use both Busoshoku(Armament) Haki and Kenbunshoku(Observation) Haki. Sorry if it's a bit confusing. I just paired the Enel of two years ago with the Sanji of two years later in a fight. So well, Sanji would be the obvious and clear winner. Right? Right?
And that's that for now... ;) Yes, skin. From somewhere...
