7 Days Until the Trial
"Is that it?" Luffy asked, pointing at the small landmass appearing on the horizon. Nami squinted her eyes and nodded.
"I think so. I mean, it's too small of an island for the log pose to point to it, but according to some of the women on the main island, there is only one other island that is anywhere close to the main one, approximately 5 miles off shore…so if that's true, then this has to be it."
"Let's go then!" Luffy shouted, preparing himself to stretch towards the shore, only to be stopped when a fist smashed into the back of his head.
"IDIOT!" Nami shouted, and then sighed. "We can't just rush in blindly! We need to come up with an actual plan here! If what Robin said is true, we can't go in there and cause a scene, otherwise Lucy and her sister will catch wind of our presence and go into hiding or something!"
"Oh…" Luffy said, rubbing the growing bump on the back of his head. "Alright, so what should our plan be?"
"We need to split into two groups. One that will stay with the ship, and one that will be able infiltrate the island…discreetly." Nami said, narrowing her eyes at their captain.
"Why are you looking at me like that for!?"
"Well, in order to be discreet, I think Franky, Chopper, and Brooke should stay with the ship…they will stick out the most. So that leaves me, Robin, Usopp and you to go a shore, but you have to be able to keep a low profile."
"I can be discreet!" He decided, only to receive a skeptical look from his remaining 6 crewmates. "I can be discreet! I will be king of discreet! Just like I will be king of the pirates!"
"Try not to say too many things like that while we're there."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not discreet!" Nami snapped, feeling one of her eyes begin to twitch.
"Well shouting certainly isn't discreet…" The captain mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms in a pout.
"What was that?" Nami hissed.
"Nothing!"
"Anyway," Robin's smooth voice broke in, interrupting the argument that had begun between the navigator and captain. "We don't have any time to waste. Cook-san and swordsmen-san are counting on us."
"She's right," Nami said after a moment, the rest of the crew nodding in agreement.
None of them liked the situation they were currently in. It just felt wrong not to have two of their nakama by their side. But they had all agreed that this was the best course of action to take in order to save their friends. So the sooner they started looking, the better.
"And here's my plan when we get ashore…" Nami continued, the rest of the crew listening intently, including Luffy, who had never looked more serious.
…
"So…"
"So…" Zoro mimicked, causing Sanji to sigh.
It had barely been half a day and the two men were already driving each other, and themselves, absolutely insane.
"Where do you think the rest of the crew are?" Sanji asked, more thinking out loud than really expecting an answer, but the silence had been deafening and he would've done anything to break it.
"Don't know…"
"Do you think they will find them?" He tried again.
"Don't know…"
"Anything particular you want to talk about?" Sanji asked through clenched teeth, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"Nope…" Zoro shrugged.
"Christ Zoro! You could at least attempt to make this next week bearable!" Sanji snapped, but not so loudly that the guards standing by could hear.
Zoro rolled his eyes and sighed, "You've been yammering on trying to start pointless conversations for hours! Do you expect me to talk to you non-stop for the next seven days?" He received no reply, and couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit guilty. Why should I feel guilty though…he is being his usual annoying self, in fact he is being more annoying than usual, and I'm simply telling him to shut up like I normally would. So why the hell do I feel bad about it? "Fine…I have no idea where they are. Yes I think they will find them. And as for something particular I want to talk about, how about swords?"
It was Sanji's turn to roll his eyes; the Marimo was obviously just trying to get him to shut up. But the eerie silence of the cell was unnerving him, and he hated being left alone with his own thoughts, they were far too complicated and confusing right now. So even though it wasn't likely a serious suggestion, he would take the bait anyway.
"Alright…which sword do you like to use the best? I know you have a special connection with the white one, Wado I think it is, but you don't usually use that one. Not unless you are doing the full three sword style, in which case, that is the one you always use with your mouth."
"Umm…" Zoro hummed, completely caught off guard by the cooks question. He had been joking when he said he wanted to talk about swords, so he certainly hadn't expected to hear those words come out of the other man's mouth. He hadn't realized that anybody really paid close enough attention to figure out his fighting habits like that.
"Yeah, that one is special. And I guess I use it in my mouth because I figure it is less likely to get damaged there…or something. I honestly hadn't thought about it before."
"Why is it so special?" Sanji asked curiously, realizing that he really didn't know much about the other man's past. Other than the fact that he used to be a pirate hunter, and came from the East Blue, he really didn't know anything about him.
"She used to belong to someone…someone important to me." Zoro answered after a few moments, not really sure what else to say. He never discussed his past before, at least not with anybody from the crew, not even with Luffy. He wasn't sure why he never talked about it really…he supposed it just never came up. Everyone just knew him as the pirate hunter, so maybe they figured that was all there really was to know about him, so nobody bothered to try and learn more.
"Who?" Sanji asked, finding himself genuinely curious. It never dawned on him until that moment to try and find out more about the other man. He was just Zoro…the annoying, boorish, first mate of their crew. He slept a lot, drank a lot, and was a half decent swordsmen…not that he would ever admit that to his face…but what else was there to really know about him?
For the briefest moment, he saw a pained look cross the other man's face, and instantly felt guilty. The fact that he was in possession of a sword that use to belong to someone important to him, meant that it likely wasn't a happy story…A part of him wanted to tell him that it was okay, to forget he asked, but he stayed silent instead, and waited. Maybe it was wrong of him, but now that the desire to know more about the other man was in his head, he couldn't bring himself to try and halt the conversation.
"A friend. A rival I guess you could say…" He trailed off, deciding he didn't really want to get into it, when he looked up and saw the look in the other man's eyes. There was something about it…Sanji looked interested, invested in learning the truth, and for some reason he felt like he owed it to him, that it would be wrong of him to keep anything from the blonde.
He didn't know why he would feel like that, and normally he would tell the cook to piss off, and then try and get some sleep. But some unknown force was urging him to continue, to open up to the blonde, so he did, "Her name was Kuina. She was the daughter of the man that ran the dojo I trained at as a kid. She was a brilliant swordswoman, and had the same dream I had, to become the world's greatest. We fought a countless number of times…and I know that look, don't start lecturing me about how I shouldn't have fought a girl. If she were here right now, she would kick your ass for even thinking that. Besides, I lost to her every single time. She was a little older than me, and taller, and had been training for years longer. Not that I ever made excuses like that…she was simply better than me, and at the time, my greatest goal was just to finally beat her, I wasn't even thinking about becoming the world's greatest, I just wanted to prove I was better than her. One night, I challenged her to a fight with real swords. She accepted, and then of course kicked my ass…it was that night that she opened up to me about her fears and insecurities, about the fact that she was a woman, and therefore would grow up weaker and would never be able to achieve her dream of being the best. I got so angry at her that night…saying how dare she say something like that, especially when she just kicked my ass for what felt like the millionth time. I told her I was going to defeat her one-day, and it wasn't going to be because she was a girl and I simply grew up stronger, it was going to be because I improved my skills and was genuinely better than her. That was the night we promised each other that one of us was going to become the world's greatest swordsmen…and then the next day she died. She fell down some stairs and just…just died. As strong as she was, she just…"
"Zoro…" Sanji said softly, seeing how upset the other man was getting at the memory. As much as he wanted to learn the truth, he felt increasingly bad for bring it up.
"After that I asked her father for her sword, Wado. I told him that one day I would become the world's greatest, and that my name would be heard even in the heavens. Even though I was never able to achieve my goal of beating her, I will do anything to keep the promise we made that night." Zoro finally finished, looking up to see a sad look on the other man's face.
"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have asked," Sanji said, feeling a pang of sympathy for Zoro. He couldn't even imagine losing someone like that…especially when they were both so young.
"No, it's okay. If I refuse to talk about it, it would just feel like her memory was slipping further and further away." Zoro replied after a few minutes, having no idea why he had opened up as much as he had. The cook probably would've been satisfied with 'a friend I use to know named Kuina'…there was no reason for him to get into so many details. Yet, he felt a strange sense of relief knowing that there were no longer any real secrets between the two of them. He felt almost lighter in a way.
"I'm glad you told me," Sanji said quietly, reaching out to place a hand on the other man's leg, and instantly felt stupid for the gesture.
What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't imagine that being touched by someone you barely liked was even remotely comforting. But when he went to pull his hand away, it was met with resistance.
He looked down to see that the Marimo had grabbed his hand, and gave it a light squeeze.
"I'm glad I told you too," he said sincerely, giving the other man what he hoped was a meaningful look.
There was something about the way that Zoro was looking at him, that caused a strange feeling to bubble up inside Sanji. It literally felt like a hoard of butterflies were loose inside his guts, and he couldn't quite figure out what the sensation meant. He had never felt anything even remotely close to this before. His breathing picked up slightly, and could literally feel as his face began to burn, with what he was sure was a bright red.
Zoro was confused by the reaction, and was worried for a moment that maybe he actually upset the other man. He was about to pull his hand away and apologize, when something unexpected happened.
Sanji wrapped his arms around his neck, and pulled him forward until his head was resting on his chest. Zoro's eyes widened, caught off guard and confused by the action. But he was even more confused when he didn't immediately pull away.
He couldn't explain it, but he felt something strange when he was in the blonde's arms…almost like…almost like he was safe. That nothing could harm him as long as he was there.
He instantly blushed at the thought, feeling completely stupid for even thinking such a thing. Yet, he still didn't pull away. And instead wondered if Sanji could hear his heart racing just as clearly as he could hear Sanji's.
…
"Wow, I wasn't expecting them to have so much…stuff." Usopp said lowly, taking in the sight of the small town that was just a couple miles inland.
"What did you expect? They were exiled here, who knows how many years ago…of course they were going to find a reasonable way to live." Nami replied, although she honestly hadn't expected things to be that well developed either. She had been half expecting tents, or shacks or something, but it seems the men who had once lived on the main island, were fairing pretty well here.
There were hundreds of solid looking houses made out of both stone and lumber as far as the eye could see. There were also a few larger looking building, which they assumed consisted of different stores, hospitals, libraries, and schools…this place literally had everything…except for women of course.
"It is an interesting situation, that's for sure." Robin said, her voice holding no real wonder, but they could tell she was just as surprised as them. "Now, to the most important issue at hand…"
"Right, we need to start looking for Lucy and her sister," Nami nodded.
"Actually, I was referring to the fact that we should probably catch up with captain-san before he robs that house of all their food." Robin said casually, pointing toward their captain, who was currently in the distance, tip toeing toward an open window, where he most likely smelled something good.
"THAT IDIOT!" Both Nami and Usopp shouted, before taking off in a hurry toward their captain. Robin followed closely behind, her eyes gleaming with amusement.
Luffy was half way through the window when he was yanked back, falling roughly to the ground. He was about to protest, but was silenced with a fist to the back of his head before he could even speak.
"What happened to being the king of discreet?" Nami said, as calmly as she could manage, though her teeth were clenched as she spoke.
"I was being discreet…I checked to make sure nobody was home first!"
"You still tried to break in and steal!"
"I'm a pirate!"
"Keep your voice down!"
"Umm, guys?" Usopp said quietly, tapping Nami on the shoulder, but his presence seemed to go unnoticed.
"You sure give me a lot of orders considering I'm the captain!"
"Well I wouldn't have to give you so many orders if you actually started acting like the captain!"
"Umm, guys…"
"I'm the captain so I get to decide how the captain acts!"
"You're such an idiot!"
"Guys!" Usopp said a little more forcefully this time, which finally seemed to get the other's attention.
"WHAT!" Both Nami and Luffy snapped.
"It looks like Luffy didn't check as closely as he thought he did…" Usopp answered, receiving two very confused looks until a strange voice spoke, snapping both of their attentions towards it.
"Who are you people? And why are you on my property?" An elderly man, looking to be in his 70's asked, a much younger man standing closely behind him.
In a matter of seconds, the plan Nami had laid out before they went a shore was completely ruined. She swore, one day she really was going to wring that rubber-neck of his.
…
A/N: Hey everybody! I hope all of you are doing well, and I apologize for the wait for this chapter. I have been busy with school starting up, and I find myself getting too distracted from schoolwork when I attempt to write any sort of fanfiction. I get too caught up in plotting the story out and such, that I can't concentrate on the stuff I need to be concentrating on. That being said, I really do need to warn that upcoming chapters will likely be very slow to be posted. Obviously I will try and get them up as often as I can, but I can't promise anything. Updates will likely become regular again after the semester ends, but until then, I ask for your patience.
But thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! And I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate it. Please let me know what you think. I don't want to sound like I'm begging for reviews here, but the last few chapters I've written I've been extremely self conscious about. And that goes for other things I have attempted to write, but haven't posted…I was attempting to work on a High School AU ZoSan, but found it to be a struggle…I guess I'm feeling like I'm losing the ability to write good fanfiction…I dunno. It might just be related to the whole stresses of school thing…either way, hearing your thoughts would mean a lot, and hopefully it will help me work through whatever funk I'm in, so that I can attempt to bring you chapters faster.
Anyway I'm rambling now. Thanks again for reading, let me know what you thought, and I will try and get you more soon.
