REWRITTEN!
A big thanks to my two Mei-chan and Mari-chan for beta-reading this chapter as well! ^o^
Please enjoy!
Taste of bittersweet Disaster
-A One Piece fan fiction
By Crystal Blue Fox
Memories can be both
good and bad
…but sometimes it's just best to
never to remember.
Sometimes it's best,
To stay in the unknown darkness
And never wake up.
Am I wrong?
Perhaps I am…
9. Chapter
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
That word…
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Counting through his reps, Zoro finally has to give in to his exhaustion, the floor quaking as he levels his custom-made giant version dumbbell. His knees quivering, muscles shuddering, he's been pressing himself way too hard, again. Laying on the floor to catch his breath, he can feel the dizziness playing at the back of his mind. He hasn't been eating properly lately, what I underlined by his growling stomach, leaving an empty feeling in its wake.
He should probably not thank "no" whenever he was offered food, but whenever it was presented to him, the hunger was gone, and even trying, he could only get down a bite or two.
He hears the door open and close. Bare feet pats softly against wooden floor, before a tray is placed right above his head. As the steps didn't retreat, he cranes his head as far back as he can, only to be met by a tray of food, a glass of water and a little glass of pills, behind stands a pair of legs.
"I don't need that." he says, though it only let to another tray being placed beside his, before the owner of the legs sat down. Stubborn kid. "Tell that copycat that I'm not -"
"I made it."
Zoro looks questionable up at the raven kid, fire-red bangs get moved behind an ear, while a too proud smile grows from ear to ear.
"You can cook?" he says in disbelief.
"Apparently, I can, yes!" the kid says, ocean blue looks expectantly down at him.
Zoro then turns fully around onto his stomach and points down at the tray. "You did this?" Oliver nods.
"Yup!"
Already knowing the kid was as good at telling lies as Luffy, Zoro sighs and sits up properly. Staring down at the tray, he looks sceptically at the small glass of medicine and points at it. Oliver flushes in an instant. "Uh-uhm, I-I went into Doctor Chopper's infirmary and found some medicine there'll help you…" he says and looks away. Zoro quirks a brow.
"You got the medicine for me?" Oliver nods. "Does Chopper know?" He shakes his head in shame. "Why?"
"Long story…"
"Tell!"
Oliver literally debates whether or not to answer that. "Would you eat the dinner I made, if I tell you?"
"Yeah, I'll eat."
"Promise!" Zoro blinks, then shrugs.
"Whatever. Yeah, I promise, that I'll try." Oliver sighs and then takes off his straw hat, presenting it to Zoro, who looks confused at it. "Your hat told you?" he jokes dryly.
"In a way,"
Zoro stares intensely at the kid and waits for a deeper explanation, surely, he isn't sitting with a talking hat? Lately he'd gotten pieces of his memories back, and apparently, the first memories were about that thing. Oliver lays his straw hat in his lap and fumbles with the rim of it.
"It's not a normal hat, nor a straw hat…"
"It's not… a straw hat?" Zoro looks down at it again. "Looks pretty much like a straw hat to me!"
"Ah, wait! I'll show you!" Oliver suddenly says enthusiastically and jumps to his feet. "Look, look!"
"I'm looking," he would've said, if not the strawhat suddenly disappeared in a pouff, as the kid hit his hand against it, and changed into some other kind of a hat that he'd never seen before. It more looked like a blue-green bag pulled over his head. "What the…?"
"You see?" Oliver says with glee.
Zoro raises a brow at it, after he had put himself together again. "So? Doesn't explain how you-"
"Over exercise of a human body can lead to a slow process of self-destruction as the humanly organs not always can follow up with the training. In worst condition it can lead to fractured ligaments, coronary thrombosis, heart-attacks…"
"What the hell?!" Zoro bursts out, as the kid suddenly has gone into some kind of Chopper-mode, and just like the reindeer, he can't stop talking when first started. He slaps a hand for the kid's mouth. "I got it, I got it, geese you're a babbler!" Oliver smirks at his obviously growing confusion.
"Farce two!" he pronounces and shows two fingers. Closing his eyes, Zoro catches something shift inside of them as he opens them again, and as he speaks, it's with the voice of their navigator. "Zoro! You're already so far behind with your debt, that I almost feel sorry for you. But! I might cut off five percent if you'll eat some of the food Nicki's prepared for you!" There's even that sneaky glint in the kid's eyes, like that sea witch when she tries to extort him.
"Ten percent and I'll reconsider it." He answers by habit. He can feel Oliver's smile grow against his palm, before the kid steps back and takes off his hat. Smacking it against his hand, it turns once again into an old straw hat in a cloud of pouff. "So, you can imitate someone's brain and voice?"
The growing grin didn't bode well, as Oliver steps closer, reaching for his head. Zoro grabs the significantly smaller hand, and once again he wonders how old this kid even is. He grabs the other hand as well, as it tries to reach for him as well.
"I just want to show you something…" Zoro swipes his head around, as he suddenly hears the kid's voice behind him, even though he's standing right before him. A single hair gets plucked from his scalp, it hurts more than it should and he's about to give his complain, as he freezes in an instant at the sight of a second Oliver behind him.
"What the fuck?"
"As soon as I took on my hat, I started to remember a new thing as well," the Oliver behind him says, standing with a strand of green hair in his hand.
"Isn't it great?" the Oliver in front of him says gleefully. "I'm starting to remember more and more, each time I take this one on!"
"Uh-uhm, yeah… that's good," Zoro says and scowls at him. "But warn me the hell next time, before you do crazy shit like that!" Both Oliver's starts laughing.
"Okay then," The Oliver behind him says.
"But I need my hands," the one in front says, "or I need to pluck a new strand of hair." Zoro lets go of him in an instant, not wanting to lose any more hair. His stolen strand of hair get transferred from the one to the other. The Oliver before him looks intriguingly at it, before nodding. The copy disappears into thin air.
"Okay, look!" Oliver says, almost showing it up in his face.
Zoro quirks a brow. "Yeah, that's my hair."
"As long as this part is intact," Oliver continues, ignoring Zoro's comment, and points at the white root "I can use the hair, but it all has to happen inside of thirty seconds, else the hair is useless." He turns his straw-hat and 'sews' the single strand of hair into the hat. Zoro looks strangely at him, as for a second, he catches a small 'glow' inside the hat as Oliver pulls his hand away. Smiling, Oliver puts on his hat. "You see, this hat is a special 'art' from an old hatter, Master Yellow, who a long time ago found some special plants to make a new hat. He soon realised, after lending the hat to a writer, returning the hat, he had the same knowledge as the writer of stories yet to be written. Apparently, the plants could absorb a human's strength and knowledge out from asingle strand of hair."
Zoro doesn't know what to say, but startles, as Kitetsu suddenly are pointed at his throat. He hadn't even sensed nor seen the move, glaring at the kid, he sees the same expression mirrored in his now dark blue eyes.
"Taking a strand of your hair gives me the possibilities to use your power." Oliver says once again, though the tone of his voice has gotten deeper and more serious. "From the time you were born and until the second I pull it and sews the hair into this hat, there can read the techniques that you've learned in that period of time, out from a single hair," the blade presses against Zoro's throat "I can imitate your knowledge." He retreats the katana and hands it back to him. for a moment, Zoro felt uncomfortable alerted in the kid's place. Oliver sits and pulls off the straw hat with a sigh. "It's just a bit tiring using it."
"Uhuh…" Zoro answers and wonders why Kitetsu felt so quiet all of a sudden. He sheets her and places her back together with the others up against the long sofa. "So… you can use it whenever you wish?" Oliver looks tiredly up at him and nods.
"Yeah, but it's always good to get a new strand of hair whenever possible, so you can get the newest techniques with ya. But I can only use it for about three minutes at a time. Using it longer than that, hurts my head." He says, pointing to his head "The bad thing about it is, that I can't get the same strength as the person who I took the hair from, only the knowledge of the techniques. Therefore, I have to train to get stronger and use the techniques on their highest levels -!" a yawn breaks him off. Zoro nods, somehow understanding what the kid's saying. Oliver sighs tiredly and leans his head against the sofa, closing his eyes.
Zoro looks down at the plate of food, then takes the fork. A promise is a promise. He just catches the kid's smile, there grows, as he tastes the delicious juicy meat of the sea king they caught yesterday, eyes widening. This, this was actually good, almost at the level of the cook's… almost.
"You two close?" Oliver suddenly asks, looking at him.
"Huh?" Zoro looks confused at him.
"You and that blond, Sanji, right?"
Zoro only halts for a moment, somehow the question hits him deeper than it should. Then he continues eating. "We're all nakama, practically family, so yeah, we're all close." He answers.
"But especially him?"
Zoro halts.
"That hat-thing of yours, it abstracts strength, you said?" Oliver nods. "And all kind of knowledge?"
Oliver ponders. "knowledge, yes, but not memories." Oliver scratches his head, as if to figure out ow to explain himself better. "It gains knowledge from what we've learned, battle experience, schooling, such kind, memories in the muscles and the nerves." he taps his head "our inner memories, the personal ones, thoughts and such, is a place I never can gain access to. It sounds weird since it's all in our head, but still, knowledge and memories are stored in two different places. Like… like when our body goes on autopilot or when something is trained so much into our muscles, that they act of their own. Memories from the heart, so to say, I can't touch."
Zoro hums, pleased with the answer, yet, the question still seems to hang in the air, he tries to ignore it, but the kid's stare doesn't help any of it. Sighing, he finally has to give in.
"Cook's been missing for a long time, a lot of bad things has happened to him, and I feel partially responsible for it."
"Why do you think that?"
"What are you, my shrink?"
"No, just curious."
"So… nakama. What is it exactly? Luffy calls you all nakama a loot. I understood it means closer than friends, almost closer than family but more distant than, like, lovers? Really really close family-friendship, right?" He says thoughtfully.
Zoro grunts and rubs his head. "You make it sound wrong and more complicated than it is."
Oliver just laughs. "Sorry, I've heard I got a bad habit with that. But you must be really close friends since you're overdoing your training and way too often refuses to eat."
Zoro lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, a tender smile itches at the corner. "Is that so?" he asks, not sure if it's to the kid or himself. He takes the glass of water, nips at it to wet his throat, takes the pills. He empties everything on the plate and soon lays down to catch a well needed nap. Even through closed eyes, he can sense Oliver's stare at him, before the kid finally open his mouth again.
"Why you think it's your fault? You didn't do all those bad things to him."
"No, but I could have prevented it from happening, if I just had listened and acted." Zoro argues back. Oliver grunts and shakes his head.
"Nicki's just the same," he suddenly says "he thinks what happened to me, is his fault, what they did to me… and such…" Zoro looks at him.
"And such?" he presses.
Oliver nods carefully. "I…I just don't remember what actually happened. And… I don't remember him yet, but after what I understand from him, we should be really good friends, and have known each other for a long time… just don't get it why I don't remember him." he bites his lip slightly and gnaws, as he tries to remember more… though apparently fruitlessly. Zoro closes his eyes, but only gets a couple of minutes, as the kid suddenly speaks again "Zoro?"
"What?"
"Can, I, uhm… will you train me?"
"Hmm? Why?"
"Because I want to be able to defend myself even better, and not worry others as much."
"People will always worry, that's the part of human nature when you care for someone." Zoro opens his eyes and looks at the kid, really looks at him, before rolling his eyes and making him it comfortable on the floor. "But whatever, sure." He yawns. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you." He barely manages to finish his sentence, as he's suddenly bombarded from the side. "Argh! The heck?" Zoro tries to pry the kid off him. "Oi! Rule number one; Don't touch me!" he tries to use more force, but he was as easy to get off as Luffy with his arms draped thirty times around him. "Rule number two; my domain, my rules, not following them, I'll kick you -"
"Thanks! I'm just so happy!" Oliver says and burrows his face deeper against his chest. Whatever he wanted to yell at the kid, dies down. Zoro swallows hard, even living at a ship with people who liked to be quite close to each other, he still feels uncomfortable with hugs and the likes. Even though, he ruffles Oliver's hair, masking his own nervousness.
"Okay, okay, fine! Just get the hell off me already!" he complains, once again trying to pry the laughing octopus off him. "GET OFF!"
-TOBD- TOBD- TOBD—
The first thing his mind register, are a constant annoying sound, somehow synchronizing with his own heartbeat.
The second thing he register, are the devastating smell of medicine, enough to make his nose cringe.
Where is he? At a hospital?
The last thing he remember, he was running, from someone… or something. The rest is a blur.
Sluggish pacing stops near his head, before, what he can only guess is a wet clothe disappears from his forehead, not seconds after it returns, cooler. It makes him unconsciously sigh with relieve. He wants to go back to sleep, yet something tells him that he should wake up now, else… else what?
Opening his eyes are a crucial task in itself, it feels like hours when he finally manages to crack an eye open, and the sharp light greeting him makes him wince. Moving a hand to shadow his eyes, something falls loudly to the floor, the sound torturous to his poor ears. Slowly adapting to the sharpness of the waken world, he soon recognises the surroundings as to be Chopper's infirmary at the Sunny - but that couldn't possibly be true? Is he really back at their ship? Back home? A shadow looms beside him, a shocked Usopp stares blatantly at him, hands wide open, that explains the insufferable noise of a bowl falling to the floor.
"Yo." Sanji croaks lamely, the sharpshooter though doesn't react. He motions to sit up, what he soon realises isn't a good idea. Yelping, a sudden sharp pain shoots up through his spine.
God mother fucking of a – shit, that hurt!
"O-oi! Easy! You shouldn't move!"
"No, kidding?" Sanji hisses sarcastically.
"Just, uhm, uh, wait, stay still, I will, I'll get… CHOPPEEEER!" Usopp scrambles out of the infirmary as if there's fire in his ass. By Rodger! The level of that sharpshooter's voice! Looking down at himself, his leg is in a gypsum, hanging in a rope to destress it. His head falls back onto the pillow with a groan. Great! Just what he need; a freaking broken leg to boost his already shitty mood!
Not even a quarter of a minute later, he's greeted by a thunderous scream calling his name, and others begging the other not to do what he intends to do – Sanji has already a bad feeling about it and two seconds later, a flash of red and black strikes past, crashing through the door opposite, leading in to the kitchen. He's surprised, not for the typical catapulting of their captain, but that the following loud crash sends his heart beating faster up in his throat, his body jolts anxious. A furious loud Franky follows after, lecturing Luffy for his recklessness and smacks the grinning fool over the head for almost ruining the door. Somehow Usopp ended on the 'flight' and crawls mumbling from the kitchen. Soon after comes a yelling Marimo in with a -was that a kid? - hanging around his torso.
The whole scenario normally would make him smile, maybe even cackle of finally being back home, instead he feels the opposite. It's the sounds, there makes his hands tremble nervously, as they pull the blanket over his head, isolating him from the chaos around him. His heart is racing, he feels panicked as horrible images suddenly plays in his mind. Images he can't remember having seen before, sounds wrenching from his deepest core, echoing as screams from his memories. And then the sight of blood. The smell of death, rotting bodies, vomit, sweat, medicine and blood.
A tiger's yellow eyes shines in the night, gleaming with bloodlust.
He's running, running from that thing. Panicked, horrified, crying, screaming. A flash of black and yellow, a roar and teeth sinking in his as claws tears him apart.
He can't feel his hands, only see them paling as they tremble in the sheet, his throat is locking up, he's gasping for air, but for each time he tries, his throat feels as if swelling up. A thick layer of sweat covers his skin, he's shaking everywhere now, he's feeling cold and warm at the same time.
He hasn't even realised how quiet the room has become, except the constant increasing beeping, before a hand lays on his shoulder. He jumps at the touch and feels ashamed at his reaction right after. Then, that deep calming voice again. A voice he somehow has heard before, somewhere, in his dreams, he thinks, but he can't figure out who it belongs to.
He's surprised how it calms him, his breathing slowing down, as the voice keeps talking serenely to him. as he slowly relaxes, though his hands still trembling, another voice speaks to him from the other side of the darkness. It sounds like Chopper.
"Sanji?" the doctor asks worried. "Sanji, can you hear me?"
"Look what you've done!" He hears his beautiful Nami-san hiss to a mumbling Luffy… no, that's right, not his… Zoro's Nami-san. He sighs deeply by the thought, the sadness weighing his already heavy heart. He wants to disappear, to wake up from this screwed up horrible nightmare. He wants everything to be, as they once were.
As he feels the sheets slowly being pulled away from his head, he starts to feel himself panic again. No-no-no! Too early, too early! He can't let them see him like this! He hasn't managed to rebuild the mask he needs to face his friends with, he's done it so many times before. This one, this face is too pathetic, this version of him. Like they've always said, his brothers, his father – no, don't go down that road again!
Swallowing hard as the sheets agonizingly slow gets pulled off him, as if the someone knew he needed the time to recover himself before showing his face. Steadying himself, masking his fear with a sneer, he pulls the rest of the cover off.
"The hell, you're noisy." He croaks, hoping to dear God that his nervousness isn't audible in his voice. The moss-head stands before him, not an expression to read on his fucking stooped up face, his hand still clutching the white cover, beside him stands a raven-haired kid together with a worried looking Chopper. Luffy soon comes in sight.
"You okay, Sanji?" He asks, his voice deep, quiet and serious, the opposite from the one he had as he catapulted into the room. Sanji grumbles as he runs a hand through his sweaty hair. Huh, still trembling.
"Could you shit-heads not be a bit louder? I don't think those in East-blue, could hear ya!" Sanji croaks sarcastically, sighing dramatically. His throat feels as if he's been eating sand.
Luffy's smile cracks his face, while Zoro rolls his eyes.
"Che! Welcome back, asshole!" the swordsman says a bit restrained. Now, that's a surprise.
"Shut it, moss-head, don't force yourself to puke kindness!" Sanji smirks, satisfied at the visible growing anger on the swordsman's face, as he looks sharply back at him. Good, this he can handle, not that other shit.
"The fuck was that, cook?" the man growls back.
"It'll only leave a mess, and it'll stink," he clears his throat again, annoyed that his voice almost disappeared upon him for a moment "though that's nothing new, when it comes to your stinking walking cadaver." The man lunges forward grabbing his undershirt and pulls him close. For a moment Sanji feels a flicker of fear emerging from that action, but he snuffs it out as fast as he can, hoping that the ever-watching swordsman, didn't see it. If he did, he certainly didn't show it. Good.
"The fuck was that, cook?"
"What, gone deaf?" he plays back.
"Careful or I'll whip the floor with you, dartboard."
"Bring it on, muscle-head. I can easily put you down with one leg."
"Che! I don't fight cripples."
"What? Afraid to lose to one, stick-boy?"
"That's it!"
"Okay, you two, knock it off already!" Nami bellows, pushing the two of them from each other, whipping the moss-head over the head for good measure. Luffy snickers "Not in the infirmary, not as long as Sanji's still is having one broken bone!" Nami lectures "or Chopper'll either faint after all his hard work on it, or he'll break it even more himself, or in fact; not ever anywhere, got that?"
"Yes, Nami-swan!" Sanji beams, even furious, she's beautiful, and the sight of her fills him with joy. He forces to keep the face, forces to keep that happiness on his face, forces to laugh as Luffy tries to sit on top of the marimo's head, just because he apparently had seen the unknown kid do it, whom in return threatened the captain on the most cruellest way if he ever dared to try. Teasing the marimo feels easier, though the fear in the distant were etching closer to his heart; whenever those dark eyes laid upon him, whenever they watched him or whenever the man or anyone for that sake made a too fast a movement, he froze or jerked in place. He tries to ignore it, tries to play it off as not being anything special and wishes for dear God that no one saw the small quirks slipping.
Though, the glimpse of worry, pity and guilt in their navigator's eyes said it didn't go completely unnoticed. And he saw the look she shared with Robin-chan. They knew, they all knew, didn't they? Damn it!
Chopper instructs him to turn around so he can listen to his lungs, though without agitating his leg too much. Sanji hisses as the cold stethoscope makes contact on the lower part of his back. It hurts, just the smallest of movements, even sitting up hurts. But he can't get any painkillers though, it's not been two hours since he last got some, Chopper informs him as he catches his discomfort.
He looks up as he breathes the way the doctor tells him to, watches the wall before him, the doorway and then, his eyes lands on her. Nami-san are as lovely as ever and he wants to tell her that, or just something, but every time he parts his lips, nothing comes out. She isn't even looking at him anymore, no, she's looking at the swordsman, who didn't give two berries for being looked at like that. He's a lucky son of a bitch and he doesn't even know it. Sanji sighs, breathes out as instructed. He feels the darkening hole inside him grow, his mask already harder to keep, the small cracks harder to hide.
"And a third thing," Sanji remembers Zoro's dark voice bristle right behind him, back at the Inn, after that day. "Keep your hands away from my fiancé! Got that? Keep away from her!"
His… fiancé. Nami-san's Zoro's now, and he can do nothing but wish them all the best in life, while ignoring the ever-growing hole in his heart, a hole there left nothing but a coaled shadow of its previous being.
Chopper prods him, touches practically everywhere and asks if it hurts. The hell it hurts! His whole back hurts. Just moving the slightest was incredibly painful. Chopper sighs and tells him that he might have hit his tailbone hard, which was the one of the reasons for that his back hurt like it did and why he can't move properly. The other reason the small doctor doesn't even have to say, he can read it in the doctor's big, hazel-brown eyes. It was because of that too.
Two ocean-blue eyes suddenly stares right into his, Sanji looks surprised at the kid – Oliver was it?- as he tilts his head, making his long fire-red bangs cover the half of his face, then tilts his head to the other side, exanimating him with the biggest of interest.
"What?" Sanji croaks. Then suddenly the kid's face cracks in a large smile.
"You look almost alike!" he says, his voice quietly and a bit more mature than a kid his age. "Except the eyes… and the brows, his is a bit thicker and not that curly –it actually looks funny!" he says not with mock, but more like fascination.
"O-oi," Sanji protests, still not accepting the last statement about his eyebrows. Oliver just smiles, until a hand takes hold of the collar of his shirt and hoists him up, until he's in eyelevel with a glaring swordsman.
"You! If you won't take it easy, I'll promise to make real of my threats!" Zoro warns. "And then there'll be no more training for you!" Oliver pales and Sanji actually feels sorry for him. "Got that, Kid?" Just as the word escapes Zoro's mouth, Oliver's face turns bright red in an instant.
"I'm not a damn kid!" The raven literally spits in the first mate's face. Zoro furrows a brow and dries the spit away. "I'm at least at the same age as Luffy!"
"He's not twelve, kiddo!" Oliver's eyes thunders and he grabs Zoro's collar as he yells him in the face.
"WHO THE FUCK TOLD YA THAT I'M TWEVLE?!"
"Oi! Stop fucking yell in my ear, kiddo!" Zoro roars back.
"Then STOP calling me a KID!"
"How, how old are you then, Oliver?" Chopper asks quietly, trying to stop the two from starting a fight. Sanji swore his heart almost took a leap up through his throat, again. Huh, the heck just happened there?
Oliver blinks a couple of times before looking surprised at the small doctor, not expecting the interruption. "Uh, sixteen, I guess."
"Whaat?" Luffy says in surprise.
"That's a fucking lie!" Zoro states, making the kid glaring at him again.
"You've started remembering, Oliver?" Chopper interrupts, again trying to save his infirmary from becoming a victim of two brainless idiots eager to fight. Oliver's mouth moves and Sanji realises he doesn't even pay anymore attention to the conversation. He feels tired, really tired. Suddenly Chopper are shooing the others out of the infirmary and he barely catches the others wishing him a good sleep. He's being helped down onto his pillow, Chopper says something but he doesn't catch it and he doesn't like the frown on the reindeer's face.
He wakes up, unsure when he'd even fallen asleep. Chopper sits at his table, talking to himself as he writes in, apparently, Sanji's journal. Sanji keeps his awareness a secret as he listens to the young doctor dictating what he's writing. It's interesting, seeing this professional side of the reindeer, though as he keeps listening to what he lists down of observations, Sanji feels more and more dreadful.
Apparently he got more wounds than first expected, scars there'll be visible, bones broken in places there made the kid dread the day he would try walk again – if he'd ever would! With such complex fractures, it wasn't to say if it'd be a possibility. He feared for Sanji's reaction if he found out and Sanji already felt the devastation. Of what use would he then be on this ship, if he couldn't help out with anything on board? Yes, it's true he's used to do something constantly, it was rare he gave himself the luxury to relax, and when he finally did, he was so fatigued, that it was more than often he fell asleep, slumped up against something.
"Along with the growing unseen scars," Chopper continues, oblivious to Sanji's awareness "it isn't to say what the future will bring. Hopefully Sanji's mental stability will be as it once were, but from what I have observed today, the nervous reactions, I am worried if that will ever be a possibility."
Sanji closes his eyes and ignores the growing sting in his heart, as he tries to forget what he's just heard.
He'd seen it, his reaction, of course he'd seen, how many of them had caught onto it?
He falls asleep to the sound of Chopper padding around to turn off the light and the feeling of his heart breaking piece by piece.
To be continued
