"I took kickboxing, y'know! Just 'cause I don't know how to wave this tail around properly doesn't mean shit! Get your ass up on land and I'll kick it to West Blue and back."
Zoro grunted in response, understanding about three words of what Sanji had said. Honestly, at times like this, when he was simply screeching for no reason, tuning him out was better. Instead, he focused on the water ahead, the direction of the waving sea grass that tickled them as they swam, following the currents across the rock field back to Noah.
And people got on him for his sense of direction. Obviously, so long as the grass was waving, that meant he was going the right way.
It seemed Sanji's sense of amazement of the undersea world had worn off a bit, as now, he appeared to be much more focused on Zoro.
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, because the brushing of fingers against his arm, and the way the blond insisted on maneuvering himself in front of him time and time again, to see his face….it felt good, even if it was a little strange, and definitely a behavior native to humans.
Kissing him was pretty damn incredible, but beyond that, all these weird little mannerisms and the constant need for physical contact that Sanji displayed was definitely new, and he wasn't entirely sure how Sanji expected him to react.
"You don't even know what kickboxing is, do you," Sanji complained, interrupting Zoro's thoughts, though there was a twinkling amusement on Sanji's face when he twirled himself and dove down gracefully to swim beneath Zoro, looking up at him with a smug crossing of his arms.
"What?" Zoro asked, blinking down at him in confusion.
"Nevermind," Sanji scoffed with a roll of eyes, and he brought fists up to punch teasingly at Zoro's chest, still careful to avoid that healing scar, even if it was nearly faded now, several days after the injury. "Don't merpeople have sports?"
That word sparked recognition over Zoro's features because he remembered Robin and Franky showing him weird shows on TV, of humans running around, chasing balls, hitting them with shit, sometimes even swimming. The swimming was particularly ridiculous, watching them flail their arms about, splashing like seagulls in a tiny pool, moving at a sea turtle's pace.
That was "sports," and merpeople most certainly did not have them.
"No," he answered, with an air of relief to his voice, considering how foolish it made the humans look.
Sanji's face screwed into a pout for a moment.
"Well, that's boring," he replied, then flipped himself over Zoro so he could hitch a ride on his back for a bit.
They swam in silence during that time, Sanji actually recognizing a few landmarks on the seafloor that indicated their direction, enough that he was able to redirect the wandering shark-man several times when he drifted off course.
Still, Sanji's arms curled around Zoro's shoulders, and he rested his chin there, tail moving less and less as Zoro took over the brunt of the towing, not that he much minded.
Sanji's fingers trailed up and down his chest gently, and Zoro wasn't sure why, but his hand automatically migrated to catch the blond's, lacing their fingers, his thumb brushing Sanji's skin.
He heard a content hum leave Sanji's throat, felt him shift to one side of his dorsal fin, careful not to crush it as he pressed his chest into Zoro's back.
Lips followed that contact, this time behind his ear, the most delicate pressure that shot a pleasant tingling through Zoro's chest, left his skin burning wherever Sanji touched.
"Do you remember Ace?" Sanji murmured close to his ear. "One of the guys I introduced you to the other night."
Zoro nodded, voice gone, but thankfully understanding as he tried to focus on swimming with the added distraction of Sanji's touches.
Sanji shifted a little, and he seemed hesitant to continue his thoughts, enough that Zoro slowed a little, glancing back over his shoulder warily.
"I-" Sanji started, shifting his grip to hold onto Zoro's hand tighter. "He - He knows. About you. About - all of this. I told him."
It took a beat for Zoro to process, translating in his mind and reading Sanji's implications before he got it.
"What?!" he yelped, using his own language instinctively as he tore from Sanji's grasp and flipped around to look at him.
But Sanji was quick to keep ahold of him, hands clasping Zoro's biceps.
"Mosshead, stop. Listen to me! I trust him! I told him not to interfere, and I know he-" he insisted, though Zoro quickly shook his head and rose hands to push Sanji off him, cutting him off.
"But - human!" he growled, feeling his heartbeat begin to thunder in his ears, imagining every fucking thing that could go wrong. "Not O.H.A.R.A.!"
"I know, but Zoro," Sanji tried again, relentless in his quest to hold onto the other merman, this time with hands on his face. "I trust him as much as you trust - Dr. Nico or - or any of them! Hell, I trust him more because I've known him longer! He's a good-!"
"And what the fuck will you do if he spreads this, idiot?!" Zoro hissed back, again lapsing into his own language for lack of sufficient vocabulary. He stubbornly reached up to take Sanji's wrists, prying his hands off rather easily, confusion, and a bit of despair, now on the blond's features.
Zoro didn't clarify or translate, just glared at Sanji, teeth slowly baring angrily, a show of ferocity that hardly concealed the surprising feeling of betrayal that bubbled within him.
The logical part of him knew Sanji hadn't meant any harm, knew that he still trusted the blond. But the thought of Kuina, the thought that he'd just gotten her back and he did not want to see her taken away again….
It filled him with protective anger, anger that, for once, he was able to hold back, if barely, because that rarely used logical part knew the anger shouldn't be directed at Sanji.
Sanji shrunk back, no longer trying to console Zoro's fury with physical touches, and he managed to keep a frustrated scowl off his face because he was well aware how this looked, how it probably felt to Zoro, who feared losing everything again.
So his next words were an apology.
"I'm sorry, Zoro," he said quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Zoro's, despite the merman's fierce glare. "But I promise. I would never do anything if I thought it would put you or your people in danger. I trust Ace, and I just, after talking with my dad - I needed to…"
He trailed off with a small growl, Zoro watching his face the whole time, watching the way Sanji fidgeted, lifted a hand to rub at his chin anxiously before turning up his palms.
"My dad didn't even want me coming back with you," he explained. "I just needed another ally."
Zoro's heart was still pounding, fists trembling with the urge to fight, but this time, he actively forced it down. He actively forced himself to stick to his belief, that Sanji was different, that Sanji would help, and that they could do this together. He thought back to the previous day, seeing how broken he'd looked, learning about his family.
It would only be more foolish to cut him out now, after everything.
So he slowly drifted forward in the water, Sanji watching him, almost in wary acceptance of whatever he was planning.
And he was right to be wary, because the first thing Zoro did was draw back a fist and punch him hard beneath the ribs, something Sanji took, with a bit of shock and a grunt, bubbles swirling.
Zoro swam through them though, catching the blond by the chin before he could whirl back too far and dragging him in close.
Sanji's features were still twisted in a pained grimace, but he managed to meet Zoro's intimidating gaze again, their faces close. Zoro noticed Sanji's eyes flit down to his lips ever so briefly, but he ignored it.
"Not trust Ace yet," Zoro growled, voice low. "But...trust you…."
The second a wave of relief came over Sanji's face, Zoro squeezed his chin tightly to keep his attention.
"Promise," he insisted again, and Sanji nodded.
"I promise it'll be fine. We can trust him," he replied sincerely, and he didn't budge, even when, after a beat, Zoro pulled his hand away and backed off slowly.
He stared at Sanji for a moment longer before turning tail and swimming off without another word.
Sanji didn't move, just watched him go, his hand coming up to rub at the throbbing spot Zoro had punched, swallowing the panic, the fear that he'd so quickly lost something he'd just realized he wanted. And though the fear and the thought that he'd really hurt Zoro was still there, he had to admit it was appeased slightly when, after a short distance swimming alone, Zoro's shoulders slumped in exasperation and he whipped around to face Sanji with a roll of eyes and an insistent gesture for Sanji to follow.
"Come on, Question," he muttered impatiently, and Sanji allowed his lips to turn up ever so slightly.
"I would, but….it's that way," he answered, pointing back over his shoulder at the two towering columns that rose up in the distance, marking the edge of the trench that led to Noah.
Zoro's eyes focused on them, his brows raising in not-so-subtle surprise for a moment before they scrunched down again and he blew past Sanji with a thump of his tail against the blond's side.
Of course, he also managed to grab hold of Sanji's forearm as he did, yanking him along, and when Sanji's arm slowly lifted to tentatively curl around his, Zoro didn't stop it.
It wasn't often that Reiju wandered the decks of Noah, preferring the peace and quiet of her private chambers. If there was a problem, others could come to her.
What she'd never admit to was that it had started from fear, fear of the danger that lurked above the surface. Fear that she'd be taken just like her family…
Of course, things had changed in the years since. She'd learned to fight, learned that fear was a weakness and one she certainly didn't want to succumb to.
So even if it was rare for her to ascend to the deck, weave her way around groups of merpeople to the bow, she wasn't afraid to, and it was there she settled for a while that morning, leaning up against the railing, the massive faded orange of the smokestack as her backdrop.
It was calm, looking far down at the trench below, watching merpeople slipping out of the ship's circular windows and swimming off, and then looking up at the bright teal water above, warm and clear with the sun's light.
There didn't appear to be a threat in sight.
And yet, there was apparently one pursuing the three mermen who she noticed swimming some fifty feet away from the boat, their voices echoing in the surrounding canyon that rose up around them.
Her brothers seemed not to have a care in the world, two of them, Niji and Yonji, shoving each other rather roughly, but laughing as they did.
They must have been thrilled to be free, and maybe a good sister would have gone after them, offered to show them around, anything.
But there she sat, watching them silently, arms holding herself and an odd feeling in her stomach that hadn't been there when she'd met Sanji.
She didn't quite know what it was, whether it was one of complete mistrust or what, but it stopped her swimming after them, leaving her to simply stare, brow furrowed in thought as she watched them in the distance.
She was so fixated that she actually startled the second a blond head popped up on the other side of the railing beside her, followed by a green one that hung back.
"Didn't peg you as the type to startle," Sanji said with a smirk that widened when her shock shrunk into irritation, the merman resting elbows on the railing as he hovered there.
"I don't," she answered dismissively, fixing him with an unamused look. "Zoro, I wasn't expecting you to bring him back so quickly."
At that, the two mermen shared a glance, something that surprised her perhaps more than Sanji's entrance when Zoro's eyes softened entirely upon meeting Sanji's, his cheeks reddening a little.
"Yeah, well…after the shit that happened last night….he needed to talk to you," he muttered in their own language before adding, "M'gonna go look for Kuina…"
And he almost swam off before Sanji grabbed his wrist and stopped him, tugged him closer gently.
"Uh…" said the blond, flicking eyes to his sister. "If you'll excuse us a moment."
Then he darted down out of view, rounding the corner of the bow and diving lower out of sight, dragging Zoro with him.
Reiju blinked, raising a brow slowly at the odd display, fingers tapping against the railing for the long minute until the both of them popped up again, Sanji with a satisfied smile and Zoro with more fluster on his features than the mermaid thought she'd ever seen, his face flushed and lips a little swollen.
"Yeah, just…gonna go look," Zoro mumbled again, meeting Sanji's eye one more time before nearly ramming himself into the rail to get over it clumsily. Then he finally swam off across the deck towards the doors to the great hall before veering a hard left and disappearing down the starboard side of the ship.
That weirdness aside, when Reiju glanced back at Sanji, the merman was still staring after Zoro, running a hand over his mouth to suppress the stupid grin that wanted to grow on his face, biting his lip before finally looking back over at his sister.
He caught the deadpan look on her face though, instantly asking, "What?"
She shook her head, erasing all weird images that threatened to assault her mind.
"I don't wanna know," she muttered.
Sanji snorted.
"You're right. You don't," he agreed, pulling himself up the rail a bit to hang arms over the top. "Anyway, our brothers? What the fuck? They're alive?"
It brought her right back to the moment she'd been lost in before he'd shown up, the three mermen still in view, venturing out from the ship.
She wasn't surprised Zoro had told him, and she turned her gaze back to Sanji, whose eyes were full of curiosity and excitement….which slowly began to fizzle when she didn't express even wry amusement.
"What's wrong…?" he asked warily, smile falling a bit.
"Whatever your expectations are, lower them," she said, her brother's brows predictably furrowing.
"What do you mean?"
"They're not…."
She trailed off, not even sure how to describe the strange disappointment she'd felt, seeing their sneers, feeling their disinterest when it came to their history, beyond the fact that they were princes.
"Not what…?" Sanji pressed.
Like you, she automatically thought, but instead she merely let the question linger, lifting hands from the rail and straightening, tucking a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, only to have it float loose again.
"Nothing. I'll introduce you," she said, and gestured for Sanji to follow.
Waking up to an enclosed space wasn't new for Kuina.
How many times had she hidden herself in the small artificial caves of the shark enclosure when Sakazuki had left her there for days on end? She'd hidden herself and dreamed of this very ship, of these rooms which had been her home, the merfolk who had been her friends, her family, when sharks were so often abandoned, her and Zoro left by their own parents at a young age.
Their parents had been from nomad clans, and it was part of why the two of them had stuck together when they were young. They had no one else.
So she'd dreamed of these labyrinthine halls, of the thrill of trapping prey inside, dodging old furniture and swinging doors to chase it through room after room. She dreamed of the open ocean, that endless blue, of the pods of humpback whales that migrated through East Blue every year, slow and graceful.
She'd dreamed of the dolphins, whose clicks and calls could be heard in the night, of that time she'd dared Zoro to hitch a ride on one, and how dumb he'd looked flailing through open air when it had leaped out of the water to throw him off its back.
She'd dreamed of this shit, and that had been her curse, more so than the princes, knowing what she was missing, knowing what was out there, but unable to get back, or move on.
And now she was back, and it felt like an entirely different world, one she wasn't expecting to feel this removed from.
The sunlight danced across the ceiling of her room in slithering patterns, Kuina's eyes studying the light fixture that used to be more gold than rust, but was now the opposite. There was a gaping hole in her ceiling now, leading up to another room on an upper floor. Even her bed had deteriorated over the years she was gone, so that the mattress was in tatters, bits of old fabric wisping up around the edges like the tendrils of a jellyfish.
Her eyes had drifted to the porthole, where, outside the window, she could see the occasional merperson swimming by, many on their way to hunt, some out to stretch their fins in the morning light. She had no idea who any of them were...
And then her eyes had fallen on that white sword, propped against the wardrobe on the opposite side of the room, where it had most likely gotten swept by the water's movement and stayed lodged.
She could see the way barnacles had grown around it on the wardrobe's surface, so much so that when she swam over and found her hand clasping itself around the sword's hilt, she pulled it back to see a near-outline of the blade's shape, clean of the little crustaceans.
It was light in her grasp. She could easily lift it, give it a few experimental swings that were controlled and fluid.
She'd reached that point, it seemed, reached that goal she and Zoro had set for themselves all those years ago, the desire to grow in strength, to swing the blade like it was nothing.
And it was particularly apparent when she heard movement from above, a figure suddenly sprouting out of the hole in her ceiling, sudden enough that she instinctively whirled around, both hands clamped on the sword's hilt, full intention to strike.
"Oi, what the-!" Zoro screeched, barely dodging, a swipe of his tail taking out another foot of ceiling, sending the material crumbling and floating into the room in a white cloud.
"Fuck! Zoro?" Kuina yelped, pulling the blade away quickly in a flurry of bubbles and throwing herself back to avoid him. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
He rolled out of the way, straightening himself with a scowl, a hand lifting to rub bits of ceiling out of his hair before lifting his eyes to her, eyes that averted a little dejectedly a moment later.
"It's still weird as hell to hear you speak human language, y'know…"
She blinked, surprised to actually understand the gist of his sentence, enough that she looked away sheepishly, eventually shooting back, "That doesn't answer my question. Why are you falling out of my ceiling? There's a door."
He glanced over at it, shrugged, then muttered, "The hallways change."
Their eyes met again, and a palpable awkwardness filled the air, both remembering how the previous night had ended, far too emotionally for both of their tastes, even if it was entirely warranted after so long apart….after assuming each other dead.
Zoro's gaze fell to the sword, still in Kuina's hand, looking at it for a moment before his lips turned up.
"Can't believe that thing's not covered in sea anemones by now," he mused fondly, glancing at Kuina again, only to find confusion on her face, mouth working for a reply, but it was clear she didn't understand him.
He squashed his disappointment, unable to stop his smile from falling just a little, instead saying, "I - let's go - outside? Hunting?"
Zoro saw the way her lips quirked ever so slightly, enough that he wondered if she'd laugh at his sorry excuse for human language.
But instead, she pushed the sword towards him in the water, turned to grab a strange human bag from the floor near the bed, onto which he realized a few knives were attached.
She threw the pack over her shoulder and grinned.
"Let's see who's better now."
He couldn't help but take that sword and match her grin.
O.H.A.R.A. - West Blue
The morning sun had been up a mere hour, but already it blazed with growing heat, preceding a scorcher of a day.
The paper cups of coffee Robin carried on a small tray across the docks were steaming as well, sounds of preparation already underway aboard Smoker's boat when she approached.
The two young men, Coby and Helmeppo, were scurrying about, running routine maintenance checks with far more nerves than usual. The small crew had slept on the boat, though Robin had offered them space inside the lab, and it was probably for the best because the two already looked like they'd been up for hours, anxious to get going, judging by the ropes they were each tying and re-tying to kill time.
"Good morning~" Robin called out, deep purple water shoes stopping just in front of the short gangplank.
Coby and Helmeppo both stopped their work, eyes falling to the tray of drinks hungrily for a second before Coby broke into a smile first.
"Good morning, Dr. Nico," he greeted, Helmeppo lifting his sunglasses briefly to give a nod too.
"I've brought coffee for your journey," Robin said, indicating the cups she carried.
Coby smiled gratefully and led the charge across the deck to retrieve a cup for himself, taking a tentative sip through the lid, Helmeppo following suit.
"Dr. Nico - ow!"
A sudden yelp and a thud from the hatch leading to the cabins below deck, Tashigi poking her head up, only to knock it against the ceiling, the woman rubbing at her sore temple, glasses askew as she ascended the narrow stairs.
"Good morning," Robin said again, a smirk on her face as she offered Tashigi a coffee as well.
"Thank you," Tashigi replied, taking the cup in both hands. "My head's already throbbing thinking about the talks we'll get at HQ today…."
"Pretty sure it's 'cause you banged your head," Helmeppo muttered under his breath.
The click of a door and out came Smoker, emerging from the navigation cabin, not one but two cigars already clenched between his teeth. He wordlessly pushed past his crew and descended the gangplank to take a coffee from Robin too with a silent toast of thanks.
"When will you be setting sail?" Robin asked.
"Any time now," Smoker answered with a pointed look to the others, Coby and Helmeppo already slinking back towards the deck once more. "You?"
"Soon as well. We'll be following your course. Dr. Brook will contact B.A.R.A.T.I.E. Chopper will cover things here. Right now, we're also waiting to hear from Nami," Robin explained as the sliding of the automatic doors to the main building sounded behind her, Franky stepping out, clad in a small pair of wetsuit shorts and yet another open floral shirt.
"Ah, yes, did the girl make it to the Naval Base?" Smoker asked, Franky's bare feet on the dock getting closer before he came to a stop beside Robin.
"That was her just now," Franky answered, the man waving his smartphone, dwarfed in his large hand. "She got a call from her mom 'fore she even got there." He sighed, looking at the group more seriously. "East Blue Navy knows. And - well, I guess that means West Blue does too."
A yelp from onboard the boat, Tashigi's eyes going wide behind her glasses, the woman nearly dropping her drink.
"About the - about everythi-?" she started to ask, but Franky was already nodding.
"Uh huh," he confirmed.
He reached out to rub his hand over the small of his girlfriend's back when Robin slipped the empty tray beneath her arm and brought a hand to her chin, a subtle but clear indication that the news had troubled her.
Smoker's voice was low and irritated when he spoke up, crossing arms over his chest and trying hard, it seemed, to keep from crushing the coffee in his gloved hand.
"How?" he asked. "Who told them? Was it Zeff?"
"She didn't say," Franky replied. "Only that one of Whitebeard's commanders spilled it. Dunno how he found out. Whitebeard called the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. but, go figure, no answer. Both bases're gonna send ships out to HQ. Think that's our cue to get out there too."
Robin was nodding immediately, her mind traveling to the voicemail from Sanji that was still on her phone. The one she'd purposefully ignored the day before because she'd trusted Zoro, or preferably the Queen herself, to answer any questions he might have had.
But now she worried. She worried because there had been no word from Zoro, only this news of the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. advancing, of the captive merpeople escaping….
Zeff wasn't looking to help.
And now the Navy suddenly knew.
All of it pointed to a potential leak of information from Sanji of all people….
Despite the concern and burgeoning disappointment brewing within her, that Franky could no doubt sense, as his fingers had started moving again over her back, she merely sighed and agreed, "Yes."
"We're going now," Smoker announced, turning his head to nod at Coby and Helmeppo, who immediately scrambled to get ready once more. The man's dark eyes bore into Robin's before he asked, "The coordinates for the colony?"
They'd talked about it the previous day. Smoker had wanted to go straight to the source, to make sure the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. didn't cause any trouble. She'd decided to trust him and his crew. But this was the first time she'd been faced with the choice of revealing exactly where the merpeople lived.
She had to believe everything would be fine. They were running out of options, after all.
Robin glanced over at Franky, the two of them sharing a brief moment of understanding, in which Franky gave an encouraging nod and a tiny smirk.
Robin returned it with a little tilt of lips.
Her eyes lingered on Franky for a long moment until she answered, "Alright."
Noah - East Blue
The fact that Reiju told him to "lay low" as they approached the three mermen who were apparently his brothers wasn't exactly a comforting thing. Sanji couldn't understand why she hardly seemed relieved to have them here, hardly seemed happy at all when they should be celebrating, even if their mother had still been lost.
But as they approached the three, now some distance from the ship, skirting along near the sandy bottom of the trench, Sanji began to get a feeling why.
At first glance, the three didn't look related, hair and tails all completely different colors. One had a blue tail, but it was much lighter than Sanji's, far more turquoise. The only indication that they did have some relation was the fact that they shared a species, evident by the long caudal fins that twirled in the water behind the two that wrestled and shoved each other playfully as they swam.
There was nothing wrong with the scene, and in fact, it was a little amusing to see two of them wearing sunglasses when the brothers noticed Sanji and Reiju's approach, the three slowing and glancing back over their shoulders.
But none of them broke into smiles, their expressions only growing more stoic and serious, and suddenly an uneasy feeling began to form in Sanji's gut.
It was Reiju who spoke up first, composed, her arms crossed over the light pink top she now wore, lacy cut-outs exposing her bare back. Sanji honestly wasn't sure where the merfolk got their clothes from, though that hardly mattered in the moment.
"Am I interrupting?" she asked.
The redhead answered, his tail a rather shocking shade of crimson, almost appearing soaked in blood.
"Nothing but their roughhousing," he replied seriously, voice nearly deadpan. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
The redhead flicked eyes to Sanji, clearly noticing him, as did the other two, who hung a little farther back. Their stares were uncomfortable though…. He felt….judged….
"Did you sleep well?" Reiju asked, the moment a little awkward as the question was quite obviously a mere formality, her own expression stoic as well.
Her question went entirely ignored, however, as the brothers' stares didn't let up, merely intensified in the moment that followed.
"Who's that?" asked the blue-haired brother finally, and his tone was far more biting than curious, almost enough to make Sanji wince.
He resisted though, instead sharing an anxious look with Reiju, who wore her weariness all over her features. There was no use hiding the truth, after all, and Sanji could tell she knew that too.
"Sanji, this is Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji," she introduced, indicating each. "All of you, this is-"
"We know who he is," Yonji interrupted coldly, cutting her off, Niji's lips curling into a barely-disguised sneer beside him.
Sanji's heart jumped a little, for a moment wondering how the hell they would know him. But there were many ways, he supposed, and clearly none of them had left a good impression…
As such, he was a little surprised when Ichiji swam forward after a moment, his eyes concealed by his sunglasses, but his hand outstretched in a familiar greeting. The atmosphere was still tense, however, enough that Sanji's returning handshake was slow and wary.
And rightfully so, because as soon as he'd clasped his brother's hand cautiously, Ichiji yanked him forward hard in the water, reaching out and grabbing his wrist, turning it to examine the metal band encircling it.
"A bracelet," he muttered, tone unreadable. "So you can't transform at will."
Sanji frowned, unsure if that was the story they'd been told, and shook his head.
"I….no," he answered. "All of this. I only just found out in the past few days…"
"You've only known a few days..." Ichiji replied with a humorless laugh, and with that, he turned back to the other two mermen, ending the interaction. He shot a glance at Reiju as he did. "We're off to do some hunting. Unless you had other business with us."
The mermaid shrugged blankly.
"You're free to do as you wish," she said, but she'd hardly gotten the words out before Sanji balked, especially when the three brothers began to swim off once more.
"Hey - hey, wait!" he called, unable to stop himself. "What about-? The M.A.R.I.N.E.S. are after you! Do you really think you should be-?"
"What we do does not concern you," Ichiji replied over his shoulder dismissively.
But it didn't deter Sanji. It couldn't, not when he still had things he wanted to say, even if his brothers obviously wanted nothing to do with him.
He couldn't blame them, not after all they'd been through, not after living the life he had, unaware of their plights. Maybe it wasn't his fault, but it didn't change the fact that he felt guilty, dammit, and now he actually had the chance to atone for it. His brothers were alive, and they deserved to hear it, just as his sister had.
"Oi-! Would you-? Wait!" he called to their retreating forms, ignoring the way Reiju's head whipped around, imploring him to stop with a pointed stare. Instead, he swam after them. "I wanted to apologize! I wanted to tell you that I'm-!"
His words were effective, because not a second later, Yonji turned around quickly, a look of growing frustration on his face.
"Would someone shut him up already?" he complained, throwing arms up. "Y'know, you got some nerve actin' all casual like this! Like you actually give two shits about us! Living your great life, oblivious to everything right under your stupid nose!"
There it was, what Sanji had feared they'd feel. Of course, he'd hoped for forgiveness, but how could he expect it when this was their reality.
But if he didn't try, what use was he as a brother? So, he renewed his convictions, tried to look past the growing fury on his brother's features, features that were so similar to his it was like looking in a distorted mirror, at his own anger...how he'd felt the previous night talking to his father.
Maybe he couldn't understand their experiences, but he could understand their feelings.
"Of course I give a shit!" Sanji shot back. "You're my brothers! You're - we're - we're family! And maybe I didn't know until now, but that doesn't mean-!"
"We - are not family!" Yonji implored, gesturing between the two of them. Ichiji and Niji had slowed as well, the two hovering a few tail-lengths back to observe the argument. "You haven't done fuck all for us! No one even thought to come after us!"
"Because everyone thought you were dead!" Sanji insisted, knowing it wasn't much of an excuse, giving up like that, but surely it was something.
He looked back with desperation to Reiju for support, but his sister merely floated there, gaze downcast and brow furrowed. He was on his own, he realized with an exasperated sound.
Stubbornly, he turned to face Yonji again.
"Look - I can help!" he tried. "I want to! I can - I want B.A.R.A.T.I.E. to-!"
"Don't even bring up B.A.R.A.T.I.E.! You work for them, you bastard!" Yonji cried, closing the distance between them. Sanji struggled not to let his brother's bulkier size intimidate him. "You think you're any better than the M.A.R.I.N.E.S.? Fucking traitorous-!"
"I'm not - if you'd just-!" Sanji interrupted, reaching out to just barely skim fingers over Yonji's arm before the merman yanked it away.
"Get the fuck away from me!" he spat out. "Don't you dare touch me, you filthy human!"
It stung, even if it was something Sanji never expected to hear directed at him as an insult. It stung, particularly when Yonji darted back away from him, as if his very touch was painful.
Frantic noises started to leave him, growls and hisses that sounded feral, Yonji's fists clenching and his movements becoming more erratic, particularly when a flick of his tail sent him banging back into the rock wall beside them, something that merely made his eyes flash inhumanly, teeth baring in a sharp grimace.
Something was changing in him, and for a moment, Sanji couldn't understand what, particularly when the merman started shouting again, despite Sanji now keeping his distance.
"Stay away!" he yelled, backing into the wall once more, then again, almost as if he'd forgotten he'd done it, lost his depth perception. "Stay the fuck away - don't touch me!"
Sanji's mouth gaped for words, though he said nothing, even as Yonji lifted a tense fist.
Then, to Sanji's shock, the merman punched himself hard in the temple.
Not once….not twice, but several times, his growls becoming more frantic until the noises that began to leave him were more panicked moans and whimpers than anything.
"You're not - we're - we're princes!" he justified, despite no one questioning it, still driving his fist over and over into his head. "We matter! We fucking-! We're stronger than you'll ever be and-!"
"Oh, now you've done it, bastard!" Niji growled from somewhere over Sanji's shoulder, a blur of blue movement advancing upon him in his peripheral, but there was a flash of red that stopped him.
And even if the mermen had shown him nothing but animosity in the short time they'd interacted, a pang still shot itself through Sanji's chest. He couldn't take his eyes off Yonji, and it hurt, dammit, because whatever had triggered this reaction was deeply rooted in something else, something that wasn't taking place in the present.
Sanji was sure of this when he moved towards his brother carefully, only able to utter a gentle, "Hey," before Yonji shrunk back in a flinch and lashed out instinctively with his tail, whipping it blindly but powerfully, the sting of the tip scratching Sanji on the chest.
"I don't - want this - fucking - stop!" Yonji hissed, voice breaking, and his fingers shifting to grip at his hair tightly, knuckles turning white. His eyes squeezed shut and he curled in on himself, sinking to the sea floor with a puff of cloudy sand. "Stop it! I'm done! I want out!"
Nobody moved. None of his siblings moved to do anything, but Sanji wasn't deterred, not even by the throbbing red welt that now decorated his sternum.
He swam closer again, watching his brother carefully for any sign that he'd attack, keeping his voice low and his hands to himself as he did.
"I know," he murmured over Yonji's small panicked whimpers. "I know, hey. Hey...you're okay. You're out of there. It's over. It's over…"
What had happened? What had happened to them over the years to mess with a strong-looking guy like Yonji so much? What had happened that prevented all three of his siblings from swimming forward to comfort him?
What pain had they all been through that left them feeling so isolated…?
Sanji couldn't imagine. He was fortunate enough that he didn't have to.
But that was exactly why he knew he should take responsibility, show the compassion that his four siblings had so missed in their lives….
He made it to Yonji's side without incident, curling his tail and settling himself down on the sand next to him, facing him with eyes that were burning, despite the cool water around them.
He studied Yonji's face, cast with the palest blue and screwed in a grimace.
There were scars there, he noticed for the first time, faint ones, raking down his cheeks in parallel lines…..like the tracks of fingernails.
When his gaze roved downwards, he noticed more on his arms, some of which looked like badly healed puncture wounds, the skin white and gnarled. He caught a glimpse of a fresher one, still red and irritated, much like Zoro's had been, slicing itself across his forearm.
"I'm sorry…." he murmured again, and he lifted a hand to delicately place it over his brother's, which had begun to pull and twist in his hair with greater vigor. Yonji didn't stop him this time, and the blond was able to slowly guide Yonji's hand away from his face, first one, then the other.
"I'm so sorry…..I wasn't there. I didn't know…."
His voice was calm, but it held his regret, the burden he felt from his own inaction, particularly with Yonji's hand shaking beneath his, the merman still struggling to hide from the world behind tightly closed eyes.
"You're right," Sanji continued, curling fingers around Yonji's more securely, giving a squeeze. "You are stronger than me. All of you. I don't - know if I could've gone through what you did…"
Maybe he could have. Maybe he could have survived. But how would he be different? How much of himself would be lost?
How much of his siblings was lost?
"But you're free now," he said, the one comfort that still persisted. "You're free - it's over, and I'm gonna make sure they never take you back. They're not gonna hurt any of you ever again."
The water was quiet, nothing but a faint rush in Sanji's ears, like a second heartbeat that persisted, somehow holding all of them together in its calm.
Yonji's noises had begun to quiet, and Sanji hoped this was a sign that his head was clearing, bringing him back to the present. His gills took in bigger rushes of water, eyes slowly opening but staring blankly down at his tail.
"And how are you gonna stop it…?" one of the brothers asked from behind Sanji, the blond noting it was Niji when he glanced back.
The merman's arms were crossed over his chest, small indents in his skin from where fingernails had dug themselves. His face was passive, but the quiet to his voice and the slight tremble gave away his emotion.
Sanji watched him, tried to meet his gaze beneath his sunglasses.
"My old man and I have been wanting to combine our research organization with the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. and O.H.A.R.A. So we can work together more easily and keep Sakazuki in check…" he explained. "Make it an….All Blue sort of situation. I know it won't be that simple….but we've gotta start somewhere…"
No response from Niji, no agreement...but also no dissent, no scoff or skepticism. He stayed quiet, his brow furrowing.
Reiju's gaze was downcast too, though her eyes flicked to Sanji as soon as he said that, then to Ichiji when he shifted.
"So what will you do?" asked the redhead.
The blond felt Yonji pull his hand out from beneath his, the merman lifting it to rub at his eyes.
"First, talk to Sakazuki," Sanji answered, watching Yonji for a few moments. "Make sure he-"
"He'll only try and take you," Ichiji cut in. "He's talked about you for years-"
"Let him try," Sanji insisted stubbornly. "I'm not afraid of him… This doesn't make up for what any of you went through. But I don't want you to be in harm's way."
The minute that followed was awkward in its silence, but mostly because, again, no one challenged Sanji's sincerity. In fact, they seemed to accept it, if warily, particularly Yonji, who lifted eyes to him slowly, his gaze tired, but no longer blind with fury.
There was something vulnerable there, vulnerable and maybe a little hopeful, if Sanji dared to imagine it.
Surprisingly, it was Reiju who spoke next, with barely masked concern.
"I'd feel better if Zoro went with you," she said, and though the atmosphere was still serious, Sanji nearly laughed. As if he had much of a choice when it came to Zoro.
He kept his lips from twitching up too much though, replying, "If they try and pull anything, Zeff will have the authorities after them the second he realizes I'm gone-"
But then, a quiet scoff from Yonji, and Sanji winced. Probably not the best thing he could've said, given the fact that no one had gone after his missing brothers…
"And if nothing else, anything they do to me - it'll be a price I'm willing to pay. So long as you never have to go through it again," he remedied.
This seemed to settle Yonji some, his expression simmering back into an embarrassed sulk.
Sanji's eyes couldn't help but fall to his brother's scars again, just briefly, before they shifted to Ichiji and Niji. He wasn't close enough to see if they had similar markings, but it didn't matter. They had wounds inside and out, and now was the time to fix that.
The blond straightened his tail and offered a hand down to Yonji, the green-haired merman staring at it for a long moment before he took it slowly and floated up off the sandy floor as well.
Sanji managed a tiny smile before murmuring once more, "I'm sorry."
One last look at all of his siblings.
"No one follow me," he said with finality.
Then he released Yonji's hand and swam off towards Noah.
Zoro didn't know anything about Kuina's life in captivity, but it definitely hadn't impeded her hunting skills.
He never thought there would be a day when he would once again dart through the reefs with her as adults, bursting through the tornadoes of shimmering tuna to feed, competing to see how many they could snag with bare hands and teeth alone.
He'd stopped trying so hard after the initial ploy to impress his long-lost friend with his improved strength. Instead, he'd been content to observe, watched as she too seemed to forget about the hunting in favor of gliding through the open sea with sheer joy, a wide smile on her face when they cut through familiar coves, reached the sprawling field of rocks that was still impressively vast, even if they were no longer children.
It was like watching Sanji's first swim, that same awe and excitement, but quieter as Kuina no doubt remembered that time they'd tried to make human weapons out of driftwood on the very boulder she now ran fingers over. She no doubt remembered the painful sting of the anemones' barbs firsthand, which was why she skirted around them now, instead swishing through the smooth tufts of sea grass that brushed their skin.
It wasn't hard to imagine what she was thinking when she finally stopped and perched on a large rock that no longer dwarfed them in size, slipping off her backpack and settling the sword beside her.
Zoro slowly came up to her side as she sat, gazing out at the great expanse of water before them, the schools of fish that swam in the distance, specks in the otherwise uninterrupted blue.
They were both quiet for a long time, enough that it afforded Zoro the chance to study her, to notice the healing wound on her arm, the other scars that peppered her skin and tail.
His own tail was far from perfect, marred and weathered with bite marks and slashes alike, but he was certain she hadn't gotten hers from fighting prey, not when she'd been held in a place where there was no prey.
"I missed this," she said quietly, interrupting his thoughts, though it took him an extra moment to move his gaze, from a particularly long slash on her upper arm, to her face.
Her eyes had flicked to his, and despite a tiny nostalgic smile, she lifted a hand to brush over the scar he'd just observed.
She knew he'd been staring.
"I'm sorry…" Zoro murmured automatically, for some reason finding it difficult to use human language with her when she was of merfolk like him.
Kuina understood that much though, frowning and turning herself to better face him.
"For what…?" she asked.
Her question came in human language, but he still answered in his own, frustration filling him over his own inability to form proper words in either language.
How could he express what he felt? The stupid fact that his own relief had begun to morph into guilt the longer he studied those scars, thought about all she had missed out on, the horrible things she must have experienced.
At least….and it was an awful thought….but at least, if she'd really died, she wouldn't have been subjected to a life in captivity.
"I shouldn't have - shouldn't have accepted you were dead," he expanded, feeling a tightness tug at his chest. "I should've - come after you. I should've tried to-"
His speech was broken, but her eyes still narrowed with understanding, picking up keywords necessary to his meaning.
"Zoro, you were ten years old," she justified. "We didn't know….anything. There was no way we could've fought back. It wasn't like I was waiting for you to come save me. I thought….for sure they killed you too."
This admission was a difficult one, the fact that she too had given up for a long time. It was difficult, but maybe it would be comforting to Zoro, to know that he wasn't the only one who'd thought the worst, even if they'd known how strong they both were.
Kuina thought hard, pulled up long unused language in her brain to say, "It's okay," hoping it would hit home harder than human language could.
It did strike a chord in Zoro, however small a gesture it was, the familiar and comfortable words filling his chest with a strange warmth, leaving him unable to form words in return for a good minute.
Finally, he was able to mutter a somewhat sulky, "Yeah, but….they hurt you," that was starting to sound like foolish logic in the face of Kuina's insistence.
She rolled her eyes.
"Better me than the princes. I'm just a mermaid. I'm expendable."
He frowned with confusion.
"Ex….penda…?" he struggled to repeat, not understanding.
"Expendable," she repeated with a smirk. "I-"
Then she seemed to think otherwise, and tried once again to dredge up the clarifying words from the depths of her memory.
"My life...below….princes-" she said, displeased with how broken it sounded.
Immediately though, Zoro's eyes widened and he interrupted her.
"No, it's not," he cut in. "What are you talking about? Did the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. tell you that-?"
"Yes, but-" she tried again slowly. "Know - knew it - before…" A growl of frustration and she gave up, switching back to human language. "There's not much importance in a mermaid like m-"
"When have you ever thought that? Kuina, what the fuck?" Zoro interrupted again, surprised to hear this coming from Kuina, and for the first time since their reunion, there was a painful feeling in his gut….a feeling that maybe things really had changed more than was apparent on the surface.
Maybe the wounds inflicted by the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. weren't just physical….
"Don't what the fuck me, Zoro, look at you!" she cried, gesturing to him insistently and roving eyes up and down his form. "Look what you became! Shit, if we tried to fight now, it's obvious who would-"
"Shut up!" he blurted out, and Kuina's eyes went wide with surprise at his usage of human language. But he couldn't help it. He hadn't understood everything Kuina was saying, but her tone and adamance was enough to tell him she was still protesting.
"Kuina, you - you were-"
He growled, unsure why his language skills seemed to disappear in the presence of his friend, and lapsed back into his own language.
"Mermaid or merman, you were always stronger than anyone! The princes - the Queen - their lives matter, but you - you-!"
Zoro didn't know what the hell he was getting at, only that it was taking him dangerously into feelings he'd long pushed aside and suppressed, lest the loneliness consume him. He hadn't wanted to be like Reiju. He hadn't wanted to lock himself in a room for days, isolate himself. He'd wanted to get out, get stronger.
When O.H.A.R.A. had deemed it safe and released him back to the colony, he hadn't wanted to admit to his pain or his fear. He was a tiger shark, for fuck's sake. He didn't need anyone.
But he'd been young, and those morose feelings wouldn't go away, especially when he remembered so clearly, even now, Kuina calling for him in her panic and terror.
"You were my best friend," he eventually muttered, looking away to study a trail of scalloped clam shells scattered in the sand. "And thinking you were gone, just….it fucked me up. It fucked me up real bad…"
Again, Kuina's surprise was obvious, hearing Zoro admit to things she never expected to hear from him. She remembered a prideful little boy, annoying and headstrong, who would sooner make fun of someone for getting sappy than let emotions affect him.
But there was genuine pain in his voice, and considering how uncomfortable it was for her to see, she had to wonder if this was how she was making him feel with her own insecurities.
"Zoro…" she murmured. "You didn't think this was your fault, did you…?"
He didn't answer, just floated there with his arms crossed, his tail giving an agitated flick.
"Zoro-" she pressed.
"M.A.R.I.N.E.S.' fault, but - should have - should have looked - for you…." he stuttered out.
And it was back to this, enough that she pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, "You idiot…"
But it wasn't just to him….because hadn't she thought the same thing…?
"But that's why I'm sorry…" he said, and Kuina decided she'd had enough. They were both here. They were both, by some fucking miracle, safe and free, and any more of this stupid self-deprecating shit would do them no good.
So she pushed off her rock and swam over to him, grabbing his head in her hands and squeezing his cheeks to stop his brooding, just like she would when they were children.
"Stop. No more. Erase it," she ordered. "I don't like seeing that look on your face."
Zoro quirked a brow in surprise, stayed frozen there for a moment in his shock.
But then he lifted a hand to swat her away, ultimately swishing his tail for a light smack to her side when she didn't immediately let go.
"Fine," he conceded, ignoring the amused smirk on her face. "I'll erase it by making sure none of this shit ever happens again."
"And how are you going to do that?" Kuina asked, hoping she was correct in inferring his meaning.
"Got help," he answered smugly in human language, because, after all, he'd been the one to start all this. He'd chosen an excellent day to fight with boats.
Kuina wasn't certain of what he spoke initially, but a quick replay of the meeting with Reiju the night before was enough to refresh her on the very recent events that had apparently occurred just before she and the princes had returned. Events that made her more nervous than glad.
"Sanji," she deduced with some hesitation, knowing she'd gotten it right when he nodded and gave a pleased smirk.
Of course he fucking worried about what the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. would do to Sanji. But that blond was stubborn as fuck, and he had enough support from the humans that if they tried anything, there would surely be hell to pay. Not to mention, he had a bracelet. He could-
"I have something too," Kuina said, swimming back to the rock and unzipping the front pocket of the backpack she'd plopped down onto it.
And Zoro's jaw dropped to see her holding a bracelet identical to the one he'd gotten from O.H.A.R.A.
For a split second, he panicked, worrying it was Sanji's and he'd find the dumb human drowned at the bottom of the trench somewhere. But what little common sense he had brought him back from that.
"Wait...what?! Where the hell did you get that?!" he squawked, only to have Kuina roll her eyes dramatically.
"Weren't you listening yesterday?" she asked. "I stole it from the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. I used it to help us escape."
He hadn't been listening, not only unable to understand the majority of the conversation but also just a bit preoccupied with seeing his childhood friend essentially back from the dead.
As such, his only reply to Kuina now was a series of unintelligible noises that made no sense in either language.
She stared at him for a minute, but when it seemed he wasn't going to converse normally, she shot him a look of exasperation.
"Obviously, I kept it," she said. "I was meaning to return it to the Queen, but with everything yesterday, I dunno. It wasn't the right time…"
"Damn…" Zoro finally managed, lifting a hand and running it back through his hair. "So if O.H.A.R.A. had one….and the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. had one… What happened to the last missing one?"
"What?" Kuina asked, confused, so Zoro clarified, "Last one - where?"
"Don't know," she replied, shrugging. "The M.A.R.I.N.E.S. don't have it. I was able to get that much out of some of their grunts."
"Damn…" Zoro muttered again, for lack of anything better to say. It was probably safe to assume that thing was at the bottom of the ocean somewhere, lost in the past conflict.
"Hey, speaking of which…." Kuina said, suddenly straightening into a more formal stance, and Zoro furrowed his brow when she cleared her throat pointedly and jerked her chin at something behind him.
He turned...and nearly broke into an excited grin automatically before he remembered to reel it back in to a more subtle smirk.
Because there was Sanji, or at least, a small blond blob, approaching from a distance.
He shot a glance back at Kuina, amused by her rigid form, the respectful posture she'd always assumed around the Queen, one he was certain she needn't strain herself with around the Question. Even if he was technically royalty.
"He's just an idiot. You don't gotta do that," Zoro assured, snickering when her jaw dropped at his insolence.
Sanji was within earshot now, the blond raising a hand in greeting and calling out, "Hey, mosshead!"
Zoro hooked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the proof of his statement to Kuina.
"Hey," Sanji said again as soon as he reached Zoro's side, his hand reaching out to brush fingers at the small of his back before he seemed to think otherwise of the physical contact upon seeing who he was with, pulling his hand away.
Zoro didn't mind either way, though he had to admit Sanji looked damn good with a flush on his cheeks after a long swim.
Sanji was already eyeing Kuina, the mermaid having started into a bow, just getting out, "Your Highne-" before Sanji frantically flailed arms in protest.
"Aaahhh, no, it's okay!" he assured. "It's - I'm not-!"
Then, a short sound of frustration before he jutted out a hand towards her with a more relaxed smile.
"I'm Sanji. And you're….Kuina, right?"
She nodded and took Sanji's hand tentatively, giving it a shake of her own.
As soon as she released him, Sanji thumped his hand back into Zoro's chest, leaning in to grumble, "You're supposed to do the introducing, Mr. Mutual Friend."
"What?" Zoro said dumbly.
"Hopeless," Sanji muttered, shaking his head. Instead, he turned back to give his attention to Kuina. "I know - we don't know each other, but - I heard about what happened to you and - well, I'm glad to see you're alright."
"Thank you," she replied quietly, tucking some hair behind her ear anxiously and bobbing her head in a submissive gesture again, hardly making eye contact.
Sanji's lips tilted up more, but when he glanced at Zoro, the other merman had a frown on his face, his brows drawn in and head tilted as he looked at Kuina strangely.
He said nothing though, and Sanji decided he wasn't going to question it in that moment. There were pressing matters at hand.
"Um," he started. "Listen, I - Zoro, I wanted to talk to you, but Kuina, since you're here, maybe you can give me some advice?"
Despite her nervous demeanor, the mermaid couldn't keep her own brows from tensing slightly.
"Advice with what…?" she asked slowly and he gave a light chuckle.
"It's probably best if we sit down," he said with a squeeze to Zoro's bicep before he started to swim towards a larger rock a short distance away, one where they could all settle.
As soon as he turned his back, Zoro was shocked to feel Kuina's hand clamp down on his arm.
"Zoro. You….sure…..?" she hissed quietly, the fact that she didn't use human language proof she didn't want Sanji to understand her. "Believe - no….trust him?"
She knew it wasn't fair to blame Sanji for anything that had happened to her. But he was still a human, and her experience with them had been nothing but terrible.
Zoro had been her closest friend, one of her only friends in her life. Despite assuming him dead, the thought of him had haunted her for fourteen years.
And Sanji was new. Most everyone was new. And it was hard, far more difficult than she'd expected, to let down her guard.
Zoro looked at her incredulously for a moment, understanding now why she'd acted so oddly a moment ago. Maybe she was free, but surely her mind wasn't. He remembered, after all, his mistrust in Robin when he'd first met her, how he'd acted towards Sanji earlier about Ace.
He understood.
But he'd also decided to believe in Sanji.
The blond glanced back over his shoulder innocently to check if they were following, and he met Zoro's eye, his expression instantly changing the second he saw something was amiss.
Sanji stopped, looked unsure of what to do.
Zoro thought about his smile, how hopeful and bright it was. And he thought of his promise, how he'd reacted to the news of his brothers' return. He thought of how his own heart raced and his head spun more and more the longer they were together. He thought of how, until he'd met Sanji just a few short days ago, he'd never felt that way….
Zoro shifted a serious gaze back to Kuina.
"Yes," he answered. "We can trust him."
Kuina looked at him, worry in her eyes and maybe a flash of subconscious hurt that Zoro would trust a new human so readily.
But with his jaw set, his voice steady and strong...she had no choice but to trust in his word.
"Okay…" she replied, her hand falling away from his arm, a heavy shadow replacing it, blocking the sunlight shimmering down from above.
Neither noticed for a moment, Zoro even nodding and shifting his gaze back towards Sanji, but it was the blond who had his neck craned, looking towards the water's surface high above, at a long dark shape moving along slowly….and the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. logo emblazoned on the hull.
East Blue Naval Base
The commotion from the pool was loud behind Ace, the cabin simulation box whirring and clicking as the huge robotic arms slowly tilted and lowered it into the water.
Ace, along with several others, were supervising the training, teaching new recruits emergency procedures for how to survive a sinking ship.
Or rather, he was supposed to be supervising. But with Thatch and Vista doing the teaching, Namur and Izo in the water making sure no one drowned, and Jozu manning the crane, that left him and Marco without much to do apart from surveying the perimeter of the huge pool.
Thus, Ace found his attention wandering, despite the excitement in the pool, his mind entirely preoccupied with Whitebeard's ship currently visible sailing away on the sea out the tall windows, heading north towards the horizon, the sun nearly blinding off its white form.
The whistles and shouts of commands from his comrades echoed in the cavernous room, along with the sound of water splashing and the gasps of the recruits as, one by one, they escaped the simulation and surfaced again.
But Ace's thoughts were with Sanji, wondering if he'd made the right decision telling Whitebeard about his plight, if any of this would help matters.
Whitebeard had agreed to act secretively for now, only informing a trusted few, until he learned more of the situation, for which Ace was grateful. But he'd also insisted Ace stay behind, as he'd apparently be "too emotionally invested" to be of much objective help.
Sanji hadn't answered or even read his texts, the later ones turning into apologies the longer Sanji didn't respond.
Was he out there in the sea? Was that why he hadn't replied? Was he angry? Or worse, in danger…?
Ace had no idea, but not knowing was making his heart pound in his chest, his stomach twisting itself into knots the farther that ship got from port.
He wanted to follow, but to do what? Go to the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. too? Check B.A.R.A.T.I.E. for Sanji? He didn't know. But he wanted to fucking do something already, not stay here wondering about the safety of his best friend.
He heard a pair of sandals come up beside him, squelching lightly in the puddles strewn across the wet poolside.
His eyes didn't leave the ship, but he knew it was Marco. He could smell the faint scent of his pineapple shampoo, enhanced by his damp hair.
Marco now knew about Sanji. He'd been asked by Whitebeard to accompany him to M.A.R.I.N.E.S. HQ, but the man had elected to stay behind to keep an eye on Ace.
He said nothing for a long minute, standing just as Ace did, both of them in their casual training uniforms - swim shorts and a white T-shirt - but stances as rigid and formal as if they'd been fully decorated, hands clasped behind their backs as they watched the ship in the distance.
The recruits had pushed out of the pool now, all sitting on the side within earshot, relieved laughs and claps on the back following their successful simulation.
Marco finally lowered his voice, speaking so only Ace heard.
"If there's no word from them in a few hours, I'll go with you. Thatch said he would too."
Ace didn't reply, though a huff of both surprise and relief wanted to escape him.
He stood there, then subtly turned his head to glance at Thatch by the pool, who was already looking at him, his friend and fellow commander meeting his eye from over his clipboard.
Thatch's lips turned up knowingly and he nodded silently.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ace saw Marco's grin when he turned back to the window.
Slowly, a rebellious smirk pulled across his face.
"What are you doing?!" Zoro screeched after Sanji in a rare bout of fluency as the blond flicked his tail and started up towards the surface, going after that slow-moving boat.
"Going to talk to them!" Sanji shot back over his shoulder, with no signs of slowing down. "This is what I wanted to talk with you about! But it looks like the party came to us."
Zoro left Kuina's side to catch the end of his tail, give a yank, and he used the momentum to swim up himself, hands reaching Sanji's arms.
"Going with you," he insisted, the blond looking disgruntled from the backwards tug, and he pressed his own palms to Zoro's chest, pushing him away gently.
"No, Zoro, just-" he started to say. "Look, I want your help, but just wait a minute, okay? Lemme see how they react first."
"Bad idea," Zoro implored through gritted teeth, but Sanji gave a small smile, lifted hands to the mosshead's cheeks where thumbs brushed soothingly.
"We don't even know who's onboard," Sanji assured, giving one last stroke before he made to pull away.
But Zoro's worry was too great. He yanked Sanji back again and slammed lips into his, stifling a surprised noise in Sanji's throat before he felt long fingers slide into his hair, the other merman's lips moving against his to kiss him slowly.
A minute, and they broke apart, Sanji's lips slowly parting from his, his hands sliding over Zoro's jaw. Zoro kept his eyes closed as those hands fell away, and he felt Sanji's lips press to his forehead a second later.
He opened them to see the blond smirk at him, give a pat to his cheek. Then those blue eyes looked away and with another pump of his tail, Sanji glided up towards the surface.
"Watch my back," he said before finally swimming off.
Zoro watched him go for a moment, concern still simmering in his gut, but letting himself slowly sink back down to Kuina's side.
It wasn't until he felt the heavy weight of his friend's stare that he finally glanced over at her again.
Kuina was glaring at him, a look of complete disbelief and shock on her face.
For a moment, Zoro didn't understand…..until he realized he'd just exchanged a rather intimate display with Sanji without thinking about it. It was embarrassing enough that he rolled his eyes to cover it up.
Until she blurted out, "Is that why you trust him?"
Her tone was incredulous, almost a little hurt, but Zoro couldn't think about that now.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes and ordered, "Kuina, go back to Noah." There was no way he was letting her stick around while potential danger lurked nearby.
But she ignored him, persistent, even when he moved towards her, placed hands on her shoulders and physically tried to steer her away.
"Please tell me you actually trust him, and not just because you're blinded by-"
"Kuina. Go back to Noah," he insisted more adamantly, not even understanding her full argument.
Frustrated, she growled, clearly torn between the desire to flee, to never deal with the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. again, and the need to stay with Zoro, to put her own safety at risk in order to ensure his.
"But - Zoro, you-" she stammered, unsure how to even make sense of the possessive anger that had flared within her when she saw the two embrace. Maybe she should have assumed Zoro would have moved on with his life, but it still fucking hurt when she'd had no such opportunity. Zoro, and the memory of their friendship, was all she'd had.
But it wasn't all Zoro had.
"I'll be fine," he said. "He has a bracelet. I've been human before. It's no big deal, and-"
"What?!" she yelped. "What the fuck do you mean?!"
Suddenly, this wasn't just about Zoro's relationship with Sanji. Suddenly, this was Zoro willingly embracing humans, her captors, the ones who had stolen her life and nearly taken his. Suddenly, she felt betrayed, despite knowing nothing about the situation, thinking of her friend walking on land with humans, living a double life.
Fuck, it stung more than it should, and then there was the image of Zoro, a human in a M.A.R.I.N.E.S. uniform, sneering at her through a wall of glass.
Her eyes were wide and she flinched hard when Zoro's hands gave her shoulders a shake, the merman unconscious of his strength.
"Kuina!" he hissed. "Come on! Get a grip! I don't want you to-!"
Just then, there was a great muffled splash from far above them, enough to send a school of fish darting away and scattering quickly.
Immediately, both Zoro and Kuina craned their necks towards where the boat had passed overhead, now a short distance away.
And sinking deep into the water was a sturdy net, closing its tangled grip around Sanji.
Both their minds sank immediately back into that final memory they had of each other. The nets, the searing heat of the sun on the deck of the ship, the thrashes and screams….
"Shit!" Zoro cursed, and he let go of Kuina to speed towards it without another thought, ignoring her panicked cries of, "Zoro! Zoro, no! Don't-!"
He pushed himself harder to close the distance between him and Sanji before that net breached the surface, and he managed to reach it in a flurry of bubbles as his hands clamped down onto the thick rope.
He stopped seeing straight, only aware that he'd let loose a ferocious growl, and razor sharp teeth instantly bit down to gnaw on the closest rope in a struggle to break it.
His head thrashed ferociously, even as the net pulled him along, and then there were fingers in his hair, sliding down to grip his wrists.
Sanji's voice came through to him, the blond's fingers now daring to venture down to his jaw, gently trying to pry him off the net.
"Zoro! Zoro, let go! Zoro! Come on, idiot! What are you doing?"
Zoro finally broke away, but only to glare at him, teeth still bared.
"It's no use!" Sanji continued once he had his attention. "They're only gonna pull it up anywa-!"
"Shut up!" Zoro barked harshly in his panic.
Still, he looked up, where the quivering image of the boat grew closer by the second, a long crane extending out from it, supporting the net. There was no time. They were too close to the surface.
With a frustrated sound, his eyes flicked back to Sanji, who was watching him with surprising calm given the situation.
"Let go," said the blond, eyes on Zoro the whole time, and it felt less like an order than a test, to see if Zoro would actually do it.
The merman wasn't sure what the answer Sanji wanted was, but he knew one thing for sure. He wasn't letting the blond go. Not without him at least.
"Going with you!" Zoro growled again, and as soon as he'd said it, Sanji actually smirked a bit.
And he didn't protest. In fact, he gestured for Zoro to get a firmer grip on the netting, which he did, hoisting himself up and slipping arms through the gaps, arms holding onto Sanji's waist much as they had that morning at the docks.
Sanji stuck his own arms through so he could wrap them more securely around Zoro's shoulders, in hopes that, when they finally broke the surface in a few mere seconds, Zoro wouldn't fall back in.
From the seafloor, Kuina watched in horror as Zoro actually latched on to the net, allowed himself to be pulled up along with Sanji. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, the panic combining with the anger and stupid betrayal she still felt, all of it working to immobilize her.
Despite the countless times she'd envisioned herself changing the outcome of her capture, rescuing both herself and Zoro from those nets, she couldn't move. Because she knew what awaited her above the surface. Glass cases. Needles. Loneliness, pain, and confusion.
And she was terrified.
She'd finally crawled her way out of that horrible life, and she didn't want to fall back down, knowing what that meant.
But Zoro…
Wide eyes shifted first to the knives clipped on her backpack, then to the long blade of the sword lying atop the rock nearby.
Her fingers twisted around the bracelet she still held in her trembling hand….
TBC...