Once again, I apologize for the late update. But hey, it's a longer chapter than usual!

Sanji ran up to the navy base and crouched behind some boxes. He noticed that there weren't any guards and figured that they all must be watching Luffy and Zoro…

Just like that shitty marimo to get mixed up in this…

He cautiously approached the door and kicked it down with almost no resistance.

Geez, either they're really cheap or they don't get paid enough here.

Sneaking down a hallway, he pressed himself against a wall and eavesdropped to some voices behind a thin door.

"I want an answer, and I want it now! Where are the rest of your crew!?"

There was a spitting sound, followed by the sound of someone being slapped.

"Take him away! We'll see him again later! You better have learned some respect by then, Roronoa Zoro!"

The door opened and Sanji slunk behind a corner, peeking out. Zoro was handcuffed, being frog-marched by marine grunts back to his cell. As he rounded the corner and disappeared, Sanji heard a crash and a shout of pain. Next, Zoro attempted to hop on one leg around the corner. But with both hands tied up and one leg out of commission, he was easily caught and marched away again. Sanji groaned. And then he nearly leapt out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Sir?" said the corridor patroller, adjusting his cap. "Civilians aren't allowed inside the building. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

Sanji put a finger to his chin. "How about… no." Raising his left leg, he exclaimed "Collier Shoot!" and knocked out the unsuspecting marine with one swift kick to the neck.

With that out of the way…

Sanji eventually made it to Zoro's cell, only to backtrack suddenly. The cell was heavily guarded by marines. Well, shit.

If I try to take them all on at once, he mused, some will surely call for help. This is such a small base that someone will hear them right away and come running… if I could only get them out of the way…

An idea came to him. Reaching into his suit pocket, he pulled out a spare lighter, placed it on the ground, and kicked it as quickly and precisely as possible. Perfect shot: the lighter clicked on the far wall and skidded around the corner.

"Who's there?" shouted the marines, raising guns and swords. Not waiting for an answer, they charged away to face the non-existent enemy.

Stupid marines. They all went.

Approaching Zoro's cell, he glanced down at the swordsman. He was still handcuffed, and one of his legs was stretched out in front of him. He looked up at Sanji's approach and groaned.

"Great. It had to be you."

"Would you rather rot in a cell?" Sanji pushed the cell door open. Zoro opened his mouth.

"That was open the entire time!?"

"These folks don't seem so concerned about security. Either that or they're just cheap." He took a drag from his cigarette. "Let's get going."

Zoro glared. "In case you didn't notice, I'm handcuffed and my swords are missing!"

"Keep your voice down, baka." Sanji studied the handcuffs before turning around. "Be right back."

"W—!"

The marine captain's day was turning from good to bad. At first, everything had been fine: They had captured the infamous pirate hunter – or, former pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro. After that, things went downhill. The man refused to spill anything in the interrogations, as well as his simple-minded captain. Tapping his pen on the desk in frustration, he lifted a mug of tea to his lips…

The door burst open – literally flying off its hinges. The captain spluttered into his tea, getting it on his face. Glaring at the figure, he yelled "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh," said the young man, lowering his foot that he had apparently just kicked the door down with, "pardon me." He took a couple of steps in and started rummaging around in his coat pocket.

"I'm warning you—"

Sanji held up a hand and the captain automatically fell silent. Finally, he pulled something out and tossed it up high into the far corner of the room, behind a bookshelf.

"What… what was that?"

"Oh, nothing special. But if you don't want it to explode and take you and the entire base down with it, then you may want to diffuse it quickly."

The captain gasped and ran over to the bookshelf. Puffing, he managed to pull it back within a minute (spilling several books as he did so) and promptly fell upon the small object. He brought it up to eye level, blinked, and stared.

It was a cigarette pack. Nothing more.

Turning back, he realized that the man was gone… and as he looked in the corner, he realized that Roronoa's swords were gone as well.

"Backup!" he yelled. "Get backup! Roronoa's going to escape!"

Zoro stared as Sanji walked in with the swords. "Great. Thanks and whatever. Can you cut these now?"

Sanji took the Kitetsu III and sawed away at the chain, with Zoro yelling at him to be careful with his precious sword. At last Zoro had more freedom of his hands.

"Now can we go?"

Zoro stood up, but fell over again almost immediately. "Jesus," he hissed. "My leg's busted…"

Peering at the base of the hurt ankle, Sanji saw some splotching of an ugly purple color.

"Oh, for God's sake," he muttered. Bending down, he scooped up Zoro and slung him onto his back. "C'mon."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

"How else are you going to get out of here!?"

"I can manage by myself!"

Sanji pinched the bruised area and Zoro yelled out in pain.

"That's what I thought. Now hold on!"

Zoro reluctantly wrapped his arms around Sanji's torso. The latter took off running, sweeping through the passageways with the grace of a gazelle. There was gunfire at the other end of the building… what was going on there? Never mind that…

Zoro had never realized that Sanji could move so swiftly, even while carrying someone on his back. His body was quite warm from the energy he burned as he bounded out the door and down the street…

What the hell am I thinking?

Meanwhile, Sanji was constantly adjusting his weight as to not fall over. Carrying Zoro on his back was something he'd never done before, and it was quite tiring. The man was so muscular, after all, and it didn't help that he seemed to be leaning closer to him…

What the hell am I thinking?

Sanji bounded onto the Going Merry, as well as Luffy, who was carrying Nami piggyback, for some reason. As Usopp and Chopper hurried forward to help, Sanji and Zoro turned back to muse over their thoughts…

I will most likely end this next chapter, just FYI.