A/N: Hey guys! Happy Saturday to you all! I hope everyone is doing well :D And I of course want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. The response was great, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially when I've been doubting my writing like I have, it's very reassuring to hear from you guys like that, so thank you.

And even though we got yet another new revelation about Sanji's family in chapter 814, I stuck with my original plan for Sanji's past, and didn't try to incorporate the new information in. So don't worry for anime only watchers, there is still no spoilers about the manga in here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

6 Days Until Trial

"What did you mean before when you said 'including murder'?" Zoro asked gently, giving the other man's hand a tight squeeze.

It had been a few hours since their conversation originally began, Sanji falling into an uneasy sleep before he could muster up the courage to continue his story. Zoro did exactly what he told himself he would do, and waited all night, remaining close to the other man just in case he needed him.

Now that he was awake again, Zoro was encouraging him to continue. He didn't plan on forcing the issue, but Sanji had seemed a little out of it since he had woken up, like his mind was being plagued by memories from his past, and Zoro wanted to do anything he could to help. And he felt like getting the blonde to open up and share was the best way to do that.

"Zoro…"

"You really don't have to say if you don't want to. But just so you know…I would never judge you, especially for something you had nothing to do with." Zoro said gently, hoping to put the other man's mind at ease. He had continued to avoid meeting his eyes, and he hated the thought that Sanji might think that he was thinking less of him in that moment.

"But I'm a part of it…"

"You might have been a part of that family, but you were 9 when you left! You can't possibly blame yourself for anything your family did."

"It's not that easy…" Sanji began, after a few moments. He took a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves, and stop the shaking of his usually steady hands. This was turning out to be harder than he thought it was going to be, and was close to telling Zoro to forget it, when he felt another tight squeeze against his hand. You can do this, he told himself, taking one last deep breath. "I hated seeing people get hurt…especially women…"

"What do you mean?"

"I know women are strong…they are the strongest people in the world…only physically they sometimes fall short. My father, and older brother's…they treated women as toys. Like they were something they could use, fuck, beat, to their hearts content, and then walk away like nothing happened. They didn't even care if they ended up dead or not…"

"Sanji…"

"My father always treated my brothers differently than me. My brothers were older by quite a bit. One was 10 years older, the other 12. So when my mother got pregnant with me she was warned that there might be complications, due to her being past her prime child bearing years. But she didn't care; she refused to take the doctors suggestions, and carried me to term anyway. And just like the doctor predicted, there were complications, resulting in both of us nearly losing our lives…but some how I survived, and she didn't. I think my father blamed me for that fact, and you know, I can't say I blame him."

"You can't possibly believe that it was your fault your mother died?"

"But it was my fault. If she would've just listened to the doctors then…" Sanji trailed off, his heart clenching painfully at the thought. Even though he never knew his mother, and couldn't say that he actually missed her, he still felt a strong connection to her, and the thought that he was to blame for her death was almost crippling.

"Then what? Then she would've had to live out the rest of her life in guilt, thinking about the child she aborted."

"I don't think…" Sanji began, but was interrupted when Zoro continued.

"I might not know a lot about child and parent relationships. I never knew my parents, so obviously I'm not an expert on the subject…but I do know that parents are supposed to love their kids above all else, and do everything in their power to protect them. So in my mind your mother just did something any decent mother would've done…she sounds like a good woman."

Sanji sat silently for a moment, taking Zoro's words in. He knew logically that he was right, but it was hard to believe when your father and brothers told you differently for 9 years.

"Thanks Zoro."

"No problem." Zoro said, giving his hand another squeeze. "Do you want to stop now? Or continue?"

Sanji thought about it for a moment. Before he would've liked nothing more than to say he wanted to stop. But now that he got started, he felt like he needed to continue, that he needed to get this burden off his chest before it suffocated him, no matter how painful some of the memories might be. He may not have realized it before, and kept the memories comfortably at bay for years, but he needed this…more than he ever would've thought possible.

"I was raised by a nanny, she was a former maid at our family's mansion. From the time I was just a baby, until I was 9, she was the only parent I ever really knew…the only person to ever show me any sort of love….I saw her as a mother…and one day, one day I slipped up, I said something I shouldn't have, and she died because of it." His voice began shaking near the end, causing Zoro's stomach to clench uncomfortably. There was something about seeing the blonde so vulnerable, so upset, that shook Zoro to his very core, and he would've done anything in that moment to take that pain away.

"Sanji…" Zoro whispered, thinking the other man finally had enough, when he continued.

"She died, and it was all my fault…" The words broke Zoro's heart. He wanted to comfort the other man by telling him it was okay; that whatever happened wasn't his fault. But he knew his words wouldn't get through to the other man. He was no stranger to the feeling of guilt, and trying to blame yourself for something that clearly wasn't your fault, and no amount of people telling you otherwise would change that. And he knew his words would be especially meaningless seeing as he had no idea what the cook was even talking about.

"What happened?" Zoro asked carefully, after giving the blonde a few moments to collect himself. He knew if Sanji didn't continue now, it would only be that much harder in the future to try and talk about it.

"She was my nanny…my maid…and to my father that was all she would ever be. But one day…one day I slipped up. I called her mother, and my father overheard. He was so angry. Especially considering what I did to my actual mother…" Sanji's voice broke as he continued, "I never saw her again after that day, she was just…she was just gone. And I never got a chance to say goodbye, to tell her how much she meant to me…to thank her for everything she did." The pain got to be too much, and to avoid a complete mental break down, Sanji lashed out, trying to subside the pain he felt by causing some physically.

He punched the closest wall as hard as he could, but the stone was unyielding, and Zoro's eyes widened when he heard a sickening crack. The cook pulled his hand back, and Zoro could see the blood that now stained the wall.

He was about to hit it again, when Zoro caught his wrist just in time, the bloody knuckles mere inches from the stone.

"What the hell cook!?" Zoro snapped, but stopped himself from yelling at the blonde like he wanted too, when he saw the look on his face. He sighed and said instead, "There's a reason you don't fight with your hands dumbass."

Sanji felt humiliated for losing control like that, and couldn't look Zoro in the eyes as the other man did his best to bandage his hand with some material he tore off from the suit he had been wearing.

He couldn't believe what he had done, how he had just jeopardized his greatest tool, and why? Because he was weak, and couldn't control his emotions…

"Can you move your fingers?" Zoro asked, for the second time, which seemed to finally snap the other man out of his thoughts.

Sanji wiggled his fingers, hissing in pain as he did so.

"Guess you didn't fuck it up too bad if you can still move it…though it definitely looks like you broke something. Try not to move it."

"You're the one that told me to move it…"

"Only to see how badly you messed it up!" Zoro rolled his eyes, which seemed to cause the smallest smile to tug at the other man's lips.

Zoro grabbed his uninjured hand, and waited silently for the other man to continue. Despite what had just happened, he knew there was still more to this story, and that Sanji wouldn't be able to move on until he properly confronted it.

He wasn't sure how much time had actually passed by, it could've been minutes, it could've been hours, but finally Sanji continued.

"I never knew what actually happened to her, there was no note, no goodbye…but I had a pretty good idea. I had seen the others." Sanji seemed to flinch as he said that, likely seeing things he had tried so hard to forget. "Other women that were killed at the hands of the men in my family, because they thought they were better, that they were superior to them…in their eyes women were disposable. They could be used however they saw fit, and then easily discarded before being replaced with the next one. It made me absolutely sick…my nanny, she had been so kind, my mother sacrificed herself for me…women were amazing! I couldn't understand how they could feel the way they did."

"Is that why you have such a strong pull toward women? Why you treat them the way you do?" Zoro asked, hoping he wasn't out of line in asking.

"I never really thought about it before, but I suppose that probably makes sense, doesn't it? I just always remember having a strong bond with them. Like they were precious, like they needed protecting. I know I go overboard sometimes but…I don't know. I can't help it I guess."

Zoro only nodded. He never understood the cook's obsession with women before. Why he let them walk all over him like he did. But now, after hearing his story, it was all starting to make sense.

"When I was nine, after my nanny disappeared, I finally had enough. I didn't want anything to do with that family, and wanted to get as far away from them as possible. So one night, after everyone was asleep, I snuck out and made my way to the docks. There were mainly cargo ships there, and I didn't really fancy getting stuck on one of those, so I chose to sneak on to the one lone passenger ship, the Orbit. I managed to hide myself aboard for several days until they finally found me. But thankfully by that time we were far enough away from my home island, and we had stopped at enough islands since then that they couldn't possibly pinpoint where I had come from. So they forced me to work off my debt in their kitchens, but I ended up staying even after I earned enough to pay my fare. I discovered a love of cooking, and didn't want to leave. You know the story after that, how I ended up with Zeff…so yeah. That's my whole story I guess."

It was definitely a lot to take in, and a silence grew between them that lasted several minutes.

Zoro couldn't believe that Sanji had been carrying around such secrets for so long, and couldn't imagine how much of a burden it must've been.

Almost everyone on the crew had a tragic past, some more than others, but this was different. Sanji hadn't just been subject to loss and pain like many of the rest of them, he had to live in a corrupt world where it was deemed as okay, and from the sounds of his father and brothers, where it was encouraged. Not only that but he was targeted and blamed by his family because of something that was completely out of his control. The guilt he must've been carrying around was unimaginable.

"You're a good person cook." Zoro said after a moment, seeing a lone tear falling from the blonde's exposed eye. "I know we give each other shit all the time, and are constantly fighting…but in the end, there isn't anyone I trust, or respect more than you. Sure, I have an insane amount of respect for Luffy, but that's different. With you, I always know you have my back, and in the real difficult situations I know I can count on you to help protect the rest of the crew. You're my rival, my equal, and from the moment you joined the crew onwards, I can't picture my life without you in it."

Sanji looked up, completely shocked by Zoro's words. He looked for signs of joking on the other man's face, but saw none. He didn't understand how Zoro could even look at him after hearing about his past, let alone say the things he was.

"Don't get me wrong…you're still as annoying as fuck." Zoro chuckled, seeing the brief irritated twitch of the cook's eyebrow, "But your annoying in a good way I guess…I don't know if that makes sense. I love to tease you, and I love when we fight, it might sound weird, but it's almost the highlight of my day…well that and my naps and booze. I think I'm getting off topic though…the point I was trying to make is that you're a good person. You're the cook of the Straw Hat pirate crew, not some psychopathic Celestial Dragon asshole. And don't ever think differently just because of where you came from."

Sanji had to turn his head away from the other man, feeling even more tears burning at his eyes. He hated that the Marimo's words were affecting him in such a way, but he couldn't seem to control it. His biggest fear in life was someone close to him finding out about his past, and having them turn their back on him, which is exactly what he always assumed would happen. Not even Zeff, who he had looked up to as a father, knew where he came from for that reason. So hearing Zoro say that his past didn't matter, and that he accepted him anyway, was overwhelming.

"Come here shit cook," Zoro said, ignoring Sanji's groans of protest, as he grabbed his arms and pulled him toward him.

Sanji struggled against the other man's hold at first, not wanting Zoro to realize he was crying, especially not considering his earlier breakdown. The last thing he wanted was to appear weak in the other man's eyes…but eventually he gave up the struggle.

He would rather die before ever admitting it out loud, but he never felt as relaxed or safe as he did in the swordsmen's arms. And right now, there was nowhere in the world where he would rather be.

And both men were so wrapped up in the embrace, and the story being told, that they hadn't heard the one guard that had moved closer to the cell. Who was now walking away with a heavy heart having heard everything…

"Are we there yet?" Luffy groaned, grabbing his stomach that gave out an audible growl.

"For the 100th time, no…" John, the man that was showing them the way, said through gritted teeth.

They had been walking for hours now, and even though he had been all too happy to show them the way at first, the raven-haired teen had quickly gotten on his nerves, and now he couldn't wait to finally be rid of them.

"But I'm starving…" Luffy whined.

"We just finished eating less than an hour ago!" Nami snapped, feeling a headache coming on. Between the length of the walk, the increasing heat due to the glaring sun, and Luffy's constant complaining, she could feel herself approaching her breaking point, and just prayed that they reached this place soon…otherwise she couldn't be held responsible for her actions.

"But we barely had anything!"

"We ate a giant deer!" Nami hissed.

"Which we still agree we won't tell Chopper about…" Usopp chimed in.

"Well I'm still hungry…" Luffy muttered, crossing his arms in a pout.

The group continued walking in silence for a few minutes, letting any tension that had been building up subside.

As much as the heat and the exhaustion had been getting to them, it wasn't solely that that had everyone on edge. Nobody would say it, because none of them even wanted to consider the possibility, but they were worried…they were worried that they wouldn't make it in time and that Lucy and her sister Grace would be long gone by the time they finally made it to this house. And if that ended up being the case…they could kiss any chance of clearing Sanji's and Zoro's names goodbye.

The reality of the situation was heavy in their hearts, and they were all trying to cope with it in their own way.

"Are we there yet?"

"LUFFY I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP I WILL…"

But Nami's rant was cut off when John spoke.

"Actually yes, we're here."

All four straw hats snapped their heads up, looking in the distance where John was pointing.

They were currently in a forest, quite a ways outside of the town. When John had first led them out this way, they were beginning to doubt him and whether or not he actually knew where he was going. But sure enough, sitting there, in the middle of nowhere, nestled amongst a few giant trees, was a small log cabin.

Nami was about to open her mouth and say something, when she saw the door to the cabin begin to open. A young man, looking to be in his mid-twenties walked out, stretching his arms above his head, before pulling a cigarette out and lighting it.

All of their jaws dropped opened at once, none of them quite able to believe what they were seeing. Even though they were still a good distance away, the resemblance was unmistakable.

"I can't believe it," Robin said, her mouth twitching up in amusement.

"Impossible!" Usopp whispered, rubbing his eyes just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"That's incredible…" Nami said, not able to tear her eyes away from the man.

"It's Sanji!" Luffy said, a grin spreading across his face. "Maybe he and Zoro escaped! This is great! Now he can make some meat!" Luffy cheered, about to take off in a sprint toward the blonde man, when John, who had stayed silent up to that point, grabbed the collar of his shirt, to hold him back.

"I have no idea who this 'Sanji' is, but I assure you that's not him. That man is Peter, princess Lucy's fiancée."

They were all shocked by this, and slightly disappointed. Because even though they knew it was next to impossible, seeing the blonde, a small part of them had thought that maybe Sanji really did escape. It was foolish, but it was hard not to jump to that conclusion…the resemblance really was uncanny.

"Well that certainly explains why Lucy showed such an interest in Sanji…" Nami commented after a moment, everyone nodding in agreement. "But that doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that Peter is still here, which means that Lucy and Grace must still be here as well. We made it in time, and now we have to bring them back with us."

"I wouldn't count on that…" A voice spoke from behind the group, causing them all to jump in surprise.

They turned around to see who the voice belonged to, only to be shocked to see the very two women they had been searching for…both of which currently had a riffle pointed directly at them.

All of a sudden the idea of convincing them to return with them, seemed like it was going to be a lot harder than they had originally thought.

A/N: Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? I hope you enjoyed, and that the serious note that this story has took isn't bumming you out too hard. I'm trying to incorporate little bits of humor in still, but it can be difficult at times. Anyway, please let me know what you thought, and I promise to try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. XD