Mindshattered

Part twelve of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma

Note: So may I take this opportunity to say holy crap guys. This is my most popular fanfiction ever in pretty much every way. It is top rank amongst my stories in terms of hits, reviews, faves, and watches. Wow, guys. Wow. This wouldn't be happening without you all, so many thanks :)

Business: I've gotten a suggestion that I up the rating for this fic, after the last chapter. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinion on the matter, because as the writer my opinion is extraordinarily biased. For the most part this fic seems to have a general T rating (to me), with the exceptions of chapters 1 and 11, which are quite gruesome. Should I up the overall fic rating, or should I just heavily stress in those two chapters that they're M level?

Disclaimer: I do not own, or pretend to own, One Piece or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. The only thing that belongs to me here is the concept for the story.


"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple."

~Algernon, The Importance of Being Earnest


When Zoro finally finished, Sanji didn't even bother to disguise his horror anymore. He could have kicked himself for it. The last thing the man wanted now was pity, he knew, but...God. God. What that bastard had done to him...

Though a lot of things made sense, suddenly. Why Zoro had thought he was being attacked, when they'd first found him in the cell. Why he'd panicked every time Sanji tried to feed him. Why he was still wracked with shame every time he gave in to his desperate desire for food, for survival. Why he had been constantly trying to distance himself from the crew. It all made sense with such a sudden, stark clarity that Sanji was furious with himself for not putting it together sooner.

Zoro was silent for a moment, and then said hoarsely, "That's why I've been telling you to put me off the ship, curlybrow. He's not done with me."

Sanji was appalled. "And you honestly think we'd throw you back to that sadistic bastard?" he nearly shrieked. "Fuck, Zoro, I knew you were stupid, but this is ridiculous. No way are we putting you out there on your own now."

"Listen, curlybrow," Zoro hissed in response, and tried to glare at him. It was a terrible attempt at anger; he looked so drained, so empty after revealing all that, that even Chopper would have looked scarier at that moment. "You're not getting it. Even if I didn't deserve to get thrown back to him—which is a lie—he's going to keep chasing me. You don't know him like I do, not even now. He's persistent. He's going to keep chasing me. If I'm anywhere near the rest of you..."

"Then we'll kick his ass," Sanji said with a scowl.

"No, then he'll kill you," Zoro snapped. "Everything I know about you, about all of you, that he asked about, he knows. He knows all your abilities, your strengths, your weaknesses. If he tracks me and finds the rest of you, you'll all die. He's too fucking strong. I've already made the chance that you could all be murdered possible. I won't be responsible for your guaranteed deaths."

Sanji wanted to argue, but Zoro had made a startlingly thorough list of his combat abilities while telling the story, and his summary of the cook's strengths and weaknesses had hit remarkably close to home as well. And Sanji still didn't know everything his opponent was capable of, other than temporarily enhancing the body in who only knew how many ways with his alchemic knowledge. It would be a difficult fight; it could even be impossible. Zoro was, once again in his new, twisted way, trying to look out for them all. Getting rid of himself didn't erase the fact that this Alchemist knew almost everything about him, but it did lower the chances that they'd run into him, and that meant a higher chance at survival.

If Zoro could get off the Sunny, at least...which explained why he'd tried to convince all of them to put him off. Well, except Luffy, that was, but Luffy had already been perceptive enough to know something was wrong to begin with without Zoro asking him for permission to be tossed off-ship...

It clicked suddenly, and Sanji's jaw dropped in surprise. "You figured Luffy'd pick up on what happened. That's why you tried to get me and Nami-san and the rest to talk to him for you. And why you tried to act normal around him when you refused to talk to the rest of us."

Zoro visibly flinched and looked away. "If he knew how I betrayed you all—"

"He'd agree with me that it wasn't your damn fault," Sanji said firmly. Zoro glared at him, but the expression was full of self-loathing and, hell, there was genuine fear there now too.

"I gave everything away about all of you. I couldn't protect any of you—"

"Because you were being tortured, Zoro. Fuck, any of the rest of us would have broken too. You lasted over a month in some of the shittiest conditions I've ever heard of without breaking, and even after that you made him fight for every scrap he got out of you. None of us could ask for any less."

"He still got it, in the end," Zoro snarled viciously. "I failed. I was weak. I couldn't stop myself from giving into that hunger and that damned serum...I don't deserve a place on this ship anymore. Luffy has no use for weaklings and traitors in his crew. But I can at least still try to keep you all alive by getting the hell out of here, so that's what I'm gonna do."

"You idiot," Sanji snarled, and he'd jumped to his feet before he could stop himself, slammed his hand down on the desk. "What, are you too proud to admit that Roronoa-freaking-Zoro is allowed to have a little weakness? You think the rest of us would have done any better, if Kuma sent us to that island instead?"

Zoro gave him a disgusted look, and said coldly, "You'd last, I'm sure. You'd never say a damn word about your precious Nami-swan."

"Did you even listen to me yesterday?" Sanji shot back. "I've already been through starvation once. It's not something I ever want to repeat. Hell, I still have nightmares about it, I won't deny that, and that was years ago. You think I'd have made it again? I'd have cracked as soon as he told me he was cutting off my rations." He didn't know why he was arguing to convince Zoro he was the weaker one, for once, only knew that he had to prove to the swordsman that there was no fault here.

Zoro's face was disbelieving though, clearly told Sanji he thought the cook was lying. Zoro said nothing to argue with him however, merely stated instead, "Luffy would have made it."

"That's not an argument. First of all, Luffy is practically inhuman to begin with. And second, our most excellent captain can barely go ten minutes without demanding I make him a snack. He wouldn't last a day without a meal, let alone a month."

Zoro sighed, tipped his head back against the pillows piled at his back, and hissed flatly, "Get lost, love-cook."

"I'm not done talking to you—"

"I'm tired," Zoro said coldly. "And it'll take a while to fall asleep as it is, without you pestering me."

Sanji's anger vanished abruptly as he realized what that was supposed to mean. Zoro was practically admitting that he was about to have nightmares, and for a few moments Sanji felt guilty for dredging all this up. But it had to be done, and horrifying as the information was, Sanji was still glad he knew what was going on now.

He briefly considered offering to find some sort of sleeping draught from one of Chopper's medicine cabinets, but froze when he considered the implications of that. Zoro had never been fond of taking medicines to begin with, and after everything he'd just revealed Sanji doubted he would take lightly to being dosed, either. Any other day he might've considered slipping a sleeping draught into his food anyway—the marimo obviously desperately needed the rest—but so soon after that harrowing story, it wouldn't be viewed as anything short of betrayal. Sanji wouldn't risk it.

So instead he merely set to shoving the cabinet and bookcase out of the way, and muttered as he did so, "Fine. Go to sleep, but I'm leaving the door open a crack. Call us if you need anything."

"It doesn't leave this room, curlybrow," Zoro repeated again.

Sanji paused at that, regarded the swordsman critically. "Yeah," he said quietly, after a minute. "I won't tell them the details. I promised. You can trust me." And then, more firmly, "It's not your fault, Zoro. Nobody here'd blame you," and darted out the door before Zoro could retort.

Outside he took a deep breath, suddenly wholly aware of how confining the room had felt for the duration of that story. It was like the infirmary itself had turned into a cell, and he had escaped to the outside, where he was free again.

But not unburdened by that terrible reality. Suddenly desperate for a smoke, Sanji trotted over to one of the railings, pulled out his cigarette pack, and lit up. He burned through three in rapid succession, and the things Zoro had shared whirled around in his mind over and over again, like they were stuck on repeat.

"Your hand is shaking, Sanji-kun," came a voice to his right, and he jumped in surprise. Nami-san grabbed his arm hastily to steady him before he went overboard, and frowned at him when he'd settled again. "You didn't even notice me."

"M-my apologies, Nami-san," he said immediately, automatically, and drew the cigarette from his mouth long enough to exhale. She was right, his hands were shaking, sending the trails of smoke from the cigarette jittering all over the place.

She was still frowning at him. "Something has to be wrong," she said. "Brook said you traded off with him to give Zoro a meal, but when he went back to take over afterwards the door was blocked shut. And you didn't show up to make lunch—"

"What?" Stunned, he glanced around hastily, searching for a clock somewhere. "What time is it? I'm so sorry, Nami-san, I lost track of time. I can make lunch now if you like, or start an early dinner, I wouldn't dream of keeping you waiting—"

"It's fine, Sanji-kun," she said, raising her hands placatingly. "It's only three in the afternoon. When Luffy heard where you were he told us to leave you alone, said you were doing something important. I hope you don't mind, I made a quick lunch instead. Just a few sandwiches, but I know you hate people messing around in the galley."

"It's fine, Nami-san," he said, tried to force some of his usual cheer into his voice and only half succeeded. "If it's you, I'm more than happy to learn my accommodations were of use to you!"

She waved that away absently, fixed him with a firm look. "You've been in there for hours, Sanji-kun, and now you look like an absolute wreck, if you don't mind me saying so. What the hell happened in there?"

"He was fixing Zoro," came a voice from above, and seconds later Luffy dropped down from the mast, absorbing the impact in his rubber legs. He bounced, placed a securing hand on his hat, and fixed Sanji with a firm look. "Right? How'd it go?"

Sanji hesitated. This was going to be tricky. The entire crew was obviously worried about Zoro, and wanted to know what was wrong with him so they could help. Sanji knew, almost without a doubt, that not a single one of them would fault Zoro for his so-called betrayal if they heard his story. But at the same time, the man had trusted him with a private and deeply violent moment of his life, and Sanji wasn't about to break that trust either.

So he finally shook his head, placed the cigarette back in his mouth, and sighed. "He's not 'fixed,' as you put it," he said glumly. "But I know what's wrong now, at least."

"You do? Well? What's wrong? Maybe we can help," Nami-san said triumphantly. "Good job, Sanji-kun!" And Luffy was looking at him expectantly now, hopefully, the concern for his crew mate glaringly obvious on his face.

Which was why he grimaced when he spoke again. "You trust me, right?"

Nami-san gave him a puzzled look, but nodded. Luffy's look was more serious, and he cocked his head quizzically.

"You trust me, Luffy," he repeated more insistently. "Right?"

"Yeah," the captain finally agreed, nodding. "I trust you, Sanji."

"Then I can't tell you what's wrong with him."

Nami-san's expression melted into one of stunned surprise, and then anger. Her fist drew back, and Sanji honestly would have been more than willing to allow her to deck him. Pulling a stunt like that, he certainly deserved it.

But Luffy intervened, grabbed her arm quietly, and said softly, "Okay. You made a promise, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Sanji agreed, and was thankful his usually-stupid captain got it.

"Can you fix Zoro?"

"Maybe," Sanji said slowly. "But...it won't go fast. It's...it's complicated."

Nami-san looked furious (rightly so), and shouted in frustration, "And you can't tell us anything? How are we supposed to be of any help at all?"

Sanji's own frustration had to be evident on his face now, because she abruptly stopped shouting, stared at him in confusion. "I'll let you know," was all he said instead, and then hurriedly, "There is some other stuff though. The guy that did this to him..."

Luffy's eyes went from knowing to furious in a heartbeat, and the shadow that drew across his face from his lowered hat made him look positively demonic. "You know who it is? Where he is?"

"Don't know where," Sanji said grimly. "I have a feeling he's following us, though. To...reclaim his bounty, as it were."

Luffy's eyes narrowed even more dangerously, and he growled, "Then we'll drop anchor and wait for him. I'll kick his ass for making Zoro sick like this," and whether or not that 'sick' referred to his first mate's mental or physical health was hard to say. He cracked his knuckles threateningly at the end.

But Sanji shook his head firmly, and said forcefully, "No. Not yet. The plan hasn't changed yet."

"But this bastard hurt Zoro—"

"And will again, if we don't get him better," Sanji snapped. "This guy...he sounds good, Luffy. Real strong. And he'll probably go after Zoro again, because he was after Zoro's bounty first. Zoro's still really bad off, Luffy, if this guy attacks him again he's going to die." It was brutal, and frank, but it was the only way to get that through Luffy's head.

The captain hesitated, once again caught between his nakama's health and the desire to exact vengeance to protect them all.

Sanji saw this, pressed on more ruthlessly. "Plus," he said, and hesitated a moment, considering how to word it without breaking Zoro's confidence. Both Nami-san and Luffy gave him quizzical looks, and after a moment he continued, "This guy...he's done his research. You saw all the bounty posters he had. He already knew all about Zoro's abilities, that's how he caught him to begin with." Which wasn't a total lie; he had known how to counteract Zoro's swordsmanship with steel skin. "And he's done the research on us, too. He knows all our moves, might be able to counter us."

Luffy's eyes narrowed again. "I'm not going to just let him get away with hurting anyone on my crew," he said sharply, with no room for debate.

Sanji wasn't going to let it stand either, though, and he had a plan to get around that. "Right. I agree. But we're only at half strength now. Zoro can't fight, and we're still missing Robin-chan, and Franky and Chopper. It'd be better if we met up with them all back at Sabaody first, got the whole crew together before we fight this guy. He knows everything about us, but eight on one is still pretty shitty odds for him."

Nami-san was nodding in agreement now, and a part of his heart fluttered at her obvious approval, but Luffy still looked unconvinced.

"C'mon, Luffy," he tried one last time. "Zoro's just as much a part of this crew as anyone else. I'm sure if Robin-chan, Franky and Chopper knew what had happened to him, they'd want to get back at this bastard, too. Marimo's protected all of them at least once. Hell, he's practically assigned himself as Chopper's guardian angel. I'm sure they'd all want to return the favor."

It was the sort of poetic, friendship-driven justice that Luffy thrived on, and though he looked a little put out that the fight wouldn't be happening right away, he finally nodded in agreement. "Okay. We'll get back to Sabaody first and wait for the others. Chopper'll get Zoro fixed up, and then we'll all kick this guy's ass for hurting our nakama!"

The other two nodded in agreement. Luffy seemed pleased now that they had some sort of resolution, and the grin was back on his face in bare moments. He started to wander away, to where Usopp was fishing on the other side of the ship in blissful ignorance of all the shit going on right now, when Sanji stopped him with a quick call. "Luffy!"

The captain turned, puzzled, and Sanji hesitated. What he was about to say could be considered a huge breach of privacy, shattering the deal he'd made with Zoro in one shot. It could give one hint too many, and while Luffy was usually dumber than nails he's always been oddly perceptive as far as his crew was concerned.

But he had to say it, had to lay the groundwork, because he was the only one who knew the depth of Zoro's current problem, and he had to do something about it. So he took a deep pull on his cigarette, which had burned down to nearly a stub by now, exhaled, and spoke again.

"Luffy. He didn't do anything wrong." And at Luffy's puzzled look, he added, "Zoro didn't."

Luffy stared at him for a long, long time, and Sanji had the uncomfortable feeling that maybe the captain was reading his mind, digging through his recent memory to uncover everything he'd heard Zoro say. But after a moment the captain smiled again, said cheerfully, "I believe you," and wandered off in Usopp's direction once more.

Nami-san was giving him a funny look, and he knew she was perceptive, so he shook his head quickly and asked her, "Nami-san...how long until we reach Sabaody?"

She glanced at the sky and considered. "The winds are shifting again," she observed after a moment. "Probably not more than three days, now."

"Three days can't pass fast enough," he said with a tired sigh, and she nodded grimly in agreement.


Later that night, as Sanji made an elaborate dinner to make up for his lack of lunch preparations earlier, Sanji thought carefully about everything Zoro had shared with him.

He'd been stewing over it for most of the day, with Zoro's descriptions rotating through his head over and over. But that was mostly dealing with the shock, the horror of what he had just heard, of what had happened to their nakama after he'd been separated from them.

He still felt that shock and that horror now, but it had dulled, allowing him to think about the whole scenario more clearly, come to terms with it himself. It revealed a number of his own personal thoughts, none of them pleasant.

First there had been guilt. That the crew hadn't been able to stop Kuma before he sent their friend vanishing to that God-forsaken island, set him up for two months of pure hell. And he'd thought he had it bad, being stuck with okama until he'd finally managed to get away...it had been embarrassing, but it didn't even compare.

Of course, there was nothing they could have done to defend Zoro in that fight. None of them had expected him to be vanished; he'd been the first, and none of them even knew Kuma had that power. Nor would they have been able to fight Kuma off. Zoro had physically been the most wounded, at that point, but all of them had been exhausted after their fight with PX-4. No matter how Sanji turned that fight over in his mind, with their level of strength at the time the same result was always inevitable.

It didn't make him feel any less guilty, though. As far as he knew, everyone else had managed to learn something on the islands they'd been sent to despite the inconvenience, increasing their combative ability or their knowledge of the Grand Line. Zoro had been sent to die a long, suffering death, and they hadn't known in time, hadn't been able to rescue him before he'd been broken.

It was worse for Sanji, too, because the guilt he'd first felt when they'd originally found Zoro was still there, only magnified a hundred times now that he knew what the swordsman went through. As the ship's cook, he was responsible for keeping each and every one of his nakama fed. He hadn't been able to fulfill that duty for Zoro, and the man had not only wasted away due to malnutrition, but had actually started to believe—if his delirious ending rants were any indication—that Sanji, of all people, would intentionally withhold food from him! It was an insult to his principles as a cook, but considering Zoro's situation, it rapidly transformed from an insult into something shameful. Because he really couldn't blame the man for thinking it, not in the starved delusions of a man under physical conditions so terrible it would break anyone.

And the taunting and the trickery with food. Sanji's eyes narrowed with hatred as he considered all those parts of Zoro's tale again, felt his blood boiling at the mere thought of it. Food was sacred. It wasn't to be used for something as brutal as that. You didn't withhold food from a person like that. Ever. Or taunt a starving man who couldn't eat with the aromas of a fresh-cooked meal. Or spike it with poison, and force him to choose between his own ravening hunger, his own survival, and the things most precious to him. It was sick, it was twisted, and it was utterly wrong for someone to pull that crap. Sanji wouldn't do it to his worst enemy, no matter the case, though he'd sure as hell like to remove the man's tongue when they finally encountered him. Let him try to taste anything again, after abusing food like that...

No. The man deserved more than just that. Sanji felt his fists clenching so hard his nails dug into the vegetables he'd been slicing for dinner, but hardly noticed the mild mutilations. The misuse of food was bad enough, but the man had gone even further, used it as just one of many tools in his arsenal to attack their swordsman. The man had forced Zoro to the brink, raped his mind for every scrap of information that could be had, cared only that his broken body was still breathing long enough to claim a larger sum of money afterwards. It made Sanji want to shatter the man's skull with his Red Leg martial arts more than ever.

He wasn't the type to grow all gushy and over-protective of the others (the guys, at least, he admitted to himself), and Zoro had never needed his protection before anyway. Hell, much as he hated to admit it, Zoro had saved his life more than once in the past. But he was the only one who knew what this unforgivable bastard had done to their swordsman, knew the man deserved to be sent straight to hell, knew he had to be the one to deliver that blow to give their wounded nakama some peace.

Because he knew he would never, ever be able to share what had happened to Zoro with the others. Zoro would never stand for it, and Sanji would be eternally pledged to silence because of it. It wasn't like Thriller Bark; it didn't need to be hidden from Luffy to protect their captain. But against his better wishes, he knew he would never be able to share that information anyway, not until Zoro accepted it. At best he could convince the swordsman to share with Chopper, just so the reindeer could treat him, but even that was going to be an uphill battle when they got to it.

He briefly considered telling the rest anyway, just like he briefly had a million other times that day, and as always immediately rejected it. Just as before, he knew they would all accept it, knew nobody would blame their swordsman, knew everyone would try and reassure him. But the last thing Zoro needed was the gushing pity he would receive, when they knew. It wouldn't help him; it would probably make his already unstable mentality worse, because it would be a constant reminder to him that they knew he was too weak to keep his silence. They wouldn't really think it, but as Luffy said the other day, Zoro would see it that way, and for Zoro's recovery that was all that mattered.

They would never know, unless they worked it out on their own. But damn it, Sanji wished now that somebody else had figured it out. That Usopp had listened at the door, or that Robin-chan, brilliant Robin-chan, was here on the ship and had used her well-placed eyes and ears to eavesdrop on the whole thing. Sanji had been strong enough to get the story out of Zoro, was probably the only one that could have; but he didn't think he was capable of getting the swordsman over this hurdle. He wasn't a doctor, he wasn't a psychiatrist, and he wasn't a damn miracle worker—he was a cook, damn it, he just wanted to make food. He could fix delicious meals, but he couldn't fix minds.

Stop complaining, he thought with a frustrated hiss. Nobody else does know, and you're the only one who knows enough to do anything at all, so think up a damn solution!

So what was the problem?

There were two, as far as Sanji could see. The first was the one Zoro had brought up to him days ago: that he didn't belong on the ship because, as he put it, he 'wasn't a swordsman' anymore. But that was easily remedied, without ever having to go behind Zoro's back and divulge his secret. He could just tell Luffy himself that it would take about a year for Zoro's body to fully recover and for him to build his strength back up enough to fight again. Luffy wouldn't complain; hell, he'd probably enjoy adventuring around for an extra year. The New World might be a bit dangerous to enter at this stage, with one of their strongest fighters down, but nobody said they had to go through to it immediately. Nami-san had an Eternal Pose to Sabaody, and until then they could just sail around the other routes leading up to it. The rest of them could get stronger, and Zoro could recover his strength. No biggie.

The second problem, though, was the real killer. Zoro's physical health was easy, if time consuming; his mental health was a wreck. He was convinced he was a traitor, that he didn't deserve to be on the crew because he'd handed the Alchemist the knives to stab them with and told him their weakest spots.

That was bad enough as it was, but combined with the marimo's stupid stubbornness, it could be potentially fatal—for him. Zoro could be rather laid back about most of the things that occurred on the ship, but he was always deadly serious and dangerously risky when it came to protecting the crew, enough to try chopping off his own limbs or offering his own head in place of his captain's. He genuinely believed the rest of the Straw Hats would be safer without him, and seemed equally convinced it was only a matter of time before the Alchemist showed up. The longer they waited, the more anxious over it Zoro was likely to get—and the closer he got to doing something truly stupid, like trying to make a break for it on Sabaody, or even tossing himself over the rail if nobody was keeping an eye on him. If he could barely move, he sure as hell wasn't swimming.

They had to break him out of that mentality, had to prove that he was wrong. That removing himself from the crew wouldn't help, would probably only make things worse when the rest of them wondered why he was distancing himself, or mourned him if his separation attempts went too far. That his so-called 'betrayal' wasn't a moment of weakness at all; that it was understandable, that anybody would have broken, that he'd done all he could to protect them and that was all that mattered. That his failure to hold his silence had not, and would not, kill them all, no matter how much he insisted on the contrary.

But it was easier said than done. They had to prove him wrong, but Sanji was the only one who knew enough to even know what had to be proved wrong. And it wasn't like his debates with the marimo had exactly gone well in the past. Usually it just ended with the two of them kicking the crap out of each other until they got bored of it and forgot what they were arguing over to begin with, or Nami-san intervened. Even when it didn't dissolve into an exchange of cut-back attacks, their verbal spats fared little better. Hell, he'd even tried to rationalize seriously with the marimo right after he'd heard the man's story, and Zoro flat-out hadn't believed him.

Words weren't going to cut it. Sanji was going to have to find some way to show, not tell, their swordsman that the whole mess wasn't his fault, that he wasn't a traitor, and that his mistake wasn't going to cost them in the end. And he had to do it without divulging the man's secret to the rest of the crew, which would only make things worse.

The answer came to him unexpectedly. It wasn't much of one, but it was all he had to go on: they had to beat the Alchemist.

It was simple, really. Zoro believed he had as good as murdered all of them by setting this man on them. Zoro had to be proved wrong. What better way than to kick this Alchemist's ass, even when the man was armed with knowledge of all their combat skills?

If—no, when—the man went down, it would push the marimo's recovery forward a little more. He would know the crew he was trying to protect was safe, even with him still in it, even with his 'betrayal.' It would prove to him that even if Pirate Hunter Zoro was monumentally strong, that one moment of weakness in unfathomable, horrifying conditions was acceptable—that he wasn't a demon, he was just human, a strong human but human nonetheless. That his nakama wouldn't abandon him, throw him to the sharks, and allow him to die.

That they were nakama, and always protected each other, absolutely, unconditionally, unhesitatingly.

Of course, that hinged on stubborn marimo lasting long enough to witness that defeat, to be proved wrong. Because even if they did take down the Alchemist, it would mean nothing if it was in revenge for a dead nakama, or in a rage over one that had gone missing (and Sanji didn't doubt that if Zoro intentionally got himself lost to 'protect' them they'd never find him again). They had to reach Sabaody as soon as possible, and hope that Robin-chan, Franky and Chopper were already waiting for them, or close enough to reach them soon. Had to keep an eye on Zoro until then, to make sure he didn't do anything monumentally stupid in his twisted, messed-up attempts to protect them all.

And they had to hope the Alchemist didn't find them in the interim. Because Sanji was sure they wouldn't last in a fight against him without all eight of their current combatants rested and at the ready.

And he was sure proving Zoro right would almost certainly kill him, not too long after their own deaths.


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~VelkynKarma