I want to live by the sea,
Live by the ocean.
Though I start over again,
I'll never change where I come from.
Loss of my momentum,
Set me in motion,
My heart and soul were for free,
But nobody would take them.
-"Live by the Ocean" The Hoosiers
XxxX
Sanji was laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling and thinking. Another step accomplished in the master plan. It had been... interesting to say the least. Not quite so unpleasant as she had expected.
Beside her Zoro was still asleep which wasn't surprising, he always seemed to spend too much of his time sleeping. Sanji's eyes drifted over to him. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about him, their relationship was rather odd. She liked him well enough when she wasn't trying to kick his stupid face in and he did have a handsome face, but she was unwilling to admit that she might- might- like him. Just a little bit, a tiny part of her might like him. That was it, defiantly nothing else... She wasn't sure what exactly would happen to their marriage after they left this place, probably nothing, but then again this wasn't just something easily forgotten.
She reached out a hand and poked his cheek, he didn't react. A heavy sleeper, she remembered. She felt a warmth rise in her chest as she looked at him, she was so glad that she picked him for this or it might have gone horribly wrong. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then he stirred but only to drag her closer to him.
Sanji frowned, she could see that it was time to get up. She was slightly unwilling to get out of bed and go downstairs just because she knew that everyone was going to tease them to death after last night, but they had to get up at some point. Sanji pinched his cheek hard enough that his eyes flicked open to glare at her.
"Now, I know that's not how you're supposed to wake your husband up," he grumbled, shoving her hand away.
"An how am I supposed to wake my husband?" she wondered.
He leaned forward and pressed their lips together, softly. It felt very intimate and pleasant. Weirdly so.
"I want to get up, not be stuck in bed all day," she breathed.
Zoro made a face, "It's still early, why the hell would you want to get up now?"
"I want to go help in the kitchens this morning," the blond told him.
"Then get up and don't bother me," he complained.
Sanji rolled her eyes, "Well, I'm going to call for a bath." She shoved aside his arms and rolled out of bed, quickly dressing she hurried off to call on a maid. Her modesty was probably unnecessary, but it made her feel safe all the same. She sat on the edge of her- their bed while she waited for the maids to fill the tub. When it was done she dismissed them and tested the water. It was warm.
She shrugged out of her clothes and slipped into the water to wash all the grossness from last night off her body. Zoro probably wasn't in any better a state than she was. She picked up a hairbrush near the tub and threw it at his head, it met it mark.
"What?" He grumbled, turning her way.
"You should get a bath too," she told him, "You're all gross."
"What, take a bath with a pervert like you?" he shook his head in disgust.
"Shut up, I'm your wife, this is a thing people do. There's enough room and the water will get cold if you wait," she scolded him.
He sighed, stumbled out of bed and into the tub, glaring at her all the while.
"Very good," she said like she was talking to a child and started scrubbing soap into his hair, also like a child. He didn't seem to appreciate it, but he didn't object either. Maybe this was the power of being a wife at work. Maybe now she had a level of control over him, she liked that idea.
The bath went about as well as it could be expected, in that at one point Sanji did try to drown the green haired idiot in bath water for being stupid as well as difficult before remembering that she still actually needed him to continue on with the plan. He was lucky she still had a use for him.
Before she left, Zoro caught her by the arm. "Are we going to be all weird about this when everyone else is around?" he asked.
She shrugged, "Maybe, I'll try not to be if you do."
"Let's swear to it," he suggested.
Sanji nodded, raising her right hand. "I, Sanji Black, to hereby swear to not be awkward around you when I can avoid it."
Zoro mirrored her pose. "I, Zoro Roronoa, swear to do the same thing you said."
Sanji blinked. "Your family name is Roronoa?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, it's not like anyone had ever bothered to day it.
"Fuck, your name is a mouth full. There are far too many r's and way too many o's. Zoro Roronoa. I can say the first name but the rest just sounds like gibberish," Sanji laughed.
"That's because you have to enunciate," Zoro said, emphasizing his words so they took on less of his accent.
"Zoro Roronoa. There, I fucking tried, it's too hard. I'm not taking that last name, it's too nonsensical. It sounds like you drool out the last part," she huffed.
"Well, no one asked you to take it," Zoro said indignantly.
"Good, because I would have said no."
Zoro glared at her. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"I do," she said, quickly moving to give him a patronizing kiss on the cheek. "Later, marimo," she said, winking, and flitted out the door, away from the mean look he was giving her.
"I'm your husband, you're supposed to kiss me on the mouth," she heard him grumble before she was gone.
She left in the direction of the kitchens. No one was really up yet, she had gotten up extra early for her bath, so she didn't worry about seeing anyone. The kitchen staff was there though and they giggled at her while she worked, but she tried to ignore it. She went out to eat with her friends Nami was waiting to ambush her outside the kitchen doors.
"How was it?" she asked with a smirk.
Sanji made a face, "I don't want to talk about this."
"On a scale of good to bad, how was it?"
"Not as bad as I thought it would be," she said hesitantly.
"So, good?"
"I guess."
Nami started giggling, "Robin told me to give you this." She held out a cup to Sanji.
The older girl took the cup hesitantly, "What is it?" she asked.
"It's a tea, but it'll stop you from getting pregnant," Nami told her.
"Oh," Sanji said simply. That was good, she didn't want to end up pregnant no matter how much she might like or dislike the marimo. So, she downed the cup quickly, it wasn't very nice tasting, but it was useful.
Once the tea was gone the two girls walked into the dining room. Robin, Franky, and Chopper were already there. Sanji helped set out the food, ignoring the looks that she was getting. She went to wake the other up because apparently no one else was going to, and threatening them with violence if they didn't come down.
When Zoro walked in Franky started laughing aloud. Sanji could feel her face was already on fire. "Was it super?" he asked loudly. Sanji wanted to throttle him.
Zoro made an uncaring face and shrugged. "Eh, it probably would have been better if she wasn't such a spiteful bitch."
"Shut the fuck up, you asshole." Sanji shoved his chair with her foot and it fell backward as he went down laughing.
Things didn't seem so tense after that. There were jokes of course but they seemed more funny rather than embarrassing now. She could get use to it.
The rest of the day went along as it usually would have, there would be a delay in transferring the land in order to let things settle down, so they were in a bit of a lull until then.
When the day was at it's end Sanji went up to her room to retire for the night, wondering if Zoro would be there. He was supposed to share the room with her from now until they left but she wasn't sure that he actually would. When she walked insides he wasn't there so she pushed him to the back of her mind and carried on getting dressed for bed.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when the door opened. Thankfully, the was already dressed and had just sat down. Zoro was standing in the doorway looking like he didn't know what to do with himself.
"I was told I had to sleep here," he explained.
"Yeah, it kind of goes with the whole marriage thing," Sanji pointed out.
Zoro walked farther in, shutting the door behind him.
"The maids have already brought your things in here so you can just get ready like you usually would," Sanji said lightly.
Zoro nodded, but made no move toward the wardrobe, instead he pulled his shirt over his head and kicked off his boots. He then proceeded to make himself at home on Sanji's bed next to her.
"So, how is this going to work?" Zoro asked, staring up at the ceiling.
"What do you mean?"
"This," Zoro gestured at them both, "How do we function behind closed doors?"
"I don't know, how do you want to function?"
"How do you want to function?"
Sanji huffed, apparently she was going to have to be the grown up one. "Well," she started, "I suppose that we could carry on as husband and wife if you really wanted to," she said, not looking at him.
He seemed surprised by that. "Really?"
"Yes, really. I mean, I don't hate you and I don't hate being physically close to you, so it seems like it would be okay to carry on like that," Sanji's said, examining her fingernails thoroughly.
"Hang on, are you actually proposing a legitimate relationship," Zoro laughed.
"Don't laugh, moss head, yes I am. So either say yes or no," she said angrily.
"Well, who and I to oppose the wishes of a proper Lady," Zoro snorted, "So, if you're my proper wife now does that mean I can do this?" He reached out and put his hand over her right breast.
Sanji's looked altogether unimpressed by Zoro's childish redaction. "Only if I can do this," she said, kicking him hard enough to make him tumble out of the bed.
He hit the ground with a soft thud. "Fair enough," he said as he reclaimed his spot on the bed, "I think we will get along just fine," he grinned.
"Good, I'm glad that's settled then," Sanji grinned back, before leaning over to put out the light in the room and shoving the covers back for sleep. In the dark a sting arm wrapped around her. She stifled a laugh, "I wouldn't have taken you for the cuddly type, marimo."
"Shut up, this is a proper relationship now, so someone had to make the first move," he grumbled.
"If you say so," she snorted, "Don't let me stop you." And she fell asleep with a smile on her lips.
XxxX
The land was transferred two days after the wedding. There was long, boring ceremony out in the city and the people seemed to receive the news well. Unfortunately, the royal family was not so pleased and when the land was transferred war was declared on Lady Vivi. This came as no surprise, but Sanji still felt terrible for it. Vivi would not tolerate her apologies, which was rather frustrating. She insisted that war would have come one way or another anyway, relations had never been very good between her people and the royal family, they didn't like her ruling over any land unmarried.
Only three days after that they were set to leave. They were still set to go to the city of One Piece. Robin was the one who had decided on their method of travel. They would take the linking door to the ruined city. The door went to the burned remains of what was once a city, it was in the middle of a forest that was supposed to be haunted and it was a fairly long walk to the next city but it was as close as they could safely get to their destination. Unfortunately, they could not bring horses through, but horses wouldn't survive long in that land anyway, there was little to no grass they could have eaten.
Soon enough they stood in front of the door, the smell of sheep's blood hanging in the air, and they were saying goodbye to Vivi once again.
"It has been wonderful to see you all again." The Lady said, half wishing she could go with them. She gave a little wave before she was swept up in a crowd of hugs. There were a few seconds of bone crushing squeezing before she was released.
Each person stepped through the door after a pause. Sanji was the last through and she nodded her thanks as she disappeared through the nothingness.
She stepped out into the middle of a pile of rubble. The floor was cut stone but it was covered in a layer of dirt and all around there were piles of crushed stone. The ruined city in all of it's glory. It would be a maze to get out of this place what with the towers if rubble. Nami had climbed halfway up onto one of the rock piles, trying to see which way would get them out faster.
"We should go that way," Nami pointed to their left, as it was the clearest path out.
The group followed her direction toward the start of a spindly looking sea of trees. It didn't take too long to get out of the ruined castle, the thing was a sad sight. The air around them felt cold and damp as the emerged from the rubble.
"This forest is supposed to be haunted," Robin said cheerfully as they stood in front of the woods.
"Psh, I'm not afraid," Usopp said bravely, despite his shaking knees.
"Then why don't you go first?" Zoro asked pointedly.
Usopp laughed nervously, "The great Usopp does not have to prove his bravery to the likes of you."
"Then go," Zoro nodded to the forest.
"Fine, I will," the bandit boy said uncertainly. He eyed the trees nervously before lifting a foot and stepping into the shade of the trees. He took another step and he was inside. "I did it!" he said proudly."
"You're so cool, Usopp!" Luffy laughed, running into the woods after him.
"Get back here, you idiots!" Nami yelled, "You're going the wrong way!"
This place was at the edge of the dead zone around One Piece. The trees were weak and spindly, the grass thin and frail. The whole place had a very dead feel to it and the wind was constantly pulling at their clothes. It wasn't freezing out, but it wasn't comfortable and it felt like rain.
They spent the day walking, it was hard to start after so long of being kept away in castles. They would all have blisters in no time. With Franky and Robin there it put an interesting spin on things. Sanji felt she ought to behave more under Robin's watchful eye, but that didn't always happen. Especially when Zoro was being a total jerk, and her was always being a total jerk.
Zoro and Sanji were walking at the back of the group.
"What should we do with these rings?" Zoro asked, flicking his wedding ring into the air like a coin.
"I don't know," Sanji shrugged, "We should probably keep them in case we're in one of the kingdoms or something."
"Do I have to wear it?"
"I don't care, just don't lose it."
"It's probably just going to get taken by some scumbag pickpocket, or Nami."
Sanji glared at him, "Then just keep it until it gets stolen. What do I care?"
"You're my wife, you're supposed to care."
"Yeah, well, I don't."
"Give that to me, you idiot," Nami broke it, making a grab for the ring, but Zoro moved it out of her reach.
"Did you see that," Zoro turned to Sanji, "She just hijacked the symbol of our eternal union."
"Just because you don't have the ring doesn't mean you aren't married to me anymore, so don't even think about running off to buy a whore," Sanji rolled her eyes.
"Where would I even find a whore out here?"
"The rare forest whores?" Nami suggest.
"I believe they prefer the term woodland foxes," Sanji told her.
"I wouldn't even have the money to pay a whore," Zoro scoffed.
"A whore wouldn't take you no matter how much you paid her, she'd be too freaked out by your green hair," Sanji said, making a grab for Zoro's hair but missing.
"Yeah, well what does that say about you then?"
"I'm obviously a little insane, but I don't think that would come as a surprise to anyone," Sanji sniffed.
"You're both insane," Nami told them, rushing off ahead of them.
Sanji glanced down at her ring as she left and noticed that it wasn't there at all. She looked back up and Nami was grinning at her, both rings in hands.
"I sear she's a witch," Zoro said, glaring at Nami.
"Don't be mean to Nami, she's an angel," Sanji kicked him.
"A harpy maybe," Zoro countered and soon they had devolved into fighting.
The day moved by slowly and when night fell the group split off to forage for kindling for the fire as well as any food items they could find.
Sanji was off in the woods, not far from the place they had decided would be their little base. She was assigned to collecting fire wood, because it looked like it would rain soon. She knelt to pick up a stick when she heard something off to her right. Her head twitched up toward the sound. She didn't see anything at first but there was another shuffle and they she caught sight of it. The girl jumped back with a muffled squawk of surprise. A skeleton, an actual skeleton, was walking upright and right toward her. Not just any skeleton, a very tall skeleton with outrageous hair.
"Hello," the skeleton said, although he had not the parts to make any such noise.
"Uh, hi," Sanji managed, partially frozen in place.
"I only want to know one thing," the skeleton tittered.
"What?" Sanji asked nervously.
"Yohoho, may I see your panties?"
Sanji somehow found it in herself to be irritated. "I think my husband might take issue with that."
"Really?" He sounded disappointed.
Sanji considered the question. She didn't think Zoro would probably kid if someone saw her in her underclothes but then again it wasn't his call to make anyway. "No," she decided, "I don't actually think he would give a shit, but in not going to show you all the same."
"Please?" he asked, hopefully.
"No!" Sanji threw a stick at him. "What the hell are you anyway?"
"I ate a devils fruit and now I'm dead," he said cheerfully.
"It killed you?" She had never heard of a devils fruit directly killing someone.
"No, it let me live forever," he clarified.
"That's..." Sanji didn't exactly know what that was. If it was good or not. "Uh, neat?"
"Yohohoho, I don't think anyone's ever called it neat before."
There was a rustle to their side and Luffy emerged from the bush. "Sanji, wh-" he stopped when he saw the skeleton and his jaw dropped. "Wow! A real live dead person!" he he exclaimed.
Sanji picked up and shriveled acorn and threw it at his head. "Hey, idiot, it's rude to stare."
"Who are you?" Luffy wanted to know.
"I'm Brook the bard," the skeleton said, raising the fiddle at his side. Sanji hadn't noticed it before, she was too busy freaking out over the undead part of him.
"You can sing?!" Luffy asked, his eyes lighting up.
"I have a beautiful voice!"
"But you don't have a throat or tongue," Sanji said, "How do you even talk?"
"Magic," Brook laughed.
"Come on, Brook, you have to meet everyone!" Luffy dragged the bard toward their camp. Sanji followed on slightly behind them, watching Brook suspiciously. It seemed a little coincidental that they would just happen upon someone like this, and a devils fruit user at that. But he didn't seem hostile, so hopefully her fears were baseless.
"Guys!" Luffy exclaimed, as he entered their little camp. "Look what Sanji found," he pointed to Brook.
Brook got an assortment of odd looks from the rest of the group, although none of them unfriendly. Mostly just curious. Brook just grinned back at them with his wide, unchanging, skeletal mouth.
After a pause, Brook looked over at Sanji. "Which one is your husband?" he asked.
"That idiot," she pointed at Zoro's stupid face.
"Ah, good sir, would you take issue with your wife showing me her panties?" Brook asked bluntly.
Zoro made a face. "If she'll let you see them, go ahead, but they're not all that impressive."
Sanji kicked him in the side and he tripped over one of the logs they were using for the fire.
"You have to play for us," Luffy was saying as Franky stared to light up the fire. The sparks caught on the second attempt and a trickle of warmth burst forth from the spindly branches.
Brook gratuitously agreed to play for them, he did not lie in saying he was good. It was nice to have a singer in a place like this. It seemed to make the woods a less frightening place.
It had started to rain and everyone was huddled closely under a rain tarp that had been tied between four trees. They had enough room that they could sleep under it, but it wouldn't be very comfortable.
"What were you doing out here in this creepy place?" Usopp asked curiously.
"I once had a band of friends who set out with me to get to the city of One Piece, but alas, we were attacked by wolves not two miles from the city. By the time I ate my devils fruit and came back from the brink of death they were all gone," he said seriously, "But the past is in the past."
"Do you know what the city looks like?" wondered Chopper. No one seems to know anything about the place.
"Like any other city, but with a huge tree growing up out of it," Brook told them.
"Did you go back to it?" Sanji wondered, she would have gone back if she was unable to die.
Brook shook his head. "I couldn't bring myself to go inside on my own." But that was understandable too.
Night crept silently over the sky and they all settled down for sleep, all except Brook, but hopefully he had the decency not to murder anyone in their sleep. All the same they kept one of the living on watch all night, just to be safe. Sanji had a difficult time falling asleep, she was squished between Zoro and Luffy and she barely had enough room to lay her feet out. The one advantages to being married to Zoro was that he was very warm and she was supposed to sleep next to him, although no one would have objected if she hadn't, she almost felt selfish for it. She slid as close to him as she could, he was her husband after all. It wasn't like she wasn't allowed to be close to him, he was just warm. Just warm.
XxxX
They set off in the morning, and because Brook hadn't murdered anyone last light they decided to let him tag along with them. He knew the area better than them after all.
It was three days to the edge of the woods, to the windy wasteland. They stood where the trees abruptly ended. One Piece had a dead circle around it's tree. The closer you were to the actual city, the less life there was.
Nami was looking down at the map in her hands like she was trying the squish the miles into a shorter distance with her mind.
"Don't worry, Nami," Luffy said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder, "We only have to go halfway."
The ginger haired girl looked confused, "What do you mean, we only have to go halfway?"
"We need to go halfway there and then I know a short cut," Luffy grinned.
"Why didn't you say that before, you idiot?" Sanji asked, Luffy had an amazing ability to be stupid sometimes, it was truly astounding.
The boy shrugged, "It didn't didn't seem important."
"Didn't seem- dammit, Luffy!" Nami groaned. "Fine, you know a short cut, okay. Where exactly do we need to go?"
Luffy thought for a moment, "Um, Ace said that if I ever needed to go back, I should go halfway there and then I'll know what to do."
"Who's Ace?" Usopp asked.
"My brother," Luffy said sadly, "but he's dead now."
"Oh." Usopp said awkwardly.
"So, you don't know where to go? Just halfway and that's all you know," Nami said impatiently, eager to get away from uncomfortable topics.
"Yep, that's it."
"Well then, straight on I guess." Nami pointed directly into the open plane at the hazy distance and began to walk forward as the others followed her lead.
In the first day they made it farther than Nami thought they would. They had yet to see any of the wolves Brook spoke of, but the wind was almost enough to knock them off their feet and that was it's own trial. The farther thy walked, the more Sanji wondered how an animal like a wolf could survive in an environment like this one, there couldn't be much for them to eat. Sanji was chilled to the bone and her face stung, burnt by the wind. That night they made their camp behind the largest rock they could find, which wasn't especially large. It was about eight feet tall and four across. Not the best, but it was the best they had for now.
They sat on the side away from the wind, eating the bits of food they had stored up, they ate little because they had to make it last. It was difficult to hold Luffy back from the temptation of food, but Sanji threw herself into it whole heartedly.
At dusk, on the fifth day, they saw the wolves. They just seemed to show up with no real warning. They appeared off to the right of them, running along parallel to their path. Even at a distance they could tell that something about them was not quite right. It was hard to place what it was, but somehow the movements felt wrong. It was rather erie.
They didn't attack, they just hovered in their peripheral vision, a looming threat. They made it very difficult to sleep, just knowing that they were out there. Plus, they howled at night.
The ninth day the wolves attacked. They had been growing closer by the day and at twilight on day nine one of the wolves ran close to their group. Usopp had been on watch at the time. Upon seeing the running wolf he squawked it's approach and loosed an arrow, it hit the beast in the right eye but it didn't seem to mind at all.
It continued to approach them, it's courage drawing the other wolves closer.
The attack was short lived because Robin squished them all with a few well placed hands. Strangely enough this didn't kill the beasts, they only ran off for a time. They continued to attack them at any chance they could get, it was a constant threat.
It wasn't only the wolves they had to look out for, there were birds that would swoop down and try to make a go at then with their sharp talons. Then there was the threat of not having enough food. Out in this place there was nearly nothing of sustenance to keep them going. All they had was the food on their backs and the occasional desert carrot, something that Usopp knew a lot about having grown up in a desert. The two pants weren't exactly the same, but similar enough. Water wasn't quite so difficult to find, it rained enough for them catch and store a good amount as they traveled.
On day twenty four, Nami predicted that they were approximately halfway to the city but Luffy said they hadn't gone far enough, so they walked another two days before Luffy suddenly stopped his walking with a strange expression on his face.
"What is it?" Sanji managed to croak, her throat was sore from the recent lack of water they were experiencing.
Luffy shook his head slightly. "I need a knife," he said with a dazed sounding voice.
Sanji brought out one of her daggers and handed it over. Luffy took it my the hilt and drew it roughly against the inside of his wrist despite Chopper's protest. The rubber boy knelt on the rocky ground and let his blood seep into a crack in the surface. A drop for each person present. Then Luffy sat back and nothing happened.
"So, was that it?" Zoro asked, he had been expecting something spectacular.
"We have to sleep now," Luffy said confidently, laying back on the hard ground.
"Luffy, it's the middle of the day," Sanji protested.
"I believe it would be wise to follow these words, although I suggest we find a better place to sleep," Robin said with the hint of a smile on her face.
Luffy hopped back up and they found the largest rock they could. When they were all sorted out Luffy instructed them to sleep as they were, not laying out like they would for a camp. Sleep was difficult to find, but they were all exhausted, so it wasn't as hard as it might have been. Luffy was the first one asleep, he seemed to fade slowly out of existence as he lay there. Sanji only saw it because she happened to be having trouble sleeping. It was even harder to sleep after that.
Brook was next to go, although it was hard to say if he really slept as he had no eyes to rest. Off went Robin and Franky. And Sanji still couldn't even keep her eyes shut for long. She just kept rolling around until Zoro poker her in the side. She jumped and glared over at him.
"Are you even trying?" he hissed so quietly she could barely hear him over the wind.
"I can't sleep," she frowned.
"Well, try harder," he commanded.
Sanji rolled her eyes, "I would have thought you would be first to go. You sleep like the dead."
"Someone had to make sure that everyone makes it," he told her. That was true, and what better person for the job than one who could fall asleep almost on command.
He pulled her close just as Chopper was disappearing. Zoro was just as warm as he always was, burning his presence into her skin. The warmth was a relief. This was becoming too familiar, too safe. It was strange. He rubbed soothing circles over her skin and she began to finally get drowsy.
Sanji woke up in a different place than where she had fallen asleep. Instead of being rocky, the ground was smooth, dry and cold. She felt sore all over, but sat up all the same. She wasn't sure what woke her up, but she was suddenly at attention. Everyone else was there, except Usopp, Nami, and Zoro.
They were at the base of a large wall, the sort that are built around large cities.
"We're here, Sanji!" Luffy shouted happily, extending a hand to her.
She took it and stood unsteadily. "What?"
"Look," he pointed to the right, opposite the wall. Past a sea of empty and abandoned building a, there was a tree. A tree so large that it the top wasn't even visible through the clouds. Sanji gaped at it and tried to take a step forward but tripped over Usopp, who had materialized under her feet. She stumbled but stayed upright, continuing to stare in awe at the huge tree.
It was almost hard to get the idea of this through her brain and there were devils fruits at the top of that thing as well. It was bizarre.
Nami shower up about ten minutes after Sanji had, and Zoro almost immediately after that. He had magical sleeping powers, or so it seemed.
After a few minutes of staring at the tree in wonder, it was decided that they should keep moving forward. Then they set off toward the city at an excited pace. Luffy had apparently been born here and there were stories about the people here, but they didn't see any sign of humans, or any other sort of beings.
Zoro was on edge all the while, looking over his shoulder every few minutes. He was convinced that they were being watched, there was just this creeping feeling up his spine.
Through the creepy city they marched until they made it to the base of the tree and saw that all the bark at around the sides had been peeled off. There had been storied about people eating the bark off the tree, but that had seemed like more of an exaggeration than anything. Maybe it really was true.
They stopped in front of the massive plant, trying to see all the way up to the top but it was impossible. The ground was stained around it's base, presumably where fruits had fallen and splatter across the ground but there were no rotting fruits so something must have picked them up.
"Monkey D. Luffy?" asked a cheerful sounding voice behind them. They spun to see red haired man with a scarred face standing in the direction from where they had just come.
"Shanks?" Luffy exclaimed, brightening immediately upon seeing the man and launched himself at the man.
The man, Shanks, was knocked to the ground, laughing all the way. "You have come to claim your right?" he asked.
Luffy nodded, "I brought my friends with me," he gestured to said friends.
Shanks stood and offered them a wave, "Good to meet you."
Luffy had mentioned the man before, he had said that he had given him his straw had before he left One Piece with his brother, but not much else.
"You know what we're supposed to be doing?" Zoro asked bluntly, " because he," he pointed to Luffy, "doesn't."
Shanks barked out a laugh, "Yes, I know what you're supposed to be doing. Come on, follow me." He lead them around the side of the tree to a tunnel carved into it's roots.
"Excuse me," Robin asked politely, "I was just wondering why the tree is striped of it's bark along the bottom."
"Ah, well there isn't much food out here, so all we have to eat are the desert carrots, tree bark, and the occasional fallen devils fruit. Although, recently we've been working on farming crops. We've had mixed results with that," he frowned leading them down the stairs. They went down, down, down into the depths of the earth and then down some more.
When they finally came to the bottom their legs burned with the effort of walking. They were in a small room attached to a hallway.
"Where are we?" Nami asked.
The Sanks appeared to ignore her, and led them through a series of rooms. With each step the atmosphere seemed to get more creepy. It was even more creepy because no one seemed to want to say anything to break the tension. They continued on silently until they entered a room filled with skeletons.
"What the fuck is this?" Sanji breathed, in the quiet it sounded very loud.
"They were people who made it here. They weren't what was needed so they made their rest here," Sanks said seriously.
"You killed them?" Nami asked in horror.
"No," the read haired man shook his head, some of them came to live with us, some of them we had to kill."
"You say we, but we have yet to see anyone but you," Robin pointed out.
"You'll meet the others soon enough," Sanks promised, "Anyway, when outsiders die we take their bones here to preserve them."
"Why?" Zoro asked.
Shanks shrugged, "Tradition."
And they continued quietly down the hallway. When the finally stopped, it was in front of a large, heavy looking door. The man struggled to open it at first but soon enough he leaned over and shoved it open.
There was a glitter and the door opened to a large room literally filled with treasure. Nami was nearly foaming at the mouth. Shanks paid the treasure no mind and walked through a path in the piles until they came to another room. They lost Nami somewhere along the way.
In this room there was a boat with a lion's head for a mast. Luffy's eyes lit up. "A pirate ship!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"It is yours," Shanks said, "all of it is, if you want it."
"Why?" asked Robin with a note of suspicion.
"Because it is written," he pointed to the back wall of the room. Usopp stepped close with a torch to see the faded illustrations of a boy who looked remarkably like Luffy and a gang of friends acquiring a ship.
"What's with that next picture?" Sanji asked pointing to the ship floating in what looked like a sea of blood. That wasn't ominous at all.
"It is written," the man repeated.
"That's a pretty weird thing to write about, don't you think," Sanji pointed out.
Shanks shook his head, "I don't write the prophecies, I'm only telling you what I know."
"Why couldn't Luffy just take the stuff while he was here before," Zoro asked.
"Because you guys wouldn't be here if he did that, and you're in the picture. Anyway, you have to leave immediately," he said.
"How the fuck are we supposed to take this boat with us? Drag it through the wasteland?" Sanji scoffed.
Shanks shook his head. "Wait right here," he told them, walking out of the room.
"Does anyone else think this is super weird?" Sanji asked nervously.
"It is very strange," Robin nodded, but I do not think that we are wished any ill will."
"I don't like it," Zoro grumbled.
"Me either," Usopp said, staring at the prophecy on the back wall.
"Shanks is trust worthy, he wouldn't do anything bad to us," Luffy frowned unhappily.
"How do you think they'll get us out of here?" Franky wondered.
"Magic probably," Chopper said.
"Can they do that?"
"I don't know, maybe."
They had to wait a long while before Shanks made his return. He came back with a whole host of haggard looking people. They all piled into the room together. Nami was pushed into the room with them, her hands full of gold. Four men came after her, carrying good with them.
"How much gold will you be taking?" Shanks asked.
"All of it," Nami said immediately.
Shanks frowned,"Ah, well, I can only give you about an hour before we have to send you off."
"Why?" Nami demanded.
"Because the prophecy-"
"Damn the prophecy, I want my gold!"
Shanks sighed and told his men to bring aboard as much gold as they could manage.
An hour later they only had a fraction loaded up, but the men stopped carrying the gold anyway, much to Nami's disappointment.
"You guys should all get on board," Shanks told them.
"What are you going to do?" Luffy asked.
"You'll see," he promised, placing a hand on Luffy's head, "I wish you could stay longer."
"Why do we have to go now?"
"Because the prophecy says so, now go on. You have places to go," he ushered them along. They practically had to drag Nami onto the boat.
"You'll end up just west of the newest seaside," Shanks called up when they were onboard. People were starting to gather up around the boat.
"I don't like this," Sanji said nervously, just as a mumble of chanting worked it's way up from the crowd. The sound swelled once it started. Leaning over the side of the ship, they could see the people moving along with the sound.
The creepy feeling was only increased when daggers were unsheathed.
"What are they doing?" Usopp whispered in a trembling voice.
The daggers were instantly put to use, drawn across the arms of as May people were in the room. They took their shed blood and smeared it over the side of the ship.
"What the fuck?" Sanji grimaced, when suddenly there was a snap and the feeling of being squeezed through a tube. Reality seemed to shift into a blur around them. Sanji lost consciousness before she could even comprehend what the fuck was going on.
When she opened her eyes the bright blue sky was looking back at her. She rolled onto her stomach, her head spinning like a top. When she tried to stand the ground seemed to shift under her and she toppled over. Beside her the rest of the group was also beginning to stir.
Sanji crawled on her hands and knees to the railing, peering over the side. Below waves were rocking across the boat, washing away any traces of blood. They were actually in the ocean. Out on the open sea, no one to rule over the law or boss them around. Sanji grinned as Luffy joined her in strait at the waves. He let out a little cheer at the sight, jumping up and toppling over when he lost his balance.
When the rest of their group joined them they all looked dumbstruck.
"How did they-" Usopp started.
"Blood magic," Chopper answered.
"Will they be okay?"
"The fact that the ship on the wall was surrounded in a pool of what looked like blood leads me to think no, but who really knows," Sanji shrugged.
"Now we get to be pirates," Luffy grinned.
"Are we going to raid ships?" Usopp asked.
"Yep, and well become the most infamous pirates on the sea, feared by all," he cackled.
"I suggest we start by raiding royal ships in order to aid the Lady Vivi," Robin suggested, "After we find a port to stock up in, of course."
"Yes, exactly! This is going to be the best!"
There was a brief moment where they all looked at each other, overwhelmed with excitement. After their little moment of peaceful reflection on their luck had passed they rushed around to better explore the ship, not that they hadn't before but it was different now that they were actually sailing.
Sanji cooked them dinner, or rather, she presented them with the carrots and tree bark that they had been given as rations.
After dinner, she went out to the deck and leaned over the side, watching the sun set. It turned the sea as red as blood. Maybe that was what the prophecy had meant, it was hard to tell.
She didn't move when she heard someone approach her, she knew it was Zoro. She had his footsteps memorized.
"What?" she asked as he took his place at her side, their arms not quite touching.
"I was just wondering."
"Wondering what?"
"If you're ready to sail off into the sunset now," he grinned.
"I'm beyond ready," she grinned back, shoving him lightly. "I don't think I've ever been more ready for anything in my life." She was finally free.
The End.
XxxX
A/N: Zoro's full name is a mouthful, I can't say it well.
And I would say a large selection of land is good enough pay back for with holding a secret. Sanji did say she would repay her debt to Vivi. I like Vivi, she's cool.
It took two guys 71 days to cross the Gobi desert so that was my basis for crossing a desert.
This is a story of convenient travel, because medieval times kind of suck like that. I should have named it blood magic ex machina -_-
What the fuck happened to the plot? I'll tell you what happened, I got bored of writing it and just wanted to finish. Undeveloped story is underdeveloped, I'm so sorry. I'm a horrible person. It was only supposed to be 30k D': Anyway, it was really fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it. If you guys really want I can write an epilogue, but you would have to tell me what you would want in it because I have no idea and I kind of liked leaving it where it was. Anyway, until next time.
Live long and prosper.