Bite Me

by New Neon

No one ever said that pirates fight fair, but if someone bites you in a fight then it's perfectly reasonable to bite them back. Sanji has to learn that life isn't fair and nothing else is either but that bad jokes and falling in love certainly makes unlife worth living. Zosan/Sanzo tw:blood and blood drinking

13. Chapter 13

The difference between being a sensible fighter and an idiot is knowing which battles to pick, so whilst Sanji stays on the ship to guard Nami's treasure as the perfect goddess wished for he knows not to bicker with Zoro too much when he decides to go off wandering on his own. He protests of course but Zoro doesn't listen so Sanji gives up. The trees are all numbered and Zoro often does ask for directions, even though he has trouble following any direction that anyone gives him more complex than 'go straight on' and even then he screws that up sometimes. If the worst comes to the worst he can always track the moron down by scent again, though whether that will work as well on an island as populated as this he doesn't know. Sanji breathes in deep and smells the tacky smell to the air. He can smell Zoro's handprint on the rail of the ship, almost glued down just from the aerosolized sap floating about. Yeah, he can track Zoro in this if he has to.

"Don't forget to ask directions!" He calls after the idiot.

"Don't trust yourself!" He and Usopp chime in together, waving the grouchy man off. Sanji snickers to himself and turns his back on the marimo, leaning against the railing. Pissing Zoro off is never ever going to get old.

After that he actually has a nice relaxing afternoon with Usopp and Franky. Until the others get back with the coating technician there's nothing to do at all. He wonders idly what kind of thing Zoro is getting up to and if he's lost already. He'd even bet money against Nami that Zoro was, not that Nami would ever bet that Zoro wasn't. Zoro getting lost was one of those laws of nature, like the sun rising every morning and setting every evening. As sure as those things were, so too was the fact that Zoro would get lost at the first possible opportunity, they were the same thing.

He's lounging on the lawn deck with Franky and Usopp who seems long past being scared of him now. It's all pretty nice, idle chatting between them all, though Franky takes every opportunity available to him to turn something into an innuendo and then waggle his eyebrows at Sanji or slide down his glasses and wink at him. Sanji is pretty sure that Franky wouldn't know the meaning of the word subtle if Sanji kicked it into his chest in morse code. What a moron.

The three of them are sitting having tea, or rather, the others are having tea and Sanji is sitting there smoking because he needs to do something with his mouth too or he'll feel completely weird. When the denden mushi rings he's the one to go and pick it up. He figures that it'll be one of the crew asking him to track down Zoro or maybe even Luffy having run off after something adventurous or shiny. The last thing that he expects is to hear that Camie's been captured by slave traders. It takes all of his self control not to crush the receiver in his hand. But he can be calm, he has a plan. No one is going to get away with kidnapping Camie, not on his watch!

"Tell me where you guys are, in detail. Just wait there." Sanji says, forcing himself to be calm and clear. He needs to know just where to start looking, the more information that he has the better. But it's not just information for him that he needs, no, he's getting backup.

"We know some pros at this. I'll call the 'Flying Fish Riders'." Sanji says and slams the denden mushi down hard enough to make the little creature whimper before he picks it up and makes his call. Duval fucking owes him after that stunt that he pulled, not to mention Sanji doing him the courtesy of rearranging his face.

When the asshat shows up he ends up sidetracking them with stories about how, despite his new face, he's had no luck getting girls. Of course he hasn't, he's still a blithering idiot with the world's creepiest wink, and that's coming from a dead guy. But he gets the idiots back on track and they motor off on their dumb flying fish to go find what kind of bounty hunters might have 'acquired' a mermaid. Idiots like that tend not to know when to keep their mouths shut and not brag. Sanji never thought he'd be lucky to know people who have dabbled in the slave trade but as always the Grand Line is a place that insists on turning all of Sanji's expectations upside down, like what happens when you die for example.

They go and pick up Chopper and Brook, the other morons have run off despite Sanji's incredibly simple instructions. Each of the Flying Fish Riders (or the rose coloured whatever the fuck they call themselves now) has a Straw Hat on the back of their fish, with Sanji riding on the back of his poster's previous doppelganger, which proves useful when he has to repeatedly kick the moron in the back of the head for being dumb.

They finally do get to grove 1 though where the disgusting human auction house is, and though they try to get Camie back with Franky arguing that they have no right to sell a living person, the bastards who run the auction house have no inclination of listening. They're too steeped in their own disgusting beliefs to be swayed by one argument. With no other choice Nami sends them all in to buy her back. As much as Nami loves money she always cares for her friends and Nakama more, all of them know that, no matter what kind of careless face Nami sometimes puts on. She really is a saint.

But when Camie is wheeled out on stage in a giant fishbowl, like she's some kind of pet, one of the despicable 'world nobles' immediately bids more money than the crew has even accumulated and spent in their entire time together. Even if they'd never spent a single bit of it they still couldn't have afforded to buy her and outbid that guy, even if they did he'd probably just up it without a thought. Sanji stares in horror, they… they can't get her back.

Sanji grits his sharp teeth as the announcer looks over the shocked room, though the other supernovas don't look all that shocked, presumably they know just what these bastards are like.

"Th-the whole audience is speechless. But does anyone want to bid over 500 million? If not then it will be an early end for this item!" The announcer says with a theatrical wave towards Camie. Sanji fights the urge to snarl, Camie is not an 'item' of any kind, she's a beautiful and perfect person!

"Sanji! Isn't there anything we can do?! Isn't there any other way?! Our friend is being taken away because that guy has more money!" Chopper pleads with Sanji, like it's his fault or something. Chopper's just a kid and despite how he towers over Sanji in his current form to him Sanji is an adult, someone who can fix things when they go wrong. Only Sanji has no idea how to fix this at all.

He stands there with his arms folded over his chest, and tries to think of something, anything to do. If he just outright attacks then that collar around Camie's neck will explode and she'll be killed, if not outright decapitated!

"This is bad," He admits darkly, "we had counted on money solving this problem, but the situation is much worse now."

Hatchan and Pappag are arguing amongst themselves about what to do, but before they can come up with any kind of plan the announcer slams his gavel down on his stand and announces that the sale is complete with Camie bought for 500 million. Sanji frowns, maybe they can get the key after the auction is over, with the others tailing Camie and then they can overwhelm that Charlos guy, unlock Camie's collar and flee. Maybe they can wait until the heat dies down and then come back to Sabody for the coating and get to fishman island. That's probably the most sensible thing to do.

As if summoned by a sane plan being put into motion Luffy bursts through the wall behind them in an explosion of plaster, wood and mortar with Zoro right behind him. Great. So much for subtle, fighting it is then.

Luffy sprints down the stairs with guards and Hatchan hanging off of him. Luffy barely notices the restraints around him until the audience sees the fact that the man hanging off of Luffy is in fact a fishman, his four extra arms popping out of his jacket to cling tightly onto Luffy. The crowd erupts into completely racist shouting and yelling, only for the bastard who bought Camie to stand up and shoot him right in the chest.

Sanji gasps in shock and immediately regrets it. The smell of blood, salt slick and ink tinged assaults his senses, Hatchan's blood. He shudders all over and stops breathing. He doesn't need this, he's well fed and perfectly capable of resisting this. But he's angry, more than angry, he's furious and the tang of blood in the air is making whatever dark part inside of him that's keeping him moving snarl with need. The instinct to rip and tear and protect what is his at any costs and- Sanji shakes his head and swallows, grounding himself and focusing on Zoro's presence at his side. Zoro grounds him, he always has. He can trust Zoro.

Luffy is crouched over Hatchan who is paradoxically begging for Luffy not to attack the guy who just shot him but there's no reasoning with Luffy like this and frankly Sanji doesn't want to listen to it either. With a shout about how the guy is pissing him off Luffy pulls back his fist and slams it right into the world noble. Good.

The crowd sits in silent horror, except for the other supernova's in the room who are grinning like it's all one big game. Maybe it is to them. After all, it's not going to be them that'll be the Marine's priority now, is it? Zoro's already got one hand on his sword, eyes darting around for danger to their captain and at his sides he can feel the rest of his nakama that use weapons slowly shifting to them, getting ready for danger but subtly enough so that no one will attack them for doing it. Zoro is by far the most obvious by reaching for his swords but he has the most noticeable weapons so it can't be helped. He hears the Usopp unclipping his bag, his fingers running over his ammunition.

"Sorry you guys," Luffy says, turning to them all, his fist still clenched after the punch that sent the noble flying and the crowd reeling in shock.

"I hear if you hit one of these guys a marine admiral is gonna show up with warships in tow." Luffy says. Nami runs forward, ducking under Luffy and pressing on Hatchan's wounds, trying to stem the bleeding.

"Why'd you have to go and punch him?" Zoro asks darkly, his hand unsheathing one of his swords. Luffy's eyes track to the swordsman, but he waits, not judging the remark just yet.

"I wanted to slice him up myself." Zoro says, twirling his sword into a proper grip without even a thought, his hands are made for them and his swords made for Zoro. They are perfect together. He hears Nami trying to reassure Hatchan, trying to take his mind away from the pain. The guy is stupidly asking why the crew had to get involved, and for any other crew it would be a fair point, they hardly know Camie really. But with them it's not like that, and if you put Luffy in a situation like this, where someone he cares about is in danger, then no force on earth can stop him from getting involved.

"Now then…" Sanji says with a smile, this seems like the time for a cigarette. It's almost a ritual when it comes to fights, to light up right before a big throwdown which this absolutely will be, but that's not why he's doing it. He's hoping that the taste of the smoke and the smell of it in his nose will dampen the smell of blood in the air which no doubt is going to get worse as they fight. Not everyone's weapons are bloodless like Nami's can be.

"I guess that's our plan settled for now then." Franky says, finishing Sanji's sentence for him, his eyes looking at the exits and scanning the crowd. He cracks his knuckles and adjusts his posture a little, ready for the fight to come.

"The key to Camie's collar, it's got to be somewhere over there backstage. I've got to see to Hatchan's wounds, good luck." Chopper says to Franky and the cyborg nods, he has his mission now.

The overgrown manchild Charlos's sister suddenly leaps to her feet, evidently getting out of her shock. She points an accusatory finger in Luffy's direction and screams, yelling about how dare he, a common pirate peasant so much as touch her brother and blah blah. Even if she is a lady Sanji can't stand people like the world nobles, people who abuse other people like that, who think they're better than everyone and tread on anyone else at any opportunity.

As one the rest of the crowd break from their shock, the shout from the world noble getting through to them and they all seem to simultaneously realise just how real and dangerous this situation is. Absolutely no one wants to be in the way when a world noble is insulted, assaulted and disrespected like this. No one but their crew of course. The crowd starts to stampede out of the auditorium, creating chaos.

Sanji sees the gleam of the gun and before he knows he's reacting. He dashes forward and kicks it up and out of the guy's hand, his leg a straight line right up from his other leg. It spins wildly in the air and lands behind the guy, shooting someone else in the crowd as it discharges. Sanji has the misfortune of sucking in a new breath of smoke just then and gets a solid hit of the arterial spray in the air and something in his stomach jerks.

Sanji shakes his head, trying to shake the fog from his brain, but he's so angry, these people don't deserve to live and they've hurt Camie and they're endangering his crew. He's always been hot headed, even between him and Zoro he's the one with the shorter fuse. This whole situation has him out for blood and he really wants it just to be in the metaphorical sense, but the animalistic side in him is disagreeing. Another of the noble's stooges leaps forward, with a gun in one hand and a dagger in the other. Sanji can't be sure who he's going for. Zoro is sprinting past, sword pulled back and muscles tensing for a strike against Camie's fishbowl to free her, but he's passing Nami and Chopper who are attending to Hatchan. He could be threatening any of the three of them, or all of them. This is not going to happen, they are his nakama. They are HIS. Time seems to hang, or maybe he speeds up, because he launches himself at the guy and lands knees first in his chest and knocks the guy right off balance. He fires his gun and shoots… someone, Sanji doesn't know who but a splatter of blood hits his face. Nami screams and Sanji loses it.

"SANJI!"

Someone is yelling at him. He digs his fingers in, it rips and tears easily.

"Sanji, Sanji…"

"Don't! He-"

Sanji bites harder, it's stopped flowing but he digs his teeth in and it still works. More of it. More.

Something hits his senses. Steel, autumn leaves, ocean spray, trust and calm.

"Sanji, it's me, let go." A calm voice says, Zoro's voice.

Sanji blinks a few times and the rest of the world comes into focus a little more. There's a hand reaching out to him, blood seeping from a small cut over the meat of the palm. He breathes in sharply, Zoro.

"Let go Sanji." Zoro repeats and the words sink in a little. Let go. Let go of what?

Oh yeah, he has his teeth in something. He opens his jaw and the weight in his arms becomes greater. He licks his lips without thought and yeah, now breathing with his mouth open he can almost taste Zoro.

"That's good, now just drop him, okay?" Zoro says soothingly, coming closer. His mood seeps into Sanji's mind, calm, be calm. Sanji's arms relax and something heavy hits the floor. He looks down. There's a man on the floor, at his feet. Or… he thinks it used to be a man. He seems to be missing a few body parts now, an arm is gone somewhere, long claw marks rip along the joint. There are bite marks in his neck and shoulder, giant gouges in his flesh with black spiderweb marks inching out of them.

"Zoro be careful! He might not be… he might not be Sanji anymore." Someone else calls out. Chopper maybe?

He jolts and bristles when something touches his face, it's Zoro. Zoro's hand and his bleeding palm right by Sanji's nose and… where is he? He focuses. Zoro is standing right in front of him, one arm stretched out to Sanji's cheek but the other arm has his sword in it, ready and blade side facing Sanji. Zoro is calm, so calm, Sanji can feel it washing through his skin.

"Zoro?" He asks shakily and turns his head. There is blood running over the floor and bodies flung over seats, unnaturally pale bloodless skin on their bodies and dead faces. He's shaking, nearly vibrating in fact. How long has he been doing that?

"I'm here Sanji." Zoro says evenly and it occurs to Sanji that his tone is like Zoro might use on a frightened and dangerous animal.

"What happened?" Sanji asks hazily and looks down at himself. His jacket is missing and his white shirt is… no longer white. It's almost entirely covered in blood. How?

"A guy nearly shot Nami and you lost it. But you're okay now, right?" Zoro says, prompting him. Zoro pulls his hand away a little but pauses, his palm near Sanji's mouth. Unthinkingly Sanji licks it, the taste of Zoro drawing him in. Calm and focus flood through him and Zoro feels like home, safe and warm. The cut knits back under his tongue as easy as breathing.

The rest of the room comes into focus. Whatever fighting had been going on has mostly stopped. There's an old man by Camie who… doesn't have a collar on any more. When did that happen? She's looking at him with wide terrified eyes and for a moment Sanji can't figure why that is until he puts two and two together and comes up with, 'you just ripped apart several people and drained them dry in front of her'. Horror and shame roil inside of him and Sanji thinks that he could be sick. Hah. Maybe it was something he ate. He doesn't remember it though.

"I blacked out?" Sanji asks, looking at Zoro again, who by now has sheathed his swords. Zoro was going to put him down if he needed to, but that wasn't what he was going for first, probably not even second or third, but he was prepared. Good. That's a good thing. He's safe with Zoro and Zoro keeps other people safe from him.

"Mentally, yeah, I think you did." Zoro nods.

"Sanji… are you… you again?" Nami asks in a timid voice and she's looking at him with wide eyes and now guilt is wrestling over everything else. He scared Nami.

"I am. I'm so sorry Nami I would never hurt any of you, I don't… I don't remember but… it's okay." He says in his most reassuring voice. Nami still looks scared but she nods.

"You don't see many vampires around any more." The old man next to Camie says with a knowing smile.

An explosion rattles the room, coming from outside and Sanji realises that Luffy is nowhere to be seen. Explosion sounds and a missing Luffy are never a great combination.

"We need to go, don't we?" Sanji says, looking towards the door.

"Yeah, we do." Zoro nods, turning slightly and jerking his head towards the door. Sanji follows him quickly, keeping Zoro right in his line of sight.

Everything feels too bright, too real. The edges of the world seem sharper and Sanji can smell everything he can smell food and cotton, leather and carpet, hair gel and moisturiser. All of the little smells that he shouldn't be able to pick up are forcing themselves into his head and he can't focus like this. He's shaking like a man in sub zero water and he can hear the stretch and tense that Zoro's muscles make as he walks. He stares at him and sees every tiny hair on the back of his neck and the pulse of blood under his skin.

He follows Zoro closely and smells dust, tea and steel like he's been smacked in the side of the head with it. His head jerks sharply to the side and it's Brook walking close to him. As they come into the wider hallway leading to the front of the building he is assaulted by flowers, old paper, coffee and silk. Robin, he knows it's Robin. She's a little way behind him but also directly to his right. He can hear the little clip clop of Chopper's hooves behind him and he doesn't even need to think about the smell of fur, candy and formaldehyde following him like a cloud. Some deep part in Sanji is screaming that he's being closed in, to escape, to run and flee or kill and tear.

No.

Zoro brought him back from oblivion so he's safe with him, Brook is already dead, Chopper has his guard point which even Sanji would have trouble sinking his teeth into without getting just a mouthful of fur, and Robin… well, she could pin him down in a second and there was that time when she snapped a guy's back with ease. Between the four of them Sanji is safe and they are safe from him.

"Oi, can you handle this?" Zoro asks, looking at him.

"I just- I'm overloaded. I can- everything is too much. I just need to get used to it, I have to." Sanji says, his voice shaking. His nakama need him, he can't just lose it like this. If this happens every time there's a big fight then what use will he be? He needs to be stronger than this thing, he will be.

"Just say the word." Is all Zoro says on the matter. If Sanji tries and fails Zoro is trusting him to let him know and asking him to trust him back to take over. That's… they've always kept an eye on each other in fights, competed and looked out for one another. But neither of them have ever really said out loud that they might not be able to do something like this. Even at Thriller Bark it wasn't like this. But Zoro's offering him that branch and that's a huge gesture, not one the man would make lightly and Sanji won't throw it back in his face. Frankly his ego is too low on his list of priorities to really flare up here, and maybe when it's Zoro really caring like this, he doesn't need to. He won't back out of this unless he really REALLY needs to though.

First things first, he needs to stop being so distracted. The sight, sound and smell of the rest of the world is getting too much, he needs something to blot at least part of it out. He pats down his pockets and finds a slightly dented packet of smokes. It's not covered in blood in the same way that a little water doesn't get into them either. Sanji has a wax lined packet, he's always lived on the sea and wasting smokes is never something he's happy to do. He shakily puts one in between his lips and pats himself down. Shit, his jacket is missing and so is his lighter then.

"Oh, shit, I needed…" Sanji hisses at his own idiocy. He can't go back and find the jacket, there's no time and he's got no clue what state it's going to be in or if the lighter is even going to still be in there. For all he knows he buried it in the brain of some poor bastard in his blacked out and frenzied state.

"Hey, give it here." Franky says and Sanji looks over at him, his neck jerking sharp, fast and too far to really be human. Franky for his part doesn't react or point it out, he just holds his hand open. Sanji hands over the cigarette to Franky and feels the man's altered skin, hears the shift of pneumatics and gears inside of him and- ugh. He needs to FOCUS.

Franky holds the cigarette up and flashes Sanji a grin before blowing out a burst of fire, lighting the tip easily. With a waggle of his eyebrows he hands it back to Sanji who takes a deep drag. Nicotine, smoke, tobacco, burning paper, ash. He breathes deep. He can still smell everyone else, but it's lower now, still more than he could going into the building, but a hell of a lot less than it was moments ago.

"Thanks." Is all Sanji can manage to say. Franky just gives him a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. A warm feeling blooms in Sanji. Despite everything that he's done, everything that he now is and anything that he'll ever be, his nakama will always have his back.

He gets out into the harsh sunlight but he doesn't take any time to adjust, he sees perfectly and he gets the feeling that he'd have just as much detail in the pitch blackness at night. There are a whole bunch of punched out guys, people bleeding and oddly enough a whole load of people bloodlessly disassembled but still somehow alive. Sanji doesn't want to think about that last one.

One of the marines shouts, noticing that they've all come outside. There are shouts to take out the non devil's fruit users on the crew.

"Non fruit users at the front huh? Looks like they have it in for us." Zoro says with a wicked grin, looking sidelong at Sanji.

"Careful Zoro," Sanji says, trying to steady his voice. "A statement like that… could scare a man to death."

Brook bursts out in uproarious laughter, doubling over and slapping his knee in uncontrollable guffaws. Sanji's own smile starts to creep onto his face, he's still himself, he can do this. Zoro's look is sour but Sanji can feel an exasperated kind of relief come from the other man as well as a muted irritation. Zoro is more reassured than he is annoyed but you wouldn't know it looking at his face.

"You're lucky that I've got other asses to kick than yours curly." Zoro growls at him.

"You wanna see a kick?" Sanji shoots back and leaps forward, he leaps forward a hell of a lot actually, farther and faster than he ever could before and that's not exactly an easy bar to pass. He lands feet first right into the sternum of a marine who was getting too close to Luffy, the guy goes crunch and makes a wet gurgle. Sanji twists and kicks the teeth out of another man's head.

"Oh, Sanji!" Luffy chirps happy to see him, as if the last time he left Sanji wasn't eviscerating people with his teeth in a mindless fury. But Luffy knew he'd be okay, trusted him, trusted the others. Luffy isn't surprised, he's pleased and happy to see that Sanji is okay.

"Oi, Luffy, look over there." Sanji says, pointing off in the direction that his keen sight has alerted him to. He still feels like he can see everything, his mind and senses clocking everything that's going on around him without any input from him.

"Flying fish!" Luffy yells, waving enthusiastically and getting an overjoyed 'young master!' back, along with a creepy wink that Luffy probably can't see from this far away but Sanji is subjected to. Morons.

Luffy casually punches a guy and waves some more. His blood mists in the air as the marine's nose breaks and Sanji chokes on his cigarette. His foot is slick with blood from the guy that he kicked and- and-

He darts off, his back hitting Zoro's and bouncing off, his aim all over the place. Zoro raises an eyebrow at him but doesn't say anything. Sanji can deal with this, he just needs Zoro's zen like focus to ground him, at least until he can crack powering through this phase alone. He bounces from Zoro's general area, out to the marines blocking their path and back again, hitting up a close dose of Zoro's focus and calm when he starts feeling a little off kilter. Between the lot of them they make a path for Hatchan, the old man who Sanji still doesn't know, and Franky who is carrying Camie to get through.

They make a break for it and turn up at a place called 'Shakky's Ripoff Bar'. It turns out that the old guy, called Rayleigh, knows the owner. It turns out that's not the only surprise in store for them.

"THE FIRST MATE?!" The entire crew yells, Sanji starts too but the sound makes him wince, so many mouths and so much noise. The woman behind the bar, Shakky herself, is watching him with a sly smile behind her cigarette. The smell of the smoke helps to mute the smell of Hatchan's blood in the room as Chopper does his best to stabilize the fishman, another life saved at Chopper's hands that would otherwise have been lost. For his part Sanji had to ditch his shirt on the way over, having that much blood right under his nose was fucking with his focus too much. It's rather embarrassing to be sitting around in a bar shirtless but it's the lesser of two evils.

The whole time that Rayleigh tells them of his tale, how Roger let himself be executed, the history of their crew and Roger's illness, all throughout that Shakky watches him. Sure, her eyes glance off of him now and then, to answer a question or a brief look away, but she stays watching him.

Sanji isn't sure what it is about her, but something about her has his attention in a way that he can't quite drop. It seems that the feeling is mutual if the way that she watches him is any indication. He's been known not to take his eyes off of beautiful women before of course. Even now he appreciates Nami and Robin's stunning looks, if only for the aesthetically pleasing way that they are and how he enjoys it when they're happy, seeing as his libido seems to only follow Zoro lately. This doesn't feel like that. Oh, she's beautiful of course, and if he was still human he'd be having hearts in his eyes and fluttering all over the place.

He tries not to stare back, he looks at Luffy, at Zoro, at anyone else but still his eyes end up finding hers again, like iron to a magnet. It's… disconcerting. He manages to throw in the occasional question about Roger but as much as he tries to focus he can't shake the feeling coming from her.

Maybe she's the same blood type as Zoro and he's picking that up? It would make sense, Franky's blood is technically the same as Zoro's but it's so different that it's barely human anymore. But no, that isn't it either, he doesn't want to bite her and it's not because he's more than full right now. He'd rather not think too long on that point, thank you very much. He'll freak out about his loss of control later, but right now he still has to be on guard. Mostly from her.

When the crew move to leave the bar Sanji gets up and heads out first, feeling her eyes on his back the whole time. He tucks Rayleigh's vivre card in his wallet and notes that the others do the same, each putting it in a place that they're sure not to lose it. It'll take three days to get the coating done, they just have to stay out of trouble until then.

"Maybe we can go to the park again!" Luffy suggests happily as they walk off through the groves. Sanji groans, yes, letting Luffy loose amongst a bunch of people is sure to let them keep a low profile. But hey, maybe it'll work, no marine would expect anyone to be dumb enough to just wander back there. Sanji doesn't contribute much and instead just watches the grove numbers as they pass by. 10… 11…

They're barely into 12 when Sanji sees someone that he had never ever wanted to see again. Kuma. The man towers taller than all of them and considering that they have Brook and Franky on their crew that's saying something. Zoro's swords are drawn immediately and Sanji tilts his balance, ready to kick or jump his way through the guy or out of danger. He and Zoro know what they're up against this time and now the whole crew is here and engaged in this one fight. Plus, this time Sanji's got a few new tricks up his sleeve. He's stronger and faster than he's ever been and with the blood of who knows how many people flowing inside him he could be damn near invincible.

He glances across at Zoro and remembers finding him in that splattered circle of blood. This time will not be like the last time. Sanji's going to make sure of that.

"Get back Luffy, he's a Shichibukai!" Zoro yells, his eyes trained on Kuma.

"A Shichibukai?! How come you guys all know him?" Luffy asks, wide eyed and stupidly taking his eyes off of Kuma. Kuma who is… peeling his gloves off. SHIT.

"Luffy! Don't let him hit you with that attack! It's a shockwave!" Sanji yells.

Kuma attacks but it's not a shockwave that sends Luffy flying and the rest of them crouching into the energy burst coming out from it. It's a beam of some kind that exploded. Great. So Kuma's got new tricks too, and Sanji had really been hoping to be the only one. The morons freak out with glee about it being a beam but this is not the time for silliness and games. Sanji doesn't care how fast Luffy can switch from excitement to deadly, he simply cannot afford the delay here, Kuma is not someone to play with.

Luffy finally puts two and two together and comes to the conclusion that this is the guy from Thriller Bark. Usopp and Chopper explain hastily as Chopper switches forms into something more fight worthy. Sanji's eyes roam over Kuma, scanning for the slightest weakness. Maybe he can wait until he's distracted, or see him move and look for some way to take him out, or to slow him down enough for Zoro and the others to destroy him. He may be a Shichibukai but he is still just one man.

Franky takes the first attack, a 'coup de vent' that slams right into Kuma's chest and sends the man skidding back a few feet, but otherwise seems to do fuck all with a side of nothing. Luffy slams his fist into the floor and switches into his second gear.

"I know you're strong, so I'll go all out from the start." Luffy says, all joking in his tone gone. Good, Luffy can be dumb sometimes but when he feels like a situation is serious or that his nakama are in danger you won't find anyone more deadly serious than him. It's good that he's listened, now they're going to do this and take him down. Sanji bounces on his feet, Kuma looks mildly surprised but not at all threatened.

"We've got no choice!" Sanji yells, "Last time we had just finished with Oars. It's gonna be different now when we're fresh!" Admittedly, it's a questionable definition of fresh after that fight with the marines and the assholes in the auction house, but it's a hell of a lot better than after Oars was.

Zoro clamps his teeth around his sword but Sanji gets a wave of uncertainty off of him and Sanji looks over for just a second. Zoro is staring at Kuma and his brow is furrowed in a scowl, but it's not just anger or fight readiness, it's suspicion too.

Sanji darts forward to attack but has to bail out to the left to avoid being hit by that new beam attack. The same happens to the rest of their nakama, diving for cover and taking shots where they can. None of it seems to work though. Sanji hisses and skids into place next to Zoro again.

He, Luffy and Zoro all wind up for strong attacks, Sanji's leg catching fire with the force of his rage, his protectiveness and his vengeance. Kuma will pay. The three of them slam into Kuma, knocking him over onto his back and into the ground by several metres. Zoro and Luffy stand there, a little out of breath from going all out at the start.

"Is he that different? Does he have a twin?" Luffy asks, looking down at the man in the dirt.

"That's a possibility." Sanji concedes.

"No, if he was the real one he'd be teleporting around, avoiding our attacks." Zoro says with a shake of his head. Sanji grimaces, Zoro is right. Franky and Usopp were able to hit him too whereas before Kuma had been far too hard to hit. He should have known from then, evidently Zoro sensed it, hence his doubt.

"Most importantly he doesn't use those shockwaves or have those paw things." Zoro adds.

Sanji goes to the edge of the hole and looks down. He thinks that he sees destroyed circuitry in there too. Whatever this guy is, he's not Kuma.

"If he's really a fake then that's a problem in of itself. It means there's more than one of something as strong as him." Sanji says, his voice tight. How many of these are they going to have to fight? They have to last three days, they've not even made it an hour before this thing showed up. There's bigger questions too, if this is a fake Kuma with robot parts then does that mean that the marines are tracking their locations? Will he have sent data back saying that he's found them and are they about to be swamped by loads more? Now that they know how this thing works the three of them could probably take one out each at the same time, but only by leaping right in at their top levels of power and they can't do that indefinitely.

Sanji leaps back as the thing, the fake Kuma, moves and hauls itself out of the hole. Not destroyed then. He backs up sharply and the others do so too. They're not running away but it's not the brightest idea to be in smacking range of that thing, shockwaves or not. The fight starts taking far too long and Sanji's heart sinks when Zoro is thrown against the ground so hard that he stays there. He's alive and he's fine, but being hit this hard is probably doing a number on all of the bits inside of him that aren't quite healed, along with creating new injuries.

It's his head that Sanji is worrying about. Seeing Kuma's face so soon after Thriller Bark and all that happened there, their sacrifices, the things Zoro was willing to give up. It must be a nightmare.

"Leave that idiot there Luffy, our priority is taking that guy out!" Sanji snaps. Luffy looks at them and nods, hurling himself at Kuma's double. The others are getting in on the act now too, hurling everything they have at it.

"Zoro," Sanji says darkly, placing himself between Zoro and Kuma's double. Zoro will get up, he just needs a little time and motivation. Sanji can give him both.

"The only one allowed to spill your blood is me, got it?" Sanji smirks, keeping his eyes on Kuma. He hears Zoro shift behind him, the scrape of nails on dirt and the pull of fabric on grass. Zoro is getting up.

"Don't act so cocky, dead man." Zoro coughs and Sanji laughs in surprise. That's a new insult! Surprisingly from Zoro it doesn't hurt, maybe he's becoming more okay with this now.

"I can still kick your ass, and his." Zoro says, standing at Sanji's side and adjusting his grip on his swords and sliding wado back between his teeth.

"So prove it." Sanji taunts and leaps for Kuma, going so fast that he manages to spin the guy away with a kick and dent his arm.

Usopp shoots an explosive inside the fake Kuma's mouth and it clearly hurts him. A weakness! At last!

"One of your explosives went inside his mouth! I think you've shorted out something inside his body. His body may be tough, but he still bleeds! He's the same as me, modified all over with all kinds of weaponry but inside he's originally human!" Franky yells out. They just need to aim for his mouth then, and unless Zoro is able to land on his shoulders and make the guy start a sword swallowing act he's probably not going to be as useful.

Nami in all of her wonderful brilliance has decided to fight fire with fire, or more accurately, cyborgs with electricity. He sees her sprinting across one of the hills, her clima tact charging up brightly. Unfortunately Sanji is not the only one who's seen her.

"NAMI! Watch out, he's seen you!" Sanji yells at the top of his lungs. Nami's eyes go wide and an 'oh shit' expression runs across her face, trying to work out if she can get out of that beam attack before he fires it or if he'll just predict her move and adjust his aim. Thankfully she doesn't have to as the genius Robin clamps her hands down on the head of the Kuma double and slams his mouth shut with the force of his own head, stopping his beam from escaping and setting off a giant explosion in his head.

Nami grins and whirls her baton, gathering more lightning as she leaps towards the smoking Kuma-double.

"Sorry if I caught you at a bad time big guy, but I've got a storm warning for you!" Nami laughs and lets loose her thunder lance tempo attack. Sanji isn't sure if his circuits are fried or if he's just seriously pissed off but the Kuma double starts firing off attacks wildly, sending their nakama leaping for cover.

"Lose your head, lose the fight." Sanji says triumphantly, his leg catching fire as he runs and leaps for the Kuma double, leaving a trail of burning footprints as he does so.

"Hey, pass him to me!" Zoro yells out and Sanji grits his sharp teeth. Fucking stubborn Zoro. He trusts that the other man knows what he's doing though so he kicks his right in the chest and hard, sending him flying in Zoro's direction who suddenly has far more swords than he should have. The cyborg peers over his shoulder as he hurtles in Zoro's direction, raising his pawless hand for a beam attack. Zoro gets there first though and his attack slams into him with a force that makes Sanji wince just to think about it. He hurtles back Sanji's way but doesn't make it to him because Luffy slams the bastard into the ground with a tree sized fist and arm.

Kuma's double is crushed in the ground in a massive crater and the whole crew is sat around it at varying distances, catching their breath and recovering from the fight. Zoro looks like he's about to fall asleep in his usual 'I'll sleep off this life threatening injury, no big deal' sort of way. Moron.

The crew go back and forth on what this Kuma lookalike really is, they're all exhausted though, but they don't have time to sit around and speculate or recover. They need to haul ass out of here before someone else shows up to fight them.

"A rest would be nice," Sanji says, looking at Zoro's dishevelled state, not that Luffy is faring much better. "but we should at least hide ourselves first. If someone else found us first they could take the whole crew at once."

They probably could run a fight like that again, if it was another Kuma bot they already know its weaknesses but Sanji does not want them to take that chance. He breathes in and smells at least a little blood from everyone. Luffy's and Zoro's are the strongest in the air but there is enough that smells like the rest of his crew to set Sanji on edge in a way that has nothing to do with hunger.

Before the crew can listen to Sanji's highly sensible suggestion there's a yell from above and a ground shuddering smash as two guys slam into the ground. One is some creepy guy with a big-ass battle axe and not wearing nearly enough clothes. Sanji barely notices him though because behind him is Kuma, possibly a Kuma double again but either way this is a million shades of not good.

The crew go back and forth in mumbles about whether or not this is the real deal and what this 'pacifista' thing is that the nearly naked guy was talking about. It's not the fucking POINT though.

"Whether it is or it isn't him, we don't have the strength left to fight another one of those things, that's for sure." Sanji snaps and looks around at the others. Zoro is on the ground, crouching by Luffy's and on the other side of the axe bastard and the maybe or maybe-not-Kuma. Sanji doesn't like that one bit and finds his mind flipping back to his conversation with Zoro the night before. This would absolutely count as a situation where Zoro should be turned just before he died, but Sanji doesn't want to do it, he doesn't want Zoro to die, he wants them to all be okay.

"Get 'em PX1!" The guy who introduced himself as Sentoumaru yells. Sanji grits his teeth, he saw PX4 on the skin of the last Kuma double, so at least this isn't Kuma himself. Not that this is much better. An explosion of light hits in the middle of them and Sanji is pretty sure that they all jumped far enough away to be mostly unhurt. He doesn't smell a sudden increase of blood in the air anyway, so they should be alright. He lands near to where Luffy and Zoro had leapt to.

"It's time for us to run, but not all together. We need to split up!" Luffy says, and Sanji's eyes widen. It's not that he doesn't agree, because he does. But Luffy is not a man to retreat lightly. The three of them dodge yet another beam and they land together again.

"The three of us should go different ways." Luffy pants.

"Right… are you gonna be okay?" Sanji asks, looking at Zoro.

"Oh SHUT UP!" Zoro snarls at him and Sanji laughs despite everything. If Zoro still has it in him to yell at him, then he'll be fine. Sanji sprints off with Nami and Franky, Luffy with Robin and Chopper, Zoro takes Usopp and Brook. The idiot's carrying Usopp like he's not bleeding to hell himself, but Zoro always gonna be Zoro isn't he?

Usopp shoots back and fills the whole area with smoke to disguise their escape. Sanji hauls ass to the nearest bridge with Nami and Franky in tow, but the shitty thing gets blown up by a beam explosion before they get to cross it. At least it didn't happen when they were on it he supposes.

He turns around and the Kuma bot leaps through the smoke at them. Nami shrieks and spins a protesting Franky between him and her. They don't have Usopp to shoot in his mouth, Luffy's fist to crush him, or Robin's hands to slam his mouth shut on a beam. Plus if Sanji tries to bite him he may well break his teeth off on the metal, who knows where he's reinforced and where he isn't. He's likely not a self made cyborg like Franky with a human back and he doesn't feel like playing a guessing game with the stakes this high. This fight is going to be a hell of a lot harder with just the three of them.

Another explosion and a blast of light flares off to the side but Zoro's blood scenting the air is what draws Sanji's attention with laser guided focus. Zoro is sprawled on the ground, twitching but unable to move and some striped guy who… shit… he's probably the admiral, is pulling a glowing leg back for a kick against Zoro. That… that will kill him.

His mind flashes to Zoro having to get his lifeless body into his best suit, to clean him up so that he didn't look like he'd been in a fight, getting ready to bury him at sea. He can't… he can't put himself through that with Zoro. Would there even be enough of a body left after an attack like that? Zoro is too far away for Sanji to reach and even if he did he'd be abandoning his other nakama to the Kuma bot. Three against one was already real longshot odds, but two… he'd be burying three nakama instead of one. Zoro would never forgive him. Sanji wouldn't forgive himself. So he just stands there and screams out what everyone is thinking and knows that he's going to have to watch his lover die right then and there.

An array of hands drags Zoro out of the way but the admiral just laughs at the futility of it, winding up another attack. Sanji clutches his hands over his mouth, is watching this worse than not seeing it?

Before the admiral can bring his foot down on Zoro and end his life far too soon another man appears out of nowhere and blocks the attack. The light becomes less blinding and- and it's Rayleigh. Shit, he thought that attack was unstoppable but if anyone can stop it it'd be Roger's right hand man.

The two men banter back and forth whilst Sanji's brain whirrs, trying to work out how a man could stop a logia user like that. The admiral is clearly one, turning his body into deadly light like that. Plus, he can hear Brook exclaiming that his sword went right through him. Logia. Sanji's hearing is far too good and his eyesight too. Even the Kuma bot has stopped to watch the confrontation, his hand half raised in attack.

Sanji can hear Zoro's uneven breaths, he can hear the way that blood rattles in his lungs and see it dripping from his face and soaking through his shirt. Zoro's not paralyzed, he can see that from the way Zoro's twitching and his hand is clutching in the grass, trying futilely to drag himself out of danger but being too weak to do so. Zoro being weak is… is just wrong. Zoro isn't weak, he's strong.

Rayleigh smiles and asks if there is any way that the admiral, Kizaru, could let the crew go. Sanji knows the answer before the admiral even says it. No way. He's not letting them go, not at all.

"Usopp! Brook! Grab Zoro and RUN!" Luffy screams, jolting the two men into action. They scoop Zoro off of the floor with a pained huff from Zoro and sprint off with him. Kizaru barely taking notice. If he can move at the speed of light then he has all the time in the world to catch them doesn't he? No need to rush.

"Everyone! Think of only getting away right now!" Luffy hollers to all of them and Sanji nods. He can't worry about Zoro right now, he has to trust that he'll be okay with Brook and Usopp. He has to make himself believe it or he won't be present enough in the moment to protect Nami and Franky. Even if it turns out to be a lie he has to do what he can here and now.

Franky is the first one of the three of them to snap back into attention, shooting a coup de vent into the chest of robo-Kuma. It's enough to blow him away and for the three of them to run to what passes for safety in this situation. Suddenly the Kuma bot stops chasing them and Sanji catches the tail end of an order to go after Zoro. He skids to a halt. No one is chasing Nami and Franky now, and they're both strong, they can handle themselves for a moment.

"Damn, they're going after Usopp's group!" Sanji shouts, his eyes on Zoro's slumped form on Usopp's shoulders. Zoro…

"Franky, take care of Nami! You guys go on ahead!" Sanji yells over his shoulder, running towards Zoro.

"Sanji!" Nami yells after him.

"Be careful! I'll be fine!" Sanji yells over his shoulder and then kicks in some of that extra pumped up undead speed. He ate all of those people back there, he may as well put their high class blood to some use. Sanji leaps and sees that Brook is getting his ass handed to him trying to buy more time. More of his nakama getting hurt by this asshole. Well not anymore!

"Stop you shitty bastard!" Sanji screams, kicking a flaming foot right into the bastard's back. It topples the fake Kuma forward but Sanji feels his shin splinter and he clutches it as he lands awkwardly. He clutches a hand to it and is then treated to the gross and slightly painful sensation of bones grinding back together and healing. Heh, it doesn't matter how much he pushes himself against these guys, they can't kill what's already dead, right?

"Run Sanji, he's aiming for you!" Usopp shouts over Zoro's shoulder as he speeds away.

"Idiot! Get going already!" Sanji yells back. He leaps to his feet but takes the beam full force in the chest. Healing powers or not it still knocks him on his ass. He hears Usopp scream and sees Zoro fly through the air and land on his shoulder and back. The beam hit Usopp in his shoulder but he had time to throw Zoro out of danger. Shit, it's a smaller wound than Sanji's but it's not good. A horrific roar distracts Sanji and he looks up to see Chopper's gigantic monster form. Every time he thinks that this can't get worse it does.

"Brook, get up, that beam attack is coming again!" Usopp yells, hauling Zoro upright. Sanji isn't looking at them though, he's looking at the man behind Usopp.

"Wait PX1." Kuma's deep voice says. And yes, this is Kuma. Sanji's own senses tell him that but the way he feels dread and anger churn in Zoro's stomach confirms it. This is the real one.

"What the hell is going on here?! I'm sick of this! How many of this guy are there?" Usopp yells. Zoro grunts and staggers to his feet, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Sanji's insides twitch, he wants to seal those wounds shut for Zoro but right now there isn't time.

"So you're still alive Roronoa." Kuma says, taking off his glove.

"Thanks to… your… mercy." Zoro says, his voice weak and unsteady.

"This is no time for a chat!" Sanji barks at him.

"If you were to take a trip, where would you like to go?" Kuma asks, peeling his other glove off and tilting his head curiously. His hand reels back and Sanji dives for Zoro, meaning to knock him out of the path of Kuma's slap. But he doesn't hit Zoro, he flies through thin air in the space where Zoro was and now nothing is. He skids through the dirt and rolls over and scrambles back, looking around wildly. Did Zoro somehow jump so fast that Sanji didn't see him move? He's never known Zoro to do that before and in his state it seems unlikely.

"Zoro!" Usopp yells and Sanji gets to his feet, leaping back to get some distance from Kuma.

"Zoro vanished!" Usopp continues in horror.

"You bastard?! What did you do to Zoro? He was right here a second ago!" Sanji yells, clenching his fists as he squares up to Kuma.

"ZORO! Where the hell are you?!" Luffy screams from a distance. Kuma… Kuma did something. Something Sanji hasn't seen before but it's got to be his devil's fruit power. The guy can teleport himself so maybe he did that to Zoro, just enough to pop him away out of the fight perhaps, to scatter them and weaken their defences, but why? They're already scattered around the area, injured and fighting different people. Why do it and what's taking Zoro so long to get back or yell an answer from wherever he is?

"What did you do!?" Sanji screams at the impassive man. Luffy demands the same from his opponent but gets an answer from his, the guy with the axe who happens to be nearly buck naked.

"My mouth isn't that easy to open. But be it true or false they say that any man sent flying by those paws will fly through the sky for three days and three nights. As for the destination… only the man responsible can know. But it won't be here on this island… you won't be seeing him again in a hurry. He might be right at the opposite end of the ocean." The guy says with a smug fucking grin and leaps out of the way of one of Chopper's mighty punches.

Zoro. Zoro is gone. Zoro. Is…

Sanji shakes. Everything about him feels sharper, his hands tense and something feels… deadly about them, his nails feel longer and sharper maybe. He remembers the claw like gouges in the dismembered guy at the auction house, he thinks that kind of look would suit Kuma right about now.

He shakes with rage. Zoro is gone and Sanji can't feel his mind any more and Sanji is losing his. He stares at Kuma and the world becomes too bright and too harsh again, shaking and shuddering, red seeping in around the edges. He remembers this, he was facing the man with the gun back in the auction house and the world went funny like this. Nami was nearly hit or was hit and Zoro… it's hazy after that but Sanji doesn't care. Kuma hurt Zoro, he hurt his Zoro. His- HIS. Sanji opens his mouth wide, every tooth and fang exposes and snarls. Usopp yelps and backs the fuck up, even Kuma's eyes widen. Sanji is going to rip every bit of the man apart, he is going to bite him and rip him, he is going to sink his claws… fingers… into Kuma and dismember him.

He leaps, too fast for Kuma and lands snarling on his shoulders. He claws at his face and roars at him. Blood bubbles up under Sanji's fingers and he will have MORE. He won't rest until Kuma is dead and then he might keep going just because. He is death and Kuma will DIE. His finger sinks into an eye, his knee slams into ribs and his teeth rasp against skin. Kuma ducks, taking Sanji with him and an elbow slams into Sanji's side so hard that the world blurs as he flies through the air. He slams into the tree above Luffy and hangs there.

Everything… hurts. He can't move, it's like he's pinned down but… he isn't, is he? Is he? His head lolls forward slightly and he sees it. A huge splinter of the mangrove tree sticking right out of his chest. Holy shit, he really hopes that the staking a vampire to kill it myth is a myth. The redness in his vision fades and whatever blood powered rage was moving him slips away, leaving him just himself again.

"SANJI! SANJI NO!" Usopp shrieks in horror.

"No… no… no no no no NO!" Luffy yells in anguish. Sanji tries to frown, to tell them that it's okay, that if this was going to kill him for real then he probably would be completely dead by now. He just needs to carefully slide off of this thing and he'll be good. Only… he can't move. He can't even frown. He's looking down at Luffy and the thing in his chest and he can't even shift his vision.

He hears the voices of his nakama call out his name, some in horrified shock, others in screaming pain and anger, some sound numb and shocked.

"Sanji, Sanji… you have to move. You can't do this, you're fine, right? This can't happen again…" Luffy pleads, looking up at him. The guy Luffy is fighting or was fighting seems to be enjoying Luffy's anguish and isn't moving anymore, one hand on his hip and the other on his axe, a big grin on his face.

Sanji wills all of his focus together, he tries to scream to work his throat and yell that he's FINE damnit. But… but nothing happens and he can't stop the way that Luffy's eyes and nose are streaming and the wounded howl coming from his throat.

"Well that's two down, one gone and one dead. He looks good up there, a warning to the rest of the pirates on this island." Sentoumaru laughs, his axe shaking at the movement. Luffy screams and punches him, but some force bounces the punch off harmlessly.

There's a pop, the same sound that happened when Zoro was vanished away and Sanji hopes to hell that it's not another of them.

"HEY! Lord Kuma! Whaddaya think you're doing to your allies, huh?!" Sentoumaru screams out angrily. Not one of theirs then.

"You two, get away!" Luffy yells in that direction. Usopp and Brook need to go, they need to escape before-

"BROOK!" Usopp's voice calls out.

"I will protect you even if it costs me my life!" Brook yells.

Pop.

"BROOK!" Usopp and Luffy scream in unison. He must be gone. Sanji strains himself to look but he still can't move a muscle.

"No, no-" Usopp's voice. Feet running and then...

Pop.

"Zoro, Brook, Usopp! They've all vanished!" Nami screams from somewhere out of Sanji vision. No, this can't be happening, not when Sanji can do nothing to help. Someone's got to get him down from here, maybe then he can heal and be of some help! Luffy can grab him from the ground surely!

"What are we meant to do now?" Luffy asks, his voice sounding broken in a way that Sanji has never heard before and never wants to again.

"Get me DOWN from here!" Sanji screams internally but his lips don't move and his lungs don't draw breath.

"STRONG RIGHT! Get out of the way!"

"NO! Franky! FRANKY!" Luffy screams, staggering to his feet and running in the direction that Kuma must be.

"No Luffy, you're doing just want he wants you to!" Robin calls after him, running into Sanji's line of sight.

Pop.

"FRANKY!" Luffy screams, pained and hurt. Sanji needs to get DOWN! He HAS to!

"NAMI!" Luffy yells.

"HELP M-" Nami's voice is cut off.

Pop.

SHIT. NO! This can't be happening. Nami and Franky too now?! He has to move! He focuses all of his strength, every trained muscle that can kick and crack through iron doors, that can pulverise enemies and keep Zoro at bay. He forces everything he has into those muscles but they don't do so much as twitch.

Luffy screams in blind rage and there's crashes and yelling but thankfully no more of that fucking popping.

"Chopper! Robin!" Luffy calls out, begging them, they need to go.

"Stop this, PLEASE!" Luffy begs and Chopper lumbers into Sanji's field of view in his humongous form. His blank angry eyes are level with Sanji's head and he internally pleads for any of Chopper's animal senses to know what's wrong and get him down, to free him.

Chopper lets out a deafening roar, reaching a giant hand forward, obscuring Sanji's view of what's going on below until he's suddenly not.

Pop.

The place where Chopper was is empty, with only Kuma's paw patterned hand outstretched.

"Robin! Run for it!" Luffy bellows and sprints into Sanji's line of sight. Robin turns and flees but suddenly Kuma is there and Robin only has time to look shocked and call out Luffy's name before she's gone.

Pop.

No… NO!

The only ones in their crew who are left are him and Luffy and Luffy thinks he's dead!

Luffy curls into himself, his knees and forearms pressed to the floor, gasping for breath.

"What's wrong with me?" Luffy asks, his voice trembling. "I couldn't even save… a single nakama."

"So are you going to get rid of him too and be done with it? I suppose you have an explanation for all of this." Sentoumaru says with a frown.

A shockwave runs through the ground, it must be Kuma coming to take Luffy too!

"Stamping your feet Rayleigh? Since when have you been a sore loser?" Kizaru asks slyly. Sanji hears a creak and suddenly the world shifts and spins and with a thump he hits the ground. He rolls and the wood comes slightly out of Sanji's chest as he slides to Luffy.

His captain scrambles closer and reaches out to touch Sanji's chest, dislodging the wood a little more. It's a huge effort but Sanji manages to reach Luffy's eyes and twitch his mouth in what he hopes is a smile. Luffy's teary eyes go wide with shock.

"Sanji! You're-!" Luffy exclaims but then disappears in a pop.

Kuma's head turns to Sanji on the floor, scratches on his face. Figures, all that rage and all that strength and all he did was scratch the man and make his eye bleed. They didn't stand a chance.

Sanji is yanked up to his feet and the wood is jammed back further into his chest with a wet squish. It's not Kuma's grip he's in though, it's the old man's.

"He's dead." Rayleigh says behind Sanji. Sanji tries to kick or move or anything but any control that he had with the stake taken out has been torn from him again.

"Pirate or not, a dead man still deserves some respect." He says authoritatively and Sanji sees something flicker in that bear pawed bastard's eyes.

"Oiiii, you're lucky that it'd take far more preparation and work to bring you in Rayleigh." Kizaru says in that lazy voice.

"But now that we know where you are-" Sentoumaru starts with a grin.

"I won't be here much longer, and luck has nothing to do with it." Rayleigh says stiffly and bolts for it. Sanji's eyes slide closed at the movement and his arms and legs flail wildly out of his control as Rayleigh runs, jumps and ducks under things as he escapes, though Sanji doesn't hear any attacks coming towards them.

Eventually a door opens, Sanji knows because he hears the turn of the handle and his head is smacked on the doorframe as Rayleigh walks through. He might be dead but that still hurts damnit!

"Look what I found!" The old man says cheerfully and Sanji finds himself dumped face down on a table.

"Oh my. What happened here then?" A woman's voice asks.

"He got slammed into a tree, it didn't go well for him." Rayleigh says with a laugh.

"Yes, I can see that. Okay, let me just get a grip on this…" The woman says. Sanji feels a pulling sensation in his back, the huge wooden shard being pulled loose.

"I managed to escape with him by saying that even pirates deserve a proper burial. Kizaru bought it I think." the man explains.

"I doubt he'd appreciate a burial." The woman says, her last word grunted out as the wood is completely yanked free of him. He has a few terrifying moments where he still can't move but suddenly everything kicks back to life, if a little numb in places, but it passes.

Sanji jerks up onto his hands and knees as soon as the feeling in his legs comes back, gasping in a wheezing and pained breath. He stares wildly around and finds himself back in the bar that he was in before. Rayleigh is sitting on a bar stool and the woman, Shakky, is standing there holding the massive shard of wood in her hand and smiling wryly at him. Sanji is speechless for a second but that soon fades. He hurls himself at Rayleigh, grabbing him by the shirt.

"WHERE DID KUMA SEND THEM?! I NEED TO GET THEM BACK I-" Sanji yells but Rayleigh cuts him off with a raise of his hand.

"I don't know and I have no way of finding out, but if your nakama are as strong and determined as I think they are then they'll all find their way back here sooner or later." Rayleigh says simply, like it's some obvious fact. It actually takes Sanji a few seconds to process that statement before the rage comes flying out of his mouth.

"How can they POSSIBLY do that?! It took all of Nami's navigational skills to get us here, there's no way they can all do it alone!" Sanji yells and his mind flicks to Zoro. Zoro actually has a chance of making it here, but only by dumbly wandering the wrong way and getting lost in ways that shouldn't be possible.

"You're forgetting the vivre card that I gave you all, Sanji, wasn't it?" Shakky asks him with a smile, her arms crossed over her chest and the giant hunk of wood still in one hand. Ah. Yes, he'd forgotten that she saw that and was in fact the one who pulled it from his chest and now he's somehow got to explain that to her.

"Uhm. Yes, okay. Ah, about that… chest injury with that wood… it's not what you think! I can explain it!" Sanji fumbles, desperately trying to stop the already disconcerting woman from realising what he really is.

"This I want to hear." Shakky says with a laugh.

"Good luck kid." Rayleigh snorts into his hand.

"I…" Sanji stalls, trying desperately to think of a lie as quickly as Usopp would.

"My heart isn't where most people's is… so it didn't kill me?" Sanji says uncertainly. That's sounds like a shit lie even to his ears.

"Unless your heart is in your pants that's not going to fly, this went through your whole chest. I saw your spine re-form, and your chest is still currently repairing itself, I can see your lungs, one of them still has a hole in it." Shakky says, pointing a finger at him. Sanji looks down and, yeah, there they are. Thankfully they're covered up soon enough by ribs sliding back over them, crackling into formation like spreading ice which is in turn shortly covered by muscle and skin. That's certainly faster than last time, but he supposes he's better fed. Still, that leaves him a little short of an explanation.

"Go on." Shakky says with a smirk and Sanji looks up helplessly.

"Yeah, I've got nothing." He admits in defeat.

"Don't… try to kill me or chase after me with pitchforks… or put that thing back in my chest." Sanji requests hopefully, warily eyeing the big spear of wood in her hands.

"Don't worry, I'm not into killing my own." Shakky answers with a smile which has suddenly elongating teeth in it, teeth just like Sanji's.

She smiles wide at him, her other teeth sharpening and her stare becoming the same fixing and unnerving stare that it was the last time he was in here. Sanji backs up a little, she's having the same effect on him that his growl had on Usopp, a kind of primal sense to not fuck with that and get the hell away instead.

"I especially don't kill babies." She adds, coming around the bar with a shimmy of her feminine hips.

"Baby? I'm- I'm not a-" But Sanji is cut off when Shakky is suddenly THERE and in his space and forcing his mouth open with a vice like squeeze of his cheeks. She reaches in and pinches one of his too long canines and rubs her thumb over it. He flails but manages to keep mostly still, he doesn't want her yanking a tooth out after all!

"Baby teeth, without a doubt. Brand new too, what are you, a year in?" Shakky asks, letting him go. Sanji stumbles back, a hand over his mouth.

"She means when were you bitten." Rayleigh helpfully chips in, having turned around in his seat to watch the two of them.

"Three months, roughly." Sanji answers reluctantly. Shakky's eyebrows shoot up in obvious surprise.

"Well where's your maker? The rest of your crew were alive so it's not any of them. You're much too new to be out on your own, pirate or not." She says disapprovingly, like Sanji's some little kid wandering off on his own. He bristles at the insinuation but Shakky is a lady and he should be polite to her, she's a creepy and apparently undead lady, but still a lady.

"If you mean the guy who bit me, I bit him back to show him how he liked it. That turned out not to be so smart on my part." Sanji admits uneasily.

"And you haven't seen him since?" Shakky asks in a surprised tone.

"We sailed off from his crew, I don't know if they followed though. I was kind of… dead for a bit." Sanji winces. He still doesn't really like thinking about that, much less what it did to his crew. Hearing Luffy sob out that Sanji couldn't die on him again was about the worst thing he's ever heard. He wonders if Rayleigh heard that. Shit, the rest of his nakama must think that he's dead and who knows where they are now. Hasn't he hurt them enough?

"So no one has taught you anything? Like not drinking from devil's fruit users or eating human food or about freezing in the cold?" Shakky asks, looking painfully worried.

"I found those unpleasant things out on my own, but wait, what about the last one?" Sanji asks with a frown. Freezing in the cold doesn't sound pleasant at all.

Shakky nods slowly like she's considering something very deep before turning to Rayleigh with a firm expression on her face.

"I'm keeping him." She says firmly.

"Wait, what?" Sanji asks looking between them in wide eyed confusion.

"He needs someone to show him what to do, and if Kuma has sent his nakama away then who knows how long he'll be on his own. I'm keeping him." She says definitively. Rayleigh just raises and eyebrow and says nothing, as if he knows that arguing this kind of point will get him nowhere and he can't be bothered to try.

"Ah… as much as I appreciate an offer to… keep me… from a lovely lady such as yourself I have to go find my nakama. They need me." Sanji insists. He can only imagine in horror what the others are going through right now.

"They'll still be in the air at this point, you've no idea where they are or how you can get to them. But they do know where I am. There's nothing you can do." Rayleigh says flatly.

Sanji grits his teeth and clenches his fists. It's bad enough that he couldn't do enough in that fight and then was reduced to being able to do literally nothing at the end, but now he can't even go find his nakama and help them? Can it really be that there isn't a single thing that he can do?

"I have to do something!" Sanji blurts out in desperation. Rayleigh watches him with a careful assessing gaze but says nothing, Shakky simply looks at him, one finger tapping on her chin thoughtfully.

"My nakama were scattered, taken from me to- to who knows where, even you don't know! I couldn't stop it in the fight and now you're telling me I can do nothing?! What good am I to them if I can't do a single thing?! If I can't be of any use to them then- then I might as well lay down and actually be dead!" Sanji yells out, his voice filling the room with his helpless fury.

He feels something wet run down his cheek and he realises that he's crying, crying for his nakama, for their pain and for his failure.

"I failed them." He says quietly, all of the rage vanishing and leaving only shame behind in its place.

"It takes strength to admit failure. But more strength to do something about it." Rayleigh says in a frankly unhelpful manner.

"You're the one who said I can't do anything! And you're right, I can't get to them, I can't bring them back here myself. What is there to do?" he snaps angrily, he's too pissed off and hurt for this kind of circular logic.

"You get stronger, so that next time you don't lose that fight, or the one after it and the one after that. If you don't get stronger from failure or you give up then this ocean will chew you up and spit you out and you'll deserve it." Rayleigh says harshly, pointing his finger at Sanji in accusation. For a second Sanji sees Zeff, and it's not just the resemblance of any angry older man. That's the kind of thing that Zeff would say to him, hell, it's the kind of thing that Sanji himself would say to someone else. What the hell is wrong with him?

"I need to get stronger." Sanji agrees with a nod. He won't let his nakama down like that again.

"Then I can help with that." Shakky says with a grin that Sanji is probably right to categorise as predatory. Sanji takes a nervous step back.

"You might not be that fond of being what you are, I know I wasn't for the first year or so. But you have to realise that it makes you stronger than normal people." Shakky says kindly, looking less dangerous. Sanji relaxes a little and frowns.

"As much as I hate to contradict a lady, I'm not sure I've met many normal people lately, and I don't think I'll find many in the New World." Sanji says unhappily.

"That's just without training, but I'm going to teach you." Shakky says, sounding pleased with herself.

"Between her training, the bounty hunters and the people hunting for the auction house I'm sure you'll get lots of experience, enough to grow stronger." Rayleigh says with a grin.

"Auction house?" Shakky asks Rayleigh with a frown.

"His crew tried to free their mermaid friend and the captain punched a world noble in the face, that's how this all got started. By the time I got to see him he'd drained and torn apart several people with a fair few witnesses around." Rayleigh explains with a laugh, like Sanji's whole crew and that debacle there, where Sanji became someone… something else was entertaining for him. He resists the urge to hiss at Rayleigh and instead restrains himself, he's supposed to be learning that kind of thing.

"So now they know that they're looking for a vampire and they do love their rare items in the trade, plus you have a bounty on your head. You've got a lot to learn if you want to stay in one piece until your friends get back here and I think that will help. Or you'll die, whichever." Shakky says with an easy shrug and serene smile and Sanji is suddenly reminded of Robin's tendency to be unexpectedly grim.

"Excellent. Well, I'm going to move their ship somewhere harder to find, coat it, bring it back to the place we talked about and then leave. I think it would be smart for me to be away from here for a while." Rayleigh says to Shakky.

"How long do you think you'll be here?" Shakky asks, tucking her bobbed black hair behind her ear. "You've been gone for a long time already."

"I'm not sure. I'll stick around for a while and see which way the wind is blowing, keep a low profile and then leave. If I rush off in just a few days I'll have the admirals on my tail and that will be a pain." Rayleigh says with a weary sigh, as if the admirals were nothing more than a particularly irksome annoyance.

Sanji can't help but wonder if that's what they'll be like when they're older. When Luffy finds the One Piece, when Nami has her map, when Zoro is the greatest… when all of them have achieved their dreams will they think of people as powerful as Kuma as nothing more dangerous than a mouse? Sure, they've defeated warlords before, Crocodile and Moriah and there aren't many crews out there that can say that, but they were far from being easy and the crew was just utterly defeated. Sanji grits his teeth. He's sure that the others will take their loss the same way that he has, with anger and despair but eventually grit and determination. They will be stronger.

But if Rayleigh is leaving the island…

"If you leave how will my nakama get back here? I need to meet up with them again and I can't do that if you're not here! What if they meet up with you and I'm stranded here?" Sanji exclaims in panic, imagining the horror of being left behind in vivid detail. His nakama would never do that by choice but if they could never find him then they would have to go on. After all, most of them think that he's dead. Well, deader than usual.

"Your crew are going to the New World aren't they? Unless they're planning on waltzing right through the so called holy land then they're going to have to come through here again at some point. If they find me before I get back here, well, do you really think that I can't find my way here again?" Rayleigh asks dryly, a quirk of amusement on his lips.

Shit, this guy was Roger's first mate and Sanji just implied that he didn't know what the fuck he was doing, like he hadn't just stopped an admiral and a logia user singlehandedly, like he hasn't been travelling this sea for most of his life.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Sanji blurts out. He's not really doing a lot to endear himself to the two of them is he? Shakky's offering to train him and Rayleigh is coating their ship for free and putting his neck out to save them. Hell, Rayleigh saved the crew from having to fight Kizaru which mostly likely is why the crew is separated from each other rather than separated from themselves in the form of being dismembered with light beams.

"I meant…" Sanji searches around haphazardly for an explanation that he can pass off to make it seem like he wasn't being a total moron, but after a moment it occurs to him that Rayleigh is old enough to know better. He'd never managed to fool Zeff when he lied and Zeff, whilst a fearsome pirate, wasn't on Roger's crew. If he couldn't bullshit his old man it's likely that he can't pull it off with Rayleigh either. What was that about a strong man admitting failure.

"Okay, I did mean it. And it's not that I'm not grateful for your help, because I absolutely am. We'd probably all be dead without you. It's just that my nakama are the most important thing in the world to me, getting them back is all that I can think of." He says, his voice tight.

"I don't like being unable to protect them, that whole fight back there… being overpowered and then stopped by whatever that did to me," Sanji says, gesturing to the wood.

"It's one of the worst things that's ever happened to me, so to give that kind of control to someone else is…" Sanji searches for a word that's not outright insulting.

"It feels like it's the last thing that I want to do. But… it seems like I don't have much choice in the matter, I've got to believe that they'll find their way here or to you and that you'll help us. I trust them to do anything that they have to do to get back here and back together, but that includes me, so if what I have to do is trust you, stay put and train… then that's what I'll do." Sanji finishes. He hates this situation but he'll work with it.

Rayleigh watches him for a few moments with a somewhat nostalgic and thoughtful smile and then chuckles softly.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a crew like yours. I wouldn't have helped out if I didn't see something in the lot of you. If the rest of your crew as individuals are willing to sacrifice their own pride and goals for a while to get back together then I'm sure you won't be waiting long for them. I'll bring them back if they find me first, you have my word." Rayleigh promises with a warm smile.

"Right then, coating." The man says, seeming to shake off the heavy air that had settled around them. He dusts his clothes off for a moment before turning to Sanji and Shakky.

"Shakky, try not to have too much fun. And Sanji… good luck, you'll need it." the old man laughs, looking between the two of them.

"Get going already old man." The woman says, shooing him off with a wave of her hand.

"Oh yeah, I'm old." Rayleigh laughs quietly and saunters out of the door. Sanji frowns, Rayleigh is old, but if Shakky is undead like him then it's possible that she doesn't age so maybe Rayleigh means that Shakky is older than him.

He looks up at her and sees her watching him with an arched eyebrow. Clearly she's waiting for him to catch up.

"A gentleman never asks a lady that kind of question." Sanji informs her with full sincerity.

"So you do have some tact then." She says slyly and Sanji has the vague feeling that he may have gone up in her estimation somehow.

"A gentleman also wouldn't stand around looking like something out of a horror story. Go follow that stupid old man and get what you need from your ship, you'll be staying with me for a while and if you don't want everyone to know where your ship is then you'd be wise not to keep running back there. Now go." She says, giving him a small push in the back.

Sanji nods and rushes out of the door. He spots Rayleigh in the distance, heading towards the secluded area where they docked the Sunny. Sanji doesn't say anything to Rayleigh on the way there, not wishing to risk screwing up with him again, not now that he finally seems to have got on his good side.

When they get there Sanji has to just stand there for a moment and look. The bright yellow and red painting on the top roofs of the crow's nest and Zoro's gym, the bright yellow lion's head and their jolly roger on the main sail. It looks exactly as it did earlier today when he'd left it in a hurry to perform what was possibly the worst rescue anyone has ever performed.

He leaps up and lands on deck, the fresh green grass softening his landing and making him soundless. To his left sits the low table and on it two abandoned cups of tea, long since cold from where Franky and Usopp left them in a hurry. He breathes in and smells the citrus scent of Nami's trees, the warm scent of adam wood and the familiar jumble of smells of everything put together that makes it home. Something tangles in his chest as Sanji realises that it feels like he could just turn around and come face first into one of Luffy's barrelling hugs that flings him across the ship. He looks up and part of him is surprised when he doesn't see Zoro's shadow playing on the window in the weights room, he feels like Robin should come down the steps by the deck, her nose buried in a book as she walks.

Sanji shoves his feelings aside. His nakama will be back, they will be on this ship again and before Sanji knows it this whole thing will just be a memory. Being stuck on the fucking rock with Zeff was hell, it altered his life in ways that still affect him but it's still just a memory now, there are long stretches of time where he doesn't even think fleetingly of it. Eventually this separation will be just the same, a painful memory that will no doubt haunt him, but one that'll be in the past, one that will force him to be stronger to survive it. He will see them again.

Sanji notices Rayleigh watching him but ignores it. He heads below deck to the men's bunk room and grabs two large rucksacks. The first he fills with his own clothes, his suits and shirts neatly folded, a few pairs of shoes and then other assorted clothes that make him look a little less dead.

With that done he heads back up again, past Rayleigh and into the kitchen. He may well not need to cook, he's got no crew to cook for now and it's not as if he and Shakky eat human food anymore. Even so he can't stand to leave his knives behind or the few things that he took with him from the Baratie. His first cookbook with the first printed menu with a dish of his slid inside the jacket of the book and a picture of the whole lot of them together in the restaurant when they had a big event. He's younger there, sixteen maybe, and standing right next to Zeff and grinning like a moron. He wonders if Zeff has a copy of this photo and what he'll think when Sanji gets back to tell him that he's found All Blue, he wonders what Zeff will make of what he is now. Sanji puts that thought to the side for now, there will no doubt be time in the small hours of the morning when Sanji isn't asleep that it'll come back to haunt him but for now it's not needed.

He opens the fridge and sighs in displeasure at the fresh ingredients in it. Sure there aren't as many as there could have been, he'd been intending on stocking up but now there's no one here to eat them and he hates wasting food. He would take it back to Shakky's but she doesn't eat either so…

"Hey, old man!" Sanji calls, sticking his head out of the door. Rayleigh looks up at him and arches an eyebrow. Oh yeah, that tact and manners thing, he'd forgotten about that. Again.

"You're going to be staying on the ship when you coat it right? You said that you're moving it somewhere else?" He asks, loud enough for the guy to hear him.

"That's what I said." Rayleigh replies with a slightly intrigued tone to his voice.

"There's food in the fridge and basic cooking staples here. Will you promise me that you'll eat it? When you're finished let me know and I'll get the rest of the food out, I'm a cook and I won't see it go to waste, even if I have to give it away to anyone who'll take it." he says firmly. He doesn't care if he has to go into town and risk getting caught by bounty hunters, there's always someone who needs food and it'd be a crime in his book to just let it spoil here.

"I'll never turn down a free meal." Rayleigh replies happily.

"Hah, I thought you'd said you were a retired pirate?" Sanji laughs loudly.

"I guess you can take the man out of the ocean, but you can't take the ocean out of the man. I'd say I'm maybe just retired from doing any real trouble making but I suppose I can't say that anymore. I'm not too good at being retired!" Rayleigh laughs heartily and Sanji grins.

"Well, that's everything that I need. I guess the rest is up to you then." Sanji says as he leaps down onto the lawn deck again. He heads over to the railing and rests his hand on the sun warmed adam wood. He turns back to Rayleigh with a thought.

"The ship's name is the Thousand Sunny. Sunny's one of my nakama too, so I guess this is another one that I'm trusting you with. Just so you know." He says quietly, remembering Merry with a sting in his heart.

"Understood." the old man nods.

"Oh, and one last thing. If you see any of my nakama before I do… tell them that I'm okay. They're probably going through hell if they think that I'm dead. Well, deader than usual." Sanji says with a zing of amusement in his heart at the end. He's going to have to write down all of his skull jokes whilst Brook is away so that he can share them with the other man when he gets back, he wouldn't want him to miss out.

He waves goodbye to the old pirate and gets his feet back onto the slightly sticky ground of Sabody and heads back to Shakky's and what will be his temporary home until his nakama all make their way back here.