What can I say? It's been a long week. This had actually floating around in my head for a while though, but I might have over did the angst a little. At least that plot bunny will leave me alone now.

Whatever. Enjoy.

Warnings: Poorly executed angst.

And I don't own One Piece.

He looked at the faces of his crewmates, completely mortified, as he lowered his left leg, the heat dispersing with a soft hiss.

Luffy was the only one still standing. Chopper had been knocked overboard near the beginning and Usopp dove in to save them. They hadn't returned to the deck yet, but he thought that it might have been for the better. Brooke and Franky were unconscious, burn marks from his previous attacks covering their bodies almost as much as the blood, his, theirs, and the others. Zoro was probably still conscious, it would take more than a few flaming kicks to the head to knock him out, but he was down, and, from the looks of things, not getting up anytime soon.

The girls were the only ones still unharmed, but that really didn't mean very much. Robin was knocked out before the others knew there even was an attack, and all Nami could do at this point was cower in fear of her rampaging crewmate.

"Sanji…" Luffy panted. "You…you've got to fight it!"

"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" Another vicious kick was aimed at his captain, who thankfully managed to dodge just in time.

Using that as a distraction, Nami managed to pick up her Climatact and start rushing the man behind the destruction of her friends.

"Nice try, girlie, but you're going to have to do better than that." With a twitch of his hand he sent Sanji off running towards her. He placed a well-timed kick that would have connected if Luffy hadn't pushed her out of the way at the last second.

"Knew it…" A soft voice sounded from behind him. He was able to turn his head enough to see that it was Zoro speaking, who had managed to push himself up into a semi-sitting position. "Knew that chivalry shit of yours was just all talk."

"Oh, are you still alive? Shall we finish him off then?" The man grinned while he moved his fingers in a quick, circular motion, forcing him to do the same."

"Bring it on…shit-cook." Zoro had managed to stand up and find two of his swords.

"Zoro! Stop it, this isn't helping!" Nami screamed. Zoro ignored her and took a fighting stance.

He had stopped spinning now, left foot raised off the ground, poised to attack. Zoro took a step forward before reaching his limit and collapsing on the ground.

"Well, that makes things easier for us." Another twitch of that hand and he was sent hurdling forward, burning foot raised just above his friend's head.

"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!" Luffy proceeded to charge the man this time, to no avail, as he too was finally sent crashing overboard with a well placed fiery kick.

"LUFFY!!" Both he and Nami shouted. He tried to put his foot down and jump overboard to save him, but he was held back.

"I believe you still have one more left." He was turned to face Nami, burning leg still in the air. She backed away from him until she hit the railing and glanced overboard briefly before turning back to face him.

"Y-you won't kick me, Sanji-kun." She stated, not breaking eye contact once. He could still see the absolute terror in her eyes though, and a pang of guilt at being the cause burned sharply in his stomach.

"Ha! Girlie, have you been paying any attention to what's been going on here?" The man used the arm that wasn't controlling her friend to gesture around the ship where her fallen comrades were. "What he does or does not want to do has no meaning anymore. He's mine now."

He tried to glare at the fiend tormenting his Nami-swan when the sound of a Climatact hitting the ground found his ears. He turned back to face Nami, surprised to see all of the fear from before replaced with complete trust.

She shook her head. "Sanji-kun, you're my friend. I know him a lot better than that Shichibukai or whatever over there does." The navigator closed her eyes, sighed, and then looked back into his, searching for something. When she found whatever it was she said, "I know you won't hurt me."

"This would be the part where I prove you wrong, just so you know." He twitched his hand, causing the burning appendage to go sailing towards Nami's head. She closed her eyes and twitched away from the flames, but made no other movements to get out of the way or defend herself.

He closed his eyes too, waiting to feel the crack and burn of her skull against the power of his foot, just like the others.

But it never came.

Slowly he opened his eyes, hoping beyond a hope that she somehow managed to get out of the way in time.

Nami was still in front of him, unharmed. Sobbing with relief, that all-knowing smirk that he found so adorable on her face, but unharmed. His foot was an inch from her face, the heat from it painting her skin a tad pink, but causing her no immediate hurt.

He carefully put his own foot down, relishing in the soft hiss that the action caused, and turned to face the man who had snuck onto their ship in the middle of the night and tried to eliminate them in the cruelest way possible.

"Now, shitty Shichibukai," he said, pulling out and lighting a cigarette, "let me show you how to fry a flamingo."