Gotta love 'em fillers… Anyway, I do hope you all enjoy this and thank you each and everyone one of you for the support on this story, I truly appreciate it.
Sanji continued to trudge through the thick forest, with Zetsumei on his back, making their way north towards the shoreline in hopes of getting to the Thousand Sunny before they had to spend another night in the cold forest. Of course, the chef wouldn't have minded spending a night by themselves again, maybe this time he could finally get his confession out without Luffy or anyone else interrupting.
"You know I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself, right?" Zetsumei said near the young man's ear, which made the man lose all thought, and almost lose all strength in the limbs keeping her up.
"Zetsumei-san," Sanji began, regaining proper thought, "I couldn't just let you walk this distance in the condition you're in."
"And I told you," Zetsumei said, grinning, "I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt anymore."
"I still can't take that chance, Zetsumei-san."
Zetsumei rolled her eyes, finding herself having no luck with the man. Usually she would have been able to get through to him by now, but this time she just couldn't. So, Zetsumei gave up in trying to get the man to put her down.
Zetsumei turned her head when she heard something in the bushes behind them. Of course, the first thought was it was more killer vines or something. But the smell wasn't plants, it was something else that was green.
Sanji glanced up when he felt Zetsumei's hand grip his shoulder. "Something wrong, Zetsumei-san?"
"We got an idiot behind us," Zetsumei answered, rolling her eyes. She sighed and looked back towards the bushes just as the person walked out.
"You have no right calling me an idiot." It was Zoro who had come out from the bushes.
"I have every right when it's true," Zetsumei replied with a small smile, but Zoro only glared right back. "Get lost?"
"No," Zoro replied, however it was obvious from his expression that it was indeed the case. He had gotten lost. "Are you two heading back to the Sunny?"
"Yeah," Sanji answered before getting to his question. "Have you seen the others?"
"I was with Robin, Nami, Franky, and Brook," Zoro replied, scratching his head as he walked a bit closer his two 'friends'. "We were all heading back to the Sunny, but they ended up getting separated from me which led me here."
"You mean you got separated from them," Zetsumei scoffed.
"I did not!" Zoro snapped.
"You have a terrible sense of direction." Zetsumei ignored Zoro's glare and looked back to Sanji. "At least we know the others are heading in the right direction. We should get going if we want to reach the Sunny before sundown."
"Right," Sanji replied before looking at Zoro. "Come on, Marimo, let's go."
"Whatever, Curly-brows," Zoro replied, slowly following the couple. Just as they began walking again, Zoro had noticed the injury on Zetsumei's leg. "What happened to you?"
Zetsumei looked down to her leg. "I let my guard down and got snapped by a Venus Fly Trap." Zetsumei grinned, looking back ahead at the path. "I'm just lucky Cherry Boy got there when he did."
"Oh you give me too much praise, Zetsumei-san~!" Sanji chimed, his cheeks flushing a bit from the praise.
Zoro snickered, looking to Zetsumei with a teasing smirk and an eyebrow raised. "I beat you enjoyed that."
Zetsumei glared at Zoro and soon kicked him with her metal limb, making the man grip his side. "Oh, sorry, I thought I saw a bug with green hair." She couldn't believe the swordsman was bring up his 'prediction' at a time like this. Although, Zetsumei wondered why she even stopped him, he was wrong anyway…right?
This chapter was fairly short, but it was the best I could come up with. I do hope you all enjoyed anyway and it might be awhile before the next chapter is up (because of something called school that the law orders children to go to…). Anyway, thank you all and hope to see you all soon!
