This was supposed to be more Sanji + Zoro, but it ended up more Sunny + Sanji, I think. And yes, I do feel bad for sinking the ship, thank you for asking (: I'll vote for Sunny in the character poll today to make up for it.
For the Febuwhump day 11 alternate prompt: "I can't lose you too."
Enjoy!
What's Left
"She went down slow. It was the last gift the Sunny could give them."
After the Sunny sinks, Sanji pulls Zoro out of the ocean.
She went down slow. It was the last gift the Sunny could give them.
Sanji was fairly certain they were all able to make it off the ship as she went down. Between the hurricane and the cyclone and the relentless canon fire that assaulted them he couldn't know for sure, but he saw Franky grab Robin and Brook during their last few moments on deck. And he definitely caught a glimpse of Jinbei darting for Luffy when he hit the water. And he was pretty sure he saw Usopp grab ahold of Chopper and swim towards Nami before the debris of their home falling apart around them forced them to separate.
He was already swimming away from the wreckage when a trail of blood caught his eye. He followed it to Zoro, who was just floating in the water, eerily still and unmoving. Something must have hit his head when he dived off the ship and knocked him out. Shit.
Sanji darted towards him as fast as his legs could take him. Canon fire from hundreds of Marine ships was still being directed at the wreckage, overkill in his opinion, but it forced him to dive deeper underwater, weaving around the cannonballs before he made his escape towards land.
After some intense swimming, Sanji was able to drag Zoro's still unconscious body to shore. He glanced back at the ocean, the Sunny's hull still burning bright as she descended to her watery grave. Something in his chest clenched tight, and he fell to his knees in the surf. The Thousand Sunny was their home, she was supposed to take them anywhere, she was supposed to take him to All Blue. Now what were they going to do?
He absently wiped at his tears and glanced around the beach. He could mourn later. Right now he needed to find the rest of the crew.
But the beach was empty. Just him, Zoro, and a handful of coconut trees.
He was a fast swimmer, so it wasn't unreasonable that he'd gotten to land first, but he'd had to go back for Zoro, and there was no way he would have outswam Jinbei. Panic started creeping up his chest. What if they were still out there? What if they hadn't made it off the ship after all? What it they were-?
No, he couldn't think like that. They'd made it off the ship, he was sure of that. Nami had said this archipelago had a dozen different islands. Maybe they'd come ashore at a on a different island. Or maybe the surf brought them to a different part of the beach. There was no reason to assume the worst.
The Marine ships had ceased firing. A few, he noticed, were coming this way.
He cursed and stood up, dragging Zoro away from the water and further inland.
"Wake up already, you useless sack of shit," he muttered as he dragged him under one of the coconut trees. He guessed that they had about ten minutes before the Marine ships were close enough to see them, so he had ten minutes to either wake Zoro up to help him fight or find a place for them to hide.
He glanced down at his unconscious crewmate. The head wound was still bleeding, and his skin was pale and cold to the touch. And he wasn't breathing.
"Shit," he pressed his ear to Zoro's chest. Nothing. "Fuck."
Sanji immediately placed his hands on Zoro's chest and pressed down hard, again and again and again, keeping a count in his head.
When he hit thirty, he moved to Zoro's head, tilting it back and pinching his nose as he opened his mouth. He took a deep breath, then covered Zoro's mouth with his own, blowing two deep breaths into him, watching as his chest rose.
Zoro still wasn't breathing on his own, so he went back to the chest compressions, pressing down even harder each time as he grew more frantic.
"Don't you fucking do this to me," he growled down at him. He blew more air into his mouth and checked for a pulse, still nothing.
"No," he snarled and went back to his chest, "No no no no."
More air. Check for breathing, none. Check for pulse, none. More chest compressions.
Tears were starting to form in his eyes again as he pressed down on Zoro's chest.
"I just lost my home," he said, desperately beating the life back into his friend, "I lost the crew."
He put his mouth on Zoro's again and blew as much air as he could into his lungs. He pulled back and placed his fingers under Zoro's nose, hoping to feel something as he franticly felt the side of his neck for a pulse.
"I can't lose you too."
Despair began clawing at his chest, then he felt it, a soft heartbeat, faint but there. He quickly flew back to his chest to do another round of chest compressions, and at around twenty Zoro began coughing.
Sanji quickly turned him over on his side so he could cough out the water in his lungs. Relief flooded through him as he felt Zoro's neck once more for his pulse, finding it easily, reveling in its steady thumping, proof that Zoro was alive.
"Swords," Zoro eventually croaked out.
Sanji glanced around. The white one was still on Zoro's hip, but the other two had fallen off when he'd dragged him out of the water. He grabbed them and glanced over at the Marine ships. They'd changed course away from the oncoming storm clouds, and were heading away.
He flopped down next to Zoro and placed his swords on the ground between them. The sun was setting over the ocean, the dark pinks and purples reflecting across the surface and accentuating their still burning ship. They watched it sink together in silence.
Sanji reached into his pocket for a cigarette, but of course his pack was soaked completely through. Instead he sighed and leaned back on his hands, the pain and anguish from losing the Sunny clashing with the relief and solace from getting Zoro back, making him feel numb.
Zoro leaned his shoulder against his, and Sanji let him without comment, taking comfort in the touch.
They kept watching the horizon until Sunny was completely underwater, one last goodbye to their beloved home.
Zoro's head flopped on to his shoulder, "Now what?"
"We find the others," he said with more confidence than he felt. He took a deep breath and stood up, helping Zoro shakily to his feet too, "We keep moving.
Zoro nodded, and together they walked along the beach, sunset at their backs as they kept moving forward.
