Chapter 37

Nami

It wasn't until later that day, when the sun was just beginning to set, and the Straw Hats were miles away from New Vega, that Nami got a chance to talk with Sanji about what had happened within the virtual world. Of the three of them that had gone in, he seemed the most likely to not only answer her questions, but to do so clearly (and not in a way that would make her wanna ring his rubber neck, Luffy). It was after dinner before she found a private moment with the cook out on the grass deck. He was leaning over the railing on his elbows, looking out to sea with a lit cigarette dangling lazily in his mouth. With Franky and Usopp working on repairs to the Sunny down in the lower decks, Robin in their room nursing her headache under Chopper's watchful eye, Zoro grouchily telling everyone that he wanted to be alone before taking a nap in a shady corner, and Luffy, Jinbei, Law, and Brook by the helm listening to the musician play Bink's Sake on the violin, now seemed as good a time as any.

The sunset was turning the sky bright reds and oranges and pinks as the navigator sidled up to the chef. "Good evening, Sanji-kun," she said with a bright smile and a twirl of her hair.

It was then that Nami noticed how tired the cook seemed. He wasn't just leaning over the railing; he was slouched over it. And before Nami had said anything, his eyes seemed to be looking out at a view that was very far away. At her voice though, Sanji pushed himself off the railing and arranged a bright smile on his face.

"Good evening, Nami-swan! Anything I can get for you?" He said the words with his usual enthusiasm, but Nami could tell there seemed to be a shadow lurking behind the cheerful façade. It reminded her of his smile on Zou, before Capone Bege took him. Without thinking, Nami placed a hand on his arm.

"Sanji-kun," she said, quietly and seriously, her previous plan of flirting to get the information out of the cook gone from her mind, "What happened to you three? What was it like in there?"

Sanji took a deep inhale of his cigarette before letting the smoke out in a big puff. Flicking the butt overboard, he stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the railing.

"I was living in Germa. But I wasn't the failure anymore. My mom was alive, which was great," he said with a small smile. Then he frowned, running a hand through his hair, "My brothers were nice, which was…disconcerting to say the least."

"And Judge?"

"Still an ass, I guess. Though that reminds me…" Sanji frowned, as if thinking something through.

"What is it?"

"Just some hints Vegapunk seemed to be giving me about that son of a bitch. And his possible plans for outside the North Blue." Sanji answered before looking over at the navigator, "But in any case, I didn't see that bastard much, except once and it wasn't pleasant. But all of the Vinsmokes were acting like their usual asshole selves right then, so it might have been because of that," Sanji replied with a shudder. He was being vague, Nami knew, but then she remembered Sanji's bloody face when he was trying to escape the simulation. She let the matter drop. "The way Vegapunk and that shitty assistant of his could take over people in there was creepy as hell. And at one point I saw a toddler basically turn into Franky. Same method." Another shudder. "Creepy."

"I'll bet," Nami replied. A cold brisk wind blew over the ship, causing her to shiver and wrap her arms around herself. To her surprise, Sanji's eyes widened in alarm.

"Nami-san! Are you…? Is everything…?"

"Hmm?" Nami tilted her head at the sudden worry in the cook's expression, like he expected her to just fall to pieces. "It's just the wind, Sanji-kun," she said with a small laugh, "It isn't going to blow me away or anythi—!"

Her words were cut off by the cook pulling her into a tight hug. She tensed, half ready to lay into him if he tried anything too handsy, but to her astonishment he just held her.

"Sanji-kun?"

"I'm sorry," he responded, relaxing his arms a little, "I'm probably acting strange, aren't I?"

"You and Zoro both. He was so snappy with everyone at dinner. Well, except Usopp," Nami replied, gently pushing herself out of the hug. They both glanced across the deck where Zoro was still napping. Out the corner of her eye she noticed Sanji pat something in his jacket pocket. She could make out a rectangular outline in the fabric. Over by the helm, she could hear their captain's laughter, followed by shouts from Law. "Luffy is Luffy, but even he was more into hugs tonight than usual."

"It's not surprising," Sanji commented, lighting another cigarette, his hand cupping the lighter's flame to protect it from the wind. "We tried to find you all in there, you know. Just in case any of you had gotten stuck there too."

"Oh?" Nami pushed herself onto the railing, so she was half sitting on it, one long leg stretched out to the grass to keep her balance. "What were we like?"

Sanji leaned back on the railing, took a deep inhale on his cigarette, then tilted his head back and released the smoke straight up, taking a long moment before he answered. "What would any of us have been like if we had never met Luffy?"

Nami thought it through for a minute, then her eyes widened in horror. She gasped, "Arlong! The villagers!"

Sanji nodded. "Exactly. Brook was dead. Fishman Island was decimated. Crocodile took over Alabasta, according to Luffy. Robin, Vivi, and the Marines were all dead. Chopper didn't trust humans. Franky went to Impel Down, didn't make it. And I'm not sure what happened to Usopp's village, but Zoro said Usopp himself wasn't in good shape. Might be why he was so…well, at least not mean, to the long-nose this evening."

Nami's hands covered her mouth as she lowered herself down to sit on the grass deck. "I guess I never…really let myself think about it before. I've always been so grateful to Luffy, mind, but…"

"It's not a pleasant thing to think about. What would have happened to each of us had we never met Luffy? The what ifs?" Sanji agreed. "Although, it was different for the three of us."

"How so?"

The cook paused another long moment before answering. "Like I said, the surgery to enhance my brothers never happened, so my mom was alive and my family was actually warm and welcoming. What I had always wanted them to be." He glanced up at the helm, where Law was still yelling at Luffy, while Brook and Jinbei laughed. "You can probably guess who they brought back for Luffy."

"Ace," the navigator breathed out the name quietly. Then she shook her head. "That old man—Vegapunk's assistant- said they made Luffy a Marine in that world. I can't imagine."

Sanji actually laughed at that. "It was pretty wild."

"And Zoro? What did they change for him?"

The cook frowned, placing a hand on his jacket pocket again. He was silent for such a long time that Nami nearly asked if he had heard her, when he finally responded, "I'm sorry, Nami-san. I can't tell you that."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's too personal. If you want to know, you'll have to ask him yourself."

Nami glanced over at the sleeping swordsman, remembering his angry mood earlier in the evening. He'd drunk an obscene amount of alcohol, even for him, and had snapped at nearly everyone, even Chopper. She decided her curiosity could wait.

Sanji

"Go away, Cook," the swordsman growled without even bothering to open his eye. Sanji paused just out of sword range but didn't back away. Instead, he swirled the sake bottle in his hand, so the liquid audibly swished around. Zoro's face twitched at the sound, but he still didn't open his eye.

"But I come bearing tribute, Mosshead." Carefully, Sanji placed the bottle within the swordsman's reach. Finally cracking open his good eye, Zoro reached over, snatched the bottle, and chugged a good half of it before putting it down at his side.

"Alright." The swordsman let out his breath in an explosive puff. "Hurry up and say your damn peace, Shitty Cook."

Still standing out of sword range, Sanji put his hands in his pockets and leaned towards Zoro.

"You don't seem to be taking what happened very well."

"No shit, stupid Cook!"

"Look, we all three went in there. We all three saw the dead person we most wanted to see, alive and well. My family and I…it's complicated, I'll admit that. But Luffy lost Ace again and he's taking it pretty okay, considering."

Zoro was silent for several moments.

"You think Luffy is taking this well?" the swordsman asked. Sanji glanced up at the helm, where their captain was attempting to pull a protesting Law into some sort of dance while Brook played a jaunty tune on his violin.

"Yeah? He seems fine. Taking it better than either one of us, even."

"He's just better at hiding it…" Zoro mumbled, looking up at the helm himself, a look of concern on his face. Then his mouth quirked up into a small grin. "And here I thought you were supposed to be the more "observant" one, Cook."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Zoro replied, quietly. He gave the cook a more meaningful glance, "Just…keep an eye on him, alright, Love-Cook? Maybe have the witch talk to him later or something."

Sanji sighed, for once letting the insult to Nami drop. "Fine. Whatever. But at the same time, you gotta chill with everyone else. Especially Chopper. They don't know what happened in there."

"Tch. Whatever. Fair enough. Now what did you actually come over to talk about, Curly? You didn't sacrifice a bottle of sake just to talk about Luffy and my pleasant demeanor. What's up?"

Sanji took a deep breath, pausing for a long moment before he spoke. "Our adventure isn't over yet. Far from it. Luffy still needs to become King of the Pirates. You gotta become the world's strongest swordsman, yadda yadda yadda." Sanji paused, considering his next words. "But once all that's over, a family wouldn't be completely out of the question for you, Mosshead."

Zoro scoffed. "Doesn't matter, it still wouldn't be-"

"I know, I know," Sanji got in quickly, raising his hands quickly in placating gesture. "No one could ever take Kuina's place in your heart. And they shouldn't. You'll never love anyone quite like you loved her. But it doesn't mean you can't ever love someone else in a new way."

"Pfft! As if! Like who?"

"Well, there's always Hiyori-chan or…" Sanji got a mischievous grin on his face, "…Tashigi-chan!"

With a snarl, Zoro started to get up, one of his hands on a sword hilt. Sanji backed up a little.

"Look, just think about it, Mosshead." The cook put his hands back in his pockets. If Zoro really did want to fight, he'd rather have them safe than getting sliced to ribbons trying to placate the swordsman. "In the meantime, there's this."

Once he was certain Zoro wasn't going to actually slice his head off (or try to anyway, like that swordsman could…), Sanji reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small rectangular black box. He placed it in front of Zoro, who sat on the grass, staring at the object in puzzlement.

"The hell is that?" he questioned the blond.

"Hang on a sec," Sanji answered, pulling a small headset out of his other jacket pocket. The headset looked similar to the glasses that had been placed over their eyes while the three had been trapped in the Ambience simulation. A cable dangled from one end of the headset. Sanji plugged it into a small port in the rectangular object like Franky had shown him and then pressed a button at the top. In the fading sunlight, he could see a gentle glow from inside the glasses. He handed them to Zoro. "Put these on."

"Why?"

"Just do it, Mosshead."

Frowning, Zoro followed his instructions. As soon as the device covered his eyes, he gasped in surprise and ripped the thing off his face. His good eye stared at Sanji, wide in shock. The chef had tested the device earlier and had a pretty good idea of what the swordsman had seen: an almost God's-eye view of Kuina and the boys, most likely just finishing dinner.

"What is this, Cook?!"

"It's a 'Data Storage Device.' Before Luffy arrived at your dojo, I asked Franky to save Shimotsuki Village from the simulation before we left it. It's the only part of the program Franky was able to save, just that village and island and miles and miles of ocean around it, so it's not as delicate and fragile as the original. We don't have the equipment to go back into the simulation, but Franky was able to program that little device to focus on Kuina," Sanji explained. He ignored the trembling in the swordsman's usually steady hands as they held the headset. "So anytime you wanna see how your little family's doing, you can turn on the view piece and see them."

"C-cook…this…I don't…" Zoro seemed to choke on the words.

"You'll never be able to interact with them," Sanji continued. "But at least you can know that this version of Kuina and those boys are safe and still exist in their small world. In some way, they're real."

In the fading twilight, the chef could make out tears glistening in the swordsman's good eye. He turned and headed back to the galley before they could fall.

Author's Notes: Yeah, I couldn't kill Zoro's little family. I'm as bad as Oda.

-Went back and reread some of my author's notes. My apologies for repeating some of the same information on some of them.