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Chapter 19 – Encounter

-Zoro-

Groaning, he dropped the weights and rubbed the sweat from his forehead. No matter what Mihawk said, Zoro enjoyed simple workout to tire his muscles and there was hardly anything better to relax than to put down the weights after a hard session and feel the slight burning of progress throughout the whole body. He was aware that a balanced workout consisted of more than just muscle exercise – one of the many things his teacher had drummed into him for the past two years – but it was still his favorite pastime, good to clear the mind or to relieve some frustration.

However, Zoro had to admit that he was in a slightly better mood than before, but the dark cloud still ruled over his thoughts, did not let go of him completely.

Nevertheless, he felt somewhat better and was actually slightly hungry by now, so he decided to call it a day, after all, it was already in the middle of the night and he had not eaten anything since breakfast. As he rubbed the sweat off his body, he wondered if he should use the night to turn into Loreen.

Most nights were very quiet, and no one would disturb him, because everybody – crewmembers as well as guests and prisoners – had gone to bed, on the other hand his last transformation had not been long ago, and he would probably endure a few more days without any problems before the unpleasant twinge would remind him of his limits. But who knew if in a few days he would have the peace to transform unseen.

Within seconds, this bit of hard-earned good mood vanished and even the Cook's carefully prepared snack and the cheap sake could not help much. He simply did not want to transform, did not want to transform back into his true form afterwards, and even less he wanted to come clean with his crew at some point. But the least he wanted were those thoughts coming for him now, which had been wafting around him like dark shadows since the last day and were now becoming clearer with every hour.

Zoro had overestimated himself. He was aware of that much by now, he had overestimated himself and his strategic thinking. If the past day had taught him one thing, it was that his plan was far too risky. Zoro wasn't willing to risk that much for a plan that most likely wouldn't succeed, not if he could take a different path, and he could. But why did he still falter so much? No, why did he falter even more now than before?

In a weak attempt to ignore his thoughts, Zoro decided to finish reading the little book the stupid curly brow had carried around two years ago, but of course it was anything but entertaining.

It did not surprise him when he heard the wood creaking in front of him, did not even look up, but picked up another rice ball and concentrated on the boring words.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" He murmured indifferent and bit into his snack.

"Oh, I went to bed early and wanted to use the quiet hours of the morning to read for a while, just like you do."

Now he looked up with a raised eyebrow and noted her smile. Robin held a small booklet in her hands, the cover similar to the book Zoro was reading. As often the case, she showed this knowing look and placed the booklet on the sofa next to the half-emptied bento box.

"I didn't expect to find you here," she then quietly admitted and picked a radish from Zoro's snack. "As far as I know, Chopper has been in bed for several hours and the sickbay is dark."

"Night watch," Zoro replied simply and lowered his gaze back to the last pages of the boring book. He hadn't asked Robin to put books out of him, nor did he ask what she thought about him reading such nonsense, or why she had brought him a new book.

"Well, the night is almost over, and I will be reading on deck, so if you should be done with your training and want to leave your post..." She did not continue, but only showed her usual mysterious smile, which Zoro understood only too well.

"Thank you for your offer, but I think I'll stay up here for a while," he replied, standing up to her piercing gaze, "but I'd like to rest for a while."

She just nodded and left without another word. She had probably heard what she had wanted to know. But for once, Zoro had willingly agreed to this exchange. After all, he knew now that he would be undisturbed in the lookout for the next few hours. Sighing, he closed the book and put it aside, then he stood up and stretched before taking off his boots and allowing his body to change.

-Sanji-

Early as always Sanji had woken up and started his daily work in the kitchen. To his surprise, the lookout had been brightly lit, but the sickbay on the other side was still dark. So, it seemed as if the stupid Marimo was for once fulfilling the duties of a crewmember and had not spent the whole night at the bedside of some freaking Shichibukai.

On his way to the galley, Sanji had also noted the shadow of probably Robin next to the steering wheel in the pale light of an approaching sunrise. He had wondered what she had already wanted outside at that time, but he had left her alone; after all, peace was a valuable good on this ship full of rascals.

Unfortunately, the current guests did not make the situation any better. Franky, Brook, and Usopp spent most of their free time taking turns guarding Caeser, while Kinemon and Momonosuke had settled in a little too good for Sanji's taste – especially the youngster spent far too much time with his beloved Nami – and got along extremely well with both Robin and Luffy.

Law, on the other hand, was a rather silent character like the Marimo, but regularly presented Sanji to new challenges with his aversion to baked goods and his demands concerning the filling of rice balls. While Sanji cooked for a crew of idiots – and two delightful angels – no one within the crew was really picky or cranky when it came to the food prepared by Sanji; at least as far as he knew. Apart from that, the former Shichibukai spent most of his time staring gloomily at nothing or exchanging a few words with Nami or Chopper.

Chopper, in turn, seemed to be fully absorbed in taking care of his newest patient. Just last night, he had asked Sanji to sit down together and set up a diet plan for Hawk Eyes. A fucking diet plan!

Okay, Sanji kind of got why this scumbag shouldn't just pop off, but why the hell should he help an enemy, or at least the rival of one of his crewmembers, with a healthy lifestyle? He didn't care whether Hawk Eyes would get drunk to the point of senselessness and pop off by doing so or not, as long as he waited until Zoro had defeated him.

Last night, Sanji may have negotiated a ceasefire with Zoro, but that had nothing to do with Shichibukai. That was a problem within their crew that didn't concern the Shichibukai, whose presence was actually a problem itself, as he had absolutely no place on this ship.

No, Sanji didn't wish him death, of course, but he didn't need to have him onboard either. With Doflamingo, Big Mom, and Zoro's eccentric behavior, they already had enough problems keeping them busy, they didn't need another bedridden Shichibukai, who in the worst case was after one or all of them.

In contrast to seemingly everybody else, Sanji deeply mistrusted Hawk Eyes. He had never understood why he had helped them during the Marine's ambush two years ago, why he had accompanied the charming Lady Loreen, why they had had a message from the Marimo only for Luffy, just for Hawk Eyes to face Luffy on the battlefield of Marine Ford a few days later.

Sanji was pretty sure that this slick bastard was playing a double game, and Zoro was probably too simple minded to notice it, had probably been so focused on getting healthy and stronger that in case of doubt he would not even notice if Hawk Eyes had maneuvered him across the chessboard like a pawn. The longer Sanji thought about it, the more certain he was that the Shichibukai – who were not called government dogs for nothing – was probably their enemy and could attack them at any time, and he had gained the trust of the one crewmember, who on principle initially mistrusted everyone, even his own crewmembers, in order to gain access to the others.

This thought suddenly made a lot of sense for Sanji. When Hawk Eyes had faced them two years ago, they had all been suspicious, expecting that he had come on behalf of the World Government, to finish what Bartholomew Kuma had failed to accomplish. Now, however, none of them seemed to believe that Hawk Eyes could still be an enemy just because Zoro had brought him here and begged Chopper to save him. That Luffy, the naïve idiot he was, did not question the Shichibukai's motives did not surprise Sanji, the same was true for Chopper, but the others were usually not so gullible. But perhaps they only concealed their mistrust well enough. Sanji had no doubt that Nami, Franky, and Robin would be able to behave accordingly. Brook and Usopp on the other side...

Suddenly, his pondering was interrupted when he noted the light in the sickbay flaring up out of the corner of his eye. Speaking of the devil, either the Shichibukai had just woken up or Zoro had dropped by. But a look out of the window revealed that there was still light burning in the lookout, so probably the former.

Damn it, hadn't Chopper asked him to bring the Shichibukai some water, as if he were some kind of butler? However, Sanji knew exactly how important Chopper took the recovery of his patients and only a fool – by name the Marimo – would oppose his instructions.

Unnerved, Sanji let go of his work, put on a cigarette, and filled a carafe. If Chopper was right, this Shichibukai seemed to possess at least the basic manners, so Sanji could probably complete this task with one or another polite word without having to deal with the unwanted guest longer than necessary.

He put pitcher and glass on a tray and decided to put the unpleasant matter behind him as soon as possible, so that he could deal with the important things in life, putting on some coffee for his beloved Robin, for example.

With the cigarette in his hand, he knocked before entering.

On the other side, a strange picture greeted him. Actually, it was not that strange at all, the Shichibukai leaned in his white shirt upright against a mountain of pillows and read the newspaper – wherever he got that from – but it was probably strange, because Sanji was not used to being stared at by these ice-cold hawk eyes. No, usually it was the Marimo that would look at him so disapprovingly in such moments.

"Morning," Sanji grumbled between gritted teeth. He absolutely couldn't stand this guy sitting there, like a king in bed, while his servant had come in to get him dressed. "Chopper said you should drink some water. You're welcome."

He placed pitcher and glass on the small bedside table and did not even appreciate the brief nod of the other before he turned around to leave, almost running into the pitch-black blade of the Shichibukai. Startled Sanji jumped a step back, away from the tip of the huge sword, which lay blatantly on Chopper's workplace without a sheath or other wrapping. It was precisely this blade that had almost killed Zoro more than two years ago.

"What the hell...?!" He growled and made another step away from that weapon. "Why the hell is such a weapon openly lying around here? Someone could get hurt."

A hoarse laugh made him spin around.

"As if there was a sheath powerful enough to constrain Yoru." With a nasty smile, Hawk Eyes glanced at him. His voice was rough, as if after some too long night with too much alcohol, but otherwise he sounded just as gallant and slick as in Sanji's memory. No, he really didn't like this guy. "But no need to worry, Yoru has no interest in your blood."

Together with the pale facial features and the piercing eyes, this statement had something spooky about it, but even the Shichibukai could not keep up with the horror that Sanji had experienced the last two years, so he accepted such melodramatic words rather with an eye roll. The Marimo also always spoke of his swords as if they had a will of their own – and he could get furious if somebody touched the one sword with the red handle without asking – but even he had never said something this overdramatic.

"You want to tell me that your sword wants to see blood? And whose? That of the Marimo?" He replied sarcastically and crammed his free hand into his trouser pocket.

"If you are trying to refer to Roronoa with your clumsy choice of words, then yes, absolutely. However, even Yorus' greed for his blood is not as great as mine." The Shichibukai smiled at him almost charmingly, while a cold shiver ran down Sanji's spine.

He had expected, suspected, feared, but the other had just almost confessed. As if Hawk Eyes knew exactly that no one would believe Sanji and therefore he did not need to double-cross him.

"You want to kill Zoro?" Sanji asked again with faked sarcasm, while nervously playing with the lighter in his pocket that Zoro had given him only a few days ago. Depending on how this conversation would continue, he had to expect a fight.

Once again, the Shichibukai laughed almost amused, as if Sanji had said something incredibly ridiculous.

"Do you think that is what I want, Chef from the Straw Hat pirates?" Hawk Eyes sounded like he was a predator playing with his captured prey. "Or is this what you want that I want?"

Sanji's blood froze and at the same time unbelievable hot anger rushed through his veins.

"What the fuck?!" He hissed at the other. "Are you freaking mad, or what? First you prate about you being greedy for the Marimo's blood and now you accuse me of wanting to betray my own crewmember?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Are you looking for trouble, dude?!"

The older man didn't seem to take him seriously at all, as he folded his newspaper with a smile.

"Oh please, I have no interest in someone like you. For all I care, you could drop dead, but you would be worth neither my effort nor my time. That is why it strikes me as unfathomable why Roronoa willingly protected someone like you."

For a moment Sanji had no idea what the other meant, but then it clicked quietly.

"You know what happened at the G-6?" He asked, ignoring the other's insults for the moment as hot flames flared up in his mind's eye.

"Certainly," Hawk Eyes replied, still showing this ugly grin, "after all, Roronoa himself told me what happened at the Senichi Islands."

Liar!

Zoro never talked about anything, he wouldn't tell his enemy things that only concerned the crew, especially things he wouldn't even tell the crew.

"And, of course, what happened afterwards as well."

He could see those piercing eyes almost flashing, the other was playing with him.

"Liar," Sanji replied calmly, "Zoro told you nothing - absolutely nothing. You just want to provoke me."

"Tze, and why should I waste my time with you? I am telling the truth; whether you believe me or not is neither in my hands nor in my field of interest."

"Then prove it!" Sanji approached the other, who, although he was sitting in his bed and Sanji was standing, seemed to look down on him.

"And how am I supposed to do that? By passing on what Roronoa has revealed to me in confidence? Certainly not. But of course, you can ask him why he entrusts knowledge to an outsider, which otherwise only the crew should know about." He could literally hear the trap snapping shut. "Or could it be that you do not even know what happened? Could it be that Roronoa does not even trust his own crewmember enough to tell you how he survived?"

Sanji felt like it was getting harder for him to breathe, as if the air was being cut off from him. At the same time, the Shichibukai looked as if he had absolute control over everything happening within this room and was only too pleased with what he heard. But Sanji didn't understand why the Shichibukai asked these questions in the first place. What use was such information if he wanted to attack the crew? Why did he start a quarrel or even forge internal crew conflicts when he could probably easily defeat them all with his strength alone, as Bartholomew Kuma had almost done back then?

But that didn't matter! Sanji was not allowed to be lulled by him. He had to find out the truth, no matter how, and if this man knew it, Sanji would make him talk now, no matter what Hawk Eyes wanted to achieve with this trap, no matter what else he would say.

"You know how Zoro survived? Tell me!"

The Shichibukai laughed loudly, whereupon his scratched voice choked off a note, but then he looked at Sanji and every grin, every smile or even simple smirk was gone and suddenly Sanji understood the phrase about looks that could kill.

"You are a presumptuous, simple-minded brat that you think you can command me. You wouldn't even be able to listen to Roronoa, even if he told you the truth, just like you were never able and still are not able to protect him, and you want to know the truth? For what? What good would it do if you knew what happened? What right do you have to know what he has experienced? You left Roronoa to die on this burning tower and what do you want now? The truth? A second chance to betray his trust again? A second chance to fail again?"

Sanji stumbled back when Hawk Eyes threw the blanket aside and rose. Only now did he realize how tall the other was and his pale skin made his eyes stand out even more glaringly.

"You don't deserve the truth about Roronoa, you impudent child. You failed two years ago and Roronoa had to atone for your weakness, and now you stand here demanding the truth about the past from a stranger, as if you had done anything to prevent it. While Roronoa has spent the last two years making the inhuman possible to benefit this crew, you have barely improved, even though you know full well that your inadequacy is to blame for Roronoa's suffering!"

The Shichibukai took a step forward.

"With what thought did you enter this room here? Did you think I was the enemy and you had to protect your crew and Roronoa from me?" Like a whiplash, the other snapped his tongue. "Tze, how boringly narrow-minded. How is someone like you supposed to protect Roronoa? You will never be able to keep up with him to even the slightest extent, as long as you are not willing to leave your own limits behind! You had two years to appreciate Roronoa's sacrifices, but you did nothing, still no more than a simple human. What a shame that he's still willing to die for someone like you, while you would not take a step more than absolutely necessary for him."

It was cold, as if the other's words had sucked out all the warmth from the room, erasing every color.

Sanji didn't know what strategy Hawk Eyes was pursuing, what information he wanted to provoke from Sanji with these accusations, but if he was completely honest, he didn't care at all. He made a decision, he made a decision that he should have made two years ago, even if he absolutely did not like the consequences.

He snorted softly and took a draw of his cigarette. Surprisingly, his hands were quite steady.

"Oh, come on," he grumbled, enjoying how the smoke heated through his lungs and warmed him from the inside, "you really like to hear yourself talk, don't you, Hawk Eyes? Do you rehearse these monologues beforehand or are they improvisation?"

Sanji could not remember ever withstanding such a look. Everything in him screamed to avert his eyes while the Shichibukai remained silent.

"You're pretty up yourself, do you know that? Pretend you're the only one who knows the Marimo just because he told you a few things. But let me be clear: no matter what the shitty swordsman says or not, we are his crew and you are just some guy he will defeat one day, so get off your high horse. You are neither in a position to judge this crew nor to speak for Zoro. At the end of the day, you're just some smug speechifier with whom Zoro trained for two years to get strong enough to return to us – his friends."

He could clearly see the other's chest rising and falling, but Sanji would not be intimidated by him. He had made up his mind.

"You say I'm presumptuous because I'm just a burden for Zoro? Well, maybe, then that's just the way it is, maybe he just sees me as unnecessary burden, but you know what? Despite everything, he has come back to continue to carry this burden. You, on the other hand, were only his emergency solution to achieve his goal, no more than a means to an end." Sanji stubbed out his cigarette and placed the tray next to him in the shelf. "However, you're right that I've rested too long knowing that Zoro is always willing to take that one step more, so I never needed to."

Sanji tensed his leg muscles, knowing that he would lose this fight, but perhaps his sacrifice would show the others that Hawk Eyes was double-crossing them. Maybe Sanji could for once protect Zoro.

"But that's over now!"