He could hear footsteps in the distance, heading down the stairs towards the cell he was in. He'd been stuck in here….well he had no clue… there were no windows to help show the days pass.
He knew Doffy had planned this as his punishment, his newly remembered friends and family would forget him. It was his kind of twisted irony but up until now he'd found it kinda relaxing. It'd given him time to go through everything without any interference or time limits. When Doffy had challenged him the day he came back, he'd quit there and then; cutting any loyalty he may have held for the group. His problem had been his dad and his friends and guessing from his returned human form he couldn't help but assume that Luffy was here somewhere. With one last stretch he rolled off the bed, picking up his swords as he did. The cell door was an old thick steel one, he grinned it wasn't going to stop him even with one sword missing. He drew both swords holding one in each hand as he concentrated, letting his strength build and flow into them before releasing it. The door stood for a few seconds before collapsing down, the sound blending with what had to be another door getting smashed in.
He walked into the hallway glancing down towards the noise, he saw a dark haired woman walking into a cell further down as the blonde turned in his direction. God dammit of all the people he ran into why did it have to be that stupid blonde asshole.
His eyes locked on the dark haired woman next to him, he knew she was one of them. She'd exited the cell with an much older man.
'Yo earth to mosshead, I said trust you to ruin a perfectly good rescue mission' the blonde lit a cigarette 'I mean if you were just gonna escape why bother coming back here at all'
'What's she doing with you?' she was the one who had told Doffy what he'd been doing
'We're rescuing her dad as well, Doflamingo was holding that over her' he blew out a trail of smoke nodding towards the other man.
'Sorry about before Zoro, I didn't want to tell him but I couldn't risk my father's safety' her eyes teared up a bit.
It honestly didn't surprise him so he just shrugged and headed for the stairs, he wasn't going to let the blonde think he had anything to do with him getting out of here. He almost grinned at the old rivalry that was bubbling back up just by being around that idiot.
He could hear the others talking behind him but he took no notice, he just wanted off this island. He'd told Doflamingo that he quit and he'd more than paid the leaving price, so for the first time in what felt like forever he was free to do what he wanted.
The sound of a ringtone caught his attention though, phones didn't work here there was a blocker on the island.
'Usopp?' Sanji sounded confused.
'Sanji! Do you remember Zoro as well? We need to find him so Luffy will leave' Usopp's voice broke with panic 'The marines are coming, we need to leave now'
'Got him here, how the hell are you calling me though?'
'Hurry up then, Franky fixed the phones and everyone is heading back' he sounded less panicked but only slightly.
Sanji hung up the phone before Usopp could complain more.
'We need to go now but if you ever change your mind you know where to find me' Sanji had that stupid lovey dovey look.
He sighed and walked off.
'Wrong way you stupid bastard' he felt a hand on his collar before it pulled him round 'Asshole interrupting my beautiful goodbye'
The blonde was practically chewing the end of his cigarette.
He barely grunted in response and this set the blonde off on a rant that seemed to be a test of how many insults he could come up with.
A familiar sight caught the corner of his eye and he slipped out of the cooks grip. He walked over to the slumped figure, the back tattoo was new but the hat resting just above it was not.
'Hey Ace' he shook his shoulder, a snore confirming that he was asleep and not unconscious.
'So he never grew out of it then?' growing up Ace's narcolepsy had been a mixture of fun and difficulty depending where he fell asleep.
He ignored the surprised look on Sanji's face as he dragged his old friend up and over his shoulder. If the marines were coming then a member of the White Beard gang definitely didn't want to be here.
'Ah…no' Sanji was staring at him like he'd grown a third head
Rather than handle the awkward situation he picked a direction and began walking.
'Holy shit you actually picked the right way' Sanji lit up again as he walked beside them.
As they neared the dock yet another unique hat caught his attention.
'Zoro?' the other blonde grinned at him 'When Luffy started shouting about looking for you :I thought he'd lost it'
'Where is he anyway?' he really was looking forward to seeing him again.
'Ah he's back on the ship, Usopp managed to stop him leaving to search for you' Sabo nodded towards Ace 'I'll take him Marco's looking for him'
He lowered Ace down so that Sabo could slide under his arm, he didn't think Sabo could just sling him over his shoulder.
'Look I need to go as well, plus I don't want to be there when Chopper sees the state of you guys' Sabo laughed as he hauled his sleeping brother towards the opposite end of the docks.
The pair walked he last of the way to the ship in silence. When he got close enough he stopped to stare at the lion at the front of the ship.
'It's the Thousand Sunny Franky built it with his brother' the cook led him to the gangplank and onto the ship.
His foot never even reached the deck before Luffy threw himself with enough force to knock them both off the ship.
'Zoro! You're coming back with us right?' he was met with a grin that hadn't changed one bit since they were kids.
'Yea Luffy' he managed to untangle himself and and stand up the beaten and tired looking Luffy bounced up and dragged him onto the ship.
Sanji was getting dragged off by Chopper a surly looking guy with a yellow hoody had been following them but stopped.
'You as well' he motioned for him to follow.
Zoro shrugged and followed the group into what appeared to be a medical bay. He was impressed at the tech they had managed to fit onto a boat. He sat down on a seat at the side whilst Chopper ushered the blonde over to the bed.
Chopper set about the cooks arm, whilst lecturing him about getting shot. Sanji tried to defend himself but gave up and took the reindeer's lecture with a smile, that set the doctor off on a new lecture about how this wasn't funny.
The dark haired man came over and began poking at the skin around his eye with gloved hands.
It stung a bit but it didn't really bother him, he guessed he was another doctor as he wasn't bothering with an introduction or small talk.
'I can fix that but I'll need you to come to the hospital. The eyes damaged beyond repair but I have some spares' he took his gloves off and washed his tattooed hands 'Send Luffy in next will you'
He nodded at the man who looked as beaten as his next patient, he glanced over at the cook who was still getting lectured. Thankful for his quiet doctor he slipped out and went to fetch Luffy.