Disclaimer: [*sighs forever*]
The cool, fresh and above all open air was a blessing. The sun had risen fully now, and a slight breeze rustled through the leaves above them. Late morning light trickled down through the treetops, playing with the shadows still left behind. Some Fish drifted gently by, each one of them glinting their true silver. All of it contrasted sharply with the stifling stillness of the cave, and left Sanji wondering if the world had always felt so… alive. He definitely held a newfound appreciation for it.
"Alright Luffy, just put him down here. Have him lean against the rock and make sure he stays upright." Chopper's instructions were quick and professional, but Sanji failed to recognize the doctor's capability, being too busy being offended.
"I'm not gonna just keel over! I can sit up on my own!" Luffy just laughed, the stretchy bastard, and followed Chopper's orders. Sanji glared at him throughout the whole thing, silently communicating that he was doing this under protest. It would have been a lot more effective if Luffy had been looking him in the face. When his captain finally did meet his gaze, Sanji was surprised by how quickly his grin disappeared and morphed into a worried expression.
"Chopper!" Luffy called. The reindeer looked up from preparing his medical kit to see what was wrong and came closer. He caught sight of whatever Luffy had seen and hissed.
"Shit, your eye!" Chopper pushed Sanji's hair away from his face, revealing his other eye too. Sanji's indignant squawk went wholly ignored. "They're both really bloodshot! What the hell happened?"
"Are they?" Huh. Well, they did hurt like a bitch. He just hadn't expected there to be any visible indication of it.
"Do they hurt?"
"A bit, yeah." Sanji hissed in pain as Chopper carefully pushed back his eyelid a bit to get a better look. "Especially if you do that!"
"Sorry, but I have to see. Did you get something in them?"
"I dunno, maybe plaster dust? Or there was something in the air?" A slightly less-than-truthful answer, but what the hell was he supposed to say?
"No-one else experienced any adverse effects. Of course, if this is an allergic reaction of some kind..." Chopper backed off for a moment, returning a moment later with a small bottle in hand. "Tilt your head back. Luffy, keep him still." That was all the warning Sanji had before Chopper administered some liquid to both his eyes. Half a second later, Sanji was convinced it had been some kind of chili extract, because holy fuck did it ever sting!
"Don't rub them! The eye drops should help alleviate the irritation." Sanji sputtered in disbelief and clamped his eyes shut. He brought his hands up despite Chopper's order, but they were quickly caught; Luffy was taking his job as doctor's assistant very seriously, it would seem. Damn him.
"I'm sorry about the stinging, but it should pass in a moment. But for now I need you to describe how you feel. Any difficulty breathing?" The pain in his eyes was starting to fade, but he kept them shut. He turned his head towards Chopper's voice to answer.
"No, I'm fine."
"'Fine' doesn't leave you unresponsive! Are you feeling light-headed? Nauseous?"
"I said I'm-"
"If you say you're fine one more time I swear I will confine you to the infirmary for the rest of your natural life. What happened to you down there? You stopped moving, you wouldn't answer when called, I'm pretty sure you weren't breathing for a bit! And you looked…," Chopper paused, searching for an accurate term, "scared, or something."
Sanji didn't have an answer. He had no idea what he'd looked like, he'd barely been aware of himself at all. "I… don't know what to tell you, Chopper." The doctor sighed.
"Your speech isn't slurred anymore, and your reactions aren't delayed. You seem better now, at least, but you have to tell me everything you can. If you have some kind of allergy or something, I need to know. Those things can kill you. So this time, don't try to shrug it off. Tell me exactly how you feel right now, and how you felt back in the cave." There was an unsaid 'or else' hanging at the end of that demand, Sanji knew. He had no choice in the matter, not if he didn't want Chopper to do something drastic. He hesitated, carefully editing the events as he prepared to tell them.
"In the cave… I don't know. My eyes started stinging, but I figured it was just the dry air. As for the other stuff, I really can't tell you. If I stopped breathing, I sure as hell didn't notice. I heard you ask if I was okay, but I don't know when you got there or if you said anything before that. I guess I felt light-headed? Sort of? It's gone now, same with everything else. Just a bit of a headache left, but it's no worse than normal-" he cut himself off, but it was too late. A tense silence settled over the three of them, one which dragged on for far too long. Slowly, Sanji opened his eyes to see what he was dealing with.
That was a mistake.
Chopper's face was carefully blank, not betraying a single emotion. Somehow, that made it worse.
"Normal?" the doctor asked in a calm, even tone. It was sharp as a scalpel.
"Uh…" Sanji desperately searched for a way to take back what he'd said, but failed miserably. "I mean..."
"Sanji." Chopper leaned in closer, staring him dead in the eye, unblinking. It was one of the scariest things he'd ever seen. "Just how long have you been having these headaches?"
Sanji debated his options. He could lie, but right now Chopper probably had the power of telepathy through sheer force of anger and he had no doubt the reindeer would quite gleefully murder him, put him back together, and then do it again should he even dare to try. But if he told the truth…
Oh look at that, his life was flashing before his eyes. Best get this over with.
Sanji told him.
Up in the trees, birds sang cheerfully. The air was cool, but warming quickly. It was calm, as it always was out here, and even the shyest of wildlife was out enjoying it. It was peaceful day.
"WATER 7?"
Birds took to the sky, animals within a kilometer's radius fled. Anything capable of being that loud had to be dangerous. Down on the ground, back against a rock and with nowhere to run, Sanji feared for his life.
"YOU'VE HAD HEADACHES SINCE WATER 7 AND YOU DIDN'T SEE FIT TO TELL ME?"
Now, there were plenty of things Sanji could have said. He could have pointed out that they hadn't been that bad. He could have said that, in fact, he'd gotten more work done during that time than ever. And, had his mind not shut down in terror, he could have quite reasonably brought to attention the fact that he'd stopped having them a while ago. He said none of those things. He'd deny it later, but in that moment, faced with the full force of Chopper's wrath, all he could manage was a single, terrified "meep". He risked a glance at Luffy, but the serious expression on his captain's face promised no help. He was in this alone.
"I'm… sorry?" he managed, but his apology just fanned the flames.
"SORRY? SORRY? SORRY IS WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? 'Oh my head is hurting, so instead of going to Chopper and letting him DO HIS JOB, I'm just going to sit here and suffer through it! Perfect! I'm Sanji and I take no responsibility for my own well-being!' IS THAT IT?" Sanji didn't dare to even begin being offended by the mocking imitation of his own voice. It was not worth dying over. As it stood, it was a miracle Chopper hadn't switched to Heavy Point and punted him all the way back to the Sunny.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M HERE FOR? IF SOMETHING'S WRONG, YOU COME TO ME, YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER BASTARD!"
As the rant continued, Sanji wondered if it was too late to go back and take his chances with the cave. Eventually, Chopper's rage lowered in volume, if not intensity. He went through a basic checkup rougher than necessary, but, again, Sanji wasn't about to complain.
"As soon as we get back, you are going to go to the infirmary without a word and let me do a proper checkup. And if you hide things from me again, I will end you. Have I made myself clear?" Sanji just nodded. "Good. I can't find anything dangerously wrong right now, so you should be fine until then. Your eyes are looking better too. We'll wait for the others to finish up, and then we'll leave. That'll give you a chance to recover from whatever happened." With that, Chopper went to work packing up his medical kit. Sanji breathed a subtle sigh of relief, he hadn't been killed. Quite. Beside him, Luffy laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Shishishi, you said 'meep'!"
"Shut up, Luffy."
"These gifts are yours to use as you see fit. Keep them to yourselves, or share them with the world; whichever you choose, we will not interfere," said the Fourth.
"You may call upon us in your times of need, but we must all consider our own people as well," the First told them.
"Your guardian, our beloved sister… we can never truly replace her. But in her death, she granted this world new life by giving a place to the wandering souls which had none," said the Second.
"We hope, in giving you all of this, we have been able to do the same for you," said the Third.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Nami asked as Chopper and Luffy got Sanji out of the cave.
"Chopper-san is quite capable," Brook answered, handing his lantern to Nami and heading over to pick up Sanji's things from where they'd been left.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"I'm sure Doctor-san will do his best… although I do hope Cook-san wasn't hit by some kind of deadly curse which slowly eats him from the inside out."
"You're not helping, Robin. But… what happened to him? He was fine one moment, and the next he's just..." the navigator gestured vaguely, unable to find the right words.
"I don't know if he was exactly 'fine' beforehand, if I'm completely honest. He seemed a little… out of sorts," Brook said as he made his way past the bodies. He was desperately trying not to think about curses. It had been easier before Robin decided to bring them up again.
"He was? Why didn't you say anything?" Nami demanded.
"I did ask him about it, he said he was fine." Nami rolled her eyes.
"He would, wouldn't he..." She shook her head, then turned to Robin. "Is there still anything else you want to do down here? I mean, it would probably be best if we made sure Sanji-kun makes it back to the ship alright."
"There's only so much I can gather from a cursory inspection in low light. If possible, I'd like to bring a body back up to the surface. I'll be able to see better in daylight. I'd want to take it all the way back to the ship, but I don't think we'll be able to do that."
"Not unless we bring the Sunny 'round to the northern shore, and then we might as well be advertising our location. Uh… which one do you want to bring up?" Robin looked around, eyes falling on the one poor soul who'd spent his last moments alive clawing at the dark. On the practical side, his body was the least damaged and thus could likely tell her the most. And on a more instinctual level, it felt like something that needed to be done. His fate had been cruel. He deserved to get out. Nami followed Robin's gaze and nodded in agreement. It felt right.
"Brook, can you give us a hand here?"
"In a moment, I just have to- oh. Robin-san, this one is a little different, if you'd like to take a look..." Brook had stopped where Sanji had experienced his… episode, for lack of a better word. He'd picked up the cook's bag and lantern (which was luckily intact – no telling what an open flame would do in a room full of dry corpses), and in doing so caught sight of a small body wearing some form of jewelry on its forehead. He stepped out of the way when Robin got to where he stood, holding up the lantern to give her more light.
"A child… And none of the others are wearing anything like this..." She leaned in closer, until she could make out the carving. "A spiral?" she quietly said to herself, eyes narrowing. A suspicion began to take shape in her mind, but she refrained from jumping to conclusions. "I'm going to take this one up as well. Can you two get the other one?"
Brook and Nami went to do as asked, while Robin carefully gathered up the child's corpse in her arms. Brook was able to carry the other on his own, so Nami was left with the lanterns and Sanji's bag. They all moved slowly towards the exit, doing their best to avoid causing any further damage to the bodies. None of them spoke on the way out. After all, what was there to say about what they had seen? The idea that anyone could do something so terrible was difficult to even begin wrapping their heads around.
It was almost funny how much heavier the bodies felt the closer they got to the sunlight, as if they were weighed down by years of dark and silence, and the ones still left behind.
"Yours is the realm where land meets sea meets sky. Travel the borders of our homes far and wide, wherever your hearts may take you."
"Yours is the horizon, where all the world becomes one."
"For you, who have been lost for so long..."
"We speak on behalf of our sister one last time."
"Welcome home," the siblings declared together.
The others emerged from the cave sooner than Sanji had expected them to, not that he could blame them. He wouldn't want to stick around down there. His intended greeting never made it out of his mouth, as he spotted what Brook and Robin were carrying. He instantly recognized the headband the child wore, and although he'd never seen the other, he knew exactly which body it was. It sent a shiver down his spine and made his fingertips twinge, and what unnerved him was that he couldn't tell if it was out sympathy or memory.
The two bodies were gently lowered to the ground, and not even Luffy broke the silence. This was the first time the corpses were out in open air in centuries. The moment didn't drag on for very long, and Robin knelt next to them to start a thorough inspection. Nami, meanwhile, extinguished the lanterns and handed Sanji his bag.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, her tone gentler than usual. It sent Sanji's heart rate soaring.
"Never better, my beautiful flower, now that you're here!" He pointedly ignored Chopper's muttered 'never better, my ass', and continued to profess his everlasting love. Nami, for her part, let out an exasperated sigh.
"At least you're acting normal again." She gave Chopper a quick glance, but aside his incoherent grumbling, he didn't seem to have anything to add. Sanji wasn't dying, then. "We'll let Robin finish her work, then I guess we should head back towards town. I still want to look into any more maps I can find, maybe speak to a local cartographer..." Sanji was about to offer to go with her, but Chopper's scathing glare was intimidating enough for him to remain silent.
"I'll be taking Sanji back to the ship. Brook, will you come with us?" the doctor asked.
"I think I shall, I've had quite enough adventure for one day."
Seeing as no-one was about to listen to his input, Sanji turned his attention instead to Robin. She'd found something, if her frown was anything to go by. Slowly, he got onto his feet and stood up. Beside him, Luffy threw him a glance, grinning like he always did. Despite the carefree expression, his gaze was just a bit too intense to be entirely casual.
Sanji paid him no attention, feeling better now that he was the one doing the ignoring. He could walk just fine, and to prove it he made his way to Robin without the slightest wobble. He hesitated a moment, before kneeling next to her and getting a good look at the bodies for the first time. They looked no better in daylight.
"Have you found anything?" he asked softly, not wanting to break her concentration, but morbidly curious at the same time. She nodded in response.
"Their clothes would seem to be made of cotton, kept in remarkably good condition by the dry air back in the cave. I can't say for sure whether the cotton was grown here, although I would assume not. The island is a bit small for it, so it is more probable that the material was imported from elsewhere. The island's location makes it an ideal trading hub, so it isn't a stretch to imagine that being true centuries ago as well." Robin ran her fingers gently along a seam in the fabric. "Then there's the color. They both are dressed almost exclusively in various shades of blue. My best guess is that indigo dye was used, since it had become increasingly common in many countries around the time period I'm estimating them to be from. It was especially used to dye cotton because it worked better with the material than most other dyes. Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, the color itself may have held some significance to them. Either way, the dye, too, was likely imported. The plant it comes from, Indigofera tinctoria, thrives in more tropical areas. Finally, do you see this pattern here?" She pointed at what looked like a repeating series of stylized cresting waves along the shirt's hem and sleeves. Sanji peered closer. It was a simple design, with the tops of the waves curling inwards in what was almost a spiral.
"Yeah."
"Since this is an island, the ocean would have played a large role in these people's livelihood. It's not surprising to see its influence elsewhere in the culture, such as in design. This is also why I think the color blue was probably important to them in some way, as it is commonly associated with the sea."
Sanji stared at the two corpses, running through Robin's words in his head. She'd managed to glean a hell of a lot of information from their clothing alone. She really was amazing at what she did, and he had every intention of telling her as much. In the end he didn't get the chance, as Robin wasn't done yet.
"I feel my initial assessment on his cause of death was accurate. I could find no other significant wounds, and the one he had really was infected. It would have killed him long before dehydration set in."
Meaning he hadn't starved either, Sanji filled in. But he'd already known that, because he'd seen it…
"As for the child… her clothing is highly similar, if differently cut, but what sets her apart is this," Robin said, pointing at the stone hanging at the center of the child's forehead. "No-one else down there was wearing anything like it, even though I did find a few who were wearing jewelry. Placing the stone over the forehead might have held some importance."
"How so?"
"In many cultures, the forehead is considered to be linked with intelligence or the mind, or similar things. For example, have you ever heard of the third eye?"
"I think I might have come across the term…?"
"It's a concept which shows up in a number of spiritual traditions. The specifics tend to differ, but the gist remains the same: an inner eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. Usually, it is believed to be placed in the center of the forehead."
It took Sanji a moment to form his reply. Perception beyond ordinary sight…? "So… the pendant indicates the third eye?"
"It could, but it is important to keep in mind that just because it shows up in other cultures doesn't mean it's the case here. At best, it's a possibility. It could just as easily be a crown of some sort, or some other denotation of social rank. It may even not have any significance at all."
"Oh." Sanji's gaze remained on the pendant, all the while acutely aware of the one around his neck, kept out view under his shirt. Shouldn't he say something? Why was he finding it so hard to coax the words out of his throat?
"As for her cause of death, I initially thought she'd been stabbed in the chest, given the amount of blood on her front." Indeed, her shirt was stained almost completely black. "However, on closer inspection, I found no such wound. I was beginning to think the blood wasn't hers, but… well. Have a look." Ever so gently, Robin pushed at what skin remained around one of the girl's eyes, giving Sanji an unsettling view into the hollow space where an eyeball had once been.
"Um..."
"Do you see how the back of her eye socket has shattered? Something pierced right through her eye, through bone and into her brain. It would definitely have killed her."
"An arrow?"
"I thought so at first. However, I now think it was probably a thin blade."
"What…," Sanji paused, knowing he wouldn't like the answer he was going to receive, but then pushed on anyway, "what makes you think that?"
"The exact same thing was done to her other eye, too. Both were done incredibly precisely, with absolutely no damage to surrounding areas. That would be hard to do with anything but a sword or dagger."
Bile rose in his throat in tandem with the implications dawning in his mind. This child hadn't been mindlessly cut down in the midst of whatever chaos had taken place. Someone had known exactly what they were doing.
"But- no, she was… she's just a child, who- who would… why…?" His words came out in pieces, broken up by his horror. Robin, for her part, took a deep breath before continuing with a grim expression.
"It's overkill. The first stab would have killed her, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Despite that, someone took the time to do it again. It makes it seem far more personal. And there's one more thing..." Sanji almost wished she'd stop talking. She was brilliant, truly she was, but her words stirred far too vivid images in his mind.
"Her eyelids are undamaged, which means her eyes were open at the time. Closing one's eyes when something gets too close is a reflexive action. That means that someone may have held them open to prevent that from happening." Softly, Robin placed a hand over the girl's eyes. "I can only hope it was over quickly."
"Oh god…" He was going to be sick. What kind of twisted monster could do something like that to a fucking child? And right there, next to her body, lay another whose death had been horrific. Why…
why was it so dark? Is anyone there? Someone please, help me…
-why couldn't he shake the memory of what he'd seen down there? If anything, it was becoming clearer now that he had the chance to process it all. At least he didn't feel like he was being driven out of his own head this time, cold comfort as that may be.
Let me out, I beg of you
Buried alive, and stabbed through the eyes. Hundreds of people crushed and cut down, shot and ripped apart, left below in a smothering, all-encompassing darkness. Why?
Answer me! Someone, anyone...
Dead Fish overhead, a pitiful, haunting mockery of what they were supposed to be.
Please
"Cook-san?" He snapped out of it, focusing on Robin who was giving him a concerned look. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, no need to worry," he replied with a smile he knew he'd failed to make convincing.
"I'll be the judge of that," Chopper said darkly from behind him, making him jump. Shit, the kid's doctor senses must have gone off the moment Robin checked on him.
"Chopper, really-"
"Oh no you don't. I'm through hearing your excuses. Everyone's back now, so it's time to leave. I still have every intention of giving you a proper checkup, whether you like it or not."
"Come on-" Sanji immediately shut his mouth when Chopper looked him in the eye. The reindeer's glare was the stuff of nightmares.
"We're leaving?" Nami asked, as she and the others joined them. Robin nodded.
"I think I've learned all I can for the time being."
"Good. Uh, what should we do with… them?" Nami asks, gesturing towards the two bodies. "There's no point in taking them back down, and it doesn't seem right to just leave them out here, either."
"Perhaps we should dig them a proper grave?" suggested Brook.
"The ground here is kinda packed, and we don't have any shovels. Maybe we can burn them?"
"Cremation is often the preferred method of burial," Robin added. "However, smoke would draw attention to us."
"Guess we'll just have to look for softer ground, then. Luffy can dig the hole."
Sanji sat just off to the side, right next to the corpses, fighting off a wave of apprehension and disgust at the mere mention of a grave in the ground.
Too dark to tell up from down, cold bodies pressed up against him on all sides. No way out, only solid, unforgiving stone
"No," he said, too quietly for anyone to hear.
Trying to stand, legs giving out underneath him. Crawling, crawling until he could go no further, the walls came to meet him
"It's the best we can do for now, I guess. We shouldn't have to go too far to find a good spot."
Help me…
"No," he repeated in a stronger voice. The discussion stopped, and he could sense their gazes on him. He didn't turn to look, instead keeping his own gaze on the man whose last moments were playing out just behind his eyes.
Can anyone hear me…? Please…
"Sanji-kun?" There was concern in Nami's tone, and it should have delighted him. In fact it did, in a vague way, but he couldn't scrape together enough of his focus to react to it. Everything he had was working to bring out the right words, words which he was trying to pull in from far away. It shouldn't have been that difficult, yet they kept slipping through his fingers like a handful of water.
I don't want to die like this
"...At sea," he said. He became aware of the silver congregating at the edges of his vision; the Fish were gathering. It didn't feel like Enies Lobby though, not this time. For now, the Fish merely watched.
"What?"
"Bury them at sea." Now, he finally turned around to meet everyone's confused looks.
"Why do you say that? It will take us lot more time to bring them to the shore than it would to dig a grave," Brook said, with an edge of caution. As a matter of fact, they all looked a little wary.
"Because-"
because buried among the confusion, fear and pain was desperate wish to see the ocean one last time, a memory of billowing sails and the smell of brine
"...because it makes the most sense." It was getting easier to speak again. "It's like you said, Robin-chan. The ocean was important to them." Robin nodded slowly.
"That is true, but offers no solid evidence of their burial traditions. You seem… very certain."
"The people who killed them wouldn't show them the respect of burying them the way they would want to be," Sanji continued.
"But didn't Robin also say that they might have been acting according to their own customs?" Nami pointed out.
"They buried a man alive, and stabbed a child's eyes out. There's no way that was what they'd normally do. So if they just continued in that vein and buried those people in a way they would never want to be..."
"...It would be anathema to them," Robin finished his thought off. "No peace even in death."
"Exactly. Look, I know it'll take more time, but… they do deserve better than what they got." He looked them all in the eye imploringly. "Please?"
Glances were exchanged, everyone eventually turning to Robin to make the final call. This was her area of expertise.
"I see no harm in it, if that's what you believe would be best."
"Thank you. Nami-san, I hate to bother you, but do you think you could lead us to the closest shore?"
"Yeah, that should be easy enough. It'll still be a bit of a trek, though."
"Hold up! Sanji, the only place you're going is the infirmary!" Chopper protested.
"I promise I can handle it."
"You'd say that even if you were two seconds away from dying of blood loss!"
"Please, Chopper. I'll even stay in the infirmary overnight if it makes you feel better, but just let me see this through." Sanji held Chopper's gaze, sounding as sincere as he could. It worked, to some extent; the young doctor looked hesitant rather than murderous. Sensing he still needed a small push, Sanji continued, "Besides, I know you're skilled enough to take care of anything that might happen."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, bastard!" Chopper exclaimed, as flattery proceeded to get Sanji exactly where he wanted to go. "Alright, fine. But with two conditions: first, if you start feeling off in any way you will tell me immediately. Second, I intend to hold you to that promise. I'll be keeping you overnight, and if you get it in your head to try and get out of it after all I will make you regret it. Clear?"
"Crystal."
The leaders of the fifth's people realized the enormity of all they had been given, and bowed their heads in gratitude. Silently, they swore to themselves to make the most of it all, in honor of their lost guardian and the family she had left behind. Heads still respectfully lowered, they spoke their thanks on behalf of all their people. The siblings accepted this gratitude with grace, before bidding they return home to spread the news.
The leaders took their leave upon this dismissal, carrying with them an unfamiliar sense of hope. Excited, they hurried home, ready to tell all about the generosity they had encountered.
Had they taken a moment to reflect, they would have realized that while four siblings had bade them welcome, five voices had been heard.
Robin kept a close eye on the cook as the group walked through the forest. He was loosely surrounded by everyone else, although whether he realized this was intentional, she did not know. He seemed to be doing well enough, but the same could be said about the moments immediately before his episode in the cave. Not even Luffy wandered too far off, remaining close at hand in case he was needed again. There was a small amount of tension hanging over all of them, each ready to react should anything go wrong.
However, that wasn't the only reason for their wariness. Certainly, Sanji's health was a concern; first, he'd seemingly spaced out when leading them to the cave, followed closely by him momentarily shutting down completely. Even now, there was a certain sluggishness in his movements which indicated he hadn't quite recovered. Still, there was something else there too, something harder to pin down. It hadn't been there when Sanji sat down with her to ask what she'd found, or when the others joined them. But when he'd spoken out against digging the corpses a grave…
The air around him had shifted, there was no other way to put it. What exactly it was, Robin could not say. She was having considerable difficulty even in simply describing the change to herself. Whatever it was, the others had picked up on it as well, and as far as she could tell they hadn't understood it any better than she had. It hadn't been threatening, and Sanji's body language hadn't changed at all. But something had been different.
And then he'd turned around to face them, mental state unreadable, eyes unblinking and opened just a smidgen too wide. He'd looked directly at them, spoken directly to them, yet at the same time it had felt like he wasn't really seeing them. It was just enough to register as unsettling.
And she had no explanation for it. Sanji had done nothing wrong or explicitly out of the ordinary in asking for the corpses to be buried out at sea. He was the compassionate type, so it was only to be expected that he felt sympathy in this situation. It should not feel as strange as it did. Of course, his hypothesis about their preferred method of burial didn't have enough evidence for it to be accepted by the academic community, but then again it wasn't like he was going to be writing a paper on it. Still, he seemed to believe in his own conclusion rather strongly, perhaps more so than she would have anticipated given how well he tended to think things out. Is that what she found so odd? Or was it something completely separate from his actions?
Whatever it was, Robin would not let it interfere. If burying the bodies out at sea gave Sanji some peace of mind, then she would gladly see it through. Even if he was wrong, what would it matter? What's dead is dead. Harsh as it sounded, the corpses couldn't care what happened to them. Burial rites were for the living.
The leaders each returned to their camps, and gathered their people together. Confusion and curiosity turned into tentative optimism, and tentative optimism turned into unadulterated joy as the meeting with the siblings was recounted.
As the sun set, the fifth's people celebrated in their lost guardian's name, dancing across the sand of the shores and playing in the waves. The darkening skies glimmered and the sea shimmered in return, and they enveloped the world with stars. Eyes bright and voices clear, the fifth's people sang songs of hope and joy and gratitude long into the night.
The ocean sang with them.
The world shifted, and turned toward morning.
Sanji walked straight ahead, following Nami's lead. He hadn't been allowed to carry either of the corpses, and his protests had once again gone ignored when Robin carried one of them instead. Brook had the other, but that was hardly Sanji's concern. Chopper's glare had been enough to make him stop complaining, no matter how much it rubbed him the wrong way for a lady to have to carry anything, let alone a body. And… he felt like he really should be doing more. Two out of several hundred was not even putting a dent in the horrible scene hidden deep underground.
Around him, the others kept unusually silent with the exception of Luffy, who was making more than enough noise to compensate for all of them. Sanji didn't dwell on it, focused on their strange and centuries-late funeral procession. The Fish swam alongside him, mimicking his single-minded movement forward. There weren't very many, nothing like Enies Lobby, but they had a similar sense of purpose about them, even if they weren't doing anything.
How odd. He'd followed them to the cave, and now they were following him to the sea.
He hadn't been paying his surroundings all that much attention, so their arrival at the shore was a bit of a surprise. There was no sand, only boulders and moss descending into the water. Undeterred, he jumped to the closest rock and held out his arms.
"I'll take them down." Chopper started to protest, but was quieted by a nudge from Luffy, who shook his head slightly. Robin, being the closest, stepped up to hand him the body she carried.
"Before you take her, I'd like to ask if I could keep her headband. I may still be able to learn something from it," she said gently. Sanji wondered why she was asking him.
"Of course. I don't think she'll be using it..." Robin nodded, and carefully pulled the pendant off the child's head. That done, Sanji made his way down to the water, jumping from rock to rock with as little jostling as he could manage.
At the water's edge he knelt down and delicately lowered the girl into the water. Her body floated. Without letting himself hesitate, Sanji went back up again to get the other corpse, and returned to lay that one in the water too.
He paused. So much was missing, even if he had no idea exactly what. It was all so… unceremonious. There were words and rituals he knew nothing about and could not begin to imitate even if he did. What had they believed in? Was there a god out there they would have wanted to dedicate their souls to? Or was it just the ocean? Who had the man begged to save him?
"I..." No. He tried again. "I heard you. I… heard. I'm sorry it took so long, and I'm sorry that the others are still down there." It felt stupid talking to someone who could no longer hear him, but he spoke anyway. Someone had to. "I hope this is what the both of you would have wanted. You're free now."
Gently, he pushed the bodies away from the rock and hoped the waves wouldn't wash them right back up again. Then, around his fingers, he felt the current change. It led away and out towards the ocean, and in a mere few seconds caught the two in its way. Some Fish followed after them, even as they sank beneath the surface silently. Sanji lost sight of the bodies, but he watched as the Fish skimmed the water and swam out to sea.
Maybe he'd done something right after all.
A/N: Ey. Eyyyyyy. So as of March 21st, this story is one year old. Yeesh, time flies... I wanted to have this out by then, but sadly life got in the way. Better late than never?
In honor of this milestone, I want to extend a massive thank you to all who have stuck with me so far. You guys are so patient and supportive and aaaah I can't express in words how much it all means to me! You're all the best!
In last chapter's A/N, I mentioned that I may have to ignore some of the more recent events in the manga... and yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to do that. Good lord.
Once again, thank you, every last one of you!