Prolog

"Hey Zoro, let's go collect stones for a campfire!" The voice of the captain of the Straw Hat pirates resounded over the peaceful ship.

"What for? Let me sleep, Luffy."

"But it's an uninhabited island, Zoro! We have to make a campfire! Usopp is already collecting wood, but we are still missing stones."

"Don't you need more wood than…? Okay, for all I care, we're going to collect stones."

The voices of the others were muffled when Robin closed the door to the galley behind her.

"It seems as if our captain has successfully initiated the diversionary maneuver," she smiled, "he and Zoro have just left the ship."

"Finally," Sanji grumbled, without looking up, "it's almost time for lunch, from then on it would have been difficult to keep him out of the galley with a good excuse."

"I almost think we should have been more worried about our captain. Zoro regularly forgets mealtimes," Robin replied cheerfully and joined Sanji in the kitchenette. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, my dear Robin, you don't need to help me."

"But the two of us would be faster and we can all celebrate together." She tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled so wholeheartedly that Sanji's heart missed a beat. She seemed to be really looking forward to the upcoming party and that alone was reason enough for Sanji to make the greatest effort.

"Well, if so, of course I warmly welcome your help, my dear. You could wash and cut the vegetables."

With a nod, she immediately washed her hands.

"But you're wrong," Sanji murmured as he stirred his dough to the rhythm of Franky's hammer blows from the depths of the ship, "stupid Marimo may forget meals, but almost nothing can make him forget his daily alcohol consumption."

"That is probably true," Robin confirmed, and together they continued their work.

Barely an hour ago they had arrived at some uninhabited island and the change of scenery was only right for all of them. The last few days had been a strange atmosphere on the Thousand Sunny, which Sanji did not really know how to judge.

They had only recently left Thriller Bark behind and while some of them were quite enthusiastic about their latest adventure, the others were rather worried. Additionally, they had to take into account their newest crewmember Brook, who of course had to settle in first, and Zoro's strange behavior, or rather Sanji's distrust of his behavior.

The wounds of the Marimo could not have healed yet and yet he trained – no matter what Chopper forbade or prescribed – like a madman day in and day out.

Even when Sanji had fought his way out of the sheets early in the morning, the lookout had still been brightly lit. That itself was nothing unusual. Zoro usually finished his training at the time Sanji got up, and then lay down for a few short hours, often missing breakfast. But the last few days he hadn't done just that.

If Sanji wasn't wrong, the crew's swordsman hadn't slept at all the past few nights, had only trained, and that worried him. Zoro had always trained a lot and compensated the lack of nightly rest through naps throughout the day, but since Thriller Bark...

Crack

"Oh, dammit!"

"Are you alright, chef?" Robin peeked over his shoulder. "Oh, that must have been material fatigue. Wait, I will get you a new one."

"No need to, thank you."

Sanji lifted the broken wooden spoon out of his bowl and took a new one. Sighing, he continued to finish the dough.

"Or maybe it wasn't material fatigue at all," Robin mused next to him, "you seem to be working particularly energetically today, Sanji."

Surprised, he looked up while she only smiled gently at him.

"Oh, whatever," he grumbled and concentrated on his cake again. "I always put in a lot of effort, for every meal."

"Of course," Robin agreed, "but today you seem to put in an extra amount of effort."

He blushed.

"But..."

"So tell me, what unusual dish did you come up with? Is this green color supposed to be a hint?" She playfully interrupted his objection and drew his attention to the dough in his bowl.

"An attempt," he replied with a sigh. "I wanted to do something that isn't too sweet and not too unhealthy, but still a cake that everyone would like."

"A difficult task of balance," she remarked as they both continued their work.

"But I think I succeeded," Sanji confidently assured. "It's a spinach cake with beer coconut cream and strawberries. It's not as sweet as what I would otherwise bake, but with the strawberries, I think even Chopper will like it."

"Impressive," Robin praised him. "I'm sure Zoro will be happy."

"Oh, in the end he probably won't even try it. Chopper once mentioned that he can't stand any sweet stuff," Sanji grumbled and began to prepare the cream while pushing the dough into the oven at the same time. "But in the end, I don't know what kind of pastries he even likes. He would probably be more happy about some cheap booze."

"And yet you make the extra effort to bake a cake that he might like as well."

Sanji just shrugged his shoulders and ignored his warm cheeks.

"It's his birthday after all," he murmured defensively.

They had only noticed it by chance – or rather Chopper had gradually collected medical records for all of them and had by accident discovered that Zoro's birthday had been around the corner and dropped this little information a few days ago – and after his severe injuries on Thriller Bark, it seemed important to all of them to celebrate Zoro's birthday. They all wanted to celebrate today and so they had decided to surprise Zoro.

Sanji, however, had his own motives. Yes, he also wanted to celebrate, he also wanted to overpower the pictures of the last fight with more beautiful memories, but he also watched Zoro suspiciously.

The other was only a few months older than Sanji and if things had just turned out a little differently, Sanji might be dead now, Luffy might be dead now, Zoro might be dead now. Maybe Sanji would soon be able suppress the images of the fight, but that moment – Zoro between the ruins, the ground beneath him tainted red, he himself stained over and over with blood, his blood – Sanji did not believe that he could ever forget this image.

Then he noticed Robin's smile.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just happy to see that Zoro is important to you, too."

"Nonsense!" He replied immediately and put the cream in the refrigerator, slamming the door shut a little too harshly. "I don't care for this bastard."

"I have a hard time believing you."

He didn't like it when Robin saw through him so easily, and he hated that she was right.

"During the last few days, I almost had the impression that you were worried about him."

"And you're not?" He had spoken faster than intended, but it was the truth. "Don't you worry when you see what injuries he's running around with, pretending it's nothing, and just keep training like he's not in pain?"

Discouraged, he began to prepare the salad, which only the ladies and himself would eat anyway.

"This guy upsets me," he then admitted growling. "Runs around as if he were immortal and as if injuries leave no trace. One day he will put us all in danger with this reckless action, or at least himself. Sometimes I would really like to..."

Robin's raised hand made him pause. Her gaze told him that something was wrong.

"Where are the others?" She asked attentively, and only now did Sanji notice it.

They all had their respective tasks to do for the surprise party, but both Nami and Brook had offered him their help, as preparing a feast took most of the time.

But it was suspiciously quiet, no, rather it was much too quiet. Even with Luffy, Usopp and Zoro gone off the ship, it was far too quiet. No hammering from the depths of the ship, no violin playing, no Nami and no Chopper coming in to plan everything else.

Something was wrong.

But... no, nonsense. Sanji was already imagining things. What had happened on Thriller Bark had probably made him paranoid. The loudest troublemakers were on land and everyone else doubtlessly tried not to betray themselves, that was the reason why...

Suddenly, the door was torn open and a tall man in uniform and Marine coat entered, slightly bent to fit under the doorframe.

"Good evening," he greeted them as if it were the most natural thing in the world, showing a gentle smile like meeting old friends. "Hakkai my name, Vice Admiral and Commander of Marine Base G-6. Nico Robin, Blackleg Sanji, you are hereby arrested."

For a moment, Sanji just stood there stunned while the aroma of the spinach cake filled the galley. The intruder's deep eyes looked at him calmly and the gentle smile grew a notch.

"If possible, I would like to avoid a fight and keep the way open for a fair trial. Some of your crewmembers are already in our custody, so please, do not resist."

That couldn't be! They had just left Thriller Bark behind! Had just survived Bartholomew Bear! Today should be a good day! Today they just wanted to celebrate! Today was... today was...

"I don't think so!"

Sanji swept over the kitchenette and attacked the Vice Admiral.

"I was afraid of that," sighed the other and parried Sanji's kick with his bare arm.

"Argh!"

A fierce stabbing pounded through his leg when Sanji bounced off the other like off a stone wall, but he didn't think about letting himself be stopped. Not today! Not today!

Relieving his throbbing ankle, Sanji jumped up again, but suddenly the soldier was right next to him, and a dull pain spread through his neck.

That couldn't be true. That could not be true. Not today, not today, not after everything that had happened, not after everything... They just wanted to celebrate Zoro's birthday.

Suddenly the world turned black.

Hey everybody,

so here it goes, the final part of this triology is finally here!

I'm so excited of finally being able to share it with you guys, but to be honest I'm also somewhat nervous and I really hope you will enjoy it. I really put a lot of effort in this fic and had my best and worst moments writing it (and some characters really didn't make it any easier for me^^'), so I hope you will have your fun reading it just as much as I had writing it.

For once I'm actually not completely done with translating the whole fic, but that's the reason why I can already start uploading now and don't let you wait for some more weeks/months (my poor German readers had to wait more than a whole year for the sequel, I feel so bad^^'). Due to my new way of translating and uploading we're just a month behind the original German fic, which is even more exciting for me!

For those of you, who aren't familar with Protecting Dreams and/or Enduring Decisions or aren't remembering every detail, don't worry, I got you guys! I tried my best to build this fic up in a way it's easily understandable, even if you don't recall what happened beside canon ;-) (And in case of doubt you can always ask, I promise I don't bite).

At the moment I'm planning with a weekly update schedule - usually around saturday - and as the story progresses new tags might be added (tbh tagging is not my strength, so if you feel a tag missing, please tell me!).

As always I'm more than open for concrit in any kinds of ways, so feel free to come at me ;-)

Well, that's it from me for the moment, I hope you'll have a blast, and see you next weekend!

Sharry