Hallo and welcome back!
I really hope you enjoyed last chapter because… well… I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you this chapter.
He knew something was wrong the moment he saw them. Knew this wasn't because they decided they couldn't take care of the kid. This wasn't just regret. This was the look of someone forced to do something that fundamentally clashed with everything they stood for. Fuck, Tashigi looked like she'd burst in tears at any given moment.
"Word has been that we're in league with you. That's why we couldn't contact you. We have to take one of you in for execution," Smoker declared through gritted teeth.
The others gasped around him. Seriously? With them going buddy buddy with the G-5, it really had only been a matter of time until it raised questions. They should have known.
He sought out his woman's gaze,. She was sad but calm, smiled at him. She knew.
He stepped forward. "Fine. I'll come."
More gasping. How were they surprised? He'd been ready for this from day one. It was basically part of the job description, wasn't it?
"Oh no, not this time you don't, you idiot marimo," the cook fumed behind him. "Fuck, you've got a kid to look after now. You can't do reckless shit like this anymore!"
He didn't feel guilty for leaving it behind, not at all. "Still has all of you, that's more than any of us ever had."
Nami's broken sob almost broke his heart, almost made him waver in his decision.
"Robin, do something!"
What was she supposed to do? Did Nami really want to sacrifice someone else? Did she really want to make that decision?
"Actually, there's nothing I can do," she answered, and the calm of her voice made his hairs stand on end. "He is the only sensible choice. Why is their loyalty to the marines questioned? Because Smoker-san hasn't brought in Luffy and because there are rumors of an affair between Tashigi-san and Zoro. And without Luffy, we are nothing. It has to be Zoro."
Luffy's fist crashed through the side of Smoker's ship with an angry yell, and yet, nobody seemed fazed in the slightest. G-5 didn't even flinch. None of the strawhats interfered, just watched with solemn expressions.
When the volley of fists came close to the rudder, he stepped up. "Captain," was all he said, all he needed to say. The boy stopped his assault instantly, head hanging and not even sparing him another glance he trudged away to Sunny's figure head. Fucking brat. Could have at least said goodbye…
"You have three hours before we depart, Roronoa. Use them," Smoker grouched before dragging a teary eyed Tashigi along with him to their battered ship.
He sighed before turning back to the rest of his crew. Chopper was the first to break, plowing into his chest all tears and snot. Hugged the little guy to him without a single word knowing that he wasn't nearly wordy enough to say something that would make the kid feel better. He had expected this reaction from him, and when Franky's cold metal hands clamped around the two of them he found that having the cyborg drench his robe in just as many tears didn't surprise him either. Nami was right, they were too soft to be pirates. The lot of them, he scoffed, completely ignoring the lump in his throat and the burning in his eye.
They let go of him after minutes, still sniffling and Chopper not letting go of his pantleg as if it would keep him there with them. He looked at Nami. She was fucking furious. Raising her flat hand in front of his face, she huffed, "Don't even think about saying goodbye to me, you idiot. There's no way we'll just let you go like that."
Too fucking stubborn for her own good, wasn't she? He ducked under her arm and crushed her against him, ignoring her vehement protest but acutely aware of how her cursing slowly melted away to broken sobs.
"You better keep those idiots safe when I'm gone," he murmured against the crown of her head but just got hysterical wails back as an answer. Good enough he supposed.
"It's been an honour," Brook said from behind Nami in that unique politeness he always had if he wasn't singing or asking to see women's panties. He nodded his head in response, Nami still firmly in his arms.
"Honour is mine," he said.
Fuck this was hard. Usopp squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you," he said, and he knew what it meant. Thank you for being at my side, thank you for giving me courage… thank you for doing what is necessary.
Fucking shit, this sacrifice would be so much cooler if he wasn't a hair's breath away from crying his eyes out like the rest of them.
Well, not all of them. Sanji just glared at him, waiting just long enough to make sure that he could see before shaking his head and leaving to follow their captain. Fuck's sake. How could curly always be this disapproving when he decided to save their asses. Wasn't like he didn't want to live, far from it actually. He had plenty of reasons to want to live, now more than ever. It just so happened that those were the same reasons he now didn't hesitate to sacrifice himself.
He glanced at the crow's nest, knew his woman waited there for him. Calm, so unbelievably calm, disappointingly calm almost. Fuck. He needed her. Couldn't leave Nami a sobbing mess though.
She made it easy for him. Pulled away and wiped her tears on his already soaked robe.
"We'll get you back," she stated, staring defiantly in his eye.
Too damn stubborn. "Would be safer if you didn't," he answered, knowing that it wouldn't do a damn thing. Could only hope that the cook could keep both her and their captain calm and rational. Fuck, Robin shouldn't have to worry about that too.
He climbed the crow's nest, half expecting to see her silently cry in the corner. Instead, he was greeted with the smell of disinfectant and a surgical kit. She wasn't- he wouldn't be able to…
She saw his hesitation, of course she did. He couldn't hide anything from her. She smiled at him, kneeling on the floor, one hand over her growing belly the other offering him a seat opposite from her.
"You're a high level prisoner," she started as soon as he sat down. "If they really suspect them to be in league with us, Smoker-san won't be your keeper for long."
Wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, but he knew he didn't like where it was going when he saw her swallow thickly before her next words.
"There are many twisted people with the marines. I know you don't want to die, but they have people that know how to make you. They will take everything you have and everything you are and twist it long enough to use it against you. They will make you look in a mirror and see the face of a murderer. When they are done with you, there will be nothing good left."
He saw the tears swimming in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall, just as stubborn as the rest of the crew. This was hard enough for her, he wouldn't stop her.
"Back then, the nice memories I had, the few happy moments, they made me doubt them, took them. And I had nothing that I could hold on to."
Oh, so this was where she was going with that. Wasn't really hard to figure out after all the times she'd told him that she'd like to keep his mark in case of being captured, to keep her sane. He was very much prepared to die for all of them but, he really would prefer to do so knowing what he did it for.
"If you allow me, I will cut you 9 times, one cut for each of us. I will cover it with my skin and you will feel my power on you the whole time. When they make you lose yourself, when you start to doubt yourself, the wonderful man you are, you will scratch off that skin and you will see and you will remember," she declared, and he could see just how serious she was. How convinced she was.
Made him angry. Furious even. She had experienced that. All that she feared would happen to him once he went with Smoker; she had survived that. At half his age possibly. Fucking gods he was glad she did. Without her… didn't even want to imagine his life without her, or the crew in general. Fuck.
Pulled her to him, not caring about the sterile equipment between them. Crushed his lips to hers, devoured her. If it made her feel better about this, she could fucking cut him to pieces.
Well what do you think, let me know in a comment!
Huge thank you as always to my wonderful beta Rexica!
Also y'all owe mad amounts of kudos to ghost who reached out to me and gives amazing pep talks and made me happy enough to give you weekly updates til the end of this instead of letting you suffer for weeks ^^'
Follow me on Twitter ( nitwentyone), I'll be making a poll there on how to end the story.
Oh and would you be interested in getting sneak peeks for the next chapters?