AN: This chapter is a lead up to the next one, so please understand the jumping around a bit :)

"Do you think he's ever going to put on pants?" Zoro asked as she reached for the bottle of sake on the counter. Sanji slid the sake away from her and placed a cup of water in front of her instead. She was draining their alcohol reserves faster than he could replenish them.

"Sadly, I don't think he ever will." Sanji replied, sighing. "Why couldn't our new shipwright have been a beautiful woman?"

"To add to the number of women who ignore you?" Zoro teased and was rewarded with a slap upside the head. She laughed.

The straw hat crew had certainly been through a lot. Flying islands, assassinations, runaway trains, and now it finally felt as if they had a bit of a break. Their old ship, the Going Merry, had been replaced and they now resided on a newly completed and much larger ship, the Thousand Sunny along with its creator, Franky.

He was yet another enemy turned friend, and Zoro was starting to seriously be concerned about who Luffy added to his crew. It had worked out well so far… but where was the line?

She sighed and reached for the sake again, ignoring the water.

"It's 10 in the morning." Sanji emphasized, taking the bottle of sake and putting it away. Zoro rolled her eyes. Sanji and her had managed to settle into a comfortable friendship. They still fought, a lot, but it was more teasing one another than vicious. Neither of them ever brought up the kiss that had happened oh so long ago. It was an unspoken rule between them. Zoro didn't know how to feel about the whole thing so she did what she usually did and stuffed all her feelings deep down. Emotions made you weak. Perhaps that was why Franky annoyed her so much, he sure cried a lot.

But… there were moments. Moments where Zoro and Sanji would get caught up complaining about something and end up talking far after dark. Moments where she caught herself staring at him longer than necessary. Moments where his hand on her shoulder made her heart skip a beat. He just understood her. And they fought so well together, like they could read one another's minds.

No. Push it down.

"Hey everyone, I found something SUPER!" Called Franky from the deck. Sanji and Zoro exchanged glances before heading out to the deck along with everyone else.

Franky was hoisting a large barrel onto the ship with Usopp's help.

"Is it booze?" Zoro asked, walking over.

"Do you have a problem?" Sanji asked the swordsman.

"Maybe it's some preserves." Robin wondered, "But either way, be careful when you open it just in case."

Luffy reached over and pulled the lid off, and suddenly the barrel exploded, shooting a beam of smoke high into the sky. The crew tensed and looked around worriedly, their position now revealed to anyone nearby.

It all happened at once, suddenly a storm appeared in the distance and fog was rolling in while the crew kept their eyes pealed for anything amiss. They made it through the storm thanks to the Thousand Sunny, but the fog stayed and left the crew feeling uncomfortable.

"Do not worry, Nami-san, Robin-chan~ If you are afraid you can seek shelter in my arms." Sanji fussed towards the two women, who promptly ignored him.

"Yohohoho~ yohohohoho~"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around nervously at the mysterious sound.

"It's coming from this way…" Franky noted, leaning over the railing and trying to see anything in the deep fog.

"Yohohoho~ hohohho~"

"I see something…" Usopp said, trembling as he backed away towards the other side of the ship. Chopper joined him. Zoro clutched her swords as a ship came into view. However, it was no ordinary ship. The ship was easily four times larger than their own, but the striking part of the ship was that it was in tatters. The sales were ripped to shreds and the ship itself had numerous holes and tares in its side.

"It's a ghost ship!" Luffy cried out in excitement, climbing up on the railing to get a better look.

"Is a g-ghost making that sound!?" Chopper squealed.

"We're going to be cursed!" Usopp cried, pulling out a cross and holding it in front of him.

"Ghosts don't exist." Zoro stated. "Maybe it's a zombie."

"Yohohoohoo~" Called the voice from the ship once more. Everyone tensed as they slowly could make out a figure on the ship.

"Oh. Hello there." Said the voice. As the figure came into view, the crew saw a skinless face with black holes for eyes.

"How cool!" Luffy beamed, while the rest of the crew looked on horrified at the fancy looking skeleton sipping tea and waving towards them.

"Why are we doing this again?" Sanji asked as they climbed abroad the ghost ship.

"Because if we don't follow the Captain, we're going to get another crew member." Zoro replied.

"Need a hand?" The skeleton asked as it watched Luffy, Sanji and Zoro climb the ladder up. "Because I don't have one! Yohohoho~" Luffy laughed and jumped onto the deck, obviously very impressed by the skeleton. Sanji and Zoro boarded reluctantly.

"I like his hair." Luffy remarked, admiring the skeleton man.

"Um, Captain, perhaps we should ask—"

"Will you join our crew?" Luffy asked.

"Of course. It's been so BONE-ly here with NO BODY." The skeleton replied, shooting finger (bone) guns at Luffy, who laughed hysterically.

"Oh god.." Sanji groaned.

"Why do we have to help out that weird skeleton?" Zoro asked, grumbling as she followed the others onto the dark and mysterious mansion on the ghostly island, Thriller Bark.

"We're saving Nami-san, Usopp and Chopper. Do you ever pay attention to anything that's going on?" Sanji asked, sighing. Zoro looked around as if suddenly realizing the other three weren't there.

"Oh… alright then."

"Okay, this mansion looks pretty big. Let's split up and cover more ground." Franky suggested to the others who nodded.

"I'll go this way." Luffy said, heading up the stairs. Frankly went right with Robin. Zoro followed her Captain and Sanji went to the left alone.

"Zoro, jump!" Luffy called out, and the swordsman jumped. Luffy shot his arm out and grabbed the franken-pig and slung it at the far wall.

"What the hell was that?" Zoro asked, looking at the impression in the wall.

"Do you think we can get Sanji to cook it up?" Luffy asked. They had been relentlessly attacked by various stitched up creations.

"I feel like we've been wandering around for hours." Zoro said as they walked into a new room and saw some of the remains of enemies they had already beaten before.

"Its because you suck at directions." Luffy told her, rubbing his chin and looking around the room.

"I do not! If you keep going left, you will always find your way out!" Zoro replied.

"Didn't we just go right?" Luffy asked, looking down at his hands again and making an L shape with them to check the direction.

"See, this is your fault!" She accused. Luffy shrugged and shot his arm up straight into the ceiling with a grin.

"Short cut!"

"No, wait!" Zoro yelled but Luffy had already grabbed her and they shot upwards to the next level, crashing through the ceiling. They landed in what appeared to be a throne room, and a large man sat on the throne, looking just as surprised as they did.

"Get them!" The man yelled. A cute girl with pigtails giggled and waved her hand. Before Zoro and Luffy could do anything, a pair of ghosts swooped down and passed through them.

"I can never become the pirate king.. I'm so pathetic…" Luffy groaned as he fell to his knees.

"I am so weak and powerless, I always let my crew down and Sanji will change when he finds out my secret—" Zoro started.

"Great job Perona! How do you like her negative ghosts, eh straw hats?" The man asked.

"—and I'll have to leave the straw hats and travel alone, but I'll get lost and end up outside the grand line. I'll never be able to meet Mihawk to challenge him, and if he knows how often I lose, he will lose interest and not want to fight me anymore—"

"Um.. yes, well, I am Gecko Moria. It is I who will become the true pirate king." The man declared as they tied up the two pirates. He pulled out a large pair of scissors. "Now I'll take your shadows."

"—and I'll never achieve my goal and it'll prove Kunio right, that I am worthless as a girl and my parents were right to throw me away—"

"Why don't we cut this one first." Perona suggested, gesturing to Zoro. Moria nodded and grabbed the swordsman's shadow, snipping it from her body. Zoro immediately fainted.

When Zoro awoke again, she was in a large cage next to her captain. He was gnawing at the bars.

"Luffy?" She asked, looking around for her swords.

"Oh you're awake!" Luffy grinned. "About time, I'm about to free us, so let's go kick that shadow guy's ass."

"Sounds good." She replied. Luffy paused, however.

"You know, Zoro…"

"Yeah?"

"No matter what happens, I'll never let you leave our crew." Luffy said suddenly serious. Zoro frowned and looked at her captain.

"What-?"

"Those things you were saying… I know the ghosts increase negative feelings, but… I just wanted you to know, everything will be okay. I'll be the pirate king, and you'll be the world's strongest swordsman." Luffy told her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She stared at him a moment then smiled.

"Thanks."

"Oh, and you can trust Sanji too. Believe in your crewmates." Luffy added, grinning. Zoro's smile vanished but she nodded.

"Good. Alright, let's get out of here!" Luffy continued his gnawing until he snapped one of the bars. They slipped out and started running.

After circling around a few times, Zoro suddenly realized they had gotten separated in their haste. She managed to find her swords lying around though, which was a plus. She kept hearing bells somewhere, but wasn't able to find out where the sound was coming from.

She entered a room, following the sound. What she didn't notice, however, was the large gaping hole in the floor. She promptly fell through—

-And landed in a large hall on top of someone. She groaned and scrambled off the person. It was Nami. She was for some reason wearing a wedding dress. She looked to her left to see a man with a lion face suddenly grab her and kiss her.

The far door burst open in flames as a certain cook entered the room.

"Nami-san~! I'm here to save—Mosshead!?" Sanji stared at the two in shock. Zoro kneed the strange lion faced man in the groin and spat.

"Ugh, I think I got fur in my mouth…" Zoro complained. Sanji stomped over and gave a quick kick to the strange man, sending him crashing into the wall. He looked her over and then down at Nami, who seemed unharmed.

"I swear, this is some kind of divine punishment…" Sanji sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Shit, that thing has Luffy's shadow?" Sanji looked up at the giant zombie creature. It was destroying everything in its path.

"Stop staring and start fighting." Zoro replied, dashing after the monster.

The straw hat crew were barely standing, each covered in wounds and exhausted from trying to beat the monster. However, it was proving too powerful and they had run out of ideas.

But their saving grace was their captains return. Luffy showed up having absorbed dozens of shadows himself and faced his own shadow.

The battle was long, and everyone watched with bated breath, but Luffy was victorious over both the monster and the man Moria. He fell to the ground as the shadows within him scattered back to their owners. His body was in tatters.

Just when it seemed all had passed and everything was going to be alright, another presence made themselves known. Bartholomew Kuma, the Shichibukai.

"I've come for the straw-hat's head." Kuma stated simply, glancing around at the crew who were all battered from their recent fight.

"Like hell we're going to let that happen." Zoro stated, stepping forward, albeit a bit slowly. Franky and Usopp stepped forward as well, gritting their teeth and ready to fight.

In a mere second, they were all blown back harshly as Kuma raised his hand. Knocked unconscious, the straw hat crew were all in critical condition.

Kuma stepped forward to retrieve Luffy. As he reached down, however, he heard a grunt and looked to his right. Zoro was pushing herself up and stumbling over to their position. She was battered to the bone but running on adrenaline, she raised her sword and attacked. She was easily smashed into the ground.

"C-captain…" Zoro groaned and crawled over to Luffy, placing herself between the two. She glowered at the Shichibukai, but also knew she couldn't defeat the man.

"Such dedication." Kuma noted.

"Take me instead." Zoro offered, dropping her swords beside her. Kuma seemed to think about the proposal.

"No!" Came a weak but aggravated voice. Zoro looked to her side to see Sanji trying to pry himself away from a pile of rubble. The cook had finally gotten free and staggered to his feet, limping towards them.

"Don't be an idiot Zoro, you're far too valuable to us." He paused, "To me. Take my life instead." Sanji moved to stand in front of Zoro and his captain. Though his stand didn't last long as he was suddenly struck from behind and fell forward. Zoro had grabbed her sword and hit the back of his head with the hilt. Her eyes landed on Kuma.

"Very well." Kuma told her. His hand raised and what looked like an angry red ball of…something, started forming in his hand, pulling itself from Luffy's body.

"This is his pain, his wounds." Kuma continued, "I will give you this." Zoro nodded without hesitation. She walked a short distance away, moving behind a crumbling pillar as she readied herself.

"Oh wow, I feel great!" Luffy called out as he and the others arose. It had seemed that Kuma had vanished, and their battle was now over. Everyone was beaten up, though Luffy seemed remarkably okay considering the stress his body had just gone through. Everyone gathered and started chatting, checking on one another and congratulating for the recent battle.

Sanji woke with a throbbing pain on the back of his skull. He assessed the situation, seeing his crewmates for the most part doing alright.

Someone was missing though.

"Zoro…" Sanji muttered under his breath and looked around in a panic. Not seeing the swordsman, he forced his body to keep moving even as it cried out for him to just lay down.

Then, he found her.

Red.

It was everywhere.

He stumbled towards her but his foot slipped on the substance and he stumbled to the ground. He caught himself on his hands. The red coated his hands. He looked at them, eyes wide. He started to tremble as he looked up slowly at the swordsman. She was hardly recognizable in this state. He caught a glimpse of white teeth.

"I'm fine." Zoro told him.

Sanji blacked out.

AN: Thanks for reading! As mentioned above, this is more of a build up chapter for the next one. The next chapter is the longest chapter I've ever written and a lot happens. It will be my Christmas/holiday gift to you all :) So please look forward to it!