So this has been some busy week, but I'm glad I was able to bring you the next chapter on time. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Thank you all for your lovely favos and comments.

Next chapter is planned to be updated upcomming friday, but I can't make any promises as the next week will be even busier than the last one^^'

Have fun!

Chapter 9

"Luffy, stop it! This is my rice ball. Food will be ready in a minute."

"But you already had two, give me the last one."

"You had eight! Sanji, how long do you need?" Usopp whined from the dining table, trying to keep his last Onigiri safe from his captain.

"Just a few minutes left. I'm almost done," he murmured, rushing back and forth in his galley, "you can set up the table."

"But we never have to do that," Luffy grumbled, who had given up on stealing Usopp's food and stared longingly over to the plate the cook had set aside for Robin.

His captain wasn't entirely wrong. Normally, the table was already set up when the other crew members came to dinner. Either because Sanji quickly did it while cooking or because Robin usually came a little bit earlier to help him.

But today they had all come to the kitchen together and the cook had only been able to save some time due to preparing the appetizer in the early morning.

In a hurry he tried to set up a modest dinner, but the day had been exhausting and he was still a bit overwhelmed. Just a few minutes ago, Nami had tried to explain to him that his lovely Robin-swan might like the grumpy swordsman more than he thought it would be possible, and even though he knew that there might have been more urgent things to worry about, this was by far the most frightening of all.

The navigator, meanwhile, cleared her throat clearly and some of the other pirates got up to set up the table.

"You don't need to help, Rayleigh," she said kindly, "after all, you're our guest."

"Oh, don't worry. I like to make myself useful from time to time."

"Shouldn't we call Zoro and Robin?" Chopper asked, who seemed rather unhappy. "Who knows when was the last time Zoro has eaten something."

"He doesn't conk out that easily," Franky replied with a wink as he put several plates on the table, "unlike our cook, Zoro is quite steady when it comes to women."

"Hey," Sanji growled, but the oversized pot of noodles called for his attention.

Eventually, the food was on the table. Sanji had to admit that he disliked the fact that two of the crew members weren't present and yes, Chopper was right, the swordsman had probably not eaten anything for at least a few days and even though that fairly wasn't enough to kill him, it was Sanji's duty as the ship's cook to ensure that all crew members were provided with the best possible care.

Dissatisfied with the overall situation, he dropped down on a chair next to Nami. Normally he wouldn't sit at the table - as it only offered eight seats - and wouldn't eat until after the meal, but on this day nothing was normal.

"I still can't really believe it," Usopp muttered, seemingly just as overwhelmed as Sanji felt, while Luffy just started eating next to him. "Zoro was on the Oro Jackson, he was part of the Hell's Trio. It's said that the Navy was so afraid of Roger's teammates that those two were the first non-captains to receive their own bounty."

He shook his head. "With such a man on board, we are invincible."

Although Sanji refused to agree to the sniper, he smiled at his statement. Usopp had apparently decided to ignore Zoro's plan of leaving the crew.

"What? Zoro's that strong?" Chopper asked with huge eyes and looked at the former vice-captain of the Pirate King. "Is he really invincible?"

Rayleigh laughed and gladly accepted a mug of beer from Franky.

"He's certainly not invincible. But it is true that Bronze was a fearsome opponent and rightly received his own bounty. Those, who did not know his weaknesses, were doomed before he would even attack."

"Do dragons even have any weaknesses?" Nami muttered. "Fish-men are superior to normal humans in almost everything. Why should this be different for a dragon?"

"Water." To everyone's surprise, it was Brook who replied. "When I was a kid, there was a very common saying that you have to wash a dragon to tame it."

Now Rayleigh broke into loud laughter. "Yes, I remember that one. Oh, how many times have we teased Bronze with that."

"Wait a second, what?" Nami looked doubtful. "Water? Zoro has no problem with water. He's not a devil's fruit user."

"Of course you're right Nami, so let me explain what I know." With shining eyes, the Dark King leaned forward, a wide grin covering his face. "So Zoro, the human you know, is not particularly impressed by water. But dragons - and this includes Bronze - have their own rules."

"They're like devil fruit users," Sanji muttered folding his arms. "That's why the entire warehouse was lined with sea stone. It weakens both devil fruit users and dragons, just like seawater."

The former pirate nodded: "Exactly, I don't know the exact story, but according to Bronze, the ancestors of the dragons protected the crown from the tree of life and fed on its fruits, giving them special abilities. The legend says nothing about it, but I think we can assume that these were devil fruits."

The others exchanged astonished glances.

"I can't speak for the dragons, but I know that just touching seastone or a single drop of water burns Bronze. The older he got, the weaker the influence of the water became, but especially at a young age..." He shook his head. "Roger once accidentally threw him in a bathtub – long story - and then he had to stayed in bed for three days."

Rayleigh laughed softly. "Actually, it wasn't funny at all, but looking back now... So, if you wanted to beat Bronze, all you needed was a spray bottle filled with water, or just seastone or bronze."

"Bronze? Why that?" Chopper chirped in curiously.

"Well, let's say, since dragons are powerful beings, nature has created a balance on its own. The stronger a dragon is, the more sensitive he or she is to the environment. The eggshell of each dragon is made of something else. With Bronze it was an alloy of copper and tin and accordingly nothing is as dangerous or even deadly for him as bronze."

Sanji swallowed heavily, remembering the neck ring Rayleigh had freed the swordsman from.

"And I thought this Korekuta just liked Zoro's name," Usopp muttered sarcastically, apparently thinking about the giant bronze birdcage as well.

"But wait," Franky disagreed. "You say that bronze hurts Zoro in his dragon form just as much as seastone or water? So why is he called Bronze? That's totally insane, then everyone knows his weakness right away."

The Dark King shrugged his shoulder. "The dragons had their own culture and they just did it that way. For what reason you'd have to ask Bronze."

"But it's not a problem for Zoro," Nami said thoughtfully. "It only seems to hurt him when he is in this other form, right? But then he just turns back into a human and he's good."

"Although it's true that it doesn't hurt him as human, it's not possible." Rayleigh started eating again. "As long as he is in contact with bronze, seastone or water, he cannot change his shape. A neck ring plus chain and he is as helpless as a fish without water. Has sometimes caused us some real problems. Especially because he couldn't stand his alter ego at all."

„Oh."

The dinner had taken on an unusual depressed mood. Except for Luffy, of course, who continued to fill his bottomless belly.

"Well, keeping that in mind, but aside from that," Sanji muttered, looking at Rayleigh seriously. "How strong is he really? I mean back then, before he became a child again due to the curse. How strong was he?"

The former pirate smiled slightly.

"I never beat him," he admitted, "and I would say that he certainly surpassed me in terms of fighting power and determination, but he was a terrible strategist and always wanted to get things to go his way, which caused him some problems."

Again, Sanji found it difficult to breathe. How could he keep up with someone who could even compete with the vice-captain of the Pirate King?

"But we're talking about the Bronze from the past, aren't we? Because no matter how strong and unconquerable he could be as a dragon, so weak he was as a human being. He could barely fight as a human, let alone use Haki. Even at his best, his human part was clearly inferior to the Zoro we see today."

Well that didn't help Sanji at all to feel better.

"But from what I have just seen, I would say that it will take him a few more years to reach his former peak form as a dragon." He was still smiling. "And of course, I'd be excited to find out how he looks full-grown."

"Full-grown?" Once again, the crew members exchanged uncertain glances.

"Oh yes, dragons aren't grownup before the age of 40 and only then begin to develop their true power. As I said, like fish-men, the dragons have quite different potentials than we humans."

"You just want to tell us that Zoro is still a teenager?" Nami looked confused.

Rayleigh laughed softly. "Just don't let him hear that. We mocked him with that too when he first told us; in fact, we made fun of him with no matter what. But I think among dragons he would even be seen as a child being just twentyish."

Now some crew members smiled, but Nami became pale, although she didn't respond.

"And you don't have anything to say about all this, right?" Usopp asked his still guzzling captain with a raised eyebrow.

Surprised, Luffy looked up, but then he grinned.

"I didn't listen, what's it all about?"

"Zoro, you moron!" Nami told him. "Did you listen to anything at all?"

"Mhm," the straw-hat boy nodded, "Zoro is very strong and can grow wings and if we're honest, wings are really cool!"

He nodded as if he were in a serious sales pitch.

"So, you didn't get anything. Why doesn't that even surprise me?" Nami sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair. Then she began to initiate the straw hat into the necessary information.

"So if he looks different, Luffy, you can't throw him into the sea, do you understand that?" She concluded a multi-minute talk that the rest of the crew used to finally eat something.

"Oh Nami, don't worry," the young captain grumbled and waved it off. "Everything will be fine. You're always too anxious."

"Yes, because you're my captain," she murmured dryly, but leaned back.

It was at this very moment that the door opened to the hospital room, which had another door to the bow of the ship. Robin entered the galley, followed by the swordsman.

The mood, which had just begun to loosen up, froze instantly.

Sanji took a deep breath. It didn't take a psychic to see that Robin had cried, her cheeks were rosy, and the light put a slight glimmer on her face. He kind of wanted to kick the Marimo against the next best wall, but if he was honest, the swordsman looked even worse than the archaeologist. As he came in behind Robin, he stopped for a moment and looked at each of them. Like often, his face was unreadable, yet he looked even more distant than usual.

"Hey Robin, Zoro! Finally, you've already missed half of dinner!" Luffy greeted the two newcomers with noodles falling out of his mouth.

Immediately Sanji jumped up and offered Robin his chair. "Do you want a coffee, Robin, dear?"

"That would be very kind of you, Sanji." With a polite smile, Robin settled down next to Nami, but her smile faded as quickly as it had shown up.

She seemed tired, but who could blame her after such a long day.

"Zoro, sit down with us," Luffy shouted, still with full cheeks, as the swordsman simply dropped down on the sofa at the window due to a lack of free chairs.

"No need to," the swordsman grumbled, "I'm not hungry."

Sanji brought Robin a cup of coffee and looked disgruntled over to his favorite enemy. Wasn't the Marimo aware that his behavior wasn't helpful? How could the sceptics among them understand that he had nothing in common with the monster from the stories, when he was as dismissive as ever?

He hadn't eaten anything for at least a day and a half, and as a cook, Sanji couldn't approve it.

"Don't be like that, Marimo. Get the chair out of the hospital room and sit down. After all that was a captain's order, wasn't it?"

The swordsman glared at him, while Luffy and Usopp agreed loudly. But then Zoro stood up quietly grumbling while walking into the next room and coming back, pulling the office chair along. With a dark face, he fell on the swivel chair between Rayleigh and Luffy, leaning back and arms folded.

The boy with the straw hat grinned largely and the Dark King showed a slight smile as well.

"As always, you are in an excellent mood, Zoro."

The swordsman glared at the old man.

"Just shut it, would ya?"

Rayleigh grinned wider. "Oh, stop that act. I see exactly how nervou... Ouch!"

The old man's forehead smacked straight against the edge of the table.

Dishes rattled and his half-empty beer glass trembled ominously. All the crew members froze as the Dark King straightened up, a murderous expression in his eyes, the crooked glasses dangling from his left ear.

Zoro sat next to him, looking like he hadn't moved at all, his arms folded, his eyes closed.

"Bronze!" Never before in his life Sanji had heard the former pirate growl that gravely.

"Tze." The swordsman clicked his tongue quite unimpressed and picked his nose with his little finger.

"You're up to a fight?" Rayleigh turned towards the other one, his forehead still reddened.

"Against an old man? Please, I got some decency left." The Marimo showed a nasty grin.

Nami glanced at Sanji almost in panic. She seemed to think the same as he did. If things would go on like this, the two would sooner or later start a physical dispute, and thinking about the previous conversation, it was questionable whether the Thousand Sunny would survive this.

"Oh, it's really stupid of you to irritate me," Rayleigh grumbled now, but he didn't sound as furious as before. "Especially considering what stories I could tell about you."

"Hmm?" The swordsman half-opened his eye again.

"Yes, for example when we had to teach you how to swim. Do you remember how you and Wolfram fell down the waterfall and you thought you were drowning in knee-deep water? You screamed like a little kid."

Sanji suppressed a laughter behind the back of his hand, while some others spluttered loudly, Nami giggled quietly and even Robin couldn't suppress a smile.

"You can't swim?" asked Usopp, chuckling.

"Of course I can swim, you idiot!" The swordsman murmured with bright red cheeks.

"He was 28 years old when we had to teach him. During those previous four years he had almost drowned regularly, but it had taken us eternities to convince him. Seagull had even bought extra swimmies for him."

"What?" Now the room was filled with laughter.

"Silver!"

"What are you complaining about? You wanted it to become personal."

Apologetically, the old man raised both hands and stood up.

"Truce? I get you something decent to drink. What kind of high-percentage drinks do you guys have?" Almost innocently smiling, he turned to Sanji.

"Beer is fine," the swordsman murmured while straightening the bent glasses again.

"Oh, really?"

For a while it was unusually quiet at the dinner table. By now most of the plates were emptied and an extremely satisfied Luffy rubbed his swollen belly. The other crew members, however, were hardly able to establish a reasonable conversation, despite numerous attempts.

The swordsman always tried to dodge any dialog if possible and answered only in single syllables, his gaze mostly fixed on the beer mug in his hand. Sanji meanwhile had begun cleaning up and took a long glance at his friends. In the past, the mood had rarely ever been so depressed.

"Is everything okay between the two of you?" Chopper asked at one point quite innocently, looking back and forth between Robin and Zoro.

Both shared a surprised gaze.

"Chopper let those two deal with that on their own. We shouldn't interfere," Nami tried to pour some oil on troubled water before another storm would rise.

"It's alright, Nami," Robin replied with a friendly smile, turning to Chopper. "You know, Chopper, some things aren't as easy as they seem on first glance."

"But it's very simple!" The young doctor disagreed, sipping on his over-sugared iced tea. "We know now about Zoro's past and isn't it like with everybody else's past, that...?"

"Chopper." Without even raising his voice, the swordsman silenced the youngest of the crew. After a moment, he looked up from his beer glass and met the reindeer's surprised look. "Just because things are simple for you it doesn't apply to everyone. Everyone has a right to have their own opinion."

Sanji could hardly believe his own ears. He wanted to say something, but it was Brook, who had been so silent lately, who spoke.

"Zoro, may I ask you a question?"

The probably two oldest people in the room looked at each other. This idea was still absurd for Sanji.

"Did you know that Chopper and I are on that list?"

For a second, Zoro's facial features froze. He obviously had not expected this question. But the very next moment he was just as calm as always.

"No," he replied. "Before Joudama told me about it, I had no idea."

"If that's the case," Brook mumbled, stirring in his tea, "how long did you think you could flee from them? You went with Korekuta's daughter only because of us. What would you have done if we hadn't been on that list?"

"But Brook," Nami muttered, taking a cup of coffee that Sanji handed her, "what about these hypothetical questions? Things are now the way they are and 'what if...' does not help us."

"Despite that," the skeleton continued, "Korekuta will return. Rayleigh told us he wasn't going to let go of you back then, so he won't now, so what were you originally going to do?"

Zoro did not respond, but simply looked at his crewmate.

"Zoro?" Chopper asked anxiously.

"I understand." Brook nodded slightly. "So, you just let yourself be captured because of us."

Then he got up, an unreadable expression on his skull. Suddenly, the musician bowed so deeply that his cylinder fell down onto the table.

"Thank you very much."

Now the swordsman's unharmed eye grew large and his beer glass slipped down a few inches along his fingers.

The skeleton straightened up and took a seat, a smile on his face.

"And you're welcome," the musician finished his sentence, taking his hat off the table.

Confused, Sanji looked at the swordsman, who quickly turned his gaze to his glass. The Dark King next to him smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.

"Thank you," Zoro muttered to no one in the room.

For a moment, everyone was calm, but then Sanji felt a grin spread across his own face and the others began to smile as well. Gradually they looked at each other and very slowly something seemed to arise between them.

Luffy laughed loudly and picked up his beer mug.

"To our returnee Zoro!"

They all, even Franky and Robin, joined in and raised their glasses.

Only Zoro held his glass back and a gentle redness crept over his nose as the mood, that Sanji had expected all day, finally set in.

They had rescued a crewmember, that was the only thing that should count that evening.

He put the huge dessert on the table and patted the swordsman's shoulder as he passed by. In response, he received only a quiet grumble, but he was used to it.

Finally, it was there, this feeling for happiness after they had won.

"You have to tell us more stories!" Usopp insisted, leaning on the table with both elbows.

"I'd be interested to know if dragons have to poop," Brook said, enjoying his tea.

"Yes, Zoro. I want to hear more!" Chopper jumped back and forth in his chair, while Sanji loudly informed the musician about manners at the dinner table.

"Is that actually okay?" Nami still sounded serious. "I mean, your name is not Zoro, right? You're Bronze, so we should call you that, shouldn't we?"

She shrugged a little helplessly.

"But that's totally stupid," Franky complained, "then everyone knows immediately what his weakness is."

"Yes, but it's his name!" Nami quid back. "And the name Bronze has a culture, a history, therefore..." She did not finish the sentence but made further movements with her arms. Uncertainly, she looked over to Zoro. "So, how shall we call you?"

The swordsman slightly tilted his head, then he scoffed silently, a dark grin crawling over his face and he shook his head.

"For the last 22 years I've been Roronoa Zoro and even though I hate that this idiot here built in a pun," he nodded towards the Dark King, "it's still my name. Apart from that, Roronoa actually was my mother's surname."

"So it's actually Roronoa Bronze Zoro?" Usopp muttered thoughtfully, "or rather Roronoa Zoro Bronze?"

"Don't you dare!" The swordsman growled instantly.

Rayleigh, on the other hand laughed: "Oh, this reminds me of the times when we wanted to give you a slightly more inconspicuous name. You have resisted every human name and we had such nice ideas: Ronald, Rupert, Ray, Reed, Robert. I can't list them all anymore and in the end it became Robin, right...?"

The Dark King slapped a hand against his mouth and his eyes grew large, as if he had just revealed a great secret.

"Oops, that wasn't planned."

The swordsman next to him slapped his hand against his forehead and just shook his head.

"What do you mean by that?" Robin had been very quiet up until now and had almost not participated in any conversation at all. But now she looked at the Dark King with watchful eyes. "How do you mean that, Rayleigh?"

The former pirate swallowed heavily and looked over to Zoro, still these wide-open eyes and sheer panic on his face.

"Oh no," the swordsman grumbled defensively, "you brought it up, you can deal with it. That whole name-giving-crap was your stupid idea after all, I had nothing to do with it."

"Well," Rayleigh muttered, a little bit moping, giving his former crew member a hostile look from the side. "Okay, the story is this: As you know, Roger and I made Bronze believe that we were also half dragons, but we had our real names and it didn't take an hour for Roger to slip mine."

Zoro next to him nodded agreeingly.

"So out of necessity I said that we had given ourselves human names to be less suspicious and Roger quickly started to have fun naming Bronze several different names and since our two names started with an R, Bronze's human name had to as well."

The swordsman rolled his eye.

"They made a real game out of it. Even after I found out that they had lied to me and we had gained new crewmembers, they just didn't stop it. It was extremely annoying," he murmured, emptying his glass.

"And just because it annoyed you so much, we kept doing it," Rayleigh informed him with a wink, before adding: "It had become a true recruiting ritual that the latest addition to our crew had to choose a name – which had to start with an R – for Bronze whenever we would go offshore. And of course, for as long as we were there, Bronze was only to be addressed by that name."

"It was pretty pointless because I almost never ran around as a human being and every idiot could see that I wasn't one."

"Well, I admit," Rayleigh continued, glaring in fake annoyance at the other one, "that Bronze never - and I want to stress never - reacted to any name anybody chose. For years he didn't and yet we continued to do so just out of spite until one day we had some fun at some beach and the crew played water polo. I was a referee," he added proudly.

"But just because neither team wanted you," Zoro commented with an evil grin, nodding to the attentively listening crew members. "He always had bad eyes and would miss any ball thrown at him by miles."

"Whatever," Rayleigh murmured, leaning dangerously close to the swordsman, who lifted both arms apologizing, "Bronze was the only one resting on the beach, when suddenly the ball flew straight at him and..."

"I still don't know who messed up that serve," the Marimo mused.

"Yes, who could it have been? Mercury of course, but let me finish the story. So the ball bolted towards him and everyone shouted 'Robin!' because that's what he had been called that day and well, what can I say, he reacted."

"Of course, it was a ball!"

"And since that day his nickname within the crew has been Robin."

Zoro blushed. "I never liked when you call me that, you know that," he murmured and stood up to fill the empty glasses at the table.

Rayleigh laughed. "Oh, you didn't hate it that much, otherwise you would have stopped us at some point."

"But wait," Usopp muttered, "if they always called you Robin and you were on Ohara, that means that..."

"I don't think we'll ever know," Zoro casually interrupted the sniper, "and that's probably for the best."

Grunting the green-haired man fell back on the swivel chair and continued to speak before another one could.

"But if you really want to hear stories, Silver tell them about Elbaf. After all that was some..."

"El... Elbaf?" Usopp jumped up. "You... you mean Elbaf, the island of giants?" His eyes started glowing.

Almost simultaneously, Zoro started to smile as both Luffy and Rayleigh laughed out loud. Afterwards, the former pirate began to tell the story and within a few minutes there was an enthusiastic atmosphere.

Everyone listened attentively to the old man. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper hung on his lips and were getting closer and closer with their chairs, so that the captain almost sat on the swordsman's lap. Zoro leaned back and folded his arms behind the back of his head. With his eyes closed, he listened quietly to his former vice-captain, a soft smile on his lips.

Sanji provided them all with drinks and treats throughout the evening and found that even the others had a slight sparkle in their eyes.

Both Nami and Robin giggled from time to time and even Franky couldn't prevent agitated hecklings at exciting moments.

Even Sanji had to admit that the Dark King's stories fascinated him, but there was something else. The more time passed, the more alive Rayleigh's narration became and turned more and more into a conversation. They all laughed a lot, especially at the funny moments, but also the exciting and scaring stories caught their attention.

At some point even the swordsman started more and more to participate, interrupting the Dark King to describe his view of the events or telling Rayleigh in return another adventure that the straw hats had experienced, only to be interrupted again by one of the others, who had also witnessed said adventure. It was almost uncommon to hear Zoro talk so much, usually he was more of the silent type.

Even when he was talking about something exciting, his tone rarely differed, but it was striking how much he moved. As if his whole body had to tell the story, he threw his hands in the air, squinched up his face or slapped on the table, his voice barely changing, and slowly Sanji suspected that this part of him was this Bronze they all didn't know yet.

The way Zoro treated Rayleigh, the way he hid his grin behind his drink, the way he spoke with his whole body, but not with his intonation or voice.

And over and over again they all laughed, not just smiling, not this quiet giggle behind closed hands.

Sometimes even Robin couldn't hold on to herself and laughed with all her heart, even the swordsman threw himself back in his chair and laughed like Sanji had never heard him before. He did this as well with his whole body, bobbling over and snorting with laughter, almost falling out of the chair, while Rayleigh or Luffy patted him on the back, also laughing just as much.

Almost like an outsider, Sanji watched the others, a warm feeling in his stomach. That's how being at home should feel like, and it seemed like Zoro had really arrived home for the first time. He had always followed Luffy, had always taken his duties as a crewmember seriously. But only now Sanji did feel that the other had finally arrived and oh, how Sanji envied that.

It was like Chopper had said, they all had a past and Sanji didn't know when his own would catch up with him, but when it would, he could only hope that it would end for him just as well as for the swordsman. Home with a happy ending.

Eventually, the swordsman got up and brought the already sleeping young doctor to bed. When he came back, he could just say goodbye to Robin and Brook, who also wanted to catch some sleep.

Gradually they all disappeared to bed, in the end it was only Nami, Rayleigh, Zoro, and Sanji. The others helped him to clean up more or less voluntarily before Nami also left.

"What about you two?" Sanji asked, turning to the door.

"Oh, Sanji. We have more than 30 years to catch up, believe me that one night is hardly enough for this." Rayleigh patted him heartily on the shoulder and sent him to bed.

"As long as the kitchen isn't in ruins tomorrow morning," the cook muttered, leaving for his bed.

The swordsman answered nothing and only raised one hand as a greeting.

The next morning, Sanji woke up with horror.

He hadn't been drinking that much for a long time and his body didn't thank him. But much more terrifying was the concern about what the Marimo might had done to his kitchen last night.

After a quick wash, Sanji headed towards the galley. He was not surprised that there was no sound coming out of the dining room, probably the two had fallen asleep at some point.

Yawning and stretching, Sanji came in, still in internal conflict, whether he should let the other two sleep or whether he should kick the Marimo against the next best wall as usual.

But then he stopped in surprise. The galley was dark, there was no one there.

Confused, he looked around. Where were they?

But then he saw the bottle of sake standing on the kitchen table. He knew that the swordsman preferred to drink rice wine, and they had often argued about the other one simply taking some without even asking, but this bottle was still closed.

Slowly Sanji lifted the untouched bottle, the seal was undamaged. It was one of the few high-quality bottles that Sanji called his own. Not the very expensive one, for which Nami would never give him enough money, but already one for refined taste.

Why was it standing out here and not on the shelf?

But then he noticed the black cloth, which was carelessly folded under the sake bottle.

For a second, he didn't know what it was until he identified it as the swordsman's bandana.

He stared at the table as horror suddenly awakened within him and an ominous certainty spread through his body.

Still the bottle in his hand, he chased back into the men's cabin.

"Get up!" he roared as anger and panic rose in him. "Zoro is gone!"