Part V: Stocked for an Apocalypse

"Are you alright?" Usopp asked, grabbing Luffy's shoulders. He shook him gently, "Luffy? You okay?" Luffy didn't even blink. He dropped his hand down to his side, the blood warm against the side of his head. "Luffy, man, are you hurt? Do you have brain damage?"

"You don't have one of those things in your head, do you?" Nami murmured, looking between Usopp and Sanji.

"Hell no," Usopp breathed, running his hands over his head.

"What's going on?" Nami demanded. "Someone say something!"

Zoro grabbed a roll of paper towels from the bucket on the table. He unwound the paper several times before tearing it off and pressing it against his head. He shook his head, blood dripping onto his shirt collar, "Well fuck."

"Yeah," Sanji sighed, standing up.

"Say something more… explanatory!" Nami complained in frustration.

"Luffy," Zoro said, turning. He lost his train of thought the moment he saw Luffy's face. Luffy's bottom lip trembled in warning before he erupted into tears. He sobbed loudly, not even bothering to wipe his face. "Whoa… Whoa… What's wrong?"

"He just got attacked with a fucking light bulb and microwaved. He's not okay, Zoro!" Usopp shouted, patting Luffy on the back.

"Nothing personal," Sanji explained, grabbing Usopp roughly by the collar. He dipped Usopp low, lifting his knee to lock him into place. He ran his fingers over the side of Usopp's head before turning his head to check the other side. He released Usopp, straightening his clothes, "He's clear."

"Yeah, fuck you too," Usopp groaned, stepping back as Sanji looked toward him.

"Miss," Sanji said quietly, "If you don't mind, I need to check behind your ears."

"Uh, yeah, just don't yank me like that…" Nami cooperated, sitting down at one of the tables.

"She's clear."

"Of course we are," Usopp spat.

"Just because they don't have implants doesn't mean they don't work for the D Foundation," Sanji explained, "Or Germa Six Six."

"Hey," Zoro murmured, standing beside Luffy. "What're you crying for?" It sounded harsher than he intended so he quickly added, "Little cry baby," for good measure.

"I could've saved Iva," Luffy moaned sadly, "She died to save us, but I could've saved her."

Zoro shook his head, "Even if you remembered, we don't have the cure. There's nothing we could have done."

"I could've fought harder. If I knew who I was… I…" Luffy shook his head, "It's weird isn't it, to forget so much?"

"I don't understand," Zoro licked his lips, "How did you get an implant? That doesn't make any sense."

"Law did it," Luffy explained, tenderly touching the broken skin above his ear. "I can't remember it all yet, but I know Law was there. He shot me with a gun but it wasn't really a gun and…" Luffy paused for breath, "He looked so sad, Zoro. We have to save him."

"He always looks sad, it's his face," Zoro muttered under his breath.

"Huh?"

"I don't understand something else," Zoro realized, shaking his head. "Why were you in Houston? Where's the army? Where's your dad? Shouldn't you have been extracted immediately…?"

"There's no time for this," Sanji interrupted. "You've gotta go."

"What? Why?" Usopp asked.

"Because there are spies everywhere," Sanji whispered, "They're looking for you, Luffy. They-"

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" Nami explained, "This isn't a prime location for people to be spied on. Do phones even work out here?"

"You're so cute when you're patronizing, sweetheart," Sanji breathed with a smile. He walked over to a bait bucket and kicked it over. The lid popped off and a human arm rolled out, green and bloated and horrifying. "This is what I do to spies when I catch them. I can't catch them all…"

"They know I'm here, they put me here," Sanji explained, facing Zoro, "And they know that if the Ds contact anyone from Deadhouse it's going to be you and me… Right?"

"We've missed something," Usopp decided, nodding with Nami as she agreed.

"I draw the line at dead bodies," Nami breathed out, "We should go…"

"We have to get out of here," Zoro decided, "A swamp is no place to get cornered."

"New Orleans wasn't hit," Sanji suggested. "It's big enough to blend in."

"No, we're going back to Houston," Luffy instructed, "That was the last place I saw Law and that was the last place the Revolutionary Army sent me… I can't remember why… And I don't really remember why Shreveport. You said someone was there? Who?"

Sanji shrugged, "That's where I grew up… well, when I wasn't in boarding school."

"Was I looking for Sanji?" Luffy wondered.

"Okay," Usopp interjected, holding up a single finger, "I've been your friend now for a while… And I am concerned. And a little wigged out. And I'd like to leave now."

"I'll explain what I can remember," Luffy promised, casting Usopp a sympathetic smile, "But we seriously have to get out of this bayou."

"Do you think you can get us back to the interstate?" Zoro asked Sanji.

Sanji made a face, "I think I can manage, yeah…"

"You've been an ass to me since we got here. What the hell, man?" Zoro demanded.

"Since you're too dumb to figure it out yourself, I'll just have to tell you later," Sanji snarled. "Dumbass."

Zoro groaned, closing his eyes, "I have a headache. Quit making so much noise."

"Boat? Canoe? Zipline?" Usopp asked, blinking his eyelashes pointedly. "How are we getting off this barge and back to terra firma?"

"This barge moves," Sanji said, narrowing his eyes, "You realize that right?" Sanji shook his head, "Do you think we all paddle our pirogues into work every day?"

Usopp shrugged, making a face, "I don't know…"

"We'll be to shore in 30 minutes," Sanji replied, "I have a car at the dock, but we can only take it so far. The Texas-Louisiana border is closed."

"So how do we get back?" Zoro asked.

Luffy rolled his shoulders back, "The same way we got in."

"No. Nuh uh." Usopp refused.

"You're not coming with us," Sanji replied. "You're staying here, where it's relatively safe."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Usopp snapped, suddenly full of attitude, "Can you hit a man with one shot from 2,400 meters? That's 24 hundred meters; two thousand and four hundred meters, Mr. Chef? Because me… I can shoot and kill a man from 2,400 meters."

"He's right, you two," Zoro agreed. "It's insanely dangerous. The zombies aren't even the worse part."

"They're right," Nami sighed, grabbing Usopp's arm, "We don't know what we're dealing with here. Do you really wanna risk traveling all the way back? We were lucky to make it this far…"

"I was deployed to Houston," Usopp argued, "I'm not even supposed to be in Louisiana…"

"There's a lot to explain," Sanji insisted, puffing on a cigarette, "But simply put, you're out of your depth here."

"What's that sound?" Nami asked, looking around at her dark surroundings.

"Sounds like a teeny tiny helicopter," Luffy said, pinching his fingers together in gesture.

"Or a big ass bug," Usopp added, peering into the darkness. He turned toward Sanji, "Ya'll got those flying roaches in Louisiana?"

"Of course we do," Sanji breathed out between his teeth, "but that sound is something else."

"Sounds like a RPAS," Nami realized. She shoved Usopp down, climbing under the table.

"What the hell's an 'ARPAS'?" Zoro asked, ducking and pulling Luffy along with him.

"Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems," Nami explained, "A drone."

"Why are we hiding?" Usopp asked, peeking out from between the tabletop and bench.

"It's a reconnaissance drone," Nami explained, "Intelligence gathering, that sort of thing."

"How do you know this?" Sanji asked.

"I'm in flight school," Nami said with a shrug.

"You're a pilot?" Usopp asked, nodding his head in approval. "Could've just joined the Air Force and saved several hundred grand."

"I'm training to be a Flight Navigator," Nami corrected, "And I wanted to enlist. I had too many fucking speeding tickets."

"Yikes," Usopp murmured, shaking his head, "Slow down, girl."

The drone passed and everything was normal again; the bayou chirping. Sanji stepped out of the kitchen, "Think that's a coincidence?"

"Yes," Nami groaned, climbing out from under the bench. "They use those things to hunt terrorists. I mean, sure, Homeland Security flies them around too, but come on… It's random."

Sanji made a stern face at Zoro. Zoro shrugged, "What?"

"We'll talk about it later," Sanji murmured, walking across the barge as they pulled up to the dock

"You look like you don't feel good," Zoro said, knocking his shoulder against Luffy's.

Luffy shrugged, "Just thinkin'."

"About what?" Zoro pressed.

"What are the chances I'd find you? It's like my brain was trying so hard to tell me something was wrong…" Luffy shook his head, "And I wonder how many people I could've saved if I knew that I had nothing to be afraid of…"

"Were you afraid?" Zoro asked, laughing in disbelief, "Aren't you the one who made me stay and help all the crippled people and little kids? And weren't you the one who decided to visit the zoo?"

"I almost wish it was still in there," Luffy admitted, "It's too much at once."

"It'll get better. We just need some sleep."

"No, you don't understand," Luffy insisted, "I don't wanna be me. Law… Law helped me. I could be anyone with that thing."

Zoro nodded, "And you still chose to be you. So what's the problem?"

"Do you remember before the event?" Luffy questioned, "After the implant?"

"Not really," Zoro admitted, shaking his head.

"But you remember after the event?"

Zoro made a face, "Yeah, I do… Kinda weird, I guess…"

"Me too. I don't remember much about the day I got the implant. I remember Law. But then I remember almost everything that happened once the zombies came…" Luffy elucidated. "So weird. We should tell Sanji."

"Sanji isn't the only person with a brain," Zoro barked.

Luffy snickered, "But ours don't always work so well."

"Yeah, but there are two other people with us now," Zoro reasoned, "They have brains too."

"Do you think we've run into any others?" Luffy wondered. "People with implants?"

"Who knows," Zoro shrugged, "It's all overwhelming to think about."

"We should leave Usopp and Nami here, shouldn't we?" Luffy whispered.

Zoro nodded.

"But I don't want to," Luffy confessed.

"It's safer for them." Zoro insisted.

Luffy shook his head, "I can't shake the feeling. Some gut intuition."

"About what?" Zoro asked.

"You know the saying, nothing leaves Deadhouse…" Luffy exhaled.

"But you're out," Zoro said quietly, "And we're gonna keep it that way."

"They saw the implants," Luffy argued, "They've seen me and you and Sanji and they know our names."

"But they don't know anything," Zoro replied.

Luffy shook his head, "But no one knows that. And if they're desperate, they won't even care."

"I'm worried," Luffy continued, "They're already in danger. At least if they're with us we can try to protect them."

Zoro nodded in understanding, "We'll run it by Sanji."

Luffy laughed loudly, his eyes creasing at the corners, "He's not the only person with a brain, Zor-o."

They had all climbed into Sanji's jacked, extended cab truck before anyone said anything. Luffy leaned forward, smiling at Sanji, "I didn't imagine you'd drive a truck, Sanji. You even have a bumper sticker…"

"Don't mind the bumper sticker," Usopp whispered, "I'm more concerned with the man sized dent in the front…"

Sanji groaned, "And?"

"You strike me much more as a Jaguar guy," Nami agreed, shrugging, "Or M Class, you know?"

"I didn't choose this hideous thing," Sanji insisted, yanking his ashtray out from his dash, "It was given to me along with my new identity."

"At least you got a car," Zoro sighed, "I rode the bus."

"The bus builds character," Usopp replied, "There's nothing wrong with using the bus."

Sanji turned the key in the ignition and it roared to life; the entire truck shook, black exhaust smoking from the pipe. The radio began to blare bluegrass music. Zoro reached forward, turning it off before Sanji had the chance to adjust the volume. Sanji turned it back on, keeping the volume up. Sanji shrugged, "What?"

"Nothing," Zoro said, leaning against the window.

"Where do you live?" Luffy asked, his eyes feeling like sand.

Sanji snapped the visor back into place and rolled his window down a bit to vent the smoke, "Close. Why?"

"I'm tired," Luffy complained.

Sanji clicked his tongue, "You can sleep in the car."

"I thought we couldn't drive far?" Zoro pressed. "We should get some real rest if we're going to be travelling on foot."

"Fine," Sanji finally gave in, "But you have to follow directions."

"Uh, what do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"I'm under surveillance," Sanji sighed, annoyed that they couldn't keep up, "There are certain areas that are blind. You'll have to hide there. However, I can't really stay with you for too long. It would seem too suspicious."

"Why didn't you remove the cameras or taps or whatever?" Zoro demanded.

Sanji knocked on the side of Zoro's head rudely, "Hello? Anyone home?" He sighed before answering, "Because if I took down the cameras and removed the wiretaps, they'd know that I knew. I don't want them to know that I know. See?"

"Makes sense," Zoro allowed, his face turning down into an involuntary frown.

"How do you know where the blind spots are?" Nami asked.

Sanji turned, smiling at her charmingly, "It's easy when you know what to look for."

"Something's been bothering me for a while now," Usopp admitted, speaking up, "How the fucking hell did you accidentally break a light bulb against your head and then microwave yourself?"

"What?!"

"You said that you discovered your implant by accident," Usopp pointed out, "And I'm just… Like, uh, I have questions…"

"I got in-between two men in a fight," Sanji explained, "Received a tire iron to the skull. I went to the hospital. They took an X-Ray before removing it to see how far it went into bone. The radiation nuked the implant. It leaked mercury all over me and the table. I ended up paying off the technician then and there. Took the X-Rays and came right back home, acting like everything was normal."

"How long ago?" Luffy asked.

Sanji's eyes met his in the rearview mirror, "Four months ago."

"What've you been doing?" Zoro asked.

Sanji made a face, smacking Zoro roughly on the arm, "No, I think I should be asking what've you been doing?! Dumbass! Fucking idiot…"

"Hands on the wheel, please," Usopp interjected, pointing to the steering wheel.

"What the hell, Sanji?!" Zoro demanded, punching Sanji in the thigh roughly.

"He needs that leg to drive," Usopp panicked, slapping Zoro on the arm, "Ah, sorry, just, uh, stop hitting each other, gentlemen."

"I thought we talked about it," Sanji breathed, "I thought you understood."

"What? What're you talking about?" Zoro asked, shaking his head.

"I told you they weren't any better than the D Foundation," Sanji breathed, "Not for Luffy."

"What?" Zoro shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The Revolutionary Army," Sanji whispered, turning up his radio. He spoke at a normal volume when he continued, "They're fucking terrorists. I told you that. I told you not to be involved. You said you'd take care of it…" Sanji looked toward Luffy, "You said you'd get him back."

"When?" Zoro asked. And then he realized what must have happened, "Before the event… You talked to me, huh?"

"Three days before the event," Sanji clarified, "We spoke on the phone. I told you to meet with Luffy and head to Mexico."

"I did meet with Luffy, the night before the event. But I can't remember really… It's all hazy." Zoro exhaled heavily, "I can't even remember what we talked about."

"I don't know if we'll ever get all of our memories back," Sanji admitted, "It takes five years to completely and permanently erase a memory. It's been almost two years, just under…" Sanji made a sharp turn down a dirt road, "I don't know what that means for us."

"So you all know each other?" Usopp questioned. "How interesting. Serendipitous even…"

"They worked at a secret government funded facility that brought me back from the dead and used me and my friends as test subjects to create a weapon…" Luffy blurted out. "The weapon is what Franky saw being released. A neurotoxic gas that turns humans into, as you called them, zombies."

"Whoa! Whoa!" Sanji groaned, taking another turn, "Let's keep this on a need to know basis."

Usopp and Nami laughed, until the others didn't. Their laughter died away, awkward and uncomfortable. Usopp cleared his throat, "So, uh, guys, um… Just curious, when are you going to explain everything?"

Zoro shrugged. Sanji sighed. And Luffy sat back in his seat, throwing his arms over both Nami and Usopp's shoulders. Luffy inhaled deeply before replying, "It'll give us something to do on the drive back."

"Are you a terrorist?" Usopp asked, pursing his lips, "Because as a sniper in the United States Army I just cannot be friends with a terrorist. It's literally the opposite of who I can be friends with…" Usopp blinked, "We hunt terrorists… like literally our job."

"Calm down," Nami said, rubbing Usopp's fuzzy, shaven head.

"I'm not a terrorist," Luffy said simply. "I'm just looking for my friend."

"Your friend?" Usopp asked.

Luffy nodded, "He's like me. Except he's super tall and has a beard. And he looks mean, and sometimes talks mean, but he's actually very thoughtful…"

"I see," Usopp murmured, holding his chin. "I'll let you know if I see him."

"You'll know him," Sanji said, "He's just under six and half feet tall; skinny bastard. Brown skin, yellow eyes, jet black hair."

"And he's got tattoos on his fing-ies and hands and arms and stuff," Luffy added.

"Alright," Sanji breathed, parking his truck. "We're here."

"You live… here…?" Nami asked, staring at the tiny shack with apprehension.

"It's even crappier on the inside," Sanji muttered, kicking open his door. He gestured for the others to follow, "There's a blind spot in the cellar."

"Really? Isn't the cellar a usual place to plot stuff?" Usopp asked, following in line.

Sanji shrugged, "Hurricane dumped a shit ton of water on us last season," Sanji pointed to a line of paint on the side of his house; a water line, "They never came back to replace the damaged cords in the cellar."

Luffy's feet dug into the ground and he came to an abrupt halt; Usopp running into the back of him. He gasped involuntarily as he peered into the blackness of the cellar. He shook his head and closed his eyes, "I don't know, man…"

"It's fine," Sanji murmured, "I'll leave the door from the cellar to the house open. It's not as bad as it looks from up here." Luffy hesitated a bit more before Sanji added, "I promise."

The cellar wasn't as bad as it had looked. In fact, it'd been completely remodeled after the flood. The walls were a canary yellow and the floor was a dark wood. Racks of wine lined one wall and a shit ton of ammunition and weapons lined the other. There was a tool bench along the side, with shelves stocked for an apocalypse.

"Very eclectic taste," Usopp murmured.

Sanji pointed to a closest, "There's blankets and pillows in there."

"And the restroom?" Nami asked, smiling pointedly.

Sanji returned the smile, "Outside, darling…"

"Greaaaat…" Nami groaned.

Usopp shrugged, "At least it's not inside, ya know, like a bucket…"

"I have a restroom upstairs, but you'd be seen," Sanji explained.

"But no one's looking for me," Nami insisted, smiling pleadingly.

"Not necessarily," Zoro realized, "If they've already seen you with Luffy or with me… Then it'd be a dead giveaway."

"Exactly," Sanji sighed. "I'll be upstairs. Keep the noise down. Get some sleep. I'll be back at 5."

"A.M.?" Zoro groaned.

Sanji nodded, "That's not long. Sleep."

"Come on," Nami instructed, "Hurry up!"

"What?" Usopp asked.

"I have to go to the baaathrooom…" Nami snapped.

"Yes, ma'am, and?"

Nami smacked Usopp on the arm, "You want me to go outside in the dark alone to pee?"

Usopp shook his head, "No ma'am," He grabbed a flashlight from the tool bench before he walked up the steps quickly. "I am honored to be your designated flashlight holder."

"I'm going to bed," Sanji said, walking up the stairs into his house. He left the cellar door open, holding his finger against his lips in gesture.

"Is it weird?" Luffy asked.

Zoro shook his head, "Nah."

Luffy snickered, "You know what I was asking about?"

Zoro nodded, "Yeah. You were asking if it was weird to be together now that I remember you. And no… It's not weird. It… it makes sense. It was actually more confusing before."

"And we found Sanji." Luffy banged his fist against his palm. "There're 320 million people in this country, but we found each other and we found Sanji…" Luffy closed his eyes, "It's crazy."

"I think there's a perfectly logical reason," Zoro admitted, "I just haven't figured it out yet."

"Should we ask Sanji?" Luffy asked with a smirk.

Zoro grabbed Luffy, placing his hands gently, playfully around his throat. He pretended to strangle the younger man, shaking him back and forth, " ' . . . !"

Luffy snickered, "I know. I know. He's just smarter." He said it so simply. There wasn't any double meaning and it wasn't meant as a sly remark. He was a simple person who was used to being honest. And so he was honest. "But you're my favorite."