Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, and I will get back to you soon, I swear. But I'm a little worried. Not many reviews coming in for this. Do you guys not like it? Am I doing something wrong? If you're busy and really only have time to copy it and then read it later, then that's okay. But really, I wanna hear from you. If you don't like it, then tell me why you don't like it. Ok? I know it's only chapter 3, but still. Thanks again to those who have already reviewed, or are going to review. :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3 : This place sucks…

The pirate captain heard his chef's calls, but he made no move to reply or go back. His face was set, a light frown on his features. It was HIS fault that he and Sanji were trapped on this Island. HIS fault that something had happened to Zoro and was now badly wounded. Luffy was smart enough to realise that for someone to lost that much blood, they had to be hurt. He'd lost enough blood to know that it weakened you severely the more you lost. From the looks of it… Zoro would barely have enough strength to stand, and yet he was walking around out here somewhere. Looking for him.

"Zoro!" He called, shoving a small tree out of his way and glaring around. He was pissed… His first mate and best friend was somewhere possibly dying because he'd decided he wanted to explore an Island that Nami warned him against.

"Stupid…" he muttered. If he'd killed Zoro… if he'd destroyed the man's chance at fulfilling his dream… he'd never forgive himself.

"Zoro!" He called, grimacing as a loud rumble of thunder echoed overhead. Dark clouds were quickly gathering, blocking out the sun and dimming the Island dramatically. Soon rain would begin to pour and then what would he do? Frowning heavily and continuing his search, Luffy didn't even twitch as lightning flashed and thunder cracked almost right beside him. He would keep searching. Didn't matter what happened… he would find him.

---

Well… this sucked. He was unable to move, and there was a nice gathering of some rather unpleasant looking little creatures heading straight towards him. He didn't know what they were as of yet, as they were still too far away for him to discern proper shapes and features. Letting out a soft sigh through his nose, Zoro attempted to shift his hand, and groaned a little as his fingers twitched and pain shot down his arm like fire before dulling dramatically. The fish's poison was wearing off, but that wasn't exactly good or bad right now. Good, because hopefully he would be able to move then. Bad, because then he'd get a massive rush of pain ALL at once. He was strong, but from the mangled look of his body… shit, he didn't know if he could handle it. It was like holding a hammer over a glass vase… Hit the right spot, and it'd shatter into a million pieces. Hit it multiple times, and there would be nothing left of it. Nothing but powder and memories. Zoro didn't want to become powder and memories. Hell, he didn't want to be shattered into a million pieces either. That did NOT sound like a fun idea.

Heaving a soft breath, he noticed a twinge in his chest too. Yep… if he was right, then he'd probably broken at least two ribs, possibly three. His gut ached like Sanji had been kicking him too many times, and his legs were beginning to literally spear with pain that stemmed from the inside of the backs of his calf muscles and straight up into the backs of his thighs, making him think that more than one or two muscles back there had been pulled pretty badly. It was like fire was dancing along every nerve in his thighs, muscles and bones every time he shifted and tried to move. Looking back ahead again, he blinked a little as those little creatures had become a lot closer. They were practically to him now.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he finally recognised what they were. Swarms of forest ticks, groups of leeches, fleas, and blood sucking insects were making a beeline for the feast that was his mangled body. Narrowed eyes widened incredibly before he grunted slightly and bit deeply into the grass beneath his face in an attempt to fight against the pain stabbing through him as he struggled to get to his feet before they could reach him. Slowly, he managed to get up and swayed dramatically before stumbling backwards away from the creatures, bumping into trees and grimacing at his lifeless arms. Pain made him clench his teeth so hard that they crunched and crackled, but he didn't care. As long as he didn't cry out. That would be too much of a show of weakness.

As if someone, somewhere, had heard that particular thought, pain that stemmed from the base of his spine, lanced throughout his entire body. It was like someone was biting and chewing on his nerves from the inside. He stumbled and clenched one eye shut, breath catching in his throat as the pain echoed everytime he took a step. Fuck… he'd really banged himself up this time. The little bugs faded slowly into the grass and soon, Zoro sighed in relief. Nothing was gonna be sucking his blood and giving him some weird ass disease today! Nuh-uh! Turning, he blinked blearily as he came face to face with something that looked vaguely familiar. Narrowing his eyes slightly, and trying to see past the blur that was taking over them, he groaned slightly.

"…'sopp?" He noised before he heaved a deep breath and grunted at the pain that sent a spasm through his entire body. The thing he apparently thought was Usopp, was in fact a tree, it's small branch exactly at the same height as the sniper's pencil-like nose. Leaning forward, he tried to make out the features of his 'friend' but just couldn't and with a rather annoyed groan, his knees buckled and gave out on him again, this time sending his head into the trunk of the silent Usopp and making him blackout. He sure hoped those stupid little blood-suckers had given up on him… If not, well, life sucked right now anyway. What did it matter if he got some weird ass disease? … Yeah, he really hoped those stupid little bastards had decided to go home and cry to their little families because he really did not want to get sick.

---

Sanji was lost… It was rare that he said that, but damn it all, he had no freakin' idea where in the name of Great Blue he was. Rolling his cigarette around a little with his tongue out of pure habit, he started forward again. This place was truly weird. Thunder snapped over head, louder and more threatening than any of the strikes before and he was starting to get mildly worried. If he didn't find cover soon, then he would be struck by lightning for sure. And if not that, then a tree in the forest would be struck, that would spark a fire, and then he would die here without ever having gotten to see his beloved Nami-san's face ever again. At that absolutely devastating thought, the blonde bit his lip and sobbed slightly.

"Nami-swan…" he mumbled, "Robin-chwan…" Sighing a little, he moved on. He missed his ladies… Serving them drinks, little sweets, anything he could do just to see their smiles. It was all he could do to not break down crying when lightning flashed dangerously low overhead. Instead, he started running forward, waving his arms and crying 'Nami-swan! Robin-chwan!' like a child would go crying for their parents. It wasn't until his foot caught on something and he smashed face first into a tree that he finally realised he was being an idiot and that he should probably pay more attention to where the fuck he was and what he was doing.

"What the…?" He mumbled, looking down at the long grass that hid pretty much all of his feet and most of his lower legs. Tapping his foot gently against what had tripped him, he blinked when it moved.

"… Zoro?" He asked, about to crouch down. Ha ha, yeah sure. Like finding the marimo was gonna be that easy. All crouching ceased when out of the long grass rose a snake of the exact same green colour as the forest floor. It had long fangs that were bared currently at the chef, it's tongue was flickering angrily and it's eyes… heh, if that was annoyed, he'd hate to see what pissed was. The creature's head was almost the size of both of Sanji's fists put together and it's body was about the thickness of one of Zoro's arms plus one of Luffy's. It was a freaking big snake… Frowning heavily, Sanji glared back at it.

"What do you want?" he growled, getting ready to shift his weight backwards should the snake attack. The creature continued hissing ferociously, before it did just that. It jerked forward at such a speed that it's fangs almost sunk into the chef's pants. He'd only just managed to dodge the stupid thing.

"Holy shit… You're a fast bastard…" he grouched, jumping backwards again as the snake struck out once more. Coiling it's muscular body, it launched itself forward instead, striking at the now almost desperately dodging blonde human.

"What the hell…? What did I do to you?!" he yelled as the thing just barely missed his hand. The snake gave another loud hiss, but unfortunately for Sanji, he didn't understand snake language and therefore was in the dark as to how he had ticked the creature off so badly. Well, this thing was really starting to piss him off right now. And it didn't look like the dumb-assed thing would be giving up anytime soon either… Guess it was time to take action.

"Fuck…" he began as he stopped dodging and shifted his weight onto one foot, stretching the other out in a roundhouse kick, "OFF!" With a mingled squeal and hiss, the snake did just that as it was kicked. It flew through the trees to hit a rather large trunk and then dropped to the ground again, quickly slithering away to find something it could eat without being kicked and mortally wounded. Huffing a sigh, the blonde noted that he had just lost another damn cig while fighting that creature. Growling softly, he checked his pocket and sighed a little when he saw he only had three or so left. Damn… He was going to have to make them last. Who knew when they would be getting off of this island? It could be another five days yet before they figured out a way to get off and get back to Merry. Pausing when he felt something wet hit his nose, the blonde looked up at the sky and grimaced when rain began to gently patter over him.

"Double damn…" he muttered to himself before shifting his last smokes to a safer place where they wouldn't get wet as easily. If they got wet, that was it… they'd be destroyed. THEN he'd have something to worry about. Nicotine cravings weren't exactly an easy boat to sail in. First there was the twitching at not having something in his mouth, and the fact that there was nothing to sustain him and keep him calm when he started losing control. Then would come the headaches, the irritability, and the emotional spazzes that he would have. Going from giggling to yelling at something for simply being alive. THEN, oh then there would be the nausea, the general sluggish feeling, the tiredness. He was already ready to strangle the trees for mocking him in their green-ness. They just wouldn't freakin' end! And he was smoking then, so… yeah, if he lost his cigs. Heh… he wasn't going to be a happy bunny.

Sighing heavily, he hunched his shoulders against the rain that was now pouring down over his face, off his chin and soaking his jacket. He'd secured those last cigarettes in a small plastic bag he'd had on him from the morning before Luffy had rocketed them both onto this Island and then had put the bag into his shirt's chest pocket. Right now, he would have given anything to be aboard Merry, securing her sails and then hurrying into the kitchen to make something warm to drink. But nope, he was out here, freezing his ass off and hoping that sooner or later he would run across either Luffy or Zoro, or better yet, BOTH! Both at the same time sounded like an absolutely wonderful idea…

---

Luffy trudged onwards, ignoring the way his sandals kept slipping in the mud that was quickly forming beneath him. Mere seconds ago it had been a solid, green grass carpeted ground and now it was turning into a swamp! Thunder crashed louder than ever, but it was barely heard over the sound of pouring rain pattering onto leaves and trees in a loud, drumming symphony. Luffy was soaked through and through, water streaming off of his hat and dripping from his nose, chin and eyelashes. The tips of his hair were damp and sticking, letting small rivulets run down his face. He was freezing too… though he hadn't as of yet really noticed, being the focused and determined human being he was. Dark eyes were set on the road ahead, hoping for at least SOME sign that he was close to finding his friend.

Sometimes, he would think that he had seen something green, but then when he ran to check it out, it was only a surviving piece of grass. He'd noticed that Sanji had disappeared as well, and though he was more focused on finding Zoro because he seemed the one to be hurt in this case, he was worried about where his chef had gotten to as well. If BOTH of his friends got hurt because he was stupid enough to not think before doing, then he was seriously going to consider becoming a MUCH more responsible human being. Either that or he'd just throw himself overboard to save them all the trouble. … Oh wait, he couldn't swim. They'd just save him anyway… hm, he'd do something anyway. Blinking as there was a loud 'thlurping' noise, he looked down to see one of his sandals suctioned into the mud, his now bare toes wriggling in the rain. Sighing in slight annoyance, he bent down to grab it up, but blinked when the mud wouldn't let go.

"Oi. I need my sandal, give it back…" he quite sternly told the mud, but nope, the black and sticky goop wasn't letting go. Pulling with all his might, Luffy finally managed to get it free, but then he overbalanced and fell over backwards. There was a loud 'slop!' noise as he hit the mud and frowned when he began to sink.

"Gah!" he noised, starting to scrabble to get free. He sunk down a little way before he finally managed to pull himself up and out, standing and hurrying onwards to get away from the sticky mud. Turning back as he walked away from the area, he stuck his tongue out at the mud… then promptly tripped over something in front of him. He blinked when he felt two long something's that were soft, but firm underneath his stomach. Quickly shuffling backwards, he blinked as he saw just what it was he'd fallen over. Mingled relief… and horror ran through him as he got a full view of exactly what he'd been looking for.

"…Zoro."

---

He hated this place. He hated the rain. He hated the whole, goddamned ISLAND! Now huddling under a large leafy tree, was Sanji. The greenery didn't provide much in the way of warmth, but at least it lessened the pounding rain down to a light mist and occasional heavy drops on his already soaked head. His hair was clinging to his face and ears, small twigs from standing under the tree caught in it.

"L-Luffy, I p-promise when I f-find you… I'm going to make you a b-big lunch." he muttered under his breath, before his eyes narrowed dangerously, "And fill it w-with p-p-pure peppers… Yeah… nothing B-BUT p-peppers…" A sardonic smile came to his face as he thought about how Luffy would run around squealing about needing water, and grabbing at his throat. With any luck, the little bastard would strangle himself and they'd all be able to do what they pleased. The thoughts were cruel, but right now Sanji was in no mood to be nice to anyone.

His teeth were chattering so hard it was a wonder they hadn't cracked from hitting together so much and at such a speed. His whole body was soaked, his suit literally streaming with water. Soon, he would have to exit from this shelter. If the rain didn't let up before he decided it was time to leave, then he'd just have to deal with it. At least the hard pounding of the icy water would numb his skin and make it easier for him to deal with it. Huffing out another breath, he frowned as a branch over head shifted… and a very LARGE amount of water showered down onto him.

"… I have the distinct feeling I've done something to offend someone upstairs." he muttered, turning an ironically slanted eye on the leaves and dirty grey sky above him. THAT, was when he saw it. It wasn't much more than a flicker of a pair of sharp white fangs and lightly glinting eyes… but he saw it. And it freaked him out too.

"I'm… just gonna go now…" he chattered out before shifting slowly and carefully away from under the large tree, hoping that the slow movement wouldn't alert the creature to his presence. The thing looked nasty, and he didn't particularly feel like fighting right now. Shifting carefully backwards, Sanji paused as he felt something touch the back of his head and hair. Turning slowly, Sanji's worst nightmare had just come true. Standing before him, and unlike ANYTHING he had ever seen before… was a very large, very hairy, eight legged spider. It's eight eyes were glittering in the rain, but it didn't seem to mind the wet weather at all. In fact, it kind of seemed to like it. Thick, black hair glittered in the rain, pincers clacking together and a very ugly mouth showing a pair of loooong fangs that Sanji wanted absolutely nothing to do with right now.

The creature must have been at least the size of a well built horse, it's long legs reaching almost double Sanji's height as they arched and held the bulbous body off the ground. Letting out a very unmanly squeak, Sanji began backing away from the large thing, only to discover that what he had seen before… heh, it'd brought friends. Gliding down out of the tree on thin silky strands, were spiders the size of dogs. All looked the same… scary. If it had of been anything else. Anything. He would have kicked it to kingdom come already… but spiders? Ha, you had to be kidding! Looking around, the poor blonde saw he was surrounded.

What was he going to do now…?

---

Blinking slowly back at his captain, vaguely Zoro recognised the figure. His face was splattered with mud, water running into his eyes and making it almost impossible for him to see anything. A soft, almost weak clicking noise announced that his teeth were chattering because of the cold. Usually tanned skin, was almost milky white, circles of red outlining his wounds and his mouth, nose and eyes. Slowly, his eyes blinked again, his skin still numb from the fish's poison. How long would this blasted thing last for shit's sake? He heard a vague mentioning of his name, but was too slow in the head to recognise the voice, or even the tone of it.

Small parts of his body were now able to feel properly, but were numbing again quickly with the cold. It was more when he shifted that feeling returned, and when it did, it did so with a vengeance. It caused shooting sharp pains to run through him like arrows or spears. He felt a hand rest on his back and blinked a little more, grunting as he squinted and tried to see just who it was in front of him. Blurry black hair, water streaming off a… golden sort of coloured hat? A slash of red across that, below that there was a blotch of pale pink and then a large wavering mix of red and blue. Okay… combine those colours. Who did they bring to mind? A circus tent? … What an idiotic idea. …Luffy? He was the only one in their group who wore such a large amount of red. It had to be him!

"'uffy…" he managed, grimacing as he bit his own tongue and frowning as he tasted blood. Yay, more blood. Heaving a deep breath, he began to shift.

"Stay down, Zoro…" Luffy suggested, eyeing his second mate with light concern.

"M'fine…" Zoro grunted, shifting his legs and starting to get to his feet. With someone around, he was less inclined to show his pain and therefore, when he finally managed to get to his feet again, his face was passive and calm, though it was now a similar, but much lighter colour than his hair.

"… Ok." Luffy nodded, getting up and standing beside him. The situation was serious, therefore calling for serious thinking.

"Do…" Clearing his throat a little, Zoro sighed when he realised it wasn't his throat obstructing his speech. He was still unable to speak properly. Tapping Luffy's shoulder, he gained the boy's attention and then pointed at his own mouth and shrugged. Blinking rapidly, the boy captain raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You're… hungry?" he asked, scratching his head. Dropping his head into his palm, the swordsman shook it.

"No…" he grunted, wincing as his tongue went it's own direction and managed to trap itself under his teeth once more. Blood leaked into his mouth again and he sighed as his head span a little. He was still dizzy…

"You… umm, can't…" Luffy tried again, watching Zoro carefully, "OH! You can't speak, right?" Sighing a little in relief, the green haired teen nodded. He almost, almost grunted when a sharp spear of pain ran it's way down his spine. Reaching out in a move that was born from any human instinct to keep standing, he grabbed Luffy's shoulder as his knees attempted to buckle. Blinking, the captain quickly reached out and grabbed the older teen around the back, heaving him to his feet again and frowning slightly. What was wrong? … Zoro's injuries must have been bad for him to be like this. The swordsman could usually go through quite literally, the mill, and come out still walking and talking. Alibi, he'd be pissed about it, but he would be quite able to stand.

"You need Chopper…" he stated. If Zoro had been coherent, he would have made the sarcastic comment of 'no duh.' but as it stood, he was unable to even give Luffy a sarcastic look. That was bad… When his sarcasm failed him, then he had to be in pain. The rain had lessened slightly, instead of pouring it was now a light drizzle that was barely felt on the two teens' cold and numb skin. Thunder was still rumbling gently, though with a lot less anger and ferocity than it had been a few minutes ago. Lightning was flashing in the clouds, occasionally lighting up the dark forest but not as much of a danger as it was before. At the precise moment when Zoro began to collapse again, his eyes rolling up into his head and his mouth falling slack as his knees buckled, a loud scream echoed over the Island.

Blinking a little, Luffy recognised the inflection as being Sanji's. Hang on… Sanji didn't scream! That meant… the chef was in danger! For the blonde to scream in such a way, it had to be bad. Whether Sanji could handle it or not, Luffy didn't care… it was his responsibility as captain to look after and defend his crew mates, just as it was their responsibility to obey him and fight for him, doing as he commanded and helping to guide him in the right direction if he went astray. Whether he actually paid attention to their helping him or not, well, that was Luffy's decision. Frowning deeply, the captain looked towards his first mate and grimaced.

Zoro was out of it this time. His eyes were closed, his mouth slack and his skin tinged with blue and mottled light green. He wasn't a healthy swordsman… Twisting an arm around the thin waist, he flicked the much heavier man onto his back. Grabbing the muscled arms, he pulled them forward and locked them around his neck. Just like he had with Nami when she had been sick back at Drum. Reaching around, he hefted him up, clenching the man's thighs so he didn't fall. Making sure he had a firm hold on the swordsman, Luffy nodded to himself and then bolted through the trees, back towards where he had heard Sanji's scream.

---

Sanji had screamed for one- well, actually, he had screamed for at least twenty reasons. Yes, twenty, hairy legged, tickling, tiny reasons that had worked their way up the back of his shirt and were now shimmying up towards his shoulders and neck. His skin was absolutely crawling, his eyes literally the same size as dinner plates as he ripped off his jacket and began clawing at his shirt, pulling it off and shaking it around, trying to rid himself of the little beasts. The largest of the horrible beings was making it's slow and leisurely advance towards the thoroughly distracted chef. The other smaller seven were coming up behind the blonde, clicking their pincers and drooling at the long awaited feast. It had been a long time since they had feasted on anything that looked so tantalizingly delicious.

To them, all Sanji was, was a very large free juice box. Choc full of bloody goodness. Dancing around like a madman in nothing but his pants, the chef was now clawing desperately at his back, ten of the little creatures still crawling their way up and down his skin. They weren't able to get a hold and bite, so they just continued to scurry around, waiting for the opportunity to sink their fangs in. Turning, Sanji booted two of the seven medium sized spiders out of his path and then ran to the tree trunk. Without a second's thought, he turned and slammed his back against the rough bark, jumping up and down and then pulling away and sighing in relief when no tickly spider legs hurried up and down his spine. He grimaced in disgust though when he saw the tree's bark was covered in splattered spiders.

"Bastards…" he muttered before blinking as the lead spider - the largest one - and his smaller companions now had him backed against the tree and were surrounding him easily.

"…Crap." he noised, frowning a little. Okay… If he didn't fight here, then he was going to be defeated by spiders. No way was he going to let that happen… Falling into a fighting stance, he frowned at the little bastards as they hurried towards him. The foremost spider made a brave leap, and then found itself flying sideways through the air, sent on a one way trip to hurt-ville by a pissed off Chef's foot. At his success, Sanji's confidence towards these beasts sky-rocketed. As each spider got closer, he booted it and caused it to fly either into the air, or into a tree. The seven medium spiders were easily defeated, squealing in distress and then running away, much like the snake from before. Not wanting to try again against such a tough meal. The horse sized spider though… heh, it wasn't giving up so easily. And Sanji found his confidence wavering as it slowly advanced towards it's prey.

Twisting a little, the blonde frowned and then attempted to kick the creature's eyes. Wrong move… The beast practically slapped his foot away with one of it's own, before using another foot to shove Sanji backwards onto the trunk of the tree. A hairy toed leg slammed into him, pressing up under his chin and holding his upper body still. Another hairy leg jerked out and slammed over the chef's stomach and lower body, pressing his knees against the trunk of the tree so he was unable to move. He had no chance of escape if he couldn't hit or kick. What the hell was he supposed to do!? Grimacing as pincers opened wide, baring long fangs dripping with a pale yellow goop… Sanji gulped and closed his eyes.

"Gomu Gomu no…!" Echoed through the forest and blue eyes snapped open. The spider hadn't paused, not caring about a little noise. It didn't know what danger it was in, and Sanji ALMOST felt sorry for it. … Almost. The yellow goop dribbled onto his cheek as the fangs leant close and he could smell the fetid breath of the thing. Did spiders breathe? ... Who cared!? The stupid thing was gonna EAT him! This was the last time he would EVER take shelter under a large tree in the middle of a storm. Nu-uh, never was he repeating this incident.

"ROCKET!!" and with a loud crunch, a shot of blurred red and rubber man smacked into the spider's exoskeleton… and sent it into a far off tree. Sanji stared, mouth gaping wide as Luffy pulled his head free of the spider's side as it twitched and writhed. Legs jerked as if it's nerves were alive and twirling. Soon though, it's movement began to slow and after a short while in which Sanji waited nervously and Luffy made sure he hadn't harmed the man on his back in his flight, the spider fell silent and still, obviously dead.

"Luffy!" Sanji yelled, running over to his captain, "Damn it all, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you." Luffy nodded absently, continuing to check Zoro over before he sighed a little in relief and stood up again, hefting the man onto his back easily. Turning to the chef with a broad smile, the captain chuckled through his teeth.

"You're welcome!" he chirped, laughing a little. Sanji blinked as he saw the swordsman on Luffy's back.

"Oi… Is he…?" he began, looking a little anxiously at his captain. Blinking, Luffy raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Is he what?" and he hefted Zoro up a little, "He's not dead. Zoro's too tough and stubborn for that… But, I did notice he's lost his swords."

"Bet he wasn't happy about that…" the blonde commented idly as he grabbed up his shirt and jacket, shaking them violently to make sure there were no little hanger-onners. After thoroughly checking his shirt, pockets and all, he slipped it on and did it up. Frowning at the mud now coating it, he sighed heavily as he draped his tie around his neck, not bothering to do it up, and then pulled on his jacket, leaving it hanging open.

"Actually… I don't think he's really in the world of living at the moment. He was awake, but he didn't seem all 'there', ya know?" Luffy asked as he frowned a little and then hefted Zoro up again. He wasn't heavy to Luffy really, and the captain had carried him a few times before when he'd been too badly hurt or asleep to fend for himself. The idiot… Usually, he threw the swordsman over his shoulder but this time, he didn't want to risk that. What if he broke Zoro's back? The man seemed damaged enough as it was…

"Here." Sanji muttered, pulling his jacket off again and moving over. Tying Zoro's wrists together over Luffy's chest, the chef stepped back and shook his head.

"Thanks Sanji." the dark haired boy grinned widely, showing every aspect of his teeth that there was to be seen.

"Che… idiot marimo. We can't just leave him behind… as much as I'd like to." he grumped, but paused when… something wasn't quite right. The side of his face… it, it was burning! Not literally, but like heating up his skin incredibly and stinging like mad!

"Sanji…?" Luffy asked, blinking as the chef's eyes widened and he clawed at the yellow goop. The stuff was now rock hard, and it was holding to his face like cement. He couldn't scratch under it! Couldn't pull it off; it was stuck! What the hell was it!?

"I… this stuff on my face. It hurts, but I can't get the shit off!" the man swore as he attempted to scratch his fingers over the rock hard surface. All he received for his troubles were badly jagged and broken nails. Looking up at the sky, Luffy frowned slightly.

"It's starting to rain heavily again…" he muttered before turning back to Sanji, who glanced at him, still trying to pull off the goo.

"Feels like the shit's eating my face away!" the blonde grunted, clawing at the stuff. Frowning, Luffy reached out and grabbed the man's arm, dragging him forward.

"We need to find Zoro's swords, then get back to Chopper. You both need him." he said firmly, in full captain mode as he stalked through the trees, hefting Zoro up every now and again. This time, it didn't look like he would be waking up again. That was starting to worry Luffy. The whole goo on Sanji's face wasn't exactly something to be overlooked either. He wasn't stupid in the respect that if a spider put something on it's prey… then it was there to either incapacitate, or kill. He didn't let on about his thoughts though, for fear of making Sanji freak out, or become depressed about the possibility that he was gonna die. Last thing he needed was for his chef to be distracted if there was a fight. The rain was now heavier than before, as the two made their slow but steady way back to where they had seen Zoro's skid mark.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmm, reviews? What do you think the Island is all about? It's secret and such. ... Yes, I have been watching Lost too much. --'' but that's not the point. I wanna know what you guys think is going to happen. ;)