AN:Just a reminder, I do not own OP... that is Eiichiro Oda. Last I knew, I was not him.
Once more Sanji kicked the ground, he was getting tired of this barren terrain. The thought of Nami and Robin alone somewhere out here is what kept him going. He just knew that one or both of them needed him and as soon as he saved them they would fall into his arms and… Better not think about it, just the thought of one of the lovely ladies in his arms was giving him a nose bleed.
It was all that damn marimo's fault. When he got his hands on the idiot, he would kick that bloody swordsman into next week. If that swordsman hadn't gotten sucked into this, then Luffy would never have done what he did, just to have Usopp grab the captain as the captain had started to disappear, at which point Nami and Chopper had each grabbed one of Usopp's legs, trying vainly to pull him out. Robin then grabbed the two of them, resulting in Sanji grabbing her. All the while that idiot Brook was playing a song.
He could still faintly hear it if he listened close enough. This meant that somewhere out here was Brook. He was not too worried about the musician, after all Brook was just bones anyway. The worst that would happen to him would be his bones would bleach in this intense sunlight, turning them even whiter than they already were.
He had to concentrate on finding Nami and Robin, which was where his heart was, with the two lovely ladies. With that thought he set out to find them, following his instincts on which direction he should go.
The terrain looked the same in all directions save one. Heading away from the sun was some hills, his instinct told him to go in that direction.
No matter how far he walked though, the hills were always in the distance. Frustration caused him to kick an average size boulder and send it rolling into the wasteland. The landscape vaguely reminded him of Alabaster; memories of that country made him remember Vivi. He was wondering what the princess was doing when he saw them. Three shapes running full out toward him, having some sort of monster chasing them.
At once he made out Nami; she would be so relieved to have him save her that he would get her arms around him. With her were Usopp and Chopper. They were still too far so he sprinted and yelled for Nami-swan.
Usopp picked up Chopper and grabbed Nami's hand as they ran. It seemed like they were pulling on each other.
As Nami and the others went past Sanji, he delivered a sweeping kick to the monster, sending the thing backwards to flounder till it fell with a heavy thud, smelly liquid spraying everywhere as it bounced on its back.
"What the hell…" Sanji grunted as the liquid landed on him. Jumping into the air, he delivered the finishing kick, a Mouton Shot. This time as his leg connected with the flesh of the monster, a tear in the monster oozed green slimy liquid on it.
Nami was breathing heavy, her face was flushed and as she gasped for breath she was looking at Sanji gratefully. Usopp had collapsed on the ground, panting just as hard as Nami. The only one that was not breathing ragged was Chopper; he was jumping up and down as Sanji approached them. He was waiting for Nami to hug him and rain sweet kisses on him, instead he got Chopper.
"Are you okay Sanji? We were worried about you, weren't we guys?" Chopper said as he hugged the cook.
Nami and Usopp gave one another looks that said they were not worried about the cook that could take care of himself.
"I see you three got into some troubles." Sanji tossed his sopping wet cigarette onto the ground and lit up a new one.
"We just about had him, didn't we Nami?" Usopp gasped, his voice wavering with the fear that still clung to him, even though he was trying to bolster his ego.
Nami collapsed on the ground, taking long breaths as she surveyed her new surroundings. Deciding to ignore the current conversation, she brusquely said; "We can't go back that way. Too many monsters… How is it this way Sanji?"
"I am still looking for Robin." Sanji's voice was silky smooth, if it had been anyone other than Nami that he was talking to it would be all rough and irritated at the question.
"So did everyone get sucked into this wasteland?" she asked him.
"I think so," Sanji helped her to her feet, ignoring Usopp who was trying to get up as well. "A little bit before I saw you three I heard Brook playing his violin."
"Well let's go look for the others then." Nami was the one that helped Usopp get up off the ground. "Ugh Usopp, you stink."
"Look who's talking." He grumbled.
"I do not stink." She stuck her nose up in the air slightly.
Usopp sniffed at her and plugged his nose, "You do stink."
Sanji glared at the long nosed sharp shoot and said, "Ladies do not stink."
"Well Nami is far from being a lady right now then, because she does stink."
Nami sighed in either exasperation or anger and said, "Will you knock it off Usopp?"
"You started it by saying I stink."
Sanji groaned, within the few minutes since he had singlehandedly saved Nami, she had soon forgotten to give him the praise that he deserved, all due to Usopp. And for the next few hours as they retraced the steps it had taken him to get to them, he had to listen to the two of them bicker about everything from them stinking to how it was all Usopp's fault that they were now in this mess. The entire time, they were bickering, Sanji felt as if he were not even there. Chopper noticed it too, yet with the small reindeer it didn't matter, he was just happy to be with friends.
LZNUSCRFB
Luffy was sick of not knowing where they were or where they were going. He missed his other nakama. Sure he relied heavily on Zoro, and if he had to be stuck with only one of his crew he would most likely choose Zoro, yet at that moment Zoro was busy concentrating on the horizon, basically ignoring him. He missed Sanji with the promise of food; he missed Brook with the sweet melodies that came from the musician; the way Robin would be quietly reading while sipping her coffee; how Chopper and Usopp would play with him; the steady tapping of Franky working on something to improve; and even Nami with her knowledge of the weather.
"Zoro," he spoke at last after noticing the footprints, "I think we are going back and forth."
"What do you mean?" Zoro looked at him.
Luffy pointed at the two sets of footprints, "Look, those are ours."
"How do you know?"
"I know my own footprint. And that is definitely yours next to mine."
Zoro scratched his head and looked at them long and hard, then he looked at the horizon, followed by the sun, then back at the tell-tale sign of their footprints. "Which way do you think we should go then?"
Luffy could tell that Zoro was thirsty; the swordsman's voice seemed a little rough and scratchy. "How about we go that way?" He pointed to the horizon, heading directly toward the sun.
Zoro shrugged his shoulders and followed the captain. It couldn't be worse than where they were.
With a new mission to find water for Zoro, Luffy led them towards the sun. About thirty minutes later they saw another area with fake water; only difference was, was the fact that Robin was lounging under a tree. It looked like she was asleep; Luffy thought she was just resting though because her fan that was fanning her was her hands. Unless she could control her body parts while she slept, she was most defiantly awake.
"Robin!" Luffy said as he got closer. Absently he realized the fake water was still there.
The dark haired beauty opened her eyes and smiled at them as they approached.
"Is that fake water?" Luffy pointed at the little pond that was next to Robin.
"It's real." She said as they joined her.
Both Zoro and Luffy stuck their heads in to get some of the water. It was the sweetest taste that Luffy had ever drunk. Water had never tasted sweeter. After several long gulps, he pulled away and watched as Zoro took in more and more.
"So captain," Robin said as the two of them watched Zoro, "What do you think of the Void?"
"Is that where we are?" Luffy asked.
"Yes," she looked long and hard at Luffy then added, "I had heard stories about this place, and I had never thought that we would ever find it though."
A puzzled look crossed the young captain's face as both Zoro and Luffy gave their full attention to Robin. "What do you mean?"
"When I was little there was this story about a place that no one had ever escaped from." Robin started to tell them. "My father spent years researching it, most the other people called him crazy. They said that how can you prove that it exists if no one has ever escaped it."
"That is a good point." Luffy nodded his head, looking all serious as he listened to her.
Robin inclined her head at her captain, "Well needless to say he ignored the stories that the others said about him. He was looking into it even though they all thought he was crazy, that was when he met my mother. She was busy with her own research, and he was busy with his. I vaguely remember something though he said when I was little. Something about the gateway being a rainbow. Yesterday when it was happening, I remember thinking that it would have made my father happy that it was true. But as we were pulled in to here I couldn't help but wonder how we would ever get out of this mess."
"So you have no idea how to get back?" Zoro asked.
"Only a vague thinking." She said honestly.
"How?" both Luffy and Zoro asked.
"Nami will have to figure out how to do a typhoon." She said. "That was how we got here."
"With no water?" Zoro looked around as if the pond would supply enough water for a typhoon.
Luffy didn't doubt that if it came down to it, then Nami could indeed do something with the weather so that the little pond supplied enough moisture for a typhoon. "We need to find the others then."
"I have been hearing Brook occasionally." Robin informed them.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.
"Just wait here and the others will find us." Zoro said. Now that he had found water, he didn't want to stray too far from it.
Luffy nodded his head, he knew that eventually the others would find them, and he was in no rush now to brave the inhospitable terrain just to get lost from this water. Once the others joined him, then they could search for the Thousand Sunny.
Even though the captain agreed with Zoro, Robin knew that Luffy would soon grow bored of just waiting around. She knew the young captain enough to know that he soon grew bored when he was idle.
"Tell us about this area Robin." Luffy said as he sat cross legged across from her. Zoro was in the middle off to the side so it seemed that the three of them were in a circle.
"Well," she started, "according to legend, anyone that gets trapped in here soon loses all sense of time and will wander aimlessly for days and eventually succumb to dehydration. So it is most fortunate that we have this pond."
"I wonder just how deep it is." Luffy looked at the pond and had to suppress the urge to dive in just to see if he could touch the bottom. It looked clear, yet it seemed to turn black the deeper it was.
"I think it is fed by an underground spring." Robin stated.
They were all contemplating the pond when off in the distance a faint musical note drifted toward them.
"Brook!" Luffy jumped up faster than imaginable and looked around.
So far as any of them could see, there was no sign of the skeleton. So where was that music coming from he wondered.
Just then, a speck on the horizon showed up and if Luffy squinted enough, he could faintly distinguish the distinct afro that was the skeleton's trademark hair with the black felt top hat.
"Brook!" Luffy jumped up and down waving his arms, frantically trying to get the musicians attention while yelling. "Over here!"
"Yohoho…" Brook waved his arms just as frantically as Luffy was; his voice was a faint whisper though due to the distance.
In his excitement, Luffy was jumping up and down.
It only took Brook about five minutes to reach them due to his running. He literally flew over the water as he ran.
"So what is the plan captain?" Brook asked.
Luffy grinned and said, "We wait for the others to find us."
"I think Franky is still on the ship." Brook said as he sat down across from Zoro. "When I was wandering around, I swear I heard Franky banging on something. And before I landed here he had hooked himself to the rails of the Thousand Sunny."
"Sounds like something Franky would do." Robin nodded her head.
"So how is it you all ended up here too?" Luffy inquired.
"When you disappeared," Robin explained, "Usopp panicked and grabbed your hand just before it vanished, Chopper and Nami grabbed him, I tried to grab them while grabbing Sanji, to no avail."
"Yeah, as soon as you disappeared," Brook added, "the ship started to fade too."
"So the ship is here." Luffy said to no one in particular.
"Knowing Sanji," Zoro lazily said, "he will find Nami and us due to Robin being here."
"He does seem to have a sense as to where the ladies are." Brook acknowledged.
"So we just wait for Sanji to find us then." Luffy said decisively.
Zoro closed his eyes and crossed his arms on his chest, one hand lying on the hilts of his swords.
Robin took the time to scrutinize the relationship between the captain and first mate. They were sitting close to one another, their knees almost touching, it wasn't the first time that she had noticed how they both seemed to thrive on the nearness of the other. Sometimes when she observed them, they would use any excuse to have a lingering touch or a look that only they shared. She knew what the signs were; did they realize what direction their relationship was going though? She didn't think they did.
She knew that Zoro had his eyes closed, yet all his body was so in tuned to Luffy's that as Luffy adjusted and leaned a little toward the swordsman while talking to Brook about the land they were in, Zoro's own body responded by leaning towards the captains.
She was also wise enough to not say anything, to them or the other crew members. She suspected that Nami knew, she had known them longer than any of the others, she also knew that if Nami knew then it was accepted. Whatever the relationship of Luffy and Zoro was, no one dared question it.
"Let's start a fire." Luffy said as the sun was finally starting to sink down on the horizon.
The sky was a pretty orange tinged with red as they set about starting a fire while Luffy grumbled about Usopp not being there to rig a fishing line in the pond to catch the fish that were abundantly swimming around.
Without being told, Zoro got up and stood in the shallow part of the pond. He was standing still for so long that Luffy was watching him. Deftly, he reached in and plucked a fish out. Tossing it to where Luffy was.
It nearly slipped out of Luffy's hands before he realized that Robin was holding her hand out for the fish so she could get it gutted for him to eat.
About fifteen minutes later, they had six nice size fish roasting on make shift pits at the fire. "I didn't know you could do this." Luffy smiled at Zoro.
Zoro just shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes, once more feigning sleep.
