"Do not let the sun set on your anger" Ephesians 4:26

I actually don't like reading the Bible (I prefer the Catechism of the Catholic Church; it makes more sense to me and it's more organized...I can never find anything quickly enough on a certain subject in the Bible). And don't criticize me for not liking to read it. That doesn't make me any less religious or whatever. Plus, I hate reading anything anyway. But this is a good verse. Remember it.

Slamming the storm doors of old people's homes,

---Ken

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CHAPTER 2: "CAN'T YOU READ THE SIGN? SORRY, NO REFUNDS."

Sanji stepped down from a small step ladder after placing a crate of tangerines at the top of the food storage closet. They had stocked up five decent-sized crates of the citrus fruits, and Sanji had planned on using them in any aspect of his cooking that he possibly could. At the current moment, he could barely look at them. He only saw Nami's screaming face, contorted with honest rage, every time he glanced at the crates.

"I hate tangerines," he grunted, causing twin jets of smoke to escape from his nostrils. He walked outside to finish his cigarette. Couldn't make it last long enough; he had waited until the last possible second to light it, hoping maybe that he could hold out until they reached a port to purchase more. But his nerves forced him to search out the kitchen for a match. His face felt hot, and, failing to still hold the tears in his eyes, two more salty streams quickly fell down his warm cheeks again. He had silently let tears flow as he ambled around the kitchen, trying to find a match that wasn't used and tossed on the ground by the attention-deficit captain, but had cursed himself for being so weak. It burned a little as a cool breeze blew against his soaked face, but he barely felt it. He felt dazed; he should have been already started on dinner, heck, he should of had it finished; it was already approaching seven o' clock in the evening, too late to get into anything elaborate now. He slowly turned his head towards the sun, low in the western sky, and frowned. Leaning against the wall, he slid down and sat upon the dusty floorboards. He brought his knees up to his chest and rested his crossed arms on top of them. His calm breathing changed as he inhaled in a series of quick, sharp breaths, feeling himself wanting to cry again. He looked upward, trying to focus on the mast and crow's nest, his vision becoming increasingly blurred with fresh tears.

"Oh, Nami, oh Nami Nami Nami, you know I didn't mean all that, all those names I gave you," he moaned quietly, his voice cracking. He had never insulted a female before, ever, and now Nami, the object of his affections for the past year, reducing his once-existent side admirations of other girls to zero, had just received the newly-experienced results of a verbal battle in the heat of pugnacious passion. The one he cared for more than anything or anyone he ever had or knew, even more than cooking or Zeff, got to see the worst of him, a side that he had never showed or knew that he even had. What had she gotten so upset about? He couldn't even remember doing anything wrong, for once. He could always find a way to improve his presentation to Nami, either by preparing food better than before, or avoiding phrases that she didn't want to hear from him (not considering the 'goddess compliments'; he wouldn't hold back on those...), but he honestly could not recall anything that stood out as a 'no-no'. He slowly rose to his feet, wiping his eyes. Tossing his cigarette butt casually over the ship, wishing he had more, he returned to his kitchen.

Everything was spotless and organized. Sanji knew where every utensil and appliance was, each bowl and plate and cup. He was very proud of his domain, and liked to show it in this manner. He removed all of the equipment he needed to start preparing a late dinner as the captain and green haired-swordsman walked into the kitchen.

"So you're still (unfortunately) alive?! Geez, and you call cooking your job...Any day now, you citrus slave," Zolo said, sarcastically. "We've been wondering when you would start." Sanji glared at him. Ignoring the swordsman, he walked back to the food closet. "What's going to be for dinner, if you could call it that? Practically a late night snack now."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you get food, right?" Sanji pulled the stool up and climbed to the topmost rung. He reached his long arms up towards the tottering crate that he had just positioned haphazardly on the top shelf of the closet. He grabbed it just as the ship experienced a tremendous jolt, not only causing Luffy and Zolo to crash forward into the table, but causing the stool that Sanji was standing on to shift backwards and out from under him.

"What the hell?!" Zolo yelled.

In the matter of an instant, Sanji lost his grip on the awkward crate and fell in a crumpled heap to the floor, wincing as he landed on his tailbone. He stood up, carefully rubbing his behind, before another slam of force crashed upon the keel of the ship. Sanji only had a moment of perception before the crate that he tried to remove fell forward off of the shelf and down upon him. Luffy and Zolo had removed themselves from the toppled table and benches just as they witnessed the large wooden box slam into the back of Sanji's head, the weight of it causing him to fall forward. Bearing down upon him, the box sandwiched his head between it and the hard wood floor before tumbling off to the side, Sanji's skull forcefully coming into contact with the floor. The shocked captain rushed to his side, hurriedly turning him over, revealing a bloodied face from a broken nose.

"Sanji! Are you okay?!"

The blonde chef moaned as he tried to lift his hand up to his throbbing head. His breathing was extremely shallow, and every exhalation sounded like a weak leak in a gas pipe. He rolled onto his right side, his gnarled-looking hands suspended in the air just above the floorboards, still attempting to hold his head. Zolo looked on in mild surprise as Luffy tried to gain Sanij's attention, to no avail. Sanji only spluttered once and let out two quick wheezes that ended in a disgusting crack of some liquid breaking up in his windpipe. His labored breathing continued as a series of clicking sounds issued from the back of his throat.

"What's that mean?!" Luffy screamed. "Is he dying?! He's ticking! His time's running out!"

"Would you shut up? For once, this is really not good..." Zolo crouched down next to the worried captain, grabbed Sanji's shoulder, and shook him gently (as gently as Zolo COULD...), fearing that he would knock something inside of him loose. "Hey, Sanji, can you hear me?" He didn't like looking at his face. It was worse than viewing his animated and emotional smiling and speeches that he constantly gave Nami. His eyes seemed to flutter beneath half-closed eyelids, only revealing a sliver of the white of his eyes. His mouth hung open, unhinged, the clicking still coming out from it as he exhaled. Zolo had seen the aftermath of many of this man's battles, but never before would he have thought that a bizarre accident with a crate of fruit would reduce the supposed 'iron chef' to this.

"Call for Chopper, Luffy; this isn't going to turn out nicely."

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"Nami, you need to come quick."

The navigator's eyes fluttered open in a matter of seconds. She quickly tried to recall when she had fallen asleep as she also tried to make out the shape in front of her eyes. She blinked, frowning.

"What's going on, Zolo? I'm sure you guys can handle whatever it is..."

"No, you don't understand. Something's really wrong with Sanji."

Nami grunted, sneered, and crossed her arms while she closed her eyes again.

"I already know that something's really wrong with Sanji. I'm not doing anything that involves him. He's already made me angry enough today."

Zolo grabbed both of Nami's hands and pulled her upwards, forcing her to stand on her feet. She tried objecting, but Zolo squeezed her shoulders firmly.

"Listen, didn't you feel those two shocks that sent practically everything in this ship flying?!"

"No..." She looked around her, realizing that the crate she was resting against was turned over, the tangerines once inside of it out of sight. They must have rolled away, Nami thought, as Zolo once again broke her concentration.

"You're unbelievable...but this isn't something to dally about! Sanji's really hurt---badly."

"I don't---hurt?" The words had trouble soaking in. First problems with the ship, and now Sanij's hurt? Sanji couldn't REALLY be hurt, could he? He was the protector of the ship and especially her when she needed it: but now he was hurt? She didn't even recall the whole incident from earlier. She forgot she had been upset with him. The tone in Zolo's voice was strangely urgent, even concerning Sanji. He wasn't going to... "He's not going to die is he?!"

"I don't---hey, wait!"

Nami pushed Zolo away from her and ran past him, down the stairs, and as fast as she could to the middle of the deck. She didn't know what she was doing. Why do I care, she thought, feeling her lungs tighten as she sprinted around the deck. She looked around quickly, jerking her head back and forth, searching for a sign of where Sanji would be. Zolo followed closely behind her.

"He's in the men's quarters. Chopper's got him."

She wrenched open the small door in the floor to the men's room and clumsily descended the 'ladder' steps attached to the mast. The room was heavy; a lamp in the corner was the only source of light, casting shadows along the floor strewn with laundry: except for near Sanji's area. She immediately raced to her crewmates huddled around a cot newly placed on the floor boards. Chopper was simultaneously checking blood pressure and temperature of someone laying on the cot, out of view as Luffy and Usopp hung over it, murmuring and shaking their heads.

"Get out of my way, you..." Nami shoved the two to the side and looked down upon Sanji. His face was caked with dry blood, accenting the reddish-purple bruising that covered almost his entire face. His lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling, not even flinching as Nami quickly kneeled by his side. "Oh my God...what in the hell happened?"

The reindeer-doctor shook his head. "Zolo and Luffy say it was when the ship jolted---"

"WHY IN THE HELL DON'T I REMEMBER THIS?" Nami screamed, causing Chopper to cower.

"I can't tell you that, I don't know! All I know is that some big crate fell from the pantry and down onto his head. He was smashed against the floor!"

Nami, mouth agape, slowly returned her gaze back to Sanji's beaten up face. He looked awful, no more the (un-admittedly) handsome face that eagerly awaited her approval after breakfast was finished, or who happily offered to rub her shoulders and neck when she had a headache. She wondered at how much his head must have hurt. Chopper offered her a wet cloth to clean his face off, which she did carefully, not wanting to press against his bruises. All of a sudden, he tensed up, as if receiving a painful shot. Chopper tried holding his legs straight.

"Don't let him seize up! Try to hold him down!" Chopper yelled to Nami, still feeling confused. She grabbed his right hand gingerly, not letting the instruction register. She wanted him to say something. She wasn't used to him being so silent around her. A light ignited in his eyes, one of them staring pleadingly up at her, holding her in its pained gaze.

"N-Nami..." he whispered through dry lips, sounding strained. Nami could barely hear him, but knew what he said. She let his hand go and looked on in horror as he squeezed his eyes shut as if in intense pain, opened his mouth as if trying to scream, writhed on the cot for a few brief moments, and finally stopped, motionless and quiet, Chopper sighing as he remained bent over Sanji's long legs.

"I didn't want to give it to him, but it wasn't good for him to keep having spasms like that," said Chopper exasperatedly, holding up an empty syringe. "He had five milder spasms a bit like that before you came down here."

Stunned and silenced, Nami stood up and nodded at the doctor. She had once seen someone having a seizure, but what she just saw somehow came across as more horrific. It was as if Sanji was drifting in and out of himself; she knew he had said her name, and that was all. Was it because she was right there, the first person he saw? Or was he... Nevermind, that was stupid.

"It's best if I am the only one caring for him for the time being," Chopper said. "There's not much even I can do, so you all shouldn't stand around worrying, it's late. I'll update you guys if something happens during the night." Luffy and Usopp looked solemnly at each other before climbing into their hammocks, turning their backs to the room. Nami looked at her feet.

"I want a report as soon as you wake up and are able to assess him, Chopper," she said demandingly but softly. She walked to the kitchen as soon as she arose onto the deck, the night now surrounding the ship wholly on the black ocean. Zolo sat at the small wooden table, picking at one of its splintered corners. He glanced over as Nami walked over to the crate still toppled over on the floor.

"It was...it was..."

"Your own tangerines?" Zolo said dryly, finishing her sentence. "Don't take it to heart; it easily could have been anything else. He was the idiot who put them at the top of the food pantry. Should have just sat them against the wall..."

Nami instantly felt sick to her stomach when she saw the shiny orange orbs through the crate's wooden panels, each one mocking her as they dully reflected the ceiling light. Why couldn't it have been something else, if anything had to fall at all? Why her precious fruit, which Sanji handled as if they were made of gold? She knew that it was only coincidence, and felt foolish for thinking such things, but she couldn't deny an unjustified trace of guilt remaining in her subconscious. Searching to free herself from feeling responsible, she accepted any truth in Zolo's words.

"Yes, he shouldn't have put such a heavy object up that high. It's...it's his own fault. It could have been prevented..."

But she knew why Sanji placed the tangerines so far up from the ground. He often chortled that the dearest of possessions of a goddess should be as close to heaven as possible; of course, he was keeping them out of reach of ever-hungry mouths like Luffy and Zolo, but that was the reason he liked to try and whisper into her ear as she finished up her morning cereal and Sanji finished cleaning up the kitchen. It was only idiotic now. They should have been at a more accessible spot in the large cupboard.

Zolo left the table to look at a spot on the floor. There was still a large smear of blood across some of the floorboards.

"Man, that must have really killed. I want to say that I heard his nose crack, but I can't be for certain..."

Nami winced as she tried to imagine the heavy crate fall into the unsuspecting chef, smashing his head like an ant underfoot. Of course his nose cracked, Nami thought. She shivered a little, but shook it off with a quick nod of her head. "Yes, it must have hurt." She looked once more at the blood before walking to the door. "I'll be going to bed now, goodnight, Zolo."

"Ditto."

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R&R, or it's blitzkrieg all over again.