Sanji didn't move for the longest time. The gunshot rang in his ears. His nostrils were full with the scent of gunpowder. He felt the air rush aside as the bullet flew passed him. But all he saw was Zoro, face down in the dirt, lying completely still.

He blinked, not comprehending it at first, then rushing forward when it clicked. "Zoro?" he said, prodding the swordsman. He didn't move. "Zoro, wake up." The swordsman still didn't move. "Damn it, Zoro, wake up." Sanji's voice died away when he realized it was pointless. Part of him wanted to believe the marimo was just really tired, and was in a deep sleep. The other part of him knew, as horrible as it was, Zoro was in a deep sleep... One that he would never wake from. Tears stung his eyes as he recalled his earlier thoughts, the different scenarios of Zoro's death. Had those thoughts somehow jinxed him? By thinking of his death, had Sanji made it happen?

If so, Sanji deserved to die as well.

The bite of cold metal at his temple drew him from his thoughts. He'd forgotten all about the marines, too busy with Zoro to look for who had killed him.

"What now, pirate?" the marine said, voice smug. "You can either come quietly to headquarters for an interrogation, or you can die where you stand, like your buddy there."

Sanji glared at him from the corner of his eye. "You killed him."

The marine looked slightly surprised for the smallest second, but then his features grew cold and angry. "Yeah, so what? He was just a pirate. He deserved to die." He jabbed Sanji with his pistol. "And you cause anymore trouble, you'll end up like him." He spat at Zoro's lifeless body.

And that's when the cook snapped.

Roaring with rage, he tackled the marine, using the man's surprise to rip his gun form his hand. The solider held tight to it, though, and they wrestled over it, cursing each other and rolling around on the ground. Sanji would've loved to "accidentally" pull the trigger and end the marine's life, but he couldn't get a good grip on the gun to point it as his chest. In fact, it was pointed at Sanji's chest. The only thing stopping the man from killing him was Sanji's hands gripping his in a painful, vice-like grip, dubbing them immobile. Then Sanji's fingers clenched, nails digging into flesh. The marine cried out, dropped the gun, and Sanji threw it away. With that, the cook stood, raised his leg, and delivered the finishing stroke; a swift blow to the throat.

The marine groaned and fell silent, dead as the ground he lay on. The dark side of Sanji smiled at the sight of the ruby blood against his black shoes, the red soaking into the dirt. He kicked the dead man, rolling him over so he was face-down. Then the chef went back to his nakama, rolling Zoro onto his back. The marimo's face was caked with mud and blood, his eyes closed part way, his mouth open in his last gasping breath. After wiping the majority of the gunk from his face, Sanji guided his eyelids shut and did the same with his mouth. Then he sat back and stared at his friend, still denying he was dead.

After a few minutes, Sanji put a cigarette between his lips and lit it. He took a long drag, blew out the smoke and ignored it for the rest of the time he sat there.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, staring at Zoro's lifeless body, but after about a thousand years, Zoro moved.

His eyelids fluttered open weakly, but his eyes were glazed over and his vision undoubtedly fuzzy. "'m I in He'en?" he asked, looking around for no one in particular.

Sanji almost jumped out of his own skin. "No, no..." he said. His voice sounded frantic, even to his own ears.

Zoro's lips turned up in a sad smile. His eyes slid closed. "'m I in Hell?"

"No, no, you're still alive." Sanji's hands rubbed over the marimo's chest, as if trying to massage more life into him.

Zoro's unfocused eyes opened again, turning to the cook. "Sanji...?" Sanji nodded, his throat closing. Zoro smirked. "Everything's so bright. You look like a damn angel." He raised his hand and ran two fingers across Sanji's cheek.

"I...I am an angel, Zoro. I'm your guardian angel." Sanji didn't know where the words were coming from, but he felt he must say them. "But you're not supposed to see me yet. It's not your time. You're needed back on Earth. You need to be the world's greatest swordsman, alright?"

"World's greatest swordsman?" Zoro said, as if he'd never heard the title before.

"Yes!" Sanji found his hands gripping either of Zoro's, almost afraid that if he let go, the marimo would die. "You need to kill Hawkeye and be the world's greatest swords man. So don't die here, Zoro... please."

"... okay..."

Zoro's eyes slid closed again. His hand went limp in Sanji's. His slow breathing stilled.

All was silent but for Sanji's sobs.

~~~ZsZsZsZs~~~

It took him a few minutes to stop crying. He didn't even know why he was crying. He didn't even like Zoro that much. They were always fighting, and Zoro was always showing him his worst. But even though they'd never gotten along, Sanji couldn't stop the tears until they stopped on their own. No sooner did he finally compose himself did one slightly annoyed, rubbery captain run up to him.

"Hey Sanji!" The chronically stupid Luffy greeted, coming to a stop not far from him. "Where've you been? We've been looking all over for you!" When Sanji stayed silent, Luffy surveyed his surroundings and turned to the swordsman. "Did Zoro get hurt...again?"

"I..." Sanji swallowed. "I think he's dead." His voice cracked. Tears threatened to spill again.

Luffy was silent all but three seconds. He looked from his cook to his swordsman and back, uncertain. Then he laughed. "Yeah right! Zoro can't die! He's way too tough!" Sanji stared at his captain in speculation, wondering if he would call red blue if asked to identify the color. Luffy saw this and quieted down a little. "Really, I've known Zoro way longer than you have. He's not dead."

"Idiot! Look at him! He's been shot twice and hasn't moved for several minutes!"

Luffy waved this news off as if it was common knowledge. "He's sleeping."

"He's dead." Sanji said firmly. The words cut deep. "He's dead," he repeated softly, disbelievingly.

Luffy blinked at his cook inquisitively, his face set in rare seriousness. "Well, dead or not, we can't just leave him in the street. We'll take him back to the Merry and put him to bed, and he'll be asking for food and booze in a few hours." He smiled reassuringly. "You'll see."

Sanji didn't see how Luffy could be so freaking optimistic; he knew dead when he saw it, and wanted to argue further to get rid of stress, but agreed that they couldn't leave Zoro in the street. Lifting him by the arms while Luffy handled his legs, the cook helped his captain carry Zoro back to the ship, where they were greeted with cheers of welcome that quickly turned into cried of surprise and fear.

"What happened?" Nami demanded, running down the ship's wooden ramp to meet them. For once, Sanji's hear didn't leap out of his chest at the presence of the feisty navigator; his entire being was focused on the "sleeping" marimo.

"He got hurt, but he's sleeping it off," Luffy said, but he sounded less sure of himself now. He glanced at Sanji, who sighed.

"I don't think he's sleeping." He turned to Nami and Usopp, explaining all that happened from the time he left the old bat's shop to the moment Luffy showed up, leaving out the potion, the crying, and his blabbering on about being an angel, of course.

When he finished, his nakama looked sick, not even Luffy immune to the horrible truth.

"That's awful," Nami exclaimed. There were tears in her eyes and she brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. "I always thought Zoro was indestructible. But now…"

"So he's…?" Usopp began, his question trailing away when he got a good look at the swordsman and saw how limp he was between the other two. Sanji shook his head, reluctant to let the thought into the open air. He and Luffy carried Zoro to the men's quarters, the other two following. They laid Zoro in his hammock. The rubbery captain squeezed Sanji's shoulder understandingly, then left to cheer up the others. Sanji stayed where he was, just staring at Zoro as he had earlier, lost in thought.

He wasn't sure what to do with himself. He wanted to run, far, far away from the Merry, from his life, from the dead body in front of him. But he could tell by the swaying under is feet they'd already left the docks. Besides, he couldn't move. His feet felt sewn to the ground with invisible wire, and his arms were tired to his sides. He just couldn't leave Zoro. Not now… Not ever.

Eventually, he was able to light a cigarette and sit down against the wall. His eyes locked onto a puddle of blood that had formed beneath the dead man's hammock. Every five seconds, a drop of blood fell from a wound and joined that on the floor. One, two, three, four, five, splash. One, two, three, four, five, splash. Repeat.

In time, Sanji's lids grew heavy, and he closed his eyes, sleep taking him.

~~~ZsZsZsZs~~~

He woke to groaning. Squinting his eyes open, he looked around. The room was bathed in an orangey-yellow light, deep shadows dwelling where the glow did not reach. He could tell it was almost night time, and cursed himself for sleeping all day. Then another groan met his ears, and he turned to the maker of the noise.

"Hey, angel boy," Zoro smiled at him as he slowly moved into a standing position.

"Marimo?" Sanji exclaimed, rising to his feet.

"Who else would I be?"

Sanji blinked the sleep from his eyes. When that didn't work, he rubbed it out. Still, when he opened his eyes, there was Zoro, shaking and pale, but otherwise alive. This had to be a dream. Luffy would break something and Sanji would jerk awake and Zoro would still be dead.

They stared at each other for innumerous minutes before Zoro managed to stand up straight. He took a testing step, then made his way carefully over to Sanji. He looked down at the cook for a few seconds, then rapped him on the head. "Get it out of you're head. I'm still alive and you're not dreaming."

Sanji stared up at him for a little longer, an intently thoughtful expression on his face. Zoro looked no different than any other time he'd been injured-maybe a bit more pale from the blood loss- but other wise there was no difference. He'd taken off his shirt and bandages were wrapped around his chest and waist. He smelled of the medical ointment they carried in the first aid kit. His fist felt real against Sanji's head.

"You're alive!" he cried, throwing his arms around the swordsman. It made Zoro lose his balance and they fell to the floor, Sanji landing on top of him. He gave a cry of pain, then looked at the cook clinging to him.

"Get off me! I won't be alive for long if you squeeze the life outta me!"

Sanji instantly released him, rolling off him as carefully as he could to avoid hurting him more. "Sorry," he said softly, helping the marimo back into a sitting position. "I thought you were dead."

"Yeah, you and everyone else. Should've seen the looks on their faces when I went outside. Luffy thought I was a zombie."

With closer inspection, Sanji saw dark purple bags under his eyes, and his hair was messy and deranged-looking. Knowing their captain, Sanji couldn't blame Luffy thinking like that. With Zoro's now pale skin and dead-looking eyes, he really did look like he'd come back to life - which, in a way, he had.

"Though, I thought you'd think different."

Sanji raised a curled eyebrow at him. "Me? Why?"

Zoro cleared his throat. "'I'm an angel, Zoro, I'm your guardian angel. And it's not your time. You're not meant to die yet. Go kill Hawkeye." he mimicked Sanji's earlier monologue.

The cook's heart constricted. How did he know that would come back to haunt him? Dammit. "Oh... you heard that?"

"Duh." Zoro gave him a teasing look. "I can't believe you said that," he chuckled. Sanji was about to retort when Zoro grew serious. "But... I'm glad you did." All traces of his smile were gone.

Had Sanji heard correctly? Where was the teasing, the jeering, the embarrassing jokes? "Why?" he asked carefully, drawing out the vowel.

The marimo made a face, as if thinking was painful (not surprising). "Well, after you said that and I passed out, I kinda-sorta had a dream."

Sanji was too curious about this kinda-sorta dream to be surprised Zoro was opening up to him. "Kinda-sorta?"

Zoro's brow stitched. "Well, I was asleep, but I could tell that the dream was a type of reality." He paused, thinking back. "I was in a dark room, and there were three doors to my left, right and in front of me. One of them I knew was locked, and the other two weren't. The locked one led to my body back on Earth." Sanji's pulse rised. "Then the one to my left opened. There was only a mirror beyond the threshold. At first it was only me in the reflection, but then I faded and was replaced by a man and a pregnant woman."

"Your next life." Sanji murmered.

"Right. I'd be born again. Well, I didn't want to be a baby again, and right after I decided I didn't want to go that way, the door in front of me opened. There was a bright light that filled the entire room, but didn't hurt my eyes." He paused, looking to Sanji to see if he could guess where that door led.

Sanji swallowed. "Heaven."

"Can you imagine me getting into a Heaven?"

Sanji shrugged.

Zoro scowled. "Anyway, that door opened, and the light flooded the room. Kuina was standing just inside. She was smiling and pointing a shinai at me." Sanji had no idea who Kuina was, but couldn't make himself ask. "It was like there was a magnet in the room, and I started walking forward. Then your voice echoed around the room, telling me that I couldn't die and all that. You weren't in the room, but it was like you were standing right beside me. Kuina told me the same thing, threw me a key, and closed the door. I unlocked the earth door, stepped through, felt like I was falling for a while, then woke up." He smiled. "It was really weird how you were sleeping in here when you'd saved me just seconds before."

Sanji's jaw had flopped open sometime during the story, and now he closed it and cleared his throat. "Is that true?" He asked, disbelieving. No way Zoro could've dreamed all that. It was too... paranormal.

Sanji looked at himself. "Well, I'm sitting here, aren't I? Dead men don't sit, do they?"

'No,' Sanji thought darkly, 'but they lie.'