Hello people! Guess who has a Facebook page? Just search for Soroka Shiny. It's dedicated to my fics and general randomness about writing in general. Drop by to say hi, share your thoughts or leave your plot bunnies.

My number of chapters just keeps growing. Can you believe I though I would be done with this story in just six? :)

Anyway, on with the show.

When Sanji opened his eyes, the room was still dark.

He could hear some movement on the streets as Stillwater's early risers went about their business but the house around him was dead quiet to the point where he could hear loose boards creaking gently and the wind whistling through the branches in the garden. Water was dripping onto the ceiling from somewhere far above, beating out an irregular rhythm that had managed to creep into his sleep and was probably what had woken him up.

He yawned and stretched on the thin grey mattress feeling renewed and alive again. Sleeping on a soft, flat surface that didn't rock and sway with every movement was an experience he could get used to. He allowed himself to lie there for a few moments savoring the last seconds of peace and quiet he would get that day before briskly getting up and brushing off the stray blades of grass from his crumpled clothes.

"Hey, moss-head!" He called out softly in the dark. "Wake up, it's time to figure out what the hell are we going to do."

The room remained silent as a grave. Confused, Sanji peered at the mattress across the room as he slipped his feet into dark leather shoes.

"Zoro?"

He called out again and even before the name left his lips, a sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as he noticed that he couldn't hear the swordsman's blasted snoring. He rushed to the other side of the room and tore the blanket away from the mattress to find it empty and cold. A quick look at the opposite corner confirmed his worst suspicions. His three swords were gone, as were the paper seals.

Sanji swore.

Small clouds of dust flew into the air as he ran outside, almost tearing the door off its hinges. His eyes scanned the empty front porch and the garden grounds in search of the green-haired man well aware of the fact that he was wasting his time. Common sense and years of travelling together were telling him that Zoro was long gone and as their last conversation resurfaced in his memory, he mentally kicked himself for not seeing this coming. Of course the idiot would have just taken off without a plan or backup. Leaving things to luck or fate or whatever he called it was his default plan for everything that ever crossed his path. He should have noticed that something was up from the moment the stupid swordsman had just rolled over and refused to answer his questions anymore. If he had already ended up as a motionless black statue somewhere near that godforsaken cliff he was going to kick his sorry ass into pebbles.

Someone was walking up the path leading to the front gate.

For a second, he allowed himself to hope as he sprinted towards the figure but when it came closer he realized it was not Zoro but a woman. Her long dark hair had probably been braided at some point but now the whole thing was coming undone and loose strands were bouncing on her chest and shoulders barely held together with bright red ribbons. She stopped to catch her breath, locked her gaze on him and then broke into a run, clutching a small leather bag. When she reached the entrance gate mangled by the monster the previous night, she stopped dead in her tracks as if hitting an invisible barrier. Sanji stopped abruptly to prevent himself from colliding with her. As he took a closer look at her face, he felt his stomach sink again.

Kara´s mother was surprisingly young for someone with a six-year-old daughter. Sanji had only managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of her sitting on the stairs in Solomon's living room but now as she stood in front of him, panting slightly from the run uphill, he could tell that she was probably not much older than himself. Her brown eyes were slightly puffy and even in the faint morning light, the streaks from dried up tears were clearly visible on her pale cheeks. Her face, however, reflected an almost eerie calm as she gave him an appraising look.

Sanji swallowed hard trying desperately to find the right words to say to her. He had been right there when Kara was turned into stone and now he wondered if she knew that. A voice at the back of his mind chastised him for even thinking about covering his own ass at a time like this. The woman was still standing there, staring wordlessly into his eyes as if trying to read his thoughts. The long silence was slowly getting unbearable.

He chose to take the first step.

"I can't imagine what you're going through right now." Even his own voice sounded small to him under that heavy stare. "I'm really sorry about what happened to Kara. Each and every one of us tried their hardest to protect her."

He paused, waiting for some kind of reaction but the woman just continued to look at him with an unreadable expression. Sanji got the uneasy feeling that she was somehow assessing him and for a second, he wondered if he was failing.

"I know it wasn't enough." He continued, doing his best not to avert his eyes. "But I promise you…"

To his surprise, the dark haired woman slowly raised her hand silencing him mid-sentence. Her lips trembled, then curved ever so slightly into a faint smile.

"What's your name?"

Her voice, on the other hand, sounded a bit older than her appearance. It was an unexpected contralto that carried a soft but commanding tone.

"Sanji"

The woman remained silent as her brown eyes studied him further. After a while, she spoke again.

"My name is Miriam." She looked away towards the house behind him as if assessing the damage done to the building. "You're with the Straw Hat pirates, aren't you?"

Sanji nodded. Kara's mother gave one last wistful look at the mansion and turned her head towards him again.

"I'm sorry about your companions. I heard they were all turned."

Sanji's thoughts went back to the swordsman fighting a hopeless battle alone. He silently prayed she was not right yet.

"Not all of them."

Miriam's sad smile melted away to be replaced with a serious look.

"Solomon told me what you and your green-haired friend were planning to do. I was hoping to get to you before you left."

She reached into a small leather bag and scooped out a long silver chain on which small objects clattered softly against one another. As she handed the chain to him, Sanji could see that they were thin wooden tags with rounded edges similar to the identification tags he had sometimes seen marines wear. Taking it into his own hands, however, he finally noticed tiny but amazingly detailed portraits etched into the delicate wood and finished in black ink. Dozens of faces looked at him, swaying gently in the morning breeze. As he peered closer, he noticed Kara smiling from a tag hanging right next to the silver clasp.

He looked up and found Miriam's eyes locked on the same portrait.

"They're all Aron Fellman's victims." She could probably read the unspoken question on his face. He nodded in silence urging her to continue. "Each and every one, including the kids he sent to their deaths in the marine sector. Now my daughter is among them as well."

Sanji opened his mouth in a futile attempt to console her but she just raised her hand stopping him.

"I know you can't promise me you'll end him for good." Her voice had acquired a steely, determined tone and as her eyes met Sanji´s, they clouded over. "I also know you can't promise me you'll bring Kara back."

She paused and blinked back the tears. When she spoke again, her words carried an iron will that rivaled Luffy's.

"But you can promise me one thing." She took the chain from his hands, her fingers slowly brushing against the wooden tags and stopping at her daughter's. "The priests on this island have been collecting the portraits of his victims one by one. They say an image of a person contains a little bit of their soul. If that's true, the souls of all his victims are right here."

She stared at Kara's smiling face for a while before handing the chain back.

"Take it with you. Let him face them all. Make him suffer till he begs to return to whatever hell he came from! Make him pay for what he has done to us! And if you come back, please return it to the temple so we can pray for our fallen friends. Will you promise me that?"

Sanji looked down at the sacred relic in his hands. It seemed strangely heavier now that she had compared the tiny portraits to pieces of souls. His fingers slowly closed around them to find the silver chain still warm from Miriam's hands.

He looked back into the brown eyes and gave a short determined nod.

"I promise."

Zoro was beginning to suspect he was lost again.

Old Man's cliff, or whatever the little kid had called it, hadn't been that difficult to find. He had managed to bump into a couple of locals when he slipped out of Solomon's mansion at the break of dawn and they had helpfully pointed him in the right direction even if their hands had shaken slightly when doing so. After running along the beach for around half an hour, he had located the massive rock structure overhanging the sea not ten kilometers away from the Going Merry's docking place. However, as he walked up to the stone wall trying to find a cave entrance, he found nothing but wild ivy covering the rock like an irregular green tapestry.

He frowned, running his fingers along the stone as he continued to walk forward. He couldn't be in the wrong place. As far as he knew, this was the only cliff similar to Jacob's description on the entire island. Then again, it would not be the first time he had walked completely in the opposite direction.

A sudden gust of cold wind made him stop in his tracks. Almost at the same time, his fingers lost contact with the side of the cliff and found empty space between the ivy branches.

Zoro stood in front of an opening in the rock. Behind the green leaves, a narrow tunnel wormed its way through the mountain and disappeared in the darkness ahead. He carefully parted the branches and was greeted with a subtle whistling as another gust of wind blew from the inside making his hair stand on end. The holy seals glued on his clothing rustled a bit and as his hand instinctively wrapped itself around the hilt of a sword, he felt a small tingling sensation course through his skin.

He closed his eyes mentally preparing himself for whatever was to come. It was only then that he noticed how eerily quiet the place had gotten all of a sudden. He could still hear the waves crashing into the rocks surrounding the cliff but they sounded further and further away as if something was dampening his senses. The gulls that had followed him as he ran along the beach had left him behind a long time ago and even the insects that usually buzzed around the sparse white flowers were nowhere to be seen. The air in front of the entrance grew thicker and colder with every moment. In the crushing silence, he let out a long steady breath and was about to take a step forward but another faint sound behind him caught his attention and made him spin around.

A tall wiry figure in black clothing was running towards him kicking up wet sand.

Zoro cursed.

He had been expecting that outcome since the moment he stepped out of Solomon's house leaving Sanji sleeping on the grass mattress but now that it was actually happening, he realized that he had prepared nothing to placate the cook's wrath once he had caught up with him. Then again, he thought bitterly as his silhouette grew closer and closer, he had no explanation that Sanji would want to hear. On second thought, he should have probably drugged him with Chopper's sleeping draught or locked him up somewhere to at least slow him down. He had known the cook for too long to expect him to just stay back at the village and dutifully wait for Zoro to return victorious. Especially after what had happened with Nami.

His thoughts went to the statues of the crew standing around in the mansion under white sheets and he felt his stomach sinking. Adding Sanji to that collection was not in his plan. If the stupid cook could not understand that, he would have to resort to desperate measures.

"I figured you would come." He muttered more to himself than anything else and faced the cave entrance again.

A strong kick to his head made him wince and turn around. Sanji's furious face swam in front of his eyes as he moved towards him menacingly and growled.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The cook stepped back and lifted his left leg but the attack never came. His blue eyes were still fixed on Zoro and for a second he could almost see relief cross the cook's features before they hardened again. Sanji eyed him for a while, scanning the paper seals that covered most of his clothing.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Who do you think you are to leave me in the dust like that?"

Zoro let out an annoyed growl. The last thing he needed now was an argument with him. They could not agree on anything under normal circumstances and the current situation was anything but normal.

"Stupid cook, you're useless in this fight! I don't have time to watch your back! This can actually get ugly."

"What did you just say?" Sanji took a step forward, with a tone that could split rock. "Who told you I needed you to watch my back, moss-for-brains? I can fucking take care of myself!"

"Sure, we could all see how well that worked out last night!"

Zoro mentally kicked himself as he saw the anger on the cook's face waver for a moment. Bringing up Nami and Kara was what had started that mess in the first place. He had called him weak to his face and was now expecting him to just sit back and take it. Any possibility to discuss this rationally had flown right out of the window from that moment on.

He sighed and sheathed the sword he did not even remember taking out. The memories of Robin, Luffy and Chopper turning to black marble right in front of him floated before his eyes. The searing guilt for not being able to help them resurfaced and at the same time, he felt a decision taking shape in his mind.

They had all sworn to protect each other. Even from themselves.

His voice came out unexpectedly soft as he addressed the cook again.

"Go back, Sanji. Take care of the others. Leave this thing to me."

He turned around to convey their conversation was over and only then noticed that he had actually used the blond cook's name. The realization surprised even himself as he stood there for a second considering that might be the last time they ever spoke to each other. His musings, however, were cut short by Sanji hooking his foot around him and practically tearing him away from the cave entrance.

"Fuck you, seaweed-head! I'm not letting you go there alone!"

Zoro looked at him impassively. Finally he shrugged and tossed his head towards the darkness ahead.

"Be my guest. It's your funeral."

Aaaaaand we finally loop back to the first scene in the fic. Things can only get worse from here onwards. (Evil laugh)

New chapter next week. Sorry about the CLIFFhanger! Get it? Cliff.. han...ger...? I'll see myself out.

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