I know, I know... I've never been this late with a chapter before. Sorry guys, life got in the way. I hope this makes up for almost two weeks of dead air.

On with the show. And may you enjoy every word.

Sanji was beginning to fear he might not make it

The sun had already risen to a high point in the sky when he stumbled out of the dark tunnel, disoriented and gasping for breath. The crimson cloud that spread before his eyes was very slowly turning grey while the world grew less and less solid with every step he took. Now, as he ran towards the ship, with the wind howling in his ears, he could feel his knees starting to buckle and his ankles go numb. A cold hand gripped his heart as he realized that if he fell now, he wouldn't have the strength to get back up.

He pushed the thought to the back of his exhausted mind and ran on. The waves of the coming tide had smoothed out his footprints on the shoreline and were now lapping around his shoes. The soft splashing sound made him aware that he was veering into the water and as a small current sucked the sand from under his feet he felt himself sway and lose balance. For a second, his head reeled in pain and a flash of red blurred his vision again. The sea rose up dangerously close to him before he hissed a curse and steadied himself. He was supposed to be Straw Hats' best swimmer. He would be the laughing stock of the entire crew if he drowned in knee-deep water. Luffy deserved better. Not to mention Nami and Robin.

A large shadow swam into his line of sight, snapping him back to the present. The Going Merry's silhouette looked almost dejected, all alone on the beach with only a couple of seagulls for company, pecking at the mussels on its exposed underside. Its figurehead's empty eyes seemed to regard him with slight disappointment when he ran up to the small ladder on the ship's side and stopped abruptly trying to regain his breath. As the landscape whirled around him, he could hear a gentle voice floating in the wind.

I missed you. It's lonely out here.

"What the…"?

Sanji froze on the spot, staring at the figurehead in bewilderment. He was clearly losing his mind; the ship could not have just spoken to him. He spun around but as far as he could tell the beach was empty.

Another painful pang in the back of his head made him stumble as he leaned against the solid wood waiting for the wave of nausea to pass. The seals on his clothing flapped softly when they came in contact with the hull. Slowly, the world returned to normal and the soft voice faded away.

Sanji rubbed his temples and started climbing the ladder dismissing the incident altogether. The spirit must have messed him up worse than he thought but mysterious voices in his head were now the least of his problems. He jumped onto the deck and shot towards the meeting room almost tearing the door off its hinges as he rummaged around every bag and cupboard cursing himself for not bothering to organize everything they had bought on the island before all hell broke loose. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

It squished under his fingers.

Sanji sighed as he looked down at the crumpled object in his hand. It would have to do. After all, beggars can't be choosers.

Zoro was losing and losing badly.

He was vaguely aware of his muscles screaming in protest as he dodged another attack but the cold emanating from the creature had already numbed his limbs to such a degree that he barely noticed the pain anymore. He raised his swords to block the claws threatening to dig into his side and was met with another earth-shattering scream. He winced as the sound tore at his eardrums and sank to his knees wondering if he hadn't overshot it when he promised Sanji fifteen minutes. He silently hoped that if he got turned before the stupid cook was able to make it here, he would at least have the common sense to run instead of engaging in a pointless fight.

The creature let out another howl and slashed at him again. Zoro ducked out of the way milliseconds before the claw aiming for his chest collided against a column and cracked it in half. He swerved to the right and released the blades in a sharp whirlwind. The spirit hissed at the swords ripping into its arm but didn't even bother to change direction to avoid his next blow. As he pushed forward, desperately trying to make it retreat, Zoro swore. The blessing on his katana was either wearing off or his opponent was beginning to get used to it. Neither were good signs.

The monster in front of him suddenly stopped its advance and raised its head to the ceiling. Thick, black mist slowly began to seep from its clothes and coagulate around it. The light in the cavern paled as dark shadows flowed away from the surviving pillars. Zoro's eyes darted frantically around the increasingly darkening space, trying to guess where the next attack would come from, when cold, stronger than he had ever felt in his entire life, pierced through him. He gasped in pain, Wadou clattering to the ground, and turned to face the monster that was now floating in the air perfectly still. The crimson eyes widened as its face locked into a rictus grin of pure sadistic delight.

In the unexpected, deafening silence Zoro considered the thought that his legendary luck had finally out on him.

"Great… Now what?"

The spirit lunged forward.

He felt his heart skip a beat as he forced his numb body to move but that half-second was all the spirit needed to wrap its withered fingers around his forearm. Sharp, intense pain exploded in his shoulder. He flinched back, trying to wrestle away from the spirit's death grip and brought Kitetsu down on the clawed arm but he could already feel his strength waning and his arm stopped responding. Yubashiri fell out of his grasp as an uncomfortable prickling sensation spread through his shoulder to his fingertips. Almost afraid of what he would find, Zoro peered down to see his skin turned coal black.

His right arm was now completely petrified.

The long winded curse never reached his lips as the creature's fingers let go of his paralyzed limb and went for his throat. With his free arm, he managed one last attack and staggered back, feeling his right side rapidly going numb. With a sickening crack the spirit cocked its canine head to the side, its red eyes observing him intently. Zoro felt his blood boil when he realized the wretched thing was just going to toy with him now. With his balance so severely compromised, it could finally stop floating around the cave dodging his attacks. It could just sit back, relax and watch him squirm.

He would be dead before he allowed that to happen.

Consumed by a wave of rage, he gripped his last remaining sword and launched himself towards the monster. The beginning of a battle cry rose in his throat.

It got violently cut short when something wiry and black slammed into him like a hurricane sending him flying into a stone pillar.

Zoro groaned feeling the cavern spin around him like some hellish merry-go-round. His left arm was now trapped under his body making getting up again even more difficult. Through a cloud of pain he distinguished a tall, lithe figure standing in the middle of the cavern right in front of the floating creature. Sanji's blue eyes gave him a concerned look and widened slightly when they settled on his petrified limb. A shadow crossed the cook's pale features as his lips parted in an exasperated smile.

"You… just really don't know… when to give up… do you?"

His voice came out in short gasps. Zoro raised his head from the floor, trying to focus on him and felt his stomach twist at the sight of his crewmate. The clouded eyes were still giving him that annoyed look like Zoro had just spilled sake on the kitchen table but his face, white as a sheet, was locked in a mask of pain and exhaustion. The cook seemed to be fighting for every breath and Zoro could see his knees trembling like they were about to give out. Unable to do anything else, he felt himself returning the mocking smile.

"Took you long enough, shitty cook. You said ten minutes."

Sanji let out a painful cough masquerading as a laugh.

"You said fifteen, remember? Don't make promises you can't keep."

He turned away from him and faced the spirit still looking at them with that sadistic smile. Fighting the pain and the numbness Zoro struggled to his feet and looked around in search of his swords even though he wasn't entirely sure whether they would be of any use. The spirit had easily defeated them when he was in top shape and now, with a petrified arm, there was pretty much nothing he could do but flail about until his whole body became encased in marble. Inside, he cursed, wondering why the hell Sanji had bothered to come back at all. He was clearly in no condition to fight and there was absolutely no point in them both dying here.

He stopped his search when he saw the cook take a shaky step forward and extend his right arm towards the creature as if presenting it with something. Peering closer, he could finally distinguish the small object in the cook's hand.

It was an onigiri.

Zoro blinked. The small white and green object the cook was holding remained unchanged.

He rubbed his eyes and blinked again.

For a second, he could swear he had gone mad or at least Sanji had. Zoro stared at his companion in mute astonishment as he took another step closer to the spirit and raised the rice ball higher, his hand shaking ever so slightly. His blue eyes were staring right into the blood-red sockets and Zoro felt his heart drop to his feet when he realized it was costing Sanji every ounce of his strength to just stand upright. If the spirit decided to attack now, he wouldn't even have the chance to move out of the way before the claws ripped him apart. Every muscle in his body tensed, ready to run forward and drag him away from the creature.

The grin on the monster's cracked lips faltered.

Slowly, almost as if it was moving through water, the creature raised an arm and reached towards Sanji. Zoro felt his nails dig into his palms as the long crooked claws hovered only a couple of centimeters away from the cook's neck, then moved to the round object wrapped in nori resting on his open palm. The bony fingers, now almost resembling a normal, though very thin hand, hesitantly closed around the small snack and brought it to the spirit's lips. The burning red eyes stared at the object for a while, then looked back at Sanji with an unreadable expression. The cook gave the creature a slight nod. From where he was standing, Zoro could see him crossing the fingers on his left hand.

The creature's yellow teeth bit into the small rice ball.

The dark mist floating around the cavern grew even further.

Something between a wheeze and a choked sob erupted from the creature's throat as the last remnants of the onigiri disappeared in its mouth. Its body shifted and shrank, slowly regaining the size of a regular person. Frayed doctor's garments floated in the air when Aron Fellman's dark shadow advanced towards Sanji, still frozen in place with his right hand extended in front of him. The spirit's gaunt face twisted, its cracked lips muttering something unintelligible. As the air around the cavern crackled ominously again, Zoro felt the hair at the back of his neck stand straight.

"What are you doing, dumbass?! Get away from there!"

The panicked cry left his lips at the same time as the spirit's fingers wrapped themselves around Sanji's wrist pulling him into the black mist and out of Zoro's sight.

Sanji had never felt so tired.

His legs seemed to have completely given out when the spirit grabbed hold of his hand but now he wasn't sure if there was even a floor to stand on. The world around him crashed into pitch black and he was suddenly overcome with a strange sensation of weightlessness. He heard Zoro screaming something at his back but the swordsman's voice was quickly drowned out by a choir of hoarse whispers coming from every direction. His head throbbed in agony as light flooded his eyes and a myriad of sounds and colors exploded before him.

A group of children were running down a sandy road playing a disorganized game of tag. One of them, the tallest of the group, with milky blue eyes turned away from the rest and looked straight at him.

Sanji tried to close his eyes but his lids refused to obey. For a second he wondered if he even had a corporeal body anymore before another flash hit him.

A large group of people had gathered on the beach, waving goodbye to a tall, lanky teenager. Behind him, a marine ship rocked on the waves.

Sanji felt a painful stab as the world reeled again. This time, the vision dissolved into an incoherent mess of steel, fire, and screams. He smelt gunpowder and heard the unmistakable roar of a raging sea. Scenes of one bloody carnage after another flashed before him and with them came despair, fear and utter hopelessness. Somewhere, at the back of his mind, the marine anthem played, somber and hollow. He saw a mangled body of a pirate splayed on a rack, heard a child's terrified scream in the distance. A pale marine standing amidst dead bodies looked up from his blood-stained hands and stared at him with dead eyes. The innocence of the child playing tag was long gone.

The end justifies the means.

The phrase rang through his mind chanted by a thousand different voices. The battlefields in front of him blew to pieces to be replaced by a vision of the shores of Stillwater. A scarred man stepped out of a boat welcomed by a cheering crowd. His face bore a slight smile but the hollow eyes looked right past them. As the sounds and colors melted into another blinding cacophony, Sanji heard the laughter of children again.

If he had control over his body, he would have kicked himself.

He saw the scenes of Aron Fellman's trial rush past his eyes as he realized, with a sinking feeling, how badly he had misjudged the man. He had been a fool to assume that a simple act of kindness would be enough to placate his desire for vengeance and he had been an even bigger fool to assume that the ordeal they both shared had somehow given him an insight into his mind. White hot fury coarsed through him as he desperately tried to break free from the spirit's hold but every effort was met with another flash of light and head splitting pain.

Was this what the others had felt right before they were turned into stone?

Was this the fate that awaited Zoro as well?

Goddamnit, he couldn't protect anybody.

The world slowly swirled into darkness again. Sanji hung in the empty void, too tired to think and too dazed to block the spirit's whispers around him. He felt a metallic taste at the back of his mouth and let out a soft bitter chuckle.

He was going to be the first person ever to die with someone else's life flashing before his eyes.

…give me… give me…

The hoarse pleading returned once again. The dark shadow materialized itself in front of him as his long, cracked fingers reached for his chest where he could still hear the seals softly fluttering. Sanji's thoughts went back to the swordsman still stuck somewhere in the cavern. With that petrified arm, he would be no match for the spirit and if he got turned as well, there would be no one left to figure out how to stop the curse. The longer he kept Aron Fellman fixated upon himself, the longer Zoro had to finally see there was nothing more he could do and get away from the place.

He let out a soft sigh of resignation. He had tried everything in his power and he had failed spectacularly. He remembered the soaring feeling in his gut when he had come up with the idea of giving the spirit food to comfort his agony and smiled bitterly. Maybe Zoro was right all along.

Maybe his soft heart would ruin him.

The blinding pain in his head was beginning to tear at his sanity. A vision of grey rocks and an endless blue ocean floated before him accompanied by a sensation of blistering heat and the cries of seagulls. This stomach churned in hunger again as the spirit's voice rang in his ears.

…give… me…

"I already gave you an onigiri that was too good for you." Sanji looked straight at the floating figure that was still reaching for him with haunted eyes. "What was the point of showing me that? To prove to me that you started out as a nice guy?"

The spirit croaked out something unintelligible and moved closer. Sanji felt a wave of nausea rise in his throat as he spoke again.

"Is that what you did to all of your victims? Make them experience your pain until they broke down?" He fought back the dizziness and kept his eyes locked on the spirit's pale orbs. "Well, I got news for you! I already went through all of that and I'm still here. Go ahead, do your worst!"

The island flashed in his head again sending a pang of burning pain through his temples. Sanji released a long shaky breath trying to clear his thoughts and concentrate on something else. He just had to hold on long enough for Zoro to get out of the cave. A tiny voice at the back of his mind softly reminded him that he had no way of knowing that but it was quickly ignored as Aron Fellman's next words made his heart stand still.

… was wrong… done wrong… give me…

Sanji felt his eyes widen as the half-hushed murmurs took on a completely different meaning. He stared at the spirit in shock feeling his whole world slowly unravel. Somewhere in his mind, the last piece of the puzzle finally clicked into place.

…forgive me…

The two words echoed in the oily darkness. The visions of hunger and pain slowly melted away as the spirit reached a thin skeletal arm towards him. Pale blue eyes bore through him in a silent plea as Sanji opened his mouth and said.

"Oh…"

Dun dun duuuun! How do you like THEM apples? No... really, was this good? Bad? So-so? Let me know!

As for Sanji hearing the Going Merry's voice, I wanted to write a separate fic about that but I just felt there wasn't enough material to fill even a short drabble so it ended up in this chapter. In his state, completely dazed and exhausted, with a spirit messing around in his mind, it just felt right.

Don't forget to review! Each and every one of them brightens my day.

Soroka, over and out.