Author's Note: The long wait equals double chapters everyone! This will be the last chapter in Part One: The Godless Seas. I've split this story into 3 Parts:
Part One: The Godless Seas
Intermission One: The Other East Blue
Part Two: The Monster Siblings
Intermission Two: The Other Paradise
Part Three: The Last Goodbye
Intermission Three: The Other War
The end of each part will come with a short intermission chapter of sorts that will give a short summary of what the Other Strawhats' have seen or gone through on their journey, highlighting the major changes to their personalities. Hopefully you guys enjoy this little treat! Enjoy the end to Part One. Hope to see you all for the next chapter!
Part One: The Godless Sea
Chapter Eight: Into the Woods
Zoro senses it as soon as he opens his eyes. The off heaviness of the air. Weight that doesn't belong on Sunny's decks. Even if it isn't his Sunny. The warmth of Chopper's small body presses against his side. What can only be Luffy's arm lies over his left cheek. The room sits in darkness but the telltale thunk of shoes on wood mean the cook is awake. Or at least one of the cooks. The scent of cigarette stench lingers too strong for Zoro's cook to not be in the room. So Flash wanders around the kitchen upstairs.
Across the room, the door creaks open. No light spills into the room, so whoever it is doesn't think they need any light.
"Zoro?" Lu's moans softly from in the room.
Roronoa's quick, quiet footsteps stop and retreat. "Just need a drink," Roronoa whispers softly. "Go back to sleep."
The other captain lets out a soft whine but blankets rustle. So he's turned over to go back to sleep. Roronoa's footsteps return. Quick and quiet. He moves with ease through the maze of sleeping Strawhats. A few moments later, his feet join the other cooks. Then stop as he sits down at the table. Faint, incoherent mumblings drift down from above.
"Must be he senses it too," the cook murmurs across the room.
Zoro grunts his agreement. "What do you think it is?"
"Nothing good, if it's got them all twitchy. Remember what Lu said out in the forest? Someone's out there."
True. Tension had consumed the other captain. Anything that had any version of Luffy nervous makes Zoro nervous. He slips out from beneath Luffy, rolls Chopper over to sleep beside the captain again.
"Oi," Sanji hisses. "Where are you going?"
"To see what all the fuss is about," Zoro replies.
"Marimo," Sanji hisses behind him.
The cook follows without further protest though. Scrambles after Zoro as he makes his way toward the galley.
Sanji tries to grab Zoro before he opens the door. To eavesdrop on what the others are saying. But Zoro pushes the door open without a second's hesitation.
"I'm just saying-"
"I don't care," Flash snaps. "We aren't talking about it."
Roronoa pouts, resting his chin on his hands. "You're ridiculous."
With another glare, Flash glances toward the door. "Breakfast isn't ready," he tells them shortly.
"They aren't here for breakfast," Roronoa says around a yawn. "They probably feel it too."
Zoro grunts an affirmative and sits across from his counterpart. A smirk lights Roronoa's face as he looks at his cook.
"I told you so."
"Zoro." Flash turns to wave a knife at him. "I swear to God, I will stab you."
"There'd have to be a God for you to swear to him."
Cracks begin to appear in the other cook's annoyed facade. A fond smile begins to take its place. "You're a pain in my ass."
"That," Roronoa says, matter-of-factly. "Would be Usopp."
Beside Zoro, Sanji chokes on air. Flash's neck burns red. "Zoro!" he snaps.
Roronoa snickers. Even Zoro can't hide his snort of laughter.
"Wari. Wari." The mischievous sparkle in Roronoa's eyes betray his apology. "I forgot. You're a pain in his ass."
"I have to kill you now," Flash mumbles.
Roronoa winks. "You can try, Cook."
Zoro stares between the two as the cook continues to choke on air. No tension seeps through the air. Their words are light. Slight smiles on their faces. No malice. No itch to fight.
"You guys actually get along," the cook mumbles.
Roronoa glances at him, eyebrow raised. "Hai. You look surprised."
"That's just his face." Zoro shrugs.
Roronoa snorts.
"Watch it, marimo."
"Are you going to make me, Shit Cook?"
"You're lucky the ladies are sleeping. Otherwise I'd kick your ass up and down these decks." Sanji's gaze moves to Roronoa, who watches with a slight smile. "What are you smirking about shithead?"
Behind them, Zoro senses the tense annoyance that moves through Flash. Roronoa doesn't seem to. Just chuckles and shakes his head.
"You get along too," he says. "Just different from us." His gaze moves back to Flash. "Can we have that Benedict's thing again?"
"Benedict's thing?"
"Hai. The white egg with the yellow sauce."
"Oh, Eggs Benedict. Hai. But, one day, you're going to actually have to remember the name of dishes, you know."
Roronoa rests his arms on the table and nestles his chin on top of them as he watches the cook. "Why? I have you. You always know what I mean."
Flash doesn't argue. "Did you two need something?"
"Why?" Sanji lights up a cigarette. "Are we interrupting something?"
Roronoa yawns. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Sanji still won't give me my coffee."
"We have this fight every morning," Flash moans. "Its four in the morning. Go back to bed."
"Hai," Roronoa agrees. "We do. And then I sit out here, coffeeless, for three hours. Because, I never lose. So, you might as well give me my coffee."
"No. If I start that pot, the smell will wake Robin up."
"But I'm tired."
"So go back to bed."
"I don't want to."
"Then suffer in silence."
Roronoa's face twists in annoyance but he puts up no further arguments.
"This is normal?" Sanji mumbles after a minute.
Flash lets out a long suffering sigh. "Unfortunately. Give it ten minutes. Berserker Boy will he passed out at the table."
"Will not," Roronoa mumbles, though his eyes are already closed.
Zoro eyes his counterpart carefully. Despite his closed eyes and sleepy tone, an alertness holds Roronoa's body tense. Clearly, he hasn't forgotten about the strange weight in the air.
"What's with the shitty nicknames?" Sanji asks. He moves to the kitchen door, cracking it so his cigarette smoke will float to Sunny's deck instead of tainting the food.
Flash cocks an eyebrow at him. "Eh?"
Sanji motions towards Roronoa. "Berserk or whatever you call him. Where'd that come from?"
Flash's brow creases. His gaze moves to Zoro. "What's your epithet?"
Strange question. Or maybe not. Robin did say these are completely different people. It would make sense for them to have different names.
"Pirate Hunter Zoro."
Across from him, Roronoa looks bewildered. "Pirate Hunter? But, you are a pirate."
Flash glances back at Sanji. "Yours?"
"Blackleg Sanji."
A distasteful crinkle of the nose tells Zoro exactly what Flash thinks of that. "Flashfire Sanji and Berserker Roronoa Zoro," he says, gesturing to himself and Roronoa. "That's where the shitty nicknames come from."
"Berserker?" Sanji echoes. He eyes Roronoa. "He's tamer than my marimo!"
Roronoa sticks his tongue out at the cook in lieu of an answer. Sanji stares at him, speechless.
"You haven't seen him pissed," Flash mumbles.
"What is it?"
Zoro's already tired of the run-around. They'd been promised an explanation last night. They'd barely gotten any semblance of a plan. Luffy might be willing to go along with whatever. But Zoro needs something. Needs to know what he's up against. If he can protect his crew against it.
Flash and Sanji only glance at him. The cook obviously doesn't know. His counterpart doesn't seem interested in answering the question.
Roronoa, however, gives him a weak smile. "Nothing to panic about. They're not as strong as they feel."
Zoro levels him with a glare. Its strange. They're the same man. Have the same name. Wield the same weapon. Yet, Roronoa is. Zoro isn't sure he can find the right word. . Soft.
His counterpart's smile doesn't falter. "You might not even know them. You guys are different from us. But, you can still protect them. No contest."
Strangely, the words make him feel better. Weight inches off his chest. Roronoa rests his chin on his arms again, eyes moving back to Flash.
"Sanjiiii," he whines.
"Goddamnit, Zoro, no!"
"Stingy."
"Nami was right," Flash mumbles. "You can't hang out with Luffy anyone. You're picking up his bad habits.
"Not all of them."
"Oi," Flash glances at Sanji. "Tell us about Kaido."
Sanji blinks back at him. "Kaido."
"Hai. Anything to keep him from bitching."
The cook's tale of Wano takes an impressive two and a half hours. He glosses over the question of why he arrived late to the island with a simple "it's complicated". Which Roronoa accepts without complaint. Pays special attention to Zoro screwing up the whole plan. Though, Zoro didn't screw it up! The murdering asshat screwed it up by pining it on him.
Roronoa laughs when Sanji talks about the Shusui fiasco. "They gave me shit for that too." he tells Zoro with grin.
"Don't look so proud, moron!" Flash snaps.
Nico joins them first. Robin joins with quickly after. They sit with small smiles and cups of coffee. Nico actively pretends she doesn't see Roronoa stealing sips of her coffee while she listens to Sanji's tale.
The others join them one by one. All still a little disoriented. Chopper scrambles over to sit next to Zoro while Tony clambers onto Roronoa's lap, eyes searching nervously. Lu and Luffy bound in full of energy and stamina - to no ones one's surprise.
Flash makes no complaints when Kitty and Shot set the table and help pass food out. Though, Sanji sits on the edge of his seat while Usopp and Nami join the crew. Franky, Brook and their counterparts join them soon after.
"So," Shot says once everyone's settled in. "Are we just not going to talk about it?"
"Don't," Flash orders.
"Don't what?" Nami asks, looking between the two.
"He's upset that the sun isn't up yet," Roronoa says.
"That's bad, isn't it?" Tony asks. Nerves thick in the air.
Roronoa puts a hand on his head and jerks his head toward Robin and Nico. "Not until Robin says it's a bad thing."
"It isn't," Nico pipes up. "Not necessarily, at least." Her gaze moves to Flash. "We could very well be waiting for others to meet their counterparts."
Flash lets out a wild curse.
Kitty places a hand on his. "But not necessarily."
"No. Not necessarily. Its best not to overthink it, you'll drive yourself crazy with possibilities."
"So what does Nico think we should do?" Luffy asks.
The captain's hands are beat away with ease by the Strawhats. Most of their counterparts, however, have more difficulties. At the other end of the table, Lu snags pieces of food from Roronoa's plate.
"Oi." Shot finally managed to knock away Luffy's hand. "Why can't you just steal off your Zoro's plate?"
"Because he doesn't let us eat off his plate. Zoro isn't as nice as Ro!" Lu declares, favoring his swordsman with a fond grin. "Ro's better!"
Roronoa rolls his eyes but accepts the reward of a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "What do you think we should do?" he asks, eyes on the two archeologists. "A real answer, please. It's about actually getting out of here, not rank. Hai?"
Nico hums softly. "Hai." She glances at Robin. "At this point, I believe our only option is to go onto the island."
Robin nods her agreement. "Nico's texts suggest that the marines wandered the island to find their way out. None of the accounts are entirely clear."
"Of course they aren't," Usopp mumbles miserably.
"It's a mystery!" Luffy shouts.
Lu cheers.
"You're both morons." Zoro shakes his head at the two captains.
Roronoa snorts and snags a piece of bacon off his captain's plate.
"Ro!" Lu yelps.
"So," Nami says loudly, desperate to get the crew back on track. "We need to go exploring?"
"It would seem so," Nico says.
"Yosh!" Lu grins, shoving another handful of food into his mouth.
"Use your damn fork," Flash hisses.
He's ignored as Lu turns to Cutty instead. "Does Sunny still need to be fixed?"
The cyborg nods gravely. "Hai. There's quite a bit of internal damage, Sencho."
"Yosh. You stay and fix Sunny while we explore! And Brook too!"
Soul King nods. "Of course, Lu-san."
Lu beams. Though it turns to a betrayed moan as Roronoa sneaks another bite of food from his plate.
"Franky and Brook may have to stay behind as well then," Robin says. "We don't know what effect splitting from our counterparts may have now."
"So, Ro and Zoro should stay too," Tony suggests.
"Like hell," Zoro snaps.
The small doctor whimpers and presses himself closer to Roronoa at the raised tone. Tension snakes through the air. Roronoa lets out a low growl. A dangerous sound as he glares at Zoro. The other swordsman's eyes seem to flicker. Shivers run down the crews' spines.
"Zoro!" Lu's captain voice rings firmly.
Roronoa's eyes move to Lu. Tension seeps from the room, lingering only slightly.
"No yelling at Chopper," Lu says, eyes fixed on Zoro.
Luffy doesn't protest the order so Zoro doesn't bother to point out that he hadn't yelled. Just nods his understanding as Roronoa runs a hand through Tony's fur.
"Ro should come," Lu tells Tony softly. "We won't let him jump off stuff and Chopper will be there. Both Choppers! It could be dangerous, so Ro should come."
Tony nods without protest. Relaxes into his swordsman's side.
"Yosh!" Luffy nods with a smile. "Everyone eat faster! It's adventure time!"
The two crews bid their shipwrights and musicians goodbye and head into the jungle. The two captains and archeologists seem to be overly willing to interact with each other. Tony clings to Roronoa's shoulder, the swordsman making no complaints and pointedly ignoring Zoro. Flash and Sanji seem to be on similar terms. Nami and Kitty make a few attempts at conversation. Shot and Usopp dance around each other.
After a few minutes, Chopper scuttles up to walk beside Roronoa and glance up at Tony. "Did you have Doctor too?"
The innocent question is all it takes for Tony to begin babbling. Roronoa pauses to let his small doctor down and the two youngest members share stories of their beloved father.
It may be a testament to how similar the two worlds are that Roronoa gravitates to the back of the group, just like Zoro. Eyes wandering over the crew. Double checking on both crews without pause. Zoro does the same.
They walk in silence. Let the cheers and babbles of excited Luffys and nostalgic Choppers float back to them.
"What happened to Kuina?" Roronoa's voice doesn't shake but Zoro senses the tremor in his nerves.
He glances over without answer. His counterpart's eyes meet his for a moment before dropping to Zoro's hip. Roronoa's fingers drop to his own swords, only two hilts lay at his right hip.
"She'd never leave Wado. And I can see it in your eyes when I say her name. You know her. What happened?"
Zoro doesn't want to talk about Kuina. He's gone years without having to think about her. Even now, it makes his chest hurt. Guilt swirl up his body.
"She died," he answers simply.
"I assumed."
You didn't answer the question, Roronoa doesn't say. Instead, the subject drops. Thank god.
"You think this is a good idea?" Zoro asks, nodding to the path their captains make through the leaves and grass.
Roronoa shrugs. "Lu rarely has good ideas. I've learned to improvise."
Zoro snorts. Sounds about right.
"Your cook seemed upset at breakfast."
It isn't isn't a question per say. Just an opening for possible conversation.
"You're persistent," Roronoa tells him. "It's his business."
"If it affects my crew." Zoro keeps his voice hard. "That makes it my business."
Electricity flows through the air. Though, it doesn't belong to either swordsman. Both crews stumble to a stop. Ahead of them, Flash swears. Swords shing as Roronoa frees his weapons.
"Why is it always your family?" the swordsman growls. "Why can't we deal with someone else's family? Just for fucking once." He holds his swords parallel. Waits for a moment. "I'd like to deal with someone else's family. Nitoryu Toro!"
The airborne slashes fly forward. Slice through trees and leaves with no problem. Around them, the plant life rustles. Figures dancing in and out of appearance.
"And here I thought you'd learned to keep your dog on a leash, little brother."
The voice that dances through the air seems to but Roronoa's entire crew on edge. But not only them. Zoro watches Luffy, Nami, Chopper and the cook all go rigid. Another dangerous growl leaves Roronoa. A defensive threat.
"And we thought you'd learned the last time we kicked your asses," Flash growls from somewhere behind them.
"Kicked our asses?" another voice demands. "You didn't kick jackshit."
"Really?" Roronoa sneers. "I recall you scampering away with your tail between your legs. How's that arm?"
Haki screams for Zoro to move. He does without question. Leaps backward and holds out an arm to keep anyone else from moving forward. Roronoa simply steps to the side. A fist lands where the growling swordsman had stood.
A smug smirk covers Roronoa's face. "See you're as terrifying as ever."
"Ro," Flash growls. "Quit antagonizing them."
Zoro can feel the question lingering in Roronoa's mind. Why? Why not piss them off? They're pissing everyone else off.
"So, you did take him to obedience classes."
"That's it. I'm killing them."
"Aw, how cute," a third voice cuts in. "The trauma case thinks he's scary."
A round of sniggers go through the trees. Rage boils in the air.
"Ro!" Lu snaps. His voice does nothing to stop the crazed look in Roronoa's eyes.
One by one the figures drop from the trees. Colors coat the trees. Red. Blue. Green. Curly eyebrows. Stupid capes.
Something seems eerily familiar about it all.
"They've doubled," the green one scoffs. "Just what the world needed. More of the pathetic one."
"Fuck off," Flash growls.
"Oh, that's a good one, Sanji," the green one sneers. "You really got me."
More electricity crackles in the air. Zoro swears all of the energy is being sucked from him.
Roronoa lets out a roar of rage. Another set of slashes through the air. Someone grabs Zoro's arm and drags him back.
"Move," Lu orders.
Zoro doesn't question it. He moves.