Anonymous asked: what about a continuation for the 'buried alive sanji'? But in Zoro's POV and about 20 minutes after Sanji's death? :D
This is really not happy.
Zoro's foot bumped against something, something that clanged metallic and didn't quite fit in with the stone of the cave. He raised his lantern a little higher to cast some light on the foreign object.
The dim light of his lantern shined over dull metal and broken glass. At one point it had been one of their lanterns, but now it was broken beyond repair.
Zoro looked around, surely if their lantern was here, one of the others was too. He'd felt the ground shake a bit earlier, perhaps one of his nakama had dropped it then? He shuddered to think about what they were doing now. This cave was pitch black without any light, surely they weren't stumbling around in the endless night, right?
Well if it were Luffy…
There was a dead end just ahead. Zoro shined his light on the wall, looking at it curiously. It looked different from the rest of the cave, not as smooth as the tunnels Zoro had been following to this point. Almost as if it had been recently formed…
The sudden thought sparked panic through Zoro's system and he wasted no time cutting threw the rocky wall. His swords clanged angrily against the stone, but he refused to relent until he finally reached the space beyond.
The smell that struck him first was both familiar and sinister. The scent of cigarettes that Zoro would have recognized anywhere, but staler, almost rotten smelling. Not the fresh smell of cigarettes Zoro was accustomed to smelling in the galley, but something older and more contained.
Zoro sheathed his sword and raised his lantern to light the path beyond. There wasn't much path to light, the cave reached an actual dead end just beyond the newly formed wall.
But Zoro wasn't paying attention to the shape of the cave any more. Shining yellow hair had caught his attention instead. Golden colored strands Zoro would have recognized anywhere, leaning against the stone wall Zoro had just cut through. Had he cut any lower he would have taken the bastards head off, but Sanji hadn't even bothered to move.
"Oi, Cook," Zoro called his attention. "What are you doing, idiot?"
Sanji didn't move though, and Zoro's concern pulled him into the small cave faster than one of Nami's lightening bolts.
His feet were destroyed. Sanji sat with his back to the stone wall, legs stretched out in front of him. His shoes were broken in places, enough to reveal the bloodied, bloated, and purple monstrosities that had once been the cook's greatest weapons.
A cigarette lay extinguished in the fold of his shirt, and Zoro plucked it away to reveal a burn hole in both the shirt and flesh beneath it. Sanji hadn't even seemed to notice.
He could have been sleeping, the way his eyes were so peacefully closed, his jaw slightly slack and his brows relaxed. He looked so at ease. Zoro cupped his cheek in his hand, feeling the smooth flesh, too cold for a healthy body temperature.
He stared at the closed blue eyes, knowing they'd never open again. Knowing he'd never see their light again.
He had been too late.
"I'm sorry," His voice sounded chocked, harsh, and pathetic, but Zoro couldn't contain himself. He couldn't meditate this pain away. "I'm so sorry, Sanji."