"What were you guys doing?" a redhead demanded, pulling up a ute in front of them. She frowned at them from her seat. "Hurry up!"
"We brought guests."
The woman jerked her thumb to the back. "Hop on and hang on tight." The freckled man jumped in the front and the rest clambered in the back.
"Chopper are you ok?" Sanji glanced over the kid.
"I'm... alright," Chopper wheezed, clutching his ribs. He frowned at them. "Don't carry me like that again! It hurts so much!" Sanji shook his head slightly at the whiny tone. "Now, you promised me you'd answer my questions. We're safe now, right?" Chopper looked over to Zoro. He glanced over, nodding before resuming his scan around the Ute. Sanji understood. It would be safe, as long as they kept a lookout around them. He moved over to sit in the middle of the Ute space and gestured for Chopper to sit next to him. Where should he start? He didn't feel like lying. It felt so wrong.
"Dr Hiluluk. He... was bitten." The kid's eyes welled up.
"It's my fault isn't it?" His lips trembled. "It's my fault! If only I didn't fall over when those things were going after us."
"No, it's not. He was happy with you," Sanji said. "I'm guessing before he met you, he must have felt forgotten. He told me to lie to you so you wouldn't look for him, but I don't think that's right. He doesn't want you to feel responsible ok? He loved you. He went his own way to a better place and he's not going to turn into a zombie either." Chopper's tears flowed steadily down his face and he opened his mouth to bawl. The green haired man pulled the crying boy into his arms and for a second, Sanji thought he was going to muffle the sounds and contemplated going against it but soon, he realised the man was hugging the boy, comforting him with murmured private words. Sanji sighed and moved out to sit near the edge of the Ute, pulling out chalk from his pockets. He flinched slightly at the pain on his palm. How could he have forgotten? A red ugly streak glared back from his pale skin as he inspected his hand. It wasn't that bad but things would've been so different back then if this happened to his hands. He'd shriek at Patty, goddamn that hearty bastard, just to provoke him and get in heated arguments with the rest of those shitty chefs, getting told off by the old head chef, Zeff and taking out his frustrations on any street punks who'd try their luck on robbing stores and intimidating ladies. Now, all he could do was... keep quiet. He unslung his backpack, taking out the small amount of supplies he had left. Water, a bit of food, the remains of a first aid kit, a spare shirt. It wasn't much but it was enough for a little while. He tried to clean his palm with the spare shirt and looked at the wound again, sighing. There was no use fussing over it. He rolled chalk in his other hand, printing finger marks on his pants and drawing swirls of white on his black pants. Occasionally, he glanced up and around the Ute, ensuring no stray zombie had come after them. It was quiet now.
"We're here," said Zoro, leaping off the back with Chopper still in his arms. Sanji blinked drowsily, sitting up to check his surroundings. It was a surprisingly well built high tech looking fort. High stone walls provided a good defence against the zombies and predators of the forest. There were several lookout towers. Even on the inside, there looked to be defence mechanisms, possibly traps in case of the defences being breached. This place looked solid. Impregnable. Sanji jumped off the Ute, following after the freckled man and the redhead lady. The freckled man waved.
"Sup. I suppose you want to stay a while? You can stay permanently, well, as long as you help out. It's up to you and the kid."
"We'll help you out as much as possible," the redhead woman beamed, "for a price." Ace frowned.
"Nami, no one has money these days."
"It's a habit. I'm Nami by the way." She smiled and stuck out her hand in greeting. Sanji glanced at the pair, before shaking her hand.
Rule three: don't trust anyone.
"We're not going to eat or rob you!" Nami laughed. "It's so rare that we come across kids, so today is a good day."
"Nami! Ace!" another voice called. "Who's that?" They turned to greet a young black haired man, bounding up to them and tackling them in a hug.
"A person who helped us out. There's also a kid."
"Cool!" He grinned broadly. Sanji shifted slightly. It was weird. These people were weird. Who would be happy about bringing outsiders in their camp? How could they be so carefree? "I'm Luffy!" The man introduced himself. Was he a man? He looked to be in a stage in-between an adult and a teen.
"Prince." He nodded.
"If you need to sleep, go over there," Luffy pointed vaguely over to some buildings, "and if you need to eat come with me to- ouch!" Nami lowered her clenched fist.
"I don't think so Luffy."
Luffy gulped. "Okay."
"If you need help for anything, just ask anyone. What would you like to do first?"
"Is there a doctor around? I'd like to see Chopper afterwards too."
"We don't really have a doctor," Nami answered, frowning. "Are you injured?"
"Not really." Sanji stuffed his hand in his pocket. "Just wondering if Chopper was ok." He shouldn't deplete supplies so needlessly about a cut to his hand. "He hasn't eaten for a few days, I think."
"Oh... well, I'm sure Zoro would take him to the cabins." Nami pointed to a double story building. "Second floor."
"Alright." He nodded curtly to the trio before heading off.
"Is he alright, Luffy?" Nami muttered.
"Yeah."
"He's not a bad person, but it feels like he's seen too much," Ace added. "He probably thinks we're fucking weirdos. It'll take a while before he's comfortable."
"I want him to stay!"
"You can't make him."
"But..." Ace sighed.
"I know. It's getting harder to get supplies now. This area is becoming empty. We need to move out soon, even if we had more people to help us."
"But Franky spent so much time building this place." Nami looked at the housing.
"Maybe we can take some of it with us, but sooner or later, we need to go."
"Alright."
"Hello?" Sanji knocked at the door before opening it slowly. He spotted Chopper being tucked into a hammock. The whole room was full of hammocks. Zoro glanced at him before resuming his task. Sanji poked half his body in. "Is he ok? I don't think he's eaten for a few days."
"He's tired. Once he wakes then he can eat." Zoro ruffled the sleeping boy's hair.
"Good," Sanji muttered.
"Are you going to sleep too? You were pretty crashed out in the ute." Sanji shook his head.
"I'm fine. Do you have any medical supplies?" Zoro nodded. "There's a storeroom. Take what you want. Downstairs."
"Thanks."
The storeroom was huge. It had everything neatly organised. Clothes, weapons and non-perishable foods. Sanji found an impromptu array of medical basics and took a cloth and alcohol. He sat on the ground and began working at cleaning and bandaging the cut.
Hands. Hands. Hands. Should he even be wasting supplies like this? He should. He shouldn't. Why? This place was fucking weird. Everything was too much. Sanji was tired. Tired of running away and living in fear. Tired of being exposed to such shitty horrible human actions. His hand stung and he rubbed furiously, moisture welling up in his eyes. He hated this.
"Hey." Sanji looked up Luffy standing at the doorway.
"What do you want?" he asked, voice wavering.
"Are your hands okay?" Luffy came in, crouching on the floor next to the blonde. Sanji capped the alcohol and stood up.
"I'm fine." It was such an overused phrase. An automatic reflex to every concerned question about himself. Luffy didn't move but watched Sanji with his dark eyes as the blonde made his way for the door.
"We don't have a proper doctor yet. Sorry about that. Your hands are precious to you right?" Sanji froze. His mind blanked. What? "You can use what you want here. There's no problem." Luffy straightened from his crouch. Sanji backed away. "It's fine."
It wasn't fine. How could some stranger straight up deduce Sanji's morals with one look? This was creepy. He shivered under Luffy's intense dark eyed stare. It was time to get out.
He stood up and pushed past Luffy, making for the cabins.
"Zoro I'm hungry," a drowsy voice startled Sanji as he sat tending to his palm. The kid stirred, sitting up and yelping as his arm went through the netting. He blinked.
"Oh it's you, mister."
"Just call me Sanji." Heck, he didn't know why he'd offer the kid his real name. Fuck it.
"Did something happen to your hand? Let me see." Chopper untangled himself and leapt off the hammock.
"It's not pretty." Sanji held his hand above Chopper's reach as the boy made swipes for it.
"I know!" Chopper cried. "But I know how to treat it. I haven't learnt everything though." Sanji relented, giving in his hand for inspection. "Where did you get this from?" Chopper scrutinised the streak.
"Climbing down a pipe."
"Looks like you cleaned it already. Doesn't look like you need stiches. Just keep it covered so it doesn't turn dirty."
"I know how to use bandages." Sanji withdrew his hand. Chopper pouted.
"Properly?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, so you can get to still use your hands normally." Sanji hesitated.
"Uh..."
"Let's go and find some!" Chopper pulled Sanji along.
"So it's like this way, and then you go under here," Chopper explained, wrapping the bandages around Sanji's thumb and palm. He finished off at the wrist and cut the material, humming in satisfaction.
"I see." Sanji lifted his hand and turned it, wringing his fingers and appreciating the freedom of movement.
"Now I'm hungry," Chopper groaned.
"Let's go eat then."
"You have a kitchen here?" Sanji gasped. Nami nodded, pausing from her task of chopping carrots.
"Franky refurnished it from this rundown one." She waved airily with her knife.
"Could I... help?"
Nami raised her eyebrows. "You can cook?"
"Yeah, but it's been a while." Although, Sanji doubted he'd be able to forget anything the old man drilled in his head and hands. "What are you making?"
"Something with this." Nami gestured to the carrots. "They're going to go bad soon and we have a load of them."
"Soup or a stew then. Then we can pickle all the leftovers." Sanji rolled up his sleeves.
"You know more than I do."
"Hey, after we're done eating, do you want to come with us?" Ace sat opposite the blonde, eating noisily. "This is really good."
"To where?" Sanji raised his head from his bowl.
"Outside." Ace licked his spoon clean before waving it vaguely in the air.
"For?"
"Anything you think is useful. We're going to leech as much as possible from this place before we leave."
"Ok."
"I want to come too!" Chopper piped up from next to Sanji. They looked at him.
"No," they answered simultaneously.
"But I want to collect plants for medicine."
"You know medicine, kid?"
"I'm not a kid!" Chopper pouted. "I'm fifteen!"
"Even if you were twenty five, you'd still be a baby." Ace rolled his eyes before grinning. "Look, if we find any medicine bottles we'll try to bring them back alright? But we're going exploring in buildings, not the forest."
"Let me come Sanji!" Chopper pleaded, clinging onto Sanji's arm. Well there goes his cover.
"I don't think so." Sanji untangled himself, feeling the hidden smirk on Ace's face. He focused back on the task at hand. Medicine was useful, but extremely troublesome to carry. They crinkled if kept in separate poppable sections or rattled inside bottles. Both dangerous. "Let's leave. We want to be back before it gets dark." Ace stood up abruptly. "Zoro! Luffy! Let's move!"