A/N: Well, it's really hard to follow a chapter like the last one. But I tried. It's really long. Some great angsty stuff between Sanji and Zoro. And Nami kicks some ass. :)

Zoro let his worry slip away. He knew Luffy would be okay. Bounty hunters – they had destroyed that family in the ice sea, so these guys were nothing. It was just a little setback, being tied up like this. At some point, Usopp or Franky or Nami or Robin or Chopper or Brook or Luffy would barge into the tavern, beat up the stupid women, and they would leave. Nami would beat up Sanji, and probably Zoro too, for leaving the ship and getting themselves caught.

Zoro exhaled. He'd deserve the beating, but that didn't mean he'd like it. Damn bitch.

He felt himself sliding back into his nap. Sanji was attempting to woo all twenty-one women at once, and Zoro found sleep preferable to the nauseating romantic language he was being forced to listen to while awake. He closed his eyes and let the ropes hold him up as he dozed.

A while later, a lull in noise was sufficiently strange enough to wake him up again. He swung his head up to glare blearily at the women around him, who were standing stiffly at attention as his guards. The one across the table still had his swords. The fiery hatred for the woman that had consumed him earlier surged through his veins again, but as he remembered the complete situation, the loathing dissipated. He had no doubt he'd get them back soon. But why had Sanji stopped cooing? Where was the annoying constant titter of female laughter? He looked first to the door – had their crewmates finally arrived?

It didn't look like it. He and Sanji were the only Mugiwara Pirates in the tavern. He was still tied up and under a guard, and Sanji was…

At the bar, of course. But Zoro knew immediately that something had gone wrong.

Zoro's gaze focused in on the chef's face. The blond man had gone white, his single visible eye wide. His cigarette was nowhere to be seen, having fallen out of his half-open mouth. And… his hands were shaking.

"Oi! Ero-cook," called Zoro, and the chef faced the swordsman with a great deal of unease. Their eyes met. "What the hell's going on?" Zoro asked, tamping down the irrational panic.

It was then that he noticed the boss woman – Miyoko or something – was on the DenDen Mushi again. And he noticed the women were smiling, but not in jest. In triumph.

No, no, there's no way –

Miyoko threw her head back and laughed, and Sanji choked a gasp, having been able to hear what the commander on the other end had said. What the fuck, Zoro thought, extremely frustrated. Why will no one tell me … what if…

"What the hell happened?!" he yelled, surprising his guards. Sanji didn't look at him again, but stepped back from the bar, stumbling against the counter. Zoro kept his eyes locked on the man; his back was stiff, his gaze unseeing, his hands still quivering. He grabbed the apron and clenched it between his fingers to still them. "Sanji?" asked Zoro, quieter.

"You want to know what happened?" asked the devil-woman Miyoko. She left the bar and walked towards where Zoro was tied up, helpless. A feral grin spread across her face. Zoro glared at her and shifted in his bonds. He planted his feet and felt the muscles in his shoulders tighten in response to his anxiety.

"I don't think you do."

"Tell me, damn it." His whisper was venomous, poison. He hated her. He hated every woman in this goddamn tavern –

"Your captain is going to die. Very soon. In fact…" she paused, searching his face for – what? fear? despair? – something, and continued, "He is probably already dead." The grin made him sick. "Too bad you weren't there to help him, eh?"

Something inside of Zoro went very still for a long moment. Finally, he uttered around a sudden lump-in-the-throat and a burning in his chest:

"Liar."

"She's not," said a harsh, broken voice by the bar, and Zoro looked at Sanji in shock. Of all the times for him to stick up for a woman – "I … I heard it. They – damn. They had … kairouseki spears." He let this fact sink into Zoro's head, closed his eyes. "They… they… …" Sanji breathed. "Got him," he finished, very quietly.

No.

"… One of the shitty bastards threw one, and he'd already been hurt…"

No.

"… and… and Chopper screamed…"

No.

"Gomu Gomu no… Gatling!" came a tinny voice from the bar.

Sanji and Zoro's heads snapped up to stare at the DenDen Mushi in disbelief. All the women were looking too. Incredulity was written on every one of the twenty-three faces in the room. Another voice started shouting from the snail – "Sub-commander Miyoko! He's not going down! He's – Ahhh!"

Something cracked on the other end, and the line went dead.

All the women started talking at once. Zoro did not take the time to appreciate the fear and surprise in the voices. He was trying to get the image of a dying, bleeding, alone Luffy out of his head, and he was trying to figure out where Sanji had gone. He began to strain against his bonds with renewed vigor. Luffy needed them. There wasn't much time.

Chaos flew around him as the women drew their swords and guns, terrified. What kind of Devil Fruit user could still fight with a kairouseki spear running through him? It was impossible! Something had to have gone terribly wrong! Maybe it wasn't an actual kairouseki spear… maybe, maybe…

Zoro pulled and pulled at the ropes around his arms and chest, the corded muscles in his neck standing out with the strain. To no avail; but he did not stop trying. The woman who had held his katana captive was on her feet, staring at Miyoko, ignoring his weaponry. If he were just a bit stronger, he could break this… Where was the love-cook?

Miyoko stood with her back to him, facing her comrades-in-arms and trying to restore order to her scared troops. She barked orders for silence, and slowly, the girls calmed down.

"Now," said the sub-commander. "We will have to send some back-up to the captain's division –"

A dark blur to his right –

– whoosh – Thud.

Miyoko grunted and was sent sailing into the wall to his left.

What?

Black Leg Sanji, both his eyes hidden by his hair, straightened his tie, looking at the fallen sub-commander. The women didn't know how to react. They stared at him the same way Zoro was staring at him – in astonishment.

The chef lit a cigarette, took a drag, and finally turned away from the injured woman to look at Zoro. He deftly used his right foot to flip Wadou Ichimonji, which had been dropped with the other katana onto the floor, at the bound swordsman, who smiled and caught the hilt in his teeth. A second later, he stood beside the blond with his katana returned to his side.

Sanji's eyes were fixed on Miyoko. He looked… pained.

Zoro's look moved swiftly between him and the woman. None of the subordinate bounty hunters had moved a muscle. "Thanks," Zoro said.

At the sound of the older man's voice, Sanji shook himself slightly. "We need to go. He needs us. That's why… I…"

Zoro nodded, his dark eyes reassuring. That was all Sanji needed. "Let's go."

The other women let them walk out of the tavern unhindered, still in shock. When they entered the street, they broke into a run.

I hope we're not too late.

Nami and Robin had cleared the field of kairouseki and were running frantically up and down all the streets in the first level of the town. The festival had moved into the upper levels of the city, so the first level's streets were nearly completely deserted. They reached the dock without meeting a single soul. Sunny-Go was floating calmly on the night sea, safely tied to the wooden planks. Nami glanced inquisitively at Robin, who nodded, assuring her that no one had boarded the ship.

The two turned back to the city and started running again. Robin noted that Nami's breaths had grown ragged, and that the delicate mapmaker's hands were gripping the Climatact so strongly that her knuckles were white. Her own breathing had become harsh – fear for her friends was choking her.

She took a deep breath. "Nami," she called, slowing her pace to a walk. She could feel her dark hair stick to the back of her neck. She watched as Nami stopped and turned around, running back to where Robin was.

"What is it, Robin?" Nami asked with concern, if a bit impatiently. The orange-haired girl bit her lip, and perspiration crept toward her chin from her hairline. The night was particularly warm. Yuya is a spring island, Robin remembered.

"We need to think."

Nami ground her teeth together. "Can't we think while we run?"

Robin smiled gently at her. "We will find them in time, Nami," she admonished. "But not if we keep running randomly down side streets. Take a deep breath."

Nami complied, her breath catching at the end. Then it caught again, and again. She was fighting tears. "Those… those idiots," she raged quietly, as a tear escaped her eyes, and she wiped it quickly away. Compassion and empathy – emotions she had only recently become acquainted with – rose in Robin's heart, and she put a comforting hand on Nami's shoulder.

"We will find them," she repeated steadily, and Nami was able to take a deep breath without hiccupping.

"Okay. We know – are pretty sure – that they are still on the first level," Nami stated, composed.

"Yes. And we know that, for as long as they possibly can, they will fight."

The stubborn chin went down and up once. "And Zoro and Sanji have probably found them and are helping. Hopefully Usopp and Franky too."

"We are facing a hundred men fighting our boys." Robin raised an elegant eyebrow as she said this, and Nami's mouth quirked in response. "And we know how our boys fight."

Nami breathed easier, the weak smile spreading. "Messily. And loud."

"Perhaps we can listen for them," Robin agreed.

The two friends, who had been walking for the duration of this conversation, were now standing in the light of a tavern. Surprised that any of the townspeople were still on this level, they looked through the windows to see what was going on.

A bunch of women were standing listlessly around the room. There were no men. A few were crowded near a far wall. "Hold on a moment, Robin," Nami said over her shoulder, pulling on the door and entering the tavern.

The women menaced her with the weapons they were holding as she walked in. The navigator shifted into a defensive stance, Climatact in both hands diagonally in front of her, and asked, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," said a voice from the crowd. Some of the women exclaimed as one drew forth from their midst. She was beautiful, Nami had to admit, with long, black locks and a cherry-red mouth. She was gingerly touching her head and wiping away blood from a cut on her lip. She looked Nami over quickly, and then proceeded to ignore her. "Ladies," she addressed the women, "why haven't you pursued our escapees?! If the commander finds out –"

"The commander has been incapacitated, Miyoko-sama," piped one of the women by the bar. She gestured to a mini DenDen Mushi on the bar, from which yells and panicked shouts could be heard. "It happened only a second ago. Monkey D. Luffy has won."

A satisfied and relieved smile worked its way onto Nami's face, and she quickly masked it as she noticed the angry look on the beautiful woman's visage.

"No!" she shouted. She breathed deeply through her nose for a moment. "Alright. Mugiwara is still injured – there is a chance we can make up the losses. Even if the commander is indisposed, we can go pick up whatever's left of that pirate –"

"What do you mean?" Nami asked before thinking. She knew now that she was among the enemy. The beautiful woman stared at her, as though surprised she could talk.

She sniffed. "It's none of your business, citizen. But you probably should" – at this, she half-drew a sabre at her side – "leave now."

Nami peered at her, and suddenly grasped that this woman did not recognize her as a part of the Strawhat crew. A clever idea struck her, and she feigned fear. "Do you have business elsewhere, m-miss?" she asked timidly, surreptitiously collapsing her Climatact. "I wouldn't want to get in your w-w-way…"

The woman smiled at the show of submission. "Me and my gals will be up along Jiaro Street in just a bit. Be sure you keep yourself well away from there tonight."

"Y-yes, ma'am." Nami made sure her exit was swift and terrified. When she got back outside, she caught Robin's eye and grinned. "They're on Jiaro Street."

Robin looked at her incredulously, then grinned too. "Ah."

But Nami's face quickly fell. "Luffy's hurt, but he beat the asshole commander, so Chopper should be helping him." Robin nodded in understanding, and they were off again, running through the night.