(Author's Note: haha, since I've gotten so many nice reviews, (and a few threats ^.^;) I've decided to post this chapter early. )

A storm's aftermath is never pretty.

Enjoy~

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Chapter 8

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For a moment, Zoro couldn't breathe.

The moment Sanji fell limp in Luffy's arms, things seemed to just shatter around him.

He wasn't aware of his knees giving out until they struck the sand beneath him.

"SANJI! Wake up! What's wrong?!" Luffy shook the unconscious man in his arms, but the blonde head lolled back and forth bonelessly.

He quickly retracted his arms back to normal and carefully took hold of his cook. "Sanji! Wake u-" Luffy's shouting came to an abrupt stop when he felt something sticky on Sanji's back. Lifting up his hand, his eyes widened when he recognized the substance that coated it even in the dark. "B.. Blood?"

He glanced down to his chest and froze when he saw that the dark stain that covered the front of his shirt where the black clad back had been pressed.

Focusing on the sweater that Sanji wore, Luffy didn't hesitate to take hold of the hem and jerk it up.

What he saw there...

"Chopper! Chopper!! Get out here quick! Sanji's hurt!!"

Immediately leaping out from where he and the others were hiding out on deck during the fight, Chopper rushed across the sand to his captain. He was about to ask what was wrong when he saw the bandages that were falling off the blood smeared back. "Sanji..." He only hesitated for a moment longer before he shot his attention back to the ship. "Nami! Usopp! Get the stretcher! Robin! Get some clean water and bandages ready! Hurry!"

When he heard the three on ship scrambling to get everything ready, the little doctor returned his attention to the broken form in front of him. "Sanji... Dammit.. I smell so much blood.." he whimpered for a moment before doing his best to check the blonde's vitals in the dark.

His tiny hooves took hold of the lifeless wrist only to come close to panicking at what he felt. "No.. His heart is beating too fast! It's making him loose more blood! I have to stop the bleeding now!"

"Chopper! We've got the stretcher!" Nami cried out as she and Usopp ran as fast as they could across the sand.

"Luffy! Put Sanji on his side on the stretcher!"

Following the orders of their doctor, Luffy did the best he could to gently pick up his fallen nakama and place him on the stretcher. The moment Sanji was in place, Usopp and Nami hurried back to the ship with Chopper right at their heels.

Somewhat relieved now that the cook was being taken care of, Luffy turned to his swordsman.

On his knees in the sand, Zoro watched silently as the others took away the injured blonde. His mind was a total blank as his consciousness seemed to be floating above him. Witnessing everything like it was happening to some other poor bastard. He..

Just couldn't feel a thing.

"Zoro."

The firm tone seemed to snap Zoro back into reality. He looked to his captain, and nearly cringed when he saw the blood that was on him. "Luffy..."

His eyes narrowing at the lost tone, Luffy looked back to the ship. "I won't ask what caused this... But I expect you to fix it. I don't want my nakama broken over anything. Understood?"

That voice..

Luffy was pissed.

Setting his jaw, Zoro forced himself to face his captain as he got back to his feet. "Understood."

"Good. After Chopper's finished with Sanji, have yourself looked after as well. I know he got a few blows in on you." Luffy looked back to Zoro and frowned deeply. "You do know that, if I hadn't stopped him, he would have killed you."

Zoro fought the urge to bow his head and looked his captain in the eye. "Yes."

Still not satisfied, Luffy let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I need my first mate and my cook. You two are the reason I'm able to be so carefree. I know everything will be okay as long as you two have my back. You guys step in when I can't handle something. Do your best to protect everyone when I can't." He looked to Zoro with an honest expression. "I can't be a captain when the heart and soul of my nakama are trying to hurt one another."

"Heart and soul?" Zoro repeated slowly.

Luffy nodded and folded his arms over his chest. "That's what I've always thought about you two. You've always been the strong heart, Zoro. The one that pushes us forward without pause. You keep calm in the face of everything so you can do what you know is best for everyone." The captain then turned his attention to where his cook had been taken. "Sanji's the passionate soul that keeps us believing. He's the one that does everything he can to keep our spirits up. He sacrifices so much to make sure we stay together..."

A little smirk twitched onto Luffy's lips as he gave a light chuckle. "Heh... It's never bothered me before that the two of you were always at odds. The heart and soul of anything always fight with each other. It's just the way things are."

The eloquent statement left Zoro at a loss. He felt a darker shame threaten to pull around him when he remembered the anger that he had caused. The pain he had caused.

'You never gave a damn about me.'

That was pain. A pain that seemed to make Sanji ignore everything else around him as he lashed out at the cause.

'I'm responsible... Because I'm such an idiot... Because I never gave him a reason to believe me...'

The sudden feel of a hand on his shoulder broke Zoro out of his guilt trip. He found Luffy standing in front of him with a concerned look in his eyes. "Luffy..."

Not liking how this was affecting his Swordsman, Luffy gripped the broad shoulder a bit tighter. "Hey.. You can make things right. Sanji will listen to you if you treat him like your equal." He held out the bandana he had picked up from the sand. "You should always treat him like your equal. That's how he's always treated you."

That was it.

Zoro's eyes widened when everything seemed to hit him harder than one of Sanji's kicks.

He knew what he had done wrong.

His hands took hold of the bandana and gripped at it tight. "I understand. I'll fix this." he swore to his captain.

The serious gleam in the taller man's eyes had Luffy smiling. "Yosh. Come on. Let's hear what Chopper has to say."

Allowing the younger man to nudge him back towards the ship, Zoro walked with a more purposeful stride. His fingers clutched at the bandana as all of the injuries he was more than likely afflicted with melted from his mind. None of his own troubles mattered.

Nothing mattered except healing the soul he had broken.

By the time they reached the ship, they found the girls and Usopp all lingering around the half broken door to the galley. They each clearly showed their concern for their injured nakama, but none of them dared to go past the door. Chopper had been in a frenzy to get everything situated before kicking the lot of them out so he could work.

Now the tension was high as they waited.

However Luffy wasn't much on waiting. Moving past everyone with Zoro in tow, he pushed the barely hanging door open and stepped inside. On looking to the futon, he immediately frowned when he caught sight of the horrible wound that stretched the length of his cook's back.

"How is he?" he asked, moving to sit on the table to keep out of the way.

Chopper wasn't surprised that Luffy forced his way in, and continued cleaning the ghastly scrape. "He's lost a lot of blood. So much that it's a miracle he's been able to carry on like that." He faintly gestured to the red stained bandages that were piled on the floor. "Those were in need of changing a long time ago. There are grains of sand and salt in this, so it must have been burning the entire time... How the hell did he manage to hide this from me? The smell of the blood alone should have tipped me off!" Chopper scolded at himself as he worked diligently to wash the injured back.

Zoro frowned and took a deep breath. "I don't know how he hid it, but I've known about this injury. He didn't want anyone else to know about it, so I tended to it at first."

The confession had both doctor and captain glaring in disapproval, but they didn't attempt to reprimand the swordsman. One look at the shadowed look in his eyes told them that he was doing a fine job of that himself.

"When did this happen, Zoro?" Chopper asked as calmly as he could. He couldn't afford to let anything distract him as he tended to his nakama.

"When we were at that hotel. He got hit by the debris that crashed through the window." He wasn't going to mention the part of the blonde saving him. That was something that mattered little at this point.

Luffy's frown grew deeper. "He kept it from us that long... Did he tell you why, Zoro?"

"No."

That was one lie Zoro had no qualms of telling. Sanji told him his reasons in confidence. To say it to another would only be hurting him further. 'I don't want him hurting any more because of me.'

"There.. I've cleaned the wound..." Chopper quickly washed his hooves in the bowl of water set up beside him and turned towards the captain. "Luffy, hold Sanji up while I dress his wound."

Hopping off the table, Luffy went to the bed and carefully helped Chopper lift the cook up. He had the unconscious body lean against his chest with the pale chin resting on his shoulder. "How's this?" he questioned while holding on as best he could without touching the injury.

"That's fine. I'm hoping he won't need a blood transfusion.. I don't have the right equipment here to do that..." Chopper fretted out loud as he began applying the gauze pads.

"If need be, we'll take him to a doctor on the island and get more help." Luffy readily replied.

The little doctor offered a weak smile, but said nothing as he continued to work.

As the wound he knew too well was steadily covered up, Zoro forced himself to watch. He may have not put the wound there, but he was the cause. He was also the cause of the rapid decline the cook had suffered. The cause of that pain. Everything he had done to attempt to help had only made things worse. Him being his thick headed clueless self.

'I can't believe I did this to him...' A pang in his ribs was trying to inform him of his own injuries, but he ignored it. He kept his eyes locked on that curtain of hair that obscured the pale face. They took in the barely parted lips that faintly gasped for breath, and it was then he noticed the blue tint that was starting to steal over them.

Sanji truly was on the verge of losing his life. The only thing Zoro could be thankful for was his resistance to the cook's attempts at starting a fight. 'If I had taken him on... It really would have killed him..'

Morbid thoughts began filling his head to the point where he was nearly sick with himself. His instincts were telling him to look away, but he forced himself to watch what was being done. Forced himself to witness this pain. 'I hurt my nakama... My nakama is in pain due to my actions. I will take responsibility. I will fix this...'

Nakama were supposed to take care of each other.

'Hm... Is that what we're supposed to do.'

Hearing those words in his head made Zoro's fists clench.

'What exactly is it to you?'

Sanji never expected Zoro to take care of him.

'Didn't think you would care.'

But Sanji always took care of Zoro.

'You.. You okay, Zoro..?'

Dark eyes narrowed when the full extent of his shame finally struck him. 'I'm the one that hasn't stayed true to my nakama.'

He could only hope that, at the end of it all, Sanji would still allow himself to be called his nakama.

Anything beyond that was foolish wishing.

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TBC

Hindsight is a bitch.

You only get it after you fuck up.

Later~