Sani stormed out of Nami's room, heedless of the loud bang of the door hitting the wall, and shoved a hand into his pocket. Seconds later, he pulled out a cigarette and bit it between his teeth so hard that he was surprised that it didn't split in two. Lighting it, he took a moment to breathe and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke rising before his face. His teeth were clenched together so hard that his jaw hurt, but he couldn't seem to unclench them. He took another breath and looked up to the crow's nest. The sword sticking up over the side gave away who was on watch tonight, though Sanji had already known. Decisin made, he walked over and climbed up to join the swordsman.

Zoro didn't even bother to acknowledge the cook's presence. He sat cross-legged, reclining against the circle of wood surrounding the pillar with his arms behind his head. His eyes were closed, but Sanji knew he wasn't asleep. Sanji sat down a couple feet away, also placing his back against the wood. One leg rested as though he was going to sit cross-legged while the other remained propped up and bent at the knee. Once he was situated, he spoke. "Oi." Zoro cracked his right eye open slightly to look at him, but said nothing. "I've got a question for you."

Both of Zoro's eyes opened then and he regared Sanji steadily for a moment. "What?"

"What the hell happened in Alabasta?"

Zoro immediately became guarded, even visibly so. "Why?"

"Just answer the question."

"It doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't." Zoro frowned and closed his eyes. Dismissive. Sanji struggled to hold onto some sliver of patience. "I know you're not an idiot, Zoro. You know why this is important."

Zoro made a sound then, but Sanji couldn't identify what it meant. "I don't care."

"You should."

"Whatever."

Sanji gritted his teeth again. Why must he be so difficult? He sighed, releasing a breath of smoke, and closed his eyes as well. He opened them again after a few minutes of silence to say something, but was stopped when Zoro's eyes snapped open with sudden intensity and he stood, grabbing his sword in one hand. Sanji frowned at him. "What is it?"

Zoro's grip tightened visibly on the sheath. "Something's coming."

"Huh?" Sanji stood and turned to follow Zoro's gaze, which was fixed on the ocean somewhere behind the cook. Sanji scanned the waves, but nothing in particular caught his eye. "I don't see anyth-" He cut himself off a second later when, out of nowhere, a giant Sea King emerged from the black depths of the ocean. His mouth dropped open in shock and his cigarette fell out of it. Large black eyes glared down at them. Gleaming white teeth that were bigger than he was grinned with malicious intent. Zoro's sword snapped out of its sheath. Sanji turned to look at him. "Oi, don't do anything rash."

"Hope you enjoy being a snack, then," Zoro replied calmly, his gaze never leaving the beast above.

"Tch!" Sanji exclaimed. "Whatever. Just don't blame me when you get eaten." Not that Sanji believed that Zoro would actually lose this fight. In fact, he was certain that the swordsman would win. Easily. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Zoro had actually gotten quite a bit stronger since Alabasta. So he stayed behind to watch, and to see if he was right.

Zoro didn't respond to Sanji's comment, not that Sanji had really expected him to, and instead jumped up and attacked. Steel hit teeth with a clang, white on white. Zoro didn't seem bothered by the collision, but the Sea King seemed to immediately regret blocking with its teeth as said teeth suddenly cracked ominously. Unfazed, seeming to just not care, the swordsman sliced again. Immediately Sanji saw a thin, horizontal white line pass through the creature's neck. Seconds later, the head simply fell off, falling heavily back into the sea with a watery crash. The body soon followed, creating waves that moved the ship, if only somewhat. Zoro landed neatly on the railing of the main deck just feet away from where the corpse was slowly disappearing.

Sanji clutched the railing of the crow's nest in a white-knuckles grip. The tightness of it and the tension in his hands made them start to shake. They hurt, but he barely even noticed. His attention was focused solely on the swordsman, who still stood where he had been before, staring impassively into the sea. Sanji gritted his teeth so hard that he could hear the grinding loudly in his head. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that for a moment he had seen… His eyes… during that last attack, for a moment… they… changed…

Sanji and Robin sat in the kitchen. They were the last two sitting at the table after breakfast. For once, even Zoro had come in and eaten, though he hadn't eaten much. Now everyone else was outside while these two remained. Sanji scratched absently at the wood while Robin read a book with a gold, highly decorative cover. Finally, Sanji broke the almost peaceable silence that had settled between them. "Last night… why didn't you answer Nami-san's question?"

"Which one?" Robin inquired evenly, never looking up from the old pages of her book.

He sighed, uncertain if he really wanted the answer to this question. Still, he straightened and asked, "What was it that Crocodile said to Zoro?"

"Ah." She was silent for a moment before replying simply, "I didn't answer because Zoro doesn't want it brought up."

"He said he doesn't care about what happened," Sanji said.

"You know that isn't true," she answered quietly.

"Yeah…" he admitted slowly. "He cares. At least a little."

Robin closed her book gently and set it down, fixing Sanji with a serious look. "I believe that it would not be wise to bring that conversation up with him."

Sanji frowned. "Why not?"

"Do you remember what I told you last night?" she asked in response.

"Yeah," he replied immediately. "You said that, as a result of the conversation with Crocodile, Zoro got really angry and- Oh. Damn."

Robin nodded once. "If he is reminded of what happened, he may become angry again, perhaps even against his will. If that happens, another radical change like the one from before may occur again." She lifted her head slightly, still giving him that same serious look. "Are you prepared to see your crewmate and friend change even further?"

"No." Sanji stood with a scrape of the chair against the floor and walked to the closed door. He opened it to leave, but paused in the doorway. "And he's not my friend." With that, he walked out.

The midmorning sun was bright and warm on the main deck and Sanji took a moment to savor it… only to be interrupted when Zoro suddenly jumped down from the crow's nest, landing lightly in a crouch not far from it. He stood and crossed his arms, staring straight ahead at the vast expanse of ocean before the ship. Sanji followed his gaze and searched for a moment before turning his head slightly and saying, "Oi, Nami, there's an island."

The navigator, who had been walking by while looking down at a map, looked up at him. "Oh? Is there?" She squinted at the small shape in the distance. Then, with a glance at Zoro, she huffed. "He's supposed to be on watch. Why didn't he tell someone?"

"Well…." Sanji replied thoughtfully. "He did. Sort of."

Nami shrugged but otherwise didn't reply to that statement. "Go tell the others, will you? Wait, no, just the boys," she amended. "I'll get Robin. I'm headed to the kitchen anyway."

He nodded and they went their separate ways. Heading to the back deck, he soon spotted Usopp and Luffy sitting side-by-side on the ship's railing with their fishing rods in hand while Chopper watched.

"Oohh! I got a bite!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes and smile wide.

"Me too!" Usopp replied with an equally large grin.

"Really?!" Chopper gasped in awe.

The two older males pulled hard. Their lines came up in a tangled mess. Neither had a fish. Usopp jumped to his feet on the railing. "How'd you get your line tangled up with mine?!" he demanded furiously.

"I didn't do it!" Luffy shouted back, also jumping up.

Sanji decided to intervene before a fight could begin. "Oi."

All three heads turned to face him. "Huh?"

"Zoro found an island."

Luffy's ridiculously wide grin returned. "Awesome!" He raced to the front of the ship with Usopp and Chopper close behind.

Sanji followed behind more slowly, not feeling any sort of rush. He would never quite understand Luffy's unfailing excitement over every new island. They found islands all the time, right? Then again… this is Luffy. I think we'd have to be concerned if he wasn't excited over something like this.

When Sanji reached the others, Luffy was standing at the railing and gaping at the island, which was now much closer than it had been just a few minutes ago. "Awesome…!" Luffy reached out a hand to slap Zoro on the back. "Good job, Zoro!" Zoro neatly sidestepped the hand, his gaze never leaving the island, but Luffy didn't even seem to notice, obviously unconcerned by his crewmate's evasion. "So cool… so cool…"

"Is this Jaya?" Usopp asked, leaning on the palms of his hands on the railing.

"I think so," Nami replied.

"It's so big!" Chopper exclaimed.

"It's huge!" Luffy agreed, leaning farther forward.

"Wow!" Usopp said, also leaning farther over the railing. "Look at all thse big ships!" He, Luffy, Chopper, and even Nami exulted over the ships, but their elation was short-lived.

"Those are pirate ships."

Sanji stepped up to Zoro's side. "You sure?"

Zoro spared him a glance. "Yes."

"But pirate ships don't just dock in plain sight like that," Usopp frowned.

Zoro cast him a look, but his expression remained unreadable. "Look at the flags," he finally said after a long moment."

Chopper seemed to decide to take advantage of the fact that Zoro was speaking more than usual and did as they were told. Squinting hard at a few of the ships, he did his best to make out any details on the flags. "Skulls and crossbones… Those are definitely pirate flags."

Sanji had taken Zoro at his word, but the confirmation was still a bit unsettling. Luffy, however, grew even more excited while Usopp turned white. "So… this is a… pirate town."

Robin answered. "It would seem so."

"We'll have to be extra careful, then," Nami sighed. "So who's going ashore?" She glanced knowingly to Usopp. "You're staying?"

Usopp suddenly was sitting against the railing with his knees hugged up to his chest. "Y-Y-Yes."

"M-M-Me t-t-to," Chopper stammered from where he sat beside Usopp.

Nami sighed again. "Fine. Anyone else?"

"I will stay as well," Robin replied.

Nami nodded her approval. "Good. You can help defend the ship in case of an attack." Not long after this was decided, they docked the ship and climbed off. Luffy immediately took off on his own, running into the crowd. Nami fought the urge to groan. "Sanji, go with him, will you?" she asked, using the voice she only used when she wanted Sanji to do something for her that she didn't want to do.

Despite Sanji's unusually serious mood lately, her voice had an immediately affect on him. "Hai, Nami-swan!" With that, he raced off after the captian.

Nami shook her head in amusement as she watched him disappear into the crown after Luffy. Once they were gone, she turned to Zoro. "Will you come with me? I don't trust these people." He glanced to her, then to the crowd, then looked back to her. A shruf served as his response to her request, and she took it as the affirmation she sought. Smiling softly at him in thanks, she turned her attention to the town.

Walking side by side, they moved through the town. This place sure is… erm… lively. All around people were laughing, shouting, drinking, running around, arguing, fighting… I should've made those two swear not to get into any trouble. We can't afford to get kicked out of here. We need information. She didn't think Zoro would be a problem, however, so she said nothing to him.

Looking around, her eyes soon landed on a noisy pub. From her experience, pubs were a good place for gathering information, even if that information was often liberally mixed with rumors. Turning, she tilted her head to catch her silent guard's eye. "What about that place?" His gaze slid to the pub's doors just as a severely drunken man stumbled out, laughing and singing loudly to himself all the while. With another shrug, Zoro just walked in, never giving Nami the chance to try to interpret his constant shrugs. Huffing softly, she followed after him.

The inside of the pub was different from the outside, in that everyone inside was drunk. Outside, it was just most people. The inside was also dim and crowded. Dust floated visibly in the air. The only real light came in from the filthy circular windows. The floorboards creaked and groaned as they struggled to support the weight of so many people. The whole place just seemed… old.

All around men drank as though they had been trapped in the driest of deserts for years and had only now found their way to this pathetic little pub. There was laughing, screaming, arguing, fist-fighting, howls, bellows, and virtually every other drunken sound Nami could think of echoing around her. As far as sheer noise went, this place was worse than the streets had been. Nami forced herself not to shrink away from the countless cat-calls that erupted from the crowds around her.

"Kekeke! What a cute little doll!"

"Come over here, babe!"

"Hey! Ditch your pal and come join us, instead!"

"We'll treat you real swell!"

"Come have a drink!"

"Look over here, sweetheart! Come meet your future husband!"

Nami was intensely grateful when Zoro unobtrusively moved to her side, offering her his silent support. She smiled softly at him for the second time that day. "Thank you," she whispered." He didn't say anything, but then, she was fairly used to his silences by now. His situation, his changes, were no less concerning than they had been before, but it was less difficult to deal with by this point. It helps that we know what happened to him, even if we don't know why it happened. For that matter, we don't even really know how it happened, either. How did his anger cause such a change? She frowned at the ground. Come to think of it… Although he has gotten angry before in the past, he's never gotten truly angry. It sounds odd, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it's true. The anger he's displayed in the past was more… irritation than actual anger.

She and Zoro approached the bartender at the counter as the man was drying a glass. "What?" he asked brusquely, never looking up.

Before she even had a chance to answer, a bottle sailed across the room, forcing both her and Zoro to duck. "Why does this have to be a pirate town?" she groaned to herself.

"This town relies on the rich pirates who are willing to blow all their money on meaningless things." Brown eyes trailed slowly from one side of the room to the other, taking everything in. "Like alcohol."

Nami sighed and leaned on the counter. "I could do without all these creeps treating me like a beautiful object."

"They're the reason why it's mostly men here."

"I can believe that. They act half-starved."

"They do."

She sighed again, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and launching into business. "What do you know about Skypiea?"

The bartender blinked. "Skypiea?"

Nami nodded. "Yes. What do you know about it?"

"Nothing," the man replied. "What is it?"

"Well…" She floundered for a moment, then said, "It's also called the Sky Island."

That seemed to earn some recognition. "That island isn't real," he told her bluntly.

"But the Log Pose was pointing up," she insisted.

"There are weird areas of the sea everywhere," he replied dismissively, "especially here in the Grand Line."

"But-!" Her reply was cut short by the loud clang of steel on steel behind her. Alarmed, she whirled around, eyes widened when she immediately found herself face-to-face with two swords. She turned her head to the right, eyes traveling up the length of one sword to land on Zoro, whose impassive gaze was locked on his opponent. A new voice caused her to look straight ahead at an unfamiliar man.

"The Sky Island is definitely real!" the man exclaimed in mocking tones. "Isn't that right?!" Howls of laughter erupted from the crowds.

"The Sky Island?"

"This girl's nuts!"

"Here, come have another drink! You're obviously drunk off your ass already!"

Nami fought down the heat rising in her face. "Yeah, I agree. You're drunk," the man with the sword said. "Drunk on a dream. Guess what! Dreams don't come true! Out of the corner of her eye, Nami saw Zoro's eyes narrow subtly. "The age where pirates dream will end!" the man continued loudly. "And when that end comes, there will be no need for useless dreamers like you!"

Nearby, fearful whispers reached her ears. "That's Bellamy… Hyena Bellamy!"

"He has a fifty-five million Beri bounty…"

Nami's eyes widened. F… Fifty-five… million…?

Zoro, however, seemed unconcerned. As usual, he seemed completely calm despite the present danger. Bellamy gave him a hard look, then burst into a fit of psychotic laughter. "Sarkies!" he called loudly. "Come here!"

A man with shoulder-length bluish-white hair and a long white fur coat walked up to them. He also wore purple glasses, a necklace, and red and white vertically striped pants. "Yes?"

"Show me those wanted posters again." The other man, Sarkies presumably, pulled a small stack of about ten or so papers out of his coat and handed them to Ballamy. Bellamy shuffled through the pile with his free hand, tossing most of them carelessly onto the floor as he did so, until he seemed to find the one he wanted. "I thought I recognized your face… Pirate Zoro of the East Blue." He turned a poster around, revealing a picture Zoro's face and the bounty beneath it.

Nami's eyes went wide again. Sixty million?!

Ballamy dropped Zoro's poster and one other before showing the last one left in his hand. "And this is your captain… Another worthless dreamer, worth seventy-million berries." He laughed and dropped the poster onto the floor with the others. "Monkey D. Luffy! The man who'' be king of the pirates! Ain't that right?!"

Zoro's subtle frown deepened and something subtle in the air changed around him. Nami, however, barely noticed it as she glared at the two laughing men before her. Why, they…!

"Those posters are obviously fakes!" Bellamy exclaimed after a moment, grinning triumphantly at Zoro. "There's no way small fry like you can be worth so much!"

"Care to find out?' Zoro asked quietly.

Nami stared in shock at Zoro's calm face before her mind caught up to the situation. "N-No!" she stammered at him, poised to intervene, knowing that there was no way he'd cut her. "We can't get kicked out of this town!"

"We won't."

"But-!"

"Have you looked around?" he asked suddenly, taking her by surprise, his eyes on her. When she didn't reply, his gaze slid back to Bellamy. "A town full of pirates won't care if a couple of pirates fight." With that, he slashed out with his sword, knocking Bellamy back with ease. A second slash and the Bellamy's sword snapped like a twig. Then, in an unexpected move, Zoro sheathed his sword with a snap and, with a single powerful kick to the stomach, he sent Bellamy flying through a wall.

Nami stared at Zoro in shock. "How did you do that?!" she demanded almost angrily. He didn't respond, instead just silently watching as Bellamy slowly picked himself up.

"Why you!" Sarkies shouted in fury, lunging for Zoro, blade drawn.

Zoro ducked and his fist shot out, connecting audibly with Sarkies's gut. The breath left Sarkies forcefully and he doubled over, coughing up a bit of blood. Not wasting any time, Zoro grabbed the other man's blade and, with a second blow from his fist, he sent Sarkies flying in much the same way as he had Bellamy. He then threw the blade so that it spun in the air, its flight ending seconds later when it embedded itself in the wall by Sarkies's head, making the man wince. Meanwhile, Bellamy toppled over, seeming to have lost consciousness. Apparently finished, Zoro turned and left the pub, disappearing into the light outside.

Nami was shocked to the point where she couldn't move. She couldn't believe he'd lashed out like that. And over what? She was about to run and catch up to him, demand some answers, when the bartender's voice behind her caught her attention.

"You people's are the real deal, aren't you?"

She turned around to face him. "Huh?"

"Real pirates fight for the right to dream and the ability to make those dreams come true. They don't scoff, even at the dreams of others. They fight to protect those things."

Nami thought that over for a moment, and her thoughts inevitably traveled to her own motley crew. Each of us has our own dream, but we're all willing to risk it and out lives for the dreams of our friends. She smiled softly to herself at this revelation. "Yes. I suppose it's true."

The bartender looked around, distaste plain on his face. "The people here… they aren't dreamers. They laugh at the very thought of having dreams. In that sense, they aren't real pirates. They never will be."

"Good," Nami muttered. "Wouldn't want any of those hotheads soiling the reputations of us real pirates."

This caused the bartender to smirk faintly, but only for a moment. "There's another man who's like you."

"How so?" she asked.

"He dreams."

"A lot of people do that."

"Not here."

"True."

"He's different."

"How?"

"He dreams… of the Sky Island."

This ones a bit long-winded. Posted 04-26-15.