A/N: 2 of 2 updates this time!
Chapter 7: Assemble the Crew! Messages on the Wind!
When the doctor arrived, the cook on his heels, he literally fainted when he saw Usopp sitting up in bed biting down on the leather without a single whimper or tear. Even Sanji found himself a little taken back by the new resolve his Nakama had. Then he shook it off, stepped over the useless man on the floor and set to work with Zoro's help splinting the various bones; both legs in three places, the tibia twice in one, the femur in the other; the humerus in his left arm; four of his ribs on the back right where he'd slammed into the stove in the galley; and, of course, his nose.
"Heh, now your profile's even more distinguished, 'Long-nose-kun'." Sanji quoted their archeologist, and offered both men a bottle of the All-Blue's finest sake. "I know it isn't much, but to seal the promise." He poured three shots. "Usopp gets the killing blow on that bastard when we find him."
Zoro nodded, holding his cup up and his free hand helping Usopp as the cups were heavy ceramic. But this was a highly ceremonious occasion. "Usopp gets the killing blow. But, if I get the chance, I'm cutting off those fucking spring-loaded legs."
"He can spring load everything now. It's how he..." Usopp shuddered, "how he took out Piiman. Coiled his arm like a fucking slinky."
The swordsman paused, and the gears were visibly moving in his head. "...Still metal?"
His eyes strayed to Sanji's leg, his thought clear: the Diable Jambe, which was fueled by the fire of Sanji's soul and could easily melt any metal and burn any flesh.
"As far as I know. Didn't get much of a chance to find out. Bastard threw me into the galley when I charged him. Made me dent the stove with my head." A sardonic smile curled his lips, as the sniper's eyes also slid over to the cook.
As if they didn't already have enough reason to take down the son of a bitch. "That..." Sanji appeared to have run out of insults for the man, because the best he could come up with was, "burnt on rice stain. Has he no honor or intelligence?"
"Nope." Usopp, with Zoro's help, knocked back the shot. "I charged him cuz he put his fuckin' grimy paws on Kaya. Threw her up onto his shoulder like a sack of flour..." He paused, feeling the temperature in the room rise with the fury in the blond's heart. It brought an even more sadistic turn to his smile, knowing that the next bit would flip the switch from 'fucker must die' to 'fucker will be slowly tortured by every ounce of the cook's wrath'. "And he smacked her ass for yelling at him."
Despite his usually swarthy unshakable nature, the large green-haired man went pale. Very, very pale. He even put aside the cups and took several steps back. Mistreating a woman? Worse, the wife of a Nakama who was as good as Nakama herself? Oh god. Sanji was going to start his whole body on fire.
It was what had happened when one of the uppity smallfry currently laying siege to Luffy's home had casually mentioned that Nami must have been the worst kind of slut for even the 'worthless Pirate King' to have discarded her. The resulting wildfire had leveled the offender's ship and half of Raftel in the process. They'd needed two bottles of Franky's cola and the entire contents of the All-Blue's most powerful fire-extinguisher before they could even grab a hold of the cook to submerge him in the ocean.
So, Zoro, completely without trying to even hide it, grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher. It wouldn't do much if the blond completely lost his temper, but it would at least prevent their private suite from going up in flames the way Luffy's cottage had. The slightly singed filing cabinet in the corner looked dubious as to whether it could survive Sanji's wrath twice.
"Of course." It seemed like the sniper's tongue had a death wish as the temperature rose again, "That was after the bastard decided he needed to know how she tasted, and before he took her with him. Or at least I assume he did. I was unconscious at that point."
Everything in the room went quiet, the sort of silence that normally preceded the backdraft of a fire, and slender tendrils of smoke began to rise from the cook's tailor made suit. The end of his cigarette spontaneously lit itself, and where he stood next to the bed, the heels of his shoes were sparking. His hair shadowed his face, but for the core of one ice blue eye, like the center of a flame. It even flickered with intent.
"Cook? Cook—Sanji," Zoro said softly, desperately, gripping the extinguisher for dear life. "Sanji, baby, if you burn the ship we can't catch him. Save it so you can melt him into a heap of slag… please Sanji… don't!"
"Usopp gets the killing blow." Sanji said coldly. In sharp contrast to his body, his words always lost heat. Then he tossed back his own shot to seal the deal, the alcohol igniting right before he downed it. "By the time it happens, the meat to be wasted will be wishing for it."
The sniper smirked, "Ah. Cuz he's gonna have to deal with Luffy too."
Zoro rubbed a hand through his hair. "Oh yeah... fuck... we send off word to him? He's probably the bastard's main target."
He resisted the urge to spit at the mention of the smallfry. No matter how much he deserved it, Sanji hated bodily fluids on his floors.
The temperature dropped significantly, though the smoldering blue coal of the cook's eye remained, and likely would continue until he was able to release the pent up inferno within his soul. "Hai. It is very likely that the attack on Usopp was just the beginning. I'll draft letters to Robin, Luffy and Nami. Hopefully, wherever she is, her bodyguards can get the message."
The sniper whistled after the cook left. "He dropped his honorifics... perhaps we should contact Alabasta as well? And maybe the Neverlands? If we are a target, I'm sure our allies will be as well. Plus a few more eyes in the sea could be helpful, don't you think?"
The swordsman nodded, looking very distracted. "Yeah... the messenger birds are gonna be busy." Then his eyes landed on the sharpshooter's notebook. "Hey, this was what you wanted from Franky right?"
He pointed to the list at the side of the bed. An idea exploding in his mind, suddenly, and needed to catch Sanji before he sent off all the birds: the person he intended to contact had to be reached right away. It would take forever to reach them.
"Yeah, why? I'm sure when Robin gets the message about him she'll have Franky bring the Lotus here though. He's got everything I need on his ship." The brunet frowned and used his good arm to shift slightly on the pillow to take pressure off of his ribs.
Zoro took the list, and folded it up. "I wanna make sure he brings exactly what you need," he replied absently and darted after Sanji, throwing, "I'll be back in a couple minutes," over his shoulder in promise.
Darting like a green lightning flash until he reached the cote in which the messenger birds were kept, he mentally reviewed the last information he knew about his target. From his pocket he pulled a sheet of paper and a pen, scribbled off a quick message and selected the only bird he knew could make the trip. Holding its beak, he stared it in its beady yellow eye and gave it sharp, specific instructions. When he was sure it understood, he tied the message to its leg and tossed it into the air.
Then he went to meet Sanji with Usopp's list for Franky. Subterfuge was not his forte, but in this case, he thought this measure was necessary. He knew his lover wouldn't agree with his decision, which was why he'd had to do it without his knowing, but that didn't make him feel any better about it.
The cook looked up from his desk, the black, wire-rimmed reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. "Usopp ok, Marimo? You see a little hurried."
"Yeah, uh, just wanted to put this in the letter to Franky. It's stuff Usopp wants to use on Bellamy when he gets the chance," Zoro replied, passing the list over. "Wanted to catch you before you sent it out. That silly doctor wake up yet, or am I still playing nursemaid?"
"I'm fairly certain, even if Mr. Out-Cold wasn't, we could leave Usopp to his own devices for a while. It's not like he can hobble around and do anything on two broken legs, baka. Unlike some mossheads I know, he has more sense than to try and jump right back into training the second his injury is bandaged." A curled eyebrow rose suggestively at the swordsman.
Zoro shrugged. "I stopped after the second time I re-broke it didn't I? Psssh, who'da thought a healing bone couldn't take just four tons of pressure," he grumbled.
"I'm not even going to touch that one, aho-kenshin."
Sanji finished the letter and dropped the list from Usopp in the envelope. The letter for Luffy was already done and ready to be sent, so he opened the window above his desk, whistled the calling tone and his two fastest birds, Chiqicheetah and Pell, named for the two fastest warriors Sanji had ever had the pleasure of fighting alongside and in recognition of the way they'd fallen in the final war against the World Government. With another moment to tie each letter and give the birds their instructions, they were off.
Surprisingly, the pirate king was not at his home. Well, not really that surprisingly considering the rubber man's lust for adventure, but Chiqicheetah originally flew towards Raftel, only to discover that, in the weird way the messenger birds did, the person he needed to deliver his missive to was not there. So, several hours after he'd left the All-Blue he passed back over it, tailing Pell. It took him a day to reach Water 7, and only fifteen minutes to find his target.
"Ah, thanks, Chiqi." Luffy took the envelope from the bird, and immediately opened it hoping to hear word of his wife.
Not even water meat tasted quite right these days, and that was saying something because next to Sanji's cooking, water meat was the best food on the planet. So, opening it, he had to read the cook's neat handwriting three times before he actually could wrap his mind around things.
"Don!? Attacked Usopp!? Near death... ransacked the Merry II!? KAYA! NO!" The captain of the Strawhats growled, clutching the paper in his fist. "Damned pink bastard!"
He stormed down the street, ignoring the sounds of protest and strange looks he was given, still fuming around a piece of water meat he snagged from a vendor that worked closely with Galley-La. Not that the rubber man realized he stole the thing, but the shopkeeper didn't go chasing after him because the woman knew the tab would be paid when next Iceburg was around to stock up his own supplies. Luffy was so focused on his food and the things in the letter that he wasn't even really watching where he was going. So, it came as a complete surprise to him when he found himself upside down with a woman on his chest... a rather round woman.
"AH! Sorry!" He scrambled to his feet, hauling her up like she weighed nothing, though her cloak flared out around her midsection.
Once he righted himself, dusting his jean shorts and fixing his hat, he actually looked at the woman, who stood frozen in front of him. The hood of her cloak had fallen down, revealing her long, ginger hair, wide brown eyes, and plump lips he knew entirely too well. His mouth went dry and he reached out to her. All of time stood still as she poised to flee, but his hand stretched just enough to clasp her wrist. Something in the grasp made her stop and stare at him. His dark eyes were drawn to the way the cloak parted, leaving a crescent of pale skin vulnerable to the sun. He moved the hand he had on her arm to brush lightly against the curve of her belly, with something like awe on his face. His palm touched her skin and for a few precious seconds she held her breath. Then he moved ever so slightly towards her and she panicked, with a loud scream that summoned the taller of her bodyguards.
She vanished in the blink of his eye. There one minute, gone the next, his hand still stretched out, the skin still tingling with the warmth of her belly. The profile of the person who'd whisked her away was unmistakable and though his shoulders sagged, and his heart threatened to break yet again, he at least knew she was safe. That gave him enough energy to keep going. If this stuff with Don was really true, it was better she was out of the way anyhow. So, with a final longing look at the place where the woman who owned the King of the Pirates had been standing, he flung himself off to where the Lotus and the Mini Merry were docked. He needed to gather his crew together so they could hunt down the bird-brained bastard.