Chapter 20

The invisible man

"Roronoa Zoro is here! Alert Vice-Admiral Onigumo immediately!"

Busy trying to get his bearings to cut off communications in the tower, Sanji paused when he heard the two officers walk past him without seeing him. The two men took a staircase on the left and, at the same time, frightened cries rose outside.

The cook clenched his jaw. Zoro was supposed to be with Franky on the other side of the island but obviously, this idiot must have gotten lost and what were the chances that he turned up precisely where he would have the best chance of spreading the word about the presence of the crew to the whole Marine?

"What a moron…"

Without wasting a moment, Sanji dashed to the staircase where the two officers had rushed into. They were probably heading for the room he was looking for and he absolutely had to stop them from telling their superior. This Vice-Admiral Onigumo was known for his strength as much as for his cold application of the principles of Justice he defended and he didn't hesitate to sacrifice his own men to achieve his goal. Sanji preferred to avoid meeting him as much as possible then.

If the blond and the swordsman were caught by an officer of this caliber, their chance of taking flight was destroyed and it would probably take Luffy's intervention to escape. Meanwhile, other officers might still arrive and the Sunny in the port would only attract attention. Indeed, in view of the importance that their crew had taken, all the officers of the Marine would run in hope of bringing them down to pick up both the reward but also the prestige that now accompanied them.

Sanji ran along the corridors, silent as a shadow. His invisibility allowed him to move around without any risk and he had already explored half of the tower without being detected, taking care not to knock anyone out so as not to arouse suspicion. The Marines were calm until the swordsman arrived and they were visibly unaware of the fighting taking place near the market. Now, the cook no longer had the luxury of searching quietly though, and he quickened his pace again.

Finally, he noticed the two officers in a small room whose half-open door let see dozens of Den-Den Mushi still asleep and he approached without a sound. One of the men was already holding one of the devices in his hand and the blond pounced on him.

"This is the east tower of the city! We're under attack, the crew of-"

The communication abruptly ceased and the two Marines stared in amazement at the case connecting the Den-Den Mushi which had suddenly started to smoke at the back of the room before collapsing on itself.

Understanding that something was wrong, they quickly backed down to raise the alarm. Unfortunately for the cook, these officers weren't stupid and they had understood that another intrusion was the most credible hypothesis.

"Alert! Someone has entered the barracks!"

The screaming man collapsed when the blond's invisible foot slammed into his stomach and he fainted from the force of the impact. Panicked, his companion rushed up the stairs to escape this enemy he couldn't see but Sanji caught up with him in a flash. He sent him crashing into the wall and then lifting him back upstairs before someone surprised them.

He dropped him off with the other officer in the telecommunications room and decided not to take any chances. Since Zoro had already leaked his presence, Sanji wouldn't reveal much anyway and the priority was to get away as soon as possible. Every second counted at this point and if any soldiers had portable long-range Den-Den Mushi, the Vice-Admiral could already be on his way.

Raising his leg, Sanji powerfully slammed it down on all the cases in the room, blasting them one after another. The noise was sure to draw people in, but hopefully most of the troops were already outside to confront the swordsman and Sanji could intercept the remaining officers before they alerted their comrades.

The blond hurriedly closed the door behind him and ran down the stairs again towards the exit.

Zoro frowned. He brought his sword down on the man who had taken a small Den-Den Mushi from his pocket then and the latter immediately collapsed on the grass while a gasp of stupor ran through the hundred officers who faced him since he had arrived a minute earlier. The fencer knew the instructions that Nami had kept repeating at each of their calls and he had quickly understood that the purpose of these men was to warn someone on the island, probably reinforcements, which guaranteed monumental trouble if the redhead were to find out. His objective was to prevent them from doing so, but there were many of them and he also needed to defend himself. Why Robin and Franky had led him here before disappearing when they were supposed to return to the Sunny was totally beyond him…

Suddenly, the swordsman froze. He felt a powerful presence charging towards him from the tower and he immediately turned in that direction. Following his movement, the soldiers positioned themselves all around him to surround him but the fencer ignored them, more concerned with this imposing energy which was going to appear any second. Surprisingly though, the entrance to the tower remained deserted.

Annoyed, Zoro hesitated for a second to turn away to deal with the officers who had pointed a gun at him when a flurry of bullets rushed towards him from all directions.

The swordsman immediately raised his blade in a circular motion to protect himself, but to his surprise, the bullets aimed at his back had already fallen to the ground when his attack should have reached them. His shoulder then hit something and he tensed up.

"Chill out, mosshead, it's me," a voice behind him muttered. "Focus on these morons, I've been taking care of the telecommunications."

At these words, the swordsman's eyes widened but he didn't take them off his opponents who were watching him suspiciously.

"Cook? What you doing here?" He replied in the same tone.

"You, what you doing here? You were supposed to go to the Sunny, you know!"

"I followed Robin and Franky but they disappeared," the fencer grumbled before glancing quickly behind his shoulder. "Why don't I see you?" He added then, on his guard.

"Because I had a discreet mission to carry out."

At that moment, the officers pounced on the swordsman, still convinced that he was alone, and Zoro parried their blows nimbly while behind him, other soldiers fell without understanding why. They were still numerous and the fencer focused on the presence that he knew belonged to the blond now: if he couldn't see him, his attacks could reach Sanji without him knowing and this situation quickly annoyed him as a swarm of officers rushed towards him.

"Cook, if you got nothing else to do, take off your fucking disguise or I'll skewer you along with those fools!"

On his left, an officer was blown away.

"What good is your Haki, asshole?"

"Shut up! I can't concentrate on both my Haki and my attacks, you move too much!"

Zoro shifted a step to repel three other soldiers while on his right this time, a dozen of them were violently pushed back.

"Dammit, you really suck! When I think you wanted to measure yourself against Kaido, no wonder I was left to pick up the pieces…"

The figure of the cook finally appeared a few steps from him and the sixty or so men still standing let out an exclamation of surprise when they discovered him.

"Germa 66 Stealth Black! What's he doing here?!"

"This is Vinsmoke Sanji from the Straw Hat Crew! They must all be-"

The soldier who had revealed his identity didn't have time to finish his sentence because a powerful kick from the cook hit him in the back and silenced him when he crashed against the tower. Blood spurted out of his mouth and stained the stone all the way to the ground.

Trembling with fury, Sanji glared at the officers who were staring at him in horror.

"Vinsmoke Sanji does not exist and whoever calls me that way will earn a straight ticket to hell." His outfit completely disappeared and the blond took the time to light a cigarette. "Now. Let's get this over with quickly."

Behind his back, Zoro felt the cook stare down their adversaries. He was ready. A second later, they rushed each on a different side. Although they were in number, these soldiers wouldn't be enough.

"I was wondering. Do you still smell your cigarettes?"

From his worktop, Sanji paused and looked up at the swordsman who had collapsed on a chair behind the galley table to sip his bottle.

When they had finally reached the Sunny nearly four hours earlier, Nami was trying to calm Luffy's enthusiasm. Indeed, the straw hat boy was dancing and laughing among the inhabitants who had come to thank him at the port. With the help of Jinbei and Usopp, the officers of the barracks they had faced hadn't lasted long and the captain would have liked to fight more but Robin and Franky had returned at this moment and with all of them, they had managed to pull the straw hat boy towards the Sunny despite the cheers of shopkeepers who applauded the pirate for intervening. On the deck of their ship, Nami had already hoisted the sails and Chopper and Brook were waiting for her signal to raise the anchor and engage the cola for a Coup de Burst if necessary.

The minutes had passed anxiously, the crew waiting for their last two friends. The navigator had then been as relieved to see Sanji as Zoro when they had arrived. This meant that the cook had been able to carry out his mission without putting himself in danger and she didn't need to send one of her crewmates to find the swordsman.

The two men had been welcomed with open arms by their crew and by the crowd, but when they had heard that the Vice-Admiral Onigumo was probably arriving in their wake, everyone had scattered in a flash. The inhabitants seemed as worried as the pirates at the idea of meeting him and the sounds of boots in the distance had finally convinced them not to hang around.

The Sunny had immediately set sail but they had dodged several cannonballs fired in their direction before leaving the port and Franky had engaged the Coup de Burst in order to cover their tracks relative to their next destination. Nami had then relied on Jinbei's abilities to find their original route and confuse the Marines if Onigumo decided to pursue them.

Obviously, the strategy had worked and the crew hadn't spotted any suspicious sail for nearly two hours, but as a precaution, the navigator had set up a watch to check the horizon.

Zoro had been the first to go and when he had swapped places with Brook about ten minutes earlier, he had gone straight to the galley. While drinking the bottle that the blond had been kind enough to give him, he had observed him while he was leaning over his preparations for dinner. Sanji had made shrimp chips and he had brought out a whole panoply of ingredients for his accompanying sauces.

The cook had carefully mixed chopped capers with pesto and he had added a little lemon juice before hesitating in front of his bowl. He had raised his eyes furtively in the direction of the swordsman whose absent gaze hadn't seemed to notice him. Sanji had then looked down and moved on to his next sauce of mayonnaise and soy sauce. Moments later though, he had seemed undecided again and this time, when he had returned his attention to the fencer out of reflex, Zoro had stared back.

A long minute of embarrassed silence had stretched until Zoro had offered to taste his preparations. The cook had accepted half-heartedly and the swordsman had carried out his task without batting an eyelid before returning to his seat. The blond had rectified the seasonings and begun to cut raw vegetables without a word afterwards. The fencer hadn't made the moment as awkward as the blond might have feared, on the contrary, and this spirit of appeasement had troubled Sanji in spite of himself.

So when Zoro started the conversation a few minutes later, the cook decided to try to continue this exchange as serene as it was unexpected.

"I feel some kind of modified taste but I don't smell anything at all. It's quite weird but at least, the effects of nicotine still work. I don't know what I'd do if it stopped…"

The swordsman raised his eyebrows with curiosity. "You think you'd have stopped smoking if that thing was responsible for your problem?"

"Without a doubt. I mean, cooking is the most important thing for me so if it could give me back even some of my sense of smell, I'd gladly give up all the cigarettes in the world. Although I know the backlash would be terrible at first…"

The cook cut beets before making a sesame cream and the fencer followed him with his gaze distractedly. He was still puzzled by the fact that he hadn't recognized his crewmate's aura hours earlier. Admittedly, the cook had put on his costume at that time, but that shouldn't have changed his perception and he saw only one explanation for it.

"So you can become invisible, huh?"

Sanji slowly lowered his spoon in his bowl to stare at the swordsman. He then shrugged awkwardly and resumed his blend.

"Why are you surprised? I didn't start wearing it for nothing," he reminded him.

Zoro shook his head. "I know. I just never really thought about it, I guess. Usopp and Franky kept talking about it for days but I didn't pay attention."

"Probably for the best," the cook whispered, his eyes fixed on his preparation. "It's not like this thing is so great even though… It has a practical side."

"You're faster when you wear it," the swordsman approved.

"The outfit is called Stealth Black, being fast is the very basis of its manufacture," the blond pointed out, gritting his teeth around his unlit cigarette.

"What else can you do with it?"

At these words, Sanji tensed up in front of his crewmate.

"Why do you need to know that?"

"I don't perceive you the same way when you're in your costume, cook. When you came down from that tower, I didn't even recognize you."

The blond frowned. "Maybe because of its function. The purpose is that I go unnoticed and Raid Suits are special outfits technologically designed for combat. They enhance the abilities of their wearers."

The swordsman considered his answer.

"That explains why I thought you were moving more than usual this morning," he admitted in the end. "But why be invisible? That doesn't fit."

"Yeah? Why?" The cook grumbled, his eyes once again on his bowl.

"You're far from invisible, cook. You even do everything to never be."

Sanji frowned again and the fencer expanded on his answer.

"You're always yelling at the drop of a hat, not to mention the energy you put into making yourself look ridiculous in front of the girls. And I ain't even talking about your nervous breakdowns when someone touches your clothes or your cooking! Even Luffy ain't as loud as you most of the time."

The cook looked at the swordsman uneasily for a moment before resuming his task. He then grabbed several avocados and sliced them in half with a precise gesture.

"I never asked to wear that damn outfit," he breathed after a moment. "Judge had in mind to create a perfect army with his kids and I inherited that one, that's all."

"I thought it was supposed to reveal your strengths?"

"It is, but all the outfits are also unique. Niji wanted to play with electricity and he got a special outfit to generate it for example. Reiju developed abilities to harness poisons, Ichiji got gloves to create explosions, and Yongi wanted more power."

"You wanted to be invisible then."

Sanji stared at his avocados, which he was slicing without seeing them, his head hunched over his shoulders.

"I didn't want anything at all. I just wanted to be left alone."

Zoro didn't add anything but the blond's knife plunged brutally into his board in the middle of his raw vegetables and Sanji found himself catching his breath for a long time. It had been stuck in his throat without him realizing it.

"I wanted to be left alone so I focused on my speed. Since I had no chance of being able to attack, I favored running away."

The cook slowly withdrew his knife from the wood, his eyes still lowered.

"The Germa had already understood that I could never meet their expectations, so I guess in desperation, they thought that I could be of some use in this way at least. Anyway…"

Sanji picked up his avocados again and began dicing them nicely for his salad.

"Being invisible was already my dearest wish. If I could have melted into the walls so that everyone would forget about my presence, I'd have done it. Somehow, this outfit was really thought out for me."

There was silence in the galley and the blond gently slid his diced avocados into the bowl provided for this purpose. He grabbed some tomatoes and some red onions then.

For his part, Zoro frowned.

"I thought you wanted to go invisible to spy on girls in the shower? You didn't stop whining on Thriller Bark about that."

The cook immediately looked up at the fencer, mouth agape.

"I didn't ask for an outfit to spy on girls, I was barely six at the time!"

"Oh. You became a pervert after then, makes sense."

"I'm not a pervert!"

Zoro sat back some more in his chair, jaded. "Nami said you followed them with Robin and Shinobu to the baths in the Flower Capital."

"I didn't want to spy on them, I wanted to protect them! Besides, I was right because lots of Kaido's pawns were there!"

"Obviously. I'm sure you did it completely selflessly…"

Exasperated, Sanji tinkled the handle of his knife when he slammed it down against the counter.

"Honestly, mosshead, is that all you can think of after what I just told you?!"

Zoro sat up in his chair to stare back at him, wary because of his outburst.

"What did you want me to say?"

"I don't know, you could ask me why I wanted to disappear so much! Why would a father persist in making war clothes for his kids who can barely walk! Anything!"

"Why? You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't!"

"Why aren't you happy then?"

Sanji closed his mouth which he had opened wide, flabbergasted, and Zoro shrugged while taking his bottle back.

"I'm interested in the present, not the past. Your costume is stupid but its characteristics are different from what I know and if it can help me to become stronger, that's all that matters."

With these words, silence stretched again in the room but this time, the blond didn't hesitate to stare openly at his crewmate throughout. For his part, the swordsman quietly finished his drink then left the galley, leaving his empty bottle on the table.

Sanji didn't comment on how much the fencer had drunk or when the door slammed too hard as it closed behind him, still in shock. It was Luffy who pulled him out of his stupor ten minutes later by asking for his snack and it was only then that the cook felt the true significance of the swordsman's words. Despite the apparent coldness of Zoro's words, the cook then realized that he had never felt so relieved.

I hope you're doing well.
See you soon!