"What on earth do you morons think you're doing?", Sanji shouted as he emerged from below the deck, "Can't you behave for a few minutes without destroying the ship?"

Just at that moment, his eyes met with Zoro's across the wide deck of the ship, who had a strange expression on his face that made the cook choke on any further scolding. The swordsman shook his head slightly, very slightly, maybe even unconsciously, so subtly that Sanji almost didn't notice.

Then the green-head's face suddenly contorted in pain and Sanji watched helplessly as Zoro was flung across the ship with terrifying speed.

"What the hell...", Sanji stammered, his cigarette falling out of the shocked cook's open mouth as he stared at the gaping hole in the upper deck cabin through which the green-haired swordsman had crashed a few seconds ago.

It all happened so fast. He wasn't even sure he had fully understood what just happened. Were they under attack?

Fortunately, a quick glance around the peaceful harbour disproved this thought. It was exactly as he had overheard from below deck. There was no one on the ship except the stupid Marimo and ...

"Luffy?" A sudden crash sounded a few steps away and Sanji froze, recognizing his captain, who for some reason appeared to have fallen from the sky. He looked pretty shaken up. There were several gashes spreading across Luffy's arms and the boy panted hard, seemingly on the verge on collapse.

"What the fuck happened here? Are you hurt? Who did this to you?" Sanji took a hesitant step towards his captain, trying to overcome the worry creeping up inside him.

The latter gave him a quick glance from bloodshot eyes and swayed as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"Had to... incapacitate him..." He said, turning to stare in the direction of the cabin hole Zoro's sudden departure had kindly left.

"What's that supposed to mean? Incapacitate who?", Sanji's head was flooded with a thousand question marks as he wondered how Luffy knew such a difficult word. His eyes unconsciously followed his captain's gaze to the cabin hole and a terrible thought sent a cold shiver down his spine. These two idiots hadn't fought each other, had they? No, that couldn't be. They didn't normally pick fights, so why would they now? Then again, they were also the biggest morons he knew, so anything was possible.

The cook turned to riddle his captain with these very questions, only to witness the latter tumble to the ground and lie there motionless.

"Hey, the hell are you doing? I wasn't done with you yet! Don't make me clean up your mess all by myself." the blond cursed and shook the rubber boy by the shoulders. To no avail. The faint sound of snoring indicated that the strawhat was fast asleep.

"Idiot captain," Sanji shook his head and looked down at his sleeping friend, more affectionately than he would have at an awake Luffy. Then, he sat down next to him, sighed and ran his hands over his face.

"What a shitty mess. Nami-san will be furious." he thought as he examined the wreckage that was now their ship. Not only that, she was probably going to be disappointed in him as well, given that he had promised to watch over the ship. A sudden urge for a smoke made the blond cook hastily rummage in his trouser pocket. A soft sigh escaped him as he put a cigarette to his lips and the soothing nicotine took effect.

"Fuck"

The Merry was in a really bad shape now. It looked like she had been hit by a giant canon ball and had barely made it into the harbour. His curly brows furrowed as he took an aggressive drag from his cigarette. He had only been below deck for less than fifteen minutes. Leave it to Luffy and that idiot mossball to destroy their own ship in a matter of moments, despite being specifically told not to do anything stupid. Once his captain had regained consciousness, he was sure to kick this idiocy out of him. Him and that useless muscle-head. That would teach them not to disrespect his precious Nami-san.

He sighed into the unfamiliar silence on the ship. That reminded him. He should probably go see if the crappy swordsman was still among the living or if he had gotten himself catapulted into the afterlife.

With that, he rose from his seated position and strode towards the wrecked cabin at a quick pace, which was also borne of a tiny bit of concern, although the cook would never admit it. The mosshead was probably fine, stubborn as he was.

As he passed the corner of the wrecked cabin, he finally spotted the unmoving figure of Zoro who sat leaning against the railing, two of his swords still in his hands.

"Hey, what was that about just now? Luffy seemed pretty set on beating the shit out of you." Stopping, Sanji took another drag from his cigarette, one hand in his pocket.

There was no response. Not that he was really expecting one. Zoro rarely acknowledged him with a reply when he was resting and didn't want to be disturbed. The latter's head was leaning back against the railing, which, as Sanji now realized, had a strangely twisted shape. As if it was broken underneath the muscle-head's body. Now wary, the blond chef examined the swordsman in front of him. He did seem unharmed at first glance. Maybe he had just been knocked out like Luffy? For once, the mosshead actually looked quite peaceful. Or as Luffy had said... incapacitated.

A little too much for his taste, the chef realized with unease when he couldn't make out whether Zoro's chest was rising or not.

"Crap," Sanji coughed up the smoke that had almost lodged in his throat. There was blood on the swordsman's temple and head, staining the green hair a brownish color. How did he not notice this earlier? For since when did the idiot swordsman rest with his swords drawn?

"Hey, Marimo, oi! Are you still alive?" With a quick step, Sanji was at Zoro's side and knelt down in front of him. "Hey, can you hear me? You need to answer me, stupid mossball. I need to know you're still with us!" The silence that answered him wrapped itself around his shoulders like an icy cloak.

Sanji swallowed. Suddenly his mouth was way too dry. Zoro wasn't d..., was he? No, he couldn't be.

Hesitantly, he lifted his hand and brought it carefully to the motionless moss-head's neck to feel for a pulse. He concentrated, trying to push the terrible thoughts aside to calm his own heartbeat, which was pounding in his ears.

"Come on," Sanji muttered to himself, "You can't give up now. I would never forgive you for that."

There! Lightly but steadily, Zoro's pulse throbbed under his fingers, stronger than he had expected, and he sat back, exhaling a breath he didn't know he had been holding. The idiot was alive!

At the same moment, the swordsman began to stir under his hand and his eyelids fluttered open, revealing some unfocused glazy eyes.

"Fumck omph," Zoro slurred, moving slightly as if to shake off Sanji's hand, only to immediately groan and close his eyes with a pained expression.

"What? You have to speak more clearly if you want me to understand. Or has your brain finally evaporated? Stupid Marimo, why are you scaring me like that?" Sanji ranted, his initial relief giving way to great concern, even if he didn't show it, of course.

This didn't look good at all. He hadn't missed the weak resistance Zoro had put up against his touch. The way Zoro was slurring his words and his unfocused eyes suggested a concussion at the very least.

"Hey, mosshead, look at me!", he tried and waited until the unfocused gaze of the swordsman had found him again. Then he waved three fingers in front of his face, "How many fingers? Come on, it's not that many. I'm sure even you can count that far."

Sanji was certain that if Zoro had been able to pierce him with his gaze, he would have tried to do so at that very moment. As it was, however, the swordsman merely stared at him with a strain before his eyebrows drew together and a confused expression appeared on his face.

"Dom't care ... mghst ... mmove ...", Zoro mumbled in a raspy voice and groaned softly as he tried to stand up. "luffy ... mghis..." His hand gripped the railing so tightly that his knuckles stood out white. To Sanji's astonishment, he even managed to pull himself up, though painstakingly slow, swaying dangerously, his glassy eyes fixed on the ground. It was evident that he was merely holding himself up through sheer willpower. What an impressive and moronic view in one!

"You idiot! What are you doing there? Sit still, you'll only hurt yourself more!" Sanji tried hard to resist the temptation to knock the mosshead out again. There was no way he was going to let himself be held responsible if the stupid swordsman were to die now because of his own stupidity!

Zoro did not react. Sanji noticed the sweat on the swordsman's forehead forming from the exertion. Zoro staggered and suddenly the last colour drained from his already very pale face. He collapsed.

"Shit, shitty moss for brains", Sanji cursed as he hurriedly caught Zoro before he crashed head first onto the deck, sacrificing his cigarette in the process. The swordsman lay slumped down in his arms and was out cold. Carefully, Sanji lowered Zoro to the ground and leaned him back against the railing, making sure that his injured head did not hit the wood.

Just as he was contemplating shouldering the idiot to carry him to a doctor, a scream rang out, echoing across the ship.

"Aaah! Oh no!", glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Usopp peering through the gaping hole in the cabin and flinging both hands in the air in fright. "Oh no, Zoro is dead!"

- "Do you think I would just be standing here like this if he were dead?!"

- "Ah, mmh, no. Probably not", Usopp started nodding and kneading his fingers nervously, which Sanji didn't like any more than the screaming. Somehow, the sniper's panic only made him even more nervous.

"Sanji-kun," sounded a voice - the only one that could wrap itself around his soul like honey and immediately dispel all negative feelings. He turned around and saw the owner of this lovely voice, Nami-san, looking at him with wide, anxious eyes. "What happened here, Sanji-kun? Why is Luffy lying bleeding by the mast and what happened to Zoro? Have we been attacked?"

Sanji couldn't help but kneel down in front of her. "Forgive me Nami-san. It is my fault. I betrayed your trust. I left those two morons alone for a few minutes and when I came back, I found them and the Merry like this."

- "But how could this happen?" The disbelief in Nami's voice felt like a punch in the gut for Sanji. He never wanted to see Nami-san like that again! She didn't deserve that!

"I don't know", he said and looked back over his shoulder at the unconscious swordsman, "I guess we'll have to wait for them to wake up and tell us."