Normally I post a chapter each week when I post the parts, but tomorrow is the day of the year I dread the most, every year, and I don't expect to be in working condition tomorrow evening when I planned to update, so it's out early. Hope you enjoy :)

Part 5: Tension

Chapter 2/3: The Devourer

There was a phrase the old dojo master, Kuina's father and later Zoro's guardian, had liked to use to describe women; "Soft as water with the force of a torrent". Somehow, Zoro was thinking about that today as he spied through the snow for the shadow of islands.

'I never did understand that phrase,' Zoro thought absentmindedly to himself, shaking his head again to get rid of the snow in his hair. 'Master used to remind me of how young I am.'

At eighteen, Zoro was through that phase where he thought he knew everything, and facing Hawkeye had taught him how dangerous it was to overestimate his own prowess. The scar across his chest stung and ached in the cold, still not properly healed, reminding him to not be hasty, that he could lose, that he was mortal and Ruffy's eyes when he had shook off her hands that wanted to hold on to him. That had wanted him to stay with her.

'I'm grateful, I think, that I was allowed to go back.'

Casting a glance down at the deck and the duo that were quietly and diligently throwing snow off deck, Zoro made a face at the reminder that he'd once thought he alone was good enough. There were days he wanted to be, but right now Nami was sick, Ruffy worried and Usopp and the idiot cook additionally restless from the conflict between Ruffy and Vivi.

Zoro spied forward again. He genuinely didn't care much about Vivi, and it wasn't because of Ruffy. Zoro was simply indifferent. This wasn't about her. This was all about Crocodile of Shichibukai. That's what Zoro cared and was excited about. And as soon as Nami was back to full health, they could go after this new enemy, and Zoro believed that would calm the nerves wrecking the crew as well.

Making another slow sweep of the binocular, Zoro at first dismissed a shadowy spot as a rock or maybe the fin of a fish. But it was still there the next time Zoro looked, and this time, he had to look twice.

He blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Hey!" he called.

Ruffy's response was immediate. "Yes?! Do you see a doctor?"

Zoro lowered the binoculars to stare at the figure that was now close enough for him to see with his naked eye, but he still couldn't believe it.

"So, can humans stand on water?"

Below, Usopp and Ruffy stared up at him with blank faces.

"No, that's impossible," Usopp called back.

"Okay." Zoro put the binoculars back to his eyes. "What's that then?"

On deck, Ruffy and Usopp turned to follow the swordsman's line of sight.

Right beside Going Merry, a stone's throw out, on the surface of the sea, stood a person dressed in a fluffy coat and mantle with intricate details around the collar and a hood with droopy ears tied tightly around a pale face. A bow and arrows were strapped to the person's back, peeking out over their shoulders.

Usopp rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Good day. A bit cold today, wouldn't you say?" the person said, making Usopp jump in surprise.

Ruffy, forced to wear her wine-red coat by Usopp's threats to otherwise put her to sleep one way or another, rubbed her eyes a third time, but she seemed to be staring at the sea rather than the person on top of it.

"Yes, it is quite cold," Usopp responded. "Like really cold."

"It is?" said the person on the water.

"Is that a ship?" Ruffy asked.

"…what?" Usopp asked and looked down, right before the ocean raised under them and threw Merry off balance.

Sanji stood in the girls' room, dying to light the cigarette between his teeth despite Vivi-chan's forbidding it around Nami, and watched over the girls. If he was honest with himself, he felt troubled. Ruffy had barely stepped inside this room since yesterday and Vivi basically lived at Nami's side. The way Vivi, perhaps unconsciously, gave orders about what she needed to treat Nami and how they should all behave, didn't sit well with Sanji. It was almost as if Vivi was throwing her weight around, though the cook was uncertain that was the case. Either way, neither the princess nor Ruffy had slept much. From what Usopp had said earlier that day, Sanji gathered Ruffy was the most stressed out.

He wished he could do something. This clash between women wasn't something he enjoyed. Ruffy's flat refusal to eat made it even harder on him.

Out of nowhere, the entire ship shook so violently that Sanji had to grab Nami's bed and balance it on one leg to keep the beautiful navigator from rolling off.

"Why is the ship shaking?!" Vivi asked, outraged. "Don't let it trouble Nami or I'll throw you overboard!"

Sanji said nothing. Vivi-chan was on the floor screaming threats at him as if he hadn't reacted first. Well, as long as he was here nothing would harm Nami-san nor Vivi-chan, but Ruffy was out there, and the fright Sanji had had in Rouge town flashed through his heart, the vision of Ruffy about to lose her head, him too far away to save her and her smile when she accepted her fate.

The rocking subsided and Sanji gently let Nami's bed down, pulled the blanket up just a little, and then turned around to run out of the room.

"Vivi-chan, hold the fort. I must check on Ruffy!"

He didn't stop long enough to hear if she replied and was shouting for his captain even before he made it out of the store room.

It was snowing, a peaceful sight on a calm day under silvery grey clouds. Ruffy was seated on the railing to the bow, Usopp and Zoro stood around like idiots, Usopp with his hands high above his head while the marimo looked almost curious.

Now that he was outside, Sanji lit a cigarette, breathed in and out, his nerves calming as his body absorbed the nicotine.

"So? What happened?" the cook asked.

"We were just ambushed," Ruffy explained.

Sanji waved a hand at the men dressed similarly in hats with furry seams and dark coats with gold buttons who were all pointing guns at him. "Yes, I gathered that much." What he wanted to know was how they had managed to be ambushed when they had three people on deck who were all watching the ocean for an island. Ruffy should have seen a boat… (Sanji glanced at the flag and saw a skull and crossbones) a pirate ship the size of the one beside them long before it spotted them.

The figurehead on the enemy ship looked even more like a hippo than Arlong's pet, and was apparently a clever boarding tactic. Its mouth was open and a folding ladder had come down to rest on Merry's deck. A wide man was just coming down from the ladder, dressed in white furs and metal, his chin plated with tin and looked like a bucket, chewing a piece of grilled meat on a decorated knife. Sanji guessed this was the captain. Some part of him wanted to move closer to Ruffy, but behind him was the door to the rest of the ship and Nami-san and Vivi-chan.

As the enemy captain boarded Merry, muttering to himself, he opened his mouth wide and shoved the rest of the meat, knife and all, into it and started chewing. Usopp made a noise of discomfort, but Ruffy stiffened visibly and her eyes flashed gold. Sanji's pose relaxed further, making sure his weight was centred and ready to move. Marimo's pose straightened just a fraction.

"We want to go to Drum Kingdom," the pirate said with a voice that was gruff and a speech that was refined like a noble's. "Do you have an eternal pose or log pose?"

Sanji felt a muscle over his eyebrow tick. "No, and we've never head of the place."

"Get off my ship," Ruffy hissed with a strained voice.

"How rude," the other captain said nonchalantly. "If you have no log pose then we'll make do with your treasures and this ship. Bon appetite."

To Sanji's shock, the pirate opened his mouth much wider than humanly possible and tore off a large chunk of Merry's railing and started chewing with pleased hums under the snaps of grinded wood.

Ruffy screeched, howled as if in pain, and shot forward between stunned enemies grasping their ears and chests.

"Hold…!" a soldier near Sanji started and redirected his gun towards Ruffy.

Sanji, Zoro and Usopp were all in motion at the same time, Usopp down to take cover, Sanji down to get his legs in the air and guns out of the enemy hands and Zoro forward to clear the way for his captain. All the while the other pirate captain took a stroll around the ship putting everything within reach in his mouth, be it wood or rope or metal. He was heading for Nami's tangerine trees.

"I said STOP!"

The guard closest to girl pirate fainted in a wave of something that felt like fire that took away all air, creating a distortion around Ruffy. A bullet came for her but changed direction mid-air as it hit the disturbance as if it was a physical thing.

The soldier pirates called out warnings to their captain.

Ruffy's mind fled, drowned and disappeared at the sight of the man turning towards her and opening his mouth, his dark maw merging with each and every one of her worst nightmares, of Aki, the shadows in it coming up to pull her down in a torrent of fire and blood.

"What an idiot! She ran straight for Wapol-sama!"

"Let her feel the terror of the Devour fruit!"

Usopp turned, just in time to see the round man who was eating Merry open his mouth wide and close around Ruffy, her foot hooking around the lower row of teeth and then a sickening sound as teeth clapped down on bone with too much force.

Usopp couldn't even scream. His heart stopped in his chest and a chill crashed through him and the world became nothing but his sister being eaten right in front of him. He thought he saw bubbles and people or shadows of people and fire and blood was everywhere…

But the pirate choked and coughed up the girl in his mouth. Ruffy rolled on the deck. A lot of Ruffys, a delicate woman dressed in flowy white, a shadow of long dark hair.

Vivi's voice shouted from somewhere and Usopp flinched back, blinking, wondering when he closed his eyes.

"What's this…" the eater started, holding his throat, but froze as all the Ruffys on deck lifted their burning gaze.

"Bullet!"

The shockwave of the force with which Ruffy collided with the other pirate almost threw Usopp off his feet. The eating pirate crashed through Merry's solid railing and disappeared from sight. If he hit the water he was too far away from Merry for Usopp to see the splash. The rest of the ambushers, both the people on Merry that Sanji and Zoro had kicked and cut down as well as the reinforcements that had been on their way quickly retreated, calling threats and promises as they went.

And just like that they were gone.

Ruffy sat on the deck, curled in on herself, shaking and perfectly silent. Usopp looked around for the shadows, trying to figure out what he'd seen and what he might have dreamt, but he caught Zoro's eye. He'd seen the same thing. Usopp knew this, knew it with absolute clarity. But Sanji hadn't. Usopp couldn't tell how he knew but he did. The cook hurried to Ruffy's side with nothing more than concern and reached out a hand.

"Don't touch her!"

The words that came through Usopp's mouth were sharp in warning, but he was as surprised to hear them as Sanji was. There was something inside Usopp he couldn't put his finger on. A sense that wasn't his own. A danger that had already passed but lingered. A dread and nausea that was fighting its way through his guts.

"It's Ruffy," Usopp heard Zoro hiss. "What are you waiting for, Curly Brow? Take Ruffy and clean her. She's covered in spit."

Just then Ruffy slapped her hands against the deck and heaved.

It was her, just like Zoro said. Now that it had been pointed out Usopp could again tell what was and wasn't from him. He thought to push all those alien senses and feelings out. But it was Ruffy. Everything dreadful he felt were Ruffy's feelings. What kind of brother pushes away a sister when she needs protection and comfort? So no, pushing her away wasn't an option. Instead, Usopp summoned good feelings, taking inspiration from his surroundings. The sea, the snow, snowmen and snowball fights. Lanterns with a soft glow, a hearth and fire and hot chocolate. Usopp built inside his imagination a room that was warm and safe from a snowstorm and put everything that was Ruffy inside.

The response was a pause.

Sanji took Ruffy in his arms, and just then Usopp was a little happy Ruffy hadn't bonded with the cook the way she had with Usopp, Zoro and…

"Oh, shoot," Usopp cursed. Nami would have felt that too.

Sanji passed a gawking Vivi on his way inside to the bathroom. Usopp heard the door close and turned his attention to the princess.

"Hey, Nami wasn't troubled by the commotion just now, right?"

"Well, no? What happened?

"Ambush," Zoro replied stiffly.

Usopp had half a mind to explain to Vivi the man they had seen standing on the waves and the submarine ship, but flinched when something sharp and tangy spiked through his connection with Ruffy. So he decided against it.

"You can go back, Vivi. They left and we're safe. Now we can resume looking for a doctor," he said instead

The princess nodded and slowly retreated.

"I'll join you. Usopp can take over the watch," Zoro spoke and Usopp nodded. Because while Usopp liked Nami enough, he felt like Zoro was better equipped for whatever emotional whiplash the women could dish out. At least Usopp thought so. All he really knew was that he himself felt he couldn't deal with that on top of what Ruffy had just thrown at him. The only comfort was that the dread was fading.

Ruffy was a shaking mess in Sanji's arms. She kept dry heaving, held onto her clothes and the straw-hat as if they were lifelines, and Sanji had no choice but to dress down to his shirt, roll up his sleeves and pour warm water over his captain, clothes and hat and all. The ship had a limited amount of hot water, so Sanji filled the bathtub to a third and used a bowl to scope up water and pour over Ruffy. He rubbed soap on her arms, her neck and knees. At some point during the process, Ruffy released her clothes and hat and started rubbing her arms, clawing at them and her face until she almost drew blood.

"What happened, Ruffy?" Sanji asked. He'd seen her fight much worse opponents, suffer much worse damage and still be smiling. This was something else. This had nothing to do with that joker just now.

She said nothing, but her breathing hitched and she dry heaved again.

"Sanji?"

"Yes?"

"I was eaten."

The cook poured water over his captain, rinsing the soap out best he could as he tried to understand the meaning behind those words. Because there was something there. A hundred reasons and explanations.

"I will never eat anything a bloody cook has had his hands on."

The words were old by now, repeated in Sanji's memories almost daily. For some reason they had their explanation here. Eaten. Sanji still couldn't understand it, and he didn't want to press for answers, because what would happen if he did? It was the same feeling as when Ruffy had jumped him the day they left Twin Peak, but sort of opposite. What had she said that day? Something about an armour? No, it was about his heart.

"I can only listen to your heart if you open it to me."

That was it. That morning at Twin Peaks it had felt like Ruffy was dressing him down and baring him. Now she was baring herself. An invitation. Why? Why was it so difficult to accept?

"You're still here, Ruffy," Sanji said instead, hating himself for the cowardice. He wanted to take away Ruffy's ghosts, didn't he?! The price was only to unveil his own. His childhood, his mother, everything. Why was such old wounds so difficult to reveal?!

A hiccup brought Sanji straight back to present. Ruffy was crying. She sat there, holding herself, the hat to her chest, so small and afraid and lost.

What was Sanji doing? Right now wasn't about him and his issues.

Releasing the bowl, Sanji wrapped his arms around Ruffy, ran his fingers through her hair and pressed a kiss to her temple, pouring all his complicated feelings into it.

"You're still here. You weren't eaten. I will never let anything like that happen to you or anyone. I promise."

The reaction was slow, but gradually, after Sanji had combed his fingers through Ruffy's hair several times and placed a third kiss on her crown, warmth grew between them. It was as if there had been ice separating them that now melted away. Ruffy's hold on herself loosened, and Sanji felt her arm slowly, hesitatingly, snake around him. He felt himself smile wetly as he kissed her head again.