"I need some action. I'm bored, Saturn."
"Then why don't you go interrogate that guy that was captured a few hours ago. He fell from the sky and is rumoured to have had a Logia Devil Fruit and mumbling the words 'Mugiwara', 'I won't forgive you', and 'Club'. It seems like your area of expertise." Saturn revealed.
"Saturn..." Akainu mumbled.
"Those words are music to my ears." He considered. Akainu trudged down towards the basement where the mysterious person was held, again bound in seastone.
"What's your name?" Akainu asked gruffly.
"Enel...who are you?" A knock-off Eminem responded.
"Somebody who can get you out of here."
"Oh?"
"I heard that you won't forgive Mugiwara for something. Care to elaborate?" Akainu drew up a chair and sat on it, in front of Enel.
"BRING ME THAT DAMN STRAW HAT AND I'LL RIP HIM TO PIECES IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES!" Enele screamed.
"Ok." He chuckled.
"I have a deal for you. You give me your Devil Fruit, and I'll give you the Mugiwara. I've heard good things about it." Akainu compensated.
"AS IF. I'VE SWALLOWED IT ALREADY. YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME!" Enel screamed of insanity.
"I'm considering that right now."
"Huh?"
"You see, if a Devil Fruit user dies, then their Fruit is reincarnated somewhere else around the Earth. I want your fruit that apparently sets up Lightning. The marines are interested in this; as this fruit has the destructive power we need, and to conquer the world."
"HUH?"
"Let me kill you."
"WHAAAAAT?" Enel screamed.
-
"I told you already. I don't want to hear it!" Luffy screamed.
"But Luffy-"
"Shut up!"
"Zoro's fine!"
"I know! Zoro's a tough guy; do you think I don't know what'll happen? Do you think I'm so dumb I don't know if my crew are going to die or not?" Luffy screamed.
"But look on the bright side, Luffy. Zoro's in good condition and is stabilised. He just needs some rest from the fightin he did against Urouge." Chopper disclaimed.
"So? I mean- that's great, but how do you think I felt when I saw that Zoro had lost that much blood and was teetering on the edge of death?!?! I felt stupid, angry with myself; I didn't feel like a good captain! What kind of captain lets his First Mate fight his way into unconsciousness?" Luffy screamed at Chopper in his cabin, tears dripping from his eyelids.
"I-"
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE!" Luffy kept screaming.
"Luffy! Screaming isn't going to make anything better. You need to focus on-" Robin entered Luffy's cabin and was immediately interrupted.
"SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"...Let's go, Chopper." Robin ushered Chopper out of Luffy's cabin and left him weeping inside.
Once they were outside of Luffy's cabin, the rest of the Straw Hats joined Robin and Chopper on the top deck.
"Where's Brook? Is he still taking a bath?" Chopper asked. Usopp nodded his head to say yes.
"How's he coping?" Sanji asked, while lighting a cigarette.
"Not well enough, from the sound of it, Sanji. Did you check on Zoro, Chopper?" Franky asked.
"Yeah, he's stabilised and he's recovering. Slowly, but surely."
"And what of the other guy? Urouge was his name?" Sanji asked.
"I don't know about him. He only broke a few bones, I didn't bother fixing them as his Devil Fruit also gives him an astounding regeneration capability. So he's out of commision for a while, although when I returned to the place where I'd kept him, I didn't see him, and it looked like he was in a scuffle with another person; but I don't know who it was." Chopper recounted.
"So he's gone, huh?" Sanji breathed out a puff of smoke.
"We also need to focus on getting Nami back, but we aren't even close to where we need to go. Are we, Robin?" Usopp asked.
"I will be honest with you..." Sanji and Franky looked up at Robin with everybody else.
"I have no clue where I'm moving this boat." Robin admitted.
"HEH?"
"I said, I have no clue where I'm moving this boat. I was only moving the boat to where I remember the place Club instructed us to go to was. But it looks like it's not here, so I guess I can't do anything anymore. But this is exactly why we have Nami, to navigate our way around the seas. Also, it's not like I know every single place in the world by memory." Robin reasoned with them, but to no avail. The Straw Hats were staring straight at Robin, with their eyes wide open, and their mouths each agape.
"Are you telling me that you led us to a go-knows-where place that you don't even know where it is?? Robin, you have bugged out differently! I thought we were actually going somewhere, but you drop a bomb on us stating that you don't even know where we're going! How are we going to catch up to Nami like this?" Franky yelled at Robin in contempt.
"I already told you, I took us to where I thought Sunset Paradise was." Robin's voice got a bit colder after this.
"Guys, arguing isn't going to solve anything at all." Sanji cleared the air between them. Robin walked past Sanji and up the stairs to her own cabin.
"So she's pissed off. Nice job Franky." Sanji pointed a thumbs up at him, as Franky looked pissed as well and retreated down to the Sunny's hull to fill it up with Cola.
Chopper started walking back to the built - in infirmary with which Zoro was sleeping in. Sanji followed him to see if Zoro was doing alright and how he was recovering.
"Zoro, are you feeling better?" Chopper asked Zoro, who was bandaged up to his head and held by ropes tied to his bed posts that supported his legs.
"My spine, Chopper. My spine." Zoro talked simply, but quieter than Sanji had heard him before.
"I know about that, but just because you can't move anymore doesn't mean that-" Chopper was interrupted by Sanji, who had only just heard the news of Zoro's spine.
"You can't move??" Sanji shouted quite loudly.
"Yes, curlybrows, I can't move. Do you want to shout louder to make sure Club hears that, or do you want to take a swing at my ego once more?" Zoro's voice was thick as snow. Sanji shut himself up after this. Then Sanji realised the horrible truth. Zoro wouldn't complete his dream.
"Does this mean-" Sanji was interrupted by Zoro, whose voice was breaking down, by the sound of it.
"Yes, you stupid curlybrows. I can't become the World's Greatest Swordsman now. My dream, and what I've been pursuing for my whole life; it's null and void now." Zoro said solemnly. Sanji kept silent and lit another cigarette.
"Zoro..."
"I suggest you leave." Zoro asked, his voice broken.
"But-"
"I suggest you leave." Zoro's voice was as cold as it had ever been in his entire life, as he turned to face Chopper, tears streaming out of his eyes.
"Zo-"
"Now." Sanji kept calm and led Chopper out of the room. He gave Chopper the look that told him, "I've-got-this-go-downstairs-now". He then turned to look at Zoro. He grabbed a chair and sat at Zoro's bedside, trying to comfort him or make him feel better.
"How are you feeling?"
"Well...m-my...my body doesn't-" Zoro's muttering was interrupted by Sanji.
"I wasn't talking about your body. How are you ACTUALLY feeling, Marimo?" Sanji asked. Zoro looked at Sanji like he was crazy.
"You're asking me how I feel? Has the world ended or something-"
"Answer the damn question. I'm trying to make you feel better." Sanji's voice was as cold as Zoro's, and he wasn't having any funny business so far.
"Oh, how do I feel? Well, I lost a fight that took collateral damage on my bones, my ego has been crushed, I can't walk forever, and my ambition and dream is now a discarded thought inside of a brain that can't think for anything." Zoro's voice was teetering on the edge of collapse.
Sanji took a moment of silence before continuing.
"Is there anything that I say that'll make you feel better?"
"No. I suggest you leave as well."
With that, Sanji left and the Thousand Sunny was left with 3 people crying.
That's right. 3 people.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.