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They’d been on an island, some sorta out in the middle of nowhere port with a name Zoro didn’t bother to remember. They’d stopped there to restock on some supplies, since according to Nami, they were getting pretty low.
Which is all well and good; Luffy in particular is always excited for someplace new to explore. Their Captain needed somewhere to work off his pent up energy, and normally Zoro would be quite content to accompany him…but he’d somehow gotten roped into pack-mule duty for their stupid cook. Why couldn’t he be in Nami’s place, helping Chopper carry his purchased supplies? Random fruits and vegetables weren’t that much heavier than bandages in his opinion really, and he wasn’t completely sure Usopp wouldn’t be swept up into Luffy’s antics. Robin could likely be trusted to watch the Merry, but…
He got angrier the more he thought back on it, but not for the usual reasons. Despite his reluctance, carrying groceries wasn’t that big of a deal; the cook’s attitude tended to be much more subdued when he had a task at hand, especially when it came to food. They usually didn’t start fights on grocery runs.
No. What pissed Zoro off is what happened when he looked away. It had been for only a second, he swore. Some kid was practicing with a wooden sword on the side of the street, her friends chattering and teasing her, waving their own play weapons around. He’d stopped to give a few pointers to the girl. That was all. The kid’s posture improved slightly, which brought a small smile to his face. That widened into a grin when she promptly disarmed and knocked the loudest kid in the group over.
“Alright, Cook, where to next?” Zoro had asked, turning away from the kids.
No answer. He looked around the marketplace, and-
No cook. He blinked.
Now Zoro was used losing track of others in a new space. Or…any space. But his surroundings had not changed. Not as far as he was aware, anyway, which Nami would remind him did not bolster confidence. Still…as he looked around, eyes roving the bustling stalls, the same stalls and merchants he remembered seeing minutes before, he saw niether hide nor hair of their blonde chef. How the hell did that curly-browed idiot get lost so fast-
He caught a whiff of smoke. He looked down and noticed a still smoking cigarette…barely used. Something lurched in his stomach at the sight.
Their cook was never the wasteful sort, and he always put these things out when he was done with them. Something about fire safety or whatever. But here it was...left behind. A smoking gun.
Zoro stomped out the cigarette, gathered up the groceries, and hustled off to find his nearest crew-mate. He wasn’t worried. Not really. Just...something was off, here.
—---------
Sanji had been kidnapped. Their cook had been kidnapped right under Zoro’s watch.
So yeah, he was pissed about it. Sure he and Sanji butted heads regularly, and didn’t see eye to eye on most topics, but that was a member of his crew. And Zoro…he was the first mate. Next to Luffy, it was his job to keep the crew safe. And he’d failed.
He’d only looked away for a second. How do you lose someone like Sanji in a second??
When Zoro found Luffy and the others, they got to work fast. They asked around, shaking down anyone who hesitated. Robin’s cold smiles were particularly effective for these conversations…
What they learned chilled him.
Apparently there had been some missing cases in the area. People disappearing off the streets, quietly, one by one. Not enough to stir panic; it seemed to be a rather populated island, but still. Enough to make the locals answer their questions in uneasy whispers. The authorities offered opologies and all the leads they had. Not that Zoro cared for such apologies.
The rage in his chest didn’t need platitudes.
Luffy’s tight-lipped worry didn’t need excuses.
Chopper’s anxious pacing and wringing hooves didn’t need sympathy.
They needed answers.
Two weeks.
Two weeks of scouring ports, turning over every stone, snapping at dead ends, and burning through false leads.
And then finally, finally, they find the ship they were searching for.
At first glance, it’s just another vessel breaking up the horizon. But the moment Nami looks at the sail, she flinches; full body, abrupt, afraid.
“What’s wrong, Nami?” Usopp asks, his voice tight. He hovers near the railing, eyes flicking between the ship and their navigator. Luffy’s hands grip the wood so hard his knuckles are going white, practically vibrating with the urge to leap across the sea.
“No, I think...that’s the one,” she manages. She swallows, looking down to check her compass like she’s fidgeting. Making absolutely sure. Robin watches them with her customary coolness, but there’s a flicker of sympathy in her eyes, and of danger. Danger that, oddly enough, Zoro does not feel threatened by.
Eventually, Nami meets their eyes. “I almost wish it wasn’t,” she admits, voice soft. Then she exhales sharply. “That ship… Belle-Mère told me about vessels like that when I was young.” She points at the sigil on the sail, what looks like a paw print but with more angular shapes.
She closes her eyes briefly.
“That’s...the mark of a slave ship.”
A heavy silence falls over the crew. Zoro’s eyes narrow, the angry embers in his chest flaring violently, his hand gripping at the hilt of his sword tightly.
Luffy’s expression is thunderous. “Full speed ahead,” he orders, his voice like iron. The Strawhat Pirates leap into action. Zoro says nothing; he has no need.
They are going to get their cook back.
—-----------
Luffy has plenty of rage to unleash on the slavers up top, fists flying and the deck shaking beneath their feet. Nami stays close to him, sharp eyes catching what he might miss, her directions cutting through the chaos like compass points.
Chopper stayed behind on the Going Merry, guarding the ship and waiting with bandages and hope. Robin offers further defense, seeming averse to the ship itself but confident in her ability to protect the Merry.
Zoro has no time to really worry about her when there’s a crewmate to retrieve. He and Usopp descend into the ship’s bowels, eyes peeled as they adjust to the darkness below. The air turns thick and rotten, cloying in the lungs. The atmosphere is dark in more ways than one, but they press on.
“Sanji?” Usopp calls out, voice trembling but steady, his slingshot loaded and ready. Zoro’s hand stays on Wado’s hilt, muscles coiled tight.
“Sanji, you in here? Can you hear us?” their sniper calls again, wide eyes flicking to and fro.
There’s movement. The soft rustling of cloth. Chains clinking.
Zoro’s entire body tenses. Slowly, shapes emerge in the shadows. Metal bars. Rows of cells. And inside them…
His jaw clenches when he realizes what he’s looking at.
At least eight cells. Each one holding several crumpled figures, their limbs bound, bodies thin and shivering on filthy straw. There are...metal contraptions locked over their faces — muzzles around their mouths, silencing them like chained animals.
Usopp lets out a shaky breath beside him, likely coming to the same conclusion.
Zoro’s fist tightens around his sword. He forces himself to focus. They could free these people soon. Luffy was above them, shaking the ship with his fury; liberation was coming.
But first—
They need him.
They scan the cells, each one more of a harrowing sight than the last. Terrified eyes blinked up at them from behind metal and filth. Some figures whimper and even shrink away from them.
Usopp bites his lip, the urgency building between them both.
Zoro hears small, choked cries as they pass the prisoners. He forces the snarl off his face — these poor souls didn’t need to see a demon staring back at them. It’s not their fault they’re trapped here. It isn’t them deserving of this enraged wildfire building in his chest.
They keep searching, pushing through the oppressive air.
And then—at the end of the row— there. A flash of blonde.
“Sanji!” Usopp gasps, rushing forward to clutch at the bars like he could tear them apart with sheer will. Zoro’s hangs back for a moment, breath catching in his throat.
There he is.
Sanji. Curled in on himself, his back to the bars. Zoro would recognize that prim suit anywhere, even dirtied and tattered as it is. Even the fancy buttons seem to be missing, likely torn away at some point…
He’s bound like the others, wrists and ankles shackled behind him, forced into a position that twisted his lean body into something small and helpless. The sight makes something coil tight and sick in Zoro’s gut. The fire roils and snarls like a barely restrained beast. And yet his hand remains steady on Wado.
“Oi! Curly-brow!” he barks out. His voice echoes sharply in the cramped space, making several prisoners flinch. Sanji jerks suddenly where he lays, but he doesn’t turn over. In fact, he only hunches smaller, trembling.
No rebuttal. No flailing limbs, no roundhouse kick swinging toward him in retaliation. Nothing.
Zoro’s fury roars hotter.
He nudges Usopp gently with his elbow. “Get back.”
Usopp does, his lips pressed in a thin line; likely to keep them from trembling at the sight. Zoro nods, and draws his blade. In one clean slash, steel meets steel. The bars give way with a screech and crash to the floor.
Zoro sheaths his sword in one smooth motion and takes a breath to steady the fire in his chest.
“Sanji! Sanji, hey…” Usopp rushes in, voice quieting when he falls to his knees by their cook’s side. Zoro strides in after him, watching as their sniper nudges Sanji into a more upright position. Chains rattle softly at his wrists and ankles. “You will not believe what we went through to get here, man. Monsters, storms— you name it! It was crazy!” Usopp rambles in a quivering voice. Zoro knows he’s rambling to steady himself as much as to fill the silence. He doesn’t mind it.
As for Sanji...
Nestled against Usopp’s chest, Zoro gets a good look at the man’s face. It’s difficult with all the metal and straps clamped over his face. The sight makes the back of his neck prickle uncomfortably.
Sanji’s eyes are empty, as if those of a dead man. And yet, the man is clearly breathing, albeit raggedly. He stares vacantly at the wall before him, right through them, his body trembling like a leaf in Usopp’s hold.
“Cook…?” Zoro mutters, dropping to one knee beside them. That look….he’d seen it on Nami, back then at Arlong Park, bloodied knife in hand, crimson dripping from her mangled shoulder. She’d stared out to shore, lifeless, hopeless. Then Luffy went to her, and the light returned to her eyes as she finally pleaded for his help.
Seeing that same emptiness in Sanji? It’s wrong. This is all wrong.
“What’s wrong with him…?” Usopp asks, voice shaking, his grip tightening on the trembling form in his arms. Zoro only furrows his brow, reaching forward to tilt Sanji’s head gently toward him, fingers brushing the edge of the seas-damned bridle. He scans for a latch, something that might release it.
Sanji’s empty eyes land on Zoro, and the cook stiffens, sucking in a breath. Zoro blinks at him, not liking how those usually focused eyes seem to stare right through him. His pupils are so alarmingly small…
“N…Nnno….” Sanji rasps, hard to hear around the leather and metal obstructing his face. Zoro’s blood runs cold. He’s seen the effects of alcohol, addictions, and poisons all throughout his pirate hunting days. He has no idea what to do about it now, though he’s pretty sure Chopper would. It… looked bad, though. Really bad.
“We’ve got you, Sanji, it’s okay…” Usopp murmurs quietly in response to Sanji’s renewed shudders.
Zoro’s fingers find a buckle. He could cut this all off — but one twitch of his sword, one jolt from the Cook, and he risks hurting him further. As confident as he is in his own skills, he's not confident in Sanji's stability in this state. So he fumbles with the latch instead, working quickly.
“Ssstp….no….please….” Sanji breathes, hoarse and weak. It makes Zoro and Usopp exchange a look. Their foul mouthed, surly cook didn’t plead.
“Did they drug him or something…?” Usopp asks in a stage-whisper.
“Seems like it,” Zoro grunts, expression grim. “Let’s get this thing off.”
With a click, the muzzle comes off and clatters to the floor.
Sanji stares at the mask as it drops to the ground, holding still, as if afraid it’d come back up and strangle him to death. No one moved. Then…
“Hey, Sanji. You with us?” Usopp asks gently. Wide blue eyes flick to the young man holding him up, not seeming to recognize him. Both eyes are visible, blonde hair tangled and dirtied in such a way to reveal both sides of his face. The novelty of it only adds to the eerie feeling brought by his blank stare. His gaze slides over to Zoro, and he goes stiff as a board. Hallowed eyes flick down to stare at Wado, then jerks his gaze up again to the swordsman’s face, breath coming faster.
“Get it together, Cook,” Zoro growls, tension biting at his words. “I’d rather not be down here when Luffy storms in.” And Sanji-
Sanji lets out a long, broken, animal sound — thin and keening, the kind of noise that tightens Zoro’s chest on instinct, has him scanning the gloomy room for a threat.
“Nnn….No. No! Stay away frm…from mmme! I can’t-” Sanji mumbles around a too dry throat, trying to shy away and curl in on himself. His breathing stutters and wheezes around the words, as if there isn’t enough air in this cell.
“Woah, hey, Sanji, it’s just us…” Usopp soothes quickly, wrapping an arm more securely around his trembling shoulders, rubbing slow circles into his back. “it’s okay. You’re okay...” The cook just shakes his head, breathing growing increasingly unsteady.
There's a loud crash above deck, making the ship shudder. Sanji flinches violently, letting out a panicked gasp.
“Lemme out,” he pleads, his voice cracking. “I can’t…it’s dark, stop–!” Zoro and Usopp exchange bewildered looks as their normally surly, assured, fiery cook buries his face in Usopp’s chest. “P-Please…let me out! Let me out! Leave me alone, I-I can’t-”
His nerves growing more frayed with every word, Zoro growls. “What the hell is wrong with you-” he starts, but Usopp gives him a sharp look, shaking his head. He looks…haunted, but his jaw is set in a firm, determined line.
Zoro grits his teeth and bites his tongue.
“Sanji, you- you need to breathe, man, c’mon.” There’s a rustling of fabric and clinking chains as Usopp tugs their shaking cook more upright. “I’m like, the breathing champion, y’know? They have awards for that kind of thing. Deep sea diving, record-holding lungs — real impressive stuff.”
Zoro watches, teeth gritted as Usopp takes a long, slow breath in, then lets it steadily out. He ignores the retched smells permeating this desolate place, focusing on taking steady breaths for his friend to follow. In again, out again.
Sanji makes a small, pained noise.
“It’s alright, you can do it, Sanji. Try again, in-” Usopp’s voice is warm and conversational, as if he weren’t holding their cook trembling in the dark brig of this god-forsaken vessel. Sanji gives something like a gasp, then a hiccup in response, clearly trying his best to follow along. “That’s it,” their sniper encourages with a grin, breathing again. Sanji clings to the rhythm.
Zoro himself finds his own breathing starts to match Usopp’s without even trying. His white-knuckled grip on his sword hilt eases just a bit.
“Keep going, Sanji. You’re doing great!” A deep breath in, then out. His smile is gentle yet unwavering in the darkness. “Keep it up, and you’ll be a deep breathing champion like me in no time.”
A quiet, broken huff escapes Sanji, still shaky and fragile, but at least not as lost in the tight grip of panic. It sounds almost like amusement.
A pale blue eye peeks out from Usopp’s shirt, locking onto Zoro again. His pupils are still much too small in this dim lighting. There’s still no recognition either, even confusion in his expression.
“Why…?” they both hear Sanji murmur, small and lost. Usopp looks bewildered before schooling his expression. And Zoro…
Zoro wants to rip apart every cage in this damned brig. He wants to tear the whole ship apart, plank by plank, until there’s nothing left.
“Because you’re our cook,” Zoro rumbles, low and certain as he gets to his feet in one smooth motion. “You’re crew.”
The wide, terrified eye flutters, as if in disbelief. Usopp squeezes Sanji’s shoulder. “Yeah. Sorry we took so long, Sanji. We were really worried.” Usopp says, his voice catching slightly. He smiles down at their crewmate. “We’re gonna get you out now, though. Ready?”
There’s the barest nod. Zoro helps to carefully bundle Sanji onto Usopp’s back, the cook’s long legs dragging slightly, barely clearing the floor. His feet are bare.
The dress shoes — they’re gone. The suit, shredded. His sleeves in tatters, his wrists raw and rubbed red from struggling. Too thin, the metal still hanging from his limbs like impossible weights. Zoro would cut them all off, if it wasn’t for--
His hands.
Bruised. Cut. Torn open. Almost like someone stomped on them.
That’s the final straw. The last spark tossed into the powder keg in Zoro’s chest. Those hands are for preparing meals they share, for caring for the hungry crew, their forever hungry captain. Sanji never stated such, but Zoro knows the cook choosing to fight with kicks and spins was deeply purposeful.
To prevent something exactly like this from happening.
And it had. Because he’d looked away for barely a second.
“Get him out of here.” Zoro’s voice is low and deadly, thick with barely restrained fury.
Usopp doesn’t argue. He nods, adjusting Sanji’s weight and hurrying toward the stairwell. They’re almost gone when Zoro hears it — so faint he almost thinks he imagined it.
“M’sorry...I’ll do better next time...sorry...”
A hoarse whisper, muffled into the back of Usopp’s shirt.
Usopp freezes, then laughs nervously, starting up another tall tale to drag Sanji’s thoughts out of the terrified depths they’d fallen to. It’s something he very much knows how to do. But Zoro...
Zoro goes still. His fingers curl tight around Wado’s hilt. He does not look back.
Why is the idiot blaming himself? Why does he think we’d blame him for this?! Like we’d throw him away for being captured? Damn fool.
And yet —
He turns toward the other cages. Blade raised. He stares into the wide eyes peering out from between the bars.
These prisoners will be freed.
He just hopes his crew leaves a slaver bastard or two for him to deal with after all this is done.