OP fic: Once more with Feeling - Day 2
Title: Once more with feeling - Day 2
Author: aviss
Pairing: Zoro/+Sanji
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Angst, Horror.
Warning: Violence, character deaths (only not)
Disclaimer: So disclaimed.
Summary: Sanji is given a second chance to set things right. And a third. And a fourth…
Word Count: ~2.900 this part
Day 1
Day 2
The first thing Sanji saw when he opened his eyes was Zoro's face scowling down at him.
Not again, he thought blinking owlishly to dispel the last shreds of the nightmare he had been having.
"Oi Cook, you fell asleep in the galley again and it's your watch now," Zoro said his voice a gruff whisper. He looked half asleep and Sanji stifled a yawn.
"Go to sleep you dumbass, I'm awake," he replied, standing up from the bench and moving to the door, and then he froze.
You've wasted a day, do you really want to save them?
Everything from his not-dream came back to him suddenly, abruptly, his breath hitching in his chest and his eyes tightly shut. No, it had been a dream, a nightmare. He was there--breathing, alive--and Zoro was just a step behind him and his palpable annoyance at Sanji, who was blocking the door frozen in horror, was something no corpse could radiate so clearly.
Sanji managed to move at the irritated tapping of heavy feet at his back, crossing the door without looking back and climbing to the Crow's Nest. He had to fight the impulse to go into the girls' cabin and check they were alive, breathing and pretty in their undisturbed sleep.
Everything had been a nightmare, it had to. He wouldn't believe otherwise. Exactly like yesterday, a voice piped inside his head, and look where that took you.
He stood on the Crow's Nest looking out at the dark waters, the moon reflected in them eerily red tinted.
Red Moon, a bad omen if there ever was one.
A shiver ran down thought Sanji's spine. He knew he had thought exactly the same thing before. He had been there, looking out and had noticed the red moon reflected on the black waters and thought the exact same fucking thing. And if he kept thinking everything had been a dream the same thing was going to happen again.
Sanji could remember the woman now; that strange old lady with the sweet and lovely voice and the kind eyes. The one who'd given him a chance to save his nakama.
You welcome Death? You welcome me?
Death, yeah why not? They had dealt with zombies before; Death itself wasn't that much of a stretch to believe in. And apparently she didn't want to take the Straw Hats, or at least not all of them. Sanji didn't know why and didn't much care as long as he was allowed to keep his nakama out of her grasp.
But how? It wasn't as if he had any fucking idea on how to get around doing it. Against an unseen enemy strong enough to wipe the entire crew Sanji had little to no hope, even knowing in advance what was going to happen.
He racked his brain, eyes fixed on the water. There had to be a solution, a way to do it, or the woman was just letting him struggle for nothing. And that he couldn't believe.
He thought about the black ship; it was old and decrepit, looking like the ghost ships the cooks at his first job told stories about: the ships of the dead, sailing the Gran Line looking for victims to take to hell.
Sanji could believe it had been one of them had he believed in ghosts. He didn't. Yes, it was creepy and the flag was even worse. The hooded enemies they had tried to fight were ghost-like: intangible, silent and immobile. But there had been something solid aboard the Sunny, he had touched hit, he had kicked it.
And if Sanji knew something for sure was that one couldn't kick ghosts.
There had to be a perfectly normal explanation, the Grand Line was full of weirdoes using Devil's Fruit powers. He just needed to find the one which matched what he knew.
And that was where he found the first problem. Sanji was no idiot, but he had to admit research, when it wasn't about food, wasn't his forte. With time and patience he might be able to find what he was looking for; unfortunately time was something he didn't have.
He needed help.
…
"I need your inestimable assistance for something, Robin-chan," Sanji said the moment she settled on the Crow's Nest, elbows resting on the windowsill and her pretty face propped on her hands.
Robin turned to look at him, her mouth opening slightly in a yawn. Last watch was one of the worst, the poor unfortunate soul assigned to it having to wake up way too early, and Sanji felt a prickle of regret for bothering her when she was half asleep.
"Of course Cook-san," she said her voice low and drowsy. Sanji hid a smile, happy to be allowed to see such a vulnerable side of her even in those grim circumstances. "What would you need from me?"
Sanji's heart leaped inside his chest, what he wouldn't give to hear those words coming from her mouth when she was fully conscious and they didn't have Death hanging over them. But he couldn't let himself be distracted by his fantasies, not now.
"About Devil's Fruits," he began slowly, his mind going over the way to phrase it in a way Robin, who was way more intelligent than should be allowed, didn't guess something was amiss. "I am curious to know if there is one which would make people ghost-like, intangible and invisible."
She turned and smiled at him, her lips quirking in amusement and a mischievous light in her half-lidded eyes. "You're not thinking how to peek in the girls cabin, are you Cook-san?"
Sanji felt his face heating at the implication but couldn't help but return the smile. It was clear she was teasing. "I'd never dream of it! I would never tarnish our beautiful relationship with such and untoward act, my dear Robin-chan!"
Her smile said she only believed half of it, but it was better for him that she thought he wanted to peek than to ask too many questions.
"I don't know of it," she said turning to look at the ocean again, "I'm not an expert in Devil's Fruit, though I read about them when I was a kid. Something like what you have described wasn't in any book I read about."
Sanji tried not look too disappointed at that answer but Robin must have felt something for she turned to look at him again and one of her hands--the real ones--grabbed his for a second, squeezing lightly before letting go and turning to look at the ocean again.
"I can check later if you want, Cook-san," she said, "I might have a book I the subject in my collection. It never hurts to double check."
"Thank you, Robin-chan," Sanji said allowing himself a bit of hope. "I will be in your debt forever. I'll go to start breakfast now, do you want anything special? My undying devotion?"
"Thank you, Cook-san but the usual is already special enough."
…
Sanji had not taken the storm into account and cursed himself for a fool for it.
Breakfast was exactly the same as the previous time, cheerful and noisy and as peaceful as the Straw Hats would ever manage anything when they were together.
Sanji kept thinking about his conversation with Robin in the Crow's Nest. So far as she knew there weren't any Devil's Fruit which would make people intangible, he best they could achieve was invisibility--and Sanji had already kicked that one as much as he needed.
So it wasn't any known Fruit, or at least not one of the common ones. If there was something like that it might be recorded in some sort of book but Robin had not read about it. Sanji believed that something Robin had not heard about would probably not exist, which left him with another problem.
If it wasn't a Devil's's Fruit Sanji had no idea what could it be.
His though process was cut short at Franky's shout, the rest of the morning spent trying to weather the storm with his crewmates, rushing over the deck at Nami's orders and doing everything they could.
When they finally fell on the deck exhausted Sanji had not found a solution. He needed more information and there was only one way to get it. He was loath to admit he wasn't going to save everyone tonight, but it was likely he would fail.
…
Waiting was the worst part.
Sanji entered the kitchen and busied himself with dinner preparations just to have something to keep him occupied, and also so his nakama didn't find anything amiss. There was no point worrying everyone, at least not yet.
Right on time the door to the kitchen opened and Zoro came in, the heavy sound of his booted feet on the floor making it impossible to mistake him for anyone else. Sanji kept on cutting his vegetables, knowing Zoro was going to sit there and just stare until he said something.
For a moment he entertained the idea of staying silent, not giving the marimo the pleasure of getting a reaction out of him, but a few moments of those eyes digging into the back of his head were more than enough to make him reconsider it.
"What are you doing here, Marimo?" Sanji finally said, the sooner he got it over with, the sooner he could focus on the important thing. "Don't you have anyone else to annoy?"
He waited out the answer, knowing it would take a few seconds.
"Something bothering you, Cook?" Zoro said, as he expected.
Suddenly the idea of having that same argument with the marimo, the argument they never got to finish the previous day, wasn't appealing at all.
Sanji had already resigned himself to consider that day as wasted--he had not been able to figure out the way to beat his enemies, had been unable to get more information than what Robin had given him in the morning. He was going to just watch and observe, really map out the events in his head and try to stay as calm as possible. It would be hard not to lose his head when everything he held dear was destroyed in front of his eyes, but he had to learn.
The last thing he needed was to let himself be distracted by the marimo.
"No, nothing is bothering me," he said without turning, hoping that by ignoring Zoro he would get the hint and leave.
No such luck, Zoro was stubborn among many other things. "No, you have been staring at me since I woke up two days ago. Is there something you wanna tell me?"
"No, I want you to stop pestering me and leave me to make dinner in peace," Sanji retorted, finally turning to look at him.
A strange expression passed through Zoro's face, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but was unsure of what he was going to say. His brow furrowed, puzzlement evident for a second before he scowled and grabbed his bottle, nodding to himself and moving to the door.
Sanji stared after him, wondering what had that been about. It hit him then, he had changed the script and Zoro had felt something different, almost as if he knew he was supposed to act in a specific way and he had missed his cue.
Weird. Sanji didn't know the meaning of what had just happened, but something told him it was important.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he knew was coming. Any minute now.
"Pirates!"
Sanji rushed outside, almost colliding against Zoro who was just standing in front of the door as if he was not sure what he was doing there, the bottle of Rum he had snatched from the kitchen unopened in his hand.
Zoro turned to look at him, his brow furrowed with the same puzzled expression he had before. "Damn, I didn't have time to finish dinner," Sanji said observing Zoro's reaction.
His expression cleared, the confusion replaced by something sharper and infinitely more Zoro.
"I hope they don't take too long to be defeated," Sanji said letting his mouth run freely, his eyes studying Zoro's.
"You can always go back inside, Cook, and let us deal with the problem," he said with a smirk.
"Nah, I've wanted to kick some ass for a couple of days," Sanji got a cigarette out of his pocket and inhaled the smoke, letting himself be calmed momentarily by the nicotine, "and since you are still recovering and will have to pass on this one, I guess I'll stay."
Zoro's expression turned murderous, his hands resting on the hilt of his swords, "Who says I can't fight?"
Sanji looked around marking everyone's position in his mind. Nami and Robin were by the left rail, a few feet short of the head. Brooke was close to them, a couple of steps behind with Chopper at his right. Usopp was in the Crow's Nest and looked ready to climb down to where Franky was next to the main mast. Luffy had climbed on to the figure head, stretching his neck as far as he could.
"Ew, that has to be the most disgusting Jolly Roger I've seen." That was the signal; Sanji narrowed his eyes and prepared himself to commit everything--however hard or hurtful it was--to memory.
The eight hooded figures materialized in the exact same spots Sanji knew they would; he had felt them coming but this time he didn't bother moving fro where he was. The figure appeared on top of Sanji, his image superimposing over his more substantial body so to anyone looking it would have seemed Sanji was covered by a translucent hooded cloak.
But it had no substance, it was just an image.
Sanji shuddered and moved the feeling of wrongness so strong it almost made him psychically ill. He looked around trying to see where the next hit would come from but there was nothing to see. The blow came anyway, taking his breath away with the force of it. He dodged the next one and retreated to the other side of the deck to check on his nakama.
Luffy was trying to punch thin air, attacking relentlessly the hooded image in front of him, his arms stretching through it. He was taking some minor damage, kicks and blows bouncing off his rubber body and not harming him much, but he was getting annoyed and impatient. Usopp was close to the main mast, his Great Pachinko in his hands trying to locate a target he couldn't see. He must have noticed it when his first hit missed the target and was not falling for the trap again. But that didn't mean he could find his intended enemy.
Robin had her hands crossed in front of her face, her eyes narrowed in concentration. There were the only hands she was using at the time, gaze darting around her trying to find something. Nami was next to her, almost back to back trying to conjure some kind of trick with her clima tact.
Sanji felt the air moving next to his head and quickly snapped his attention back to his own fight, moving aside as fast as he could at the hit he knew was coming. He had a flash of memory from the previous time and hurriedly took out one of his cigarettes, lighting it and blowing the smoke in front of him. He saw a blurry face coming at him full speed, an animal face eyes alight with malice and then he saw no more.
…
"They are not human."
The old lady was standing over him again, her expression clearly disapproving and Sanji knew it was over again. Everything was painful, every breath excruciating. He had not expected anything less but at least this time he had missed the end of the show.
Changing his reactions had an effect, though he was not sure it was the one he wanted to achieve. This time he had gone down sooner than anyone else.
But there was something he knew for sure, the enemies were not those fucking hooded bastards, those were decoys.
They were, once, she said, her expression softening. I thought you gave up but I can see the determination in your gaze. But can you afford to waste another chance?
Sanji inhaled some much needed air, the pain in his chest exploding and almost making him pass out.
"No, I can't," he said, each word feeling like sandpaper being rubbed against his throat. Damn, they had done even more damage this time, it was a miracle he still retained some consciousness. "But I can't defeat what I can't understand."
She nodded approvingly and smiled her face turning into that of a stunningly beautiful young woman.
Your time is now, she said, hold out for longer tomorrow and you will know more.
Sanji wanted to know, wanted to ask more questions but darkness was closing around him and he couldn't breathe anymore. He managed a weak nod and closed his eyes.
…
Day 3
Author: aviss
Pairing: Zoro/+Sanji
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Angst, Horror.
Warning: Violence, character deaths (only not)
Disclaimer: So disclaimed.
Summary: Sanji is given a second chance to set things right. And a third. And a fourth…
Word Count: ~2.900 this part
Day 1
Day 2
The first thing Sanji saw when he opened his eyes was Zoro's face scowling down at him.
Not again, he thought blinking owlishly to dispel the last shreds of the nightmare he had been having.
"Oi Cook, you fell asleep in the galley again and it's your watch now," Zoro said his voice a gruff whisper. He looked half asleep and Sanji stifled a yawn.
"Go to sleep you dumbass, I'm awake," he replied, standing up from the bench and moving to the door, and then he froze.
You've wasted a day, do you really want to save them?
Everything from his not-dream came back to him suddenly, abruptly, his breath hitching in his chest and his eyes tightly shut. No, it had been a dream, a nightmare. He was there--breathing, alive--and Zoro was just a step behind him and his palpable annoyance at Sanji, who was blocking the door frozen in horror, was something no corpse could radiate so clearly.
Sanji managed to move at the irritated tapping of heavy feet at his back, crossing the door without looking back and climbing to the Crow's Nest. He had to fight the impulse to go into the girls' cabin and check they were alive, breathing and pretty in their undisturbed sleep.
Everything had been a nightmare, it had to. He wouldn't believe otherwise. Exactly like yesterday, a voice piped inside his head, and look where that took you.
He stood on the Crow's Nest looking out at the dark waters, the moon reflected in them eerily red tinted.
Red Moon, a bad omen if there ever was one.
A shiver ran down thought Sanji's spine. He knew he had thought exactly the same thing before. He had been there, looking out and had noticed the red moon reflected on the black waters and thought the exact same fucking thing. And if he kept thinking everything had been a dream the same thing was going to happen again.
Sanji could remember the woman now; that strange old lady with the sweet and lovely voice and the kind eyes. The one who'd given him a chance to save his nakama.
You welcome Death? You welcome me?
Death, yeah why not? They had dealt with zombies before; Death itself wasn't that much of a stretch to believe in. And apparently she didn't want to take the Straw Hats, or at least not all of them. Sanji didn't know why and didn't much care as long as he was allowed to keep his nakama out of her grasp.
But how? It wasn't as if he had any fucking idea on how to get around doing it. Against an unseen enemy strong enough to wipe the entire crew Sanji had little to no hope, even knowing in advance what was going to happen.
He racked his brain, eyes fixed on the water. There had to be a solution, a way to do it, or the woman was just letting him struggle for nothing. And that he couldn't believe.
He thought about the black ship; it was old and decrepit, looking like the ghost ships the cooks at his first job told stories about: the ships of the dead, sailing the Gran Line looking for victims to take to hell.
Sanji could believe it had been one of them had he believed in ghosts. He didn't. Yes, it was creepy and the flag was even worse. The hooded enemies they had tried to fight were ghost-like: intangible, silent and immobile. But there had been something solid aboard the Sunny, he had touched hit, he had kicked it.
And if Sanji knew something for sure was that one couldn't kick ghosts.
There had to be a perfectly normal explanation, the Grand Line was full of weirdoes using Devil's Fruit powers. He just needed to find the one which matched what he knew.
And that was where he found the first problem. Sanji was no idiot, but he had to admit research, when it wasn't about food, wasn't his forte. With time and patience he might be able to find what he was looking for; unfortunately time was something he didn't have.
He needed help.
…
"I need your inestimable assistance for something, Robin-chan," Sanji said the moment she settled on the Crow's Nest, elbows resting on the windowsill and her pretty face propped on her hands.
Robin turned to look at him, her mouth opening slightly in a yawn. Last watch was one of the worst, the poor unfortunate soul assigned to it having to wake up way too early, and Sanji felt a prickle of regret for bothering her when she was half asleep.
"Of course Cook-san," she said her voice low and drowsy. Sanji hid a smile, happy to be allowed to see such a vulnerable side of her even in those grim circumstances. "What would you need from me?"
Sanji's heart leaped inside his chest, what he wouldn't give to hear those words coming from her mouth when she was fully conscious and they didn't have Death hanging over them. But he couldn't let himself be distracted by his fantasies, not now.
"About Devil's Fruits," he began slowly, his mind going over the way to phrase it in a way Robin, who was way more intelligent than should be allowed, didn't guess something was amiss. "I am curious to know if there is one which would make people ghost-like, intangible and invisible."
She turned and smiled at him, her lips quirking in amusement and a mischievous light in her half-lidded eyes. "You're not thinking how to peek in the girls cabin, are you Cook-san?"
Sanji felt his face heating at the implication but couldn't help but return the smile. It was clear she was teasing. "I'd never dream of it! I would never tarnish our beautiful relationship with such and untoward act, my dear Robin-chan!"
Her smile said she only believed half of it, but it was better for him that she thought he wanted to peek than to ask too many questions.
"I don't know of it," she said turning to look at the ocean again, "I'm not an expert in Devil's Fruit, though I read about them when I was a kid. Something like what you have described wasn't in any book I read about."
Sanji tried not look too disappointed at that answer but Robin must have felt something for she turned to look at him again and one of her hands--the real ones--grabbed his for a second, squeezing lightly before letting go and turning to look at the ocean again.
"I can check later if you want, Cook-san," she said, "I might have a book I the subject in my collection. It never hurts to double check."
"Thank you, Robin-chan," Sanji said allowing himself a bit of hope. "I will be in your debt forever. I'll go to start breakfast now, do you want anything special? My undying devotion?"
"Thank you, Cook-san but the usual is already special enough."
…
Sanji had not taken the storm into account and cursed himself for a fool for it.
Breakfast was exactly the same as the previous time, cheerful and noisy and as peaceful as the Straw Hats would ever manage anything when they were together.
Sanji kept thinking about his conversation with Robin in the Crow's Nest. So far as she knew there weren't any Devil's Fruit which would make people intangible, he best they could achieve was invisibility--and Sanji had already kicked that one as much as he needed.
So it wasn't any known Fruit, or at least not one of the common ones. If there was something like that it might be recorded in some sort of book but Robin had not read about it. Sanji believed that something Robin had not heard about would probably not exist, which left him with another problem.
If it wasn't a Devil's's Fruit Sanji had no idea what could it be.
His though process was cut short at Franky's shout, the rest of the morning spent trying to weather the storm with his crewmates, rushing over the deck at Nami's orders and doing everything they could.
When they finally fell on the deck exhausted Sanji had not found a solution. He needed more information and there was only one way to get it. He was loath to admit he wasn't going to save everyone tonight, but it was likely he would fail.
…
Waiting was the worst part.
Sanji entered the kitchen and busied himself with dinner preparations just to have something to keep him occupied, and also so his nakama didn't find anything amiss. There was no point worrying everyone, at least not yet.
Right on time the door to the kitchen opened and Zoro came in, the heavy sound of his booted feet on the floor making it impossible to mistake him for anyone else. Sanji kept on cutting his vegetables, knowing Zoro was going to sit there and just stare until he said something.
For a moment he entertained the idea of staying silent, not giving the marimo the pleasure of getting a reaction out of him, but a few moments of those eyes digging into the back of his head were more than enough to make him reconsider it.
"What are you doing here, Marimo?" Sanji finally said, the sooner he got it over with, the sooner he could focus on the important thing. "Don't you have anyone else to annoy?"
He waited out the answer, knowing it would take a few seconds.
"Something bothering you, Cook?" Zoro said, as he expected.
Suddenly the idea of having that same argument with the marimo, the argument they never got to finish the previous day, wasn't appealing at all.
Sanji had already resigned himself to consider that day as wasted--he had not been able to figure out the way to beat his enemies, had been unable to get more information than what Robin had given him in the morning. He was going to just watch and observe, really map out the events in his head and try to stay as calm as possible. It would be hard not to lose his head when everything he held dear was destroyed in front of his eyes, but he had to learn.
The last thing he needed was to let himself be distracted by the marimo.
"No, nothing is bothering me," he said without turning, hoping that by ignoring Zoro he would get the hint and leave.
No such luck, Zoro was stubborn among many other things. "No, you have been staring at me since I woke up two days ago. Is there something you wanna tell me?"
"No, I want you to stop pestering me and leave me to make dinner in peace," Sanji retorted, finally turning to look at him.
A strange expression passed through Zoro's face, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but was unsure of what he was going to say. His brow furrowed, puzzlement evident for a second before he scowled and grabbed his bottle, nodding to himself and moving to the door.
Sanji stared after him, wondering what had that been about. It hit him then, he had changed the script and Zoro had felt something different, almost as if he knew he was supposed to act in a specific way and he had missed his cue.
Weird. Sanji didn't know the meaning of what had just happened, but something told him it was important.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he knew was coming. Any minute now.
"Pirates!"
Sanji rushed outside, almost colliding against Zoro who was just standing in front of the door as if he was not sure what he was doing there, the bottle of Rum he had snatched from the kitchen unopened in his hand.
Zoro turned to look at him, his brow furrowed with the same puzzled expression he had before. "Damn, I didn't have time to finish dinner," Sanji said observing Zoro's reaction.
His expression cleared, the confusion replaced by something sharper and infinitely more Zoro.
"I hope they don't take too long to be defeated," Sanji said letting his mouth run freely, his eyes studying Zoro's.
"You can always go back inside, Cook, and let us deal with the problem," he said with a smirk.
"Nah, I've wanted to kick some ass for a couple of days," Sanji got a cigarette out of his pocket and inhaled the smoke, letting himself be calmed momentarily by the nicotine, "and since you are still recovering and will have to pass on this one, I guess I'll stay."
Zoro's expression turned murderous, his hands resting on the hilt of his swords, "Who says I can't fight?"
Sanji looked around marking everyone's position in his mind. Nami and Robin were by the left rail, a few feet short of the head. Brooke was close to them, a couple of steps behind with Chopper at his right. Usopp was in the Crow's Nest and looked ready to climb down to where Franky was next to the main mast. Luffy had climbed on to the figure head, stretching his neck as far as he could.
"Ew, that has to be the most disgusting Jolly Roger I've seen." That was the signal; Sanji narrowed his eyes and prepared himself to commit everything--however hard or hurtful it was--to memory.
The eight hooded figures materialized in the exact same spots Sanji knew they would; he had felt them coming but this time he didn't bother moving fro where he was. The figure appeared on top of Sanji, his image superimposing over his more substantial body so to anyone looking it would have seemed Sanji was covered by a translucent hooded cloak.
But it had no substance, it was just an image.
Sanji shuddered and moved the feeling of wrongness so strong it almost made him psychically ill. He looked around trying to see where the next hit would come from but there was nothing to see. The blow came anyway, taking his breath away with the force of it. He dodged the next one and retreated to the other side of the deck to check on his nakama.
Luffy was trying to punch thin air, attacking relentlessly the hooded image in front of him, his arms stretching through it. He was taking some minor damage, kicks and blows bouncing off his rubber body and not harming him much, but he was getting annoyed and impatient. Usopp was close to the main mast, his Great Pachinko in his hands trying to locate a target he couldn't see. He must have noticed it when his first hit missed the target and was not falling for the trap again. But that didn't mean he could find his intended enemy.
Robin had her hands crossed in front of her face, her eyes narrowed in concentration. There were the only hands she was using at the time, gaze darting around her trying to find something. Nami was next to her, almost back to back trying to conjure some kind of trick with her clima tact.
Sanji felt the air moving next to his head and quickly snapped his attention back to his own fight, moving aside as fast as he could at the hit he knew was coming. He had a flash of memory from the previous time and hurriedly took out one of his cigarettes, lighting it and blowing the smoke in front of him. He saw a blurry face coming at him full speed, an animal face eyes alight with malice and then he saw no more.
…
"They are not human."
The old lady was standing over him again, her expression clearly disapproving and Sanji knew it was over again. Everything was painful, every breath excruciating. He had not expected anything less but at least this time he had missed the end of the show.
Changing his reactions had an effect, though he was not sure it was the one he wanted to achieve. This time he had gone down sooner than anyone else.
But there was something he knew for sure, the enemies were not those fucking hooded bastards, those were decoys.
They were, once, she said, her expression softening. I thought you gave up but I can see the determination in your gaze. But can you afford to waste another chance?
Sanji inhaled some much needed air, the pain in his chest exploding and almost making him pass out.
"No, I can't," he said, each word feeling like sandpaper being rubbed against his throat. Damn, they had done even more damage this time, it was a miracle he still retained some consciousness. "But I can't defeat what I can't understand."
She nodded approvingly and smiled her face turning into that of a stunningly beautiful young woman.
Your time is now, she said, hold out for longer tomorrow and you will know more.
Sanji wanted to know, wanted to ask more questions but darkness was closing around him and he couldn't breathe anymore. He managed a weak nod and closed his eyes.
…
Day 3