Chapter Text
The Strawhats prided themselves on finishing most on-the-water skirmishes in under 70 seconds.
This pride was not unfounded either–a small section of the Thousand Sunny’s wooden railing was dedicated to the innumerable amount of etched tallies marking each victory gained under the time constraint.
Sanji had easily predicted another tally etched into the soft wood when he had initially noticed a rival pirate ship only slightly larger than their own vessel. He had scoffed at the moderate-sized crew, yelling and emphasizing threats by waving their meagre swords. His heart didn’t even race with the telltale rush of adrenaline when they boarded the ship expecting an easy victory. The bored, flat faces of his crewmates told Sanji what he already knew: this would be a one-sided battle that wouldn’t even result in a bruise.
At least, that’s what he had thought before a sickening crack filled the air–a sound only made when flesh and bone have been bluntly, brutally struck.
But what Sanji anticipated least of all was seeing Zoro crumpled in a dark green heap, sticky, dark blood pooling around his head on the floorboards in a grotesque halo.
The Strawhats had made efficient, ruthless work of the remaining enemies after that, no longer interested in drawing out a mockery of a battle.
Zoro’s attacker was quickly apprehended after the rest of the crew had been incapacitated, and much to everyone’s surprise, he was a meek, timid boy of no more than 12. He had been caught trembling behind spare barrels left on the deck of the Sunny, and made no move of resistance when Nami hauled him up by his thin wrist to face the rest of the Strawhats.
“Okay kid, I see his blood on you. I know it was you. Tell us how you managed to crack Pirate Hunter Zoro’s head open before he even noticed you were there,” Nami questioned firmly.
A wet rasp filled the air before the young boy could open his mouth. From the tied up heap of enemy pirates, a voice called out to the Strawhats.
“Please…don’t hurt my brother. Haruto…I’m s-sorry.” He let out a wet cough once again. “Don’t hurt him…I made him do it. Please…don’t hurt hi…” The ragged pirate finally succumbed to unconsciousness before unceremoniously slumping forward against his restraints.
The crew turned their attention back to the boy–Haruto, apparently–only to find the sight of wide, wet eyes. His bottom lip wobbled, and he scrubbed at his eyes with the hand not captured in Nami’s grasp. He held bravely silent for another moment, before bursting out wailing.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kill him! You can take my life for his! Just throw me in the water and I’ll drown right away, I promise! Please, please, please, just let my brother and his crew back on their ship. Give them to the Marines if you want, but just don’t kill them! I’m the one that did it, so just kill me!” He struggled against Nami’s hold, already attempting to throw himself in the lapping water below.
“Easy, kid. We’re not killing anybody. And that damn swordsman sure as hell isn’t dead, so don’t worry about him. We have the best doctor around.” Sanji’s words were firm, but not unkind. The scared, trembling boy before him made him think about metal helmets and iron bars. Of course, he was furious that some pipsqueak got the jump on one of his nakama, but he didn’t feel the spark of true, fiery anger in his heart. Just another kid caught in the ugly violence of the New World, he supposed.
“Hey did you eat a devil fruit or something? ‘Cause if you did, you have to let me know how it tasted! Maybe it was different from the taste of mine, shi shi shi!” Luffy remarked easily, his lighthearted giggles interrupting Haruto's hiccuping sobs.
Haruto sniffled and wiped his crimson nose and eyes with a filthy sleeve. “Y-yeah I did…I only ate it a coupl’a months ago…my big brother s-said we could finally be real pirates with it…finally make some r-real money…” he trailed off.
“So, being a real pirate means attacking Zoro for his bounty? That’s pretty foolish. And more importantly, what exactly did you eat?” Nami questioned with a small shake of Haruto’s arm.
He flinched away from her brash words, clearly ashamed of his naive hopes. At least he stopped crying, Sanji noted. “I don’t know the name, my brother told me to eat it, so I did. It was kinda clear, and it tasted pretty bad. It lets me do some special stuff…”
“Only partly clear…” Robin mused quietly.
“I can make stuff about me invisible, or gone kinda. I dunno how it really works, but my big brother was making me practice a special skill. He said that when we all got on the ship, I had to use it on the guy wearing the straw hat, the guy with green hair, or the guy with a curly eyebrow…” Haruto recalled.
Sanji’s eyebrow twitched in slight annoyance at his only key identifier being his unfortunate eyebrows. Typical, of course. Well, I guess we were the targets since we have some of the largest bounties on the crew, Sanji reasoned internally.
“What exactly is this particular skill, Haruto?” Robin probed.
“Ah…when I hold my breath and think really hard, I can be gone. Not just invisible, like the regular ability stuff, but gone. Like people forget I ever existed or was in the room. I’m pretty sure I phase out of existence, or reality, or something. It kind of only works in a certain range, like one time…” Haruto continued, informing a very interested Robin while the other Strawhats turned to discuss with each other.
Sanji huffed out a plume of smoke while running his hand back through his golden hair. “Well, that’s how that brat got through Zoro’s haki. He didn’t even exist,” he noted with a dry chuckle.
“Of course! Zoro-bro is too super to not have noticed a regular kid right behind him. But no one can predict what can happen with devil fruits.” Franky solemnly said with a shake of his head.
“Well, he should’ve figured out a way! I’ll definitely have to charge him for the extra medical supplies he’s gonna use, not to mention the emotional damages to poor Chopper…” Nami exclaimed, already calculating on her fingers the amount Zoro’s debt would undoubtedly grow by.
“I would be delighted to give our swordsman my brain if it means saving him! Oh wait…I don’t have a brain! Yohohoho!” Brooke trilled with a hearty laugh.
“Saving him…Chopper will surely save him. It couldn’t have been that bad. It was only a stone to the head. He’ll be fine.” Sanji cast a glance to the shallow pool of blood staining the deck, and to the heavy, jagged stone left floating like an island in the middle of it. In a small voice, he weakly added, “Right?”
The brief mirth that had once filled the conversation evaporated as the crew glanced over to the medical bay door–and Sanji’s stomach filled with the realization that life was delicate, even the life of a certain idiot swordsman.
- - -
They had decided to dump the tied up heap of enemies back onto their ship with a grateful Haruto in tow. He had thanked the Strawhats with many deep, severe bows that once again reminded Sanji uncomfortably of cold, stone castles on top of huge snails. They watched the enemy ship sail off, considerably lighter after Nami had taken the treasure stores as repayment for damage to their nakama.
Zoro’s injury was explained with many trembles and choked sobs from Chopper, who told the crew that although Zoro would most definitely wake up and recover from it like any other fleshwound, the true internal damage would not be known until Zoro could speak and reveal the capacity of his memory.
Thankfully, this tense, solemn period was only a clipped two days long, after which Zoro awoke and immediately began to try and train his already sufficient muscles.
The crew had gathered gleefully in the cramped medical office, all clamoring around the grouchy mossball and showering him with attention that Sanji internally admitted was well deserved after such a nasty injury.
“Hey Zoro! Do you remember me? What about Nami? What about Chopper? What about-” Luffy’s excited line of questioning was cut off with an exasperated shove from Zoro as he sat up in the cot.
“I don’t need you questioning me! Of course I remember everybody. Nami, Chopper, Brooke, Franky, Jimbe, Robin, Usopp…” he emphasized each name by looking squarely at the person, as if to truly drill into his crew that he really was alright.
Until his gaze was cast to Sanji.
Zoro’s mouth opened and closed a few times–which Sanji hilariously thought made him look like a very unfortunate green trout. The passing humor from this thought quickly melted away as it became more and more apparent that Zoro couldn’t recall his name. He eventually snapped his jaw shut in frustration, and scrunched his eye closed before opening it again with a determined expression.
“Who’s that guy?”