Chapter Text
Art by Me
The sea was churning, rolling them around, adding a nauseating sway to their journey. Life on the sea wasn't perfect, but if anyone had spent the last fortnight on it, they might have given up their life as a sailor. Or a Pirate.
It had been unruly for two weeks, but these last three nights had them all miserable. Regardless of the terrible storm, with Nami’s guidance, and Franky and Jinbe’s determination, the Sunny was cutting through the towering waves, no matter how hard the waves tried to beat them back. While sailing the grand line wasn’t ever an easy task, these last few days had been exceedingly trying. Nami had even made the comment it was like the next island was keeping them away.
“But we’ll get there! We’ll get there!” Nami snapped between clenched teeth, her soaked hair plastered against her face.
The constant waves and accompanying storms were keeping the crew soaked, weary, and on edge. Almost everyone had a cold, and with all the violent rocking, Sanji could only make simple nourishing meals, like rice, soup, or rice porridge, and even then, even the strongest of stomachs were struggling to get them down, not counting Luffy. Nami was guiding them through the safest parts of the storm, but even so, the Sunny was rocked and rolled around as if the ocean and storm were trying to push the ship under.
Or deter them on their current path.
Currently, Sanji was assisting Chopper in feeding the two sickest crewmates in the sick bay.
“Come on Usopp, a little more porridge huh? There’s some egg in it,” Sanji whispered pressing a spoon towards Usopp’s face.
“Ugh no… It’ll just come up!” The sniper groaned, only able to turn his face away from the food Sanji offered.
Usopp had been strapped to the bed at his shoulders, hips, and ankles, all because of the violent rocking. It had become necessary to attach ropes, and other forms of tethers to every loose object on the ship, including the crew. The beds were nailed carefully to the floor, boxes tied with long lengths of netting, and ropes were used to keep the members of the crew on the deck. Even Sanji, in his chair, had a strap he was gripping in one hand that hung from Chopper’s ceiling so that he could keep his seat if they were rocketed to the side by another wave.
Chopper scurried by and paused to pass Sanji some medicine, “More nausea medicine and a sedative. Nami says we should reach the island by morning. If he can eat something, and then take the medicine, that would be the best! It will help him sleep through it!”
Chopper then hurried over to Brook, a little rope trailing behind Chopper's body so that if the Sunny tipped on its side, Chopper wouldn’t go flying. Brook, tied down like all the rest, had had a terrible mishap aboard the deck earlier. He had been similarly tied when he was wandering outside, but the skeleton had been so roughly tossed on the deck of the ship earlier, that he had broken a leg. And with the constant rocking, Brook was having a terrible time trying to drink milk and mend his poor bone. He too had only just managed to keep some of it down and was also trying to be mercifully sedated to sleep.
Sanji sighed, yearning for shore. If they could just get to shore, rest up, and get back on their feet, they could wait out the storms, and get past this brutal part of the journey.
Leaning toward Usopp, Sanji whispered, “You heard Chopper, Usopp! This medicine will let you sleep, and maybe settle your stomach. But you have got to eat something.”
Usopp’s eyes prickled with frustrated tears, “Everything’s been coming up all day!”
Sanji leaned closer to Usopp, and with a sincerely sympathetic voice whispered, “I know Usopp, I know. I’m sorry… I’ll prepare you something delicious tomorrow when we’re docked and your stomach is settled.”
He held out the bit of rice porridge, and Usopp sniffled and took it. In silence, Sanji fed him two more bites of porridge, and then hastily helped Usopp drink some water so he could take the medicine. Those three bites of food had turned Usopp’s skin complexion ashen and green. Sanji detested it when his crewmates couldn’t eat.
Detested it.
He prayed to anyone listening, that Usopp could keep the three small bites down, at least that. Nothing but medicine and water had stayed in Usopp’s system all day, and Sanji was going to go wild with worry if Usopp couldn’t keep a little something down.
Chopper passed by, pausing by Usopp, his muzzle turned down in a frown. He and Sanji exchanged quiet looks, and Sanji passed Chopper the bowl of rice porridge and then scooped up the empty basin from the floor. Chopper took the bowl, and wandered off back to his desk, sitting and waiting. Sanji hurried to unbuckle Usopp from the tethers keeping him down and then slipped behind Usopp and guided the basin in front of Usopp as he helped him sit up.
“No,” Usopp sniffled pathetically, swaying from more than the rocking of the boat.
Sanji put his cheek in the crook of Usopp’s neck and sighed, “It’s just in case… it’s just in case.” He rubbed Usopp’s back as he blanketed himself around Usopp, trying to provide the sniper a little extra warmth.
“No… I’m gonna throw up again. I’m making the face!” Usopp whimpered, lurching a little as he dry heaved.
“Usopp, don’t panic, don’t panic. Keep it down as long as you can!” Sanji tried to encourage.
“I don’t want it to come up!” Usopp whined, exhaustion, and the little food in his system making him snappish and whiny.
Still holding the basin in front of Usopp, Sanji snaked his other hand under Usopp’s damp neck, and pressed a hand to Usopp’s eyes, “Just close your eyes. Maybe it’ll help. It’s okay Usopp, it’s okay.”
Usopp whimpered and tucked into Sanji who curled around him. Brook from his bed, watched Usopp with concern, tense and waiting, a skeletal hand draped against his own sweaty brow. Chopper drifted over to Brook, holding a wastebasket out to the skeleton. While they murmured together, Sanji kept his hand over Usopp’s eyes, and his cheek against Usopp’s fevered back.
The door opened as Usopp started puking again, Sanji closing his eyes with regret as he held the basin for Usopp as the young man heaved and choked into the vessel.
Nami lowered the hood of her useless poncho her orange hair as red as blood as it plastered to the skin of her face. She shook her soaking hair out, as she stepped into the warmth of Chopper’s room, her eyes watching as Usopp choked and vomited.
“Has anything stayed down?” Nami asked, worrying her lower lip.
Sanji shook his head no.
“Brook kept some milk down… he’s had a sedative and is drifting off now…” Chopper answered from Brook’s side. He was still holding a wastebasket for Brook, just in case, but it did look like Brook might be falling asleep.
“Mmmm, don’t say any food or drink’s name…” Brook groaned, his words somehow a little musical even as he slurred.
Usopp heaved harder, and Sanji winced.
“Luffy slipped over the side, but the rope kept him from disappearing,” Nami explained wringing her hands together. “Franky and Zoro are fishing him out, and will probably drop him off in here”
Chopper sighed, and gently pat Brook’s shin before getting up, “I’ll get a bed ready for him. Can someone dump him in warm water after he’s stripped down?”
“I’ll have the boys scrub him down,” Nami promised, lingering as she watched Usopp with concern.
“I’ll get some soup warmed up for him in a minute,” Sanji murmured.
Chopper took the full basin, and without showing any signs of disgust, checked the contents. He sighed, “Well, Usopp kept the medicine down somehow. I don’t see the capsules in here.”
Sanji ran a hand down Usopp’s arm, trying to chase the chill out of the sniper’s dampened skin. His other hand he kept over Usopp’s eyes, concealing the tears the sick and frustrated man was weeping into his palm.
“I swear, by morning, we’ll have this ship docked at the next island. Franky, Jinbe, and I are going to get Sunny through the last of this storm tonight!” Nami declared, her hands curled into little fists.
“Don’t worry yourself sick Nami, my dearest,” Sanji soothed, “It’s not your fault we can’t get past these storms, or that everyone is fighting off a cold, and tossing their lunches.”
Usopp groaned a little.
Nami smiled and shook her head, “I know the weather is strange on the Grand Line, but this time it's really weird. Normally I can detect the air pressure, and sense the change but this time… no warning. No sign of stopping. It got worse the closer we got to the island but the log pose was already stuck to it. We can’t pass by.”
She crossed her arms, “I've only barely been able to keep us on the surest path…”
“You’ve been doing fine,” Chopper said as he passed by them to tie up the contents of the basin. “We’d be way worse without you!”
“Chopper is right,” Sanji said gently lowering Usopp’s head into the pillow. Usopp wasn’t quite asleep but he was getting heavy, and quiet. If Usopp couldn’t eat, Sanji consoled himself, then at least he would sleep. Sanji slipped out from behind the sniper and checked over the young man, retying the belts to keep him in place. When he was sure Usopp was securely strapped back down, he smiled at Nami, “We’d be lost without you.”
Nami smiled, and pat Sanji’s arm, “Do you think you could make a large pot of coffee?”
“I’ll fill up the thermoses with coffee and soup. Something to chase the chill away,” Sanji promised, squeezing Nami’s hand.
She smiled at Sanji, took a last look at both Usopp and Brook and then slipped out of the room.
Sanji looked back at Usopp, his skin color less ashen as he drifted closer to sleep.
Chopper sneezed, and Sanji looked at their doctor with concern.
Chopper met his worried gaze and shrugged with a smile, “Everyone has a cold.”
Sanji sighed, “I’ll bring you soup too.”
“Rest up Sanji, you’ve been worried about everyone!” Chopper soothed, “You’ve been a big help, but after the soup and coffee, you should strap yourself down in bed too.”
Sanji smiled morosely, “It’s hard to settle when I can barely cook anything for anyone.”
“It’s like you promised Usopp, we’ll have a big feast when we’re docked!” Chopper smiled at Sanji and then waved him off, “Go on now!”
Sanji did finally leave, a little more at peace that the crewmates who were at their worst were asleep. Sanji could really tell he was worried if he was willing to cuddle someone out in the open. Cuddling was not something done unless under duress, or if they had all just completed a risky leg in their journey, or if he was completely drunk. Sanji didn’t care who he cuddled with, or who saw him cuddling, if only he and his crewmates could just get out of this storm.
Sanji hugged the wall as he made it to his kitchen and clung to the door frame once he entered. A wave had teetered them dangerous on their side, and for a moment Sanji was horizontal in the air clinging to the ship. At last, they breached the wave, and the ship settled back, and Sanji could put his feet on the ground.
He shook his head, muttered a curse, and then listed off his plans, “Soup, coffee, thermoses, bed!”
Sanji completed the tasks he set out for himself, which were twice as hard in the weather conditions. He’d lost a third of the soup when the wave knocked them on their sides, but he managed to save the rest. He shoved his thermoses in the bag and took them to Nami’s navigation room.
“Here, coffee and soups. Will you let the crew know when you’re back out there?” Sanji asked.
“Yes, thank you Sanji,” Nami said immediately taking a thermos out to down some coffee.
“Must you stay up all night?” Sanji asked, unable to help his concern.
“We’ve all been up on and off thanks to this weather! You haven’t slept in almost two days!” Nami assured pointing at Sanji, “Goto bed! When you wake up we’ll be docked and you can spoil us rotten with food!”
Sanji grinned, knowing he was fighting a losing battle, and bowed out of the room.
He made it men’s shared quarters and found his bunk. They normally all slept in hammocks but the ferociousness of the storm had caused Franky to create a series of bunk beds that he nailed and secured to the floor. The beds were perfect, and more than accommodating, though Franky kept muttering about fixing them up when they docked.
Climbing into the top bunk, and tying himself down into his bed, Sanji at last laid his head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep.
In his sleep, the waves were a roller coaster, and Sanji curled his arms around himself and shut his eyes as he rolled and rocked side to side. He was battered in the cart and felt sick as he looped again and again on the perilous tracks.
Large hands scooped him up out of the rocking, violent ride, and Sanji sighed as the violent stirring inside him settled.
“Oh, Aurinko…” a soft voice mourned, “You found him. You found Kuu… but I wish you hadn’t come.” The voice was androgynous, high-pitched, and youthful. Sanji opened his eyes and saw Merry’s foremast leering down at him.
It was raining, and the rain made it look like the little sheep foremast was crying. Sanji sat up, dread clenching at his heart, and he turned to look for Usopp. If Merry was here then...
Sure enough, out in the distance, he saw Usopp lying defeated on the ground, bleeding as Luffy stood over him.
“No!” Sanji choked, bubbles slipping past his mouth as he rose to his feet.
He made to run, but running underwater was impossible. Still, he tried, his thighs burning as he struggled for Usopp. “Usopp!”
“Kuu!” A voice like his own sounded next to him, and Sanji turned, and the colors around him shifted.
Everything was golden, and he was staring at a stream of golden waters that poured in a seamless stream. The water was reflective as a mirror, and the face reflected back was like Sanji’s, but not. The hair, the eyes, the shape of his brows… those seemed about right. But the skin was more golden, shining as if coated in glitter, and the golden hair that crowned his head practically glowed. Silken red linen was draped artfully around his body, while golden jewelry draped around his arms, waist, hands, and bare feet.
Sanji looked down at himself, bewildered by his strange state of dress. When he looked up, he spotted Usopp moving past him, on the other side of the golden water.
His skin was as dark as a night sky, with white flecks of glitter that could have been stars shining from his skin. He was dressed similarly to Sanji, draped in blue linen with silver delicate chains draped around his neck, arms, waist, and feet. His black hair was long, like a blanket, and pooled around him in dark curls.
“Usopp!” Sanji shouted.
Usopp stopped walking and snapped his head to look at Sanji, a bright white light shining behind his head like a halo.
For a moment Sanji feared Usopp wouldn’t recognize him, but Usopp cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Sanji!”
Usopp surged forward, and Sanji did as well.
They both crossed the golden streams, and Sanji wrapped his arms around Usopp hugging the man to himself.
“You’re here too! Thank God I’m not alone!” Usopp choked, his voice rattled with fear.
Sanji squeezed Usopp tighter, his own hands trembling as he gripped the sniper against him, “You… you’ve been here long?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Usopp whispered pulling back to look at Sanji.
Sanji looked back at him, Usopp’s face still like Usopp’s but slightly different. The biggest change was the darkened skin with the glittering flecks, his long blanket of flowing curls, and his eyes. Usopp’s round eyes were so luminous, they seemed to be glowing. Sanji blinked, and then so too did Usopp, who seemed to catch himself also staring into Sanji’s face.
Shaking his head Usopp whispered, “I… I haven’t been here that long, but no one is here, and I don’t have my slingshot, and someone has been chasing me-”
“Chasing you?” Sanji snarled with protective fury, his arms encircling Usopp a little tighter. “Who-”
A deep thrumming from benath them rose up from the ground. It was a steady beat, like a consistent note from a bass guitar. It was loud and vibrated through their feet and rattled their skulls. Usopp paled, and he took Sanji’s hand, “Run! That’s him!”
Usopp took off, his hand gripped into Sanji’s, and Sanji followed after him, his head on a swivel for whoever was chasing them. The deep frequency of a strumming bass guitar followed them, getting louder and louder.
Both Sanji and Usopp looked down, and the floor ripped beneath them. A loud blast of sound sent them spiraling away from each other, Usopp falling up whole while Sanji fell down.
Sanji made to scream for Usopp, but the name that poured out his mouth was, “KUU!”
Usopp also screamed, and the name he called was, “AURINKO!”
Sanji could just see the flash of confusion on Usopp’s face before some dark shadowed hand closed around him. Sanji tried to find purchase in the air, and tried to step up into a skywalk, but he hit the water, his skin stinging all over.
He heard Usopp scream, that high-pitched panicked scream he made that always had Sanji running for him. But the water had him, and he was rolled, and rocked, until a voice whispered against his skin, “Close your eyes Aurinko, close your eyes!”
Sanji obeyed.
“Be still! Save your strength. I’m afraid you will need it.”
Sanji sat straight up in bed, drenched with sweat, his gasp more of a strangled scream.
Someone else screamed next to him, and he jumped as he looked over at Jinbe who was staring at him with wide eyes, a hand clutched to his heart.
“Sanji! Sanji! You’re awake!” Jinbe boomed, one of his large hands slapping down onto Sanji’s shoulder as he rose to his feet. Sanji blinked, unsettled and confused, and looked around. This was not the men’s quarters.
He was in the Chopper’s med bay.
There was a gasping sound, and then someone falling flat on the floor.
Jinbe turned abruptly and Sanji could look past him to see Usopp flat on the floor, spilled out of bed. Usopp groaned and propped himself up, his eyes immediately locking with Sanji’s.
“Usopp too! You’re both awake! I’ll go get Chopper!” Jinbe rattled behind them, the sound of his thudding feet tearing from the room.
Sanji ripped the covers off himself and tried to get out of bed to assist Usopp, but he too collapsed, his body shaky and weak as if he were ill. He couldn't find any strength in his legs at all. But that didn't matter, had to get to Usopp! He had to make sure he was okay!
“Usopp!”
“Sa-Sanji!”
The pair clasped hands, and Sanji dragged his useless lower half to where Usopp had fallen and pressed his brow against the crook of Usopp’s neck. Usopp mirrored Sanji, his sweaty brow pressing against Sanji’s shoulder as he let out a breath of relief.
“Thank goodness you’re okay!” Usopp whispered.
“Thank goodness I’m okay? What about…” Sanji trailed off, his simmering anger cooling, as he lifted his head ready to chew Usopp out. But now he suddenly didn’t know what had him so scared or upset. He had known just a moment ago... but now it was lost. Usopp retracted his head too, his expression as confused as Sanji felt.
“Usopp! Sanji! What’s going on!?” Chopper’s voice cried, and the pair turned to see Chopper had rushed in with Luffy behind him, while the rest of the crew hovered outside, rich sunlight pouring in through the doorway.
“Uh…” Sanji blinked, and shook his head, trying to remember what only a moment ago he had known.
Usopp also let out a long confused, “Ummm?” as he too seemed to come up empty on an explanation.
“Did we get out of the storm?” Sanji eventually asked.
Chopper shook his head and hurried over to the two on the floor, shifting into heavy points to look them over.
Luffy stood with his hands on his hips, his normally cheery face in a stern frown, “You both have been asleep since we docked on the island, three days ago!”
“What?” Sanji burst, Usopp echoing Sanji behind him.
“Yeah!” Luffy said as Chopper put a hoof on Sanji’s forehead, checking his temperature.
Luffy shook his head gravely, “We haven't been able to have your food since you’ve been sleeping! Can we eat now?”
“Luffy!” Nami snapped, echoed by Robin’s more affectionate voice.
Usopp laughed behind him, and Sanji just stared up at Luffy thoroughly confused.
Why in the world had they been asleep for three days?