Until you will Laugh Again

A fan fiction by Crystalbluefox

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Chapter 10

Are you, you again?

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It's dark. Sanji stares around himself as he runs, but there's no one. There's nothing but that eternity of darkness. He crawls a bit, all of a sudden he feels out of breath, as if he has been running the whole night.

Then something grabs him, pulls him down by his foot. He yelps, screams and fights to get away from whatever grabbed him. He's afraid, horrified and is shaking, trembling like a leaf in the blowing wind. Then he feels the bites, not one, nor two, but three bites, bites there plants themselves all over his body. Flesh gets ripped off his body, blood floods and then he sees them again.

Then, he relives that horrible hell once again.

Flashes of Kaimi's dead body, flashes from that evening, the chasing, the teasing, the killing… his death.

The pain is horrible.

Every bone in his body feels like cracking, smoldering, crumbling, burning. His flesh sizzles, his blood is boiling. He can't breathe, he can't move, only violent spasms flows through his body. He gags, screams all the while wanting to tear himself apart.

Anything.

Anything to stop that horrible pain.

Die. Please, please, let me die already…!

And then, after what felt like an eternity of a burning hell, nothing. Darkness engulfs him again, his body's still spasm every now and then, until he lays there, all still, like a corpse. Feels nothing, senses nothing, he guesses that he has passed out some when.

…then…

Then he feels something…

The world pulsates and sends a shockwave through him, reawakening him. He gasps at the third or fourth pulsate, but stays where he is, all still, all motionless. He's not sure if what happened even happened or was a result of a horrible drunken night… the only problem is that he doesn't even remember being down at the bonfire last night.

It was last night, wasn't it?

He stares distantly up towards the eternity of blue, trying to piece everything together. Why was he laying here? What had just happened? Had he really been drinking so awfully much, that he couldn't even remember the beginning of yesterday? If so, why was he even out here all alone? Where were his friends?

But most importantly; where the fuck was he?

He tries to work his mouth, it feels like his tongue has been scrubbed with sandpaper, he can't even moister any saliva to wet it. He feels cold, slowly moving his limbs it almost feels like that he have been lying on the cold ground for days, right here among all the dirt and dumpsters.

But that can't be right.

Now that he thought about it, he was starting to feel quite hungry.

Steering towards the open streets, out of this dark alley, he squeezes his eyes together at the awakening sun in the distance. Its rays felt already warm in these early morning hours - apparently, it would turn into one of those very hot days.

His head pulsate, or his body does, or maybe it is even the whole world around him there does, he's not even sure and really doesn't care about it, all he care about is to get home and get something to eat… and maybe even a bath. Yeah, a bath sounds like a good idea… after getting something to eat.

He has to use the walls for support as he walks down the streets, not even remembering where the heck he'd parked his car. He hisses and staggers back as something suddenly burns his right arm. Looking at said arm he sees an angry red mark spotting on it, looking around himself he can't understand where the heck he should have burned himself at. Even stepping towards the same spot, he senses nothing, sees nothing, not before he moves his arm into the exact same position as he had it before, he sees the reflection of the sun's ray reflect in a store's large window, and points directly at his arm. Not knowing if he should feel amazed or freaked out as the ray slowly burns his upper arm, as if had he been out in the sun for far too long.

"Shit!" he croaks and pulls his arm away, rubbing at the increasing angry red mark.

Then he freezes as he spots something, or rather someone in the large window.

Or rather, who he barely can't se.

Turning fully around to be sure that he wasn't seeing things, he stands face to face with a very faded image of himself in the reflection of the window. The reflection looks very pale, almost ghostly white and its clothes, his clothes –Sanji looks down at himself and sees the exact same thing as the window were showing him; his clothes is ripped, torn and shredded almost to pieces. It almost seems as if he had been in a fight with a hungry tiger, or rather two of them. Pulling what was left of his clothes aside, he stares horrified at his pale skin, sporting a web of small new moons, or rather; bites. Realising that something isn't only horrible wrong and out of place, slowly starting to panic, Sanji glances carefully at his right arm. Where once had been a very angry red mark after apparently the sun's ray had burned him, there is nothing anymore, no angry red marks, no burned skin, there is nothing to see, beside… beside a web of white new moons forming across his very too pale sick-looking skin.

And then… right then, Sanji does not only remember last night, or the night before that or when the hell it actually had happened, but he also has a vaguely idea of why the heck he still is alive… an idea he does not like in the least.

Not being able to bear it anymore, Sanji screams, roars in misery…

…and wakes up.

Gasping, Sanji's eyes snaps open and stares widely around in the room he currently are sitting in. People are around him, humans that he does not know of, he knows that they are humans… he can smell it. He can smell their blood rushing in their veins, he can hear it drumming through their beating hearts, as his senses suddenly sharpens.

He's hungry.

He's so immensely hungry, that it almost feels like that it'll kill him, if he won't get anything to eat soon.

Something to drink.

"His eyes seems normal again," a woman suddenly speaks beside him, only inches away from his face. Sanji recoils and pulls himself away. He hadn't even heard her nearing him.

Was that good or bad?

"They're a sharp ruby red, very beautiful indeed." The woman says, a longhaired raven beauty. She looks matured, yet it is not possible to pinpoint her true age. The raven beauty looks him deep in his eyes as if searching for something. Sanji can do nothing but sit there holding his breath, as those beautiful eyes there, if you stare long enough into them, has a gleam of lavender in them. "Are you hungry?" she asks, noting his hands twitch and his fingers dig deeper into the furniture. "Do you want blood?" Even the shudder he thought he could hide at the mention of blood did she see, a fine delicate eyebrow raises at this, while those deep lavender eyes keeps reading him like a book. Her lips pulls up, nodding she pulls back. Sanji takes in a shuddering relieving breath of air. "Interesting. Very interesting indeed." She says, a hand rubbing thoughtfully under her chin "It seems like that you were very true to your word, young hunter. This breed is indeed a kind of its own, he's even trying to breathe like an ordinary human, though there is no heartbeat at all, it still hasn't secluded itself or rotten away. It normally would," she tells the young vampire, as if she's telling him how blue the sky actually is "the largest muscle of the human would normally seclude itself after being poisoned by a vampire's blood. Either it hardens and turns into what you'll call a stoneheart –though it's still the weakest point of a vampire-, or it will directly rot away. Those breeds are very often very close to zombies, you know, the kind whose bodies' slowly rots away, until there is nothing left of them, though still they are wandering around and eats other living creatures and feasts on their delicate brains."

"Jesus Robin! You're scaring the living daylight out of him!" Sanji looks up at the familiar sneer, who finally makes himself visible from the deepest of shadows. Standing tall and mighty, Zoro still wasn't looking all too well, his colours were still looking washed out and his shoulders is a little sluggish, though those eyes still were sharp and dangerous. Sanji immediately feels a pang of guilt.

"What a way to choose your words, young hunter." The woman says as she steps aside, allowing said hunter to step into Sanji's space, crouching he looks up into his old friend's eyes and searches them for something; It was the same look that Zoro gave him the first time they met, after… that time. A hand comes to lay on his chest, right above his heart. Feeling, waiting… waiting for what? Zoro doesn't say anything as long as he sits like that, the longer he sits there, the more worried he looks.

It almost comes as a surprise as he suddenly feels something beat in his chest, though that motion seemed to calm Zoro, as one more came a long time after. And then yet another one, and one again, until it was stable, slow, almost faint, but stable enough to be called normal for a vampire.

Zoro sighs visibly, but does not removes his hand. Sanji looks up at the raven lady who is still watching them like a hawk, one delicate eyebrow moves up in interest.

"That was a nasty one you just made there," Zoro suddenly says, the edge of the lips itching to pull up "How are ya feeling, Blondie?" though he sounds as casual as he does, the sound of worry is still very clear in his voice. Not being able to look into anyone's eyes anymore, Sanji looks down and to the side. Hungry. He was feeling so damn hungry that sitting still was becoming a challenge in itself, having his friend sitting this close against him, even having his hand on his chest, didn't help him in the least. Even though he feels disgusted about it, he can't stop but long to taste Zoro's blood, tasting the warm liquid pass through his throat, wetting his mouth, feeling the stream of life it always gave him, whenever tasting that disgusting delicious blood.

Sanji holds his breath as a wrist suddenly are offered to him, the hand almost right up into his face, as if to make sure that he would see it. He could already hear the blood rushing in the man's veins begging him to drink it. He groans, almost leans over to just take the offer, but stops, reluctantly he pulls away, turning his face away and curses himself for whining at the lost.

"I can't," he says, surprised to hear how old he actually sounds. "I can't do that to you again."

"Blondie? Drink it!" Zoro pushes and even pushes his wrist further up to his face, so close that if he stuck out his tongue, he'd be able to taste the salty skin. Heart hammering as if it still was alive, he digs his nails so deep into the furniture's softness, that the clothes tiers open and its insides become visible. He can't, he didn't want to, but god how much he wanted the blood. "Drink." Zoro says again. Sanji's throat runs dry, his insides are screaming to tear his friend's skin and drink his blood. He almost, barely can't hold himself back any longer, every piece of his willpower was being used to keep himself at bay.

"No," he croaks out "I, I can't. Not again. I can't do this to you again!" He snaps at him in the end, but Zoro is unfazed at it and only growls at Sanji's –in Zoro's eyes- stupidity.

All the while Robin stands there, and is watching the two men with interest; it was very rare that a breed said "no" to blood, even more rare to keep themselves at bay from attacking. More interesting it became, as the young hunter in his irritation stands up, pulls one of his swords hanging at his side, and slits the blade across his palm, deep enough to cut the skin to bleed but not too deep enough to make any further injuries. The breed is pale, almost white as a sheet, his red eyes is gleaming threatening, gleaming at the sight of the blood running down the hunter's hand, fully fixated at it, while heaving shakily for air, air that his lungs did not need, air that was, in his world, full with the heavy smell of blood.

And yet he did not attack, he did not lunge at the hunter to get his blood, instead he is sitting there, sharp nails imbedding her poor sofa, shredding it, he is trembling like a leave in the blowing wind there is tempted to let go and get carried away. Every ounce of willpower were being used to keep himself at bay, to keep himself from attacking, and funny enough, his reluctance was irritating the young hunter even more. Usopp, she noticed, had already hidden himself behind a door to a hidden closet, stunner already fully loaded, just in case the vampire would run amok. Wise, though he did it out of pure fear.

"Drink it." The young hunter says, showing the breed the bleeding hand. Sanji sits there, but does not move, he even stills his breathing. Zoro steps closer up to him with the bleeding hand right in front of him, but Sanji pulls back, presses himself as far into the sofa as possible, as far away from his friend and the bleeding hand as possible. But Zoro pushes further on, even as much to showing the hand right up in his face, even as Sanji presses himself deep into the furniture. He can't… he can barely keep himself at bay anymore. Every nerve in his body is screaming at him to lunge forward and attack. To rip his friend to pieces. To make a massacre. To make them all bleed, kill every one of them. Kill them and feast on their delicious blood!

Shut it! Shut it! Stop it!

He don't want to, why could Zoro not understand that?

He don't want to hurt anyone anymore, least his friend through many years.

His fingers are slipping, they want to move, they want to wrap themselves around the human's throat and tear it open, make it bleed even more.

'No, not those kind of thoughts!'

"Drink!"

"NO!" Sanji leaps up to attack, hands are already in the air to rip the human's face -no, Zoro, remember, ZO-RO! Sanji makes a fast movement and the hand, instead of tearing the other, makes to push him hard aside, as Sanji flees to the other side of the room and jumps. Nails imbedding into the wall to make himself stay in place, he looks down, realising that he was several meters above the floor, just like a cockroach hiding up in the corners between two walls and the ceiling. He looks to the side, away, ashamed at himself, not wanting to look anyone in their eyes. Chest heaving with every shuddering breath for air, air there were stinking with human blood, air he honestly didn't need. Yet he did need it, he needed it to stay sane to grasp to that small slice of humanity he had left somewhere inside of him, though he couldn't see it now, the way he was sitting up at the walls. He was trembling so much that he honestly thought that he soon would be trembling into pieces. "Please, don't," he whispers to Zoro, begging his friend not to push him any further, he barely can keep his mind straight anymore.

Zoro sighs and nods confirming to Robin, who nods back approvingly. "Seems like you're still you." Zoro then says with a calm voice as he slides his katana back into place. Sanji looks confused at him, nails imbedding deeper into the wall, his mind so fixated for blood that he barely can construct a normal sentence.

"Yes, indeed you were right," the raven-haired beauty says, stepping up closer "He is one of the rare kind there still is clinging to humanity. Normally they would just give it up, also because of all the traumatizing dreams they will get the first three years."

"…nothing…"

"Excuse me?" Robin questions.

Sanji hives a shuddering deep breath of air as he slowly shakes his head "I… can't, keep my mind, straight much more… there's no… huminy… humanity left, in me. Just, look at me. There's, nothing…left."

"Then I will advise you to drink some of the offered blo-"

"No! no," Sanji repeats, his throat feels dry, it hurts to talk "I don't, want to hurt anyone… anymore. I can't, I can't keep myself, I don't-"

"You afraid that you'll attack me, Blondie?" Zoro adds in, fully serious. Sanji nods his answer, slowly letting himself slide down till his feet meets the soft carpet, staring down at it, ashamed.

It doesn't even take half a second after his feet meets the floor, before Zoro is up in his face, katana pulled and presses dangerously against his throat, threatening to slit through the skin and cut his head off. Sanji takes in a shivering breath of air as he closes his eyes shut, awaiting for the sharp metal to do, what he knew it truly wanted to do; end it, kill him. He evens moves just a millimetre too close and feels it cut through his skin; like a knife through butter, he can hear the blade hum by the taste of his blood. The scent of blood floats his senses and it takes him yet another three long seconds to realise that it isn't his own blood he can smell. Opening his eyes, he sees Zoro's wrist almost pressed up under his nose. "This is better?" Zoro says. Sanji swears that he is way too slow to piece any coherent words together today. Normally his brain would be sharp in picking up things, but normally one wouldn't be alive –or as alive as he now could get- after getting your gastric pierced open and sucked out what felt like half of the soul, while almost getting your heart pierced through as well.

Sanji is slow in responding as he finally gets it, and Zoro is patience to wait for the answer. Sanji licks his lips, chest heaving heavily as his eyes are fixated at the offering bleeding hand, carefully his tongue darts out to lick up the red lines running along the other's hand. Upon tasting it, Sanji finally loses himself to his want, as he bites down and is overwhelmed with the desire for delicious cursed blood.

He drinks, laps it into his mouth, feels it running down his throat, feels his insides suck the liquid to them, feels the warm grow and the cold slowly disappear. He hums, even moans in delight, he would almost say that it is better than an orgasm after wonderful sweet sex with a beautiful woman, but that would almost put him as a rapist towards Zoro in his mind, and that alone sounded fully wrong in all logic terms he knew of.

Even though there existed no logic in his world anymore.

Strength growing, his hand shoots up and grabs the offered wrist as his teeth sinks in deeper, wanting more, needing more of the wonderful taste, this wonderful growing feeling.

More. More! He wanted much more!

A sharp cut there were meant to hurt, awakens him immediately up from his daze and remembers him what he's doing. Letting go way too fast, his throat gets cut up even more by the blade. He had let himself get lost in the moment, he had let himself drink to his fullest desire and not even given a living care shit for Zoro and his wellbeing.

"Guess that's more than enough," Zoro croaks, who clearly had let Sanji get more than what the hunter barely could handle himself, it both infuriates the blond but also makes him feel a lot worse about the whole situation. Even though that his friend gives him a reassuring smirk, it doesn't make him feel any better. "Your eyes are somewhat back to normal, couldn't really tell… when you had them all closed like a baby there drinks from its mother's breast." And just as the horrible bad feeling for himself and the shame towards Zoro came up, just as fast it disappears, as the clearly mocking words just added fuel to his growing anger.

"Stupid fucker!" he growls, throwing his knee up with enough force to remind the other that he easily could make him sterile, but not enough to break his damn chances to make shitty little copies of himself some when. The following pained grunt was somewhat satisfying listening to "I've told you to stop me in time, when I can't get a grip of myself!"

"I managed tha jus fine." Zoro says, giving him a drunken tired smirk despite the pulsating pain in his lower regions. Sanji's at his throat in less than a second and presses the hunter threateningly against the wall… at the opposite site of this room.

"You managed shit you damn moss-head," he snarls at the man, sensing the other occupants in the room tensing up and readying themselves to attack, if he should go any further with his threatening composure "You've barely come over the last time I fucked up, and then you freaking hell let me go this far?! Don't fucking argue, you shit for brains!"

"M'a fine."

"Hell you're not! You almost sounds like a drunkard… your drunkard!"

"M'not drunk! Jus, tired."

"That's not making it any better, fuck-head!"

"Whatever," Zoro says, waving it off "You still need more. The stuff Ace gave you and did to you does that you need more blood to construct yourself again."

"I thought you said that I've gotten more than enough." Sanji says angrily.

"Yeah, from me, but you need more,"

"I don't need more of anything. I'm just fine!"

"Really?" Zoro says, pushing the blond aside. Sanji immediately slaps the human's hand aside with a deep growl.

Zoro. Zoro! Not just any human! The heck was wrong with him?

"Are you really fine, Blondie? 'cause to me you seems to be in an inner conflict."

"Fuck off!" Sanji says as he hammers his knuckles right into the wall right next to the hunter's head. Gasping, eyes widening as he suddenly realises what he's doing, Sanji pulls away while looking down at his hands. His precious hands there were so close to smash his friend's head right into the wall. "What I…? Shit…!" he curses, burying his head into his hands "What's gotten into me? I didn't mean to, I…fuck!"

"Normally, if by all mean anyone survives such an attack from the fire devil Ace, as you did, young vampire," The raven beauty adds in as she walks up to him, Sanji looks up from his hands and pulls away as she reaches for his shoulder. He doesn't want such a beauty to touch such filth as he, he doesn't trust himself from not attacking her in a blink of an eye, if she was to come too near. She looks a bit surprised at his action, but remains calm "they would hunger for more blood so much," she continues unfazed "that they would kill everyone in its near, a brutal bloodied massacre, until they feel themselves fully satisfied."

"You're too morbid, Robin," a young man with and obnoxious long nose and a bit younger than Zoro and he, speaks up as he dares to show himself from his hiding place. The beauty, who apparently goes under the name of 'Robin', only gives the young man a little smile and shrugs.

"I am only pointing out the facts of what normally could have happened." She says, as did she point out that puppies are cute.

Sanji hears a groan and is fast to grab Zoro's arms, before the hunter slides down fully to the floor. "Shit. I need to sit for a moment," Zoro says tiredly, Sanji nods and helps his friend over to the sofa, where he lays him down. He's pale and looks like he's about to slip into unconsciousness at any moment now. Zoro takes in a shuddering breath of air, one hand laying slack over his eyes, as if to shield them from the room's lights.

"We need to get Chopper-"

"No," Zoro says a bit too hastily, but braces himself as he continues, "I just need some rest, then I'll be all fine again."

"You sure? You almost looks like that you're ready to kick the buckets."

"Yeah? But it's only almost, right?" Zoro says, smirking mockingly. Asshole. Always trying to make things look brighter than it truly is.

"I can assure you that young Mr. Hunter will not 'kick the buckets' as you put it," Robin says as she comes up to them "he has a way of… getting better just by getting some rest. In the meantime," she then says, pulling up her sleeve of her blouse "I'll gladly offer my blood for you to drink."

Sanji is stunned for a moment, but declines. "Nononono, I could never do that to a beautiful lady, such as you."

"But I insist."

"No!" a familiar voice speaks up. Sanji watches as the one who interrupted, steps out from their hiding in the shadows. "If someone should offer something, then it should be me!" Sanji can't believe what he's seeing, as the person is fully revealed. He literally drops his jaw, stunned into a silent shock.

It's a turtle.

A humanoid turtle, walking on two legs and is talking, freaking talking!

"It's my fault after all," the humanoid turtle says, trying to give a helpful smile, though he clearly looks like he is feeling very uncomfortable among these people.

Sanji is still starring deadpanned at the freaking humanoid turtle, still trying to comprehend the thought that this is actually real and not just some fucked up dream. It talks, keeps on talking, but Sanji doesn't listen to it, he doesn't hear the questions, the explanations or whatever the fuck it says, he only sees the lips moving, but does not hear the words. Something is truly fucked up, and he doesn't mean the turtle only.

He can't explain it, but somehow he feels drawn to this turtle, like… he is some delicious petite desert, a desert he had hungered for in ages. He want to attack, yet he is still as a tiger lurking its prey out to expose itself. Only as Zoro's hands touches his shoulder, does he wake up and realises that his knees are no longer touching the floor, that he is strung as a string on a bow, ready to fire its arrow at any moment, hadn't Zoro 'woken' him out of his daze. Of course, Zoro was fully aware of this –one could never hide a shit from this bastard.

"Sanji? This is my little brother."

And hell yeah, if that didn't wake him up. "Your WHAT?!"

"Yo, s'me, Mikey, remember me?"

Oh no. Oh fuck no, it couldn't be –

"The tracker?"

Mikey gives him a cheesy smile and scrapes his foot nervously in the carpet, like a kid in his age normally would do, when been caught with his hand directly down in the cookie jar.

Or how old was he again? Being all dead in all those years must have aged him somehow too… only, the so-called "kid" were far from dead now, not to say far from being human.

Sanji is more than confused.

"Explanations later, you need more blood." Zoro says nodding to his so called little brother –a brother Sanji in the moment doesn't remember hearing Zoro ever have talked about in the past.

He wants to retort, to say that he is perfectly fine and doesn't need to drink any more, only… only that he isn't perfectly fine or anything close to it. He's still thirsty, thirsty for more blood and that doesn't make any sense, since he'd just drank Zoro almost into unconsciousness.

"And I'll offer myself." Mikey says stepping up closer, braving himself up, as if he was about to sacrifice his body to death himself –well, he wasn't entirely wrong there "After all, it was me who brought Ace to you-"

Whatever the turtle was about to say next it was out the door, the moment Sanji starts chuckling – at what, he doesn't know himself, but somehow this just seemed all amusingly to him. Suddenly he stops laughing and looks up with a predatory smile. The kid tenses up but does not step back down from his offer.

How impressive.

"Careful what you ask for, turtle."

The next thing any of them know of, Sanji's at the turtle's throat as he slams the creature against a wall, and bites down, deep.

Only as the turtle gasps in realisation of what just happened, only then does the other humans in the room react as well. Sanji forces the turtle's head further to the side to get better room to bite.

Oh god. Oh freaking fucking Jesus god and what else there's holy to this world.

It tastes good. It tastes better than anything Sanji ever in his life has tasted before. To think that blood could taste like this. The taste dances on his tongue, tingles his senses, lighting his pheromones, floods down his throat and he has a feeling to come very very soon as he directly moans in delight.

It feels like a rape, it feels like fucking great sex and man he just can't get enough of it! He feels his strength grow, his power increase, all his senses sharpen, but are unaware of the world around him; he doesn't give a shit. He senses the other say something to him, even begging him about something, but he doesn't give a shit, he doesn't care for a damn thing, as the body in his arms grows weaker and colder. What he cares about is this and to get more of it. More. More. More!

Not even a sharp pain to his throat wakes him out of this wonderful bliss, nor the calls and screams for his name or the desperate clawing in his clothes makes him pull away from this body. He wants more of this taste and that's all what he cares about, nothing's gonna-

Sanji halts abruptly as something stabs right through him, dangerously close to his heart. He lets go of the body, there drops heavily to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He gurgles as whatever's inside of him twists around and just barely peaks his heart.

If he wasn't aware of his surroundings before, he definitely is now. He looks down at the sword embedding through his chest, its blade shining sickening back up at him, gleaming with his red blood colouring it. It takes him some time to realise who the sword belongs to, and as the body behind him leans fully against his and speaks lowly into his ear, Sanji knows for sure.

"Are you, you again?" Zoro asks with a mix of worry, wariness and venom. As Sanji's too slow to answer, he feels the blade cut further up his chest in a sharp jerk. Sanji gulps, knowing that this would come. He looks down at the body of the turtle lying motionless before his feet, both the raven beauty and the kid is over it, trying to get a response from it.

Zoro shakes him hard out of his thoughts and demands an answer, but Sanji can't give him any. He can't. If he was still him? No. No he wasn't. Who in their right mind would else kill a kid like that? Turtle or not turtle?

He feels Zoro's fingers slide through his hair, and, he doesn't know if the other hears his sappy useless apology or not, as he gets his head yanked back while the blade slides deeper and is getting dangerously closer to slit through his heart. Zoro pulls him along with him while Sanji can't tear his eyes off the still motionless body. No matter the story, he'd just killed – no, scratch that- murdered his best friend's little brother, after just returning back. As Zoro forces him out through the room, he finally closes his eyes, as he knows that his final has come. They helped him, and he did nothing but to greedily take more than necessary and even murdered one of them as a 'thank you'. He deserved nothing less.

As Zoro stops, Sanji holds his breath, awaiting for the blade to cut his dead heart in two.

He waits… but nothing happens. Apparently this is hard for Zoro as well, no wonder, they've been friends for years.

"Open your eyes." It's not a question, but a demand. Seems like Zoro wants him to see it while he finish him off, but Sanji can't get his eyelids to open, if he did, the dam would just burst. "Open 'em." The command sounds again, but this time less menacing, the word 'please' almost hanging soundless in the air, as his hair gets yanked again. Sighing deeply, Sanji finally opens his eyes, just to face a blurred cruel image of himself; his clothes is torn and splattered on it, running from his mouth, were blood. The turtle's blood. Zoro's little brother's blood. The evidence of what he have done. But the image keeps getting more blurred as salty tears fills his eyes, and finally falls, clearing his vision enough to see Zoro staring directly at him.

"I'm not me," Sanji croaks out pathetically "I've never been me, not ever since I became this." Zoro says nothing, only watches him as he speaks. "I'm nothing but trouble. I fully understand that you need to do this. I won't fight it," he says defeated, "I promise I wont." Zoro pulls his hair a little tighter and forces him to stand tall with his head bend a little behind, while still looking into the mirror, and Sanji watches him through his blurred vision, as he can barely make out that Zoro's watching him as well. Even though that the hunter looks ready to collapse at any moment, his eyes are sharp and merciless. "Please just get it over with." He sighs, gurgling as the blood rises into his mouth, wasted blood, he can't help but think.

A whole of two minutes of silence and only watching each other, Zoro's deep voice suddenly rumbles as it calls for those in the other room to hear "Robin, get in 'ere!"

Sanji suddenly feels a search of panic "No, no don't let her see!" he says horrified under his breath, not wanting a lady or any others to watch him die, but his words are unheard. Robin enters the room not long after, as silent as a shadow.

"He will live," the lady says reassuringly and he can feel Zoro sigh in relief "But just barely. It's a good thing that demon's blood reproduce itself much faster than humans; else I would say he wouldn't have survived it." Sanji feel himself relaxing just the slightest at the words. So the turtle was a demon? That somehow made sense… or not… he didn't really know and never would get to know it. He feels water running down his face as he closes his eyes. At least the kid will live. He can feel his skin and flesh closing in on the sword in a weak attempt to close the wound, but every time he takes a deep breath of air out of humanly habit, he feels the skin reopen under the sword's sharp blade.

"Open your eyes," He hears Zoro telling him again, this time a little softer than the first times. As Sanji does as told, Robin bends down in front of him enough so they stand face to face, her deep mysterious lavender eyes watching his eyes closely. Yet again, he did not hear her come up to him this closely. "What do you make out of this?" Zoro asks.

"Despite the colours of his eyes is not the clean ocean blue as you have spoken of, but only a faded reflection of its burning surface," she says without moving her eyes from the vampire, her head tilts just the slightest to one side "I see nothing but, remorse."

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To be continued

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