Sanji invited the rest of the crew to go out on the town that evening for an exciting night of drinking and partying, to celebrate Iris's freedom from the last of the bandages. Nami and Robin were shocked to hear that Sanji was taking Iris out that evening; her romance with Zoro had been so obvious that such a drastic twist of events with Sanji was difficult to comprehend, to say the least. Robin suspected that Sanji had ulterior motives with such a move, but kept her thoughts to herself. Either way, Iris had come to the two girls not for love advice, but fashion sense. As they helped her choose an outfit for going out for the evening, Nami decided to try and pry into what was going on herself.

"I didn't know you were into Sanji," she said with a sneaky smile on her face, shuffling through a variety of skirts, shirts, and dresses.

Iris returned the smile, hiding her broken heart from the navigator easily. The more people she worked to fool and hide herself from, the easier it was becoming; but with each new deception she felt more and more hollow. "Do I have to be into a man to agree to go out with him?" she answered playfully as Robin styled her hair and did her make up. "I'm free now. I just want to see where the new boundaries are, if there are any. If there aren't, then I'm just going to do what I want, when I want, and with who I want."

"That's my girl," Nami said confidently, unable to counter Iris's false sense of independence even though she knew something was very out of place. "Here's a good dress," she said, holding up a red, strapless number with a tight fitting bodice and a swirly skirt. "What's best about it is that it's red; if Sanji has a nosebleed from how hot you look in it, at least it won't show," she said, earning giggles from both Robin and Iris as the three finished getting ready for the evening.

Zoro hadn't wanted to go; but Sanji had already set a trap in motion to make sure the swordsman came. The chef let Usopp in on his plan, who in turn got Luffy to order Zoro to come out and drink, the captain under the impression that it wouldn't be right to party without his first mate. Zoro reluctantly agreed, and the majority of the Straw Hats arrived at an airy club playing upbeat samba music, save for Chopper who stayed behind to watch the ship.

Iris felt awkward at Sanji's side, especially with Zoro along with them all. In the back of her mind, she was trying to find a way out of this, but she didn't know how to tell Sanji no, or any of the crew, really. You've got to cut this off before Sanji gets involved any more. You're not worth it, you know he deserves better just like Zoro does, that small voice echoed in the back of her mind again. Sanji's voice interrupted her thoughts, however.

"Drink or dance first, my princess?" he asked, chivalrous smile crossing his face, determined not to give Iris any chances to get away.

"Mm, dance, I suppose," she answered, still distracted by her own thoughts. Zoro had already found his way to the bar and was going through shots of rum like they were water; she wanted to avoid him as much as possible. Sanji led her to the dancefloor and they began to dance to the samba music, much to Zoro's disappointment; Sanji had been worried at first that the swordsman was going to drink himself stupid, but he made a mental note that Zoro was eyeing them carefully just as the chef had hoped. She may not want Zoro at her side now for reasons unbeknownst to him, but the chef was keenly aware that the swordsman still wouldn't let anyone hurt her, especially himself. As it stood, Sanji was dancing with her far too closely and she didn't seem entirely comfortable with his proximity at first, but both gracefully and expertly danced several songs away. Not once did Iris push Sanji away, and for most of the evening appeared to actually be enjoying the night out with him as they alternated drinks and dances; seeing that she was happy, Zoro tried to watch them less and less. Occasionally, the rest of the crew members joined them out on the dancefloor; all in all, it appeared everyone was having a good time, save for the swordsman. Close to the end of the evening, however, Zoro glanced towards Sanji and Iris on the dancefloor one last time, and his heart seized. A slower song was playing, and space between blacksmith and chef was nonexistent; Sanji appeared to be whispering something to her in her ear. But what caused him pain most was the discomfort he read on her face; it seemed she didn't want to be there with him after all. Why does she just not push him away, then, dammit?! he thought in hopeless frustration.

The walk back to the ship was even more awkward than the journey to the club; alcohol had disinhibited everyone. Sanji was getting cozier with Iris, Zoro was scowling more and more as the walk wore on, and the rest of the crew members were singing and talking loudly, either truly oblivious to the tension building between the three bringing up the rear or trying desperately to be so. Most of the crew immediately headed for their quarters to crash for the night, but Sanji led Iris to the railing to watch the stars, an arm around her waist and the other hand in her hair. Zoro watched them out of the corner of his eye for just a few moments as he paused at the door to the hallway before retiring himself, then froze as Sanji tilted her chin up to kiss her; the chef's closed eyes failing to notice a solitary tear trace down her cheek. In the moment that it took for the drop to sparkle in the moonlight, he was across the deck with Wado at Sanji's throat.

"Zoro! What the hell are you doing? Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?" Sanji snapped. Finally, God, I didn't peg him for the patient type; thought he'd never move off his ass!

"What the hell are you doing, you shitty cook?! Aren't you the one always saying you can hear a woman's tears from miles away?" he retorted, rage at the chef's blatant ignorance of Iris's pain causing his arm to tremor just barely enough for Iris to notice.

"I'm not crying, I'm not! Honestly!" Iris tried to defend frantically. Don't hurt them! What are you doing!? that voice cried in her head, panicked. "Zoro, it's fine! Sanji, I think I'll just go to bed," she mumbled, looking down at the deck.

Sanji paused, watching her and looking back at Zoro, wondering if this was enough to get them talking again. "If that's what you want, my dear. Then I'll excuse myself and head to bed, too," he answered quietly, then turned and headed into the ship. Iris went to follow him, but was stopped by Zoro's question, the first words he had spoken to her since yesterday when she had let him leave her room without a word.

"If you hated being with him so much, then why even go out with him?" he asked, a raw pain lacing his voice.

She stopped, willing the tears in her eyes to go away with all her might. She took a deep breath and steadied her voice before answering without turning to face him. "Who said I didn't like being with him?" she questioned weakly. She heard him sheath his sword behind her and then his footsteps on the deck approaching her from behind. As much as the bitter voice told her to walk away and leave him there, she couldn't breathe and the pain in her chest froze her in place. He turned her to face him and took her hands in his.

"Iris, you don't have to lie to me. You don't have to lie to any of us. You don't have to put on this stupid act to hide whatever it is that's hurting you. I know something's wrong, please just tell me. It's eating me alive seeing you like this, even though I know you don't want me to help you anymore," he said, letting her see the tears in his own eyes. The raw ache that she saw in his face threatened to destroy her right then and there; if she hurt him, irreparably, there was no way she would be able to live with herself. Push him away! Do whatever it takes to make him move on! the voice screamed inside her head. She tried to walk away, not able to answer him without a flood of sobs following.

"Don't run away from me. Not now," he said, voice cracking, clammy hands holding hers tightly. "Please, I'm begging you, Iris, tell me what you're thinking. I can see how much you're hurting, but I don't understand why. What happened to us? I thought you were happy with me. Do you not want me to love you anymore?"

Iris clamped a hand over her mouth attempting to stifle the unrelenting sobs; his words were too much, too broken, too painful. Zoro wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. "Don't hold back. You don't have to carry your pain by yourself. Share it with me."

"How can you look at me the same now as you did before?" she choked out as the dam of sobs burst, hiding her face in his chest. "I'm not the same as I was before. I'm not strong anymore, I don't even know if I can be again. My arms, my face are permanently scarred; I'm a monster now. I'm pushing you and Sanji away because you both deserve better than me, and I'm going to leave the Straw Hats. Luffy can't have a weak blacksmith in his crew. I'll never be the same again, and I'm not worth anything to anyone now," her words poured out before she could think them all through; the insistent voice in her head terrified at her outburst. No! Don't you realize that will hurt him more than anything else?!

His own tears stopped in disbelief, and he looked down at the top of her head. He held her tightly, unable to think of any words that would do enough justice to heal this. He had been prepared to face her wrath at his actions that disfigured her; he hadn't expected that her hatred had turned on herself. She had been doing so well; so many things had come together just right at Liberty Island, but she was still so fragile. Perhaps Cobalt had been right, in a way. Iris really wasn't free in her own mind; she was still trapped by what she had been told about herself for years and years by abusive, horrible people. "You can't push me away. You can't push Sanji away, either. Nor the rest of the crew. We will chase you to the ends of the earth. You are a Straw Hat now, and nothing you do, nothing you think, and nothing you become will ever change that. You are priceless. What you're worth? You can't be bought or sold anymore, you are free. Your heart and spirit are what make you priceless, not your strength or your scars. You are the most beautiful warrior I've ever met, Iris. Please stop saying this nonsense about being weak, and being a monster, and leaving the crew. You're not going anywhere, and no one wants you to. I won't let you," he said resolutely, pain still marking each word that he spoke, reflecting Iris's heartbreak.

Iris sobbed harder into his chest; the voice that had haunted her over the past few days was shrieking in her head, arguing against everything he was saying. But even that panicked voice couldn't stop how comforting Zoro's arms felt or convince Iris that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life standing and fighting with him. The voice couldn't drown out how deeply she loved him; and as those feelings began to silence the voice in her mind, she could only cry harder. How can I even explain what I'm thinking and feeling? I don't even understand it myself, he'll probably just think I've lost it. She couldn't catch her breath and she felt dizzy; the strength left her legs and Zoro caught her before she fell to the deck. He supported her shoulders with one arm and swept her legs up with the other, resting her head against his shoulder and carried her down to her room as she continued to cry. His heart stung with every gasp and choked sound, but he knew she wouldn't be able to tell him anything this way, she just had to let it out. He sat down on her bed and continued to hold her as she cried; soon they both fell asleep, their emotions overwhelming and exhausting them both.

Zoro awoke first, watching her sleep peacefully in the early morning light. He brushed the hair out of her face and wiped the tear stains from her cheeks, letting calloused fingers discover the spider web scar around her eye. Her scars were no worse than his own. Nor were they any worse than Luffy's, Nami's, or Franky's. Or Robin's; Iris's hopeless determination reminded him of Robin's attempt to disappear from the Straw Hats at Water 7, and Luffy had shown that they would take on her enemies and fight to the end for her. He would do everything in his power to show Iris that same tenacity and stop her self-hatred in its tracks right now.

She stirred in his arms and looked up at him with eyes bleary from sleep and stale tears from the night before. "Good morning, beautiful," he said gently, a half-smile on his face. Tears filled her eyes immediately and she rested her head back on his chest. She'd tell him what was bothering her now; he could tell by the way that she wasn't trying to push him away anymore. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I'm all ears when you're ready to talk," he added quietly.

"Zoro, you'll think I've lost my mind if I tell you what's going on in my head," she whispered. "I don't even really understand it." She paused, anticipating a reaction of some sort, but he only waited patiently for her to continue. She closed her eyes once again, relaxing to the sound of his heartbeat and the slow movement of his chest rising and falling with each breath, then ventured on. "Things had been going so well up until Chopper took the bandages off and I saw these horrible scars, right? Except not totally. Somewhere along the line, when we were training and I saw myself falling behind, struggling with things that I should have learned quickly, I started to doubt being here. My muscles had atrophied; my shoulder is loose and won't ever be as tight as it used to be. Even though my knee's completely healed, it still clicks and hurts when you and I train. I won't ever be as strong as I once was. The scars were just the last straw; my skin now just looks like how broken my body is and how broken I am as a person. After you left my room, I could hear a voice in my head. Not like actually hearing something, but these thoughts that I just couldn't make go away. They remind me of how much you and the Straw Hats have helped me and how I don't deserve any of it, and that just being here and being weak brings you all down. It's better if I go, Zoro, for you and Sanji and the rest of the crew. A weak link breaks the chain. At least that's what the voice would say. God, that doesn't make any sense out loud, does it?" she finished with lost eyes, pain filling her eyes with tears again.

"I understand what you're saying, but I don't agree with it," he answered, confused by only one thing. "What made you stop last night? You let me hold you and you cried until you couldn't even stand anymore. Why didn't the voice win then?" he asked.

Iris stopped, eyes growing wide. He was right; she had stayed with him even as everything in her head screamed at her not to. "I… I guess I'm not sure… or maybe I just don't want to think about it. It feels… scary, being here, and being with you and being free. That's weird. I stopped because I love you, and it felt so good being in your arms again. Everything in my head was yelling at me to go, but…"

"…your heart told you stay," Zoro finished for her. She looked back up at him, eyes dry finally, and a light growing in them again. "Just a whisper from your heart silenced all the screaming in your head, right? Didn't you tell Cobalt that you were going to follow your heart to this ship? What happened to that? What happened to you believing in yourself and your own strength? Did your new scars really take all that away from you? I don't believe that. I can't, I still see your true strength shining in your eyes," he said.

She rested her head back on his shoulder, forgetting about thought and the reason and logic she thought she knew. She basked in just feeling the moment, Zoro's heartbeat next to her, the feel of the ship rocking in the waves, the smell of his cologne, and the sight of the scars on her arms. Scars are just scars, a different voice whispered in her head, filling her chest with warmth. They don't mean anything except what you let them mean. They can be your strength or your shame, whichever you choose. And Zoro sees them as part of you, and he loves you. What do you choose? She smiled.

"Zoro?" she asked, looking back up at him. "I can't promise that I won't lose myself in something stupid again, but will you always help me come back again when you know I still love you?"

He returned her smile, glad to see joy on her face again and reflecting in her eyes, but sad that she thought her own pain was stupid. "It's not stupid, and you're never lost if you stay with me and the rest of the crew," he reassured. "Are we okay now? Are you okay?"

She sat up and looked at him full in the face, sliding the hair in her face behind her right ear, exposing the scar in the brightening morning light. "Yeah, everything's okay now," she said, smiling. "Sanji's probably upstairs waiting for breakfast for us, isn't he?"

Zoro groaned. "Yeah, probably. I swear to God, if he lays one finger on you I will slice him into pieces so small no one will even be able to see them," he answered, a jealous wrath in his voice.

Iris chuckled. "I don't think Sanji actually was trying anything with me, to be honest. I don't want to upset you or anything, but I've gotten to know enough men to be able to tell whether or not there's genuine interest there. I get this feeling we were both set up," she theorized. Zoro just stared back blankly at her words before it dawned on him.

"You think he was playing on my jealousy to get us to talk again?" he asked, lowering his eyes and resting his forehead against hers. She nodded. "Goddammit, we've been had. By the damn love cook, no less." She giggled.

"There's nothing for it. Besides, considering the outcome, was it really such a bad idea? Come on, let's go eat. The rest of the crew will be relieved to know everything's okay now. Robin and Nami had an inkling that something was up, too."

Zoro sighed, his head starting to hurt. Emotions were so complicated.

Breakfast was lively and eventful, and much more jubilant and relaxed than the last meal that the crew shared. Zoro and Iris entered the galley hand in hand, and were met with overjoyed smiles and knowing grins. No one dared to make a comment on the events of the past two days, until Luffy spoke up. "Iris, are you feeling better now? You seem much happier than you were yesterday. Did Zoro fix whatever it was?"

She blushed, a shy smile creeping across her face as she looked down at the table. "Yeah, Zoro fixed it," she mumbled happily to the crew's delight. Sanji sat down next to her, the only remaining seat at the table, earning an angry glare from the swordsman. She turned to him. "Thank you, Sanji," she said quietly.

"Whatever do you mean? It seems I lost out on a chance with a beautiful lady, although for the life of me I have no idea why you choose an uncouth beast like him over a gentleman like me," he said with a wink. She only giggled as Zoro turned to scowl at him once again, glad that things were back to the way they should be. She glanced around the table, drinking in every last goofy prank and silly joke. Sanji watched her for a moment before saying what occurred to him next, and it left her nodding with stars in her eyes. "Do yourself and the rest of us a favor. Your heart's been leading you in the right direction all along, it's just your damned past distracting you from what you know is right. So think less, and feel more, because love is the light that leads your way."