26.

Usopp's heart was thumping hard and fast in his chest. Each beat matched the chant in his head - alive! Alive! Alive! Zoro is alive! Nothing else mattered; not the blindfold he was forced to wear, and not the fact that he was being taken to an unknown location by a hostile gang.

"We're here." A female voice stated the obvious as the aerocar settled to the ground in parking mode, "Are you really going to let these guys into our base?!"

"Shishishishishi! It'll be fine! They're going to be our friends!"

The same woman who had just spoken didn't seem to like this idea, "Luffy, these guys are the enemy! E-N-E-M-Y! They're the bad guys!"

Usopp blinked when the blindfold was removed, and Luffy grinned at him before tossing the rag-turned-blindfold away, "Nami can show you which room is Zoro's! I'd take you, but it's supper time!"

The slender, redheaded girl standing before Usopp to the left glared darkly at the gang leader, "Are you kidding me?!" The sniper couldn't stop himself from cringing back a little when her furious scowl focused on him, "Why can't Sanji do it? AND WHY ISN'T HE IN HANDCUFFS?!"

"Calm down or you might burst the blood vessels in your eyes." Miss Nico was eerily serene as she spoke such morbid words with a gentle smile, "As long as his friend is in our care, this man will do us no harm." Usopp squirmed and quickly nodded under her sharp eyes. He recognized a threat when he heard one. Her smile grew bigger in response, "We will be in the kitchen. Since our leader is hungry we will have to question this cyborg there."

"Ow! Sounds super to me! I could sure use a cola!"

Apparently too famished to wait any longer, Strawhat Luffy grabbed Sanji and dragged him by the arm into the partially demolished remains of what looked like an old refinery. Miss Nico followed with Franky - her slim hand resting lightly on his shoulder. That just left him and the redhead. Usopp took a moment to curiously look around, trying to suss out their location. There was no place like this in any of the areas of the city that he was familiar with… Could they be in Prior Camden?!

"Come on. I don't have all day!" The girl, Nami, tapped her foot impatiently as she frowned at him.

Usopp took one last look around the unfamiliar landscape before following the gangster as she entered the building. It was surprisingly clean inside considering how burned and damaged the outside of the structure had appeared. The cinderblock walls of the hallway were freshly painted and dry, and each metal door they passed was free of rust and gleaming softly in the warm, yellow glow of the overhead lights. Nami stopped in front of one such door and crossed her arms.

"He's in there." Her tone was sharp and clipped. She obviously still didn't like the idea of him being here. "Don't even think of trying to take him and run. He's too hurt to move, and we can kill him of course if you try to go and get help."

Avoiding her glare, Usopp edged toward the door, "The thought hadn't even crossed my mind…!" Naturally these things were the first thoughts that had crossed his mind, but this threatening gangster with a hand on the probably-very-dangerous weapon on her belt didn't need to know that.

Nami huffed and rolled her eyes at him in response, "I'm not going to stand here and babysit you. I have better things to do. If Luffy wants you running around and fucking sticking your nose where it doesn't belong then HE can deal with you!" Throwing up her hands, the fiery girl stomped away, leaving Usopp to his own devices.

He swallowed, staring at the door and suddenly feeling his old I'm-scared-something-awful-is-behind-this-door disease acting up again. What if Zoro wasn't himself anymore? He'd heard that injuries to the head could do crazy things to a man. Or what if Zoro had actually died right before he got here from some horrible medical complication? He didn't think he could take losing his friend twice… And if Zoro WAS alive what if he was angry with Usopp for letting this all happen right in front of him…?

Although the fear of being hated was making him feel real nausea, Usopp couldn't keep himself from wanting to know for sure. He needed to see that Zoro was alive with his own two eyes. Drawing a deep breath for courage, Usopp opened the door and stepped into the room. It smelled like a hospital and he was impressed by the sheer amount of important-looking medical equipment scattered around the room. However, what he really cared about was the hospital bed sitting off the the side and the man in it. He could see Zoro lying there on clean, white sheets, and he approached cautiously. As he stepped closer, his heart was beating fast from a mix of paranoia and eagerness. Zoro's fingers twitched on the bedsheets and Usopp rushed to his side - hovering over his friend with tears welling up in his eyes. He really was alive!

"Zoro… I'm so glad…!" Usopp's voice was soft and choked with emotion as he just stood there - watching Zoro's chest rise and fall as he slumbered, "So glad!"

By the work of some incredible miracle his best friend was still alive… But the fight had left its mark. Usopp moved a little closer, examining the mess of bandages covering Zoro's wounded eye and most of his head. Someone suddenly spoke up behind him, "He's healing well, but he'll have to learn to compensate for his missing eye."

"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!" Usopp shouted in alarm, jumping like a startled cat before spinning to face the one who had snuck up on him. A young boy with deer antlers was watching him from around the corner of the doorway with wide eyes and a terrified grimace. Usopp quickly straightened and put on his most terrifying frown, "D-d-don't sneak up on me like that! I'm specially trained to kill any man who comes up behind me in a single blow!"

"AH! IS THAT TRUE?!"

Usopp nodded solemnly, "I have killed seven men by accident that way! But anyway… who are you?"

"I'm Chopper! I'm his doctor and the doctor for the Strawhats!" The boy crept into the room, his eyes sparkling with admiration, "You really killed them by accident? You're so strong!"

"Hahaha, it was nothing!" Usopp rubbed the back of his head in mock-shyness as he drank in the young Altered's admiration.

"Nothing but bullshit you mean."

Hearing the familiar deep voice, Usopp spun around so fast his spine popped. There was a smile on Zoro's paled face, and his one, dark eye sparkled with life and humor. "Zo…!" Usopp immediately burst into tears, "Zo'wooooo!"

Chopper shrieked with horror as Usopp flung himself onto the bed, but Zoro only chuckled and wrapped an arm around Usopp's trembling shoulders as the skinny sniper managed to get his arms around Zoro's back in a fierce hug. Usopp buried his face into Zoro's warm chest and wept openly. Zoro's arm tightened around him in response before the bigger man fondly tugged at the sniper's curls, "You're getting your damn snot all over me!"

"Be careful with him! He's still hurt!" Chopper rushed over and tugged anxiously at Usopp's leg.

Zoro waved him off, "M'fine, Chopper."

Usopp's voice was muffled as he wailed into Zoro's shirt, "I thwought you were dead!"

"Well I'm not." Zoro's expression grew dark, "It'll take a better man than some punk-ass gangster to kill me…"

"You were lucky!" Chopper hopped up to sit on his stool, swinging his legs as he grinned, "If the shot had hit higher and more to the left, or if the gun hadn't been so far away, you would have been fatally wounded for sure! Also if Sanji hadn't been right there and administered first aid until Luffy brought me over, you would have died!"

"Sanji…?" Usopp untangled himself from around Zoro and carefully perched on the edge of the bed. "Why would that lying bastard SAVE Zoro after shooting him?!"

Zoro scowled darkly as soon as the blonde was mentioned; wincing a little as the expression stressed the wounds on his face. Usopp felt every bit as angry as the wounded enforcer looked - his fists clenched and trembling as he stared down the poor young Altered before them. Chopper flinched back in fear, a nervous sweat breaking out as he avoided their angry eyes. "I-I-I don't know who shot you!"

"I saw it!" Usopp's voice was low and brimming with the fury burning in his heart, "I saw him shoot Zoro like… like it didn't mean anything!"

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Zoro reached out for Usopp's arm. The sniper shot a worried glance at his friend before grabbing Zoro's hand and squeezing it tight in an attempt to comfort the pain and anger he could see on Zoro's face. Chopper waved his hands in a panic, his face flushed in distress under his fur, "Zoro! You need to calm down! You're going to hurt yourself! Let me…"

"NO!" Usopp flinched as Zoro's grip on his hand grew painfully tight. The enforcer's voice was strained and tense with rage, "What do YOU know? I know him… I KNOW HIM!"

Zoro's body was shaking and his breathing was too fast and shallow. Usopp opened his mouth to voice his concern, but Chopper beat him to it, "Please, Zoro! We can discuss this when you're better! I'll tell you everything I found! Just please calm down!" The small boy was practically sobbing as he reached out, "Listen to me! I can feel that you're starting to panic! Let me help you!"

Knocking away the young Altered's hand, Zoro snarled, "I don't need your fucking help! You're one of them! I know who did this to me, and it was that betraying, son-of-a-bitch Sanji!"

Chopper was crying, with snot and tears making an ugly mess of his face, "B-but that's impossible…! Sanji never… hic! Pulled the trigger! His gun never fired! Hic! …And he was standing too close! If he had… hic! Shot you, Zoro, then you would be dead!"

Both men stared at the worked-up and hyperventilating Altered in shock. Usopp was the first to clear his throat, "Then who…?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Chopper slumped on his stool, "I don't know… It was probably an accident…"

Zoro sat up suddenly, making Chopper shriek in distress and Usopp fall off the bed in surprise, "I don't…!" He panted heavily - his face lined with pain caused by the sudden exertion, "Believe you! …I don't believe you… HE LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING! Even uh…!" Zoro's voice choked off into a pained cry and his hands flew up to claw at his bandages.

"ZORO!" Chopper rushed to his desk and grabbed a large syringe. He hurried back to Zoro's side and skillfully injected the medicine into the thrashing enforcer's neck before tossing away the needle and frantically grabbing at Zoro's hands. After a few moments, Zoro fell back onto his pillow, and his hands dropped limply to his sides.

Usopp weakly got to his feet, shaken by the sight of Zoro out of his mind with pain. A small stain of blood was beginning to spread over the bandages that covered his injured eye. Chopper's expression was grim as he glanced over at Usopp, "He'll sleep for a while now, but I have to check his wounds. I'm worried that he might have popped his stitches somewhere."

Reaching out gingerly and placing a hand on Zoro's disheveled hair, Usopp asked quietly, "But he'll be fine, right?" His thumb rubbed gently at Zoro's coarse locks as he fearfully watched that blood-spot grow.

Chopper bit his lip, his eyes shiny with tears, "I can stop the bleeding - but I can only heal his body. I-I'm sorry! He's already hurting so much! If I had known he'd be so upset, I wouldn't have…"

"It's okay." Usopp gave the Altered doctor a reassuring pat in passing as he marched for the door, "It's important to learn the truth."

It was like Chopper said - the doctor could stitch up Zoro's injuries and make his body whole, but who would help his heart? He hadn't seen his friend this broken since the day of Kuina's accident. Sanji had a lot to answer for...

He could hear Zoro groan softly from pain, even while in his medically-induced sleep, as he left the room. Gritting his teeth, he stood outside and listened a moment to Chopper scurrying around behind the door. He could trust Chopper with his friend for now. He had other matters to attend to. Obviously his plan to take Zoro home would have to wait until his friend healed, so he had plenty of time to get the answers he wanted; and he would get them - by any means necessary. Letting his growing anger give him courage, Usopp went off in search of Sanji.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"SO COOL! Can you shoot beams?! How do you poop?!"

"Owww! I can do all kinds of suuuuuper things! I'd show you if I wasn't in these handcuffs!"

Sanji rolled his eyes at the sight of their idiot gang leader trying to snatch the handcuff keys out of Nami's hands. It didn't take long for Nami to get angry and lash out at Luffy, catching him in the side of the head with a solid right hook. "STOP TRYING TO RELEASE OUR PRISONER!"

Luffy yelped and scurried away with a reddened knot on his forehead from Nami's fist. Served him right. Sanji went back to stirring the thick curry he'd been working on. As he cooked he paid close attention to Franky's interrogation. He was still stunned to have learned only now that Franky was a member of a rival gang and had obviously been spying on them. He felt numb - disconnected from the antics of the others around him and he could taste sour acid on the back of his tongue. Thinking back to all their friendly talks, how many times he'd cooked for the cyborg, how he had thought of him as a friend… It made his stomach roll.

Robin's expression was hard as she leaned closer to the restrained cyborg, "Mr. Franky, what were the Hearts really after in that transport incident? Such open aggression toward the Force has never been his chosen method. All things considered, that conflict was practically an all-out battle and could be construed as an act of war. Surely he must have realized that the Force will retaliate harshly against the Hearts as well as the other gangs for his involvement?"

Franky chuckled, "Trafalgar does what he wants, and he wanted that redheaded guy - for whatever reason. Also didn't your leader start that whole mess? The Hearts only took advantage of what you all started"

Robin hummed thoughtfully as she threateningly cracked her knuckles. Sanji shuddered. He hated when she did that. She bared her teeth at Franky in a fierce grin, " Kindly remember that I am the one asking the questions here. So your boss was after one of the prisoners? How interesting… perhaps this was a personal endeavor?"

Shrugging his broad shoulders Franky shook his head, "I wouldn't know something like that. I may be in the information business but I intend to stay alive, and digging around in Trafalgar's personal affairs is a fast way to get dead."

"How astute of you."

Franky's reply was cut off by the kitchen door slamming open and rebounding off the wall hard enough to chip the cinderblock. Usopp stood in the doorway with anger burning in his eyes. Sanji stiffened. He had known that this confrontation was coming. Usopp loved Zoro too much not to come after him.

"Sanji, take it to the big room." Luffy's tone was serious as he set aside the bowl of curry and rice he'd stolen during Robin's interrogation.

Nodding in agreement, Sanji turned off the fire on the stove and walked cautiously toward Usopp. "Let's go."

Usopp moved aside just enough to let him past, and Sanji felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as the sniper's glare burned on his face. Feeling like he was being stalked by a dangerous animal, Sanji led the way down the narrow hall to a large, steel door. He pressed the button on the wall and waited in tense silence as the door rose. Once he stepped through, he turned to face the music - and Usopp didn't waste a second.

Sanji grunted in pain; eyes tearing up as he held his bleeding nose, "TELL ME WHY!" Usopp screamed at him before lashing out again and punching him in the gut hard enough to make him gasp and double over. He stumbled back a step and Usopp's fist went through the air where his head had been… but the second hit didn't miss, and Sanji fell on his ass, seeing dizzying sparks of light as pain radiated from his temple. Usopp was on him in a flash. He hit Sanji in the eye with reddened knuckles before grabbing his collar and shaking him, "DON'T JUST LET ME HIT YOU! TELL ME!"

As the blonde outsmuggler watched in silence, Usopp's lower lip trembled with emotion. He rested his forehead on Sanji's shoulder; hiding the tears that were soaking the fabric of the blonde's torn and bloodied shirt. The sniper's voice was low and raw when he finally spoke up again, "That doctor… he said you saved Zoro. But that's a fucking lie! This is all your fault! You hurt him! You KNOW what he's been through! And you just left…!"

Usopp looked up, shaking in grief and rage. He held back his fist - ready to strike, "YOU'RE A LIAR!"

Sanji didn't shrink away, and he kept eye contact with the sniper up until a hard hit to his jaw snapped his head to the side. He closed his uninjured eye, accepting the pain. He had done horrible things, and he deserved horrible things.

"Was all of it a lie…?" Usopp was sobbing now and Sanji couldn't bear to look, "Did you make him fall for you just to use him? I swear if that's true…!"

"I love him!" Sanji couldn't stop himself from blurting out the words, "I loved him before… Before everything."

He'd loved Zoro back when they had just been friends and sparring partners. It had turned into something less simple and less pure as time went on, but he had loved Zoro before he had known that he loved him. "I never lied about that."

Usopp let him go and Sanji dared to meet his eyes again as the sniper sat back on his heels, "I know…" Sniffling, Usopp wiped his nose on his arm, "You wanted to tell us, didn't you? I had thought that you were in trouble, but…"

Sanji laid back on the old cement floor and stared at the industrial duct work that spidered across the ceiling, "I wish that we had never met."

"Yeah."

"I still love him."

"Yeah."

Tears spilled out of the corners of his eyes and rolled down his temples, wetting his ears. "I fucked up. I thought I knew what I had to do. But now I think I made the wrong choice. I chose my friends, and I should have… should have…!" Sanji's voice gave out on him and he hiccuped out a sob, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes as he cried freely.

"I should never have asked you to spy on Zoro." Luffy's quiet voice startled both men. Usopp spun around and ended up on his ass, staring up wide-eyed into the gang leader's solemn expression. Sanji struggled to sit upright once more as he tried to get his tears to stop. Luffy crouched down to be eye-level with the two of them, "Zoro was your friend, and Usopp too. Friends shouldn't betray their friends and it was wrong of me to make you do that."

"But your brother…"

Luffy shook his head, "I should have trusted our strength instead. I made you hurt people you love. Can you forgive me, Sanji?"

Sanji couldn't help the fresh tears that made new trails down his cheeks as he nodded. Usopp was quiet for a moment, watching them. "This doesn't change what you did. You have to take responsibility."

"Yeah." Sanji bowed his head, "I'll make it right."