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Alabasta was close, but the Straw Hat pirates had to make an extra stop to stock up on supplies – specifically food. With little islands left to dock on, they had to settle for the next speck on the map Nami spotted.
“I can’t believe you!” Nami yelled, running her red hand that had slapped Luffy across the Going Merry. “We need to get Vivi to Alabasta as soon as possible!”
Luffy rose to his feet, head down like a defeated puppy. “I know… I’ll be on my best behavior until Alabasta!”
Nami rolled her eyes. “Yeah right.”
After docking, the crew had to decide who was going to go out to do the hunting and gathering. Normally, Zoro would be the first to hop off the ship, but before he could, Sanji stepped in front of the swordsman. “I’m going.”
Zoro stood like stone, furrowing his brow at the cook. “Okay, and? Move.”
“Someone’s gotta watch the ship, idiot,” Sanji said. “You stay – I want to move my legs.”
Before Zoro could interject, Nami cupped a hand by her mouth, projecting. “Yeah, and take Luffy with you!”
“Of course, Nami-swam!” Sani cooed, clasping his hands together and then grabbing Luffy by the collar. Like flicking a lightswitch, Sanji scolded his captain as he picked him up. “Let’s go.”
“YAY!” Luffy exclaimed, holding his arms up as he was carried.
“Because you boys put us in this situation,” Nami said, “you get to go get food. Vivi, Zoro, Chopper and I are staying here.”
“Oh boy, Usopp is coming too?!” Luffy whipped his head around, looking for his friend. “Hey, where is he?”
“Hiding.” Zoro motioned to a corner of the ship where Usopp was crouched, seemingly focused on a gadget in his hands while adjusting the focus on his sniper goggles.
Sanji picked up his feet, waddling over to Usopp and grabbing him by an overall strap. “You too, Long Nose.”
Usopp yelped, hands grasping over Sanji’s arm. He twisted his body and swung his legs over Sanji’s rather strong arm, wrapping himself completely around it. “I don’t wanna go! I’m just gonna slow you guys down, right?!”
Luffy giggled, stretching an arm out to poke at Usopp. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can squeeze in a bug hunt while we’re there!”
“No bug hunts,” Nami said, eyes piercing through the younger crewmates. “You’ve got 30 minutes.”
Three didn’t work great for a search. Luffy’s overexcited nature catapulted him ahead of the other two, Usopp pumping his legs to keep up and shouting after their captain. Sanji was more relaxed, not bothering to chase after either of them. His eyes focused more on Usopp, who he knew would need fished out of any dangers this island may pose. As Usopp trailed behind Luffy, it seemed like he forgot his previous fears and his new island disease. Sanji believed the sniper overexaggerated his fears when he so carelessly wandered like this.
Luffy clearly gave Usopp the confidence, though.
The distance between Luffy and Usopp to Sanji grew, but his pace stayed constant. If Usopp ran into trouble, surely Luffy would save him.
As Luffy flung himself through trees, he left fallen fruits in his path, which Usopp tried his best to collect with the basket he brought. He was losing energy fast, which sunk fear back into his gut.
“Luffy!” Usopp called. “Maybe you should come down – we probably have enough to last us ‘til Alabasta! Plus, I’m sure we’re coming up on our time limit.”
Luffy grabbed onto a branch, hanging in the air as he pondered. In his thoughtful state, Luffy’s attention was grabbed by a particularly shiny beetle, shimmering like a jewel. A wide smile overtook his face, stretching out to pluck it from its spot on an adjacent tree. Then, he dropped down, holding the bug in Usopp’s face.
“This is a good sign!” Luffy said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one quite this pretty!”
Usopp’s eyes glistened in the glow of the green-gold beetle. “Wow, you aren't kidding.”
He ran his index finger down the back of the large beetle, admiring it. Then, he remembered Sanji and his distaste of bugs, pulling back. Usopp turned, where he assumed the cook had kept up behind them. No one stood there, or anywhere close to them.
“Uh… Sanji?”
The surrounding area was quiet as the two of them stood, glancing around the trees. The island was relatively small, but it didn’t mean no one could get lost.
Usopp swallowed hard. He knew Sanji was capable of defending himself, but his mind was already predicting the horrendous, vile ways Sanji was being tortured by little people occupying the island that they hadn’t seen and probably angered by their ruckus.
“No way, did he get lost?” Luffy asked, placing the beetle on his shoulder.
“No, we lost Sanji!!” Usopp cried, grabbing the sides of his head. “Oh no, oh no, oh no! What’re we gonna do?!”
“Well, find him, of course!”
Luffy always made everything sound easy.
“R-right,” Usopp stammered, trying to keep the glow of Luffy’s optimism in his own eyes.
The deafening silence of the island shattered, broken by a shriek buried far off in the trees. Usopp bolted behind Luffy, grabbing his vest. “Wh-what was that?”
“Not sure,” Luffy responded casually, before a chuckle bubbled up. He bent his knees, adopting a pouncing pose.
Usopp knew exactly what this meant. He desperately clung to Luffy’s back, teeth chattering. “Luffy, don’t–”
“Gum gum…!”
Before Usopp could process it, they were airborne. Usopp’s dramatic shrieks filled the skies, but then, he thought about Sanji.
Where was he? Was he the one who screamed?
Usopp had to pull himself together. He opened one eye, then the other, and tried not throwing up as he looked below. Sanji had to be somewhere.
With how simple the island was, it didn’t take the pair long to spot their cook. His blonde hair stood out in the sea of green. Usopp spotted him first.
“Look, there’s Sanji!” He was too scared to point and risk falling, but Luffy saw Sanji, too, and stretched down to grab a branch, flinging them to the ground rapidly. Sanji glanced up, witnessing his crewmates plummet toward him.
Luffy and Usopp crashed into a brush beside Sanji. Shaking his head, the cook pulled both of them back to their feet. “What are you two doing?!”
“Hey, you’re the one who got lost!” Luffy pointed his finger at Sanji, then crossed his arms. “How did you lose us?”
“Oi, as if you’re not swinging from the trees!” Sanji sighed loudly, pulling a cigarette out of the box in his pocket. “I’m hoping you found food?”
Both Usopp and Luffy stiffened, exchanging a look that they thought they could only read.
“You don’t have it,” Sanji answered his own question and lit his cigarette.
“We have to… retrace our steps,” Usopp approached, flashing a goofy, apologetic grin.
“Alright, fine – lead the way,” Sanji motioned with his free hand, the other tucking his lighter away.
The three of them started in the direction they believed was where their basket was, Luffy leading the way. Usopp was stealing curious glances at the cook. He seemed awfully fidgety and uncomfortable.
Usopp stopped in place for a heartbeat, closing the distance between him and Sanji.
“So,” Usopp cleared his throat. “Did you find anything?”
Sanji’s posture straightened, jerking his head around to meet Usopp’s eyes. “Not really.”
“Not really?” Usopp jutted out his bottom lip. “Why are you even mad at us, then?”
He wanted to ask about the scream.
“Whatever,” Sanji exhaled, smoke following his words. “I just want to get back to the ship.”
“Weren’t you the one begging to come along?” Usopp laughed. “What’s your deal?”
Sanji used his hand to slightly cover his reddening face, the cigarette sitting between his index and middle fingers. “I’m just in a mood after you two abandoned me.”
“Okay, that is not what happened,” Usopp said.
“I found it!” Luffy shouted, pointing and then running through some brush.
“Okay, now this is abandonment,” Usopp sighed, crossing his arms.
Sanji didn’t react, dropping his hand from his face and continuing his walk. When Usopp snuck another glance at the cook, he couldn’t help himself now.
“Was that scream you?” Usopp asked. “Earlier, not long before we found you.”
Sanji was red again and he couldn’t just keep adjusting his cigarette. He turned his head away from Usopp, neck twisting as far as it would allow. “Maybe,” he muttered.
Usopp tensed and he involuntarily stopped in his tracks. If there was something on this island that made Sanji scream like that, it had to be bad. Big. Scary. Monstrous.
His legs began to wobble and Usopp felt a hundred pounds heavier. One hand clamped over the strap of his bag while the other shot to the bag’s inside. He had to be prepared.
Sanji hadn’t realized Usopp wasn’t beside him immediately. He finally felt the vanished presence, pausing and turning around. He saw Usopp, pale and glistening under the sunlight cutting through the treetops.
“What is it?” Sanji asked, then rolled his eyes.
Usopp was too stunned for speech. Sanji muttered under his breath, striding over to the sniper and grabbing him by a shoulder, hard as a rock.
He didn’t budge under the touch, unmovable, stricken with an unfamiliar fear. He was used to being scared, and typically yammered his way through the fear, but this was a stone rolling in his stomach that tripled when Sanji touched him. Sanji was a place of protection – of comfort. If Sanji was scared, then what was going to happen to Usopp?
Usopp’s unfocused eyes captured glimpses of Sanji’s face, like inkblots, swirling from frustration and annoyance to concern. In the daze, Usopp did his best to pull himself back to reality, focusing on Sanji’s eyes, the curl of his brow, his nose, the cigarette that was too close for comfort and glowing with more heaved breaths. He was finally regaining a sense of stability, but then, the steading image of the man before him fractured.
“MONSTER!”
Fear punctuated Sanji’s eyes, becoming substantially more filled with white than blue. He jerked his hand back from Usopp and, without even putting up a fight to whatever had frightened him, Sanji turned and ran.
Flight and freeze were Usopp’s specialties, but right now, a passion to fight burned in his chest, just above the boulder that made itself more comfortable in his gut. Whatever terrified Sanji, it must’ve been behind Usopp. He felt the handle of his slingshot in his bag. What the hell was this supposed to do against a beast?
His legs were too heavy to move the way he wanted to, but staying in place meant certain doom. Usopp sharply inhaled, holding it in his lungs.
The sniper twisted his torso, yanking the slingshot from its spot and aiming it straight ahead. There was a slight shake to his grip, but Usopp managed to gain confidence when he was in his element. It was so familiar, so comforting, and then, Usopp froze again.
There was nothing.
Usopp couldn’t swallow down the lump in his throat and he figured if he could, he would’ve thrown up. There was no more room in his stomach for sickening fear.
Was the monster a shapeshifter?
Fast?
Invisible?
Usopp couldn’t handle invisible.
As he held his pose, Usopp felt a prickle on his shoulder, making its way down his bicep. He spun around, as if that would do much against anything, and glared down at his arm. A green-gold beetle was making its way gradually down his smooth arm.
Relief settled on top of the fear. He was still terrified, but he was glad to have a friend at his side. It helped him gain strength to speak.
“Sanji, where did you go?!” Usopp yelled. He staggered out of his stance, one foot, then the other. “What are you so scared of? I can’t see anything and I’d really appreciate your help!”
Usopp walked toward where he believed Sanji darted off to. Now, his fear was shifting to fierce disappointment.
“C’mon Sanji, I’m the one needing protection!” Usopp whined. He traveled a dirt path with subtle footprints, then saw a cigarette, smashed. He sharply inhaled, tiptoeing within Sanj’s prints. Then, they came to a halt, a big bush practically quivering in front of Usopp.
“It’s me,” Usopp said. He reached his hand into the leaves, pulling them to the side. He got a glimpse of Sanji before he jumped out of the bush.
“There’s more!” Sanji yelped. “Get it away, get it away, get it away!”
Usopp swallowed a shrill cry, aiming his slingshot at the bush. Something glinted like metal from under the leaves and, without hesitation, he let his star fly.
It was just a lead star, which Usopp regretted grabbing earlier. Whatever he was up against needed something more powerful than a bullet.
Usopp jumped back from the bush, inspecting what was now a splatter on the dirt, glimmering emerald. He thought it was a knife or the fangs of a wild animal.
It was a beetle.
A sad sound escaped Usopp, dropping his confident arm and loosely holding onto his slingshot. “No!” he gasped. “I killed it!”
The beetle that had traversed Usopp’s bicep and now to his forearm lifted its horned head at Usopp. He immediately felt the gaze and blocked his view of the bug with the back of his hand.
“Don’t guilt trip me,” Usopp said. Then, he looked behind him.
Sanji was on the ground behind Usopp, head ducked. He was crouched, still on his feet if he needed to rise to the occasion, but ultimately hiding behind Usopp’s small frame, behind his leg. A handful of Sanji’s fingers were tucked into the fold of the bottom of Usopp’s overalls while the other hand held onto the side of Usopp’s leg.
Usopp didn’t know what he was looking at. There was a pause, Sanji’s breaths not as haggard. When he regained a normal breathing pattern, he looked up at Usopp.
He had seen Sanji flustered, but not like this. It was always in the presence of Nami or Vivi. They were two different types of flustered, but they became rosy red across his face the same. After the prolonged eye contact, Sanji sank into a deeper hue.
“Are you okay?” Usopp asked. He liked teasing Sanji or any of the crew when he could, but he couldn’t kick the man while he was down.
Sanji was rough standing, grabbing at Usopp’s leg to hoist him up. Knowing what caused this ordeal in the first place, Usopp quickly grabbed the beetle the was perched on his arm and gently tossed it into the bush. Sanji was at a loss for words, holding onto Usopp. His hand was wrapped around the younger’s overall strap like a shopping bag.
Luffy popped up from some brush, holding the basket over his head. “Found it! C’mon, I want to eat!”
Usopp turned his head, smiling at Luffy. “Y’know, that should do, I think. We really don’t want to waste anymore time.”
Luffy nodded, bouncing toward the direction of the Going Merry. Still supporting Sanji, Usopp gave the chef a look, eyes half lidded and eyebrows raised. “That was all over one beetle?”
Sanji pushed off of the sniper, his gait turning into a stride. “That bush was full of them.”
Usopp figured he’d never see Sanji quake with fear like that again. Which, he was happy with that thought – he hated having to be the strong one. There was something nice about it in the moment, courage rising in his breast as he prepared to slay a monster. Although he was petrified, he thought about how he was saving Sanji, not himself.
His heartbeat quickened. In those mere seconds of bravery Usopp displayed to protect his dear friend, he felt proud. Important. Strong. And that there was someone so special to him that he was willing to risk it all to diminish that fear.
Maybe that’s exactly how Sanji felt when Usopp had to be rescued.
Usopp blinked, Luffy far from his sight, but Sanji still a speck in the green.
“Don’t run too far!” Usopp called, pulling down one of his sniper goggles’ lenses and heading after them. “How will the great Captain Usopp protect you from all the way over there?!”