So, I got some requests to continue this and some to just have a happier ending. I decided to post the additional (not alternate) ending I wrote for this. Not a lot happier, but definitly more hopeful for Sanji! Poor Boo that he is. I'm not planning on continuing this any further because I have to work on Return. This was already written though so no harm!

I hope to have something on Return this weekend. My parents have been in and out of the hospital so.. yeah, not a lot of writing time. I will have it up, even if it isn't beta'd yet.

Thank you for all of the reviews and favorites and follows! They make me happy!

Happier ending! (Sometime later after Thriller Bark)

As Sanji wakes up, he realizes he is feeling several different things at the same time, besides pain that is.

First is anger. How dare that idiotic Marimo knock him unconscious when he was trying to save his life! Damn him, he didn't have a right to do that. If he wanted to give up his life to save his captain and the man he loved, that was his decision. Zoro wasn't allowed to take that from him.

Second was worry. When he went out Zoro was demanding Kuma take his life instead of Luffy's. He was already so weakened from his previous injuries, that the additional stress from fighting him (and he damn well better have fought him!) may have been enough to kill him. What if he was already dead? That would destroy any hope Sanji had at forming a relationship with the fool.

Lastly, as he saw the badly wounded and bleeding swordsman standing in the ruins surrounded by blood, the blond felt hope. Hope because Zoro had risked his life for him! He had put the cooks life above his dream by refusing to allow the cook to offer himself up.