"Compared to his… Your sword is a piece of shit." – Sanji, One Piece Movie 3

"I know someone with more amazing kicks than you could ever have… He's a pain in the ass though." – Zoro, One Piece Movie 3

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Just listening to him was making my blood boil. How could that idiot just throw away like that!? What happened to his dream?!

Shitty marimo…

Of course, it was true that none of us would stand for that bastard Kuma taking Luffy's head. I was sure that anybody else in the crew would feel the same way that marimo and I did.

I can't believe I just used both of our names together in a sentence.

But shitty swordsman or not, there was no way I'd just let him sacrifice himself. Even I knew how much he valued his dream. He held it above anything else in his life, and I could relate. But my dream wasn't even proven. Mine might be shattered into a million pieces if there really is no All Blue. Of course, I still believe there is. I have to for that old man.

But his dream was set in stone. It was completely real, and he was devoting his entire life to completing it.

Letting him give that up was not an option.

…………………………………………………

I was ready to die.

If there was any way to avoid it, I probably would have taken it. But there wasn't. This guy was way too strong, so much that almost the entire surface of Thriller Bark was crushed by one of his attacks. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let him kill Luffy.

My life for his seemed reasonable.

But reasonable or not, it had to work. This was the only way I could think of to save the crew and my captain. My dreams were bullshit if I couldn't protect theirs.

And then HE had the nerve to try and stop me.

That shit cook looked half-dead. I was in shock when I saw that he was still able to move around. But I was also pissed off. I didn't like the look he was giving me and Kuma.

He walked in front of me and starting blabbering on about the oversized doll taking his life instead, and other crap like that.

And then, he had so much nerve as to say to me:

"Oi, give the others my regards. And tell them I'm sorry they have to find a new chef."

That made my blood boil. If that son of a bitch thought I was just going to sit there and watch him sacrifice himself, he didn't know me very well.

Letting my Nakama die was NOT my thing.

…………………………………………………….

My whole body racked with pain as I stumbled forward.

"Come on legs. MOVE, damn it!"

My thoughts grew even more frustrated when I saw the look on the shit's face when he saw me:

Surprised. Angry. CONCERNED.

Him? Show concern for my condition? There had to be something wrong with his brain; even more than usual. He was slipping up, and that actually upset me. I got Kuma's attention and said to take my life for Luffy's instead of the swordsman's.

I told the 3-swords bastard my last words for the crew. The things I said made sense, considering I was going to die.

But, it was also my way of telling him good-bye.

He and I fought almost everyday without fail. I'm sure we'd broken parts of both the Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny. We had no problem expressing how much we despised each other.

And we did. But that never separated us as Nakama, and we've never mocked the others' dream. If we did, that would make us the biggest jerks in the world. The whole crew supported each other in their life goals in fact.

"Zoro, you'd better take care of them you son of a bitch," I thought as I finished speaking to him. It was odd to say his actual name. I didn't do that a lot.

But this was the most serious thing I'd ever done in my entire life, and I wanted him to know that there was no joking.

BAM!

My side racked with pain, and as soon as I caught a glimpse of a sword sheath, I knew what that lousy ass had done.

I twisted around and clasped my hands onto his shoulders, trying to stand up long enough to glare right through his face, hopefully knocking some sense into his dumb head. However, that didn't last long. I felt my body numbing as I dropped to my knees, my hands falling off his shoulders, still trying to grip on his arms.

"God damn it!! GET UUUP!!!" I commanded silently to my unwilling body. This wasn't fair. That bastard!! What the hell did he think he was doing?!

No, no, that idiot couldn't die!! Not when I could do something!!

The last time I looked him in the face before falling onto my face stunned me. His gaze wasn't spiteful as he brought his sword back to his side.

It was blank. Dark, expressionless, and grim.

That idiot knew he was going to die.

He knew, and he was accepting it. Like an honorable swordsman. LIKE A GODDAMNED SWORDSMAN!!!!

………………………………………………….

I couldn't stand it. I wouldn't. That bastard wouldn't do that to me.

The movement of my sheathed sword took almost no effort as I swung it right into his side, causing him incredible pain. I could tell.

He grabbed onto my shoulders tightly, glaring at me with hatred, "Y-You…!!" He managed to say before falling to his face. I knew he didn't want to go down like that. That shit cook was predictable.

As he fell, so did my face. I could feel my expression darkening. Usually, causing pain to the curly brow wasn't something I regretted afterwards. He was the biggest idiot I'd ever run into.

But causing him pain this time… This time was different. Because I knew that he didn't want someone from his crew to die. Even me; someone he hated, and everyone knew he hated. That guy was more worried about what the others thought, probably. When he glared at me, I could read the look of betrayal on his face. I never wanted to betray my crew, and I never will. Seeing that look on his face pained me, and my face became grim because of it.

He probably saw it, but I didn't care. This would be the last time I would ever see that shitty cook again… The last time I would see any of my Nakama.

But that didn't matter, because as long as they were safe, I was just a nuisance. And I kept that in mind as the immeasurable pain struck my body.

…………………………………………………….

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed besides Luffy's totally rejuvenated condition was three swords sprawled on the ground.

That scared the shit out of me.

I started running back to the forest, looking for that idiot. He wasn't dead. I couldn't believe that. I wouldn't. None of this seemed real anyway, we didn't need one of our Nakama to die.

And if he was dead, it would be my fault.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and kept running.

I exhaled when I caught sight of him standing among the rocks. Relaxed now, and careful to not look worried in front of that guy, I walked up to him, asking where the Shichibukai was, and told him not to scare the crew like that…

That's when I saw blood. LOTS of blood.

My eyes widened and I ran up to him, screaming at him, praying to God he wasn't so stupid as to die on me. This was more blood than I had ever seen in my entire life.

He said it was nothing…. Nothing? Yeah, right! I knew that idiot of a swordsman! It wasn't nothing!

Later, I found out the true story. Kuma had taken all of Luffy's pain and given it all to Zoro. That reckless idiot! I would kick his ass later.

But not until I found Kuma and kicked his sorry ass.

Author's Note:

I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed this story and appreciated it, even though it's not yaoi. Power to you all!! Oh, another thing! Those two quotes at the top happen to be my favorite One Piece movie quotes ever, and they really fit for this story!

I might even do another One Piece friendship fic in the future…. Hm… Ideas, anyone? I'll take ideas!