Straw Hat Castaways: The Marimo and the Shit Cook's 72 Hours
When a violent storm tears through the Grand Line, Zoro and Sanji are ripped from the Thousand Sunny and washed ashore on a desolate, uncharted island in the lawless Graveyard of the Calm. No ship. No crew. No way to call for help. Just the world's worst combination—a directionally challenged swordsman and a hotheaded cook—stranded together with nothing but seawater, silence, and each other's company.
With only three days to survive before a Navy patrol might pass by, the two must scavenge for
Straw Hat Castaways: The Marimo and the Shit Cook's 72 Hours - Heat and True Feelings—The Night the Marimo Brought
Outside the cave, it was still dim.
Too early to call it morning. The sky was a murky blue-gray, the wind damp and heavy. The sound of the waves seemed farther away than usual.
Roronoa Zoro stood three paces inside the cave entrance.
He leaned his tall frame against the wall, arms crossed. His short green hair was stiff with sea salt, and the three gold earrings on his left ear swayed with the faintest shift of air. His sharp black eyes were fixed on a single point in the darkness.
At the end of his gaze was Sanji.
The black suit was stained with sand and mud, blond hair plastered to his forehead. The bangs that usually hid one eye were in disarray, revealing a blue eye. But that eye wasn't focused. He sat slumped against the cave wall, knees drawn up. His breathing was shallow, shoulders rising and falling.
"...Damn it."
Sanji's voice came out cracked.
His lips were dry and split. His cheeks were unnaturally flushed, yet his fingertips were pale.
Zoro crouched silently beside him.
He reached out and touched Sanji's forehead.
Hot.
He could tell just from the touch. This wasn't the body temperature of the man who'd been saying "I'm fine" until yesterday.
"You—when the hell did you get this bad?"
Zoro's voice was low, laced with anger.
But there was no answer. Sanji only furrowed his brow in pain and coughed weakly.
Day four.
It was the morning of the fourth day since the storm had thrown them off the ship and they'd washed ashore on this Kagero Island.
There was almost no food left. The kagero nuts growing in the center of the island were bitter and astringent—impossible to eat raw. Sanji had been roasting them over fire, somehow making them barely edible. But even those were running out.
Water, at least, they still had. Every day they'd been drawing it from a spring in the middle of the island.
Zoro glanced at the small leather pouch set beside Sanji.
About half the water remained.
But when he saw what lay next to it, his hand stopped.
Three kagero nuts.
Roasted, ready to eat.
Zoro slowly picked one up.
He could tell by the feel. These were from yesterday's portion.
No—maybe from even earlier—
Zoro searched through Sanji's things.
Inside the black suit, in the pockets, in the folds of the cloth wrapped around his waist.
What came out were four more untouched kagero nuts.
Seven in total.
The rations that should have been distributed since day three were all still there, completely untouched.
"...You."
Zoro's voice trembled slightly.
Was it anger, or something else? An emotion he couldn't name rose up from the pit of his stomach.
"What're you leaving all this for? You're not eating, that's why you've got a fever, isn't it?"
Zoro glared at Sanji, the nuts still clenched in his fist.
Sanji slowly raised his face.
His blue eye looked vaguely at Zoro.
"...Feeding the hungry—that's what a cook does."
His voice was far too weak.
No room for his usual banter. No strength for his usual insults.
Even so, Sanji spoke.
"Yesterday, a rock crab pinched your finger, didn't it. ...A swordsman who injures his dominant hand and can't even eat properly—what's that about?"
Zoro was at a loss for words.
That's right.
Yesterday, trying to catch a rock crab on the rocks, his right hand's fingers had been pinched. The bones weren't broken, but it was a bad bruise, still swollen.
Sanji had been worried about that.
About Zoro's dominant hand—the hand of a swordsman.
"...Even so, that's no reason for you to not eat."
Zoro spat the words out.
"I'm fine."
Sanji was lying.
His face was bright red, his lips purple, his fingertips trembling.
"Fine, my ass. Your brain's boiling from the fever."
Zoro stood up.
Then he turned his back to Sanji and crouched down.
"Get on. I'm taking you to the spring."
"...Put me down, Marimo. Like I'd ride on your back."
Sanji resisted in a hoarse voice.
But his body wouldn't move. He couldn't even stand on his own.
"Shut up and grab on. If you've got complaints, walk there yourself."
Zoro's tone left no room for argument.
Sanji glared at Zoro's back for a while.
But eventually, as if resigning himself, he slowly reached out.
"...Damn Marimo."
Sanji's arms wrapped around Zoro's neck.
Zoro caught Sanji's legs and stood.
Sanji's body was lighter than he'd expected.
No—that wasn't it.
This wasn't "light."
Zoro gritted his teeth at the warmth of Sanji's body against his back, at the feel of bones.
(How much weight did you lose in four days?)
They left the cave.
The sky was a little brighter than before.
Zoro walked through the low thicket.
The soil underfoot was damp, and the remnants of last night's fog left droplets on the grass blades.
The spring in the center of the island was about fifteen minutes away on foot.
"...You're hopeless with directions—how're you gonna get to the spring without getting lost?"
A faint voice came from his back.
"I've walked this path a dozen times. No way I'm getting lost."
Zoro answered irritably.
"...Huh. The lost Marimo's grown up."
"You wanna fall off my back right now?"
"...If you can drop me, go ahead and try."
Sanji's arms tightened just a little.
Zoro walked on in silence.
Past the thicket, they came out onto a small rocky area.
Beyond it was the spring.
Clear water welled up from a crack in the rock.
About two hundred liters a day. The island's only source of water without that astringent taste.
Zoro set Sanji down at the water's edge.
Sanji sat against a rock, breathing raggedly.
Zoro filled the leather pouch with water and brought it to Sanji's mouth.
"Can you drink?"
Sanji gave a small nod.
Zoro tilted the pouch, letting him drink a little at a time.
Sanji's throat moved slowly.
The water moistened his cracked lips.
"...Good."
Sanji murmured softly.
Zoro said nothing, just tore off the end of his haramaki.
He wet it in the spring water and laid it on Sanji's forehead.
The cold cloth drew the heat away.
Sanji closed his eyes.
"...You're surprisingly good at nursing, huh."
"I'm not as useless as you think."
Zoro washed his own face in the spring water.
Cold.
His head cleared a little.
"...Sorry, Marimo."
Sanji said quietly.
Zoro stopped mid-wash.
"I even ate your share of the food. ...If I'd managed things properly, this wouldn't have happened."
"That's not something you should be apologizing for. I should've noticed sooner."
Zoro wiped the water off roughly.
"...Yesterday, you got your fingers pinched, and you still tried to catch that rock crab. ...Back then, I thought you were amazing."
Zoro looked at Sanji silently.
Sanji's eyes were still closed, a faint smile on his face.
"...So that's what a swordsman is like."
"...You're more than enough as a cook, too."
Zoro said that and stood up.
"Rest here a bit more. I'm gonna look around."
"...Yeah."
Zoro walked around the spring.
Beyond the rocky area, low bushes grew thick. Behind them, he spotted small berries growing.
Not kagero nuts.
Smaller, red berries.
Zoro picked a few and returned to Sanji.
"Can you eat these?"
Sanji opened his eyes slightly and looked at the red berries.
"...Probably fine. They're sour, but not poisonous."
"Then eat."
Zoro pressed the berries into Sanji's hand.
Sanji picked one up and put it in his mouth.
"...Sour."
Sanji grimaced.
Zoro watched and gave a small laugh.
"Back among the living, shit cook?"
"Who're you calling a shit cook. You eat too, Marimo."
Sanji tossed a berry at Zoro.
Zoro caught it in his mouth.
Sour.
But not bad.
The two ate the red berries in silence for a while.
Drinking spring water, cooling their foreheads with the cold cloth, occasionally trading insults without either knowing who started it.
Time flowed slowly like that.
Evening came.
Zoro carried Sanji back to the cave.
Sanji's body felt just a little lighter than on the way there.
Maybe it was his imagination.
But Zoro wanted to believe it.
Back at the cave, Zoro built a fire.
The firewood he'd gathered the night before was still there.
He lit it and sat Sanji near the flames.
Sanji leaned against the wall, gazing vaguely at the fire.
"Eat something. Red berries, or nuts."
Zoro held out a kagero nut to Sanji.
A roasted one.
Sanji slowly reached out and took it.
"...Did you eat?"
"I ate at the spring earlier."
"...Liar. You only ate the red berries, didn't you."
Sanji was sharp.
Zoro went silent.
"...Here, half."
Sanji split the nut in two and held half out to Zoro.
"What're you doing, you're the sick one."
"That's exactly why I want you to eat too. ...Feeding the hungry—that's what a cook does."
Sanji said it with a faint smile.
Zoro sighed and took the nut.
"...Sheesh. Sick as you are, you can't stop fussing over people."
"Look who's talking—fussing over the sick one. What're you even saying."
The two chewed their half-nuts slowly.
Bitter.
But eaten beside a warm fire, it tasted just a little better.
The night deepened.
Only the sound of the fire echoed in the cave.
Crack, crack—the wood popping.
Now and then, the sound of waves drifted in from outside.
Sanji sat with his knees drawn up, staring at the flames.
His profile, lit by the firelight, looked far younger than usual.
"...Hey, Marimo."
Sanji said quietly.
Zoro didn't stop feeding wood into the fire.
"When I'm fighting with you, I can forget about the All Blue."
Zoro's hand stopped.
Sanji kept staring at the flames and continued.
"...I'm always thinking about the All Blue. It's my dream. ...But when I'm fighting with you, I can forget about it. ...Funny, isn't it."
Sanji's voice, maybe because of the fever, was softer than usual.
Zoro didn't answer.
He just fed new wood into the fire so it wouldn't go out.
"...What do you think about when we're fighting?"
Sanji looked at Zoro.
His blue eye reflected the firelight, wavering.
Zoro was silent for a while.
"...I'm only thinking about you."
When he said it, Sanji let out a soft laugh.
"...What the hell is that. Creepy."
"You're the one who asked."
Zoro shoved wood into the fire roughly, as if to hide his embarrassment.
"...I see."
Sanji murmured and turned his eyes back to the flames.
"...When I'm fighting with you, I'm only thinking about you too."
Those words were so quiet they nearly drowned in the sound of the fire.
But Zoro heard them clearly.
Zoro said nothing, just stared at the fire.
Something stirred deep in his chest.
(Since when did you say things like that?)
Zoro muttered it in his mind.
Sanji fell asleep just like that, leaning against the wall.
Steady breathing reached his ears.
Zoro checked on Sanji, then stood.
He took a burning branch in one hand.
He stepped deeper into the cave.
The back split into two paths.
The right path was a dead end.
The left path continued farther in.
Zoro took the left.
The ground was dry, thin stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
The air was cool.
After walking a while, he spotted a rotting wooden box against the wall.
Zoro crouched and examined it.
The lid was decayed—it crumbled at his touch.
Inside was a single piece of animal hide.
Zoro pulled it out and held it to the firelight.
A sea chart.
Quite old. The hide was dried and cracked in places.
But the lines drawn on it remained clear.
And in the corner of the chart, handwritten words.
"The Road to the All Blue."
Zoro's eyes widened slightly.
He flipped it over.
On the back was carved a strange crest.
A spiral and crossed swords.
Zoro stared at the crest.
He'd seen it somewhere before.
Something caught at the back of his memory.
But he couldn't recall it.
Still, something stirred in his chest.
Should he show this to Sanji?
Zoro looked toward the sleeping Sanji.
Sanji slept with a peaceful face.
Zoro folded the chart and tucked it inside his haramaki.
...Not yet.
That's what he thought.
Morning came.
When Zoro stepped outside the cave, the sky was a little brighter than yesterday.
The s
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