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 - The Hodgepodge Island — Mud's Threat and the One-Eyed Code
Morning light bleached the sands of Kagerou Island white.
Zoro stood atop the raft he'd lashed together on the beach, arms folded. It was a crude thing—timber from the island, rope salvaged from the wreckage. Three days of slow, patient work. He'd waited until Sanji's fever broke before deciding they'd set sail today.
Sanji came walking over from the cave.
His black suit was still caked with sand and salt. His blond hair was a mess, blue eyes peering out from under the bangs. His cheeks were still a little flushed. But his stride was steady.
"Yo, Marimo. Ready to shove off?"
Zoro answered without turning around.
"You're the one who'd better not keel over and fall in the sea."
"Who's falling? You're the one who'll get lost and circle the middle of the ocean forever."
"I'm not lost. The currents are just bad."
Sanji sighed and leaped onto the raft.
It creaked under his weight.
Zoro pulled an old chart from inside his haramaki and traced its surface with his thumb. The one they'd found in the cave. The one that read *The Road to All Blue.* On the back, a strange crest. He still hadn't shown it to Sanji.
(Once we're off this island, first thing is to find people.)
Zoro tucked the chart away and glared out at the sea.
"Once we leave, we head for the island where the drifters gather."
"Drifters?"
"That night while you were asleep, I checked the stars for our bearings. There's signs of people to the southwest."
Sanji's face flickered with something complicated.
The road to All Blue. The words on that chart had been nagging at the back of his mind. Zoro was hiding something—he could feel it.
But now wasn't the time to press him.
"...Fine. But southwest? The way you call directions, it'll be the opposite—so we're heading northeast."
"Hah!? You don't trust me?!"
"Trust a directionless Marimo? As if."
The two glared at each other.
But then, without a word, they both looked away.
Zoro grabbed the crude sail rigged at the raft's edge. Sanji picked up an oar made from driftwood.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
The raft slid slowly off the sand.
The sea was dead calm.
The Central Calm. This stretch of ocean—called the Graveyard of Doldrums—had no wind at its heart, and its currents swept clockwise, gathering debris into a slow spiral. Hardly a wave. The surface was smooth as a film of oil.
Kagerou Island receded, bit by bit.
Five days they'd survived there. Catching rock crabs, hauling spring water, sleeping in the cave. Sanji had come down with a fever, and Zoro had carried him on his back to the spring.
Zoro didn't look back.
Sanji didn't either.
Silence hung between them for a while.
Then Sanji spoke.
"Hey, Marimo. You even know which way we're going?"
"East. We're going east."
Zoro said it with total confidence.
Sanji looked up at the sky. The sun's position. The direction the seabirds flew. The set of the current. And the arrangement of the stars he'd seen last night.
"It's not east! You're heading due north right now! I told you the drifters' island is southwest!"
"Hah? No way it's north. By my sense of it, this is east."
"Your sense is garbage! Lost Marimo!"
"And you—the current's just moving on its own!"
Sanji clutched his head.
The man was dead serious. He genuinely had no concept of direction.
"...Your sense of direction is a genuine threat to our lives, you know that?"
"Shut up. I'm not lost."
Sanji gave up arguing.
Instead, he gripped the oar tighter. He read the current, checked the sun's angle, and gradually corrected the raft's heading.
(This guy's directional idiocy is going to get us killed for real.)
Sanji cursed inwardly.
But at the same time, he thought:
(Well. I'm here, so we'll be fine.)
Sanji looked at Zoro's back.
Rough, unapproachable, sarcastic. But that night, when he'd had the fever, Zoro had carried him to the spring. Kept the fire going. Watched over him until morning.
(...I'm counting on you, you shitty Marimo.)
He didn't say it out loud.
The raft drifted slowly along the current.
The sea of the Graveyard of Doldrums was endlessly still.
Now and then, a pale blue light wavered beneath the surface. Calm jellies—luminescent jellyfish drifting around the raft.
"Oi, look. The sea's glowing."
"Calm jellies. They're famous in these waters. Their tentacles have a paralyzing venom—don't touch them."
"Huh. You know a lot."
"While you were sleeping, I was observing things on the island. A cook never skimps on scouting his ingredients."
Sanji put a cigarette between his lips. Unlit. His last one had been smoked long ago.
"You out of cigarettes?"
"Yeah. First thing I do when we hit land is find smokes."
"Cigarettes before food?"
"Shut up. Cigarettes are fuel. For my brain."
Zoro snorted.
The raft was entering a zone thick with debris.
Shattered barrels. Broken masts. The wreckage of ruined ships. Every kind of flotsam covered the water's surface.
"Incredible. So the graveyard of the sea is the real deal."
Sanji scanned their surroundings.
Then he pointed ahead.
"Oi, Marimo. Look at that."
Zoro raised his head.
A massive shadow floated on the sea.
No—not a shadow.
A ship.
Dozens of derelict vessels, chained and roped together. Wooden planks laid across them, huts built on top. It was like a tiny town that had grown on the water.
"That's... the drifters' island?"
"Drift Port. A floating island scraped together by the drifters who survive in the Graveyard of Doldrums."
Sanji turned the raft toward it.
The floating island drew closer.
The smell of tide and timber. And faintly, the smell of cooking.
The smell of people living.
The raft approached a small pier built at the island's edge.
A figure stood on the pier.
An old woman with silver-streaked white hair tied back in a single tail. Her right eye was covered by a black patch; her left gleamed amber. She held a brass cane in her left hand, and a coiled rope hung at her hip.
She peered down at the two men on the raft with her one eye.
"Ho. So you survived the Graveyard of Doldrums. Lucky young fools."
Her voice was low and gravelly.
Zoro bowed his head without a word.
Sanji bowed deeply too.
"Share some water with us. We'll repay the debt, guaranteed."
Sanji's voice was direct.
The old woman studied their faces.
Her amber eye moved—to the sword at Zoro's hip, to Sanji's legs, then to their eyes.
She was weighing them.
At last, she spoke.
"I'm Madam Olga. I'm charged with governing Drift Port. ...You two. State your names."
Zoro lifted his head.
"Roronoa Zoro."
"I'm Sanji. A cook."
Olga's left eye widened slightly.
"Roronoa Zoro... the Pirate Hunter. And Black Leg Sanji. Two big names from the Straw Hats washing up here, of all places."
"You know us?"
"News gulls reach even the Graveyard of Doldrums. Your bounties are famous in these waters."
Olga tapped her brass cane against the pier.
"Very well. Come up. But this island has rules. Those who can't follow them are banished."
Zoro and Sanji exchanged a glance.
Then nodded.
They climbed onto the pier.
Olga turned and walked off.
"Follow me. First, let's get you fed."
The interior of Drift Port was far more orderly than they'd imagined.
Plank walkways laid over the derelict ships. Huts framed with timber. Stalls. A barter market.
People moved to and fro.
Children ran about, women hung laundry, men mended nets.
"Incredible. It's a proper town."
Sanji said it while looking around.
"This is the only safe haven in the Graveyard of Doldrums. The drifters survive by helping one another."
Olga stopped before a long table in the center of the square.
"Sit. I'll have food brought."
Zoro and Sanji sat at the table.
After a while, an islander brought over dishes on wooden plates.
Dried fish soup. Stewed shellfish. A seaweed salad. And hard bread.
"It's plain fare, but eat your fill. Drink all the water you like."
Olga said it, and Sanji took a sip of the soup.
"...Delicious."
Sanji's face broke into a smile.
The dried fish stock was rich and deep. The salt was just right.
"The cook on this island's got some skill."
"Is that so. Glad it suits you."
Zoro started eating in silence too.
It was the first proper meal in five days.
Sanji picked up the bread.
Then he moved some of the fish from his own plate onto Zoro's.
"Oi, what're you doing?"
"You're a swordsman, aren't you. Load up on protein. Your wounds'll heal faster."
"You eat too. Your fever just broke."
Zoro pushed the fish back onto Sanji's plate.
Sanji pushed it back again.
"You eat it."
"You eat it."
The two of them shuttled the fish back and forth across the plates.
Olga watched the exchange, her single eye narrowing.
"Kuku... You two get along well."
"Since when?!"
Their voices overlapped perfectly.
Olga chuckled softly.
"I'll teach you the rules of this island. Listen well."
Her voice turned serious.
"One: those who help are helped. Two: water and food are shared. Three: traitors who sell us out for bounties are banished from this island."
Olga regripped her brass cane.
"Anyone who breaks these rules is cast into the outer storm belt. No ship on this island can cross that storm. In other words, banishment means death."
Zoro and Sanji listened in silence.
"Understood?"
"Yeah."
"Understood."
Olga nodded, satisfied.
Then she lowered her voice.
"...And one warning."
Her single eye glinted sharply.
"There's a man near here who bites the mud."
"Bites the mud?"
"Local slang for a traitor. Out in the eastern mud inlet, the Gargantua's anchored. Her captain is Gerzo Balbarossa. A bounty-hunting pirate who preys on castaways for their reward money."
The smile vanished from Sanji's face.
The silver-haired man they'd faced on Kagerou Island. The Devil Fruit user with a body of mud.
Zoro's expression hardened too.
He was unconsciously pressing the old wound on his left shoulder.
Gerzo Balbarossa.
That man had broken Zoro's sword and shattered his left shoulder.
"...He's nearby?"
"You know him?"
"We fought on Kagerou Island."
Olga let out a deep breath.
"I see. So that wound on your shoulder is his doing."
Zoro didn't answer.
Sanji stayed silent, cigarette still between his lips.
He rolled the unlit cigarette with his mouth.
"Be careful. That man's been sniffing around this island too. If he learns you're here, he'll come for certain."
Olga stood.
"Rest easy today. I'll have a room prepared."
Olga called out to an islander.
A young man came running and led the two of them to a hut.
The hut was a converted cabin from one of the derelict ships. Cramped, but it kept out the wind and rain.
"Use this place. If anything happens, go to Madam Olga in the square."
The man said that and left.
Zoro sat down against the wall.
Sanji stood near the entrance, gazing out at the sea.
"Hey, Marimo."
"What."
"That chart. You've got it, don't you."
Zoro went quiet.
"You don't have to hide it. I figured you were hiding something."
Sanji didn't turn around.
"...Yeah. I've got it."
"Show me."
"Not now."
"Why not?"
"...If you see it, things'll get complicated."
Sanji was silent for a while.
"...Fine, then."
That was all he said before stepping outside.
Zoro leaned alone against the wall.
That crest carved on the back of the chart.
A spiral, and crossed swords.
The crest of the Germa Kingdom.
Zoro knew what it was. He knew it was the crest of Sanji's homeland.
(Not yet.)
Zoro closed his eyes.
Night fell.
Drift Port's nights were quiet.
The sound of waves, the sound of wind. And now and then, the murmur of voices.
Zoro sat in the hut, sharpening his sword.
Wado Ichimonji.
He'd lost Sandai Kitetsu in the fight with that man.
Only this one blade remained.
The sound of the whetstone was the only thing echoing in the quiet hut.
Then it happened.
*Boom.*
Somewhere in the distance, something burst.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.