The town on Shifting Shoals clung to the narrow edge of the harbor. Most structures faced seaward, with doors and windows opening onto the harbor rather than inland. Warehouses, shops, and homes shared walls or sat only a few feet apart, leaving little open space. Roads followed the curve of the shore instead of cutting straight through the settlement.
Past the town, the island rose in planes rather than curves. Its profile was low and flattened, shaped into long, shallow slopes that met one another at sharp angles. The land did not crest or dip naturally so much as transition, each change in elevation distinct.
Vegetation lay across the surface unevenly, collecting in seams and depressions instead of spreading uniformly. Grasses and low growth clung where the terrain allowed, leaving other sections bare. Exposed stone showed through in fractured lines that suggested joints rather than faults, as though the land were segmented beneath the soil. Ridges ran parallel for short distances before drifting out of alignment, like components that no longer sat perfectly flush.
The Thousand Sunny docked mid-morning at the pirate-friendly town. The tri-log pose would take four days to set, which gave the Straw Hat crew plenty of time to restock and explore. Luffy shot off immediately, dragging Brook and Usopp with him. Chopper departed with Nami and Jinbe at a more leisurely pace. Sanji planned to snag Zoro for pack mule service, but the swordsman disappeared as soon as he’d tied the mooring lines.
Sanji puffed on his cigarette, a small furrow to his brow. Ever since Egghead Island, Zoro had been acting more closed off. He wasn’t a ball of sunshine normally, but he’d been more avoidant of company of late. Something was needling him. While their interactions tended to be more spice than sugar, Sanji still cared deeply about the green-haired idiot.
This thing between them was new, fragile. They were still trying to figure out how it worked outside of the physical. Neither one of them was the best at relaying honest emotion. Sanji tended to overthink and Zoro played things close to the vest. They both knew they wanted to be together, just not exactly how that looked.
“Zoro has gone already?” Robin said as she stepped up beside him, adjusting her cowboy hat on her head. The tone of her voice indicated she’d noticed, too. Sanji wasn’t surprised.
“Yeah.” Sanji pushed Zoro out of his mind for the time being and beamed hearts at her. “This means we’ll be by ourselves, Robin-chan! A beautiful date for two!”
Franky clomped over and slung his massive arm over Robin’s shoulder. “Who’s going on a date?”
The hearts thudded on the deck like lead balloons. “You two, most likely,” Sanji said with a forlorn sigh.
“Are the defenses armed?” Robin asked Franky.
Franky grinned. “Armed and active, babe.”
Franky built several defense systems into the Sunny, including a handful of robots, to allow the ship to be protected while the crew was ashore. The trial and error phase for the robots led to a lot of bandages and bad moods, but in the end, no one had to draw straws to remain behind on watch.
Sanji adjusted the empty pack on his shoulder and hopped down onto the dock. Franky and Robin followed, and the three of them set off into town together.
As they walked, the wear in the place became impossible to miss. Cracks were common, running through paving stones, climbing up walls, and crossing door thresholds. Some had been repaired carefully, filled and sealed, while others had simply been worked around, incorporated into daily use. Mortar showed layers of patchwork from repeated fixes, each slightly different in color and texture. Steps were worn unevenly, some with splits in them, others out of alignment with the rest.
Robin hummed with interest. “Perhaps this island has a geological fault and is one earthquake away from complete collapse, killing all the townspeople and sending their homes into the sea.”
Franky chuckled. “That’s my babe. Always looking on the bright side.”
Robin stopped to chat with a local sweeping their front stoop. “Excuse me, could you tell us where the local bookstore or historical archives are located?”
“Of course. Today, the bookstore’s across from the barber,” the man said. “There’s a museum at the town hall, which has some historical records. Follow the coast road til you see the old docks. It’s right near there.”
“Thank you.” Robin smiled and rejoined Franky and Sanji. They continued on, passing by several colorful shops before mentioning, “Interesting that he said ‘today’ with his directions.”
“Local language difference?” Franky suggested.
“Hm. Perhaps.”
Sanji spotted the market ahead. “Looks like here’s where we part.”
“Do you need any assistance, since you don’t have Zoro?” Robin asked. “Franky and I would be glad to lend you a hand. Or three.” She bloomed arms off Sanji’s shoulders, giving him additional limbs with a faint, playful smile.
Sanji shook his head. “I’m good. You two enjoy yourselves.”
Robin’s devil fruit limbs disappeared in a shower of petals, and she and Franky continued along the coast road as Sanji dove into restocking the ship’s food stores.
It took Sanji a majority of the day, and the sun drifted closer to the horizon by the time he had everything put away on the ship. Then he tidied his appearance before heading back into town. Maybe he’d get lucky tonight, if he could find Zoro. He had enough beli for an inn room for the three nights, if Zoro was interested.
The tavern he found boasted food, drink, and half the crew but no Zoro. He debated on trying another place but Luffy already spotted him and shouted his name. “Sanji! Come join us.”
Sanji slid into an open chair at the table with Luffy, Brook, Usopp, Franky, and Robin. Round tables filled a majority of the space in the tavern, and the decor had a coastal theme. Servers dished out heaping plates of fresh fish and cooked greens. Conversation hummed, forks clinked, and alcohol foamed at the head of the glasses.
Sanji ordered and settled back in his chair. “Did you find the bookstore and archives?” he asked Robin.
“I did. And it was most fascinating,” Robin said. “‘Today’ is not merely a local colloquialism. ‘Today’ is used because the island moves.”
Luffy’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Moves, Robin-san?” Brook said, smacking Luffy’s fingers as he reached for a morsel on Brook’s plate.
“It’s pretty super,” Franky said, chugging a cola.
“Except along the coast, every night at seven local time, the entire island shifts and moves,” Robin explained. “Paths that lined up no longer do. Buildings on the upper street end up in different locations. The interior changes drastically, elevations shifting, sinkholes appearing, ridges changing formations. The movement is constant, too, throughout the entire night until five in the morning”
“I want to see the island move!” Luffy declared.
“I take it, it’s dangerous,” Sanji said, thanking the waiter as he set his drink on the table.
“The locals don’t go out after dark, and if they must, they are always tied together.” Elbows on the table, Robin folded her hands, resting her chin on them. “The historian told me that they do this because, if the ground decides to separate, it will keep you.”
Usopp laughed nervously. “I’m very against being kept against my will.”
“If you want to remain safe, it was suggested we remain on our ship after nightfall,” Robin said.
“Safe is boring,” Luffy said, stuffing his cheeks with meat covered fries. “We should all go out after dark and see the island move. It’ll be fun.”
“It’ll be suicidal,” Robin said with a smile. “We could all fall into an inescapable pit and starve or be crushed into powder by shifting rocks.”
“Why do you say things like that?” Usopp groaned.
“Do you know what causes the movement?” Brook asked.
“They believe it’s a mechanical device of some sort,” Robin said.
Sanji’s curiosity was piqued. “A mechanical device? Like a machine?”
“So it would seem.” Robin’s smile grew wider. “But why it is here and what its purpose is, is a mystery. The records only go back so far, and the island has been here for centuries.”
“There’s a song the locals sing after dark,” Franky told Brook. “It’s catchy. Kinda like a work chant.” He thumped his heel on the wood floor and sang the tune.
“Step – step – hold.
Step – step – hold.
Breathe in – breathe out – wait.
Step on the beat.
Hold in the gap.
Miss the pause–
And snap.”
“I can already hear the accompaniment – even though I lack ears… because I’m a skeleton! Yo-ho-ho.”
“This song will keep us safe?” Usopp said with hope.
Robin shook her head. “It’s to keep you aware of when a shift takes place. That’s all.”
“I believe there is a dire need for me to return to the ship,” Usopp said, starting to rise.
Luffy grabbed him and yanked him back into his seat. “Nope, we’re going to all have fun together.”
Usopp dropped his head onto the table with a morose wail. “We’re all going to die!”
“That’s what makes it fun! Shishishi!”
The six of them didn’t need to venture far from the tavern once the appointed time had come. Rope cut in lengths hung available at the door, freely on offer. “Drop it off to any local business tomorrow,” the server told them.
Franky, Robin, Usopp, and Brook banded together, two to a rope as instructed. Luffy and Sanji went without, as Luffy’s rubber arms and Sanji’s Sky Walk could get them away from potential danger quickly.
Darkness had fallen, stars littering the night sky. Shops and restaurants closed at dusk, but the brothel and taverns along the waterfront remained open. The coast road marked the boundary line between stable ground and not, and the steep slope of the streets between the buildings heading inland changed from paved to dirt.
They hiked up the street, Robin informing them that the buildings that lined the opposite side of the road had pockets of stability that the locals had learned over time. While the land still moved, it didn’t break apart or sink. Thus, storefronts and warehouses could be built on that side, though residences were forbidden.
One entrepreneurial business created a viewing platform behind its storefront. They reached it shortly before nine and leaned against the balcony rail looking inward toward the island.
“How do we know when it starts?” Usopp asked, lowering his targeting goggles to peer out into the darkness. “And are we really safe up here? I mean, we could watch from the ship. Distance would really improve the view.”
As if in answer, a heavy bell rang five times. The deep tones echoed across the shore. Usopp gulped. “That didn’t sound ominous or anything.”
“Warning system,” Franky said. “Probably have a minute or two to get where you need to go.”
“I should have returned to the ship to grab my violin,” Brook sighed. “A musical prelude to build anticipation would be perfect right now.”
Sanji lit a cigarette, leaning against the rail. “Hope the others are either back at the ship or somewhere safe.” Nami, Chopper, and Jinbe had undoubtedly learned the same information about the town and were settled in somewhere. Zoro, on the other hand, had likely gotten lost and could be anywhere on the island. The thought unsettled him. “Maybe I should see if I can find–”
His words vanished under a drawn-out shriek of friction, followed by a grinding howl that reverberated in the air. A second later, the entire platform they stood on jolted and began shifting to the right. Sanji grabbed onto the rail and pushed Usopp upright as he stumbled. Robin snatched Franky with several hands as he came close to toppling. Brook hooked his cane over the rail to keep his balance.
Luffy cackled, holding onto his hat, as he stumbled a few steps. “We’re moving!”
“We aren’t the only ones,” Franky said, pointing. “Check it.”
Beyond the platform, the entire island was in motion. It seemed to be random. Some areas rose, others fell. Some slid forward and back, others to the side. The entire thing lasted about ten seconds, then everything went still.
“Whoa, that was so cool!” Luffy cheered. “Do it again, island!”
As if the island were listening, it lurched into motion again. The platform continued to the right, but the rest of the island moved an indiscernible pattern. What had risen before might keep rising, might sink, or move in a random direction. A large area directly behind the building suddenly dropped away. Elsewhere, vegetation became uprooted. Rocks fell as land sheared apart. The island screeched with a brutal, teeth-on-edge scrape that swallowed every other sound.
After another ten seconds, the island stilled again. Usopp uncovered his ears. “How do people sleep with this going on?”
Before anyone could answer, the movement started again. This time, they rose up. The rest of the land did its own intricate dance.
When it settled, Franky sang, “Step – step – hold.”
A beat after he held the third word, the island returned to motion.
Robin counted on her fingers, then counted the pause in between. “Ten seconds of movement with a five second gap.”
The viewing platform did nothing the next grind.
“So this will continue on a fifteen second cycle all night?” Sanji said. The vibration, noise, and constant movement was already getting on his nerves.
Robin nodded as they slid through another movement, this time the platform lowering back to original height. “For the next ten hours, yes.”
Usopp’s face took on a green hue after the next cycle. “Stop the world, I want to get off.”
“I can see why people are roped together, while still walking a good distance apart,” Brook commented, looking down at the path beneath them. The platform slid again before he continued. “If someone falls, the other might be able to rescue them.”
Sanji’d had enough. After the next shift, he said, “I’m going to get Usopp to solid ground. Anyone else want me to come back for them?”
A giant hand appeared, palm up, over the top of the building. Robin stepped on, and Brook hopped up.
Franky waved them off after the following shift. “I’ll stay with Luffy-bro. Can’t let him have all the fun.”
Ropes were exchanged, Franky attaching himself to Luffy under Luffy’s protest. Sanji hefted Usopp onto his back in between movements and stepped into the sky. Robin’s hand took her and Brook back to the coast road. Sanji carried Usopp to the Sunny. He landed nimbly on the upper deck above the galley.
The sway of the ship in its mooring felt like nothing beneath his feet. “C’mon, I’ll make you a bromide,” he told Usopp, heading down the ladder after punching in the hatch code.
“Thanks.” Usopp held his stomach, swallowing thickly. “Next time Luffy says something will be fun, my Hell-No Disease is going to flare up.”
The Straw Hat crew gathered for breakfast at a pre-arranged hour on the ship. Sanji usually cooked on the first morning when they had a multi-night stay, then the crew was on their own the remainder of the time. As much as he loved cooking, he needed a break as well.
Not everyone always showed up for breakfast, especially if they found other accommodations in town, but this morning the entire crew sat around the dining table in the galley in varied states of tiredness.
The scent of bacon, eggs, and pancakes filled the air. Juice, coffee, and tea sat on the table. Franky’s cola lined the bar. The clink of forks on plates underscored the sleepy conversation.
“I thought it would never end,” Nami said, alternating coffee with her food. “Even the special earplugs the shopkeeper sold us didn’t keep the noise completely out.”
“The locals all have the telltale signs of sleep-deprevation and chronic hearing loss,” Chopper said. “I would have recommended working at night and sleeping during the day instead to alleviate at least one issue.”
“But then they court death,” Brook pointed out, “which is a lot more permanent than sleep-deprivation. Except if you’re me. Yo-ho-ho!”
“I slept fine,” Zoro said, then caught the silverware that was thrown at him from several directions. “Oi!”
“That’s because you can sleep on a battlefield. Or through Luffy on a normal day at sea,” Usopp said, propping his eyelids open with toothpicks. Chopper quickly stopped him from doing it.
Zoro jerked a thumb at Jinbe. “He slept fine, too. Throw things at him.”
Jinbe smiled ruefully. “I admit, I slept at the bottom of the sea, away from the island. Though the reverberations still carried through the water, it was not as bad.”
“I am quite curious as to how this mechanism works,” Robin said, accepting a refill of coffee from Sanji. “Perhaps I can locate a scientist studying the island today.”
“I’d like to see their maps,” Nami said. “If half their buildings move nightly, how do they map that? And what about the interior?”
“I’m surprised the marimo made it back to the ship to sleep,” Sanji said, setting a fresh bowl of rice in front of him. “Thought for sure I’d have to find your lost ass.”
Zoro scowled. “I don’t get lost.”
Sanji had seriously thought about going to look for Zoro after taking care of Usopp, but then Nami and the others returned, taking the unmoving coast road, and Sanji got busy making evening drinks and snacks. Zoro had turned up not long after, looking no worse for wear, and Sanji pretended he hadn’t been relieved.
Nami eyed Zoro. “You know, I’m surprised, too. You have trouble navigating a straight line, and last night the island was literally moving. ”
“Tch, it was easy. I just keep walking while everything else moved around,” Zoro said. “Didn’t take as long as usual, either.”
Robin tilted her head slightly at Zoro. “You didn’t look for landmarks?”
Zoro lifted the rice bowl to his mouth, chopsticks in hand. “Why would I do that?”
Sanji shot him a look of mild disbelief. “That’s how people navigate, dimwit.”
“Whatever.”
“Nami, where did you get your earplugs?” Usopp asked. “I think I’m going to mess around with some dials, see if I can create a better set.”
Conversation continued about plans for the day, and once breakfast was through, the crew headed back into town. Sanji stayed behind to wash up and prep a couple easy meals for Usopp to grab, knowing he’d be tinkering on the ship most of the day.
Once done, Sanji headed into town. He spent most of the day shopping for clothes and sundries, bought a local cookbook, ate lunch, and enjoyed speaking with the locals he met. He flirted with the ladies – even if everything was now praise, not touch – and kept an eye out for Zoro, who’d once again disappeared on him. Sanji couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed, concerned, or shrug it off. Relationships were complicated.
Evening came along before Sanji knew it, and he stowed his purchases on the ship, checked on Usopp, and whipped up a second dinner for Nami, who’d returned for the night.
“I saw Zoro head for the interior of the island this morning,” Nami said, spreading out her new maps. She glanced out the window. “It’ll be dark soon.”
Sanji set a drink on the edge of her desk. “And you want me to go get him,” he said. He hadn’t realized Zoro had wandered out of town. The unsettled feeling from yesterday returned.
“He gets lost enough as it is, when the ground isn’t shifting.”
“No worries, my beautiful Nami-san. I’ll bring him back.”
The shadows grew long as the sun descended closer to the horizon. The interior of the island seemed to be a maze of rocky plains, broad stone shelves broken by shallow rises and sudden drops. Scrub and coarse grasses grew in uneven patches, clustered in seams and depressions where soil had collected, leaving long stretches of bare rock scored with straight, joint-like lines. The ground lay at slightly different, unlevel tilts from one section to the next, forcing constant adjustment with each step. Birds perched on ridges, lifting in tight spirals before landing again on a different outcropping.
Zoro made a dark speck against the backdrop of the orange and purple sky, sitting crosslegged on a high-point of the uneven landscape. Sanji hopped from outcropping to outcropping, hands in his pockets. Zoro hadn’t been difficult to locate, the only living being aside from the birds in the interior of the island. Observation haki had lit him up the moment Sanji came in range.
Sanji wondered why Zoro was sitting around instead of attempting to find his way back to town. Zoro knew the ground would start shifting soon after the sun set. Though more capable than most, he didn’t have Sky Walk or rubber limbs to get him out of a tight situation if the landscape suddenly collapsed. He normally didn’t put himself purposely into danger, though he accepted any danger that came knocking.
Sanji landed lightly on Zoro’s outcropping, his shoes scraping against the rock. Zoro glanced up at him with a scowl before facing away again. “What do you want?”
“I’ve been sent to fetch your dumb ass,” Sanji said, eyes sweeping over him, checking for injury in case that had been holding him back. He didn’t see anything wrong. “Nami-san doesn’t want you out after dark.”
“I can take care of myself,” Zoro said sharply.
Sanji scoffed, following Zoro’s line of sight toward the open ocean and the distant horizon. “Tell that to someone who hasn’t seen you circle a fountain twelve times.”
“I don’t need or want your help, shit cook.”
“Tough shit. You’re getting it.” Sanji aimed a light kick at Zoro’s thigh. “Let’s go.”
Zoro unfurled to his feet, shoulders tight, jaw clenched. “I came out here to be alone. So fuck off.”
Sanji was taken aback by the attitude. Zoro could be an asshole, yeah, but this was true aggression. Annoyance swiftly replaced concern. “The island is going to start shifting soon, shithead. You already get lost enough–”
Zoro exploded. “I am not incompetent!”
Sanji blinked, shocked. Zoro rarely yelled, not like this. “What the hell, marimo?”
“Just go the fuck away. I can get back on my own.” Zoro leapt down from the outcropping and stalked off.
Sanji stood there for a moment, still stunned. He watched from above as Zoro took a random turn, then another, shoulders bunched angrily, green head jerking when he came to a deep depression in the ground. He pivoted on his heel and marched a different way.
“Shit,” Sanji murmured to himself before Sky Walking over and landing in front of Zoro.
Zoro pulled up short, face set in dark lines. “I told you to fuck off.”
“Since when have I ever listened to you?”
Zoro’s hand went to his katana. “Maybe I need to open your ears.”
Sanji drew his hands from his pockets, holding them up placatingly at the snick of a hilt seal being released. As much as he loved a good fight with Zoro, that wasn’t what Zoro needed right now. Not with him so truly angry. “No, I don’t want to fight.” He lowered his hands, studying the other man. “What’s going on, Zoro?”
Zoro ground his jaw. He settled his katana. “Why do you care?”
“Don’t do that.” Sanji met his gaze steadily. “You know why.”
Zoro’s lips thinned for a moment, then he looked away. “Tch.”
Neither of them were good at talking, especially not when it mattered. They were trying anyway, because whatever this was between them had stopped being casual, and neither of them was willing to pretend otherwise.
The shadows darkened, the sun dipping lower. Sanji slid his hands back into his pockets. “Talk to me. You’ve been quiet since Egghead.”
Zoro’s fingers curled into fists. He didn’t look at Sanji, instead focusing off into the distance. The silence stretched. Sanji wondered if Zoro was going to answer.
Zoro’s throat worked once, then he said in a low, tight voice, “Luffy asked if I needed help fighting Lucci.”
Shit. Sanji knew how Zoro prided himself on being strong, on being able to stand tall against the enemy. Sanji had his own complicated issues with asking for help and knew how difficult this could be.
Zoro’s fingers released and clenched again. “I wasn’t even hurt,” he went on in a harsh whisper. “I was holding my own.”
Sanji didn’t know what to say that might make this better. He reached out to touch Zoro’s arm and thought better of it, not wanting him to read it as pity. “You won the fight, though, right?”
Zoro laughed bitterly. “No. Jinbe snatched me up before I could finish. Lucci was still standing.”
Sanji winced. “Why would Jinbe interrupt? I can’t see him doing something like that.”
“Because I’m a burden.” Zoro’s throat worked again, the words coming out like they were torn from his chest. “Lucci called me that, you know. Pointing out what Luffy meant. That guy on Elbaph called me out, too, about the conqueror’s haki. Even you–” He cut off, jaw clenching.
“You know it’s not true,” Sanji said, searching his memory when he could’ve said something like that, even in irritation. They jabbed so much at each other, even now that they were together, it blended into meaningless noise. But this wasn’t meaningless, was it?
Zoro snorted derisively. “Nami says it all the time, adding to my debt. Franky, when we damage the ship. Chopper has this sigh, whenever I get hurt. Usopp gives me this look if I interrupt what he’s doing.” His shoulders drew tighter. “It keeps going around in my head, that I’m not pulling my weight. That I have no value other than what I bring as a swordsman, and even that’s been called into question.”
Sanji had the desperate desire to hug him. But he thought Zoro would punch him if he tried. Instead, he said, “You matter, you idiot. You matter to all of us. To me. A whole fucking lot. And not because you’re a swordsman.”
“Tch.” Zoro scoffed and started walking again. “Let’s just get back into town.”
Avoidance. This Sanji knew well. It surprised him that Zoro said as much as he did. Not that Sanji was any better.
Darkness sneaked upon them with quiet steps, twilight blending into the three-quarter moon. Visibility remained as no trees blocked the moonlight. The wind kicked up, whistling through the rocky crevices and ridges.
When they passed the same jagged outcropping that looked like a horse head for the third time, Sanji wondered why he’d let Zoro take the lead. Probably because he’d been caught in his own head, trying to figure out what to say that could help.
He stabbed out his spent cigarette on the horse’s nose and tilted his head back to study the stars. “Oi, marimo. Town’s that way,” he called, pointing toward the south, once he got his bearings.
“I know that,” Zoro growled, and promptly turned to the east.
The peel of bells in the distance interrupted Sanji before he could say anything cutting. “Shit.” The ground was about to move.
Sanji caught up to Zoro quickly. “Those were the warning bells. Hop on, I’ll Sky Walk–”
“No,” Zoro cut him off sharply. Definitively.
Sanji knew immediately if he pressed this thing between them would be over. “The cycle is fifteen seconds, ten and five,” he said, attempting to take the lead.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ten seconds the island shifts, with five seconds in between,” Sanji said. “We need to move only during those five seconds.”
Zoro kept walking. “That’s stupid.”
Sanji cut him off, moving directly in front of him to stop him. “Listen to me–”
A loud, grinding noise pierced the air, reverberating through the ground as the island started to shift. The piece of land they stood on rose into the air. Sanji and Zoro both adjusted their stances, keeping their balance. After ten seconds, the earth stilled.
“We need to move in the pauses,” Sanji told him. “Follow me precisely. If we’re not going to Sky Walk, it’s the only way we’re getting back to town.”
Zoro’s expression darkened, but there was also something under it. A tightness in the corners of his mouth, a slight curl to his posture. The ground shifted again with a tremendous sound, the section they stood on sliding to the left.
When it went silent, Zoro spoke. “So you do think I’m incompetent.”
Sanji’s eyes widened. “What?! No! This has nothing to do with competence. I’m trying to get us back safely.”
“Because I can’t do that, right?” Zoro said flatly.
The island shifted again with another enormous groan. Their section didn’t move this time. As soon as the pause hit, Sanji said, “Fighting about this is just going to get us dropped into a hole or crushed between rock–”
“Then trust me,” Zoro told him, and the weight of those words settled between them as the next shift occurred.
Sanji met Zoro’s gaze, as the portion of land they were on sank to standard level. Once it quieted, there was no doubt in his response. “I do. Always.”
There was a flicker of something unreadable in Zoro’s eye. Then he turned on his heel and began walking in the direction they’d come before the shifting started.
Sanji opened his mouth to correct him, then closed it with a snap. Trust. Even if it seemed like a stupid thing to do, to follow the man with no directional skills. Because he did trust Zoro, with his life, with his heart, with everything.
Sanji followed.
The land shifted again, the section behind them collapsing away fast enough to yank the air after it. But they were on solid, unmoving ground as the pieces around them reconfigured.
Zoro turned left for an unknown reason, just as the shift ended, and kept walking. Sanji lengthened his stride to keep up. The silence between the island’s movements seemed as loud as the grating grind of the ground itself.
The moonlight guided their path as Zoro led them in seemingly arbitrary directions. If something rose in their way, he turned. If the way ahead was clear, he still turned. Sanji couldn’t tell where they were, or where they were going.
The island continued moving around them with deafening drama, dropping away, rising up, closing and opening. Unlike at the edge of town, the shapes of the shifting sections were random. Everything was random. The shapes, the movement, Zoro’s directions. Sanji wanted to pause and get his bearings. Wanted to hop up into Sky Walk and see exactly where they were in relation to town. The lack of steady landmarks to navigate by was throwing him off.
So when the island shifted again, and the ridge in front of them lowered to the same level as the sliding piece they were on, Sanji stared, stunned to see the town stretched out in front of them.
Zoro took them through the space between two sets of buildings, and by the next ear-splitting shift, they were standing on the solid ground of the coast road. They’d gotten across the island from where Sanji’s found Zoro back to town within ten minutes.
Sanji was flabbergasted. Zoro could get lost for hours in a stationary, limited space. Yet he’d navigated an ever-shifting landscape and got them where they needed to be in the same amount of time it would’ve taken them if Sanji had led them during the day.
In the quiet pause between shifts, Zoro muttered, “I need a drink.”
Sanji watched him turn in the complete opposite direction of a tavern, which was visible from where they stood. Instead of saying anything, he simply caught up and fell into step at his side.
Morning broke crisp and clear. The sun promised warmth later in the day. Sanji made breakfast for the entire crew, who’d returned to the ship last night. Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook opted to sleep in the Shark Submersible a good distance from the island. Jinbe slept at the bottom of the ocean again. Usopp gave the two dial mufflers he’d created to Sanji and Robin. Franky just took off his ears. Luffy and Zoro slept through the noise as if it were silent all night.
Sanji set an urn of coffee on the table, thinking about the night before. He’d sat with Zoro at the tavern they’d located further up the coast road, sharing drinks in silence. When they’d gotten back to the ship, Sanji rested his hand on Zoro’s lower back, just briefly, before they’d parted ways, Zoro going up to the crow’s nest and Sanji retiring to bed.
The crew looked less tired with the various accommodations made for sleeping. Sanji served up baked eggy toast, miso scrambled eggs over rice, pastries and plenty of meat. He circled the table, refilling drinks and plates as needed.
“I spent most of the day yesterday going over the maps,” Nami continued, setting down her orange juice. “The distances and the coastline are accurate. The interior landscape is different every time. There is no set spot that remains the same.”
“Locals have tried to map it?” Jinbe said. “It sounds like an exercise in patience.”
Nami cut a sausage on her plate. “A team of volunteers go out once a year to map the interior, hoping to find a pattern. I have decades of maps and none of them match.”
“The scientist I spoke to confirmed that it’s a mechanism beneath the land,” Robin said between bites of pastry. “They’ve been able to dig down and find metal.”
“If it’s a machine, shouldn’t there be an off switch?” Usopp asked.
“The scientist believes so,” Robin replied.
“Then why don’t they turn it off?” Chopper said, pouring half a bottle of syrup over his eggy bread.
“Probably can’t find it, little-bro,” Franky said.
“At least, not during the day,” Nami spoke up again. “The cartographers would’ve found it by now, even if it moved.”
“Maybe it’s revealed only in the middle of the night,” Brook said. “Like the entrance to a spooky catacombs filled with the dead.”
Chopper shivered. “That sounds scary!”
“I want to see the catacombs!” Luffy said around his chipmunked cheeks.
“There are no catacombs, Luffy-kun,” Jinbe said. “Brook was using it only as an example.”
“Aw, that’s no fun.”
Robin nodded to Brook, continuing the conversation. “The scientists who’ve been studying it for years have come to the same conclusion – that the only time it’s reachable is during the island’s shifts, and without the ability to navigate, access is functionally impossible.”
“I, with my great sniper skills, could spot it from a hundred miles away,” Usopp declared.
Nami smirked. “Why don’t you do that then?”
Usopp quickly squinted. “Sadly, my allergies are acting up. Affects my vision.”
“That’s not the only thing acting,” Franky murmured to Brook, who “Yo-ho-ho’d” in response.
“Couldn’t Sanji use Sky Walk to find it?” Chopper asked.
“Sky Walk would avoid the danger,” Robin said. “However, being above it doesn’t help if you can’t tell where it is.”
“So the only way anyone would ever be able to find it is by wandering around at night, hoping to stumble onto it, without getting killed,” Franky surmised. “Doesn’t sound like it’d be super successful.”
Zoro scoffed into his tea. “I’ve been out there twice now. ‘S’not that hard.”
Sanji’s eyes locked on Zoro, as did the others’ in the room – save Luffy, who used the opportunity to steal meat off three people’s plates.
“What do you mean, Zoro?” Nami said.
“Just what I said.” Zoro set his tea down and picked up his chopsticks again. “I got back to town both nights just fine.”
Robin looked at him thoughtfully. “I recall you saying yesterday that it was easier than usual.”
Zoro shrugged. “Yeah.”
“He got us back to town last night without any problems,” Sanji said slowly. “And I didn’t even know where we were.”
The crew exchanged looks. Nami shook her head with a scoff. "Do you really believe Zoro can find this switch when sometimes he can't even find the head on the Sunny?"
“Yes,“ Sanji said firmly. Absolute. He met Zoro’s gaze without wavering. “Zoro is the only person I’d trust to succeed."“
Zoro held Sanji’s eyes for a moment, then he looked down and away with a soft dismissive sound. But his lips curved faintly, barely noticeable if one hadn't spent hours memorizing his face.
Robin looked across the table at Zoro. “Zoro, would you like to try and find the switch?”
Zoro shrugged. “Sure. Don't have anything better to do.”
Sanji opened his mouth to say he'd go with, to keep Zoro company, but closed it immediately. He didn’t want to imply a lack of confidence in Zoro, even slightly.
Luffy spoke up. “Ne, Sanji, after Zoro turns off the switch, we should have a big party.”
Sanji nodded. “Of course. The islanders will want to celebrate.”
“Unless the island inhabitants all die because they're machines, too,” Robin said casually.
Usopp groaned. “Why do you say things like that?”
“Do you really think they're all machines?” Chopper asked with stars in his eyes.
Franky raised his cola in cheers. “If they are, that'd be super cool!”
Brook tapped his jaw. “Would machines be considered alive?”
“I would posit that it would depend upon your definition for living,” Jinbe said.
“I am dead but am also alive. What does that make me?”
“A cat in a box,” Robin said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Did we get a cat?” Luffy said. “I want to play with the cat.”
Breakfast conversation dissolved from there into a debate about ship cats, robot cats, and the Straw Hat usual nonsense. A spoon clinked against a bowl. The ship creaked familiarly in its moorings. Sanji felt a brush of a hand against his leg as he neared Zoro. He looked over, but Zoro was busy digging into the rest of his breakfast. A faint smile crossed Sanji’s lips and he returned to serving his crew.
After breakfast, Zoro lingered behind, helping Sanji clean up. It was a comfortable routine. Usually they’d bicker, more recently they’d occasionally steal a kiss, but Zoro stayed quiet and Sanji didn’t want to upend the current fragile contentment between them.
Zoro didn’t say anything until just before he left the galley. He paused in the doorway, hand on the knob, and glanced back. “Want to go with me?”
Sanji wiped his hands on a towel and leaned over the counter with a warm smile. “I’ll be there.”
Zoro nodded and disappeared outside.
Sanji did a few personal chores before changing into a casual vest and button-down, since they’d be traipsing around the island rather than heading into town on a date. Although dates and non-dates with Zoro tended to look the same, only with non-dates others from the crew showed up. He and Zoro might not get any alone time together on a personal level on this stopover. Disappointing, but if they could help the islanders it would be worth it.
The late afternoon sun warmed the sky when Zoro indicated he wanted to head out. He’d been holed up in the crow’s nest most of the day, training, and then took a nap on the upper deck near Nami’s mikan trees.
Sanji held a cigarette between his fingers as they strolled past the town, leaving the safety of the coast for the interior. The landscape had changed overnight, a completely different layout than Sanji had traversed the day before. Holes too deep to see the bottom cut through sheer inclines. Elevations cut the island at random heights. Native plants still clung stubbornly to crevices and cracks, and birds swirled as they took flight.
Sanji was content to let Zoro lead, even when he noticed them going in circles. They were in no rush. Nothing could be done until the sun set and the machine turned on. He wondered, sometimes, why Zoro’s sense of direction was so abysmal. Other times, he thought Zoro might get lost on purpose. It seemed to be his goal over the past two days, wanting space and time alone.
Zoro was one of the most self-confident people Sanji met. To see him struggle over something cut Sanji deep, especially as it involved his sense of self-worth. Sanji could write epics on the topic. He knew how hard it was to grapple with and to fight against. The thought that Zoro felt any less than enough hurt in a way Sanji hadn’t expected. He wanted to take Zoro’s doubts onto himself so they didn’t weigh on him anymore. This must be what being part of a relationship really meant.
Abruptly, Zoro stopped walking and exhaled heavily. “Why haven’t you taken the lead yet?”
Sanji blew out his cigarette smoke. “Didn’t realize you wanted me to.”
“I don’t.”
Sanji studied him. Zoro stood with his shoulders hunched forward, jaw locked, eye fixed on nothing in particular. He shifted his stance twice in the span of a breath, like he couldn’t settle in his own skin. Sanji knew this had nothing to do with where they were at the moment.
He stabbed out the remains of his cigarette, then did what he wanted to do last night. He stepped into Zoro’s space, wrapped his arms around him, and pulled him into a hug.
Zoro stiffened at first. “What are you doing?”
“Fishing,” Sanji said flatly. “What does it feel like, idiot?”
After a long moment, Zoro lowered his forehead to Sanji’s shoulder, body untensing by degrees. His finger curled in the front of Sanji’s beltline. “Stupid cook,” he muttered.
“Your stupid cook,” Sanji murmured, pressing a soft kiss to Zoro’s temple.
They stayed there in silence, just holding and being held, as the sun dipped under the horizon.
The warning bells broke them apart, the distant peals rolling over the island. Sanji tucked his hands into his pockets and met Zoro’s gaze with a smirk. “Ready to get lost, marimo?”
“Tch.” Zoro grinned crookedly, a light back in his eye that had been missing for a while. “I don’t get lost.”
They had about a minute before the land began to move. “You have a plan to find this thing?” Sanji asked.
Zoro shrugged. ”Figured I’d just go where I’d put a switch. Three o’clock. Town’s at six.”
Sanji arched his brow. “Why three?”
“Favorite number.” Zoro flashed him a smile, warm and a bit playful. “‘S’why I like you.”
Sanji’s heart double-kicked. Before he could do something, like kiss the green out of Zoro’s hair, a loud, stressed groan split the air, indicating the mechanism had turned on.
Zoro started walking as the ground started moving – not toward three o’clock, but towards seven. Sanji knew, based on the position of the sun before it set, the direction the town should be. But what did it matter? He’d lose his own bearings soon enough.
Sanji lit another cigarette as he strode along with Zoro. Zoro’s way of navigating still seemed arbitrary. He would go straight until a barrier appeared, then turn and go that way for a bit. Sometimes, he would simply turn in the middle of a patch of land with nothing around them. Occasionally, he would double back, but at an angle that put them on a different trajectory. All the while, the island moved and shifted around them, never staying the same.
Ghostly white moonlight illuminated their path. The nighttime temperature steadily dropped until it felt shy of nippy. Sanji could have done with his suit coat, but if need be he’d get closer to the walking furnace. All that muscle insulated Zoro nicely and looked good, too. Sanji’s eyes drifted lower, watching the shift of Zoro’s coat. He much preferred when Zoro wore shirts instead of his long-coat. Or went shirtless. Then nothing hampered his view of how well Zoro wore his trousers.
The constant roaring rumble and shift of the earth accompanied them. Sanji found it easier to keep his balance if they kept moving, and it made him curious if all the starting and stopping based on the song caused more accidents than not. But occasionally the ground did vanish underfoot abruptly, either directly in front or behind them. Zoro’s uncanny ability to be off the portion about to drop was impressive.
Sanji crushed his third spent cigarette, thinking about how the Sunny would be mostly empty by the time they got back, with five of them in the ocean, Franky earless, and Luffy sleeping like the dead. With Robin in her own room with Usopp’s dial mufflers on, he and Zoro might as well be alone. It would be nice to spend a few hours with him holed up in the crows nest, even with the noise.
The island’s movements sounded like a dying shipyard – metal grinding, earth shaking and moaning. Their section slid sideways, and the ridge ahead dropped until it met them with a jolt. For a moment, Sanji spotted a narrow seam that split the ground between two plates of stone. Zoro seemed to follow it.
The seam vanished almost at once with the next shift. Stone slid over stone, closing it completely, and they crossed a stretch of bare rock that showed no trace of it at all. Then the land lurched again, and the line reappeared twenty yards away, offset and misaligned, like it had never belonged to the same surface. Yet every time it reappeared, Zoro was on top of it.
Sanji kept up. The seam didn’t persist long enough to follow. It disappeared for entire stretches – sometimes for multiple shifts – leaving nothing but broken planes and unmarked stone. Each time it returned, it did so elsewhere, at a different height or angle, never where it should have been. He tried to figure out how Zoro knew when to turn to come back to it, especially since Zoro wasn’t even looking at it.
During a pause, he asked, “How are you following the seam?”
“What seam?” Zoro said, throwing a confused glance over his shoulder.
And that answered Sanji’s question. Sanji tucked his hands in his pockets again and didn’t ask anything else.
The next shift hit, and the shelf beneath them sank hard. When it steadied, they weren’t on open stone anymore. They were on a narrow ledge that ran along the side of a taller slab, the rock face to their left smooth enough to look cut. A gap opened a few yards ahead – an ugly, vertical slit between two plates of stone.
It wasn’t wide or welcoming, just a split. Nothing to indicate it was a doorway or passage. Zoro went to it immediately, footsteps quickening. “This is it.”
The island shifted again. The plates slid past each other with a grinding shriek, and the gap narrowed, then widened as if taking a breath. Zoro stepped through the narrow gap without hesitation.
Sanji cursed and hurried after him, shoulder brushing stone as the gap tightened again behind them. Inside, the sound changed immediately – less wind, more enclosed resonance. The vibration traveled through the walls like a pulse. Darkness stretched ahead of them. Sanji flicked his lighter, bringing up a flame.
They emerged into a hollowed corridor that didn’t feel like a cave. It looked built. The floor was uneven, but it was stone laid over something harder, and when the island moved overhead the entire passage shuddered like a machine taking strain.
The corridor ended in a small chamber cut into the rock. Metal showed through where the stone had worn thin: dull plates, rivets, a ring of bolts half-swallowed by grit. In the center stood a thick lever assembly, old and crusty from abandonment. There were no guards or locks – only the lever, inaccessible by seemingly everyone on the island.
Everyone but the one person who followed no directional logic but his own.
Zoro went up to the lever and gave it a yank. It refused to budge. Age had corroded the gears. He appeared about to force it when he paused, then stepped back and gestured. “Be useful, crap cook. Give it a kick.”
Sanji stepped forward. The lever wasn’t just an end to the island’s suffering – it was validation that Zoro wasn’t incompetent, wasn’t a burden. Zoro stepping aside told Sanji he didn’t need that validation anymore.
Sanji tapped his toe, bringing fire to his leg, heating up the metal, loosening the joints. Then he lashed out, heel catching the solid side of the lever, driving it over in the other direction.
With a final, protesting groan, the island went still.
They waited for a solid minute, ensuring it wasn’t a fluke, or that a failsafe wouldn’t activate to start the machine up again. But nothing happened. The island remained unmoving and quiet.
Sanji turned to Zoro, a quirk to his lips. “Want to fool around before we head back?”
Zoro’s answering grin gleamed in the lighter’s flickering flame.
They made it back to town around midnight, Sanji having taken the lead once he got his bearings. Without the land shifting around them, it was a relatively straightforward trek. Sanji sported a few love bites under his collar, and Zoro’s knees were dirty. Entangling their fingers, Sanji led them toward one of the inns, passing through the crowds of people standing on the street, chatting to each other in various stages of shock.
Morning dawned with sunlight streaking through the gap in the curtains. Sanji stretched and scratched around the green leech wrapped over his torso. Zoro snuffled when Sanji shifted, nuzzling further into his chest. Sanji stroked along Zoro’s ear, running his finger over the three bars resting against his lobe.
Their night brought its own kind of noise, suddenly excessive in the island’s silence. Sanji reveled in every gasp and moan he pulled from Zoro, the rustle of the sheets, the steady rocking of the bed as he pressed into Zoro again and again. Once spent, they curled together in a way that still felt new, the closeness unsettling and comfortable in equal measure, as they drifted off to quiet, peaceful sleep.
“We should probably get going,” Sanji murmured, though he was reluctant to move. Zoro’s warmth and presence felt right against him. “I need to get started on Luffy’s feast.”
Zoro snuggled more, arm tightening around Sanji’s middle. “D’wanna.”
Sanji ran his fingers through Zoro’s hair, giving him a scritch. “Big, lazy cat.”
Zoro pressed into the petting with a hum.
Sanji’s lips twitched. “You’re going to have to move, mossball.”
Zoro rose, but instead of moving off Sanji, he shifted atop him, straddling his lap. A playful, still-sleepy grin curved his lips. “This better?”
Sanji felt himself start to harden. “Getting there,” he said, sliding his hands onto Zoro’s hips.
After a round of morning delight, Zoro riding him with slow, lazy rolls of his hips, they cleaned up and headed back to the Sunny. And if Sanji had to tug Zoro’s sash now and then to correct his course, neither of them made anything of it.
Luffy greeted them by launching himself from the Sunny and tackling Sanji onto the dock. “Sanji! We’re having a party!”
Sanji put his hand into Luffy’s face, shoving him away. “I know that. Get off!”
Zoro plucked the back of Luffy’s collar, hauling him off Sanji. Luffy swung around and glommed onto Zoro with his rubber limbs. “Zoro did it. I knew you would.”
Sanji saw Zoro’s expression, as he got back to his feet. Zoro looked startled, then something in his face shifted, as if Luffy’s certainty had closed a loop that had been left open since Egghead.
The celebration on Shifting Shoals stretched through the day and well into the night. Food and drink abounded. People formed parties that ventured inland once the sun had set. Franky set off fireworks that lit the night sky. Music played through every corner, joyous with its unfettered noise.
Sanji cooked all day, joining the chefs and families in town creating the biggest feast the island had seen. The Straw Hat crew reveled with the townsfolk, laughing and drinking, sharing wild tales of life on the sea. Zoro lounged within sight of Sanji, a beer never far from his hand. A content expression relaxed his brutish features, an occasional laugh failing from his lips.
No one told the islanders who had found the switch. The crew didn’t like being viewed as heroes, when they were only doing what was right. Zoro had sliced the lever at the base so it couldn’t be turned on again easily. While logic dictated no one would want to reactivate the island, people had a way of proving to be infinitely stupid. And without Zoro around, if the machine activated, who would find the lever again?
Nami decided they could remain on the island an additional night, even though the tri-log pose had been set. Sanji didn’t hesitate to drag Zoro back to the inn, pretending not to hear the razzing from their crew when they left.
This thing between them was still new, and neither of them spoke easily about feelings. There was no map to follow. But they’d learned how to move together, how to trust without breaking stride.
And if Zoro chose to lead, Sanji would follow him anywhere.
End