EPISODE 06 : THE CHEF & THE CHORE BOY
( the fishmen's spokesperson )

FATE WAS NEVER on anjali's side. not that she believed much in the inner workings and far fetched of what was deeply rooted in a storyteller's mind.

fate, destiny, all those things that were only applicable to the dreamer, and not the realists. if there even was such a thing, kumar anjali would certainly not grace the palm of the being that controlled it.

for that reason, it was her wits (or what she had left of them) keeping her afloat on the dangerous journey to accepting the life she now lived. not fate, or some predetermined destiny set out for anjali to walk a path and follow the hands of a spiritual guide.

simply anjali, and her messed up moral compass to lead her through the stormy seas.

‎ ‎

‎ ‎

‎

‎

‎

‎
THE WHOLE DAY went by with anjali tethered to zoro's side, telling him stories of anything and everything she could think of.

eventually a thick storybook had found itself situated on her lap, her tired eyes tumbling over the words after her lack of sleep.

if it was to get the bedridden man better as quickly as possible, skipping a few naps wouldn't kill anjali. though it did make her feel world's more drained than ever.

the copper haired woman set her focus on the quiet room and the pirate hunter's labored breaths, her eyes watching his chest rise and fall.

outside, nami had finally made an appearance, and she and the rest of the crew were arguing over something. anjali didn't know whose side she would choose upon hearing the argument, so she decided to give herself a little more time to think before diving into that end of the pool.

zoro was beginning to gain color on his face, and his once clammy and cold hands were warming up with life. it was a relief to anjali, since she had so confidently proclaimed that the man would wake up.

gently brushing away a strand of hair off of the man's forehead, anjali allowed her eyes to soften at the sight of him, seeing only the small, green-haired village kid she grew up with.

it was surreal seeing how much a person could change, both physically and emotionally.

at last, her gaze was averted to the growing sound of voices and yelling coming from the main room, and anjali took that as her cue to go investigate.

the copper haired woman slipped quietly out of the room, entering the kitchen, where nami, luffy, usopp, and sanji were standing.

"they are hunting you. we need to run." nami pleaded, staring at luffy.

"what's going on?" anjali asked, noticing the tension. it seemed she was always the last to know of everything within the crew.

"the arlong pirates are looking for luffy. please help me convince him that we need to get out of here." nami turned to anjali, but luffy's gaze was set and there was determination in his grin.

"i'm not running. we're going to protect this place." he announced.

"this isn't your fight. why would you do that?" sanji asked.

luffy grinned that impish grin. "because you fed us."

nami sighed exasperatingly. "look, i know this crew. their captain, arlong, has the highest bounty in all of the east blue. you do not want to mess with him."

"it sounds like he messed with us first." luffy shrugged.

"luffy, please." nami stepped closer.

anjali looked between the two.

"nami." anjali said softly. "they helped us save zoro. this is how we're going to repay them."

the tangerine haired girl looked into anjali's eyes, searching for any trace of doubt within her brown gaze.

"stay with the ship and keep the map safe. ok?" luffy asked with a grin, feeling energized now that he had someone on his side.

nami placed her hands on her hips, swallowing back the lump in her throat. she only glared at them as they left.

"i didn't take you for the fighting type." sanji said to anjali as the four of them walked out of the going merry.

anjali shrugged. "neither did i, but here we are."

the blonde chuckled.

luffy was the first to enter baratie, storming in and announcing himself to the fishman arlong.

"i hear you're looking for me." he said loudly, distracting the finned pirate from practically mauling the human situated in his grasp.

the fishman's beady eyes connected with the straw hat pirate's, and he grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

"why, yes i am." he scoffed to himself. "so, this is the pirate i've heard so much about?"

he scanned luffy's scrawny figure and let out a small laugh. "you know, i was expecting someone . . . bigger."

the straw hat pirate seemed to share the expectation, because he blurted out, "so was i."

arlong paused his small walk around the restaurant tables, face contorting into a malicious growl. "do you know who i am, boy? i'm arlong the saw. even the marines flee before my flag."

luffy scratched his head thoughtfully. "not ringing a bell. how'd you find me anyway?"

arlong chuckled to himself. "an old friend helped me track you down."

anjali groaned. "oh no, please don't let it be that ugly —"

one the fishman of arlong's crew pulled out the head of a blue haired pirate from out of a sack.

"— clown." the copper haired woman finished sourly, scrunching her face in annoyance.

after getting suspended upside down so badly that anjali had a permanent echo of a headache 24/7, the last thing she wanted to see was the pirate behind it all still alive.

"heya, straw hat. did you miss me?" he asked with a grin of his red-smeared lips, eyes flicker in over to anjali before his grin stretched further on his face. "and little miss chatterbox, too!"

"burpy?" luffy's jaw loosened as he stared at the head in shock. "what are you doing here?"

"believe me, it wasn't my first choice either." buggy replied. "but these fine fishy folk persuaded me to point them in the right direction, which ain't easy when you don't have any hands."

luffy crinkled his brows as the clown chuckled to himself. "how'd you even know where to find me?"

"i told you," buggy began, "i've got eyes and ears everywhere."

as he said that, a flesh-colored thing wriggled out of luffy's hat. only when it whizzed past anjali did she realize that it was actually buggy's ear. i guess gross and creepy were added to the list of adjectives anjali could use to describe the clown pirate.

luffy took off his hat, staring at it as though it had killed an entire family of kittens. "you heard everything?"

"everything." buggy echoed, eyes wide and face plastered in a grin. "and that got old quick, cause you shidiots have no idea what you're doing. the only thing remotely interesting were the conversations between miss chatterbox over there and her big bad pirate hunter boyfriend."

buggy struggled to tilt his head in anjali's direction.

"he's not my boy—" buggy cut her off with a loud yawn.

"oh please, save us all from the lies. even a blind person could see it." the clown rolled his eyes.

before the freakish pirate head could utter another word, the fishman who had previously pulled him out of the sack grabbed him by the head, stuffing him back inside despite his loud protests.

"listen here." arlong said lowly. "i want my map, along with half of whatever you plunder as tribute. and if you bow down to me, i might even let you serve in my kingdom."

"i don't bow down to any man." luffy replied stonily.

arlong's brow creased. "i'm no man."

"or fish." luffy added. "and you're no king."

the fishman's eyes narrowed into slits. "i will be when i get my grand line map."

"then," luffy plastered a smile onto his face and raised his hat back up to adorn his head. "you're gonna have to fight me for it."

"let the fighting begin." arlong growled, smashing together his knuckles in a show of strength.

before he could take another step, the sound of a gunshot filled the air.

"wow, that's one cool old man." anjali grinned as she caught sight of zeff, hand outstretched with a silver gun in his grip.

however, her smile didn't last long, the expression wiped off her face as some of arlong's lackeys broke the chef's wooden leg and kicked him into a wall.

with a loud yell of "zeff!", sanji detached himself from their makeshift group to go and help his boss.

anjali bounded down the stairs, her eyes set on the blonde and his unreal fighting style, using only kicks to knock out the fishmen.

she winced as a particularly built lackey landed a hit right to the man's gut, sending sanji tumbling into a table and skidding right to a halt at anjali's feet.

"fallen for me, have 'ya?" she grinned, offering the chef a hand. "you wouldn't be the first."

he took it with a pained smirk, lifting himself off the floor and grabbing his side for support.

"gum gum," luffy began, and anjali and sanji took that as their cue to get away from him. "pistol!"

much to the dismay of his crewmates, the hit didn't land, and instead arlong used it to close the gap between him and luffy, grabbing the straw hat pirate forcibly by the arms and lifting him up.

the fishman slammed luffy into the ground, and anjali physically recoiled from the sound he made when he hit the ceramic tiles of the restaurant.

still, the straw hat pirate persisted, using his freakishly long limbs to throw a barrage of punches at arlong, who didn't seem to budge one bit.

the fishman seemed to find a little pleasure in tossing around luffy like a ragdoll, for he smirked. "not bad for a human."

then arlong grabbed the straw hat pirate and threw him outside, smashing and breaking through the front doors of baratie as if the ship was made of toothpicks.

anjali rushed to see what was going on, usopp following suit. sanji stayed behind to take care of the fishmen lackeys, giving a wink to anjali and telling her 'good luck!'. like luck mattered anyway, but she took the encouragement with a nod and offered the same one in return.

the copper haired woman and the sharpshooter arrived to arlong about to rip luffy's nick off with his teeth, the straw hat struggling in the fishman's grip. before either could utter a word, the voice of their navigator interrupted the fight.

"arlong, wait!" she called, but there was a tone of familiarity to her voice.

one not suited for calling out to someone she happened to 'know about'. no, nami didn't just know about arlong and his pirate crew. she knew arlong personally.

anjali watched the tangerine haired woman walk across the dock, the shiny gold cylinder containing the map of the grand line wrapped around her fingers.

"i have it." she said, her voice robotic and not even the slightest bit nami. "the map. i got it for you, just like i said i would."

"nami. . .?" anjali murmured, watching the woman's back as she turned to face arlong and luffy.

"what are you doing?" luffy asked, breathing heavily in arlong's grip.

the woman didn't show any emotion. it was hard to tell whether the nami that the straw hat crew knew was even the real one.

"i tried to tell you, luffy." the navigator said dully. "i was never on your crew. i only joined up with you so i could steal the map."

anjali's gaze zeroed in on the sawfish tattoo on her shoulder.

"i don't believe that." luffy replied, teeth gritted.

"that's because you only believe what you want to believe. doesn't make it true." she frowned.

"sister nami's a loyal member of the arlong pirates. she has been for years." arlong grinned victoriously as he watched luffy's face crumble.

"we have the map, arlong. let's go." nami ordered, stepping in between the two.

"not until i finish my meal." he growled, about to dig his sharp teeth into luffy's neck before anjali interrupted once more.

"why waste your time killing a devil fruit eater?" nami paused and the sinking realization dawned on anjali of what the woman was implying.

"let the sea do it for you."

and she walked away, sparing no glance to the pain in anjali's eyes nor the way the copper haired woman reached out to whom she called 'friend'.

they weren't friends. they couldn't be.

arlong lifted luffy up, hands balling his blue jacket and holding him inches away from the deck. with a final grin, arlong tossed the man into the sea.

"luff!" anjali yelled, her feet beginning to move before sanji rushed past her and dived into the water, emerging seconds later with a coughing and spluttering luffy in tow.

"you're a lifesaver." anjali said gratefully to sanji, who somehow dove in shirtless and was now pushing the wet hair out of his eyes. "i'm not the best swimmer, so i'd probably drowned right along with him if i even tried to dive in."

"no worries." he grinned. anjali's smile faltered slightly as she looked into the far distance, nami completely gone from her sight.

"where's nami?" luffy asked as the last of the seawater left his lungs.

"she's gone." usopp replied softly. "she's a member of arlong's crew."

luffy didn't bother getting up from where he was. "she can't be."

she can't be.

‎ ‎

‎ ‎

‎

‎

‎

‎
ONCE MORE, ANJALI found herself at zoro's bedside. her fingers felt numb, as though they touched only what they cursed.

nami? gone. zoro? on the verge of death. everyone anjali began to connect with always seemed to leave just as they arrived, a mystery shrouded in millions of questions.

"nami's gone." the copper haired woman said softly, using the warmth of zoro's fingers to keep herself occupied enough to not burst into tears.

"i know you two didn't get along too well, but you were still friends. you'll miss her. i miss her. and you. i miss everything."

anjali began rambling. "i miss kuina, too. you know what's scary? that you could leave unexpectedly, just like she did, and then i'd be left alone. all my friends slowly disappear. am i cursed?"

"never mind." anjali brought her lips to lightly graze the man's forehead. "everything will be fine. we'll get nami back. you'll get better. and then i won't have to worry anymore."

she stared at him, eyes still closed and soft breathing filling the room.

"everything's going to be fine. just for today, i'll be the optimistic one."

"wow, who knew i'd be woken up like a princess?"

anjali's eyes snapped towards the green haired man. his eyes were open, large dark brown staring back at her.

"how long have you been awake?" she asked, voice blank and eerie.

he grinned sleepily at her gesturing to his forehead with his eyes. "long enough to know that you'll miss me if i die."

the woman's face flushed red, angrily slapping the pirate hunter on the arm. he winced.

"you idiot!" then, the tears welled up in her eyes and cascaded down her face, and she wrapped her hands around the green haired man. "i thought you weren't going to wake up."

"ow." zoro murmured, but still held her tightly and as close to him as possible. "have you met me? all i do is not give up."

anjali chuckled, wiping away her tears. "i hate you."

"nuh-uh." zoro said jokingly, face painted in a smile. "that's not what you said earlier."

"if you bring that up one more time, i'll kill you for real." she threatened, knocking him on the forehead.

still, her face was hurting from how wide her smile is, and she didn't even mind zoro's close proximity because he was there, talking to her and alive.

and oh, how she had missed his voice and that annoyingly charming smile.

‎

‎
‎ ‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎ ⚔︎ AUTHOR'S NOTE !

no more updating streak guys😥 i missed a day but to make up for it this is a pretty long chapter for yall !!

i actually kinda like the ending tho anjali and zoro r such cuties i love them sm💕

skipped through some scenes and also yeah ik luffy's there when zoro wakes up but it wouldn't be as cute w him around so only anjali was there😣

pls lmk if there are any mistakes in the spelling or anything so i can fix it !

also don't b afraid to vote or comment, i will probably (very likely) reply!!!!

happy reads!

‎

─── ANNIE