ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 1 - Sanji

"Beware of going to that grove
If love is in your heart
Though it may seem a treasure trove
A work of nature's art

Beware the white fragrant bloom
If someone special's on your mind
The scent may draw you to your doom
If requited love you do not find

Beware, lovers, don't get too close
To bushes on a grave
For if the spores get in your nose
Only love can save." Chopper recited, more somber than the other Straw Hats had ever seen him.

"That's... lovely poetry, but why are you bringing it up now?" Nami asked him. They'd gathered in the galley at Chopper's request today.

"Because it's not just poetry. The flower it mentions really exists." Chopper held up a white flower that was carefully preserved in a jar. "Breathing in its spores is really deadly under certain conditions. The spores take root inside its victim's lungs, causing them to eventually cough up blood and flowers. And if it grows enough, it will kill the person. Usually violently. It, um... can even break through the ribcage. As far as anyone seems to know, it grows and feeds on 'unrequited love'. The only way to remove it from the body seems to be when the love is returned."

"Isn't that rather... unscientific?" Robin asked quietly.

Chopper slumped into his chair, eyes watery. "Yes, but that's all I've got. My best guess is that it's something to do with the chemicals released in the brain by the different circumstances, but... I don't have enough information."

Curled brows knit together behind blond hair as Sanji lit his tenth cigarette of the day. "But what does this have to do with that shitty swordsman leaving? You said you'd tell us today why he took off like that."

Zoro had split from them at the last island. He'd left his swords and a note behind. Not even much of a note. 'To keep you all safe, I have to leave for a while. I'll find you when I can. Don't stop, no matter what.' It'd been signed with an almost lackadaisical: 'Sorry. Z'.

Sanji hadn't been the only one antsy for an answer as to why, but he was probably the one handling it the worst. It was the same kind of itch he got when he needed a cigarette, but even tripling his daily intake hadn't helped. Nor had cooking, napping, flirting with Nami and Robin, drinking, or his last resort – stress baking. Luffy knew something - it had to be the reason he'd been uncharacteristically moody for nearly two weeks - but hadn't said anything to anyone else. Even Robin, for all that her extra ears heard, didn't seem to know the reason.

The marimo had apparently sworn Chopper to secrecy for three days. Enough time to get a head start. Enough time to disappear.

The reindeer had tears in his eyes as he explained further. "Remember that spring island we were at about two to three months ago? The one that had the big market, where we didn't see Zoro for like two days?"

The crew shared a look that said 'nothing unusual there.' Were it not for the worry about their missing nakama, Sanji would've laughed at the memory. Zoro had come back with a white petal in his green hair, and Sanji had teased him about turning into a flower. They'd fought, of course, like always. It didn't seem quite so funny now, if he understood where Chopper's explanation was going.

"While lost, it seems he came upon the grove mentioned in the poem, or one like it. And he got infected. We tried everything to fight it, but nothing worked. He was getting sicker - not that he'd ever show it."

Chopper cleared his throat against the sudden stillness in the room before continuing. "At first, his plan was to stay on the Sunny until the end. Die among friends, die among us, if we didn't find another cure. But... when the victim of this flower dies, a flurry of spores is released as the flower releases its final blooms. Once he found that out, he said he..." Chopper's emotions got the better of him, and he broke into sobs.