Chapter Text
About damn time, Zoro thought wearily to himself.
It was when Sanji had licked at the swordsman's mouth. Zoro had grasped Sanji's hair—he's always wanted to know what it felt like, and... so soft. He was amazed.
And just after, the cook went completely still.
Zoro had pulled away and asked him, "Shitty Cook?" And he saw Sanji's eyes flutter before completely closing—and he slumped against Zoro.
Laying Sanji down, he tried shouting at him to wake up, but there was no response. He shaked the hand in the cook's hair. Nothing.
And Zoro might have panicked. So he bent over, bringing his face to Sanji's pulse point, by his neck. He pressed his ear against it to make sure that the dumbass was still alive. Right when he heard a thump-thump-thump and practically fainted from the relief, he felt sharp teeth sink into his other ear.
"Gah! The hell?!" Zoro hissed in pain, and found Sanji's mouth latched onto his left ear, the one tilted to his face. He had tried pulling him off, but it was no use—they were clamped on tight. So all Zoro could do was clench his jaw as Sanji did countless other things to his victimized ear. He was sure it was tinged a strawberry red by now.
When Sanji finally did let go, Zoro didn't waste the chance. He held the cook's hands down by his sides. And staring at Sanji's scrunched up little face, he just...
Zoro pecked him, light and fast.
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It was a way to get him up, alright?!
Rest assured: given the blood that rushed to Zoro's face when Sanji groaned—from that? He wonders what else he could do to him—it maybe wasn't the best technique to wake the cook up.
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Well, anyway. He was back to square one, so he tried shouting again, shaking his shoulders a bit harder now. Sanji furrowed his eyebrows, mumbling something that Zoro couldn't understand. And a final shake later, his eyes shot open.
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Awkward.
~~~
Sanji was a bit... confused, to say the least.
"I—Idiot swordsman? What..." Sanji asked intelligently.
Zoro sighed, tired. "You've been out for ten minutes."
"Wh—hah?!"
Zoro scowled. "Hey, did you not hear me?!" Sanji growled, nervously twisting his head to the side to avoid eye contact. "Yeah, damn it."
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"A—and nothing else...?"
Zoro widened his eyes a bit at the question—and he had the feeling that Sanji wasn't the only one blushing now.
"I don't know," He exhaled. Sanji scoffed, slapping his face before dragging his hand down with a groan. "THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'I don't know'?!"
"I don't know!" Zoro responded, frustrated. Sanji tsked.
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"C'mere." Sanji said quietly.
Zoro hummed, confused. "W—Where?"
"Here," Sanji beckoned, bringing his hands to the sides of Zoro's face. And he slowly brought his lips to the swordsman's, for an impossibly long moment, before letting go with a huff.
"Shut up," He warned Zoro, a bit defensive after a quick assessment of the swordsman's face.
Sanji quickly stood up, brushing off his suit. He turned to the door before pausing—and he offered a hand towards a whirling Zoro.
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"Coming, or not?" Sanji grumbled.
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Zoro grabbed his hand, using it as leverage to stand up.
He didn't really need it, no. But it was an opportunity to hold Sanji's hand, so...
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They avoided looking at each other the entire brisk walk to the deck of the ship.
Right, left, another right—Sanji had to grip Zoro's arm at times to keep him from wandering off—straight down the corridor, and...
They ran into Usopp, who was shivering on the floor, under which were... people?! Crewmates of Foxy!
Sanji didn't know what that was about, but helping the sniper up, he walked, still guiding Zoro, until—there! The narrowest stream of light, from the crack of a door.
Kicking the door open, Sanji was met with the sight of Luffy—a bit burned, but upright and laughing, with Nami at the ship's rail, smiling. Foxy was tied up, back-to-back with Porche.
~~~
"Hm?" Nami hummed upon seeing the threesome. "Where were you guys?" She giggled.
Sanji attempted a weak smile for her. "Ah, Nami-swan! Uh..." He laughed, uneasy. "This dumbass swordsman over here got us lost, as always. Stupid Marimo."
"Hey! I was actually—"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP, JUST THIS ONCE?!"
Nami hummed again, her smile turning a bit sharp. They were always like this, sure, but... sigh, she supposes it was just Sanji's ruffled hair. And Zoro's blatantly scarlet ear. This was interesting.
Nami heard a pained sound from behind them. Standing on her toes, she saw—shit! Usopp!
She had, uh... left him, for a moment.
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LISTEN, THERE WERE PERVERTED PEOPLE, WATCHING UNDERNEATH THE NETTED FLOOR! And Nami was used to the gawking—actually, she used her looks to her advantage. But this was a little too far.
Usopp had reassured her, claiming that with his Flash Star, he'd temporarily blind them. Then, they could rush ahead! It sounded like a good plan. And hey, it would've been a good plan too, hadn't Usopp tripped on a pipe and gotten captured by those perverted prisoners anyway.
Nami had no choice! She had to move forward! She could only yell, "Sorry!" as Usopp screamed her name, okay?
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That sounds pretty bad. Probably because it kind of was.
On their way back to the ship, after waving a hearty goodbye to Foxy's reunited crew—it seemed like they'd figured it out, and Foxy was the captain again—and on the ship, too: Nami tried buttering Usopp up.
"You were so brave, Usopp, you handled them all on your own..." Nami nervously praised. Usopp hummed, widening his eyes. "R—Really?" Nami nodded energetically, relieved to have swayed the sniper. "Yep! All on your own. Truly a warrior of the sea." Usopp smirked, raising his fist to the air with a bold, "NO ONE CROSSES USOPP!"
Nami sighed, happy to have gotten that over with. Now there was just...
She glanced at Sanji and Zoro, who were still bickering from behind her, and... holding hands.
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Nami chuckled.
She'd forever remember the Slow-Slow Beam.