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“Aah,” The Straw Hat Captain sang, “I can't wait to be back to the Sunny to eat!”
“That's gonna take some time though, Luffy,” Sanji replied. “That fish is delicate seafood.”
“But I'm hungry-” he said as he touched his stomach. “And I'm gonna be boreeed...”
“I'm sure you can figure something out to busy yourself, Luffy-kun,” Robin smiled.
The boy was about to answer but suddenly stopped, as if he'd realized something.
“Wait, where's Zoro?”
Oh, so he did realize something.
Robin and Nami exchanged a look, and Sanji sighed. He should have noticed the shitty marimo wasn't around to bother him.
“Don't tell me-”
“I'm sorry!” Chopper's voice rose. “I didn't notice when he left...”
“You don't have to apologize,” Nami grunted. “That dumbass shouldn't need a baby-sitter to watch him in the first place.”
“Still, I should have...”
“Sanji-kun, could you go find him please?” Robin asked softly. “You always find him quickly.”
“Why don't we just leave him where he lost himself already,” Sanji whispered under his breath.
Luffy pouted. “If Sanji goes who's gonna cook? Chopper can find Zoro by his smell!”
“That does make sense,” Nami said. “Chopper...?”
“I can't smell him right now, but I can try to go back and start from there.”
“I think...” Sanji looked on the left. “He went this way.”
Everyone stared at him.
“You saw him leave?”
The cook scratched his head.
“No. I just have a feeling.”
“We should just ask Usopp or Franky to give him a GPS or put a tracker thing on him already,” Nami sighed.
“Alright I'm going,” Chopper declared. “I'll be back as soon as possible.”
The doctor adopted his reindeer form and left right away. Sanji looked at him as he was running to find Zoro, frowning. He had the sense that it would take more time, somehow.
XXX
“I heard something about soulmates existing in this world,” Usopp said on a boring day on the ocean, trying to get a discussion. “Like something about true love always finding the other soulmate?”
“I wish I could always find a way to meat,” Luffy replied, lying on the deck next to Chopper, looking like a starving kid under the heat. “It's too hot today dammit.”
“Have you been listening to what I said Luffy?” Usopp asked. “It's not about food, it's about soulmates!”
“Meh, if that's not edible...”
The sniper sighed. “You're hopeless.”
“I read a few things about it,” Robin said. “There are a few symptoms describing the feeling that you met your soulmate, but it differs according to people. It can be pretty strong, or weak. Some soulmates never notice they are actually soulmates.”
“Really? What are the common symptoms then?” Nami asked.
“As I said, it depends on the people. Most commonly, this is about being able to find the other without rational explanation. There's a connection between the minds which enables them to find each other without any problem. There isn't a logical answer for this. The reactions can be also physical at some point, but that's for the strongest relationships.”
“Can't that be a bother?”
“Soulmates are legendary, dear sniper. There aren't a lot of work left on this because people stopped believing in those ideas – and my knowledge extends to what I have read so far.”
“You seem to have done some research on this,” Usopp said half-amazed half-surprised.
“Not really,” Robin smiled. “I just happened to see a few things about it.”
“Have you met soulmates before?” Usopp inquired curiously.
“I might. Who knows?” she chuckled.
Usopp slightly frowned, not sure what he was missing – and if he did miss something.
XxX
Zoro was nowhere to be seen, again. That wasn't surprising. What was surprising though, was that the swordsman didn't get lost in the last two islands they visited.
“Who's going?” Usopp asked.
“Chopper's not here, so I'm going!” Luffy happily said.
“Oi,” Sanji snapped. “That's not a game. You're just gonna get lost, too. And that's the last thing we need. I'm going.”
“But-”
“No buts. I'm gonna kick his ass back to this ship, get ready for our return,” Sanji said, more tired than anything else.
“Fine,” Luffy pouted. “But hurry, ok?”
“That's up to the marimo.”
Sanji left them, but instead of going back to their steps, took a different path on the right.
“Sanji...” Usopp stopped him, “This is not where we come from... Don't tell me your orientation is as bad as Zoro's...”
“Urg,” the cook snorted, “Don't compare me to that idiot. I'm just taking a shortcut, don't worry.”
Once Sanji gone, Usopp stared at his Captain.
“We've never been this way...” and he whispered “I think we'll never see them again.”
xXx
The Straw Hat's first mate sat down and checked his swords. He sighed as he cleaned the blood from the blades. He'd ran into some marines who didn't realize today wasn't their lucky day, and realized too late who he was. He couldn't blame them for trying, though. He'd have done the same. Never turn your back from a fight if you want to get stronger.
He put his swords back where they belonged, and stood up, about to look for his way back to the ship again when his body froze. Something electrified his whole body for a second but the shock was so moving his eyes widened. He didn't notice he held his breath until he heard a voice he knew a bit too well.
“Oi, shitty moss-head. You were supposed to be on the boat by now.”
He took a few seconds before turning to the cook, smirking, and ignoring what just happened. That wasn't the first time those symptoms actually appeared. It could just randomly come when he was alone and- wait a minute.
That always happened when Sanji was looking for him.
His annoyance for him must have grown a lot if he could feel his presence like this.
“Shut up,” he glanced at him. “Not my fault if you guys keep losing yourselves.”
Sanji made a face to his words.
“Are you actually fucking kidding me? No nevermind, I don't wanna hear it. Just- let's go back to Sunny alright? And follow me, don't go running around like a stupid baby after a butterfly.”
“The fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me, shitty marimo.”
“I will cut you in half ero-cook,” Zoro grunted as he unsheathed his swords.
Sanji smiled.
“Bring it on.”
XxX
That time, they were looking for Sanji. The cook didn't actually get geographically lost, but did lose track of time as he was choosing new ingredients for the recipe he's been working on. And Zoro found him. In his entire life, Sanji had felt insulted a lot of times, but that one was almost like a joke.
“Bring your ass back to the ship, shitty cook,” Zoro grumbled.
Sanji looked at the swordsman as if he was seeing him for the first time.
“What are you doing here?”
“Been looking for you, the witch is getting mad and I hate to be around her when she's acting like that. So just come back already or she's gonna be unbearable.”
“Wait- what? You- they let you leave to look for me? You?” he articulated.
Zoro frowned.
“No, I left right away to bring your lost ass back, she was pissing me off. Why, what's the matter with that?”
Sanji took a deep breath.
“First of all, you don't freaking call our cute, amazing navigator a witch. Second, I was going to come back, it just took a little bit more time. And I certainly wasn't lost. If there's someone who gets lost here, that's not me.”
His nakama laughed.
“Are you saying I'm getting lost? Man, you guys are always losing your way, and somehow, I always end up finding you.”
“What the fuck? I have always been the one finding you! Not the other way around, don't think too high of yourself marimo, you're gonna be crushed when reality strikes.”
“Reality?”
“You have no idea how to find your way back to the ship. The only reason you do is because you find someone else coming back on your way.”
“Yeah sure, if you want to make up stories to feel better.”
How come the swordsman always managed to piss him off so bad he wanted to smash his face with his feet?
XxX
Sanji started to ask himself questions when it happened for the hundredth time.
That feeling.
He started noticing something was off in Water Seven, and ever since, it got stronger. Little episodes proved him right so far, and he hated that. Somehow, his nakama ended up always asking him to look for Zoro when he was lost now. That became a routine. The shitty marimo wasn't back? Let's send Sanji, what a great idea. Let's send the guy he's always fighting with, because that makes sense. Let's send the guy who's supposed to cook so they will have to wait more for their meal.
But things started to click when even Luffy said something about Sanji always finding a way to bring Zoro back quickly. It was like there was a piece of the puzzle he was missing out. But he was pretty sure this was important.
And, lately? He'd been feeling weird. He'd been feeling weird, but he had no idea how to describe it, and if it was related to what's been happening.
That surely wasn't. He was just mixing everything up. He might have been overthinking again, like he used to.
But still, he couldn't get over this idea.
Something was off. The electrifying shocks running down his spine was happening a bit too much lately. Maybe he'd talk about it to Chopper, if it didn't stop.
xXx
Zoro would probably never forget this moment.
The moment Sanji decided to give up his life for Luffy. The moment Sanji decided Zoro's life was worth more than his own. The moment the shitty cook walked with determination to Kuma, his whole body shivering, barely able to stand up.
The situation was so intense his body reacted in pain. It shivered a bit, too. He could hear the cook's breath – it was bad. And he was panting, too.
He heard him say things he would never have thought hearing from the cook's mouth.
“Kill me and get out of here.”
That wasn't about dying. That was about surviving.
Zoro wanted to sacrifice himself so his nakama could survive, while Sanji was clearly ready to die. It wasn't the same kind of sacrifice at all. And god be his witness even if he wasn't a believer, he wouldn't let the shitty cook do that. Over his dead body, ironically.
“I'm just as ready to sacrifice myself as he is,” he stated.
No you're not. This is a lie. This is a call for death.
“I've fed people my whole life, and now I'll feed the worms.”
What the fuck was he talking about? He lowered his voice, and told Zoro to tell everyone goodbye for him. The swordsman felt angry more than anything else. That was just cruel. That was not how things worked.
“You'll have to find a new cook.”
As if.
The hardest thing to do wasn't to hit him. It didn't even feel like hitting him. It felt like the right thing to do. He kept his nakama from doing something stupid. He saved his life.
No, the hardest thing was to feel his grip on his shoulder after he got hit, and his hand slowly falling on his arm, like a painful caress.
As soon as Sanji lost consciousness, he lost a certain weight of pressure, and smiled. That was for the best.
XxX
He was suffocating. There was an overwhelming feeling – a pressure he couldn't get rid of – and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't seem to breathe. His whole body seemed dumb, and he wondered how come he could still stand up and walk. When he woke up, his first thought went for the marimo.
He'd hit him from behind. He'd betrayed him.
If he wasn't being devoured by worry and that freaking pressure, he would come to him and scream at him.
Because he had no right to do that. He had no fucking right to hit him, to make him pass out like he could decide and do anything he wanted. Roronoa freaking Zoro.
Sanji stumbled on the ruins of rocks that fell and broke during the fights. Those had been huge battles. Luffy had given everything he could against Oz. And then- the Shikibukai. He stood up for what he believed was right and- god fucking dammit.
He couldn't breathe. He fell on his knees and tried to focus on his breathing. Getting those flashbacks wasn't a great idea. His mind was going crazy.
He'd never panicked so much before.
He realized Luffy was awake a bit late, as if his brain was starting to open to the outside world. His laugh and the other's talks sounded unreal.
The cook stood up again, and he had no idea how long it took for him to get back on his feet. Maybe too long. His sight was a bit blurry. He'd been through a lot, too. After all, a giant zombie did smash him several times in a row.
He did a few steps – not a lot, but the effort made was so great, it seemed to take forever – before seeing Zoro's swords. Zoro's swords- something Zoro would never leave behind. And then- he ran. His muscles didn't care about pain – and if he was in pain, he didn't feel anything at the moment. His body just moved on its own. His heart was racing as if it was trying to get out of his chest.
He didn't really care where he was going – he knew where Zoro was. He had no idea how, but he knew where to find him. His breathing was still heavy, but if he focused – he could ignore it, and actually get better.
The electricity came back, again. He froze, and looked on his left.
Here he was. Standing there, among the ruins, crossed arms, proud. And him-? All he felt at this very moment was relief. The pressure seemed to leave a bit, and he joined the swordsman. He started talking- because that felt like denying everything that happened. That felt like nothing changed. Sanji didn't want anything to change- and he wanted to chase away that feeling he'd kept inside – fear.
But then, he saw it. Zoro's state. He saw the blood on his body. He saw the blood on the ground. He opened his mouth but nothing came, at first.
He panicked again. He screamed his name. His voice broke in the first syllable, and he had to do it again to hear himself say it right. Because that mattered.
“What the fuck is all this blood?!” he heard himself yell at his nakama. Was he still alive? He was still standing, so he was alive, right? He couldn't be dead, not Zoro. He couldn't just die like that. He had no fucking right to die after doing that to him, he had no right, he couldn't.
He was getting hysterical. The pressure was getting a lot stronger now. His brain was boiling. His breathing was harsh. Zoro's eyes were red with blood. His voice was broken when he replied to his last question: What happened?
“Absolutely nothing.”
Bullshit.
Bullshit bullshit bullshit.
He'd been standing up next to him, for him, for Luffy, for his nakama. He refused to let Zoro sacrifice himself – he had dreams, those dreams that made him so strong, those dreams that made Sanji join the crew. Zoro's conviction meant something to Sanji. He wasn't going to let him throw it away. And yet – and yet he did as usual, he just did whatever he wanted to do.
He'd stood up in front of the Shikibukai, or – no he'd stood up between the shikibukai and Zoro, Zoro who was sitting on the floor, when he was standing up for his resolutions. He remembers his body was shivering, but his mind was set up. His life wasn't worth that much, anyway.
What on earth had this idiot been doing?
...
He hated this man so much.
XxX
The pressure never left since Thriller Bark. It was somewhere in his head, and Sanji couldn't get rid of it. So he just adapted. He got used to it.
It became something normal. Sometimes, it would get weaker, and rarely stronger. He noticed after a while that it actually grew weaker and weaker time after time. He guessed that was something good.
He didn't really talk to Chopper about it. He didn't really know why either. That didn't feel like something important, and he could handle it anyway.
xXx
The pain came back so quickly. Only one push. He felt so weak. Just avoiding Kuma's laser beams were painful. That was not supposed to go this way.
This Kuma looked so different.
He was the first mate, for fuck's sake. He had to protect his nakama.
The swordsman moved forward, and heard Luffy and Sanji screaming his name. But no one gave him enough time to attack – first Chopper, then Franky, Brook and Usopp. After Luffy beat Kuma – or rather PX-4 – they barely had time to rest before Sentoumaru and another Kuma appeared. PX-1 seemed to be like PX-4, exploding things around.
“He doesn't have pads,” Sanji noticed. “I didn't want to think about it, but that makes him the third! What's going on?!”
“Rather than wondering about that, it'd be safer to run away right now,” Zoro replied.
Because he knew they – he – couldn't fight the way they were right now. It wouldn't end well. He underlined it to the shitty cook.
“If we get into another fight now, someone will definitely die! Let's run before we meet another admiral...!”
Luffy's approval froze both Sanji and Zoro's hearts. Running away from a fight didn't sound like him. Zoro knew they had to, but hearing his captain approval – that was striking. The situation was bad – oh, so bad. They had to split up.
“The three of us should split!”
“Sure,” the shitty cook approved. “Are you gonna be alright?” he asked Zoro.
“Shut up,” he replied angrily. He wasn't hurt enough to allow the damn cook worry about him.
Sanji left to protect Nami with Franky, which didn't surprise Zoro one bit. Usopp jumped on him as PX-1 attacked them, and he had to admit he was wounded for the sniper to let go of him.
“Do not worry,” Brook said, “I shall cover for you. Your injuries still haven't healed, right? To tell the truth, I saw your act of self-sacrifice back on Thriller Bark!”
Nothing went right.
Everything seemed unreal. Like a huge nightmare.
It happened so fast – of course, it made sense later, Kizaru was a light man because of the Pika Pika devil fruit's powers. A beam went through his body, and he heard himself scream in inhuman pain.
The admiral was talking, but he could barely focus on his own breathing. He heard Usopp's screams. He couldn't move – he couldn't move at all. He had to, but it was so hard, so freaking hard – how did standing up become so hard to do? He used to do it all the time. He saw more light, and he knew.
He knew he wouldn't make it, this time. Somewhere, Luffy yelled.
Everything was so noisy and distant. He wasn't sure he heard Chopper crying.
Hands made him move, and the pain rose. He could feel his mind slipping to unconsciousness. Kizaru's foot hit him and his face ate the ground. The hands kept trying to make him escape, hopelessly.
Somehow, he heard perfectly well those words.
“It's useless. You'll die now.”
He guessed his nakama were screaming, and he almost passed out when he clearly heard Sanji's scream, which was way more distinct than the others, as if he was screaming inside his head.
XxX
Never in his entire life had Sanji felt like this. Not even during his childhood.
That terror.
He'd seen PX-1 running after Usopp – Usopp carrying Zoro, half-dead. He knew he was alive, he knew it, but his whole body couldn't stop shivering – he was in a state of over-reaction. He hit him – but his leg reacted oddly and he fell. He immediately recognized the symptoms – just like in Thriller Bark. He could barely breathe. It wasn't as bad, but he'd forgotten how striking it was.
The Fake Kuma walked towards Usopp and Zoro. Usopp was alright – but he'd dropped the first mate, who wasn't even moving. His instinct kept telling him he was alive, and he held onto this conviction. He grabbed PX-1's foot out of despair, his body moving on its own.
“Wait, you damn bastard-”
PX-1 dragged him in his steps as if he'd been nothing but a bug he didn't even care about enough to take out. And then, it did. It – it wasn't human – did care. Sanji felt his body leaving the ground, and his heart raced. He wondered how his body could handle so much stress and tension. The pressure, so much stronger when Kizaru appeared, was now weakening and for some reason, he was scared it would disappear.
The beam hit him without even an inch of distance. It hit him in the very same hand that was holding him.
A few minutes later which seemed to be an eternity, when he forced himself to look up again, another Kuma was here. That Kuma had pads.
He couldn't feel the swordsman's presence anymore.
Zoro had vanished.
Along with the pressure.
XxX
That would sound masochist, but Sanji was so happy when the pressure came back. It was a bit weak, but it came back. It didn't hurt him. After a while, it did, like a headache. But he knew that was a good thing.
In a gap of two years, it was finally time to find everyone back again. When he reached the island, he somehow felt like fishing, and took the directions an old lady had given him – a shop on the beach at Grove 42. Once he got there, he met the owner – a man who really seemed shocked, staring at the sea.
“What's the matter?”
“He's gone!” the man said. “The green-haired man!”
The old man narrated his story, and Sanji sighed. He hadn't changed one bit, had he?
“Green hair, three swords and a belly warmer?”
“Yeah, and he has a deep scar on his eye. Do you know him?”
That last statement surprised Sanji, so he showed him a poster of Zoro he had on him.
“Oh yeah! This is the guy! Is he your friend?”
“Well, I only know him a little,” the cook lied, smiling.
And then he carried on his story.
That damn marimo.
He managed to confuse two boats, one being a tiny simple fisher boat, and the other being a huge ass pirate ship. The worst part in this was that it was normal.
And so he'd left for the Fishmen Island.
He was already tired of the damn swordsman's shit.
“That idiot! I thought it was unlike him to show up first, I knew he'd do something like this.”
He was already preparing his speech to Luffy, telling everyone to try and find Zoro underwater, in the freaking Fishmen Island- when the sea started bubbling, and something came up- it looked like pieces of a boat.
“You bastard! How dare you ruin our dream to go to the New World!?” screamed someone – surely the captain of the ship.
A shadow, sat on the mast, holding a sword, replied in a deep voice.
“It's a quirk of fate. You should blame your own fate that brought a plague onto your ship.”
Sanji wanted to facepalm. How could he say such things when he was to blame for inviting himself on their ship?
“Oh, he's back,” he simply said instead. “I couldn't care less about him,” he added, lying again.
XxX
“Oi, moss-head, you gotta stay with me! I don't want you getting lost,” Sanji smirked.
“Huh? Who do you think you're talking to, moustache eyebrow?”
That was low.
“What did you just say?! Oh- that smells good,” he said as he approached something which was being cooked, completely losing sight of the swordsman.
Whatever. He'd find him again later. They always ended up finding each other, even if they didn't want to.
And he did find him later. Only to fight more with him.
“I wanna go to sea. I wanna fish.”
What was he, five?
“No, you can't, shithead!”
“Why can't I? Why should I listen to you?!”
“Do you think I'm walking with you because I want to?!”
It was half a lie. He missed that. Those little useless fights. Two years felt like a very long time.
“Dammit,” Zoro sighed. “How could No. 7 talk bossily to No. 1?”
Urgh, no he just didn't-
“Why are you ranking us in the order of our arrival?! You got here first by chance, don't get carried away!”
“Okay, I'm sorry... No. 7.”
He regretted everything. Just take that idiot away from him now. That jerk hadn't changed one bit and he was already sick of his behavior. As rude as before. As stupid as before.
“I will fight you...!” Sanji yelled.
And Zoro smiled before he took out his swords.