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It was a day like any other on the Going Merry. The sky was terse, sun glinting from the small waves as the ship glided peacefully.
At least, as peacefully as it could, while its captain was causing a ruckus.
Zoro was mostly blocking the noise out while he finished his reps. He was already anticipating a cool bottle of sake to quench his thirst. He had seen the shit cook doing laundry from the corner of his eye before, so he should have been able to sneak in the kitchen and maybe grab a bottle of the good stuff. Not that he really cared about the taste either way, but this would have the additional benefit of pissing the damn cook off.
Zoro had to admit it, he liked the dumbstruck expression on Sanji’s face a she realized something was amiss in his precious sake collection, the way his eyes widened and his gentlemanly exterior started to falter. The swordsman found that satisfying in a devious way.
Smirking to himself, Zoro dropped his weights. He glanced over a shoulder to Luffy, perching dangerously over the railing and shouting at something in the water. Sea monster or whatever. Chopper and Usopp were crying, but the situation didn’t look too bad (yet), so the swordsman made his way to the galley. He vaguely wondered why the cook hadn’t barged in yet, screaming and kicking everyone in the head as usual. Then he saw it, the lithe silhouette dressed in black and white, starkly contrasting with the ocean behind, so still it almost startled him.
Sanji seemed to have stopped in the middle of taking dry clothes in. He was standing with the full laundry basket rested on his hip, facing the sea. His hair, gently ruffled by the wind, sparked gold in the sunlight. He didn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings at all. His gaze was fixed on the horizon; no, not the horizon, Zoro realized, but a lonely rock in the distance, the kind they passed by every other day. But the cook was observing it like he couldn’t look away. There was something both pained and longing in those blue irises.
Zoro was taken aback by that pensive look. Without all his brashness and bold attitude, Sanji looked way younger than his nineteen years. He looked smaller, weaker, like a lost kid. He looked… vulnerable.
Zoro had seen him angry. He had seen him laughing and crying and anything in between. He hadn’t even realized that Sanji could be vulnerable. He was a fighter so strong he didn’t even bother to look inconvenienced by his enemies, most of the time. The way he turned into a total idiot at the mere sight of a female irritated Zoro to no end, and made his stomach turn. He had seen Sanji relaxed, on the verge of tipsy, during the celebrations for one victory or another, dancing with a grace that disproved his intoxicated state. He showed absolute concentration about anything related to food, and he was so damn sure of himself when he was cooking, making it look like his job was the absolute best, and the easiest in the world. Zoro knew it was not easy.
This look was like a crack in a carefully constructed exterior, that showed an unexpected rawness behind it. It tugged at Zoro’s heartstrings and left him confused.
There was a splash, followed by a high pitched wailing.
“Wahaaa- Luffy fell!!”
Zoro nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to see Chopper crying loudly, while Usopp panicked. Damn it. Turning back around cautiously, he saw that Sanji hadn’t moved. He still looked lost in thought. Usually, he would be the one dive in and rescue their useless captain, but…
Zoro couldn’t explain it, but he dind’t want to interrupt this-- whatever the cook was doing. Making a decision, Zoro turned back on his heels. He would berate the cook for not saving Luffy, he would insult his tardiness, but later, when his perfect exterior would be back in place, hiding the vulnerability under it. And it would be like normal, the two of them bickering as usual so Zoro wouldn’t have to think too hard about the reason he felt Sanji’s appearance was “perfect", or why he had protected this side of him that looked so soft and did strange things to his heart. Instead, he just let him have this moment for himself.