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The tips of his fingers were delicately tracing the thin white line. He was barely touching the warm skin for fear of waking him up. He was deeply asleep, but a little nothing was often enough to stir him awake. His fingers continued a little higher, meeting another line, slightly longer and more marked than the previous one. This one either he didn't know how he had had it. He had gathered a lot of new ones during these two years separated, and Sanji had discovered them one by one during their nocturnal escapades. In spite of the wild pace of their adventures, they had quickly returned to their habits and they managed to spend time together quite easily. This separation had been way too long.
His eyes went back to his face, to the biggest difference that had leaped out at him as soon as he saw him again. He hated it because it deprived him of the joy of diving into his eyes. Now everything was unbalanced. It wasn't making him any uglier, of course. He would have his face completely mutilated that Sanji would still find him beautiful. But it was still disturbing. Not to mention that the loss of his eye had to bring him additional difficulties.
He used his hand resting on his chest to help him straighten up and place a light kiss on his eyelid forever closed. He felt it flinch on contact, and a sigh escaped from Zoro's lips. He waited a moment, but he didn't wake up, so he repositioned himself against him, his head resting on his shoulder.
His hand ran down again, following the valley of his biggest scar. This one he liked. It had almost cost him his life, of course, but it also meant a lot to both of them. He would always remember when that long blade came down and slashed the skin in a splash of blood. His heart had skipped a beat. They had just met, but he was already feeling an attraction towards him. By his determination, his strength. It was on seeing him welcome this blade with open arms that he understood that he too would have to fight for his dreams, that he would have to leave the safety of the Baratie to follow his own path. It was Luffy who had given him the last nudge to cross the threshold of the restaurant, but it was Zoro who had made his stubbornness to stay with Zeff falter. It was he who had made him understand that he would repay his debt to the old man only the day he would take the sea to live his life.
And he would be eternally grateful to him.