Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sanji doesn’t realize at first that his Animal has found him. He’s been in the Germa dungeon for just about six months, when a sickly half dead rat scampers into the room from between the bars and walks up to him. Sanji is in the middle of eating his dinner, but he’s alone. The guards got tired of having to wait around to unlock and lock up the bottom half of his mask, so it was modified so that he can feed himself, although there is barely any room and he has to take extremely small bites. This means he can eat in relative peace, and often gets to secretly add ingredients - when Reiju manages to sneak him some - it also means that he won’t be judged for giving some of his food away to the rodents that often make their way into his cell.

This rat is far from the first, but it is the least healthy one he’s seen. Most of the rats are hungry, probably starving, but they’re good at finding scraps, so they’re not on death's door. This rat is skin and bone, limping along and looking for all intents and purposes like a reanimated corpse. Sanji doesn’t hesitate, once the rat is within reach, he scoops her up and places her directly on his plate, happy to sacrifice the small pile of food he had left. The rat doesn’t seem startled to have been picked up, and starts eating immediately.

Aside from the starvation, she looks beautiful.

Sanji has read a book about rat species, one of the ones Reiju brought him, because he sees a lot of rats and knowing more about them and their diet is important, if he’s going to be feeding them a lot. Which he does. Every rodent gets food if they’re not too scared to come up to him, and he’s only been bitten once or twice. The bugs are a different story, but that’s neither here nor there.

This rat looks to be a Powder Blue rat, judging by its coat. Sanji tentatively reaches a hand up to her, slowly lowering it down until he makes contact. He probably shouldn’t try petting the rat in this situation, but he can’t help it.

She immediately gets distracted from the food and pushes up into his palm, and Sanji can’t help the way his heart stutters at the action.

Starved and lonely, just like him.

Sanji can’t resist, he scoops her up into his hands and lifts her to make eye contact. This kind of rat shouldn’t really be in Germa, but Sanji isn’t about to question it. There’s a large likelihood that she was some sort of experiment victim, purchased or bred to be poked and prodded. Again, Sanji relates.

She squirms a little bit after a while, but doesn’t bite him or anything. Sanji apologizes, voice hoarse from disuse, and sets her back down onto the plate to finish her meal. After she finishes a little bit later, she turns back to him as if expecting more.

“Sorry, little Blue, that’s all they gave me. If you stick around you can have more, tomorrow, for breakfast,” Sanji promises, reaching up to pet her again. She seems content though, which is surprising. Usually the rats run away when they realize there’s no food anymore. Sanji hums, picking her up again.

She wiggles around until she can get out of his grasp, but doesn’t jump, rather she starts climbing up his arm. Sanji flinches in fear, imagining her climbing up to his mask to bite at his eyes. After a moment he realizes that’s not what's happening, as she simply takes up residence on his shoulder. There’s little room, what with how his giant mask takes up most of the space, but she settles there as if for the long haul.

“You’re different from the other rats,” Sanji muses, shuffling over to his “bed” (it’s more like a wirethin matt with a single old blanket thrown onto it), while keeping a hand near the rat in case she falls, “that’s okay though, I’m different from everyone else too.”

—

It takes him three days and a visit from Reiju to finally connect the dots. Blue, as Sanji has named the rat when it became evident she wasn’t leaving, comes out of her hiding place when Reiju announces her presence. When the guards come downstairs, Sanji makes her hide so that she doesn’t get either of them in trouble, and she’s a really good listener. She’s started gaining her weight back already, looking less like she’d die within the minute.

Reiju spots her waddling up to Sanji and raises her eyebrows.

Sanji starts to explain himself before she even asks, “She was hungry and lonely, so she’s been here for the past four days, and I feed her. She’s harmless, and I promise I don’t let anyone see her, and she really only eats a small portion of the food, and I know I shouldn’t-” Reiju cuts off his panicked ramble then, stopping Sanji mid explanation on why Blue shouldn’t be taken from him. Reiju has never hesitated to take things away from Sanji for the sake of his “safety” if she deems him not good enough at hiding it.

“Quiet down,” Reiju says, her voice as monotonous as ever. She squats down to look at Blue, who's similarly staring at her with her big beady eyes, “when did you get your Animal?”

Sanji pauses, unsure why she wants to know, “Um, Blue got here four days ago. I don’t know when she’s going to leave, but it’s probably soon…” the fact that he’d had to repeat himself is not lost on Sanji, Reiju has never misheard him before.

“No, this is your Companion Animal,” Reiju corrects, standing back up to her full height. Sanji tenses his entire body, staring down at Blue with a newfound understanding.

“What?” he asks, his voice quiet, “No, no, no,” he rambles, hands scrambling for his mask, “she can’t be! Vinsmokes don’t have Companion Animals, nobody on Germa does! I can’t- I’m already- She’s- It’s different-” He stops attempting to talk altogether, backing up a few steps from Blue, who simply follows him, seeming confused about what’s going on.

“That’s not true, mom had a Companion, so did Judge, he just killed it before you were born,” Reiju answers, looking disinterested in Sanji’s panic attack, “Anyways, we already knew you were different from the rest of us, so it’s not surprising. Hide it from everyone else otherwise it’ll get killed, if Judge gets any word of this he’ll simply declare it another sign of your utter failure and kill it as punishment, and our brothers will definitely tell him if they find out,” she says, backing up from the bars. Her cold disinterest is nothing new, but Sanji often wishes she could feel more emotions. She already feels more than their brothers, but Sanji feels so much, all the time, that her coldness always strikes him at the worst moments.

Sanji balks at the words, despite knowing they’re true. He hadn’t known that Judge had an Animal, but he’s not surprised to find out he killed it. Sanji only knows information about them from books and what his mom used to tell him.

A Companion Animal is pretty much what it says on the tin; an animal that stays with you forever. Everyone has one Animal, and any type of animal is a possibility. The animals are basically just normal, except for four things. One, they’re bonded to a human and can’t be too far from them without causing pain for both parties. Two, they don’t have a regular animal lifespan, a rat which should only have a few years at most can live as long as their human does, the Animals simply stop aging once they hit maturity. Three, if their human dies, they die, no exception. And Four, while the human won’t die if their Animal does, it will be extremely painful and cause the human to feel empty, incomplete, for the rest of their lives.

His mom had a beautiful swan. He always looked just as sick as Sora did, resting in her bed, usually by her side, until the day Sanji never saw either of them again. According to his mom, she’d met him at eight years old, just like everyone meets theirs, between the ages of eight to ten. Sanji remembers being glad that she wasn’t alone in that hospital bed when Sanji couldn’t visit her. He remembers mourning the swan just as much as he’d mourned her.

His mom was the only one in the kingdom with an Animal. None of the clone soldiers had them, his dad didn’t, although Sanji had always just assumed he never did, which is apparently wrong. Reiju never got hers within the timeframe, which Judge had been incredibly pleased about, but Sanji had just felt bad for her. He had assumed that he and his brothers would suffer the same fate. Apparently not.

Reiju left sometime during his panic attack, which Sanji processes later, when he realizes he’s huddled into the corner with his head between his knees, curled up into a tight ball. Blue has finally managed to squeeze herself between his arms, wiggling like she’s also panicking.

Sanji forces himself to relax so he doesn’t squish her, and then starts petting her when she still looks distressed.

“I’m- I’m sorry for scaring you,” Sanji mumbles, “I was just shocked. I guess I never expected you to… exist… I’m sorry you were so hungry when you found me, it must’ve been hard to get here,” he mumbles, finally feeling the last remnants of his panic attack fading away. They usually last much longer, but Blue’s fur is soft and grounding underneath his palm.

Sanji looks around at his disgusting little cell and almost feels like crying, again.

“I’m sorry we’re going to be stuck down here forever. I wish you would have belonged to someone stronger, instead of a failure like me,” Sanji apologizes, feeling terrible that she can’t leave.

Blue burrows deeper into his hand and seems to fall asleep. Sanji can’t help but think, of course the weak little failure got a weak little rat for his Companion, but then he feels guilty for thinking something so rude about this beautiful creature, who definitely would never have chosen to be stuck with him if she could.

“I.. I’ll escape, and then you won’t be stuck down here forever,” Sanji promises, thinking about escaping for the first time since he got stuck down here. Before it seemed like a stupid thing to think about, no way anyone would let him out, and a weakling like him could never even imagine fighting his way out, but he peers down at Blue’s sleeping form and feels hope and determination for the first time. He will get her out of here, no matter the cost.

It’s his last thought as he too falls asleep.

—

It surprisingly doesn’t take him very long to fulfill this promise to Blue. The next few days blow past in a blur, with Sanji getting little sleep, busy intermittently switching between apologizing to her profusely and whispering half thought escape plans. He knows the schedule like the back of his hand, so it’s not entirely unreasonable that he could figure something out to get him and Blue out of here. He knows exactly where the key to his cell and mask are, right out of reach on the wall outside his cell. When he was first put down here he used to stare and stare at the keys, tauntingly out of reach.

He’s only got half a plan of somehow sending Blue out of the cell to get the keys for them, her small nature making it easy for her to go in and out of the bars. He knows that they won’t be able to be very far from each other, not until they grow a little older and their endurance to the distance gets better, but he thinks if he presses against the bars she can reach the wall.

He never gets to test his theory.

His brothers visit for the first time in a long time, and Sanji can hear them before he sees them. For once this is a good thing, because he has just enough time to dash towards Blue and shove her under his threadbare blanket. If he bunches it up in parts the lump she makes isn’t as noticeable.

Normally when he hears his brothers he hides himself, but he only has just enough time to hide Blue before they reach eyesight distance of his cell, and Sanji is still sprawled on his bed, in clear view. Evidently, his brothers don’t like that.

“What, are you not even going to try to hide this time?” Yonji shouts, seeming angry, even though Sanji knows they’re not supposed to even have emotions, they never seem to lack in anger, or hatred in fact. Yonji is the most reactive of the three of them, so it’s not surprising he would notice immediately and get upset about it. He probably thinks Sanji purposefully didn’t hide to imply he’s not scared of them or something.

Ichiji is the least outwardly reactive, his face almost always the same neutral expression. Sanji knows from experience that he’s the cruelest of them, and just because he prefers to watch the other two beat him up doesn’t mean he wouldn’t also partake in the beating if provoked. He says nothing, as Niji goes and retrieves the key to his cell.

Sanji doesn’t respond, his limbs shaking and tears already threatening to fall. He knows from experience that if he starts crying before they start beating him up, they’ll get even angrier at how weak he is, and get rougher.

Niji is talking, but Sanji only manages to pick up something about their mission being boring, and they didn’t even get to fight anyone. Sanji figures they’re probably upset they couldn’t beat anyone up and have come down to take out their frustrations on their very own punching bag.

At the very least they don’t seem to question what Sanji was doing when they arrived, so Sanji can breathe the littlest bit easier knowing Blue is safe.

“Maybe we should remind him why he hides from us,” Ichiji says, and Sanji’s heart rate skyrockets. Ichiji is their stupid leader, so whatever he tells them to do they will. The other two smirk, finally walking into the cell. Sanji bites his lip in an attempt to hold in the terrified whimper. It doesn’t do much, judging by the nearly gleeful look on Yonji’s face.

“Great idea!” Yonji says, cracking his knuckles. As the three of them converge on him, Sanji can only focus on the lump on his bed he knows is Blue. He doesn’t bother backing up and trying to press himself against the wall. He knows running won’t do anything, and he doesn’t want to get too far from Blue.

His only defense is to wrap his arms around his head. His helmet is bulky and presses marks into the limbs, but it hurts more when they kick his head because the metal clangs into his skin and often gouges terrible wounds. He knows they’ll go for his stomach, but as long as he manages not to throw up he’ll be fine. It’ll hurt for a long time, but he’s used to that. He hates when he throws up, because nobody cleans and he can’t do much about it.

Sanji is silent as his brothers start their typical torment. Ichiji watches as Niji and Yonji start kicking. In his mind all he’s thinking of is Blue, he hopes she isn’t scared right now.

As he has the thought, a loud squeak rings out, and the kicking stops. Sanji panics, lifting his head, just in time to watch Blue scamper out from under the blanket and bite Yonji’s ankle. With a noise of disgust and anger, Yonji flings his leg and sends Blue flying. Her tiny body collides with the wall, the noise sickening as she lets out a pained squeak.

Sanji reacts before she even hits the ground. On pure instinct, he tackles Yonji and topples him over. The only reason it works is because the three of them were focused on Blue. Yonji is startled but doesn’t freeze up or let himself be caught off guard again, as Sanji would’ve. It’s probably also pure instinct, but before Sanji can even do anything like start punching, he grabs Sanji by the shoulders and throws him off, in the opposite direction that he threw Blue.

Sanji lands on his side, and only has time to attempt to sit up before Niji is kicking his shoulder, knocking him back to the ground.

“The failure tried fighting back!” Niji says, pulling his leg back and then kicking Sanji in the chin. The metal of the mask presses into him and breaks skin, but all Sanji can focus on is Blue’s limp body by the wall.

“What the hell! That stupid rat bit me,” Yonji says, clearly more focused on the bite than Sanji’s tackle. Niji hasn’t let up, kicking him anywhere he can reach, but Yonji doesn’t come to join in like Sanji has assumed he would. Instead of being offended by Sanji’s lackluster attack, he is instead walking towards Blue.

“Wait, Yonji,” Ichiji says, finally stepping in. Niji stops too, the two of them turning to focus on Ichiji’s words. Sanji takes the opportunity to crawl towards Blue, grabbing her little body and cradling her to his chest. He can still feel her breathing, which is so relieving that Sanji almost passed out.

“What? It’s just a rat. I can easily step on it and it’ll die, remember how upset the failure used to get when we killed the stupid squirrels he fed? It’ll be hilarious!” Yonji says, but Ichiji doesn’t budge.

Niji seems to have clued in, because he speaks next, “is the rat that stupid Companion thing that father told us about?”

Ichiji is staring at Sanji like he’s studying him. Sanji is reminded of the doctors that used to prod and poke at him, before they gave up on him. They would stare at him unrelentingly, not even processing him as a living breathing human, just a thing to be experimented on.

“I think so. Of course the failure would end up with one of those,” Ichiji responds, disdain clear in his voice. Sanji glares back as best he can, holding Blue tighter against himself.

“Even better! Cmon, let me kill it already!” Yonji says, stepping closer. Sanji practically growls at him, scared out of his mind. Realistically there’s nothing he can do if they do decide to hurt her. He can practically already feel the hollow on his chest.

“Not yet. We have to report to father first, and see what he says. He might want to run a few tests on them first,” Ichiji responds, and begins walking out of the cell. Niji gives Sanji a look of pure disdain before he follows suit.

Yonji groans and stomps out, complaining all the while, “but he tackled me! What kind of bullshit is that! At least let’s beat him up a little bit more!”

The last thing Sanji hears before they’re out of listening range is Ichiji’s annoyed “we have to report to father right away before that thing dies from your kick.”

The second he can’t sense them anymore Sanji deflates. He curls up in a ball on the floor, holding Blue still. He has no idea how to help her, has no idea how long she has. The rest of the night is spent there, Sanji ignoring his own injuries in favour of whispering to Blue again. More promises he can’t fulfill.

—

Sanji had expected the next day to bring him one of two things. Either Blue would have died in her sleep, in pain and suffering, because Sanji couldn’t even protect her a single time, or she would live, but the guards would come and separate them in the morning instead of bringing him his breakfast. He knows Judge will want to run at least a few tests before he kills her. There’s no way he would ever let him keep her, especially since none of his brothers have any Animals either. Just another sign of how different and wrong he is.

After having barely slept all night, Sanji finally gives up on attempting to do so when he realizes it’s near the time he typically gets breakfast. At the very least, Blue is still alive, but this morning is most certainly their last peaceful moment before torturous experiments and her inevitable death.

Sanji does not expect to see Reiju that morning, but nonetheless she’s the first to arrive. Sanji isn’t sure what’s happening, but he holds Blue to his chest and tries to read her expression, despite the fact that she doesn’t make expressions.

“They found out,” Reiju states, and it's not a question, “Father knows. They’re going to run tests and then they’re going to kill it.”

Sanji nods, his lip wobbling.

He begins talking before she can say anything else, “I don’t want Blue to die. I want the two of us to escape here, I want to be a cook. I want to find th-the All Blue!” He announces, only stuttering once as his tears begin falling. He needs to get the words out before the inevitable. The feelings are mixing inside his body, buzzing under his skin, and if he doesn’t say them right now he feels as though he’ll explode.

Reiju pulls his bars apart.

Chapter Text

Zoro is eight years old when he meets Kuina and forms what he considers at the time is his greatest rivalry. She’s stronger than him, stubborn, and a little bit of an asshole. She’s his goal, for now. Beating her will be the next step in his journey, and he’ll relish the moment like no other. She’s his best friend in the whole entire world.

Zoro is eight years old when Kuina dies. She’s alive and breathing one night, confiding in him her deepest desires and announcing that she’ll be the world's best swordsman, and then the next she’s under a sheet, cold to the touch and unresponsive. Her funeral is small, only the dojo members in attendance. The rain doesn’t relent.

Zoro is eight years old when he gets his Animal Companion. He’s sitting at Kuina’s grave, and it crawls up to him in silence. Kuina is the one who told him about the Animals in the first place, although Zoro wasn’t sure if she was messing with him or not because it sounded made up. Sure, the adults around are followed by random animals that sometimes don’t make sense, but the thought of having some sort of spiritual bond with an animal sounds fake. Zoro had whined about it, thinking about the fact that separation will cause physical pain. Anyone could use this to their advantage, it was an obvious weakness.

Zoro hardly glances up from Kuinas grave as the tiger comes and sits next to him. He isn’t sure how he knows it’s his Companion, other than the fact that a random tiger showing up and not mauling him makes no sense. It’s like instinct, or something. Kuina probably would have explained it better.

“She was going to be the world's greatest swordsman,” Zoro says, talking to the tiger. It’s a truth he’s only now able to recognize. Zoro glances towards it, and the tiger is laying down, also staring at the grave. It looks sad.

Zoro lays a hand on its back, “I don’t think anything will hurt as bad as this.”

—

Zoro doesn’t even think to name the tiger, which he doesn’t realize was probably a mistake until he’s already been referring to him as Tiger for too long to change it. Tiger doesn’t really seem to mind not having an actual name, and Zoro doesn’t care about what other people want him to do, so he keeps calling him Tiger.

Both he and Tiger get stronger. Apparently, the distance they can manage from each other is odd. According to Yosaku, most people can only manage to be a few feet from their Companion. Zoro and Tiger can be so far apart that they don’t even see each other anymore. Everybody gives him weird looks about it, especially when he’s in the middle of a town while Tiger is off, probably in some nearby woods, hunting bunnies or something. It’s not unheard of for people not to have an Animal by their side, some people lose theirs too soon. Zoro assumes it's probably how casual he looks about it. Whatever happens to people when they lose their Companions clearly hasn’t happened to him, which means he’s either a freak who reacted fine to losing their one Animal, or he’s a freak that can be so far apart from his Animal that nobody can see it.

Either way, Zoro is a freak by their standards. He has no qualms about this.

He and Tiger have an understanding. They can separate during the day if they want, but at night they stick together. Sometimes they cut it a little bit close, with Zoro unable to find Tiger due to whatever island they're on moving around. Seriously, why do most of the islands move around under him? That makes no sense. Tiger always makes up for it though, probably using his enhanced tiger senses or something akin to that. Whenever the sun starts setting and Zoro hasn’t managed to find him, Tiger usually comes slinking up to him from whatever direction he ran off to in the first place. If they’re on an island with adept hunting grounds, Tiger will often come back with some small animals that he’s hunted. If they’ve just turned in a bounty, Zoro will usually be the one providing their food and water.

Most nights, they camp outside.

Adequate sleeping arrangements don’t come easy for a wandering bounty hunter. If Zoro runs out of money, they’re shit out of luck. Tiger can always manage to hunt them something to eat at the very least, and they find rivers and lakes often enough to drink, but the roofing over their heads is completely reliant on Zoro’s ability to turn a profit.

It’s not the end of the world, really. Tiger never complains anyways, and he runs warm enough that Zoro never freezes either.

It’s not luxury, but it’s good enough for the two of them.

Zoro had assumed his life would continue like this, for the most part. Him and Tiger, traveling from island to island, collecting bounties for the beli he needs to continue to survive, and growing stronger until he eventually finds and takes down Dracule Mihawk, claiming his title as the world's greatest swordsman.

It’s not until he meets Monkey D. Luffy that he realizes how lonely he had been.

It’s weird, how fast Zoro goes from having no real friends besides Tiger, to suddenly being absolutely wholeheartedly committed to being the first mate of a pirate captain. He can’t really say he ever expected to turn to a life of piracy, especially considering he’d spent the last few years making quite the name for himself as the demon of the east, best pirate hunter in the east blue.

Luffy has a lion with him. Unlike Tiger, who is a strange green colour, Luffy’s lion is the normal tan colour that lions regularly are. Luffy thinks Tiger’s colouring is cool, which he says as much as possible, almost every time there’s a moment of silence.

When the two of them have defeated that annoying marine captain and they’re celebrating, Luffy challenges Zoro to see who’s Companion can get further. Zoro knows this is a common thing for children to do, trying to prove how independent or strong they are, but he’s never seen the purpose. Not only is it stupid for them to hurt themselves trying to impress others, but Zoro can make it inhumanly far from Tiger so it’s never even a competition. Even when they were younger, whereas children typically can’t manage even a few feet from their Companions due to undeveloped tolerance, he and Tiger were outliers and could be far apart.

So Zoro doesn’t really understand why people do it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t strike him right in the competitive side when Luffy challenges him. Luffy even ropes his pre-marine friend Koby into it, making his armadillo compete as well.

Zoro predictably wins the competition. He doesn’t even pretend that he’s not smug about it. Especially considering Luffy’s reaction, who is absolutely mind blown when he realizes how far they are. He and his lion can get pretty far apart, more so than the regular person, but Zoro still blows him out of the water. Koby loses, unable to get his armadillo very far without cringing in pain.

Luffy is thoroughly distracted by this development, making Zoro send Tiger further and further until he reaches the end of their tolerance. Luffy follows all the while, occasionally shouting about how cool it is. Zoro can’t deny how pleased he is to have impressed Luffy in this regard, even if it’s over something as silly as distance.

They’re interrupted by the actual marines showing up to send them away.

—

The small boat they’re on after the whole fiasco at the marine base is hardly enough for the four of them. Tiger is bigger than Luffy’s lion, but he’s better at squeezing himself into a tight ball. He’s also used to Zoro laying on him and using him as a makeshift pillow. That’s what they’re currently doing, on one side of the boat.

Luffy and his lion are not faring as well. Luffy seems to have a boundless amount of energy, unable to keep still. His lion apparently shares this quirk. The two of them keep moving around in the limited amount of space they have, moving around each other fluidly in such a way that implies this is common. The lion occasionally comes over to Zoro and Tiger, sniffing at them before moving back. Luffy similarly comes over to them, but he just keeps trying to pet Tiger. Tiger doesn’t really like being petted by people, so he keeps snapping his jaw at Luffy, but the pirate apparently finds this to be a fun game and just laughs every time, trying again a moment later.

“Oi,” Zoro starts after they’ve done this same song and dance about a thousand times, “sit down already.”

Luffy laughs at this but does so, squatting down onto the ground of the boat. The precarious wobbling it had been doing while the two of them moved around finally ceases. The lion plops down as well, although he stays sitting up, alert.

Apparently unable to sit still and be quiet, Luffy begins speaking, “hey, what’s your tiger's name?”

Zoro only hesitates a moment before answering honestly, “Tiger.”

Luffy laughs really hard at that piece of information. Zoro refuses to be embarrassed by it, he never has been in the past, so this shouldn’t be any different.

“That’s funny,” Luffy says, and he absentmindedly starts petting his lion, “this guy is called Kingsley. I just call him King though. It was Ace’s idea when we were kids.”

Zoro has no idea who this Ace guy is but he sounds just as dumb as Zoro had been. An Animal called King for someone who wants to be the king of pirates? A little on the nose. It’s not as bad as a tiger just called Tiger, but it’s in the same vein. Zoro doesn’t doubt for one second that that’s the reason for the name. A guy like Luffy has definitely had the same dream his entire life, so he was probably sprouting the same nonsense to this Ace guy, who’d decided it would be funny or something.

“Hey, can I pet Tiger?” Luffy asks, already lifting an arm and wiggling his fingers. Zoro isn’t sure why he would be asking now after having attempted to do so about a thousand times already.

“I’m not the boss of him,” Zoro responds, and watches as Luffy’s eyes light up, “so it’s up to him.”

Luffy turns towards Tiger, who lazily lifts his head to peer up at him.

“Hey Tiger, can I pet you?” He asks, Tiger’s ears peeking up at the sound of his name. He gives no other response, so Luffy starts reaching forward.

Predictably, Tiger snaps his teeth at Luffy’s hand again. Luffy just laughs.

—

Zoro is pretty distrusting, he doesn’t make friends easily. He mostly just doesn’t see the point, because he’s used to traveling alone and only having to worry about himself and Tiger. Tiger is even less social, somehow. That’s why he spends most of his time apart from Zoro if Zoro is in town. He doesn’t like attention, and he especially doesn’t like when people touch him.

Just like Zoro, Tiger relents when it comes to Luffy remarkably fast. It’s hardly been a few days of knowing him before Tiger allows the petting, the grabbing, and most shockingly, the cuddling. Zoro is surprised by this development, in its entirely unprecedented nature. Something about Luffy just draws people and their Animals in, he supposes.

Zoro also doesn’t really do things in halves. If he’s going to be the world's greatest swordsman, then he’s going to train daily until he meets that goal. If he’s going to be a bounty hunter, then he’ll be the best bounty hunter in the seas. If he’s going to be the first mate to a crazy pirate captain, then he’s going to dedicate himself to seeing both of their dreams come true.

New additions to the crew change nothing about this position Zoro has taken. It just means he has more to protect, now.

Nami is a remarkable navigator, even if she is a bit shifty when it comes to money. Her cat is orange, just like her hair. It likes to perch on her shoulders and meow at people. Apparently her name is Tangy, something she decided as a child and is too attached to to change now. When Nami found out Zoro just never named Tiger, she called him a moron. Tangy does not like Zoro, or maybe likes him too much, because she is absolutely obsessed with trying to attack Zoro’s earrings. It’s annoying as all hell, but Nami adds to his debt anytime he tries to say anything about it. Worse if he pushes the cat away.

Tangy and Tiger seem to have a sort of understanding. While Tangy is seemingly startled by King's loud vaguely aggressive personality, Tiger is much calmer and by extension “safer” to be around. Tangy doesn’t spend much time off of Nami’s shoulders, but when she does it’s usually with Tiger.

When it’s just the six of them on the slightly-bigger-than-before but still too small boat, Luffy repeats his distance challenge. Nami doesn’t seem very interested in a stupid competition, but she does perk up when Zoro suggests making it a bet for money. He doesn’t tell her that she’s almost definitely going to lose. If she wants to try and win a silly competition for money then it’s her own problem when she doesn’t.

Tangy apparently doesn’t much like not being on Nami’s shoulder. When Nami sets her down to start the game, Tangy lets out a miserable howl before almost grumpily walking forward.

The boat isn’t big enough for this at all, but they still manage to have a clear loser. Both King and Tiger manage to make it to the end of the boat, but Tangy doesn’t. Nami hisses a little bit when Tangy tries to go further, and the cat definitely is not a fan of getting hurt, because she comes racing back before Nami even calls her back. Tangy literally jumps all the way up to Nami’s shoulder, and Nami doesn’t bat an eyelash at this. Zoro is secretly impressed.

Since Tiger and King both made it equally far, Nami declares the bet off. Her reasoning is that there is no clear winner so it wouldn’t be fair, and they’d just have to try again some other time when they have more space. Zoro suspects she’s just being a sore loser who doesn’t want to fork up the money, since she won’t listen to either of them when they tell her that Zoro would’ve won if they had the space.

They reach Syrup village before they ever get the chance to try again just the six of them.

The addition of Usopp to their crew doesn’t change anything either. Well, aside from them actually having a real ship to call their own, and the acquisition of a decent sniper and his Companion frog, Star.

The Going Merry is beautiful, and much bigger than anything they’ve been calling a ship before. Of course, this to Luffy means another opportunity to hold his silly competition. He declares it tradition when they acquire a new crewmate, so there’s really no avoiding it. Zoro relents to the knowledge that every time Luffy picks up a stray he’s going to have to show off his freaky skill of getting far away from Tiger. Nami declares this can’t be a second chance for their bet since Usopp is involved now and he wasn’t before, which means again Zoro won’t get the spoils of his winning.

Once again, Zoro wins by a long shot. Tiger gets to the opposite end of the Merry. King manages about three quarters of the way, Tangy manages about a quarter, before starting her typical yowling about being away from Nami. Impressively, Star only manages to get a couple feet away from Usopp before turning around and hopping back. It is the shortest distance Zoro has ever seen from an adult. Usopp doesn’t seem embarrassed about this reveal, most likely used to Star not being able to make it far. Apparently the frog typically just sits directly on Usopp's head, or in his bag, or sometimes even in the pocket of his overalls.

Zoro has heard of people who can’t be very far from their Companions even into adulthood, but he isn’t sure why that would be. Some people say it depends on the size of the animal, some say it's pure coincidence, many say it’s based on personalities, and a few even claim that when someone can’t be apart from their Animal it means they had a lonely childhood so they never gained the tolerance to be far apart.

Zoro isn’t so sure he believes the last one.

—

There is absolutely never a moment of peace on the Strawhat crew, as evidenced by the crazy scenarios they get into each day. They’ve only been together for a few weeks now but Zoro can tell this is going to be a problem that persists for the rest of their time together.

Zoro can admit it’s the most fun he’s had in ages.

Tiger has completely been taken in by Luffy and King. Usually at night Luffy and Usopp choose to sleep in hammocks, while Zoro is either on watch or sleeping on the floor with Tiger. Although, now King joins them. King is too large to fit into the hammock with Luffy, but he seems to have gotten used to night time cuddles, so it has become Zoro and Tiger’s responsibility. If Zoro is on watch, it’s just Tiger and King.

Star sleeps with Usopp in his hammock, and has only fallen out twice so far. Both times it became a big deal. The first time because Star had started freaking out and hopping around until she had woken everybody up in her panic. Usopp had had to calm her down. The second time she fell she fell directly onto Tiger, waking him up and subsequently making him mad. That had been a whole new disaster to deal with.

Tangy and Nami get their own room, and based on their attitude during the day, Zoro assumes the two of them spend all night cuddling.

While Tangy gets along well enough with Tiger, she absolutely avoids King and seems confused about what Star is. Due to Tangy and Star both being attached at the hip to their humans, they don’t interact much.

Zoro has gotten used to the chaos a little bit, and he can feel himself trusting these people way more than he’s trusted anyone else. He finds himself napping a lot during the day, along with Tiger. Completely at ease with their small crew.

It’s strange how much Zoro has changed in such a short amount of time.

The appearance of some people from his past are evidence enough of this. Johnny and Yosaku are just as weird as he remembered them being. But with their appearance and everything that comes along with it, the crew makes one of the first sound and normal decisions that they’ve made so far.

They need a cook.

Chapter Text

Sanji and Blue are happy on the Baratie. Far happier than they’ve been anywhere else, obviously. Even the Orbit wasn’t that great for them. The constant anxiety of getting discovered as a Vinsmoke for the first two years, added with the flurry of disgusted comments from the other cooks about his rat being “dirty” and not allowed in the kitchen, made it very hard for him to relax. Sanji had gotten into his fair share of -admittedly, embarrassingly one sided- fights over that argument. To him, Blue was and always will be the most perfect little creature, and to imply that she was anything less is one of the easiest ways to trigger his anger.

Despite it all, leaving the Orbit had not been his choice. That stupid rock was hell, for both of them. He’d barely been able to cling to Blue when they were swept up into the water, pure instinct alone allowing him to hold her even in his unconscious state. Obviously he knows better now, but at the time when he had thought Zeff had given the two of them a tiny portion of the food he’d managed to gather, he’d been so angry he wasn’t thinking straight. Partly for himself, angry that after surviving hell he’d still ended up in a place where he’d die with a selfish old man who didn’t care whether he suffered. Mostly he’d been angry at the prospect of Blue starving again, when she’d finally bulked up to her proper weight from the consistent food on the Orbit. That anger propelled him for the first few days, keeping him dedicated to the cause of Blues survival at the very least. The anger fizzled out the hungrier he got, when the starvation was all he could focus on.

The discovery that Zeff hadn’t kept any food for himself was a life changing one. The fact that he’d been surviving off eating his own leg, along with the fact that his Companion, a cassowary named Soufflé, had also gone along with this plan, was initially very confusing for Sanji. Why had this random stranger bothered to do something so selfless? Nobody had ever done anything like that for Sanji before. Maybe Reiju helped him escape Germa, but she certainly never did anything for him that would cause her to suffer instead. Zeff’s action was pure kindness, something Sanji had never experienced before from anyone but his mother.

Even more surprisingly, after the eighty five days of pure torture were finally over and a ship discovered the four of them, Zeff kept him around rather than throwing him off on his own. There were weeks, months, even years where he was kept awake at night, waiting for the other shoe to drop and Zeff to become sick of him. To throw him out, or to start treating him like Judge had. Every little mistake Sanji made would spiral into him having a panic attack, which further inconvenienced Zeff, yet he never kicked him out.

Sanji had had to unlearn years of anxiety, barely able to grapple with the fact that yes, Zeff wants him around.

Working at the Baratie is practically a dream come true. Not exactly The Dream, but he’s happy with Zeff and he’s carved out a perfect space for himself. He doesn’t want to leave, not when he’s found a safe space for himself and Blue. No matter how much Zeff thinks he should go, Sanji is perfectly capable of seeing through his “subtle” hints. None of which are ever subtle, anyways.

Just because at some point their shared dream had been to find the All Blue doesn’t mean Sanji can abandon Zeff.

Sanji will under no circumstances ever do that to him.

—

The new chore boy gets on Sanji’s nerves. Sanji wants to hate him on pure principle, because the very first thing he’d done was wreck the Baratie, but his personality is practically sunshine incarnate. It feels wrong to hate him somehow, like it’s illegal to dislike him and Sanji would be in the wrong for doing it. Even if he did destroy part of Sanji’s home, and Zeffs dream. Zeff for his part hasn’t kicked him out yet, so that’s saying something. It’s not the first time Zeff has hired someone who is too stupid to wash a damn plate without breaking it. Zeff likes to give miscreants and those deemed useless by society a second chance. Much like he did for Sanji.

But the chore boy, or Luffy, is irritating in a new kind of way. He’s irritating in a way where Sanji can’t really hold onto the feeling. One second he’s mad at some stupid mistake Luffy made, the next second he’s laughing because Luffy is laughing and it’s the most contagious laugh that Sanji has ever heard.

Blue keeps doing a strange wiggle dance whenever she sees Luffy, which tickles Sanji’s cheek since she mainly sits on his shoulders while he’s working. It’s physically impossible for Sanji not to find this adorable, so it may just be that Blue is accidentally pavloving him into finding Luffy cute by association. The thought makes him shiver in pure disgust.

Sanji hasn’t seen Luffy’s Companion yet, but apparently it’s a lion called Kingsley. Kingsley is, according to Luffy, staying on their boat, the Going Merry, as protection to the rest of their crew. Sanji knows the Baratie isn’t as big as some other ships, but the fact that Luffy is managing to be just fine when Kingsley is on an entire other ship is startling and uncomfortable. The mere thought of it gives Sanji hives. Even if the two boats were pressed against each other, Sanji would never let Blue be on a different ship than him. The ocean is unpredictable and cruel, a fact Sanji well knows by now.

Blue remains on his shoulder, where she almost always is. The other cooks are long used to it, and so are the regulars. Sanji can manage to ignore the weird looks newcomers give him, typically he’s in the back cooking rather than interacting directly with the customers. Just because they haven’t let go of their misguided fear that rats are always dirty, even Companion rats, doesn’t mean Sanji will give up his sweet angel. The two of them like to be together, even if it makes some people uncomfortable. Sanji hasn’t been able to hide in the kitchen all day lately, though. All the waiters jumped ship, so everyone has had to work double the job to manage. Chef and waiter.

Sanji doesn’t really mind interacting with customers. He gets to see all sorts of unique faces, plus he gets to actually see genuine reactions to his food. It helps that there’s a lot of beautiful ladies dressed nicely for him to treasure and shower with praise. He’s been handing out roses to the ladies, it’s not enough, as every lady deserves to be given everything they desire and more, but it’s a start.

He’s hardly even gotten into any fights, which is in itself an impressive feat. He’s the first to admit that sometimes his temper gets the better of him. Like earlier, with that annoying marine Fullbody or whatever he was called. Being a snob, especially in the presence of a lady, not to mention the waste of a perfectly good soup, is the quickest way to piss Sanji off. That marines date deserved far better than she was being given.

People are mostly used to the rowdiness of everyday life at the Baratie, but lately it’s been getting more and more consistent. The very same day as his fight with Fullbody, another guy bursts in raving about how he’s starving and needs food but can’t pay for it. Sanji is at the very least used to this type of situation. He goes to the kitchen to begin preparing a meal before the other cooks even finish kicking the guy out.

Like he has been for the last few times Sanji has entered the kitchen, Luffy begins yelling something at Sanji that he doesn’t care to pay attention to. Luffy is supposed to be washing dishes. In actuality he’s sitting on the counter where the dishes are brought, and eating leftovers off of them. Most of the other cooks keep giving him disgusted looks and even gagging, except those who, like Sanji, have experienced true hunger and know wasting food is a terrible terrible crime. Sanji tries to pretend that Luffy eating the leftovers isn’t doing something weird to his heart, because he does not want to think of that whatsoever.

Luffy has been here for four days now and has yet to actually do any work. Sanji suspects that Zeff has grown fond of him, in the same way Sanji has. Like a mold, growing despite nobody really wanting it to. Maybe Zeff just has a soft spot for idiots with impossible dreams.

Sanji isn’t sure exactly how long Luffy actually plans on staying. Surely not the entire year that Zeff has demanded of him, because there’s no way in hell Luffy is going to be able to sit still that long. He’s got boundless energy, and an even more endless excitement for his dream of becoming the King of Pirates. He’s already expressed a few times how he can’t stay here because he needs to go to the Grand Line in order to follow his dream. Not to mention, he supposedly has a whole crew on his ship that are just, what? Going to stay on a ship docked to a floating restaurant for an entire year? As if. Not only would that be incredibly shitty, but they all also probably have goals of their own.

None of them have entered the Baratie yet, and Sanji tries not to let his mind wander to who could possibly be on Luffy’s crew, or what they’re eating over there. None of his business, at all.

Sanji needs to stop obsessing over this, actually. He’s in the middle of something. A very important something. If someone is hungry, Sanji will feed them. Even scary looking pirates that obviously just escaped marine capture. He uses some leftover ingredients from actual paying customers' meals, in order to really cover his ass on the whole “giving food away for free” front. It’s not like Zeff genuinely cares, he would be out here doing the same exact thing if he wasn’t the owner of the entire establishment. He has a reputation with the other cooks to maintain though, so he and Sanji have to do their whole song and dance about this not being allowed.

Sanji brings the food out to Gin, ignoring that Luffy continues shouting at him as he leaves. Whatever Luffy thinks is so important right now could probably not matter less.

Sanji listens to Gin's story, not really that interested if he’s being honest. He’s here to make sure the guy actually eats what’s offered, and then get rid of the evidence so that Zeff has no reason to be mad. Although, Sanji does appreciate the absolute enthusiastic vigour with which the guy eats the meal. Gin clearly hasn’t been lying about how starved he was. Sanji ignores the anxiety stirring up in his stomach at the thought, calming himself by petting Blue.

Come to think of it, Gin doesn’t seem to have any Animal with him. Sanji gets nervous around people who’s Animals have died, he doesn’t know how to act normal around them. On one hand, it could be an accident and the person could be torn up about it, never able to feel whole again. On the other hand, Sanji can't help but compare to Judge, who had killed his own Companion. It’s a mixed bag of strange feelings. Plus, it’s rude to ask. There’s a likelihood that Gin either just has an insanely huge tolerance, or a tiny Companion that’s in a pocket or something. It’s rude to ask that, too.

Sanji’s musings are interrupted by Luffy, an occurrence that has become common the last four days. He’s not exactly startled by Luffy’s laughter, but he does want to know what Luffy thinks he’s doing out here rather than inside, doing his job. Or at the very least standing vaguely near the dishes.

Luffy’s laughing at Gin, congratulating him on getting food. Sanji feels a sort of pride swell up inside him, secretly delighted that Luffy is happy about this. Another feeling not to dwell on.

“I found a good cook!” Luffy states, and Sanji is about to ask what he means, but he continues before there’s a chance, “hey Sanji! Join my crew!”

Sanji, completely bewildered, takes a few minutes to process what’s been asked of him. In that time, Luffy jumps down from where he was standing to sit on the railing behind Sanji.

“I can’t just up and join some random pirate crew,” Sanji blurts, and Blue starts nipping at his ear. Sanji resolutely ignores this action, because she does it every time Zeff brings up Sanji leaving too. He won’t do it, not for some random chore boy who has crazy dreams and is just stubborn enough to go after them. Sanji will be stubborn an equal amount just to stay here and be with Zeff. He owes him that much.

“It’s not a random pirate crew! It’s the future King of Pirates crew!” Luffy corrects, grin stretching as wide as it always is.

Sanji feels a prickling in the back of his neck. His cheeks are tinted pink, he knows that much. Blue starts wiggling on his shoulder, her opinion stated loud and clear. She’s practically ready to jump into Luffy’s lap and make Sanji have to go.

“I refuse,” Sanji states, grabbing Blue off his shoulder before her desperate dance makes her fall off. He fits her into his suit pocket, where she continues squirming until her head pops out. She’s squeaking at Luffy, and Sanji assumes it’s rat for “take me with you!!”

Luffy frowns for a second, before his grin returns. As bright as the sun.

“I refuse your refusal!”

—

There’s a tiger in Sanji’s room. Actually, correction, there’s a green tiger in Sanji’s bed. Peacefully sleeping away as if he belongs here and there’s absolutely nothing strange happening. Sanji has had a long day, what with Luffy absolutely refusing to accept Sanji’s answer. It had led to a pretty loud argument. Luffy is perfectly fit to be a pirate; won’t take no for an answer, and fights to get what he wants without thinking of consequences. All this to say, Sanji is way too tired to try and figure out what this tigers deal is and what to do about it being here.

“I don’t know who you belong to, but at this point I don’t care. Just scoot over,” Sanji says, watching the tiger finally stir at the sound of his voice. He seems alarmed for a second before he yawns and probably decides he doesn’t care either.

The tiger doesn’t scoot over, probably doesn’t understand English, so Sanji just drops half onto the bed and half onto the tiger. The tiger makes a huffing noise but otherwise has no complaints. Blue shuffles out of Sanji’s pocket and waddles over to the other side of the bed, where the tiger is. Sanji ignores the pain in his chest and the anxiety of the tiger hurting her. This is definitely someone’s Companion, and for the most part they don’t really attack each other for no reason. It’s probably just some new hire that has a decent tolerance and a tiger that gets lost too easily.

Soufflé spends half his time in Zeffs room or here, he likes to sleep comfortably in a bed. Zeffs tolerance is just good enough for the Baratie, so it’s not shocking that someone might be able to leave their Animal in the wrong room by accident.

The tiger sniffs Blue's face, and apparently he likes whatever he gains from that, because next he licks her. Their size difference basically means Blue is fully showered, now.

“Watch it,” Sanji mumbles, realizing how easily the tiger could swallow Blue whole. He wouldn’t hesitate to fight a tiger for her, but he would feel a little bit guilty for whoever this guy belongs to.

The tiger lets out a rumble as if to say sorry, and then drops his head back down onto the bed. Blue, obsessed with being cuddled, takes this as an opportunity to climb onto his head and plant herself there for the night. The tiger makes no sound or move, so Sanji deems it safe to leave her there.

Reaching out a hand to hold Blue, subsequently patting the tiger on the head as well, Sanji suddenly feels like he needs to explain himself. This tiger has nothing to do with Luffy, yet Sanji begins talking anyway.

“Listen. It’s just that, Zeff saved my life when I was young when he had absolutely no reason to do that. The All Blue is my dream, but the Baratie is his. I can’t be selfish and leave him after what he did for me,” he murmurs, half asleep. Nevermind that Zeff is one of the top people vouching for him to leave. Zeff doesn’t know what he's talking about when he does that.

The tiger, probably sensing distress or hearing it in Sanji’s tone of voice or something, shuffles so his head is near Sanji’s.

“Don’t lick me, please,” Sanji whispers, while trying to conjure an image in his mind about who this tiger could belong to. Preferably a lady. A strong, kindhearted lady. Being a Companion doesn’t explain this level of cuddliness with a stranger, even the friendliest of Animals are often scared of strangers. This tiger is acting like he’s known Sanji his whole entire life. Whoever owns this guy clearly loves them, or at the very least takes wonderful care of him.

The tiger licks him. Yuck.

—

Sanji has stepped one foot into the kitchen, carrying dirty dishes from a table of lovely beautiful ladies that just finished their meal, when Luffy intervenes.

“Hey! You should meet my crew!” He suggests, his tone of voice coming out more like a command than anything else. He doesn’t bother to say hello, or ask if Sanji has a free moment, or even take the dirty dishes out of Sanji’s hand. Just straight to the point.

“What?” Sanji responds, thrown off by the sudden demand.

“If you don’t want to join my crew yet, you’ll definitely want to after you meet the rest of them,” Luffy explains. It… sort of makes sense. Sanji would’ve wanted to meet them first anyways, but it’s not like he’s actually going to join Luffy’s crew. Something Luffy can’t seem to get through his head no matter how much Sanji has repeated himself.

Before Sanji can think of a response, the kitchen door is thrown open and loudly bangs against the wall. Ignoring the cacophony of disgruntled shouts from the working cooks, Sanji spins in place just in time for a lion to come hurtling at him. Instinct takes over and he grabs hold of Blue before jumping to the side. He barely manages to get out of the way as the lion tackles Luffy.

Sanji prepares to attack, thoughts of Luffy’s happy grin getting mauled, before his brain finally catches up with what’s happening.

“Oh, Kingsley?” Sanji says, finally loosening his grip on Blue. She’s sniffing the air and leaning forward on his shoulder, trying to get a closer look at Kingsley.

Said lion, having been preoccupied licking down Luffy’s face and arms where he tries to protect his face, prone on the ground from the tackle, perks up at the sound of his name. He turns towards Sanji, and his happy demeanor shifts into something calmer, if not suspicious.

He steps off of Luffy, who sits up quickly, and stalks towards Sanji. Sanji doesn’t tense up because that would be silly. Obviously.

“King, this is Sanji. He’s the best cook in the whole entire world,” Luffy explains, and Sanji doesn’t need a mirror to know his entire face and the tips of his ears have burst into a deep red colour. He’s not the best with genuine compliments. That seems to be the only type of compliment Luffy is capable of, though.

Kingsley seems to relax a bit at this, and he finally reaches where Sanji is. He sniffs, pauses, and then sniffs a lot more. Sanji, unsure what to do, reaches out with his free hand and pats the lion once on the head. Kingsley all but pushes his head into the pet, so Sanji continues. Sanji just wishes his life would start to make sense.

“That’s Kingsley,” Luffy explains, despite not having to whatsoever, “and my crew came inside to eat today! You should meet them!”

Sanji tenses. This feels like a test of some sort. Like if Luffy’s crew don’t approve of him, his life will be over. It’s a stupid fear to have when he isnt joining Luffy’s crew.

“My first mate is Zoro, he uses three swords which is cool, and he has a tiger named Tiger, because he’s stupid,” Luffy begins, tugging on Sanji’s sleeve as if to pull him along. Sanji, distracted by the mention of a tiger after his strange impromptu cuddle session last night, allows it to happen. His dirty dishes are deposited on a random cook that they pass, who apparently is half asleep because he bats no eyelashes and just accepts what's happened to him.

“Then there's Nami, she's my navigator. She’s sort of like you, where she thinks she’s not my navigator, but she’ll get it soon. So will you. Her cat is named Tangy and she’s mean, but I think she’ll like you,” Luffy continues, and then Sanji begins following willingly, allured by the idea of meeting whoever this lovely Nami is. She’ll be beautiful, of course. Luckily Sanji still has roses prepared, so he can make a decent first impression and shower this navigator with the praise she definitely deserves. He ignores the comment about her being “like him” in her denial.

“Last is my liar Usopp. He’s really fun, and he has a frog named Star. Star is really funny looking,” he concludes, and Sanji can see their table now. Sure enough, the three people and animals he described are all there. Startlingly, the tiger from last night is there. Apparently… just named Tiger. What a lame name.

Before Sanji can get a full view of beautiful Nami, Tiger apparently notices him, and must recognize him as well. He makes a noise and then bounds over. This catches the attention of Luffy’s crew, and suddenly all eyes are on him. Sanji straightens his back self consciously, before he almost gets knocked over by Tiger jumping on him. Barely managing to catch himself, Sanji nudges the tiger off of him.

“Hey-” He starts, but is cut off by a deep rumbly voice coming from the green haired guy, who’s clearly Zoro.

“Tiger, what the hell?” he says, and he sounds more confused than angry. Tiger gives him a glare and stays by Sanji.

The first up close glance of Zoro has Sanji’s palms sweating for some unknown reason. He feels weird now, having spent the night in a cuddle pile with this guy's Companion. He’s clearly not the kind hearted beautiful lady Sanji had been imagining the tiger belonging to. This guy looks like he wouldn’t know how to cuddle given the opportunity. Not that Sanji is thinking of that, just that it’s strange this tiger clearly likes cuddles so much when he’s attached to that guy. Their hair matches for sure, and maybe it makes sense that a tiger would be the Companion of what is so clearly a meatheaded brute, but it's still odd. Sanji doesn’t want to think about this anymore, and he’s resolutely decided that he’s never telling Zoro where Tiger was last night, should he ask.

Deciding to ignore this strange train of thought, and Zoro altogether, Sanji focuses on Nami. Producing a rose from his pocket and spinning over to her, he begins his normal raving about how beautiful she is and how she deserves the world. Nami, clearly a woman who knows her worth, goes along with it happily. She even asks for their meal to be free. Of course, a man of honour and love for all things feminine and soft, Sanji agrees to her terms readily and happily. A free meal is the very least she deserves.

Tangy, as Sanji remembers Luffy mentioning, is on Nami’s shoulder. She’s also gorgeous, with orange fur and a clear holier-than-thou attitude. She sniffs Sanji once before turning back towards the food.

“Oi.”

Sanji ignores him. He ignores the tiger sniffing at his hand too, trying to get his attention. Instead he turns to Usopp, trying to spot the frog.

Star is on Usopps head, looking for all the world like she perfectly belongs there. Maybe she does. Maybe this is just where Usopp keeps her, like Blue resides on Sanji’s shoulder. It’s not the strangest thing to see exactly, just not what Sanji expected. He wants to ask what being someone's liar means.

Usopp seems nervous at the attention, so Sanji looks away.

“Hey!”

Sanji steps back towards Luffy, about to start explaining once more that he won’t be joining this crew even though he’s met them now. It’s a tragic tale that he won’t get to spend every waking moment with the perfect Nami and her wonderful kitty, but it's a sad truth that must be shared.

“Why does Tiger know you?”

Luffy is perched on the other end of the table, fully shoes on the table and everything. Disgusting.

“Anyways, guys, this is our new cook Sanji!” Luffy declares, unwavering dedication in his voice. Sanji sighs.

–

When Zoro gets cut in half by Mihawk, Tiger is next to Sanji. Sanji is clinging to Blue like a lifeline, unable to feel his hands from the cold of having just rescued Luffy from drowning. Tiger stares and stares at Zoro, but doesn’t make any effort to get to him. He stays, resolutely, with Sanji. Sanji doesn’t think about it, he reaches out and gives the tiger a sort of half hug from the side, also unable to look away from Zoro.

His declaration shakes Sanji to the core. A man willing to die for his dream. A man who will never lose again.

Sanji joins the Strawhats.

Chapter Text

He’s beautiful.

He’s also the most irritating, annoying, aggravating, infuriating asshole Zoro has ever met. Every word out of his mouth makes Zoro want to grind his teeth together, every time he flirts with Nami Zoro feels his eyebrow twitch in annoyance, every time he lights a cigarette Zoro feels like reaching forward and plucking it out of his mouth, throwing it into the ocean just to see what he’ll do.

Every time they fight Zoro’s blood pumps faster, his heart races, his hands get clammy. Its exhilarating. It’s perfect.

Fuck that guy.

Tiger is obsessed with him. To Zoro’s annoyance, Tiger follows Sanji around more than he follows Zoro. He naps in the kitchen when Sanji is cooking, which is almost always. He consistently tries to get into Sanji’s hammock with him every night no matter how much Sanji kicks him out and Zoro scolds him. He paws at Sanji’s legs until Sanji pats him on the head, or even better, actually pets him. The first time Zoro heard the bastard purring because Sanji was paying him some attention, Zoro had drawn his sword without hesitation and began attacking the cook.

What’s more annoying is that Sanji’s little rat hates Zoro. At least, she always squeaks angrily at Zoro whenever he’s close by the cook, and if he starts talking she scampers down Sanji’s arm and Zoro can only assume tries to bite him, all while not leaving the cooks arm, as if she’ll magically get within range without leaving Sanji. She never leaves Sanji.

Zoro sometimes wonders about that.

Of course, the second they’d found a quiet moment after the cook joined the crew, Luffy had announced his game. The cook had looked haggard at the explanation of their friendly competition, more nervous than Zoro had ever seen him. Well, he’d only known him an extremely short amount of time so who was he to say, but he hadn’t had a moments hesitation when dealing with the pirates attacking his home, hadn’t even blinked at the idea of being under siege. Being so nervous about something so stupid and silly had struck Zoro as odd.

Nami assured him he wouldn’t be able to get out of it, taking a mostly joking tone as she laughed exasperatedly, announcing that once Luffy got an idea into his head it would be impossible to disway it, how this was ‘tradition’, and ‘harmless fun’. She pointed at Zoro himself then, calling him a freak so nobody was going to be weirder than him and there was nothing to worry about.

After all of that, Sanji had sighed and nodded, donning a face like a man headed to war. At the time, Zoro hadn’t known what the big issue was.

As they had set up the competition, Usopp bragged about how he had a higher tolerance than even Zoro but faked having a bad one so that nobody felt bad. Luffy had stared at him with stars in his eyes before Nami whacked him on the back of the head and told him to stop being such a liar.

Zoro had watched from the corner of his eye as Sanji crouched down, holding a nervous looking Blue in his palms, whispering unintelligibly to her. He looked apologetic. Internally, Zoro scoffed at what was clearly an overreaction. So what if his rat had to walk a few feet from him, it’s not like she’d die from being separated from her prissy cook for two seconds.

When everything began, most of the crew was watching Sanji excitedly, always so childishly delighted at discovering new things.

When Sanji set Blue onto the ground and lifted his hands away, she squeaked an insanely loud sound for such a small body and Sanji cringed, pulling a hand to his chest.

There was a long moment of silence after that display.

She hadn’t even taken a step.

She’d still been directly next to Sanji, almost touching his feet. The only difference was that Sanji wasn’t physically touching her anymore.

Nami gasped in a moment of realization, and then Sanji had picked his rat back up, face red with probably shame or embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Sanji had mumbled, and Zoro hadn’t been able to comprehend why he would be apologizing in such a situation. Tiger hadn’t bothered finishing the competition, bounding back towards Sanji without hesitation.

For once, Luffy hadn’t laughed about someone losing the competition. The look on Sanji’s face had been clearly one of intense discomfort, and before anyone commented on it or acknowledged his apology, Tangy started howling and Nami changed the subject to how hungry her cat must be, requesting Sanji prepare her a snack. Like a switch flipped, Zoro watched as his eyes lit back up in excitement for both cooking and doing something his precious Nami asked. For some reason, Zoro remembers feeling his tensed body relax at the change.

Zoro sometimes thinks about this, and he’s sure he’s not the only one. He’s never met anyone with such a low tolerance, never even heard of it. Even as children, people don’t need to be in constant contact with their companions. Even if that were a thing, people are supposed to develop a tolerance as they get older. Sanji is nineteen, with a tolerance so bad Blue might as well just be an extension of the cook himself. Zoro can’t wrap his mind around it.

If he and Tiger were forced to be in contact forever, Zoro doesn’t know if they’d be able to handle it. Maybe it’s easier since she’s so small and can fit onto Sanji’s shoulder and in his hands or wherever he holds her, but still. It must be so…

Sanji never complains about it. In fact, he seems happy about it.

It drives Zoro insane.

He tries not to dwell on the stupid cooks stupid codependency with his stupid rat, but much like literally everything else about Sanji, it’s impossible for Zoro to erase it from his mind for long.

Like he’s said, irritating, annoying, aggravating, infuriating. He can’t seem to go an hour without an errant thought of Sanji filtering into his head. What he’s doing, what he might be cooking for breakfast or lunch or dinner or whatever thousand snacks he decides to deliver, what he dreams about. What his Dream is.

Like Tiger, Zoro can’t seem to stay away from Sanji. He’s less obvious about it. Or at least, he hopes he’s less obvious about it. Even so, Sanji is like a magnet drawing him in. Or an itch he can’t seem to stop scratching.

God, he’s fucking beautiful. So fucking annoying.

—

Tiger does not like Ace.

Zoro himself isn’t even entirely sure why. Sure, maybe he’d been a tad distrusting when Luffy's brother had suddenly begun traveling with them, but that brief anxiety had been quelled immediately. Ace is nice, much calmer than Luffy, and a good time. He and Zoro get along well, so Zoro doesn’t understand why Tiger hates him.

Ace’s Companion is a frilled lizard named Fuego. Ace, when asked by Sanji, had said she was named after the flames he found her in. That had been the end of the discussion, the conversation moving onto lighter topics and everyone else’s reasoning for their Companions names. Ace had laughed just as hard as Luffy had once he learned Tiger’s name, slapping him on the back a few times good heartedly. Tiger, unusually offended, had tried to bite the mans arm off and had gotten a not so gentle reminder that Ace’s body was made of flames, not delicious flesh and meat.

“What is your problem, Tiger?” Zoro mumbles to him, knowing that Tiger has no feasible way to give him an answer or explanation. Tiger huffs, gets up, and goes to sit next to Sanji instead.

Sanji doesn’t even flinch at the sudden appearance of a tiger by his side, practically curled around him, which just goes to show how obsessive his dumb Companion is. Zoro rolls his eyes, remembering when Sanji had been in that avalanche. Tiger hadn’t left his side for a single second afterwards, constantly sniffed and whined at Sanji’s back, licked Blue, everything that just pissed Zoro off more and more.

Zoro rolls his eyes at Tiger’s display, annoyed at his Companions clear favouritism.

It isn’t really the huge issue Zoro acts like it is. He trusts Tiger more than he trusts himself, and just because he finds Sanji’s company more enjoyable than Zoro does, then that’s his decision. What gets on Zoro's nerves is the feeling that seeing Sanji pet his Companion triggers.

The emotion he doesn’t dare name.

Because if he were to name it, even to himself, there would be no other possible name for it than jealousy.

The thought makes Zoro pause in his movements, his drink halfway to his mouth. Only because they’re in the middle of the desert with limited supplies does Zoro act fast enough not to accidentally spill his water. With only a slightly awkward fumble, he saves it and quickly takes a sip, hoping nobody had been paying attention to him. Once that whole incident is over, he turns back towards where Sanji, Blue and Tiger are sitting.

Tiger hasn’t moved, curling his body around Sanji like an overexcited couch. Blue is asleep, hiding under Sanji’s hood nestled cutely in the juncture between Sanji’s neck and shoulder.

Next to Sanji, sits Ace. Tiger is not asleep like Blue, instead glaring daggers at Luffy’s brother, not even concealing his rage. Oh wow, he’s so obvious. Zoro doesn’t know why he didn’t figure it out before.

Sanji is laughing, fiddling with the lighter that he keeps on him always, constantly lighting up his cigarettes of his that simultaneously make Zoro’s nose twitch and make him have to resist the urge to inhale deeply, associating the scent with Sanji.

Everyone is being quiet, so it takes no effort on Zoro’s part to train his ears to pick up their conversation.

“You are forward,” Sanji is saying through his quiet laughter, and Zoro takes a distracted moment to realize he’s never made Sanji laugh like that. He’s distracted from the words for a moment, but when he processes what Sanji just said he raises an eyebrow to himself. He fiddles with his water canister, hoping to look like he’s not eavesdropping. Really, it’s their fault for having this conversation literally in the middle of the group.

“I’ve learned in my life of pirating that I need to be quick when I see something I want,” Ace responds, leaning backwards on his arms and very pointedly looking Sanji up and down, “Things don’t stick around forever, Sanji.”

Zoro feels his mouth tick downwards into a scowl almost simultaneously with Tiger beginning to growl.

“I’m flattered-” Sanji starts, but gets distracted by Tiger’s noise. He runs a hand down the tigers body, clearly trying to calm him down, “What’s wrong, Ma Peluche?” Sanji asks, using a nickname Zoro has often heard him use for Tiger when he doesn’t think Zoro is around. He doesn’t know what it means, but the gentle way he says it and the fact that he tries to hide it from Zoro implies that it’s something positive, as opposed to the insulting nicknames he gives Zoro on a daily basis.

“It’s probably me,” Ace says with a shrug, and Zoro sighs to himself.

Of course his big dumb idiot Companion is jealous. Just as Zoro suspected. Idiot

—

With the departure of Ace, there are a few sad faces and one incredibly pleased and happy tiger.

As Zoro is barely resisting the urge to flick Tigers ear for his idiocy, he’s interrupted by a presence sliding up next to him. A glance confirms it’s Sanji, who’s looking down at Tiger as they walk, before flicking his eyes upwards and making eye contact with Zoro for a brief moment. After, he turns his gaze forward, absentmindedly running a hand down Tiger’s back. Tiger looks like the cat that got the canary over having Sanji’s attention on him.

“What was Tiger so pissed at Ace about, anyways?” Sanji asks, finally revealing his reason for approaching Zoro.

Zoro shrugs, feigning indifference.

“Oh don’t give me that,” Sanji says, using a lighthearted teasing tone Zoro has never heard directed at him before. He turns his head to look at Sanji a moment, noticing the uptick of one corner of his mouth, like hes trying to resist a smile and failing miserably, “I know you and Tiger share a weird telepathic bond, just tell me what his issue is. I don’t want to-” Sanji pauses, purses his lips, before sighing and continuing, “I actually like Tiger, unlike some annoying Mossballs, so I don’t want to ruin our relationship.”

Zoro sighs, runs his hand down his face, and almost jostles Tangy off his shoulder where she’s been napping for the last little bit. The cat does not like Eyelashes, but Nami claims her feet hurt too bad to not use the camel. She deemed Zoro a fit replacement, and Tangy had not made any complaints. He knows the cat is also sad at Ace’s departure, because now she can no longer chase Fuego around.

“Listen Curly,” Zoro starts, only smirking slightly when Sanji rolls his eyes at the name, “Tiger is, for some unknown, completely stupid reason, weirdly obsessed with you. He wasn’t mad at you or anything. You’re still his favourite and I’m still chopped liver he’s stuck with.”

He’s joking, of course he’s joking, but Sanji dons a guilty expression anyways.

“I-I don’t mean to come between you,” he says, sounding genuinely distraught. Zoro cringes at the despondent response, not liking this guilty side of Sanji at all. As if it’s his fault Zoro and Tiger share a type.

“Get off your high horse, Cook. He’s still my Companion, just because he likes you because you give him scraps and pets doesn’t mean he’d actually pick you over me when it mattered. He’s not an idiot,” Zoro says, laying it on thick so that Sanji will get that thought out of his head as best as possible. Like expected, Sanji scoffs indignantly and glares, offended.

It quickly devovles into the fight Zoro was hoping for, and he can’t help but grin.

Okay, so maybe he and Tiger aren’t so different, both doing whatever it is in their power to get Sanji’s full attention on themselves. So long as Sanji never finds out, it’s harmless. At least that’s what Zoro tells himself.