Chapter Text
the day was borderline sweltering. too hot for more than one layer of clothes. even sanjis taken his blazer off. it's sundown, most of the other strawhats are in bed already, the hot day being exsausting.
those who aren't asleep are in their usual spots. the insomniac ussop is in his workshop, and robins winding down with a book in the library. sanjis in the kitchen finishing up dishes and cleaning.
zoro, on the other hand, has watch. the crows nest is probably a fucking sauna right now, so zoro decides to just watch the sunset over the rail for the time being. at least until it cools down a bit more.
zoro hears the door to the galley, and looks to see sanji. he looks exsausted as he made his way to the stairs that led down to part of the deck zoro was on. sanji looked paler the more zoro looked, and he got worried tenfold when Sanji started falling.
practically in the blink of an eye, zoros at sanjis side, having caught him.
"guess today... wasn't the... best day... to wear... a corset... huh?"
sanji says with an added breathless laugh. he regrets the joke when he reads zoros face. he looks like he saw a ghost.
zoro gently pulls sanji up to his feet, and grips the wado, pads of his fingers turning white. 'not another, especially not him' he thinks.
zoro makes his way back to the rail as sanji starts unbuttoning his shirt to rip off his corset. god, sanji needed that thing off, he almost fainted for christ's sake.
"hell was that look for, shitty swordsman?"
sanji gets out after taking his corset off, re-buttoning his shirt, and catching his breath.
"none of yours, dumbass cook. why the hell did you wear a corset in this weather anyways?"
"it makes me look good, and makes me feel good. just didn't think it would make me faint."
"idiot."
zoro tries not to look at sanjis chest. hes successful for the most part, though he feels his face a little warm. the feeling goes away as he falls into thought about kuina. He knows he couldn't have done anything, so why was it his fault? if zoro was there would be be able to catch her? did she want to be caught? did she do it on purpose? that's a question zoro would never get answered. he misses her, everyday. why'd she have to go? why couldn't it have been him? it's not like there's any other moss-heads to remind her of him like tashigi reminds him of her. She'd be better off. He'd be better off.
"marimo?"
that gravelly voice snapped him out of thought. he quickly realized that he had propped his elbows up against the rail, with his head in his hands at some point during his thoughts.
"...you alright?"
"fine, blondie."
zoro grips the handle of the wado once more breathing heavier.
"you want to talk about it?"
"no."
it comes out harsher than zoro would've liked, but the cook shuts up so it doesn't really matter.
"you want a hug or some-"
curly cuts himself off when zoro hugs him so tight it's borderline painful, like if he let go sanji would die. zoro digs him face into the crook of Sanjis neck to hide his expression, one holding back tears.
sanji freezes for a moment before hugging zoro back. it's obvious he didn't think Zoro would hug him. both of sanjis hands are partially on zoros back, but he's pretty restricted because of how zoros hugging him, so he can do much more than that. sanji feels his neck get hit by a few drops of water.
"im here, marimo."