Chapter Text
The first time Zoro met Sanji was a day neither of them could forget. A day that everyone in their class couldn’t forget. Or maybe half of the academy too.
It was approaching dusk in The Royal Academy of One Piece, the soft, orange remains of the sun rested lazily on Zoro’s shoulders, and he stifled a big yawn as he tried to not fall asleep to the teacher’s gentle voice. The wind rustled the leaves outside the classroom and Zoro stared at the way they swayed slowly along, like cradles rocking in unison to a soft lullaby. The wind slipped through the half-agape window and tickled Zoro’s face, the soothing touch causing his eyelids to droop lower and lower.
“—and let us hear what Zoro has to say about this topic. Zoro. Zoro?” The gentle voice abruptly slipped into the green-haired boy’s reverie and his head perked up at the mention of his name.
“Yes, Miss Robin?”
“Would you kindly enlighten us about the duties of a guardian?” Miss Robin asked as she gave Zoro a soft yet threatening smile that caused the boy to tremble as an icy feeling ran down his spine. He sometimes wondered why the school would hire such a terrifying person to be their teacher.
“Uh— To protect the Moroi from Strigoi.”
“Good.” Miss Robin’s frightening smile didn’t change for a bit, “And why exactly is that?”
Zoro sat up straighter as if his spine wasn’t already as straight as a ruler, almost defying biology. “Because guardians——Dhampirs——being half Moroi and half human, are physically stronger than Moroi. Born with the strength and power of the vampires as well as the unique advantage of humans — the ability to walk the earth without worrying about the sun, they are the perfect candidates to be protecting the Moroi.”
“Very good.” Miss Robin nodded in satisfaction, “Next time you start daydreaming again, it won’t be just a question waiting for you, Zoro. It would be more like—” With a flick of Miss Robin’s wrist, a bundle of green plants sprouted to life at the back of the classroom, where the shadows shaded the young vampires from the remains of dusk. Zoro stared as the plants morphed into shapes of multiple hands, then with a turn of Miss Robin’s finger, the hands forcefully wrung the ears of a black-haired boy fast asleep on his desk.
The said boy jumped out of his seat and rolled on the floor in pain. “Ah- Ahhhh!!!! Help!!!! It hurts!!!!!”
“Luffy. If I caught you falling asleep in my class again I will very kindly let Mr Garp know. You understand?” The plants slowly shrunk and soon they were nowhere to be seen. “Now flip to your textbook page twenty three.”
“Yes— yes ma’am.” Luffy pouted but obeyed in fear of angering the principal, who was also very well known as, his grandfather.
“Now. Where were we? Yes, Dhampirs and Moroi. Zoro is correct— Moroi are comparatively weaker and more vulnerable to Strigoi attack compared to Dhampirs, physically. And although we do have a certain extent of tolerance to sunlight, we are still vulnerable to direct and strong ones. This is why each Moroi is assigned one personal guardian by their side when they reach adulthood. But the Moroi harness a power that the Dhampirs don’t,” Miss Robin motioned at Luffy, who had just been the target of the terrifying demonstration, “Our elements, the magic that allows us to do things that even Dhampirs, Strigoi and humans are incapable of. Can anyone give me some examples of the elements? Yes, Nami.”
“Water and air!” The orange-haired girl extended her hand and made a sweeping motion in front of her desk, then the whole classroom was swept by a comforting, light breeze. After a few seconds, the girl balled her tiny hand into a small fist, and as she opened her hand again a ball of water hung inches from her palm. She smiled at herself, seemingly confident in her ability to be in control of her element so early in age.
Miss Robin smiled sweetly at her. “A brilliant demonstration indeed, Nami dear. Anyone else?”
“Me me me! Fire! Ace and Sabo’s element is the same one— fire!” Luffy put up a hand and without waiting for Miss Robin to pick him, shouted. “They always warm up the fireplace at our dorm when it runs out. It’s so cool!”
Miss Robin chuckled, “It’s funny how you mentioned your brothers’ element before your own.”
“Because their ability is the coolest!”
“And your element is shapeshifting, I believe?”
“Yep! My body can stretch or turn into any shape I want!” The boy pulled at the corner of his mouth until it stretched at his arm’s length. “Mine is cool but Ace and Sabo’s are much cooler.”
“Thank you, Luffy.” Miss Robin nodded appreciatively to the black-haired boy, “Now that we’ve finished the revision on the Moroi and Dhampirs, we are moving on to a new topic — Strigoi.” The beautiful teacher put on a solemn expression as she announced, and the whole class seemed to shiver at the mention of that word.
“I’m sure everyone here have more or less heard of these creatures from your parents. They are the living-dead vampires, extremely strong and deadly. Once you’re turned into a Strigoi, you lose all sense of morality and ethics, and become a ruthless creature that spends its entire life killing innocents to quench their unending bloodthirst. Besides losing the ability to tell right and wrong, the main difference between Moroi and Strigoi is that we die of old age, and they don’t. Your body stays the age when you were turned forever until you’re killed. And for the Moroi, we lose our elements when we are turned. Okay, does anyone know how to kill a Strigoi? Any Dhampirs here want to answer? I’m sure your fellow teachers have provided enough insights to you, considering you’d be our future guardians. Yes, Usopp.”
“Burn them, or expose them to sunlight.”
“Correct. Anyone else?”
“Chop off their heads.”
“Correct. Yes, Zoro?”
“Drive a silver stake through its heart. They die instantly.” Zoro answered calmly.
“Yes, and silver stakes are the most common weapons guardians use to kill Strigoi. But of course there are other exceptions like Zoro’s swords, which the greatest swordsman Dracule Mihawk has always used. But I need all the Moroi in this class to remember this rule - to never engage in a fight with a Strigoi on your own. Running away is the first thing you do when seeing a Strigoi. Killing them is solely the duty of guardians. Do we understand?”
The whole class nodded in heavy silence, except for one black-haired boy in the back of the class, the corner of his lips tightening as he listened to his teacher. Still, Luffy made no indication that he had any comment on the topic and so his reaction went unnoticed.
”Now, does anyone have any other—” Miss Robin’s question was interrupted by the sound of their classroom door sliding open, revealing a boy standing at the threshold.
Zoro stared at the newcomer. He had blond hair that covered half of his face, revealing a blue eye on the right half. The boy was blushing, his hand froze on the door, seemingly embarrassed by his abrupt disturbance. “Sorry Miss Robin, I- I should have knocked. That was impolite and ungentlemanly.”
“I assure you there is no such trouble. Do come in.” Miss Robin said gently, and the boy walked into the classroom with her permission. “This is your new classmate who would be joining us starting from today. He’s the son of our school chef Zeff. Would you please introduce yourself to the class?”
The boy gave his classmates a gleaming smile that could outshine the rays of sunlight that lingered in the classroom. Zoro found himself almost squinting at it. “Hi, I’m Sanji. It is nice to meet you.”
“Very well, Sanji. Would you sit at the desk right behind Usopp and Zoro?”
The boy nodded and walked into the shadows loitering at the back of the classroom. After he sat down, Miss Robin turned back towards the whiteboard to proceed with the class. Zoro could sense Usopp’s excitement of having a new classmate radiating off of him, and after a while, the long-nosed boy seemed to finally surrender to his curiosity and turned towards his new classmate. Zoro kept his eyes trained on the whiteboard.
He heard Usopp whisper, “Hi Sanji. I’m Usopp, it’s really nice to meet you! Are you really Zeff’s son? Why haven’t we seen you before?”
The boy whispered back in equal excitement. “Hi Usopp. Yes, I am. I was homeschooled until this year.”
“I see— Oi, Zoro.” Usopp elbowed Zoro discreetly and whispered, “Say hi to Sanji!”
Zoro reluctantly turned to face the unfamiliar classmate, internally cursing Usopp that if he got caught again he would pull him to hell too if Miss Robin found out. The blue eye met grey ones, and the owner of the former gave Zoro a sweet smile. Zoro’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You…” Zoro started, faltering as he stared harder at Sanji, and in response, the blond-haired boy tilted his head in confusion. Then Zoro decided to speak his thoughts. “You have a really weird eyebrow. It’s curly.”
The boy’s smile vanished and was replaced with a grimace. “What did you say? Mosshead?”
“Mosshead??” Zoro’s hand instinctively flew to his green hair, unknowingly raising his voice, “My name is Zoro, you stupid curly eyebrows!”
“My eyebrows are not stupid! You’re so rude! I was trying to be polite to you, yet this is how you treat me?” Sanji’s voice was also raised to a higher pitch. Usopp hurriedly tried to shush the two but the boys were too caught up in their fuelling anger.
“I bet you get stupider every time you look into the mirror ‘cause your eyebrows are so curly!”
“I bet birds poop in your hair ‘cause it’s so green!”
“What did you say to me???” They yelled in unison.
With a rustling sound familiar to Zoro’s ears and unfamiliar to Sanji’s, they both froze and stared in terror, watching the plant-hands come to life, rising from their desks. They clattered off their seats as the hands grabbed at their ears and pulled them towards the whiteboard. Screaming in both pain and horror, they turn their heads to see Miss Robin with her hands across her chest, a sweet yet terrifying smile evident on her face. The boys looked like they had seen a ghost, or a demon to be precise, because Miss Robin did not look happy despite the smile.
“You two, the principal’s office. Now.”
It was more an announcement than a command as Zoro and Sanji had no choice but to follow the hands wringing their ears in the direction of the principal’s office. They stumbled out of the classroom, then a green hand delicately shut the door. The whole classroom fell into silence.
“So, shall we continue?” Miss Robin grinned. Everyone in the classroom shivered at the smile, and the classroom was probably quieter than during the discussions of Strigoi.
The class continued as if nothing happened, and Luffy, who had been watching the whole interaction with a wide smile, laughed heartily.
“I need to be friends with that Sanji guy!”
‧₊˚ ⋅ ⚔︎‧₊˚𓐐𓎩 ‧₊˚ ⋅
Nine Years Later
“Lunch, lunch, lunch!” Luffy hopped out of the classroom shouting at the top of his lungs.
The Moroi had his fist in Usopp’s uniform collar, and he dragged the poor Dhampir along with him towards the direction of the academy’s canteen. As he arrived he stopped to look for someone, but to no avail. “He’s probably still bringing Zoro over,” Luffy muttered to himself, “But I’m so hungry!!”
“Keep your voice down, Luffy.” Usopp sighed and fixed his messy collar, “I’m sure Sanji and Zoro are on their way.”
“Sanji said he cooked meat for me!” The Moroi’s head perked up with the thought of his favourite food, his eyes sparkling in excitement. “I really can’t wait. But I’m soo hungry right now, I need at least something in my stomach or else I will deflate.”
“Fine then, let’s get you some blood—” The long-nosed Dhampir shrieked as his friend extended his limbs to grab at the order counter, “Hey, I told you not to shapeshift in the canteen! You’d knock over people’s lunch!”
“I know, I’ll be careful not to!” And with a “Woo!”, the Moroi flew to the other side of the canteen, knocking over at least 3 people’s lunch trays along the way. Usopp sighed and mumbled apologies to the furious vampires, walking over to accompany his friend.
“Can I get a blood bag?” Luffy asked the old Dhampir at the counter, who had his moustache tied into two long braids.
“Of course you can, Straw Hat.” The school chef, Zeff smiled back at the beaming Moroi and grabbed a pack from under the counter. “You know where Eggplant is?”
“I don’t know. He’s probably waiting for Zoro. They’ll definitely arrive very soon.” Luffy tore the bag open with his teeth and suck the contents into his mouth. The black-haired Moroi let out a satisfied groan as the metallic liquid slipped through his throat and into his stomach. “Thanks, Zeff. You’re a saviour.”
On the other end of the academy, Sanji stood at the side of a corridor, tapping his shoe against the floor in annoyance. “What’s taking that damned Mosshead so long? Uhh, I’m so hungry. I swear to god, I’ll drink from him when he comes out.”
After about ten minutes, the familiar shade of green finally appeared at the door to the gym, and to Sanji’s surprise, an unfamiliar figure followed.
“Hey, cook.” Zoro slung the huge bag containing his three swords onto his shoulder, then thrust a thumb towards the direction of his company, “I was late ‘cause she was asking me about—” He halted when a pink hurricane swept past him and stopped beside the blue-haired girl with glasses.
“It is fabulous to meet you, mademoiselle. May I have the honour of knowing your name?” Sanji gave a big bow, then made a show of keeping a rose between his lips and spinning around the poor Dhampir. Zoro felt his temple jump at the sight. Where did he even get the rose from? Does this idiot have roses on him all the time to give to women? He thought with a pang of annoyance.
“H-hi?” The girl seemed taken aback by the blond’s passionate greeting and shot a look at the green-haired Dhampir.
“This is Tashigi, she’s new to our class.” Zoro said to Sanji, moving to stand between the Moroi and the Dhampir, and the annoyance he felt a few seconds ago finally subsided now that he had put some distance between the two, “Tashigi, this is curlybrows. An idiot.”
“Shut up!” Sanji turned to hiss at Zoro, then turned back to Tashigi with a sweet smile, “My name is Sanji. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi Sanji.” The girl pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and gave Sanji a small apologetic smile, “Sorry for keeping Zoro-san for too long, I just had some questions regarding defence. I’m new to intermediate guardian training.”
“If it’s for a magnificent lady like yourself, it’s definitely no problem waiting! I’m just surprised the idiot Mosshead would actually have someone asking him for battle advice.”
“But Zoro-san gives really solid and practical tips!” Tashigi’s eyes sparkled with admiration, “He’s also the strongest in our class. Even Fujitora-sensei had a hard time practicing against him today.”
“Huh. That’s weird ‘cause he always loses to me when we spar.” Sanji glared at Zoro, who scowled at him in return.
“What are you talking about— No, you always lose.”
“C’mon, last time I had you on the floor when I kicked all three swords away from you.”
“You definitely cheated!”
“Just admit I’m stronger than you, dumbass!”
Poor Tashigi looked back and forth between the Moroi and the Dhampir like how one watches a tennis match. The girl noted that the two would completely forget the presence of others when they were in a banter and it appeared to be the case every time. After a while, she decided to speak up. “Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt, but I have to go. Thanks Zoro-san, see you tomorrow! It’s really nice to meet you, Sanji-san!”
“Do you want to come with us?” Sanji, who never missed a chance to share his food even with strangers, asked cheerfully. “I made some nice food for my friends to share. You should join us for lunch.”
“Thanks, but I have another class right now, I really appreciate the offer though. Maybe I’ll try your food sometime in the future.” The blue-haired girl beamed at the blond. “Bye!” She turned and hurried away. Sanji pinched the corner of Zoro’s sleeve and strode towards the direction of the canteen. The blond Moroi walked in front of the green-haired Dhampir, so the cook missed the way the swordsman’s eyes dropped to where his fingers held onto the fabric, and how his gaze lingered there for a long while.
“What’s the rush?” Zoro raised his eyebrows as he was dragged through the crowd. Sanji, being the meticulous person he was, had always been the one rushing around and worrying about everything, and Zoro could never understand how he managed to stay sane when he was so anxious all the time.
“I promised Luffy I would make him meat. Besides, I’m starving. I can’t believe I was stuck here waiting for you. If it wasn’t for your long lost sense of direction, I wouldn’t be here. God, I can’t believe you can’t even find your way to the canteen. There are signs everywhere in the academy. Is your brain stuffed with moss and only moss? Last time we let you try finding your way to the canteen I almost couldn’t find you. How the hell did you end up in the forest behind the academy? You are ridiculously-”
Zoro impatiently interrupted Sanji’s blabbering. “For god’s sake, can you stop whining for at least five minutes? It’s not the end of the world that you haven’t eaten. I haven't eaten anything since this morning either but I don’t see myself complaining.”
“I need at least some blood to get through the day! I was busy making lunch for Luffy this morning that I forgot to have my dose before leaving my dorm.”
“Well, that’s none of my business. Just stop whining, it’s annoying.”
“Of course it’s none of your damn business! You don’t need blood in your diet!” Sanji bared his now sharpened canines at the green-haired Dhampir. “I swear, I will bite you one day if you keep annoying me like this.”
“As if you can ever catch me off guard.”
“Is that a challenge? Mosshead?”
Zoro could feel the air around them slowly rising to an alarming temperature, he dropped his head to see Sanji’s leg covered in a ball of fire.
The two stared at each other for what felt like a decade, then Sanji lowered his eyes and sighed. “We should better get going. They’re waiting for us.” Zoro grunted in agreement and they made their way to the canteen again. As they hurried on, the two walked in comfortable silence, a habit the pair developed throughout the nine years of knowing each other. Sanji watched Zoro out of the corner of his eye and noticed the Dhampir’s lips were pursed, a troubled expression discernible. The Moroi knew instantly that he had something serious to say or ask, but he was in no rush trying to know what was on the swordsman’s mind, so he kept his silence. He knew Zoro would speak up when he had made up his mind.
“Hey, cook.” Zoro finally spoke, his voice tense with an unreadable emotion that Sanji couldn’t quite read.
“Hm?”
Zoro’s words were caught in his throat as the Moroi turned to look at him. The blond tilted his head in question, a gesture mirroring the one he did nine years ago when they first met. Zoro felt as if he was hit in the head, but by what he had no idea, and all he knew was his brain decided to short-circuit at this very moment when his best friend stared at him with his ocean blue eyes with the sun caressing his golden silk locks.
“You—” The Dhampir stuttered at the sight, his brain a white blank.
“What? Why are you acting weird? Spit it out.” Sanji’s brow furrowed in confusion.
Zoro seemed to finally snap back to himself again and sighed. Sanji could tell he seemed to have decided against asking what was really on his mind. “Is there… anything for me?” Zoro nodded at the bag in Sanji’s hand, then watched in amusement as Sanji’s face slowly turned a slight shade of red. He then knew the answer.
“…I have onigiris.” Sanji’s voice was so low that Zoro almost missed it over the fuss of the vampires around them. And even if the reason that Sanji couldn’t have his dose of blood this morning was that he was busy making an extra portion of onigiris for a certain swordsman, Zoro didn’t have to know that.
Zoro turned to look at the blond, then smirked when Sanji turned his head away. What the vampire failed to conceal was a hint of pink dusted on the tip of his ears, a heavy contrast against his naturally pale skin as a Moroi.
The only person in the friend group who ate onigiris was Zoro and he knew that. Zoro felt lightheaded with the delight of knowing Sanji made something especially for him.
The green-haired Dhampir chuckled softly when a light punch landed on his upper arm.
‧₊˚ ⋅ ⚔︎‧₊˚𓐐𓎩 ‧₊˚ ⋅
“Sanji!!!” Upon walking into the canteen, Sanji blinked and found himself tightly wrapped in a pair of rubber-like arms, with a whining Moroi dangling off his back. “Sanji, lunch!! I’m so hungry!!” Luffy wailed.
“Yes, yes.” The blond Moroi sighed but made no attempt to shrug him off, so Luffy let him carry him across the room towards Usopp’s table. But then the black-haired Moroi stopped swaying back and forth when he noticed the swordsman beside them. He was looking pointedly in front of him, his lips pressed in a thin line with a slight furrow visible in his brows. It was then Luffy understood something about the swordsman, and with a “shishishi” he promptly let go of the cook.
Waving a hi to Usopp, Sanji sat down and unpacked the contents in his bag and spread them on the table. Three plates of steaming meat and a pack of onigiris. Luffy was drooling on the table at the sight of meat and Sanji grinned at the Moroi. “Eat up, idiot.”
To Sanji’s surprise, Luffy did not immediately shove his face into the meat but took his time taping up the half-opened blood bag and tucking it back into his bag. Sanji, who noticed the gesture asked, “Why don’t you finish that? You’re not gonna waste it, are you?”
“I’m just saving it for later. I want to reserve my appetite for trying out your new recipe!” He didn’t even finish the word “recipe” when he forcefully poked two forks into two big chunks of meat and was already chomping away when he finished the sentence.
Usopp had already ordered and was halfway through his food, but he also dipped his fork into a piece of meat and popped it into his mouth, hummed in satisfaction, and then muttered a “thank you” to Sanji, to which the latter responded with a grin.
Zoro didn’t say a word but was chewing with half an onigiri in his hand, a satisfied smile on his face.
Sanji felt his chest warm at his friends’ appreciation for his cooking.
After making sure every single friend had food in their mouth, he then realised he was thirsty after a glimpse of Luffy’s pack of blood, so he stood up. “Shit, I’m craving blood so bad right now. I’m getting myself a blood bag.” He excused himself and swiftly left the table.
As Sanji walked away, another two members of the friend group joined the table.
“Hey.” Nami sat down beside Luffy who mumbled a “hi” muffled by the meat stuffing his mouth. Vivi joined her, waving a hi to her friends. The four exchanged a few greetings, and then Nami leaned forward as if she had something important to speak about.
“So, are we addressing the elephant in the room?” She asked with a smirk.
Usopp sighed, Luffy laughed, Vivi beamed, and they all directed their glances towards Zoro.
With all eyes on him, the green-haired Dhampir felt uncomfortable. There was something they figured out and he didn’t like it. “What?”
“Have you asked Sanji-kun to the dance?” Nami cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered, pointing her head towards the blond at the counter.
“Huh?” Zoro’s face exploded into a red mess, the colour clashing against the bright green of his hair, his head almost resembling a tomato. “I—” Then realising there was no point in denying Nami’s assumption, sighed in defeat. “I actually tried asking him just now, believe it or not, but I chickened out last minute.”
“What? C’mon, you gotta seize this chance of getting somewhere with him! It’s been what, nine years?” Nami groaned, “You know, I’ve heard that Pudding from his class has been meaning to ask him to the dance!”
Shit.
The love-cook would definitely swoon over the beautiful Moroi and agree to go to the dance with her in a heartbeat if she ever asked. In fact, he had always suspected that the girl would use her memory-manipulating element on Sanji if she ever had a chance. She was head over heels for him after he complimented her family trait——the third eye on her forehead——for once. Zoro’s face twisted at the thought.
“But how the hell should I ask him? Look, you know us, we’re bickering and fighting all the time. What would happen if I asked him to the dance out of the blue? He would think I’m crazy. Besides, he hates my guts.” The last sentence he uttered with hesitance, averting his gaze away from his friends.
“Zoro, this,” Usopp sighed, pointed at the empty plate where the onigiris once were, “is definitely not what ‘a friend who hates your guts’ would do. That’s not a strong argument.”
“He does this for everybody. It doesn’t—“
“Shush— He’s coming back.” Vivi whispered, then smiled sweetly at someone else behind Zoro, “Oh hey, Chopper!”
“Hi, Vivi! Hi everyone!” The brown-haired Moroi joined the squad, “Vivi, I found out a better way of channelling your energy into healing wounds, would you like to hear it?”
“Absolutely!” Vivi yelped in excitement, and the two were soon engaged in a deep conversation. They shared the same element — Spirit, which allowed them to heal living things with physical touch, and Chopper, being a medical student himself, specialized in this. On the other hand, Spirit users were also known for being the best hypnotisers among all Moroi, and Vivi was especially good at that. (Nami had, for the longest time, begged Vivi to teach her hypnotism so she could blackmail her classmates. They were all saved by the fact that Nami just could not do it properly no matter how hard Vivi tried practising with her.) With Chopper and Vivi specializing in both ends of the spectrum of Spirit magic, they always exchanged tips and advice to try to master the element. The blond Moroi returned to the table right after.
“What were we talking about?” Sanji plopped himself down next to Zoro, bit down on the blood pack and ripped it open with his sharp canines.
“We were just talking about the Christmas Ball in December.” Zoro grumbled before anyone could open their mouth, “Everyone was talking about it in class this morning.”
“Oh yeah!” Sanji’s eyes lit up, he took a sip of blood and let out a content sigh, “I didn’t have any classes this morning so I probably missed the talk. What about it?”
“Do we all have dates?” A hint of mischief sparkled in Nami’s eyes, and Zoro internally cursed her for treading in dangerous territory again. Witch. “I’m going with Vivi, obviously. How about you boys?”
“I’m going with Kaya. I’ve just asked her this morning.” Usopp said, his face glowing upon mentioning his childhood best friend, who was also his crush. “I can’t believe she said yes.”
“What about you, Sanji-kun?” Nami asked innocently, batting her lashes at Zoro in mockery when he shot her a dangerous look. The orange-haired Moroi glared back in a silent “You should thank me for helping you figure out if he has a date!”, and smiled to herself smugly. She never would give up a chance of teasing Zoro about his hopeless crush on Sanji.
“No, I don’t.” The cook chuckled shyly, and added passionately, “How I wish I could take beautiful Nami-san to—“
“Zoro-kun?”
Confused, Zoro whipped around to find a green-haired girl standing behind him. His eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Hiyori.”
The Moroi fiddled with her hands in front of her, her voice cheerful but tight with a hint of nervousness. “I know this is a bit early to ask… But I’m just wondering if you would like to go the dance with me.”
Luffy’s eyes darted to Sanji, noted the way he naturally averted his gaze away from the two, and lowered his head so his hair concealed most of his face. The black-haired Moroi exchanged a look with Usopp, and the long-nosed sniper shook his head and sighed, mourning the fact that Zoro had his back towards Sanji so he missed all that.
Oblivious idiots.
Zoro’s mouth hung open, taken aback by the abrupt invitation. He blinked twice and finally found his voice. “Hey, uh, sorry but I kinda have a date already. I’m actually going with— uh,” Fuck it. “stupid cook here.”
He spun around to catch the eye of the blond behind him. Sanji’s eyes widened as they met Zoro’s.
“Right, cook?” Zoro held his gaze, unmoving.
It only took half a second for Sanji to react, and he flawlessly hid his surprise as he looked up at Hiyori. The poor girl was beyond shock at this point, her eyes darting back and forth between Zoro and Sanji with her hand over her mouth.
“He is indeed. Sorry beautiful Hiyori-san, but this idiot is not available no more. But I assure you it’s better finding someone other than this Mosshead right here ‘cause he’d be stomping on your toes all night trying to dance.”
“Oi! The hell I would!”
Hiyori flashed a tiny smile to the pair, her hands seemingly not knowing where to rest, then settled on fiddling the ends of her hair. “Oh, my apologies! I had no idea… Thanks for letting me know. I— I have class coming up right now so I better go. Bye!” She hurried off, and everyone didn’t miss the way she wiped at her eyes.
The table fell into silence.
Sanji broke it eventually. “What the hell was that?” He glared at Zoro in disbelief, “She actually said ‘thanks for letting me know‘— God, that lady is heartbroken! Are you dumb? She’s totally into you!”
“Well I’m not!” Zoro snapped, fingers clawing into his hair in frustration, “Of course I’m not going to the dance with her. I barely know her. We talked maybe once in class.”
“But why me??” Sanji asked, throwing up his hands in bewilderment.
“Everyone else here already has a date, except Luffy. Do you think I should ask him instead?” He pointed at the Moroi, who shrugged. They all knew Luffy sucked at telling lies and if Zoro threw the ball at him like he just had to Sanji, he wouldn’t have reacted fast enough and put up a show like the cook did. Right? It made perfect sense. Zoro just happened to forget about Chopper's availability. He definitely had no other alter motives.
With no way of arguing otherwise, Sanji’s lips were reduced to a thin line.
“Sounds like you just got yourself a date, Sanji-kun.” Nami smirked at the progressively reddening human tomato with green hair. Zoro looked like he really would kill her. Unfazed, her smile widened as she noticed the way the pair was pointedly looking at anywhere but each other. “Good for you.”
“I’m not his date!” Sanji wailed, lowering his voice when he noticed others shooting glances in their direction, “I’m not wasting my precious chance to take a gorgeous lady to dance! I—” don’t hate the idea of going to the dance with Zoro. His mind told him. In fact, it might be funny to see the Mosshead struggling in a suit and looking like he had no control over his limbs when he tried to dance.
The idea of going to the dance with Zoro suddenly sounded quite appealing to Sanji.
“Fine.” Sanji sighed, “Considering I don’t have a date now and I don’t imagine I would have any in the future, I will go with you. I guess I’ll be the prince to your rescue, idiot Mosshead.”
“I have never seen any kind of prince with such weird eyebrows like yours.”
Sanji stilled. Then he scowled.
“You better watch your mouth, Mosshead. You won’t be the one laughing on the dance floor, for sure.”
“Oh, I bet you dance so well. Like a donkey.”
“My dance moves are certainly better than yours! A hundred times better!”
“GOD, you two! Please just shut up!”
The table erupted into laughter when Nami’s fists connected with the cook's and the swordsman’s heads.
‧₊˚ ⋅ ⚔︎‧₊˚𓐐𓎩 ‧₊˚ ⋅