Chapter Text
Sanji slowly let smoke escape his nostrils as his nervous fingers flicked glimmering ashes onto the wet pavement. The blue smoke dissipated around him as he took a breath of cool air.
The young man took a quick glance at his watch and with a sigh he finally stubbed out his cigarette on the side of the building and put the half smoked bud back into his chest pocket. The way his nerves were acting up, he really needed to ration his smokes if he wanted to make it through this tournament. That was if he made it through the next round.
With a last moment of hesitation, he turned to walk back into the building. His soles clicked on the marble floors as he swiftly made his way back to his assigned table.
He stopped mid step when he noticed that the chair across from his was already occupied. Sitting there was a green haired man, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sanji immediately noticed the round black sunglasses on his face, and raised one of his curly brows. Sunglasses inside was always a bold choice, but in this weather?! That was a different kind of commitment to the most obnoxious style choice imaginable.
He huffed. He had heard whispers of Roronoa Zoro and his ego, but this level of conceitedness really exceeded his expectations. Sanji had also heard about the fact that Roronoa had a good reason to be conceited at least when it came to his abilities in chess.
So as he picked up his pace again, Sanji reminded himself to not get hung up on appearances and focus on the game ahead.
When he reached the table, the other man not so much as glanced up at him nor did he move a muscle to get up and greet him. So Sanji pulled back his chair and settled in.
When he looked up again, the other man’s hand was reached out.
“Roronoa Zoro” the stranger introduced himself.
Sanji reflexively reached out to shake his hand, “Sanji Vinsmoke, nice to meet you!”
Roronoa did not reciprocate the niceties and only nodded in acknowledgement.
Then he leaned back in his chair again and seemed to study Sanji intently for a long moment.
“You smoke?”
Sanji froze and resisted the urge to smell his own breath, suddenly very conscious of smelling like cigarette smoke.
“Uh...yes, calms the nerves I suppose,” he smiled awkwardly.
“Actually, smoking lowers focus and prohibits quick judgement abilities,” Roronoa retorted, very matter of factly.
“Huh,” Sanji got out, “good to know!” he tried to sound nonchalant. He wasn’t sure if this was some very awkward type of small talk or if his opponent was just trying to throw his focus. If it was the latter, it was unfortunately working.
He snapped himself out of it and looked at Zoro defiantly.
“We all have our vices, don’t we?” he said with a shrug and a forced smile.
The corner of Roronoa’s mouth perked up for a moment.
“Sure!” he answered curtly, “but mine do not impact my ability to win.”
Sanji blinked at his opponent, feeling his pulse pick up in irritation. Oh...Roronoa was good. And the game hadn’t even started...or had it?!
Sanji desperately searched for something to retort when luckily the arbiter came over and exchanged a few short words with Roronoa.
The tall man leaned down and put his hand on Roronoa’s shoulder as he said. “I haven’t seen her… if she isn’t back by the time the round starts we can postpone your start, if Mr. Vinsmoke were to...” he glanced at Sanji for a moment.
“No, we can start as planned, I’m sure she’s on her way.” Roronoa cut him of with a decided shake of his head. The arbiter just gave a short and proper “understood!” as he hurried away to the next table to check on things there.
“What’s going on?” Sanji asked curiously.
Roronoa shrugged. “My assistant hasn’t made it back from her break,” he retorted, visibly trying not to clench his teeth.
“Assistant?”
Zoro nodded. “She moves my pieces and records my moves.”
Sanji blinked. Was something like that even allowed, or did his opponent just have some high connections.
“Is that something we can just request?” came Sanji’s question before he could think better of it.
“Not without a reason...” the other man retorted and for the first time since their conversation had started, Roronoa sat up fully, leaned his elbow on the table and pushed his glasses down the bridge of his nose, exposing his eyes enough for the other to see.
Sanji’s breath hitched for a moment as he stared back at the man across from him.
Even in the short glimpse that he had allowed, Sanji had clearly noticed the abnormalities of Roronoa’s eyes.
One of them fully grey and cataracted, the other one, although looking less unusual, was strangely motionless.
If this was another one of Roronoa’s attempts to distract Sanji, it had worked miraculously. He felt ashamed to the depth of his soul and could barely focus on anything but that feeling.
How had he not noticed? How could he judge a stranger’s eyewear the way he had? And why on earth, with all the whispers and rumours about ‘the demon’ Roronoa Zoro, had everyone failed to mention this very important detail?!
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”
“Don’t start feeling sorry for me just yet,” the other retorted quickly.
Sanji felt himself flushing in embarrassment. “That’s not what I…”
Oh it was useless! He’d already made a fool of himself, and they both knew it.
He could see Roronoa’s amused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Blind or not, this guy was insufferable!
Soon enough the bell that signalled the impending start of the round was heard and everyone pulled their chairs closer to their tables in unison.
Sanji let his eyes wander across the room but could not spot anyone that looked like she was making her way towards them.
His opponent seemed like he was patience itself, as if Sanji cared more about his assistant's arrival than him.
Sanji scanned for the arbiter and was about to raise his hand for him. “I’ll call him back over and...”
“We’ll start the game as planned,” Roronoa interrupted him firmly.
“But…”
Sanji’s sentence was interrupted by the ringing of the second bell which had everyone starting to lean over their boards and starting their clocks.
Roronoa too pushed the button on his side of the clock without hesitation, putting pressure on Sanji to make his first move.
Sanji stared helplessly at the arbiter who’s gaze had shifted towards them, but the referee just smiled back at him sympathetically and gave a shrug.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Sanji steadied himself and forced his focus back to the man across from him.
“White moves first,” said Roronoa, as if Sanji was a child playing chess for the first time.
Of course Sanji knew that, but he hesitated. It felt wrong to even think about starting the other's clock, given the circumstances.
“Vinsmoke, it’s your move!” he repeated firmly.
“I...uhm...give me a moment!"
“Vinsmoke,” the man’s voice was serious as he annunciated his name like a warning, “make your move!”
So Sanji did. He moved one of his pawns and slowly let his hand sink on his side of the clock, thus starting his opponent’s.
Roronoa didn’t try to make a move and just sat quietly and calmly as his time kept continuously ticking away. Seconds, then minutes passed and Sanji got more and more nervous on this opponents behalf. Roronoa himself just sat in his chair, motionless and stone-faced, and didn’t let on the slightest sense of urgency.
Sanji realized eventually, that the man across from him would never swallow his pride, he would rather have his time run out without a single move, than ask for help.
But Sanji would be damned if he won a game just because the playing fields were so uneven.
“I’ll move for you,” he finally brought out, “just call it out!”
Zoro cocked his head. “You sure?” He didn’t seem wholly disinterested in the offer.
Sanji nodded, then realized his mistake and said “Yeah, I want to beat you in a fair game!”
“As you wish!” Roronoa accepted his offer and sat up straight. “Pawn E3 to E5!”
Finally poor Sanji could breathe a breath of relief as he reached over to record the other’s move and finally heard the familiar click of the clock on Roronoa’s side.
Then it took him a few moments to get back into the game before he could make his own move. This whole ordeal had almost made him forget what side he was on.
Sanji should have savoured that slow beginning while it lasted, because the rest of the game was fast and brutal.
While he had thought he stood an honest chance, due to their similar scores, it quickly became clear to Sanji, that the decks were stacked heavily against him.
Before Roronoa could call out his last few moves, Sanji already knew that the game was over.
It took him some time to go through the remaining possibilities, but he soon came to the conclusion that there was no point in drawing out his humiliation. So he decided to concede.
Just when he reached out his hand to lay down his king, he noticed that the other man’s hand was already raised to receive his conceding handshake.
He felt his insides boiling and heat rising to his face. He would have loved nothing more than to throw the whole damn board at that conceited asshole. It took all his self control to bite his tongue and give Roronoa a handshake as he gritted out “I concede!”
Roronoa firmly shook his hand and nodded in acknowledgement. “Good game,” he said.
Sanji felt the scorn in his words and tried to spot a gloating smile on the other man’s face, but the other seemed sincere in his acknowledgement.
“Good game,” he mumbled back.
As he started packing up, he gradually began to accept that he was going to only be a spectator for the rest of this tournament.
Annoyingly, as a viewer, he got to follow Zoro’s success into the final round. Getting to witness his more usual playing style, when his assistant finally made it back for the remaining rounds.
He had heard of his incredible skill and his terrible manners, but he could never have imagined the true force of nature that was Roronoa Zoro. Breezing through all of his games, as if he was playing against a bunch of amateurs. It started to make sense to Sanji, why none of the talk and rumours about Roronoa even mentioned that he couldn’t see. Truly that was the least remarkable thing about him and paled in comparison to his unconventional game style and bold moves on the board.
But even ‘the demon’ was not unbeatable, and Sanji would have lied if he said he didn’t get an immense amount of satisfaction from seeing Roronoa having to concede to ‘the giant’ Ivankov.
Although for a long while during their intense game, Sanji was sure Roronoa was going to surpass even this opponent.
Regardless of the fact that he hadn’t won the tournament, Roronoa had thoroughly shown his teeth. ‘The demon’ was truly dangerous and Sanji went home in the knowledge that he would have a lot to work on before he would be able to successfully face him.
But face him he would, that much he knew.
He had only recently got the opportunity to attend tournaments more regularly and he couldn’t let this green haired bastard stand between him and success.
Sanji would get the chance to show his chops too, no matter what!