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Zoro and Sanji have been dating for some weeks now.
Their "fights" have become even more exaggerated to the point where the crew feels more like they're watching a rehearsed theatre play than some actual bickering at this point.
At the start, they made it work well. Through the novelty of it all, they both tried their best to not step on each other's feet too much and they were both pretty happy with their new relationship.
Over time, however, some issues presented themselves. Issues which Robin is determined to weed out.
While she may not comment on the crews' relationships much, Robin has been the biggest of Zoro's and Sanji's relationship for a while, going so far as to give them a silly ship name ("JiRo").
So when she notices the mounting tension between the two of them, she's not having any of that. She invites Sanji to her room, which prompts him to nearly stumble over his own feet in excitement, heart eyes appearing within the first miliseconds of her saying what she wants from him.
When they arrive at Robin's room, they find an extremely disgruntled Zoro, tied to a chair.
Sanji keeps looking between Zoro and Robin, extremely confused at the situation presented to him.
Meanwhile, Zoro is cursing up a storm, straining against the ropes that bind him. "Untie me already! What the hell is going on here?!"
Robin chuckles softly. "Please calm down. I have a proposition for you, mister swordsman."
Zoro glares at her, clearly quite pissed.
Robin lets her devil fruit arms sprout, handing herself a bottle of beer which had stood atop her drawer. "See this? It's your favourite type."
Zoro huffs. "Yeah? What about it?"
Robin gives Zoro one of her enigmatic smiles which makes Sanji go absolutely weak in the knees. "I'll give this to you, if you cooperate."
Zoro huffs once more, but he can't take his eyes off the bottle. "Fine. But this is stupid as hell. What's all this about, anyways?"
Sanji mutters something that sounds like "You're stupid as hell and still I love you."
Zoro rolls his eyes at that but his cheeks get just a hue pinker. He grumbles something unintelligible back in response which in turn makes Sanji blush faintly.
Robin lets her hands sprout and unties Zoro now that he's assured her of his compliance. "I noticed a bit of... tension, between the two of you."
Zoro grunts. "How's that any of your business?"
Robin shrugs, careful indifference masking that she very much cares for their love life and is a little more invested than she ought to be. "It isn't. But I thought I might lend a helping hand."
Sanji clasps his hands together, swooning. "You're so kind, Robin-chwan!"
Robin gives another smile. "Cook, please sit down as well."
Sanji complies at the speed of light. "Anything for you!"
Robin can't help but be impressed how Zoro doesn't even bat an eye at Sanji's absolute besottedness for her, completely ignoring it as the normal thing that it is. She's so happy for them and the lack of jealousy in their relationship!
Robin grabs a chair and sits down as well. "So. I'd like to know what's wrong and is causing this tension between the two of you."
Zoro bristles, tensing up in his seat, eyes still fixed on the beer bottle. "There's nothing wrong, anyways."
Robin nods, more to herself than to them, realizing that trying to get Zoro to talk about his feelings might be about as easy as getting Luffy to stop raiding the fridge every night.
Sanji, however, seems to be glad for the opportunity to talk about things. He visibly calms down from his previous excitement over getting to interact with Robin, glancing at Zoro from time to time as he speaks while lighting himself a cigarette.
"I feel like Zoro isn't meeting my emotional needs."
Zoro grunts, glaring at him. "I meet your needs plenty, shitty cook."
Sanji scoffs. "Not those needs, marimo. Emotional needs. You know, emotions, the things you so sorely lack?"
Robin holds up her hands. "Settle down. I want to talk about this without you two fighting."
Sanji complies right away, giving her a winning smile, as Zoro crosses his arms, staring at a wall.
Sanji hesitantly continues. "Zoro... I would like to receive a bit more affection from you. You always disappear to go training for hours and it makes me feel a little neglected. While you're training you barely acknowledge me, it's like I don't even exist to you anymore."
Zoro huffs. "What am I supposed to do, lift you instead of my weights? Use you as a sparring dummy?"
Sanji deflates, looking a bit dejected. "No, I just... Sometimes you treat me like I'm just any other crewmate. Like you're completely indifferent to me."
Robin nods, taking some notes in a book.
Zoro's eyes narrow. "Didn't mean to make you feel like that. But you know I'm not indifferent to you, so what's the problem?"
Robin intercepts. "Perhaps Sanji would like you to express your affection for him a little more often?"
Zoro grunts. "I don't do all that mushy stuff. He knows what I'm like, he shouldn't expect me to be something I'm not."
If Sanji deflates any further he'll probably become one with the chair. He speaks quietly, staring down at his hands. "I know, but... that's the thing. I need someone who's there for me. At least sometimes. I know you're not that person, Zoro, but... that doesn't change who I am, either."
Zoro sighs, relenting as he finally lets the stoic mask fall. "Look. I'm sorry, okay? But I can't really give you what you need when I don't know how to do any of that."
Robin smiles at Sanji softly. "Cook. Have you tried telling Zoro what you would like him to do or what you expect of him directly?"
Sanji furrows his brows, taking a drag of his cigarette. "I guess not? But he's my boyfriend, he should be picking up on that. I shouldn't have to spell out that I need my partner to be there for me emotionally too."
Robin writes some more notes down. "I think the best way to view this is that you've both done too little, then. Swordsman. If Sanji had told you what he expected of you directly, you would have tried to meet his needs, right?"
Zoro nods, expression solemn. "Yeah. I would have tried, at least. I want to be there for you when you need me, Sanji. But I, uh, don't really know when that is." He briefly meets Sanji's eyes before looking away again.
Sanji looks down as well, looking a little guilty. "I guess I was afraid of being too needy as well, too demanding.", he confesses. "I don't want you to get sick of me and push me away by asking for too much."
Zoro straightens up, reaching over to pat Sanji's knee. "You're a lot of things, but needy isn't one of them. I wanna be there for you, okay? Just, uh, tell me when."
Sanji looks up again, meeting Zoro's eyes. "Okay. I will. Thanks, mosshead." A smile creeps back onto his face.
Zoro reciprocates the smile. "You're always there for me when I'm being a dumbass too. Might as well return the favor."
Robin's devil fruit arms push the two off their chairs and towards one another. Sanji stumbles and Zoro catches him immediately.
Robin chuckles. "You may now kiss the bride." She gets up and sets out to leave and while Zoro's head snaps around, calling after her: "Wait, who's the bride?!"
Sanji takes the opportunity and kisses Zoro deeply, insecurity and worries all pouring into the kiss. They haven't kissed in a while, bickering a little more than usual lately, so this feels cathartic for both of them, Zoro quickly reciprocating the kiss, wrapping his strong arms around Sanji. During the encounter that follows, Zoro makes sure to be a lot softer than he usually is which absolutely catapults Sanji onto cloud nine, letting him be eased out of some of his insecurities.