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He feels lonely in Wano. He used to be a wandering bounty hunter traveling alone and he did enjoy his life back then. Now he's repeating the experience older and even stronger.
He cannot fathom how he dealt with it.
He closes his eyes every night missing the body heat of another person. Every morning, he wakes up wondering where his cook is.
Every day he remembers.
Sanji leaving. Being ordered to stay.
He tries not to linger on those thoughts. But for once he can’t control his own mind.
He dreams of warm meals and snarky smiles. Of eating at one big table crew surrounding him and a strong thigh pressed against his.
He was never an Insomniac. He slept quickly and lightly. Being well rested is important and often Zoro would yell at his crew for interrupting his naps. Now he hates the idea of even staying in an inn by himself. He never sleeps alone. Even if Sanji wasn’t in bed with him, the rest of the crew would be with him in the boys room.
He’s alone. Utterly alone.
So he walks along a beach just to have something to do. It reminds him of Sanji. The water is brilliantly blue and dark. Soft waves push the water on shore fixing any foot prints he leaves in the sand. He walks for a long time.
Eventually he finds a circle of water separated from the rest of the ocean by sand. A lagoon, he can hear Nami echo through his mind, has salt water and fresh water mixed in one spot. Separated by sandbanks, land or coral reefs. It’s safe from the rest of the ocean. A tiny oasis from the flippant waves and more violent creatures of the Grand line. Massive rocks litter this part of the beach. In one part of the lagoon, they create a concave shape that is almost like a cave. Zoro makes his way over the area letting his back rest against the stone.
It’s peaceful here. Zoro closes his eyes and attempts to meditate.
Of course Zoro doesn't get to enjoy it.
Soon he hears movement in the water. Something or perhaps someone swimming towards the lagoon. It swims quickly and soon he hears a burst of water coming from the opposite side of the lagoon.
A sweet voice begins to sing in an indescribable language that sounds more like whistling than speaking. At first Zoro can't see what's singing to him as the rocks above him create a shadow covering him in darkness. The moonlight begins to peak throughout the cloudy sky allowing Zoro to see clearly and painting the figure in a bright light.
“Don’t you miss me?” the fake Sanji smiles at him. It’s been ages since he’s seen Sanji and even longer since he’s seen a siren.
Before, the first time he came across a siren, Zoro wasn’t able to tell the person in the water wasn’t Sanji but now it’s so clear to him.
“More than you know curls” he responds to the siren, he knows it’s a bit foolish to humor this monster but it’s been so long since he’s seen the real cook. Even if it’s dangerous Zoro wants to pretend Sanji is here with him.
“Then jump into the water and kiss me” the siren beckons him one hand extended the other stabilizing their body on the rock. Zoro can only see Sanji’s upper torso. His chest is pushed out back curving slightly, if he had legs they would be lying flat on the rock. It’s an odd position for a person to rest in but for a creature with a long tail it must’ve been comfortable.
“Sanji, you know I can’t swim” Zoro stands pushing his full weight against Wado as he rises.
“The water is shallow” the siren taps the water creating a small splash, a show of the supposed safety of the lagoon.
“You know how dangerous it is for devil fruit users to be in any type of water” Zoro’s hand tightens against Wado’s handle.
“I’ll make sure you’re safe, I wouldn’t let you drown would I?” Sanji flutters his eyelashes at him, the water droplets reflecting the sun mimicking the liveliness of real eyes. The look on the siren's face is all wrong, too performative and soft in all the wrong ways.
This Sanji smiles at him with full teeth and curved eyes. A dramatic version of happiness. The real Sanji when he smiles looks down and grins. When Sanji smiles at Zoro it’s always with these big eyes and a tiny smile that he almost always tries to hold back. Subtle yet meaningful.
He's confused on how his younger self was so easily fooled by a siren, but he supposes he knows Sanji better now. He knows every stray freckle, how his lips feel, his raspy morning voice. He knows Sanji.
“We’re supposed to be focusing on our missions, remember?” Zoro’s never been a good liar especially to anyone he’s close to. The siren isn’t focused on anything Zoro is actually saying. It’s only focusing on convincing Zoro.
“A break wouldn’t hurt you, come relax Zoro” Sanji finally dips into the water and for a moment Zoro can see a flash of shimmering scales as he jumps into the lagoon.
It’s reminiscent of something Sanji would say to him. But in a much more boring way. Sanji worries for him in a hard, almost violent way. He’ll drag Zoro away from training sessions to bathe or use rough hands to work out knots in his back. Sometimes in the rare little moments they have alone together, he and Sanji are softer. Warm kisses and held hands. They’ll borrow away in the crow's nest and hold each other. Zoro likes to wrap himself around Sanji. Completely in case Sanji in his arms and relax while the cook drags his fingers around bare skin murmuring sweet words.
Zoro wishes he didn’t close his eyes so much during those moments. Sanji rarely has his bare face out. He wouldn't care when it was just them. If Zoro ever missed it he could go up to Sanji and flip his bangs. Sure, Sanji would probably shriek and bitch at him, but he’d never actually stop Zoro.
Zoro never thought he wouldn’t be able to someday.
Sanji’s head resurfaces a few feet away from Zoro and he almost asks for the siren to return to its rock. Up close it looks even less like Sanji.
For one its skin is completely flat. No marks, no eye bags or crinkles. In fact all its visible skin looks like that. The siren is completely smooth and hairless. It feels unnatural and it makes Zoro’s heart ache more for his Sanji.
“Fine but only if you answer me something” Zoro figures he should get something useful out of this encounter
“Of course!” The siren eagerly answers
“What do you know about Germa 66?”
“Germa 66? Ugh those pesky sea floating warmongers?” The siren roles its eyes at the question annoyed by the mere mention of Germa “They’re violent brutal humans. Unnatural freaks.”
Apparently, the siren is very passionate about its hatred for Germa. It spits out its next words “They think themselves better than nature experimenting and defying natural laws”
Zoro feels the siren is biased yet he has a stronger feeling the siren is speaking more truth than hate.
Zoro can’t imagine Sanji being a part of something like that. But apparently, he didn’t know everything about Sanji after all. Zoro knew very little of Sanji’s biological family. He only knows of Sanji’s mother, how she died from illness and how she fostered his passion for cooking.
Once. Just once did Sanji mention his father. Ages ago during a nightmare Sanji began to cry and beg for forgiveness from his father. Zoro didn’t pry, just held him. Maybe he should’ve.
Zoro brushes off the memories. He knew lingering on the past wouldn’t help him. He needs to focus on now. Right now there’s only one thing he can do. Zoro pulls out his sword and points it at the siren.
It looks stunned. Zoro doesn't care “let’s stop this charade”
“Zoro?” wet blue eyes look up at him.
Zoro shouldn’t hesitate. He used to be cold and alone. Only focused on his goal. No complications.
Yet he can’t bring himself to hurt the siren. It’s not Sanji, he knows this. It doesn’t even look much like him.
Fuck. Zoro is a sentimental man. Even this creature bearing a resemblance to him he can’t kill.
He grabs the siren's hair pulling it on land. It screams an ugly and ear bleeding cry. Its tail violently flopping around causing a mess of scattering sand. Its nails try to dig into Zoro’s arms, but he throws it across the sand before it has the chance.
He closes his eyes and slices down where legs should’ve been. It’s cruel and a miserable way to die. Zoro feels no pity for it. He knows this siren has most likely killed hundreds. Lured thousands to their death. If he lets it live, it’ll continue to do so.
He only cares for the fact that it bears Sanji's face. Luckily its screams are as inhuman as the rest of it. If it sounded like Sanji right now Zoro doesn't know how he'd be able to handle it. Blue blood stains his sword, the color haunting him even now. He walks away not daring to look at it again.
He knows it’s not Sanji. He knows he’s stronger than he was back then. Part of him fears he’ll fold if he looks back one more time.
So, he leaves. Letting his back face an enemy. Dying or not its dangerous. Zoro doesn't care.
There's only one thing Zoro cares about right now. He’ll wait as long as needs to for his captain to return. He’ll wait for Sanji to come back to him.
No matter how long it takes.