Work Text:
Open on a shot of Zoro and Sanji’s first encounter during the Straw Hats’ visit to the Baratie. Side by side shots of Zoro landing on Kuraigana and Sanji on Momoiro.
(If you only knew,
I'm hanging by a thread,
The web I spin for you.
If you only knew,
I'd sacrifice my beating heart
Before I'd lose you.
I still hold onto the letters you returned.
I swear I've lived and learned.)
Shot of Zoro angrily slicing a training dummy to pieces. He drops his swords and falls to his knees. Cut to Zoro (with a bandage over his now missing eye) and Perona arguing. Perona conjures a new type of Hollow—called an Epiphany Hollow—and sends it flying at Zoro. As it hits him, his eye widens.
(It's 4:03,
And I can't sleep.
Without you next to me,
I toss and turn like the sea.
If I drown tonight,
Bring me back to life.
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe in is you.
If you only knew…)
Shot of Zoro looking up at the sky as a phantom image of Sanji briefly appears next to him. A single tear rolls down his cheek as he closes his eye. Cut to Zoro tracing Sanji’s name into the sand as he finally accepts what the Epiphany Hollow made him realize—he may have hated Sanji once, but those feelings gave way to an odd friendship, and eventually to love.
(If you only knew,
How many times I counted
All the words that went wrong.
If you only knew,
How I refuse to let you go,
Even when you're gone.
I don't regret any days I spent,
Nights we shared,
Or letters that I sent.)
Shot of Sanji and Iva in the latter’s room, Iva attempting to calm Sanji down. Sanji angrily kicks a mannequin holding the dress that some of the newkamas attempted to force him into, sending the mannequin flying into a wall next to a newspaper revealing Luffy and Ace escaped from Marineford. Flashback shot of Sanji and Zeff. Flashback shot of Sanji and the other Straw Hats. Cut to Sanji falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands, a phantom image of Zoro briefly appearing next to him.
(It's 4:03,
And I can't sleep.
Without you next to me,
I toss and turn like the sea.
If I drown tonight,
Bring me back to life.
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe in is you.
If you only knew…
If you only knew!)
Flashback shots of Sanji and the Vinsmokes. Cut back to Iva’s room as the okama queen gently pulls Sanji into a comforting hug. Tellingly, Sanji doesn’t resist, letting long suppressed tears fall as Iva consoles him and as he finally accepts his feelings for Zoro.
(I still hold onto the letters you returned.
You help me live and learn.
It's 4:03,
And I can't sleep.
Without you next to me,
I toss and turn like the sea.)
Shot of Zoro and Sanji reuniting at Sabaody. Cut to Sanji approaching Zoro on the deck of the Sunny at night. Zoro looks over as Sanji joins him before slowly reaching out and taking his hand.
(If I drown tonight,
Bring me back to life.
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe in is you.
Believe in is you…
I still believe in you…
If you only knew…)
Shot of Zoro sweeping Sanji into an embrace among the unconscious forms of several of Big Mom’s children. Shot of Pudding and Reiju looking on with tearful smiles before Pudding takes Reiju’s hand and slides Sanji’s discarded wedding ring onto her finger. In the background, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji can be seen kicking the fallen form of Judge. Shot of Zoro and Sanji finishing up a fight against members of the Beast Pirates. As the last ones fall, they turn and take each other’s hands. Shot of the two standing at a wedding altar, with the rest of the Straw Hats and their still-living allies—including Ace, who has succeeded Whitebeard as an Emperor—in attendance. All are a few years older, indicating this is after Luffy becomes King of the Pirates. Close on the couple looking into each other’s eyes with tears of joy and love as they are pronounced husbands, before they share a warm and passionate kiss.