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It was relatively quiet in the galley, the sound of glasses against the table, the waves crashing against the side of the Sunny as they sailed through the sea. Most of the crew had left for bed after the large meal and more celebratory drinks, eating and drinking their fill after the success at Fishman Island. The only two remaining at the table were Zoro, booze in hand, and Sanji falling back into his seat, slinging a dish towel on his shoulders after putting the last of the dishes away for the night. Zoro looked towards Sanji as he lit a cigarette, blowing a cloud of smoke skywards and sighing.
“So, how did it happen?” Sanji’s words surprised Zoro after their extended period of silence.
“Huh?”
“Your eye,” he said, his visible eye flicked to Zoro’s and he dragged in another lungful of smoke. “How’d you lose it?”
Zoro bristled slightly trying to hear the mocking tone the Cook usually held in his voice when addressing him, but all he could hear was curiosity. When Zoro didn’t respond Sanji sat up straighter and leant forward towards the Swordsman.
“What, not going to tell me what you were doing for the last two years?” Sanji said with a huff.
Zoro broke their eye contact and looked away taking another swig of his drink, not sure he wanted to answer this question either.
“What is this?” He said with a sardonic lilt. “20 questions?” looking back at the Cook to see him scowling.
Sanji let out an annoyed breath and relaxed back in his seat raising the two fingers cupping his cigarette to his lips. “I thought we could actually talk for once, but if you want to be like that just forget it.” His hand still covering his mouth and the scowl prominent on it.
Zoro huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his short hair. Giving it a thought he realised that the Cook was right. They weren’t much for talking, at least not really talking, they shouted at each other but not about anything that mattered. Throughout their adventures he’d gotten to know the members of their crew, through their actions or experiences, through someone else close to them, but they didn’t talk much about their pasts. Hell, he’s not sure he’s ever mentioned Kuina to anyone. He rubbed the back of his neck grimacing minutely.
“Fine” He said, “but it’s a two way street Cook, and I’m not answering if I don’t want to.” Zoro squared himself to the table, resting both elbows onto it and fisting his hands under his chin. Sanji jolted with surprise, it was obvious to Zoro that he’d not expected Zoro to concede. He mimicked Zoro’s posture, except with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“The eye?”
“Nope. Not answering that one Cook.” Zoro smirked, enjoying the other man’s irritated eye-roll as he muttered something under his breath so low that Zoro couldn’t pick it up.
“Where did you get sent?” Sanji tried but received a blank stared back. “Seriously Marimo, what can I ask you then? ‘What’s your favourite smell?’” His tone exasperated and slightly mocking.
“The smell of rice fields after the rain.” Zoro replied seriously thinking back to the rice fields at Shimotsuki Villiage and the ‘training sessions’ — or ‘ass-beatings’ he had with Kuina in those very fields. Again enjoying the dumbfounded look on Sanji’s face, who blinked a couple of times before resetting his expression to neutral and gesturing towards Zoro.
”Your turn I guess.”
Zoro shook his head slightly, “Nah can’t think of one, I’ll jump in if I want.” A brief flash of something crossed Sanji’s face; Annoyance? Hurt? Disappointment? Zoro couldn’t quite pinpoint it before it was gone.
”Fine, if you’re only going to answer the stupid ones, uh…” Sanji trailed off in thought, taking another drag of his cigarette. “Okay, if animals could talk, which one would you argue with the most?” His one visible brow raising as if challenging Zoro, who let out a small laugh, lips curving into a smirk.
“A goat.” He answered and Sanji looked at him quizzically. “They are hard-headed and stubborn, feels like it’d probably be fun.”
There was a moment of silence as Sanji took a large gulp of his drink, pausing slightly as if to see if Zoro wanted to insert anything.
When it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen, he posed another question: “If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” Zoro thought he noticed slight hesitation from the Cook, but he wasn’t sure he was reading it right.
“Onigiri.” He responded.
Sanji downed the rest of his drink and stood abruptly, Zoro’s eye watched him as he walked around the galleys island. Sanji bent down into a cupboard to fetch another bottle and lent against the countertop. He pulled the cork free and took a swig.
He gave Zoro a piercing look as he said, “That’s not where the rest of it’s kept so don’t even try.” Zoro scoffed and finished his drink as well.
“Gonna share Curly?” He asked quirking his eyebrow and lifting his now empty glass.
Sanji crossed back to the table and loosened his tie. Zoro’s eye was drawn to the movement, even more so when Sanji took another swig and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Sanji took another deep breath in and asked, “Favourite season?”
“Winter.” Zoro was brought back to focus still looking up at the cook who hadn’t returned to his seat.
“Hmm interesting,” Sanji said, “care to elaborate?” Zoro thought for a second, rubbing his hand against his jaw and lifting his empty glass to his lips. He pulled back, remembering it was empty and set it back on the wood of the table firmly.
“It’s better for training,” he said, “the cold is good for focusing the mind.” It was something he needed currently, something about the warmth of the galley and the alcohol, though he was definitely not nearly approaching drunk, was making it harder for him to keep his mind focused. Zoro found himself becoming increasingly distracted by the Cook, and not just tonight. Zoro’s eye was drawn several times throughout their time at Fishman Island to Sanji, especially when he had shown his newly learnt techniques during their battles, and the muscle he had developed over the last two years. This, however, was unideal as it almost led to a few extra scars on his body. Zoro shook his head, he needed to keep it under control.
Zoro realised that Sanji had asked him another question and his brain took a few more seconds to process it: “Favourite Island we’ve visited?” Sanji looked down at his glass swirling the contents, after not receiving an answer for long enough he opened his mouth to move on and ask another question when Zoro interrupted.
“Little Garden was fun.” Sanji’s brow furrowed and he stared at Zoro.
He moved to Zoro’s side of the table and sat down near enough that Zoro had to shift backward slightly to be able to face him again, he poured himself another glass before sliding the bottle towards the Swordsman. “Didn’t you almost die on Little Garden?”
“When have we not almost died?” Zoro laughed humourlessly. Thinking back on their adventures, he did acknowledge that a lot of them went pretty bad, but many of them could have gone a lot worse.
“True.” Sanji said with a slight chuckle.
“What about you?” Zoro asked, Sanji looked at him, as if he was surprised to be asked a question in return.
“Oh, um…” Sanji started returning his gaze to his glass, “Skypiea was pretty good.”
“I would have thought you’d have said Fishman Island with all the mermaid tail you were chasing after.” Zoro bumped their shoulders together, some would say playfully, Zoro would not.
“Right…” Sanji sighed. Zoro noticed the shift in the Cook’s tone and looked at his face more carefully, he was still looking at his glass, almost glaring at it before he let out a dry laugh, “Yes of course!” He crowed, briefly covering his eyes with his hand. “Your terrible answer must have made me forget where I was, of course it was Fishman Island with all those wonderful beauties.”
Zoro frowned. Something about the Cook’s attitude flipped like a switch and he seemed more guarded. Zoro noticed that the Cook’s glass was empty again and could see the faintest pink hue start to creep over his cheek bones. Sanji took in a deep breath, his eyes closed as if centering himself, before he once again met Zoro’s gaze.
”I don’t think any of you ever mentioned how you and Luffy met.” Zoro looked into his own drink, a small smile on his lips as he remembered the small rubber kid in the straw hat that he first met.
“I was tied up in a marine base,” Zoro started, “I was strung up for something or other, think I pissed off the son of the base commander. This village kid had snuck in to bring me some food and the moron marine had thrown it on the ground, Luffy climbed over the wall and I made him pick it up and give it to me.” He glanced toward Sanji who was giving him an expression he couldn’t discern. “I’d been there for 3 weeks I think and she’d made me the food, it would have been rude to- ah whatever.” He sighed. “I thought Luffy was crazy when he’d asked me to come with him, or maybe I was crazy after being strung up for that long.”
”Call me Luffy! I’ll untie you if you’ll join my pirate crew, okay!?”
”I can’t remember much more, but somewhere along the way he cut me loose, we fought the marines and left.” Zoro watched as Sanji lit another cigarette, he hadn’t noticed the end of the first one.
Sanji was absent-mindedly nodding, tracing the wood grain with his other hand. Then he seemed to snap back to himself, loosening his tie even further before pulling it over his head entirely and throwing it onto the table. He then unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt, pulling at his collar, and rolled his neck.
Zoro wasn’t sure he understood this reaction and felt unsure whether he should mention it. He decided not to, instead he chose to ask a question back so he could continue to observe the Cook.
”How did you meet Zeff?” Zoro could see Sanji’s lips tighten and the indecision in his eye on whether or not to answer. “You don’t exactly look related.” Zoro added.
Sanji sighed, swallowing and looking as if he was choosing his words carefully, “I met him on a ship called the Orbit, Zeff was the captain of the Cook Pirates and they had attacked the ship-”
“Wait,” Zoro cut in, “he attacked your ship?!” He turned entirely to face the Cook, his hand reaching out subconsciously over the table towards the other man.
“It wasn’t exactly my ship, I was just working in their kitchen. I wasn’t close to anyone on there.” Sanji clarified moving back slightly. “The ship sank in a storm immediately after and we were stranded on a rock until someone found us.”
“How long did that take?” Zoro asked pulling his hand back and grabbing the bottle as an excuse.
“Almost 3 months.”
Zoro stared.
Stranded 3 months in the middle of the ocean with a guy he’d just met, and not in a friendly way. He couldn’t imagine what they did all that time, what they ate-
”How old were you?” He asked, closing his eyes and trying to push that thought out of his head.
“10 I think.” Zoro heard the Cook say. He couldn’t understand it but he was angry all of a sudden.
”What the hell Mosshead?!” Sanji shouted. Zoro opened his eyes to see Sanji reaching for his hand, looking down he could see why. Zoro had crushed his glass in his hand, alcohol and shards of glass covering the table. Zoro shook his head and took in a deep breath looking towards the galley’s ceiling, releasing the tension forming in his shoulders. He unclenched his fists letting more glass and blood join the mess on the table. Letting out his breath slowly, Zoro looked down to see that Sanji had taken hold of his injured hand and was pressing the dish towel against it. Sanji looked up at him in concern, his single visible curled brow furrowed, and blue eye scanned Zoro’s.
“It was a long time ago Marimo.” He said almost as if he was trying to comfort Zoro or at least calm him down. Zoro watched the Cook as he pulled the towel from Zoro’s hand, checking to see the extent of the damage and brushing off any glass he could see. Looking around he grabbed his discarded tie and grimacing, started wrapping it around Zoro’s palm before tying it off. “You can take that to Chopper in the morning, it didn’t look bad enough to wake him up this late.” He picked the towel back up and mopped up as much mess from the table as he could before settling back.
Zoro looked down at his ‘bandaged’ hand, confusion clouding his mind at the tenderness of the moment, not used to the Cook touching him in such a manner.
”Zeff and I ended up opening the Baratie after we were found.” Sanji cleared his throat and continued. “He taught me all he could about cooking, about how to fight, and about what was most important.” Zoro watched the other man look down at his hands. Hands that provided, hands that cared, strong hands that could wield a knife as well as Zoro could wield a sword. Zoro blinked realising that it had been too long that he was looking at the Cook’s hands and not saying anything. He brought his eye up to the Sanji’s and found it on his face. Sanji coughed and lifted his glass to take another sip before realising he’d downed it already. Zoro reached over, pouring more alcohol into it.
“So, where did you get sent for those two years?” Sanji asked as he lifted the freshly poured drink to cheers the air as a thank you to the one who poured it. Zoro was aware of the deflection that was occurring, but couldn’t quite figure out what it was that had just been deflected, and he couldn’t come up with a reason not to answer anymore.
”Don’t really remember the name of the Island,” Zoro said, “thought I had crazy luck, good or bad depending which way you looked at it, when Dracule Mihawk showed up.” He saw the Cook’s eye widen. “Turns out I’d been sent to where he’d been living. He returned from the Summit War shortly after I got there and told me he’d seen Luffy, and about Ace…”
Zoro sighed heavily thinking back to when he saw Hawk-eye again after all that time, about hearing what happened to Luffy and that he wasn’t there for him when it mattered most. He remembered feeling weak and inadequate, he was supposed to be Luffy’s right hand, to protect him from what he couldn’t see coming, he had failed at Sabaody and then again at Marineford. He tried to shake those feelings off, after all he’d made a vow to himself that it would never happen again, that he had grown stronger so that he could protect everyone at any time. He looked over to the Cook and saw the faraway expression on his face, no doubt he was also thinking about that day as well. Zoro nudged him with his boot and watched him startle. Continuing he said, “That pink-haired witch from Thriller Bark who was popped by Kuma was also there.”
”Oh” Sanji’s eyebrow raised, “That must have been lovely having a beautiful-“
”It wasn’t, she was annoying.” Zoro was trying to hide the fondness he had developed for Perona, she had helped him a lot after the news about Luffy and after he had lost his eye, but he didn’t want to admit it. He noticed that the other man was about to cut back in, probably to defend the woman Zoro has ‘insulted’, but he didn’t want to hear it.
”What about you?” Zoro asked, “Where were you?” He cut the Cook off. Sanji closed his mouth and averted his gaze. “Cook?” Zoro pressed.
”It was an island run by one of the leaders of the revolutionary army, though I didn’t know that until later, but that’s all there is to say about that.” Zoro was surprised by the attitude shift from the Cook and noticed the slight deepening of the colour on his cheeks. “He was also there, at the Summit War, helped Luffy after they broke out of Impel Down. It was nice to hear that he wasn’t alone, that he had someone at his back even if it wasn’t-“ He trailed off.
The mood in the galley sobered slightly and Sanji seemed deep in thought. The Sunny rocked a little more violently and Sanji, who hadn’t been paying enough attention, fell slightly towards the Swordsman who caught his shoulder, steadying him. Their gazes met again, Zoro felt a slight tingling sensation on his skin, his hair standing on end at their closeness.
”Why did you stop me?” Sanji asked not moving away. Zoro’s brow furrowed slightly, not quite sure what he was referring to.
”Need more than that Cook.”
”When Kuma was coming for Luffy, why did you knock me out?” Sanji was quieter than Zoro had almost ever known him to be, but he could still hear it all the same due to their nearness. He didn’t answer. He was not sure he had one to give. He knew there was something he could say, should say, but deep down he knew there was more to it. He just didn’t know how to form the words. “Was I not good enough?” Zoro could barely believe the words were coming from the man in front of him. Their gazes had not wearied so Zoro saw the signs of tears that started to well in Sanji’s eyes before he pressed the tips of his long fingers into them. He pushed his body back turning away, breaking the tension building between them.
”It was my job to protect you all,” the words came out of Zoro’s mouth before his mind could approve them. “I couldn’t let any of you get hurt anymore.” Sanji was angry, Zoro could see that. His eyes were flashing and his whole body looked wound up.
”Why did you, you shitty swordsman, get to decide that it was you that we could lose?” Sanji faced Zoro straight on again, breathing heavy, the tears threatening to drop but Sanji did nothing to wipe them away. “They still needed you to protect them from Luffy’s idiocy- see what happened at Sabaody… and what could I do?!” Sanji’s hands were balled into fists on his knees, his cigarette crushed within, and his drink forgotten.
“Did you not know what losing you would do to them?” He said, a tear finally fell from his eye and hit his cheek. “To me?” Sanji closed his eyes, clenching them together as he pushed his balled fists into them. He stood abruptly and turned from Zoro who watched his movements, mouth agape.
Sanji moved to the wall of the galley and slammed his hands against it. Zoro watched him go, his thoughts racing. Moving quickly through the questions the Cook asked. The thought of letting the Cook sacrifice himself was a nightmare that plagued him constantly over these last two years.
Didn’t he see?
Zoro watched the Cook’s tense back and realised that the actual events had affected Sanji more than he knew. Zoro finally saw the emotions the other was hiding all throughout their ‘game’, the hurt over Zoro not wanting to know anything about him, the openness about their adventures and his favourite moments, his blush after talking about their pasts, the tears, the-
”Did you know what losing you would do to them? To me?”
Of course he did, it was exactly what it would have done to Zoro if he’d lost that stupid Love Cook. Zoro stood and walked towards Sanji who still had his back turned, breathing heavily. Zoro’s voice was low, but he knew the Cook could hear it as his shoulders twitched ever so slightly.
”Cause I couldn’t have lived with it the other way around.” Sanji didn’t make a move to turn around. “Cook look at me.” Nothing. “Curly please.” He still didn’t turn.
”Sanji!”
Sanji’s head whipped around, eyes wide looking into Zoro’s searchingly. There were more tears on his face now.
”What?” He said fully facing Zoro, back to the galley wall now. Zoro lifted his hand, wrapped in Sanji’s tie, and placed it firmly by Sanji’s head, leaning in. Sanji’s eyes darted to it, taking in a sharp breath before his eyes darted back to meet Zoro’s.
”Ask me the seventh question you asked me again.” Zoro said, watching Sanji’s eyes unfocused slightly as he thought back to the questions he asked Zoro tonight, when it took him a bit too long, Zoro prompted: “The food one.” Recognition lit the Cook’s eyes and he complied.
”If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life,” Sanji started cautiously, “what would it be?” Uncertainty laced his voice. Zoro lent in closer and lifted his other hand to wipe away the tears on Sanji’s cheek, his hand remaining there.
”Your Onigiri, just yours- forever.” He said softly. They were so close at this point, almost nose to nose. His eye flicked his from Sanji’s tear stained cheek, to his lips, and then to his eyes to see the glistening blue searching his own face.
”Zoro-“ His name felt like a caress coming out of Sanji’s lips, “Kiss me?”
Zoro crashed their lips together, the hand cupping Sanji’s cheek wrapped to the back his neck and pulled him closer, their chests flush against each other. When they finally came a part, each of them panting for air, a laugh burst from Zoro as he pressed his forehead against Sanji’s. At Sanji’s questioning head tilt Zoro said, “I cannot actually believe you asked that.”
Sanji kneed him in the side, a duplicate smile on his face.