Chapter Text
The specific instance Sanji fell victim to the Slow-Slow Beam is widely known.
It was just after Foxy had tricked the Strawhats into another Davy Back Fight. Right then, Luffy had accepted, and—
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The crew recollected themselves, wincing at the dull throb in all of their heads, they looked up to see the floor they were once standing on. It was on hinges.
It appeared they'd fallen through a trapdoor.
They didn't have to wait too long, though. For their captain boldly reassured his crew with a mighty punch through the walls. A stupid plan, but it worked, they supposed.
After finding Foxy "disguised" in a lovely dress and horrible makeup, they all agreed: Out of everything Luffy's ever done, the moment he took a good look at Foxy and asked, "Where's Split-Head?" took the cake.
"It looks like he's not here," Luffy frowns, turning back to his crew.
Zoro was there in a flash when he spotted sight of the gleaming tip that rose just about Luffy's straw hat. "Luffy!" yelled the crew.
"Hm? What happened?"
Zoro sighed, narrowing his eyes. "Luffy... take a good look at the face." Luffy tilted his head with a hum. "What about the face?"
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Luffy narrowed his eyes at the person behind Zoro's sword. "Are you... Split-Head's little sister?!"
Everyone slapped their heads, except for Zoro, who thumped his head against the dull hilt of the sword instead.
See, this was when Sanji had just had it. Kicking Luffy across the room, Sanji snapped, "OF COURSE NOT, YOU IDIOT!" With that, a fuming cook turned towards the nervous, split-head pirate captain. "Are you trying to make fools out of us again, you split-head?!" Sanji growled—and he lunged forward, foot aimed for the pirate captain's face.
"SLOW-SLOW BEAM!" Foxy yelled, thrusting his arms forward. From his hands emerged a ray of purple light—in which Sanji was dead-center of.
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The impact had sent Sanji lurching back a bit. And under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been anything much, but now, heading backwards, Sanji had found himself headed for Zoro in slow-motion.
Mouth-first.
And out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luffy rushing forward, following Foxy into the door he had disappeared through. It didn't take very long—and they were already far, far ahead. Usopp surged forward, stopping at the door to look back at Nami. The navigator glanced at Sanji's horror-struck face, frozen as he slowly fell towards his rival.
Nami held back a smile. They'd be fine.
She tailed Usopp, leaving the room.
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The wait was unbearable. It was close.
Just a millimeter between their lips. But right then, the beam lost its effect, and Sanji was able to slam his forehead onto Zoro's instead.
"That was a close call, and nothing more, alright?!" Sanji gritted through his teeth, glaring at Zoro through his narrowed eyes. "Agreed." Zoro huffed, scowling.
After that, due to Zoro's horrible sense of direction, they didn't get back to everyone else until after the battle had ended. That was it.
However, in another universe, The Slow-Slow Beam lasted for thirty two seconds instead of thirty.
In another universe, Foxy won just one more fight that he had in the past.
In another universe, Sanji lost the battle with physics that he had originally won.
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The cook and swordsman went crashing to the ground, gravity clasping its long, heavy fingers around them once more. But what was more important—the reason that they wouldn't dare to move an inch—was that the impossibly soft, warm, slightly wet feeling on their mouths was a bit... distracting.
Recalling this, Sanji wishes he could say he closed his eyes like the true romantic he is—but there's always exceptions when it comes to Zoro. Hey! That moss-head was staring right back at him, don't shake your head like that!
It was...
~~~
Really distracting.
Zoro hadn't done shit like this before. He's just... trained. Swordsmanship has been the focus of his life ever since he could remember. And he didn't know about his sexuality and all that—if he liked someone, he liked someone. That was that.
Besides, he's part of a pirate crew—and with that idiot captain of his, there was always an adventure. Was there really any time for romance, anyway?
And now, here was Sanji, wide-eyed, breathing hard, most definitely pink in the face, and pressed to him. An opportunity presented to him on a cook-themed platter.
Zoro wasn't going to take an opportunity if it was just there. If he was going to commit to someone, he was going to commit.
He'd have to like this, to want Sanji like this, and look forward to doing countless more things with this man. Only then would he commit. And see, that can't be... that can't...
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Holy crap.
He was so...
~~~
Screwed. How did Sanji find himself here?
He's supposed to be with the ladies, not... Marimo, of all people! He wants to pull away, as fast as he can.
Except... he knows he'd be overcome by a pang of hurt if Zoro did.
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It's not a good ethic when kissing someone to randomly pull away. It's rude. That's probably why he'd feel that way.
Something flashed in Zoro's eyes. The green-haired man made the smallest choking sound as his eyebrows drew together.
And Sanji was terrified.
He was scared, alright?! You got it?! He felt this unmistakable wave of panic roll over him, and so he just—
Sanji pushed Zoro to the wall, resting his hands at his sides and shutting his eyes closed with much intensity as his lips pursed the slightest bit.
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Well... he didn't mean to do it that hard...
WELL, ANYWAY! He was there, tense. He didn't... want to think about it.
And—argh—it was getting uncomfortable, why wouldn't Marimo just...
~~~
Kiss him back. It's not that Zoro didn't want to, it was just that... this was a lot.
Zoro had never labeled whatever he felt for Sanji. It was simple... but now it wasn't.
He could've still moved on. Just pull away, and not speak about it. Keep his feelings to himself.
But right when he thinks he should do exactly that...
Sanji surges forward, and Zoro finds himself firmly against the wall now.
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This complicates things.
Well, if this was going to happen... he supposes he should—
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Just do it! Sanji thought, desperately. Just pull yourself away from that dumbass, he's not... Sanji's hands fisted. He's not...
Sanji was trapped in the worst hell he knew. It was so easy to plaster himself to Zoro. So hard to break away. Maybe that Foxy guy, his Devil Fruit power included sluggishness after the beam? That could be it.
Sanji exhales shakily. "Marimo, fucking—" He mumbled quietly against Zoro's lips. "Do something..."
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Zoro did do something.
Sanji could barely feel it, but—there, the smallest movement...
It was nothing at all, actually. Sanji could have imagined it. Yes. He imagined Zoro's fingers curl into his, imagined the swordsman's tense muscles—relax? Relax against the wall...
Suddenly, Sanji's afraid he's going to faint from the panic again, just under much different circumstances.
~~~
Zoro found that this wasn't as hard as he'd thought it'd be.
And besides, it was completely worth it to hear—more like feel, he still can't quite completely comprehend how close they are—the cook's breath hitch.
It wasn't all perfect, of course. Romantic? You can forget that. It was more like... Sanji was there, and Zoro was there. And... they were just unusually close. Especially in the mouth area. That's... it.
It's still overwhelming.
Zoro likes it.
At the risk of sounding generic, he'd say that he wants to fluster Sanji. It was fun. This sort of stuff was supposed to be light—he thinks... he wasn't completely sure. All of this was new. But he was doing all of this with Sanji.
So... why not?
He pushed forward a bit—again, it was all new. Though... the way their lips locked together made Zoro want to hum in satisfaction. It felt right.
Sanji suddenly turned to stone before him. Seriously, he might have stopped breathing.
Zoro scoffed, cracking an eye open to see Sanji's closed eye, curled eyebrow raised slightly above it. "Good, Shitty Cook?"
And the way Sanji glared at him, his eyes closing to slits, had him smirking.
Zoro really liked this.
~~~
Okay, so Sanji was panicking a minute ago, but now he's just pissed.
Who does Zoro think he even is!? Hah!? Like Sanji couldn't handle himself!?
Sanji could handle himself very well, thank you.
Hell, he had more experience with kissing than the stupid Marimo did! There was that one time... this customer pecked him on the cheek...
Okay, well, maybe he wasn't exactly used to this...
Especially with Zoro.
Whatever. Like he said—he's a real romantic. This brute was going to have the most amazing kiss, and it'd all be Sanji.
The idea satisfied the cook. He'd show Marimo.
"Shut up," Sanji growled. Then he—slowly, they're really only brushing their lips together, they're not quite sure what's happening, other than that they like it—hesitated before bringing a hand up to grip Zoro's nape. And then—pausing, is this okay?—he licked at the swordsman's mouth.
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Zoro tensed. And Sanji grew very, very still....
Before Sanji could pull back and—holy shit, let go because none of this was supposed to be happening in the first place!?—Zoro groaned. And sure, it was a familiar sound—they had fought so many times, how could it not be? But it was... much more different. Like when the swordsman slid a calloused hand through Sanji's hair and tugged a little.
Sanji felt very float-ish.
'''
Sanji still felt float-ish.
But he had bigger problems, because now he was the one with a shy tongue prodding at his lips. And he didn't want any of that.
Okay, so Zoro was unusually good at this. And he was probably just playing around with Sanji, teasing him. And Sanji didn't like that. You think you're in charge here? Absolutely-fucking-not.
Sanji sealed his mouth over Zoro's, sliding his tongue into the swordsman's mouth.
Zoro completely froze, the ministrations to Sanji's hair coming to an abrupt stop, before tilting his head the slightest bit. The cook sighed.
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He didn't mean to sigh!—whatever.
Besides, he could fluster the swordsman. He was sure of it. So he untangled—un-untangled?!—his other hand from Zoro's, and lifted it up to explore the other's pierced ear.
Zoro shuddered.
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Sanji liked that.
The cook pulled away from the swordsman briefly, relishing in the way he held on to his hair a little tighter—Zoro didn't want him to leave! Bringing both of his hands now to hold Zoro's neck, Sanji pressed his lips to Zoro's left ear—and he bit down on it, getting a taste of Zoro's skin and the metal of his earring.
The swordsman jolted. "C-Curly Brow?!" he hissed.
Sanji licked the skin, feeling a bit proud—it was red because of him. No one else. He brought his lips to Zoro's ear once more. He wasn't... kissing, he was just...
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Zoro tugged on Sanji's hair again, snapping him out of his daze.
Sanji laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get back to it, Marimo..." he murmured against the swordsman's skin. Zoro made an unintelligible sound before giving up and huffing. Sanji's smirk grew.
He licked some more—seeing Zoro tense up was now satisfying, knowing it was all because of him—and lightly bit the skin just below his ear, too.
Sanji pulled back and stared at it for a moment before—he wasn't entirely sure... there was just this feeling that filled up inside of him, so he simply nuzzled into Zoro's neck and stayed there for a while.
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It was... really...
Just then, the hand in Sanji's hair roughly pulled him—"Ack—Marimo?!"—and the cook found himself as the subject of Zoro's narrowed eyes.
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"Wha—"
Before Sanji could finish his strained sentence, his mouth crashed into Zoro's as the swordsman's hands wound around him. Sanji groaned—it HURT, okay?! Nothing else...
Now violently tonguing Zoro's mouth in a battle for dominance, Sanji felt a soft hand on his shoulder.
It grew insistent, shaking him vigorously now—and annoying the hell out of Sanji. "M—Marimo, fucking—gah! Stop it, what do you..." Resting his forehead against Zoro's now, he glared at him. "What do you want?!"
"Wake up," Zoro mumbled against his lips. Huh?
Sanji squinted at him. "Moss-head—"
"Wake up," Zoro repeated, scrunching his eyes closed and gripping Sanji's shoulders hard.
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What could he possibly—
"WAKE UP, DAMMIT!" Zoro yelled. And—
'''
Sanji blinked his eyes open. He was on the ground, and Zoro was hovering over him, arms caging him in.
What?