Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I WIN!" Sanji and Zoro shouted at each other as they came to a stop, obeserving each other's kills. Sanji wasn't too impressed with Zoro, not when he obviously had the bigger monster and therefore could make the most out of his kill. He had no idea what he would do with three random horns.

"YOU LOSE!" They both retaliated. Sanji knew Zoro was an idiot but did not have a brain? Couldn't he tell he lost? Did he not have the pride to admit that while he did have a decent-size kill, Sanji clearly had the bigger and better one.

"Good grief, cook. I got the bigger and better kill. Use your damn eyes, er, well you can only see out of one them." Zoro laughed.

"I can see perfectly through my hair, thank you very much. And that's why I know for a fact I have the bigger and better one!" He shouted, about ready to kick some sense into Zoro.

"Whatever you say, cook. Just admit that I'm better at fighting and I got the bi-" Zoro stiffened up and grabbed the hilt of the wado, lookimg towards the dark jungle. Sanji held his breath, trying not to say something snarky. Usually Zoro liked to finish his insults and Sanji was willing to admit that Zoro had an odd sense of being able to detect things and people before they made themselves known.

"Oh shit." Zoro mumbled as a man in a trenchcoat and sunglasses walked out of the jungle.

"If you ask me, I think they're both about the same size, and I think you both have more to be worried about right now." He said, stopping not too far with them with a devious smile.

"Who is that?"

"Ran into him at Whiskey Peak. He likes to picks his nose." Zoro scoffed as he took the wado out.

"That...is disgusting. He's one of the people trying to kill Vivi?"

"Him and some lady whose probably hiding around here somewhere. Check the sky. She can fly, sort of." 

Sanji heard laughing and saw an attractive lady appear from the tree line, floating in the air with the help of her umbrella. 

"Mr. 5! We found one of them! Who's the cutie?"

"YOU THINK I'M CUTE?" Sanji fell to his knees in awe, feeling estatic and loved by the woman's little compliment. She was definitely going to try and kill them but she was nice enough to say Sanji was cute.

“IDIOT! THEY'RE BAROQUE WORKS! SHE'S GOING TO TRY TO KILL ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY VIVI, AND YOU'RE ON YOUR KNEES FOR HER?!?!" Zoro tried to hit him but Sanji jumped up and few feet back, meeting the swordsman's glare, watching as the lady daintly landed on her feet next to her partner.

"Oh, you wouldn't understand." Sanji got a new cigarette out to replace the one he had been getting some rush and feeling from for hours now. He started smoking to be a man but then he soon realized that when he smoked, he wasn't as numb as he could be at times, and they tasted too damn good.

"Whatever. Let's just deal with him, get the others, and then get the hell out of here." Zoro put the wado in his mouth and took his other swords out, then he lept towards Mr. 5, who hadn't moved at all. Sanji saw the lady running towards him, unable to stop laughing about how much she was going to have trying to kill him, and he would have been paralyzed and love-struck if she didn't mention killing Nami and Vivi, who were much more important to him.

"HI! WHO ARE YOU?" She swung her umbrella at him and he was very easily able to avoid her attacks, trying not to trip over the dead meat. Maybe if he just wore her out, she would pass out on her own and Zoro would have handled Mr. 5 by then, and then they would go back to arguing over their kills and once Zoro opened his eyes and saw Sanji won, they would get the others and get the hell out of Little Garden.

"Name's Sanji, and if I may have yours?"

"Miss Valentine!"

"Beautiful name for a beauitful lady, if I may say."

She came to a stop and started to giggle, kicking a foot up into the air. Even though she was the enemy, she was still a lady and Sanji would always do his best to please one and make them feel admired and let them know how stunning they were.

"Oh, shame I have to kill you...unless you want to join us. I don't know what skills you have but I'm sure we can find some place for you at Baroque Works. We could even be partners if I put in a good word." She tempted, and Sanji was exicted for a split second, but there was no way in hell he would ever consider joining Baroque Works, even for the lovely Miss Valentine. 

"Sorry, ma'am. I'm going to have to refuse that offer. You see, you and your friends keep trying to kill my friends, which I don't appreciate!" He managed to kick her umbrella and she wouldn't let go of it, even when Sanji sent it flying, taking Miss Valentine with it. He apologized but she was fine. He wasn't sure how she was doing it but the wind seemed to take her away and she was at the top of the trees, mainting her position with her twirling umbrella.

So she probably had devil fruit powers.

Lovely.

"COOK, GET AWAY FROM THERE NOW!" Zoro yelled at him. Sanji didn't know why he was yelling but he lept away from his kill towards Zoro's and just barely missing the explosion. He fell onto his back and wondered why a giant monster would just explode all of a sudden, and how Zoro knew about it.

He sat up and he could see Zoro still engaged with Mr. 5, and then he picked his nose. The fucking assassin picked his fucking nose and Sanji almost threw up from how disgusted he was. He shivered and watched as Mr. 5 flicked the germ towards the dead animal, towards Sanji. Zoro stopped and told the cook to run and that the entire animal was going to blow up in a few seconds. Sanji just sat there which was a mistake, because the moment the booger came in contact with the carcass, the whole thing exploded. Sanji felt himself hit the rock wall and fall onto his back, trying to understand what was going on, and his coat was on fire. He got up and threw it off, at least grateful he had another one on the Going Merry.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST DO?!?!" Sanji danced around the flames, now more concerned about the fact they didn't have food than the two people trying to kill him and Zoro. He wouldn't have anything for his ladies, and for Luffy, and he wasn't sure what was worse.

"HE CAN MAKE ANY PART OF HIS BODY EXPLODE! HE'S A DEVIL FRUIT USER AS WELL!"

"THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO FUCKING KNOW BEFORE HE ALMOST BLEW ME UP TWICE, YOU SHIT-ASS SWORDSMAN!" He yelled as he got into the clearing, out of breath. He underestimated the two agents which was very stupid of him.

He heard Miss Valentine yelp and when he looked up, she was hovering above Zoro, her thigh bleeding.

"ZORO! DID YOU HURT A LADY!?!?" He didn't meant to yell it but he did. As soon as he did, it seemed that all of Miss Valentine's agony went away and she became fixated on Sanji, her winces turning into laughter.

"SHE'S BAROQUE WORKS! SHE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"

"SHE'S STILL A LADY!" 

Miss Valentine kept laughing and chased after Sanji, going on about how he couldn't do anything against him and he would be easy to take down, and then they would take down the green-haired idiot, and then the rest of the pirates would be a piece of cake. Vivi would be theirs, and she would be dead.

As if Sanji would ever let that happened, not while he was still breathing.

He still couldn't hurt a lady but he could try to avoid her attacks and tire her out, and then Zoro could attack her, and then Sanji would get onto Zoro for hurting a lady because it was still against his moral code.

"HEY, WANNA TAKE CARE OF HER FOR ME!?!? I'LL DEAL WITH THE BOOGER-EATER!" He shouted as he just narrowly missed getting stomped on. Zoro yelled in agreement and they jumped across the little opening, exchanging a quick nod mid-air. Sanji mananged to kick off a a tree and avoided a booger bomb. He got a bit more speed and was able to deliver a powerful kick to Mr. 5's smug face and send him back a few feet.

"COOK, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT WOMEN SOON! YOU'RE GETTING NOWHERE IN LIFE IF YOU DON'T! CAN'T WAIT TO BURY YOU BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T KICK A LADY WITH A GUN TO YOUR FACE!" Zoro laughed. Sanji rolled his eyes and told Zoro he was full of shit and a disrespectful excuse for a man.

"DO YOU TWO ALWAYS FIGHT EACH OTHER WHEN FIGHTING OTHERS!?!?" Miss Valentine yelled somewhere in the distance inbetween her pancked yelps of narrowly missing Zoro's attacks.

"YES! WE DO!" The two yelled in unison. Sanji landed on his left leg, feeling something was wrong. A rock must have hit it just right after the explosion and now it was aching. 

And what woudl your father do if he saw you in pain from a rock?

Probably kill him.

Mr. 5 raced towards him, taking a gun out. Sanji ran towards the gun, which Mr. 5 didn't expect. There was confusion in his face which gave Sanji the perfect chance to kick the gun out of his hand and then perform a round-house, which severely weakened Mr. 5. 

Maybe he didn't underestimate them.

"Oh, where were you at Whiskey Peak?"

"Minding my own business. You're not really that much of a threat." 

That ticked Mr. 5 off. He grabbed a branch and threw it towards him with terrible aim. It exploded nearly five feet from Sanji and it wasn't even that impressive of an explosion. The agent growled and ran after Sanji, and all Sanji had to do was take careful and large steps.

"You are in for it now! Me and Miss Valentine are going to take down you and your swordsman! You have no idea who you are dealing with!"

"It's only two against two, and we're going easy on you right now. Other way around, I think." Sanji said as he avoided getting blown up by something the agent kept throwing whatever he could at him. He was annoying the agent and wearing him out. He was bound to make a mistake sooner rather than later and Sanji would have the opportunity to knock him out. Mr. 5 yelled at him and lunged forward, falling into a puddle of mud. Sanji started to laugh and wondered what the deal was with Baroque Works and if they were just a bunch of wimps hiding behind a big name. 

"Yeah, sure thing chef, but it's actually three to two now." Mr. 5 laughed as he looked over to his left.

Shit .

Sanji turned to where he was looking and he wasn't sure what it was, but some white liquid thing came shooting at him. Sanji yelped and fell flat on his back, bending his knee the wrong way and hearing a loud pop that was followed by the same pain he felt when he was a kid he his brothers used to break his knee caps.

So he couldn't use his left leg anymore. 

Not a big deal.

He heard Zoro freak out and when Sanji looked over, his arms were binded together by the substance, and all three of his swords were on the ground and he couldn’t quite grasp them.

"IT'S FUCKING WAX! WHAT THE FU-COOK, BEHIND YOU!"

Sanji just managed to crawl away before a ball of wax landed next to him. He didn’t know if that was meant to trap him or kill him, maybe both. 

“So, you’re the infamous swordsman who took down a hundred Millions at Whiskey  Peak! I must say, I’m not that impressed with you!” Sanji turned his head and saw who had to be Mr. 3 based on his stupid hair standing there, wax melting off of his hands. “And the one of the ground?”

“Never seen him before, but he’s one of them. Packs a nasty kick.” Mr. 5 said, appearing right over Sanji. “Think he deserves a taste of his own medicine.”

Sanji closed his eyes, wondering if Zeff kicked harder or if the assassin did.

He didn’t get the chance to find out. He heard Zoro yelling and loud footsteps, and then the sound of two bodies crashing into each other. He opened his eyes and saw Zoro tackling Mr. 5, blood dripping down from where the wax cuffs began and ended.

“COOK! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!” He yelled, trying to hit the agent with his wax cuffs.

“FAT CHANCE, SHITTY SWORDSMAN! YOU AREN’T EVEN A SWORDSMAN RIGHT NOW!” Sanji got up to his feet and through his pain, tried to use his left leg as an anchor.

“JUST GO RUN AND GET THE OTHERS!”

“MY LEG IS BROKEN! YOU HAVE YOUR LEGS AND YOU CAN’T FIGHT WITHOUT YOUR SWORDS! YOU GO GET THEM!”

“AND HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO FIGHT IF YOU CAN’T USE YOUR LEG?!?!”

“I STILL GOT ONE LEFT! I CAN HOLD THEM OFF!”

"TEN THOUSAND KILO PRESS!" Miss Valentine shouted as she fell from the sky, about to land on Zoro who was still engaged in trying to use the imprisonment as a weapon with Mr. 5. Sanji felt his heart about to explode and he tried to run to Zoro, calling his name and telling him to move out of the way.

"WAX-WAX SLIP!"

Sanji lost his balance and fell flat on his face onto harden wax. He could feel his nose bending the wrong way and a gush of blood in his mouth, and his left tibia breaking in three places.

He felt another impact not too far away, and heard Zoro screaming in pain. He got up to his feet and saw that Zoro was panicking as he became airborne next to Miss Valentine, his restraints now broken which gave Sanji some hope, but that was soon taken from him when there was a large explosion in front of the swordsman, and he just managed to make eye contact with him before his black eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"ZORO!" Sanji yelled as he saw the swordsman went flying through the air and smacked against a tree. Sanji saw his tense body relax as he fell to the ground, and he didn't get back up.

Zoro was down.

And Sanji was now outnumbered three to one.

Fuck!

"Oh, where's Luffy when you need him?" He winced, watching as the Mr. 3 and Mr. 5 formed a circle around him. He limped back, horrified at the thought of his left leg breaking even more.

"Give up now, and come with us peacefully. You don't want to ruin the rest of your clothes, now do you?" Mr. 3 crackled.

"Think you three can't take the soux chef?" He laughed. Mr. Five stepped forward and started digging in his nose. Sanji took a deep breath and got ready for the next booger bomb that came at him. Part of him wanted to run off and find the others, but he couldn't leave Zoro. Hopefully he came around to sooner than later and they could run off together, at least get back to the ship and warn Nami and Usopp.

"Oh, we don't have to do anything. Miss Valentine will finish you off."

The one time he wasn't looking at a lady and it was going to get him killed.

He saw a shadow from above and heard her crazy laughter and he looked up, seeing her almost floating as she spun her umbrella, and then she began to fall.

"Oh shit." He said as he tried to run, just dragging his broken leg, but his effort was wasted in seconds. Sanji felt two feet press against his back with a force he had never felt, not from Zeff, not from his brothers. He felt himself become part of the ground and travel several feet within the dirt. More bones in his body cracked and he was sure his left leg was ruined and something would always be wrong with it at this point. His vision was blurry and all he could hear was a pestering ringing. 

He felt like dying.

Get up.

Get up and fight, and if you can't fight, get Zoro and run.

Just stay alive and don't get caught.

Someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. Sanji knew he was whimpering and he couldn't see for a second, but then he saw Mr. 3 laughing at him. He was saying something but Sanji could still only hear the ringing. Zoro was still on the ground, still not really moving, but his chest was.

There was a still a chance for them.

Sanji used the strength left in him to front-kick the bastard and make him let go as he tried to breathe again. Sanji fell to his knees and started to do his best run towards Zoro, incoherent yells coming from all around him. He was almost able to reach Zoro when there was an explosion in front of him. Sanji slid back and was on his knees, spitting out blood, his left leg throbbing and aching, and wondering how long it would be before he lost the fight and failed Zoro and the rest of the crew.

"-ARE IF HE'S DEAD OR ALIVE! GET HIM, MISS VALENTINE!" Mr. 3 was shouting somewhere from behind and Sanji could somewhat hearing the yells of Miss Valentine, and then he felt her.

Miss Valentine was on him again, sitting on his back. She wasn't as heavy as the last time but it was enough to make Sanji sufficate and painfully feel every bone in his torso. 

"Not...I liked getting crushed by women, but...but not like this." He groaned. Miss Valetine laughed and he could his back cracking, but that wasn't the sound of knots. He kept wiggling his toes, making sure he could feel them because he was very aware of the possiblity that his back might break at any moment and his spine might break, and he likely wouldn't be recieving any medical care to fix the injury.

"Well, that's two down! Should we go and look for the others?"

"I say we spilt up, take these two to Alabasta as soon as possible and get the others."

"Good idea, Mr. 5! Miss Goldenweek and I will get the others! Call Mr. 0 and ask him what he wants to do with them, but do head for Alabasta!"

"Whatever you say, Mr. 3. Miss Valetine? Ready for some for sun?" Mr. Five scoffed, picking up Zoro's limp body and his swords. She giggled some more and Sanji felt even more weight on him before there was a relief as she got off, but that couldn’t help with all the anxiety and worry coursing through him.

"I sure am!" She looked down at Sanji and he saw mischief all over her face, and he knew his pain wasn't over yet.

"Good night, cutie!" She said as her foot came into contact with Sanji's face, and everything was gone.

Chapter Text

“You’re an absolute idiot!” Kuina shouted at him. Zoro opened his eyes and it was night, and he was in the field he last saw Kuina in. She was sitting right next to him, holding the wado tightly, and looking down at him with a smug scowl.

“What I do this time?” He laughed, still hating her and trying to stop himself from breaking down. Every now and then, Kuina was in his dreams, and sometimes those dreams felt more real than reality, and they were truly both still alive and still little kids. Sometimes he was older, but never her.

Same thing with this dream.

"What haven't you done?"

In every dream Kuina was in, she was yelling at him and they would bicker. She always started it but there was usually a point where Zoro would try to prove her wrong and they would spend the rest of the imaginative time they had together yelling at each other. No one ever won the arguments, because Zoro always woke up before one of them could make the other silent. It was all verbal though. Their last duel was the last, real and not. 

Zoro didn't want to lose to her like he always did, but he didn't want her final fight to be a loss.

He wouldn’t challenge her again.

“That’s why I asked you. Narrow down the list and maybe I’ll be able to explain myself.” He huffed, looking away from her and to the last night sky she ever saw.

“Fine! You, a pirate-hunter, are now a pirate!” She hissed at him.

“We’ve had this argument before. You know this by now. We talk about it every time I see you. Luffy brought me my swords and saved me from execution, and he's pushing me to achieve our dream, and since that day, I'm loyal to him. So what if I'm a pirate now? I'm not a bad person.”

She stood up, still clutching the wado.

"But you are.”

He sat up and asked what she meant. Kuina could insult his swordsmanship all night and she would, but rarely did she speak about his actual character and when she did, she never said he was a bad person.

“You know this by now.” She used his own words against him and started to walk away. He called out for her and insisted she tell him what her reasoning was. Not everyone liked him and Kuina sure as hell didn’t, but she gave a reason. 

Idiot, it’s a dream.

A nightmare actually.

He stopped and took a deep breath, preparing himself for anything. Zoro had to remember he was in his mind, and none of this was real. Maybe it felt real, but it was all in his head. Whenever the nightmare ended, Kuina would be dead again.

“So that’s how it’s going to be.” He scoffed and crossed his arms, waiting for the worse. “You’re just a part of my head. You can’t actually do anything.” Kuina stopped and dropped the wado, but it didn’t thud like it should have on the grass. It was a clang, like it hit metal.

It’s in your mind.

Things may not make sense.

“I can’t do anything at all. I’m dead, Zoro.”

“I know…I know, Kuina. I was at the funeral.”

“Zoro…why did I have to die?”

He stuttered, questioning his own mind. He bit the inside of lips and reminded himself about the stairs, how she slipped down them and hit her head.

“I didn’t ask how I died. I asked why. Why did I have to die that night?” She was crying, but also completely still. She tilted her head and looked up at the sky, her final sky. Even if it was all a fantasy, he could feel his heart wrenching and pain worse than any stab or cut.

Guilt.

“I-it was an accident. It wasn’t planned or anything. You just took a wrong step!”

“Stop blaming me when I’m the innocent one, Zoro! You’re why I died! YOU ARE WHY I AM DEAD!”

“YOU’RE WRONG! SHUT UP! I DIDN’T KILL YOU! I DIDN’T PUSH YOU DOWN THOSE STAIRS! I’M NOT TO BLAME HERE!”

She turned around and there was blood streaming down her face, all from one deep cut on her hairline. His body became weightless and he knew it wasn’t real, and he had seen her dead since that rainy day, but it took him aback every single time, and his old grief was fresh and new.

“I would be alive if you weren’t so selfish, so ignorant, so prideful! You couldn’t stand losing! You still can’t stand it! If you were able to take losses, I would be alive! If your pride wasn’t more important than life, so many would be alive!”

He took a deep breath, wondering what she meant. They had never had this argument before, in life and in death. Nothing remotely similar and now he was attacking himself for no reason he could think of.

“I-I don’t under-”

“Well, if you didn’t challenge me that night, I wouldn’t have taken my sword out to fight you, so I never would have gone up those stairs and never would have slipped. And for years, you killed because of how prideful you are. Pirate-hunter Roronoa Zoro. You didn’t have to kill so many pirates. You didn’t have to kill so many people as a pirate. They could have lived but nooooooo. Alive or dead. They could have been turned in alive or dead.”

And almost all of his collected bounties came from corpses.

“That wasn’t my pride! I needed to make a living while I was looking for Mihawk, for us!”

His mind couldn’t forget that he wasn't just going to be the world’s greatest swordsman for himself, but also for Kuina. It was why he carried the wado with him, why he always used that sword, her sword. When he defeated Dracule Mihawk, Zoro would use the wado to perform the final blow, for Kuina.

She started to laugh and the ground below started to shake. He tried to keep his stance because nothing could actually happen. As real as it felt, he was just arguing with himself, and that angry part of him was making the world shake.

“And just like that, Roronoa Zoro, your pride has killed me again.” Kuina cried as she fell through the cracks.

 “KUINA, NO!” He cried, trying to reach for her but she was just out of his grasp.

And she was gone again.

“IT’S NOT REAL! SHE’S BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS! NONE OF THIS IS REAL!” He screamed, tearing at his hair. All the anguish inside of him wasn’t real. He wasn’t even real. This was only a figment of his imagination.

And she was wrong. He was not so prideful that people died. He just happened to be a confident person who was the reason some never made it back home.

She was wrong.

"Zoro, stop letting people die for your pride." Her voice rang through the sky as there was a blinding light, and Zoro felt his chest being cut open again.

When Zoro woke for real, he first felt the swaying of the sea below him, and then his head bounding, and then his wrists aching and stinging, and his ankles were bound together, and then he felt his hands and back tied to someone.

That stupid chef.

Zoro told him to run and get the others. He knew Sanji couldn't take on all three of them, especially with his leg, so Zoro was hoping the dim-wit would give up fighting and go and warn the others, let Zoro be taken hostage. Maybe he could have found Luffy and the others, and attacked Baroque Works because Zoro had a feeling they wouldn't leave with just one hostage, not when they knew there was an injured pirate and more running around and when the agents would feel like they had the advantage. The crew would have leverage over the organization and it might have been easier to save Alabasta from Crocodile's terror.

But of course Sanji fucked that up. 

"Cook?"

Nothing.

"Oi, are you awake?” Zoro nudged him and Sanji didn't react at all. Zoro kept pushing him and he was unresponsive. Zoro moaned and waited a few seconds. He looked down at his wrists, which were speckled with dry blood and bruised black and blue. 

He was still embarrassed from dropping all three of his swords. He could have at least kept the wado in his mouth and tried to use it. But instead he was in so much shock and sudden pain from the wax he dropped all three swords, and then when he tried to fight, he almost got blown up and launched into a tree.

“You were full of energy earlier. They beat it out of you?”

Nothing.

"How badly did they beat you up?" He chuckled as he managed to swing his head around and partially see Sanji. His left leg looked so wrong and Zoro could just see the dry blood coming from his misshapen nose and busted lip, and a black eye that was almost pure black.

And Zoro couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

"Sanji?" He whispered, wondering what happened to him after Zoro was knocked out. He kept fighting, and Zoro wondered how much pain he fought through.

His breathing became short. He grasped Sanji’s wrist and there was a pulse. He didn’t know why he was so worried for the cook. He was just beat up, nowhere close to death, hopefully.

“Hope you made at least one of them look worse.” 

Zoro turned away from the poor cook’s pain and became focused on the door right in front of him, waiting for Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine to make an appearance. He couldn’t think of any way to fight them, especially with an unconscious Sanji attached to him. Maybe if he was awake, they could form a plan, but Zoro didn’t have much faith they would ever agree on what to do.

He pondered on his dream, wondering what it meant. He had never felt guilty for his pride before. He didn’t think it was a bad thing. Zoro was more than aware of the blood in his hands, but he didn’t kill them just because he could. It was his life or theirs, and he valued his life.

One time nightmare.

It means nothing.

A few moments passed and Zoro felt a shake that didn’t come from himself, and then a string of moans and whimpers.

“Cook?”

“Zo…Zoro.” He mumbled. 

"Are you alright?"

“I…shit…owwwww.”

“So you’re not alright?”

"I'm alive, with a broken leg and a fucked up face, and I'm tied to you on a ship going to Alabasta to die. Never been better." He groaned. Zoro rolled his eyes, wondering why, even for a second he was concerned for Sanji. Sanji gave two shits about him and would be an annoyance the entire trip, until one of them died, or both. 

“Well, you wouldn’t be on this ship if you hadn’t gotten yourself captured.” He spat. Sanji tried to turn his head, but all he ended up doing was knocking their skulls together and making Zoro’s headache worse.

"Stupid co-"

"YOU THINK I WAS TRYING TO GET CAPTURED?" 

"IF YOU HAD JUST LISTENED AND RAN AWAY-”

“MY LEG IS BROKEN IN FOUR PLACES! I WOULDN’T GET VERY FAR!” 

“DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT STILL HAVING ONE LEG LEFT?!?!”

“TO KICK! I JUST NEED ONE GOOD LEG TO KICK SOMEONE'S ASS! I NEED BOTH OF THEM TO RUN ACROSS AN ISLAND!”

“RUN THROUGH THE PAIN!”

“THEY STILL WOULD HAVE CAUGHT ME!”

"WHY DIDN'T YOU RUN BEFORE THE BREAK HAPPENED?!?!"

"I BROKE IT THE FIRST TIME WHEN THE WAX GUY SHOWED UP, BEFORE WE REALIZED WE MIGHT BE FUCKED AND RIGHT BEFORE YOU TOLD ME TO RUN!"

 Zoro groaned and gave up on arguing with the pointless cook. Either way, the other was an idiot, like always. Zoro knew they both had a point and also knew both of them were too prideful to admit the other was right.

And the more Zoro thought about it, the more Sanji was right. The agents would have still easily captured him, likely the wax one, and nothing would be different, except he may not have all the bruises he had now.

But he would never say that.

He isn’t going to die because of your pride.

That was just a stupid nightmare with no meaning.

Get over it!

"I wasn't going to leave you." Sanji whispered after some time. “I wouldn’t.”

"You should have." Zoro grumbled.

"Look, I know you would leave me in a heartbeat if the roles were reversed, but I couldn't. I know I wasn't really using my brain but I just couldn't leave you." He said with regret.

Zoro took a deep breath. As stupid as Sanji was for staying, he admired that. Every now and then, Zoro would wonder if Sanji would be there for him like he was with the rest of the crew, or if Zoro would have to fend for himself.

He didn’t have to wonder anymore.

It was reassuring to know that, though they were crewmates. There had been more than a few instances of them fighting for each other, not against each other. He shouldn’t have needed that reassurance but it felt so good.

"I shouldn't be mad. I wouldn't have left you either if that was you on the ground, so we’d be here either way. Guess we're both idiots." He chuckled. Sanji started to laugh and the vibration felt good against Zoro's back.

"Oh yeah, you look like shit, cook." That made Sanji laugh even more and then Zoro was laughing. Despite being hostages and tied together, they found a way to get along for five seconds and laugh, which rarely ever happened in a better situation.

“Well, I fell on my face more than once and the lady kicked it-”

“And I’m guessing you liked that,” he couldn’t help but say. Sanji made it too easy sometimes for Zoro to mess with him.

Sanji broke down and started to lean forward, lifting Zoro up. He yelped and Sanji couldn’t stop. He tried to sit straight up again and kept failing to his sides. Zoro tried to weigh himself down but he couldn’t focus with his own laughter. They swayed side to side, barely able to stop themselves from falling over.

 “You-lemme…lemme look at you. You hit a tree. You have to look bad.” He managed to say, being more careful with turning his head this time. Zoro looked at him and by miracle, and by his hair sticking to blood on his temple, Zoro saw his whole face for the first time.

“Both of your eyebrows curl right?” He meant to keep that thought in his head but the words just spilled out of his mouth.

Sanji’s smile went away and he started to shake his head in an attempt to cover up half of his face.

“I’m not insulting you, curly. Just making an observation.”

“Yeah, I know. I just feel a bit weird when you can see both sides of my face. I’ve had it partially covered since I was a kid, weird thing in my family I think. My mom and most of my siblings had part of their face covered.”

Zoro stiffened up and Sanji kept trying to get his hair to move, as if he didn’t care what he just said. They never spent the time getting to know each other but Zoro was almost sure Sanji had never mentioned siblings to anyone on the crew before, or any family beyond Zeff and the Baratie.

Maybe Sanji didn’t want to mention his blood family.

“Alright, we’ve talked enough about you. Am I still the best-looking out of the two of us?” He quickly said, now curious if his nose was an aggressive angle and if he was missing any teeth.

Sanji managed to get his hair back in place and scoffed, mumbling about how Zoro must have hit his head to have the audacity to say that. 

“You have…nose is slightly crooked, a busted lip, and a cut across your forehead.” Sanji told him.

“Not too bad.” Zoro shrugged.

 “I can prove I fought hard. I got battle scars. You…you’re just roughened up.” The cook breathed, and Zoro considered slamming him into a wall.

“I GOT THROWN INTO A TREE!” 

Sanji started to shake with laughter again and Zoro could feel his head shaking.

“I feel like you have stayed conscious through worse. A tree shouldn’t be able to take out the feared Roronoa Zoro.” He snickered, becoming less physical and able to calm down while still having short outbursts of laughter.

“Not my proudest moment. I think I hit the tree with my head this time, not my back.”

“Well, at least nothing was broken or injured!” 

“…the fuck does that mean?” Zoro caught on after a second that he was being insulted and Sanji started to shake again, not losing his mind with laughter, but shaking again.

“Oh, nothing, moss-head. You’ll be fine.”

“Moss-head…DID YOU JUST CALL ME MOSS-HEAD?!?!”

“Oh, maybe you damaged your ears. Yes. I called you moss-head.”

Zoro rolled his eyes and nudged his elbow into Sanji’s side, making the cook bend over and groan in quick pain that he definitely deserved.

“Of all the crew for me to be stuck with, I get stuck with the damn cook.”

“Well, Usopp would be crying and trying to coward his way out. Nami is my entire world but I rather be with a pissed-off you than her, and I think I might have strangled Luffy at this point or tried to suffocate him. I’m your best option.”

“The options weren’t that great to begin with.” Zoro mumbled. Sanji mocked him and then started to mock his character, maybe the fifth best swordsman in the world who wouldn’t know his left from his right if it was tattooed on his hands with stupid mossy hair.

“Hey! We’re still stuck together and I’m willing to bet I’m stronger than you so I’d keep my mouth shut, shit cook!” 

“Roro Zozo! Failed pirate-hunter! Can’t kill the biggest monster! Bested by a nose-picker and a walking candle and flying lady and her umbrella!”

Zoro was going to tear both of his curly eyebrows off of his face without any wax.

“Stupid curly-cook! I swear, if Baroque Works doesn’t kill you, I will!” He gritted, planting his feet as he truly considered slamming Sanji into the floorboards.

“Then I hope we survive this. I look forward to seeing you try, moss-head.” 

Zoro scoffed and felt Sanji relax against him. Zoro looked down at the ropes, a simple restraint that in any other situation wouldn’t be a problem. If he wasn’t tied to Sanji and their hands weren’t tied together, Zoro felt like he would be able to use brute strength to break the ropes

Of course there was always the chance he couldn’t.

"We'll find a way out, right?"

"One way or another." Zoro almost promised him, but he knew better than to do that, especially given the fact they were defenseless and captives.

“I wouldn’t be too optimistic.” Mr. 5 said. The door in front of Zoro was open and the two Baroque Agents were standing there with smiles so gleeful they could have been taken from children on their birthdays.

He felt Sanji stiffen up and accident or not, he grabbed Zoro’s hands. And Zoro didn’t know why, but he let Sanji, and interlocked his pinky finger with the cook’s. His hands were much smaller than Zoro’s, and his fingers were much thinner, but they were still nice to hold in a desperate situation.

“Glad to see you're both awake.” His speech was slurred and his face was swollen. So the cook did go down fighting and left a good and lasting impression on the agents, an impression that wouldn’t heal for a while.

“Damn, I still have to be dreaming. I don’t remember you being see ugly.” Zoro said, which made Mr. 5 frown. Miss Valentine laughed and danced around the room towards Sanji.

 “Oh, the chef is awake! Any compliments for me now?”

Sanji groaned and didn’t say anything to her, even when Zoro was sure she was right in his face, probably flashing her eyes.

“You can tell me I’m pretty again.”

“Pretty annoying.”

“Oh, you're even cuter when you're mad." Miss Valentine giggled.

"I swear, if you take that as a compli-"

"Relax, moss-head. She is pretty, but she's crazy, and not the hot kind."

"I hate you so much." He muttered.

"Well, hope you two are comfortable. It'll be awhile before we get to Alabasta. I’m afraid this is the most we’ll accommodate for you." Mr. 5 took out a transponder snail and looked down at them, grinning ear to ear.

 “We told Mr. 0 we have two of the pirates but we didn’t tell him who yet, though only one of you actually had a name worth noting.” Miss Valentine said as she waltzed over to her partner.

“Eh, they both got value. Maybe the cook is highly wanted in the North Blue or something.” Mr. 5 laughed as he dialed up his boss. Zoro almost laughed at that stupid little thought. 

What he didn’t like was how Sanji wasn’t laughing.

“Mr. 5? Do I finally get to learn who my new captives are?” Crocodile asked, and hearing his voice made Zoro’s stomach drop for some reason.

"We have Roronoa Zoro, the pirate hunter and the one who took a hundred of us down at Whiskey Peak, and a stubborn blonde chef named Sanji who kicks really hard, and I mean really hard."

There was silence, and he could hear Crocodile talking to a woman, likely the woman who killed Igaram and was on the ship.

"Bring them to Erumalu. Miss All Sunday will pick them up and bring them to me." His deep and heavy voice rang through the room and Zoro felt chills go up his spine. He wasn't scared of him, but he knew he would have to deal with a feared and corrupt Warlord of the Sea who didn't seem to be as merciful as Dracule Mihawk. "What of Princess Vivi and the others?"

"Still on Little Garden as far as we know. Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek should have them by now. These two were a bit rough but nothing we couldn't handle, and I'm presuming these two are the fighters of the crew, so the rest are defenseless." Mr. 5 chuckled.

Luffy was still there, and Zoro knew Usopp could somewhat hold his own, and have mercy on anyone who made Nami mad, and Vivi was Baroque Works for some time. She also knew how to fight. Zoro was more than sure they were fine, and they had the numbers and if the fight still didn’t go their way, they could escape on the Going Merry.

His crew was fine.

He just had to worry about himself and the cook for the time being.

Chapter Text

The first day went by quickly.

After the quick conversation with Mr. 0, the agents left them alone, saying they would be back whenever they felt like it, if they felt like it. Their boss never specified what condition they would be turned in. So, by all means, Sanji and Zoro could be taken to Crocodile with three limbs and one eye left in total.

They spent the rest of the day discussing the crew, how they might be. Sanji knew they were fine but it was good to hear from Zoro. It didn’t feel like a delusion hearing someone else say the other four were just fine, and they would stay fine, and hopefully, they were right behind Sanji and Zoro.

At any moment, Sanji would hear Luffy screaming for them, and the ship would shake from the impact of Luffy landing on it, and he’d be so furious the agents would be light work. 

Stupid for him for thinking anything of the sort.

If they weren’t talking about the crew, they were reminiscing about their time together and some of the adventures they had been on, the people they fought. Somehow Sanji almost forgot about Apis and the dragons. In the short time they had been on the Grand Line, dragons didn’t seem like such a big deal. It would make complete sense if he just saw one fly by.

It was during that time Sanji accidentally revealed to Zoro he had been a bit afraid of swimming since Arlong Park. The fear slipped out of him when he was talking about the fight he had underwater, and how since that day, he had been afraid of swimming too deep and having his organs burst. It was irrational because the pressure would have to change quickly and they didn’t burst when he was quickly brought to the bottom of the sea.

“Wouldn’t you feel the pressure as you descend?”

“I do. I feel the pressure and my mind doesn’t think it’s just slight pressure that won’t kill me or swim up to the surface.”

“What do you think, chef?”

“In less than a second, my insides are going to explode. Doesn’t matter how deep I am and how fast I’m descending. My organs will explode no matter what.”

“…that sucks.”

“Used to love swimming. If I wasn’t cooking or serving, I was swimming. I know I can swim deep and be fine but…not the same anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing you can do about it, swordsman.”

They were awkward with each other, trying to get along for the rest of the day. Sanji tried his best from that point on to not agitate Zoro anymore and he could tell Zoro was trying to do the same. It was just so easy to jump on each other’s nerves, and it was fun until it wasn’t.

Still, Sanji knew they were just distracting each other with their awkward conversations. It was good though. Sanji didn’t want to think about every brutal thing that may happen to him. He had heard of Crocodile long ago from customers on the Baratie, a few marines. He was dangerous, and most anyone he dealt with ended up dead, and Sanji knew Crocodile would kill him.

It was just a matter of how longer the Warlord took.

Zoro told him that after losing to Dracule Mihawk, there was more pressure to be great. He had to be the best and he couldn’t let anyone take that from him, not even for a second. He couldn’t lose to anyone ever again.

“And I lost. I lost today. Fuck me, I was defeated...”

“You got knocked out and we were outnumbered, and they all have devil fruit powers. I also lost today.”

“I still lost. I was defeated. I swore I would never be defeated again, not until I took the title of the world’s greatest swordsman.”

“Can’t seriously think you’ll go years without ever being beaten once, swordsman.”

“I knew in the back of my head I would probably be defeated. I do have some sense of reality…I still promised Luffy because he needs the best swordsman to be the King of Pirates…I promised.”

“And you don’t break promises?”

“No, especially when they’re about people’s dreams. Everyone deserves a chance to accomplish something, and I will help in whatever way I can.”

“You’re a good man, moss-head.”

“I’m something.”

The second day was much longer.

The agents came by when the sun was just rising to let them eat the scraps from dinner, which was not prepared well at all. Even if it was the scraps, a well-made meal tasted good no matter what. He still ate what he was given. Zoro, the stubborn bastard, refused to eat any of it. 

They argued for ten minutes over the scraps, which in that time Miss Valentine just threw the perfectly fine food out of the window into the sea.

Sanji spent thirty minutes yelling at Zoro for that.

After what was only an hour that felt like three, Mr. 5 came back and untied them. It was an out of body experience to no longer be attached to Zoro. In only a day, he had gotten so used to being part of Zoro that he felt like part of him was missing, and he was a much smaller person. The nose-picker then escorted them outside with a gun to their backs, allowing them five minutes to move around.

It would be their only time to do so until Mr. 5 felt like it.

Sanji couldn’t walk on his own. He didn’t have any adrenaline and his breaks weren’t set. He tried. It was just like when he was little, except Reiju wasn’t there to help him behind closed doors and away from cold eyes. Zoro had to be his extra leg, which oddly provided some comfort, having him close and being part of him.

Mr. 5 kept the gun to the back of his head the entire time, taunting about how ready he was to pull the trigger.

“Thought your boss wanted me alive.”

“I’ll shoot you in the leg. You’re not using it.”

“I can live without a leg.”

“I know. And your friend can live without an arm. Won’t be much of a swordsman after that.”

Maybe a fight would have been worth his leg, but not Zoro’s arm.

Miss Valentine made a quick appearance, clamoring about how beautiful today was and the delicious breakfast they had, and how much praise they were going to get, and a possible raise. Maybe they were about to become Mr. 4 and Miss Valentine, all the way up to the spot right below Crocodile.

She got in Sanji’s face and asked for another compliment, since he had been so nice to her the day before. He scoffed and told her she had a stellar sense of style. She laughed in his face and Zoro mumbled about how he was only two seconds away from throwing Sanji overboard.

That made Miss Valentine laugh even harder and punch Zoro so hard he was out instantly.

Sanji fell onto his back and his leg felt like it was on fire and he couldn’t but scream as he felt his broken bones shift, ripping muscles and damaging him in a way that would never truly heal. His leg was so numb but it was the only part of his body he could feel.

The worst part was he had felt that same pain many times before, so he couldn’t think his pain was that bad.

Sanji had to drag himself back to the room, feeling his body become more out of place, wondering how long before a shard of bone pushed itself to the point of breaking skin.

He fell on the floor only to be pulled back up immediately by Mr. 5, the gun pressed against his abdomen. Sanji hadn’t felt so weak in years. He swore to himself after he escaped Germa he’d never let anyone beat him without a fight and he’d never let anyone just treat him wrong.

Zoro was placed against him and Sanji melted into him. He was a captive and he was in agony and he knew worse awaited him but it felt so good to be right against Zoro, even as they were tied up again.

Zoro was asleep for most of the day, and Sanji became so numb as the hours went by at the slowest possible rate, but he could always feel Zoro.

He wasn’t alone this time.

And maybe it was bad that someone else had to suffer with him, and maybe there was a way that Sanji could save Zoro from any more pain when they reached Alabasta, but until then, he wasn’t alone.

“I’m sorry you’re with me in this situation, Zoro. But I’m glad it’s you I’m stuck with.”

Sanji slept through most of the third day, or at least tried to.

He has basically been up for two days at that point and the only reason he was able to sleep at all was because he promised Zoro he would try after the swordsman woke up.

He kept his eyes closed and tried to rest but the slightest little thing would make his body fully awake. Maybe the boat rocked or there was a creak in the floor boards. Just anything kept him from sleeping.

Zoro was the only reason he was able to sleep. Sanji didn’t know why but Zoro started to recite old stories and there was something so soothing about his voice at the time that Sanji drifted off in a matter of minutes.

Of course he didn’t dream. He just remembered. He remembered the times his brothers broke his legs and how scared his mom was for him every time he came hobbling into her room.

And how scared he was the first time she wasn’t there for him.

The memories got slightly better, turning into moments he could remember without tears forming beside his eyes.

He still didn’t want to remember.

Sanji wasn’t sure how long he was asleep for. When he woke up, Zoro was holding his hand, moving as much as a statue did.

“You’re holding my hand, moss-head.”

“It helped you calm down. You couldn’t stop twitching earlier. Bad dream?”

“Something like that.”

“Yeah, I keep having this recurring one. I don’t understand it or why I keep having that nightmare over and over.”

“Your mind is trying to tell you something.”

“Well curly, I’m not going to listen.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Are you going to listen to your dreams?”

“Don’t have to. I know what they’re about and what they mean.”

“Well, go back to sleep. You need it.”

“Zoro?”

“Yes?”

“Don't let go of my hand. It did help.”

“Whatever you say, cook.”

The fourth day was the final day.

Sanji woke up just before the sun, still holding Zoro’s hand. He could hear and feel the swordsman snoring but he seemed relatively calm.

He wondered about the crew, what they were doing. Were they right behind Sanji and Zoro, so close to rescuing their friends? Were they slowed down by a fight and they may reach Alabasta too late to save the two? Were they still on Little Garden?

As long as they were alive and well.

That was all that mattered. 

“Cook?”

“Morning.”

“…keep thinking I’m going to wake up on the Going Merry and this isn’t real.”

“I wish it wasn’t.”

They didn’t talk after that. There wasn’t much else to say. They both knew they were getting closer and closer to Alabasta and in turn, closer and closer to whatever horrors Crocodile was going to inflict on them.

And even when they were both awake, they didn’t let go of the other’s hand.

Around what had to have been mid-day, Sanji felt the rock of the sea die down before there was a sudden halt. His empty stomach dropped and his leg began to throb in pain. Zoro’s grip tightened and they didn’t need to say anything.

They both knew.

It was a while before the agents came in, and Sanji kept thinking if there was anything he needed to say to Zoro before their fate was sealed. There was something his mind wanted to tell him but Sanji couldn’t place what it was.

A thought to carry to the grave.

The door opened and he could feel Zoro tense up as the sound of heels clicked on the wooden floor. It wasn’t Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine’s heels didn’t click like that.

Miss All Sunday.

Sure enough, the gorgeous woman came into Sanji’s sight. She was the enemy but damn she was beautiful. He wanted to feel guilty for thinking so but then again, he thought almost everyone was attractive and it was too easy for him to think so, friend or foe. Even Zoro had something about him that made Sanji blush.

“Your leg is really messed up.”

“I can thank your agents for that.”

“Didn’t think they had it in them. Don’t worry, we’ll get you to a doctor before we leave for Rainbase.”

“Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because, you’re going to be taken of, one way or the other.”

Chapter Text

The assassin did get a doctor for Sanji. 

She left only a minute after appearing and came back with a timid little doctor whose right eye kept twitching every three seconds, carrying a large bag.

“The blonde one. He has a broken leg, the left one.  I don't know how broken it is but I know nothing has been done about it for four days now. Do what you can for him without untying him. He’s a dangerous criminal but we do prefer to have him with two working legs. Doesn’t look good if we even treat our enemies like animals.” She said in her voice that wasn’t cold but Zoro wasn’t that comforted by the sound of it.

“I-how dangerous?”

“Well, we had to tie them up. I wouldn’t know. I didn’t capture them. I’m just the transportation.”

Zoro could hear the doctor choking up and muttering how he was not fit to handle this type of situation and he didn't want to help some criminal.

“A-as a doctor, I have the right to refuse a patient’s care if I feel unsafe.”

“I assure you, you’re safe now. But if you don’t help him-”

The doctor fell beside Sanji, begging Miss All Sunday not to hurt him and how he had a family. Zoro scoffed and Sanji was so tense against him, trying to move away.

“I’m helping you, blondie.” She said.

“I rather your help than his, ma’am.” Sanji chuckled, making Zoro feel like shit and convulsed to throw Sanji into a wall. Every time he started to go after a woman, Zoro would become irrationally irritated. He was alright with people flirting with each other but there was just this damn thing about Sanji and whenever he did it.

“Sorry. Not a doctor.” She said in a way that felt like a small kiss on the cheek.

And now there was a woman feeding into Sanji’s lust, which made Zoro’s blood boil.

"Ah-ah! STOP! I can just tell you how it's broken! You don't have to feel my leg and make it worse!" Sanji spat as he leaned back into Zoro, long breaths as he was trying not to cry. Zoro turned his head and was able to see the doctor gripping onto Sanji's leg, making it look more disfigured. 

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?"

"I NEED TO ASSESS THE BREAK! THERE ARE MULTIPLE TYPES OF BREAKS!" The doctor broke down crying and was praying to be spared. Sanji groaned and told him how his knee cap was definitely broken and there were at least four complete breaks just in his lower leg. Zoro felt another pain in him hearing Sanji describe his leg, a guilt for being taken out so easily and for not being able to fight for him. A leg that broke and he still tried to fight.

Zoro had to rethink everything about Sanji now. He needed to try and treat him better now. He deserved that at this point

What the hell is going on you, Zoro?

“So, he…his leg is slightly dislocated and I need to set it, then I can put a splint around hi-him, push everything back in place so the bone can just reattach with osteoblasts which will turn into osteocyt-”

“Don’t need the explanation. Just do it.” Miss All Sunday interrupted and urged him to fulfill his purpose before she found a doctor who would shut up.

“Yes, ma’am! Can I untie him? Or-I’m going to need someone to hold him still. He’ll probably move.” 

Don’t touch him.

No one touch him.

“I got that handled.” Miss All Sunday said before she started speaking in some language that sounded too rich for Zoro, one he knew Sanji would sometimes talk in. More and more, the damn assassin seemed to be the perfect woman for Sanji and Zoro knew there were much bigger concerns but he wanted to tear his hair out. He didn’t even know why he was so aggravated.

“WHAT THE FU-”

“MERDE!” Sanji started to squirm and his panic transpired into Zoro’s body. He didn’t know what was happening but he had to protect Sanji or at the very least, get him as far away as he could from Miss All Sunday.

Zoro found the strength in him despite not having it days before and not eating to just rip the rope around his ankles. The rope was like paper to him at that moment, so fragile and easy to destroy. 

He stood up and he heard Sanji wince in pain, but at least now Zoro was able to get him somewhere safe. 

He probably could have at least gotten to the dock if hands didn’t appear from the floor to hold onto him.

He froze up, trying not to react because Sanji was still attached to him. It was Miss All Sunday. Zoro had no idea what devil fruit allowed for such random and horrific powers but she had them.

He could feel Sanji shaking against him and heard all of his little whimpers. What if Zoro made his pain worse? What if he broke his leg even more or broke something else?

“Sanji, did I hurt you?” He asked as the hands turned into flower petals, and he was still unable to move. 

“No, Zoro. You didn’t do anything. I just want my leg to fall off right now and I…there’s a lot going through my he-did you just fucking call me by actual given name?”

Zoro didn’t realize he did that. He was just so concerned that Sanji’s name just slipped out of his mouth. He wasn’t sure he had ever called Sanji his actual name to his face before.

“I did. No big deal.”

“Big deal! I was convinced you didn’t even know my name despite being my crewmate and hearing it every single day. You’ve never said my name!”

"I know your name. I just don't like you enough to call you by it."

"You like me, swordsman. You can say it now."

"I respect you as a fighter and as a cook and as a crew mate, and for that I will look out for you. That does not mean I like you."

“Give it up, moss-head! We’ve known each other for weeks now and you ha-FUCK! SHITTY ME-FUCK!”  

Sanji tried to fall behind him and grabbed Zoro’s hand, nearly squeezing it so hard his wrist dislocated. He didn’t mind, because he knew Sanji was hurting and now there was actually nothing he could do about it.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?” Zoro gripped his hand and his heart was about to burst from his chest. There was something so twisted about knowing his crewmate was in pain and Zoro could do nothing. He couldn’t even see anything.

“His leg is now set. I think it would have been better if he was laying down but what do I know? I’m not a doctor. I’m an assassin.” Miss All Sunday chuckled, walking around the room, her heels clicking with every step.

Sanji was crying and hyperventilating behind him and when Zoro saw Miss All Sunday, the cruel demon in the body of a woman with no mercy, he swore he would kill her. He would rip her throat out and kill her.

“I-I still need to do the splint. It’ll just take a mo-”

“GET IT OVER WITH!” Zoro yelled with a rage that came from deep inside of him. Sanji started to chuckle but there was a nervousness to every little sound.

“Aw, aren’t you so caring?”

“I just want to get this over with and stop hearing you cry. It’s not the nicest thing to hear.”

“You two have such an interesting relationship. It’s amusing. But I agree with the green one, just put his leg in the splint and do it now. I’ll hold him if need be.”

“I dare you, devil witch. If I see a hand appear from anywhere, I’m stepping on it and breaking your fingers.”

Miss All Sunday scoffed behind him, calling him a stubborn idiot.

“Say that to my face.” He gritted.

“I don’t have to.”

“But I think you should.”

“Why? So you can call me the devil again? You know, that’s not very original of you. I’ve been the devil for a long time. Besides, we’ll have plenty of time to spit at each other on the way to my boss. It’s not a short ride.”

“You’re planning on killing us so get it over with already, lady. There’s really no point in keeping us alive so just use your hands and snap our necks.”

“I was told to bring you and your friend to my boss alive . I don’t make the rules, just follow them. But, if you want to die so badly, be my guest and find a way to do it yourself. I’m not going to stop you.”

“So you don’t want us dead?”

“Listen here, you green-hair dumbass. I don’t care what happens to you. You could be dead or alive and it’s not going to affect me at all. I’m just doing what I’m told. And I haven’t done anything actually bad to you. I’m trying to help you.”

“I don’t ever remember asking for it.”

“You are very unappreciative. Ever heard of human kindness?”

“I don’t think you’re a human.”

“I just have devil fruit powers: the Flower Flower Fruit. You’ve seen what it allows me to do.”

“I’ve met people with devil fruit powers. They’re mostly human. You’re just a devil.”

“You’re making this far more difficult than this needs to be.”

“Well good news! It’s now easier for all of us because I have a splint around my leg and this doctor is about to piss himself!” Sanji interrupted them and nudged Zoro’s side. Zoro grumbled and his heart was less loud, and there was more on his mind now than trying to push the devil to her breaking point.

“Is it helping?” He asked, hoping Sanji would say yes. The cook nodded and Zoro felt a weight taken off of him even though his legs were fine.

“Can I leave now? I-I can’t do anything else!” The coward of a doctor asked.

"Go and tell no one about this. Your payment is leaving with your life, which will be revoked if I hear word of this." She threatened. The man was out in seconds, lugging his giant bag behind him.

“Now that his leg is set and he has a splint on, I’m sure we don’t want to undo all that damage. You can walk for him. Let’s get going.” She said, motioning for Zoro to follow her. He stood still, partially because he didn’t want to listen to her and partially because he didn’t want to hurt Sanji anymore. "Unless you want me to carry him for you. I'm stronger than I look and having extra arms helps. Would you prefer that, Mr. Roronoa? You are Roronoa Zoro, aren't you?"

"I am, and you're not going to lay a hand on him."

"We're both going to the same place, and if I wanted him hurt, I would have broken his other leg."

"Stay back."

"She can carry me, moss. I am alright with that. She won't hurt me." Sanji whined, slight laughs mixed with winces of pain. Zoro was relieved for a second he wasn't overtaken with pain but hearing him just talk about Miss All Sunday was like sandpaper being dragged across Zoro's arms. Why was he so annoyed now? Was it the life or death situation they were in and Sanji was still trying to impress the women trying to kill him? Or was it something else Zoro had no explanation for that suddenly appeared in the last few days?

"She's not going anywhere near you, got that?"

"If you don't like me, why are you so protective?" Sanji laughed, relaxing against Zoro and taking even breaths. Zoro rolled his eyes and reminded him that they were still crewmates and Zoro would do anything for his crew, even if it was Sanji, and he didn't trust the woman at all. He'd be damned if he allowed her to lay another finger on her, from her actual body or from wherever her body parts appeared.

And maybe it has to do with that something.

“Then it's settled. Come on now boys, or boy with the other attached to his back. My boss is very excited to meet you both.”

Chapter Text

“I’m sure you two are hungry. I have some food with the transportation.” Miss All Sunday told them as she led them through the sandy ruins of Erumalu, carrying Zoro’s three swords under her right arm. Sanji’s feet were dragged through the sand and there was still pain in his leg, but nothing like the last few days. And he wasn’t even aware his leg was out of place. He just assumed that it was regular pain after breaking it four or so  times, and maybe it was just a bad bruise in the right spot.

“I don’t understand.” Zoro murmured. 

“What do you understand, swordsman?” Sanji scoffed, his hand still locked with Zoro’s. He hadn’t let it go since he took it pain, and he wouldn’t be letting go. He didn’t want to be the one to break the grasp and he was expecting when Zoro finally realized he was holding Sanji’s hand, he would let go, and his hands weren’t the worst in the world to hold.

“There’s…it’s nothing. It’s just a bunch of buildings that are falling apart. Not even a city anymore.” He whispered. Sanji had been wondering what happened to Erumalua since he first saw the city. It looked like no one lived around for miles and hadn’t lived there for hundreds of years. He was expecting a thriving city for Mr. 0 to send his best and finest agent to, not a wasteland. “Where did you even find a doctor?”

“There are still people here.”

“Where?” Sanji asked. “I don’t know if your powers allow you to see things others don’t, but to me it looks like no one can even last thirty minutes here.”

“They live not too far away in another town. Erumalu is abandoned but some people never fully leave, whether they’re too stubborn or too old, too hurt or they just don’t have enough to find a new home, so they stay hidden in the ruins, like our dear doctor friend. I know where to find those people.” She said, letting sand sift through her hands as it fell from pillars above her.

Sanji knew she was the enemy, but he could also see there was a bit more to her. Maybe it was because she was a pretty woman or because he had a nasty habit of trying to find the best in people before accepting they were actually the worst. He knew she was Baroque Works. He knew she was going to be part of the reason he died, and he was still looking for just one reason to like her.

No wonder his father saw him as a failure.

“What happened here? A town doesn’t just fall into ruin overnight.” Zoro stopped to look around, giving Sanji the chance to fall into Zoro again and relax even though he hadn’t moved any part of his body besides his head for an hour now.

“There’s been a drought here for three years. Some towns were affected more so than others. Erumalu was one of them. It wasn’t overnight, but it was rather quick. I think this place has been like this for about…a year and half now.”

Sanji let loose a breath and closed his eyes, soaking in the sun for the first time in days. He knew the heat would be unbearable soon but he could enjoy it for now. That was another bad habit of his, enjoying things he knew that sooner or later he would hate.

“Let’s keep walking. It’s getting hot and I’m in a coat that’s not helping much.” 

“Then take off the damn coat and burn in the sun. I’m not going to stop you.” 

Zoro and Miss All Sunday started to argue again and Sanji didn’t mind it. There was something about both of their voices, which was weird because he normally would have just focused on the woman’s voice to sooth him no matter the words coming out of her mouth, but lately Zoro’s voice wasn’t as annoying and pestering.

But he wasn’t sure if he wanted the last thing he ever heard to be arguing.

Didn’t resonate with him well.

“Are you two going to argue until the other is dead, because I rather we just die in silence then.” He interrupted, which did silence the two. He could only hear the wind blowing.

He was guessing there was a silent agreement between Zoro and Miss All Sunday because they started walking again.

“Your friend here is smart. Besides, I’m the one with the swords now. I don’t see you doing anything to me in your current predicament.”

“Well, we could find out!” Zoro gritted. Sanji groaned, wondering if there was any chance Zoro would use his tiny brain and stop trying to fight this woman. Zoro was normally on edge but it seemed Miss All Sunday was pushing him over that edge and at any moment, regardless of the fact Sanji was tied to him and regardless of the fact he would definitely lose, he was going to attack her.

“Mr. Cook, mind me but you seem a bit…empty. You’re missing something and not just your ability to walk.” Miss All Sunday observed after a few minutes as they neared the edge of town.

“Well, on top of everything else going on, I haven’t had a cigarette in four days. I’ve broken my six year streak now and am basically deprived of all feelings, besides pain.” Sanji told them, which brought Zoro to a sudden stop that almost broke both of his ankles.

“YOU’VE BEEN SMOKING SINCE YOU WERE THIRTEEN?!?!”

“Yes.”

“AND YOU CAN STILL BREATHE?!?! SHIT COOK, I KNEW YOU HAD A PROBLEM BUT I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS THAT BAD!” 

“OH YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT PROBLEMS? HOW MUCH SAKE DO YOU DRINK A DAY? SINCERELY, HOW MUCH SAKE ARE YOU DRINKING EVERY FUCKING DAY?!?!”

And now he and Zoro were the ones arguing, even though it took one accidental dirty look from the other for them to try and kill each other.

“NICOTINE-ADDICT!”

“SAKE-WHORE!”

I meant to say anything but whore.

Sanji felt his entire body drop despite him remaining attached to Zoro. The swordsman’s back tensed up against his and his grip tightening to the point Sanji thought his hands were about to be pulled clean odd in an act of rage and petty revenge. 

“DID YOU JUST CALL ME A WHORE?!?!” 

Sanji had never heard him so mad before. He didn’t even truly mean to say that but he did and he couldn’t take it back now.

“DID YOU?!?!”

Sanji stuttered and couldn’t answer, not wanting to say yes but knowing he couldn’t just lie.

Zoro kept demanding an answer and he sounded more furious with every line. Sanji could handle people mad at him but sometimes when they started yelling and demanded something from him, it could be too much.

You fucking coward.

“Arguing and holding hands. You two act like you’re married.” The pretty assassin giggled. Sanji could feel himself become flustered and he let go of Zoro’s hand out of embarrassment.

Even if he didn’t really want to let go.

“We have hours of fighting ahead of us, and our ride is right there.” She told them after a few paces.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Zoro gasped in shock. Sanji turned his head as much as he could, just able to see their ride.

Their ride was a giant animal, an alligator, or almost one. It would have been one if not for the giant banana shape on the tip of the tail.

“And what the hell is that?” Sanji mumbled.

“Banana-gator, also known as our escort. I don’t know why I brought a two seat saddle when there’s three of us. Oh well. The seat should be big enough for you both to fit on. I could untie you and have the cook hold onto Mr. Roronoa’s waist, but I think you two would prefer to remain tied up and facing away from each other. You can hold hands if you want!”

It was hours, but the hours were silent. Miss All Sunday untied their hands and allowed them to eat on the back of the banana-gator. Sanji only ate because every time he heard his stomach growl, he started to feel rock under him and the sandy winds were replaced with the sound of crashing waves, and he could smell so much salt.

His mind was blank the entire time. There wasn’t anything for him to think about or really regret. He did regret never finding the All Blue, even though he was always aware that maybe it was just a chef’s dream. That was really all. It’s not as if he ever had a grand life planned ahead of him. For the longest time, he was just grateful to wake up day after day.

Maybe it also would have been nice to have a bounty.

Zoro was tense the entire ride. He kept facing forward and didn’t once turn to look at Sanji. His hands stayed at his side and he didn’t eat anything that was offered to him. Sanji tried to get him to eat just an apple but Zoro didn’t even acknowledge him. For the entire trip, the only reason Sanji knew Zoro was there was because he felt his back and his gentle breaths.

Sanji tried not to think about how it wouldn’t be too long before there were no breaths, from either of them.

They arrived at Rainbase, a thriving city despite the war, and in the center of all the prosperity was a golden pyramid with a banana-gator sitting on top.

“We’re going to take the underground tunnels. Don’t want to put you on display for everyone to see.” Miss All Sunday chuckled as she approached a large cluster of rocks. Arms appeared from the left side of the cluster and pressed against some. The largest one began to shift to the left, revealing a long passageway that descended into darkness.

“This will probably be the last time you feel the sun, so enjoy it.” She said just as they entered the tunnel, and Sanji felt the blistering warmth become nothing but a memory on his skin.

Zoro became more tense and Sanji reached for his hand. When his leg was being set, the only comfort he had was Zoro’s hand, and he wanted that comfort back, just for a second. 

And Zoro let him.

“I’m sorry you’re dying with me. You had a dream.” Sanji whispered, feeling a tear fall down his face.

“So did you. At least we were able to have a good time while we could. Differences and rivalry aside…I’m glad you were my crew mate, Sanji.”

“I was proud to be your crew mate, and I’m glad for you, Zoro.”

I don’t even know how to express how I feel about you right now.

I don’t understand but I’m so glad for you.

“And sorry for calling you a whore earlier. Feel like I should say that before we die.”

“Don’t sweat it. It was funny, and I like the idea of dying thinking about something funny.” He was told before they sat in silence again, waiting for either someone to say something or for the person who would take their lives to appear. Sanji knew he was waiting for the and very eager to put them six feet under, if they even got that honor.

“The others will be alright without us.” Zoro mumbled as their pinkies locked, and Sanji didn’t know if that was a statement or a question.

“They’ll be fine. And Vivi and Alabasta will be fine. Everything always turns out fine.” He tried to reassure him.

“Almost always.” Zoro reminded him.

“At least it’s just us and Luffy and the others can still follow their dreams.”

“That they can, and I think one or two big sacrifices had to be made along the way, so why not let it be our lives and they can just…live? If this means they live, I say it’s worth it.” He heard Zoro choke a bit and he couldn’t help but smile just slightly, a small and crooked one.

“I agree with you there. Anything is worth it for them, even our lives.”

“Well, it’s about time to pay for your friends. I see my boss standing at the end of this tunnel.” Miss All Sunday warned them, and he hoped he died holding Zoro’s hand, holding onto the comfort.

But he had a feeling Crocodile wasn’t the sentimental type.

“Roronoa Zoro and the cook named Sanji, just as promised. Sanji has a broken left leg just so you know, and Mr. Roronoa can be very defensive over him.” 

That woman was evil. He couldn’t believe he wanted to find good in her earlier. She just told Crocodile the best way to hurt them, and he knew the bastard would listen.

Sanji started to shake as footsteps approached them, especially when he felt something sharp between him and Zoro’s left arm, right under the rope. Someone lifted them both up and threw them far. Everything around him was a blur but he felt himself falling closer to the floor and his body was preparing for something.

Crack.

His left leg cracked the moment he hit the floor and it took everything in him to not burst out screaming and crying, a new and intense pain seeping through his bones and muscles. 

“San-” A shadow loomed over them that silenced Zoro and Sanji didn’t want to look up but he did, and he saw a man.

A big and proper-looking man, smoking coming from his grinning mouth, a cigar in one hand, flexing a golden hook that glistened in the light and a scar across his face. He stood right above Sanji and Zoro, beginning to laugh so similarly to his brothers in a way.

“Make yourselves comfortable down here,” 

The same voice he heard in Little Garden.

Maybe the last voice he would hear.

“This is where you two are dying!”

Chapter Text

Crocodile looked too eager to kill him and Sanji. He wasn’t crazed, just eager and collected, which was much more intimidating. He had a thought-out plan for them and there was nothing in his way.

“Roronoa Zoro…you’re smaller than I thought.” He laughed as he picked them back up with his hook. He heard Sanji wincing and he wondered if that crack Zoro heard when they landed on the floor was his leg.

“And you’re…well, I didn’t really expect anything from you. I was expecting scales maybe, and a tail.” Zoro scoffed, looking into his cold eyes.

Crocodile rolled his eyes and pulled his hook out, then he swiftly cut the rope holding them together with his hook. For the first time in days, he was no longer connected to Sanji. It was almost wrong to not feel his back through his dress shirt, not feel his fingers either with a light touch or a lock. 

Zoro fell on his stomach and tried to push himself up when he felt someone stepping on him.

Crocodile put more weight in his step, the sounds and feels of cracks traveling throughout his back. Zoro winced and saw flashes of pure black. He couldn’t give up so easily. He wasn’t this weak. He could handle whatever Crocodile did to him.

Until it becomes too much.

He could still handle a lot.

“You took down a hundred of my men in Whiskey Peak? Must have been something in the water there.”

“Give me my swords and I’ll show you the man from Whiskey Peak.” He grumbled, delighting in the image of him cutting Crocodile and Miss All Sunday into shreds.

“As interesting as that would be, I won’t be allowing you your swords back. They’re mine now.” 

“Actually, I think I’m going to take them and study them. They’ve captured my eye.” He heard Miss All Sunday walking around, her heels against the tile floor. 

“And you might want to take notice of the cook. He’s trying to get up over there.” 

Crocodile got off of him and he turned his head, seeing Sanji on his knees, trying to stand up.

“I’ll get to you later.” Crocodile moaned as he sent a sharp line of sand towards Sanji. It sliced him as if the sand were the sharpest blade in the world, cutting his left side, blood spewing as he fell to his side, crying in pain.

Zoro whimpered and he could feel his own side being cut, even though it was actually fine and unharmed for the time being. It was just seeing Sanji go through so much for no reason…seeing Sanji in pain.

“Now you, Mr. Roronoa. I lost a hundred decent men and women at Whiskey Peak because of you.”  Crocodile focused on him again and Zoro felt sand push him up into his knees, and then he felt a sharp point under his chin.

“You know you’re going to pay for that.”

Yes, he was paying for it. Him, not Sanji. He didn’t need to suffer. He hadn’t done anything to Crocodile or Baroque Works. He either deserved to be let go or to die quickly without any pain.

Zoro was willing to pay for Sanji. 

“My fellow Warlord Dracule Mihawk cut you up a while back. Did I hear correctly?” He asked, the tip of his hook digging into Zoro’s chin. He winced and told Crocodile that was true, that he let Dracule Mihawk cut his chest open.

“Like this?”

Crocodile moved quickly as he perfectly cut Zoro where Mihawk did. It was more of a graze than anything else in all reality, but he could feel Mihawk’s sword again. He shivered and fell onto his back, wondering if he was actually in any pain or if he was panicking.

Or both.

“Well? Is that what Mihawk did?”

He didn’t answer, trying to focus on the magnificent ceiling above him, trying not to see a blue sky with clouds, trying to feel the tile and not himself drowning as he bled to death.

He felt the open wound become deeper as what he could have mistaken for sandpaper slashed across him. He bit his tongue and tried to stop tears from rolling down his cheek as his chest burned and cried with old and new pain.

“Or was it like this?” 

Crocodile used the sand to push Zoro up just so he could cut the other side of his chest with his hook. He didn’t go as deep as Mihawk did but it was still a large and painful cut. He could feel the blood across his torso and sticking to his shirt, and he could his exposed muscles wanting protection and to be connected again.

Zoro fell to his knees and was at the very least grateful his back hadn’t been cut yet. He was being cut over and over with no defense and he wasn’t going to try and fight Crocodile, not that he really could, but he wouldn’t allow for scars in his back. He wouldn’t die with that shame.

“Well?” 

He didn’t answer, just trying to remind himself the pain wasn’t too bad and it really was old pain, and he survived the last time.

He was unsure if he wanted to survive this time.

“I’ll cut you up until I have an answer, or a corpse.” Crocodile was demanding for Zoro to answer him.

Pathetic.

“Then you’ll have a corpse.” He looked up and couldn’t help but  in the face of death. Crocodile growled and grabbed him by the neck, lifting Zoro into the air before slamming him into the tile. There were more cracks in his back and he felt a throbbing pain grow inside of him. Air was trapped in his body, his lungs about to explode.

“You’re a prideful son of a bitch, and I’m going to strip that away from you before you die. Mark my words, Roronoa Zoro. You’ll die as the empty shell of a once great swordsman.”

His grip tightened around Zoro’s neck and he started to see black in flashes again. He grabbed Crocodile’s hand and tried to wedge his fingers in between but it didn’t do him any good.

“No, I’m not.” Zoro snickered, struggling to breathe, wanting to push Crocodile over the edge. He wanted the man to lose control and maybe Zoro’s life would end quicker, or maybe that would be a chance for Zoro to actually fight back.

“We’ll see about that. I have plans for you, nightmares that you could never comprehend.” Crocodile whispered as he placed Zoro on his knees with a violent slam, his eyes becoming darker.

“Sir, the cook is halfway up the stairs.” Miss All Sunday said from the table in the middle of the room. Zoro looked up and saw Sanji crawling up the stairs, a trail of blood marking his path. 

“SANJI, RU-” Crocodile kicked him in the face and Zoro felt himself in the air before he slammed against the glass wall. His body was overtaken with a sharp pain and he couldn’t move, just watch as Crocodile appeared in front of Sanji and grabbed him by the neck.

“Oh, don’t think I didn’t forget about you, Sanji. Do you have a surname I can call you by? I would prefer to be more formal with you.” He said as he used the round curve of his hook to punch Sanji. He could hear Sanji gasp for air as blood spewed from his mouth.

“Mr. Kiss My Ass.” Sanji spat, coughing out blood. Crocodile laughed and punched him with the hook again, more blood spilling from his mouth. He punched him over and over, and the blood seemed endless.

“Mr. Cook will work for now I suppose. You know, I was considering letting you cook for me and if I was pleased enough, I would kill you quickly,” he threw Sanji across the room, the blonde sliding next to Zoro. “I’m no longer granting you that mercy.”

Sanji was twitching next to him, gasping for air with coughs of blood.

“He broke my leg.” Sanji whimpered. Zoro nodded and stood up, clutching his aching side and standing in front of Sanji. It was stupid and pointless, but he still felt like he had to protect him and the best he could do was just stand in front of him.

“Aren’t you just pathetic? Trying to make a stand when your legs are trembling and his are broken! I will say I do admire that, but it’s not going to do you any good!” Crocodile boasted as he strutted down the stairs. Miss All Sunday was laughing, kicking her feet onto the table and examining Kuina’s sword.

“This is an incredible sword. I believe it’s one of the Twenty One Great Grade swords, made in Wano a long time ago. I’m no swords expert but I know a few things about them, and now I’m wondering how you got your hands on this.” She ran her fingers over the sharp edge, her eyes widening every second.

“Those aren’t yours lady, so get your filthy hands off of them!” He gritted, his stare moving back and forth between the two villains. She laughed again and placed the wado to the side, saying something about how things ended up in odd places all the time.

“A  cursed blade…no wonder you ended up here. You have to know this sword is cursed, so why? Why use a sword that will ultimately doom you?”

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, not willing to enlighten her one bit.

“The lady asked you a question.”

“And I don’t feel like answering.” He huffed, wondering if that would get him another slash. Crocodile shrugged and took a step back, but Zoro could see him moving his fingers, and so he prepared himself for the sand about to cut him.

But he wasn’t the target.

Sanji started to scream in agonizing pain that ripped Zoro’s ears. He looked down at his cook and saw his left arm lifted up the sand, his forearm being twisted a different way than his humerus slowly but still painfully.

“WAIT, HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” Zoro screamed at Crocodile. He really should have just answered Miss All Sunday but stupid him thought of pleading for Sanji first.

Coward.

“You really care about your cook. Must be the best cook in the world.” Crocodile d and his fingers stopped moving. Sanji’s screams ended and were replaced by muffled cries and whimpers, and pleads for death.

“I took the sword because it was cursed, because it’s a good sword with good quality and I tested my luck. The sword didn’t cut me when it should have, and it hasn’t disappointed me.” He told her, taking one step back, his left foot barely touching Sanji’s torso, only when he took in air.

At least he was still breathing, and maybe Zoro could bargain for him to be released. It was a stupid long shot he didn’t see happening but anything was possible, and he seemed to be the main attraction and target. 

“Mm, maybe you can train me to use the swords. I don’t really use weapons but it wouldn’t hurt me to learn how to use a sword, if I ever ended up somewhere I can’t use my powers.” She sighed, leaning back and looking to the ceiling.

And maybe that could be his bargain.

“I don’t give lessons for free. I’ll need something in return.” He told her. She shook her head and started to chuckle, asking if his life wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t his life he was overly concerned about.

“He wants us to leave Mr. Cook alone, which is fair and doable. Miss All Sunday, would you be willing to live with the consequences if I were to let the cook go for your sword training.” Zoro knew Crocodile was smart and at some level reasonable. He felt his heart beating and despite all the pain, he felt something similar to hope.

“I can live with a lot.” She said.

It will be worth it.

“Zoro…don’t be so fucking stupid.” Sanji moaned. Zoro couldn’t look back at him, covered in his own blood and so broken. 

“Che-”

“I’ll never forgive you if I walk out of here because you joined Baroque Works. I’d…I’d never forgive myself. I-I’m not worth that.”

“Sanji, I’ll gladly do it for you. You have no reason to feel any blame for my choice. Get out of here, find the crew…find the All Blue.”

“I rather never look for the All Blue or step foot on a ship than leave you. Don’t make me leave you.” 

His heart tightened and he wished the cook would be selfish and be grateful he had a chance to escape this hell. Zoro didn’t want to see Sanji cry anymore from every break and cut Crocodile wanted to inflict on him.

He couldn’t live seeing that and not being able to do anything.

“I forgot to mention, they can be a little romantic with each other.” 

“You don’t say.” Crocodile took out a cigar and placed it in his mouth, looking down at Zoro as he decided what painful thing to do next.

He could take it.

He would take it.

“Seems like you’re both mine for the time being.” He raised his hooked hand and again, Zoro prepared for the revolting pain he never felt. Instead, a gust of sand threw him to the side, far from Crocodile, far from Sanji.

“I think it’s time I pay the cook some attention!” 

DO NOT TOUCH HIM!

Zoro heard Sanji squealing in pain and he managed to get to his feet, seeing Crocodile holding him up with the sand, using his other hand to light his cigar, pushing his hook against Sanji’s fresh cut, blood pouring from him. Rage flushed over Zoro and he wouldn’t let Crocodile just hurt Sanji like that, not without at least one fight. 

Zoro let his adrenaline fuel his strength in speed as he jumped to the table, grabbing two of his swords. He should have taken the opportunity to end Miss All Sunday but Crocodile had his hook on Sanji and was spilling his blood.

Zoro would leave him with two stubs.

He leapt forward, ready to cut the man into two large slices and feed him to the banana-gators he was just now noticing in the water outside of the room.

He was so close when Crocodile let go of Sanji and wrapped his hook around Zoro’s waist. He wasn’t cut at all, but the impact sent shock through his body and he couldn’t reach enough to truly cut Crocodile as his chest turned into sand.

The Warlord would have been dead otherwise. 

He got thrown against the staircase and his swords were no longer in his hands. Damn it. He was better than this. He hadn’t been a proper swordsman in days and it was going to cost him and Sanji their lives in the worst way possible.

“You are one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, and I’ve met my fair share of people.”

Zoro flipped over to his back and Crocodile was standing over him, smoke covering his face. He could see Sanji moving against the wall, trying to crawl away again.

Stay still, idiot.

“Part of me still wants you to join Baroque Works. You’d make a good agent if you could listen.”

“I said no years ago and I’m saying no again. I’d never work for the likes of you.” He spat, blood filling his mouth.

“We’ll see about that, Mr. Roronoa. I can be a very convincing individual.” 

“And like you said, I’m stubborn.” 

Crocodile nodded in agreement and then clocked him. Zoro hit the hard staircase and there was an explosion or something in his head. There was a heavy pounding and his ears could only hear a high ringing.

He felt Crocodile pick him up and Zoro knew he was trying to talk to him. Some of the ringing had the same tone as his voice and there was something muffled he could hear.

The hook was pressed against his head, the sharp edge just barely piercing his temple. 

Zoro couldn’t properly see anything, just fuzzy blobs and shapes. 

He felt steps that weren’t his own and the shapes started to move. Crocodile carried him to the middle of the room and just held him up, waiting for something.

It was like that for a few minutes, when Zoro’s vision began to return and the ringing died down.

“Can you hear me now?”

“Damn it, I can.” He let go a heavy breath and his body relaxed for some reason.

“Good. I like to make my opponents aware of my plans for them.”

“Funny you say that. Is the King of Alabasta aware that you’re planning to overthrow his country?”

Crocodile grinned and told him there were a few exceptions, and he could be a very mysterious man, but once he had all the leverage he needed, he liked the faces people made as he described their end.

“Well now that I know that, I’ll be sure to not satisfy you. I’m stone-cold from here on out.”

“Again, we’ll see about that. I have my ways. I haven’t hurt you yet, not really.”

“It’s six o’clock in case you were wondering.” Miss All Sunday told them as she stood up, walking towards her boss. “And I haven’t had much to eat all day, and I know Mr. Roronoa hasn’t either. The cook does eat, but I think you’ve punched it all out of him.”

Crocodile shrugged and dropped Zoro, glancing over to Sanji was still trying to crawl away. He felt his chest tighten every moment Crocodile had his evil eyes on Sanji.

He began to grin and opened his arms out, looking back towards Zoro which was the worst relief in the world.

“It’s time for dinner, and you are still my guests.”

Chapter Text

He fucking hated Zoro.

He hated Zoro for considering for a second Sanji was worth his life and service.  He was glad Crocodile revoked the offer but he hated Zoro now. Hadn’t he learned Sanji wasn’t worth that sort of trouble? 

The moment he heard Crocodile talking about leaving Sanji alone, and not hearing Zoro object, he began to hate him. The moment Zoro said he would gladly give his life and service to Baroque Works for Sanji, he hated him.

“Miss All Sunday, round up our guests while I check on dinner and make sure we have enough for everyone!” Crocodile left Zoro on the ground and walked away. Miss All Sunday nodded and adjusted her hat, making her way towards Sanji.

“Don’t try anything, Mr. Roronoa. Just stay on the ground for me while I check on your friend.”

“Don’t go anywhere near him, devil woman.”

Stop fighting for me and fight yourself, moron.

“I’ve been trying to help or at the very least, not hurt him this entire time. I’m not as bloodthirsty as my boss. I’m just going to help him to the table.” 

Sanji didn’t exactly trust the agent but so far she hadn’t lied to them, and she had tried to do some things for them. She was evil but he wouldn’t call her a villain or a horrible person.

And she definitely wasn’t Crocodile by any means.

“Come on, Sanji. You could use a proper meal.” She said as she helped Sanji stand. He moaned, trying not to put any weight on his left leg. He knew his leg was ruined now, that it would never properly heal and even if he could walk on it and use it in a fight, he would still feel the breaks and the cracks in his bones.

“Thank you.” He mumbled as he leaned onto her. She was tall, much taller than Zoro and Sanji, even taller in heels. 

“Don’t thank me. I’m not doing you any real favors.” She carried him across the room, blood drying on his side. He couldn’t move his left side at all. His arm was too sore and he was petrified at the thought of it breaking or falling off. His side was still burning in pain, and he was trying to not dwell on his ruined leg.

She placed him in a chair and he slumped over, crossing his right leg and putting all his weight there so he could try to balance himself. He felt himself relaxing against the comfort of the cushion, but he wasn’t sure how comfortable the chair actually was. He knew he would feel better if he was pressed against Zoro again.

He would at least feel safe.

He heard Zoro groan and could see Miss All Sunday dragging him by the foot, mumbling about how she might hurt him just a little bit, maybe knock some sense into him.

“Swordsman, be nice to the lady. She hasn’t done anything to us, not really.” Sanji told him as Miss All Sunday basically threw Zoro into the chair across from the cook.  He scoffed and blood began to drip from his grin.

“I’m not you, cook. I’m willing to fight a woman, especially one that works for a monster like Crocodile.” 

Sanji rolled his eyes and looked at Zoro’s blood-doused chest. His shirt was barely white anymore and there was a large x on his chest where Crocodile cut him open. 

Sanji couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. Maybe he could have kicked Miss All Sunday earlier and Zoro would have had the chance to run away. He was disgusted and felt ashamed for even thinking about hurting a woman, but he was disgusted and ashamed looking at Zoro and the pain Sanji might have been able to prevent, and in Little Garden. Maybe if he had fought a different way, jump instead of kick, anything that might have prevented all this.

But like always, he was a failure.

“I’d listen to San-”

“You don’t have the right to say his name.” Zoro kept his eyes on her and began to frown, his brows furrowing. Sanji knew the normal person would be grateful someone was so protective over them, but not him. He wasn’t worth all the concern and he didn’t need protection. Even if he couldn’t defend himself, he wasn’t the one who needed protection. He could get hurt and that was alright. 

It had been alright for as long as he could remember.

“Zoro, calm down. You don’t even call me Sanji. The first time you did was today. And trust me…worse people have said my name.”

The worst person he knew gave him his name.

Zoro took a deep breath and looked at Sanji. His black eyes were glassy and Sanji could see how wide his pupils were.

“How many banana-gators are swimming around us?” Zoro asked, his eyes following something behind Sanji now. Sanji turned his head and saw at least three swimming behind them, and one that was just floating, staring at them with malicious eyes.

“I don’t keep count. My boss has a soft spot for them. Don’t tell him I said this, but they’re his precious little babies.” Miss All Sunday chuckled as she sat next to Sanji with Zoro’s swords, which got her a mean glare from stupid moss-head.

“I don’t even know where he gets them. They just show up sometimes and there’s a few he lets wander around. The amount of times I’ve gone to the restroom to clean up and there are baby gators in the tub.”

“Well when I was eleven, for about three months, there was this cook that didn’t want to kill the lobsters so he would keep them alive in his room. I was overly tired one day and…and went into his room by mistake and was almost torn apart by thirty eight lobsters.” Sanji tried to laugh but his side burned even more. Breathing hurt and trying to laugh made him want to find any way to end his pain.

“I’m guessing the cook didn’t last long after that.” She rested her head on her hands and leaned forward, her wondrous blue eyes lighting up. 

She’s evil.

She’s just a complex woman.

Not the worst person we’ve formed a relationship with.

“Yeah, I can remember perfectly. One chef is fixing me up and I can hear Zeff yelling from across the restaurant that the cook was fired and if he didn’t leave in five seconds, he’d be kicked into the ocean.”

“And did this Zeff kick him into the ocean?”

“I don’t think so. He came stomping into my room to yell at me for nearly being killed by lobsters, and then he sat with me the rest of the day.”

“Zeff sounds like a good man, and I’m guessing he’s a good cook as well.” 

“Best in the East Blue in my opinion. Taught me about everything I know and then some.” 

“Miss All Sunday! Getting to know our special guests?” Crocodile reappeared with servers behind him carrying large trays that smelled delicious, but Sanji felt more like throwing up than eating.

He turned his attention to Zoro, whose eyes were twitching and he was turning red from his hatred, still fixated on Miss All Sunday. He was biting the edge of his lips and drops of blood fell every few seconds.

“Zoro, look at me.” He whispered.

Zoro didn’t budge.

“Zoro, look at me please.”

He took a deep breath and slowly turned towards Sanji, his anger being replaced with something similar to shame.

“It’s okay. It’s really okay. We’re okay for now.” 

Zoro nodded and straightened his back as Crocodile walked behind him and took the seat next to him.

“Normally, I like to sit at the head of the table, but this is a bit different.” He said as a large tray of already diced up fish was later in front of him. Zoro was given a massive steak, Miss All Sunday received another fish, and Sanji was served lobster.

“Dig in everyone! I promise, I didn’t poison it! I don’t work that way. I’m much more direct.” Crocodile laughed as he began to take small bites. Zoro rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, his shoulders rising from pain.

Stop being such a stubborn moron.

“Zoro, just fucking eat already.” Sanji groaned as he cut the tail off of his lobster. He was hating him more and more by the second and he didn’t know how he would last. He thought he hated Zoro before this but now it was real. Now he hated how stubborn Zoro was and how selfless he was. 

He hated Zoro because he actually did care for him.

Sanji was the wrong person to care for.

“I’m not-”

“Bullshit! You haven’t eaten in four fucking days and you’ve been beaten and cut and you need to eat. This hunger strike isn’t doing you any good and it just might kill you faster.” He gritted, seething with hate. He hated Zoro in a way he had never hated before. This hate was something new, and powerful. It was beginning to consume Sanji and oddly enough, it made him forget all of his pain.

Zoro relaxed and very slowly, started to cut his steak.

“Eh, it appears you might be able to give me some trouble. You clearly have it in you.” Crocodile mumbled.

“He’s the nice one, shockingly. He’s also the one with the brain and he knows how to use it. I kind of want to see him kick, but that’s not possible with his leg the way it is.” Miss All Sunday joined the conversation, her voice dropping some.

“Mm, maybe I can see how he fares on the right leg. Do you only fight with your feet, Mr. Cook?” Crocodile asked. Sanji nodded and he asked why. If he told the truth, Sanji knew Crocodile would take his hands one way or another, but he was also afraid to lie to the man.

“I just prefer to.” He gasped.

He looked down at the lobster and his eyes nearly rolled the back of his head. He was too sick to eat. He knew he needed to but the thought of anything going near his mouth made him gag and too aware of his throat.

“Interesting. Are you going to be eating any time soon, or is my food not good enough for you?” 

Sanji whimpered and felt his body start shaking. He couldn’t refuse Crocodile and he couldn’t waste food, but he also didn’t want to vomit which may be more offensive to the Warlord.

“I am. I just…I just need a moment.”

“You’ve had your moment since I left. Don’t waste my kitchen’s cooking. They worked very hard to prepare this for you.” His voice became more threatening and Sanji felt more sick.

He could be sick later.

He slowly began to eat the lobster meat and every bite felt like poison. He couldn’t even tell if it was a good meal because of how sick he felt. But he couldn’t waste food, and he had to listen to Crocodile.

“Is it to your liking, Mr. Cook?” 

“It’s…it’s good. It’s very good.” He muttered as he pushed the food down his throat at the same time acid was trying to reach his mouth.

“I’m glad you like it.” Crocodile chuckled, his eyes narrowing and Sanji knew whatever was going through his mind was just devious. “Mr. Roronoa! I’m not sure how refined your taste buds are but I would still like to know how you’re enjoying dinner.”

“Like the cook said, it’s good.”

“I’m pleased to hear. All my agents eat like this,” his eyes rolled over to Zoro. “I want to make you both comfortable for your stay. Just because I’ve thrown a few punches doesn’t mean I don’t have class and respect.” 

And with every line, Crocodile became more of a nightmare.

“Tell me about the East Blue. It’s been years since I was last there and you two know it better than I do.”

Zoro grumbled and Sanji interrupted before the swordsman found a way to agitate Crocodile even more, or try to bargain for Sanji’s life.

“From my years there, it’s a wonderful and horrible place. Lots of interesting figures and I spent my time purely on the sea. It’s chaotic and there’s a lot of pirates everywhere you go, though I’m starting to realize that might be the case everywhere. I don’t know what to say, but that’s just the place I grew up.”

“So you’re from another sea, aren’t you?” Miss All Sunday asked.

Shit.

Everyone was leaning in towards him and all six eyes were beaming down on him. 

“Zoro, I never mentioned this?” 

“If you did, I was excluded from the conversation.”

“I was born in the North Blue, grew up in the East. I think of the East Blue as more of my home.”

Zoro leaned back and scoffed, stabbing at the half-eaten steak.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.” He shrugged, as if he was silently trying to insult Sanji.

“Tell me.”

“Nothing, curly. Just realizing I don’t really know you all that much.”

The fucking audacity.

“Well, it’s not you’ve ever sat down with me and asked me questions. First time we ever really talked was four days ago! You barely even listen to me! We’re only here because we kept arguing over who could get the biggest kill!”

“EXACTLY! We, Sanji! The important word here is we! You can bitch all you want as if you’ve ever really tried to get to know me! Can’t fucking blame me for all this as if you don’t have any fucking responsibility, IF NOT MORE! AND IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOU STARTED THE MATCH SO YOU’RE WHY WE ARE HERE”

“BECAUSE YOU INSULT ME! I TOLD YOU TO BRING BACK SOME FOOD AND THEN YOU NOT SO KINDLY INSINUATED I COULDN’T CATCH SOMETHING-“”

Crocodile bursted out laughing and slammed his hook on the table, making the food shake and making Sanji sit straight up. He held his breath and felt sick again. What was wrong with him, trying to fight Zoro when he was his only ally?

You’re the moron, Sanji.

And soon you’ll be a dead one.

“I don’t have to kill them! They’ll kill each other!” Crocodile wouldn’t stop smiling, looking at the ceiling. “Even better is you two may despise each other but you’re still willing to die for the other. Now I actually know how to make you suffer.”

Chapter Text

They got thrown into a cage after dinner.

Sanji took a long time with his lobster, especially after their argument. He hated Sanji so much it was unbelievable he hadn’t actually tried to kill the blonde yet. Zoro thought he would have more appreciation for him by now but instead he was hating him more and more. He had never hated someone the way he hated Sanji and as every second passed, Zoro hated him more.

He and Zoro didn’t talk to each other for the rest of the meal, they barely even looked at each other. Zoro didn’t know how to look at him with stained blood under his bruised eye, and his nose was still bent wrong days later, and he was paler than the dead and becoming thin. 

Zoro never realized how thin Sanji actually was, and he was just now realizing how little he had seen Sanji eat. When he started to think about it, the girls were fed first, then the rest of the crew, and then Sanji ate, and Luffy never left many leftovers. Sanji never starved himself from what Zoro knew, but he never ate what he served.

Once dinner was finished, Miss All Sunday asked where the two prisoners would be kept, and Crocodile just shrugged and said where prisoners were kept, in a cage. He gestured to what Zoro had presumed this entire time was just a covered window. Hands appeared and pulled the curtain and revealed a large cage.

Fucking lovely.

Miss All Sunday had to drag Sanji inside and Zoro wanted her head on a platter for touching him. Maybe he hated Sanji but seeing Miss All Sunday just put one of her clawed hands on him made him see red.

Zoro walked himself to the cage, Crocodile right behind him. He felt like a weak coward for complying but he wasn’t a total idiot. He knew he had to listen for now and if he was going to join Baroque Works for the stupid chef, he needed to get used to making Crocodile happy.

He sat down across from Sanji and felt the weight of the world on his shoulders when the door slammed shut. If only Kuina could see him now. He wouldn’t hear the end of it until he died. 

He’d never let himself live those down, if he lived long enough to feel his regrets. 

Miss All Sunday and Crocodile wished them a good night, because the next day wouldn’t be as delightful, and left them to rot for the night. Servants cleaned up the table and didn’t pay them any attention, not that neither of them called for it. They did leave their glasses of water, which were both empty but it still felt like an insult.

Night came sooner than he expected, but the only way Zoro could tell was by the water and how the shade of blue became darker over time, but the city lights kept it somewhat light. And there was an occasional flicker of light in the room.

“I’m sorry.” Sanji said after the longest time. Zoro looked at the chef, who was clutching his left leg and slowly taking off the now broken splint. Zoro almost forgot about the splint and how it was supposed to help him, though now it was probably making his pain worse. It was broken into pieces and barely hanging on his leg. One part seemed to be digging into his pants, a small little tear and was pressing against his leg.

“I-I shouldn’t have said all that earlier. I don’t know why I did. I definitely could have said a few things differently or say nothing at all. So I’m sorry.”

Zoro took a deep breath, the weight on his shoulders becoming a little lighter. 

“Me too…I think we both said some mean things and I had an attitude and yeah, definitely could have said some things differently, so I’m also sorry.”

A flicker of light.

“You don’t apologize for much, moss-head.”

“Yeah, so savor this moment. You’ll never hear me say sorry again, especially towards you.” He scoffed, finding some weird way to smile despite being in an actual cage with a promise of torture and death awaiting him.

“Aw, whatever. I don’t know how much of this I’m going to be remembering.” He sighed, pushing the splint off of him, biting his lip so hard to silence the cries he drew blood.

“How’s your leg?”

That was a stupid question. Zoro could see how fucked his leg was and how much pain he was in, and there was probably some pain he was hiding.

“Broken. It’s broken and I think it’s staying broken. There-it’s not being fixed. Even if we manage to get out of this, which I’m beginning to doubt, it’s always going to be broken. Do you have an injury that maybe it’s years old but you can still somehow feel it? My-my jaw and skull,” he turned his head to the right and pulled his ear back, revealing a small scar that was caused by a nail or something of the sort. “It’s old and healed but I feel the bolt that did this all of the time. It never goes away, probably because it messed up my skull and jaw. That’s what I always feel, something wrong with my bones.”

Zoro felt some form of guilt build up inside of him. He had pain but it was manageable and he was mostly numb now from being thrown around and cut open. Compared to Sanji, he was completely fine, and that felt so wrong. Zoro was the swordsman, the designated fighter. He should be taking all the hits and writhing in pain, not the cook.

He stood up and walked over to Sanji, whose deformed eye widened as much as it could and he started to shake more.

“I’m-can I touch your leg, try to help you out a bit.” He said as he knelt beside him. “This is going to hurt.”

“Well, I’m already in non-stop pain. What’s a bit more?” 

Zoro rolled his eyes and carefully placed one hand on Sanji’s thigh and the other on the splint. Tears fell down the blonde’s face as he winced and more blood turned his lips red.

He took the broken splint off of him, untying any strings. Sanji kept twitching and Zoro felt horrible every time he could feel Sanji acting in pain. He felt like he was partially responsible.

“Better?” He asked once the splint was completely removed.

“Yeah…that really hurt. Was nice while it lasted but I think the splint did more damage than good in the end.” He sighed. Zoro crawled next to him, just one bar separating them. “I think Crocodile’s going to take my leg tomorrow, and then my life. Or whenever he decides and gets bored of this little torture game.”

“So let me take Crocodile’s offer so you can walk away with both legs and your life.” Zoro grumbled. Sanji groaned and shook his head. He began to mumbled in that language he and Miss All Sunday shared, and as quiet as he was, he was angry.

“I’m okay with dying, Zoro.” He spat after he ended his little ramble.

“I’m not okay with you dying. And there’s something I can do to stop you from ending up in a grave. Sanji, I was going to work for them so you could get out of here, and if I get that offer again, I don’t want you to object.”

Crocodile wouldn’t kill Zoro, and he wouldn’t torture him. It was really just a job offer, one he didn’t want to take but he would for Sanji’s sake. He would for any of the crew, but right now it was for Sanji. 

“I’m not going to be the reason you give your life.”

Zoro fucking hated him and his stupid reasoning that didn’t make any sense.

“I’m not giv-”

“Giving your life doesn’t just mean dying! It means giving hope, freedom, your dream! You can’t be the greatest swordsman while being Crocodile’s pawn. Zoro, you’ll just Mr. Five or some other number! You won’t be Zoro, and you’d be giving just about everything for me, and I’m the last person in any of the seas who is worth that.”

Sanji leaned into him and put his hand over Zoro’s heart. Zoro tensed up and he felt it hard to breathe, and his hatred grew even stronger. It was odd that was the moment he decided to hate him but it just was.

“Feel that?”

“Yeah, it’s my heart.”

“Keep it that way. It’s beating for you. Don’t let it beat for someone else.”

Zoro couldn’t find any words to say and he just found himself looking into the blue of Sanji’s eyes. He never realized how blue they actually were. They weren’t a vibrant blue but even in the dim and little light they had, his blue shined.

“You’re so weird.” He laughed, wondering why he wasn’t objecting to Sanji’s hand over his heart, and wondering why it was a bit nice to feel his rhythm through his hand.

“I’m a romantic. Was waiting to use that move on Nami.”

“And a hypocrite. Your heart beats for every woman you come across. You just see one and they have your heart beating however they want.”

Sanji chuckled and pulled his hand back, and Zoro fought every urge to hold it again, to hold him. He wanted him close to hate him.

“Yeah, I think we’re both stubborn. You don’t listen to others and I don’t listen to myself.” He sighed as he pushed his bangs back, revealing both of his blue eyes and those damn curly eyebrows. 

He hated looking at him so much.

But he wanted to look forever.

There was a flicker of light and Sanji was illuminated and Zoro hated him so much. Seeing him in the light made Zoro hate him even more which made no sense but his feelings were so strong in that brief moment.

“I’ll still do it for you.”

“And I hate that so much, Zoro.”

“But if it were reversed, if Crocodile offered my freedoms in exchange for you-”

“Without hesitation, I’m making sure you make it out of here alive. Zoro, we’re different. I’m just a cook.”

Zoro shook his head. He hated Sanji and the fact he didn’t give a damn about himself. Why couldn’t he be a little selfish? The more Zoro thought about it, and compared Sanji to the rest of the crew, he didn’t treat himself right and was too selfless for his own good.

“You’re our cook, and we don’t want another one. We won’t find another one after you.”

Another flicker.

“With Luffy as our captain? Please, he’s probably already found a new one, and Nami can cook somewhat. Zoro, I was never meant to be valuable. I’m…things are alright if I’m not there. I’m nothing special. I’m barely something.”

That was when Zoro started to hurt. The cook didn’t feed himself like he fed others, and he hated the idea of someone doing something for him, and he felt like he was barely a human. Had the signs been there? Had Zoro been blind to Sanji since they met? Did the entire crew notice Sanji and just not him?

“Who told you that?”

“What?”

“Sanji, people don’t just wake up and think they’re nothing, especially to your extent, so who’s the bastard who told you you’re not worth shit?”

He started to shake and Zoro saw a painful youth in his eye, as if he was trapped in a horrible place he could never escape.

“They’re in the past.”

“They?”

He’d fucking kill whoever did this to him, the people who planted their poison so deep into Sanji’s mind it haunted him years later. He didn’t know who they were and what they did to Sanji but Zoro would kill them. It was irrational thinking but he wanted very little more than to make them pay for doing that to his cook.

“They, and I’m never going to see them again.”

“Then why are you acting like they’re still here?”

Sanji looked away and Zoro leaned towards him, wanting to keep looking into that eye of his.

“Some people you can’t let go of, for better or worse.”

Zoro understood that a bit too well.

Sanji’s head started to drop and Zoro was sure for a second he was going to pass out. He leaned forward to catch his cook just in case something happened to him. Sanji started to pant and he started gasping, but not for air. It was more of a thirsty gasp.

“Might die of dehydration and blood loss.” He groaned, his head starting to roll. Zoro put his arm around Sanji and gently eased him onto Zoro’s chest. He didn’t know why but he wanted his cook to be as close as possible to him. Sanji didn’t object, and seemed to embrace Zoro. “You’re so warm, Zoro.”

“Sanji, close your eyes. You’re going to drink in the morning and make up for all the blood you lost.” 

The blonde nodded and agreed on one condition, that Zoro do the same. He also lost a lot of blood, but the difference was there weren’t two different trails of his blood in the room.

“I will. Just go to sleep. I got you.”

He was asleep in Zoro’s arms before the next flicker. He was light, so light that Zoro could have just picked him up with ease. He kept panicking that Sanji was dead, and he kept checking his pulse every few minutes because that fear was overtaking him. 

He had to take the offer. Zoro couldn’t just let Sanji suffer and die when there was something he could do for him. There was a reality where they both lived and Sanji was able to live without the pain. Zoro would be alright being a Baroque Works agent. He could and would make it work. He had done jobs he didn’t want to do before to make a living. What really mattered to him was ending Sanji’s pain and suffering. 

You can’t take away all of his pain.

Zoro kept thinking of the little scar behind Sanji’s ear, and the constant feeling of something being wrong with him. Zoro didn’t want to think about how that feeling would become part of his leg. Sanji would always be remembering this horrible time of his life, walking around with a never ending reminder that he could never get rid of. 

He fought with his legs. Would he kick the same, with the same power? Zoro didn’t think he was a coward but would he kick with less power out of the fear of breaking it?

The best Zoro could do was try to stop any more pain being inflicted on him.

“I’m sorry that you’re going to hate me when I make that deal. Maybe one day you’ll understand and forgive me. I’m not sorry for making the deal.” He whispered as he checked Sanji’s pulse again and as the light flickered. Zoro didn’t believe in a higher power but if there was one, that flicker of light was a given sign he was doing the right thing.

Night went by and Zoro didn’t think about sleeping once, not while he was holding Sanji. Someone could show up and take Sanji from him. He needed to be alert and ready.

His unresting night paid off when he heard footsteps on the stairs hours after his cook fell asleep. He stiffened up and held Sanji tighter, ready to put up a fight.

Miss All Sunday descended down the stairs, wearing her coat and regular clothes. She looked normal to the average eye, but Zoro knew better.

“You haven’t rested at all. Your friend looks comfortable.”

She stood in front of the cage, careful not to get too close.

“He’s dying.”

“He looks it.” She was acting like Sanji slowly dying was a joke. Zoro started fuming but kept his calm. Sanji wasn’t awake to object, and Miss All Sunday was reasonable, even if she was the devil in heels.

“I’m being serious, and if your boss still wants me, I’ll make a deal with you.”

She began to smile and leaned forward, waiting to hear what Zoro had to say.

“You give him medical treatment, and let him go with the supplies to survive here for at least a week, and I’m loyal until I die to Baroque Works.”

She chuckled and tilted her head, and in a flicker, her evil eyes were lively.

“I can’t speak for my boss, but I think we have a deal, Mr. Roronoa.”

Chapter Text

Sanji had a secret.

He had a knife hidden in his sleeve.

He took it while Crocodile was laughing at the ceiling. If Miss All Sunday saw, she said nothing at all, and Sanji felt like she wouldn’t at this point. None of the servants said anything about a missing knife, so he was presuming no one knew but him.

He had a plan, piss off Crocodile and let him try to kill Sanji up close and personal, and Sanji would stab him. He wouldn’t be expecting it and he wouldn’t have time to turn to sand. Even if he wasn’t able to kill him, maybe he and Zoro would have enough time to run out, if Zoro was willing to carry him.

There was a small chance Sanji was successful but there was a chance.

He wasn’t going to let Zoro become part of Baroque Works. He wouldn’t allow Zoro to give up everything for Sanji. If that stupid deal came up again and Zoro considered taking it, Sanji would hate him forever and make Zoro regret it.

That was horrible on his part, but since when was Sanji worth someone else’s life?

When his sleep started to become light, he was still pressed against Zoro. His right arm was wrapped around Sanji’s torso, holding onto his waist. His left arm was resting on Sanji’s side, his rough hand lightly entwined with Sanji’s hair.

He felt so safe.

“You’re still warm.” He mumbled as he became more aware of the world. He felt Zoro’s chest rise and his left hand moving along his hairline.

“How are you?” The swordsman whispered.

“Better, I think. Best I can be.” 

The knife was still in his sleeve. He knew how to pull a knife out of his sleeve and use it flashingly. At the Baratie, there was a chef who would pull knives from his sleeves and have fished turned into a filet in one second. Sanji spent months watching him and practicing in his spare time. He cut himself up over and over and accidentally threw a few knives into the walls, but he knew how to pull off the trick, so maybe he could slice Crocodile’s throat before the monster had the time to realize what was happening.

His vision set and he could see Miss All Sunday walking towards them. She looked fresh out of bed, her hair unbrushed, wearing a blue top and black sweats. The only part of her that was truly Miss All Sunday was her coat. Otherwise, she looked like a normal girl, not an assassin trying to help take over a country.

“Good morning.” Miss All Sunday said as she opened the cage, placing a chair in front of the entrance and taking a seat. “You look so well rested.”

“Thanks.” He muttered as he pushed himself off of Zoro. He looked at the swordsman, whose eyes were surrounded by purple circles and his pupils were shaking. “Shitty swordsman! Did you sleep?”

Zoro didn’t look at him. He just took a deep breath and slowly shook his head. Sanji sat all the way up and he fucking hated Zoro. Zoro slept more than any of the crew and he could sleep through just about anything anywhere. Sanji knew Zoro could have easily just closed his eyes despite being a cage and would have drifted off for hours.

He chose to stay awake.

“Close your fucking eyes and go to sleep!” 

“You think Crocodile will let me just sleep through today?” Zoro scoffed, his speech slurred together. Sanji wanted to punch him and hoped he was out for the whole day. How much did he have to hate someone to be willing to use his hands? Never in his life has he considered punching someone. He would occasionally hit Luffy or Usopp on the head with the ulnar side of his hand, but most of the damage was accomplished with a kick. 

“Maybe if you ask nicely.” He grumbled. Hard to believe a few days ago he was glad if he was going to be a prisoner with any of the crew, it was Zoro.  He would die for Nami’s sweet company, but he didn’t want her in any danger. Usopp and Luffy would annoy him too much one way or another.

So damn it, Zoro was still his best choice.

“Ah, whatever. I can go days without sleeping and win any duel.”

“You aren’t in a duel. You had your hands on your swords for five seconds yesterday and they did nothing at all to make the situation better.”

“And if I get my hands on my swords, the first thing I am doing is cutting your leg off.”

“You might be doing me a favor!”

“Oh, just kiss and make up already. You two so clearly like each other but neither of you know how to express it.” Miss All Sunday groaned, slumping over in her chair.

Sanji had never been more offended in his life. That was perhaps the most absurd thing he had ever heard. How was their constant bickering any indication of a romance of any sort? That wasn’t even a sign of friendship. He pushed off the comments she had made before but she went too far. Maybe she was insane, and if Sanji was going to like man, which he was almost sure he would never, the last man in any sea he would like would be Zoro. 

Sanji hated him in a way he had never hated before in his life, so strong and powerful he was afraid his hatred would consume him. He had some good qualities like his swordsmanship and loyalty, but he was also stubborn and stupid and irritating and irrational and so much more that Sanji couldn’t stand. And Zoro wasn’t even that good looking. Sure, there was no else in the world that looked like him, but that wasn’t a compliment.

“Lady, you have got to be the dumbest and most vile person I have ever met!” Zoro spat as he stood up, winding his fist up as if he was about to punch her. Sanji hated them both but Miss All Sunday was a lady and even if he hated her, he couldn’t see a woman being hurt when he could try to do something about it. It would eat at his heart and he wouldn’t be a gentleman, and he would be doing a dishonor to the only two who really looked after him when he was young.

He stood up and the pain he felt in his leg was now indescribable. He felt it, and he didn’t know how to truly process the complete agony and suffering seeping through all the little and large cracks, the bruises he had been he had been ignoring that wouldn’t be quiet anymore. Maybe the worst part of it was the feeling and knowing his leg was wrong, and there was no way to make it right. It wasn’t a physical pain but he felt it still, and just like the bolt that never left his neck, he would always know something was wrong with him, with body, and his father would always be right.

Sanji grabbed Zoro’s fist and threatened to kick him to the banana-gators if he tried anything.

“Your le-”

“I can stand, which means I can kick, and if you try to hurt her, I will kick you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Try me.”

“DAMNNIT, SANJI! I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU AND HOW NO MATTER THE SITUATION, EVEN IF YOUR LIFE IS ON THE LINE, YOU WON’T EVEN SAY SOMETHING MEAN TO A WOMAN! ARE YOU REALLY THAT TAKEN BY EVERY DAMN WOMAN?!?!”

It was much more complicated than ‘love’.

“You’re right. You’ll never understand. We’re very different people with very different pasts and very different morals.You’d never get it.” Sanji whispered as Zoro grabbed him by the collar.

“You’re such an idiot.” Zoro whispered, but it didn’t really sound like an insult. It was more sad than anything, and now Sanji didn’t understand.

“Well, it’s nice to see we are all awake!” Sanji turned his head and through the bars he could see Crocodile descending down the stairs, his golden hook glaring across the room. “What are you wearing, Miss All Sunday?”

“I couldn’t sleep, and Mr. Roronoa isn’t the best company, but he’s company. And I’m comfortable in my sleepwear. Don’t really feel like getting outside today.” She sighed as leaned back and closed her eyes.

“As long as you’re ready for tonight.”

“Of course I will be. Have I ever truly disappointed you?”

Crocodile scoffed and approached them, twisting his hook. His eyes were shining and they were the most sick eyes Sanji ever saw. The look in his eyes was the exact one his brothers had when they would chase him around so they could beat him senseless.

“Ah Mr. Cook, it looks like you are able to stand! Is your leg any better all of a sudden?”

“It’s bearable.” He mumbled. He used his right foot to take one step back, shaking Zoro off. He reached for his wrist, feeling the cold blade pressed against his forearm. He was careful with how he moved his arm. One wrong move and the blade was either revealed by tearing his sleeve or it would be driven into his elbow.

“Well, that’s good to hear. You seem to prioritize your appendages very much, more than the average person, fighting with your legs and keeping your arms out of harm’s way. Take it from me. Cherish them because one day, you may see your own hand served in front of you by some Marine captain.”

That was a threat. Sanji could hear it in his callous and joyous voice. He’d rip any part of Sanji’s body off of him without a second thought and would do it while smiling and laughing. Would he take his leg first, his right and good one? Would he lose his hands, the two things that gave him a purpose in life? Would he take all four limbs at once, or over time?

He needs to kill you already.

“Are you two hungry? I can have breakfast served.”

“Well, it’s rude to refuse food, I would rather be brutally beaten on an empty stomach over a full one.” Sanji told the man. Crocodile stood over Miss All Sunday with a bright smile, shaking his head.

“I didn’t say I was going to beat you or anything of the sort. If I have to, I gladly will. There are many ways to hurt someone, and I’m feeling gracious this morning, a very good thing for you two. Let’s hope you don’t catch me on a bad day.”

“We better,” Zoro moaned in a sarcastic way. “And I’ll have to refuse you on that offer. Not much of a breakfast person.”

That was a blatant lie. 

“Are you sure? I can serve you raspberry pain au chocolat, any omelet you can think of, lemon scones. Mr. Roronoa, I’m sure you’ve seen all the benefits and wonders I can offer you that you can enjoy as you please.” Crocodile opened his arms, extending his one hand forward. Sanji wondered how long Crocodile would pursue Zoro until he realized he would never join Baroque Works. He didn’t do it years ago and he wouldn’t do now.

Please don’t do it now.

“Like what?”

Sanji’s head snapped towards Zoro, who seemed like he was actually listening.

“Zoro.” He gritted, wanting some indication he was joking with the monster and the swordsman wasn’t considering joining him. They talked about it last night. Sanji begged him not to give his life up, his dream of being the world’s greatest swordsman and his own identity. The cook said he wasn’t worth it and if he died, he died. There was nothing anyone could do about it once it happened, and he was more than okay with seeing his mom again.

“Not now, curly.”

“Zoro, I want you to look at me and tell me you’re not thinking what I think you are.” Sanji felt tears building in his eyes. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Zoro was an agent by the end of the conversation. He would find an alley way to sit in and die. He would wander into the desert and stay there until something killed him.

“Mr. Cook, we are having a discussion, so if you wouldn’t mind being quiet.” Crocodile snapped. “Miss All Sunday, take the cook for a walk while me and Mr. Roronoa discuss business.” 

“ZORO!” Sanji lept in front of him, his leg seering in pain but he would break every bone in his body if it meant Zoro turned away from Crocodile and his organization of evil. “IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

“Not now, Sanji.”

“ZO-”

He felt a pair of hands grab him and pull him back, his leg going stiff in pain. Miss All Sunday was whispering in his ear, assuring him everything would be alright. He reached for Zoro, trying to cling to his torn shirt. Zoro acted as if he wasn’t there, looking beyond Sanji and not even taking shallow or heavy breaths. 

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! I WON’T LET YOU DO THIS! ZORO! LOOK AT ME AND DIE WITH ME! I’M DYING NO MATTER WHAT SO DIE INSTEAD OF GIVING EVERYTHING TO THIS BASTARD!”

That seemed to break Zoro. His eyes focused on Sanji and he became consumed with a look of guilt. His cross stance loosened and he started to shake his head.

Sanji felt a large hand grab him by the back of his shirt.

Crocodile.

Now was the time.

He spun around and with his right hand, he grabbed the hilt of the knife. He didn’t really have a specific target, just Crocodile and to dig it in so deep the hilt was pressed against his bones.

“ZORO, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

Crocodile grabbed Sanji by the throat and slammed the back of his head into the cage. He saw a flash of light and felt his body vibrating. The impact of steel against his skull resonated and worsened with every second. He fell to the ground, just in front of the cage, in front of Zoro.

Did he even stab Crocodile? He couldn’t feel the knife in his hand but he couldn’t recall the knife ever penetrating the man. Did he even do anything? Was he just some idiot who made things worse for himself, for Zoro? Would Crocodile hurt Zoro because of him?

He really couldn’t live now.

“Mr. Roronoa, you don’t listen to anyone now do you?” Crocodile said as the walls started to close in around Sanji. “He told you to run. You could have run. You wouldn’t get far but you could have tried.”

“I’m not a runner, and I’m going to explain my conditions to you.”

Zoro, please.

“Please do.”

“He’s let go, and you give him everything he needs to survive. And you leave Alab-”

“I’m the defender of this kingdom, so even if you were the most persuasive man on this earth, I have an image to uphold for a bit longer…how about I take the kingdom, but I reduce the number of casualties I had planned?

“No casualties.”

“I’m inciting a civil war. People will die.”

“End the war. Take over this country.

“I’m going to need much more from you. You are just one man and I can find others with amazing talent who are much more.”

Zoro was silent, looking down at Sanji. Even though his face was blurry, in his mind, Sanji could see him perfectly. Every detail on his face, the little smile lines that never went away, the curve of his nose, the edge of his jawline, Sanji knew and he could see.

“We can continue our bargaining once I have you sign a contract saying you’re my agent. Is that good enough for you?” Crocodile said.

“Zoro…please…” He cried, tears wetting his face, the room becoming dark, and his heart aching

Chapter Text

Seeing Sanji unconscious on the floor only solidified Zoro’s decision.

That was what he was ending with this deal.

“So, breakfast while Miss All Sunday finds that contract for me, and gets dressed?” Crocodile winced as he pulled the knife out of his right shoulder that was so deep Zoro could barely see the hilt. He was looking down at Zoro’s cook. He wanted Sanji gone because then Crocodile couldn’t look at him with mal intentions, couldn’t break any more of his bones. He couldn’t cry anymore from the pain and he could heal.

If he chose to live.

Sanji’s pleas kept ringing in his ear, him saying that no matter what he was going to die so why not die together? Zoro was doing this so neither of them died. He couldn’t be responsible for Sanji’s death when there was a way to avoid it.

He had also been thinking about the dream with Kuina. Zoro was going to decline the offer but he saw Sanji at dinner, struggling to even eat and looking five seconds away from death the whole time. If he died, and he probably would have, it was because of Zoro’s pride, like Kuina said. So he had to put it aside and let someone be in charge of him and order him to be a horrible person. 

He wouldn’t be responsible for any more unnecessary deaths.

Zoro agreed and Crocodile started to snicker again. Miss All Sunday was already halfway up the stairs when he yelled for her to also tell the kitchen staff to prepare two omelets and whatever she wanted.

“Sit with me and we’ll talk a bit more.” Crocodile made his way to the table, a trail of sand following behind him. Zoro knelt down in front of Sanji, feeling for his pulse. It was there and it was strong. He would be alright. He just would never forgive Zoro. 

“Don’t hate me too much. You said it yourself, you would do the exact same thing.” He pushed Sanji’s hair behind his ear, seeing his closed eye and a tear falling down it.

Zoro looked away and walked over the cook. He would tell the crew what happened and Zoro was hoping Sanji could reason with Luffy and tell him to not go after Zoro. Someone would die in the process of that.

He sat down in front of Crocodile, whose eyes were fixed on a banana-gator behind Zoro. 

“Amazing creatures. Those are actually banana-gators behind you as I have said, and the one you were brought in on are called accellegators. Very fast animals that can cover a day’s walk in just a few hours. Would you like one?”

“Not really an animal person.”

“Well, you’ll need some form of transportation. The gators are very fast and efficient. Of course, you can just ride with Robin.”

“Who?”

“Miss All Sunday. I didn’t mean to tell you she’s Nico Robin but she is.”

“I’ll take one of my own then.”

He could at least try to make himself comfortable, and that meant trying to keep as much distance from the devil as he could while being her partner. Maybe one day, when she wasn’t looking, he would cut her down and make his escape, but he needed some time to get her either weak or to trust him.

“Alright then. I have some smaller ones you can work with. It will take some time for one to not try and eat you, so you will be riding with her for a while.”

Zoro cursed the name Nico Robin and her existence. If he killed her or he let her die, that wouldn’t eat at his soul. He’d be doing the world a favor by letting her become a corpse to wither away. She was a brutal killer with no remorse or empathy inside her. Not that Crocodile was any different, but she flirted with Sanji and that just made Zoro want her on a pike.

“You’ll get along eventually. She’s actually very…she just doesn’t express emotion alot but she means well. Incredibly smart, one of if not the smartest individuals I’ve ever met. And her devil fruit powers are something to be reckoned with. I underestimated her abilities at first but she knows how to use her powers to her advantage. See, it’s actually a bit difficult to win a fight against her. Very few have if ever.”

She would lose to him.

“You know, as valuable as you are, I can find other swordsmen who would be much more willing to join me. What else can you offer me?” Crocodile said as he leaned back, blood gushing from his shoulder. It was still amazing Sanji was able to stab him, and incredibly stupid. Did he really think he would be doing any good? The idiot should have known better.

Wouldn’t you have done the same thing?

“Well, you know I’m a good bounty hunter, and I don’t know how many people can say they fought Dracule Mihawk and lived, and I will surpass him one day. I don’t have any powers like the rest of you but in my opinion, that might make me the strongest one here.”

Crocodile laughed at that, but he didn’t ridicule Zoro. It was true. He did lose the other day, but that was against three devil fruit users and he wouldn’t lose the next time. He would train non-stop until he could take on an army of devil fruit users and emerge unscathed.

“I don’t think I’m going to regret this. Imagine how powerful you could be if we found you a devil fruit. You would be unstoppable, and you would still be my agent. I could take over the Grand Line if that was the case.”

Zoro nodded and he didn’t move his head, but his eyes were on Sanji, still laying on the floor in front of the cage. He hadn’t at all. What if his heart gave out and died? What if his body was just laying there now? What if it was all for nothing because he tried to do something for Zoro and attack Crocodile.

“Look at me. He’s going to be gone soon and just a memory. Look at me, the present and future.” His new boss said. Zoro shivered and slowly his eyes focused again on the Warlord.

“We also need to get you some new clothes, Mr. Roronoa. Can’t have you wearing a cut up shirt and even then, you need something with a bit more…style.” He looked down at his tattered shirt, still stained in his blood. He almost forgot about being cut up yesterday and having his chest cut open again. It was such distant pain now and he was so used to the cuts that they never lasted for too long.

“I’m more of a simple person.”

“You can be simple with style. Miss All Sunday will help you. Ignore her appearance this morning. She does have a good sense of fashion.”

“I can find my own clothes, and I will.” He gritted. Crocodile shrugged and now he was looking at Sanji, making Zoro’s blood boil. “Just throw him on the street already with things to stay alive. The deal’s basically done now.”

“Not until I have a signature. Then it’s done and you won’t have to worry for your cook for much longer. I promise.”

Zoro didn’t trust him but he had to, for Sanji.

“Another thing I just thought of; you know my identity. That’s a small problem…you could Mr. Negative. You’re not any of the other numbers but you’re not me. The only person I can let you pair up with is Miss All Sunday and don’t take this personally, but I’m going to have you under supervision for now.”

Sanji was right.

He would be giving up his name.

He would still be Roronoa Zoro, but almost no one would call him that, and the only two that would call him his name would be the two people he hated the most in the world.

“Any other suggestions? It is your new identity.”

“Whatever you decide, I’ll have to go with.”

“Eh, so you are smart.”

Miss All Sunday, or Nico Robin, dressed in her purple attire, came back with servants behind her. The smell of eggs was powerful, and it was nauseating. Zoro felt his stomach flip and his throat tightened. This was probably how Sanji felt the night before, if not worse, and he still managed to eat every last bite.

“His color is green. Wouldn’t you agree, Nico Robin?” Crocodile said as she sat down. Her demonic eyes widened and for the first time, Zoro saw emotion in her face.

Hate.

“Why did you use that name?” She said with a restraint. She clenched her fist and was biting the edge of her mouth so hard he could see blood coloring her lips.

“Because I think he should know who he will be working with while he sets in, and now we all know who we all truly are. Miss All Sunday is a mouthful anyway.” 

“Then just call me Miss or Sunday. Devil woman even works. My real name is something I would have rather revealed to him myself.”

“Too fucking bad. Now, that contract?”

She slammed a paper on the table as a plate was served in front of her.

“And your pen.” She hissed, almost throwing it at him. He caught it and glared at her, reminding Nico Robin he was still in charge and he could ruin her life with one phone call.

“Let’s begin. You, Roronoa Zoro, are agreeing to be a member of Baroque Works for now until I either release you or you die.”

“That’s correct, under the condition that Sanji is taken care of. I know you probably want to punch his face in for stabbing you but please-”

“Yes, your Sanji will be taken care of. I will make sure of that. I’m not sure if he’s able to walk but he won’t stay in this room much longer after he wakes up.”

Zoro sat back and he turned his head. Sanji was starting to move. Even from across the room, Zoro could hear his whimpers and cries. It was worse than any ringing or screeching. 

“And you don’t slaughter all of Alabasta.”

“The casualties will be as little as I can control. Some things are just out of my reach.”

That felt like a lie, and Zoro’s conscience started to awaken. He was about to help a maniac take over an entire kingdom, aid in the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, and his crew. He was going to betray them all in the worst way possible. Luffy, his captain, who he would do anything for, even die and live through a thousand hours of torture, he was going to betray him. 

There was the possibility Luffy could beat Crocodile but Miss All Sunday would definitely cause a problem for him. And there was the possibility he couldn’t even beat Crocodile. Zoro wanted there to be hope for Vivi and her kingdom but he lost it. He lost it in the cage, after being cut and thrown by a Warlord, after watching Sanji become a broken man who couldn’t even walk properly, after spending four days tied to Sanji, after losing when he swore he wouldn’t.

It was at times like these that he wished he could switch places with Kuina. She would be the greatest swordsman in the world already and she wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Well, Mr. Roronoa?”

“As little casualties as we can control.”

“And you’ll partner with Miss All Sunday for now, teach her how to use swords as she integrates you into our organization.”

Zoro glared at Nico Robin, who was still obviously bitter about her actual name being used. She was the powerful devil, but now he knew something that might throw her off and make her easier to kill.

“Sure.”

Crocodile chuckled and finished the document, signing his name at the bottom of the page. He slid the paper over to Zoro. It was another thing to see it all in writing, making his decision that much worse and evil. He almost felt as if he was going to sign his soul away.

Sanji’s lying on the ground with broken bones because he was brave and tried to actually do something, when you have done nothing.

He signed his life away to Crocodile, his hand trembling as he finished the letters in his name.

“It’s signed. Now get him out of here.” Zoro dropped the pen, wondering if it was pathetic he was now begging Crocodile to let Sanji free. He looked at the contract and began smiling ear to ear, breaking down laughing so loudly Zoro felt vibrations through the air. Nico Robin leaned away from him and she was looking at Sanji again.

With pity.

“See, I can’t just let him go at this point. He’s pissed me off too much, and you didn’t really think he was going to live?”

Zoro’s heart dropped and his entire body went numb. 

“He knows who I am and my plans. Even if most of the world calls him crazy, someone is always willing to listen. He’s too much a liability.”

“YOU SAID YOU MAKE YOUR OPPONENTS AWARE OF YOUR PLANS!” He slammed his fist on the table and couldn’t hold back the tears.

“If you join me, you wouldn’t be an opponent, and you would have refused me if I lead on with that. And their plans. I wouldn’t tell you what I have in mind for someone else unless I wanted to use you to make my idea become a reality.”

“YOU PROMISED!” He yelled.

“No, I said he would be taken care of. You interpreted that the wrong way.”

He killed Sanji. This was all for nothing. Zoro was an idiot who really placed trust in an insane criminal who was shown to be someone who lied to the people around him. He actually thought for hours that Crocodile wouldn’t be the person he was known to be, that he would actually be kind and help Sanji despite all the pain he inflicted on them both and how he enjoyed it.

“Zoro, what did you do?” 

He gasped as he saw Sanji standing, his right leg shaking, trying to support his entire body. His left leg was so deformed and Zoro could see the pain that was consuming his body in his eyes.

And he also saw the eye of someone who had lost all faith.

“I-I-”

“He signed the deal you tried to stop with your little stunt, and he sincerely thought you would emerge from this situation alive and in one piece.”

What the hell did he mean by that?”

Crocodile disintegrated into sand and reformed beside Sanji, who was frozen, his eye of blue becoming so glassy as tears streamed down his face.

“I would start to slowly kill you now, but you’re going to need whatever strength and energy left in you.” He hissed, picking up Sanji by the head. Sanji winced and tried to kick Crocodile with his one good leg, but he turned to sand every time.

“I do give you applause for that little knife trick. I didn’t expect it from you, but you’re resilient.”

He used sand to lift Sanji’s arm, pointing it at Zoro. The shame made any dignity Zoro had crumble into tiny pieces. Samji’s hate was turning into blame, and Zoro wanted Sanji to hate him, but he wanted for him to live and hate the swordsman.

“Your friend works for me, and I want you both to take one last look at each other. Mr. Roronoa, this will be the last you see of him. Mr. Cook, this will be the last time you see anyone. Say goodbye now.”

“WA-”

Zoro tried to get up but six tan arms appeared from the table and held him down. He looked to Nico Robin and begged her to let him go, to let him try and help Sanji, if she had a heart, she wouldn’t let Sanji die.

“I do have a heart, but I also have a brain, and like you, I made a deal a long time ago. I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything for him. Let me try to help you.”

“You absolute BITCH!”

“Don’t speak to her that way. She’s your new partner, and a lady.” Crocodile said as he carried Sanji across the room, right in front of Zoro, Nico Robin’s grip tightening. Zoro held his breath, hoping Sanji could just land one kick and break free of Crocodile’s grip.

But he can’t run.

Zoro could escape Nico Robin and carry him away.

Nico Robin could just grab you and Crocodile won’t let that happen.

Maybe he could offer something more to Crocodile, something he couldn’t resist.

You heard him.

All he wants now is Sanji dead.

And what did he have? He already gave everything he could but it wasn’t enough.

Sand flew through the air and he saw it clump together at the large chair at the end of the table. There was a large click as he saw some sort of button be pushed. Right next to Crocodile, the floor opened up and he held Sanji over it, his body dangling. Zoro, out of the corner of his eyes, saw banana-gators swim down in the water, three of them.

They’re going to eat Sanji.

Zoro nearly passed out at the realization. That was what Crocodile meant by Sanji being alive in one piece earlier. He was going to be torn to shreds by the beasts. He couldn’t run away or kick his way out of this and even if he could, he would end up in the water, where there were more banana-gators awaiting him and even if he could swim, Zoro didn’t think he was faster than a banana-gator.

“Say your last words, Mr. Cook.”

Sanji smiled at him. That idiot was smiling even though he knew he was about to die. His body relaxed and he was happy. There was no pain and sadness that Zoro could see.

Zoro never realized how charming his smile was, or how there was a certain shine to his eyes.

“Zoro…no matter what happens, stay Zoro for me.”

I don’t think I can.

Not without you.

“YOU BASTARD!” Zoro yelled, more hands holding him back. “SANJI! NO! SANJI!!!”

“And now the cook becomes the meal.” Crocodile sighed as he dropped Sanji into the banana-gator pit.

Chapter Text

He hoped he died on impact. 

Sanji was tired, tired of fighting and losing, and he wanted his pain to end one way or another. 

He would hope he lived if it meant he could do something for Zoro, but time and time again he proved to be weak and he failed to save him. His only reason for fighting was being held back in a chair, next to a piece of paper that claimed him to be a Baroque Works agent, making it almost hopeless for the both of them.

If there was no point in fighting, there was no reason to live.

Zoro, I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to save you.

He didn’t land on solid ground. He landed on something that was hard but there was cushion to it. He was reminded of the day before, on the banana-gator. He may have been in a saddle but he felt the back of the animal and it was so similar. 

Then he heard the growling, the ‘ground’ was vibrating.

“Oh shit.”

Sanji sat up, realizing he was on the back of one of the beasts, and there were two more staring at him, ready to fight over who got to eat him first. He thought Crocodile would kill him, not a crocodile, or banana-gator in this case, or three of them. 

There were probably more waiting in the water for a chance at him if these three somehow didn’t get him. 

Never in his life did he think this would be the end. He thought for the longest time one of his brothers would simply punch his head clean off his neck, or his father would let him starve and rot in the dungeon, and then he went years thinking life was fine until he joined a pirate crew, then he was worried the marines or whoever he fought would be his end, if not Luffy’s unique methods as a captain.

Not a bunch of big water-lizards that would make a good meal if prepared just right.

“Okay…how appetizing can some blonde guy in a blue shirt and black slacks look?” He mumbled, crawling back, his focus changing between the two banana-gators.

Apparently, he was appetizing enough for one of them to leap at him with its mouth wide open. He yelled as he pulled himself over a plate and held on as the gator collided with the other. He didn’t realize how massive they actually were. One plate was as tall as him and from what he could tell, one tooth was twice his height. He read about them before and Zeff used to joke about them but he never imagined having to come face to face with the largest reptiles in the world. It was almost astonishing and laughable such enormous creatures would be fighting over a little thing like him. He was barely even a crumb to them.

But food was food.

And you didn’t waste food.

Sanji looked back up and the hatch was now closed. Even then, there was no way with his leg he would be able to jump and reach the opening, and Crocodile would just throw him back down or finish him off with one slice. And he was willing to bet his life that the only way he could escape was by finding where the gators entered from and swimming all the way to the top and climbing out, where there would be more waiting for him.

He couldn’t try to hide. 

He considered for a moment letting that be the end, but there was still a voice telling him he needed to fight and as small as the voice was, he listened to it.

The gator climbed on the other’s back, snapping its long jaw at Sanji. He just barely was able to push himself out of the way, a tooth almost rubbing against him. The gator he was on twisted around and started attacking the other. Sanji was violently thrown off its back and for a second, he was grateful none of the gators took the opportunity to snag him. He hit the wall and fell onto his back. He wanted to be paralyzed with pain and just lay there, let the gators eat him and hope it was quick, but the voice told him that there was too much at stake. 

Zoro was at stake.

Zoro truly gave everything believing it would save Sanji. He was blinded and put trust in Crocodile because he wanted Sanji to live that much. The cook wasn’t sure if Zoro understood him saying over and over again that he wasn’t worth it, but maybe to Zoro he was. To Zeff, he was worth his leg, his weapon, and to Zoro, he was worth his life. He couldn't let that sacrifice be for nothing.

He had to try to find some worth in his life then, if Zoro thought there was some.

So with a broken leg, miniature size, and outnumbered, he would have to take on the giant animals trying to eat him.

He managed to stand up and he saw the third banana-gator, staring at him with wide and beady eyes. Sanji took a shaky breath and wondered how much his leg would slow him down. The other two were too engaged with each other to notice Sanji slowly backing away, deeper into the tunnel.

“Don’t charge. Don’t charge. Don’t cha-”

The gator charged at him, its mouth wide open. He whimpered and the other two clasped behind him. Sanji bit his lips and he ran. His leg was breaking and his bone was shifting into different places and he would never be fixed. He couldn’t land correctly but he tried his best to keep his balance and not fall. 

The third gator was fast. Even if Sanji was able to run normally, he may have not been able to outrun the gator. In seconds, the gator was only feet from him. The beast reached forward and Sanji would have been gator food if he didn’t use his right leg to jump. He flew in the air and felt freedom for a second. If he could fly forever he would.

The gator stopped in its tracks and lifted his head up, trying once more to eat Sanji. Luckily for the cook, the gator reached its head too far up and Sanji was able to somehow use the air to his advantage, floating for a second right beside the monster’s head.

And there he took an opportunity.

His right leg was still good, and he turned his desire to live for the stupid swordsman into energy, and it only took one good kick between his eyes and the ferocious reptile was knocked out.

Sanji twisted his body so his right side took all the impact, which wasn’t that painful given the last few days. He landed on the unconscious banana-gator’s back, and his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head, his body relaxing too much.

He was tired and the only thing keeping him going was the image of Zoro screaming in the chair. 

“That’s one…two more.”

Until the others in the tank try to take a bite.

The other two were still engaged in fighting each other. Maybe he should have used that as a chance to run into another hall, but one would surely notice him and he may not be so lucky with his next jump and kick, if he even got the opportunity to do that.

Was Crocodile watching him? Maybe he was paranoid but Sanji got the sudden feeling he was being watched. He felt like he was putting on a show for someone even though he was just trying to stay alive. Were there hidden cameras in the wall? Was he amused by all of this? Was he showing this to Zoro so he could see Sanji be brutally ripped apart?

If that was the case, he really couldn’t die.

“CROCODILE! IF YOU ARE WATCHING, I HOPE YOU GRINNING EAR TO EAR! AND I FUCKING HOPE I GET TO TAKE THAT AWAY!” He screamed as he slid off the banana-gator’s back. The two stopped their fighting and one immediately started to run towards him. The other was waiting. Maybe that was the smart one and trying to figure out the perfect attack, or just very dumb.

“IF YOU THINK I’M ABOUT DIE, THINK AGAIN!”

He only said that on the off chance Zoro could hear him.

Something Sanji quickly learned was that gators were surprisingly fast and very reactive, even with their massive size. He ran further into the tunnel, waiting until the gator was just in front of him to sprint, thinking the beast wouldn’t be able to react in time to even get close to Sanji. The gator snapped its head and the only reason the cook wasn’t dead was because he fell flat on his face and under the jaw.

His body started to shake as the gator stopped, looking for its walking breakfast.

“For Zoro. Get out of this for Zoro.”

He flipped over to his back and ignored the fact his left leg was bent at an angle it shouldn’t be at. He used his pain now to give him the power for his kick. The gator was shot into the air and he heard the gator crying. It was an odd relief to hear but it was how he knew he was winning, and staying alive.

Sanji rolled over to his side so he wasn’t crushed by the limp gator. Every part of him hurted and he wanted to cut his leg off, to end the pain. He was so used to pain but it was nonstop and continuously getting worse.

Don’t be weak.

Don’t be a coward. 

Zoro would keep fighting no matter what.

Someone was relying on him and he couldn’t disappoint. No matter what it took, no matter his pain and how willing he was ready to be completely done. 

“One more for now. Where is that dumbass chili meat?” He mumbled, sitting up. It wasn’t in front of him but he didn’t hear it hissing around him. Sanji looked around and there was no sign of the gator at all. 

“Are you a coward?” He mumbled as he got up, trying to only use right leg. Maybe he could just wait, let himself rest and heal for a little bit. Then he would take on as many gators as he needed to for Zoro.

“Afraid I’m going to turn you into a stew? I knew a chef from the swamp who loved to ramble about how delicious alligators are. Wonder how honest he was.” He whispered as he tiptoed towards the center where all the tunnels came together.

He felt the ground shake and the gator came around the corner, roaring at him like one of those animals on Little Garden. This one was furious, its eyes glowing with anger and hunger. Sanji took a deep breath and put his weight on his left leg, hoping his fear the bones would break more and be of no more use was just irrational.

The gator stopped in its tracks and made a sound that was like a scream. Sanji scoffed and began to smile, holding his arms out to keep his balance with the ground still jumping.

The ground was still moving.

Sanji felt a snap in his mind and looked around, inches away from large pearly and sharp teeth. He yelped and tried to jump and he did, but he felt the chain on his belt become hooked. His body was violently pulled from the ground and he felt himself thrashing in the air, his body slamming into the teeth and jaw of a banana-gator.

Sanji went completely numb, and for too long he saw only black. He wasn’t in any pain, and there was nothing for him to cry or worry about.

And what about Zoro?

“FUCKING MERDE SHIT!” He cried, his senses coming back to him. He wasn’t inside the mouth just yet, just the chain. He wasn’t that close to death. Sanji reached for the clips, trying to remove the chain. Why was the gator still running? Why hadn’t it stopped when it realized there was no taste in its mouth?

He heard another growl and he was able to see the blurry image of another gator running behind him, mouth wide open with its eyes glowing even more. There was almost a smile on the monster, which made Sanji feel sick. 

They went further down the tunnel, the light becoming dim. Just as his left hand was able to find the clip, his body flew upwards as the gator moved downwards. He gasped and took a deep breath, becoming submerged in seconds.

His organs started to crush inside of him.

Chapter Text

She wanted to feel bad.

Robin wanted to feel horrible for Roronoa Zoro sobbing in the chair, crying for Sanji, who was certainly dead by now. Instead of any grief or horror, she felt nothing at all. She was immune to any feelings now, only wondering if Sanji had a quick death or if he was slowly torn to pieces.

She slowly started to let go of Zoro, who wasn’t trying to hide how he felt anymore. He hadn’t stopped calling for Sanji and begging Crocodile to let this stop, let Sanji live or let both of them die.

“SANJI! SANJI! OPEN THIS DAMN HATCH AND LET ME DOWN THERE! LET ME BE WITH HIM!” He jumped out of the chair the moment he could and fell to his knees over the trap door, banging on it and screaming. Crocodile laughed, because he was always laughing when people were suffering. Robin was convinced he was only happy when others weren’t.

“And lose my newest agent? No! Even if you’re this disobedient, I still have use for you if I can get you to listen, but keep this up and you will be down there.” Crocodile snided. Zoro only screamed louder and she heard a crack, so he broke his fist or the door, possibly both with his strength and motivation.

“Mr…Mr. Point One. I like that much more than Mr. Negative. That’s your new name, Mr. Point One.” Their boss said, adjusting his collar. “We have breakfast waiting for us. I’m sure your cook would have hated you wasting such good food.”

“DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT SANJI LIKE THAT, NOT WHEN YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME AND MURDERED HIM!” Zoro clenched his fist and sprung towards Crocodile, his  face turning red with rage like it did yesterday when Sanji was being tortured by Crocodile. 

He turned into sand and easily avoided the swordsman. His laughs echoed around the room as Zoro looked for him, huffing with fury and revenge. Robin leaned back in her seat, a little amused by how desperate he was to still do something for his dead cook.

“FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME, YOU SCALY BASTARD! I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!” 

Crocodile appeared behind him and hit Zoro over the head with his cook, then he tossed him onto the table, nearly breaking the table edge and Zoro’s spine.

“Fighting isn’t going to bring him back. Nothing will. Just move on. I need you to be a good agent for me.” Crocodile groaned, walking away and sitting beside her, smiling at his fresh food. Zoro jumped up and started to run towards him.

“Miss All Sunday.” He mumbled, taking a small bite of his omelet. 

“Yes, sir.” 

She didn’t have to think too hard to spring two hands on the table to grab Zoro’s ankles. He started to fall forwards and before he could smash his face in, she willed another hand to appear to catch him.

“Mr. Roro-”

“Mr. Point One. That’s how we’ll be referring to him from now on.” 

“Mr. Point One, fighting now is useless. What’s done is done and it’s best for you to comply.” She mumbled. He shivered and pushed himself up, a mix of tears and blood covering his grieving face.

“How am I supposed to comply with the people who went back on their word and threw my cook into a pit to be eaten alive? DOES THAT MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE TO YOU?!?!” He screamed, his fist bleeding and still tight. He wasn’t wrong. Robin knew why Crocodile did what he did but at the very least, he could have tried to convince Zoro he was true to his word and kill Sanji in private.

“You signed a contract. And just like that, I can turn you over to the world government.”

“I’ll tell them everything, about Baroque Works, about your plan to take over Alabasta.” He scoffed, smiling and laughing which only worsened his sobbing.

“I never said alive.”

That only made Zoro smile even more.

“Looks like you’ll have another body to deal with.” 

Crocodile groaned, muttering about how he was going to keep Roronoa Zoro alive until his body gave out, and then he would turn him in and fulfill his Warlord duties. Robin groaned and stood up. They had put too much effort into trying to recruit Zoro and she believed that over time, and maybe with some manipulation, he would be a useful asset.

And maybe when the day came that she betrayed Crocodile, he would help her.

“Sir, he’s mourning. He’s not sound of mind. Give him a few hours and then I’ll begin initiating him into the organization.”

The room was silent, the occasional sniffle from Zoro. Her boss took a deep breath, scowling for a moment before he relaxed.

“Three. He has three hours and then I want to see some progress. Get him some new clothes, make him at least look the part.” She nodded and reached out to the swordsman, at least wanting him off the table, which was now covered in tears and blood and sweat.

“DON’T COME ANYWHERE NEAR ME, YOU DEVIL WOMAN!” He cried, swatting her hand away.

“It’s either you go with me, or stay with my boss. I can’t speak for him but I’m tired of this constant fighting and beating each other up. Why don’t I give you a tour of Rainbase, and we’ll work some things out?” She was thinking that they could form some kind of secret relationship against Crocodile. She truly didn’t feel anything for the man and if he had to die so she could search for the Rio Poneglyph, so be it. They were both each other’s pawns and maybe he was best as a dead one.

“We have nothing to work out.”

“Don’t be so sure about that, Mr. Point One. I’m sure we can figure out something. I’m a very persuasive woman. It wouldn’t hurt to have a conversation with me.”

He whispered that it would but he got off the table, standing right beside her. His glossy eyes were fixed on the trap door, as if he was expecting them to open and Sanji would climb out. She motioned for him to follow her and very reluctantly, he took light steps behind her.

“Aren’t you going to eat? I have three meals here!” Crocodile shouted, sounding angry.

“We’re taking a walk first!” She said as she led Zoro up the stairs, mindful he might try to attack her. Robin was a bit shocked he was able to listen to her and control his urges. He didn’t even listen to the person he cared about more than life.

She led him down the halls, waiting until she was sure no one was around. 

“I saved your life.” She said to break the tense silence.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE SAVED HIS! THAT WAS THE DEAL! DO YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT LIVING NOW? DO YOU?!?!” He stood right in front of her, the tears coming back and his rage re-consuming him.  

“Not really.” She sighed, leaning against the wall. He huffed and fell to his knees, his hands shaking. She still wanted to feel bad and give him more time to mourn, but that wasn’t possible. They had roles they had to play and grief wouldn’t bring back Sanji.

“Was he a good cook, or did you just tease him calling him th-”

“CROCODILE CAN’T TALK ABOUT HIM AND NEITHER CAN YOU! YOU ARE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS MURDER!”

“I sat in a chair and did nothing.”

“EXACTLY! YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED TO STOP CROCODILE, REMIND HIM HE WAS SUPPOSED TO LET SANJI GO! YOU COULD HAVE CAUGHT HIM WHEN HE FELL! YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING! I TOLD YOU MY CONDITIONS AND YOU REALLY LET ME BELIEVE HE WAS GOING TO BE FINE!”

“Hey! I didn’t know what he was going to do! I thought your cook would die unbeknownst to you! And I may be a devil fruit user but I am nowhere near as powerful as Crocodile right now! We all would have died, and we more than likely would have been tortured to death! Trust me, this is the best option for all of us!” She berated him, hoping he could regain his sensibility. She knew he had it but he obviously didn’t use it a lot.

“This is the best? Shit, you guys really are evil.”

“Has anyone told you to have some pride? I would expect it from you.” She didn’t know it was about pride but that seemed to strike a nerve with him. His eye twitched and he went pale, then he began to mutter something she couldn’t hear completely, but from what she did hear, the wrong dream was coming true.

“I’d be dead with him. It’s either we’re both alive or we’re both dead. What’s the point right now if one of us is dead?”

“You two seem to have a deep connection.” She said as she sat down, hoping she was making some progress with him.

“We’re crewmates. Nothing else.”

She has a hard time believing that based on what she had seen. There was something between the two, even if they didn’t know it yet, or now just Zoro. Maybe Sanji did know in the moments leading up to his death.

“You were very protective of him, even for crewmates. You gave up everything for him, even though you argued, and you held him so tight in that cage.”

The swordsman stopped and he stiffened, more tears coming from his eyes. His lips rolled into his mouth and he looked so young for a second. Sometimes Robin forgot her age and was coming to the realization Zoro wasn’t even twenty yet. He closed them and tilted his head towards the ceiling, his lips trembling inside his mouth.

“It was for nothing.” He choked. “I-he was supposed to find the All Blue. I’m going to be the greatest swordsman in the world and he was going to find the All Blue. Now he can’t. His dream is just…another dead chef’s unfulfilled ambition.”

Now she felt something. There was always something about pure dreams and ambitions that got to her. Maybe it was because of her dreams, and because of her mother. She had heard stories about the All Blue, the rumored sea where all of the seas meet. For a chef, that would be the greatest achievement of all.

“I’m sorry your friend had to die so young and without finding the All Blue, truly. I’m not a liar.” He rolled his eyes and scoffed, looking back at her. His eyes were dead now, like hers. There was no light in them, no rage or sadness. 

“I don’t believe, and he wasn’t my friend.”

“Oh really? Now I don’t believe that.”

“I hate him. He died knowing I hated him.” Zoro sighed, wiping his tears away. She almost shook her head in disbelief. There wasn’t any possible way that Zoro hated Sanji. From what she had seen, it was the exact opposite. He cared about that cook more than himself and vice versa. Their relationship was so caring and they couldn’t realize it so they fought and ‘hated’ each other.

“He died for you, so do him a favor and live. Live for your friend, or whatever he is. Live, and maybe one day help me take down Crocodile.”

There was a flicker in his eyes and he stopped breathing for a moment, his sadness replaced with confusion. Robin smiled at him and got to her feet, holding her hand out.

“Look, he may be my boss, but I don’t really care for him. I’m looking for something and he’s just a means to find that. I can do it without him, but he needs me for some abilities I have that aren’t common in the slightest. So, maybe we kill him. You avenge Sanji and go on your way to fight Dracule Mihawk for his title and I search for the Rio Poneglyph, and Alabasta is also saved in the process. We both win and he’s dead.”

He took a deep breath and stood up on his own, rubbing his eyes. Zoro shook his head and walked away, his hands still shaking. Robin put her hand in her pocket and followed him down the halls, waiting for him to agree. How could he refuse that? It didn’t make sense because all he had expressed in the last few minutes was revenge. Why wouldn’t he take it immediately?

“I don’t…why should I trust you?”

“Like I said, I haven’t lied to you so far, and I won’t.” She tried to reassure him, slowly approaching him from behind. His head turned over his shoulder and there was a danger in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. She had an uneasy little breath but then her curiosity got the better of her. Robin wanted to see him with his swords with a clear mind, driven by his intense emotions. It would be interesting considering how many people he took down at Whiskey Peak so casually trying to defend himself.

He could give Dracule Mihawk a run for his money.

“I’m looking out for myself here. I have my interests at heart. I don’t care about this country, this organization, nothing but my own dream.”

He took a deep breath and his hands were still, and Robin couldn’t help but grin a little bit.

“I don’t trust you…but you’re right. You haven’t lied. So alright, I’ll play the bit. I’ll be Mr. Point One and do Crocodile’s dirty work with you. I’ll put on a costume and cut some men down, as long as by the end of this, I get to cut that monster into pieces and feed him to his pets.” He said so coldly, just as empty as her. She nodded and promised him he could deal with Crocodile however he wanted. She didn’t care. If he was the only one who got to have a go at Crocodile, so what? It made no difference to her.

“Perfect. Now, let’s start this little show by getting you something decent to wear, something with green.”

Chapter Text

His insides were crushing.

The urge to fight was gone and now Sanji only felt panic. His chain was still attached to the tooth but there were also arms around him, dragging him down. He didn’t just hear the water around him, he heard deep laughter. The base of the casino was right in front of him but so was an underwater cliff. The only other living things in the water were other banana-gators, but he also knew Luffy was somewhere behind him, his feet trapped in rock, and the man with all of the scars was with him. His body was broken but there were aches from being punched and kicked just moments before.

His stomach and intestines were caving in on themselves. His lungs were expanded, and soon they would explode, and the rest of his body would crumble and he’d be nothing, not even guts. Even if some part of him was left, he was just food.

He didn’t want to die afraid. Zeff would be disappointed in him if he died afraid and scared. He would want Sanji to die like a man, to go down fighting and with pride. He risked his life and willingly lost his leg so Sanji didn’t die when he was ten, and he spent years trying to turn Sanji into a man, someone with morals and values. He taught Sanji how to fight, how to defend himself and not just be a ragdoll to be tossed around. If he learned Sanji died because he was panicking and couldn’t find the sense to live, he wouldn’t mourn. He would just be disappointed.

But really why would anyone mourn him? He was never someone to mourn over. He was a failure of a son, a weak and disappointing protégée, an average fighter among two great ones, and a replacable chef. 

Hopefully no one wasted their time and mourned him.

“Zoro, what did you do?”

Why? Why would he? Sanji made it clear he didn’t want Zoro to give everything up for him, and now he was sitting like he was friends with Baroque Works, a paper in front of him that looked signed. He wanted to think he was just imagining everything in front of him, but it felt too real.

“I-I-”

“He signed the deal you tried to stop with your little stunt, and he sincerely thought you would emerge from this situation alive and in one piece.” Crocodile snickered as he started to fade into sand.

You did that all for nothing.

I’m going to die and you still gave everything for me.

Crocodile reformed beside him and Sanji didn’t have it in him to fight anymore. He couldn’t. Even if he had the energy and will, he was trapped staring at Zoro, selfless Zoro with his pretty black eyes and grassy hair.

Since when were his eyes so pretty?

“I would start to slowly kill you now, but you’re going to need whatever strength and energy left in you.” Crocodile said as he picked Sanji up, his bulky hand almost crushing his skull. A spark to fight lit in him and with his right, he the idiot tried to kick the man who could turn into sand. However he was going, it would be a struggle, but what if he made it easy?

“I do give you applause for that little knife trick. I didn’t expect it from you, but you’re resilient.” He taunted, using the sand to lift Sanji’s arm so he was pointing at Zoro. Why’d he even do it? Did he really think he could do something against a Warlord who could turn into sand? Was that really enough for Zoro to escape? Why did he have that hope earlier?

Why did he have hope?

“Your friend works for me, and I want you both to take one last look at each other. Mr. Roronoa, this will be the last you see of him. Mr. Cook, this will be the last time you see anyone. Say goodbye now.”

He couldn’t let his last memory of Zoro be him as a Baroque Works agent, miserable with nothing. He wanted to ignore all of Crocodile’s words and call him a liar, but he saw the paper, and he saw the pain in Zoro’s eyes.

This was it. 

The swordsman started to protest and for a second, Sanji fooled himself into thinking he was going to run to him, and somehow they would run away together. Instead, arms sprouted from the chair and held him down. He started yelling at Miss All Sunday, who seemed so impartial to everything going on. Crocodile began to walk across the room, Sanji still in his head. He felt so weightless and in turn, so useless. His one kick was barely even a kick, just him moving his only good leg for the time being.

He heard a clicking sound and doors opened, and Crocodile extended his arm out. When Sanji looked down, it was a deep white tunnel he would be dropped into, where he would fall to his death and die in a splat if he was lucky. If he was unlucky, his body would break more and he would painfully decay over the hours, maybe days, waiting until his heart decided to stop beating and his brain was too tired. And there could be something down there. Crocodile said he would need whatever he had left in him.

No matter what, he wouldn't live to see the All Blue.

“Say your last words, cook.”

This was the last they would ever see of each other. 

Sanji didn’t want it to be bittersweet.

So he smiled.

Moments away from death and he was smiling. He let his body relax, free of pain for a few seconds. It was so nice not to be struggling, so nice to stop fighting. Why hadn’t he stopped earlier, just given in?

The answer was right in front of him.

Roronoa Zoro.

There was something about him that Sanji…he didn’t want to say he loved but he couldn’t match it to any other feelings. He had become special to Sanji, not just someone to die for, someone to sacrifice himself for, even more, he was someone who in a different situation, Sanji would be willing to live for him, win every fight he got into just so he could see Zoro again. He’d cook for the swordsman and fight with him because there was some invisible force that kept them from agreeing, but Sanji still felt good every time he saw him.

And in their last moments, Sanji wasn’t seeing the Zoro held back, on the verge of tears, already regretting what he did and how he couldn’t save Sanji. Instead, he saw the Zoro he saw every day, the one who smiled brighter than the sun and had a laugh no one else had, a happy Zoro that drank sake and napped wherever and whenever he could.

Sanji couldn’t let that beautiful Zoro be lost.

“Zoro…no matter what happens, stay Zoro for me.”

That was his last request, the last thing he wanted Zoro to remember on his behalf. Despite the situation, he needed that Zoro to survive. 

Please let him survive.

He means too much to me to not.

That last memory replayed in Sanji’s mind as he felt weaker, his body in more pain and ready to implode at any second.

You fought for Zoro on dry land.

What changed? 

His irrational fear since Arlong Park, which was no longer irrational.

You survived then.

Why can’t you survive now?

Damn it, why couldn’t he?

His hand was still on his belt, ready to unclip the chain. He kept imaging Zoro, and every voice in his head was telling him through different words to stay alive, whether it be he didn’t die a coward, make Zeff proud, prove his father wrong, but the loudest voice kept screaming Zoro’s name so loudly that he couldn’t hear anything else.

His eyes opened (though they were never closed), and he unclipped the chain. Sanji was able to put his right foot on a tooth and use it to push off, boosting through the water. The gator kept swimming downward, completely unaware its’ breakfast was swimming towards the surface of the water.

Sanji wanted to bask in the relief he was feeling, but he could hear movement in the water, the numerous other banana-gators that wanted a bite of him. He looked around and counted at least twelve above him, with who knew how many hidden from his sight. He used both legs to frog kick and accelerate towards the blurry sun. Urgency filled him like it did at Arlong Park not just because he needed oxygen, but because once again, someone in the water was actively trying to kill him.

Sanji heard a roar and to his right, three gators were swimming at different angles towards him. He couldn’t outswim them, so he would have to fight him. His kicks still had some power under the water, and he could use those kicks to gain momentum. 

One was faster than the others and Sanji kept swimming, but he kept his eye on it. He didn’t know how but he knew that was the same gator that was chasing him before he went into the water. The eyes were the same, wanting Sanji to be dead.

The Warlord Sir Crocodile had the same exact eyes.

He was ready to kick the gator on the nose when some sense in him told him to look up, and he was thankful he did. He was seconds away from being trapped in a large and open mouth. He panicked for a pure second, inches away from the sharpened teeth that wanted him. Sanji just avoided that gator and the one he had his eyes on appeared out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed onto the scale of the one that almost ate him and used it to anchor himself so he could dedicate all of his energy into a right kick between the nostrils.

The banana-gator was rocketed towards the moat floor and he was rocketed towards the sun, almost in his grasp. The other two quickly stopped and started to swim upwards, and he could see at least three others from all around him. Sanji ignored the numerous predators and his focus turned to keeping himself moving upwards and towards the casino base. If he was able to make it to land, he would be able to slip back inside. Everyone thought he was dead, and if he could get in without any problems, he could get out, and maybe Zoro could be with him. 

More came after him, and by some heavenly force or pure luck, maybe skill, he was able to maneuver around them all, getting closer to the surface with each move and keeping near the side of the base.

What if he did try to go into the city, get help there? He could get to a doctor and he could get actual fighters to go in there against Crocodile and any other agents in the casino. The people would want to go against the man who was the reason they were suffering and why a civil war was about to happen. Maybe there were some soldiers nearby who could hold their own against Crocodile and Miss All Sunday for a bit. 

No.

They would just think he’s delusional and too injured to be in the right state of mind, and he was some crazy outsider to them. And if he remembered Vivi’s words correctly, Crocodile was a hero to them and no one suspected him as a devious villain. And he couldn’t get to the other side of the moat without being munched on or at least losing one of his limbs, in which case he would rather just die.

He saw through the window. He swam far enough up and now he was in front of the window showing off the dining room they had been beaten and promised horrible ends in. Crocodile was the only one there, eating a breakfast that looked like eggs. Zoro wasn’t there and neither was Miss All Sunday. Did she do something to him? Was she doing something to him at that moment? 

Sanji had to get to him.

He might be the only one who could save Zoro now.

Sanji didn’t know where his crew was. They could still be on Little Garden or another island. If they were in Alabasta, well it was a big country. He highly doubted they were right outside at that very moment. They had weird luck but it wasn’t that weird, and none of them knew where Sanji and Zoro were, or if they were still alive and worth going after.

So go and save him yourself.

He started to swim faster, trying to use the side to protect him. The gators weren’t that dumb from what he could tell. They wouldn’t get too close to the support and wouldn’t slam into it. They were having to try to get at him from awkward angles, making it almost too easy for Sanji, even with his broken leg.

He was a few arms-reach from the surface of the water when something snagged his left foot. Sanji made a huge mistake and screamed as he was dragged back down, releasing most of the air he had left. A gator was dragging him down and Sanji had no doubt that if he didn’t act in less than a second, he would be gator food.

Just as he suspected, the gator pulled him down more and opened its mouth, Sanji nearly falling into its throat. One thought came to mind to keep himself alive. He put his left hand into his mouth and bit down so hard blood came gushing out in an instant. 

His plan worked.

Other gators started to swarm around, trying to get him. One grabbed the upper jaw of the one about to bite him and pulled back, giving him the perfect opportunity to escape.

Sanji wasn’t even sure when he broke the water. One moment he was swimming for his life and the next he was taking a deep breath, his wet hair freezing in the breeze despite the heat. He didn't let himself enjoy anything. His life and Zoro's was still on the line. With his good hand, he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself out of the water, narrowly avoiding a gator jumping out of the water as his foot touched the dry land. He rolled up against the building and was once again amazed by the size of the beast.

The common people started screaming about the gator, someone yelling how they were all going to be eaten. Sanji scoffed and groaned, never more happy to be feeling solid ground in his life.

He was alive.

You survived.

“Congrats. You’ve made it out of another crazy situation alive.” He mumbled,  trying to use his tie as a bandage for his hand. Maybe he should stop doubting his ability to stay alive. He had lived through too many things that would kill the average person.

Sanji wanted to go to sleep. His body was aching and for the first time in days, he was out of immediate danger. He was laying in the dirt and would it really hurt if he closed his eyes for a few minutes?

No.

Zoro.

He couldn’t rest until he got Zoro back.

Sanji got to his feet and glanced around. He was in the back, far from the entrance. Then again, he doubted he’d be able to just walk into the casino and walk through the halls. Zoro was probably being hidden away from the public.

He wasn’t hidden from the vents.

He stood in front of a large vent, one he could easily crawl through. It looked like it went to the basement, where Zoro was more than likely. Sanji rolled his head, kicking the vent off. It fell off easy and he got to his knees, his left one feeling like a shattered plate moving around. He winced but reminded himself to get used to the pain. It would be awhile before he saw a doctor anytime soon, and the pain would always be there until he died one day, if that was the next day, next week, in fifty years. The pain would stay, so there was no point in trying to find any comfort or relief.

But Zoro would give him some, in his heart.

“Zoro…please still be here.” He mumbled as he crawled into the vent, hoping he was done fighting.

Chapter Text

“I think this looks good on you, Mr. Point One.” Robin laughed as he put on a neon green cloak, immediately shaking it off, feeling like a total idiot playing dress up for Baroque Works. “And shirtless too!”

“Not my idea.” He said as he looked in the closet for a simple white shirt to wear, rubbing his new bandages. Zoro didn’t understand why they were wasting so much time trying to get him to look the part. He could just wear an all black suit and call it a day. He didn’t care so much as looking wild as much as he did killing Crocodile. Zoro didn’t trust Nico Robin at all and expected her to stab him in the back once Crocodile was dealt with, but that was a problem for when it happened. For the time being, there would be an alliance between until there was a perfect moment to end Crocodile’s reign of terror permanently. They agreed that Robin would hold him down as Zoro took his head, and she let him in on a secret.

Water.

A splash of water would make him solid, unable to turn into sand. That would be when she would hold him down and Zoro would have his vengeance. He wasn’t necessarily someone who sought out revenge, but Crocodile crossed a line. He killed his cook. It wasn’t even honorable. In pure timidity and shame, he let his animals feast on Sanji, and even if there was honor in how Sanji died, Zoro would still kill Crocodile in his name.

When Zoro had his head, he would give it to the government, with a letter about everything he had done and everything he planned to do. He would hope some money was involved, and if the marines didn’t give him any, he and Robin were planning on splitting his wealth anyway. Zoro would split it again, pay off his debt to Nami and have some money lying around, and then he would give it to the Baratie: Sanji’s home and family. He would write about what happened, and he would never be sorry enough for not being able to save him, and he hoped the money was enough, and everything that belonged to Sanji would go back there.

Almost everything.

Zoro wanted to keep a few things so Sanji was never truly gone. He’d keep all his cooking supplies, but if they did get a new cook, Zoro would never let them touch those supplies. He’d keep the stash of cigarettes Sanji had hidden throughout the ship, and find them whenever he started to miss the cook in weird ways. He wore stupid cologne that Zoro was yearning to whiff one more time, even though he hated it until this morning. He’d keep that, and with a lit cigarette, he could smell Sanji.

He never thought he would be mourning the cook, and definitely to the extent his mind was going to. Before, maybe a moment of silence and the occasional memory, but it was truly bewildering the lengths he was going to go for his memory. 

Stupid love cook.

Why’d he have to make such an impact on Zoro?

Why’d he have to die?

“Earth to Zoro, are you with me?” A warm hand touched him and he reached for it, instinctively trying to break it in half. It disappeared right before him and he heard Robin laughing again.

“You’re still thinking about him.”

“He was murdered right in front of me. I did all this for him and he was murdered. How am I supposed to not?”

She scoffed and threw him a blue shirt, and he was thinking about Sanji again and wanting him again. 

You can’t be doing this.

Zoro couldn’t dwell on his cook, even if he wasn’t sure how not to. Maybe he just needed time. His loss was so recent and sudden, and he just needed time.

But he really wanted Sanji more than anything in the world. Hell, if having him back meant he would never be the greatest swordsman in the world, Zoro would accept that. The grief was so strong he’d give up anything to have him back.

“I guess I can’t blame you. Hey, would you be willing to teach me how to use a sword later?” She asked, walking over to a shelf of a variety of hats.

“If I’m in the mood, and I’m not wearing a hat. I’ll wear the bandana, but only when a fight gets serious.”

“I’ll take that, Mr. Point One.”

“Do not call me that!” That would be her only warning. Around Crocodile, he would deal with that identity but otherwise, he wanted to be Zoro, or the very least called that.

“Don’t call me Robin and I won’t call you that name. Deal?”

“Deal…why haven’t you killed him already? Why are you letting all these people suffer?”

“I thought I told you, means to an end. And I doubt he’s going to be needing me soon so I just want to make sure when we ultimately both betray each other, I’m the one who comes out of that fight alive. My turn to ask questions. How’d you develop a three-sword style? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Zoro remained silent, throwing the shirt to the side. She didn’t need to know everything about him. In Zoro’s opinion, she already knew too much about him and he had a feeling she would try to use whatever she could against him when their alliance ended. He didn’t know he could aid in finding the Rio Poneglyph, considering he had the worst sense of direction and never heard of it, but he wasn’t willing to underestimate Nico Robin.

He also needed to figure out why he had heard that name before.

“I want to be the best. Two wasn’t enough.” He huffed. He saw her shrugged before letting out a large gasp. “Are you dying?”

He was hopeful.

“No, but I did just find the perfect outfit for you. I need to find a belt now.” She cooed.

“I have my haramaki.”

“I’m still finding the belt and you can choose what you want to wear, as long as you look like one of us and not just some average wanderer. How recognizable are you, pirate hunter?”

“Well, most people don’t forget my face after we meet, and I don’t know how popular an East Blue hunter is here on the Grand Line.”

“You’re notable enough to catch our attention years ago. I suppose the only people we should worry about recognizing you is the World Government, who doesn’t even know we exist. And I’ve been able to avoid them. We have two common enemies, Roronoa.”

Whatever the hell that meant. 

It wasn’t like he would be an agent for long, unless she planned on taking over the organization after Crocodile’s death. Zoro was going back to Luffy, if his captain still wanted him. Would Luffy take him back after losing a fight after he swore he wouldn’t? Would he take Zoro back considering he was part of why Sanji was dead? 

Luffy deserved the best. That was why Sanji was part of the crew, because he was the best cook in the East Blue and he was an amazing fighter. He only used his legs, but they were as deadly as blades. Zoro tried to be the best for him. He was still shamed over losing to Dracule Mihawk, not even able to cut the man once, and he lost so easily to those agents on Little Garden. He would train harder and harder, but was that enough? Would that be enough for Luffy to let Zoro be a member of his crew? Maybe he was the second best in the East Blue, but on the Grand Line? Maybe he was the weakest swordsman ever. Whiskey Peak could have just been luck and he was out of it all now. 

“You’re lost in your head. Get out of it.” Robin said as she threw her coat off, adjusting her top. “Go for a walk or something. I’m going to find that belt for you.”

“I’m not wearing a belt!” He snarked as he gladly walked away. He didn’t know where he would go but he was fed up with Robin. She carried herself with an ego he thought was reserved for Sanji and she was too calm and collected.

“In memory of your fashionable cook, dress with class and dignity!” She said as he slammed the door. Zoro had to fight every urge to go back in there and strangle her for mentioning Sanji and trying to use him against Zoro. He wouldn’t win without his swords but he wanted to try and let her know to never do that again.

“Maybe a week, maybe less. That’s it. Do this for a week and leave. Join the crew if they still want you or go on your own again. You’re not a true agent.” He mumbled.

He had to find a way to remain himself even though Zoro wouldn’t mind being someone else entirely. Sanji asked that of him. The last thing he said and he asked Zoro to keep being Zoro. 

It felt like a burden and a dishonor now, because Zoro was weak and couldn’t keep his cook alive. He wasn’t Mr. Point One but he didn’t feel like himself anymore. 

That stopped the second that Sanji was killed.

“Stupid cook with stupid curly eyebrows, with a stupid smile.”

Sanji’s smile was now the most beautiful thing Zoro has ever seen. It was the only image in his mind and he wanted to keep it that way. It was the last bit of Sanji Zoro had to hold onto, and if he never got back on the Going Merry, that smile really would be all. There were other good times with Sanji, very few but they did happen, but that last smile was the world to Zoro now.

The only other image he allowed in his mind was Crocodile’s head on a platter, his face permanently in fear. He would make that dream a reality sooner rather than later. If Robin took too long, Zoro might act on his own. Crocodile’s weapon was mostly his powers and his hook, but what was one hook to three swords used by a master swordmaster?

Swordsman was better for Zoro.

He wasn’t able to think himself a swordmaster at the moment. 

He wandered around the halls, not really sure about where he was going. Rainbase was a prison to him, locked inside and Crocodile was his warden. At least the cell was pleasing to look at and wasn’t bland. It didn’t really matter to Zoro but it was still nice.

He stopped when he heard something above him. It wasn’t footsteps, more like a crawl against metal. The vents. Someone was crawling around in the vents. That meant they could be an enemy of Crocodile but that didn’t make them Zoro’s ally. For all he knew, it was a rebel soldier willing to kill anyone he saw, even the outsider.

And Crocodile was Zoro’s to kill and him alone.

He slowed down, but kept walking, letting whoever was up there think they were inconspicuous. His eyes were ‘looking’ at the decorated walls, and maybe something sharp to substitute a sword. He had his hands and those would be a good weapon, but if whoever was following him had anything on them, Zoro would feel better with something sharp.

There was a thud behind him, the vent cover, slamming onto the ground. Zoro turned around, ready to strike, and the first thing he actually saw was a singular eye.

A blue eye like the sea, the sea his cook loved, the All Blue.

He caught Sanji and embraced him, holding onto his waist as if they were falling through the air. The cook laughed as he wrapped his arms around him and Zoro laughed with him. He couldn’t be hallucinating because Sanji was in his arms. He was warm. He was soaking wet but he was warm, and Zoro felt his sides rise and fall with his breaths.

His Sanji was alive.

“I thought you died.” He shivered, holding back sobs.

“Think again.” Sanji chuckled as he held Zoro’s face, wearing the same smile Zoro couldn’t get out of his mind. And his eyes. He didn’t get the chance to realize how blue they were. He thought they were gray but no, they were as blue as the sea, but Zoro would rather look at his eyes for hours than the sea, his living eyes.

“H-How?”

“Easy. Kicked a few big reptiles, went for a swim, kicked some more, crawled into a vent looking for you, and I found you. Hi, Zoro.”

“Hi, Sanji. You scared me earlier. Don’t ever do that again.”

His cook scoffed and rolled the sea in his eyes, muttering how he didn’t know why he expected less from Zoro.

“I’m serious. I’m not letting you scare me like that again. I was fully convinced you were dead and I never want to go through that again.”

“I am so sorry. I’ll be sure to let the next Warlord know he’s not allowed to kill me because you said so.” Sanji mocked, and Zoro didn’t fill with anger like he usually did. He wanted Sanji to mock him because that was what Sanji did.

For what must have been an eternity they just looked at each other. Zoro was trying to memorize Sanji’s face, wanting to remember it forever even if he was able to see it every day from now on. When they weren’t together for whatever reason, Zoro wanted to be able to visualize him perfectly, feel like his cook was there.

“Zoro, where the hell is your shirt?” Sanji asked after that eternity ended. Zoro looked down, remembering he was bare chested except for his bandages.

“Uh, I think Robin threw it away after she bandaged me.” Sanji’s eye twitched and he turned red, asking who the hell Robin was and how he managed to find a lady in this situation in an hour or so.

“Miss All Sunday. Her real name is Nico Robin. Long story short, we’re ‘partners’ now but that’s not lasting. She’s annoying.” He reassured his cook. He leaned into his wet hand and felt fabric, and dry crust he knew automatically was blood.

“Hey, your hand is bleeding.” Zoro noticed, picking up his left hand and seeing his bloodstained tie, the hardened blood splattered over his thumb with fresh blood still seeping out of his skin. Sanji winced and nodded, saying he had to do what he had to in order to not turn into banana-gator food.

“Sanji, you hurt your hand.”

His hands were everything to him and he purposely hurt one of them. It was like Zoro purposely shattering one of his swords, shattering Kuina’s sword, breaking the hilt, abusing it and disrespecting it, and her.

“I-I wasn’t really thinking about that. I just needed to get out of there so I could get to you. Now let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of this place.” Sanji said, and Zoro’s happiness was shattered.

“Both of us?”

“Obviously, moss-head! I would have just left if I didn’t want you to come with me, now let’s go!”

“I can’t.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’ll lead us out of here knowing your sense of direction. Zoro, we can escape! Why are you saying no?”

Because even if Sanji was alive, he still had to kill Crocodile. He meant to murder Sanji and would at the next given chance, and there was still his wicked plan for Alabasta. Zoro was in a position to do something, save the country. The man didn’t deserve to be alive and Zoro would make sure he wasn’t for much longer.

“I have something I have to do, but get out of here, Sanji. Don’t let anyone see you and get out of this prison. You’ll die here and I can’t live with that. Find the crew and tell them I’ll be back soon.” 

Sanji looked at him in disbelief before he became angry, and they were back to their usual ways just like that.

It was for the better if it meant Sanji left.

“Zoro, I didn’t just fucking fight a bunch of giant gators so y-”

Sanji gasped, blood pouring from his mouth. He started to fall forward and Zoro caught him, the same fear he had earlier that morning returning. One hand was cradling his head and the other was holding his waist, trying to. His hand almost fell into the new wound, into Sanji’s body. Zoro felt along with his insides his blood dripping from the wound, spilling too quickly. His hand rubbed against something metallic and curved.

You evil bastard.

“Z-Zoro?” He mumbled, whining and crying, his hands gripping Zoro’s back.

“Sanji?”

“Zoro, I can’t feel my legs.”

Chapter Text

Sanji didn’t expect to be stabbed.

Maybe that took away some of the pain, and he couldn’t see the hook that was penetrating his body. And it wasn’t the first time he had been stabbed. He got stabbed when he was seventeen by some angry new chef near the heart. That really hurt, and it was agonizing.

But that was a needle poke compared to now.

All the air in his body left him. It was taken from him, being completely expelled. It was the opposite of coming up for air, like he was suffocating and drowning but there was no water. His fear of his body exploding under the water? He should have been scared it would have happened on dry land.

Sanji could feel his insides. He could feel them pressed against the hook that was penetrating him. He wasn’t sure what organs had been torn but he could feel them in ruin. Parts of him were spilling out that were never meant to leave his body.

The hook twisted just slightly and his organs were even more ruined, being ripped apart and turned into mush. Sanji could hear little squishes that were so wrong and so disgusting. To him, it was like sticking your hand in mud, but you were the mud, and there were heavy clumps that made another gross sound but you kept digging and your ears became sick.

There wasn’t even a ringing in his ears like the other time he was stabbed, just the loud squishes that weren’t right. 

He knew his stomach had been punctured, and all the little food was dripping into his body. So was the gastric acid, burning his muscles and other parts of him. It was worse than when it would sometimes travel up his esophagus, burning in places that were just wrong to feel.

Sanji couldn’t feel his legs.

That was truly the worst part.

His left leg wasn’t in any more pain because there was nothing. Beyond the newest wound, there was nothing. Sanji didn’t know if his feet were touching the ground or not, or if his knees were bent. It wasn’t even like when his leg fell asleep. There was no buzzing or heavy weight. For all he knew, his legs were gone now.

He was so worried and concerned with permanent pain but he was wishing for that pain again. Sanji wanted to feel his leg break into millions of little pieces because he could at least feel it. 

I can’t die like this.

But what can you do?

Sanji couldn’t fight at all. He couldn’t even throw a whimpy punch. 

He was useless.

And he was dying. 

He was dying weak, and slowly, and in so much pain. Sanji never expected to live long but he always hoped for a quick and manly death.

He wouldn’t get that.

And he fought so hard to stay alive. He tried and it was for nothing. He could have died in seconds, been in no pain, and his destiny would have been the same. Instead, he persisted and still he ended up dead.

Was it all for nothing?

No.

He found Zoro. 

Even if he was meant to die, he managed to stay alive this long for Zoro.

He got to see him one more time.

And Sanji was going to die in his arms.

What a nice place to die.

Chapter Text

“Sanji, hold on to me. Just don’t let go.”

That was all Zoro could say. He held Sanji as tightly as he could and made sure he didn’t fall. Zoro felt his legs slack against him, his upper body trembling. He felt something fall on his shoe and Zoro almost threw up, more of Sanji’s insides slowly dripping from his body. The tips of his fingernails on his right hand were almost digging into the gaping wound, just on the edge as the hook twisted and made the bloody hole wider. Sanji wheezed and moaned a bit more, his grip on Zoro’s back increasing

“Zoro, don’t let me go. I’m…I’m tired. It hurts.”

“Sanji, don’t close your eyes. Sanji, listen to my voice and stay awake. I’m going to get you help. Everything will be alright. You won’t hurt forever.” 

Sanji scoffed which turned into a heavy cough, blood seeping from his mouth and onto Zoro’s shoulder and back. Zoro stiffened and he couldn’t move. He knew he had to get Sanji help but where was help? The prison was a maze to him and he’d only end up further down in the halls. Would he even be able to hold onto Sanji for that long? 

Would Sanji live that long?

“Zoro…keep holding me…this is nice.” He sighed, his body still. Zoro held back tears as Sanji’s breathing became more shallow. He seemed so relaxed, like he was just going to take a small nap. But if he closed his eyes, even for five seconds, would he ever open them again?

Did he let him? Zoro could only hold Sanji. He didn’t have any medical skills that were useful and he might be too injured, already too far gone. He was critically injured before with his leg and the beating he got, and he was exhausted from trying to make it this far. His body couldn’t handle this much and sooner or later would give out, and Zoro couldn’t stop that natural process.

So do I just hold him?

It was wrong to not try and do something for Sanji. But holding him was something. It was comfort. Zoro was giving his cook some comfort, taking some of his pain, or maybe that was wishful thinking on his part.

“This is nice.”

Zoro loosened his grip but he was still holding his cook, trying to make him comfortable. Sanji groaned but there wasn’t any ache in his echoes. It was like when Zoro was a little kid and his father was still around, when he would pick his tired son up and he would stir in his arms. It had been years since Zoro was able to experience that feeling, but he remembered how safe he felt, how there was no other world and nothing could hurt him, just them two.

He let himself think that was how Sanji felt, not paralyzed from the waist down and struggling through terrible pain upwards in a casino basement in Alabasta, but safe in another world with his pain dying before he did, Zoro the only other inhabitant.

 But that world wasn’t real.

They were in Alabasta, and it wasn’t just the two of them.

Zoro felt a grainy and windy rope around his neck that yanked him with full force. He tried to plant his feet to the ground, but the rope was too strong, and he let go of Sanji. He didn’t mean to, but his fingers detached and he was moving through the air. Zoro reached for Sanji again as his body flailed over, a corpse almost. It was like seeing his own life being taken from him, and he wished it was.

He fell to his knees and when he looked up, a shape was stirring in the sand. Sanji was hung over the hook, not moving except for his right pointer finger and just barely, his chest was still moving. He was doused in blood, soaked in it. His shirt was only blue around his collars and sleeves. He looked so tired, his eye nearly rolled the back of his head as tears dropped from it. 

Sanji, just close your eyes and stop hurting.

What a terrible thought he wanted to come true.

Zoro lunged for his cook, but sand held him down, and a sinister laugh echoed in the halls. Chills went up his back. He knew Crocodile had been there but the way the laughter resonated in Zoro’s ears was haunting.

“You should have taken the chance to escape.” Crocodile formed from the sand and started to walk backwards, taking the limp Sanji with him.

“Give him back, please.” Zoro whined, trying to reach for him with his hands pinned down. “Please give him back to me.”

He wanted Sanji’s in his arms again. He wanted to hold him again because in Zoro’s mind he was safe and he wasn’t hurting in his arms, no one else’s. He was the other world where everything was alright. Even if he died, he died somewhere nice with some peace.

“He makes you so weak, Roronoa Zoro. It’s pathetic how weak this one person makes you. You’re on your knees begging for a hopeless person.” The Warlord scoffed, pulling Sanji up by his bang. He moaned, his mouth a pool of red.

“Sir, please. I am beggi-”

“Don’t. Don’t beg for his life because it’s worthless. I’ve had my mind set on killing him since I first saw how desperate you were to keep him alive. I might have offered him a place in the organization but then I saw the look in your eyes, the desperation, the pride in your ability to save him.”

He was lying. He didn’t have any pride in what he did. He didn’t have any regrets but there was definitely no pride. Zoro didn’t have any other choice. He thought he was doing what was right to save Sanji because he genuinely wanted him to live, not for his own ego.

Right?

Kuina was dead and he couldn’t be haunted by a dead girl’s words from some stupid dream days ago. Crocodile was lying to him. He was getting into Zoro’s head, somehow knowing about the dream, and so did Nico Robin. He must have let it slip, but he had no memory of that. 

Was that all in his mind? Did he keep imagining people saying that to him? Why? Because everything was going wrong and he blamed himself? It was his fault. He was the swordsman. He was the fighter, meant to protect his crew. It was his only role on the ship and he kept failing. Where was the pride in that?

Where was the pride in getting his cook maliciously murdered?

The cook who was taking over Zoro’s body and mind.

He’s making me lose my mind.

Few people had ever been able to get so deep into his head. The first was Kuina, who he carried a dream for. The second was Dracule Mihawk, who was in a way that dream. The third was Luffy, his captain until the bitter end. The fourth was Sanji, but Zoro didn’t know why yet. He couldn’t come to a reasonable conclusion. But Sanji was consuming him. They were connected by some invisible bond that kept growing strong as they both got worse both physically and apparently mentally, possibly emotionally.

“Look at him, Roronoa.” 

Crocodile’s taunting demand saved Zoro from being damned by his thoughts, but now his vision was damning him. Blood was trickling from his scalp, the edge of his blonde hair being slowly ripped from his skin. The only true signs of life were the slight gasps of breath and his twitching finger, otherwise he was a corpse.

“I made a mistake not killing you myself, letting my pets deal with you. I keep underestimating you…not anymore. Good riddance, you damn cook.”

He ripped Sanji apart. He pulled the hook to the side and ripped half of his body apart. His blood painted the walls from the ceiling to the floor if it wasn’t pouring from his body. Chunks of his body went flying, bits landing next to Zoro. Part of his intestine was outside his body, hanging near his belt. The only thing holding him together was his right side and stretched out muscles that Zoro could see were strained and about to tear. 

Mutilated. 

His Sanji had been mutilated.

“SANJI! NOOOOOOO! SANJI! SANJI! NO! NO! NO! OH GOD, SANJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

“Quit your screaming! Won’t do you or your dead friend any good.” Crocodile said as he dropped him, his cook nearly splitting into two. He landed on his side, his hair flushed behind his head, and Zoro couldn’t look away from his eyes, both of them. This was only the second time in his life he had ever seen both of Sanji’s eyes and that was one of his biggest regrets even if he had only had that loss for just a second. Beautiful little orbs that held the sea, glossy but also so dry, and so lifeless.

He was lifeless.

“Sanji, say something.”

Call me moss-head. Call me a shitty swordsman. Say I’m an idiot and curse me out. Just say something to me.

Nothing.

“Tell me about the All Blue. Sanji, say something about the All Blue.”

Nothing.

“Sanji, just smile. Smile! Please, I want to see you smile again!”

Nothing.

“Well, there’s one pirate dealt with. Stop your pleading. He’s dead.”

Dead

He’s dead.

It wasn’t a figure of speech. It wasn’t some stupid prediction or promise. It was the truth that Zoro could see. His finger stopped moving, and he couldn’t even hallucinate Sanji’s chest moving with air because he didn’t deserve such a luxury.

Sanji was dead.

Sanji was at peace now. He wasn’t hurting. The days of pain he suffered through were over, and now it was Zoro’s turn, except it would last much longer. He needed it to last longer, see Sanji’s mutilated body all the time and be reminded of how weak he was. He needed Sanji to haunt him and keep him up at night the way Kuina used to.

Maybe then he would be strong enough to stop someone else from dying.

Zoro’s sandy restraints disappeared but he didn’t move. He couldn’t. He was stuck staring at Sanji’s body, his mind flooded with memories of the cook. The first time they met, the sauve walk he had and his annoying immediate flirtation with Nami, and then he could hear Sanji yelling at him to not fight Dracule Mihawk from the Baratie, and then they fought together for the first time in Arlong Park. He didn’t know much about him but he knew he was a good addition to the crew, stupid enough to go into the water to try and help Luffy with a fish man behind him. All that came back to him, all he would ever have.

“What the fuck happened here?” Nico Robin gasped, appearing from down the hall. She looked horrified. This was the first time he had seen any emotion on her face and it was pure fear.

“The cook didn’t die like I thought he would, so I have to make sure he really does die. Would you like to assist me in making sure he’s truly dead?” He laughed, kicking Sanji’s pale corpse, Zoro feeling the kick in his gut.

“No…I-Sir, is this really necessary?”

“It sends a message.”

“The message was sent earlier. You don’t need to drag this out. Roronoa is already one of us. This wasn’t needed.” She shivered as she knelt beside Sanji,  pushing his bang to cover his eye. 

Zoro didn’t want to snap her neck for touching Sanji this time. She was respecting him, and mortified by what happened. He whined, watching as Robin pulled out a cloth and started to wipe some of his blood away. 

“Swordsman, do you know if he had any final wishes?” She asked, careful with her touch.

“No…I dunno.” He mumbled, crawling over to him.

“Does he have any family?”

“Our crew, and…the restaurant he grew up in. That’s all he’s got, all he’s ever talked about…don’t send the body to them. They loved him like a son. They don’t deserve to see how he died. Let me just…I’ll write them. Please let me tell them he died.” 

“You can’t tell them how he died.” Crocodile joined their timid conversation with a laugh. “I’ll let you send a letter that I approve of. We do have a cover to maintain, or maybe you don’t send a letter. Let them be happy and think their precious cook is still alive. Wouldn’t it be better that way?”

Would it? Would Zoro burden them and depress them with Sanji’s gory demise? What if they didn’t know, and laughed about the good memories they had because they were just simply looking back at the past, and not trying to mourn? He could just simply write Sanji was dead, but then everyone would be awake wondering how he died, if it was short or if it lasted, if it was painless or he suffered in his final moments. Zoro could also lie about how he died, but that felt wrong just the same. 

Zoro laid next to his cook, his Sanji. He was dead. When Zoro took his hand, there was a fading warmth. His seafaring eyes were still, like a calm bay to swim in. With the blood washed from his face, he was beautiful. Not just his eyes, but all of him. Zoro never thought he was beautiful before, but he couldn’t remember if he had ever been so close to him before.

He just wished he could have realized when Sanji was still alive.

“How the he…I feel a pulse.” Robin gasped, her fingers under his neck. The words stabbed Zoro in the heart and he wanted her to be lying. Sanji was in too much pain to be alive. He didn’t need to live any more, not when all there was for him was intense misery.

“Miss All Sunday, that’s not a j-”

“I’m dead serious-wrong word choice, but he has a pulse. He’s still alive.” She was confident, her eyes shaking. She stood up and started to run down the hall, yelling she was going to get a doctor for him. Crocodile started to yell at her, demanding she just let the stupid cook die and started to chase after her. That left Sanji and Zoro alone, and both of them were alive.

Unfortunately.

Zoro cupped his head and he felt that pulse Robin was talking about. It was so faint that for a few seconds he couldn’t feel it at all, but there was blood still moving through him, and he was still alive. There wasn’t any breathing but he was still alive, somehow.

“Sanji, if you can hear me…stop. Just stop. I don’t want this for you. Let go. I’ll be alright.” He whispered, laying his head right next to him, his forehead touching his blonde locks. He was still holding his hand that was getting colder now. 

Zoro spent the last few days just wanting Sanji to live but that wasn’t right anymore. He truly just didn’t want Sanji to suffer. He’d be selfish if he asked Sanji to keep living through everything he had gone through and more. 

Zoro closed his eyes and imagined he was dying next to Sanji. He wasn’t, but he imagined a sword through his chest. He could feel the steel piercing him, his will to live pouring out of his blood to the ground, but Sanji was there, and Sanji would be there when he woke up.

He just wished they would wake up in heaven together.

He laid beside him until he was pulled away from him. Zoro was forced out of his disturbing yet comforting dream, his new reality being in Nico Robin’s arms as a swarm of doctor’s surrounded Sanji. He squawked, overhearing all the ways and methods they would use to keep him alive. He was unable to speak, unable to beg them to get away from him and let him have a few more moments before his torture ended for good. It was terrible on Zoro’s behalf but in the grand scheme of things, he was saving Sanji from having to go through whatever Crocodile had planned and pain that would never be able to leave him, even if he lived for fifty more years. 

“I don’t understand why you’re keeping him alive. Why?” Crocodile asked as he appeared, scratching the back of his head,

“To make a deal. If Zoro dies while out with me, then you can do whatever you want to Sanji and kill him as you please. But, if Sanji dies while under your care, I get to kill Zoro. The way I see it, you can’t have one without the other.” She chuckled.

No.

Just let him die.

Don’t make him hurt any more.

“Why not? Maybe he’ll listen, and maybe that’s how I keep him from trying to put a sword in my back. Take on the assignment you have in about…now. You’re supposed to be leaving now. Get him dressed, and go.” Crocodile said. Zoro whined as Robin pulled him up. He cried and wanted to stay with Sanji as he was messed with by the doctors scrambling to ruin his life by saving him.

“Sanji…I don’t want to leave him.” He mumbled as Robin started to walk away with Zoro in her arms. She turned them around and for that, Zoro was glad. He didn’t have to see those damned doctors doing everything they could to save Sanji’s life just so Crocodile could torture him.

“Too damn bad! And train with him afterwards like you wanted!” The Warlord shouted before he began to demand the doctors do everything, and try to keep this all secret. 

“I’ll make sure that sword gets in his back, and you get your cook back. Everything works out.” She whispered with glee as Zoro was basically carried down the hall, four hands holding him up.

No. 

Nothing worked out.

Now Sanji was one of Crocodile’s pawns.

God, why couldn’t his pretty cook die?

Why did Sanji have to suffer so much?

Why couldn’t it just be Zoro?

Why?

Chapter Text

“You could try to act excited.” She scoffed as she climbed onto her gator. Zoro was trailing behind her, or Mr. Point One was. He hadn’t said anything since she dragged him out of the hall where his cook was lying with barely any life. He didn’t even argue when she gave him something new and much different to wear, and didn’t try to make a snide comment when she gave him the belt she had been looking for. She thought for sure he would say something when he saw her handling his swords, only promising to give them back when they arrived at their destination.

Nothing at all, as if they were just sticks.

“Not even a smile?” She laughed. He only moved to sit behind her, but was otherwise motionless. His eyes were more dead than his cook’s, stained with tears and redness. Even when he thought Sanji was eaten by the banana-gators, he had life and emotion in him. He could at least hold a conversation with her, a bitter one but he still talked.

Seeing the cook ‘killed’ and the dissected mess in the hall was truly appalling and sickening. Her stomach still hadn't risen and her goosebumps seemed permanent. Maybe that made Robin a hypocrite. She knew what her boss was capable of and she knew what she had done in the past. Robin had done far worse, and felt nothing at all. What was so different about this time? Was it the pure terror on Zoro’s face, or the wide grin on Crocodile’s face? Maybe it was the walls decorated with parts of his body that should have never left him, or the pool of blood that could have been turned into a reasonably nice bath?

It didn’t matter now. Everyone was alive, and she and her new partner had rebels to kill about an hour from Rainbase. She could ponder about her feelings and lack thereof another time, and it would be preferable if Zoro wasn’t mourning a living man.

“He’ll be fine.” She told him as the gator started to walk down the tunnel.

“That’s the problem.” He muttered so faintly she thought she imagined his words. “I don’t want him alive.”

“You were saying that this morning.”

“Because I thought he was truly dead. Now, living is worse than dying. At least if he was dead, there wouldn’t be any pain, and he could feel his legs.”

“What?” She gasped. She didn’t think about that. Robin didn’t get the best look at his wound but if he was truly torn the way she imagined, his spinal cord was shredded and his nerves were detached. Unless she managed to find the greatest doctors in the world or a miracle happened, he would never walk again.

Now she was truly starting to feel bad.

Zoro didn’t elaborate at all, his eyes gazing into the darkness in front of them with no hope of focus.

“Just be ready to fight and do what you’re supposed to when we get there. Might save your cook some additional pain.”

“We’ll walk from here.” 

Robin jumped off her gator and looked up at the mountain they had to climb. There were reports of a rebel camp hidden somewhere in a cave and Crocodile wanted her to deal with the rebels, and try to make it look like Cobra was the mastermind behind the attack, and make the disturbance noticeable enough for the people in the nearby town to panic.

And the swordsman would make the setup that much more convincing.

He slipped off and just began the journey, heading up the path created by footprints over the years. She resisted a yell, not wanting to give themselves away, and started to run after him. 

“Hey! You can’t just take off like that!” 

He shrugged, continuing to walk in what Robin realized was the wrong direction, completely off the trial. She groaned and called for a wall of hands to block him off and point him in the right direction. If he was as directionless as he appeared in the present moment, she would have to question how he became the most feared pirate hunter in the East Blue.

He stopped and instead of going where her fingers were pointing, he went the complete other way. 

“People are afraid of you?” She scoffed as she had to block him off again and run up to him. He almost went the wrong way again when she grabbed his wrist, becoming slightly annoyed. 

“Follow me! This shouldn’t take long.” She mumbled as she dragged him up the mountain, a hand holding onto his clanging swords. She didn’t know if he was purposely trying to drive her insane or if he was truly that depressed and/or directionally challenged. He didn’t try to fight her, not even verbally. Robin was hoping for a bit of an argument, a sign of a living and not just breathing.

“So, we’re here to kill a small band of rebels and make it look like Nefertari Cobra was the one who organized it, worsen tensions in the kingdom. If I’m satisfied with your work, maybe we can try to attack Crocodile sooner, and I’ll arrange something for your cook.” 

He didn’t say anything. Roronoa Zoro, feared pirate of the East Blue, was basically a lost rag doll for Baroque Works to use with ease. 

“Look, you can’t keep moping around. He’s in good hands and honestly, I wouldn’t doubt the idea of him walking again. I know Crocodile has access to some technology and advanced medicine that could save the nerves and rebuild his spinal cord. As for the pain…that’s life, isn’t it?”

He didn’t say anything, and she would forget his existence if she wasn’t holding his wrist. His footsteps were so silent even in the boots he was wearing. The rocky and grainy ground was just like snow to him, with no crunch. Even she was making some sound, her heels grinding against the ground every few steps.

“So, how’d you become a pirate hunter?”

Nothing.

“How did a pirate hunter become a pirate?”

Nothing.

“Fine. When did you fall in love with your cook?” 

He came to a complete stop and pulled his arm away. She started to chuckle and looked at him. Now Robin could see some life in him. He looked at her confused, but she noted he didn’t seem offended like that the first time she made that joke, nor was he embarrassed.

He was just in denial then.

“He’s my crew mate. Of course I’m going to be concerned for him when he’s been ripped apart!” He hissed. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, curious to see what she had to say to make him see the truth.

“I saw the look in your eyes. I’ve been watching you the past day. You don’t look at him like he’s just a crew mate.” She tensed her shoulders and closed her eyes, reflecting on the little hints of love she had seen, and also testing to see if Zoro would attack her or run away.

 “The way you held him in that cage was like protecting a part of yourself, and before that, when you argued with him at dinner, you kept glancing at him for something. It wasn’t an apology or anything, just…something. And when he smiled before he was dropped. For a second, you were admiring him. I’ve lived a long life and I’ve made it a personal goal to be able to look at people and understand them. I can understand you’re in love with him.”

When she opened her eyes, Roronoa was exactly in the same spot. He hadn’t moved at all, except for his eyes. They had widened as much as they could and were clogging with tears.

“He’s a handsome cook, wouldn’t you say?”

Zoro didn’t give her an answer, which in Robin’s mind, was him signaling he agreed with her. If he wasn’t, he would have objected and insisted she was crazy, but now he was silent again, and he was still thinking about the cook, just slightly differently.

Robin also knew the cook loved Zoro, and was also in denial. She saw the glances at dinner, just through his one visible eye, and the way he kept fighting for Zoro was a term of love. There was the possibility the jokes she had made were tricking her brain into seeing something that wasn’t there, but Robin trusted her gut feeling the two had a deeper bond between them than they recognized, the both of them. 

“That doesn’t mean I love him. He’s my crewmate, and maybe he is pretty.”

“Tell yourself that if it helps you sleep better at night.”

She started to walk back up the mountain, calling for one eye to bloom from the back of her head to keep an eye on Zoro. He jumped back when he saw the unusual feature, muttering how much of a freak she was and devil fruit powers or not, she was scary.

Everyone thought that since she was just a child, and it still hurts a little bit every now and then.

“Just making sure you don’t get lost.” She told him. He shivered and walked beside her, saying he would rather be next to her than have to look at that eye for however long they were walking.

“Needed money to get by. That’s how I became a pirate hunter. I kept trying to find Dracule Mihawk and I never could, so I was really just going from place to place and living off of the hunting. As for how I became a pirate…Luffy saved me from the Marines. I said if he got my swords and freed me, I’d join him. I don’t regret what I did at all.”

He was talking again.

Robin didn’t know why there was some pleasure in that for her. She didn’t think she cared too much for the two prisoners, even if one was now her partner. Maybe it was the interesting bond between them, an undying devotion to the other no matter how they felt, whether they were angry with the other or completely in love. The idea of being able to trust someone with your life like that…a dream for her but it was good to see others get to experience that.

“Were you always this horrible with directions?”

“That’s what everyone says. I don’t think my sense of direction is that bad.”

She started to laugh and when he asked her why, she just said she laughed every now and then, not wanting to start an argument.

“Whatever. I’m a swordsman, not a navigator. And I did pretty well for myself in the East Blue. I was a demon there.”

“If that’s the case, we’ll have to introduce this demon to Crocodile sooner or later.” She said as she handed him his swords. He stopped for a moment, looking at the swords before his eyes filled with life met hers, and he started to smile. It was a devious smile, a demon’s smile, one too unlike her own at times.

“A devil and a demon, taking down that monster…I can get behind that in the newspapers.” He whispered as he took his swords. The excitement in him soon died, and his mind was back in the hallway, laying right next to his cook.

“I can kill him if you really want him dead.” She offered. “If you think he’s suffering too much, I can make it qu-”

“No. Now it’s selfish to kill him. What if he wants to live now? He’s made it this far.” He said as he adjusted the swords to his new belt. She started to make her way up the path but he was shrill frozen, still occupied in his mind. “We’ll see. Besides, aren’t you supposed to kill me if he doesn’t make it?”

“I am, and for the sake of appearances, I will,”

As much as she liked Zoro, she had her own goals and she could do without any personal connections. She didn’t need them, nor did she deserve them.

“I’ve had my dream for a long time, longer than you’ve been alive. I’m closer than I’ve ever been to finding the Rio Poneglyph and I won’t let you or your cook get in the way of that.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

THAT’S what he’s worried about???

“I’m twenty eight.” He gasped and she wondered if she really needed him and if Crocodile would understand why she snapped his neck.

“Holy shit, you’re old.”

“I’m nine years older than you!”

“You’re still fucking old.” He snickered as he started to find a good pace up the mountain. She rolled her eyes and they didn’t say much else to each other as they climbed. There was some warmth in her now. Zoro wasn’t the worst person to be around. Robin did want good things for him, and would do what she could for him. At the end of their agreement, when Crocodile was juts a horrible memory for the world, she would let him and cook go and live their happy lives together. There was no reason for her to keep either of them. They would go back to their crew together and she would find the history of the world.

Eventually Robin found signs of other life. There were half full cans of food and recent foot prints, the casing of bullets scattered around, one or two knives they forgot. It was like they wanted to be found, and if they did, it didn’t actually matter. The rebels weren’t expecting them two, an actual threat they couldn’t beat.

“They wasted so much food.” Zoro muttered, kicking a can to the side. “Sanji would throw a fit if he saw this.”

“So throw a fit for him. Organized killing, the way a royal guard would. Take their mouths so they never eat again, their hands so they never waste any more food and make a mess.”

“Don’t worry,” he scoffed, jumping up on a rock, his eyes focused on a cave not too far away from them, echoes of laughter and curses coming from inside. “I can do just that.”

Chapter Text

Zoro wasn’t a pure killer. He didn’t kill unless he had no other choice, or at least that was what he told himself, almost every hour now since that dream. It wasn’t a fun hobby he indulged in to pass time and satisfy himself. It was survival.

And now it was also Sanji’s.

He’d kill the rebels for him. Zoro would kill anyone for him, friend or foe. He had come to the realization he would do anything for Sanji, keep him safe and out of harm’s way no matter what. It was just that now harm had Sanji in his hand and around his hook. Crocodile was going to keep Sanji alive, but he never promised to be kind. He never promised to leave Sanji alone and let him heal. He couldn’t presume that was part of their deal.

If Zoro did learn that Crocodile was harming Sanji…together in death with no pain.

That sounded nice.

He and Robin silently approached the cave. She used her powers to see into the cave, counting fifteen rebels. He could have taken them all down on his own, but she would make this a quick mission.

“I’m not going to torture them.”

“And I don’t want you to. Nice clean and quick kills.” She told him, not too far from the entrance now. “Some of them seemed drunk. We could do this with our eyes closed.”

“Is that a challenge?” He scoffed, trying not to smile. He wasn’t enjoying being around Robin but she wasn’t the worst. Maybe they could end their alliance on good terms.

Maybe.

“Maybe the next mission. Neither of us can afford to fuck this up.” She said, adjusting her hat. He groaned and looked back up to the sky. Not his full eye, but hints of Sanji’s eyes held the sky. They were never just one color like his were. They shifted. Sometimes the sea was in his eyes and sometimes the sky. Maybe his eyes held more. Zoro never noticed them really before but he wanted to see everything in his eyes.

It was funny. Robin also had blue eyes, big and bright blue eyes, but they were nothing like Sanji’s. 

Interesting that he saw their similar eyes so differently.

“ Ring ring. Ring ring. ”

The sound came from Robin’s coat. She cursed and pulled out a transponder snail, running a bit down the path. He followed her, one hand on the wado and looking over his shoulder. They weren’t that far from the cave and the snail was loud. One could think they imagined the sound but not all fifteen of them. It wouldn’t change the outcome of the mission but Zoro preferred to be able to have the advantage beyond just his skills.

“Sir? Is everything okay?” She whispered, her eyes shaking and looking towards the cave. Nothing yet. Maybe they were waiting for the two agents now. He’d have her check again once the call was over if there were fifteen rebels waiting with loaded rifles and steady swords.

“All fine. Wanted to check on your progress, Miss All Sunday.”

“We just got to the cave. This will be over in a few minutes and then we’ll head back.” 

“I keep forgetting you have a new partner. How is Mr. Point One?”

“Hasn’t caused me any trouble yet.”

“Good. Mr. Point One, are you excited for your first assassination as a Baroque Works agent?”

Hearing assassin felt wrong. He was a hunter, bringing in corrupt and terrible people to face justice, though sometimes their judgment would be from angels and demons. Assassin was someone who just killed who they were told to. Sometimes there wasn’t even a reason or any true motivation, but they did their job regardless.

But he did have a reason.

He was one of the few justified assassins that existed in the world now, as horrible as he still was.

“I…”

The image of Sanji in the hall flashed back at him, lying almost lifeless on the floor. Underneath Zoro’s shirt, he still had on the bloody bandages. He refused to change them, needing that constant reminder and to make him more certain in his decision.

“I am, Sir.” He mumbled. Excited wasn’t the right word. Willing was better. He was willing to do all this.

“You’re worried about the cook.” He heard Crocodile laughing on the other end, making Zoro’s empty stomach uneasy. 

“Ah, the cook…he’s going to live. He won’t be fine, but he’ll live. But his legs…they may not be saved. And if he can’t use them…well, he doesn’t really need them then.”

Red.

Zoro’s vision started to turn red.

The legs were cook’s and he wouldn’t let Crocodile take them. They were his weapons, and without them he couldn’t fight. He’d just be a cook which wasn’t so bad, but he wouldn’t be able to move on his own. This wasn’t one leg like with Zeff. This was both of his legs, and he’d lose them entirely, not just from the knee down. He’d have to be dependent on someone all of the time, Sanji, who never let anyone help him with anything and who Zoro had never seen anyone take care of really. He looked after the others but rarely let others look out for him. Having to have someone be there for every movement would kill him.

And it would be Crocodile.

Until they were rescued, if they were rescued, Sanji would be controlled by Crocodile. There was no chance Zoro would be his caretaker. He’d be across the country, doing the Warlord’s bidding, and back in the basement of Rainbase, Crocodile would be deciding what he wanted to do with Sanji. He could leave him on the floor to let him crawl around, if he had the strength to do so. He would have to beg Crocodile to be in a kitchen or anywhere.

“But…if this mission gets the attention I want, maybe I could be motivated to help him more. I think I may know one or two ways to save his legs…if I think there’s a reason to find the knowledge and use it...”

That was all Zoro needed to hear. 

All of Alabasta would know about the massacre in the cave. The screams would be heard around the world and everyone would cower in fear. So what if he furthered a war? It had been waged for years now and he would wage it for years for Sanji, so he could walk again. If Zoro was told that if he slaughtered the entire rebel army all of Sanji’s pain would be taken away.

Without hesitation he would.

“Tell me if anyone’s coming.” He said, taking only two swords out. Three would be overkill, and get in his way, and he doubted the royal guards used three swords. 

He stood in front of the cave, the fifteen men unaware of him standing there. He only saw three men sitting by rifles, and what were bullets to him? He could avoid them and cut them in half. Maybe others would hear the bullets and come close, but Robin would kill them. Maybe that would satisfy Crocodile more and the more satisfied he was, the safer Sanji was.

“Hey, can we help you?” One of them stood up and walked towards Zoro, genuinely concerned.

“Yes,”

You can help Sanji by dying.

Zoro launched towards him and took his head off as if he were an executioner.

He was.

One down.

The body dropped beside him and chaos broke loose. Four men fainted and the remaining eleven sprung into chaos. All of them ran for the rifles, afraid to properly duel the swordsman. Bullets were aimed towards him, but Zoro avoided them all. It was like avoiding little bugs, and the nest was right in front of him. 

He hated bugs.

Zoro deflected a bullet and sent it back to the shooter, blowing his left eye and brains out.

Two down.

“WHO SENT YOU?!?!” A boy likely his age cried as he threw the rifle down in exchange for a sword. Zoro stood in place, only using his swords to cut the limited bullets. He took a deep breath and saw the boy raising his sword, just steps from Zoro.

His last steps.

“Someone you fools trust.” He answered as he cut the boy’s hands off, the clang of the sword echoing with screams following, screams that were silenced when Zoro took his head off like he did his friend

Three down.

“ARTIE! YOU KILLED ARTIE YOU BASTARD!” Another boy cried, shooting aimlessly at the swordsman. He scoffed and let the head fall to the floor, rolling next to a fainted man’s feet. A bullet just barely missed his nose, so close Zoro could smell the gunpowder and smoke, and there was a residue taste on his top lip. The moment seemed so slow as his senses heightened including his sight, the bullet moving slower than a snail right in front of him.

Time resumed and he jumped towards the man on the ground, grabbing one of their own swords and pushing it through his heart. He woke for a second, Zoro seeing the life drain from his eyes and the face of someone full of regret.

Four down.

He felt the rifle muzzle pressed against his cheek, desperate cries beside him. He glanced and saw a much older man, old enough to be his father if he was still alive, overtaken by grief and anger but still holding onto some control. One of his sons? Had Zoro just taken one of his sons right in front of him?

“Tell me why Cobra is doing this? Is making us die of thirst not enough?” He sobbed, his finger trembling on the trigger. Zoro took a deep breath and the men left  standing closed in on him, as if a bullet to the face wasn’t enough to kill him. One was right in front of him, holding a sword only in his shaky hands.

Two in one if he was quick enough.

“Don’t know. Never met the man.”

Zoro brought his sword up and thrusted it into the older man’s side, angling him so when the gun went off, the bullet went through the neck of the shaky swordsman in front of him. There wasn’t time to scream before his neck exploded, and the older man had no time to mourn someone else before Zoro turned his body and took his head like had the others.

Six down.

He dislodged his sword from the old man’s waist and let him fall to ground, then Zoro launched him at a soldier trying to reload his rifle, seemingly one of the intoxicated men Robin took note of. He looked up just in time to see Zoro’s eyes, the last eyes he ever saw as Zoro cut off his head as well.

Seven down.

Standing below him was an unconscious man, and Zoro took the opportunity to prevent him from becoming part of the fight by stabbing him through the neck. Blood spurred from his mouth and there was a dying moan.

Eight down.

Over half of them were dead already, and Zoro hadn’t been touched.

Five were left standing, though none of them were in any condition to fight by the looks of them wobbling and mumbling. The ‘hard’ part was over, but he still needed to do something bloody and grand for Sanji’s sake.

“Who are you?” One of them hiccuped, falling to his knees and picking up the first head Zoro cut off. “Why-why are you doing this?”

“I was told to.” He pulled the sword out and flew towards two of them. With his swords extended outwards, it was easy to remove their upper halves from their lower halves, simply sliding off like melting ice. They were still alive for a bit, just like Sanji was, whimpering and quietly crying. Soon enough they would die. They wouldn’t be receiving any care like Sanji did.

Ten down.

The three started screaming and one ran. He ran for the cave entrance, screaming for help. Zoro ignored him and in the blink of an eye, almost unaware of what he had done, two more heads were on the ground.

Twelve down.

Now it was time for the world to hear the one man’s screams.

Zoro picked up a knife that had been drenched from the forming pool of blood by its former owner and threw it at the man’s ankle. He fell to his knees sobbing and the screams were so loud and high Zoro couldn’t hear his pleas for a second. 

He wasn’t listening in the first place.

From behind, Zoro raised his swords and just barely thrusted them into his torso. He gasped for air, so similar to the way Sanji did, Zoro regretted what he did for a second and just wanted to take his head.

But a scene needed to be set.

He slowly pushed the swords through him, blood pouring like a waterfall. He kept gasping until he was able to find his voice and then he started to scream. 

“WHY?!?!” He sobbed as Zoro dug his swords in deeper, completely puncturing his torso.

Why?

Because hours away, laying in an operating room with a devious Warlord looming over him with ill intent who wanted to strip him of everything that made him him , there was Sanji, his damn cook with pretty eyes and a pretty smile.

“You would do the same.” He whispered as he brought the swords upwards, nearly slicing his torso into three different pieces. He wailed in pain, and started to cry for his mother. He was on his knees, moments from a painful death, and he was begging for his mom.

Zoro paused, his body not his own but instead he was inhabiting the shell of a demon. Where was his humanity? He had turned into the man he hated, and now he was a monster. Surely there was another way to please Crocodile without others suffering. Did he have to become so cruel just because his cook and his life, in more than one way, was at stake?

Yes.

Yes you do.

It was too late to turn back now.

And he did have humanity, bound to one person.

“MOMMA! MAAAAAA! PLEASE! I WANT MY MAM-”

Thirteen down.

Zoro took a deep breath and looked around. He found himself in that hall again, but Sanji wasn’t the one lying on the ground. It was the men he had just killed, their blood painting the walls, their heads rolling across the floor. 

“Sanji…forgive me.”

He didn’t expect Sanji to understand, especially given the outage he had before he was stabbed, how mad he was Zoro wouldn’t leave. Zoro didn’t even expect forgiveness. He slaughtered rebels without a chance and he would still do it again for Sanji’s sake.

Would Sanji do the same for him? If the roles were reversed, if Zoro was the one dying in Rainbase and Sanji was the one Crocodile wanted, would he become a monster for Zoro? Would he kill whoever he was told to just so Zoro might have a chance?

He didn’t think too hard about that question. It was only a hypothetical and distracting him. He still had two more rebels to kill, defenseless men unaware of what had just happened to their friends, maybe even brothers and sons and fathers.

He took their heads before they could wake and that was it. Fifteen rebels dead, just like Crocodile wanted. He hoped the cries for the mother were heard, and people would see the horror ‘Cobra’ inflicted on his own people. 

A transponder snail caught Zoro’s eye, and he knew how to get that reaction. He dialed the last person called and waited, hoping for an answer.

“Kohza’s busy right now. I thought we told you not to call unless it was important.” A young voice on the other line said. Zoro took a deep breath and he heard Sanji’s cries as he was dying.

He never wanted to hear those cries again.

“It is. You have fifteen bodies to bury now.” Zoro answered, the cries ringing in his ear and louder than any part of him telling him to stop.

“Bod-who-WHO ARE YOU?!?!” 

“Hurry before the animals eat them.” Zoro smashed the snail, bits cutting his hands. He kept crushing it, his hands blistering in pain as the snail shards were nearly embedded in.

“Oh, Zoro. This…This will make Crocodile very happy.” Robin was standing at the entrance, staring in awe and terror.

“Good.” He said, dropping the snail. He stood up and felt his swords loose in his belt. “That means Sanji gets to keep his legs and he might walk again.”

“All that for one man?”

“All that for one man, and I’d do it again and worse for him.” He said, sheathing his swords and securing them. 

“And you say you don’t love him.” 

He was silent. 

He didn’t love Sanji, not in the way Robin implied. He loved him as a crewmate and nothing more, and so what if Zoro also thought he was pretty. He could think someone was pretty without being in love, but his eyes.

Damn it, his eyes.

“Let’s go before we’re spotted.” He grunted, a trail of blood behind him. He couldn’t think about Sanji that way, because he wouldn’t stop until Sanji was in his arms again and he could see his eyes again.

“You’re a natural killer, Zoro. You’re going to fit right in with the rest of us.” She laughed, and he agreed.

Maybe he was a killer. He hadn’t shown any mercy in that cave, but it wasn’t pride. Zoro didn’t have any pride left. That had been stripped from him by Baroque Works and he doubted he would ever be gifted it back. Say he and Sanji did return to the Straw-Hats, he still did what he did without remorse. 

But maybe there was some pride left in him, for doing this for Sanji. Maybe in the future he could look back on his actions and be proud he was able to save Sanji.

Maybe.

Chapter Text

He still couldn’t feel his legs. 

Sanji could feel his body laying against a firm mattress, a harsh fan moving above him, and the soft pillow under his head. It was all very faint but he knew what he felt.

He couldn’t feel his legs.

He kept thinking about trying to kick his right leg and there was nothing. He couldn’t twist his ankle or bend his knee. Sanji couldn’t even wiggle his toes. Maybe he was in a nightmare, but he would be awake in a nightmare and the world was still dark which wasn’t like his other nightmares, and he could remember.

The last thing he remembered was looking at Zoro being held down as the pain in his torso worsened for a split second. It was so sudden, being ripped apart. Sanji couldn’t even describe the pain because that was where his memory ended. There was no pain after that. There was nothing at all. It wasn’t death. This couldn’t be death.

This wasn’t death.

Sanji imagined death to be more comforting. And in death, he would feel nothing.

His feeling was very slight and numb. The most he felt was a pounding headache that might be the source of the ringing in his ears. Physically that was it. He knew his upper body had feeling, but it was so light that maybe he was wrong. Maybe he was just imagining everything, but this wasn’t something new. 

It was almost like he was a little kid again, before he was given up on by his family and treated as a complete failure. The scientist would test him and his siblings, and occasionally they would do surgeries on him in particular to see if there were any internal issues, see if his exoskeleton activated. He would wake up hours later in some recovery room, numb and scared.

He wasn’t scared like he was a little kid, waking up after being opened up and experimented on. No. He was scared because he knew for a fact he was still in Rainbase, and the only reason he was alive was because Crocodile wanted him to be, meaning Zoro did something. That bastard was probably deeper into Baroque Works than the original deal, or worse. Sanji couldn’t begin to think about what Zoro could have done to make things worse in order to make him ‘better’.

His eyes were still heavy but the ringing was dying down. Instead he started to hear a whistling, and it was undeniable who the tune was coming from. Sanji felt even worse knowing the first face he would see when he woke up would be Crocodile.

He wanted Zoro.

His arms were still holding Sanji. That was what he felt the most, that nice almost final memory in Zoro’s arms. His arms were strong and warm, and the perfect place to find peace in. It was somewhat similar to being in his mom’s arms, crawling beside her in the bed, but maybe more similar to when he would fall asleep in the kitchen and Zeff would pick him up and carry him to his room. It was that kind of warmth, knowing he was with someone who would protect him and who cared for him, as difficult as it was to believe sometimes.

He was grateful for the feeling he did have. He wanted to make himself aware of whatever he could, even just the smallest little thing. The tiny feeling of his hair laying against his temple wasn’t actually that tiny. The heavy eyes he had just meant he was tired and he would wake up; and of course, the lasting feeling of Zoro meant the most to him.

Zoro wasn’t everything to him but right now he was. Right now, he was the only good Sanji had to hold onto. He wasn’t sure when or if the crew would ever rescue them. He couldn’t leave Rainbase, hadn’t had a cigarette in days, hadn’t cooked, and now he couldn’t feel his legs; but damn it, he still had Zoro.

What if Zoro was there? He was more or less the silent type. Just because he heard Crocodile didn’t mean there weren’t others there. There had to be a nurse or a doctor, and there could be Zoro. He could be sitting on the other side of Sanji, waiting for him to wake up.

That stupid singular thought was enough for him to try and open his eyes that had invisible weight on them. He felt the slight vibrations in his throat as he moaned. Light seeped through the darkness as he saw fuzzy shapes in front of him. Sanji had no idea where he was, not able to make anything out. He couldn’t even tell the color of the wall with everything merged with it.

But he knew Zoro wasn’t there.

He would be able to see that green hair from a hundred miles away with cataracts.

“Mr. Cook, you’re awake.” Crocodile said, pushing Sanji’s bang away. Sanji tried to recoil in fear but all of him was paralyzed now. The feeling of his cold hand was unwelcoming and Sanji remembered a new feeling, his hair almost being pulled from his head as Crocodile held him up before he was torn apart. He could feel the little hairs, unable to stretch anymore, letting blood pour out as they left their base. Nothing was actually happening, but Sanji could easily be convinced otherwise.

“Don’t strain yourself. Too many people have worked so hard to keep you alive.”

Zoro.

What did he do?

“You have very interesting eyebrows. Are they naturally like that?”

Where was he? Where was Crocodile keeping him? He had to be a prisoner somewhere otherwise he would be in the room. Was he back in that cage or somewhere else, somewhere worse? Was he being tortured now? God, Sanji couldn’t live if he learned Zoro was putting himself through actual torture so Sanji could stay alive.

He felt cold fingers grab his chin and turn his head to the left, facing his blurry outline. He would kill him. Sanji would kill Crocodile, and he would do it with his hands. He’d take a knife and stab him over and over, strangle the life out of him, whatever. 

But the bastard would die.

“Here’s what happened. Mr. Roronoa will be working for me on the condition you’re alive and I don’t give you any more pain.”

Stupid Zoro. 

Why couldn’t he just let Sanji die? He was just seconds away from death and he thought Zoro had accepted it. Why not? Why couldn’t he have found a way to escape? Sanji had made it more than clear that there was nothing wrong with him dying. Maybe Zoro could have gone free if he was dead. There would be nothing keeping him in Rainbase, no reason to listen to Crocodile. He could be free, but no. That fucking idiot couldn’t let Sanji die.

“However…if you were to suddenly crash and die, then Miss All Sunday gets to kill him, and if he dies…then I get to finally end your miserable life.”

Why, Zoro?

Why can’t you just let me die? 

But was Zoro to blame?

Why didn’t you let yourself die?

He should have let himself drown or be eaten. He was already presumed dead and he had accepted dying at some point so why didn’t he listen to himself? He was so stupid, trying to stay alive for Zoro when now his heart was connected to his. If one stopped beating, so did the other.

“I should be dead.” He managed to mumble, his eyes starting to adjust.

“You really should be, and for some time you were, but twenty hours later, you lived. My recommendation is you stay alive. See, the terms of death were never specified. So you could die from a stroke in two seconds, but Mr. Roronoa dies after six months of torture. I don’t think you want that to happen.”

I should have let myself die.

He always ended up being a burden. He was a burden to his family name and everything the centuries of power had stood for. He was a burden to Zeff after taking everything from him with nothing to give in return. And now Zoro, and evidently the rest of his crew. His very existence was a burden to the world, and how idiotic of him to only realize he couldn’t do anything but hurt people by being around them, make them suffer just because he was there.

At the next opportunity, he would have likely chosen death, but that option had been taken from him.

“He was desperate, your swordsman. He values you so much, more than himself. He didn’t want to leave you. I found him curled up around you when me and Miss All Sunday returned with the doctors, and he had to be dragged away!”

That was the most clear thing Sanji could see, the painted idea of Zoro being dragged from his bloody body.

How?

How could Sanji mean so much to him? Zoro was supposed to hate him. Did he hate him so much that he was keeping Sanji alive to suffer, because he thought only his father was that despicable. 

He was able to see Crocodile, that horrible grin across his face that made him nauseous. Beside him was a nurse that maybe ten days ago, he would have been on his feet drooling over. Now she was just a woman making sure he was kept alive.

“We will take excellent care of you, Mr. Cook. Don’t worry about a single thing.”

He tried to groan when his eyes caught the shape of his legs under the sheet. They were still there, but maybe they were fake. It could be wood under there to make him have hope. Crocodile would be the kind of person to play such a trick, and laugh when Sanji saw just how useless he was.

God, he couldn’t even be a useful burden. He couldn’t move anymore. He was stuck, having to rely on everyone around him so his body didn’t rot away. Fighting wasn’t even a desire anymore. Damn it, escape wasn’t. Maybe if he still had legs that worked but how could he leave if he couldn’t walk. He didn’t expect Zoro to carry him and he would just slow him down, possibly leave him defenseless if he couldn’t use his swords.

And Zoro really let him live.

Sanji could recall telling Zoro he couldn’t feel his legs, and he saw his spine broken and cut in half. No one would be able to recover and use the lower half of their body after that. Zoro was dumb but he had knowledge and had to know that.

Hate wasn’t even the right word.

That was a kind word of how Zoro must have felt towards Sanji.

Why else would he be doing this?

And he didn’t even hate Zoro. He couldn’t fathom hating him anymore. He hated his actions but he couldn’t hate Zoro himself anymore. The lingering feeling of his arms around him prevented Sanji from hating him. He just wanted Zoro, wanted to be in his arms again and to be alright, ignore the misery around him and inside of him and be with his swordsman. 

He would walk before that ever happened.

“Ah! If it isn’t my two favorite agents!” Crocodile chuckled. Sanji looked up from his legs and at the doorway, and there was Zoro, but he didn’t look like Zoro. He was cold with nothing inside of him, dressed like a Baroque Works agent and covered in blood that wasn’t his.

“Mr. Cook, it’s good to see you’re still alive.” Nico Robin laughed, waltzing to her boss and debriefing him on everything that happened. Sanji heard about the brutal massacre that happened in the cave, not once looking away from the body standing before him. Was that really his Zoro, the one he fought with for weeks and annoyed? The man she was describing and the man in front of him wasn’t him. He couldn’t be, unless Sanji never really knew Zoro.

“You hear that? He’s adamant about keeping you alive.” The Warlord said. Sanji felt his cold touch once again, going over the stitches on his head. Zoro’s blank eyes widened and there was a flash of emotion, of worry and anger.

Why me?

“I’ll leave you two alone for now. Accompany me on a walk, Miss All Sunday.” Crocodile took her by the arm and disappeared down the hall. The nurse soon followed and it was just two living corpses, because he doubted either of them were that sentient.

Even looking at the empty shell he was because of Sanji, the cook couldn’t hate him. He couldn’t return that hatred that had to be flowing through the swordsman’s blood. Instead he hated himself. His hate towards Zoro turned into self hatred, and maybe he should have been hating himself from the beginning, because he was the reason both of their lives were now so fucked up. Zoro had been the one trying to do something to help them both and Sanji ruined everything, like always.

He waited for Zoro to say something, because Sanji had nothing to say. What could he say? 

Thank you for not letting me die and in turn making everything worse for you as well?

I’m glad we’re both prisoners and our lives depend on each other in the worst way possible?

You murdered all those people for me and I couldn’t be more sickened?

Can I ask what makes you think I’m worth all this?

Maybe it’s best if we do die, because at the very least we won’t be suffering anymore, and we wouldn’t have such complicated feelings, and I’ll have my Zoro forever?

Chapter Text

When he first saw Sanji, he didn’t know if he was happy or not. He still looked like a corpse, just as white as the sheets he was confined to. It was weird seeing his entire face and it felt somewhat wrong. Every time he had seen all of his face, Sanji hadn’t wanted him to. It had either been because of a movement or someone else. When he saw Crocodile touch Sanji, he didn’t want to murder the man. No, he wanted to kill him slowly, tear the stitches out from his face, use his own hook to dissect him, drown him but never let him suffocate in the water.

After Crocodile and Robin left, he didn’t know how long they were staring at each other. Hours but it could have just been a few seconds. Eventually, Sanji looked down at his legs. They were still there, and maybe Crocodile would be true to his word this time and help Sanji walk again; but Zoro didn’t want to hold the man to it. 

But that massacre couldn’t be for nothing. 

He sat down in a chair beside him and waited. He didn't know what he was waiting for but he waited. The hours went by with nothing but the air running and the sounds of machines. Nurses would check on him but he wouldn’t say anything. He could only move the top half of his body, and just barely. The nurses had to do most everything for him. They would move him around a bit, one explaining so he didn’t develop pressure sores, whatever those were. He would wince slightly and every time Zoro heard his pain, he sat up and almost reached for his swords. He knew they weren’t trying to hurt him and only helping, but the little cries got to Zoro.

The nurses looked at him like he was a monster. He was still covered in all the blood, and he didn’t do much with his hands after destroying the transponder. Robin took the shards out somewhere in the desert and tried to wrap his hands but he wouldn’t let her. The wounds would heal eventually and the blood had already dried by then. 

He killed the snail. He wasn’t thinking about that until Robin made an off handed comment about how the snail was overkill, but that’s what Crocodile wanted. He didn’t really care but he kept thinking about it. He only killed animals to survive. He was a killer but he wouldn’t just kill whatever and whoever. There was no joy from it.

So why did he kill that snail? 

What was next?

He spent the whole day sitting beside Sanji, waiting for nothing. Zoro’s eyes never left him, even if Sanji couldn’t look at him. At some point, something happened to his vision. Sanji was completely still, not breathing but he wasn’t dead. The nurse looked out the window and she wouldn’t look away. The fan was stuck in place yet somehow there was a breeze. The time remained at 3:22 on the clock and wouldn’t tick. 

Zoro didn’t know why he was stuck for so long, but soon his body was being shaken. He blinked and the light from the window was almost gone, and the nurse was beside Sanji, who was now turned away from Zoro, and the clock read 7:38. Over four hours he had been in that moment somehow and he wished to have it back, to have some weird peace and not think about everything wrong with their lives. 

They had a moment like this before, back after they defeated Arlong. Zoro remembered sitting with Sanji in an alley for awhile and he was just looking at the cook, bruised but not beaten. They didn’t know each other really, and yet Zoro spent hours stuck looking at him. The image of Sanji in the alley ended when Luffy shook his shoulders, offering him alcohol. Sanji by that point was enamored with a lady, the night more dark.

This time it was Robin shaking him, holding a small bowl of hot soup. She had a soft smile on her face and tried to offer it to him, saying he needed to eat. Zoro couldn’t remember the last meal he had. When they were coming back, they accidentally fell through a giant hole and were stuck in there for eight hours, mostly because he got lost somehow and Robin spent five hours wandering around some ruins they had found. They didn’t eat anything then and when they finally returned, he still had nothing. He couldn’t eat. He didn’t have any desire or hunger.

“Zoro, you need something.”

“I’m fin-”

“Zoro, have the fucking soup.” Sanji mumbled, still turned away. Zoro gasped and waited for him to say something else, but he got nothing. He took the soup and waited until Sanji noticed. Even if was out of anger, he would say something again. That was all he wanted right now.

“San-”

“Drink the fucking soup or get out of here. Don’t waste your food.”

Zoro took a deep breath and did what Sanji told him. The soup was good yet it was poison down his throat. He had a craving that would satisfy him: Sanji’s cooking. The only food in the world he could eat without feeling death in his veins would be his.

He finished, not a single drop left. Robin made some comment on how he had to be hungry if he devoured the whole thing. He waited again for Sanji to do something, and once again, nothing.

“I have a proper room set up for you, with a bed and bathroom and a door that isn’t made out of sea-prism. You need the rest.” Robin said, handing the bowl to a nurse about to leave the room. 

“Not tired.” He mumbled.

“You need sleep. He can send us out again soon and you need to be ready.”

“I’ll sleep on the back of your gator, and I want to stay in here.” Robin sighed and turned her attention to Sanji, still turned away. She whimpered and leaned closer, saying he couldn’t do much besides make Crocodile happy. 

“I’ll make him happy when he asks me to. I’ll sleep in the chair if that makes you happier.” He lied. How could he sleep? If he closed his eyes for too long, he’d be back in the hall, all fifteen bodies with Sanji’s. He tried to sleep when he was in the hole and that was what he saw. He wanted to escape that hall but it just seemed impossible. If he tried to run down the hall, there was no end and the flooding blood pushed him back to the bodies.

The heads would be mounted on the wall, number one through fifteen, and in the center of the hall, laying on top of a casket, Sanji. He was barely connected, his body tearing apart and coming undone. If Zoro ‘closed’ his eyes, he heard screaming and crying. Sanji’s were the loudest, but that kid was still crying for his mom, wanting her more than anything in the world. When he looked behind him, Crocodile was laughing at him, doused in blood, telling him to look or it would get worse. 

He hadn’t considered sleeping since that nightmare. 

Robin nodded and walked away without a word. Zoro winced and took his swords off his belt, laying them carefully against the care. He needed to clean them, all the blood. He needed to clean all the blood off.

Sanji didn’t acknowledge him for the longest time, not until 10:27.

“Why are you still here, Zoro?”

I can’t leave you again, can’t lose you again, even just for a minute.

“Only person I can stand around here.” He chuckled, wanting to see half of Sanji’s face again and not his back.

“You seem to be getting along with Robin.”

“We…we have a few things in common. And it’s more of a forced partnership. I rather not have to deal with her.”

“Zoro, why am I still alive?”

The room was silent and he didn’t know how to answer, or if he wanted to. He was alive because Crocodile was using him as leverage. Did he know yet? Did he know the conditions of his survival yet?

“I-well, the doctors op-”

“If I die, you die, and if you die, I die. Crocodile explained that to me, so as much as I don’t want to, I have to stay alive so he doesn’t torture you to death.” Sanji whimpered. The swordsman stood to his feet and he could see some of Sanji’s face. He was crying, his white face a light shade of red. Zoro felt his stomach flip and an urge to vomit the small amount of food he had plagued him.

He sat on the edge of the bed, causing Sanji to raise his shoulders. Zoro tried to be silent, and he wanted to hold Sanji again.

Please let me hold you.

“Zoro, why? Why would you do that to us?”

“I…I was going to let you die,” did he admit that? Did he tell Sanji he wanted him dead? 

Too late now.

“I was going to let your pain end. I didn’t want you to get hurt in the first place and it was horrible. Sanji, you were in so much pain and it was horrible to look at and-and-and I just wanted it to end. I wanted you to be alright, even if it meant you were dead. Crocodile can’t hurt you if you’re dead.”

Sanji gasped and he started to snicker, like he was hearing a good joke. Zoro leaned over him and even if he was in pain, which Zoro could visibly see, he was somewhat happy.

He thought he imagined Sanji thanking him, until he heard him say it again.

“Thank you.”

“What?”

“I thought you hated me but…thank you.”

Zoro winced and maybe he shouldn’t have, but he laid beside Sanji and wrapped his arms around him. He expected to be yelled at but instead Sanji leaned into him, becoming relaxed like he did in the all before he was taken from Zoro. 

“Sanji, I don’t hate you. I never really did. God, we fight and we’ve said harsh things to each other, but no. For a split second only, never lasting. I-I care for you. That’s what this all is, care. I don’t want you to die but I can’t have you suffering like this. It-it’s care. I’m sorry you thought that but no.”

He couldn’t be sorry enough. He knew Sanji thought that way but he thought Zoro hated him so much to make him go through this. Sanji thought Zoro would torture him and willingly put him through all this. What did he do wrong? What did he do to make Sanji think that, and how did he make up for it?

“Zoro…do me a favor then and run away.”

“Not without you. Sanji, I won’t leave you behind. We’ve been over this.” He whispered, holding him closer. “As long as you’re here, I’m going to keep coming back.”

“You’re so fucking stupid. What’s good about me besides that I can make a nice meal and kick a guy? Wh-what makes me worth all this? How am I worth all of this?”

Who was it? Who let Sanji think he was nothing? Zoro would find the bastard and kill him, turn him into nothing but guts and shreds of muscles. Sanji was more than worth all of this and Zoro would gladly do worse for him. He’d destroy the world and make a new one for his damn cook. God, what Zoro would do so Sanji could understand how he felt.

“You…you have a beautiful smile and eyes as blue as the sea, and stupid curly eyebrows. You speak so refined, until you see a pretty lady, and speaking of which, you have passion. You have passion for women and cooking and this journey. You have this laugh that can be heard across the entire Grand Line and you’re always looking out for us. You make sure we’re fed and happy, though you should look out for yourself more. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Sanji. You are a good cook, a really good one. I’ve had food from all around the East Blue and you might make the best. You’re not some average fighter. You’ve taken on fishmen and marines and won, all with using just your legs and brain. You’re so good in so much and in so many ways. Look, whoever told you what are and aren’t worth, they don’t matter. They’re irrelevant bastards. You’re worth so much. I-I can’t name a price because you’re worth more than that. I would and will do anything for you with no hesitation. Just…just know that, and I’m not lying. They were. You deserve the All Blue, and I’ll make sure you get the All Blue.”

He really didn’t know how to describe Sanji to Sanji. Zoro wanted to give him his eyes and show him what he saw, switch minds to truly understand, and maybe Zoro in the process would learn why Sanji was the way he was.

“Zoro, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were flirting with me.” He chuckled. Zoro scoffed and carefully placed his head near Sanji’s shoulder, wanting his cook to become a part of him.

“Who says I’m not?”

“Keep dreaming.”

I would love to dream of you, an actual nice dream, just of you.

“Mm, whatever. The point still stands.” 

Sanji nodded and his breathing slowed a bit. Zoro could feel how relaxed he was and he had done something right by Sanji for the first time in days. He had saved him some pain for once and maybe everything wouldn’t be fine, but this moment was.

He at least had this moment.

Time escaped him once again and 10:34 turned into 2:48. Sanji was still in his arms, and he was asleep. His chest rose slowly but it was rising. Zoro wasn’t sure if he closed his eyes, or if this was all part of a dream. Whatever it was, it was nice. Baroque Works wasn’t a problem at 2:48 in the morning and he didn’t work for Crocodile. He had Sanji, and that made everything perfect.

But that only reminded him of something.

His mind went back to the hole when he was lost in some ancient graveyard, and an ungodly conclusion he came to while thinking about being told he was in love with Sanji. Robin wasn’t right about him loving Sanji, but she wasn’t necessarily wrong.

“I meant every word I said to you, and maybe I wasn’t trying to flirt but…I might feel something for you. I don’t know, but Sanji, I-I think I want you. I want to leave this hell with you and I want to stay with you. I want to become the greatest swordsman with you as my cook and we can find the All Blue together. I want to stay in this bed with you and hold you forever. I…Sanji, I don’t know what I’m going to do without you now. Don’t let me find out, please. I think my heart needs yours now in more than one way.” 

He hoped the cook was sleeping, that his confession was meaningless and they would never have to speak about it. He didn’t know how to explain that back in the cave, beyond his new yearning for him, he tried to imagine a normal Sanji, but the problem was, he kept wanting to kiss that Sanji.

Hopefully that meant nothing, and it was just delirium, but he wouldn’t mind just one little kiss from the cook.

Chapter Text

Sanji heard everything. 

He wasn’t able to sleep at all. It was good to be in Zoro’s arms again and he felt safe, but he couldn’t sleep at all. He didn’t want to wake up and Zoro was gone, and he was left with those longing feelings again. If Zoro had to leave him, he wanted to be awake and have a proper goodbye.

And so he heard everything.

He heard Zoro’s confession of how he wanted Sanji in all the ways he did, as a cook, as a crewmate, as a lover. That little long compliment from earlier wasn’t an insult or Zoro trying to be nice and ease Sanji. It was him in love with Sanji and telling him the things he loved about him.

He was priceless to him, not worthless. He had always been worthless, someone to be replaced and done away with. There wasn’t a price to him because he had nothing to him. He wasn’t worth a single berry, not even basic care and love. He wasn’t even allowed to have a name. Not to Zoro. Maybe the rest of the crew felt the same way but he never really heard it from them. They never went on like Zoro had about everything Sanji had to offer. The closest he could think of was Luffy truly wanting him on his crew and saying he didn’t have to die to repay Zeff for what he had done, but that wasn’t him being priceless or worth three damns. It was still easy to think he wasn’t much to them even after everything they had been through and doubt every word they said.

He couldn’t doubt Zoro any more. Of all the crew, he couldn’t doubt his value to Zoro. He could have whispered how he lied but no, he whispered the exact opposite. There was no real reason for him to but he did, and Sanji knew how he actually felt about him.

Sanji wanted to think it was a dream, that he had only imagined infamous and feared pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro in love with him, but he knew deep down it was real. There was no purple dancing monkey to throw him off and there wasn’t a mysterious voice saying this shouldn’t be happening. It wasn’t even a dream that could be reality, no. He knew when he was having those and he knew how to wake up from them, and all that screaming to wake and find reason was silent.

Zoro is in love with you. He wants to be with you as much more than a crewmate.

How was he supposed to feel? He hadn’t truly considered Zoro to be someone to be with but he wouldn’t object to the idea. Why wasn’t he objecting? Sanji figured out when he was around twelve he liked guys the same way he liked girls but he only really ever sought the girls out, and now a guy wanted him. Not just a guy, his crewmate, his stupid moss-headed swordsman who didn’t know his left from his right, the same one who got on Sanji’s nerves all the time and yet at the same time, Sanji cherished every little fight because there was something about being around Zoro he didn’t have with his other crewmates, not even Nami. His favorite moments on the Going Merry were the five seconds they could get along at dinner and doing the dishes. He had other memories with the rest of the crew but the little moments with Zoro were what stood out to him.

Did he want Zoro? He wanted to stay alive for him but was that the same as wanting him, loving him? He shouldn’t think about love. He didn’t even know the truth about his feelings towards the swordsman. He wasn’t hating the idea of wanting Zoro…so did he? He at the very least wanted his touch, to have Zoro’s arms around him at all times and to never let go. On the ship, when he was tied up, holding Zoro’s hand kept him from panic and the nightmares of his past from taking over his mind like they usually did. Did that actually mean anything though? Sanji considered himself to be an affectionate person and he often craved someone’s touch to comfort him. Zoro just happened to be the only person around that he could receive those good feelings from, but what if there were more good feelings?

Sanji closed his eyes and tried to imagine it, him wanting Zoro. He was back on the Merry, and nothing had happened. It was really just him on the Merry in the open sea with a clear sky surrounding him. None of the crew was there, except for Zoro leaning on the railing beside him. It was the Zoro he knew, wearing that ‘white’ shirt with sake in his hand.

Zoro was looking at him the way anyone would want to be looked at, the way he tended to look at women but much softer and subtler, but the emotions were still there. His hair was like grass in the wind and subconsciously, Sanji wanted to run his fingers through his hair. He was just Zoro, kind and caring Zoro that Sanji didn’t always see. He was so used to the sleeping brute who argued with him over the color of the wall that sometimes he forgot the calm side of Zoro.

He wanted to see that beautiful side more.

To him, Zoro was complex. He was a fighter who could act without thinking and that was stupid of him sometimes, and he was stubborn. He took naps every five minutes and drank every other day; and he didn’t always shower when he needed to. From that description alone, Sanji would try to avoid him, but he was also selfless, willing to do anything for his crew no matter the cost and effect it would have on him. He fought with his life and fought to live to the next day and fulfill his dream, something Sanji could learn from, and he strived to be better for that dream. He was loyal to the bitter end, someone you could trust the world with. He was the type of person to go to hell and back for someone he cared about. He laughed almost all the time, a laugh that resonated in the wind and was a pleasure to hear,  and was comfortable anywhere and he enjoyed himself. 

That was the kind of person he knew he should want.

Staring at Zoro, he was wishing he could find more words to describe how amazing he was. He could say to Zoro everything good about him, but he needed to wait until he wasn’t alone in his mind. He just wanted the silence for a bit.

There weren’t any words to exchange because what could Sanji say? This was his mind and anything Zoro said would actually be himself trying to persuade him to think a certain way, so he just kept looking at the Zoro he loved.

Oh.

That little thought didn’t mean anything. He could love someone but not love them. Who wouldn’t love the calm and nice side of someone instead of the one where swords and kicks usually replaced their words? He loved Luffy and Nami and Usopp so he could also love Zoro just the same, but it wasn’t the same. It was never the same with Zoro. He wasn’t like a brother or a good friend or someone to admire. Sanji of course respected and trusted him but what if there was more? He never really sat down and thought about Zoro like this before. But he didn’t think he would ever have to, because Sanji wanting Zoro didn’t make sense.

That was a lie.

It did make some sense.

Zoro was handsome. Undeniably, he was a man who was blessed with good looked One of Sanji’s first thoughts when he saw him sitting in the Baratie was he was a handsome man, but he buried that thought deep inside of him when he joined the crew, because it didn’t mean anything really, just his first impression of Zoro, and maybe a way to not get hurt. Sanji knew he fell quickly, and if he entertained that thought at all, something might have happened earlier than this. He wouldn’t last on the Grand Line if that thought occurred every day, so he let it sit in a corner of his heart that was almost forgotten about. But over the past few days, he had been getting subtle reminders of that old thought, and now it was pounding on his head. He still didn’t consider that wanting him, more of just something he noticed. There wasn’t a moment before where Sanji thought for a second there could be something between them. It wasn’t even he wanted Zoro before hand, that he just knew his beauty. Suddenly that wasn’t such an evil thought and now he could look at Zoro with some desire that wasn’t there before.

He went back to that image, trying to silence his actual thoughts and focus on the Zoro he thought was handsome, and damn it, he was. There was something about the slight roundness of his face, the slight bump that was the bridge of his nose, the way his eyebrows furrowed to show any emotion, how his crooked smile was really charming, the endless black lakes that was his eyes, the shades of green in his hair, fingers that were calloused and bruised, it was all so compelling to Sanji. He had noticed those features in real life but for some reason, in his dream, they were much more prominent though he wasn’t trying to change anything about Zoro.

And his lips.

In his mind, he focused on those lips. Why? Because if you wanted someone, kissing was usually a part of that. Their personality and looks were a part of it, but if Sanji did want Zoro, he had to want his lips. He had to want to meet them and let them lock with his own. He had to want every damn thing about the swordsman. He couldn’t leave anything else otherwise his feelings weren’t the same, which felt like a shame.

He let himself kiss Zoro in his head, and there wasn’t a single voice telling him to not. He kissed Zoro and Zoro kissed him back. He was warm and he completely embraced Sanji, and there was passion. One hand grasped his waist and the other cupped the back of his neck as Zoro’s hips pressed against Sanji’s. Of the few kisses he had had in his life, this was his greatest one, and it wasn’t even real. He wanted it to be real. He wanted to wake Zoro up and ask for a kiss, hoping for that same passion that was in his mind.

You can’t deny it anymore.

You want Zoro the same exact way.

So damn it, he did want the swordsman too. Something they could agree on and it was their feelings towards the other. Ten days ago Sanji would have pissed himself laughing at that idea and maybe cried because he still thought deep down Zoro was handsome. If they got out of this, Sanji would find the courage to tell him and there was such a reassurance knowing he wouldn’t be ridiculed or hated. Love? He’d figure that out later. They would figure that out later when they didn’t have to whisper in the dark and keep their thoughts to themselves. They could be more than crewmates and find their dreams, and that itself sounded like a fantastic dream.

If they got out of their situation.

Something Sanji doubted every passing second

Chapter Text

“Sir, we might have a problem.” Robin said, walking into Crocodile’s bedroom. It was four in the morning and she couldn’t sleep at all. She had stayed up all night reading the ancient books she had found in the hidden ruins. She loved Alabasta. She loved the history of the country and part of her was saddened to destroy Alubarna. Destroying the past was something that couldn’t be fixed, and as an archeologist, it was wrong and heartbreaking, but if it meant she was one step closer to the Rio Poneglyph, it would be worth it.

“NICO ROBIN, WHAT THE HELL?!?!” He shot out of his bed and a sandy hand formed around her neck. She held her composure, assured by the fact he still needed her alive to find Pluton, not that she planned on telling him the weapon’s location if she truly learned it.

“You’re going to want to hear this.”

“I BETTER!”

“After I believe seven days, we have word from Mr. 3, who is unfortunately still alive, meaning Mr. 2 has failed his task. As I was saying, he’s alive and currently hiding from giants on Little Garden with Miss Goldenweek. The Straw-Hats are heading towards Alabasta as of five days ago, and he may have let it slip that their swordsman and cook were captured.”

The sand disappeared and he looked angry and annoyed, mumbling how he should have just brought Mr. 3 back and killed him himself.

“How do you know this?” He grunted, slowly getting out of bed. “Face the wall for me.”

“The Unluckies found him and sent word which just arrived. They’re waiting for your order on what to do with him.” She sighed as she sat in a chair by a bookshelf, examining everything he had. He wasn’t much of a reader, only ten books on his shelf. It was mostly composed of collectibles from over the years.

“They can kill him and her. I have no use for either of them. Is Mr. 2 still on his way back?”

“He should be.”

“Gather all the agents here. They’ll meet at Spider’s Cafe where Mrs. Doublefinger is and there will be a carriage waiting that will take them to Rain Dinners, and give her instructions to go to the dinning hall, only her.” He grumbled, the sound of him changing across the other room slightly distracting. “Operation Utopia is truly under way.”

“Feels like I’ve been waiting half my life for this. What’s it been, four years since we met? Four long years of planning to take this country and Pluton?” She sighed, grabbing a pair of purple sunglasses that were too glamorous and outstanding for Crocodile. “Sir? I didn’t think you had such style.”

“Donquixote Doflamingo gave those to me last time we talked, said I had style but could use some work. Next time I see him, I’m killing him and leaving those on his face.” He spat. She rolled her eyes, recalling all the times he used to complain about that man, and the other times he complimented him. 

“I might take them. I kind of like them, and purple is also my color. Will Mr. Point One be part of this meeting?”

“Of course. He’s an agent, and a highly valued one. He will have a role in the operation and I want him to come to Alubarna with us.”

She put the glasses down and was lost in her head. They were going to blow up Alubarna. The entire city would be decimated. She didn’t plan for Crocodile to live to give the order but Robin also knew it was a more than likely chance the city was just a memory on maps. Robin had her escape plan already if there wasn’t a betrayal beforehand, but she didn’t know if Zoro could fit into that plan.

“Mr. Point One will likely die there like the rest.”

“Of course, Miss All Sunday. As remarkable as he is, he can’t survive a bomb of that magnitude.”

She didn’t want that, or she didn’t want a bomb to kill him. Robin was telling herself could care less if he was alive or dead but she at the very least, if he had to die, wanted him to die as a swordsman. 

“And the cook?” She whispered.

“I’m killing him before we leave, and I’m making sure he’s dead this time. I’m going to take his heart out of his chest and hold it as I watch him die.”

She stood up, still looking away. Why was she letting two strangers get to her? Why was she hoping for something good for them? She was so close to finding the Rio Poneglyph and she wouldn’t let those two stand in her way. People weren’t supposed to get in her way. That was why she pushed them aside.

And damn it, Robin did make the little death pact between them, but she made it for both of them, not just one.

That got to her.

“Will Mr. Point One know?”

“No. I’ll let him think his pathetic blonde lover is still alive and waiting for him, and then he dies, and they’re together again. That was the deal, was it not?”

“It was, but are we sure there’s no place for them? You could have your own personal cook and bodyguard, and excellent ones at that.”

He started to laugh and asked her to look him in the eye. Robin held her hand out and let an eye bloom from her palm. She could see him perfectly, trying to put on a waistcoat with his one hand, and he was not amused with her way of looking at him.

“Since when do you care about them?”

“I don’t really,”

That felt like a lie.

"Just some suggestions. I’d also consider this. They have value as hostages. The Straw-Hats are on their way not only to take you down for what you’ve done to Alabasta but to their crew. We can use them to subdue and kill them all, and Princess Vivi.” 

He shook his head, making his way over to a cigar box with a lighter next to it.

“I’m not worried about them. If they left five days ago, they should be here by now. We didn’t take their navigator so where are they? Where is Monkey D. Luffy and Nefertari Vivi?” He chuckled, lighting a cigar.

“Maybe they got lost.” She suggested.

“Maybe they’re just using a log-pose to get by. It should be another week before they reach Alabasta if they don’t have an Eternal Pose.”

If only Monkey. D Luffy didn’t refuse her help and ignored her advice. Robin tried to help them and if they had, this whole situation would have never happened, and maybe her boss would be dead already.

“They’ll be too late. Alabasta will be mine, Alubarna will be ash, and they can’t stop me. If they try…well like you said, I have two hostages.”

“Won’t they be dead by then, like you said?”

“The Straw-Hats won’t know that. I’ll let Mr. 2 live a bit longer so he can pose as one of them, likely Roronoa. He has to be worth more to them than the cook.” Smoke surrounded his mouth, his evil grin. Robin still felt slightly uneasy about the two’s fate, and that it would be a major mistake to kill them now that they had a certain rescue underway. She severely underestimated the Straw-Hats and thought Mr. 3 and Miss. Goldenweek could handle them. It would be smart to have actual leverage against them, and both of them alive was the wisest move.

“Go and get him, Mr. Point One. I want him to cause terror in the city while disguised as a rebel so I can save everyone.” Crocodile ordered her as she let the eye become petals. There was a moment of darkness before her vision came back, and she was beginning to feel worse

“You’re going to beat the shit out of him.”

“He can take it. I’m not going to hurt him that badly. Now go.”

She didn’t even look at him as she left his room. There was no reason, absolutely no reason. The cave was enough, fifteen headless bodies was enough. There was already chatter about how horrible King Cobra was for allowing that to happen and how brutal he was. Overkill, that’s what it was, but she wouldn’t fight it, and Zoro wouldn’t.

He was most definitely with the cook, which was why he would agree with no hesitation, but if the cook was awake then there would be a problem and she didn’t for anymore to arise.

Since when do you care so much about others?

You don’t get attached, so no one gets hurts.

She opened the door and Zoro was wrapped around the cook, holding him the way everyone at one point wanted to be held. His head was nuzzled into the blonde’s shoulder, and they both looked so peaceful.

Robin carefully tapped Zoro’s shoulder, not wanting the other to wake. He had been through so much and deserved the peace. Maybe Zoro’s injuries would be minimal and he would have no idea what happened.

“Zoro. Get up. Now.” 

“Don’t take him please.” Sanji whispered, his head turning just a bit. She winced and closed her eyes, unable to watch for whatever reason. “Does he have to go?”

“I’m just the messenger. Crocodile wants him to do something.”

“Because of me?”

“Because he has power and because your friend works for him. His boss wants him.”

“So because of me. Zoro works for the bastards because of me. Who does he want him to slaughter now?”

She hesitated, opening her eyes but focused on the ceiling and the heavy fan. Why did it hurt? It was hard to remember the last time she genuinely cared about what happened to others, but maybe that was because for the first time in twenty years, she found two people she couldn’t betray because they already expected it, and they still weren’t the worst to her.

“Can you make me a promise?”

“I probably can’t, but tell me anyway, Mr. Cook.”

“As you know, I’m dying sooner or later,” at least he wasn’t dumb and like Zoro, blinding himself with hope and thinking Crocodile had mercy. “You have a good relationship with him. Promise me that he’ll make it out of this. I know about the little pact but I can’t be why he dies. I’ve done enough to him so please, Nico Robin. I don’t want his face to stay young forever.”

Oh, so he was also in love with him.

“He’s in love with you, cook.”

“I know…he thought I was sleeping and said he wanted me, and damn it I want him too but I don’t think the universe will allow that.”

“So what? You’re going to just die and he’s going to live the rest of his days yearning for you, wanting to be dead so he can be with you.”

“He can get over me…I’ll make him.”

“Cook, don’t break his heart.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to. I want his heart like he wants mine, but I will break it to make him hurt less.”

“He’ll only hurt more. I don’t think he can hate you and so he’ll have a broken heart and a corpse he couldn’t prevent no matter what he did. I’m not making that promise because one: I already said if one dies, the other dies, and two: I may be heartless but I’m not soulless. I don’t want to make him suffer anymore than he has to and if he finds himself where he’s in a position where his life is on the line, it’s his choice to fight for it, not mine.”

Now she was looking at him, the paralyzed cook with his hands clutching swordsman’s around his chest. Seven days, and he had gone through so much, but he was still most worried about Zoro, and the other way around. That was true love she supposed, even if it was just secret whispers and hopes of heartbreak. In another universe, where fate was much kinder, none of this would have happened and they would have discovered their love in some place nicer and less horrifying and live the rest of their long days in each other’s arms. 

Robin often thought about other universe, and what happened to her and her people, but at some point she realized it was stupid, even if it was some of the only comfort she was allowed in this one.

“What if you live, cook?”

“Crocodile won’t allow that.”

“Maybe your crew comes and saves you, or some unfortunate thing happens to Crocodile, or he’s being honest, and you live. What then?”

He raised his head so he could look at Zoro, and he was in love. He looked at Zoro like he was looking at the world and something more precious than treasure.

“I don’t really know, but I’ll love him. Either way, I’ll love him and I’ll die and I’ll still be in love with stupid moss-head.” He sighed, resting his head against Zoro’s, blonde curls intertwined with stiff green strands. Zoro began to stir and held Sanji even tighter, whispering his name like it was a prayer.

“Come on, swordsman. The boss wants you.” She said, Sanji’s slight smile disappearing. “And he wants you now.”

“Mmm, alright,” But he didn’t move. He couldn’t seem to let his cook go again, and this time he wasn’t barely alive in the hallway. “I just need something from you, Sunday.”

“And what’s that?”

“When I return, I want him to be walking.” 

She forgot about the conditions of the massacre yesterday. As far as she knew, no efforts had been made to grant Sanji the ability to walk again, if it was even possible.

“I can’t say he’ll be walking…but I’ll do my best to get his legs moving, even if it’s just a small bit.” Robin didn’t know why she agreed, but it was too late to take her words back. So now she had to help Sanji and set up for Operation Utopia, and all Robin wanted to do was read, but she had her obligations.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Now get going before he gets mad.” He slowly let go of his cook, like he was having to ease a ripping pain. Robin saw his eyes swelling up and his lip quivering.

“Sanji, I’ll be back, and you’ll be better. I want you to kick me in the face for being stupid.” Sanji looked back at him with that love and a small smile, saying he would be more than pleased to kick in his face. It was another minute before Zoro was able to walk away, his head twitching to look back at his cook that had his heart. 

“What’s Crocodile going to do to him?”

“I’m not really sure. I got a few calls to make but I can make them here. When was the last time someone moved you?”

Sanji shrugged and she knew a nurse should be the one to move him, but now, for her partner she contemplated murdering two days earlier, she was going to do whatever she could for the apparent love of his life.

“I’m soft for you two. I can’t believe you did that to me. I don’t like liking people. Gets in the way of my survival.” She mumbled, helping him roll to his back. He chuckled and said he happened to have that effect on people, especially beautiful women.

“You’re in love with a man.”

“Oh, I think both are pretty, and you are pretty. I just…I wasn’t in love with him a few days ago.”

“That’s bullshit. You were in love when I picked you up.”

“Well if we were, I wasn’t aware. I realized about an hour ago.” He pulled himself against the bed, his one visible eye fixed on his legs. “Do you really think you can help me?”

She shrugged and took her hat off, running her fingers along the brim. She would try, ask the doctors what they could and anything was possible. There was no such thing as impossible on the Grand Line.

“I’m beginning to understand that.” He told her as his eye moved to the fan. “Can I ask you a question?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“I think you know the Grand Line pretty well, and you’re smart in general. Have you ever heard of the All Blue?”

She scoffed and recalled the sea that held every fish in the world, a heaven for a chef like him. It was completely plausible it existed somewhere on the Grand Line and that was what she told Sanji. His eye lit up and he looked like a small child for a second, happy as can be.

“Even if I can’t walk, I’m going to find the All Blue with Zoro and spend the rest of our days there…if I’m an optimist and we both survive.”

What a lovely dream.

So lovely, I’m going to help you achieve it.

Chapter Text

“You have the worst sense of direction I have ever seen in my life.” Crocodile mumbled as Zoro was about to turn another corner. “Did Robin give you any directions or did she just say to find me? Even then, you should’ve gone to the dining room where I have been waiting for an hour.”

“I’m a swordsman, not a navigator. Now what do you want?” He grumbled, clutching the hilt of the wado. Crocodile looked him up and down and asked if blood felt good on his skin and that was why he hadn’t washed at all. Back when he was a bounty hunter, he once spent a week dragging a dead body while covered in blood. The only water he had, he reserved to drink. The first two days, he felt naked except for blood on his arms. Then he woke up on the third day and he completely forgot until he finally found a town, and some little girl started screaming there was a bloody monster coming for them.

“I just haven’t had the time or care to change yet. Should I?”

“No. In fact, this might help me. I need you to go into the town and pretend to be a rebel and cause terror. Destroy a building, kill a man, whatever. And then I, the hero of Alabasta, will step in and deal with you. I want these people to trust me so when the royals are dead, no one will question me becoming king and they will welcome me with open arms.” He explained, putting out a cigar against his hook.

The people would realize eventually Crocodile was the one who ruined their country and killed so many. He couldn’t keep this up forever. Three years was impressive but the truth would come out eventually, and when it did, the sand would be stained red for a hundred years.

“Sir, what does ‘deal’ entail?”

“I won’t kill you. Just…roughen you up.”

Zoro held his sword tighter but he would be fine. He could take a beating though he hated to lose on purpose, or just lose in general. He would still be walking and he would still be a swordsman. And he didn’t have any pride to uphold anymore.

“Right now?”

“Preferably. No matter the time, I will defend my people. Now cover your face or something. You stand out like a sore thumb.” He laughed, turning away before he stopped. “Shit, you’ll get lost. Follow me, Point One.”

He obliged, not letting go as Crocodile led him through the prison. They walked in silence until they turned a corner, and there was the place he thought Sanji died. In the almost two days that had passed, it hadn’t been cleaned at all. The walls were still covered in his blood and there was a spot on the floor, the spot Sanji should have died in. There were still bits of him, his muscle and skin that had been shredded, scattered on the floor. 

Was this even the same hall? And if it was, was the horror left behind truly still there? What if it was Zoro’s mind? He was still guilty and would remain so even after he died and spent a burning forever in Hell. Maybe the kitchen on the Going Merry, if he was ever allowed back there, would be flooded with his blood. No matter where he went, in one way or another, he would always end up back in the hall.

“Mm, I should probably have this cleaned up. I didn’t realize how much he actually lost.”

But this time it wasn’t guilt. He was truly back in the hall and nothing had changed, and maybe Zoro had no idea where he was going, but he also knew this wasn’t on the way out.

You led me here on purpose.

“How is Sanji?”

And just that simple question made Zoro lose it. He lunged at the monster, his sword drawn to kill and take his head. The wado was in his hand and aimed for Crocodile’s throat. It would be slow. He wanted Crocodile to die so slowly that he had hope. Zoro needed for Crocodile to have that hope so he could rip it away.

He needed that.

Crocodile turned to sand and Zoro started screaming, and he said with all the air left in his lungs if Crocodile wasn’t a coward, he would actually fight Zoro. He was nothing but a coward, hiding behind some great facade and if was truly the man he thought he was, he wouldn’t need an entire league of mercenaries and a civil war to take over a country. 

He didn’t like that.

He was expecting a hook but instead, a fist crashed into Zoro’s face, an immediate crack banging in his ears. A second later, his back collided with the wall and fell into it, pure stone digging into his back and slicing it open.

He fell down and he was in pain, but he didn’t give any indication of it. He simply stood back up and looked at Crocodile, who was fuming red and ready to kill him, but he wouldn’t, and he wouldn’t torture Zoro, not physically anyway. And again, he could handle whatever the Warlord wanted to do to him.

He just kept thinking about his cook.

“You…you might want to watch yourself.” He huffed, his eyes about to pop out of his head, his fist tightening and sand swirling around his hook.

And Zoro laughed.

Crocodile’s face dropped and Zoro kept laughing.

“Like I said, a coward,”

“YOU-”

“You’re a smart one! Don’t get me wrong, you’re a coward, but you’re smart. You constructed a civil war and formed possibly the most deadly organization in the world with the government knowing. Making yourself the hero of Alabasta and the people wanting you to lead them also means the World Government can’t do shit about it. They don’t need that mess, so they’ll let you be a Warlord and king.” He sighed, putting the wado back. Crocodile took a step back and it wasn’t long before he was laughing too. 

They laughed together, losing their minds. Unbelievable. He was laughing with Crocodile, the man who had been holding him and Sanji hostage and torturing them. He broke Sanji’s leg, but that wasn’t even the worst thing and it was still horrible. He nearly killed Sanji, twice, so brutally and inhumanly each time. He was using Sanji so Zoro would do his evil bidding, which was why there were fifteen headless bodies with families mourning them all.

And now they laughed together.

“Shit! You would be an amazing Warlord! You would drive Donquixote Doflomingo insane and if you didn’t want to kill him, you and Mihawk would be an amazing duo!” He gasped for air and started to choke a bit. Maybe Zoro should have killed him right then and there but he was on his knees and crying from the laughter.

But when he turned his head and saw the blood, the tears weren’t from laughter. Sanji would suffer for the rest of life. He would have nightmares and constant reminders of the last week with just the large scar Zoro knew took up half his torso and his legs, because even if he could walk again, he would never be the same. That wasn’t including other little things and there was Zoro.

Zoro didn’t have any new scars. His body still worked the same as it did before all this. The ability to use swords wasn’t taken from him. He hadn’t been on the brink of death at all. If he was fighting, it wasn’t for his life because he was never in that sort of danger. The reality was Zoro had been experiencing the best of all this, and Sanji had to endure the worst. He didn’t do a single thing, and he was the one who went through hell and back.

And Zoro loved him.

That was the cruelest thing Zoro had done to Sanji: love him. Sanji deserved to be loved by someone better than him. Sanji deserved all the love in the world and Zoro would give it to him, but he also knew Sanji deserved that love from someone besides Zoro.

Zoro was brute. He fought a lot, and killed, a lot. He was stupid. He didn’t have any sense of where he was ever going and he couldn’t come up with a good plan that wasn’t looked down upon or laughed at. He annoyed others. He said things that made people mad and irritated and god, there were too many times he annoyed Sanji. He was arrogant. He liked to think he was right all the time, which stupid considering how stupid he was.

Zoro could have kept thinking about every flaw he had and how each one was a valid reason to know Sanji wasn’t for him. His heart wanted him. He couldn’t stop wanting him now. Ever since the confession, he just wanted his cook more and more but it wasn’t right. He was doing all this for Sanji but it would never be enough. There was too much wrong with him, and he had done too much. 

So he would have to spend the rest of his life in agony wanting Sanji.

That seemed fair.

Why did he have to fall for the cook? How did he fall for him? Nothing romantic had happened at all. The best he could think of was the night in the cage but that made no sense. Part of him still wanted to believe his feelings were false and just pure delusion, but Zoro knew now how real they were.

Maybe he always thought something of the cook, and just never acknowledged those feelings. The small good moments they had and when time would stop around them…and there was another time he forgot about. Sanji had passed out on the floor next to where Zoro was sleeping. The swordsman woke up when he felt a thrashing against his leg and it was Sanji having a nightmare against his leg. He tried to wake him up but touch just made him worse and Zoro started to panic until he accidentally brushed against the top of Sanji’s head, and there was a moment of peace. Zoro spent maybe an hour running his hands through Sanji’s hair, the twitching ending at some point. He could have stopped but he didn’t until Sanji started to wake up and he just acted like he was asleep the entire time, but he wanted to hold Sanji again.

He forgot about that, and he didn’t know why he was suddenly remembering. That feeling of always wanting Sanji close maybe?

Was that him, weeks ago and oblivious, was that him wanting Sanji?

Maybe he really had always wanted Sanji, and it only took losing him to realize that.

“Point One! Are you ready?”

Crocodile shook Zoro and it happened again. He got lost in his mind again. He was still in the hall on his knees, and he heard himself sobbing.

“I-I-”

“Have a job to do, so let’s go so you can do it!” His boss pulled him up the collar and pushed him so he could walk, and he stepped over the dried blood that crunched under his feet.

“You stop again or do anything besides walking and your job, I’ll delay when he walks. He’ll walk, just not as soon as you would like.”

So Zoro ignored everything around him and just followed Crocodile, like he had been.

He stood in an alleyway, a cloak around him that covered his face. Crocodile was watching him from somewhere, waiting for the scene to begin. 

Zoro looked at the opening around him and all he could really focus on was a food stand that was run by an elderly man with kids running around, people stopping by to wish him well and eat his little cakes. 

Sanji would have loved to just stop by and try the food, and then talk for hours with the man only caring about the culinary art. 

He hated what he was about to do, but Crocodile wanted a good show, and maybe he would be slightly more gracious if he saw Zoro attacking a cook when he was doing all of this for his own.

“I am so sorry.” He said as he shakily drew his swords out in the utmost shame, unsure who he was talking to. 

Chapter Text

“So who are they?” Sanji asked as Robin finished her call to a Miss Doublefinger, something about gathering all the agents at a cafe and bringing them here.

“The best of the worst. You’ve met three, er, six but Miss Wednesday, Mr. Nine and Eight, they were double agents as you know. The rest are loyal and deadly assassins who are about to learn who their boss is and bring Operation Utopia to life.” She told him, laying across his legs and covering her body with her winter coat. 

Remembering the assassins from Little Garden made Sanji wonder what happened to the rest. They had to be fine, or somehow the fight was still going on which he doubted. If they were captured, they would be here already. If they were dead, Crocodile would have made it a big deal and there would be constant reminders all around him and Zoro. They may even be dead and reunited with the others in the afterlife.

So where were they? Sanji knew it all depended on the log-pose, but he also remembered Little Garden was the long way according to Robin, and who knew how long it would take for the log-pose to set? It could really be months before they were able to reach Alabasta, and Sanji would definitely be dead by then. He didn’t even know how he was going to make it another week. Once Crocodile had his kingdom, he really didn’t need anyone, just maybe Robin for whatever reason, so he could dispose of Sanji and Zoro.

“Can you feel me?” She asked, a hand nudging at his knee.

“No. I feel the scar, and I feel inside of me,”

Sanji hated the fact he could feel again, because he felt almost everything. He could feel his insides, his stomach connected to his esophagus, his intestines pressed against each other. But worse was he felt the stitches inside of him. Sanji knew whenever Crocodile ripped him open, most of his organs didn’t stay intact. For him to be living, they had to be sutured together and placed the way they were before.

He hated that idea. He hated the idea of someone inside of his body and trying to ‘fix’ him. When he was six, he had food poisoning and his father’s brilliant solution was for Sanji to undergo surgery so the scientists could figure out what was wrong with him and maybe if they could cure this sudden illness, he could become strong and like his siblings. When he woke up, he spent hours sobbing and under the covers because he was trapped in a state of horror, especially when it was explained to him they cut his stomach open to see the possible problem. He didn’t let anyone go near him for weeks, though he was in no shape to push anyone away.

Sanji could still feel the tears. It was the same as accidentally cutting yourself and putting a bandaid over the wound. He was healing, and he could see anything, but he felt it. He could feel every little stitch on his organs, and he lived in fear that if he moved the wrong way, they would pull apart and his body would burn from the acid inside of him, have crazy reactions because nothing was right. 

Maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t feel his legs. 

“How would you do it?” 

“Oi?”

“Break Zoro’s heart. You said you would earlier so how would you do it?”

He sighed and leaned back, remembering the little conversation he had with her earlier.

“I-say I don’t love him, and that he’s stupid for thinking I ever would, and he’s delusional and an idiot. Laugh at him? He did all this for someone who didn’t even love him back? I would say he’s pathetic, and I regret holding on if this is what I meant. Things along that line. I’d probably start spewing meaningless shit and hope it means something to him.” 

“And I’m the cruel one.” She laughed. There was a new uneasy feeling in his stomach and he felt nausea, but the idea of throwing up made him even more nervous and afraid of his own body. 

“You know, I’m starting to like you, and I am curious to know what your cooking tastes like. Once we know you can walk, how about I walk you to the kitchen and we  see what you can make me?” 

“Your boss doesn’t plan on letting me  live that long.” He sighed, wondering how Crocodile would finally kill him.

“I can try to convince him. I have a way with words, and he listens to me. You could be my personal cook once we have Alabasta. Zoro can be my bodyguard and you my cook. I’ll let you two have your own quarters and Crocodile can stop beating the shit out of you two. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“I-has anyone ever called you weird?”

“Yes, but you don’t think that will happen? Be positive for a second and imagine a future where you and Zoro can be together. Granted, you’ll still technically be prisoners and he’ll be an agent, but you can be together.”

No. That sounded horrible. He did want to be with Zoro but he would be miserable in those circumstances. He would rather death than that. If he was going to be with Zoro, they would both be free and chasing their dreams, side by side, hand in hand.

But that itself was a dream and he couldn’t even walk after it, much less chase it.

“Well, I think we’re dying soon. I appreciate it, Robin.” He sighed. She sat straight up, rubbing under her wide eyes. She yawned and laid down at his side, talking about some of the books she had been reading. She was smart, smart enough to probably be playing Crocodile though she gave no indication of it to him. Maybe that was what Zoro meant by them having a few things in common. 

But Sanji couldn’t get his hopes up.

“Where did Crocodile take Zoro?” 

“I’m not sure. He just wanted him for a brief moment.”

“Don’t lie to me. What’s he making him do?”

“…”

“Robin?”

He’s getting hurt right now.

“He can tell you. I don’t know any specifics.”

He’s hurting him.

“He’s a good person to be in love with, cook. And if I do find a way to keep you both alive, make sure you tell him you feel the same. Might make things better.”

Or worse.

“Oh, so there is a little romance between you two.” Crocodile snickered. Sanji looked from the ceiling to the doorway in front of him, where Crocodile stood with a bloody and limp Zoro over his shoulders.

“ZORO! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Sanji lunged forward until he was too aware of the giant scar that covered his entire left hip, aware of the contents inside and how fragile he was and it could be over in a second because he moved the wrong way. His entire body was paralyzed, not just legs.

So weak.

But he had always been weak.

Now it was damning someone else.

“Zoro? Zoro? Zoro?” He kept repeating his name, waiting for him to move. The swordsman was so still that Sanji couldn’t tell if he was breathing, except for one twitching finger but didn’t bodies twitch even when they were dead? He thought he heard that somewhere so what if he had finally killed Zoro and now Crocodile was going to kill him? Could it be quick? Could he beg for it to be quick? No. He couldn’t have a quick death. Crocodile wouldn’t allow that and he did deserve death, but he didn’t deserve a quick one, especially if Zoro had to suffer in the end.

“He’s fine, and people love me for beating up a rebel terrorizing some poor food stand.” The Warlord laughed as he placed Zoro in the chair. Sanji whimpered and couldn’t help but wonder how Crocodile hurt him, and how Zoro likely didn’t fight at all. He took all the punches just for Sanji. Now he was the one clinging onto life, and Sanji would do anything to trade places. “Miss All Sunday, is everything in place?”

“Yes, sir. They will all be at the cafe tomorrow morning and reach Rainbase by one. Only Miss Doublefinger knows the way to the meeting room as you instructed.” Robin stood up and stretched her arms, her wide eyes unable to look away from Zoro. 

“Very good. Now go freshen up and report to me what’s going on in this country, how people are reacting to the fifteen heads in the cave and the little display this morning.” He instructed as he lit a cigar in his mouth. Robin nodded before quickly scuffling away down the hall, her heels clicking until they were gone.

“What did you do to him?”

“Like I said Mr. Cook, I taught a rebel a lesson. He’s been wanting a fight. He even tried to fight me in a hallway this morning, all because I said your name. He’s so incredibly defensive that it just makes complete and utter sense for him to be in lo-”

“Shut up!”

Crocodile broke down laughing and took the cigar out, almost choking on smoke. Every little hair in his body stood up and he was shaking so intensely the bed was moving just from his arms resting. He had spent this entire time under the presumption that Zoro wouldn’t be touched , that he would do horrible things but nothing would actually happen to him. He was just a puppet, not a rag doll. Sanji was the one who was supposed to get hurt and now both of them?

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! HE DOESN’T HAVE TO THIS! I DON’T GET IT! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO HIM? HAVEN’T YOU DONE ENOUGH?” Sanji yelled at him, trying to push himself up. He hated how he couldn’t do anything, absolutely nothing but sit and watch as everything happened around him.

Crocodile straightened up and tilted his head, cigar smoke covering half of his face. Sanji felt little grains of sand dancing around his neck, and there was one in particular that was digging under his left ear, and the invisible mask became heavier and tighter.

“Are you…unappreciative? Are you not grateful for everything he does for you, everything he’s willing to do? He’d do anything for you and every single time you have the audacity to never appreciate anything he does.”

“No. Yo-”

“Then rejoice! You should be ecstatic he’s willing to do all of this just for you and you alone! Be happy, dear Sanji!”

“NO!”

Happy? How the fuck was he supposed to feel anything remotely related to that bliss feeling he was starting to forget? He was paralyzed beyond his hideous new scar and Zoro was unconscious in a chair after nearly dying. The last time he was close to happy, he thought he was going to die in Zoro’s arms, and there was still pain and misery.

The sand embedded itself into his spine, sending something similar to an electric shock up his back, and it wasn’t a new feeling. 

In the hall, as he was being torn in half, he experienced a feeling so different yet so very similar.

Please not again.

“Then you do something, you insolent paraplegic!” Crocodile twisted his hand as he slowly walked towards Sanji, the sand digging in deeper and resurfacing multiple bad feelings and memories.

“Is…is there…how can I-”

“I don’t think you can. You can’t even move. Can you even twist your body without someone helping you? You know, you might be the most pathetic and weak son of a bitch I’ve had the dishonor of meeting.”

No.

No.

No.

He was completely right and Sanji didn’t know how after all these years he hadn’t changed. He was still the weak failure who was erased from the Germa Kingdom, someone who should have never been born.

Someone who should have never been loved.

Icy fingers clamped his neck and yet Sanji didn’t gasp for any air. He let them tightened and let his throat close in on itself, also ignoring the sharp tip pressing against his hair part.

“Just do it. I know you want to.” He muttered. Crocodile scoffed and for a second, Sanji trusted him to be true to his word this time and would actually send him to the grave.

“Get your hands off of him,” Zoro gasped from nearby. Sanji’s eyes diverted from the glaring purple ones of Crocodile to the calming black ones that were Zoro’s. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Crocodile sighed and leaned in, his chin brushing against the bridge of Sanji’s nose. He gasped and his eyes started to roll to the back of his head as he found it harder and harder to breathe.

“Nothing. I should find a nurse so I can get him ready.” The Warlord sighed as he let go, but Sanji felt no different.

“Ready for what?”

“Surgery! I’m going to modify him so he can walk. That is what you wanted, correct?”

Sanji heard the word modify and he threw up. There wasn’t much for him to throw up but whatever was in his stomach, he threw up, and that only made him more aware of how fucked up his stomach was and one wrong move, that’s all it would take. What if this was the wrong move because he wasn’t able to move past being his father’s experiment and it killed him?

Hands grabbed his neck and he almost passed out. He didn’t know what was keeping him awake at this point. 

“What did I just say…” Crocodile whispered in his ear. Zoro was cursing the Warlord and almost begging him to let Sanji go. He whimpered and just wondered if he had really been that awful. Why hadn’t he been thankful for Zoro, that someone was willing to do all this for him? Was it because he never deserved it, which was still true. Why couldn’t he just get over himself and appreciate him?

A cold finger rubbed over the scar behind his ear, and he broke down even more.

“Okay…do it.” He choked on a sob. Maybe he didn’t have to go out of his way  to break Zoro’s heart. Maybe this little display would do it for him. 

“I mean, there was never really a choice for you.” He said as he slowly lowered Sanji back onto the bed. He was completely paralyzed again, and then he heard Zoro asking him to look at him.

He couldn’t.

Even if he had the courage to, Sanji didn’t know how to move his head. It was just the big ceiling fan he was looking at, and then the Warlord. He was saying something but Sanji only heard Zoro’s pleas.

Zoro, please stop pleading for me.

Don’t be weak for me.

Crocodile cleaned his face with a sinister smile and Zoro got louder. He got louder and louder and Sanji wanted his ears to go next. He just wnated to see Sanji's face, audibly struggling to move in the chair and between his pleas, crying out in pain.

After he was finished, Crocodile grabbed a gas mask and taunted it in front of Sanji, and Zoro was too loud. He was too loud and it didn’t take long after Crocodile placing the mask on him for Zoro to die out, for everything around him to become nothing.

Except Crocodile’s face. Just before the world vanished around him, he saw him say something so clearly he didn’t need to hear him to understand.

“Good night, Sanji .”

Chapter Text

Zoro was beginning to hate time. The most despicable power in the world was time. It had only been a week since that day in Little Garden, but time made it feel like a century. So much had happened. Too much had happened. In fact, too much had happened since he met Luffy. In the span of mere days, he was a Marine prisoner, then fought a clown and a man on a unicycle(though all that was just one whole day), then fought twin cat brothers, and the same day he met his damn cook was the same day he met Dracule Mihawk and dueled him which almost ended in his death, but he didn’t die and fought a fishman soon after, learned dragons were real and then he entered the Grand Line of all places only to be immediately eaten by a whale and that night he fought a hundred people and learned about Alabasta and Crocodile, and Little Garden happened and everything else followed as such. In retrospect, it didn’t get bad until Little Garden. If none of the past week had happened, he wouldn’t be so worried about time and wouldn’t hate it like he did now.

Luckily his time was short and the end was near.

But it would feel like a hundred more years.

When would Crocodile have enough? He never seemed to tire of torturing them. He wasn’t sure for how long he let Crocodile beat the shit out of him but it was awhile. He could have stopped when he broke three of Zoro’s ribs but he didn’t. He then proceeded to almost snap his neck and throw him across the city and into a worn down building. He remembered crashing into a wall and then he saw Crocodile holding Sanji again. And once again, he couldn’t do anything but protest.

If Zoro had been able to move, that would have been the end of Crocodile. He would attack him like he did in the hall, but there was a difference this time. Sanji had a glass of water beside him, and Zoro would have grabbed it and thrown it at his neck so he couldn’t shift, and then take his head. He could do it.

You’re so desperate.

Have you ever been this desperate?

The thing was he was desperately in love now.  This wasn’t him desperate to achieve his dream or anything like that. He didn’t know what to do with this desperation besides feed into it, but Zoro didn’t have to try for that to happen. 

It was miserable.

After Crocodile knocked Sanji out with the gas, he left to find nurses, almost skipping with happiness in his strides. Zoro wanted to think that was the most useless he had ever been but too many times he was useless, just watching as Crocodile did as he pleased.

But he didn’t feel as horrible as he had, just because of Sanji unconscious in front of him. He just looked so peaceful, the same kind of peaceful when Zoro had him dying in his arms. His face was relaxed, not because he was dazed or barely hanging on. The same Sanji he would find asleep in the kitchen, nothing to occupy his mind and nothing to fear when he woke up. Of course that was because of the aesthetic and soon his nightmares would begin, and he would remember he was in one.

But for the meantime, Zoro enjoyed a little bit of peace.

He didn’t know how long he had that simple peace with Sanji but it wasn’t long enough. Crocodile came back with skittish nurses, and a tall woman in a white lab coat who seemed too tired to stand up.

“Sir, you truly can’t expect us to operate on this man on such short notice! I mean, we haven’t had time to prepare ourselves or an operating room, or even the patient,” she rubbed her temple and paced around the small room. The nurses were attending to Sanji, rolling him to his back and Zoro still hated how other people just took a hold of him, even if they were just trying to help him. They were still strangers and Zoro didn’t trust them with his cook. “Just because you gave him an anesthetic doesn’t mean he’s ready for surgery! His diet should be fine but he hasn’t been cleaned yet, and we don’t even know if he can handle another operation so so-”

“Doctor Antuma, I would like you to meet someone very quickly,” Crocodile glanced at Zoro and she lost her breath looking at him. She wasn’t scared for him like a doctor should be for someone in his condition. She was scared of him. Zoro was always told he never really had to try and look intimidating. It was something natural to him he didn’t always realize and he would try to seem friendly, but that required effort and he was too exhausted.

“This is a new friend of mine. He’s actually the rebel from the square.”

The nurses all gasped and squealed, running to the other side of the room while Antuma was frozen by fear. Crocodile laughed, he laughed too much, and he laughed, twisting his hook so it gleamed with the rising sun from the window.

“Sir-”

“Oh, he knows better now. We had a very long talk and he really just wants what’s best for this country…and for his paralyzed friend right in front of you.”

“His-”

“Yes! He doesn’t have the bounty his friend does and he is much more sensible. That being said, his friend is still very dear to him. He’ll allow me to turn him in on the condition we treat him, which includes returning his ability to walk.”

Antuma bit her lips and her shaking eyes went back and forth between the two pirates. Some nurses were crying, others praying, all confused and scared. Zoro tried to soften his face but it hurt and he ended up groaning, which he thinked scared them all more. One of the poor nurses who looked his age went white and so light two others were holding her up.

“I can refuse to treat him. You can’t make me operate on him. If I feel threatened by a patient, I can refuse service and I feel very threatened!” Antuma spat, crossing her trembling arms and trying to look Crocodile in the eye. “It’s in my rights!”

“It is in your rights, however…my friend here doesn’t live by the code you do. He lives by his own, a very flexible one at that,” The Warlord leaned in closer and put his hook around her waist, making the poor woman stand up and tears started forming in her eyes. “He will kill you. And I won’t be able to stop him.”

One nurse squealed and Antuma immediately switched her stance, ordering the ladies to go and make sure the make-shift operating room in the casino was ready and for only the best of the best to scrub in. Crocodile shifted his position so he could pat her back, making her choke on invisible fear and the tears fell from her eyes.

“Good decision, doctor. Can you look my friend in the eye and promise his friend will again?” Her eyes were twitching under the glass, and her entire body was almost revolting in place. She sobbed, looking at Zoro. He knew she couldn’t promise anything. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew all along even if Sanji was operated on, he still may not walk. He didn’t want to accept that, but it was very real, and looking at that poor doctor, he wanted his cook to walk for her sake, so she could live without fearing him.

“I-I-I promise to…to give your friend the ab-ability to walk again!” She said with so much desperation. Zoro sighed and just nodded, his neck almost too stiff to move. “I will do my best and I won’t stop until he walks!”

No.

Don’t make it last.

He wanted Sanji to walk. He would do anything for him to walk. He would do more than Crocodile’s dirty work and take his beatings. However, he didn’t want Sanji to have to go through surgery after surgery, spend whatever time he had left stuck in a bed with everyone giving him hope. Zoro could recall how Sanji reacted to being ‘modified’, how terrified and child-like he looked. He wouldn’t let that be the Sanji who died a prisoner, miserable and haunted by the possible past and present. He wanted Sanji from the night, in his arms with a sense of something good. He’d have the Sanji who was paralyzed over the Sanji who could walk but was just a hollow shell of his bright and beautiful self.

“Now, don’t you have a surgery to prepare for?”

“Ye-YES! I’m going to go get ready and make sure everything is set! I’ll have my nurses come get the patient!” She panted. Crocodile nodded and she bolted out of the room. The monster took two steps in Sanji’s direction and Zoro yelled at him, just a simple stop.

“Why?”

“You’re not gentle.”

“I can be. I’m not a complete monster. I do have a heart.” 

If he ever had one, he shredded it to pieces a long time ago. If he ever acted like he had one, it was because of Robin’s heart. She did have one and was able to use it for both of them at times, but Crocodile’s emptiness corrupted that. She wanted the doctors to actually help Sanji. He wanted to keep using Sanji.

Not gentle.

“This is his way of showing you that he appreciates you. He can’t really do that if he can’t move.” Crocodile sighed, taking a cigar out.

How? How was this appreciation? Sanji was being blackmailed into all of this? It was desperation.

“You’re going to kill him anyway so why?”

“For one, I told you I would. Secondly, I could be swayed on killing him if you prove too valuable to lose,”

A definite lie.

“And third, why not? I have nothing better to do right now as I wait for my rule to begin. The fun is all tomorrow when my other agents arrive.”

Zoro rolled his eyes and looked at the clock, only 8:14 in the morning still. There was a whole day ahead of them and Zoro would likely spend it all waiting for Sanji, unless Crocodile said otherwise.

“You look tired, Point One. And after that wall knocked you out cold,”

Different kind of tired.

“Do you smoke? I should have asked a long time ago but do you? I’ll give you a cigar if you ask nicely?”

“I don’t.”

“Would you like to try?” 

Zoro shook his head and there was an image of Sanji offering him a cigarette. He offered him one after Loguetown and the stress they endured there. He refused but appreciated the offer. Sanji had never asked since and suddenly it was the one question he wanted to be asked by him.

“Suit yourself. They won’t kill you.”

Because you will.

Time was too slow once again. Crocodile stood in place, sometimes looking at Zoro, sometimes at Sanji, the wall, just wherever. Zoro couldn’t look away from Sanji, laying so still from this angle it was like looking into a casket.

And then that’s what he was seeing, Sanji’s funeral if he ever got one. So still, so quiet, so painless. He was just sleeping, but he wouldn’t wake up. He’d just be tucked into a coffin forever, the way Kuina was, still under the ground and nothing but brittle bones. Sanji’s golden locks would fall out, and his smooth skin would decay into nothing. His legs, his weapons, even if useless, would swell up until they became nothing as well. His beautiful eyes that could be mistaken for the sea would dry up and fall until they were erased from the world.

There would be no more fresh meals in the morning to wake him up, no more aroma of cigarettes that floated around, no more swooning and arguing, nothing left of Sanji beyond what he left behind and memories. 

And just thought made Zoro want to join him.

Nurses came back who had obviously been crying. They didn’t say anything, just transferred Sanji onto a stretcher and wheeled him away. Zoro didn’t look. He couldn’t. He could shut his eyes but not his ears. Just hearing them take his Sanji away made him sick and want to sob. 

But what could he do about it?

“I’m going to find one to take care of you. You also have to look your best for tomorrow, make a good first impression. I’ll check in on you later.” Crocodile scurried off, and Zoro still didn’t open his eyes. Tears were streaming from them but he couldn’t look around the empty room. He wanted to think Sanji was right within a close reach and not being taken to be opened up and permanently changed.

How did it get this far? If they never had the small competition on Little Garden, they’d still be on the Going Merry and more than alright. Maybe Zoro would have no idea if he loved Sanji or if he would still feel the same, but he wouldn’t know. There wouldn’t have been the brutal loss to make him realize that. And maybe down the line, the feelings would surface because they were just bound to.

He would never know.

When Kuina died, that was when Zoro realized how much he cared for her. He didn’t appreciate their fights until there were none left. The banter? All he wanted anyone to do was insult him and yet when someone did, it was never the same.

He realized earlier this time everything about Sanji, but it still might have been too late.

Chapter Text

Crocodile had never been more happy to witness young love in his entire life. He always thought it was ridiculous to devote yourself to one person, but now he was seeing the advantages. 

People in love were too easy to manipulate and use. All he had to die was get close to one and the other was on their knees. If he didn’t tire of people easily and if there wasn’t a large risk, he would consider keeping Roronoa and his cook alive to keep antagonizing them, but the cook had to die before he left for Alubarna, and Roronoa would be dead the next day. Or maybe he waited until the rest of those stupid kid pirates and the princess arrived, use Roronoa against them and slaughter them all. 

No matter, they would be dead in a few days and Crocodile would be king. 

He gladly watched as nurses attended Roronoa. Crocodile had broken him, not that it was hard. The moment he expressed any concern for the cook, Crocodile knew he was his’. He didn’t think Roronoa would be so stupid. Crocodile had attempted to kill Sanji twice now and Roronoa still believed he would live. He couldn’t see past the guise? Did he really believe that little proposition Robin came up with? It was a good thing he was The Demon of The East and one of the strongest swordsmen in the world, otherwise he never would have survived their first meeting.

“He’ll be alright. Just needs some water and rest.” A nurse told him, messing with her thin fingers. Crocodile thanked her and asked if he could walk and if he couldn’t, to get him a wheelchair. There was something he needed to show the hunter.

“I suggest a wheelchair for the rest of today.” She said, unable to look Crocodile in the eye. He nodded and told her to get one. She scurried away and Crocodile wondered if it was truly this easy to control people. He could have just kidnapped the princess and used her against her father, would have saved him years of planning. Granted, it was a riskier plan that could have easily backfired, but he was almost sure he could have come up with something to make himself look like the hero.

“I hope you don’t mind if I show you around, rebel. There’s something I have to show you as soon as possible.” He couldn’t wait, break Roronoa a little bit more. It was fun to see how he reacted in his situation. Him trying to fight was so laughable. When would he learn he couldn’t beat a Warlord? Mihawk taught him nothing even after tearing his chest open. Would Crocodile have to take a limb or was death the only way he would understand?

“I think I’m going blind in both eyes. Got sand in ‘em.” The lesser laughed, clenching his fist as he looked Crocodile in the eye with the intent to kill, the only look he seemed to be reviving from Roronoa since they met besides the occasional beg and absolutely nothing.

“Oh, don’t go blind on me now. Don’t you want to see your pretty cook again?”

His eyes dilated and he tensed up. What if Crocodile said his name again, mentioned Sanji? Would Roronoa really try to fight him again after losing again and again, and now incredibly injured? 

“Only if you stop making him so miserable.” The swordsman whispered. But it was so fun! Crocodile more than enjoyed how all he had to do was look at the blonde and Roronoa was clawing at the walls.

“He seems to be naturally miserable. I tell him he will walk again, he acts as if I’m killing him. Can’t seem to find the good in anything, including you.” He waved all of the nurses out of the room, who all immediately listened. Roronoa grunted and pushed himself up, supported by two shaky legs.

“You’ve tortured him.”

“No, not really. Believe me, if it is torture, it is mild. Do you want me to show you what torture is, because I gladly will.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, but I most definitely would.” 

He stood as tall as he could, his knees about to give out at any moment. Crocodile did admire his strength. The reality was he was anything but weak, physically at least. Crocodile could have done much worse to him and he would still be standing. 

It was almost a blessing that the cook was caught with Roronoa. If it was just the swordsman, Crocodile would have had to dispose of him. Without the cook as leverage, he wouldn’t have a Mr. Point One. Sure, Operation Utopia would still happen but there was just such a reassurance with Roronoa around, and he had a one up against the Princess. The pirate crew would betray her, a stranger, if it came down to her and the swordsman. Crocodile should have thanked Sanji for fighting with Roronoa and getting caught with him, and for being an idiot and not escaping when he could have.

“They cheered your name in the street,” he sighed, crossing his arms and holding a painful breath. “You’re not just a hero to them. You’re more of a king to them than their actual one. You’re the one who looks out for these people, even if they're really just pawns to you. They don’t know you’re the one who caused all of this, and I don’t think you’ll ever let them know.”

So he did have a brain.

He looked to the bed and then down at his bandaged arms. Crocodile needed to get him into a bathtub. His nose wasn’t as it was years ago and he couldn’t smell that well anymore, but he knew Roronoa had to reek. He wasn’t sure he had a shower since Little Garden, and now he was covered in his blood as well as the blood of those rebels. 

“Sir, I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“You’re a Warlord. You’re nearly king of this kingdom. You run a secret assassin organization. I don’t get why you need this country. You have so much already and one wrong move, you lose it all.” Roronoa said as he lowered himself back into the chair, sighing with relief.

“In due time, you’ll understand. You learn once you meet the other agents,” Crocodile took out a cigar and looked around the room. It was really a spare suite that had been turned into a medical ward after more than a few instances. Damn drunk gamblers. He thought it was quite fine and he was waiting for the cook to compliment the room. When he first saw him, Crocodile was confused, wondering how a fine-looking gentleman could be a pirate, but that facade didn’t last long. He didn’t exactly believe he was a pirate, but he was a member of the Straw-Hat Crew.

“More powered freaks? Are you running a circus?”

“Do you see a red nose?”

“If I land a good punch, it’ll be red.”

Crocodile couldn’t help but laugh just knowing he was truly helpless and nothing he said meant anything. Empty threat after empty threat. Part of Crocodile did want that fight with Roronoa, just skill, no devil-fruit powers. But he knew he would likely lose. He wasn’t a swordsman by any standard, much less one he thought was worthy enough to work alongside him.

Still an amusing thought.

“I thought you were a swordsman.”

“I am. Doesn’t mean I can’t throw a punch and kick the shit out of you.”

And a lingering question emerged in Crocodile’s mind the more they talked.

“I have a question for you, Roronoa. Why didn’t Mihawk kill you? He’s not merciful in the slightest and you seem like the character to piss him off, so he definitely should have killed you.”

Roronoa smiled and maybe Crocodile could understand why. Dracule Mihawk was still a mystery to him after the years they had known each other.

“I earned his respect. I lost to him, and I gave him a chance to kill me, but I told him if he was going to kill me, to cut my chest open,”

“A wound on the back is a swordsman’s shame.” Crocodile tsked, everything making sense. So Roronoa could be willingly useful and respectful. Maybe if Crocodile wielded a sword instead of a hook, but there was nothing to be done about that. 

“Doesn’t explain why you’re still alive.”

“He let me live so we can duel again one day when I’m stronger, and I’ll kill him and become the greatest swordsman in the world!”

Crocodile bit his lip so he didn’t laugh. He wouldn’t live long enough to challenge Mihawk. The creep might be mad at Crocodile for taking away his challenge but that was just how it worked sometimes.

“So what did you want to show me?”

“I need a wheelchair first.”

“I can walk.”

Crocodile shrugged. As long as he saw what he needed to see. The Warlord could care less for his health, as long as he was alive and functioning for a few more days. He led a slow and limping Roronoa Zoro down the halls. He purposely got them lost, giving Antuma more time so there would be more for Zoro to see.

After ten minutes of honestly just trying to see if Zoro could actually walk, he arrived at the coldest room in his casino.

“Are you ready?” Crocodile said as he twisted the door knob. Zoro rolled his eyes and nodded.

He wasn’t ready at all.

It was the operating room, or a makeshift one. After five incidents of people almost dying in his casino, Crocodile figured it would be a good idea to have a place to dislodge poker chips from someone’s esophagus and a place to put someone back together after a terrible fight. And now it was being used to make a damn cook walk.

It was truly a sight to behold. The cook was flat on his stomach, his arms hanging from the table. His head was facing them, so relaxed, exactly like a dead body would look. In the dim lighting, the cook was much paler, even more death-like. What Crocodile enjoyed most was how the room angled downwards a bit, so they could see what all the doctor and the nurses were doing to him. It was intriguing to see the human body, how messy it actually was. There were nails in his back now, and some damn weird metal piece Crocodile acquired the last time he met with the other Warlords. One joke about breaking backs and then he had devices that would undo that damage. Really it was just metal that held everything in place and would allow for the nerves to heal though some science he never comprehended. He never thought he would actually use the metal, but anything was possible. 

Crocodile did find this to be excessive. It was a waste of resources and time since the cook would be dead before he left for Alubarna tomorrow, but it convinced Roronoa and he would be able to be be used for just a little bit longer, and it was a slight expriement. He had no idea if the technology would actually work and he was curious to see what would happen. Maybe he kept the cook alive in secret to see.

No.

Crocodile really wanted him dead.

He held back a laugh and looked at Roronoa, wide eyes that were already glassy by tears. His entire body was shaking and Crocodile was shocked he was able to stand at all. His lips were almost pursed and was about to see Demon Hunter Roronoa Zoro wail like a little baby over his cook who he was apparently infatuated with, again?

He hoped so.

That would be a site to behold once again.

“He’s going to walk. Do you believe me now?”

He was silent, not really there at all.

“There’s no point in showing me this, not really.” He whispered after a forever.

“I know. It’s just amusing for me, and it’s a reminder to you. I let that fight slide earlier, but the next time you get on my nerves again, I will make sure the cook can’t feel anything besides the most agonizing pain.” 

He was silent again, but then Crocodile noticed his eyes. They weren’t looking at the metal and the operation. They were fixated on the cook’s sleeping face.

Ah, young love. Such an amazing tool.

Chapter Text

He watched the entire operation. Crocodile offered him a chance to leave but he didn’t know how to agree. He should have been able to look away as they put their hands inside of Sanji and instilled metal into his back. He wasn’t fascinated by anything, but he wasn’t horrified. If anything, he felt he had to watch, not on Crocodile’s orders, but because of his own guilt. He said Sanji would walk again. He never really thought about how that would happen. Zoro didn’t know why he just expected for a few days to pass and like magic, Sanji was on his feet again. Was he that dumb? Really? God, he was stupid. His spine wasn’t broken or anything. It was ripped in half. He saw that and didn’t think it would be difficult for Sanji to use his legs again? 

Would it have been better to let Sanji be paralyzed? No, he couldn’t move and would be so dependent on others which he hated. But his face when Crocodile said they would modify him…he would live in horror and Zoro knew he felt old wounds. If he was reminded everyday of a little scar on his neck, what would it be like to constantly feel the scar around his body? Would he feel the metal in his back and what would every step be like? When Zoro walked, there was nothing to it. And god, Sanji had to relearn how to walk. Knowing Sanji, if Zoro actually knew him because maybe he kept convincing himself he did when he obviously didn’t, he would be embarrassed and ashamed.

Zoro tried to help Sanji and every single time, he just made everything worse. He had done nothing good for Sanji this entire time. Every ‘good’ action was turned into a nightmare by Crocodile and it would remain that way. When Sanji died, it wouldn’t be peaceful. Zoro imagined it would be in pain and the last thing Sanji would say was he hated Zoro, he hated Zoro and wished he had died and they had never met, and all the while Zoro would watch and be in love with him. He would be deadly in love with Sanji and it would not only break his heart but his entire being. 

Was love supposed to be like this? Was it supposed to hurt more than the sharpest blade in the world? All the amazing things Zoro heard about the emotion were false, lies and slander and libel. He didn’t want to be in love with Sanji and yet he was now, and it was the worst thing in the world because not once did he feel good and like he was on clouds. It kept feeling like a curse as everything got worse. 

Maybe if it was a much better situation, Zoro would be over the moon with his love and he would bathe it in, just hoping Sanji felt something similar or would turn him down quickly so he could get over him more easily. He would love to love Sanji but…it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

He could take his arms, try to make it fair. Zoro couldn’t be a swordsman without them, unless he replaced his arms with swords. That might be unfair to Sanji though, and he could already hear his cook chastizing him for being so stupid and hating him. All Zoro wanted was for Sanji to be alright, and he could only want. It would have been better if he had done nothing at all but was he really supposed to do nothing this entire time?

God, he missed the days he barely felt anything at all, when he was alone.

“Zoro.” Nico Robin whispered in his ear. 

Time happened again. For the longest time he was looking at Sanji’s face, the rest of him blurry. Now the room was completely empty, except for him and Robin. She was wearing a long shirt and shorts, so it had to be night. How long had he been standing there, memorized by Sanji and taken away from reality?

“What time is it?”

“Nine, at night. The surgery ended a few hours ago but Crocodile said he wanted to see how long you would be like this. He’s still asleep, and I’m sure he’ll want you at his side when he wakes up.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“He hates me, or he should. He was scared of this surgery and yet I’m the reason he went through it, why it happened. He won’t want to see me.”

“Did he tell you that, swordsman?”

“No, but he doesn’t need to. You weren’t there. He hated the idea of this and maybe we got along last night but things have changed. He’s changed.”

“Mmmm…I wouldn’t be too sure.” She chuckled as she took his arm and escorted him out of the room. What did she know? But what did he know? If he was Sanji, he wouldn’t hate him. He’d hate Crocodile for forcing this situation and making good things bad, but he wasn’t Sanji.

His head hurt from thinking so much.

“Let’s go and see him. This might be your last chance before Crocodile whisks you away to Alubarna tomorrow.” She chuckled, and his heart sank. It was rough being around Sanji but to be away after everything that had happened? They had been together for over a week now and Zoro didn’t want to part from him. His cook was part of him in a way at this point that he didn’t know how to explain. It was all so clear and so confusing. 

“He can’t come with me?”

“No. Crocodile wouldn’t allow it and even if he did, it’s not a good idea to move him so far right after surgery. You’ll come back to him,” and Zoro didn’t trust her again. That sounded like false hope. Maybe he’d come back to a corpse because something happened, and Sanji died in that damn bed all alone. “Crocodile just wants this kingdom.”

“And suffering.”

“…he enjoys that more than the average person. And remember, me and you, were making sure he doesn’t get this kingdom.”

Zoro completely forgot about their hidden plot against the Warlord. He started to laugh and so did she. He was feeling the best he had felt in a long time, just imagining Crocodile as he was betrayed and murdered. The other agents might make it difficult but he was sure Robin had a plan for them. She was smart and surely included them in her final plan. 

“And then what?”

“I’ll let you and your cook go. I trust you both and think you too should be happy together.” 

He scoffed, knowing it would be more painful than anything. They may leave the situation but the situation wouldn’t leave them, especially Sanji. It could be a long time before they were happy together, and Zoro doubted they would be happy together .

“I…the cook isn’t like that, not about me. I’m just his annoying swordsman, even if we have a bond now.”

“Again, don’t be too sure. You and him really just need to have a long long talk. You’d be surprised what you would learn about each other.”

Zoro shrugged and when they reached the room, he froze up. What was on the other side? What had they done to Sanji? Was there more? Oh god, what if there was more? What if there was metal on the outside of his body too? Zoro didn’t know how he could look at him if that was the truth but how would Sanji react? He needed to be there for Sanji, even if Sanji didn’t want him.

Robin opened the door for him and Sanji was still Sanji. Zoro couldn’t see anything different but he knew something was. He knew about the scars and the metal that held his spine and nerves in place.

He knew.

“I laid some clothes out for you to change into and got you a cot. Take a shower and rest. Just another day or two and things will change. I promise.” Robin said as she let him go and vanished into the darkness. Zoro sighed and crept inside, the heavy fan whirring and making too much noise.

Sanji was just asleep like he had been all day, so peaceful and Zoro would hold onto that peace for as long as he could, more false hope. 

He took a quick and cold shower, finally removing his bandages. It was painful, washing away all the blood that had stained him in the past few days. The oldest blood and most dried was Sanji’s, and then the rebels, and then his own. He was just one person and yet he wore the blood of sixteen others and himself. Too much. He wished it took longer to wash all the blood off but it didn’t. Within minutes he looked clean. 

The clothes Robin gave him were just sweats and a baggy shirt. It was comforting to be in something normal, and to try to hold on to whatever good there was. 

And she did have a cot there for him but he didn’t use it. He climbed into the bed with Sanji, gently laying himself over his cook and resting his head on his right shoulder. He was still warm, still alive. Zoro felt his chest rising. Sanji was still with him.

He wouldn’t be a coward. If he and Robin did succeed in killing Crocodile, he would tell Sanji he loved him. If he was going to love him, it wouldn’t be in secret. If Sanji didn’t want him around, then he wouldn’t be around. As much as it killed him to be away from Sanji, he would leave if and only if Sanji told him to. Otherwise, he would be at his side and he would let nothing separate them ever again. He would always know where Sanji is and he’d always be close enough for Zoro to run to and embrace.  If he could say it while his cook was asleep and to his back, he could say it when he was awake and to his face, eventually. He would let time pass and make sure Sanji was still Sanji before he did anything rash and life changing.

He sighed and closed his eyes, eased into sleep by knowing he had Sanji.

Sanji was radiant under the sun. His dream took him to the deck of the Going Merry, and laying beside Zoro was Sanji with a wild smile on his face, a halo of smoke that originated from his cigarette, His hair was golden and almost part of the sun’s rays and Zoro wanted to soak up every part of him, let him tan and burn his skin, blind his eyes. God, he wanted Sanji so bad, even in his dreams.

“It’s just us right now,” Sanji said to him and Zoro could hear his heart beating. “If you have something to say to me, say it now.” 

Where to begin? Maybe with how sorry he was? Maybe with how if Zoro could have done anything different back at Little Garden to ensure Sanji wasn’t captured with him, he would do just that and more? Maybe with how ridiculously enamored Zoro had become, so unlike the swordsman, but here he was.

”Tell you anything?”

“Anything you want. Just say it, Zoro.”

Even in his dreams, he didn’t know what to say. His own mind and he was speechless. That didn’t mean he was actionless. He leaned over the Sanji of his mind, so beautiful with how his eyes were the exact color of the sea, his perfect face, that stupid grin Zoro had seen so many times before but never appreciated.

And he kissed his cook.

He kissed Sanji and Sanji kissed him back. He was warm and he completely embraced Zoro, and there was passion. One hand grasped his waist and the other cupped the back of his neck as Zoro’s hips pressed against Sanji’s. It wasn’t even a real kiss but it was the best one he had ever had.

If only it was real.

If only it lasted.

Sanji stiffened up below him and something was wrong. Zoro broke away and Sanji was choking in his own blood, and he looked like he did in the hallway. In fact he looked worse. There was blood in his eyes instead of tears, and his nose was broken three different ways, and his bottom lip was almost torn off, and god he looked like a ruined corpse.

“SANJI!” He cried, and he couldn’t do anything. Why couldn’t he do anything? This was his own dream. He could control this. Sanji didn’t have to be dying. Why was he dying again?

He started to choke and Zoro was sobbing. Instead of trying to help him, he was just sobbing and doing nothing at all. But it was just like the other times. He had done nothing and Sanji laid there dying.

“PLEASE! I JUST WANT YOU! IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS! PLEASE!” He sobbed, holding his cook close and wishing he could control himself. He was the one doing this. This was his dream, or it was. Why did his dreams turn into nightmares? Wasn’t he allowed to have his dreams? What did Zoro do to deserve this? He wasn’t the best man in the world but he wasn’t evil. He didn’t hope to conquer a kingdom and incite a civil war. He killed a few people and had no sense of direction.

“Sanji…Sanji…please. You’re the last thing I can lose right now.” He whispered, and Sanji relaxed. 

He died.

Right?

Did he die in Zoro’s mind too?

Zoro started panting and he was afraid to look back at him. Not again, even if it wasn’t real. It would feel real and that was too much. It was all too much. He was thinking too much and feeling too much and it hurt. It hurt so much and he wished he was numb to the world again. 

“Zoro.”

He clung tighter to Sanji when he heard his name from the cook’s soft mouth. It was a trick. He would look and Sanji would be bloody and hurt. It wouldn’t be the Sanji he kissed, the Sanji he wanted. He couldn’t trust his mind right now. It kept tricking him and showing him terrible things. Maybe he would be in the cave with Sanji, or Sanji would be replaced with one of the men he killed. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be good.

“Zoro, it’s me.”

“No it’s not.” 

“Zoro…please look at me.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, lifting himself up. He was still on the Merry, alone with Sanji still. The terror didn’t have to be there. There didn’t have to be so much guilt intertwined with how he felt. He was allowed to have his feelings not be connected to his pain.

He was allowed to be in love without any regret.

He opened his eyes and it was Sanji again, beautiful and unharmed Sanji. 

“It is you.” He sighed, laying his head on Sanji’s blue shoulder and staring at him in a way he hadn’t looked at beforehand. “Cook, I want this to be real. No pain. No Crocodile. None of that. Just me and you on the open seas, together. If I’m going to love you as much as I think I do, I’m making the most of it and making sure it’s good. I-I’m going to tell you I love you and just hope I get this.”

Sanji chuckled and Zoro was so mesmerized by him. He didn’t think it was possible to look at someone like this, to feel this. He was just a cook but oh, he was so much more. In so little time, he became so much more to Zoro.

“Keep dreaming, moss-head.”

Chapter Text

“Is everything ready?” Crocodile asked as she stepped into the dining room, her heels echoing as she went down the stairs.

“Of course it is. I told you yesterday. All we need now are the agents to debrief, and we’ll have Alabasta by tomorrow night.” She sighed, faking her enthusiasm. She was no longer excited for this. She never really had been since the beginning, only caring about the Poneglyph, but somehow that changed in only a few days. Her thoughts were occupied with the lovers curled up around each other at that very moment, the two who would be dead within the next day or so if she didn’t do anything.

She could try to make a case for them, and she would if it wasn’t a sign of weakness and something for Crocodile to use against her. She imagined if she said that, he’d have her personally kill the cook and Roronoa, slowly and painfully. There was no negotiating their lives with him, not anymore. One time was more than enough for him and he only allowed it because of the purpose Zoro still had.

That was why she had to be more secretive, and ready for anything. She didn’t know how Crocodile would attempt to kill the cook one last time, and she didn’t know the brutality. She believed he would be quick, but maybe stay around to make sure he was actually dead. Death could be faked, and Crocodile didn’t want to waste time. If the cook could ‘die’ for just five minutes, then he could live happily with the swordsman. 

Robin was sure there was some medicine around that could replicate death. She didn’t know if he was in any state to have said medicines, but it couldn’t hurt in a nonphysical sense to try. She was sure Sanji would be willing to endure more pain for a happy ending, considering there was only one alternative. So far, that was the best she could think, which wasn’t acceptable given how short her window of time was to save him.

“Any moment now. I’m going to fetch Roronoa. Can I expect you’ll be making a dramatic entrance, sir?” She said, her hands sinking into her pocket. He nodded but held his hand out. “Stay for a moment. I have a question.”

She leaned against the railing and waited, her eyes on the swimming beasts outside. Amazing how Sanji managed to survive them in the water with his broken leg. Was it too late to ask if Crocodile wanted him to be an agent? Well, Baroque Works wouldn’t exist the next day. All the other agents were likely dying and really what did it matter if she tried to bargain with Crocodile? She was going to kill him with Zoro. 

“What happens after this? You find the Poneglyph, tell me where Pluton is, maybe find the Rio, but then what?”

I just…die one day.

“I don’t really have any plans. I’ll learn the true history of this world and make it known, and then I don’t know. Hope the government doesn’t catch me?” She sighed, curious as to how long she would be allowed to stay alive after this. Once she had what she wanted and did what she wanted, why would she care if the Marines went after her? There were no other reasons to live.

He laughed and spun the chair around, facing away from the table.

“You have a place with me, Miss All Sunday.”

I think you mean my dead body does.

“You know me, Sir. I’m not one to stay in one place for too long unless I get something out of it, and all I want is knowledge. You’ve given me a lot but you can’t give me everything.”

She heard him scoff and then saw sand scattering through the air, a body forming right in front of her. Her body wanted to stiffen up but no. Show no fear. She would make sure everything was alright and everyone was happy except for the Warlord.

“I want to see if the cook can walk, and then once Roronoa is gone, he’s dead.”

“Haven’t you tried to kill him twice before? He’s resilient.” 

“The first time was resilience. The second time he would have died if you hadn’t run off for those doctors.”

She averted his gaze and wondered how soon he would attempt to take her life. Possibly just as soon as she read the Poneglyph and told him of its contents, the truth or not. She would have to keep Roronoa around. Maybe Crocodile would buy that he was just extra protection while she focused on reading. Really any excuse using Pluton should work. He was so obsessed with it. Shame she couldn’t intertwine the cook into it. Say she would decipher without the cook alive? Oh Crocodile would torture the poor man and make her read it while he was writhing beside her, and the moment she gave Crocodile what she wanted, his heart would be taken out. 

She wouldn’t give up the Poneglyph for him. Maybe she cared about him but not that much. If it did come down to the two who invaded her heart and the Poneglyph, the answer was obvious. She’d feel bad and mourn for some time before moving on, with new knowledge the world didn’t know about.

“So how is he staying dead this time?”

“I would say I stab him in the heart but now I doubt that would work. I don’t want to be messy.”

“Maybe medicine? A poison?” She suggested, trying to recall any ailments that would replicate death. She eyed his hook, trying to hint at the poison he kept underneath the gold cover. Her only plan, the only way she could go on without any regret and sadness. If he went with the poison, there was the chance the agents showed up before the effects could take place and she would encourage his dramatic reveal and stay behind to save Sanji however she was able to, and then she would help him escape. Even if Crocodile wasn’t in Rainbase, it wasn’t safe. He’d have someone around to make sure his will was executed and have the body sent to Alubarna. Robin wouldn’t be shocked if he showed Zoro Sanji’s true corpse before his own life was snatched. It was a reach and only a part of her mind, but could very easily be a reality.

She had everything ready, an accellegator hidden in the tunnel with a week’s worth of supplies to stay alive and a map. Shame that compasses didn’t work on the Grand Line so she hoped he had some sense of direction, better than Zoro’s at the very least.  He would wander for a few days before arriving in an Alubarna free of civil war with Cobra as the king, and finally have his peace with Zoro.

“Might be the only thing that can kill him,” he whispered, a horrible grin stretching across his face. “Do we have any benzodiazepines? I think with the hook’s poison and that, he’ll be dead in minutes.”

“I know where to find some.” That was the truth. She did know where such a heavy drug was, multiple variations of each other, but she also knew how to change labels and put different pills in bottles.

“Get at least two benzos, throw an opiod in there, a steriod, the strongest drugs you can find, and we’ll feed them to him, and then he’ll drink the poison, and he’ll finally fucking die.” Crocodile mumbled as he headed up the stairs. Robin followed behind, trying to conceal her smile. Since when was she happy for others and the fact they were able to live? She’d learn attachment wasn’t meant for her and everyone around her got hurt and betrayed, but maybe there could be one instance of a different scenario. 

The walk to the make-shift hospital room was perfect, quick and quiet. She didn’t let herself think too much, trying to hone in on the present. Nothing was set in stone yet.

When she opened the door, she interrupted a lovely sight. The cook was propped up against some pillows and in deep conversation with Zoro, who was sitting right by the bed and entranced by his blond. They were both entranced, and if she hadn’t figured Zoro to be oblivious, then she would wonder how he could not know Sanji felt the exact same way. It wasn’t a hidden fact, not anymore.

Sanji looked better. His eyes didn’t seem to be sunken into his face and he seemed alive. That could just be because for so long it had been him and Zoro, no Warlord to terrorize them. It had been just them except for the occasional nurse since last night after the surgery.

“Ah! You both look much better considering the day you had yesterday.” Crocodile laugh, both of them stiffening and changing. Zoro became defensive, standing up and acting as a shield for Sanji, barely able to move on his own and look at Crocodile properly.

“Are the others here yet?” Zoro asked, looking at Robin for a split second as if now was the time to attack. She’d do it if she still didn’t need him to get the Poneglyph, and if ‘loyal’ agents weren’t about to show up. She didn’t doubt her strength but Robin knew she couldn’t take all of them at once, and Crocodile was Mr. 0 who they had already killed for him many times before, so what was one more life to them?

“Almost. Frankly, I’m more concerned about your friend here! He seems to be doing very well for someone who just had a major surgery and change to his anatomy!”

Sanji’s one revealed eye told her a quick story about horror and fear, and a conversation she had with Crocodile replayed in her mind. Sanji fought the idea of surgery and walking again. Not really though. He had just shaken and reluctantly agreed to the operation, to the major change. Things might have gone differently if Zoro hadn’t been there to remind Sanji that he had no control if he really cared for the swordsman.

“I…nothing. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

And that was experience talking.

Who could have operated on a cook so many times to make him used to it, and a young one at that? 

Zoro caught notice and looked back at him. His tan fist clenched and she couldn’t really see his face but he was worried. Crocodile started to laugh and walked over to his other side.

“Would you like to elaborate?”

Sanji’s breath hitched and he looked down at his legs, and he looked like a child. So now the question was who kept operating on a child over and over and over?

“Mr. Co-”

“I was…not right as a kid. People tried to fix that. They failed.” He rushed his words and lowered his head. It almost sounded like he was afraid to say anymore, and he had already made one mistake admitting the truth.

“People?”

“People.”

“Do these people have names?”

The cook looked nauseous, and the swordsman looked angry. His attention was on Crocodile, his face tightening with his fists and she couldn’t help but remember when they first arrived at the casino and Zoro looked almost the exact same trying to attack Crocodile.

“I…I can’t say. I swore I wouldn’t.”

“Those people aren’t here and we can all keep a secret or two.”

Sanji started to breathe heavily and Crocodile leaned closer, more than enough to set Zoro off.

“It doesn’t matter he encountered assholes in the past. They’re staying there and since when is his business yours? Thought you were just torturing us, not trying to learn our life stories.” He growled, and Sanji became sick again. Crocodile scoffed and glared at Zoro. One more day. Just one more day and one of them would be dead.

“You just keep talking and try to cause trouble, Mr. Point One.”

”It’s only trouble if you make it trouble. I’m just stating the obvious.”

“And I’m wondering about what isn’t obvious. It was only a question and no one would get hurt by him answering me.”

“Oh, don’t get too ful-”

“Hush!” She spat, her nerves starting to jump. They didn’t have time for this, any of them.

“What did you say, Miss All Sunday?”

“Hush. We’re on a schedule and don’t want anything to be ruined.” She cooed, her eyes quickly noticing a medication cabinet on the other side of the room. She strutted over, the heels and the fan the only sound.

“You think nothing’s been ruined so far today?” Zoro asked as she knelt down, slightly opening the door.

“Trust me. Everything is going the way it should be. We just want to see Sanji can walk and give him some medication to help ease him.”

“I might throw up if I’m given anymore.” He whined. She promised to crush the pills and there would still be the same affect. In the cabinet, she found alzprazolam, temazepam, methadone, oxycodone, and so may other lethal and hevay drugs that she had to wonder why they had them instead of drugs of a level five schedule, and in a casino? Was he trying to kill his source of revenue? There really weren't that many light drugs, but there were three different bottles of acetaminophen, each of a slightly different dosage. He'd be sick and very weak, but he would live. 

She felt a prescene over her and sand trinkling onto her hat. Robin grabbed the drugs that would kill him and placed them on the counter, Crocodile laughing in agreement.

"Hey, what are you giving him? Does he really need anymore? He's got fluids in him and the nurses gave him something this morning, and mind me, but I don't fucking see a doctor in front of your name." Zoro said, and if only she could tell him to stand down and reveal her plan, though it might be difficult with Crocodile hovering above her. 

"Like I said, medication to ease the pain. We’re not here to kill him or him any worse.” Robin hoped she could pick up her tone, the slight way she emphasized different words, and hope Crocodile just heard her speak and nothing more.

“Relax, Zoro. I trust her to keep me alive. She’s gotten me this far.” Sanji assured his swordsman, and the look in his eye told her at least one of them had a functioning brain. “I can trust you, right?”

Trust. So weird to be trusted by someone and to be able to trust. It was almost wrong, but it wasn’t, and there was something so…warm? Did she forget actual trust? Was this it? Was this cook, who had been nothing but a delivery a few days ago, trusting Robin with something so sacred and believing in her? Had she really given him enough reason to do that? Was it forced trust? Because if anything, she excepted it to be forced because there was no other way for him to live. But maybe it wasn’t force anymore, and she had done something to truly be trusted.

“With your life.”

Chapter Text

Crocodile was so desperate to kill Sanji, but too weak to do it himself so he had to trust a bunch of drugs to claim his life. And he had to trust a woman he obviously couldn’t trust to ensure his heart stopped. Crocodile was a Warlord, a powerful and wealthy criminal entrusted by the World Government, and he couldn’t kill a cook, a paralyzed cook at that.

He watched carefully as Robin crushed multiple pills into a small bowl, and he was well aware of how tense Zoro was beside him. If only he wasn’t half an idiot who couldn’t tell Robin was trying to indicate he wasn’t actually going to die. She saved him once and she was about to do it again.  

But he also knew they were all leaving soon, and maybe Crocodile wasn’t using drugs to kill him. There could be another agent waiting to slice his throat, one Zoro and Robin were obvious to. 

No.

He had almost died too many times for it to be some other assassin. It wouldn’t make sense, to him at least. For Crocodile, it was completely logical but for all of this just for some assassin to take his head? And Sanji wasn’t sure what all the Warlord wanted to be revealed to the medical staff. He had already made a large scene from what Zoro described right before he was operated on. Was Crocodile ready to become a suspicious figure? 

Too many thoughts. Just focus on surviving one more attempt on your life.

“I still don’t want him to take all that shit.” Zoro barked, and Robin just laughed, asking  where his medical degree came from. He seemed like he was about to explode when Sanji reached for his hand, and he was such a different person. He was so relaxed and seemed like he would just collapse and fall asleep on Sanji, in a good way. He turned to look at Sanji in the most perfect way, the way the cook wanted to be looked at for eternity.

“Worst thing that’ll happen is I vomit and that ends up being a waste of food, not that I’ve really eaten.” And it was killing him slowly. The last actual meal he had was that dinner days ago. Everything else had been liquid or the lightest and crappiest soup he had ever had. He would never complain. Food was food, but he missed soup with flavor that didn’t appear like it had already been digested. He had been fantasizing himself back in a kitchen, able to move around freely with no restraint and no pain.

But that would never happen again. Because even if the damn surgery worked, he would always be in pain and always be restrained.

“Mm, that’s the very last thing we want, and that’s why I crushed it all up and why you’ll be taking them with water.” The way she said it, she meant the opposite. She wasn’t giving him any light pills to trick Crocodile. He was about to be handed poison and once the Warlord was gone, he had to vomit it all out before the pills were absorbed and he died, with nothing to be done about it.

She placed a water and a cup of crushed poison on the table beside him, shooting him a look that confirmed his thoughts. He took a deep breath and looked behind her, and he was staring at the man who wanted him more dead than his own father, which he doubted would ever be possible. At least his father didn’t enjoy suffering, not in the way Crocodile did. His father only wanted strength and power, no matter the cost, even the love he should have had for his own son.

“Thank you, Robin.”

“Of course, Mr. Cook. We don’t need for you to get worse after everything that’s happened, and we made a promise to help you in exchange for Roronoa’s loyalty. Wouldn’t you say we’ve taken great care of you?”

“Since you stopped trying to kill me, yes.”

“And that reminds me of why I followed Miss All Sunday here!” Crocodile spreaded his arms and came forward, his gleaming eyes darkening in the same way they did before he tried to feed him to his massive pets. Zoro began to tense again, his eyes narrowing and becoming as sharp as his blades. “We need to make you walk!”

The last thing Sanji wanted was to know his legs worked again. It wasn’t his father. It wasn’t Germa. But it wasn’t him. Even if he was weak, everything he could was because of his own abilities. He learned from others but it was him who did everything and he didn’t have a maniacal scientist father to ‘thank’. If he was going to walk, he was going to walk. It wouldn’t be because of some device that was now screwed into his body because of a maniac and Zoro’s loyalty to no end.

But it was.

There were screws in his back, wires maybe, something holding him together that may be the only reason he could move and have half the worth he had. If that broke, he broke. The rest of his life, he would be having to trust whatever was embedded into his spine to keep working. It could fail him at any moment. Maybe when he was asleep and he woke up like he did the other day. What if he was preparing a meal and then he was on the floor as his food burned and he could do nothing about it? A fight. In the middle of a fight, with his life and others’ at stake, his weapons would be useless. He’d be deadweight in the middle of a battlefield. That would be the perfect time for someone to kill him, and the others. If he couldn’t protect them, they could die, and they would if Sanji didn’t have his legs. If somehow he didn’t die out there, he was still deadweight. He’d be dragged to safety and there would be no other choice but to abandon him. He couldn’t fight and yes, he’d have his hands to cook, but cooking involved movement. He needed to be able to move across a kitchen in order to even make something edible.

Deadweight.

He hated just having to rely on others but this was different. 

Deadweight.

Could he take it out? Could he venture across the Grand Line and find a doctor to grant him the ability to walk? There had to be someone out there. Zeff had told him the occasional story of how the Grand Line was truly a wonder and there were people there that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world, so there had to be at least one doctor who was good enough to make him walk again on his own.

The device may have taken that. If he found another doctor, the device wouldn’t have been needed. What if in saving his ability to walk, he was just more ruined? He was completely restructured and to take the device out would be much worse and damning because his back wasn’t even human. 

Not human.

A deadweight,

And not even human.

Was he even human anymore? Did his father win? Did he finally get what he wanted eleven years later and he had no idea? He was sitting on his throne far away, unaware his failure was now inhuman, but he was still a failure. If anything, he had somehow failed more. One little device determined his use and that was so pathetic.

Pathetic.

Deadweight.

Not human.

Pathetic

Deadweight.

Not human.

He felt a pressure on his legs and he reacted, sitting up straight.

He felt a pressure on his legs.

He felt his legs.

There was a hand pressing on his right thigh and he could feel it, the skin being pressed down against muscles and nerves, his brain telling him what was happening but somehow it wasn’t processing properly. There was the thought wondering  if he could move his toes and on demand, his left big toe moved back and forth.

His legs worked.

No.

The device worked.

He didn’t work.

Someone was calling for him, and so was someone else, and he heard just muffles of his name as he felt. There was a firm mattress under his legs, and a thin gown on top. 

He felt.

His head started to pound and all the muffling became ringing. His legs tensed up and he couldn’t be happy about it. 

Sanji wanted his legs gone.

If he was going to be useless on his own, then let him be. No device if he had no legs. Then what would people do to him? They would let him die, right? Because why would anyone keep him around? No legs. No use. He’d be nothing.

He was becoming nothing.

Nothing was right.

He wasn’t right.

His mind was overwhelmed with thoughts and that became so much worse when he felt someone touch his back, right above where his newest and worst scar was. 

All wrong. 

He was all wrong.

Dead weight.

Not human.

Pathetic.

Not right.

All wrong.

Useless.

Hundreds upon hundreds of words started to pound in his head. It was too much. He needed everything to be silent no matter how that happened. He hated how loud his mind was and how everything he told himself was true. Everything his father and brothers told him was true, now more than ever.

But something else was true, and that was Zoro’s embrace was the one of the kindest to ever hold him.

He felt Zoro around his torso and his mind went completely silent. His feeling was more prominent wherever Zoro was, and Sanji just fell into him. 

His head rested on the swordsman’s shoulder and he wrapped his frail hands around his waist. Zoro spent so much time holding him that Sanji realized it was never really the other way around. He needed to hold Zoro more, and he would. Everything else be damned, he’d hold Zoro.

“Still with me, curly?” 

“I’m still with you, moss.”

I’m going to be with you.

Let me be with you.

He was back in the room and didn’t really care about the others there. He had Zoro and that was enough. He just wanted to stay like this for the rest of life, and maybe he would depending what happened.

“Well, to make sure he stays with us…” Robin held the poison in front of him and her wide eyes were shaking, waiting for him to kill himself to live.

“I do.” He answered as he took the crushed pills, still being held by Zoro would couldn’t look, as if he knew the truth somehow.

He wanted to stay with Zoro.

That made the pills much easier to swallow.

Chapter Text

Sanji hadn’t stopped shaking since Crocodile grabbed his leg. When it happened, Zoro only felt rage. He couldn’t learn his lesson. He could be beaten a hundred times and tortured a thousand all because Crocodile let one finger slide across Sanji’s skin and he would never regret it.  The only reason he didn’t lunge across the bed right then and there was because Sanji sat straight up. He could feel his legs.

Zoro was happy for a split second. Crocodile kept good on his promise and Sanji had his legs back. If he could feel them, that meant he could learn to walk again and he would be the Sanji from just over a week ago.

Except he wouldn’t.

That Sanji was dead.

Zoro realized that he couldn’t truly save Sanji, because part of him died at some point during all this, likely when he realized his leg would never be the same and would always hurt. He realized it when he saw how horrified Sanji was to have feeling again, and Zoro wanted to throw up the contents of an almost empty stomach. 

He could see Sanji horrified a thousand times, and he had, and he would see it a thousand more if they managed to escape alive, but it was the most nauseating thing in the world now and Zoro didn’t think that would change. Maybe this time was different because this was about his legs, his weapons, his movement. And something more. He still didn’t know why surgery horrified Sanji the way it did and as much as he wanted to know, he didn’t ask. 

They had basically spent the entire day together but Zoro didn’t ask about Sanji’s fears. He wanted to know everything else that Sanji was willing to tell him. He still didn’t mention those siblings from the first day who had their hair styled the same way, or his mother. It wasn’t the old man from the Baratie. Zoro had come to slowly realize that man wasn’t Sanji’s blood father, but he was a better man than the one Sanji was born to. The Baratie was a better family to him. If they weren’t, Sanji would mention his relatives.

Maybe one day he’d let his darkest secrets be trusted with Zoro.

And maybe one day Zoro would do the same,

They would be somewhere far away, maybe the All Blue where Sanji would never stop smiling, and they were wrapped in each other’s arms in a hammock on the beach. They were older too. He didn’t know why when he thought about that, but for some reason Sanji had longer hair and Zoro had streaks of white. Maybe because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with his stupid cook. God, he didn’t think it was possible to be in love with someone the way he had come to love Sanji in too short of a time. But he did. The stupid cook had his heart in a way that shouldn’t be possible. Sanji made Zoro weak but he didn’t hate it. He’d be strong for Sanji but he would also be weak.

And so there he was, holding the shaking love of his life because he could feel his legs again.

He took the medicine without any complaints, whimpering as a lump filled in his throat. Zoro held him a little tighter and he wasn’t shaking as much. Crocodile was laughing, because he always was because everything was so fucking funny to him and Zoro couldn’t fucking wait for the day he took that laugh by taking his throat with his bare hands. 

“Feeling better already, Mr. Cook?”

“Ask me that again in thirty minutes when it’s actually in my system.”

“I’ll ask whenever I see you again.”

Thank god, he was going away.

He was going away.

To Alubarna to take over the country and wreak havoc.

And Zoro would be going with him. 

He’d have to leave Sanji.

Crocodile would finally be away from him.

But so would Zoro.

He could barely protect Sanji with him in his arms, how could he do it so far away?

He couldn’t.

And Robin wouldn’t, because she would also be gone. 

The people ‘protecting’ Sanji would be the people Crocodile left behind, people who would likely kill Sanji and Zoro wouldn’t know until it was far too late. 

But he couldn’t refuse, because if he refused, then Sanji was definitely dying and Zoro would be a witness. 

Then he was the one being tightly embraced by a still shaking Sanji, who was whispering in his ear it was alright and they would be together after this, and they would, but Zoro wanted them to be alive and together. He didn’t want Sanji waiting in the afterlife for Zoro to join, and if Sanji ended up in heaven, Zoro wasn’t going there. He had done too much for him to even consider not going to Hell.

So no hammock on the beach for them, no being old together. None of that, because Crocodile was going to take Zoro away and Sanji couldn’t defend himself in the state he was in.

Was this the plan the entire time? Had he planned since Little Garden to weaken Sanji like this? He had heard how the cook fought with his legs so he decided to take those away, unable to defend himself when his time came. The gators, the hallway, did Crocodile really mean to kill him then or was he just toying with Sanji and Zoro? He seemed to love games and messing with people? No, this was just another attempt to kill him because he had failed time and time again. Crocodile liked his plans but this wasn’t one of them. No, he was smart but not that smart.

“Hey, it’s just a few days. I’ll relearn to walk and then we’ll be let go. Zoro, we’ll be alright.” His Sanji whispered in his ears, his shaking becoming less frenzied and more controlled. He nodded and diverted his gaze to Robin, who was seemingly impatient for something. 

“Let go…” 

“Didn’t you hear me? Once I have this country, I don’t have any use for you two and you’ll learn more with the other agents, but my organization is about to no longer exist. And really, there’s no fun in killing either of you anymore,”

Liar.

“So I’ll let you two lovers go and no one will believe you if you tell them the truth. Rejoin your crew if you still have one and if they still want you, or go out on your own. Create a new crew. Hideout on some island and decade the Marines until you both die old. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

That was lovely, but not real. Crocodile didn’t like happy endings for people other than himself. He couldn’t give into the idea of what he wanted. If Zoro was any dumber, he would be tempted to believe the Warlord.

“How long? How long am I going to be away?” Zoro asked, letting Sanji rest his head on his shoulder.

“Mmm…two, three days. If all goes well, maybe you can be back tomorrow with him.” Crocodile told him as he rubbed his head over Sanji’s covered leg. Sanji stiffened against him and his shaking became worse. “Should we test his ability to walk?”

“He just got feeling back, sir. When we return, he should be in perfect condition to attempt walking again. Let him rest and just try to bring his legs up to his legs first.” Robin said, pushing Crocodile’s hand away and trying to usher him out of the room. 

“Are we in a rush, Nico Robin?”

“Stop calling me that na-”

“Your actual name? Don’t use the name you were given at birth by your parents?”

“Hey, if the lady doesn’t want to be called that, don’t call her that.” Sanji mumbled, exhausted and tired, almost still except for his breathing. Zoro could feel tears falling onto his chest. Crocodile scoffed and apologized sincerely, calling her by her assassin name of Miss All Sunday. 

“Thank you, and the others should be arriving at any moment. You want to make your grand reveal, don’t you?” She answered finally. Crocodile nodded and stepped away from Sanji after far too long. “The cook may be able to walk again, but he doesn't have the strength to fight his way out, let alone just walk out of here. He’s going nowhere except maybe to the restroom. And the sooner we leave, the sooner Operation Utopia can begin.”

“Correct as always, Miss All Sunday .”

“Let these two have one last kiss goodbye while you get ready. I’ll supervise them.” 

“Oh, give them privacy if they’re saying goodbye and the cook can finally feel below his waist!” Crocodile snickered before he became part of the darkness in the hallway. Robin groaned and all three of them were frozen until a few moments passed and Crocodile’s footsteps were just an echo too far away.

“Vomit. Vomit. Vomit!” She grabbed a nearby basin and hands sprung up around Sanji, forcing him forward and fingers appeared from his chin, being shoved violently into his mouth. Zoro started to yell and lunged for the woman before Sanji grabbed him by the shirt and allowed for everything to happen. The fingers thrusted to the back of his throat and he vomited into the basin, mostly liquid with chunks of medicine he had been giving, crushed pulls he hadn’t fully digested yet.

“There we go. You’re okay. Just get it all out. You don’t want any of that in your system. It WILL kill you.” She scolded, an arm hitting his back and helping him clear whatever he had in him. 

“What the hell did you give him?” Zoro was only held in place by Sanji’s weak grip, seeing red and wondering why he didn’t kill Robin earlier.

Because she was an ally and just trying to trick Crocodile.

She was helping somehow.

He still wanted to kill her for this.

“What Crocodile wanted. You know, I’m a bit shocked he didn’t just tear your heart out or smash your head in. I haven’t seen him so desperate to kill someone in some time.” She said, giving Sanji a cloth to clean his mouth.

“It’s an honor.” He gasped, rolling back onto to Zoro and coughing, whimpering in pain that hurt Zoro more than Sanji. It had to stop. He had to get Sanji out and take him somewhere far away where he would never be in pain again, and somewhere they were both alive. That place could be the All Blue, heaven of earth for the cook. Zoro was happy to accept a lifetime there with Sanji once this all ended.

“So what now? Because he will do that once he realizes Sanji’s still breathing.” Zoro ran his fingers through Sanji’s hair, resting his chin on his head. This was what he wanted, resting in the hammock on the All Blue. God, he wanted a place he hadn’t heard of before the cook. 

Stupid cook for changing his life so much.

For the better though.

“I’m getting him out of here. Zoro, go and wait in the dining hall. I’m getting him out of this casino and away from Crocodile’s reach. I have transportation ready for him and hopefully he has a better sense of direction than you so he’ll arrive in Alubarna some time tomorrow night.” She explained, looking down the hall just in case.

Like hell he would just leave.

“No. I’m going with him! We can both escape!”

“You still have a role to play, Roronoa! Just a day! And this time, you know he isn’t being operated on or around Crocodile! Trus-”

“Let me go with him! Kill Crocodile one your own like you’ve been planning since god knows how long! We can go now! Let us both go if you’re not the fucking enemy!”

“Zoro, go.” Sanji mumbled. He wrapped his hands with Zoro and kept telling him to go, go and save Alabasta like they promised Vivi and kill Crocodile. He said he would be fine, and he would find his way to Alubarna and then they could go and find the rest of the crew, who were hopefully close. It would be alright, he said over and over but Zoro wouldn’t believe it until this was all over. 

Sanji wasn’t in any condition to be on his own, especially in that desert heat and wild. Even if he was, Zoro wouldn’t let him be out there alone. What if something happened and Zoro wasn’t there? The reason Zoro lost Sanji didn’t have to be Crocodile. It could be the scorching heat or some desert monster he didn’t kill in time.

“Sanji.”

Beautiful Sanji.

“Stupid, moss. I trust Robin and you should too. I got my legs back…go and take Crocodile’s. Make him pay for all of this. Promise me you’re going to hurt him and make him pay.”

“...”

“Zoro.”

“I promise, Sanji. He’s going to regret everything. I’ll make sure he’s in pain and suffers for this.”

“Good, so go.”

He gripped his hands, telling himself this was a final goodbye because this was the last time they would be apart. After this, Zoro didn’t ever want to leave Sanji again, even for a second. 

And Zoro had to confess his love for him. If they were going to live through this and try to hold onto the dream of them being together forever, Zoro needed to come clean and hope Sanji didn’t kick him back to the East Blue. He knew deep down Sanji didn’t like Zoro or men in the same way, but the stupid part of him was still hoping for just one kiss before his heart was broken.

He could live in silence and yearning, but he couldn’t die without telling Sanji the truth, and death was around every corner for the swordsman.

“I have some things I need to tell you, cook. I-”

“When this is all over, tell me everything and I will tell you everything. Let’s just stop acting like this is it.” Sanji sighed, and Zoro found himself completely lost in both of his sea-like eyes. They were both visible again and Zoro felt like he had been blessed in some way to see them both. Has anyone else on the crew seen them? Or was he the only one? He wanted to be the only one, to have a part of Sanji no one else could have.

“Okay.”

I love you.

“I’ll go now.”

I love you.

“I’ll let Robin take care of you and get you out of here.”

Sanji, I love you so much.

“And we’ll meet again, and this nightmare will be over.”

I love you, Sanji.

Don’t hate me for loving you.

Chapter Text

“You know, he’s going to get very lost.” Sanji whispered as Robin dragged him down another dark hallway, dressed in slacks and a pink shirt she found laying in the closet. He was so incredibly light that it wasn’t a problem for her at all that he could barely support himself. He could move his feet now but his legs were “fresh jello” and if he thought about putting weight on his left leg, he said it was a hell she couldn’t understand. Robin didn’t indulge, mostly because they didn’t have the time. Everything had to be timed perfectly. There could be no agents in the tunnel to spot them but she also couldn’t waste too much time before Crocodile became suspicious of her secret activities. 

But it would work. 

“Luckily, he’s not too hard to find. Hard to miss green hair.” She chuckled, using extra arms to light her way with a torch. “Is it natural?”

“Yeah. I would think it’s weird if my sib-” 

He went completely limp and when she looked at him, the face of someone who let something slip from his past.

“Siblings? Are you the only one who came out blonde or with normal hair for that matter?” She only asked inside her head. She understood the harm of the past and how when it slipped, questions were the worst. 

“But his haircut makes it worse. I think if I throw some seeds in his hair and water him, some nice flowers will grow.” He sighed, and Robin was containing slight laughter at that little thought. The Demon of the East Blue, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, Mr. Point One, with little flowers growing from his scalp. She could see him trying to be intimidating with his three-sword technique, which she had yet to actually see, though that could be for the better, and there were daisies ruining that image. “I could plant my own moss garden.”

She carried him further down the hall, imagining the life they wanted to have. It was actually enjoyable imagining a good life for someone else. The two would just become memories after some time, but good ones, some of her best ones since she was a child. Knowing she did good was amazing and imagining them laughing somewhere far away was even better. Robin knew her life wouldn’t be good, just alright at times, but the two of them would have the best life if everything went the way it was supposed to. 

“So, Alubarna tomorrow night?”

“Yes. Crocodile will be dealt with and you can reunite with the swordsman. Do what you want from there.”

Sanji nodded and she saw him trying to walk so soon after regaining his feeling. The motion was followed by him tensing and wincing, not quite as lost as he was earlier, but part of him was somewhere far away.

“I don’t recommend trying to walk for a bit. You’ll be on the back of an accellegator and they can swim. Just try to move your legs a bit. The swordsman will help you walk again.”

“I-I’m not exactly happy about this.”

“Why not? It will be like nothing happened to you as long as you don’t look at the scar.”

“I can feel it, the scar, the device, how wrong it all this is. It’s not me. This is all Crocodile. My body, it-it doesn’t feel like mine anymore. It’s not even human how I walk anymore. I want to be human.” And she was silent again, standing still and regretting what she had said. 

He was a cook, and from what she knew, a brilliant one. That meant he was authentic. He didn’t do anything ‘artificial’ or anything of that sort. Every meal he made was real and he poured in part of himself. He wasn’t using some artificial pasta he never asked for to make a fine dinner. Maybe it was a horrible analogy but she understood it. And from what she knew of the device, it couldn’t be removed. She was there when Crocodile brought it back from a Warlord meeting and her curiosity led her to examine and learn about it. 

It was one of Vegapunk’s inventions that he never named and was actually never completed. It was made in collaboration with another scientist, a fabled Vinsmoke Judge who was said to be brilliant when it came to genetic and anatomical modifications. It was supposed to be part of a series of experiments, essentially creating devices to turn someone bionic and almost robotic. If not for the world government, the experiments would have contunited and been more developed. 

Maybe it was a good thing they weren’t, because surely there couldn’t be that many people who would willingly lose themselves to becoming parts. And the ones who were willing were probably insane and not be trusted.

“I’m sure there’s a way to make this you. I’m more of a pessimist but there’s no harm in trying to make good in a dark situation. And there are wonders on the Grand Line. Someone else should be able to fix your problem and ease your worries.”

That was a lie, more than likely it was. But Sanji needed to hear it.

“And you’re a smart and beautiful woman. I trust you.” He swayed, and she wondered if Zoro was a woman, if the two would be a couple and proudly in love already. But maybe Sanji would have also gotten himself permanently killed if he had been in love with the swordsman from the beginning. Oh, so many possibilities for a different reality. What was the point in trying to explore them all besides amusing herself and just wondering?

“Is that all it takes for you to trust a woman?”

“I trust a woman by simply existing. I was raised to respect every woman I come across and trust is part of respect to some degree, and no woman has hurt me like a man has. A broken heart isn’t broken bones.”

“And you’re in love with a man?”

He rolled his eyes but he wasn’t regretting a single thing.

“I said you were smart, not me. Love can’t be helped. It’s just the way of the heart. There’s so much science that can explain but never how love works. It’s chemicals and hormones, sure, but why? Why do they only come alive for some people and not others? Trust me. Zoro is the most unlikely person for to have ever fallen in love with but it happened. I couldn’t help falling in love with the stupid moss, but if I’m going to be in love, let it be beautiful and painful and worth it.”

“How poetic.”

“Thanks. I stole that from a customer who I’ve seen with twenty different women.” He chuckled as they rounded the corner. She should have come face to face with the gator. Instead, she was looking at one of Bon Clay’s men.

“Oh shit.” She mumbled, her grip tightening around his waist. There was no way he knew the situation so as long as she and Sanji played their cards right, no one had to die or be hurt.

“MI-MISS ALL SUNDAY!” The man fell to his knees and was bowing, maybe about to piss himself. So he was afraid. Good. If she truly scared him that much, he wouldn’t say a single thing to anyone. She didn’t have to try and scare people. It was natural at this point, and she knew how to make men cower with one single look.

“What are you doing here? Bon Clay is supposed to be here alone.” She lowered her voice and her eyes, trying to find his soul and use it against him. He shivered for a bit and she had to demand he speak. Sanji was still and acting like he wasn’t there. Even his breathing was extremely quiet and near non-existent.

“Some of us followed. You-you wanted at least three of us to follow along for some reason. You said that in the snail call.”

Damn it. He was right. Part of Operation Utopia required some of Bon Clay’s men as part of his ruse as King Cobra. What if he slipped a few small words and said something to Bon Clay about what he saw in this tunnel, and Bon Clay made a joke to Crocodile before Robin and Zoro had the chance to kill him? That would ruin everything and Crocodile would go on a manhunt for Sanji. At that point, there would be no rush for Crocodile to kill him as he would have the country. So he would inflict his sick mind on the poor cook for as long as he could last, and she also knew in the back of her mind Zoro would be chained to a wall watching every painful moment.

“I did. But what are you doing here? Why are you in this tunnel and not with the others you came with? I never said to wander around and get lost.” 

He fell flat on his face and started to sob, begging her not to turn into a demon and kill him. 

And who the hell told him that she was a demon?

“Well? Are you going to answer me?”

“I-I heard growling! And so I came down here and found a gator! And then I got scared and ran down the tunnel! And now I’m here!” 

She rolled her eyes and thought about how to approach this. She was slightly mad now but she couldn’t let her emotions get the better of her. Sanji’s life was literally in her hands and she still didn’t want to kill the other. 

“Did you have any plans to get out of here?”

“Well, if the agents went down one of these halls into the city, I was certain I would find a hall or door that led me somewhere!” She rolled her eyes and considered just stepping over him and dealing with him once Sanji was safe. That was her primary and only goal, to get the cook out of Crocodile’s reach finally.

“I see. I need to bring my friend somewhere and then I’ll guide you. Give me a few moments.” Robin sighed, paying him no mind as her heels clicked against the rocks below, passing him by. Sanji let out a deep breath and refrained from chuckling by biting his lips. 

“Thank you, Miss! And is that the cook Crocodile was keeping hostage?”

She froze, wondering how he knew. Crocodile wouldn’t have said anything, but Mr. 5 might have and Miss Valentine. They would have bragged how they captured two pirates and go into detail. From the brief time she spoke with the two before getting the doctor for Sanji, Miss Valentine seemed to have some infatuation with him, so it was likely she described how he looked, and mentioned the covered eye and curly brow.

So he would be dying.

“…what happens if I say yes?”

“I-I ask where you’re taking him and wonder how I can help.”

“Help?”

Oh.

This was interesting.

“Help? How and why would you help me?”

“Well, Mr. Five and Miss Valentine told us about the pirates they captured on Little Garden, the infamous pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro and some deranged and pretty cook named Sanji. Told us about the fight and the few days they were captive on the ship,” 

Sanji was stiffening next to her and he was trying to move, trying to walk away and run free. Robin heard little whines and whimpers and she feared he was about to break right before he was free.

“And whatever you have planned for him, I’ll help, Miss! Even if it’s sick and twisted, I’ll help! I’m sure the pirate des-”

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

crack

thud

He was dead.

His neck was snapped.

There was nothing else she could have done, and if Bon Clay asked, it was easy to get lost in dark halls, and even easier to never be found again.

“Robin, did you ju-”

“He said some things I didn’t like, and he was a liability. I’ll handle the body after this.” 

Sanji stiffened again but he stopped trying to run. They didn’t say anything else on their short little walk before she finally found the accellegator, who was anxious for her command to roam free and in the wild. Arms carried the cook into the saddle and made sure he was comfortable. 

“You have enough food to survive for a week though you don’t need to. There’s also a map so you know how to get to Alubarna. If I see you there, then I’ll say goodbye again. But if this is it, it was a pleasure to meet you despite everything. I am glad I got to help you and I hope everything works out for you.” 

She didn’t want to linger. Then she might shed a single tear and think about him longer than she should have. Her words made Sanji smile, and she thought only Zoro could do that to him. His blonde hair was blowing in the wind from the opening and he looked free, not in a hospital bed, not suffering through some tense dinner, definitely not bleeding in a hallway or sleeping in a cage.

He reached for her hand and brought it up to kiss her palm, still a gentleman.

“Thank you for everything. I would be dead without your help, and none of this would have happened without you. I don’t know where you’re going after this, but I hope it’s somewhere amazing and I do hope we meet again. I really do like you.” He told her with such heart she could have blushed. 

“Never change, cook. You’re a good person. The swordsman is lucky to have you.”

He blushed and looked away, slowly dropping her hand. She giggled like a little girl and on an impulse, slapped the gator and told him to run. Immediately, the gator was off, Sanji screaming her name and telling the beast to slow down.

“Hey! Tell the moss-head you love him, and try not to get captured again!” She laughed as he became nothing more than a dust cloud in the distance. 

“I didn’t just kill someone for you to not be in love.”

Chapter Text

“Damn it, this isn’t right.” Zoro mumbled, walking around the casino. Patrons glared at him and whispered, eying his swords. How popular was he? He was the Demon of the East Blue, and he doubted word about Whiskey Peak got around with the context that was unavoidable. He may not be the swordsman who used three swords out here, and that’s why they were so confused because that swordsman thought he was special.

Now would be the perfect time to run.he figured if he ran straight out the door and kept running straight, he would find the desert eventually and the gator wouldn’t be hard to spot. Zoro, as lost as he could be, would never lose Sanji and always find him no matter what. It would just be them somewhere in the desert.

But he couldn’t run, not just because he had to end Crocodile and see this through, or because he would be putting them both at risk, but because of his captain. Zoro knew no matter what happened to him or how long it took, Luffy was going to reach Alabasta and fight Crocodile. Even before Little Garden, that was his plan. One of these days, maybe today, his captain was going to come running through the halls calling for Crocodile’s head, the rest right behind him. Zoro needed to be there when that happened, retake his place alongside Luffy and hope he could keep it until he was King of Pirates. Maybe this was how he kept his place, staying so he could be there for the final battle. 

What if Luffy didn’t take him back but he took back Sanji? What then? Zoro couldn’t linger and at the end of the day, he would always respect Luffy’s decision even if it hurt him. At the same time, the only person who could truly tell him to leave at this point was Sanji. In order for him to leave and never look back, Sanji needed to shout at him how he hated Zoro and didn’t love him. He needed a broken heart. His fault for giving it to the cook.

Stop thinking.

Things worked out for Zoro when he wasn’t thinking. Nothing to worry about then. 

He walked around the fine establishment, the most fine he had ever been allowed in. Zoro had never frequented high-end places. Even as a kid, it was pubs and restaurants that had rats living in the walls. Even the Baratie was too much for him. 

Maybe that was another reason he hated Sanji for the longest time, and maybe why he was attracted to him. They lived differently. Sanji wore the finest clothes he could get his hands on, bathed every single day, a very clean and refined person. Zoro wore what he could find and what could fit him, and showered when he started to feel dirty or when others complained. Sanji grew up in a nice restaurant as a gentleman. Zoro was an orphan the dojo tolerated and he left when he was fifteen and slept and ate wherever he could. Was that part of it? The view into a life he never had? Was it originally jealousy that formed their relationship? No. Zoro never went out of his way to have a nice life. He was just going to kill Mihawk and that was it. He’d probably go back to the dojo and return Kuina’s sword and taunt her grave, then just keep his title.

But now he had a place to go, the All Blue if Sanji let him, and if not with him, then he would stay at the King of Pirates side until something happened, and if he wasn’t there, then he’d just be the Greatest Swordsman in the world with no home. It was lonely, but he was used to that, but now he didn’t want to be lonely. He wanted to be with someone, particularly his cook.

What did we just say about thinking?

He groaned and hit his temple, just trying to find a door that led to the back door. Zoro excused himself to an elderly lady drenched in pearls who was trying to win it all at the slot machines. From the looks of it, she wasn’t doing too well. It wasn’t like Zoro was good at gambling, or machine-wise, he wasn’t. He could play blackjack and poker. Zoro didn’t know why he was blessed at card games but he was.

“Damn, this could be a good time to get money to pay off Nami.” He mumbled, clutching the wado and making his way around. Just when he thought he found the right door, a tan hand blossomed from it and swatted at him. At his left, Nico Robin was stomping towards him. 

That meant Sanji was finally free. Crocodile couldn’t hurt him anymore. He was lost in the desert but he was free. He was alone but he was free. No more traps, no more operations, no more hallways. 

And Zoro would find him. 

Everything would be alright.

And even if it wasn’t for Zoro, Sanji would be alright, because now he was free.

“You’re seriously the most lost individual I have ever met, have I told you that yet? If I haven’t, you are!” She groaned. He confirmed she had said it many times, and she would say it until he could read a map. 

“Let’s get going. We don’t want to draw any more attention.” She grabbed his wrist and led him through the casino. The patrons didn’t seem to mind her. Robin was probably a common sight to them, maybe Crocodile’s tall secretary who showed off skin.

“Is he-”

“He’s gone. I didn’t leave until the dust cloud was gone. All that’s left is for me and you to take care of the boss whenever the opportunity strikes. I say we pin it on rebels or soldiers tomorrow. And there’s no reason for the agents to avenge him. If they do, we can deal with them. If it’s Mr. Three, Mr. Five, or Miss Valentine, I got it.” She told him, grinning and he hated her again.

“Let’s just worry about him for now and whatever happens happens, but the moment I reunite with Sanji, I’m gone. You can deal with them then.”

“I expect nothing less. Where’s the first date going to be? Have that planned yet?” 

“…restaurant?”

 “…you are hopeless, Roronoa Zoro.” 

“Hey! I’m doing this thing where I don’t think and-”

“Obviously.”

“HEY!”

She started to giggle and Zoro couldn’t think of a response, which proved her point in a way. She kept gabbing at him with snide remarks and he tolerated her. She was like Nami, except Nami would have thrown a nasty right hook the moment he raised his voice at her.

He missed that witch.

He actually missed her a lot.

He kind of hoped she decked him for being an idiot when they met again.

They made their way to the dining room and there were all the agents, impatiently waiting and yelling at each other, unaware their boss was snickering behind a chair like some large idiot.

“Hey, it’s the swordsman! Does that mean the pretty cook is somewhere around here?” Miss Valentine almost jumped from her seat and Mr. 5 looked up, laughing and getting his finger away from his nose.

“My my. Roronoa Zoro! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, and from the looks of it, we finally got you to join!” All the agents turned their attention to him, gasping and gawking in confusion and fear.

“THAT’S THE SWORDSMAN WHO TOOK DOWN THE OLD MR. EIGHT,” a ballerina shouted, his body stiff as a board. “AND HE WORKS WITH US NOW? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN, AND WHY DID IT HAPPEN?!?!”

“I just want to know where the pretty cook is! Is he dead? I hope not! I wanted to see him again, maybe give him a kiss!”

He was going to strangle her and then take her head.

“I hope the stupid pirate is dead, ba!” A mole woman said, banging her fist on the table.

“I just want to know what’s going on.” A thin woman with bouncy blue hair sighed, rubbing the side of her head. “Is this really the Roronoa Zoro? I don’t believe it. I thought he was the East Blue Demon.”

Zoro rolled his eyes and Robin chuckled, taking them one step down. 

“All your questions will be answered, mostly by our boss.”

“AND JUST WHO IS THIS MAN?” The ballerina asked. 

“That would be me.” Crocodile spun around, reveling in his agents’ shock. They were all in awe, learning the man in charge was a Warlord and one of King Cobra’s most trusted allies. “And that’s Me. Point One, our newest agent. Don’t use his actual name. It’s rude and just throws things off. As for the cook, Sanji, he’s not going to be joining us. I am afraid his injuries were to a far greater extent than Mr. Point One’s ever were.”

God, I can’t wait to kill you.

“Aw! I was looking forward to seeing him!”

Bitch.

“Okay! So Roronoa Zoro is part of Baroque Works and Sir Crocodile is our boss! Any other surprises?”

“None, expect for this one Mr. Two. This is the end of Baroque Works.”

The entire room was clamoring and the only one who seemed truly upset was the mole woman. If they did have to kill anyone, it would be her and Zoro didn’t think she would be too much of a problem.

But what did he know?

Crocodile reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar, placing it between his lips. He began to ramble how Baroque Works had served its purpose and there was one final goal as he searched for a lighter. Someone questioned him on his reasoning and he said Alabasta was how he gained power, not just by being king, but by other means. Robin seemed to peak some interest in that statement.

“So let me tell you all about our final operation, Operation Utopia.”

Shit.

Fucking shit.

That was Operation Utopia???

A million people would die.

They would die. 

Crocodile was going to kill almost everyone in this room, and they were all okay with it.

That was Operation Utopia.

Shit.

“You all have your assignments. Now go. By this time tomorrow, Alabasta will have a new king. And if you all are lucky and still want to, I will make sure you have comfortable positions in my new government.” Crocodile finished his last cigar and the agents started laughing, even Robin. She knew the entire time a million people would die? A million? Deep in his heart, he knew he couldn’t trust that heinous woman. She was a killer but this was beyond what should be normal. 

He would pray that Luffy was either right there to help defeat Crocodile, or still far away from Alabasta. Zoro didn’t want him or the rest of the crew anywhere near their possible grave if they weren’t fighting with him.

He would be there.

If the bomb went off, he was going to die.

Oh.

He really should have run off with Sanji.

Unless Robin had a plan and he truly could trust her. If he couldn’t, if she was leading him to die in a split second explosion, then how did he know Sanji was truly free? What if he was dead in that tunnel and Robin just wanted the kill for herself. Stupid him for actually trusting her. Why did he trust her? Was it because he desperately needed someone to trust and to give him hope of surviving with Sanji? Was that it? Was that why he finally let his guard down and let her take control? 

And that’s what he got for not thinking.

All the agents started to leave, glaring at him as they passed him and Robin by. Mr. One seemed to have something against him with the intensity of his glare. Mr. Two made it known that he would be ready to take on Zoro, and all it took was for the swordsman to clutch the wado for him to go off running. Mr. Five and Miss Valentine were having too much, saying they couldn’t wait to see Zoro on the battlefield right alongside them.

If they were all going to die, Zoro wanted the satisfaction of killing them two.

“Mr. Point One, go with them. I want you to cause trouble in the streets, get the people riled up.” Crocodile ordered. Zoro snapped his head to protest, being as close to him as possible so that maybe he would die before stepping foot in Alubarna. Robin intervened, putting her arms around Zoro and taking him up the stairs.

“Just go with it.” She whispered.

“A million. A million people!” He hissed once Crocodile wasn’t able to hear them. “I’m not going to let a mil-”

“Not that many people are going to die?”

“Not that many? Robin, no one besides Cr-”

“Zoro, this is a civil war. People are going to die no matter what we do. They’re going to kill each other. I don’t want a million people to die so for the hundredth time, trust me. The bomb won’t go off, this will all end, and you and the cook will be fine.”

She was a good liar, or maybe he was a skeptic. Still, she had gotten him this far and if she was going to betray him, why not let Sanji take those pills? Why not announce at the meeting Zoro had a different agenda?

Damn you, Nico Robin.

She led him down the tunnel Sanji would have gone down, catching up with the other agents.

“Hey! Mr. One and Miss. Double Finger! Bring him with you. He has his orders and he’ll listen. He knows what will happen if he doesn’t.”

So Sanji was still being threatened. 

But maybe he was just that skeptical.

“Mm, alright. Come on, East Blue Demon. We don’t have any time to waste.” Miss. Double Finger said, strutting away. Mr. One was familiar to look at. Zoro didn’t know why and maybe it was for the better if they stayed strangers, keep an ominous relationship. 

Robin let him go and waved goodbye, promising everything was going to work out exactly as planned. Zoro rolled his eyes and once he emerged from the tunnel, every voice in his head, including one that sounded like Sanji, was telling him to run away. But not yet. He had to see this through and only run when he knew there was no other choice.

Right below his feet, he saw the disappearing prints of an accellegator, and Zoro smiled, his voices silencing and the warm sun shining on him, not beating down. He would have laughed if he could and maybe even danced a little, which wasn’t like him but he had changed a lot so maybe he did dance now.

Sanji was free. He was standing on the evidence. His cook was somewhere far away and he would stay far away until it was safe. And tomorrow night, with Alubarna still intact, Baroque Works dismantled, Crocodile dead, he would reunite with Sanji, and maybe be a bit bold.

Maybe kiss him and tell him the truth.

Chapter Text

“This is boring. I don’t even have a cigarette.” Sanji moaned as he slipped off the gator, trying to stand on his own. With everything happening, he hadn’t realized how much he missed cigarettes. Zeff would be so happy he kicked the habit, even if it was temporary and because Sanji was held captive, and all the more disappointed when Sanji smoked through an entire pack the moment he could. Well, maybe he wouldn’t be happy that Sanji was captive. Probably prefer smoking over that.

“So, I’m supposed to just wait out here for a whole day and then go to Alubarna. Did she pack anything to amuse me?” He mumbled, going through the satchel on the side. There was just food and water, a cloak to protect himself from the sun, and one blanket. Sanji knew how to occupy himself but usually he was doing chores to pass the time. What could he do in the middle of the desert, besides boil alive? 

“Well, look at this way. You’re not in a dungeon, and you’re not stranded on a giant rock. Just…tomorrow night. Spend the night out here, don’t die, then head for Alubarna. And what counts as night? Is it once the sky is dark? Night shifts at the Baratie sometimes started at five, but it could also start at eight. Just whatever Zeff wanted and how many people we had staffed, and are you going to talk to yourself for an entire day?”

He was going to go crazy if he couldn’t do anything. At least in the dungeon he was still able to cook, and on the rock he was so focused on spotting a ship that he didn’t get bored. And the open sea was more entertaining to him than the boiling desert.

“And I don’t suppose you talk, do you?” He laughed, looking at the gator. The giant beast grumbled then fell flat on his stomach, taking Sanji down with him. He yelped and fell flat on his back, pain searing through his legs.

He didn’t think he would ever come to terms with his legs. Maybe if he had never been a Vinsmoke and subjected to all those experiments as a kid. Then he could be alright with losing part of what made him human, his natural ability to kick and walk. But then again, Zeff taught him the importance of his own body, not relying on weapons in a fight to preserve his hands and make his legs his natural weapon.

He needed to call the Baratie after this. It had been awhile since he wrote to them but letters wouldn’t suffice this time. He’d get his hands on a snail and call them, soak in their mocks when Sanji said he was homesick because deep down, he missed how they made fun of him because they weren’t hurting him when they did it. They had no malicious intention every time they called him a brat. Well, maybe once or a hundred times they actually wanted to hurt him but they never did, not the way his siblings would have. He’d screw with Patty and Carne, ask if they still oversalted the steaks and accidentally used jalapeno sausage instead of regular. Whoever the new sous chef was, he’d grill them and make them piss their pants if they were a coward. Zeff would get onto him for being so mean to his replacement but they’d laugh about it in secret. And the geezer would just make sure he was alright like he always wanted. 

Sanji would omit the past week from his call. Zeff didn’t need to know. Let the old geezer think Sanji was perfectly fine, and part of him wasn’t dead. He was still the same brat who cried leaving the Baratie, and he could still kick on his own. Otherwise, he half-expected Zeff to show up and he’d be taking care of Sanji all on his own again, the way it was years ago after the rock.

“Stupid old man. You wanted me to leave, but I’m betting my hands you would come for me if I told you the truth…all of the truth.”

He never told Zeff he was a Vinsmoke. Never mentioned it. To Zeff, he was an orphan The Orbit felt bad for and let be a cabin boy. Didn’t even say he was from the North Blue, partially because Zeff figured that out with some of the recipes Sanji would suggest and certain words he would say. The geezer mentioned it once to him, or just showed he knew. When he was fourteen, the staff were drinking one night and remembering stories from their childhood through a book that somehow fell into their possession. He noticed how Sanji knew none of them, and while he cursed out the crew for being a bunch of kids and laughed at them, the entire time he felt like a hopeless kid with no tales to bring him joy. So Zeff spent the spare money to buy a book of North Blue tales, just left it on Sanji’s bed and they never spoke of it, never spoke of how Sanji would spend the time he should have been sleeping relearning what his mother told him in her hospital bed. 

He had that book hidden in the cabinets of the Merry.

“Can I recite those stories? I know Noland the Liar…but every kid from the North Blue knows it and even your stupid brothers listened to it until they were five. There’s the infamous Donquoxite family and your own stories, terrible Germa Double Six. Damn, North Blue is a little messed up. Um, well, go over the All Blue. You don’t shut up about it. Wasn’t there a chef who washed your mouth with soap and you ended up choking on suds? Yeah. The Baratie had just opened and his name was Basil and he shoved the bar into your throat. Zeff kicked him through a wall into the sea. Patty and Carne helped you throw up bubbles for hours and scrubbed your tongue.” 

They laughed about it years later and Sanji considered throwing soap at them.

“You can’t talk to yourself this entire time. And get that cloak on before you burn.” He pushed himself up using the gator, his legs shaking to move and support himself. It was his left leg in particular he could feel, and the one he hated the most. His bones still felt broken, and there were cracks in him that couldn’t be properly fixed. Just the slightest weight and it was going to break again. Deep down, he knew one slip onto sand wouldn’t rebreak his leg, but he couldn’t be told otherwise. The pain didn’t linger. It was just there.

He always thought the spot in the neck would be the worst, and he always hoped it was the worst. The constant feeling a nail was about to be driven into his neck kept him up at nights. He had to sleep on that side for so long and hoped the pillow was enough to ease him.

Would a pillow be enough for his entire leg?

Sometimes what helped was just the positioning of his head. Maybe it made for bad posture, but he felt the pain when he held his head up, like he still had the mask on. Laying down made it easier or nonexistent, and when he turned his head so it was resting on his shoulder. 

Either way, he had to live with this now.

“You can still cook. He didn’t ruin your hands. You still have your hands. Just…no more fighting pissy marines.” He sighed, pulling a nice blue cloak over him and sipping on the water. It was enough to survive for a week if he didn’t ration, three weeks if he rationed, not that he needed to. It was an old habit Sanji would never get rid off. 

The gator fell asleep somehow in the blazing sun and Sanji just waited. He didn’t know what he was waiting for besides the next night. And he didn’t want to think too much about it, because Sanji knew he would begin to wonder what if Crocodile wasn’t dealt with? If Zoro got himself killed and Sanji was going to be where he was just hours ago, and somehow worse off than he had been this entire time.

He couldn’t think about that, so he thought about anything but what could be tomorrow night and let the time go by. Sanji was so lost in thought he couldn’t tell if he was hallucinating when what seemed like a small sailboat approaching him in the distance, and the sound of drunken laughter with the boat.

No. 

That was real.

“What the fuck?” He mumbled, pulling himself up and shaking the gator. He might need to make a quick escape. Sanji didn’t know if he could trust anyone out here, if it was a good idea to even try. Just get on the gator and get it running. Nothing could catch up to it, or so he hoped.

“HEYYYYYYYYYYYY!” One of them yelled, and was he really about to run? Sanji didn’t run from fights, not anymore. He caused a majority of them back at the Baratie and he only liked to run when there was no other choice, but it was always a shame to not finish fights. This wouldn’t even be a fight. He couldn’t kick a rat if he tried. And he wasn’t throwing any punches. Even if he was willing to, he didn’t have a base to support himself.

For some reason, he decided to stay and see what the sand sailors wanted. The boat stopped a few feet in front of him and the damn gator was still sleeping. Sanji stood as tall as he could, the cocky sous chef who got booted to waiting service for the day. 

“You seem pretty lost, don’t ya?” A man jumped out, closer to Zeff’s age than Sanji’s. The cook started to laugh and he would go with it, see if he could convince his new acquaintances to leave him without any trouble, unlikely though.

“Yeah. I didn’t realize how damn big the desert was. I grew up on hills and grass. This is…definitely not my smartest decision.” He said, three more men climbing out. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they were planning on robbing him and leaving him for dead, if they didn’t shoot him in the face with the guns strapped to their thighs. 

As much as he wanted to make to it to the next night and be with Zoro, it would be fucking ironic if he died now because of random sand pirates.

But all he needed to do was get his hands on a gun. Technically that wasn’t fighting with his hands, and he wasn’t Usopp, but Sanji was still a good shot. Carne used to take him spearfishing and duck hunting whenever they were any area that allowed for that, and he had practice with a pistol just in case his legs failed him, but he always thought that would never happen.

Never say never, idiot.

“I say it wasn’t that smart to come to a war-ridden country. The hell you thinking?” The older leader asked as Sanji noticed he was being surrounded.

“You only live once, and there’s not that many tourists to annoy me. I made a mistake and I’ll laugh about this in about ten years when I’m drunk with my friends. I don’t need to bother you.”

“But if we want to be bothered?”

Shit.

“The desert is a dangerous place. You shouldn’t be out here alone. We’ll keep you company…what’s your name, son?”

“People call me Prince.”

The pirates started to laugh at his ridiculous name and two of them were mocking him. Sanji's hands slipped into his pocket, pretending this was just the average conversation with a rude customer. The man stepped forward, grinning deviously.

“Prince? Well, it’s an honor to meet you, your royal highness. People call me Zekiel, and this is my crew, the Killer Sand Pirates!”

“Don’t you need a jolly roger to be an official pirate crew? Where is it?”

The crew was silent when Sanji brought that up, looking at their sad little sand boat that seemed to be on wheels that didn't have anything on the mast, which was about to fall apart. The ship he used to get groceries was bigger and less pathetic than their vessel. It barely fit four people. If it wouldn’t get his throat slit, he would break down laughing and spit insults.

“We-the wind took it! And out here, sails and flags just fly off!”

If you don’t tie them down right, moron.

“I’m not here to question you. I obviously don’t know this place well and I’ll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever visit again. Now really, I don’t want to bother you, and I actually need to get to Erumalu soon. A friend of mine is supposed to pick me up near sunset today. I was just resting for a minute and letting the gator sleep.” Sanji chuckled, noticing how the others were getting closer and reaching for their pockets. 

There was one pirate, near his age. His hands were shaky, and he kept losing his balance. He was also the closest to Sanji, and on his left side which worked out. He would deal with the pain of planting his left foot and use his right foot to roundhouse kick him, grab his gun, and hope his aim was good enough to deal with the other three and he was still agile enough to dodge bullets. He didn’t know if the gator was bullet proof or how thick his skin was. The beast was fast, but faster than a bullet?

“Oh, we can escort you, Prince . We know this desert very well and I’m beginning to like you a lot. Let us help you. You have no reason not to trust us.” Zekiel sighed. The young one got a little closer, and behind the cook, he heard a click.

“Liar.”

Sanji lunged at the kid, a bullet barely grazing his back. Zekiel was yelling at them to not kill him, that he wanted Sanji alive for a little bit. The kid was shaking to get his gun out of his holster, leaving his left ribs completely exposed. His left foot dug into the sand and it would break.

His leg was going to break. His wounds were heavy and everything would break again. He was going to break. It was all for nothing. His bones would shift and shatter. Could he be fixed again? How many times could he break before he was pieces? 

But he could bring some of him back to Zoro. Zoro could love the pieces Sanji gave him, if it was enough.

He made the pain worse to balance himself, bringing his leg up high and slamming into the kid, reaching for the gun. As the kid was knocked off his feet, the gun landed in Sanji’s hand. They both fell, but Sanji reacted quicker, using the grip to hit him in the head and one was down.

The gator was still sleeping through the gunfire. Another bullet just missed him and Sanji was hyper focused on the sharpshooter in front of him, and he was drunk. He was stumbling but he wasn’t scared. He was aiming for Sanji’s head but missing by ten feet. And it was a simple revolver that only held six bullets in its cylinder, which now looked empty. Sanji scoffed and shot him with ease twice, once in the left hip and once near where the brachial artery was on his right arm, the one he used to shoot. If Sanji hit the artery, he would be dead in a matter of minutes and frankly Sanji didn’t really mind killing at the moment. It was him or them.

Easy choice.

“BASTARD!” The one who had been behind him and missing the entire time screeched. Sanji barely glanced at him before shooting in the same exact spots. He went down more verbally than his friends, crying and screeching the entire time.

“Remind me to never tell Usopp.” He whispered, falling into his back and letting the gun rest in his palm.

Click.

“Gotcha, Prince.”

He forgot about Zekiel.

Shit.

“You move pretty well for someone with a bad leg. Something’s off about the left one,” Zekiel pressed the barrel to his head and knelt beside Sanji with a smile similar to a certain Warlord. “Care to tell me what happened, and who you really are?”

“No and no. If you’re going to kill me, get it over with. Be doing both of us a favor.”

Zoro, I’m so sorry.

“Eh, eventually. See, I was just gonna beat you to death with my boys, have some fun, but now you’ve gone and killed ‘em and I have to avenge the three of them.”

“I only shot t-”

BANG

The kid he only knocked out, probably just some idiot who aspired to be a great and fearsome pirate without knowing what all it entailed, was dead. Zekiel had no hesitation to end his life, and no remorse

“Three. He’s dead because he couldn’t defend himself while unconscious. Three of my men, so I’m going to keep you alive for either three more minutes, three more hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, whenever I feel they’re avenged, and I tend to hold grudges.”

Really? He escaped Crocodile to fall into this sadist’s hands? Did fate hate Sanji? Because why? Why did all of these bad things happen to him, and why did good things happen? He wouldn’t care as much if not for his crew that was on their way to take back Alabasta and their crewmates, and Zoro, who if he was still breathing in a day, would be waiting for Sanji with a heart full of love that would betray him as time went by and Sanji never came.

 “Any way to reduce my sentence?” He mumbled, not even considering trying to fight. He knew he could still kick, and he still had the gun in his hands, but now it felt worthless. All he would do is get shot in the shoulder and give Zekiel a reason to keep him alive for longer.

“Mm, can’t think of any. I’m stubborn as well, don’t like to be negotiated with.”

“So am I. Whatever you do to me, I’ll make it boring. I won’t scream, won’t cry, won’t beg.”

“Oh, I have my ways. There’s a way to break every man, and I’m going to start with that leg of yours, your good one. You kick, so I’m going to break your right leg and disfigure it, maybe even take it from you. I think that will break you.”

No. That might be a mercy. That horrible device in his back would be no good, and he’d be at Zekiel’s mercy for that. It was only his hands he was scared for. Maybe by the time Zekiel got to destroying them, he wouldn’t care. Sanji wouldn’t be a chef anymore if he was some tortured body in a stupid sand boat, knowing his only fate was death, but he owed it to too many people to let that part of him go.

Damn, I wanted to make one more meal.

Over a week since he cooked, since he was useful in some way. 

You were born useless and you will die useless.

Sanji closed his eyes and let his mind run, fooling himself for a moment and not being a captive again. He was imaging the All Blue, the most beautiful sea in the world. It was a color of blue he couldn’t describe beyond the words stunning and amazing, and underneath that blue was every fish from every sea. Far off, the Going Merry was there right next to the Baratie. However the damn restaurant managed to cross the Grand Line was irrelevant. This was his dream after all.

And Zoro was right there, holding him as they sat on the beach and simply gazed at the sight before them. It was almost exactly like in the cage, but they were free now, and they truly had each other, every breathing and beating part. Zoro had accepted his pieces as Sanji and made him whole, given him purpose and use and love that no one else could give him.

And it’s only a dream.

He was woken up from that dream from the sound of Zekiel screaming, and the sound of someone else laughing. Sanji opened his eyes and Zekiel was rolling around, his clothes inflamed. Next to his ship was a boy Sanji’s age, with greasy black hair, no shirt, and an orange hat, with his fist in flames. 

“Take off your clothes, moron. Then you won’t burn to death.” He cooed as he began to make his way towards Sanji, and for some reason besides setting Zekiel ablaze, Sanji knew he could trust the boy somehow.

“Let’s see…curlybrow, blonde, covered eye, in a suit…HA! YOU’RE SANJI! OH, LUFF IS GOING TO LOSE HIS SHIT WHEN HE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS!” He laughed, clutching his abs with a now normal hand and falling next to Sanji. He knew Luffy? How? Luffy had never described knowing anyone like this and Sanji had never met him, so it must have been within the past week this man met his crew.

His crew.

They did make it to Alabasta.

“Sorry. Turns out Luffy never mentioned me to his crew.” The boy sighed. He looked Sanji in the eye and tilted his hat up, a wide smile and dazzling eyes assuring him he did in fact have someone he could trust in this desert. 

“I’m his big brother, Ace!”

Chapter Text

Vivi had only been with the crew for two days before they arrived at Little Garden. In those two days, she saw how happy and close they all were. She truly believed they were the right people to save her country.

Her thoughts were confirmed at Little Garden, but at too high a cost.

Mr. 3 managed to capture her and Nami, using them as decor on a wax cake with Brogy next to them. The entire time he bragged about how easy it was to capture the pirates, that the swordsman and blonde went down in just seconds. The entire time, Nami was trying to call her bluff because there was no way Sanji and Zoro were captured. Besides Luffy, they were the two strongest on the crew. She claimed to have seen them fight fishmen and win. Vivi saw how terrifying and capable Zoro was at Whiskey Peak, so she thought it was bluff as well.

It was only after Luffy and Usopp defeated him and his partner, after there was a reunion between the giants, and Nami kept insisting the red mark on abdomen was fine as Luffy gave her his vest, and after they came across a fresh battlefield they began to believe the worst. There were remnants of two carcasses in front of a small cliff, and the ground around was torn with holes that were almost body-shaped. There was blood on the rocks, and in the grass, and there was a tree that had definitely been hit with something. 

They both went hunting, and so maybe in the battlefield when it was just a field, they met up for whatever reason, and that’s when they were ambushed by the agents. Mr. 3 said their companions from Whiskey Peak had been there, which may explain the holes, Miss Valentine jumping on someone. And that also explained why the carcasses looked like the aftermath of a bomb, something Mr. 5 could have done. It was exactly how Mr. 3 described it to them.

The crew still didn’t believe it. Okay, so maybe there was a fight but that didn’t mean they were captured. They both could have gotten away. Not a single one of them would accept the idea but Vivi saw their worry. She didn’t say anything, but she knew the two were gone. She spent two years among the ranks of Baroque Works and as far as she knew, Sanji and Zoro didn’t have powers, only their fighting skills. Those two against three devil fruit users…she would have been more shocked if they were captured.

Lost in the woods, they found a little hut made out of wax. Inside they found an eternal pose to Alabasta, and still no sign of the swordsman and cook. Nami kept claiming Zoro was lost somewhere on the massive island and Sanji was lost trying to find him. The swordsman wouldn’t know his left from his right if it was tattooed on his hand. Everyone laughed and agreed, and maybe they were a little slow from the fight.

So then they all returned to the Merry and there was still no sign, Vivi tried to ask what if it was true but she said maybe three words before Luffy started yelling about how he wanted to go to Elbaf after they saved Alabasta, and Usopp agreed and began to fantasize about the land of giant warriors. Nami said she would look at her maps and when Sanji and Zoro returned, because they were at some point that day, they would go over the voyage plan.

Night time came, but the two never did. 

The crew didn’t eat the rest of that day. Luffy said Sanji would lose it if he saw they had tampered with his kitchen, so no one stepped in there. All three of them waited on the deck until the moon was high in the sky. When Usopp said the moon was where the sun was when they arrived back at the Merry, Nami lost it.

She screamed from the top of her lungs and her sobs were the worst Vivi had ever heard. Usopp broke down next to her, crying how he couldn’t protect his crew and maybe if he was there something would be different. Nami went on about how they were stronger than this, that two of the strongest people she knew couldn’t be taken so easily and they would fight to the death. Upon the word death, she wailed even more about how if they were alive, they were barely. They were in pain and if Crocodile was anything like Vivi said, that pain would continue and worsen. The crying was so loud the giants came running to them and were afraid they were attacked again. All Vivi did was look at Brogy and nodded, since he heard everything Mr. 3 said.

Luffy was silent until Nami and Usopp calmed down a little bit, and he told them to get ready and set sail. They not only had to defeat Crocodile for Vivi and her people, but for their crew.  In just under a minute they were sailing. The giants ran to the edge of the island so they would have a safe passage and cut down the sea king. Seeing how they moved so fluidly even with two of them missing, fueled by loss and fear, it was shocking but at the same time she took horrible comfort in it.

They would save her country, and not even Crocodile could stop these determined pirates.

But then Nami got sick.

The entire time she was conscious and in the right state of mind, she was insisting on going straight to Alabasta. She only stopped after getting into a yelling match with Luffy, who told her he already lost his swordsman and cook and there was a chance they were both gone already, so he couldn’t take any chance of losing his navigator. He couldn’t sail if he lost over half of his crew in such a short time.

That took them to Drum Island, and in one day, Luffy climbed up a mountain, defeated a stupid king, and made a new friend, the little reindeer Tony Tony Chopper. Nami was saved from the brink of death and against the advice of Doctor Kureha, they were gone that night. Luffy claimed it to be a worthy detour, but she saw how it strained him to take even a day off, though it was for Nami. It was one less day Sanji and Zoro had, one more day for Crocodile to hurt them.

Vivi took to it to explain to the little doctor why the crew would only eat leftovers or basic sandwiches, or why there was workout equipment no one would touch, the empty hammocks, the cigarettes littered around the ship, the seats they left open, why they were so quiet after Usopp carelessly said it was Zoro’s night to be on watch, and why they teared up after that.

Chopper cried but then he went on about how he couldn’t wait to meet the two and they would probably need medical attention. He was a doctor, so he would take care of them.

As Alabasta came into their line of sight, after the meeting with the ballerina who could shift into her father, that’s when Luffy explained their mission. They would restock at Nanohana and get everything they need to survive the desert, then would dock at Erumalu and head to Yuba so Vivi could talk to Kohza and after they had the rebels on their side, to Rainbase, to Crocodile, to Sanji and Zoro. That was where they had to be. Dead or alive, their bodies were still there.

They all hoped those bodies had air in their lungs.

Being in Alabasta was air in her lungs. It was toxic air but air. It was her country, her people, her love, but she could see it wasn’t the beauty she left two years ago. The war had done so much and she wondered what it would be like afterwards, if she would truly have her country back.

But she would try to restore it.

It was her duty.

Ace made everything better. Not only did he save them from the Marines, he saved the crew from themselves. Luffy wouldn’t stop smiling and laughing the entire time he was with his big brother, and Nami and Usopp didn’t cry that night unlike every night beforehand. It was also the first Luffy openly talked about Sanji and Zoro, the chain-smoking cook with curly eyebrows who fawned for women and kicked everyone who annoyed him, and the green-haired swordsman with an unusual technique with a love for naps and sake. The three pirates went on and one with such detail their two missing counterparts were there with them that night in some odd sense.

The next day they began their long journey on foot. Seeing Erumalu in its condition was depressing. The city used to thrive and now it was dust and cobwebs, but the city could be restored. They got off path a few times but nothing major. The pirates were their biggest worries but they ended up being friends. As they left, they were told to watch out for smaller pirates. They were rats and not as friendly as them. The crew heeded their advice and hurried to Yuba. Then they dealt with ‘rebels’ and Vivi felt ten times better about what would happen seeing how in the end they stood for her people and protected the innocent. The bounty hunter broke her heart, the little boys begging their father to stop. That was also where they parted ways with Ace, and things began to revert to how they were before.

Yuba broke her. Seeing Toto again broke the princess. He was still looking for water and so much faith in her. And not only that, she may have killed Sanji and Zoro. Kohza was across the nation and she led them astray when the crew could have reached Rainbase already and this nightmare could have ended for them all. She was assured that no one could have known Kohza wasn’t there but that didn’t change her feelings, her damnation. 

When they arrived at Rainbase, that was when everything fell apart, and she ended up trying to kill Miss All Sunday, Igaram’s murderer, on a roof after she possibly killed Pell. And maybe she would have succeeded if the woman didn’t catch her off guard with one sentence.

“You can reunite the pirates with their crew by tomorrow night if the cook listened to me.” 

Vivi froze and just stared at the horrid woman. She probably helped Crocodile torture the two. What did she mean by that? Did she mean in death? Was Sanji going to be killed the next night and they would see each other again in the afterlife? Was Zoro dead already?

And how did Vivi know she was just saying things?

“WHAT DID YOU DO THEM?” She cried, flailing at Miss All Sunday who elegantly avoided her peacock slashers.

“Helped them. I share a common goal: the take down of Crocodile.”

Then why?

“YOU KILL IGARAM! YOU HAVE HELPED KILL SANJI AND ZORO! DO NOT LIE TO ME RIGHT NOW! YOU CAN’T!”

“I’m not! Me and the swordsman plan to kill him before he can slaughter your father and blow your city!”

Vivi was paralyzed, falling to her knees. Was she being honest? Miss All Sunday couldn’t be trusted. She was the second highest ranking Baroque Works agent but she couldn’t be trusted…did the same logic apply to Crocodile? Did she have her own agenda that she would do anything to achieve, including betraying everyone around her and forming unlikely alliances?

“My fa…Alubarna blown up-”

“In the clock tower, there will be a bomb. Crocodile thinks there’s nothing to stop it but I can tell you about the failsafe I put in. Your father won’t die immediately. He needs to lead me to a poneglyph, and that’s where Roronoa Zoro can finally use his swords on the man. And I’ll also give you the key to the cage your friends are likely locked in right now, and I’ll tell you everything that happened to the swordsman and cook.”

“What happened to them?” She whimpered, noticing how Miss Sunday was keeping her distance. She wasn’t taking the chance to attack Vivi, but why should the princess listen to her? She killed Igaram and possibly Pell, but she also tried to help them get to Alabasta quicker and avoid Little Garden. And if they had listened to her the first time, Sanji and Zoro would have never been captured.

For that reason alone, Vivi listened to her this time.

“As we speak, the cook is biding time in the desert with enough supplies to last him a week even though he will be in Alubarna by tomorrow night. Roronoa is on his way to Alubarna playing nice with some of the agents. To shorten a lengthy story, Roronoa was forced into the organization with the cook’s life at stake. Now that the cook is safe, Roronoa can act as he pleases.”

What did Crocodile do to Sanji? She remembered Zoro saying Baroque Works sought him years ago but he refused. Crocodile obviously still sought him and finally had what he needed to get what he wanted. And from what she saw of Zoro and Sanji’s relationship with each other…it was tense to say the very least. They were still crewmates, and Vivi saw how loyal Zoro was to his crew, so it had to be pure torture that forced Zoro’s hand.

“But they’re alright?”

“They’re both alive. Roronoa will be better once he’s with the cook, and the cook...he has a long road of recovery ahead of him.”

Oh god, Sanji.

She had a slight affection for him that didn’t apply to the rest of the crew. Even when she was Miss Wednesday to the crew, he was so kind to her, offering meals without any charge or suspicion. When she mourned Igaram throughout the night, he placed a small cake and note of love outside the bathroom she sobbed in. As a princess, that didn’t change. He was a gentleman who she never had to ask anything of because he always provided. His actions confused her greatly but she appreciated him nonetheless. Whatever Crocodile did to him, he was not deserving of it.

“Wh-”

“Not my place to say,” Miss All Sunday reached into her pockets and pulled out a glistening key. “You’ll need this for your friends.” She had mentioned a cage the rest were likely locked in. It was so much all at once but she could only wonder why? Why was she helping Vivi now? Why not back at Whiskey Peak or on the ship? Was it the unfortunate kidnapping of Sanji and Zoro that swayed her? She mentioned killing Crocodile with Zoro so was that it? And how did Vivi know she didn’t plan on killing her after the Warlord was dealt with? What if she wanted Alabasta to herself but if that was the case, then why wasn’t Vivi dead now?

God, could she really trust one word this woman said?

 No.

She was compliant in Crocodile waging war in her country. She likely killed two of her closest protectors and if this was a different situation and she didn’t have someone to help deal with Crocodile, she would kill her father and destroy Alubarna. All Vivi had was Miss All Sunday’s word and that was not enough for Vivi. Sanji and Zoro weren’t there to vouch for her, if they were still alive.

“You don’t believe me?” The assassin inquired. Vivi shook her head and explained she couldn’t. “Well, I don’t blame you. The swordsman barely trusts me as is.” There was an awkward silence between them, wind blowing past them. It was the perfect opportunity for one to strike, but neither did. Neither moved, not until Vivi heard one of her head guards moaning across the roof.

“PELL!”

“Oh, he’ll be fine. I know how to properly kill someone.” Miss All Sunday snickered. She looked down at Vivi and her smile was so trusting but Vivi couldn’t fully yet. “Can’t say the same for my boss. Three attempts on the cook’s life and he’s relatively fine.”

Three attempts?

Did it take three attempts for Zoro to finally agree to work for Crocodile? No. Not Zoro, not the loyal Zoro she knew briefly. For Luffy’s sake, he would never put Sanji through that. So why three attempts?

But what did she expect from that absolute monster?

“I still have appearances to keep up, and by now Crocodile knows you are here and will expect me to bring you to him.” Miss All Sunday took her arm and slipped the key into her pocket, not once looking into Vivi’s eyes.

She didn’t have any other choice in the matter, and if Crocodile did truly have her friends, she couldn’t leave them alone with him. And maybe that could be her opportunity to kill him. Miss All Sunday wouldn’t stop her.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“ANSWER ME! WHERE IS MY CREW?!?!” She could hear Luffy screaming down the hall. Oh god, she couldn’t imagine what was going through Luffy’s mind right now.

“WHERE IS SANJI AND ZORO?!?! CROCODILE! TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!!!” 

He was pleading now.  The strong captain was so desperate that he was pleading to know about his lost crewmates. It had been over a week and this was the closest they had been to them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

She entered the room, greeted by Crocodile’s sick laughter. To think he once acted as a friend to her father. He was supposed to protect and take care of the people, not massacre them and for what? Power? He had power, more power than her kingly father being a Warlord with such sway. There was no reason, but she didn’t need to understand the logic of a monster.

“Princess! So glad you can finally join us!” He boasted, and she almost lost it. The man responsible for the suffering of her people and friends, and he barely cared. He delighted in it, and she wouldn’t allow that. The princess exchanged a few words before declaring she would kill him, lunging with her slashers.

Vivi forgot he was made of sand.

She was subdued in a matter of seconds and Luffy was raging. She had not heard such anger in so long and Luffy, laughing and kind little Luffy, was one of the most fearsome men she had ever met and heard of in her life.

“CROCODI-”

“Dead. I had the personal honor myself. I killed then.”

So Miss All Sunday was telling Vivi the truth, but the crew didn’t know about any of that.

Nami broke down wailing, crying for her lost crew. Usopp denied his claims but his words were lost in tears. Even the Marine in the cage with them was shocked and slightly distraught.

Luffy was completely still.

“They’re not dead.” The Captain shivered.

“Oh really?”

“THEY’RE NOT DEAD! SANJI AND ZORO ARE STILL ALIVE! YOU’RE KEEPING THEM SOMEWHERE AND ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE AND KICK YOUR ASS ALL THE WAY TO THE EAST BLUE, I AM GOING RESCUE THEM! YOU HAVEN’T KILLED THEM!” 

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, straw-hat.”

Crocodile threw two cloths across the room, blue and white with ungodly red stains. In less than a second, Vivi knew it was Sanji and Zoro’s shirts, tattered and bloody. Vivi could have gagged but she also could have smiled. If Sanji and Zoro were dead, that would have been their corpses.

But it was still a horrible sight. 

Hearing Nami scream louder and Usopp crying now made everything so much worse. Vivi began to tear up and yet, Luffy was still.

“They’re not dead.” Was all he could say, denying the evidence, over and over as Crocodile laughed. He turned back to Vivi and the look of his eyes matched his nauseating smile.

“Speaking of death…let me explain Operation Utopia to you.”

Vivi woke up to nearly being eaten by a bananagator. Hearing Crocodile’s plans for her country, and all the while her friends painfully mourned, it was too much and Vivi was ‘asleep’ until Nami was screaming her name to run. 

Jaws snapped in front of her and she screamed, instinctively running to the cage through water she hadn’t noticed. What was happening? Where was Crocodile? Why couldn’t she remember? Was she about to be eaten alive and her friends drown?

No.

The key was pressed against her thigh.

“NAMI! REACH THROUGH AND CATCH!” She yelled as she threw the key, narrowly missing sharp teeth. For a second, she was submerged under the water and saw a shadow over her. Vivi brought herself up for air and her nose touched the bananagator.

Shit.

Click

“GUM-GUM PISTOL!” Rage echoed in the room as Luffy sprung from the cage, his fist the size of a table. The gator’s teeth shattered on impact. Blood spewed from its mouth and turned the water red. Vivi crawled away, feeling something similar to fear and shock, being tightly embraced into someone’s arms, Nami. The navigator held her so tight and brought her up, sobbing but praising the fact Vivi was alright. 

In her hands were the shirts.

Usopp hightailed it out of the room, calling the others after him. Chopper was the only one who wasn’t captured and likely scared in the streets being chased by Marines and agents.

The Marine just stood in the cage, his arms crossed. Luffy was on top of the unconscious beast, staring him down. Vivi began to scuffle away with Nami when he finally spoke.

“Straw-Hat…I’m letting you go this time. Go and stop that maniac…and avenge your friends. Make him pay for what he did.” He ordered. Luffy nodded and there was something so dark to the boy she considered to be pure light. 

Luffy was going to kill that man.

If Zoro, who was alive and in Alubarna, didn’t first.

Chapter Text

Zoro spent the entire day and night on the roof of the hotel the other agents were hiding in. The chaos would begin tomorrow whenever the rebels showed up, and Zoro’s role was to add to the deaths and rage. He was supposed to aid in a bloody and blind battle that nearly no one knew the truth about.

And Zoro should care. That was against who he was but right now he could only care about the desert. 

“Cook, are you looking at me? Far away, safe somewhere, are you looking at me? Are you thinking about me? I’ve been thinking about you all day. I can’t stop. I won’t stop, not until I see you again.” 

His mind was too crowded and so words were his escape now. Below him, agents were either drunk or asleep, except for the mole woman and her partner who were in a cave looking after the king, Vivi’s worried father and the king of a damaged country. 

Poor Vivi. He didn’t know if he could face her again. He killed fifteen of her citizens and terrorized them, and he was supposed to do all of that again. Even if it ended the way he wanted, with Crocodile dead and Sanji in his arms, he was still that prideless and horrible monster.

But now it was different.

Now Sanji was safe, and Crocodile wasn’t there. 

Now you can fight for the right reasons, and have your pride back.

Zoro kept going back and forth on his pride, if there was any left. His actions were not prideful but the reasons were. If Vivi would do anything for her people, she could understand that he would do anything for the man he loved. Surely during her time as an agent, she hurt innocent people. 

Stop trying to make excuses and let her hit you once. It’s almost over.

He sighed and looked around, a lively city, filled with a million innocents just trying to make it to the next day in a time of war. To think it was supposed to be destroyed in just a few hours, this massive city that was home to a million people. Was power really worth that? Zoro laughed about how he would do anything to be the world’s greatest swordsman, but he also still had humanity. If that title cost a million innocent lives, then it wasn’t a title of honor. It was one of horror and dishonor. If that was why he never accomplished their dream, Kuina would understand. A true swordsman only fought when it was demanded of him and killed only when it was necessary.

Those fifteen were necessary for Sanji.

Zoro just couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of killing so many for a title. That’s all being king really was for Crocodile at the very least. Maybe it was more about the Poneglyph that Robin had mentioned over and over. He had no idea what that was but it sounded important. Was that the true power that Crocodile sought? Was being king truly another title and the Poneglyph was what would turn Crocodile into possibly the biggest threat the world had faced?

Or was Zoro thinking too much again?

“Oi, cook…I don’t know now. Things are going to be different and I don’t want us to act like we used to. How would we? The crew isn’t just going to act like nothing happened. I-I don’t want to act like nothing happened but I don’t want this to…to always be there? I want to move on but I know we can’t and shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck.”

No, don't think about what happens next. You’ve told yourself this ten times today and now it’s eleven.

Zoro groaned and stood up, thinking of Sanji only and just how he wanted to hold the cook forever. Zoro had always slept holding something or someone. When he was a kid, he held his mom until she got sick and passed. After that, he was holding swords and bokkens from the dojo, curled up in whatever corner he was allowed to sleep in. Then he was sleeping in the dingy boat he traveled in, in a cave with a bounty across the land, on the forest floor, and he was always holding his swords. There was the occasional nap where he held himself, but his swords were always nearby. 

Sanji may be the first person in his arms since his mother. He was the first person he allowed himself to hold since his mother. Luffy’s wild hugs weren’t the same as truly holding someone, hearing their heart beating against his ear, letting someone run their fingers through his hair while he understood the structure of their anatomy. 

Zoro knew Sanji wasn’t a swordsman, not in the slightest, and that he wouldn’t care or feel shame for having scars on his back, but the scars he had were enough. Zoro wanted to learn his back now, be able to trace his bones and muscles, and know when there was a new scar. God forbid he found a new scar in his cook. Zoro would kill anyone and everyone who laid a hand on him, beginning with Crocodile. Zoro may not have the chance to torture Crocodile but the others, the others he would torture. He’d hurt them the way they hurt Sanji, and more.

So much more.

“Thinking about your pretty friend?” Miss Valentine had snuck up onto the roof, and Zoro was fucking done with her. His swords were at his side and he heard his cursed sword just begging for blood. And Zoro was ready to give in.

“Sanji. Sanji. Saaaaaanjiiiiiii. Oh, that’s such a pretty name.” She giggled, coming closer and closer. He groaned and stood up, looking at his surroundings. If he took her down, he could easily run across the roofs and jump into an alley. He’d shed as much clothing as he could, take a shirt that was hanging from a line. When morning came, he’d make his way to the palace where Crocodile would be and end this. If any other agents came, it was up to them if they died or not.

“If he’s still around, do you think he’d go out with me? He expressed enough interest in me and maybe Mr. Zero will let hi-”

Zoro yielded Kitetsu and in one swift motion, she was twitching on the ground, drowning in her blood. Her chest was cut like his was, but she didn’t handle it with the same grace Zoro did. It was like a breath to him, not of relief or anything like that. It was simply just how easily he sliced her open, barely having to think about it.

“You don’t deserve Sanji.” He whispered, and the door creaked. It was Mr. Five, clueless his partner was down, walking with his head down. Zoro didn’t even realize his feet had left the ground, not until he heard Mr. Five gasp for air and him choke on blood, cut down in the same way.

Kill the rest.

He took down two of them already with ease. The others were unsuspecting, maybe even heavily intoxicated from the sounds of a party earlier below him. He still didn’t care about what happened to them, so why should he care if he slaughtered them? They were aiding Crocodile. They were part of him, extensions. To hurt them was to hurt him. His plan would fall apart with them all dead, and Zoro would have the honor of showing the Warlord his failure before he was beheaded, keeping his face frozen in shock and dismay forever.

“Zoro…no matter what happens, stay Zoro for me.”

Sanji.

What would Sanji think?

“Am I still that Zoro, cook? Sanji, if you could see me now, am I the man you smiled at before you were dropped? If I hold you, is it still nice? Can you love me like this? I-I want you to love me. I want to be the person you love so if you saw me right now and I told you everything…would you love me back?”

Of course he was different. He wasn’t even the same person he was three days ago. Was he too different though? Did he enjoy killing and was he taking it too far now? Was he a monster now? No, it was survival, but he didn’t have to kill the people below him. Was it just Kitetsu trying to convince him to embrace the demon he could be? He could finally be suffering the consequences of using a cursed sword but what if it was all him? If he had a cursed sword made no difference if this was his true ambitions, his desire for worthless bloodshed.

Zoro fell to the ground, covering his ears and holding back tears. Tears? Over this? Over wondering if he was still a good person or even a person? Was he turning into a demon? Did Crocodile turn him into more than an agent? What if he just gave Zoro the opportunity to be who he truly was?

No.

He was a good person.

He was a person.

He just killed to survive and get by.

He had to look after himself.

That was the truth.

Yes?

No.

No.

No.

No.

“Stop it.”

No.

No.

No.

“Stop it. Zoro.”

No.

No.

“Zoro!”

No.

“STOP IT!”

Roronoa Zoro was sobbing on a rooftop in Alubarna, wearing the clothes Crocodile wanted him to with his ‘fellow agents’’ blood seeping towards him, concerned if he was someone, much less someone a cook would love.

His eyes caught a glimmer of light and he saw himself in Kitetsu’s bloody reflection. When was the last time he saw himself, if he was still himself? He didn’t look in the mirror the day before so the day Sanji was shredded, the first time he wore Mr. Point One’s clothing. 

He didn’t look the same even from just days ago. Maybe it was the darkness of night, but his hair wasn’t the same color it had been his entire life, the hair his mother  would wash, his moss-head. And his face wasn’t the same. He was thin and pale, his eyes far more sunken than they should be. And god, he could never get rid of the blood. Even when Zoro washed it off, he remained covered in blood.

“Sanji…is this how you see me now?” He shivered at the realization. Zoro could care less about how everyone else saw him. They were nobodies who meant nothing but rage and anger to him, with the slightest exception of Robin. But Sanji? Sanji had woken up and saw this in his face? Holding him tight like he was a possession? How hasn’t he screamed in fear and pushed Zoro away? He had been afraid of the refined Crocodile and embracing this creature of death, a true demon.

“How can you want this?” 

Who would want this?

Zoro heard movement in the stairwell. The other agents must have heard him or got suspicious of where the others were. He held his breath, sheathing Kitetsu and making a run for it. He wasn’t running, but there was speed in every leap he made across the roofs, not having any direction in mind as he realized he was getting closer to the edge of the city. Maybe it would be better for him to be close to the palace for the ambush. And so mindlessly, he turned to the direction. Zoro was usually not the most agile but there was something different about tonight, gliding roof to roof. Just as he thought he was in front of the castle, his vision would shift and he was on the other edge of town. 

You can keep running and still not end up where you need to be.

You’ll always end up lost.

Zoro’s leg began to tire and the moment he stopped, he laughed. Sanji would have taunted him and kept running, never tiring. For someone who had spent most of his life on the water, he could run forever. Shortly after Arlong Park, they stopped at an island for the day and a group of idiots challenged them to a race, betting ten thousand berries. Maybe he was fueled by love for Nami, but Sanji won that race in just a few minutes and when he got challenged again, he still won even though his opponent had a minute head start.

He’d run like that again, right? The cook could recover. Zoro knew his Sanji was strong, one of the strongest people he ever met, so he could run a race again, right?

Zoro looked back to the open desert, probably in the wrong direction. He felt his body shaking and he didn’t know why. Was he cold? Was Sanji cold out there, all alone? Was he wishing Zoro wasn’t stubborn and had come along with him when there was the perfect chance? Did he hate Zoro now because he was so stubborn, and was he seeing Zoro for the monster he could very likely be? The one he was turning into physically?

Zoro shook his head, trying not to get lost in it again. If he didn’t think about who he was and how he looked, he didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know if he had turned into a monster or not. But if he didn’t think about that, didn’t think of himself, didn’t hold himself to any regard, he wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t nothing. He was still something. 

Zoro just didn’t want to know what that something was, not if it wasn’t any good.

Chapter Text

“So my entire crew, which now consists of a talking mini-reindeer, is here in Alabasta?”

Sanji wanted to hear Ace say it one more time, even though he had confirmed ten times over that yes, his expanding crew was in Alabasta, and they were looking for Sanji and Zoro. They were hell-bent on retrieving their crew alive and in one piece. Ace quoted Luffy saying that if his crew was hurt in any way, Crocodile would face the same and worse until he was beginning to be killed or turned into the Marines, and Sanji tried not to be sadistic. He liked to teach people a lesson even if it hurt them a little bit, but to a certain extent. He wasn’t his brothers and he never would be, but he would allow for Crocodile to suffer in the worst ways possible. He wouldn’t stop Luffy and Zoro, not that he knew how to, the stubborn brutes. 

“They’re all here and ready to get you and Zoro back. Should be at Rainbase by now, probably with the rebel army,” Ace took a swing of his own water jug. It was probably close to midnight now and Sanji couldn’t rest. Ace would periodically and unexpectedly pass out for a few moments, but Sanji couldn’t close his eyes. He wasn’t tired at all, not even from the fight.

His leg still hurt.

Maybe that was why.

Because his leg hurt.

Really fucking badly.

Sanji had barely moved since Ace saved him. He would fight again if he had to, but otherwise he wouldn’t even bend his left leg. It had to be broken again, and if it wasn’t, moving it would cause it to break. He could trace every crack in his unhealed bones, and there was tight yet fluid pain in his muscles. This was nothing like the pain he had behind his ear. For some reason, feeling like his jaw would fall off was better than this. The nail never did enough damage to truly damage his jaw and it was an irrational fear, but it was fear. Sanji used to have crying fits whenever Zeff accidentally kicked him too hard on the left side and there was a slight pop in his jaw. After that, if Zeff was going to discipline him, he kicked his right side. Sanji never explained why he cried so much when his jaw hurt, or really anything about his flinches and panic attacks. Zeff didn’t ask.

Thank god.

“Are you alright? I figured you would be hurt but is there anything I can do? You just seem…”

Please don’t say weak.

Please don’t say weak.

Please don’t say weak.

“...really uncomfortable and more like something’s bothering you.” 

Sanji sighed and he didn’t know how to explain himself to Ace, not that he really wanted to. Would he be weak then? He had heard about Portgas D. Ace from Marine customers at the Baratie, a Whitebeard pirate with the power of the Flame-Flame fruit, an annoying menace according to one captain. And apparently he was Luffy’s brother which made too much sense when Sanji thought about it. The two were so similar yet so different, as normal siblings were.

“Mm, I’m just hurt, and I’m tired, and ready to leave this country.” He whined, trying to figure out the constellations above him. The desert was shockingly cold at night compared to heat from the day. Sanji was wrapped in his cloak and a blanket, still slightly shivering. The fire Ace started did help some, but the cold wouldn’t leave.

It was cold like a hospital room.

“You don’t have to stay with me, Ace. I know you’re after Blackbeard and I don’t want to slow you down. I’ll head to Alubarna sometime tomorrow and reunite with Zoro. I’m sure the rest of the crew will be there.”

“Nonsense! Look, you’re my little brother’s friend and I don’t want to leave you alone out here. You’re good company, Sanji…and we might make way for Alubarna soon.”

What?

“If this Crocodile is as bad as you say he is, and if there are deadly assassins on his side, then damn it, I have to go and help my brother. He can handle himself, but he’s still a kid. And it’s a real long shot, but maybe someone knows about Blackbeard and where he is.”

“Are you sure? Enough people have been hurt by Crocodile already and it’s shitty enough my crew is probably going to get hurt. You don’t have to be a part of this.” 

“Eh, I can take a beating.” Ace laughed, igniting a small flame in his right hand and letting the fire dance along his fingers. Sanji felt his stomach churn as Ace laughed louder and louder. It was because he was weak. Sanji knew it in the back of his mind, Ace was staying because Sanji couldn’t properly defend himself. If Ace hadn’t shown up earlier, Sanji would be back in hell in Zekiel’s sick clutches. He couldn’t hold his own like he used to, and just because Crocodile was supposed to be defeated by tomorrow night didn’t mean the fight would be over. The moment he stepped into the city, he could be taken down by basically anyone.

He still needed others to protect him and keep him alive.

Still weak. 

Still useless.

Still Sanji in the worst way possible.

“Thank you.”

“No problem! And I kind of want to meet this infamous Zoro. I’ve heard a lot about him and I wa-”

Ace slumped over and if Sanji hadn’t seen him fall asleep three times already, he would think the pirate had suddenly died. He took a deep breath and an impulse took over Sanji. He had yet to see his new scar that he didn’t know how to explain to his crew. 

It was simple, Crocodile skewered him and then cleaved him. But how did he tell his crew that? He knew how Zoro felt guilty despite none of it being his fault. And Sanji knew Luffy took things very personally when it came to his crew. He saw the vengeance his captain took out on Arlong. Crocodile would be dealt with by then but still. And it was different. Nami hadn’t been part of the crew when her pain began. Luffy did everything could for her, but not Sanji. 

Sanji could hear his captain apologizing for not being there and letting Sanji be hurt for so long. Just like Zoro, it wasn’t his fault, but he would still blame himself. Would they all? Would the entire crew cry because they couldn’t save and protect Sanji, because he couldn’t defend himself and needed others to rescue him? 

Fragile.

Too fragile.

So easy to break.

And so frail.

Unable to hold his own.

Always getting hurt.

Hurting others because he was burdening them.

Burden.

To know Sanji was a burden.

He was a burden.

Did he go back to Zoro? Did he deserve to go back to Zoro? He knew he had to because Zoro wanted him. Somehow Zoro wanted him despite Sanji being who he was. He had hurt Zoro enough and so he had to give him something. Maybe Zoro would fall out of love with him. As in love as Sanji was with him, really? 

Him?

Sanji had been trying to convince himself since hearing Zoro’s confession he was worthy of that love and he wouldn’t drag Zoro down, but life kept proving him otherwise. Maybe all Sanji needed was time but there didn’t feel like any. He felt like he had to be the man Zoro thought he was in love with now. The person he described that night, Sanji wanted to be that person.

He just didn’t know if it was possible.

“You’re too pretty to cry, even if you are a pretty crier.” Ace whispered as his warm fingers brushed across Sanji’s face. The cook didn’t even realize he had been crying.

How pathetic.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m sure you went through a lot, more than what most can handle. I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, or why you barely move your legs, but you’ll be okay. I’ll get you your swordsman and you will be okay, Sanji.” Ace promised in a way as he wiped the tears away. Sanji bit the inside of his lip and nodded, wanting to believe that promise would come true.

“Thank you, Ace.”

“Of course! I help out my brother’s friends, especially when they’re as stunning as you.”

The Sanji from a week ago would have either flirted back or tried to pretend he was only interested in women. Ace’s words didn’t mean anything to him. They were just words, barely a compliment. Sure, Ace was handsome and would be the ideal man to be with, even for a night. But Sanji didn’t want a night with someone anymore. He wanted someone for the rest of his life, and that someone could only be Zoro. As much as he didn’t know if it was right for them to have something, it was his every fantasy and one of the few thoughts that could bring him joy. He had been in love with Zoro for only a few days and known him for a few weeks, but Sanji would spend his entire life with him in a heartbeat.

“You’re a good person, Ace.”

“And you’re the swordsman’s, aren’t you?” He mumbled with a smile and disappointment. He leaned back and for the first time, Sanji rejected someone and for the first time, rejection didn’t hurt him. There was someone waiting for him he didn’t have to reject, and who wouldn’t reject him. “From what I heard, you two argue day and night. Seems like that isn’t the case anymore.”

“Amazing the conditions you can be in and find a way to fall in love with someone, even someone you’re purposely kicked in the face and insulted more than once. It just-he said somethings that made me realize, and if he really wants me to be his, I will.”

“So what you’re saying is if I met you a week earlier, I’d have a chance. Dang, and you’re really pretty,”

Just words to Sanji.

“But I’ll get you back to him and let you be happy. I need to find Blackbeard before anything else, after this of course.”

“I’ve said it eighteen times already, but thank you.” 

Ace chuckled and took Sanji’s right hand, kissing it and leaning away. He looked over at the accellegator, who hadn’t woken up this entire time.

“Anything you need, Blondie. Say, how do you think we wake that thing up?”

“I’m not sure if I want to find that out. Should be up in time for us to leave.”

“Well, when I said we might be heading for Alubarna soon, I meant right about now.”

“NOW?!?!” Sanji sat straight up, pain searing through him. He wanted to immediately head to the city where a massive battle was about to break out? Was he going to risk his life for Sanji? No, he already said he was doing this for Luffy and he had no problem stalling his mission for another day for a fight. And he could fight. He had a powerful devil fruit on his side and growing up with Luffy had to toughen him up.

And what was Sanji supposed to do? Babysit a giant gator? Find refuge in some cave with the civilians until the dust cleared? Would Zeff kick him for not fighting or being so stubborn and trying to when he couldn’t even properly stand? 

He might have to ask Ace to knock him out and let him wake up in Zoro’s arms, the nicest place he could think of. 

“Hell yeah! We should make it just time for the main show! I’ve heard about these animals and that they’re crazy fast. Also heard they aren’t wild and you’ve made it this far on one. What’s a little cross-country trip?” Ace jumped to his feet and Luffy didn’t know if they were blood brothers or not, but there was no doubting their bond now. They shared the same sense of careless adventure.

He hoped the crew was alright after surviving the duo.

“I got a map somewhere around here! I think Alubarna is northeast and our friend should be able to swim across that river. Gee, wonder how Luff is getting over.” Ace mumbled, going through his bag. Sanji whimpered, grabbing his knees. He wasn’t about to ask Ace to drag him a few feet. And he got himself up earlier. He could make it.

He could make it?

“You’ll make it.”

For a second, he imagined himself after a ‘fight’ with his brothers. He’d be down on the ground but eventually he had to get up. He had to go see his mom. Reiju wasn’t around to help him and there was no one else, so he had to help himself. There wasn’t sand under his hands, but stone that was wet with his blood. The night sky was a dark hallway. He’d always bite the left inside of his mouth, focusing all the pain to one place. Pain was a signal to the brain that the body was hurt and needed to be taken care of. It couldn’t be ignored, but it could be refocused. His mind was more focused on the newest injury and slightly eased him. 

He pushed off on his right side, trying to focus his weight onto that side. His left and ruined side didn’t exist for a moment. It was just like getting out of bed as his body rose, something completely natural and easy. And when his left leg was in the air, he imagined it like sitting up, not a lot of force needed to balance himself.

And like a toddler, he was standing on his own.

That was the easy part.

Now he had to walk.

He lifted his left foot first, hoping his right foot was enough to balance him. It was only a few inches, but he still felt his entire leg, every muscle and bone, the arteries and veins, the connective tissue that struggled to keep him together, everything. 

Sanj should be used to the recurring pain. He suffered through it earlier and managed to kick someone. It was nothing new but his body just wasn’t used to it. He couldn’t redirect his focus this time because he would still be thinking about his leg. If his leg didn't break, it would fall off. His leg would be damaged again. It was inevitable.

But that didn't mean now.

Sanji put his foor down. 

He made one step.

It wasn’t miraculous or anything grand, more like a scuffle, but he still managed to move, and he did again, and again, and his leg hurt more with every step. It was enough to make him fall and sob, just a few little steps. It couldn’t stay like this. He needed little steps to cook properly. Sanji never worried about that, only his hands. It was only a few steps to reach for seasoning or retrieve a new ingredient. 

“Just a few steps.” He mumbled, getting closer and closer to the gator that was now stirring.

“Need any help, Sanji? You look like you’re really hurting. Your leg acting up?” Ace gasped, putting the map down from the gator’s back  and looking at Sanji in distress, the same way Luffy did with a different face. 

“I got it. I-I got to do this on my own.”

“Whatever you say. You don’t mind holding onto my waist for a few hours, do you?” Ace snickered as he lightly kicked the gator, now half awake. “I don’t bite, I promise!”

“Eh, all good. It’s how we get to Alubarna…”

“To Zoro?”

“That idiot as well.”

Sanji, with worsening pain and a voice telling him his leg would snap and be worse than before, made it the ten feet to the accellegator. Ace started to whistle and clap his hands, showing Sanji with compliments. 

“It’s nothing big.” He moaned as Ace helped him up. The strain in his left leg was immense, a split second of the worst pain he had ever felt, every injury handed to him localized in one limb. He went limp for a second, clutching to Ace as though his life depended on it.

“Sure you’re alright?”

“I…I will be.” He mumbled as he found his place on the saddle, moving his arms down to cling to Ace. 

The pain was gone.

It had been all he could feel one second ago and now it was gone. His mind was still focused on his leg but there was nothing to focus on. He still felt his leg. It wasn’t the paralysis. 

Would it stay like this? The pain randomly appearing and disappearing with the different movements of his leg? He was supposed to adapt to that? 

Maybe it was better if he did die.

Everything would be less complicated for everyone.

“Hey, you are going to be fine. This Crocodile will get taken down, this country will be saved, and you can be with Zoro for the rest of your life on my brother’s ship. I heard about how you and Luffy met, and about Arlong Park. You’re a strong person, even when you’re hurt. Before you know, you’ll be kicking Luffy in the head for taking all the food and dancing around that nice kitchen of yours. A lot of people believe in you.”

Sanji nodded and weariness took over him. Now he was tired? On the back of an accellegator while holding onto his captain’s brother? He supposed he did need some rest, and he could wake up in Zoro’s arms just as he dreamed. 

He could be alright.

“Alright, so how do we get this thing to get go-”

WHOOSH

Chapter Text

 Nami had only stopped crying when the others all thought she would pass out from exhaustion and dehydration. That was how they realized Luffy had their water, who was still in Rainbase fighting Crocodile. Chopper had advised her to lay still and try to rest, but he only got her to be still. Still, Vivi had to hold her and assure her everything was alright. She told them everything that Miss All Sunday told her, that Zoro and Sanji were fine and by the next night, they would be a whole crew who saved Alabasta. 

But Nami was holding onto the proof they weren’t alright.

Zoro would have an X on his chest now if the hook dug deep enough. She had no evidence Crocodile cut them with his hook but she knew. At least the back of the shirt was still intact. He didn’t have any physical shame, but she knew he had to be kicking himself for working for Crocodile. He was the most loyal person she had ever met, which had its many pros and cons. If the crew was told the truth via Miss All Sunday, Nami was forced to imagine the horrible things Crocodile did to Sanji to push Zoro into that position.

But regardless, he could still be alive.

She didn’t think Sanji was alive.

Nami just about threw up when crumbs of flesh fell out of the shirt. That was before she saw the evidence of maiming in the remains of his shirt. It was supposed to be blue. On Little Garden, he was wearing a blue dress shirt. This shirt was nearly red. There were only splatters of blue, mostly near the shoulders. And Sanji was careful about his shirts. He washed them if there was even one stain and ironed them if there was a single crease. This shirt was hanging together by a few threads where the right hip would be, where most of the vital organs would be, and the way the tear went, it was possible a lung was shredded.

How could he survive that?

How could anyone?

And who was to say they weren’t tortured in other shirts? What about their legs and faces? Hands, oh god their hands. Zoro was a swordsman and Sanji was a chef. They needed their hands. Sanji valued his hands above all else. Did they still have their hands? Did that even matter because they could actually be dead? She saw those giant gators and she couldn’t help but think what if her friends were eaten alive? Crocodile seemed like the type to do that. He would enjoy that. She also knew this had to last for some time. Zoro’s blood was older than Sanji’s for some reason. Was this days of collective torture? Did he take their shirts whenever they died? Was that it?

How did they tell Zeff? If he truly was dead, how could she make that call? How did she explain to the restaurant that loved Sanji like a son that he was dead, tortured to death by a Warlord? Maybe she didn’t tell them the truth but it felt wrong to lie to them. They deserved to know the truth but did they deserve this truth?

Did Zoro have anyone? There was Johnny and Yosaku somewhere back in the East Blue, but was there any family wondering where their green-haired loved one was? He never spoke of anyone but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there. She didn’t even know how to contact the only two friends she knew about so they would have to learn in the newspaper: Roronoa Zoro dead on the Grand Line! 

They wouldn’t have graves. Nami wanted to bury them. If they were dead, they deserved to be buried. Couldn’t Crocodile give them their bodies? Was that too much to ask for? Was all they had left of them everything on the Merry and two shirts? And what about their roles? Luffy said when they discovered Mr. 3 told the truth that no one would replace them and that he wouldn’t be King of Pirates without either of them. So what if they were actually dead? Would they have to cook sad meals for the rest of their lives, longing for Sanji’s grand meals? Would those weights scattered around the ship begin to collect dust and who would touch Zoro’s sake? Who would defend them now? Would they grow as a crew with two empty spots?

Did Nami ever let them know how much she truly appreciated them? She liked to drive Zoro up the walls and use Sanji for his free service. Maybe she said it after Arlong’s defeat but what about after? It just didn’t seem right for their relationship to be so quick when she was looking forward to a lifetime with them. Nami wanted to claim to know the world’s greatest swordsman and chart the All Bue on her map.

“Nami? Earth to Nami! It’s your sharpshooter!” 

She blinked and Nami remembered where she was, sitting on the back of a giant crab. Vivi was still holding onto her, like she had every night since. Genuinely, that was how she knew everything was real. Otherwise, Nami would slip away and tell herself over and over none of this was real, the last week was an awful nightmare. 

“I’m here.” She whispered.

“You sure?”

“I’m here, Usopp.”

“And soon everyone will be. Nami, here’s the thing about us. Things go wrong for a little bit and it all seems hopeless, but then it all works out in the end.” He chuckled. And that had been proven. Sometimes she was still in shock that she was free, that she no longer bore Arlong’s mark. Seeing her new tattoo took her back every now and then, but it was a reminder that despite eight years of pain and debt, things were alright now.

Things will be alright now.

Maybe only if she kept telling herself that.

“Nami, they’re alive.” Vivi brushed her hair and rested her head on the navigator’s shoulder.

“They’re hurt.”

“I can take care of them!” The little doctor waddled over with a beaming smile that gave Nami hope. “I can assess their injuries and I’ll take good care of them! I promise!”

She giggled a little bit and nodded. Chopper did help her on Drum Island and he seemed to know so much. So if Sanji and Zoro ended up back on the Merry alive with them, someone would be there to check up on them, maybe even lessen the scars they had to have now. 

“Thank you…”

“Do you want to tell me what’s on your mind, Nami? I’m trying to inspire hope and you still seem down.” Usopp crawled to her other side, holding onto her arm. He was trying to pull the shirts away from her. Everyone had offered to take them off Nami’s hands but if this really was what was left of her crewmates, she couldn’t let go, even for a second.

“Just…say we do get them back, and they’re alive, are they really fine?” Zoro became obsessed with strengthening himself after his battle with Mihawk. What would happen now? They weren’t getting the same Sanji and Zoro back, the ones she had grown to love and consider a part of her. It was too soon for anything to change. Did they want to come back? Zoro would likely stay by Luffy’s side but Sanji? She wanted to believe that. But at the same time, she knew how easy it was to leave someone you believed in because you just couldn’t. Whether it be obligations or your own personal pain, sometimes people wanted to disappear for a time.

“They’re both too stubborn to change that much. Just watch. It will take some adjustment, and then it will be like nothing ever happened!”

Nami had to remember that Usopp was a liar.

“And they can stay in Alabasta for as long as they would like! As long as you all would like! You’ll be my royal guests and receive the best we have to offer!” Vivi squealed, holding on a bit tighter.

Nami knew that Vivi wasn’t telling the whole truth. There were some things Miss All Sunday told her that she wouldn’t say. She could keep pushing but was it best for her to know? They could be alive but barely. 

It was all too much.

“Thank you, everyone.”

“Get some rest, Nami. I think we’ll need it.” Vivi mumbled. Usopp and Chopper agreed and they all huddled together, the bloody shirts in the middle. 

She would rest the moment she knew if  things were alright and it wasn’t just some lie. 

Chapter Text

It was good to be king. 

Crocodile overlooked the ancient city of Alubarna, which would soon be rubble. He and Robin were on the top of the palace, waiting to see the rebel army come. To some extent, it was a shame this would all be nothing in hours but necessary. This was a new era that needed the past to be destroyed. And it got rid of any evidence connecting him to the war. 

Maybe he could earn another reward for killing Monkey D. Luffy. It would be small money wise but it could help cement his reputation. Of course, he didn’t have a body to give to the government, and now that bastard Smoker was aware of the truth. He couldn’t have that man just disappear because that would silently confirm the rumors. Bribery? There was a lot Crocodile could offer him, or blackmail. Frankly, it was easier to blackmail someone than to bribe them. But what could he hold against that man? 

He’d have Robin deal with that. That was more of her speciality. 

“When do we begin?” Robin asked beside him, running her fingers over the brim of her hat. 

“We don’t. Soon the rebels will arrive and the bloodshed will be unstoppable. I’ll let that stew for some time before we ask the king about Pluton. I want to watch for a bit.”

“That’s concerning.”

“You speak as if you’re not my favorite assassin in the world.”

She chuckled and the moment was interrupted by the sound of a snail ringing. It came from Robin’s fur pocket. He ordered radio silence unless absolutely necessary, which meant someone fucked up. He wasn’t planning on killing off his agents before the bomb, but he had a kingdom to rule and no time for mistakes.

“And who is this?” 

“BON CLAY ER, MISTER TWO! OH, WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM! IT SEEMS YOUR LITTLE GREEN SWORDSMAN DECIDED TO CUT DOWN MISTER FIVE AND MISS VALENTINE AND NOW WE CAN’T FIND HIM!” 

“Damnit, I knew I should have killed him.” Crocodile mumbled, itching for Roronoa Zoro’s blood. Why did he play games with those two? He should have known the moment he looked away and the cook wasn’t near, Roronoa would act on his own agenda. And really was he worth it? He had all his billions to cause chaos in the street. Perhaps he just wanted to use him for as long as he could, enjoy his suffering. Sadistic and stupid. It should have ended the day before, brutally murder the cook instead of entrusting medicine to do his job and then take Roronoa's heart from his chest.

“He’s the most directionally challenged individual I’ve ever met! I would be shocked if you could.” Robin was laughing and it looked as if she didn’t care. Crocodile really didn’t know what to think. When she had plans, she liked to smile and annoy him, but she always pulled through. Was this one of those plans? Had she and Roronoa been conspiring against him this entire time? Crocodile wouldn’t be shocked but why would she reveal her true intentions so early? She didn’t have the upper hand yet.

It was possible she had a plan for Roronoa, a way to make him pay.

That's why she was smiling like that.

“WHAT DO WE DO?”

“Nothing.”

“MISS ALL SUNDAY! HE’S DANGEROUS! TWO OF US ARE NEARLY DEAD-”

“Listen to me for a minute. He probably found himself lost in a ditch. And who is going to believe him if he says anything? He’s a complete stranger carrying around swords which are now covered in blood saying the one person who took care of this country is trying to destroy it.” She said, straightening her back and deepening her voice. He couldn’t help but grin being reassured she was still on his side for the time being. It did make sense. Roronoa couldn’t help her find the poneglyph, so why use him? Perhaps his mind was clouded being so close to his final goal. 

“Miss All Sunday! Forgive me, but do we really let him wander around? Someone could know he’s Roronoa Zoro! An-”

“ Bentham ,”

Dangerous move using his true name, but effective.

“Focus on your mission right now…three o’clock. Sir, are those people on ducks over there?” Over to the east, in the very very far distance, he could see little figures, and it was very possible it was that stupid duck squad the king enlisted for the princess years ago. Fast animals, but they were still just measly ducks.

“WHAT DO MEAN D-”

She hung up the snail and stood up, holding her breath for a few seconds.

“I think the princess has arrived, with the last three Straw-Hats.”

“Good. They can die with everyone else. They’re far too late to stop this. Twelve o’clock. Do you see that as well?”

Just as far in the north direction, the rebel army was advancing, thousands of mindless soldiers riding to their unforeseen deaths. Somewhere, Kohza was hidden in their ranks. He was Crocodile’s favorite pawn. Over the past few years, he had done so much for Crocodile without knowing, destroying his country instead of liberating it. From what he heard, the boy had once been a good friend of the princess when they were young. That had to fuel him even more to kill every royal soldier.

“That’s a lot of resistance, which makes the population closer to a million and three hundred thousand. Sir, do you even have to blow up the city at this point? Everyone will be dead because they all killed each other. And imagine it, you step in and try to stop the violence. Imagine the glory that comes with savi-”

“Mind yourself, Nico Robin.”

He wasn’t interested in being a savior. That wasn’t who he was in the slightest, and he wouldn’t conform to anything of the sort.

“Should we worry about Roronoa? I don’t think he can ruin our plans now but what do I know?”

“You know more than most, hence why we are going to do nothing like you said. Maybe he’ll keep his silence thinking it will get his cook back. Oh, we should have told the staff we poisoned him. They’ll think they’re at fault.”

“You don’t actually care.” She scoffed.

“I don’t. Now let’s just sit back and watch as Alabasta falls. Been waiting too long for this.”

Chapter Text

“God, if you’re real, why do you have to keep FUCKING ME OVER LIKE THIS?” Nami screeched as she was chased by another Baroque Works agent, the big man who could turn his body to steel as she discovered trying to throw rocks at him. He found her after she defeated that sexy spiky lady, and Nami didn’t know how much fighting she had in her. She could barely run with her bleeding feet, but she didn’t want to die today for multiple reasons.

Where the hell was everyone? They all split up to distract the agents from going after Vivi, but that was a while ago. Why hadn’t they regrouped? Of course, Alubarna was a massive city, and they were actively fighting for their lives.

“GO AND PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, YOU STUPID BULLY!” She yelled as she turned a corner, one of her ankles rolling. She yelped and face planted, though she couldn’t feel it because of the throbbing in her feet. 

“Shit. Shit. No. Get up. Keep running. Hide. Just find a place to hide.” She whimpered. Arlong broke her ankle once and never got her any actual care. She survived, and she learned to walk with it, steal with it. “Come on, Nami. We got this.”

People were depending on her. Vivi, precious Vivi, she still needed Nami. Alabasta wasn’t saved yet. And she had to be reunited with Sanji and Zoro. She couldn’t die when one of them was possibly somewhere in the city and the other would arrive tonight. They all went through too much for that to happen.

She began to push herself up when she saw a shadow over her.

Shit.

“I don’t have specific orders to kill you, but I also don’t have orders to keep you alive.” He grumbled. That’s what the lady said, and Nami preferred her voice.

“If I were you, I would go and check on your friend really quickly. I left her a little shocked. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere!” Nami looked back at her new opponent, who was probably twice her height and maybe even larger than Arlong.

She could still use her clima-tact. Most everyone could be shocked, or she could cause him to overheat. She wasn’t sure if he could turn his whole body to steel yet, so maybe there was a weak spot. Maybe a change in temperature would disrupt him and leave him open to weaker attacks.

“I know you’re not. I’m ending this right for you.”

SHIT!

Another shadow appeared, from the rooftops. In a flash of a green, she saw someone lunging at the agent who had suddenly turned to steel with not one, not two, but three swords.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Zoro.

“NAMI, GET OUT OF HERE!”

It was Zoro.

“NAMI!”

She looked in front of her and saw him holding defense against the agent, who was pressing arms of steel against Zoro’s sword. As strong as Zoro was, she wasn’t sure about his abilities right now. He was fighting someone who essentially was a massive walking sword, and he was hurt. She could see cuts and bruises on his arms, not to mention the pain his chest had to be in.

“NA-”

“MY ANKLES HURT! I AM NOT DEAF YET, YOU MORON! AND I AM NOT LEAVING ALONE BECAUSE LAST TIME I DID, YOU GOT FUCKING CAPUTRED!” She yelled at him. Despite the gushing blood and swelling, she managed to get onto her feet. It was now two against one, and there was a possible plan.

He was steel, and steel rusted when it was humid. He may not rust immediately, but he should be slowed down some and maybe even weakened enough for Zoro to cut him properly. In order for her to do that, she needed to use multiple heat balls and rain tempo. She could do that where she was and it would take time, but she trusted that Zoro had enough in him.

“I HAVE A PLAN! KEEP HIM RIGHT HERE FOR ME!”

“GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! YOU ARE ALREADY HURT! DON’T GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE IT WORSE!” He jumped back before he dove for the man’s knees. Just in time, the other turned to steel and kicked Zoro into a building. Just as quickly, Zoro was back on his feet, and she saw his eyes. 

They were the eyes of a demon, the one she feared in the East Blue. Tales of a swordsman like no other. Not Dracule Mihawk, but a possible rival. She always believed there was a side to Zoro she had yet to see and maybe it was for the better she didn’t. Mihawk didn’t push him that far. Arlong and the fishmen didn’t push him that far.

Crocodile and Baroque Works did.

And damn her, she was friends with that demon and would help him bring Hell to this world if she had to.

“JUST KEEP HIM OCCUPIED AND WE CAN YELL ABOUT THIS LATER!” She began to form heat bubbles as Zoro launched a second attack. What was it? How did Crocodile bring out that demon? All she could think about was how fine he looked compared to what she thought, and that it had to be Sanji. 

Please don’t let a corpse show up tonight.

She alternated between heat and rain while Zoro kept fighting. He was cut and tossed around, but he didn’t let himself sit in pain for a moment. Multiple times, he was choking on blood but still trying to pierce the man. Would his swords rust too? She didn’t think about that and Nami could only hope the agent’s human body reacted quickly.

Not too far away, there was a massive battle surrounding them. How could they end this? Had Vivi stopped it and the peace just needed to spread? And why couldn’t someone else show up? Were Usopp and Chopper okay? What about Luffy? Luffy could own his hold against almost anyone but Crocodile was a devil from what little she knew about him.

No. Don’t think like that. Your entire crew will be here by tonight. Everyone will be together again.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE? IS THAT A MAGIC WAND?” He yelped, narrowly avoiding decapitation. She mumbled how Usopp had basically made her one, but it still had other uses. She didn’t respond, letting him focus on the fight. The agent seemed to tire some but not really, and Zoro couldn’t stay still. Normally, Zoro was a much ‘slower’ fighter. He took his time and rarely rushed into a battle. He would talk to his opponents to distract them while he thought of a finishing move. Not this time, however. 

She saw that it was fear keeping him moving. If she wasn’t there, it could be a slower fight. Before this, even if she was there, it would be slow.

Something horrible had to change that.

“IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING, DO IT NOW!”

It should be working now. She could feel the dampness in her hair and an invisible heaviness. The agent didn’t seem to be tiring or like he was affected by the humidity. Did she need more heat or more wetness? And what if she was just wasting her time?  

“I AM TRYING SOMETHING! ZORO, WHY DON’T WE JUST RUN? WE CAN RUN AWAY!” Nami whined, hoping for a second he would be a coward like Usopp. There was no reason to keep fighting if they could just escape, and their chance of winning seemed slim. 

“NO CHANCE IN HELL! I AM TAKING DOWN BAROQUE WORKS ONE-FUCKING-ASSHOLE AT A TIME!” He tried to go for the man’s neck but he stepped out of the way, letting Zoro fall on his face. The agent had the perfect opportunity to end Zoro right there, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned his steel head and looked at Nami. 

She whimpered and took one step back, her ankle burning and throbbing. She was in no condition to run, even go for a little jog. This agent could catch her seconds and he said he would end her life. She could hit him with a cool ball and possibly make him brittle. God why didn’t she do that from the beginning? But he could be made of low-carbon steel, in which case she couldn’t use heat as well.

They just started their journey. It couldn’t end now.

What if she hit him with hot and cold at the same time? And why was she thinking instead of acting?

“HEAT AND COOL BALL COMBO!” She screamed, doing what she could without moving her lower half. He turned his arms into steel but he acted like he was being stinged. So maybe she did have an attack against him. However, she tried it again and he took it with his human skin, to which he didn’t react. So he would have to kill her in this form. 

Which meant Zoro could attack from behind.

Nami saw blood erupt from the agent’s back and heard a raging scream like no other. The agent moved to the side and Zoro could have grown horns and a curly tail with a stinger at the end. It was unreal how demonic he truly was, and in the moment she was afraid of him, but Nami knew she would deck him in a week for sleeping through another storm.

“So that’s how you two are going to play. Smart, but not enough.” He sighed. Half of his body was steel and the other half was normal. He could alternate, but he would be too slow, even with Nami injured. 

Hopefully. 

“I got this, Nami. Thanks for the help.” He panted beside her, blood painting his face and dying his hair. She shook her head and stated she meant it when she said she wouldn’t leave him alone. He groaned but he didn’t bark at her this time.

“You look like shit, Zoro.”

“God, I did not miss you.”

“I didn’t either. Now help me beat this guy and I might reduce your debt.”

He chuckled and put the wado back in his mouth, raising his other two swords. The agent was waiting for them both, wondering who he would have to defend from first or both at once. He wouldn’t take the offensive when he knew how vulnerable he was right now.

A bullet changed that.

Nami didn’t know where it came from. She only felt it as it grazed her stomach. It wasn’t deep, but it still hurt and knocked her back. Her clima-tact left her hands and her foot lost the ground.  It was a quick moment that lasted for hours, a painful one. It wasn’t the worst pain of her life and she would be fine, after one minute of rest.

She fell onto her back and the world was completely silent. The agent was charging with a body of steel, and Zoro didn’t move. His wildness had been tamed and he just stood there, waiting for an attack. Now she wanted to yell and piss him off so he would embrace his inner demon and find a way to finish this guy.

He waited until possibly the last second, and he did something so demonic yet so angelic. 

He cut steel.

The agent bled all over and fell to the ground instantly, writhing in pain. She gasped, wondering if what she saw was real. He hadn’t made a dent on the agent earlier and now he was scarred all over his body.

Zoro collapsed to the ground and Nami’s heart tightened. 

“Help a swordsman up.” He chuckled. She held back a sob and crawled over to him, falling on top of him and hearing cracks in his ribs. 

“SORRY!”

“WITCH!”

She started to laugh as she eased up on him. Zoro was back. After one of the worst weeks of her life, Zoro was back, and he was fine. She knew he would be on his feet in a few minutes. He was already back to calling her a witch, as if nothing happened to change everything between them.

She felt his weak arms around him, and they were still for a moment. They were close but they rarely acted like it. Was this the first time she embraced Zoro like this?

Maybe she would do it more often.

“Are you okay?” She whispered.

“I am. I’m not that hurt and…I’m okay. We’re okay.”

She nodded and slowly sat up, wiping away her tears. Zoro was smiling under her, and besides the odd choice of clothing, he appeared to be the same Zoro from before, but she knew eventually she would see the change. Did he have those scars under his shirt, along with new ones that steel agent possibly gave him? Would his habits change for better or worse?

It didn’t matter now. 

All that mattered was he was back.

“You didn’t cry over me, did you?” He chuckled, and she slapped him. He gasped in pain but she didn’t even hit him that hard. She was going to wait a week before she stopped holding back and tried to knock him back to the East Blue.

“Barely even noticed you were gone. It was actually peaceful.” She huffed as she stood up, looking up to the sky. She couldn’t stop the tears. Or the joy that was keeping her awake and conscious. “Thanks for saving me back there. I was able to handle one of them but two are a bit outside of my range.”

“I think I have a few things to make up for. Caused you guys a week of stress.”

She whimpered and looked back at him. His eyes were teary and his smile was shaky. He didn’t blame himself, did he? Had he been drowning in self-loathing along with whatever torture Crocodile put him through?

Damn, she really had to show how much she cared for him now.

“Hey, will Sanji be here tonight? That’s what Miss All Sunday told us.”

“Robin talked to you guys? Thought she would try to keep an appearance but yeah. Cook should be here at some point tonight.” Robin? Why was he on a first name basis with Miss All Sunday, and why did he seem to like her? Didn’t matter. She would ask about everything that happened once everyone was together and could hear their story, if they wanted to tell it. 

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah, but it hurts like hell.”

He nodded and ripped his shirt off like a barbarian, using the strips as bandages. His hands were shaking as he did it, and he hesitated to wrap her stomach. There was a fear in his eyes that told her this wasn’t the first time he had to care for someone who was hurt like she was, and she had a good idea of who it was.

“We’re all alive, Zoro. We’re going to sail away once this country is liberated, and damn us to hell if we allow something like this again. If it does, then we’ll fight and fight and remind people we’re not the pirates to mess with.” 

“Can you see the future now, witch?”

“Your debt has earned a twenty thousand percent interest rate.”

He began to yell how unfair she was and Nami couldn’t hold back her laughter. It hurt to laugh but she did it anyway. They hadn’t been reunited for five minutes and they were back to the way they were. Maybe she could deck him right now and not hold back.

He smiled as he stood up, pulling her up as well. He picked her up and began to limp away from the battle, carrying her bridal style. 

“I missed you, Zoro.”

“Missed you too, navigator.”

Chapter Text

He might have to kick Luffy for never mentioning how beautiful Sanji was. The handsome cook rested against his back, finally asleep after who knew how long. The accellegator was walking now, still at a fast pace though. Ace was relieved when he felt his body fall against his own, the little breaths assuring Ace he was alive.

He was a bit jealous of the swordsman for taking the cook’s heart after Ace was told they hated each other. He really thought for a few hours he could at least steal a kiss and have even more reason to visit Luffy more often once Blackbeard was dead. But when he mentioned Zoro, the cook seemed to be without pain.

Ace saw the entire time how he was suffering. After the man had burned to death, Sanji wouldn’t move. Ace thought it was fear for a long time until he heard Sanji’s story, and realized he probably had to be experiencing some of the worst pain of his life. He saw how in the slightest movements caused him to shake and wince. Then Ace noticed the healed cuts on his and when he stretched his arms as the sun set, his entire torso was bandaged.

He didn’t know too much about Crocodile. Jinbe hadn’t mentioned him before, not that Ace really cared to learn about the Warlords after defeating that one. Ace never actually caught his name and never thought to ask. It didn’t really matter if he knew anything or not, because most everyone was mortal and could be punched. End of the day, the bastard was a human that Luffy would put an end to.  

Ace just needed to get Sanji to Alubarna and reunited. Part of him wanted to stay and keep an eye on Luffy for a little bit longer, make sure he was alright. The other part of him was telling him to leave as soon as he could to track down Blackbeard. He couldn’t waste anymore time. The sooner he was dead, the better for everyone.

There were a few times Ace fell asleep, and he woke up sideways on the gator with Sanji still attached to him. Despite his panic and yelling, the poor cook still slept. If Ace didn’t know he was loyal to his brother, he would offer him a position with the Whitebeard Pirates. He wouldn’t be Tatch’s replacement, no one could replace him, but every good crew needed a cook, especially pretty cooks, and ones who could bring nostalgia to his captain.

Whitebeard once mentioned that about a decade ago, he had dealt with a pirate who would kick you one second and then prepare possibly the best meal of your life the next, Red-Leg Zeff. Apparently after sometime, he returned to the East Blue and after retiring from piracy, opened a floating restaurant called the Baratie, the same one Sanji happened to mention working at for most of his life because he was the ‘son’ of the owner.

“Ah, pops would love you. He’s always looking for a new son and you would fit right in. You could tell your actual old man you met an old friend of his, or, accomplice at the very least. If Luffy didn’t lie, you would probably end up kicking half of the crew but that’s alright.” Ace chuckled, trying to keep himself awake as the day went on and they were still essentially stranded. They were heading in the right direction still, thank god, but Alabasta, as Ace had discovered, was fucking massive.

But eventually, he saw the shape of a giant mound in the distance which turned into a city, Alubarna. Even from so far away, he could hear the war. It was well past morning now, and it didn’t sound like the fight was ending soon. He wondered if it was smart to take Sanji to that bloodfest in his condition, but he didn’t have to fight. He could just sit on the sidelines until someone ruled victorious. That way, in the smallest and worst chance Luffy didn’t succeed, Ace was able to get him out of there in an instant.

“Hey, blondie,” Ace lightly nudged him. “We made it to Alubarna. Your swordsman is waiting for you.” 

Sanji groaned and slightly lifted his head, his grip around Ace tightening. He looked up and Ace saw a small little smile on his face, and mouthing the name of his lover. 

“I…we did it. It’s not just Zoro. They’re all here.”

“Oh yeah! The rest of your crew is here. You basically have an entire city waiting for you.” Sanji nodded and his head fell back. The one eye Ace could see was barely open, poor thing. “Sleep good, princess?”

“Mm, like a baby. Haven’t slept like that in awhile…and I can still feel my legs.”

“That’s good!”

Really? With the pain he’s in?

“Okay, we got two options here. One: we just sit back and wait until someone wins this or worse. Two: We charge right in there and maybe get ourselves killed along the way. I did my part in getting you here, now you chose what’s next.”

With no hesitation, Sanji told him they were staying and going to join the fight. He still had the guns from those pirates and Ace saw that he was a good shot, so he could help somewhat. He kept insisting he could kick but even if that was true, Ace was making sure he used his legs as little as possible. Of course, that could end with him getting kicked in the face.

He wouldn’t complain.

“Ya sure?”

“Yes. I can fight, and I will. Look, it has to be close to the end. Please, Ace. I can’t wait any longer for this.” He whined.

“Don’t worry, Sanji. I’m not here to hold you back, just hold you up. Do you have any idea where the safest place to enter is?”

“I’m presuming nowhere is that safe…those are some steep-ass stairs. And I think I got a plan.”

“Let’s hear it! Because I sure as hell don’t!”

“We use the gator as transportation, because I probably couldn’t make it ten steps. People will probably want to avoid this monster but that doesn’t mean people won’t shoot. You cover the front with your flames, and I got the back with the guns and hopefully I can nab some along the way. We don’t need to kill anyone, because I frankly don’t know who is on our side.” He sighed, his blue eye narrowing. “And if you see Luffy and want to go help him take on Crocodile, be my guest.”

Ace shook his head, promising not to leave Sanji’s side and he knew Luffy could handle himself. A little image of Dadan hitting them on the head and panicking once she learned her boys took down a Warlord each made him laugh and he couldn’t wait until the day came the three of them were together again after Luffy and Ace had grand adventures.

“Sounds go-”

There was a scream from the east, a high pitched scream that sounded like it belonged to a three-year old girl, but it was someone on ground level. Evacuations? Were some citizens trying to escape? But he didn’t see any masses below.

“That…that sounded too much like Usopp.” Sanji told him.

Aw shit, it did.

“Roger that. Looks like I’ll have two sharpshooters covering my back.” Ace steered the beast in the direction of the screams, which sounded painful. Just ahead, he saw…a ballerina beating up his brother’s sharpshooter. There was a ballerina kicking Usopp where it hurt all over and laughing in a villainous way. Well, at least today could be entertaining at the very least. 

“I got him. I’m the only person allowed to kick my stupid crew and I’m going to make sure that guy knows it.” He grumbled as he raised himself up. Ace kept very still, trying to be a good balance and trying to gain a bit of speed. The ballerina man had no idea what was happening behind him, completely caught up in the thrill of beating up someone.

“-morons! Sadly, I do like you Straw-Hats and am saddened we are enemies, but I have my allegiances and orders to kick your ass!” He laughed.

“Leave the kicking to me, ASSHOLE!” Sanji grunted as he leaped off of the gator without warning, his right foot aimed for the ballerina’s face. He barely had time to react before Sanji sent him flying in the air. Oh, Ace could fall in love if it was an option. The ballerina crashed into ancient pillars, one after the other. That much power in that much pain? Ace knew once Sanji had time to recover, he would be a threat to anyone who stood in his way. 

Sanji fell onto the ground and screamed in silence, reaching for his legs. Ace brought the gator to a halt and jumped after him, cursing his first name for letting Sanji do such a thing. Yes, he couldn’t have stopped him, but the cook was still writhing in pain.

“SANJI!” Ace slid next to him and cradled him, ready to just leave with him, even if Sanji hated him for it. He could take Sanji and Usopp away from this fight and let the other Straw-Hats finish this. He should, but Ace knew that would be the wrong thing. “HEY, THAT WAS BADASS BUT STUPID! I COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM DOWN OR BETTER YET, YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO LAUNCH AT HIM!”

“But I’m the kicker.” He snickered.

“Sanji?” A whimper was behind them. Ace peered over his shoulder and saw Usopp pushing himself up, covered in his blood and on the verge of tears. There was a deafening silence as Sanji crawled away from Ace, trying to support himself on his trembling legs.

“My kitchen better be intact, Usopp. I was only gone a week.”

“SAAAAANNNNNNJIIIIIIIII!!!” Usopp sprung to his feet and lunged at his cook, overwhelmed with tears. The cook opened his arms and broke into contiguous laughter that caused Ace to smile from ear to ear and laugh himself. Sanji embraced him and that hug had to hurt, but he didn’t seem to care holding his crewmate again.

“OH MY GOD, SANJI! IT’S YOU! YOU SAVED ME AND WAAAAAAAHHHHHH! WE GOT TOLD YOU WERE IN THE DESERT AND ZORO IS SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY AND I KNEW YOU WOULD BE FINE THIS ENTIRE TIME BUT I AM JUST SO RELIEVED TO SEE YOU! YOU ARE OKAY! SANJI!” After that, he was unintelligible in his speech, the meaning was there. Sanji leaned into the hug and eased themselves onto the sand. He didn’t look like he was in any pain, as if he didn’t just nearly break his leg kicking one person.

“Yeah, yeah. Good to see you too.” The cook sighed as he became teary eyed. “And my kitchen?”

“Nami kept it clean. We didn’t really use it but Nami kept it clean. We really missed you. We-I’m sorry no one was there when you and Zo-”

Sanji kicked him with his foot and shook his head, resting it on Usopp’s shoulder.

“None of that. If anything, more of us would have got captured and one of us could be dead. We’re all going to be together now and that’s what matters. We’re going to kick Crocodile’s ass into the sky and send him across the Grand Line, and we’re going to be a whole crew again.”

Usopp nodded and then began telling his preposterous lies of how he took command of the ship and led through an island filled with giant monsters and how he single-handedly defeated a portion of the Marines. Sanji rolled his eyes but he was still smiling.

“USOPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP! WAH! MONSTER!” The voice of a child screeched and not too far away, Ace saw a little fuzzball by clatters of ruins.

“...we really do have a reindeer doctor.” Sanji gasped. The little guy panicked and did his one-fourth hiding trick. He was shaking and staring at the accellegator with fear, and maybe didn’t notice who was standing right next to it. 

“CHOPPER! I THOUGHT I LOST YOU! OH, THIS IS SANJI! WE FINALLY GOT HIM BACK!” Usopp wailed. Chopper gasped and looked up. Usopp helped carry Sanji a little bit closer, trying to introduce the two. “Sanji, you will be happy to learn Chopper saved Nami and Luffy’s life after Nami got an infection and Lu-”

“NAMI GOT AN INFECTION? WHEN DID SH-” All three of them started to yell over each other and there was no need to ease them back into normalcy. Two of them had just met for the first time but the bond Luffy created between them connected them in an instant. That took some weird weight off of Ace’s heart.

A canon going off above reminded him of what was occurring, and that now he had three people to cover his rear.

“Intros and catching up later if you don’t mind,” he announced as he got to his feet, tilting his hat to block out the sun. “We have a war to help finish.”

Chapter Text

“I’M A NAVIGATOR! I KNOW DIRECTIONS, YA FOOL!” Nami yelled as she hit him on head for the fifth time since they reunited. Zoro groaned and turned in the ‘correct’ direction according to her. How would she know where the clocktower was when she had never been to Alburana before? She could be just as lost as him.

“The bomb isn’t going to blow. Robin said she dismantled it and cut off the failsafe. We should try to find the others and head to the palace. That’s where Crocodile is and I said I would kill him. Far as I know, the bastard is alive.” He grumbled. The idea of his soaking wet corpse with a missing head, that was why he hadn’t passed out yet. His entire body ached and Mr. One landed his fairshare of blows and cuts. He hadn’t slept in over a day, which was unlike him. “And how do you know Vivi isn’t at the palace? Sounds like the perfect place for her to be.”

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe she isn’t there but my gut is telling me to go there. And this is the same gut that got you to the Grand Line! So Vivi or not, we are going to the clocktower.”

Who was he of all people to question the navigator, even if she was following her gut?  Luckily, they hadn’t run into any agents and only two marines, but damn it, now the marines were here? Nami said that they ran into Smoker at Rainbase and he actually let them escape. If Usopp had said that, Zoro would have laughed and said it was a funny joke, but Nami told him that which led to his next horrible conclusion.

Tashigi was here.

Kuina was back to haunt him, in person now.

But he expected nothing less from her.

“This better be worth it. How are you managing?” He asked, trying not to look at her feet. Why could he have found her early, before she got hurt? Now two members of his crew could barely walk. Her ankles were completely shredded and he was astonished she was able to run at all. And she almost was torn apart with that bullet. Maybe it was a graze but he had had enough of seeing his crew in pieces. 

“I’ll be alright. Chopper will take care of me.”

“Chopper?”

“Oh, that’s right! You don’t know about Chopper! To make a long story short, I got really sick and we ended up at this winter island and Luffy literally climbed a mountain to get me to a doctor and I got better and he kicked a horrible king probably to the South Blue and now we have a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit as a doctor!”

What the fuck?

“Nami, how much blood have you lost?”

“Not that much! You’ll like Chopper. He’s very cute and a good doctor, and he loves compliments and candy.”

“He talks?”

“Obviously!”

“Nami…a fucking reindeer that talks is our fucking doctor and essentially the one who is going to keep us alive?” 

“Our captain is made of rubber. You have green hair and use three swords. The sharpshooter has the longest nose I have seen on a human and the cook has eyebrows that curl. I think a talking reindeer fits perfectly with this crew.” She sighed as she pointed to another alleyway. So maybe they looked a little weird, but this was a fucking animal, a reindeer! 

But if Nami said he was their doctor, Zoro would live with him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You’re going to ask anyway so just do.”

“Well, we got captured by Crocodile for a few hours-”

Zoro stopped in his tracks and could have thrown up. This happened yesterday. He was with Crocodile yesterday. Was this just after he left? He had left and his crew had finally shown up for him and the cook, and they were captured. He didn’t see any older wounds on Nami, they were all fresh, but could she be hiding them? What about Usopp and Luffy? Vivi? Nami had only mentioned Vivi so did something happen to the rest? No, they weren’t dead. Nami would have told him but they could still be hurt. Zoro saw what Crocodile considered fun and he would forever be feeling Sanji’s pain as his own. 

He didn’t need Luffy’s pain as well.

But you’ll take it, damn it.

“RORONOA! LISTEN TO ME!” He was hit on the head by the witch and for a second he considered dropping her, but he just tightened his grip on her and looked over her bleeding body again. “Zoro, I lost you for a second. What did he do?”

“Uh?”

“That sadistic monster, WHAT DID HE DO?!?!”

He didn’t need any more reason to kill the Warlord and he didn’t want any more. Sanji was enough.

“He…he just kept us in a cage and we almost drowned but we didn’t. He also gave us shirts, you and Sanji’s shirts. Zoro, your chest was cut open by him and S-San-Sanji…why was his blue shirt red? Why was there a tear in the middle of it? Zoro, what did he do to Sanji ?”

Oh.

He felt his arms weakening so he sat them down against a wall, protected by rubble. The clock tower and square were close. He could hear the fighting but he also heard Sanji’s screams and cries, felt his blood crusting on Zoro’s hands, everything.

“He…he used Sanji against me. I refused to work for him at first and I was thinking he would hurt me. He punched the cook, threw him around, tried to feed him to the gators and…”

Ripped him apart with his cook, and then rebuilt him like he was a broken toy.

He caught his breath and couldn’t look at Nami next to him. Tears were forming in her eyes and something hit him like a bullet. He would have to tell Luffy. Zoro would have to look at his captain and recite what happened to them, how and why Zoro turned to Baroque Works, the reason Sanji couldn’t move now and had a massive scar around his torso. He wasn’t disappointing his father or mentor, no this was much worse.

So much worse.

“Zoro-”

“Nami, what do you think happened?” 

“I think a lot of things happened. I just need you to tell me what because sooner or later, if I don’t learn the truth, my mind will pick one of these horrible scenarios to be the correct version of these events so please, before I have to ask Sanji because I don’t want to look him in the eye during this.”

Fair enough.

“You’ve seen Crocodile’s hook. I do-one minute we’re standing their arguing and the next he’s spewing blood and I caught him and I could feel the the hook and he couldn’t feel his legs an-”

“Is he paralyzed?” Nami almost gagged and she was beginning to sob based off of her distressed sounds. He turned in the other direction, biting his lips and feeling his hands shake.

“No uh, Robin got him help, convinced Crocodile to keep him alive and there were doctors so he can walk.”

Zoro had yet to see that. Sanji was barely able to move his legs when they were separated. Maybe he shouldn’t be saying the cook could walk and give Nami false hope. The cook couldn’t walk just yet and if he did, it was more of a limp and barely. This Chopper could help if he truly was a good doctor.

“That idiot is going to try to cook even if he can’t move his legs, uh?” Nami chuckled as she pushed herself up, clinging to the wall. Zoro sprang to his feet and helped her, but she stumbled out of his way. “You’re both too stubborn to let your injuries stop you from anything. I remember Arlong Park very well, how you both fought no matter how bad it got, and look how things ended. So…that idiot will be on his feet cooking in no time.”

Zoro was smiling imagining the cook as he truly was, standing in the kitchen and preparing the best meal Zoro would have for weeks until Sanji outdid himself again and again. You couldn’t tell the pain he had been through, hiding the scars and existing in his natural environment. 

So god help him, Zoro would get the cook back in the kitchen.

“Just down this alley is the squa-”

There was a loud explosion that made Zoro grab Nami and shield her. It wasn’t a bomb, but something had happened. Buildings were still standing and the explosion came from below, yet there wasn’t any massive earthquake. Was it an underground weapon, a part of Crocodile’s plan that hadn’t been disclosed to him that would be the end of it all?

“Holy shit. That’s fucking Crocodile.” Name gasped. Zoro almost snapped his neck and looked to the sky, seeing the limb Warlord in the air. He clutched his navigator tighter and this was his chance. Crocodile couldn’t attack him now and with the war still going on, who would care if Zoro took the man’s head? Why shouldn’t he? He had the perfect opportunity and after the last week of torture and every single time he touched Sanji, why shouldn’t Zoro take his life just like that?

“I’ll be right back.” He clutched the wado and he would have ran if Nami didn’t cling to his leg. She had resorted to sobbing and laid her head on his foot, begging him to stay.

“NAM-”

“ZORO, LUFFY BEAT HIM! LUFFY DID THAT! IT IS OVER AND WE NEED TO GO FIND EVERYONE! CROCODILE WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF!”

“I HAVE TO KILL HIM!”

“WHY?”

“YOU SAW HIS SHIRT! I TOLD YOU THE VAGUEST DETAILS OF WHAT CROCODILE DID! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW HORRIBLE THAT MAN IS AND IT IS FOR THE BETTER OF EVERY-FUCKING-ONE THAT HE IS DEAD!”

“BUT WHAT GOOD WILL IT DO? WHAT GOOD WILL IT DO SANJI? ZORO, HE ALREADY GOT HURT AND GOD DAMN IT, YOU CAN’T JUST RUN OFF! YOU’LL GET LOST AND CAPTURED AND THIS WILL START ALL OVER! AND IS IT WORTH IT? REALLY, WHAT DO YOU GAINING KILLING HIM? ZORO, LET HIM SUFFER WHILE LIVING AND LET’S MOVE PAST THIS!”

Let him suffer while living.

Oh, that was much worse than death.

But Zoro could still make him suffer. He could find the body that was barely alive and make him suffer before the Marines and government dealt with him. Zoro wanted to make Crocodile feel pain himself. He wanted to be Crocodile’s anguish and make him regret everything he had done.

“Then let me go take his other hand.”

“ZORO! IDIOT! HE WILL GET WHAT IS COMING TO HIM AND IF ANYTHING, HE WANTS YOU TO FIND HIM BECAUSE THAT’S HOW HE KNOWS HE WON AND HE BROKE YOU, THAT HE CHANGED YOU! DON’T GIVE HIM THE SATISFACTION! DISAPPOINTED THAT BASTARD AND DON’T LEAVE ME BEHIND!”

He straightened his back and tried to imagine his revenge that he had been cultivating for a week. All he wanted was for Crocodile to hurt and beg Zoro for mercy, apologize for his actions and receive nothing but pain. He wanted that so bad but that was just a fantasy. Was Crocodile the type of man to beg for mercy, or simply take what was given to him? Would it just be an embarrassment on his part and as Nami said, giving the bastard what he wanted?

But he wanted his blood. It wasn’t just his cursed sword. Zoro this entire time had wanted blood. 

But he was also sick of blood, and wanted to be clean for awhile.

“You say Luffy did that?”

“Yeah. The idiot stayed behind in Rainbase to fight him and I guess it just now ended, and our stupid captain won, but I had no doubt.”

Zoro scoffed and felt tears coming to his eyes. The war was still raging but not for him. He didn’t have to worry about Crocodile anymore. He would be taken to Impel Down and never see the light of day again, spend the rest of his miserable life in a cramped cell wondering what he did wrong and cursing the Straw-Hats forever. And Zoro and Sanji would sail until they found their dreams, side by side until they lost against death, which would not be an easy battle for either party.

“Nami, we can go back to Merry.”

“After we find Vivi and get my money, yes. After a few more peaceful things, we all will be on the Merry and sailing to our next adventure.” She sighed, letting his leg go. Zoro fell to his knees and maybe it was his body trying to tell him to rest, but he felt relieved. Nami curled up next to him and without saying anything, they were laughing. Who knew why, but the swordsman and navigator couldn’t stop.

“IT HURTS!” She almost choked between her tears.

“THEN STOP!” Zoro was unwilling to admit laughing also hurt him, but it was worth it.

Only the rain stopped them.

Zoro felt the drops on his head and just seconds he was soaked. They both silenced themselves and Nami was giddy with joy, mumbling about some kind of powder and how this was everything Alabasta needed. He noticed how quiet it truly was, the fighting over. Because of the rain? Zoro didn’t understand in the slightest but he accepted the rain and Crocodile’s flying body as the end of this conflict for everyone. 

“Pick me up and trust my sense of direction.”

And he did just that. Nami navigated them through the remains of war until they came across a battered man who Zoro instantly recognized as king Cobra from the brief moment he saw him the day before carrying Luffy.

“Hey! That’s my captain if you don’t mind!” Zoro gasped. The king looked at him and smiled, not knowing the crimes Zoro had done to his people.

“Well, then my kingdom is also in debt to you too! Don’t worry, he will live. He carried us to the surface before passing out. I’m going to take him back to the palace to be treated.” Cobra panted, taking one step forward. Nami awed in realization and got to her feet, leaning on Zoro for support.

“We’ll follow you in a bit. See, we’re sort of major criminals and with the Marines running around, it’s probably best for us to lie low for a little bit.” She explained. Cobra nodded and barely opened his mouth when there were two voices. One he knew as Vivi’s, calling for her dad after years of being apart. Another was one Zoro had never heard, yet they were calling Luffy’s name.

The princess appeared with a rugby man in a bright orange hat and they both had seen better days. Vivi wailed as she embraced her father, who was so tired and happy at once. The man slid next to them and eased Luffy into his arms. Zoro’s first instinct was to attack but Nami kept his hands down.

“ACE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“CHECKING UP ON MY LITTLE BROTHER-” Brother? Luffy had never once mentioned having a brother of any sort. If he turned his head, he could see a resemblance between them. And he was holding him like a brother should. 

“AND RETURNING YOUR COOK! FOUND SANJI IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT! OH, YOU HAVE TO BE ZORO, THE THREE-SWORD STYLE MOSSHEAD! NAME’S PORTG-”

“SANJI’S HERE?!?!” He and Nami screamed in unison. This idiot brought Sanji into a war zone? Zoro didn’t care if that was Luffy’s brother or not, that moron brought someone clearly injured to an active battleground and if the idiot wasn’t holding his captain, Zoro would have taken his hands.

This Ace nodded and Usopp started screaming from somewhere. Zoro unsheathed the wado and leapt forward, ready to continue the fighting if he had to. He heard another little voice, a child, scream as well, and then his cook laughing. 

When was the last time he heard that sound, giddy joy from the cook? It had to have been right before Crocodile tore him apart. It was when he fell from the ceiling and Zoro caught him, the first time he learned death didn’t come easy to the cook. Zoro had gotten used to hearing that sound everyday on the Merry that after days of silence, it was like as some would describe, the voice of an angel. 

He was being carried by Usopp, who was shaking in his pants and looked like he had been losing a fight at some point. On his leg was a fuzzball with a top hat that had antlers. Zoro had never actually seen a reindeer in his life but he presumed they all looked like that, minus the hat. And there was Sanji, holding his side and laughing. There were no new bruises or cuts and his legs were moving.

His legs, the ones he couldn’t feel as he slipped away in Zoro’s arms, were moving.

“SANJI! HOLY SHIT! IT’S YOU!” Nami pushed past Zoro, who was now the paralyzed one, and almost crushed him. He turned into the man who always doted on women, the one Zoro doubted could love him in that way, calling her his dearest Nami and happily accepting her with open arms, throwing Usopp off of him. 

“ZORO? ZORO! OH, AND ACE HAS LUFFY! WE’RE TOGETHER AGAIN! WAHOOOO!” Usopp sprung to his feet and stopped in front of Zoro, panting from exhortation and his bulging eyes locked in on the wado. “Nice to see you’re doing alright.”

“Been better,” He mumbled as he slowly put Kuina’s sword away. Ace was cradling Luffy on the ground and the little reindeer had run over to his side, going on about what treatments he needed that very instant. Zoro felt some tension go away because there was no one around to hurt them anymore. He didn’t need to have his swords out and be on guard. For the first time in a week, he didn’t have to worry.

“Missed you, Usopp”

The sniper teared up and latched onto Zoro, sobbing about how he missed him so much and nothing was the same and he was going to destroy the entire world government for the crew’s sake because well, technically Crocodile worked for them. Zoro rolled his eyes and accepted the sniper’s arms and blabber, but he turned his attention to a laugh he wanted to hear every second.

Sanji was almost on his knees for Nami, just as Zoro should have expected. He used her shoulder to stay standing as he begged her to forgive him for not being there when she was sick and that he would treat her kinder than any man before him. It hurt to see the cook in love even if it was normal, but it was normal. Zoro would have to take some comfort in Sanji’s lusting of Nami and other women, because that was the Sanji from before. Crocodile hadn’t changed him completely and hadn’t hurt him enough to take away who he truly was.

Still hurt.

“Hey, I’m tired. I mean I know we’ve all barely slept since Little Garden but I am just exhausted.” Usopp sighed, stumbling and swaying before his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He hit the ground with a thud and Nami giggled before lowering herself to the ground with Sanji’s help. She agreed and Zoro saw her peacefully close her eyes, in Sanji’s arms. Zoro’s breath hitched and there was a twist in his heart. 

“Oh, I should probably help them.” Little Chopper said before he fell on his back next to Luffy, and damn it, he was cute. At some point, Ace had fallen asleep by his brother, and Vivi was still in her father’s arms explaining the last two years and the last week or so.

“Zoro, come here.” The voice of a laughing angel almost whispered. Sanji has pushed his bang back for once and his eyes, pretty blue eyes to sail across, were so tired. Zoro obliged and fell on his knees next to Sanji, biting the inside of his lip because he was growing to love him more and more with every passing second and somehow refusing to accept the very real reality in front of him, that he would pick the navigator or any woman over him any day.

“I never want to leave your side again.” Sanji told him as he went limp. Zoro caught him and brushed the sand off of his resting face. So beautiful. Heh had been staring at his face for days and he was more beautiful every time Zoro laid eyes on him. The swordsman shook as he pressed his forehead against the cook, his eyes drearing with the world fading.

“I will fight Death himself to stay at your side.”

Chapter Text

“I can feel you breathing on my neck, Nami dear.” Sanji sighed as his eyes began to open. Zoro was wrapped around his chest, pressed into his shoulder. Nami was lying next to his back, two warm fingers on his carotid artery. By his knee, the new and little doctor was curled up in a small ball. Usopp was asleep next to the bed, resting by one of Sanji’s feet. He had been aware of her for maybe an hour now of his crew. Luffy would be somewhere in the mess if he wasn’t in his own bed, still asleep from his fight. Ace was lying on the floor next to his brother, and at some point Sanji overheard him say to Nami he’d stay on the floor until his stupid little brother woke up.

“You can feel me?”

“I can feel all of you. Lovely Nami, you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Please don’t.

“I’m trying not to, but I had a nightmare. I thought it was real. It was just this moment but you-I couldn’t feel your pulse. You couldn’t feel me. You couldn’t feel anything.”

Oh.

“I’m sorry to scare you, but I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. This is all over now.”

He hated lying to her. This was far from over. Physically? He was safe and couldn’t be hurt anymore, but the pain wasn’t leaving him anytime soon. Even now, he felt his leg and that something was just wrong. He almost wanted to kick the reindeer for making him aware of his leg. Chopper wasn’t even touching him but because Sanji knew he was by his leg, he was reminded he had one, and with that was the reminder of the only reason he could move.

Over time, he would forget about the device. If it weren’t for the scar, Sanji would have nothing but fear to remember it by. No matter where he did or didn’t push his back, he couldn’t feel it. Could that change? This wasn’t Zeff’s peg leg and his phantom pain. For months, Sanji would find the geezer trying to walk without a prosthetic, claiming his leg was there. There wasn’t anything missing from him, the complete opposite. And it wasn’t visible. Only Zoro knew. He skimmed over the details with Ace and luckily he didn’t push. 

Frankly, he didn’t want everyone else to know. He could explain the scar and if no one thought too hard about the fact he shouldn’t be able to walk, it wouldn’t be an issue. Chopper might have a multitude of questions, but he was a doctor. It could be a good idea to tell him, and Sanji knew a good doctor wouldn’t disclose medical information with others.

“Whatever helps you sleep.” Nami spat. 

“Obviously, it’s not.” That made her laugh and he almost forgot how beautiful of a laugh Nami had. He sighed and leaned into her, unintentionally taking Zoro with him who only gripped him tighter. Sanji began to run his fingers through his stupid moss hair. Was this their nightly routine now? Everytime Sanji woke up, there would be a swordsman pinning him down? It could become annoying when he had to get up early to cook for the crew, but Sanji would allow them to have a few moments before he began his day.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Zoro so snugged. Since when are you cuddle buddies?”

She was still laughing. 

“Since a few nights ago. I fell asleep on him one night and then he crawled up next to me. He’s not the worst to sleep with. It’s been awhile since I slept like this.” She nodded and pushed her head against his nape. Sanji was so delighted to hear Nami’s little chuckles and feel how her chest moved against him. “Are you alright, darling? Usopp told me you got sick and you almost died.”

“Eh, it’s fine. What’s important is we got you and Zoro back. I was more worried about you guys.”

It wasn’t because of him, right? Was the crew running around Little Garden and that’s how she got bitten by the bug? And more worried about them? She was dying and only thinking about them? He hated that, just like how he hated everything Zoro went through for him. People could tell him a million times different but Sanji knew he wasn’t worth that worry and hurt. And yet somehow people kept saying he was.

“Besides, Chopper took amazing care of me. We really found the best little doctor on the Grand Line. Just you wait and se-erm, wait. Let’s wait awhile before he has to be a doctor. I love him already but I think we’re gone through enough recently.” She gave a graceful yawn and kissed his cheek, telling him to try and rest.

“Only if you do, dear.”

She didn’t respond, already dozing off. Sanji winced and focused on the moonlight that was shining on a corner. In it, he saw a little rat nibbling on something. Despite being a chef, rats and mice were his favorite animals. He could always find them in Germa, and they were just little creatures that wouldn’t hurt him. They kept him company for those lonely six months in the cell. Whenever there were rodents on the Baratie, someone would be trying to kill the little thing before Sanji stepped in. He kept them as pets until Zeff made him release them at the docks. He hadn’t encountered any on the Merry yet, and he knew that somehow Luffy would cause the little thing to end up on a wanted poster, so maybe it was for the better that he just watched from across the room.

The little rat ran across the room and Sanji saw another one appear from a hole, standing on its hind legs to embrace their friend. Seeing the rats hug made him snicker, holding Zoro against his heart which he could feel every beat of: electricity inside of him telling his atrias to contract and then his ventricles, the quick yet never-ending process of a heartbeat. 

Reiju used to explain this to him, and some of his mom’s doctors would if he asked. It was amazing how the body worked, a human body. He was still human. His heart was contracting and releasing. The device didn’t change that but why would it? It was in his back.

Nami adjusted herself and was basically laying on his scar, accidentally moving her leg against his left one, and his entire body was numb except for his leg. It wasn’t pain, just knowing. He could take a pen and trace over every crack in his bones. He wasn’t moving and his leg was reminding him how fragile he was. 

Sanji whimpered and slowly moved his leg. The feeling didn’t change but that was a problem. No matter where his leg was, he couldn’t fix it. There was no comfort, no reassurance. 

“God damn it.” He mumbled, trying to maneuver the people around him so he could sit up. Unfortunately, Nami had wrapped herself around him and he couldn’t break from Zoro’s grip. He wouldn’t wake them up because he didn’t need the worry and a herd of doctors. “Get used to this. Nothing’s changing.” He gritted, tapping his fingers against Zoro’s skull.

“Cook?” The swordsman mumbled. Sanji stiffened up and pressed against Zoro. He didn’t need Zoro’s worry right now. All he wanted, what he needed, was just to be held and not think about how nothing would be right again. 

“Cook, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, please. Is it your leg? Is it hurting you?” 

“It’s nothing, Zoro. Go back to sleep.”

“Not until you’re honest with me.”

“Zoro…”

“Sanji, is your leg hurting you? I’m not going to stop and I will get the reindeer to check you out, and then I'll get the other doctors. Please, is your leg hurting you?”

Sanji whimpered and Zoro moved his hands, pushing himself up. The look on his face was the one from right before Sanji was dropped, maybe the same one when he was mutilated. Sanji wasn’t sick of his face but that look, that fear and worry he could live without. He wanted that smile from before he was stabbed, that laughter and relief. Maybe that would take away any other feeling.

“It…I just feel it. I can feel where it was broken. It doesn’t hurt, not really. I just...I know what happened and I'm being reminded something's not right.” That didn’t change Zoro’s face. “There’s nothing you can do about it. I don’t think a doctor can fix this.”

“Bu-”

“I didn’t even move my leg. Nami just touched it in her sleep. And it’s like I told you with the neck. This doesn’t go away. Comes and goes in waves.” He whined, watching as Zoro turned weary and sad. When would the stupid mosshead figure out he did everything he could, that at the end of the day, Sanji still got hurt and neither of them could heal that pain.

“That can’t be right. Fishmen exist, powers given by fruits, dragons and stupid clowns…you mean to tell me there’s nothing that can completely heal your leg? Th-there’s not even some stupid pill you could take,” Zoro reached down and pushed Sanji’s bang out of his way. He normally hated showing all of his face but for Zoro, he could care less. “It’s going to be like this until we die?”

Interesting. Until we die. Zoro really did mean every word from that night, hold him forever. Maybe that could take his pain, hearing Zoro tell him again how he loved Sanji, how he wanted him no matter how broken he had become and to have forever. 

“You’re the idiot who got his chest cut open, willingly if I may add. Does that not hurt every now and then?” Sanji snickered. Zoro scrunched his face into a hiss which turned into a boyish giggle. He laid down and resumed his position, mumbling how that pain was just a reminder of how he needed to become stronger for the crew. 

“And this will be the same for me. I’ll learn to kick through this so some marine doesn’t get the better of me, or if some green idiot pisses me off.” 

“Hey, I always have a good reason to piss you off. You’re fucking annoying.” 

“Oh, you think the world of me, Zoro.”

Zoro whimpered and simply said it was something like that, and his heart was hurting now. He just needed Zoro to say everything he wanted to Sanji’s face. He would say it back in an instant. 

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s something out there that can help me but it’s alright if there isn’t. Zoro, I’m still alive and I can move. And we’re back with the crew. Everything is the way it should be.”

“So what now, curly?”

“Hm?”

“…never mind.”

No, please. I need to hear you. Tell me how you want us to change, to make so I’m always in your arms. If one thing is going to change, let it be us. If we fight, let’s end each one with a kiss. If we yell, we apologize at the end. Don’t make us go back to the way we were. I don’t want that.

“Hey, what happened to you early? Who did you leave to die?”

“How do you know I did something like that?”

“Moron. You’re covered in bandages and you were covered in blood earlier, and you’re not known for going easy in a fight.” Zoro scoffed at that and mentioned an agent, the number one agent. He had been after Nami when Zoro happened upon them. Like every other agent, he had a Devil-Fruit power and his allowed him to turn his body to steel, a living sword.

“But as it turns out, I can cut through steel. I don’t think he’s dead, but he’s not in the best shape. Remember those two agents that took us here? Yeah, I didn’t leave them in the best shape last night. I almost went down and slaughtered the rest.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Zoro stiffened and started to trace behind Sanji’s ear, and he found the scar. The cook leaned into him and welcomed Zoro’s touch over a bad memory. 

“…because y...just didn’t…is this alright?” He muttered as he kept his finger over the scar, holding him so close they could merge their bodies.

“Zoro, I don’t care where you hold me. Just do it.” He grunted as he closed his eyes. His leg was still there trying to take his attention but Zoro’s little touch told him even if something happened, if he was hurt again, he wasn’t alone, and it was Zoro. Yes, he had his crew back and he would be on the sea and in his kitchen soon, but he didn’t have to worry about Zoro being taken from him, and they really could stay in each other’s arms forever.

And when Sanji heard a light snore, he swore to himself that in a week if Zoro hadn’t said anything, he would kiss that stupid moss-head and tell him he loved him.

Chapter Text

“Morning, idiot.” Ace whispered in his ear, just like how he used to wake Luffy up when they lived with Dadan. If he didn’t wake up, Ace would wet his finger and stick it in his ear and then after a fight, Dadan would hit both of them upside the head. Except Luffy was far from home where Dadan was, and Ace left a few days ago to go find Blackbeard, and why was he on the softest mattress in the world?

“Ace?”

“Yeah, it’s me. You feel alright? You’ve been out for three days.” Last he could remember was carrying the king and that woman out of the cavern, and everything became so dark. He defeated Crocodile somehow and really the last thing he remembered was wondering where Sanji and Zoro where, because damn it they weren’t dead. They had to be in Alubarna. The lady said they were. Was she here? Luffy wanted to ask for her help to find them, since she already helped his crew this far. Maybe he could help her in return.

Luffy’s vision adjusted and sure enough, his big brother was leaning over him with an evil grin and his wet pointer finger was getting too close to Luffy’s face.

“ACE! DON’T YOU DARE! YOUR WET WILLIES HURT!” Luffy screamed as he scrambled out of bed, avoiding Ace’s little attacks. From his blurred vision, Luffy figured they were in some kind of doctor’s office like the one Chopper worked in with the old lady, but this wasn’t the same one. 

“WAKEY WAKEY, LUFF!” Ace taunted as he chased him around the room. Luffy slid under a bed and almost knocked it over, which caused a few familiar people to scream and for his navigator to curse him out like she normally did Luffy.

“GOD, IS THERE NO BRAINS IN YOUR FAMILY? YOU REALLY THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO BE CHASING LUFFY AROUND LIKE THIS WHEN HE JUST WOKE UP FROM A THREE DAY COMA AND WHILE WE’RE STILL IN HERE?!?!” Nami screeched. Luffy crawled out from the bed when he heard a loud thud, and in front of him, Ace was on his knees begging for forgiveness and apologizing. “OH SHIT! LUFFY! YOU’RE AWAKE!”

Luffy laughed under the bed when there was a loud laugh he could have recognized from everywhere and anywhere, and then a head swung down and after too many days, he was looking at his vice captain.

“LUFFY!”

“ZORO!” 

He lunged forward and grabbed Zoro by the face, launching them into a wall. His wounds hurt a little but he didn’t care. He got Zoro back and he was just how Luffy remembered him, happy and smiling. Zoro wrapped his body around Luffy and growled at him, pulling at his ear and asking why he had to go and do that.

“ZORO, YOU’RE ALRIGHT! I KNEW THAT STUPID CROCODILE WAS LYING WHEN HE SAID YOU WERE DEAD! I MISSED YOU!”

“I MISSED YOU, CRAP CAPTAIN! AHAHAH! I KNEW YOU’D GET HERE EVENTUALLY! I SAW WHAT YOU DID TO THAT BASTARD! YOU SENT HIM FLYING!”

“YOU SAW THAT?!?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?!?!” Luffy gasped. Has he been in Alubarna for days waiting for Luffy and the rest? Maybe they should have just headed for the capital but then he may have not seen Ace, and he never would have met the nice old guy who gave him the water. And he still had Zoro so it all worked out.

“A day longer than you! Was hoping you would show up to the fight!” 

“Shishishishi, I should have known I could find Zoro wherever the fight was! You always get into them!”

“That’s the truth for better or worse.” Sanji said.

Sanji?

Luffy looked over Zoro’s shoulder and sitting up in the bed he was just under was his favorite cook in the world.

“SAAAANNNNNJJJJJJIIIIIIII!!!!” He leapt off of Zoro and almost collided with him before Nami grabbed him by the collar, yelling how he couldn’t just tackle people who were injured. Now Luffy was seeing how rough Sanji looked, bandages all over his body and their new doctor was shaking as covered Sanji’s legs, his weapons.

But his hands were fine, so he could still cook.

That was what mattered to Sanji, so that’s what mattered to Luffy.

“Saaaannnnnjjjiiiiii…”

“Hey, captain.” He opened his arms and Luffy slowly crawled in, about to cry even more. Sanji placed his arms around him, but he winced in pain whenever Luffy touched his back, and something felt wrong. Luffy wanted to hold him tighter but a little voice was telling him not to, that he might hurt Sanji. He didn’t really look at the shirts Crocodile threw at them but he knew Nami did, and he heard her whisper that it looked like Sanji was ripped in half. Crocodile himself told him when his stomach was pierced that he should destroy him the way he did Sanji, let him die with his insides hanging out very slowly.

He still wouldn’t believe it until Sanji told him what happened.

“Sanji, I missed you. The food wasn’t the same. It wasn’t as good.” He winced. “Are you okay?”

“I’m back with my crew. I’ve never been better.” He put his head on top of Luffy and the captain was reminded he lost his hat during the fight, but Sanji was a good substitute. Nami sat down next to them and put her head on Luffy’s shoulder. Usopp, Luffy could recognize the hands of his sharpshooter and current shipwright anywhere, put his hands on Luffy’s back and was protecting them somehow. He knew Chopper was taking care of Sanji’s legs. And then he felt Zoro. He crawled to the other side and his arms went around their heads.

“We won? We saved Alabasta?” Luffy mumbled.

“We won.” They all said at once.

But better yet, his crew was whole again. He could wake up in the mornings and Sanji would have a delicious breakfast waiting for everyone. When he wandered around the ship, Zoro would be there to amuse Luffy and he’d be working out in the back. Everything would be the way it should be. No Warlord was going to tear apart his crew so easily.

He heard the door creak and Ace’s presence was gone. Luffy would track him down later. He knew Ace wouldn’t just leave him without a proper goodbye. Maybe he was looking for Vivi. Luffy needed to talk to her too and see how not only she was doing, but the kingdom now that Crocodile wasn’t trying to destroy it.

“Sanji, when did you get here?” He asked as he pulled his head out. The crew remained closed in their own space as Sanji explained Robin, the lady Luffy needed to find, helped him escape Rainbase and gave him an accellegator, which Luffy argued they needed to pull the Merry so they could travel faster. After that, he was lost in the desert when some guys tried to give Sanji trouble. That was when Ace somehow found him and they arrived at Alubarna this morning where Usopp was being beaten up by the ballerina they ran into on the way (though Usopp claimed he was winning the fight with two fingers), and that’s how Sanji met Chopper. Nami said Zoro helped her take down an agent and they were together when they saw Crocodile flying in the air. The king had carried Luffy and somehow, in the middle of the street, they all found each other.

“Marines are filling up the city. Usopp and I have been doing small trips but we probably don’t have long here,” Nami mumbled as she stood up. “In fact, I want to go shopping again. Usopp?”

“NO! YOU SHOULDN’T BE WALKING WITH YOUR FEET, NAMI! AND LUFFY NEEDS TO GET BACK IN BED! IT’S NOT GOOD FOR HIM TO BE EXERTING THIS MUCH ENERGY WITH HIS INJURIES AND AFTER WAKING UP FROM A COMA!” Chopper squirmed, jumping across the bed to yell at her. Luffy laughed and laid down in Sanji’s bed, even though he had a burst of energy and didn’t feel any pain at all.

“Chopper, I’m fine. The doctors here did good with me, but you did the best.” Nami giggled. Chopper almost turned to mush as he rejected her compliment with laughter. “Zoro, Sanji, you guys want anything?”

“Anything I could cook, and anything you have to replace in my kitchen.” Sanji sighed. Zoro remained around him which was new. Luffy hadn’t seen them this close. Luffy knew they never hated each other but they seemed to argue a lot and fight whenever they could. He was glad they were close now, but Luffy didn’t like that it took maybe the worst time of their lives for them to bond.

“Oh, I think you might want this back.” Luffy felt something placed on his face and he almost jumped across the room when he realized it was Shanks’ hat. He thanked Nami for giving it back and sat straight up, with little hooves keeping him in place. Once Nami and Usopp left, Luffy turned his head almost completely on its axis to ask Zoro something.

“Hey, would you be mad if I told you that we’re out of sake and Nami won’t buy any because of your debt?” Zoro turned bright red and was stuttering, but let out a strained no. “Good because that almost happened! Vivi hid all of your alcohol somewhere on the Merry and we still don’t know where it is!” 

He went white and Sanji fell into him laughing, and this was the happiest day of his entire life. They almost tore the ship apart trying to find the sake before they figured Zoro could sniff it out. Nami told them they could buy Zoro some more but if Zoro wanted any, it was his money and his debt was too big as it was.

“I’ve already had to survive a week with Zoro sober. I don’t know if I could do it again.”

“Someone get him his cigarettes. We’re both sober and I think it’s about time we go batshit crazy. The adrenaline is gone and damn it, I need a drink.” Zoro sighed, holding Sanji to his chest. In an unbelievable move, Zoro moved his hand and touched Sanji’s hair, messing with the bang.

That was very interesting.

“Sanji, you need to try and stretch your legs. Do you want to try to walk around the room?” Chopper said as he crawled off the bed. Sanji said he could walk for a mile which almost sent his doctor into shock, but the cook said he’ll go down the hall and back.

“Did something happen to Sanji’s legs?” Luffy sat up and saw how sad Sanji was. He was gripping one of his knees and he was also scared of something. Was he scared to walk? If Crocodile did what he said to Sanji, then how could he walk? Luffy saw a mountain bandit mess up his back and he couldn’t walk without crutches. But that wouldn’t be Sanji. Sanji was ten times stronger and Luffy wouldn’t let him have legs he couldn’t use. In two weeks, Sanji could run across the ship and kick a marine in the face.

But it seemed Zoro was more determined to help Sanji, even more than Sanji.

“He got hurt. He's getting better.” Zoro huffed.

“Speaking on my behalf now? Gee moss, I think you know me better than I know myself now.” Sanji grabbed Zoro’s arm and he was happy again. Zoro rolled his eyes but allowed Sanji’s affection, and it seemed to make him happy too.

Oh.

They really were close now.

Chapter Text

“ONE HUNDRED MILLION! ONE HUNDRED FUCKING MILLION!!! THAT’S MY LITTLE BROTHER!” Ace laughed, looking at Luffy’s new bounty for the hundredth time. Usopp and Nami came running back earlier after Nami had swiped some interesting looking papers from Marines, which included two new bounties. He had his own bounty at 550,000,000 berries but that was after three years on the Grand Line and joining the infamous Whitebeard Pirates, and after taking down a former Warlord. He was willing to bet in three months, Luffy would be worth more than him and Ace was more than happy about that. And when he became King of the Pirates…he couldn’t wait for that day. 

“And I got one now. Shit, I went from being a bounty hunter to having a bounty. All I did was take down a hundred people at Whiskey Peak.” Zoro was pacing around the chair Sanji was being forced to sit in with his bounty. The cook kept protesting he could stand and he wanted to, but the swordsman was insistent he use his legs as little as possible. He stumbled every few steps and if he walked for too long, he started to shake. The other day, Sanji tried to walk a mile but ended up getting carried back to the infirmary by Zoro while arguing.

Ace talked about it with Nami while the two were asleep in each other’s arms. They couldn’t stand each other before this and now they were basically lovers. He may have let it slip that Sanji may have some feelings, and Nami was happy to know she was now a hundred berries richer. Apparently she and Usopp made a bet while drunk that they’d either end up killing each other or kissing each other. It was a stupid bet neither expect to win or lose. No matter the outcome, she was happy to have them back and see how they were looking out for each other.

But that still worried her.

She let it slip in their conversation the detail Sanji never told him during the night they had together, why he was struggling to walk. Being ripped in half? It made Ace’s chest hurt to imagine that. It was amazing he managed to scuffle a little bit, much less the steps he had taken in Alubarna. They ended that night with Ace asking Nami to take the best care of Sanji, and a punch to the chest for thinking she wouldn’t already.

“Give me a week and I’ll have a higher bounty than you, shitty moss-head.” Sanji said as he tried to stand up again. Zoro eased him back into his seat and said he had to sit there for another hour, or after his leg stopped twitching like it was. 

“Damn it, you don’t tell me what to do.”

“Chopper! Should Sanji be resting?”

“He needs to let his legs rest more! He’s going to damage his muscles and bone if he keeps over exerting himself!”

“You heard the doctor. Sit before I strap you down.”

“Stay down, Sanji. Remember, we’re leaving in an hour or two. It’s not like we could stay here forever and three of us have decent sized bounties in a city now swamped with marines. And maybe Vivi’s part of the crew, and maybe she isn’t.” Nami said, and the cook was more than happy to listen to her. After their day of getting pampered, the marines escaped Ace’s mind. It would be funny to tease them but he needed to track down Blackbeard.

“And we have to deal with the damn ballerina. Do we really trust him?” Zoro scoffed.

“Eh, people can change. And it’s like you said, Zoro. We can keep a watchful eye out when we meet him.” Luffy giggled. “Are we sure we can’t stay a little bit longer? They feed me a lot here!”

“I’ll feed you on the ship if it’s not dry.” Sanji huffed, trying once again to stand up before Zoro and Chopper stopped him. “Ace, where are you going to go? Do you want to travel with us for a bit? We can help you find Blackbeard.”

Part of Ace wanted to take that offer, but this was his battle and he needed to do this alone. He couldn’t have Teach hurt anyone else, much less another cook Ace liked in two very different ways. And once Sanji said that, Zor whipped his head around and gave him an intense and sharp glare, maybe haki on some level the swordsman was or wasn’t aware of.

“I like to do my own thing, but if we run into each other again I’ll stay for a night or so,” Ace crushed the bounty into his pocket and met Zoro’s glare, before stupidly asking him to talk in the hallway for a second.

“Why?”

“You’re the vice captain, and probably the most responsible for my brother. I just want to give you some pointers.”

“HEY! I’M NOT THAT DIFFICULT TO RAISE!” Luffy protested before everyone loudly disagreed with him. Zoro moved with discredition, as if it was against his new moral code to even leave Sanji for a second. Ever since they were reunited, Zoro was attached to his hip. Blondie hadn’t protested and at night, he always fell asleep with his arm around Zoro, but he could use a five minute break from Zoro’s worry.

“Look, I got a hold on Luffy. I know how to handle him at this point and we all beat sense into him now and then.” Zoro mumbled. Ace shook his head and told him he didn’t really need to talk about Luffy. He more than trusted Zoro and he knew nothing would happen to Luffy as long as Zoro was there, and even then, the rest of the crew would do anything for him.

“Then what do you want?”

“Talk about the cook for a minute.”

Zoro stiffened up and Ace forgot he carried three swords on him at nearly all time, and he was referred to as a demon back home. He held his hands up and his breath was gone, fearful of his next move. Man this really was stupid, but if he didn’t fuck up his words, it could help the idiot in the long run.

“Whatever you are thinking about, I’d get it out of your head.”

“So you’re the only one allowed to think he’s pretty?”

Definitely not the right thing to say.

Zoro grabbed the hilt of one of his swords, the white one, and the small click it made when he only slightly unsheathed the blade was deadly itself.

“Relax! I have no bad intentions! I just…I noticed you probably feel the same way but on a higher level. I want to offer you some advice.”

“Ace, I respect you as a pirate and as my captain’s brother, but I don’t want to hear you talk about Sanji, especially in that way.”

The sword inched further out of its sheath.

“You’re protective. I get it. You two just went through it together and I know he’s hurt. He could barely walk when I found him and he didn’t move for hours. I understand, but I do care about him as well.”

“There’s still no reason for this conversation as far as I can tell.”

Ace sighed and how did he tell Zoro what he needed to? Did he just flatout push him to tell Sanji his feelings? Did he expose Sanji and tell him Ace got turned down by him because he had already dedicated himself to Zoro?

“Sanji cares for you a lot, I mean really cares.” He whimpered, his eyes falling on the sword which was halfway out. Zoro scoffed and agreed, but he didn’t seem to be picking up on what he was saying. “ Really cares about you.”

“You’ve said that already.”

God he was lucky he was handsome and dangerous.

“Okay, you’re in love with him-”

“I never said that.”

“Didn’t need to. I may not know too much about love but how you keep looking at him, the way you hold him each night, the way you speak to him, anyone and everyone can see that you are in love with him.”

Zoro grumbled and his eyes turned back to the door Sanji was behind. Even without him in his sight, Ace saw that love Sanji was ready to hear. Frankly, he was ready to hear it too because that would help him selfishly. 

“I-I am. That’s the problem. He cares about me, not in the same way I do. He sees me as a crewmate he survived something horrible with. I see him as the rest of my life.”

“So tell him that.” Ace shrugged, happy to see the blade disappearing. “Sit down with Sanji and tell him you love just as you love life and you want to be with him!” Zoro’s head snapped as Ace’s voice raised. He scolded him and hissed to keep his voice down. The walls weren’t that thick and someone could have heard him.

“You think it’s that simple? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the cook would laugh at me. If I had a pair of tits and didn’t have dick, he would have loved me a long time ago. He falls for every woman he sees. He’d never. I wish he would. I keep thinking to myself he would, but I see him and Nami and him and Vivi and every other woman on this earth and I was never an option.” His voice cracked and he hung his head low.

Ace had seen how Sanji was with the girls. He did lust for them and try to make them as comfortable as can be and do whatever he physically could for them. That had to be confusing and sickening for Zoro. He hadn’t seen the side of Sanji that Ace had. Likely, very few people had ever seen that side. If not for that one interaction, Ace would be confused. He acted like he was in love with Zoro in a much different way than with the ladies. He would say he was interested in both if it wasn’t so obvious that Zoro was the only man he wanted, but he kept a part of himself seemingly open for the girls.

But Sanji was a kind person, and he was a gentleman. Maybe at times he was too much of one, but he had good intentions. Unfortunately, those intentions read as love.

“Maybe…just talk about how much you care about him. Blondie’s full of surprises.”

“Like you would know.” The swordsman huffed. “And on the off chance he was into guys, he’d probably prefer you over me. I think we’ve fought too much and why would he begin to love me after this? I was just the person he got captured with. That’s no reason to fall in love.”

“So why did you?”

Instead of brushing off Ace, Zoro smiled and looked up at the ceiling before going on about how he didn’t mean to. He thought he lost Sanji two times over, and then to keep Sanji he had to do something terrible. Someone kept teasing him about his emotions but soon he realized she wasn’t wrong. He told Sanji just a few small things Zoro loved about him and say it made it all real to Zoro, He didn’t really intend to fall in love and he was sure one way or another, he would have fallen for Sanji. In the future, he would be hurt and Zoro would have to go through the same grief. Whether it be now or later, he would fall in love. He couldn’t just be Sanji’s crewmate. God or fate or whoever decided against that long ago.

“So why can’t he fall in love with you? I mean, you were the one person there at his weakest and I’m guessing you said some pretty awesome things to him and you’re just as devoted as a proper partner right now. Look, talk to him. Maybe don’t say you’re in love but hint at it. He’s not stupid. He can pick up on the clues.”

“I don’t want him to. At this point, I need reality to kick my ass, show me I don’t have a chance.” Zoro reached for the door and paused, letting his smile fade away. “Maybe once you defeat Blackbeard, you can join us. Luffy will be waiting, and Sanji might be too.” 

“Don’t sell yourself short, Zoro. I will be back, and hopefully you’ve had that talk by then.”

Zoro didn’t say anything as he slipped back into the room, immediately scolding Sanji for being on his feet. Ace groaned and for a second he made eye contact with Nami and based on her little smirk, she knew what their conversation was about. Before he left, Ace would have to pull her aside and make sure the two talked.

Or the next time he showed up, he’s lock them in a room until they admitted their feelings.

Chapter Text

“What a fucking day!” Nami sighed as she stretched, ready to retire for the night. Finally, they were back on the Going Merry and leaving Alabasta behind them. As far as Zoro cared, he never wanted to go back to the damn kingdom. If Vivi wanted to join them one day, she would have to find them. “Zoro, do you really want to have night watch? Any one of us can take it. You should relax a bit.”

“I spent three days relaxing. Besides, I enjoy the night watch and I think it's supposed to be my night anyway.” He answered as he began to crawl up the ropes to the crow’s nest. Sanji was doing dishes with Usopp in the kitchen. Luffy had already passed out and Chopper was apparently hiding under the covers from their new crewmate. 

When he saw Robin come out of the storage room earlier that day, he thought he was hallucinating. What the hell was she doing? And then she explained how Luffy saved her life when she didn’t want to be saved and as punishment, she was now a part of the crew. Sanji was over the moon to have a new lady to admire, especially the amazing Robin. It was easy to convince the rest of the crew to love her though Chopper wouldn’t be alone with her. Zoro was impartial on her decision, and relieved she was alright.  

Sanji was quick to explain how he owed Robin his life and every little thing she did for the two of them, which made the crew love her more. Luffy started sobbing and thanking her for saving his swordsman and cook, which made her gleam in a way Zoro hadn’t seen yet. She was different now. Maybe it was because she was no longer technically an assassin. Miss All Sunday had died in Alabasta and Nico Robin was alive again, and their historian/assassin but only if need be. 

“Then good night! If you want to switch shifts, just let someone else know!” The witch shouted as she disappeared down below. He sighed and couldn’t help but chuckle. He really missed this, the long nights in the crow’s nest with nothing but sea in sight. For someone who spent years going from place to place on a little boat, he wouldn’t grow tired of the view, especially from up high.

Whatever was next, he hoped it was at least three weeks before anything happened. The entire crew knew the Grand Line would be chaos, but surely there would be some breaks and relaxations. 

Zoro took his swords off of him and leaned over the railing, happy to feel the breeze and to smell the sea salt. It was a relief, and he didn’t mind how his hair was tickled. And he liked how the moonlight reflected on the sea.

“You look comfortable.” A soft voice chuckled. His back straightened and he reached for the wado, only to see Nico Robin climbing in. He groaned and reluctantly accepted her company. What more was there for the two of them to talk about? He didn’t want to bring up Alabasta ever again for as long as he lived, and there was no reason to look back at the past.

“This is a lovely view. You come up here often?”

“On night watch. You should get used to this view now that you’re part of the crew. We all do our share around here. Be ready for sleepless nights.”

“Noted. You have such a good system, a good crew. I feel even worse now for separating you from them.”

“Don’t. You…you weren’t the one to separate us and without you, we never would have been whole again. In a way, you've earned a place with us.”

“I think I’ll enjoy being part of this crew, for however long I am here.” 

Zoro raised an eyebrow and didn’t feel any comfort as she stood next to him. It was different seeing her so casual. In little flashes, he saw his Baroque Works partner with her fur coat and white hat. It was hard to see past the new business casual. What scared him the most about her is he never actually got to see Miss All Sunday beyond one explosion and her cunning wits. The assassin never acted in front of him. For all he knew, she could overpower him easily and maybe even Luffy. He wouldn’t turn to sand and escape her grip wherever she appeared.

Please let me trust you. 

“For however long you’re here? I thought this was a permanent thing.”

“I would like it to be, but I have a track record. I don’t stay with people long and tend to always end up on my own. I doubt so far this crew will be any different.”

He shook his head and looked back to the sea, stars reflecting on it.

“I used to be like that, traveling from place to place with only a dream. I mean, I was teamed up with some folks but I got lost easily. It wasn’t until Luffy came along and gave me the choice to either join him or be killed by Marines.”

“At least you got a choice. He kept me alive when I wanted to die and I am here to punish him for that, which I will enjoy until I separate from this crew.”

“Let me tell you a few things. One: I didn’t have a death wish like you do. Two: you’re not going anywhere because Luffy won’t let you. He’s decided you’re one of us now and he’ll go to Hell for you. And three: you’ll end up being loyal to him. He wins you over and you realize he is the future of this world, and you’ll want nothing more than to be by his side as he finds the One Piece.”

She began to laugh and would take everything into consideration. 

“And it’s even better if you get to be with Sanji while doing so?”

“…you know after all that, I can’t just leave his side. I can’t relive that. And if something happens to him again, god forbid, it will happen to me too.”

The galley door opened and Zoro could care less about the sea. It was only Usopp though, leaving Sanji alone in the kitchen. Did he want to be alone? Why was only Usopp leaving? He knew the cook had his nightly regiment and worked even more after hours but was it good for him to be alone? Nothing would happen but something could happen.

“Is that a gray hair I see?” Robin chuckled. 

“Shut up. I’m allowed to be on edge.”

“I never said you weren’t. Speaking of your love for Sanji, are you still going to take him to a restaurant?”

“Eh?”

“At the diner, the day before the battle. I asked where you would take him out and you said the most simple answer ever: a restaurant.”

“He’s a cook. He likes food.” Zoro shrugged. Wasn’t like he could take Sanji to a restaurant in that way. He wasn’t sure what Ace meant in the hallway, but he had to be wrong if Zoro understood what he was implying. They spent one night together. Ace didn’t know Sanji the way Zoro did.

Oh god.

They spent a night together.

But no, that was stupid because Sanji didn’t like guys.

But Ace seemed confident when hinting he might.

What if he knew from personal experience ?

But Sanji wasn’t into guys, even handsome and rugged ones like Ace who would and did take good care of him.

Oh shit.

Zoro began to hope he was the biggest idiot on earth and his brain was useless, because how could he go on knowing Sanji liked guys, he just didn’t like him ? It wouldn’t be because Zoro was a man he had no chance, it would be because he was Zoro. He could see Sanji with men and be constantly reminded that would never be him because Sanji didn’t like Zoro .

He needed to be wrong.

He needed Sanji to only like women.

That hurt much less.

“HEY!”

A slap and a yell to the face brought him out of his thoughts.

“You space out too easily. You get lost physically and mentally. Is this a new habit from recent, or has it always been a problem?”

He shrugged at her question, not willing to answer. Zoro would say it did worsen but this wasn’t necessarily a new habit. It was part of why he tried to live focusing on one ultimate goal.

Zoro caught a glance of his new crewmate and she was in that weird stance she sometimes did when using her power, her arms crossed with closed eyes. 

“What are yo-”

“I’ll take over watch. Go into the kitchen. I think he needs you right now.”

Zoro didn’t hesitate. He jumped from the crow’s nest to the deck, rushing into the galley. He slammed the door open and Sanji was curled up on the floor, clutching his left knee and sobbing. Zoro fell to his side and was terrified that he was going to say it broke again, that he took one misstep and his mobility was once again gone.

“Sanji, what happened? Are you hurt? Do you need Chopper?” 

Sanji shook his head and wrapped his arms around Zoro, sobbing into his chest. Zoro held him tighter and his heartbeat was irregular. He could hear the beats and how they didn’t line up, valves opening and closing in different intervals. But why was he worried about himself? He was holding Sanji who was barely holding on right now.

“Cook?”

“I-I was finishing up. I was doing good. Zoro, it was all fine. The leg didn’t hurt. I just…I just lost balance for a second and it popped. My knee popped and it’s gonna break if I move it.”

A few times when they walked around the castle, Sanji would stop because something felt weird with his leg and that’s when Zoro would carry him back to the infirmary. It hadn’t popped yet like this. 

“Can-can I feel your knee? Make sure everything is where it should be?” The swordsman whispered, thinking about the possibility it moved out of place. Sanji shivered and nodded against his chest. Slowly, Zoro released his right hand from the death grip and trailed his fingers down Sanji’s body. There was maybe an inch between his fingers and Sanji’s knee when the cook stiffened up and let out an ungodly wail.

“DON’T! ZORO, YOU’RE GOING TO SHATTER IT! PLEASE!” 

Instinctively, Zoro’s hand went for Sanji’s head and cradled him, tears now falling down his face. How were they supposed to live like this? Chopper was doing everything he could for Sanji but how did he repair Sanji’s mentality and assure him he would never break again? 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m not gonna hurt you, Sanji. I will never hurt you.” 

“I know, Zoro.” He mumbled.

“Can you stand? Are you sure you don’t need Chopper?”

“Chopper can’t fix this. Zoro, I’m fucked.”

“Sanji…”

“What am I going to do? I can’t do this while cooking. I’ll ruin everyone’s meal. And I clean. I was cleaning and this happened. I can’t do this every single night. I’ll rip my leg off, take my knee cap out. And I kick. I won’t fight with my hands, even now, but I don’t know if I can fight again. If one misstep has me sobbing on the floor, how am I supposed to face Marines and everyone else who we go against? My leg will pop and will dislocate and will break and I…how am I going to be part of this crew if this is how I have to live now?”

“...”

“Zoro, my leg is weak. I’m weak.”

“NO!” 

Zoro grabbed his face and pushed the bang out of Sanji’s face, seeing all of him. God, he was the most beautiful man Zoro had ever seen. Even while distraught, his eyes were sparkling and his face was made so perfectly Zoro envied others who thought highly of themselves and then laid eyes on Sanji, realizing how plain they were in comparison.

“Wha-”

“Sanji, you need to open your eyes, look in a mirror, and realize just who you are. You’re the cook of the Straw-Hats Pirates, the one and only. We don’t want another one and we will never get another one. We don’t care if you can’t fight anymore or if you struggle sometimes. We could never replace someone as special and important as you. We need you. I need you.”

“A-”

“Maybe…just talk about how much you care about him.”

Zoro took a deep breath and this was it. He was about to fuck everything up and listen to Ace, who he would personally get revenge on when they came across each other, after Sanji had kicked Zoro across the Grand Line for what he was going to admit.

“I’m not done, cook. I told you deserve the All Blue but you deserve the world. Every single sea should be yours because that is what you are worth to me. Every drop of water on and off land, the essence of life, what keeps us alive, what compromises our bodies. Sanji, you have compromised me and keep me alive. You are what’s running through my arteries and veins. My heart cannot beat without you. You mean everything to me. And I can’t have you thinking you are weak and worthless when you are not. A weak person would be dead now. They wouldn’t have clung to life like you have. You are one of the strongest people I will ever know and those people are in the past. This is the present, and I am here, in the present and in the future, telling you that you are strong, anything but weak, and you are worth more than what is comprehensible.”

All that was left was for him to say I love you but he basically had. Zoro held his head low and waited. He’d give Sanji a moment to understand what he meant and then would take whatever bashing the cook had for him, and he would let his heart break.

“Zoro, look up at me.”

With a heavy breath and a heavier heart, Zoro found himself lost in those eyes again, which sprung forward and suddenly he was being kissed.

This wasn’t Zoro’s first kiss, but he wished it was. Zoro melted away and embraced the cook in a way he had been dreaming of. He was so soft, and there was the faint taste of dinner mixed with cigarettes that was divine. The few hairs on his chin tickled but it just reminded Zoro of another kiss or maybe even the breeze he enjoyed. One hand was stroking his scalp, ruining the little effort he put into his hair but why did he care, and the other ran up and down his neck in a small motion. 

The perfect kiss.

Then his mind registered the fact that this was Sanji kissing him, his Sanji.

Zoro released a soft moan and kissed him back with the same passion, the way he did in the dreams he had. His hands wouldn’t leave the cook’s cheeks, holding them close so this could never end. Tears ran down his thumb but they begin to lighten, and Zoro would kiss him until there were no more tears left.

But after a few seconds that went by too quickly, Sanji pulled back just slightly so their lips were basically touching.

“Just tell me you love me already, to my face this time.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

“I love you. Sanji, I love you. I should have admitted sooner and I wish and will wish until we die that I could have realized before I almost lost you. I love you so much and I want to be with you until we die, together. I’ll be the Greatest Swordsman in the world but I will be yours first and forever. That is a title I will never let anyone take from me and will die for in less than a heartbeat. I love you, so never leave me and I will never leave you.” 

“Be mine, and I will be yours. I love you, Roronoa Zoro. You’re the last person I expect to fall in love with but you’re the first person to make me feel like this. I want to find the All Blue but only if you find it with me. I’ll guide us. Just be at my side. That’s my dream now, the All Blue with you, the love of my life.”

Zoro sniffled into a crying laughter as he pulled Sanji close to kiss him again, and he would again and again until Death defeated him years from now, but he would be with Sanji when that happened, and he couldn’t be greedy and ask for anything more.

Zoro pulled away this time, another realization slapping him in the face and reaffirming how plain dumb he could be.

“Wait, so you heard me that night, when you were supposed to be asleep in my arms?”

“I did, and I’ve been waiting about a week for you to be courageous enough to say it to my face. How long were you going to wait to tell me?”

“I thought you were only into girls! My plan was never telling you because I thought I had no chance!”

Sanji giggled and shook his head, nestling into Zoro’s shoulder. He had been into men for a long time, but women seemed to always get a reaction out of him and he tended to go after them. He didn’t think he’d ever end up with a man but he was more than delighted too.

And that confirmation had Zoro asking something bold that could ruin everything.

“Ace…he talked to me about my feelings and told me you could surprise me. He knew you liked men. Did you two…did something happen between you two?”

“He flirted, but I made it clear I had my eyes set on an idiot with stupid green hair.” Sanji kissed his neck. Zoro nodded and rested on top of him, his heart beating in tune with Sanji’s. This would be the time for Robin to slap him and get him out of his mind, or else this was real. Good things happened to Zoro but something this good? He’d be one hundred and twenty eight in the same bed as Sanji waiting to be brought back to reality.

“My leg doesn’t hurt now, not really.”

Zoro let out a sigh of relief, though his leg was completely fine. He didn’t know how many emotional and painful moments Sanji would have to endure, but Zoro would be there for every one. Even if he was hurt, in any way and with doctors yelling at him to stay away, he’d crawl to Sanji’s side and he wouldn’t leave until that pain was gone.

“Not really?”

“Meh. I understand there’s always going to be something. It’s bearable now, what I’m used to with my neck. I can walk with how it feels, even if I don’t like it.”

“Should I kiss your boo-boo and make it better?”

“And the mood is ruined. You can go fuck yourself now, Zoro.” He hit Zoro in the back of his thick head and the room erupted with laughter. Zoro couldn’t contain himself as he planted kisses on every trace of bare skin on the cook. He didn’t care if small marks were left and the crew had questions in the morning. Sooner or later, they would have to explain their expanded relationship, and Zoro knew Sanji would be blushing the entire time.

“Does princess want me to carry him to bed?”

“I swear, I am going to find a way to kick you back to wherever you came from. How are you the most and least romantic person I have ever met in my life?” 

“I am one of a kind, and I’m yours now, cook.” 

Sanji seemed happy with that, closing his darling eyes with his arms still around Zoro. The swordsman waited a few minutes until the cook felt light in his arms. All he did was carry him over to a wall and rest against it. It was almost how he held him in the cage, but so much was different now. Now no one was dying and he didn’t have to think about giving himself to be used by a Warlord.

He was on his ship with his crew, and the love of his life was resting in his arms.

Chapter Text

Things were different now.

It had been a month since they left Alabasta, and a month since Sanji and Zoro first kissed on the kitchen floor. Since then, changes have happened gradually. Robin was accepted as a crew member and Sanji found himself talking to her late at night when he was reminded of Rainbase. He couldn’t bother Zoro every time he thought he saw a large creature in the water or every time he panicked over his legs, and she always seemed to find him. Even when he crawled into some dark corner to sulk and cry, Robin would offer a hand and an ear, sometimes literally.

“Chopper says it will heal, but not properly. You did your part, Robin dear. Crocodile just took almost every chance to make it worse, and I spent four days without it being tended to.”

“The device isn’t helping?” She whispered over her cold tea.

“I think it’s the only reason I walk now but it's more meant for my spine than my legs. Doesn’t take away the pain, never will.”

“Does the doctor know?”

Chopper asked the moment they could be alone about the scars and Sanji told him everything, even the grueling details. The little reindeer cried and hugged Sanji’s right leg for hours, and then became adorably strict. He hadn’t told the rest of the crew yet, but no one else had asked. By now, they had caught glimpses of his scars and seen how he hobbles, but they were too kind and minded themselves.

He wore a brace sometimes. Chopper forced him to wear it after Zoro carried him in after Sanji slipped going down the stairs. The cook kept insisting he was fine but the swordsman wouldn’t leave until there was some solution. He shook the entire time, and it was later that night after three hours of arguing that Sanji got an explanation as to why this was the event that sent Zoro off the edge, and he learned all about Kuina.

They didn’t talk after that, just held each other as the night went on. They only talked about it when Sanji bugged him into carrying him to the kitchen for breakfast, and it was a very short conversation, one of understanding and deep emotions.

And now he told Chopper every pain, wore a brace around his knee every now and then, and was very careful going down the stairs.

“Yeah. He keeps asking questions and I wish I could answer them all. He said he could learn more if he took a look at it but I refused. I-I trust him but I’m not letting anyone open me up again.”

“I know some things about it, the basics of how it works and who made it. I can talk to him…do you want to know about it?” 

Not when there’s a possibility that Judge made it.

Sanji had a nightmare a week back on the Merry, that Judge found him and could control him because the device was his technology. He was forced to kill everyone on the crew, slowly and painfully. Even if it was just a sick part of his imagination, he didn't need to know any of it was true.

“...I don’t think I do. I have this fear it was made by a scientist I know of, and I rather just let that be a fear. I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings, my Robin.”

“Of course not. I understand. You know you can talk to me without me having to approach you?”

“I don’t want to bother you.” He sighed, feeling a warm hand brush against his right leg. “But thank you. I enjoy our chats.”

“I am here whenever you need me, someone who knows and you don’t have to explain yourself too.” And he was so grateful. In some weird way, she reminded him of Reiju and the way she took care of him. Except now there was no cruel man to hide from, and he didn’t have to fear anyone else forcing her to act like she didn’t care.

“And on the topic of people who know, how’s your romance with the swordsman?”

Sanji became too flustered at the thought of Zoro and their little romantic escapades. They just held each other and whispered sweet nothings, helped with chores and watched as the other went on with their daily duties. The crew knew even though they said nothing. Usopp made it known when he walked in on Zoro and Sanji taking a bath together and making out, and how he was a changed individual from witnessing a sight.

“I love him. I love him, beautiful Robin.”

“And here you are complimenting a lady.”

“I will always compliment a lady. I am a gentleman.” He giggled.  When he told Zeff everything that happened and two hours of assuring him he didn’t need to leave Patty in charge for a week to check on him in person, he made sure Sanji would still be a gentleman and treat every lady with respect.

“You’re so kind. Now go to bed, cook. I have the night watch and you deserve to rest.” She said, the hand on his leg disappearing. He offered twice to keep her company before he felt an army of hands appear and he was carried away, watching as Robin waved goodbye before he dumped outside the galley door with petals falling on him.

“She’s amazing.” He gasped before feeling a new set of hands pick him up. He yelped and maybe he would have kicked the person’s head off if he didn’t know those hands. “ZORO, YOU’RE SUCH A DICK!”

“And you love this dick.”

Sanji, being held up like he was a baby, used his position to launch his right leg forward and hit Zoro’s hip, which caused a small budge in his step but it was enough to give him the time to kick his chest and send them falling to the hard wooden deck. Sanji landed on top of them and placed his right knee on Zoro’s neck, grinning ear to ear.

But so was the shitty swordsman.

“I hate you so much.” Sanji purred, laying down on Zoro’s chest. Inside, he could hear Robin laughing. Rough and tanned arms were wrapped around him as Zoro seemed to be comfortable the way he was. “What are you doing?”

“I was lonely. Missed you.”

“We’re on the same ship at all times.”

“I still miss you.”

“God, you’re so miserable.” 

Zoro huffed before pushing himself up, holding Sanji like he was a delicate bride. He didn’t mind at this point. It took pressure off of his legs and the way Zoro held him, he never felt his left knee. There were more than a few times Zoro would hold him like that and Sanji would fall asleep, normally waking up in a bed with Zoro still around him. 

“You make me miserable, cook. Every waking and sleeping moment, I am miserable because of you.” Zoro whimpered as he began to descend down the stairs, one step at a time. Sanji never realized how careful Zoro actually was in his movements, mindful of every step he took because anything could happen.

“That means I’m doing everything right, mon cher.” Sanji huffed, wrapping his arms around Zoro’s neck. He had been insisting over and over Zoro could let him go to let him climb down into the men’s quarters, but he had to show off and descend down the ladder with one hand and keep Sanji tight, as long as Sanji had his arms around him.

“I still don’t know what that insult means.”

“And you won’t, amour.”

“I should slice you up, curly.” 

Sanji rested on his chest as Zoro brought them down into the bedroom. Somehow, the stench made Sanji happy and he couldn’t believe how much he had missed it when he first smelt the reek after Alabasta. Luffy was tangled in two hammocks and Usopp had made his way to the floor. Chopper was curled up under a blanket in a corner, sleeping on a pillow with his hat still on.

Zoro placed him on the mattress they had gotten from two islands ago and it happened again. Sanji’s knee locked up and he could break it by moving it even an inch. The reminder of breaks and cracks seared through his leg and he felt a thousand pounds on one limb. 

By now, Sanji was used to the feeling. He didn’t even have to be using his leg for the pain and worry to occur. He could be making dinner and bam! He was stuck standing at the counter when the stove needed his attention. He woke up from nightmares of his leg breaking and everything hurt.

“Cook.” Zoro was laying at his side, arms around him and his face pressed against Sanji’s.

“Can’t do shit about it, Zoro. And you didn’t cause it. My leg just…it hurts sometimes.”

Zoro, strong and unbeatable Zoro, whimpered as he kissed Sanji’s neck. Sometimes it seemed like the swordsman was more affected by Sanji’s pain. He hadn’t started any of their normal physical fights and when Sanji tried to push him into one, he continued only insulting him and never reached for his swords. If Sanji lost his footing, not even trip, Zoro was standing beside him with his arms open to catch him. The cook overheard him one night interrogating their poor doctor on how to stop the pain forever, give Sanji his old legs back.

The cook didn't stay to hear Chopper's answer. 

“You were crying last night.” Zoro said after some time.

“Yeah, it really hurt. Started to out of nowhere. Didn’t move or touch it but it was unbearable. Part of me just wanted to break my leg because that’s the only way to get it to stop, well that and straighten it but I get scared, and it really hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I swear, if you still blame yourself for anything that happened I will kick your head off. We’ve been over this.”

“I know. I know…I get nightmares where it’s more than your leg breaking, you breaking and I can’t fix you. I think about what I could have done differently and how things could be different.”

“Mmm, stop using your brain and kiss me.” Sanji hated how Zoro felt and how he couldn’t fix that. No matter how fine he acted he was never fully convinced. Realistically, this was the best outcome. They were both alive and back on the Merry. He could still walk and he was practicing his kicks for whenever the Marines gave them trouble again. 

Zoro eagerly obliged, placing kisses wherever there was bare skin. Sanji giggled as no trace of him was left without kisses. He’d never imagined Zoro would be such a tender lover, but he would never complain for as long as he lived and loved.

“I love you so much, cook.”

“I love you too, shitty swordsman. You know everything will be fine, right?”

“…yeah.”

“Convince me.”

Zoro released a heavy breath and hovered over Sanji, wide black eyes Sanji was slowly considering to be the most beautiful sight in the world. Maybe that would be replaced by the All Blue one day, but Zoro’s eyes were a special sea of their own.

“I’m not sure if I can, cook. We’re pirates and I just got my first bounty, and more will follow including yours. We live every moment not knowing if we’re truly safe and prepared to run or fight whenever. Alabasta was just a wake up call for the Grand Line and it only gets worse from here. But…but we keep staying alive and persisting. Even when times are hard, we find a way to make it, so the odds are more than in our favor for us to accomplish our dreams together. We will be there when Luffy becomes King of Pirates, and you’re going to watch me defeat Mihawk and take his title, and I’m going to be asleep on the ship when you kick me awake because you found the All Blue. We keep going the way we’re going, me and you are going to be a hundred and twenty eight annoy the shit out of each other with a kiss every now and then.”

The idiot was right. Really, there was no way of knowing what would happen. They could wake up tomorrow and be surrounded by the entire Navy, or the ship could crash into rocks and for the second time in his life, Sanji would starve on a rock. But it could be they made it to the end, or only one of them did. Maybe Zoro, god forbid, was killed by Mihawk in their next duel and Sanji was lost at sea.

But maybe not.

They could have a happy ending.

“Kiss me right now, dumb swordsman. You talk too much.”

“You told me to convince you! What? Should I have just said sure, we’ll be fine? God, you are fucking comp-” Sanji pulled him down the collar and took him by the lips. A kiss would have been enough to convince him. The pain was gone every time his lips fell on Zoro’s, and nothing could be wrong.

“You seem so happy. You're already in the All Blue or heaven you're so happy” Zoro whispered against his lips.

“You make me this happy…you meant it, being a hundred and twenty eight and still being shitty to each other?”

“If you think you’re up for it.” Zoro placed a small peck before Sanji was wrapped around him and messing with his stupid moss-hair. They both held laughs under their breath, mindful of the crew sleeping next to them. 

“I’m up for it! Just wanna make sure you are too.” Zoro kissed his cheek before laying on top of him and pushing his bang to the side. Sanji rarely let anyone see his full face, but he would allow Zoro whenever he wanted to look. “I’m going to love you no matter what, dead or alive, heaven or hell. Just one condition, Sanji. Whenever you wake me in the mornings, you kiss me awake and let me hold you for five minutes before the day begins and we start arguing.”

“Deal,” The cook chuckled. “Now you’re making me wonder what’s the next crazy thing that happens is. Maybe we do go the heaven and somehow survive it, see an angel and god. Or maybe you just get lost and we spend five weeks trying to find you.”

Snug against him, Zoro scoffed and said the second option was the only realistic one.

And five days, a ship would fall out of the sky and the log pose would point to heaven.