That Day
(a/n: A nakama fic between Zoro and Sanji. If you wanna look at it in a shonen-ai ~ish way, fine by me. Written due to celebrate Zoro's bday…HAPPY BDAY MARIMO!!!) ^w^
(note: fanfic timeline takes place a little before Chopper joins)
Normally on cool nights such as this one Zoro slept like a rock....hell, he normally slept like a rock altogether but tonight was different. It marked a memory; one that etched in his mind and was at the crack of the basin that had built up to where he lay now.
In less than a few hours it would be the mark of 8 years since that date....since the day Kuina...
He flipped over on his side and squinted his eyes even more tightly than previously all while listening to the loud snores of Luffy across the room chiming in with Usopp's softer ones. Normally he would hear that shitty cook below him murmuring in his sleep about some dream girl or something but it was his watch tonight which is why Zoro hesitated on stepping outside for fresh air. He didn't need any excess agitation from that perverted idiot. He was struggling enough internally as it was. He drew in a sharp breath and let his eyes relax; deciding right then that if all permitted, he would just sleep through the whole day and not face the world. It was all just too depressing.
Why was this day always so hard to get by?
***
"Aachoo!"
Sanji shook his head back and forth, nose twitching from the after-sneeze effects.
"Shit...why does the night always seem the coldest when my damn watch comes around..."
What really bugged him was the fact that nothing ever seem to show up anyway...at least if SOMETHING were to happen he'd feel it a little more worth to be up here. Wait...why the hell was he up here?
~~~~~~~~ "Hai, I already know that, Nami...but it just...it gets sooo cold up there..." "Are you a man or aren't you?" "Hai! I'm a man! I'm a man!" "Then quit complaining!"
"You'll be able to see further off this way; that way we can catch them off-guard! It isn't called a 'look-out' for nothing you know, Usopp!"
That's right...He lifted his face up, letting the cigarette teeter a slight upon his lips, eyes widening in realization. He was doing this for his precious Nami-san! No...no one else mattered at this point...except maybe Vivi-chan...but he was up here to protect them both! Yes! That was his resolve! He stood up and puffed his chest with pride! All of a sudden the cold felt like nothing to him. No one could take this away from him! NO ONE!
"I'LL PROTECT YOU NAMI-SWAN!!! AS LOOKOUT, I WON'T LET ANYONE HARM A HAIR ON YOURS OR VIVI-CHAN'S HEAD!!!"
The door below slammed open, he peered over in surprise to find the angel of his dreams storming out on deck below like a grizzly ready to tussle...followed timidly of course by the beautiful Vivi-chan. He smiled at their mere presence which brought hearts in his eyes and a swimming, giddy-like feeling which reached all the way down to his toes.
"MELLORINE!!"
"SAN....JI-KUUUUN!!!"
"HAI, MY DEAR NAMI-SAN??"
In the next second, Sanji was on the floor of the small lookout, hardly recovering from seeing his beautiful angel take on the rage of the world and chuck at his head what appeared to be a hard-as-rock hairbrush.
"IF I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE, I'VE TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES; DON'T GO SCREAMING POINTLESS THINGS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHILE WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP!!"
He recovered quicker than the blink of an eye.
"HAAAAI!! NAMI-SWAN!!"
With a nod and a bit of Vivi's coaxing in the background, she returned to her cabin with the door slamming behind her. Sanji sighed, hearts still accompanying his eyes.
"Nami-san's so beautiful when she's angry...."
***
Zoro had heard the slamming and yelling above deck and it didn't take much at all to put two and two together. It was pretty obvious that that stupid cook was crooning out his fantasy again. He'd never understand how such a good fighter (though he'd never admit it to Sanji in his face) could break so easily from the mere presence of a woman...THAT woman to be exact. Sure, it wasn't like Nami WASN'T attractive; but it was pretty obvious that for her, money ALWAYS came first. There'd be no way in hell she'd make an exception for any man. That and, as far as he was concerned, she just wasn't his type. No...he preferred to find a strong woman, one who could come close to compete with him if necessary...a woman who didn't care about the fact she was a woman and still would try to become one of the strongest.........
"Crap..."
He had just described what memories he had of Kuina. SHE would have been everything he had wanted in a woman. He sat up and ran a hand through his short hair, swinging his feet out of his hammock, stretching his arms, and making his way toward the ladder; he decided sleep just wasn't there tonight. His anxieties had bested him this round and even putting up with dart-brow wasn't that much of an obstacle when it came to how bad he felt he needed fresh air.
"Che...guess I'm just a lost cause when it comes to women..."
A odd thought came to him while he made his way up the ladder; so odd that he almost lost his footing and fell back down.
Maybe that stupid cook could give him advice on women?
He shook his head roughly as if the shake the thought out, climbed up the rest of the way, and reached stable ground on the deck before continuing any other thoughts except that one...how the HELL could he let something so....so creepy cross his brain? He shivered at the thought of having one of those man-to-man talks with Sanji of all people. What the hell was he thinking? Really?
Well, whatever it had been, obviously it had peaked his curiosity enough to poke his nose up in the cooks' business due to before he knew it, he found himself climbing up the main mast's rope ladder toward the crow's nest.
If this wasn't a bad sense of direction...he didn't know what was...
***
Sanji flopped on his back and stretched his legs skyward above him. It was harder than shit to get comfortable with how cramped it was up here. Not that it was a complete bad thing; he might fall asleep if he was too comfortable. Then again, he doubted anyone could fall asleep up here in such an odd place, except for that shithead marimo. That guy could fall asleep free falling in midair even with the knowledge he was about to die...
"Psh...why am I wasting my time thinking about him...?"
He let his thoughts drift to his precious Nami-san in a bikini sunbathing...a really tiny bikini while he came to her every beck and call. He struck up another match and lit a fresh new cigarette which he placed to his lips. All while smirking around the stick, he pulled it out briefly while breathing out a puff of smoke toward the sky...the smile he possessed grew bigger and bigger with each thought. He thought of the feeling of the smooth skin of her back while applying suntan lotion upon her, the smile upon her face as he served her a cool drink under the scorching sun, what it would feel like to have her precious lips upon his own...
A sound below deck broke him from his thoughts. He cursed under his breath. Whoever it was, they had come from below deck. He assumed it was Luffy trying to get a midnight snack; too bad for him he picked a time where Sanji was on watch. He stood up and peered over only to find that whoever it was, was making their way up his direction upon the mast ladder. Fear gripped him for moment as the thought crossed his mind that while he had been lost in his noble fantasies of his precious Nami-san someone had managed to sneak up on board and were making their way up toward him first. The fear escalated fast through his veins toward horror as he thought of whomever this was might have accomplices and those accomplices could be doing horrible things right at this moment to his precious Nami-san and Vivi-chan...he didn't really give a rat's ass about the others; but if someone were to bring harm to either of his fair maidens......
He prepared himself as the trespasser pulled themselves upward, only inches from the crow's nest edge. He pulled his leg up in a stance, one kick outta do it. It would be all he needed to send this idiot spiraling over the edge. He blinked as a hand grasped the edge and came into view. Twisting his cigarette to sit on a comfortable corner of his mouth, readying his leg to fly foreword....
The impact never came.
He stumbled backward as his foot was caught the moment he let go. The trespasser had grabbed his foot and threw him against the opposite side of the crow's nest. He was knocked on his ass and back slammed against the wall only to be face to face with....
"Zoro...?"
"Nice to see you too, dartbrow. Do you always greet everyone this way? I vaguely remember your encounter with Usopp outside of Nami's village a while back..."
Sanji jumped up, fuming at this. "Oi, oi, that was you, remember?"
Zoro folded his arms in response and tilted his head a bit while scoffing "Che, like I'd be stupid enough to hit one of my Nakama without thinking. Unlike you, I actually stay focused and DON'T let anything like some 'so called' pretty face distract me."
Sanji gritted his teeth, nearly severing the cigarette which had up to now, been so neatly placed between his lips.
"You better not be referring to my precious Nami-san; you piece of green shit. Nami-san is like the most precious jewel of the sea and I WON'T tolerate an ill-mannered ape like you talking shit about her...YOU GOT THAT??"
As fired up as his outburst near the end was, he was expecting to receive equal firepower from the swordsman. What he got however, was just a small shrug and a dull roll of the eyes.
"I didn't come up here to argue with you cook..."
"Then why the hell ARE you up here?"
Zoro hesitated at this. Why was he here? He couldn't have SERIOUSLY been hoping to seek some sort of comfort in Sanji of all people. Maybe he was hoping to let off some steam by the arguing but then why was he holding back after Sanji had just outburst like that? Usually at this point, the shit would have already hit the fan and there'd be slashes and kicks flying to and fro. So why was he holding back? A grunt from Sanji awoke him from his thoughts.
"Listen shithead, I've been bored as all fuck on this lookout. If you're at LEAST not gonna entertain me; then get out of my face. You're ruining my view of the night sky."
It was Zoro's turn to fume at this. He gritted his teeth as he watched the blonde stub the bud of his cigarette only to reach in his pocket and fetch a new one. Lighting it casually like nothing was wrong sent Zoro nearly over the edge.
"Oi! I told you I didn't come here to argue! I came for your advice, but if you can't even give me that..."
Sanji choked on his newly lit cigarette. Eyes practically bugging out, smoke coming out in huffs rather than the beautiful spirals he usually managed and Zoro was accustomed to seeing. He smirked at this, though normally under these circumstances it should be him who felt pinned and weak after blurting out such a thing; he was quite entertained how his outburst had shaken up Sanji. He knew though it would be short-lived however, as Sanji recovered quickly and turned to him with a sinister smirk of his own, resulting in Zoro's newly approaching frown.
"Oh? The 'great' swordsman needs advice from me? How flattering."
Zoro hissed through his teeth at Sanji's new attitude switch. "Yeah…don't be, it's not what you think, cook..."
Sanji puffed toward the sky, making up for the last view of his blow upon his cigarette. "Really? Then pray-tell, why the hell are you up here?"
Zoro resisted the urge to just murmur a quick "forget it." and bolt. It was his respect for Sanji that mostly kept him rooted to the spot......that and a bit of curiosity as to how this would turn out. He looked Sanji solemnly in the eye and swallowed hard.
"How do you do it?"
Sanji raised a brow and quirked his head to the side.
"Do what?"
Zoro wrinkled his nose and clenched his teeth together. He could feel his eyes crossing slightly, something he only did when EXTREMELY frustrated. "Don't make me say it, cook...how do you do it?"
The expression on Sanji's face told him that if he wanted to continue this topic; he was REALLY going to have to say it. Sanji didn't have a clue what the hell he was on about.
"How do I...?"
"How do you talk to girls, Sanji?? What the hell do you think I was on about?"
Sanji stumbled back a bit at this, like he had just been shot with an arrow. The expression on his face had shifted to pure shock. Zoro felt like he wanted to melt right where he stood at that point. What a dumb idea this had been! Now the cook would never let him live this down! Even if he chose to close the topic and leave; how could Sanji let him forget it? He would harass him about it non-stop for shit knows how long! What a stupid, stupid idea this was! He looked back at Sanji, face beet-red and ready to murmur an apology and bolt. However, the expression he had seen a moment ago was replaced with something new...something like, pity? No....not quite…at least, it better NOT be. Well, whatever it was, it relaxed him somewhat and, little by little, he began to feel the courage to continue what he had started.
"So........how do you do it?"
Sanji turned skyward and let out a small 'hmmm'. Zoro immediately felt the embarrassment and frustration returning in his gut at this.
"Oi...Sanji..."
Without a look at him, he murmured softly. "Musta taken you a lot of guts to come asking me that, shithead..."
Zoro practically choked out a scoff at this. He had been right. Sanji was already on the verge of mocking him. Dammit, why the hell had he come up here? He backed up a bit, ready to make his way back downward without a word.
Just right then however, Sanji plopped down and, with a small smirk, pat a spot next to him as a notion for Zoro to sit by him. Zoro hesitated at first, which Sanji responded with an even bigger smirk.
"Don't worry idiot, I'm not gonna bite."
Zoro recoiled at this. "What the hell kind of response is that, shit cook?? Now I don't wanna get anywhere near you!"
Sanji barred his teeth in anger at this. "Stupid Marimo! Do you want my advice or not!"
"I wouldn't be up here if I didn't!"
"Then sit down and shut the hell up!"
Zoro, reluctantly and grumbling, seated himself next to the blonde cook and focused his gaze upward.
"So.....how do I do it? How do you do it?"
Sanji twisted his lips around his cigarette in thought and, pulling it out briefly, released another puff of smoke spiraling skyward.
"It's not an easy task, you know? Women are delicate, sensitive creatures which require a lot of care."
"Psh, you sound like you're referring to a pet."
Sanji abruptly stubbed out his cigarette and grunted, shooting him a nasty glare. "I have the utmost respect for women! I would never refer to them as some sort of animal! Women are goddesses placed on earth and we are put here to do nothing but protect them from all harm!"
At this, Zoro scoffed and stood up. Sanji watched him as he made his way toward the edge of the crow's nest. "Oi! Where are you going?"
"Back to sleep."
"Thought you wanted my advice?"
"Eya, changed my mind."
Just as he was ready to leap over; he was tripped by a pair of long, familiar legs. Face first on the wood, he turned upward and barred his teeth at the cook; sending him a death glare.
"Oi! What the hell did you do that for?"
"For being ill-mannered and leaving in the middle of a conversation! I wasn't done talking yet, idiot!"
"Oh yeah?" He sat up and scooted so that he was face to face, cross-legged and practically knee-touching with the blonde. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, you were done the moment you said women are delicate." He emphasized the last three words with a bit of accent similar to Sanji's higher pitch, which earned a angry twitch in Sanji's facial features. Feeling a bit of pride at the sting that was evident in Sanji's face; he smirked a bit. It was the response that threw him off.
"So....you aren't interested at all?"
He noticed a slight blush forming on Sanji's cheeks as his gaze was cast downward. Could it be that Sanji had felt he wanted to have an ACTUAL conversation with Zoro? He raised his eyebrows at this thought. It was true that neither one of them had ACTUALLY sat down and talked. Anytime they usually exchanged words, it was harsh insults or just small 'informing-like' comments such as messages being relayed from the other crew members. All-in-all, besides their small quarrels, they really had just come to 'existing' amongst each other. They never really had stopped and chatted with each other like true nakama would. He bit his lip and mirrored Sanji's embarrassed gaze with one of his own.
"Sanji..."
He swallowed hard. This had to be the HARDEST thing for him to do. Of all days, why did it have to be this one?
"You know......if you really, REALLY wanna tell me about it...I could....I could close my eyes and pretend to listen. Just pretend, okay? I'm getting kinda sleepy, ya know?"
Sanji smiled a bit at this, still retaining the small blush in his cheeks. "Ya, I could....I could give you some shitty advice. Really shitty though...the kind that you wouldn't be able to comprehend and even if you did; it wouldn't do an ugly ape like you any good.......I could do that..."
Zoro smiled bigger at this and seated himself snugly next to Sanji, whom struck up another cigarette in response. Closing his eyes, he relaxed his muscles and let himself go as Sanji began to talk.
Maybe today wouldn't be as bad as he thought...regardless of what day it was...
~Fin~