Scars run deep
"Get those sails tied down NOW!" Nami barked.
"What does it look like we're doing?!" Zoro yelled.
"Hey, watch your mouth with her you shitty swordsman!" Sanji yelled.
"You want to start something, love-cook?!"
"Are you guys really going to argue now, with all this happening?!" Usopp screamed.
The raging storm rocked the Thousand Sunny around violently. Everyone was scrambling around the deck, tying down everything, trying to prepare the ship to ride it out. Zoro swung down from the rigging after securing the sail on the main mast and was headed towards the foremast to do the same when he heard the faint sound of something snapping. Instinctively, he stopped running and looked around to find where the sound came from, but couldn't see anything through the rain.
"Zoro, heads up!" he then heard someone scream from behind him. Zoro turned around just in time to see Sanji running towards him and push him out of the way as a barrel that had broken loose slammed into him, knocking him overboard.
"SANJI!" Luffy screamed as he and the rest of the crew ran to the side of the ship, except for Zoro, who had a different plan in mind.
"Where is he?!" Chopper cried.
"Can anyone see him?!" Nami said.
"No, I don't see him anywhere!" Franky replied.
"SAAANJIII!" Luffy continued to scream.
"He has to be close to the ship; the storm can't have swept him out too far!" Robin said.
"Look!" Usopp yelled, pointing out towards the sea. "There he is, over there!"
Everyone followed the direction he was pointing and sure enough, there was Sanji, holding onto the barrel that had fallen over with him.
"Luffy, can you grab him?!" Nami asked.
Luffy drew his arm back and launched it forwards. But instead of grabbing him, his hand plunged into the ocean, too far away for Sanji to reach.
"He's too far out; the wind's too strong and we're moving around too much." Luffy said sadly as he pulled his arm back in. "There's no way I can help him."
"Then what are we gonna do?!" Chopper panicked. "We can't just leave him out there in this storm; he'll drown!"
At that moment, Zoro breezed past everyone and jumped overboard, a rope from the ship's rigging tied around his waist. He struggled through the crashing waves towards Sanji and once there, placed a hand on his shoulder. Sanji looked up at him for a moment, panic clear on his face, and nodded as an unspoken communication crossed between them both. Sanji wrapped both his arms around his neck and Zoro wrapped one arm around his waist and grabbed onto the rope tightly with the other hand.
"GUYS, PULL US IN!" Zoro yelled through the storm.
Seconds later, he felt them both being dragged through the water as everyone on the ship pulled on the rope, save Chopper, who had disappeared. Once they were on the deck, Sanji rolled over off his back and onto his knees, coughing and shivering.
"You alright?" Zoro panted as he sat up.
Sanji looked at him for a little while then slammed a fist across his head.
"D-d-d-damn, sh-sh-shitty Marimo!" he shivered. "W-w-what was g-going th-through your head when you s-st-topped running?!"
"Yeah, he's fine." Nami sighed before she ordered the others to go back to securing the ship.
At that moment, Chopper came running out of the sick bay carrying two blankets; one of which he gave to Zoro, the other he draped over Sanji's shoulders, who he then started looking over.
"Ch-Ch-Chopper, I'm fine, really; I'm just f-f-freezing right now." He complained.
"That may be, but I want to check that for myself." Chopper replied.
Zoro was about to get up and help the rest of the crew when suddenly, as Chopper was about to check his face, Sanji swatted him away and turned his head abruptly to one side. Both looked at him in shock before Sanji got up and quickly made his way to the kitchen. Chopper was about to go after him when Nami called for him to help Franky secure the barrels that came loose. Zoro kept focused on the direction Sanji had disappeared to; when he turned away from Chopper, there was something he saw on Sanji's face aside from panic that brought up an interesting question that he fully intended to find out the answer to.
Zoro was jolted out of his sleep when something slammed into his bunk. Knowing full well who it was, he looked over at a sleeping Luffy and glared at him for the fourth time that night. He was about to head towards the training room when he noticed that Sanji's bunk was empty. Since Usopp was on lookout duty and Nami had threatened to tie him to the ship's anchor if he came anywhere near the women's quarters, Zoro knew there was only one possible place he could be at this time. Feeling a "sudden urge" for alcohol, Zoro quietly made his way to the kitchen and sure enough, there was Sanji, smoking a cigarette as he set the table for breakfast. He looked up when he heard Zoro close the door behind him and growled.
"How are you the one who's up early?" Sanji grumbled.
"You sound surprised." Zoro chuckled.
"That's because I am; especially considering I once saw you sleep through a hurricane."
"Yeah, well, I got tired of Luffy punching my bunk in his sleep, so I came here to get some sake to help knock me out." To prove his point, Zoro walked over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle, and sat down on the couch. "So what's your excuse for being up so early?"
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep through Franky's snoring? I swear, the guy has rusty gears built into his throat, or something."
Zoro only shrugged as he bit off the cork on the bottle and took a long drink; admittedly, he had experienced the same problem the first few nights Franky was on board.
"Now, why are you really here?" Sanji continued.
Zoro looked back at Sanji, who was now washing dishes. "I told you already; I came here to get some sake to-"
"Don't play that game with me, Marimo; I know you too well. You always go up to your training room whenever you can't sleep, and you only come in here to steal sake when you know I'm not around. So, again, why are you really here?"
Zoro sighed and stood up from the couch, placing the bottle on the table.
"I want to talk to you about earlier today." He said.
"If you're expecting a 'thank you' out of me, then I'm gonna kick your ass right over the-"
"I want to know what you're hiding behind the hair over your left eye."
Sanji paused for a moment, his body tensing up a little. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play that game with me, ero-cook; when you turned away from Chopper, your hair moved out of the way enough for me to see the beginning of a scar on the bridge of your nose." Sanji tensed up even more upon hearing this. "I didn't see much of it, but I saw enough to know that there's a reason you don't show the left side of your face. So what is it you're hiding?"
Sanji clenched his jaw tightly, then after a moment, he finally relaxed with a frustrated sigh.
"What I'm hiding is a past that I want nothing more than to forget, and a secret that I want no one to know about." Sanji said, tossing his cigarette into the sink water. "Unfortunately, it looks like I can't do either tonight."
"What do you mean?"
Sanji slowly walked to the door and locked it after making sure no one else was nearby. He then walked towards the windows behind Zoro.
"Oi, are you going to explain what you're doing, or not?"
Sanji checked each window closely before answering, "The last thing I want right now is for someone to walk in on or see this."
"What are you…You're going to show me the left side of your face."
Sanji paused for a moment and sighed before turning around to face him. "Before I do this, Zoro, I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"I need you to promise me that no matter what, you won't tell anyone about what I'm about to show you; everything you see and hear in this kitchen stays in this kitchen."
It was clear from the look on his face that Sanji was serious, but at the same time, Zoro could see in the one eye that was showing that he was also scared.
"Alright, curlybrow," Zoro replied as softly as he could, "I promise that no matter what, this will just be between us."
Surprised at first by the softness of Zoro's voice, Sanji then smiled slightly and nodded.
"Thank you." He whispered.
The smile on Sanji's face faded away to match the pained and scared look in his eye as he slowly lifted his hand up to where his hair covered the left side, but hesitated when he was inches away from moving it aside.
"Wow, is it really that bad?" Zoro said.
"Let's just say, there's a reason I've hidden this for most of my life."
Zoro walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then I guess it pleases me to be the first to know why."
Sanji looked at him closely for a moment, and then his expression softened a little. Understanding that he wanted Sanji to trust him this one time, he nodded and motioned for Zoro to take a step back. Then he moved his hair aside and tucked it behind his ear.
to be continued
I know what you're thinking; what kind of an ending is that?! What's Sanji hiding?! Don't worry; that chapter will be up soon...ish.
