Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Rescuing Sandcastle
~X~
Zoro walked on down the beach a bored look on his face. His friend Ace dragged him there that morning because of some sort of sandcastle computation his younger brother and another friend was in.
He hoped Ace wasn't going to ask him to join because it wasn't something he wanted to do. If anything he wanted to be back home, training or napping. Zoro did not like leaving his house much unless it was for work. Ever since Kuina died he became colder towards people.
He sighed, as he glanced around. He noted some of his Nabors building sandcastles around the beach shore and made his way over there. He scanned around only to hear some shouts not far away. He looked around to see where they were coming from.
There he saw a group of teenagers holding up a blond, who was trying his hardest to get away from them. The four teenagers laughed as they held the blond by the legs and arms, swaying him back and forth, laughing at him.
"Stop! Stop!" the blond yelled eyes closed as he tried to wiggle free.
To the blonds horror however the four teenagers tossed the blond far into the ocean. Zoro watched as the blond went under and he grunted running over to the ocean and the four teens. "What the hell!"
The teens just laughed, stomping over several sandcastles and taking something large with them. Zoro didn't see what it was as they were hiding it together. Zoro cursed as he seen some of the younger kids cry when their castles were ruined. He thought about going after them, but then he remembered about the blond.
He stared out into the ocean and noticed the blond was not up or swimming back yet and Zoro grew worried. Quickly the greenhead kicked off his sandals and jumped into the water. He looked around everywhere and to his relief he spotted the blond.
Quickly Zoro swam forward, swimming fast, reaching his arms out to catch the blond.
Zoro's heart raced as he grabbed the blond in nick of time, wrapping his arms around the thin waist and quickly swam back to shore.
"Zoro!" shouted one of Zoro's friends from the beach.
Zoro looked to see who it was. "Oi, Ace, come here I may need your help!" he called over to the other man. He gently laid the blond down in the warm sand and listened for a heartbeat. He sighed with relief hearing one.
"Hey, Blondie wake up, Oi Blondie!" he shouted, shaking the blond.
The blond stirred and coughed, water spitting out of his mouth, his blue eyes opening and he looked up seeing Zoro. He gasped in fear and looked around franticly. "Wha?"
Ace ran over to Zoro and stopped a few feet away. "Zoro?"
Zoro raised a hand to Ace and stared at the blond. "Relax your okay," he said in a soft voice.
Sanji shook his head, shivering some. "Those guys… who are you?"
"I'm Zoro, those guys ran off. Are you all right?"
Sanji shook his head, as he grabbed a hold of Zoro's shoulder and pulled himself up. He took a good look around and groaned. "Shit, no…, I'm not."
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Zoro asked, looking over the blond gently.
"I'm not a woman! No I'm not hurt… they," the blond looked away, staring at the sand. "They took my wheel chair…"
Zoro blinked and glanced up at Ace. Ace got the idea and started to run off to look for the said chair. Though he stopped and grinned at Zoro. "I signed you up, I'll be right back!" and he waved off.
Zoro grunted in annoyance at his friend and then looked at Sanji. "Can you move at all?"
Sanji grunted. "If you mean stand up and walk, no. I'm paralyzed," he said with a deep frown.
Zoro nodded and picked Sanji up once again into his arms and carried him away from the water and more onto the sand. He sat him back down and sat next to him. "Well, don't worry my friend went to find your chair, though how were you getting around in the sand and all?"
"My friend dragged me here… wanted me to cheer for him while he won the stupid contest," he said looking away. "But his over energetic self got the best of him and he ran off," Sanji explained.
Sounds like someone I know…. Zoro thought himself and sighed.
"I'm Sanji…," the blond then said, getting Zoro's attention again. "And thanks… for fishing me out," he said, still looking at the sand.
"Oh, Zoro, and your welcome. It's not like I could have left you to drown," he said glancing at the blond. "Give me a sec," he said, standing up and walking over to the bucket stand, grabbing to buckets and two shovels and he made his way back to Sanji sitting down.
"My idiot friend signed me up for this damn thing so I better do something. Want to help?" He asked, and for the first time in months he smiled.
Sanji was taken back, but he nodded. 'All right, I can help a bit," he said, and took the offering shovel and pale.
~X~
After some time of building and putting together the castle, Zoro stopped and looked at it. Sanji and Zoro chatted idly the whole time. Arguing here and there about one thing or the other but still having a good time. "Eh… almost done I think."
Sanji nodded as he dropped the shovel he was using the bucket. "Yeah."
"I know we just met and all, but were you always um… in a chair?" Zoro asked, looking at Sanji.
Sanji shook his head. "No. I was in a car accident a few months ago. A woman saved my life," he said with a deep frown, poking at the sand a bit.
Zoro blinked and looked up. "A woman?"
Sanji nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I still ended up with two broken legs and a damaged nerves, but if she didn't knock me half out of the way, I would have died too."
Zoro stared at Sanji. There was no way he was talking about the same accident Kuina was in. "Do you know the girls name? Who saved you?"
Sanji nodded. "Yeah, her name was Roronoa Kuina."
"Oh shit…," Zoro swallowed and stared at Sanji.
"Did you know her?" Sanji asked, glancing at Zoro, but not quit looking at him.
Zoro nodded, feeling a lump in his throat. "My name is Roronoa Zoro, Kuina was my wife."
Sanji gaped and looked up at Zoro eyes wide. "Oh, I-I'm so sorry…, you must hate me huh?"
Zoro shook his head, and grabbed Sanji unexpectedly into a hug. "No, I mean, she did what she thought was right, and that's something we were taught as kids. She did it because she cares about people. I'm glad I met you."
Sanji was a bit overwhelmed when Zoro hugged him and spoke about Kuina. He nodded and buried his nose into Zoro's shoulder. "And here you saved my life today…."
Zoro shook his head. "I was doing what was right, and I think maybe we met for a reason," he said, gently pulling away.
Sanji smiled at him. Yeah… time is almost up we should um… finish this?" he said, a blush painting across his cheeks.
Zoro chuckled and nodded, there was still so much more to talk about, but he figured it could wait until later. For now he was content at how things turned out; building a sandcastle with the blond his wife recued 8 months ago.
Ace watched from the background a smile on his face. Next to him was Sanji's wheel chair. When Luffy introduced Sanji to him a week ago, and when he learned of Sanji's story, he just had to introduce the blond to Zoro.
Some of their friends said it was a bad idea, but he knew otherwise. He knew it would be a rescue on both their lives, and it all started with building Sandcastles.
The End