Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I make no profit from writing this.

Summary: Nothing could ever change his feelings for the aho-cook, no matter how cold the bastard may act. [ZoSan]

Inspirational Songs: ''Cold As You' by Taylor Swift.

Heaven's Ladder

There was a ladder on deck that led up to the crow's nest, where members of the crew took turns keeping watch. On this night, even though it wasn't actually his turn, he was going up there. It was Sanji's night for watch, and the swordsman was determined to get the shit cook alone. It was no secret he was crazy about the blonde, but Sanji seemed dead-set on ignoring his feelings. He hated the other man for that, when the pervert flirted with every female that crossed his sight. It didn't seem fair, but then again, nothing in life ever was. Sanji was, and always would be, a womanizer no matter who he ended up with.

This ladder was what separated him and Heaven, so to speak. Sanji was his own little slice, even if the bastard cook refused to see it that way. In this world full of piracy and chaos, it was needed.

Zoro stared up at the ladder, where he knew Sanji was keeping watch. He was extremely nervous about once again cornering the cook.

The swordsman climbed up the ladder, determined to get his way tonight. If Sanji wouldn't kiss him voluntarily, then Zoro would have to seduce him a little, no harm done. He had absolutely no experience with this type of thing, and he really hoped his attempts at wooing Sanji didn't end up in a train wreck.

Peeking over the edge of the ladder, Zoro saw his blonde haired nakama sitting peacefully against the wall with a cigarette between his lips. Their eyes met through the dark, blue on dark green, as a tendril of smoke rose up in the air unnoticed.

"The answer's still no, shitty swordsman." The cook drawled, pulling his cigarette from his mouth and flicking the ashes away. Zoro came further into the room, his footsteps echoing loudly on the wooden floor. Sanji raised one curly eyebrow in question, even though he knew what the other man was trying to get at.

"You won't even give me a chance?" The green haired man crossed his arms over his chest and fixed the cook with a scathing glare, itching to touch that pale skin with his own fingers. It took him all of his pride and three months to tell the stupid blonde how he felt. He wasn't going to give up on Sanji, no matter how many times the love cook ripped his heart out and crushed it under his heel. People always said he was a masochist at heart, but he was just a very determined man.

"I'm not into men, Zoro. I've already told you all of this." Sanji repeated this particular phrase for the third time that day, irritated beyond belief with his sword-wielding nakama. The idiot just didn't know when to take a hint or seven. Besides, they were supposed to be rivals of some sort or something.

A fist grabbed the collar of his shirt, lifting him up off the floor. Sanji was already sending a spinning kick into the other man's face, and he was slightly taken aback when his leg met flesh instead of steel. It was rare for a swordsman to be without his swords during a fight.

…Unless it wasn't a fight he wanted.

Sanji jerked back when soft lips brushed the bottom of his jaw, and Zoro's face invaded his vision, pinched with anger and even more frustration.

"I don't care if you're not into men. All I want is one chance and then I'll leave you alone." Zoro said in a low voice, tightening his grip on Sanji's shirt and pulling him closer. Their noses bumped, heat flashed in the cook's eyes, and the swordsman found himself shoved up against the wall with a pale fist in his shirt. It sent pleasurable tingles up and down his spine.

"I said no, now get the fuck out of my sight." Sanji let his collar go and shoved him towards the ladder roughly, going back to leaning against the wall and blowing smoke rings into the air. Zoro clenched his fists at his sides, his heart once again ripped out and crushed on the ground at his feet.

"I'm not giving up, aho-cook." Zoro told him in a gravely voice, thick with emotion from being rejected once again. Sanji almost-almost-felt sorry for him, but he'd told the man time and time again that they simply couldn't be together. They were nakama and nothing more. He was in love with Nami, not the muscled brute standing in the doorway looking like he wanted to jump him. Besides, someone like Zoro would never know what it meant to love another person so deeply that your whole world revolved around them.

Zoro's world revolved around being the best and his toy swords.

"Nami will never want you like I do." The green haired man took a determined step closer to the cook, who raised a leg in retaliation. Zoro grabbed the appendage by the ankle, and slid his hand up Sanji's pant leg. "Just give me one chance and I promise you won't regret it." The swordsman was getting desperate, saying anything that popped into his head at that moment. Sanji wasn't falling for anything that came out of his mouth anyway.

Zoro was expecting it when Sanji's leg nailed him in the chest, sending him flying through the doorway, down the ladder, and onto the deck below. If he hadn't been made of stronger stuff, the fall probably would've broken his back, or even killed him. Bruises were more likely.

"Dammit." The swordsman hissed, pushing himself into a sitting position. He must've been a real idiot, falling in love with a womanizing fool like Sanji. It should've been Luffy or maybe Usopp. Hell, even one of the girls would've been great. The stupid cook was too stubborn to listen to reason.

Zoro grumbled as he stood up, glaring up at the ladder and cursing the man at the top. He'd let this incident slide, but on Sanji's next watch, the cook was going to be his.

XxX

The ladder was just as imposing as it had been the other night. He wasn't afraid or nervous. He'd known Sanji too long to be afraid of what might come out of his mouth, which was the definition of dirty. He was just getting sick of hearing the word 'no'.

Sanji wasn't in the crow's nest when he peeked over the edge of the ladder into the dark room. Nami had specifically told him that the bastard cook would be keeping watch near midnight. It was a little past the given time, but Sanji should've been here despite that.

Zoro climbed further into the room, looking around at the dark shadows that were the couches. That's when he finally noticed the lump on the one furthest away from him. Sanji was sprawled out on the length of it, with a cigarette dangling between his lips, both hands lying on his stomach. From the looks of it, the blonde had fallen asleep in the middle of his watch, the slacker.

The swordsman walked over to his nakama's sleeping figure, and for a few minutes just watched him sleep. He could see both of Sanji's eyes for once.

"Oi, shit cook, you're supposed to be keeping watch, not sleeping." Zoro nudged the blonde with the hilt of Wadou, earning himself a sleepy mumble that sounded suspiciously like 'mellorine'. The green haired man scowled and jabbed Sanji in the ribs harsher than he meant to.

"Fuck, dammit, shit!" Sanji shot up on the couch, narrowly banging his forehead against Zoro's, seeing as the other man was bent down to his level. The cook immediately pushed him away, making a face at having been so close to the idiot. "You again? Didn't I already tell you no, Marimo?"

"Didn't I tell you that I wasn't going to give up?" Zoro countered, moving to sit beside the blonde on the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him. Sanji's smell permeated his senses, and it made warm arousal surge through his system. The other man smelled like nicotine, cheap cologne, and the dinner they had that night. It was completely intoxicating.

"I'm not one of your conquests. You can't win against me." Sanji informed him, flicking the ashes of his cigarette off to the side. He was getting tired of playing these games. He was almost ready to give in-just once-so the swordsman would shut the hell up. But that would've been letting the idiot off too easy. He didn't want to give his nakama any false hope by simply giving in to get him to back off.

The moon was full tonight, and it shown in through the door, right on the two men in the previously dark room. Sanji stole a glance at the green haired man, wondering if what Zoro wanted was simply just sex or something he'd rather not think about at this point in time. Love wasn't something he wanted associated with himself and the man next to him.

"I don't think of you as a conquest, aho-cook." Zoro said quietly, glancing back at him. A single, blonde eyebrow rose in surprise, like Sanji hadn't expected that to come out of Zoro's mouth. Everything was a conquest to the swordsman. "You may not believe me, but you're different from the others. Sex isn't the only thing I'm after."

"Doesn't change anything, Marimo. I'm still not into men."

"You haven't even tried it before, so how would you know?"

Sanji snorted as he took a drag from his cigarette. Well, that was a stupid question. Of course he would know if he was into men, even without the experimenting. He was completely crazy about girls, there was no doubt about that. Nami and Robin were a testament to how in love with them he was. Zoro wasn't even considered an option.

"This is the last time I'll tel you, shitty swordsman, but my answer is and always will be a no." Sanji carelessly tossed his finished cigarette off to the side, and stood up from the couch, making his way to the door and looking back at Zoro once before climbing down the ladder. "You should find someone else, Marimo. I'm just not the one."

Sanji's footsteps echoed down the ladder, and Zoro realized his watch must've just ended. A few minutes later, a sleepy Usopp stumbled up into the crow's nest, rubbing his eye with his fist. He didn't even notice Zoro standing there until he had actually bumped into him.

"Eh, Zoro? What were you doing up here with Sanji?" The marksman joined him on the couch, tucking stray pieces of his hair under his nightcap. The swordsman shook his head as he got up, and left without telling Usopp a reason for his being there if it was supposed to be Sanji's watch. Speaking of the cook, maybe the idiot had a point. It'd taken him three months to confess; maybe it just wasn't meant to be?

Zoro dragged himself into bed, ignoring the blonde in the hammock just above the couch he slept in. If Sanji wanted him to give up, then what else choice did he have? The cook just didn't want him.

XxX

Every time Zoro looked behind him, one of the girls was looking back sadly. It irritated him to no end because he had a sinking feeling they knew about his feelings for the stupid love cook. He thanked God they were the only ones who seemed to know. Now if only they could keep their big mouths shut so nobody else found out.

Nami cornered him in the mens' bunk one day after his daily training, demanding to know the dynamics of his and Sanji's relationship.

"We're nakama and nothing else. Stop nosing into things you shouldn't be." Zoro told her, not quite able to keep the bitterness out of his voice. She latched onto it like a life preserver in an empty ocean.

"Robin and I are worried about you! That's what nakama means, right? Tell me what happened, Zoro." The navigator danced around him as he tried to get away, determined to get the story out of him. He growled at her when he almost tripped over her stupid feet.

"For fuck's sake, Nami, he rejected me! That's it! Now leave me alone!"

"But you told him you loved him, right?" Nami wasn't going to give up.

"What does it matter? Even if I had told him, he still would've said no. That damn cook is in love with you." Zoro shoved past her and out onto the deck, where three pairs of curious eyes followed his angry movements up to the crow's nest. Nami came out a second later, red in the face with her fists clenched at her sides.

"Zoro, you idiot! I wasn't done with you!" The red head glared up at the crow's nest, huffed out a heavy breath, then turned on her heel and stalked off in Robin's direction. Sanji chose that moment to appear, frowning as he took in the scene before him. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper didn't seem to know where to look: at Nami's retreating back or the ladder to the crow's nest.

"What do you think happened?" Usopp wondered, looking between Luffy and Chopper. The two simply shrugged and looked over at Sanji, like he would know. The cook blushed and mumbled something under his breath before heading back into the kitchen.

But, of course, no one knew he had heard Zoro's love confession. Oh, God, what to do now?

The three still on deck were even more curious now than before as they watched the cook walk away.

XxX

That night during his watch, Zoro thought about Sanji like he was prone to do at night, alone. He thought about what Nami had said, and if it would've made a difference to tell Sanji that he loved him.

"Fuck that stupid cook. He's not worth it." Zoro muttered into the dark, picking up a weight lifting it vigorously and trying to work off his frustration at the world. He hated to admit it, but Sanji was an ideal partner. The idiot was strong, determined, and damned flexible. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind and Zoro loved that about him. "It wouldn't have made a difference what I told him." The swordsman moved his arm faster, ignoring the harsh pain in the center of his chest.

"It would have made all the difference, Marimo." A sickly familiar voice said from the doorway, the smell of smoke wafting to Zoro's nose and lighting his skin on fire.

Sanji...

"I overheard you and Nami-san talking. Do you really love me?" The cook came further into the room, putting his cigarette out on the wall. Zoro watched the man with narrowed eyes, part of him wanting to reach out, grab Sanji's tie, and kiss the living daylights out of him. Another part of him wanted to slam his fist into that pretty little face.

"If you overheard us, then you would know." The green haired man set his weights off to the side and gave the cook his full attention, unwaveringly meeting his eyes. Sanji joined him on the couch, looking out towards the sky with his bottom lip pulled between his teeth.

"That's all I needed to hear." The blonde put a hand on Zoro's knee, sliding it up as he turned his body. Finally, they were facing each other, and Zoro's breath caught at the look in the other man's visible eye. It was filled with something that he' d never expected to be aimed towards him. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but I needed to be sure it wasn't just sex you wanted. I'm not some kind of cheap whore you use and then throw away. I want to be in a real-mmph!"

Zoro pulled Sanji into a borderline painful kiss, cutting off the cook's speech. He felt thin fingers tangle in his hair as a wet tongue brushed against his bottom lip, the cook demanding entry. Zoro opened his mouth without a second's hesitation, pulling Sanji onto his lap and holding the blonde close to his body. The kiss went on forever it seemed, until Sanji pulled away to catch his breath.

"I love you, too, Marimo." Sanji tugged at the green hair in his hand, pulling the swordsman into another mind-numbing kiss. Zoro relaxed into the cook's hold, and for the first time in a long time, let happiness and contentment wash through him.

~Owari~