"...anji..."
"Sanji..."
"SANJI!!"
Sanji jolted awake at the shout and his eyes shot open. His head pounded and his entire body felt stiff and sore. He instinctively let out a groan as a wave of nausea washed over him. His brain feeling like it would explode at any moment.
"Hey, just take it easy alright. You have a pretty serious concussion from falling from such a height." A voice spoke to the cooks left, but he was in too much pain to bother to move his head to look at who it was.
Where was he? What happened? Why did everything hurt like hell? These questions spun through Sanji's mind, only making his pounding headache worse.
Suddenly a small brown mass entered the cooks vision. It took his eyes a few seconds to fall into focus, but after a while Sanji could clearly see that the brown mass was actually Chopper.
The little reindeer smiled wide when he saw that Sanji had regained awareness. Placing his tools down on the table and facing the cook.
"Ok Sanji, how many fingers am I holding up?" Chopper held up one hoof in front of Sanji's face.
The cook frowned in confusion. He had no idea of a hoof counted as one finger or if it counted as two. He pondered this for a second before finally going with two. Chopper hummed and looked at his hoof.
"Umm...I think you could be right." He shrugged before looking back at Sanji.
"So now that I know you can see and talk, can you tell me how you feel."
"I-I feel like...ugggghhh." Sanji had to stop talking since his head felt like it was about to explode. Chopper insisted that Sanji stay still and rest for a bit.
The cook tried to clear his mind and figure out what was going on. Chopper was there and he was in pretty bad shape so he could only guess that he was in the infirmary. But why?
Sanji thought about it a second before Chopper was back at his side.
"What were you thinking? Going up into the crows nest when I told you not to? How you ended up falling I have no idea, but still, why didn't you listen to me?"
Chopper continued to ramble on about how disappointed he was in Sanji, but the pieces started to fall into place for the cook.
Crows nest...falling...
Then Sanji remembered.
He had fallen from the crows nest, but not by himself. He had been thrown over the edge...but by who?
"-fically told you not to go up there because Zoro was sick, but you never listen."
That was it!
Sanji's memory resurfaced in that moment and he remembered everything. Taking the soup up to Zoro to falling off the crows nest.
The wolf.
Sanji immediately turned to Chopper, but regretted it when he felt his head throb in pain again.
"Ch-Chopper..." Sanji mumbled. The doctor turned around and faced Sanji.
"What's wrong Sanji? Do you need something?" He asked. The cook nodded, feeling a sharp pain in his forehead, but he pressed on.
"Th-The crows nest... Zoro... w-wolf th-" Sanji continued to stutter. His mind had gone foggy again and forming words was so much harder than before. He almost sounded drunk.
Chopper furrowed his brow in concern and walked over to Sanji, slowly pushing him back into bed.
"You need some rest Sanji." He said. "You're a bit delirious from the concussion and the meds I gave you, but if you sleep it off you'll get better in no time." Sanji wanted to protest, but the warmth of the bed was so inviting. He felt his eyes slowly close and his mind go blank once again.
ZOSAN
Sanji awoke again feeling refreshed and energized. His head throbbed a bit, but at least he could think straight. He slowly crawled out of the bed and stood up. He wobbled slightly and his head throbbed again.
Sanji sighed and decided to go to the Galley and get a drink of water to get rehydrated.
The cook walked to the door of the infirmary on only slightly steady legs before opening it up.
He exited and turned to the side to begin walking to the Galley only to feel his body hit something hard.
The force of the impact caused Sanji to stumble back. He was about to hit the ground when someone quickly reached forward and grabbed him by the waist. Sanji was dipped down, his back only a few feet from the ground.
The cook slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see himself staring into the face of Zoro.
Their faces were so close together. Only a few inches apart. Sanji could feel Zoro's hot breath on his lips. It smelled like alcohol.
The cook stared into his single steel grey eye. Sanji suddenly noticed that there was a slight hint of green in it.
Quickly the swordsman lifted Sanji back to his feet and steadied him out.
"Sorry, didn't see you there." Zoro apologized. "Are you ok?" Sanji proceeded to nod but stopped when his head throbbed in pain. Sanji winced and instinctively reached to where it hurt.
"Chopper told me you got hurt pretty bad last night. Fell from the crows nest right?" Sanji sighed to show that the swordsman was correct.
The cook had so many questions to ask Zoro. All about what had happened last night. He was sure Zoro knew something, he had to, right? But he refrained from asking since he didn't want Zoro to think he was going insane again.
"Anyways, I was gonna go in the infirmary to see how you were doing. Looks like you're not too bad off." Zoro smirked slightly, but Sanji could see that it was slightly forced.
Zoro looked tired. He had dark rings under his eyes. They were dull, showing no sign of humor behind them.
Zoro's lip twitched downward and his smile faded. He then moved his head to the side like he was trying to avoid looking at the cook's face.
Sanji noticed a look on the swordsman's face that he had never seen before. It sort of looked like...guilt?
The swordsman seemed lost in thought for a few seconds, his eyes dull and emotionless before he seemed to snap back to reality.
"U-Umm... anyways I...I just wanted to know if you were alright." Zoro muttered, still avoiding eye contact. Sanji just stared at him with confusion. Still trying to figure out if he was really seeing guilt on his face.
"Umm...that's all I really wanted to say so..." Zoro quickly scampered off, his face flushed bright pink.
Sanji had no idea if he should laugh, be embarrassed, or be absolutely confused.
ZOSAN
The cook walked into the Galley only to be flooded by every crew mate on the ship asking if he was ok and if he would be able to make lunch. Sanji ordered them to leave immediately and quickly made his way over to the kitchen to get some water.
As he was filling up a glass everyone filed out of the Galley while Nami walked over to him.
"I'm glad you're ok Sanji-Kun." She said. "Chopper didn't expect you to get better in only a few hours." Sanji smiled at Nami.
"I could never sleep knowing that my beautiful Nami-Swan hadn't eaten her lunch." Nami rolled her eyes, but laughed.
"It's a little late for lunch don't you think?" She asked. Sanji's eyes widened and he quickly looked out the window. He gasped when he saw the setting sun in the horizon. It was so much later than he thought.
The cook cursed under his breath while Nami tried to reassure him.
"It's ok Sanji-Kun, you needed your rest." She smiled.
"Anyways, do you need any help? Chopper said you had a pretty bad concussion and you shouldn't strain yourself too much." Sanji shook his head after he got over his shock.
"I'll be alright." He said with a smile. "But thank you for worrying about me Nami-Swan." He cooed. Nami chuckled and followed all the other crew mates out the door.
Sanji began preparing dinner for everyone. He moved around the kitchen grabbing pans and spices and other necessary items. He lit the stove and went to work.
As he worked he heard the door open. He quickly looked up to see none other than the swordsman himself walking over to the fridge.
"What're you doing here? Dinner isn't ready yet." Sanji sneered.
"Just grabbing a drink." Zoro mumbled as he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of Sake.
"Oi! That's for dinner! Put that back!" Sanji yelled. As soon as he did he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea.
"Uggghh." Sanji groaned as he leaned back on the counter with a hand on his head.
"Oi, you alright?" Sanji heard Zoro call. The cook tried to answer him, but he felt if he did he would no doubt throw up everywhere.
He heard footsteps and was sure Zoro was going to open the door and leave, but then he heard a voice next to him.
"Here, put this on your neck." Sanji looked up to see Zoro handing him a cold towel. The cook hesitated for a second, but then gave in and took the towel from Zoro. He put it on his neck and immediately began to relax.
"You're in no shape to cook on your own." Zoro said as he looked around the kitchen. He looked back at the cook.
"I'll help you." He said. Sanji had to refrain himself from laughing in fear of his nausea coming back. Zoro, helping him out in the kitchen. The thought of that was completely absurd!
But when Sanji looked at Zoro's face he could see that the swordsman was dead serious. He actually wanted to help.
Sanji pondered this for a second before realizing that Zoro was right. There was no way he would be able to get anything done if he kept getting headaches. He needed assistance. Sanji sighed.
"Fine, you can help. On one condition." Sanji said. "You do everything I say and you do NOT mess with what I'm making or I-"
"Deal." Zoro interrupted. Sanji stared at him.
"Wh-What?" He asked. Zoro gave the cook a very unamused look.
"I said deal. I'll do everything you say." Sanji was baffled. Zoro, a man who took no shit from anyone, was willing to take orders from a man he practically despised with his whole being. Sanji was stunned.
What was going on?
"Umm... ok..." Sanji muttered. "I guess you could start with getting some spices out of the-"
"Like these?" Zoro turned around and held up an arms full of different spices. Sanji gaped at him.
"Not all of them you moss-headed idiot!" Sanji yelled, but immediately regretted it when his headache came back. Sanji doubled over and rubbed his temple.
Sanji saw Zoro tense up a bit before cursing under his breath.
"Sorry." He mumbled. Sanji stared back up at him in confusion.
Zoro was acting so weird. He was actually helping Sanji and he was apologizing. That was definitely new.
"I-It's fine." Sanji said after he got over his shock. "Just... try not to do anything else stupid." Sanji saw Zoro smirk a little.
"Can't make an promises." He quipped. Sanji felt a smile tug at his lips but he forced it down. There was no way he would smile at that Marimo bastard. No way!
Sanji looked over to see Zoro fumbling with with a pot for a bit before inevitably dropping it on the floor. The cook could not help but burst out laughing.
This is gonna be impossible, Sanji thought.
ZOSAN
A few minutes passed and Zoro was finally able to get the rice into the pot of water without spilling any of it. He placed the lid on and let it stay there as Sanji ordered him to do more work.
He sent him over to the counter to cut up some carrots and peppers. Zoro grabbed a knife from the holder.
"Why am I not surprised your first instinct was to grab the biggest knife in the holder." Sanji sighed. "Listen Marimo, to cut vegetables you need a smaller knife. Grab the one to your left." Zoro grumbled something about bigger being better as he put away the big knife and took out the smaller one.
"Ok, now when you cut vegetables it's a swift motion, but you should start slow. You need to keep the tip of the knife on the cutting board while you pull down the bottom of it to cut the vegetables." Zoro seemed a little confused, but he tried to follow Sanji's directions nonetheless. He began cutting the vegetables.
Constantly the cook had to refrain from shoving Zoro to the side and saying 'no you idiot! This is how you do it!' It was just so painful to watch him mangle those poor vegetables.
Finally after a whole minute of watching the worst vegetable massacre in history, Sanji could not hold back any longer.
"Alright, move aside shitty swordsman, you're doing it all wrong." Sanji shifted over to where Zoro was cutting the vegetables and took hold of the knife.
"The key to cutting anything is in quick and swift motions. If you cut too slow you could risk ruining what you're cutting. If you cut too fast you could risk cutting in the wrong place. It's all about precision and the right speed." Sanji demonstrated by swiftly pulling his knife down and flawlessly cutting right through the pepper set in front of him. Zoro watched from behind him.
Sanji turned his head and smiled at the swordsman.
"You get it?" He asked. Zoro crossed his arms and mumbled something to himself Sanji did not hear.
"Yeah, whatever." He finally said. The cook frowned at him, but decided to let him try again since he could feel his headache coming back.
Sanji moved to the side and let the swordsman take his place. Zoro took up the knife again.
Zoro then did something Sanji did not expect. He closed his other eye. He took a deep breath and swung the knife down.
Sanji panicked slightly since without his vision, Zoro would not be able to see if he was about to cut his own finger off.
Sanji was about to stop him, but he froze when he realized that Zoro was ok.
In fact, he was still cutting the peppers with amazing precision and flawless cuts. His pace was a bit slow, but otherwise, the swordsman was doing well.
Sanji felt himself smile. There was just something so satisfying about seeing someone actually take his advice to heart and try to accomplish something with it. Especially the swordsman.
This made the cook think about why Zoro was doing this. Why he was even helping the cook out. It could not have just been out of the kindness of his heart, no way. So what was it?
When Zoro was done cutting he opened his eye again and Sanji saw it. That small glimmer of a strange emotion Sanji saw back when he bumped into Zoro. It definitely looked like it could be guilt.
Then did that mean that Zoro was helping Sanji because he felt guilty about something he did? But... what did he do?
Zoro turned to Sanji suddenly and looked him dead in the eyes before bowing low.
"I-I just wanted to say that I'm..." Zoro paused.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled. Sanji gave the swordsman a confused look. Not knowing what reason he could be apologizing for.
"Relax." Sanji said. "It's just a few bell peppers." Zoro picked himself up and shifted awkwardly.
"R-Right. Th-The peppers..." he trailed off. Sanji squinted at him in suspicion.
"Anyways, what else do you need me to do?" Zoro changed the subject quickly. Sanji looked at him.
"Ummm... J-Just... the rice should be almost done so you can take the peppers and carrots and throw them into a pan to sauté them." Zoro nodded and went to a cupboard to grab a pan.
Sanji watched him with suspicions eyes. The way Zoro moved was even off. It was the walk of a guilty man.
Sanji knew Zoro had done something that compelled him to try and make up for it, and the cook was sure it was done towards him. But... what was it?
If Zoro felt guilty about it, then it must have been bad. But Sanji could not recall Zoro ever doing something extremely bad to him.
As Zoro began turning on the stove Sanji knew he had to figure out what was going on with him. Perhaps this connected back to the late night disappearances or the fact that he was tired all the time.
Maybe even the giant wolf.
Whatever it was, Sanji wanted answers. And he was no going to stop until he found what he wanted.
Because he wants pretty sure that Zoro life may be in danger.