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Hello. IT HAS BEEN A WHILE... I'm so sorry for not being able to upload, and leaving you guys hanging in a cliff. Though I hope that this quick upload will be enough for an apology. I really wanted them to be in character because I like it like that. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter! I'm still thinking of what to do in the next chapters, if I'm planning on extending this story then I better make it well planned out, right?... ANYWAY, I love Sanji and I love those who love Sanji, openly or secretly. hehehe... I enjoy making the titles of my chapters very much! HAHA. Enjoy!

[UPDATE: 02/24/17] Heeeyyy, I have decided to update some chapters, correct some typos and fixed some wordings to some parts from chapter 1 up to this chapter here! although, i might also do some editing to chapters 5 and 6. Then I will hopefully post a new chapter within the week or maybe later. lol. I just feel the need to add something to this chapter to clear something out. So yeah! I'm really thankful that my sister left her laptop at home, i'm using her laptop right now! BANZAI SISTER'S LAPTOP! i'll stop. i'm sorry.

Chapter 4: Golden Strands on Broken Hands

It's been a couple of days since we rescued the ero cook and he has yet to wake up. Chopper has updated all of us on the current condition of the cook and got a bit emotional thanking everyone for helping out. Although, he did mention that there are some moments where the trauma of the whole incident would cause the cook to move around make his heart rate rise and stretch open his wound while still being unconscious.

Zoro had just woken up from his afternoon nap, or at least when he took his nap it was in the afternoon. Opening his one good eye, he was met with a pale yellow light in front of him.

Huh?

He pulled his hands from underneath his head and sat up. A cold shiver ran down his body as a cold breeze flew over him. It was already midnight.

Oh.

He got up from the grassy bedding of the deck. His stomach growled just as he was thinking of what to do next. He missed dinner and no one woke him up because they probably forgot since it was usually the cook's routine to make sure everyone is present during meals, and it was always Sanji who kicks him awake so that he wouldn't miss any meals. A long tired sigh escaped from Zoro's mouth. He had just woken up and yet he feels exhausted. Worrying is not something Zoro's used to doing, and right now he can't help but worry about a certain blue-eyed, curlybrow chef.

I'm hungry.

He shook off his thoughts and stood from the grass, focusing on his current objective right now which is food. And by food, he actually means sake.

After some time and a few failed attempts at locating the kitchen, he went to the corner closet where Sanji usually "tries" to hide the sake and grabbed how many he can possibly hold all at once-he took seven bottles, three on each hand and one on his mouth. The man wields three swords at once, go figure. So content with the number of sake bottles he currently possess set off to go to enjoy a midnight drink with the sea and the moon. But just like earlier, he can't seem to find the grassy deck it must have been because it's night and everything looks different at night, instead he ended up in front of the clinic room.

Zoro pondered for a while as he stares at the clinic door when his stomach started growling, so he decided to drink one before trying to find his way back to the deck and also just pay the stupid cook a visit since he's already in the area.

Approaching the clinic door, Zoro noticed that the door was slightly opened. Just as he was about to enter the room he was stopped when he heard voices from inside the room.

"S-stop! The bed..."

The cook's already awake? Who's he with?

He couldn't understand some of the things the cook was saying so he leaned closer, just enough so he could hear but not that he would move the door.

"...hurry up"

Zoro couldn't understand the meaning to the cook's words until he heard a muffled sound and the sound of metal creaking repeatedly. He knows the sound too well. The grunting sounds, the moaning and the creaking. He knows them all too well. And in that moment, Zoro found himself sitting on the floor gently with his back against the wall of the clinic just beside the door, and placing the bottles of sake around him and waited for the moaning sounds to stop. He drank the bottles one after the other.

What the fuck.

When the creaking sound started to slow down, and with the stillness of the ship at night he could clearly hear the moans of the cook as well as the soft grunts of the other person who was probably fucking the cook. Zoro drank his sake each time he would hear the cook moan and already he was on his sixth bottle with less than half of the sake remaining.

"Quickly..."

He heard him whisper urgently.

"Harder"

Zoro's eye was glaring at the bottle and his grip tightened around the neck of the bottle as the cook's moans as well as the creaking of the bed started to increase.

By the time Zoro was finished with his sixth bottle and was onto drinking half of the seventh bottle's sake down, he heard the creaking stop and the sound the cook always makes when he comes only this time it was muffled down.

When Zoro had already finished with his seventh sake he heard the door slowly creaking open.

"If you're wondering... He's doing a lot better now..."

Are you fucking kidding me?

"Yeah, I heard him moaning like an idiot" Zoro tightened his grip on the empty sake still on his hand and tried to give it a final drink to make sure it really is empty. We wouldn't want to waste good sake on occasions like this.

"Listen, I only helped him... he-he had this condition-"

I've had enough of this.

"Yeah, it's called being horny" he calmly stated as he drank from his empty bottle again, now wishing that he hadn't downed his seventh bottle so quickly.

"No, you don't understand-"

The fuck I don't! Why is this sake bottle empty! Fuck!

"That's enough." his voice was low and cold as he placed the bottle away from him and pushed himself up, the empty bottles falling over and rolling away from him.

"You don't have to explain, I heard everything."

Zoro looked for his swords and fumbled to get them on. The next thing he knew, he was grabbing the door knob.

Then Law was holding on his hand as if to prevent him from entering the room like he has no right. Zoro looked at the doctor's hand completely ignoring or rather he couldn't comprehend the doctor's words so he's ignoring them so he tried to comprehend the markings on the doctor's hand instead. He had to admit the tattoos were well made, he quite liked the design too.

"You're being so protective just after one night?" with his other hand he removed the hand, a bit jealous of the well-designed, nicely-made tattoos, so he pulled it away a bit harshly, "Don't be so arrogant, bastard... I've had more than 20 nights with him, alright?" Zoro stopped and pondered, counting in his head the times that he had taken Sanji in just to make sure that it is indeed above 20.

The doctor spoke to him again but all he got was "if you go inside this room, you'll only end up hurting him..."

Zoro's mind went blank and he couldn't understand why or how this person could say that to him, when right now, all that he could feel is pain all over his body.

Pain in his head. Pain in his heart. Pain in his soul.

Pain from anger. Pain from betrayal. Pain from desire.

Huh... I wonder if he's the only one who's really hurting...

Zoro didn't notice but he must've said that out loud, and he turned the knob and entered the room.

Piiinggg.

Sanji all-too quickly opened his weary eyes from his almost nice slumber, his body finally relaxing from the rigorous activity that took place not too long ago, upon hearing the familiar sound of bottles hitting each other on the door. He wondered what Law was up to, chuckling softly as he imagined the serious-looking doctor getting lost in the galley looking for a piece of white cloth he was supposed to clean Sanji with.

The blond looked over to his right and stared at Chopper's desk trying to look for anything that resembles towels for wiping away sweat or any bodily fluids. He realized that he couldn't really see that well because the only light in the room came from a small circular window on the door at the side of the head bed, illuminating only the center top part of the room. The tiny room's corners were drowned in the dimness of the night, with nothing but the soft light of the moon to comfort Sanji.

Soft, inaudible whispers coming from outside the door connecting the infirmary to the dining area, where Law exited, caught the blond's attention prompting him to get up. But before deciding to do so, he reached out to the floor to pick up his pants, remembering vaguely how Law was able to maneuver his legs free from his trousers. 'It must be a talent.'

Creak. Creak.

His hand that reached out to the cloth paused midway as he turned his head towards the shadowed part of the room. Hearing—rather than seeing—the door close softly. Thinking how weird it was for Law to be back so soon, brushed the thought off as he resumed on retrieving his pants.

Jingle.

'Huh?' the familiar soft jingling sound he heard caused him to pause once more, looking at the poor, crumpled-up blue slacks lying on the ground. He remained very still for a moment as he tried to focus all of his attention on his sense of hearing.

Jingle.

There's no mistaking it. He knew that sound all too well. A sound that he quite couldn't associate to the warlord doctor. A sound that resembles those of wind chimes. The chiming sound of metal earrings.

A few seconds later, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows and stepped into the light, in front of the infirmary bed where the blond lays. Under the soft pale light of the moon, the light green hair appeared a darker shade of emerald—vibrant and shining. A smile crept into his tired and weary face, his blue eyes delighted to see the green patch of grass—or was it moss?

Ah, how he'd miss the sight of it. Just the thing he wanted to see. His tensed muscles finally loosened and all together he forgot what it was he was supposed to do.

Everything registered slowly for him.

It took Sanji three seconds to realize that his body was struggling for air, that a tan forearm was now pinning his neck against the mattress, and that one opened eye was glaring down at him with menace.

Tremble.

His face formed a distraught image as he held onto the strong arms of the man, whose face he couldn't see under the man's shadow except for that one eye. The shock of the attack left him acting like a cornered puppy in a lion's den, completely taken by surprise and left defenseless.

Tremble.

"Wha-" he stopped himself when everything finally dawned on him—what the current situation is; the intense trembling of the arms on his neck; the immense pain of his body; the fear he got from the enraged man.

'Why?!' just as he had thought of the question, he immediately knew the answer. And everything all clicked in his brain.

'How…' Sanji's thoughts were running wild and all over the place, he couldn't exactly pin point how Zoro could've found out what had happened earlier unless someone told him. And no one would've had the knowledge except for Law and him, so that left him with just one person . However, he knew that Law wasn't the type of man who'd do something like that after he begged him not to.

'No, there has to be—,' His eyes widened, suddenly recalling what the high-pitched sound of bottles, that woke him earlier, had meant. His visible blue eye widened in horror as he looked upon the cold glare that the green haired man had on his features.

It wasn't that surprising that Sanji would be able to figure things out with a few variables to work out with. The cook's mind worked in ways that are sometimes unfathomable to anyone in the crew except for the archeologist and probably the navigator as well.

"Fucking bastard…" The other man growled deeply, trying his best to keep the cold stoic expression on his face, as he pressed his left forearm deeper into the blond's narrow neck.

"Wait-" Sanji choked out, hands running all over tanned arms as if trying to appease the enraged man, completely disregarding his contracting lungs and focusing more on calming down the other person.

A tan right hand grabbed onto Sanji's collar and yanked it sideways, the force sent a couple of his buttons flying hard against the wall causing it to land onto the sheets covering Sanji's lower torso. The blond's chest glowed under the moonlight sweat-drenched and pink marks completely obvious against his pale skin.

"Heh," Zoro huffed stoically, smirking dejectedly as if saying 'I knew it, what do you have to say for yourself?'

"Wait! Listen, I didn't-" Sanji stopped himself when he felt Zoro's right hand removing the sheets that were covering his lower torso, exposing his lower extremities to the cold still air in the room. And there it was again, the huff and smirk look asking him 'you didn't what?'

"I wasn't-I never wanted-I tried to-" he choked frantically, words sounding inaudible, gasping between words trying to inhale oxygen through his mouth. As much as he wanted to squirm his way out of this confrontation, he couldn't because the man wouldn't allow it.

"Shut up." He growled monotonously, as he moved his left arm away from the blond's throat and used the same hand to cover the lower half of Sanji's face, his palm pressing against the blond's mouth disabling him from speaking.

Like an elaborate choreography of some sort, yellow and green dancing furiously under the pale moonlight, hands fighting for control over one another; with the thin, blond man evidently losing.

Then as if to point out the crime that the blond had committed, the trembling green haired man, shoved his free hand in between Sanji's thighs and moved his fingers to the blond's ass. Pulling back his hand into view, both of them could see the slick liquid on his fingers. Feeling something shift above him, Sanji noticed that the green haired man was now on top of him, trapping him between the swordsman's thighs.

Tremble.

Sanji realized that the violent trembling didn't come from him but from the other man. Struck with guilt and pain, Sanji struggled to free his mouth despite not exactly knowing what to say or how to explain things. Ah, the stitched wound on his stomach started to hurt and felt like it was about to reopen with the relatively larger man sitting on it. But he quickly disregarded that fact, trying to ignore the growing pain of his skin stretching dangerously, and thought of how to calm the other man instead.

"Zo-mff…wai-nn…I-mm…PLEA-hhnn"

"Shut up!" This time his voice came out loud and harsh. Anger fueled by pain is an emotion that the swordsman found rather difficult to conceal, and even more difficult to control, and made him want to punch the squirming blond in the face with his hand that was covered with semen. His shaking hand reached out to grab a handful of golden strands and yanked it away from the cook's face, recalling the nights when he would caress those beautiful golden strands in his hands; hands that were gentle and full of desire; hands that were full of conviction towards the blond; hands that showed nothing but affection. Now, they're nothing more but tools to him to inflict pain. Broken hands that trembled painfully, opening his palm he released his grip on the golden strands and noticed how they stood out in contrast with his tan hand.

Recoiling his hand back, and clenching his fist for the punch, he looked down and saw the blond's visible blue eye brimming with tears as it looked up with fear and pain in it.

"GAAAH!" He growled before swinging his fist for the punch.

Sanji squirmed as he closed his eyes tight, wishing that the punch will be enough to make him unconscious, and hopefully by the time that he wakes up he would be able to face Zoro, with less guilt in him, and explain things to him clearly. Then a loud sound echoed inside the room. The hand on Sanji's mouth loosened and, as if he felt disappointed that he was still conscious, quickly opened his eyes.

"Idiot…" he sobbed angrily, realizing that the hand on his mouth didn't feel quite as heavy as before, "you idiot marimo…" he continued to sob uncontrollably, dragging his shaking hands up along tan arms and around a tightly clenched fist on the man's face.

Zoro had punched himself instead and blood was dripping down his forehead along the sides of his nose and down to his chin. He couldn't bring himself to punch the cook—his cook, not with those blue eyes begging to be loved by him. He couldn't bring himself to hurt Sanji again whenever he's overwhelmed with emotions, he'd done that to him before whenever they get into any arguments and he realized that he'd come to regret doing it the next day.

Then suddenly, the door swung open and the warlord doctor entered the room and rushed towards the bed with caution. He had wanted to enter the room a lot earlier but then he realized that Zoro had locked him out. He stood outside, for quite a while, contemplating if he should just disassemble the knob and enter or to leave them instead. But then when he heard Zoro yell out loudly, he made up his mind to remove the knob and kick the door open.

To his relief, Sanji was still alive and conscious.

"Blackleg-ya…" Law started, his voice low and steady and was only directed at the blond. His eyes softening, cautiously observing the blond's vulnerable features and taking note how it made him look more appealing with those emotions showing on his face. "are you okay?..." his voice was a little louder but still low and soft, trying to get the blond to look his way and show him the vulnerable face that he wanted to be directed at him as well.

He saw Blackleg move his upper torso closer to the swordsman and immediately thought of the wound that might reopen due to that movement. And just as he thought, Sanji suddenly winced and yelped in pain, grabbing onto his stomach causing his muscles to recoil and send his back flopping onto the bed—something that would open the wound violently.

Law rushed towards Sanji to stop the fall and the violent reopening of the wound on his stomach, he reached out his arm to catch the blond when he realized that he was touching firm muscles and tanned skin. Zoro had caught the cook first and was now looking, or glaring, at the doctor who made a mess of his cook, Law was wearing his ragged pants very low and his perfectly built upper torso covered in nothing but tattoos. Meanwhile, Law was also examining the green-haired man in front of him, his forehead busted and a trail of blood ran down the center of his face and a clenched fist with blood on its knuckles indicated that he was the one who inflicted the punch to himself.

"Oi," Zoro's low growl made the doctor snap back from his trance and pulled back his tattooed arm. "What're you doing here?"

Moving back, Law turned his attention to Sanji, "Do you want me to stitch you up again?" he spoke again, hoping that the blond would respond to him now.

"Get out!" Zoro exclaimed as he pulled the blond closer to him, as if completely forgetting that he was angry at the blond earlier on. It seems that the presence of a third wheel makes Zoro a bit endearing and protective.

Law twitched when he saw Sanji being pulled in, and thought how irritated he is right now, but made sure it wouldn't show in his face. "Don't pull him too hard…" he ordered stoically.

Zoro almost popped a vein at the stoic command and was about to go all out on the doctor when Sanji grabbed onto Zoro's arm, his hand bloodied with his own, and turned to look at Law.

"Please…" he managed control his voice from breaking from the pain.

Law was moving in towards Sanji to check his condition, when he heard the blond say, "fix him up first…" eyes closed and a smile plastered on his sweat-filled face, trying to conceal the pain that he was in as he pointed a finger at Zoro's face.

Both men looked at the blond in shock.

Unbelievable.

The man was a real romantic. They both know it still it didn't stop them from being amazed at how ridiculous the blond's dedication stretched during dire situations. And that smile, that concealed his pain yet showed his true emotions, made the tension in the room die down. A smile that could melt any ice barrier.

Zoro carefully maneuvering his way out of the bed and slowly laying Sanji down on his back. Now that his forehead was cleaned and patched up, rather sloppily by the doctor, Zoro was able to get a good look at how bad the opened wound was. A couple of skin was torn from the thread and Zoro could see the inside muscles of Sanji's stomach peeking from the openings, he cringed from the sight but made sure that no one would notice him. Seated in Chopper's chair, with the back rest in front of him, Zoro moved closer to the bed beside the hovering doctor.

"You messed him up pretty badly…" Law stated as he started removing the old thread.

"Hm." His arms crossed over the back rest of the chair, he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his face in his forearms, guilty of what he had done. "Well, you messed him up first." He mumbled against his forearms.

"Move back, I can't move properly…"

"Shut up and just do your job."

"I will, but what exactly is your job here? You've no use right now…"

"My job's to kick your ass if you ever think of touching him again."

"Then how do you propose I do my job if I'm not allowed to touch him?"

"Smartass. You know what I mean."

"In fact, I do."

The two of them falling into a calm exchange of snide remarks at each other without removing their gaze at the blond as they remain awfully close to each other for comfort; Sanji remained conscious to hear them bickering over who gets to clean his wound. A small smile crept into his face, hoping that they wouldn't kill each other off by the time that he falls asleep. Finally able to accept and embrace peace for himself, he knew that when he woke up Zoro will be calmer to hear his side and Law will back him up and tell him that he was only lending a hand or two, though quite literally but they wouldn't dwell on that topic too much. Yes, everything will resolve itself tomorrow. The feeling of certainty, that everything will be alright, pulling him deep into a deep slumber.

And when morning came and he found himself waking up drenched in sweat and the afterimages of a blond man with a sinister smile on his face sent his body shivering and recalling a very traumatic moment in his life.

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Heh.

Don't forget to leave your comments and thoughts! ;D

Much Raburabu,

Curlybrow