"You can't make them talk." Luffy's voice reaches him through the night air. Zoro turns his head and sees Luffy and Nami off to the side of the ship, leaning against Nami's trees. Luffy reaches up and snags one of the fruits and starts eating it without batting an eyelid. Nami and Luffy aren't hugely openly affectionate with each other but it's small things like that which show how they really feel, Nami would skewer anyone else with the business end of her staff if they tried that. Nami doesn't so much as bat an eyelid when Luffy eats her fruit, she seems more put off at his words. Zoro knows what they're talking about.

He turns his back on them and stares back out at the sea. He knows that he's more than likely going to get a talk but if it's from anyone it'll be from Nami. Luffy lets the crew get on with their own relationships as long as they're not a detriment to the crew as a whole or unless they're really hurting each other. He's never cared about his and Sanji's fights beyond finding them amusing because neither of them want to kill the other.

Zoro is startled out of his line of thinking when Luffy drops down onto the deck of the ship next to him. The captain swings his rubbery legs through the railing of the Merry and Zoro takes a moment to see if there's any easy way that Luffy can slip overboard like that, he doesn't really feel like a nighttime swim to rescue him.

"Nami sent you then." Zoro states unhappily.

"Nah." Luffy answers easily.

Zoro glances over his shoulder and sees Nami stalking off irritably. He supposes that she didn't then.

"I knew it wasn't going to be that guy." Zoro insists and Luffy makes a noise to indicate that he heard him, but not much else. Zoro doesn't know if Luffy was trying to get him to talk or not when he sat down but he feels like he should say that.

"I can still feel him on my skin." he adds, scrubbing at his forehead for at least the tenth time that night. He's aware of the point of contact that he had with the high up marine, it may as well be glowing on his face and the whole thing makes his skin crawl. He doesn't like touching other people, it took him long enough to touch the crew even through his clothes. He detests doing even that much with people that he doesn't trust, much less having actual skin contact. It's stupid really, but he's given himself some kind of complex about it after being so careful about it for so long.

"But I had to." He adds firmly.

"Okay." Luffy shrugs and spits a seed out over the side of the ship.

Zoro sits in silence for a few minutes with Luffy next to him, still eating the last of his fruit. The uncomfortable feeling of being scrutinized crawls over his skin and he doesn't know if it's his own conscience or if Robin and Nami are watching him from the shadows.

"If I touch Sanji everything will change." He blurts out eventually.

"I guess." Luffy shrugs and gets to his feet.

"Are you gonna take up sniping too? Cause Usopp's better at it than you." Luffy says easily and wanders off down into the men's bunk room.

Did... did Luffy just accuse him of being a coward?

Zoro grits his teeth, Luffy isn't wrong. He should just go and talk to Sanji. No matter how unpleasant it's going to be.

He steels himself and opens the door to the kitchen. Sanji is stood at the sink washing dishes and he doesn't give a single sign that he even heard Zoro come in the room, that's not a good start. He takes a breath and walks over to Sanji's side. Sanji glances over at him but says nothing and just continues washing. It's not even like the blond is ignoring him like a spiteful kid. Sanji's acting like nothing is wrong even though Zoro has been able to tell all night that something is. Even if he hadn't the mere indication that Luffy and Nami are involved makes that plain. Nami meddles more than Luffy but for them both to get in on the act, however passively it was in Luffy's case, means that they think it's serious too.

"You're mad at me." He states and realises his mistake. Sanji didn't look mad before, but now he does.

"I'm sorry." He says quickly before Sanji can attempt to drown him in the sink.

Sanji's head turns slightly towards him, Zoro can't see his expression because his hair is in the way but he knows that Sanji is watching him.

"What for?" Sanji asks calmly.

"Sorry that I pissed you off. I headbutted that guy because I had to but I get that you're pissed because I technically touched his skin and haven't touched yours." He answers.

"That is the worst non-apology that I've ever heard. You didn't apologise for shit, you're saying sorry because I'm hurt, not because of anything that you did. That's not an apology." Sanji snaps at him. He drops the plate that he was washing back into the sudsy water and wipes his hands dry on the apron still around his waist. Sanji turns and faces him, a glare plastered on his face.

"You don't have anything to apologise for anyway. Who you touch or don't is up to you, for whatever reasons you decide. It's none of my business." Sanji adds and folds him arms.

Zoro opens his mouth and then shuts it again. Sanji isn't trying to guilt him into anything. He's not pointing out the very reasonable fact that Sanji has gone well out of his way to avoid making skin contact because Zoro hasn't wanted Sanji to do that, he's not using the effort that he's been through to make him feel bad. He's not acting like he's entitled to anything. Dammit, now Zoro feels worse, Sanji's not being an ass about this at all.

"There was almost no chance that he was my soulmate." He says.

"Sure." Sanji says with a shrug, like he couldn't care less.

"I don't like touching people because I don't like the idea of them being my soulmate." Zoro explains.

"Yes. I know. You've said that before, a lot." Sanji responds flatly.

"Shut up." He shoots back out of habit, though Sanji doesn't look amused.

"But maybe I should touch you." Zoro says slowly and thoughtfully.

"Uh uh. No way." Sanji denies him, ducking backwards out of his reach.

"You're not touching me because you feel bad for hurting my feelings, if that's what you think that you've done. I told you, it's your business who you touch and don't, not mine." Sanji hisses at him, his foot in Zoro's chest.

"Yeah, it is my business, not yours. If I decide that I want to touch you then that's my decision. You can tell me that you don't want me to but don't tell me that I don't want to, I know what I want." He growls, shoving the cook's leg aside and getting closer to him.

Sanji stares at him wide eyed and Zoro slowly moves closer to the blond, eventually backing him up against the wall.

"If you don't want me to then say so." He says quietly and leans in a little closer. If he's going to touch Sanji then it'll be in the way that he's been longing to. Every time he's had his covered hands over Sanji's bare skin he's fought the urge to just kiss the stupid chef.

He moves in slowly and Sanji doesn't stop him. He hears the hitch of Sanji's breath just before his lips touch Sanji's for real without anything in the way. Sanji gasps and leans into it a little, his tongue swiping quickly against Zoro's as the kiss goes a little deeper than he'd intended it to. Finally kissing Sanji feels great, but it's just that, a kiss. He pulls back with a overwhelming feeling of regret covering him, so much so that he's surprised it's not physically dripping off of him.

"You're not my soulmate." Sanji says softly and Zoro knows that it's true. The place in the back of his mind that always feels ragged and empty, no matter how much he denies it to himself and others, remains just as bereft as before. Kissing Sanji might have ignited a desire to do it again and again as many times as Sanji will let him, but there's no bright flare in his being, there's no sense of fate and rightness.

They aren't soulmates.

"That's why I didn't want to do it." He says regretfully and steps back.

"What? You just said that you did! You kissed ME!" Sanji says hotly, his face a picture of offense.

"No, I-" Zoro shakes his head, he's not being clear, "I wanted to touch you, to do that. I just..."

"You what? You regret it now? At least now you can touch me without fear that I'm your soulmate." Sanji says, thoroughly pissed off. His arms are crossed and his balance has even shifted like he's going to kick him.

"I wanted it to be you!" Zoro yells, his restraint breaking.

The words hang in the air between him and Sanji. The cook looks stunned and Zoro wishes that he could eat the words back up and pretend that he didn't just shout that at the other man.

"You... what?" Sanji says in a stunned and quiet voice.

"Don't be a bigger idiot than you already are. You're not going to get in the way of my dream, if anything you'll help me get there. I want you and I know that you feel the same, and sure we argue all of the time but I like that!" He shouts, anger and frustration washing over him.

"I wanted it to be you." He repeats quietly.

"I knew there was a chance that I wasn't, but if I didn't touch you then neither of us would know for sure." He adds unhappily.

He shuts his eyes and bangs his head against one of Sanji's cupboards. Now he knows at least. He can't just un-know it because he doesn't like what he found out.

"Zoro..." Sanji says in a quiet and almost pleading voice. Zoro opens his eyes and Sanji's expression is broken and almost guilty.

"I'm not your soulmate. That means that someone out there is and then when you find them then this..." He gestures between them. He doesn't even need to finish that sentence. Sanji and he will be over, even if Sanji stays with him now. The blond might change his mind now that he knows for sure, he might want to keep himself pristine for his soulmate or some shit like that. Even if they do stay together the added bonus of being able to really touch each other is massively outweighed by the eventual pain of when Sanji finds his actual soulmate. Sanji won't leave him out of malice, actually he knows Sanji enough to be sure that he'll feel awful about it, but that person will be perfect for Sanji and Zoro just isn't.

Sanji looks like he doesn't know what to say. Eventually he seems to settle on something though because he starts to speak, slowly and softly.

"Today at the marine base I met a woman. She was tall and beautiful, heavenly to look at. She was a chef too, she cared about her food and she was very skilled, she wasted food though and when I argued with her about it we ended up in a cooking competition to prove my point. I won and I was going to shake her hand, it's the polite thing to do when you win after all. I was going to but I changed my mind at the last minute, I could have touched her and I didn't. All I was thinking about was you." He says quietly.

Zoro feels like he just swallowed a lead brick.

"What? You should have! What if she's your soulmate and you missed her? Sure she's a marine but plenty of them switch sides. Maybe you want this now but you'll regret it and-" He protests but Sanji kicks him in the knee.

"And you were bitching at me for trying to act like I could tell you what you wanted? Don't be a hypocrite. I didn't want to touch her, so I didn't. Not that it matters, she was married so it obviously wasn't me, but I didn't know that then." Sanji says flatly.

Zoro's heart is in his throat, he doesn't know what to say.

"Nothing needs to change. Well, except you not having to wear gloves or clothes when we're on our own." Sanji grins lecherously.

"Uh, if you want that, I mean. I know you don't like people touching you so-" Sanji adds, becoming flustered.

Zoro cuts him off from any more bullshit by pulling Sanji forward and kissing him. He knows that he's setting himself up for heartbreak down the line. Sanji will find his soulmate someday and it'll hurt like someone ripped his actual heart out. Right now he can't make himself care enough about it or be smart enough to resist this. For now at least he has Sanji. For now.