Sooooo this is the end. I'm very glad you read this and enjoyed it. It's been a journey for me. My first multi-chapter fanfic ever translated. It's not as recent as "Anxiety" or "Sleepwalker" but it's one of the longest I have for now.

I hope you like it and I'll see you at the end notes.

Betas: cannibal-hymn and amaconn. Thank you for your help all this time.

Now go and read it, you punks.


How long had it been already?

He had lost count and, sadly, he wasn't expecting to see his nakama ever again. One loses hope as time goes by, especially if one is on a godforsaken island, without any ships roaming near. It was as if they were in a completely different dimension. He missed them, but at least he wasn't alone.

In the beginning it had been weird to be a "couple" with the green-haired man. Although, in the end, what did it really meant to be a couple? Caring about each other, spending time together, understanding each other and listening to what the other had to say, being there for each other and having sex. The majority of these things were already there way before they called each other a couple, because they were nakama.

Days were more bearable with company; with company like that.

In fact, they were even glad to be there, on the island, sometimes. They were relaxed all day, eating, sleeping and doing it. That made Sanji wonder if they were dead, seeing as what they were experiencing was what many would describe as heaven.

The cook was already used to being with him; he wasn't ashamed of being with a man anymore. Zoro knew that it was, in part, because there was no one around to judge him, give any kind of opinion or try to meddle in their business, but who cares?

But not everything can be peace and love, because that day, a day like any other, they saw something on the horizon.


"Marimo. Marimo, call me crazy, but I'm seeing something" said Sanji, getting up instantly from the place in the sand where he was resting. Zoro, who was sleeping by his side didn't even flinch, he just mumbled a groan, which earned him a kick. "I'm serious! Look!"

Zoro opened his eye and sat on his elbows to look at the sea. A ship. It was fucking far, but it was a ship.

"We need to grab their attention!"

"The fire I made this morning is still burning up there, they could be watching the smoke column right now… and maybe… maybe they're following it, right?"

"I see you're very optimistic, cook."

"When I have to be. I'd be depressed otherwise. " Sanji answered, sitting by his side.

"I thought you liked my company" he said, feigning feeling insulted.

"Don't be so cocky" answered the other as if he were tough and independent.

The swordsman gave a pleased smile. "You weren't saying that last night."

"Shut up!"


A while went by, and the ship was close enough to be distinguished.

Both of them stared out to sea, with eyes as wide as plates, unable to react. They couldn't believe it. After so long, SO LONG, they'd found them. Their friends never stopped looking for them.

They knew it was like that, but like anyone, they had their moments of doubt and dread. But that was over now. As the ship came closer, they started to recognize the colors, how big it was, the sun… lion… whatever that thing was on the front of their ship.

Sanji thought that he was going to cry, but suppressed it as hard as he could. He couldn't let Zoro see him cry, that'd be just what he needed.

And then, they heard Luffy yelling in their direction. The next thing Sanji heard was a loud and desperate yell from Zoro. He stood up at once and Sanji could have sworn he saw a couple of tears run down the greenhead's cheek, but he decided to ignore that and smile.

They ran to where the ship had set the anchor and waited, unable to suppress their emotions, as one of the mini boats took Luffy and Franky towards the shore.

As soon as they could, they hugged their nakama, trying to say something intelligible. But between the unending crying from Franky, the yelling from Luffy, and Sanji's mumbling, they looked like a bunch of chickens in a pen.

"I can't believe we finally found you" Franky cried, hugging them both, while Luffy had wrapped himself around them, like a piece of rope, thanks to his akuma no mi.

"Stop being fools and come over here already" Nami yelled from the ship.

The cook freed himself from the hug and went running to the ship. "Nami-swaaaaaaaaaaann~!"

Such a typical reaction from the blonde, but nostalgic at the same time. It was that reaction that unchained a hurricane inside of Zoro's mind.

Great. Just fucking great. You already knew Sanji was crazy for Nami and, now that they've found you, what do you think will happen, huh? Did you really think that you'd become his boyfriend? Idiot, that's what you are.

"Urusai!" he yelled to himself.

"Ne, Zoro, did you say something?"

"N-no, it's ok."

You know what's going to happen now. You'll get back to the ship, he'll start drooling over the girls again, and you'll go back to jerking off.

"Shh…" he mumbled as answer to his thoughts.

And he'll probably start treating you as bad as before… MOREOVER, he'll make you promise not to tell anyone about what happened between you two for sure, just so his stupid curly pride won't be damaged.

"We'll see…" But deep down he knew his brain was right.

The four of them went into the boat, and his suspicions started to come true as they came closer to the ship, seeing as Sanji started to droll like a rabid dog.

Disgustin. I hope he gets rejected and has to settle with me. This is so depressing, you don't appreciate yourself. Urusai…! It's him who doesn't appreciate me.

Nami and Chopper let the rope ladder fall, and the first to go up, obviously, was Sanji, who hugged Nami's waist as soon as he could. On the other hand, Luffy went up by stretching his arms; and Zoro, went up after Sanji.

Just as he finished the ladder, something furry grabbed Zoro's face and didn't let him breathe. He tried by any means to take it off but it seemed to be stuck with super glue. Robin's help was needed, along with her akuma no mi, to unstick Chopper, who was crying like a baby.

"Oi, Chopper, it's alright. I'm back, don't cry."

"Bakayaro! I'm not crying!" the reindeer answered.

Oh, yes you are, but I'll let it pass…

The swordsman noticed how a gaze was boring a hole in his nape in that instant, like a drill.

Damn woman…

He turned around to face Nico Robin a couple meters away, scrutinizing him with her gaze. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know why, but he couldn't let that pass, it'd be even more dangerous than asking.

"What?" he finally said.

Robin came closer to him, reaching him, shoulder to shoulder, and whispered as low and close as she could: "What happened on that island, bushido-san?"

No one was paying attention. Everyone was watching Sanji as he latched onto to Nami's waist as if his life depended on that. Meanwhile she tried to free herself from him with help from Chopper and Brook. Although, Brook wasn't really helping, as he didn't stop screaming "Now it's my turn!"

It was clear that saying 'nothing happened' was absurd. We're talking about Nico Robin, she knows when someone is lying, and he wasn't intending to be victim of a 'clutch'.

"What do you mean?" he ended up answering.

"With Sanji-kun, of course." she whispered again, as she smirked.

"Woman" he sighed, passing his hand through his hair and back to take off some of the sweat "I can't talk about it."

The black-haired woman seemed to notice some resignation and sadness in the green-haired man's voice, as she simply nodded and walked away from him.

When they, at last, separated Sanji from Nami, all of the hugs went to Zoro.


For the rest of the afternoon, everything went by normally. Franky built some strange thing alongside Usopp, Luffy and Chopper played together, Robin read and Nami drew in her room.

Sanji was making enough food so that not even Luffy would be capable of eating it all, and the rest would have more than enough. There was a lot to celebrate.

Zoro spent the afternoon training, lifting weights no normal human could lift. All that to get distracted and to avoid thinking of what he basically already accepted as the truth.

After a while, Chopper came by to see what he was doing.

"Sanji says you have to go and take a shower, dinner is almost ready."

"He could have come and said so himself…" Zoro mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'll go in a minute"


When he entered the galley, drying his hair with a towel after his shower, he noticed how everybody's gazes were on him.

Ok, what've I done now?

The majority of the crew was looking at him with curiosity, as if they knew something more than what they showed. He felt observed. Without making any sudden movements he left the towel on the rack, and sat in his place, intently watching everyone around him.

The cook wasn't there. Were they making him nervous on purpose? Possibly. Or maybe there was something else, something he wasn't seeing.

"Ok, come on, enough already! Why're you looking at me like that? What's going on?"

Usopp sported a particularly nervous look and Nami seemed to be forcing a serious expression when in reality she just wanted to smile.

"SPIT IT OUT! WHAT DID I DO?!"

"Shishishi… Ne~, Zoro, look at your plate" Luffy laughed.

The swordsman frowned in confusion, looked down and saw an omelet in the form of a heart. All of his blood went up his face and he prayed he wasn't excessively red.

"N-Nami, Robin... I think the stupid cook made a mistake… or you've changed my place… or something."

"I don't think so" said Robin as she sipped from her drink, with the utmost calm and hiding a smile. Nami gave him a cheeky grin, and Zoro could tell she was thinking about the best way to take economical advantage from this situation.

"Ours were also like that, Zoro… He consciously made three of them" the redhead said.

The swordsman wanted to die right then. This is a good sign, right? Yes, but it's embarrassing. I'm not a woman, these things don't… Liar, you liked it, stop acting tough.

All of a sudden, the blonde entered the kitchen with a bottle of wine and humming something the swordsman couldn't identify. He seemed content. But when he saw Zoro, he abruptly stopped all actions and the door closed behind him. Silence reigned in the room as the rest started to direct their gazes between Sanji and the swordsman, as if they were watching a tennis match. Both men held stoic expressions on their faces. The tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. None of them knew exactly what to say, or if they should say anything at all.

"Yo..ho..ho..hoooo..." Brooke said in a low tone and then had an extremely long and loud sip from his drink using a straw.

That seemed to lessen the tension in the room, but Usopp's face was still one of a constipated person. Nami poked Brook on his ribs with her elbow for interrupting the moment. Franky and Robin exchanged knowing looks.

Sanji came closer to the table, and after leaving the bottle on top of it, and he sat down almost in front of Zoro.

"Oh, for the love of-!" said Usopp "Zoro, say anything. For God's sakes. We can't live with this torture!"

"And I'm the nosy one" the redhead looked at him with suspicion, looking offended.

"T-thank you, ero-cook…" Zoro mumbled without looking at him, and started to eat.

The rest of them didn't expect more than that. They knew Zoro well enough to know that he woudn't add anything else to that simple token of appreciation, so they started to eat.

Well, in Luffy's case… to gobble up like a duck, without even chewing.

"You're welcome, mosshead…" Sanji mumbled looking at him tentatively.

It seems like the crew thinks it's ok. I wasn't expecting less to be honest.

And so, even though he has these two on board, he prefers you. That's good. That's very good. Better than good. Zoro smiled to himself and kept eating. Everything seemed tastier now.

A while later, normalcy overtook the room. Luffy stealing food to everyone present. Usopp fending himself by shooting balls of bread with his slingshot. It was not really effective since Luffy was expecting them with an open mouth. Then, Zoro felt a kick under the table. He frowned and just as he was about to ask who had been the bastard that did it, he was met with Sanji's gaze and smile. It may sound cheesy, but the blonde's smile was the most beautiful he had ever seen in a while. His frown vanished, instead, a confused and wary expression set on his face.

Before he could ask him what he wanted, he saw how the cook mouth the words: I love you.

Zoro flashed him a shy smile.


I hope you liked it. I did my best. (Actually, this fic was written a LONG time ago, but still, I did my best back then)

I don't think I'll be posting fics any time soon since I won't finish the finals until the end of June... but I'll try to post stuff in summer. Don't expect too much anyway cause I've already failed 3 subjects at uni xD I'm a mess.

Thank you for reading this shit and... see you soon, I hope.

Also, you can find me in tumblr by the same name if you want to talk about anything, zosan related or not.