Zoro came home that night, wondering why Vivi was without her wheelchair.
"Nevermind that," Sanji waved him off. "Vivi has something important to tell you."
Sanji, even as she spoke to him, disappeared into the kitchen to make dinner.
'Zoro, I've been less than honest with you about something you might think is kind of important.'
Zoro raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah?" he prodded hesitantly, not sure if he liked where this was going.
'Don't freak out, okay?'
"I won't. I promise," he told her fimly.
Just how bad was this revelation?
Her face turned red as she lifted her shirt up to her shoulder level.
If one was honest, it was oddly beautiful. That is, the tight swirls, curves, and occasional leaf resembling a grape vine. This isn't to say that Vivi had plants growing out of her. On the contrary, these intricate designs had been carved deeply into her body, and it was impossible to imagine anything less than hours and perhaps even days spent getting it to look just right. A fleeting thought made Zoro wonder if she was still able to scream then, or if she'd been trapped in her own personal silent hell.
Zoro's eyes widened considerably as he brought his hand up to cover his mouth.
"What...what happened?" he asked her, managing to remember his promise and keep the surge of negative emotions out of his voice.
'That was the "couple of cuts" I told you about. I'm sorry,' she wrote after she hastily pulled her shirt back down to cover her.
Sanji, however, had come into the room in time to see the scars. Her reaction was on the verge of being much worse than Zoro's, perhaps enough to convey the feelings he was trying to hide and then some, but she ran back into the kitchen to act like she never saw a thing.
"Jesus," Zoro remarked. He knew the time had long gone to do anything about this development, but it frustrated him to no end.
'It gets feverish sometimes. Is that bad?'
"I, uh, I think that's normal," Zoro told her, going off of personal experience(which, granted, wasn't precisely as horrid as this particular situation, but it was the extent of his knowledge on the subject). "I just can't believe that damn doctor didn't tell me."
'I asked them not to. I'm sorry.'
Zoro sighed heavily, leaning back on the couch.
"There isn't much I can do about it," he admitted regretfully.
'That's okay.'
It didn't seem all that okay that, no matter how much therapy or repression she went through, she would be stuck with at least a physical reminder of that monster for the rest of her life, and there was nothing Zoro could do about it. However, Zoro conceded with an "Okay" anyway right before Sanji called them to dinner.