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Chapter 25
From Now On
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"You are bandaged."
Sanji gave the doctor who was currently examining him a 'no shit' look. Some people had the bad habit of stating the obvious, a habit Sanji wasn't exactly fond of, especially when it came to commenting his health, which he mostly preferred to keep to himself.
The expression in the doctor's face was slightly concerned, though. Sanji was pretty sure the old man had seen all kind of nasty injuries at this point, especially working where he did, but the look in his eyes gave away that he still took his job seriously and cared about his patients' condition. The way he was carefully examining his torso made the old man remind Sanji of Chopper, just that he was about fifty years older and, well, human.
"I need to take a look at your injuries," the doctor informed him, already putting on his gloves.
"Go ahead," Sanji shrugged. Not that his consent mattered, though, he was pretty sure the man was going to do so anyway.
Sanji let him unbandage the wounds Zoro had helped him take care of that morning and watched as the doctor examined them, giving a slight hum at the bullet wound. When he saw the back one, though, the older man couldn't help but frown. Hard.
"You are lucky you are still walking," he merely commented.
The blonde looked at him and shrugged yet again. "So I've been told."
"I guess you won't listen if I recommend you not to fight today and give this injury a rest," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Your guess is correct," Sanji agreed.
"Your wounds look as if they have been treated, has a doctor already seen you?"
"Yes."
"Did he prescribe anything to you? Are you on any medication? By the looks of it you have been applying some kind of healing cream, but I can't quite pinpoint which one."
"Oh, it's handmade. Our doctor is always experimenting with disgusting stuff, but it always works," Sanji conceded as he fished the cream jar in his pants pockets and handed it to the other man. "I think I should probably reapply it already."
The doctor opened the jar and examined its contents with a curious frown. "When did you last apply it?"
"This morning, it's almost been four hours."
Sanji heard the other man chuckle. He had probably read the instructions plastered to the jar, death threat included. "Yes, looks like it's time to apply it again. We don't want your doctor inflicting more wounds to you."
The chef smirked at the doctor's amused expression and let him work on him, applying a thick layer of cream where needed. The sudden image of Zoro applying it for him that morning came to mind in quite a disturbing way, but Sanji batted the thought away as soon as it came.
Speaking of which, when he let his gaze wander around the room, he met a certain algae's stare directed at him. Zoro jerked up when Sanji caught him looking, and quickly diverted his attention somewhere else, letting his own doctor examine him and leaving the blonde blinking in confusion, a small squishy feeling in his stomach. Which he refused to acknowledge.
When he was all bandaged, he waited until the doctor wrote everything down in an inspection document and vaguely answered when asked how he had gotten those wounds. No need for a genius to figure the answer out, but he guessed it was a bureaucracy matter.
Zoro was already waiting for him with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his back against a wall, when Sanji finished his inspection and the doctor announced he was good to go.
"I guess you'll fight," he emotionlessly observed.
Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'll fight, this was only checkup."
"I don't know, the possibility that a pansy like you would back down because of that little scratch wasn't that low."
"Fuck you very much."
Zoro smirked, as he was expected to do in response, but Sanji couldn't help but notice through the corner of his eye how the swordsman shifted in what could've been an uncomfortable manner as he walked past him. The thought hit him that he may not have chosen the wisest words to send the moss head to hell, he sure as hell hadn't thought it through, but fuck that, he had never needed to filter anything with Zoro, and they'd have to learn their way back to not watching their words in front of each other, else their exchanges would stay awkward forever, and they couldn't have that.
He made it a goal to focus his attention on finding the waiting room, but his efforts turned out to be futile as a really nice woman offered to help them, leaving Sanji with nothing to distract himself with, except for, maybe, to hit on her a bit. Zoro threw a few insults his way as soon as he started flattering the blushing brunette, but Sanji feigned he couldn't hear them, much to the swordsman's annoyance. And Zoro swore he wasn't getting any more pissed off than usual, it was just Sanji's behavior getting on his nerves as it usually did, nothing more. He definitely refused to acknowledge that his scowl was deeper and the urge to kick the cook stronger.
"Thank you very much, my flower, I very much appreciate your help, maybe I could repay you by inviting you to have some nice dinner I would especially prepare for you tonight after the competition?" Sanji thanked and simultaneously offered as their guide got them where they needed to be and was about to leave.
The girl, who was quite young, blushed and was about to answer when Zoro's Sanji-tolerance reached its limit.
"Excuse this idiot, he was just leaving," he interrupted with a deadpan tone as he grabbed the collar of Sanji's shirt and dragged him away, effectively making the young girl go away and earning him a kick in the gut as soon as Sanji processed what was going on and yelled at him in outrage.
"Quit cockblocking me!" he barked to a crouched Zoro, who was trying his best not to let anyone see how he was nursing his abdomen where he had been kicked.
Zoro scoffed. "And you call yourself a romantic."
"Jealous much?" Sanji taunted, the will to annoy Zoro back getting the best out of him. He knew he shouldn't be playing with that at such delicate moment in their relationship, not when the cause of their issues had been what it had been, but he just couldn't put an enough high price to Zoro's indignant expression just right before he gathered himself together and shot back.
"You wish," the swordsman muttered.
Sanji was already ignoring him in favour of scanning the room. It was big and high, and rows and rows of seats filled it from side to side. The room was starting to get full with contestants, half of them looking truthfully scary, at least to the general public. Sanji could tell that only a few of them could present a challenge. Since he knew that the official competition would start in a bit more than half an hour and they still had a while to go for their own match, Sanji made his way through the rows of seats until he found two empty spots where they could watch the matches through the monitors comfortably. Zoro quickly sat by his side. Sanji was genuinely surprised that the marimo hadn't got lost again.
Sanji was telling himself to relax, trying not to get too stressed over the dead silence between Zoro and him, telling himself that they wouldn't have exchanged a word even in the peak of their relationship, basically because they didn't have anything to say to each other. He was a bit pissed at both of them that it felt this awkward when it used to be perfectly normal. Plus, it was one of the things he enjoyed the most about being with Zoro, maybe the only one. No, not really, it wasn't the only one, but he had a pride to defend. He used to feel rejuvenated by how he could sit by Zoro's side and just be silent, merely acknowledging each other's presence but still making the minutes they shared much more enjoyable than if he had been alone. So it pissed him off that they had kind of lost that.
To be fair, though, it wasn't half as awkward as it had been and they were progressing quite well, the feeling turning into a mere bugging one, one he could tolerate and even forget about if he paid attention to something else. So even if he had that underlying pissed off feeling, he was quite satisfied, and he started to relax soon enough when he realized that Zoro wasn't going to open his big mouth either.
Anyway, half of his attention was set on the rest of the contestants. Half of them had recognized them and Sanji was sure that, hadn't they signed a contract that bound them to follow certain rules at the registration desk (which included no fighting outside the arena), they would've already jumped at them in an attempt to play hero and get their heads in advance. Sanji dismissed the glares but kept his guard up, just in case. Only an idiot would try to assault them right there and then, but Sanji knew first hand that there were indeed a lot of idiots freely trotting around the world, the moss by his side being the king of all of them.
"I think you have a pill to take," he suddenly heard Zoro say, and he almost jumped in place at the surprise, not expecting any kind of interaction with him until they were about to fight. He blinked his way away from his musings and looked at Zoro in confusion, slowly processing what the swordsman had just told him and quickly cursing when it registered.
He rummaged in his pockets until he found a jar with the pills Chopper had given him and took one. Only then did he realize that the small dull ache in his lower back had come back, if ever so slightly, and he mentally acknowledged the power of Chopper's medicines. Between the cream and the pills he had been able to keep the pain and strain in place, almost not feeling it. Not that he minded the pain, he'd endured much worse, but he knew that particular tiny wound could cause him problems later on when fighting, so he'd rather be careful and follow Chopper's orders. He swallowed the pill without water to help himself with and then nodded to himself, but it was more of a gesture for Zoro to understand that he got this. Zoro watched him as he swallowed the pill with an unimpressed look and took the nodding as what it was, shifting back into a comfortable position without a word as soon as he saw Sanji do the same.
They went back into a more or less comfortable and diminishingly awkward silence.
That until Sanji felt Zoro tense a bit next to him. He conducted his stare from the monitors where a presenter was talking bullshit and pumping up the audience to where Zoro was looking at. Namely, Aila and Allen walking into the room. Sanji noticed that it wasn't only Zoro who tensed, but the whole room. The buzz that had been filling the place died down as soon as they walked in, and everyone turned to look at them in silence, threatening and even scared glares directed at the siblings. Sanji raised an eyebrow, Zoro slightly clenched his jaw.
When the contestants started talking again in small groups, albeit with hushed tones now, Sanji tore his gaze from the twins (who had taken two seconds to acknowledge Zoro's and Sanji's presence with a smile before finding their own spot in the room, chatting animatedly as if they hadn't just been murdered in one hundred different ways by hundreds of brains at the same time) to Zoro, who also titled his head to face him.
"They fear them," he commented quite casually.
"Looks like they are known here," Zoro agreed.
"Not a good sign," Sanji sighed, even as he started feeling adrenaline kicking in at the expectation of what the twins had to offer.
"Not a problem either," Zoro replied.
Sanji smirked. "Definitely not a problem."
Zoro felt himself fume when his and Sanji's team was called for their first fight and first thing he heard after he stood up was Aila's voice wishing them good luck far too loud from the other side of the room. Both him and Sanji turned to face the twins, Sanji with a blank expression, Zoro with a clearly pissed off one. Because now everyone was looking at them, trying to figure them out, while Aila and Allen smiled innocently from a corner as if they just hadn't turned them into number one targets for everyone in that room. Whoever the siblings were, they were feared and respected, and it didn't escape Zoro that the fact that they were so openly interacting with them as if they were talking to an equal in front of the rest of the contestants meant that they acknowledged Zoro and Sanji as a challenge. Which made them just that for everybody there. Zoro glared at Aila in what could be interpreted as a last warning, to which Aila simply grinned wider and waved at them as she sent them a kiss, Allen chuckling by her side.
And both him and Sanji swore they had never felt like a prey as much as they did now.
For what they had seen in the first few matches they had watched through the monitors for the past hour, the majority of the contestants weren't impressive at all. They had spotted two teams who weren't half bad and had obviously won, but that's about it. The rest were peasants who didn't know what they had signed up for, and if some teams had won it was only because the one they were fighting was even lamer than them.
They knew better, though. This was only the beginning. The first rounds were made to filter all the weaklings and slowly give place to more interesting ones until they found teams suitable enough to make the matches epic. That's how a tournament worked.
Sanji shifted on his feet as staff worked around them, getting everything ready to let them out. Which Sanji was itching to do and, judging by Zoro's stone mode being activated, the swordsman was just as eager as him to kick ass. To be honest, they both needed it. It was a fantastic way to get rid of the tension that had been accumulated until then. The talk the night before had definitely helped, but their issues were still there and, well, the best way those two knew how to express themselves and vent their pent-up tension was through fighting and letting everything out without restraints.
At some point they were conducted to a circular platform and were instructed to stand there. Zoro heard their names being announced and, just as the booming voice of the presenter started resonating in the underground floor they were in, the platform started to ascend, natural light greeting them and almost blinding them after being in the penumbra for quite a while.
The stadium was just as Sanji had imagined. It was huge, the arena was titanic and the stands and terraces extended for countless rows and rows, high enough for them not to be able to distinguish anyone, that's how far they were. Which didn't mean the audience couldn't see the contestants fighting, as four immense panels raised themselves along the stadium so that everyone could see close-up images of the battles going on.
And, oh, the roar. The roar sent chills down Sanji's spine, who was already tapping the tip of his dress shoe on the floor, a wave of adrenaline hitting him, an unconscious smirk leaving his lips.
They were quite known. As soon as their names had been announced there had been loud gasps and shocked faces (as far as they could see) all along the stands, people breaking into a deafening roar that Sanji swore made his bones tremble. But, above the thousands of voices, there was a clearly distinguishable and impossibly loud one.
"Zoro, Sanji! Make me proud! Don't mess up! Kick everyone's asses! We'll have a meat feast when you are finished!"
Sanji had to physically roll his eyes in order to properly express the utter embarrassment their captain was putting them through as he kept on jumping like crazy in his spot, almost jumping across the rows of seats in front of him to join them in the arena, barely held back by a very stressed-looking Nami. The idiot kept blurting nonsense everyone could hear even above the general roar, throwing his fists in the air and leading his throat through the path of destruction in what Luffy probably thought was encouraging and motivating them.
"He is an idiot."
Sanji turned to Zoro, who was scowling like mad, embarrassment clear in his features. Sanji couldn't help but agree. Their captain was an embarrassing bastard.
"He is like the proud lame dad going to see his son at his first baseball game. Just that he has the mental age of a two-year-old kid, and he also wants to play," the blonde commented, to which Zoro barked a laugh.
"That's accurate."
And with that, the team they were going to fight was introduced and brought up to the arena, bringing the duo's attention back to where it should be.
They were two men, one was bulky and probably doubled Zoro in size, the other was about their height, bald and covered with scars all over his face and head. It wasn't their appearance that told them that they weren't an easy prey, but their eyes. The shortest one's were cunning and calculative, something Sanji noticed straight away.
"I am in charge of baldie there," he announced, eyeing his prey.
"Why am I supposed to agree with that?"
"Because he is the brain of his team, and I am the brain of ours," Sanji easily responded, smirk back in place. "Go use your muscles against muscle head over there, shouldn't be too difficult and we'll spare some of your brain cells from suffering from over-exploitation."
"Oi!" Zoro immediately protested.
But the siren signaling the start of their battle had just rung and Zoro was left with no time to elaborate his outrage as he already had Muscle Head running his way with a huge mace in his hands, while Sanji had already started sprinting towards the shorter one, using his speed to surprise him.
Which he did. But Baldie was fast as well, and he dodged at the very last moment, getting two guns out of his sides and directly shooting at him. Sanji spun around, twisting his whole body as he usually did to avoid the hit, but a streak of pain shot through him the moment his spine followed his own movement, his lower back practically screaming at him to slow the fuck down. And he swore he lost the vision for half a second, seeing black as his feet reached the ground with half the grace he used to have, slightly stumbling as he jumped back to put some distance in between them. But his enemy was already closing the distance, and just as Sanji's eyes decided to respond to his commands, the pain in his back still highly present after the strain made two seconds ago, he saw his scarred face in front of him. Sanji reacted faster than lightning, leaning his weight on his left leg and kicking upwards with the right one, clearly surprising the other as he hadn't been expecting the vertical angle of the attack. Which didn't keep him from shooting. Sanji rolled to the side, the kick only managing to land half the impact he had planned in favour of preventing a bullet from boring a whole in his abdomen. Fair enough.
Baldie fell to the ground, two teeth broken and blood coming out of his mouth, but it didn't take him more than three seconds to stand up, shake his head to dissipate the effect the kick had caused to his now clouded brain, and charge again. About the same time Sanji took to stand up, curse out loud, clench his jaw and inhale through his nose to make the pain in his back go away, which it was starting to do. Just as he blocked the upcoming attack with his leg, sky walking right afterwards to avoid two shots and kicking down his enemy's face, who roughly avoided the hit, Sanji reached the conclusion that fancy moves were out of the picture, especially the ones that involved twisting his back in excess, else his own fighting techniques would backfire.
Fucking wound. It was fine as long as he didn't abuse it, though. So he would stick to the basics. Those would have to do. That's what he thought as he let himself fall to his hands and spin around with his legs wide open in a whirlwind that knocked his rival out and away from him, all the while ignoring how his back complained. This one hadn't been that bad, it had been one of his basics, even if it hurt, but it was just a little. Yes, he could do with that. He'd have to do with that.
Zoro watched as Sanji stumbled right after twisting his own body in an impossible angle to avoid a hit, his landing imprecise and wobbly. He cursed himself when he realized his attention had switched to the blonde for far too long, leaving him unprotected against the following attack coming his way. He gasped and barely avoided the mace crushing his head to a pulp, quickly regaining his fighting stance and lunging against Muscle Head, who blocked the crossing slash Zoro had just delivered with the surface of his own weapon, which ended up merely scratched. Zoro vaguely wondered what material that mace was made of as to stand one of Zoro's attacks, but the thought didn't last more than that as his attention inevitably shifted back to Sanji, who now looked like he was faring pretty well.
Good.
He didn't want to be concerned by the blonde, and it pissed him off that he had been genuinely worried about him when he had seen his rather poor performance of what would have normally been one of his casual moves. His back was giving him shit and Zoro knew it. But, if there was something good he could say about Sanji, it was that he was an extremely good fighter and, what's more important, a clever one. It didn't take him long to realize that the blonde had completely changed his fighting scheme, laying it low while keeping it just as effective and precise, just that resorting to old known 'easy' movements instead of his new favourite fancy ones in order to both strain his back less and attack in a way that would leave his lower back less unprotected.
Zoro grunted when the mace landed on him, but he had already crossed both of his swords right in front of his face, stopping the attack in time and using their flat side to resist the monstrous strength of his opponent and finally pushing him back and away from him. But Muscle Head wasn't as dumb as Sanji had concluded he was, because he had some clever moves going on and the way he shifted the angle to land another hit definitely meant trouble for Zoro, who had to duck, roll through the ground and block yet again, pushing the mace back again and crouching the moment his enemy tried to land another hit, effectively dodging at the same time he conducted the swords against his opponent's side. Muscle Head saw it coming and made it to dodge, just that he was a bit too slow and the blade managed to pierce his flesh, even if just a little.
The huge man jumped backwards, earning some distance and breathing hard at the sudden wave of pain, but he didn't flinch one bit. Not that he had time; Zoro was already on him. This time, though, his plan didn't go as well. As soon as he launched against the other, the bigger man swung his mace and used the momentum to send Zoro flying backwards and against a wall of the stadium, effectively cracking a hole on it and keeping Zoro out of the battle for a good five seconds as he tried to sit back up and rubbed at his head, the confusion after such a big hit kicking in.
He took too long. As soon as he opened his eyes, the giant was already on him, mace held up in the air and ready to fall in a massive hit. Only then did Zoro realize that his swords had fallen from his hands somewhere because of the impact, and by then he could only brace himself, knowing that, in the position he was in, dodging would end up worse for him than if he just took the hit. As massive as he knew it was going to be.
He heard something crack, but it wasn't his skull. As he blinked his eyes open he saw Sanji in between him and muscle head, his burning right leg still straight in the air as he fell back to the ground, the mace destroyed after he had intercepted the hit.
Sanji felt a strong shiver run down his spine as he took the impact with the sole of his shoe, which packed enough strength and resistance as to pulverize the mace, but the hit still seemed to run all along his bones the moment he made contact with the hard surface, his lower back quick to scream at him in a plead for a break. Sanji merely grunted as his left leg held the weight of his body straight as soon as it reached the floor. He managed not to stumble and instead landed as he usually would but, just as he retreated his right leg, a hiss of pain escaped him, eyes scrunched tight.
He only allowed himself one second, though.
Behind him, Zoro had taken a hold of his swords again and Sanji could hear them sing right at his back, to which he instinctively crouched, giving space for Zoro to use his shoulders as leverage to step on them, gain height and momentum and land a hit against their now common enemy, finishing him right at that instant.
Sanji's hand went to the ground to help him support himself as soon as Zoro stepped on his upper back, right under the nape of his neck, but he didn't emit a sound, not even as a wave of pain kicked in and seemed to concentrate in that particular spot in his lower back. He had honestly not expected it to be this bad. It's not that he couldn't move, but the pain was ten times more intense than expected when he put strain on it. If he was still it was fine, but right now… right know he just wanted to kill things, it fucking hurt like a bitch.
He was pulled out of his musings as everything kicked back into motion. He wasn't sure if he had heard the shot first or if he had felt Zoro's hand grabbing his elbow and pulling him away before that.
Anyway, the result was him landing on his back and Zoro quickly taking the lead in order to face the now approaching Baldie, who was now shooting at them without giving them a break. Had to be grateful that the damn swordsman knew how to cut bullets in half, much to their enemy's frustration.
Sanji groaned and refused to let Zoro finish him. Sanji had decided to be in charge of him and he would. He had only left his own fight in favour of helping the idiot of an algae he had for a nakama when he saw him about to be smashed by a giant mace in a giant's hands. No way in hell was he going to let Zoro take what was his just because he had taken the time, out of the kindness of his heart, to help him, giving him the advantage to steal Sanji's opponent and take the merits.
"Move your ass," he ordered in a growl as he stood up behind the greenhead.
And Zoro somehow understood what Sanji wanted, because right after cutting three more bullets, he bent his body forwards for Sanji to step on his back just as he had stepped on Sanji's. Which Sanji did, only that he flew afterwards.
Baldie was caught by surprise and quickly changed the angle, moving from targeting Zoro to targeting Sanji, who was flying his way. He shot. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. But Sanji did a beautiful arch followed by a few spins, dodging everything that was coming his way, ignoring the pain in his back, only to end up landing an axe kick in the other's face, finally knocking him out for good.
Sanji landed and lost balance, but covered it with a flourish and a forced smile that tried to mask the new pain attack his back was punishing him with for not sticking to 'simple'.
His ears barely registered the commentator yelling that their team was the winner of that round, profusely praising their fighting techniques and whatnot, the crowd quickly going back to roaring, which they had done all along until their last enemy had been knocked out, just that this time it was louder. As in, much louder. And Luffy was screaming bullshit at them, probably announcing how proud he was, but Sanji didn't bother to listen. One: he didn't need to be embarrassed. Two: he needed to sit down and get rid of the strain present in his back right about now.
He was surprised when he felt Zoro's presence by his side in the blink of an eye as soon as the battle was called to an official end, closer than normal. He wasn't really touching or grabbing him, but his right shoulder was slightly behind Sanji's left one, in a way that would've allowed Sanji to lean on him without anyone noticing if he really needed it, or simply support Sanji's weight if he lost balance without the need to openly grab him. Sanji didn't use it, though. He didn't know if Zoro knew what he was doing or if he was doing it out of instinct, but he was Blackleg Fucking Sanji and he could sure as hell manage a scratch in the back on his own.
"Done," he heard Zoro mutter dangerously near his ear.
Sanji shivered involuntarily and quickly nodded, urgently diverting his attention to a member of the staff who was indicating them how to get out of there for the next battle to start. The paramedics were already taking the defeated out of there. To be honest, they had been a bit of a challenge.
Zoro watched as Sanji started walking away from him, his pose slightly stiff, his pace fast. He simply followed, watching his back as he walked behind him. He wasn't going to thank Sanji for saving his ass back when he had been about to be crushed by a mace and he just knew that Sanji wasn't going to thank him for getting his sorry ass out of the way right afterwards, when they had been targeted by a rainstorm of bullets that would have turned Sanji into a colander hadn't Zoro pulled him behind him. Though, to be fair, Sanji wouldn't have faced a potential colander fate hadn't he gotten distracted by helping Zoro out. Oh, well. As far as he was concerned, they were even. They never really thanked the other when they saved each other's asses, it was just what they did.
Zoro felt grateful when he received a bottle of water for him to hydrate himself, which he suddenly felt like he really needed after the slight effort they had had to make. Their enemies hadn't been weak at all, which left Zoro smirking as he gulped the water down and used a clean towel to get rid of the sweat. He slyly watched through the corner of his eye as Sanji did the same, and he couldn't help but notice how the blonde laid his weight against the nearest wall, his expression calm and composed, almost nonchalant. Zoro tried not to frown. Sanji did look better now. He just hoped he'd stay like this for what was left of the tournament.
The frown he had been trying to contain, though, reappeared a few seconds later, when Sanji discretely fished the jar of painkillers Chopper had given him out of his pocket only to take one and quickly swallow it. Only then, when he was looking at Sanji's lips as they closed around the bottle of water to help himself swallow the pill, did Zoro realize how Sanji's breath was more ragged than normal, how his stance was actually tense and his jaw clenched imperceptibly but hard enough to probably hurt.
Sanji didn't have to take the medicine yet, last thing Zoro knew, he had to take it every two hours. Zoro's frown grew deeper. Sanji was obviously not complaining, and he wouldn't, but he was struggling more than Zoro had thought he would to start with. Else he wouldn't be acknowledging to himself the need to take the pills by actually taking one earlier than he should.
Zoro tried his best not to sigh in frustration, and he swore to himself that he was not worried about the blonde. He just really hoped he'd resist the whole tournament, but he knew he'd do that. Most importantly, he hoped that Sanji would accept his own limits today and wouldn't do anything stupid.
The greenhead then proceeded to frown at himself. Why did he care anyway? As long as Sanji managed to hold his ground as he always did (to be honest, he had fought in much worse conditions) and didn't get in his way, everything should be fine. It's not like he needed to worry about him, he never really did, right.
It's just that Zoro didn't exactly feel like playing babysitter today, that's it.
"Oh my God, they were actually amazing!"
"I couldn't see them attacking, they finished them so fast!"
"They are dangerous indeed."
"I wasn't expecting to see them fighting here at all. This was a surprise."
"What's more of a surprise is the fact that they can fight like this. If Zoro and Sanji have to face them, they won't have it easy."
Nami nodded at the comments her crew was throwing in utter surprise as Aila and Allen were announced the victors of that round. Which had lasted for about three minutes, if so. The rival team hadn't had time to wrap their head around the fact that they were being defeated until they were already knocked out cold. And the twins hadn't even broken a sweat.
They had fought right after Sanji and Zoro had been led out of the arena. The staff was fast to make everything run smoothly: there were no pauses in between matches, as soon as one was over the next one started, not giving them more than two or three minutes to celebrate the last victory. Luffy had been cheering for their team like the mad man he was, embarrassing them all, being louder than the whole stadium together and multiplied for ten, but he had shut up as soon as he had seen the twins appear, a confused expression bathing his features, much as everyone else's in the Strawhats crew. That had been unexpected. But apparently it had only been so for them. As soon as their names were announced, the crowd broke into a deafening roar that far surpassed the one anyone else had received even when impressively winning. The public went nuts. Everyone was standing, everyone was clapping like crazy, everyone was disregarding their vocal cords' health in favour of screaming their lungs out in what was the craziest cheering Nami had ever heard. She had known right there and then that the twins were the indisputable champions of Terevera, at the very least. They were the only ones to receive that reaction and people obviously knew them. Which meant they had fought there before, by the looks of it, repeated times already. And if the excitement they caused was anything to go by, they had most likely not lost a battle in a long, long time.
She could understand why. She could tell they hadn't displayed all they had yet, they hadn't needed it, but she had caught a glimpse of what they could do. And where Sanji and Zoro had struggled, they hadn't even blinked. She wondered if their own team had had the chance to watch the match, they very much needed it if they wanted to know what to expect. They couldn't step into a fight against the siblings unwarned. God knows their pride was capable of blinding them enough as to dismiss the twins as a major threat, and if that happened Nami knew they'd have serious trouble. Because the twins were major trouble. She knew it as soon as they walked into the arena.
And she could only hope Zoro and Sanji would realize.
They heard the crazy cheering coming from the monitors as soon as they stepped back into the waiting room once they had been quickly checked by doctors in case there was any major injury to take care of, but they had quickly been dismissed. Sanji frowned. The roaring coming out of the speakers was deafening even if it was being filtered by technology, which strongly contrasted with the dead silence in the room as all the contestants watched the screen with expressions Sanji didn't like one bit. He watched as two teams were called for their battle to start, and he vaguely followed their figures as they left the room, nervous fidgeting getting the best out of them. But his attention quickly went back to what the rest was doing. The roaring kept going, and increasing. The silence in the room kept deepening by the second. He walked a bit to the end of the room and to the right so as to get a good look at the screen, Zoro following suit.
His eyes widened when he saw the shaky image of Aila and Allen with their fists raised in the air, screaming back to the crowd with victorious grins. At first he thought they were being introduced for their fight to start, so he sat down in order to watch, suddenly interested. He wanted to know what they could do. The thought that the crowd were already cheering for them like that didn't settle well, though. People knew them, it didn't take a genius to get that. And people liked them. Which meant they were, at the very least, strong.
His surprise only skyrocketed when he realized that they weren't being introduced, but the presenter was instead announcing their victory to the maddening public.
"What?" he let out, his eyes wide open.
Zoro's scowl by his side hadn't been as deep in a while. He also didn't get it.
It had barely been five or six minutes since they finished their fight, which meant there had been a space of two or three between their own fight and the siblings'. Which meant they had beaten their rivals to a pulp in an estimated period of three minutes, their bodies unscratched, their faces not showing the least bit sign of tiredness, barely sweating.
Zoro looked at Sanji. Sanji was already looking at him. And they didn't need to exchange words as their eyes bore into the other's. They better be careful. Those twins meant trouble. The problem was that they hadn't had a chance to evaluate exactly how much trouble yet, as they hadn't seen them in action. To be fair, it was possible that the other team had consisted of a pair of weaklings, but Zoro highly doubted it had anything to do with that.
Nah, the twins were a threat.
A very real one.
When Aila and Allen came back into the room with a smile, everyone glared at them, slightly retreating in their seats except for a few ones who were confident enough to be able to present a challenge to them if the chance came. Which they probably could. Sanji had been scanning the room, evaluating the contestants, and he could tell that there were about twenty to twenty-five teams that looked and actually gave the vibe of being seriously dangerous. Out of those, ten, including the twins, looked like they could make things difficult for them. As in, really difficult.
Which wasn't bad. Sanji itched for a good fight, one of those that actually presented a threat, one in which the real danger didn't come from slight slip ups he or Zoro could have, (such as the last one, even if the other team hadn't been a piece of cake either) but from what the other team had to offer. He would've been much more eager if it wasn't for his back, though. The early painkiller had helped it calm down, and now that he was sat and relaxing his muscles he could barely feel the pain, which had been reduced to a throbbing uncomfortable sensation where his back had been pierced the day before. But he couldn't get out of his mind the excruciating pain he had felt right when he had first twisted in what would've normally been easy and even mindless for him. It hadn't only been the flashing pain, but also the surprise as he hadn't been expecting it to hurt like a bitch, but only bug him during the battle. Such wasn't the case. He was very aware that he would have to deal with it during the following rounds, having to mind his movements if he didn't want them to work against him, which he didn't exactly look forward to.
It was just his luck. Right when he was signed up for something fun and challenging, something he would've enjoyed ten times more had his back not given him shit, something that helped him get rid of tension and keep his mind off a certain mosshead even if he had to spend each hour with him, he went and got hurt with what had been one of the most dangerous injuries he'd had in a while. He'd had bigger and worse looking, and he'd had more serious ones, of course, but this one had been serious enough, close enough to end up with fatal consequences. His spine had been about to be separated through a hole in between two vertebrae; there was no way that would've ended well.
But he had honestly hoped that with Chopper's care it would heal fast. The reindeer hadn't been exaggerating, as he usually did, when he said that it would bother him and that he would have to be careful with it. It's not like unrepairable damage had been done, and if he just rested and did as Chopper had told him it would heal in a week or so, but the wound was still fresh and he was straining it, which, as Chopper had warned, could end up badly if he went all out and didn't mind the treatment given to his back.
He lost himself in his inner complaints about life and luck and shitty back pain as he watched the matches going on in the arena through the screens, extremely bored by some and deeply interested and ignited by others, the expectation to fight certain teams rising. So he didn't notice that Zoro was only half paying attention to the matches and instead watching him when the battle wasn't as interesting, a thoughtful look in his face.
Sanji looked better now. But Zoro knew his back would give them problems when they fought again, and the more he strained it the worse it'd be by the end of the day, when they reached the final round. Because they were sure as hell going to get there. Just that Zoro's utter confidence in that statement was wavering a bit as he thought of how Sanji had slightly tripped after that flip. Sanji didn't let himself trip unless it really hurt. So it had hurt. It was not a matter of what the doctors recommended anymore; neither him or Sanji listened to that and they usually ignored the pain, so when their body acknowledged it, it meant it was quite bad, and they both knew that Sanji's movements were going to be limited by that. Which wasn't all that encouraging. Sanji's strength didn't only lay on the crazy strength his legs could pack, but also in how flexible and smooth and fast he was. And the injury was starting to limit that. Which meant they wouldn't be playing at their 100%. Not that it particularly bothered Zoro; as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew they were a bomb as a team if they really focused into it instead of bickering, so even if they somehow lacked at some moments, they'd still be fine.
Or so he tried to tell himself as he watched Sanji fish for another pill and swallow it when he was supposed to, not letting the fact that he had taken one half an hour ago in advance prevent him from taking the due one.
Sanji blinked his eyes open when someone lightly kicked his ankle, waking him up from his slumber. The interesting matches had already taken place so he had just let himself fall asleep in his seat for a while. Out of the potential twenty-five teams only fifteen remained as some of them had been defeated by the others.
His gaze groggily lifted to meet Zoro's. The greenhead was standing in front of him, handing him a plate full of sandwiches and canapés and rice and whatnot. Sanji looked at it questioningly.
"They provide lunch for us, the self-service is set in one of the rooms near this one," Zoro explained as he plopped by his side with his own plate in his hands. "I started seeing people leaving so I thought I might as well follow them. We need to eat."
It was funny that it was Zoro telling Sanji to eat. The blonde was a bit surprised that the swordsman had been considerate enough as to bring him some food, not to say fazed. Kind/caring actions between them were out of the picture, and the only one who was allowed to feed the other without it being a break of their bickering-proud-rivals-to-death code was Sanji, and just because it was his job. He couldn't help but let his gaze linger on Zoro's profile for a while, but he ended up shrugging it off and eating. Zoro was right, they needed the food.
"What time is it?"
"Almost three."
"And they are only serving lunch now?"
Zoro pondered his answer as he shoved a sandwich in his mouth. "Nah, it's been going on for a while."
"What took you so long, then? Did you get lost?"
When Zoro stopped chewing and made it a goal to bore a glare in the screen in front of them, Sanji knew it was the case. He couldn't help but smirk, the old urge to annoy the other coming back home.
"Oh, you so got lost."
"Didn't!" Zoro growled back.
"You did."
"No."
"You are a bad liar, marimo."
"And you are an asshole, shit cook."
"My pleasure."
Round two had started around forty-five minutes ago. The first one had been long as fuck as there was a large number of teams that had signed up, so the filtering process had taken a while. The second was sure to be half as long at least since only half of the teams remained. They still were quite a lot of them, but the number was slowly decreasing.
When their name was called they both stood up, itching to get back to the arena. They had come to hate that claustrophobic room where they were bound to spend even more boring hours in, so they were happy that they could get out of there and finally spend some time where they belonged: a fighting field.
Sanji felt the familiar wave of adrenaline kicking back in, wondering who they would fight. Zoro smirked when he saw it was one of the strong teams in that competition. They glared at them and Zoro and Sanji glared back, but they barely could contain their excitement. Which would have been higher hadn't one part of them been worrying about Sanji's back.
To be fair, it didn't hurt anymore, after relaxing and sitting down and taking his pills it had gotten so much better. But he knew that as soon as he started straining it again it would bother him and go back to limiting his mobility. He'd just have to be careful, he told himself.
He only remembered that he'd have to take another pill in about twenty minutes and apply the cream in about the same time when they were already being conducted through the basement and to the lifting platform. He cursed inside as it would have probably been a good idea to do it before the fight, even if a bit in advance, to avoid surprises. But he told himself it was fine. Not that he could do much now.
So when the platform started to bring them up to the arena as their names were announced and the crowd started cheering in a roar, his mind switched back to fighting mode and forgot about everything else. Focus and fight. Focus and fight. Win. That's it. That's the only thing he needed to do.
Zoro risked a glance at the blonde as they were bathed with the afternoon sun rays, checking on him. He looked fine. Well, he hoped he was. This team was going to be difficult to fight.
They had trouble listening to their opponents' names as the crowd was far too loud and Luffy was making it a goal to overpower the whole stadium's volume with his cheering chants. Embarrassing bastard.
"…they'll be fighting against… Smith and Dhor!"
Or so they understood. If the names weren't those, they were still close. Not that they cared too much.
Smith was tall and lean, with a constitution similar to Sanji's, just that he was sporting a much stronger scarred jaw that gave him a tough look. He had two swords sheathed in a cross shape at his back. Zoro smirked. Smith was his.
Dhor was shorter and bulkier, he almost looked like a Viking with his red beard and his braided red hair. He looked quite scary, to be honest. He had an axe Sanji had seen him use in his fight during the first round, and he knew for a fact that the redhead was skilled when it came to using it. And fast. He had assumed he'd have to take care of Dhor with the way Zoro had eyed Smith. He didn't have a problem with that; any of them was fine with him, so when the siren rang, he launched himself against Dhor in a sprint, kicking straight against Dhor's face, no preliminary game whatsoever. Dhor obviously dodged without much effort and Sanji smirked at him as he immediately landed on his hands and started kicking his way, making the redhead retreat until he found a spot to aim his axe at. He swung his weapon but Sanji was already out of the way, stepping back a bit and attacking back again, just to be blocked by the axe's flat side.
All along he ignored the throbbing pain that was starting to gather around that particular spot in his lower back. It wasn't that bad.
Zoro kept Wado in its sheath, much to Smith's annoyance. He could tell that the blonde wanted him to go all out, his pride being hurt when Zoro didn't comply with his desires, keeping his most precious swords out of the game. Swords clashed against swords and they both retreated only to run at each other again, a fast rainstorm of slashes cutting the air where their bodies had been half a second before, none of them landing a precise hit. Just because they both knew how to precisely avoid them.
Zoro grinned. That guy was good. Great, he did need some fun.
Taken by the thrill of the moment, he crouched and aimed low. Smith was surprised when he saw the blade come his ankle's way faster than lightning, but Zoro was even more surprised when Smith's sword intercepted the hit, his arm impossibly twisted to get the right angle while still keeping a strong grip, strong enough to actually stop Zoro's attack. Zoro was relentless, though, and he quickly used some footwork to round Smith while keeping the first sword in place, swinging the second a bit higher at his back. He was surprised again when Smith twisted his body and stopped the back hit with his second sword, Zoro getting stuck with his arms wide open around the blonde, who had enough strength to keep blocking the attack. When Smith grinned, Zoro knew he had made a mistake. Now his chest was unprotected. Smith threw his arms wide open, effectively pushing away Zoro's swords at both his sides and using the momentum to bring their own back to the center in a cross movement directly aimed at Zoro's chest.
Zoro heard Sanji yell something in the lines of "watch the fuck out", but he didn't quite register it as he bent his body back at the best of his ability, barely missing what would've been a pretty bad hit. He let gravity take him all the way down and, as soon as his back hit the floor, he forced himself to roll to the side just when Smith's swords made an indentation in the ground right where Zoro had landed. Zoro stood up and barely had time to dodge before going back to attacking. He noticed his breath was heavy and that everything in him was focused on his rival, basically because he had to be focused on him if he didn't want the other to slash him open.
Zoro felt a feral grin break his face. That's exactly what he was looking for. A proper challenge.
Sanji cursed out loud when Dhor basically threw the axe flying his way, something he hadn't been quite expecting when his attention had been stolen by a stupid marimo being reckless and almost being cut deep in the chest. He wanted to go and kick him in the ass, but he couldn't exactly do that as he was now busy dodging the flying weapon which almost chopped his head. He felt the strain in his back as he leaned backwards to avoid the hit, his back bending in the process, but he merely hissed as he straightened back up. Damn shitty swordsman, distracting him like that.
He saw Dhor running his way in half a circle to get his axe back, which was currently stuck to a wall, and he ran his way to intercept him, landing a kick to his side and sending him flying away. Dhor was tough, though, so he wasted no time in standing up again right when Sanji fell from the sky to kick him in the head. He dodged and packed a punch that hit Sanji in the face and sent him to the ground in a rough thump. Sanji's hands found purchase on the ground as he quickly scrambled to his feet, avoiding another physical attack, his body already working on an upside-down whirlwind that took Dhor by surprise as soon as he stepped too close after his attack failed. Sanji managed a kick in the redhead's face, sending him flying again, but he was unlucky enough as to send him flying in his axe's direction, which earned Dhor a few seconds to lift himself up and get a hold of his weapon right before Sanji, who was now chasing him, could prevent it.
And Dhor just so happened to grab the axe when Sanji was barely a meter away from him, so when he turned around with a powerful swing, Sanji had the shortest time to gasp and throw himself to the floor as it was too late to stop his sprint. The movement sent a stabbing pain down his back, as if someone had whipped him, and a strangled groan left his mouth just as he gathered himself together and rolled to dodge another direct hit, quickly standing back up and using his sky walk to get out of the way of a third attack. He proceeded to let himself fall to deliver an axe kick, but was met with the axe's sharp side facing upwards. That would have ended up with his leg chopped hadn't he reacted in time and changed the angle to chafe the edge with the sole of his shoe instead of indenting himself in it. Which managed to set his leg on fire like a match.
He saw Dhor's surprised look as Sanji landed again and gave him no time to react before ducking under his still raised axe and kicking him in the gut. Dhor yelled at the sudden hit and burning sensation, but shockingly held his ground instead of being swept away. And Sanji wasn't expecting that, so he didn't retreat in time. One of Dhor's hands came to grab the nape of Sanji's neck and pulled him against him as he landed a strong hit with the tip of the axe's handle, which was the quickest movement he could perform rather than angling it to use the edge before Sanji escaped his hold. It just happened to hit Sanji's middle back.
A scream tore his throat as the pain blinded him, and he just felt himself fall to the ground, his breath far gone and his sight lost as the only thing he could sense was raging pain. For fuck's sake! It was probably instinct that uprooted his body from the ground right before Dhor used the edge of his axe to hit him, barely avoiding the attack aimed at his head at the last second. He stumbled back, trying to gather himself together as he made an effort to refocus his sight. The images in front of him were blurry, alternating white and black dots that didn't let him properly see what he had in front of him. He sensed movement, though, and he jumped back, the pain too deafening to even stop him from doing so, it was just this overwhelming. A whistle had substituted the roars and cheering in his ears, and he swore the crowd had gone mute, even when he could see their mouths wide open and clearly screaming. He thought he heard his name, but he couldn't pinpoint who had called him.
"Cook!" Zoro was ripped up from his feral fighting mode when he heard Sanji's tearing scream. Sanji rarely screamed like that. When he turned around, dismissing a blade coming his way with his own hit, he saw Sanji barely managing to dodge an attack, and he swore Sanji's mind was somewhere else as he seemed to act more out of instinct than out of reasoned action patterns. He was barely scrambling away as he tried to keep it together. And Zoro just knew that the cook had been hit where he shouldn't have been. Weirdly enough, amongst the boiling noise the public emitted, he could hear Chopper's voice yelling something, the worry evident to anyone who heard it.
He spun around when Smith landed a hit against him, blocking, backing away and launching himself back at his opponent with a snarl, cursing everything around him, especially the blonde. He felt the urge to run towards him, but he had his own rival to take care of, one that wasn't letting him go anywhere if he didn't want a nasty injury in exchange of his efforts to help the blonde. And they couldn't have them both injured, else the final round would be out of the plan.
He growled as he dodged and attacked, and he felt almost relieved when he managed to land a cut on Smith's arm, which made the blonde hiss, but didn't stop him at all. Shit, now he couldn't properly focus, his gaze always ended up travelling to where Sanji was, and God knows his gut wasn't giving him a break as worry filled him more than any fighting urge.
Sanji groaned in pain as he forced himself up in the air, kicking at nothingness to put some distance in between the redhead and himself. His vision was coming back, his hearing as well, but the pain wasn't going away. It was so piercingly intense he couldn't even think straight. He watched as Dhor threw the axe his way and he let himself fall just enough as to get out of its way, just to kick back up and away from his opponent, who was now running after the axe. And Sanji let him, because he seriously needed to regain his breath and let the pain retreat a bit, else he'd get himself killed out of his diminishing capacity of reaction.
His feet safely landed on the ground, and he felt himself trip right after, but he caught himself and stood as straight as he could, breathing hard and almost choking as he wasn't filtering the oxygen properly, his hands hovering somewhere near the wound without touching it. His gaze was set on Dhor, who was still running after the axe, which had almost landed at the other side of the stadium. He let him do his thing. He needed the seconds to get a hold of himself. He felt Zoro's eyes boring a whole in his head every now and then as he fought his own rival, but Sanji didn't have time for that; he needed to focus. He watched as the redhead caught his axe and started running back to him, Sanji's stance coming back to a fighting one in response.
Thanks fuck the pain was slowly retreating. It had been bad enough to make him dizzy and numb his senses, and it was still violently throbbing, but he was forcing it away, his face contracted in a snarl and his breath slowly calming down. He didn't move until Dhor was practically on him. By then he had regained mobility and the pain had become duller, the first waves of agony already washed away. Just when Dhor landed a hit, Sanji jumped backwards, then kicked the air and closed the distance between them from a higher point, packing all of his strength in a kick the redhead blocked with his axe. Sanji retreated and waited for Dhor to attack again, giving himself a bit of a break in between his own attacks, which proved to work better for him.
The redhead gasped when Sanji managed to land a kick against his jaw, making him fall hard to the ground. Sanji forced out a strained smirk as he watched Dhor stand up in surprise.
"You couldn't possibly think this was over, right?"
"Your friend is in pain," Smith commented when they gave themselves two seconds to put some distance in between them and refocus after a storm of clashing and dodging.
"He is not my friend," Zoro growled. And it took all of his will not to turn around and check on Sanji, who seemed like he had gone back to fighting. He didn't know why he said that, it just came out naturally. He tried not to give any thought at how unconvincing he sounded.
"Wanna go help him?" the blonde taunted.
"I'd rather cut you in half right now, to be honest."
Smith let out a full-on grin and charged. Zoro snarled and blocked, his mind half there half not. He knew this fight was already taking a toll on Sanji. If they wanted this to go well they couldn't have fights lasting this long. The longer they lasted the higher the strain on Sanji's back and the higher the risk to have his injury setting him up for defeat.
He had to end this. Fast. Then he could go and give Sanji a hand and get him out of there before it got worse.
Smith's eyes widened when Zoro unsheathed Wado and placed it in his mouth. He smirked in recognition and attempted to land a hit, his confidence boosted now that he saw Zoro acknowledging him as a worthy rival. Which he was. But Zoro didn't have time and so he didn't waste any. He charged and made Smith retreat with a shocked look as he barely blocked in time, his strength clearly not enough to stop the hit, so the blonde had to change his strategy and dodge instead, letting his body fall and roll to the side. But Zoro was already on him, and just as he blocked again and tried to put some distance in between them, Zoro disarmed him, sending his swords flying in random directions and landing the much awaited hit. The swordsman watched as Smith's expression went from shocked to pained, realization hitting him as suddenly as Zoro's attack. Blood left his body where he had been cut, and the last look he gave Zoro before losing consciousness was one of utter defeat. That had been fast. Almost too fast.
Zoro vaguely registered the crowd going wild, but he chose to ignore it. He turned around to walk towards Sanji, but what he found wasn't what he was expecting. Sanji was standing right in front of Dhor, who was now laying on the floor with his face kicked in in a bloody mess, no signs of consciousness left. Sanji's chest was heaving, his stance far too tight, the pain evident in his face, but he was standing and tauntingly looking back at Zoro as he regained his breath, his hands laying on his hips for leverage with an overall badass pose.
"About time, Marimo," he panted. "Thought you'd never finish."
The public went wild. Zoro was surprised he could hear Sanji's words over the racket caused by the whole stadium screaming like there was no tomorrow and the presenter yelling like mad that they were the absolute victors of that 'epic' fight.
As always, Luffy's voice overpowered the rest spitting bullshit, but alongside his they could start distinguishing Franky's and Usopp's as well, that's how loud they were.
Sanji started walking his way out of the stadium as a staff member signaled them to do so and Zoro followed his lead, blinking at the lack of anything else to do.
Doctors quickly grabbed them and guided them to the medical room, where Zoro had all of his cuts checked. They weren't too bad. He watched as a doctor took care of an injury in Sanji's face and in his leg, but the blonde stood up as soon as they asked him to take his shirt of, claiming he was fine with a pretty convincing tone and excusing himself in order to go to the bathroom. The doctors let him go without much struggle as they were busy enough with the people who had been defeated. Smith and Dhor had just been entered into the room, and now the attention was on them. Zoro sighed when the doctor treating him nodded an okay and let him go as well, his gaze immediately looking for any trace of the blonde, but he had disappeared.
He had a pretty good idea of where he had gone, though. He just hopped he didn't get himself lost as he looked for him.
"Sanji's wound is in a bad condition," Chopper muttered, his expression all but worried.
Nami looked at him, biting her lip.
"Do you think he'll manage?" she asked, not paying attention to the new teams entering the arena to fight.
"Well, he's Sanji and he's had much worse, but this particular wound is really delicate," Chopper explained. The redhead could tell that the reindeer was actually concerned, which made her restless. She knew when injuries weren't that serious when Chopper simply scolded the injured and told them to take care, but when he started really worrying over them, and not only out of his job as a doctor, she knew they were quite bad. "If he just rested it wouldn't be too bad; it would be messing up with some of his lower mobility for a while but it would go away. But he is straining it way too much, he is actually making it worse, and it was already too close when he got the injury, not to mention when the Viking hit him right there just now."
"Why did you let him fight, then?"
Chopper looked at her. She also looked worried. There was no accusation in her voice, just concern. So he decided to omit the detail that she had basically forced those two to participate in that tournament in order not to make her feel guilty. She obviously didn't know Sanji would get an injury like that one before the games started when she had registered them. It wasn't Nami's fault.
"Because it's Sanji. He can take it. But he is being a bit careless and even if it's him, it doesn't make it any less dangerous."
Nami looked at Luffy, who had calmed down from his high and was now intently listening at what Chopper was saying, his eyes fixed on Nami's. They shared a brief understanding look.
"Will he be fine, though?"
"He's had worse," Chopper shrugged, trying to reassure the others, but also himself. He meant it when he said that; he really had, and he had been fine, but if his current injury got worse, the doctor knew for sure that Sanji would be fucked, and the blonde was basically buying all the existent lottery tickets for that to happen.
Chopper found himself sighing.
"As long as it doesn't start bleeding again and the bones don't pierce each other it should be fine."
Sanji cursed when he got his blazer off and found the back of his shirt stained with a considerable amount of blood. Damn it, it was one of his favourite shirts!
He got the piece of clothing off and examined the bandages in the mirror, seeing as they had gone from white to scarlet. He huffed and left his shirt by the sink along with some clean bandages he had stolen from the medical center. He was quick to fish the painkillers' jar and swallow two at a time. It still hurt but it wasn't so bad, the pain was retreating, which was good. Just that it did so slower than before. Since he couldn't have what had just happened happening again, he settled for two pills instead of one, and he'd make sure he'd take another right before fighting. It did numb the pain and that's just what he needed.
Oh, fuck, he had been in a really tight spot there. Just when he thought that fucking little gash couldn't hurt more, a direct hit there had proved him wrong. He couldn't have another one in the next battle. It had blocked him for too long, it had numbed all of his senses so that his body could only register how much it hurt. He couldn't allow that, he had had his head almost chopped off after that and, last time he checked, that didn't lead to victory.
Sanji took his bandages off and washed the bullet wound carefully. The cream was making the flesh close fast, and the only spots of blood in there were the ones that had spurted out of his back injury and extended through the bandage along the fight. Nah, that one was fine. When he finished with that one and had already applied the cream, he frowned at himself in the mirror. He could hardly turn his body so that his hands reached his lower back without it hurting like a bitch, let alone wash it and evenly apply the remedy on the skin. Well, he could, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.
He then heard the door of the bathroom open and close. When he heard the sound of the lock being closed, he knew it was Zoro.
"How is it?" he heard him ask.
Sanji looked at Zoro through the mirror. "Not too bad."
"It's bleeding," the greenhead observed.
Sanji was surprised at the soft concern in the swordsman's voice. There wasn't any teasing or reproach in it, as it would normally be the case, just plain worry. Which would've been kind of alright hadn't it come out as soft and caring.
They both noticed it, both equally surprised, but none commented on it as Zoro walked towards Sanji, Sanji's gaze following the greenhead's reflection in front of him as Zoro approached him from the back.
He stopped right behind Sanji, examining the wound. It was looking bad, for something so small. Zoro frowned. When he lifted his gaze, he found that Sanji's reflection in the mirror was staring at him, his jaw clenched, not saying a word.
"Stop glaring and hand me the cloth," Zoro groaned, diverting his eye.
Sanji didn't stop glaring, but he surprisingly handed him the cloth. Zoro took it and dampened it, then proceeded to carefully clean the wound, getting rid of all traces of blood. Sanji stopped looking as soon as the fabric touched his skin, his eyes fixed on the sink in front of him now. The touch was too gentle and he was still coming to terms with the fact that Zoro could indeed be gentle. It wasn't something he was happy to acknowledge, especially when it was directed to him, but the fact is that the swordsman was being gentle as fuck, his touch feathery and almost caring as he tried not to abuse the gashed flesh. Sanji hissed at the slight pain but didn't complain. He felt the urge to tell Zoro to stop, but he knew he had to have the injury taken care of; he still had one or two rounds to fight. He couldn't quite pinpoint why Zoro's actions made him feel this perturbed, but they did, and he slowly felt himself tensing, the lingering touches a bit too much for him to take. He clenched his jaw tighter and waited, though, trying to ignore how thick the atmosphere around them was becoming.
When Zoro finished, he took the jar and coated his fingers with a thick amount of cream before starting to evenly spread it over the wound.
At first Sanji tensed even more in pain, but his body slowly relaxed as the cooling substance started soothing him. Was it the cream or Zoro's touch? The way he spread it was almost like a caress. Sanji shivered and ordered himself to shut the fuck up instead of giving in to his urges of turning around and screaming his head off to Zoro for no apparent reason he could find. Zoro's hands were burning, a weird contrast with the cool nature of the cream.
Sanji shivered again, this time more violently, when Zoro's hand descended a bit, and he felt Zoro stop.
"Are you alright?"
The blonde scrunched his eyes shut, internally cursing at the bastard. Why couldn't he stop asking this kind of questions he never asked him? Why did he have to show him a caring side he didn't know how to cope with? It wasn't a side of Zoro meant for him, that he was sure of. He was the recipient of Zoro's insults and taunts, that's what Sanji knew how to deal with, and every time Zoro went out of his way to care for him and just went ahead and showed it, Sanji felt at loss of what to do. And apparently his body too, because now it was reacting weird as fuck, just like it had this morning when Zoro had done the exact same for him. And Sanji didn't know what to do with himself anymore.
"Can you hurry up? For fuck's sake, you are the slowest scumbag I've ever met when it comes to patching people up!" he heard himself barking, tension building in his shoulders.
Zoro kicked his ankle, glaring daggers at him, but Sanji ignored him, too concentrated in the sudden tension taking the reins of his body. The swordsman finished applying the substance and grabbed clean bandages.
And that's when it all went downhill.
Sanji was sensitive, stressed, confused and a bit lost at that moment, and when Zoro started wrapping his arms around him to bandage his torso, his chest almost pressed to Sanji's back, his hands half caressing his sides which each loop of the bandages, his breath millimeters away from Sanji's ear every time he closed the distance between them, body warmth emanating from the swordsman like a radiator on the cook… Sanji swore he lost it.
He couldn't begin to explain why the fuck he felt his pants tighten, he couldn't begin to explain the heat in his stomach and he couldn't even understand the way both his chest and gut contorted in what was the most painful knot he had ever experienced, but as soon as he realized what was going on, all of the sudden, all color left his face and all strength left his body, his heart stopping in place and panic flooding his senses.
Zoro's ministrations were suddenly put to a halt when he felt Sanji's hands moving to grab his own, the grip painful enough to make him actually cringe. He blinked in confusion as Sanji tightened his hold and forcefully tried to pull Zoro's hands away from his body.
"Stop it," Sanji ordered.
And his voice was the tightest and tensest Zoro had ever heard it sound. He couldn't avoid frowning and his automatic reaction was to keep his hands firmly in place instead of letting Sanji pry them away.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
He felt Sanji tense and the blonde tried to push him away yet again, quite frantically, to no avail. As much as Sanji's grip was actually hurting him, Zoro had always had the upper body strength and they both knew it. If he wanted to keep his hands there, he would.
"Zoro, please, let go" Sanji hissed. And what Sanji didn't realize and actually caught Zoro off guard was that Sanji, the proud Blackleg Sanji, had just gone ahead and pleaded to none other than Roronoa Zoro for him to let go. Which meant something was really really wrong.
Sanji thanked whatever there was to thank when he felt Zoro's hands leave his body and he quickly took the chance to retreat. Or so he tried. His efforts proved vain when Zoro's hands turned him around and slammed him against the nearest wall. Sanji gasped in shock and went to yell at him but he swore his world fell apart when he opened his eyes and realized that Zoro had his gaze fixed in half shock in between the blonde's thighs, where he was currently housing a more than noticeable tent. What escaped his mouth at that very moment couldn't have possibly been a whine, or so he tried to convince himself of. Shame and embarrassment washed over him like a fucking tsunami, making him wish he'd just disappear.
Which he knew he wouldn't. He honestly felt like crying. He hadn't felt this humiliated in his whole life. He hadn't felt this helpless and vulnerable and ashamed in his life. This… this destroyed everything, forget about last night's talk. It was over. Sanji closed his eyes with everything he had, waiting for Zoro to let go and find an excuse to leave him alone with his business, running away from the scene as fast as lighting. But Zoro didn't do that. Sanji had to restrain a pathetic whine when he heard Zoro's voice quite close to his face.
"Open your eyes," he registered the swordsman ordering. The tone was commanding at the very least. Sanji couldn't remember a time where Zoro's voice had sounded lower or deeper than that. "Look at me," he insisted.
But Sanji couldn't.
He couldn't, for the life of him, bring himself to look back at Zoro. That'd be his breaking point and he knew it. In fact, he doubted he would ever be able to look at Zoro in the eye again without feeling a wave of insufferable shame hitting him. He just couldn't. He had gone and fucked up. He wasn't even questioning himself or his arousal anymore, he just wanted to disappear, he just wanted Zoro to leave him the fuck alone and avoid him like the plague just as he should do, so that Sanji could find the space to murder himself, because that's the only thing he felt like doing right now.
"Look at me."
Sanji let out a weak protest that sounded like a wounded animal's whine as he tried to squirm his way out of Zoro's tighter and tighter hold. All strength had left his body, though. He was stronger than this, he should have been able to put up a fight, and even if Zoro was holding his upper body in place with enough force as to stop his blood circulation and immobilize him, he still had his legs to fight with. His legs he could've used to kick Zoro away from him. He could picture the strategy, he had the whole range of movements he needed to become a free man and get the fuck out of there imprinted in his brain, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, even if he ordered his body to. It didn't respond. He was blocked and there was not much to nothing he could do to get away, as much as he was lamely struggling in Zoro's hands, whining more than fighting.
Fuck. He really felt like crying in shame. This was the worst thing to happen to him to date, he swore. This fucked things up on a new scale.
"Sanji," Zoro growled, his tone starting to sound pissed off. Fuck, why did that bastard have to go and use his name? It wasn't even fair anymore.
"Let go," he managed in a strained voice as he made an attempt to push Zoro away, which ended up in miserable failure.
"No. Sanji, look at me."
Sanji felt as Zoro's hands pushed him further against the wall, effectively squishing the air out of his lungs. He only tightened his eyes in response, titling his head down and to the side. Which Zoro didn't allow as one of his hands left his shoulder only to be replaced by his forearm as Zoro maneuvered to grab Sanji's jaw and force his face in his direction.
"Look at me," he ordered yet again.
"No."
Sanji had tried to sound firm, but he couldn't. At that point he didn't even know what to do with himself. He didn't even understand himself. And he didn't understand Zoro. Why did Zoro keep pushing? Why wasn't he horrified and running away from him, or better, beating him up to a pulp in outrage? Why did he insist? Why did he sound so urgent? Why the fuck did Sanji feel this weak? And he swore to God he had been ordering his dick to calm the fuck down all the while, invoking all kind of anti-lust images in his head to make it go away, but the damn thing he had never hated so much wasn't giving any signs of going soft whatsoever.
Zoro watched as Sanji's face scrunched in pain, not a physical one anymore, not able to look at him in the eye, his face red and contorted, his body as tense as it had ever been, the sounds leaving his mouth closer to a plea than to an order, which wasn't like Sanji at all. Seeing Sanji panicking managed to make Zoro angry. Zoro was furious.
And he had had enough.
Sanji gasped when he felt Zoro's hand, which had been holding his face, suddenly grab his package through the fabric of his pants, roughly, almost painfully.
Oh, well, he definitely hadn't been expecting that one at all.
"What the-"
"Look at me, Sanji. I am being fucking serious," Zoro growled as he tightened his grip, only making Sanji squirm even more, his whole body contorting in an attempt to avoid what was undoubtedly happening. Because Sanji swore this couldn't be possibly happening.
"Stop!" he yelled as he attempted a kick, which Zoro blocked with his thigh. Sanji was still not looking at him. He had opened his eyes but only to watch his own hands trying to pry away Zoro's from his crotch in a frantic and desperate effort.
"Then look at me."
"Fucking stop it or I am going to kill y-"
Sanji's voice cracked and died when Zoro's hand started to agressively move on him, making all kind of unspeakable feelings rip Sanji apart. Because the rough touch hurt more than anything, and it was only making him hate himself and Zoro more and more the more Zoro worked on the friction, but the worst part was that he was reacting to it, and he just knew that next sound that escaped his throat might as well be a moan.
"Want me to stop?"
Sanji wasn't even able to nod, his attention furiously set on trying to get Zoro's hand away from him. But Zoro used his other hand to grab Sanji's wrists together and, after a few seconds of Sanji putting up a lame fight to avoid it, he managed to pin his hands against the wall over his head, effectively leaving Sanji with nothing to reject him with. That, unless he chose to use his legs, which they both knew he could if he really wanted to. But he wasn't using them nor did he look as if he was about to as he closed his eyes again, his jaw clenching and his breath ragged as he tried to regain control over himself, his struggle reduced to the required minimum but nothing else.
"If you want me to stop, open your fucking eyes and fucking look at me, stop acting like a coward," Zoro resumed, his tone slightly threatening, the friction he was applying against Sanji's bulge even more intense in order to get his attention somehow, which made the blonde hiss loudly.
"This is not happening," he growled, starting to get pissed off just as much as he was desperate and panicking.
"This is happening. Look at me in the eye, Sanji."
Zoro didn't exactly know why he was doing this. He was just fed up. He just wanted to make Sanji understand that running away from their issues and simply 'talking them out' didn't work anymore, he wanted to make him understand that shit happened and that it was fine. It was fucking fine, they'd get around it at some point, as conflicting as the situation might be. Because he was fed up with running away from it. He knew he didn't have the right to lecture anyone when it had been him who had been acting like a coward until the night before, Sanji being the one to coax some sense into everything and forcing them to face things, but he just couldn't stand Sanji's mortified expression. He really couldn't take it. It awakened the same kind of reaction he'd had in The Rock. It made something inside him churn, it made him want to do whatever he had at hand to make him understand that there was nothing wrong with what had just happened, even if a small rational part in him was repeatedly yelling at him that yes, this did fuck things up even more indeed. But he didn't listen to that.
He wanted to piss Sanji off, or calm him down, or irk him, whatever he managed to do to erase the afraid and panicky look currently bathing his features. Sanji was panicking. And if Sanji panicked they were both fucked, because he had always been the best out of the two at handling them. So Zoro was basically making a desperate effort to wash that away, to replace it with anger or relief, or whatever arose a reaction in Sanji that wasn't panicking and blocking himself.
He just wanted to make him understand it was okay.
Why his brilliant idea to achieve that had been attacking Sanji's crotch he couldn't tell, he just hadn't been able to think of anything else to force Sanji's attention on him. He had kind of come up with the thought that maybe if he grabbed Sanji right where the problem was he'd make him go soft and demonstrate them both that it hadn't been Zoro who had caused this reaction, because Zoro was convinced that there wasn't more of a turn-off for Sanji than the swordsman, out of all people, touching him like that. He knew it was a shit reason, but he wasn't thinking straight, he wasn't properly reasoning, and any justification as to why he was doing it was lame as fuck. He just wanted Sanji to look at him in the eye, to make him understand, but he had already done it and he found himself unable to stop even if he knew this was a bad idea. Even when he realized he was getting hard himself.
Oh, shit.
"Sanji, look at me," he repeated with a harsh and urgent groan, his hand grabbing Sanji's package harder, eliciting a gasp from the blonde. When Sanji merely bucked his hips back to avoid contact, Zoro lost his patience and found his hand acting out of its own will and making its way inside Sanji's pants aggressively in retaliation. He wasn't goning to let Sanji run away from the problem, he was sure as hell going to make him face it, even if it involved getting physical about it.
With that, Sanji finally snapped and glared at him with what was the angriest stare he had ever seen him give him.
"I fucking hate you," the blonde announced, making an effort to keep his glare in place and his voice from ending up in a moan, his hips frantically trying to retreat, Zoro's fingers inside the hem of his pants already. Man, was he pissed. Even through the frenzy and the sudden panic attack, the anger boiling inside was starting to get the best out of him.
Zoro found himself smirking at Sanji. "Feeling's mutual. See? It wasn't that difficult."
He then forced himself to let go of Sanji's crotch, the gesture taking much more effort and will-power than he had expected as his own length throbbed in his pants. Shit. This was an unexpected outcome. He wasn't supposed to get hard as well. His plan (if it could even be called that) was backfiring.
He took two quick steps back to calm himself down, as Sanji let out what should have been a relieved breath, but it sounded more like a frustrated moan, his bulge far more noticeable than before.
Zoro froze in place. Shit. This was so backfiring. This is where Sanji's boner was supposed to be gone in disgust, this is where Sanji screamed bloody hell at him and forgot about his embarrassment and panic attack. This is where Zoro was supposed to calm the fuck down and tell Sanji that it was fine, that they'd sort this out somehow and that he didn't need to act like a virginal coward about this. Men had boners and needs, and sometimes frustration and tension were too much and led to certain things happening. That didn't mean anything and Zoro wouldn't ever hold it against him. That was the line Zoro's speech had taken in his head, that and maybe admitting that he had gotten hard fighting Sanji before, if and only if Sanji hadn't calmed down by the end of Zoro's rant. Embarrassment in exchange of embarrassment. That would make things better.
Or at least that's what was supposed to happen in his head.
What wasn't supposed to happen was Sanji getting even harder and him getting hard, which Sanji could see, and at loss for words.
This was not going well. This was not going well at all. For fuck's sake, when had he concluded that this was a good plan? Why hadn't he just fucking left when he had realized what was going on? What had possessed him to do what he had done under the pretext that it was a good idea to stop Sanji from panicking further?
Sanji's voice broke the deafening silence in a half venomous half defying tone.
"Are you fucking kidding, Zoro?"
And where Zoro thought Sanji would spit at him and insult all of his ancestors as rage took over, Sanji didn't. Instead, his voice came out loud and clear, yet dangerous when he said:
"You better finish what you started, you bastard."
Later on, Sanji would swear all of his brain cells had died at once, leaving him with no reasoning capacity. He would say that he didn't know what he was doing, he'd say it had been an overdose of painkillers messing up with his brain, he'd say he had lost control of his own actions.
But the truth is that he was pissed off. Zoro would find it funny if he knew that Sanji's panic attack had actually retreated, just as he had wanted to start with, being replaced by anger. At least that had gone as planned. But it wasn't only anger. It was also frustration, confusion, helplessness and incomprehension of what was happening. That and a raging boner the bastard in front of him was deliberately responsible for. And just like the vengeful man Sanji was, he wasn't about to let Zoro fidget his way away from the chaos he had just created for God knows what reason. No. Zoro wasn't allowed to make a mess out of Sanji and then leave him there. Sanji didn't understand Zoro's actions, and he didn't want to. All he wanted now was to drag him with him in the deep well Zoro had thrown Sanji into.
So, even if he didn't exactly understand why he wasn't acting smart and letting it go in favour of pretending it had never happened, Sanji knew what he was doing. He knew what he was asking for.
Zoro didn't disappoint him this time.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zoro threw all common sense out of the window and rushed to Sanji, slamming the blonde's back against the wall, earning himself a low grunt from the other. He knew he shouldn't be doing this. But he also knew he had started it. And he knew that he wanted this. Why, he didn't know, but he wasn't interested in looking for answers at that moment. He was interested in finding relief. Maybe that's the only thing he had subconsciously been looking for when he had first slammed Sanji's back against the wall as soon as he had seen his arousal, maybe his lame excuses didn't have anything to do with it. He didn't know. He honestly didn't know. But then again, he had stopped thinking about that the moment he pressed his hips against Sanji's, creating rough friction that had them both clenching their jaws and restraining a groan.
He bucked his hips forwards and felt Sanji's arousal through the fabric of their pants, perfectly sliding against his own. Sanji didn't seem to have the patience for that, though. His hand made its way in between their bodies and reached inside Zoro's pants, shamelessly grabbing his cock and squeezing it roughly enough as to make Zoro hiss in pain. Zoro knew it was Sanji's frustrated way of blaming him for this. Zoro bit Sanji's shoulder to muffle a deep growl and Sanji's slight gasp filled his ears. The swordsman decided he liked that sound.
Sanji gave a tentative stroke at Zoro's length. It was slow and dubitative, all the forwardness of the first squeeze gone away and replaced by insecurity about how to proceed. His blurred and clouded mind registered the sensation of having another man's dick in his hand. It was just like his, but the other way round. That stupid mental ascertainment brought him some kind of reassurance, though. Sanji sucked in a harsh breath and stroked harder. He didn't expect Zoro to let out a sound in between a grunt and a moan, which made him stop again as he wasn't sure how to process Zoro's reaction. It couldn't have possibly made him harder, could it? But it had.
It was Zoro's turn to lose his patience as his hand unbuckled Sanji's belt and unzipped his pants for better access, not wasting a minute and getting a hold of Sanji's hard member, starting to stroke it as soon as he touched it. A moan immediately escaped Sanji's throat and Zoro swore it was one of the hottest sounds he had ever heard the cook make. It sent a shiver down his spine and encouraged him to quicken his pace, his hand easily sliding along Sanji's shaft.
Sanji regained part of his composure, trying to pull himself together to reciprocate, his hand tightening around Zoro's cock and starting to mimic the other's rhythm, which had Zoro panting right in his ear, their temples viciously plastered together.
Fuck, it felt so good.
When Zoro's thumb pressed against his tip, smearing it with his own pre-cum, Sanji's once strong legs buckled, and Zoro had to stop his ministrations to get a hold of the blonde and awkwardly help him walk backwards against the sink, where the blonde could half sit against it, feet still pressed to the ground. He took the chance to lower Sanji's annoying pants to his ankles. Sanji was already pulling him back by the front of his shirt, more like aggressively yanking him back. Zoro felt a deep growl leave his lips as soon as Sanji's mouth started attacking his strong neck, biting and kissing and licking on every inch of flesh he found as he proceeded to jerk Zoro off again. Zoro pressed the right side of his head against Sanji's, who roughly pressed back. His hand wrapped around Sanji's length, squeezing and then going all along the member in a painful slow motion that had Sanji ordering him to hurry the fuck up with what was the most threatening tone he had ever used with Zoro.
The way Sanji pressed against Zoro's member in retaliation had Zoro swiftly obeying.
The room was filled with pants and moans and wet sounds at that point, Sanji's far louder that Zoro's muffled ones. But they were still there and Sanji swore he was enjoying every single one of them. Never mind the fact that he was being louder; the fact that it was him who had Zoro turned into a quiet moany mess gave him a weird sense of personal satisfaction. He was able to bring Zoro to a breaking point, just as Zoro was proving to be able to do the same with him, but the thing is that he was taking Zoro apart, and that alone made the whole thing all the hotter.
Oh, shit, this was fucking good. Even if they knew it was wrong. The thought didn't manage to leave their minds as they continued with what they knew they should be stopping, but there was no turning point now, and they couldn't, for the life of them, stop there. Either they finished or they finished, no other options available.
Zoro hissed when Sanji managed a particular turn of his wrist that had him seeing stars, far too overwhelmed by the sudden pleasure he made him feel. His reaction was to bat Sanji's hand away with a warning growl, snarl in place. Sanji was about to stop abusing Zoro's neck in order to complain, but Zoro suddenly brought their cocks together and wrapped his big calloused hand around them both.
"Ah-"
Sanji's voice broke. It simply broke. His jaw fell slack as he brought his forehead against Zoro's shoulder for purchase, his hand quickly joining Zoro's and accommodating to the pace, helping the swordsman. Zoro's free hand went to find support against the sink, right behind Sanji's back, his body almost plastered to the cook's. Sanji's grabbed Zoro's nape and held to it for dear life, his legs giving in. Zoro kept him in place by pressing him further against the sink.
Their moans were now loud, their breaths coming short and half gasped, their faces red and glistening with sweat.
Sanji forced himself not to scream when his orgasm hit him. He clenched his jaw hard enough for it to be painful, his hold on Zoro's nape almost making the other dizzy with the sudden strength he packed in his hand. Zoro followed right after, grunting low and letting his forehead press against Sanji's shoulder, his release blinding him for a moment.
Oh.
Fuck.
They stayed like this for a minute, foreheads on each other's shoulder in an attempt to find purchase on the other. That until Sanji's knees definitely gave in and he slid to the floor, making Zoro let go and stumble backwards until his bare ass hit the floor. The swordsman let his whole body rest on the tiles as he tried to regain his breathing, thanking the coldness they brought to his heated body.
Sanji rested the back of his head against the sink, his arms resting on his bent bare knees, his brain far too fucked to come up with anything coherent.
It was only a long few minutes after, when he had managed to calm down and come back to his senses, that Sanji registered what had just happened. His gaze travelled to Zoro, who was laying spread on the floor, his legs parted and his pants lowered to the middle of his thighs, his manhood happily exposed for the world to see, looking more than satisfied.
His eyes widened at the sight, and then he noticed his own state, shirtless and with his legs bent and open in front of him, his pants pooling at his ankles.
Oh, for fuck's sake!
Panic came back as he scrambled to his feet, fighting against his own clothes in order to put them back in place.
Zoro's inactive brain managed to register the sudden signs of movement and he made an effort to straighten himself, taking in the image of Sanji zipping his pants with what could only be defined as a 'oh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck' expression. Reality hit him like a punch and he quickly pulled his pants back up, swearing out loud.
Sanji was already buttoning up his bloody shirt, barely checking that the bandages Zoro had wrapped him in had survived the assault. They luckily had.
He was quick to let the tap water flow at its maximum capacity, viciously scrubbing his hands in an attempt to get rid of their mixed cum.
"Shit, shit, shit, fucking shitty fuck," Zoro heard him curse.
He also needed to clean himself, but he wasn't sure if he should wait until Sanji was done or not. If he approached him now the blonde might just snap and kill him for real.
Zoro awkwardly stood up, scratching the back of his head, at loss of what to do, not knowing where to look at, occasionally risking glances at Sanji, who kept showing him his back as he made it a goal to make his hands the cleanest out of all Terevera.
The swordsman ended up in a blinking frenzy, trying to understand what had gotten into him and how they had ended up in this mess. He knew it was his fault. He just didn't know how he had let that happen. And he wanted to go back in time and change it, but he couldn't. He was already having a headache. Sanji wasn't even looking at him. A kiss had been enough to send them into some of the most disturbing and emotionally draining weeks of their lives; now they had just gone and done this. Obviously, a kiss wasn't enough of a challenge, they needed something that made things even more difficult, didn't they? Zoro was starting to freak out. They had excused the kiss by saying it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing where they had both been suffering a bit of an emotional breakdown after one of their nastiest fights. How were they supposed to justify this? It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. Zoro didn't know why he had had the idiotic idea of making the first move, but he had known what he was doing. And Sanji had actively let it happen, throwing away their last chance of forgetting about what Zoro had started. No, it hadn't been Sanji. Zoro could still have gotten a hold of himself, he could have apologized and ran away, forgetting Sanji had ever asked him to continue. Which would have earned him a premature death, but he was starting to consider it a better fate that their actual predicament.
Because now, right when they had started to actually mend things for real, they had fucked up big time. They could overlook a kiss, but they could hardly pretend this had never happened.
And just as his mental rant and self-blaming kept repeating in his head, his mouth grew a will of its own and tried to speak, tried to say something, anything, to make things better.
"Cook-"
"You had some nerve calling the fact of me grabbing your wrist and leading you around this morning gay."
Zoro closed his mouth with a clack. Bad course of action. Definitely. He should've kept his mouth shut. The cook had come back to himself and was very pissed off indeed.
Sanji turned around to face him and Zoro froze in place. Sanji was looking at him dead in the eye, contrary to what he had been expecting. His glare was tough and unforgiving, it was as determined as it was panicked. But it wasn't weak. Embarrassment was clear by how his face was beaming red, and the slight trembling in his body gave away that either he was panicking or raging in fury and trying to restrain it. Or both. Nevertheless, his glare was unwavering. It turned tougher when he saw Zoro's lost stare.
"Get your shit together, Zoro, you started it," he growled.
Zoro flinched a bit. He knew it was his fault. And he couldn't get his head around how composed (trembling, self-restraint and shame aside) Sanji looked. He had somehow expected Sanji to be the one to freak out the most out of the two. And, well, Sanji was freaking out, he was about to explode, but he was handling it better than Zoro currently was as his brain had suffered a shutdown.
He shouldn't really be surprised. Sanji always surprised him. He had assumed he'd need to help him in the last battle, but he obviously didn't need to, because Sanji could handle his own problems by himself. The only time he had needed actual help had been back in The Rock, right where everything had started. And Zoro had helped him. Just then did Zoro realize that Sanji hadn't really needed his help after that. Sanji had fared better than he had all along. It was just then that Zoro realized that he had been mistakenly assuming that Sanji needed help with every problem he faced, when he really didn't. As much as he worried, Sanji could hold his own in that competition, with or without the injury.
When the pirate hunters had captured him and he had let himself be taken, Zoro had appeared like a knight and helped him, which any nakama would have done. The problem is that he had just assumed Sanji needed rescuing. Only now was he considering that Sanji could have found a way of escaping by himself later on, with or without a woman as his captor. Him not being capable of hurting a woman didn't mean him wasting opportunities to escape. Sanji was an idiot, but he wasn't suicidal. He was one of the cleverest people Zoro had ever met, he would've probably found a way out of his captors' hands at some point.
Where Zoro had been freaking out and acting like a coward after the kiss, Sanji had been the one to look for common ground most of the times, even if the situation was as uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable for him as for Zoro. He had been the one to express how he felt first, cornering Zoro and kicking some sense into his dense brain.
And now he realized that, as much as Sanji had been panicking right when he had gotten a boner in front and maybe because of him minutes before, as much as he had looked as if he wanted to murder himself right there and then, as much as shame and fear hadn't let him look into Zoro's eye until he was coaxed to do so, Sanji would've still gathered himself together on his own. Where Zoro had felt the urge to fix him, to help him, to wipe that look away from his face by proving something stupid with his hand on him, now he realized Sanji could've done so himself without the need of Zoro fucking things up for not thinking twice and acting out of what his gut pushed him to do. Zoro could've avoided it. He would have just needed to walk away and leave Sanji alone, maybe reassure him afterwards, when things had calmed down, because Sanji could've handled this by himself. But he hadn't contemplated that as an option, he had just acted out of the protectiveness he now realized Sanji awakened in him and he had done so in the worst and less understandable way possible.
For fuck's sake… he really was obsessed with the blonde. He had gotten it all wrong from the beginning. Asides from The Rock's incident, where Zoro thought Sanji needed help it turned out Sanji had been the strongest out of the two.
He almost wanted to laugh at how lame he was. He almost wanted to cry in frustration at how much Sanji managed to fuck his brain up. He had never been like this. Things used to be simpler. Things used to be easy. They weren't anymore and now he knew great part of the blame was on him. He knew as he stared back at Sanji's cutting stare, the blonde's words repeating in his head.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, not knowing what else to say.
Sanji frowned at him. "No, you are not."
But Sanji wasn't going to push this further. Zoro had started but he had continued. They were both to blame. Just that Zoro was the one to blame the most. Not that there was a point in doing so, though; shit had already happened.
To be fair, Sanji was also surprised at how well he was controlling himself. For how much he had been panicking at the start of it all, he sure was now composed. But he told himself that he didn't really have much choice. Either he freaked out for real and lost it, or he tried to get a hold of himself and prevented this from ending in further disaster. Maybe it was the fact that what he had been trying to avoid at the very beginning, when he had been desperately struggling against Zoro's hold, had already happened, so there was nothing much left to avoid asides from an undesirable panick attack that would amount to nothing as it wasn't going to prevent anything anymore. His brain was trying to get around the fact that yes, this had indeed happened and that the only thing left for him to do was to try and face the consequences as best as he could. Damage control, people called it.
But, shit, Zoro's lost puppy look was starting to get on his nerves.
"Oi, snap out of it, moss head, leave your brain hibernation for later, we need to focus!" Sanji barked as he snapped his fingers in Zoro's direction in hopes that he'd react. "And fucking wash your hands, you pig, that's gross!"
Zoro looked down at his hands and realized there was still cum on them. Oh, shit. He rushed to the sink and did as he was told, not realizing that he was acting a bit like a kid. Which pissed Sanji off. For how much he had been acting all tough and confident a few minutes ago, cornering Sanji and calling him a coward, he was sure acting like a pansy now. Very much the contrary to what Sanji had acted like. They undoubtedly were opposites in everything they did. They even took turns at braveness. Funny. Just that it wasn't.
The swordsman was surprised when Sanji smacked the back of his head. Sanji hardly used his hands for violence. Plus, he had slapped him pretty hard. He couldn't help it when a scowl darkened his features as soon as he turned to face the blonde.
"Man up. We need to win this shit and we won't if you keep on acting like a weakling."
Zoro could tell Sanji was just as much about to burst as him. He knew Sanji wanted to flee that room and away from Zoro as much as he did. But he was making an effort to compose himself, and that's the only thing that was saving them from a breakdown as he tried to behave just as he always did, the only element of normality left in the otherwise new ground they had stepped on.
Maybe it was Sanji's determination and his own brain's friendly reminder that he had started this shit and had now to face the consequences like an adult, but Zoro ordered himself to straighten up and imprint a determined and composed look in his face.
"And just who are you calling weakling? It's not me who goes around complaining about a scratch in my back."
He felt quite proud of how stable and believable he had managed to make that line sound. Almost as if he wasn't panicking inside when trying to bury thoughts about the consequences their acts would have after the competition ended.
"Shut your face, bastard," Sanji snarled back. And the bickering session made Zoro convince himself that it was a little bit less probable to suffer a heart attack now. "I swear to God, if this gets in the way of our victory I am going to pulverize you and Nami will dance on your ashes."
"Whatever," Zoro muttered.
Sanji eyed him in what could only be described as a threatening way. It was taking all of his will power to keep himself from kicking Zoro's face in. But they needed to stay composed, now more than ever. They couldn't let themselves freak out about what had just happened, they couldn't afford to have second thoughts and never-ending regrets filling their minds if they wanted to win this tournament. And they sure as hell had to if they didn't want Nami to make it her personal goal to ruin their lives. Plus, their sanity could use a break. Sanji just knew that if he started thinking about it too much he'd just go nuts, overwhelmed by the possible meanings and outcomes of their actions. He particularly wanted to avoid asking himself the reasons why they had let this happen. Both his and Zoro's.
And just as he was trying to convince himself of all of that, Zoro had to go and open his big mouth.
"We'll talk about this later."
Sanji came to question Zoro's brain's existence. He swore the swordsman didn't own one. The fuck was he even talking about? Zoro was the least talkative person he had ever met and, out of all the topics, he grew a will to want to talk about that?! He mentally beat the crap out of him as he glared hard at him, his eyes conveying his murderous inclinations to the other.
"No, we won't."
Zoro blinked at Sanji's harsh response. He had been blinking a lot for the last few minutes. It may be his unconscious response to being disconcerted.
"Pull yourself together, stop with your bullshit verbal diarrhea and get your ass moving. We need to go back."
Sanji gave him a last warning glare and stomped off, almost breaking the lock in his rush to get the fuck out of there. Zoro cursed and followed suit. He didn't know how to get back to the waiting room from there. He jogged a bit to get to Sanji's level, but he didn't get to walk by his side, keeping a prudential distance between them. Sanji was walking fast enough as to make Zoro have a hard time keeping up with him.
He stared at Sanji's back and noticed, by his stance, that he was fuming. He then noticed that he wasn't walking as fluidly as he usually did, his lower mobility slightly strained. Zoro tried to get that thought out of his head. Overthinking and over-reacting had gotten them there. Plus, Sanji was right, they had to focus. They needed to. They could take care of the utter breakdown of their relationship when they won the fucking prize Nami wanted them to win.
And as he followed Sanji around the corridors, he couldn't help but curse himself a little. It had been his fault, yet it had been Sanji who had taken it upon himself to keep them both in place and focused when they had both been about to lose it. It had been him who had adopted their normal interacting pattern as if to demonstrate that they could overcome that, effectively managing to engage a very lost Zoro into it, giving him some reference to follow. It was funny how he had been trying to give that same kind of reassurance to Sanji when he had first pinned him against the wall, right before his brain short-circuited and thought it was a good idea to just go ahead and grab Sanji's crotch. It had ended up working the other way around apparently. He didn't even have the strength to let out a bitter smile.
Thank fuck Sanji had the composure to keep this from being an absolute disaster. Thank fuck Sanji was there. Even if he was half of the problem. Thank fuck it was him who was the other half.
He stopped in his tracks when Sanji stopped in front of a door and turned around to glare at him, waiting for him to catch up.
"Earth to Marimo," he growled.
Zoro almost felt like smirking. Despite it all, certain things just came out just as casual. Maybe it was just Sanji making them sound casual.
"What," he forced out, his tone matching Sanji's pissed off one. He was quite proud of how convincing it had come out. Which, for some reason, brought him some reassurance in a moment where he was about to break down.
"I don't give a fuck if you're currently going through an existential revision of your long list of life's mistakes; keep it together and act normal. I'll kick you in the shin every time you space out for no reason. Hard. Got that? We need to keep it cool. Nothing happened."
Zoro opened his mouth to reply but Sanji cut in.
"I don't want to hear it."
The greenhead scowled. But he shut up for good. He was about to counter the last statement by pointing out that this time they couldn't just ignore it and would have to face it at some point, but taking into account that, at the moment, it would lead to nothing and that Zoro was nowhere ready to talk about it without freaking out and most likely having a mental breakdown, he deemed it wise to humor Sanji and shut his mouth. For now.
He ended up nodding.
"I want your shitty attitude back, Zoro, don't make me direct you like a puppet, make an effort," Sanji prodded.
"I am not a fucking puppet, least yours, asshole!" Zoro heard himself snap in outrage, the pissed off feeling at Sanji's insulting words momentarily taking his mind away from what was currently haunting him and eliciting an automatic reaction out of him.
Sanji smirked. "Much better, Marimo."
"Bastard."
"Dickhead."
"Shitty curly-brow!"
"Fucking caveman!"
Before Zoro knew it they were back in the waiting room and sitting down on a pair of empty chairs, both of them too immersed in their bickering session as to care about the glares they were receiving from the rest of the contestants. It was a familiar interaction pattern, and it somehow helped them soothe the situation a bit.
That until the door opened two minutes later and Aila and Allen came in, just a few scratches here and there. They were smiling when they looked at them.
"Shit, have we missed their match again?" Zoro cursed.
"Well, yeah." Sanji very eloquently answered, a 'no-shit' expression directed his way, making Zoro feel embarrassed and guilty as fuck. Well, of course they had missed it. They had been doing… other things.
Oh, shit. He tried not to let his face turn as red as a tomato. He swore he tried.
"Your match was really interesting, you are indeed good fighters. I am glad you classified for the next round."
Zoro lifted his head again when he heard Aila's voice by their side. They had stopped right next to them, smiles in place. Zoro felt himself come back as he interacted with someone that wasn't the shitty cook for a change, which he thanked. He merely raised a very unfriendly eyebrow. Sanji nodded, letting a small polite smile graze his features.
"Thank you, dear."
Zoro vaguely wondered what Sanji's problem with Aila was. He still treated her with courtesy, but there was a heavily different treatment as opposed to other females. For how stunningly beautiful that woman was, Sanji would've already proposed to her had she been any other woman. He didn't give it further thought as Aila's words activated all of his danger alarms.
"You are welcome. We are really looking forward to have a chance to fight you, it shall be fun. By the way, how's your back doing, Sanji? Couldn't help but notice you struggling a bit with it, you got us worried for a moment."
Zoro's head snapped up to threateningly glare at the woman, who was still smiling at them. He then looked at Sanji, who also kept his smile in place. It didn't reach his eyes, which didn't avert from Aila's. So they had noticed. Of course they would've noticed Sanji's weak spot. The question wasn't innocent. It wasn't even meant to be a question. It was a warning, if not a threat.
"My back is fine, thanks, I appreciate your concern, my flower."
Aila smiled wider. Allen mirrored the gesture. "We are glad to hear that," he answered. "We'll see you later."
Zoro watched as they left to the other end of the big room, everything in him switched on to alert mode. When he turned around he found Sanji uninterestedly watching the match going on at the moment through the screen.
"They know."
"Of course they do," Sanji shrugged.
"Is your back any better, though?"
Sanji titled his head to glower daggers at him. Why couldn't the bastard keep his mouth shut?
"Yes, Zoro," he wearily replied. When he saw Zoro's unconvinced expression he sighed and rolled his eyes. "It is, I swear. The pills and the cream are making their effect, I almost can't feel it. When I am not straining it it's not that bad."
Zoro carefully nodded and quickly diverted his gaze away. He couldn't keep eye contact for too long without images of the past hour flooding his brain. Sanji almost looked nonchalant now. Almost. If it wasn't for the furious tapping of his foot against the ground, Zoro couldn't have told that Sanji was going through the same inner freaking-out-but-trying-to-control-it session as him. He was acting so casually, as if nothing had happened, when almost half an hour ago they had been jerking each other off in a public bathroom.
Zoro closed his eyes tight and tried not to sigh. He couldn't begin to understand how they had ended up like this. But then again, his relationship with Sanji had always been unpredictable and a bit messed up, so it's not like he could be too surprised. He needed to sober up, get those images out of his head for a while and focus. Sanji was doing it and he could as well if he tried.
But even when his attention managed to stay on the screen, the thought didn't abandon his brain of how fucking good that moment with the bastard currently sat by his side had felt. He couldn't brush off the fact that it had been, with a high probability of the feeling not being exaggerated one bit by his still confused brain, the best jerk-off session Zoro had ever had or shared with anyone, as inexperienced, and even clumsy at certain points, they both have been at giving somebody else a handjob. Especially Sanji. Zoro knew he'd had a pair of drunk encounters with his same sex, but he was 120% sure that Sanji hadn't.
Just as the thought crossed his mind for the tenth time in the past twenty minutes, he risked a glance at Sanji's profile and swore he wasn't fucking getting half aroused again at the though. Sanji was too busy making it a goal to keep his gaze fixed on the screen as to notice Zoro's 'this is not happening' sudden expression.
Zoro could've easily excused himself to go to the bathroom to avoid anything humiliating from happening, but he was starting to be mad at himself for messing up and choosing the easy way out afterwards. So he fixed his eye on the screen, arms tightly crossed in front of his chest and jaw clenched as he emptied his brain from any thoughts it might come up with. Focus. He needed to focus.
He internally cursed at himself, and then at Sanji, and then at Nami for signing them up for this, and then at Sanji and then back at him three more times.
Both his and Sanji's goal for the past few weeks after the kiss had been to try and go back to normal, go back to the simple relationship they missed, no awkwardness or mixed emotions in between them. When he had woken up this morning he had genuinely thought they were on their actual way to doing so. After last night's talk he had seriously believed they had set the right path for them to fix what they needed to and just get over all the shit that had been bothering them.
That morning felt far away in time now.
If there was something he knew for sure, it was that they weren't going back to normal ever again. Their old relationship wasn't there anymore for them to get a hold of and drag it back. It was completely gone, no turning back in time, no going back to 'known', 'safe' and 'easy'.
They had fucked up, especially him, and now they had to face the consequences, as much as they might not like them at all.
From now on, either they tried to build new patterns for their relationship to work or they didn't have one at all anymore. From now on there were no 'givens'; from now on there was no actual familiar ground.
From now on they would be walking on a tightrope, which meant they'd better make wiser choices in the future, or else there was no avoiding the fall.
TBC
A/N: OMG this was SO LONG. I make a vow to myself to never do this again, I almost died with this one hahahahaha But there is a good reason behind it... today Come Back is a year old! On this fine 5th of March one year ago I posted the first chapter, OMG WHAT, time flies by (*yells in excitement*)! So, in order to celebrate, I thought I would put what would normally be two chapters in one as a small present for you guys! Because it's thanks to you that this fic has kept going for one year and has reached 25 chapters, so I really wanted to thank you for all of your support, for subscribing, favouriting and commenting! I want to let you know that it inspires me and makes me want to continue! This fic was meant to be 10/15 chapters long, but at some point it just grew on me. And here we are (*sighs like a grandma*). So, really, thank you a lot! I hope you've been liking this fic so far, I hope it has been up to your standards and I hope you enjoyed this double celebration chapter!
That being said, it was a difficult one to write. There were two intense and long fighting scenes (which are always tricky to write), and, well, there was the last scene (*cough, cough*). They finally made a step, after 25 chapters things start getting a bit more serious! (excuse how slow I am). This is my first time writting a smut scene and even if I tried my best, I am aware I probably sucked at it, but it's really the first time I am writing this kind of stuff and I was embarrassed while doing so (*kneels down and waits for understanding for my lame excuses*). I am sorry if I disappointed you there, but I am a newbie in this department hahahaha I promise I'll try to be better next time, please accept my apologies if it wasn't too good!
The thing is that I wanted to have this one finished by today as a present for you all (last scene included and all, because, you know, I wanted it to be a good present hehehehe), so I have spent the past three days writing like crazy and revising and I swear half of my brain cells are dead by now and the other half are hibernating for a while hahahahaha It took a lot of effort to have it done in time, but I finally managed! (*satisfied author is satisfied*). Just please excuse any mistakes there might be, it was really really long and each revision takes more than an hour and I just can't bring myself to revise anymore (sorry, sorry).
I know some of you want these two idiots to pull themselves together and man up instead of making things more complicated each chapter, but I think that's just how they are. They never make things easy around each other. Where Sanji backs down, Zoro steps forward and viceversa. In my mind this is how they are: where both are freaking out and one is having a harder time than the other, the other will take it upon himself to handle their situation for the both of them. Which means they go from daring and confident to scared and insecure quite often, and it's fine because the other is there to compensate. It takes one of them to break down for the other to man up and viceversa. If they were with anyone else, they'd just keep it tough, I believe, because they'd take it upon themselves to carry the burden of whatever's going on and make things better. When they are with each other, though, there's this trust that the other will compensate where they are lacking, which means they are more sincere about their feelings and they can get rid of their tough mask a bit and just let go, knowing that the other will pick them up where they fall. And this is why this fic gets so complicated and frustrating at times, but don't worry, they are slowly getting to the point where they'll stop acting like idiots and actually facing their issues together at the same time (fear not, my readers, keep in mind that they have already broken the first barrier in this fine 5th of March (hehehehehe)).
So yeah, all in all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you are enjoying the story! End of my rant. My apologies. Hhahahaha! I am sending you all a big hug, and I really thank you for supporting me all along, you inspire me! Now I'll let my brain cells hibernate for a while and I'll hopefully recover soon to start writing the next chapter (don't expect them to be as long as this one, I do appreciate my brain's wellbeing).
Thank you a lot, my darlings!
(*throws kisses and hugs and happily runs towards the sunset*)