...
...
Chapter 36
Hangover
...
...
"Good morning! No, don't you dare whine at me, it's passed noon already, it's about time you woke up!"
"Fuck."
Zoro's first hangover was officially a bitch.
And starting the day with Nami's voice screeching its way into their room was the worst possible way to face it.
He pathetically groaned the moment she (he assumed it had been Nami) dragged the curtains open with the same vigor Luffy would attack his food, and he was fairly sure that she had enjoyed every second of it as daylight hit him in the face like a slap.
Other sounds, obnoxiously loud ones, filled the room following suit, matching the banging inside Zoro's head both in intensity and harshness. Fuck, his head was going to explode.
It was at that moment, as he dragged his sheets up to his face to cover it and maybe make the excruciating pain diminish by blocking light and sounds out of his perception, when the feeling of the fabric sliding up his bare thighs brought him back to reality.
Oh, shit.
He brought his knees up his stomach in an attempt to hide his nudity under the blankets he had just yanked up and confirmed, much to his absolute misery and disgrace, that he was very much naked. Which brought back last night's memories in a flooding rush.
Oh, shit.
He had lost awareness of what was going on around him as he peeked his head from under the sheets only to find Sanji laying in his own bed and looking back at him with the same expression Zoro was currently pulling; the one that seemed to read, holy shit we're fucked. And they were. Zoro felt a furious blush hit his cheeks, which was his cue to hide his face back under the safety of the blankets, leaving Sanji to fare on his own because, nope, he wasn't doing this first thing in the morning, much less when his head was stabbing him with death promises and his stomach felt ready to throw up everything he had ingested in the course of his life ever since he was born.
Sanji, on the other hand, was lucky enough to have put on some pants the night before, which left him way less exposed than Zoro could potentially be if Nami decided to act like a bitch and yank the blankets away from him in an attempt to wake him up; but he wasn't less aware of the situation.
"Good morning, my flower," the blonde was fast to greet her as soon as he got a hold of himself. His voice had come out unusually raspy and worn out, but he could and would blame it on the fact that he had just woken up.
"Morning. Okay, Franky, put this here. Be careful!"
It was at that moment that Sanji took notice of what was going on inside their room.
Usopp and Franky were introducing about a dozen barrels in the space under the redhead's directions, which left him frowning in confusion. He sat up in bed and did a fast check on his body just in case there were any suspicious stains he had to hide before uncovering himself. Sure he had showered the night before, but he could never be careful enough. He had determined there weren't, so he proceeded to get out of the warmth of his blankets with the intention to stand up and help them out with whatever they were doing. It was then that his hand lazily scratched the space between his neck and shoulder and a slight sting met his touch.
Oh, fuck.
He didn't need a mirror to know what he would be faced with if he looked into one. That's the exact point where Zoro had viciously bit him the night before, and he was positive that calling whatever mark had been left there a 'hickey' would be the understatement of the century. He felt the urge to screech but instead kept his hand there in a vice, thanking his lucky star that the unmarked side of his body was the one currently facing his crewmates, who had barely spared him a glance.
His throat went dry and his palms sweaty as he glared at the lump of blankets Zoro had become, killing intent evident in his eyes. He would murder that bastard, he swore he would.
"Usopp, can you pass me the blue sweatshirt I have in my wardrobe?" he masked out with all the control he could muster not to sound as freaked out as he was currently feeling.
"Get it yourself, man."
Sanji swore he'd also murder their snipper, but that was when Nami intervened.
"Come on, Usopp, don't be a bitch, hand it to him, you're right in front of the damn wardrobe."
She sounded slightly pissed off and Sanji didn't know what had brought her to defend his case this fast with something as mundane as Usopp passing him some clothes, but he didn't question his luck; he was in no position to do so. Usopp grumbled something but did as he was told and threw the piece of clothing at Sanji's face, just that it never hit its target as Sanji's free hand came to catch it in the air while he mumbled some mild bro-to-bro insult at his nakama, who smirked in return and went back to work, clearly displeased with the chores Nami had just imposed on them.
"What are those?" Sanji forced himself to casually ask the moment he had covered everything there was to cover, finally standing up to help them get the barrels in, an offer Franky turned down real quick since Chopper had forbidden Sanji from doing any hard work for now.
"Terevera's star drink. The one that turned Zoro into the brainless algae you claim him to be," Nami enlightened him with a teasing smirk. That had Sanji inevitably laughing, quickly followed by a few snickers by Franky and Usopp.
"Fuck off. All of you. This is actual hell," the resident lump of blankets groaned back. It had probably intended to be some sort of barking, but it came out as pitiful whines instead, which had all of them laughing at him without remorse.
Sanji's laughter was decidedly nervous, but if someone noticed, no one commented on it.
"How many are there?" he was fast to ask.
It's not like he didn't enjoy making fun of Zoro's misery, that would always be his favourite hobby after cooking and kicking ass, but he didn't want any more attention to be placed on the swordsman, not when there was so much to hide right behind the circumstance of Zoro's hangover. Sanji was painfully aware of what had led to that and what had been going on between them the previous night because of it. He was also aware of how annoying his nakama could get when someone was having a deadly time waking up after a hardcore night out; he had seen all too often how they'd turn into Satan's underlings and start annoying the shit out of the poor miserable soul they'd decided to pick on. One of their favourite torture instruments was to yank any existent sheets off them and kicking them out of bed and onto the floor, and Sanji had the sinking feeling, by the way Zoro was very evidently covering every single inch of his body despite not being anything near prudish or shy, that if that were to happen, consequences would be bad.
Really now, what had his life become?
"Twelve. We'll be bringing a few more, I think," Franky ventured, looking at Nami for confirmation. He looked endlessly amused by Zoro's shameful state, but he didn't seem intent on taking his mocking to a physical level, which had Sanji feeling slightly relieved.
"May I ask why?"
"We are taking it with us when we leave. You see, consumed in an adequate amount," Nami gave a sidelong glance at Zoro's hibernating form, "this is like the Holy Grail. It takes about two cups of it to get you consistently drunk, which is much less than normal alcohol takes, yet the actual alcohol in it is really low and the effects are less severe. Unless you go all out and decide to drink five pints of it and maybe make your day hell to add a bit of spice to life, like Zoro there did."
"Fuck you," came from under the blankets.
"Show some respect, you caveman!" Sanji barked back, partly because he was honestly done with Zoro's manners but also because he didn't fancy him getting on Nami's nerves when all it took for their nakama to start suspecting shit was to place actual attention on the swordsman.
And enter the bathroom. Wait. Wait. Had Zoro gotten rid of the mess they had carelessly left there?
Sanji's eyes snapped towards Zoro's bed but he found nothing similar to a stare-on-stare conversation since there was hardly any communication he could establish with a wrinkled mountain of sheets. Fuck. Zoro couldn't have been this dense, right? Sure Sanji had left his clothes there too, but in his rush to leave the room he had been expecting Zoro to clean it as he left. Had he, though? Because, fuck, if Zoro's naked figure under the blankets or Sanji's hurriedly covered monster of a hickey didn't ring a bell in their crewmates' heads, cum-covered clothes laying on a flooded bathroom floor would definitely do for a hint.
"Need some more help? I was going to take a shower, but I can help you if you need me to," he nervously offered, looking for an excuse to check on the bathroom and assess the potential damage. It's not like it was probable that their three visitors would suddenly feel like using their toilet when they had their own down the hall, and they had no reason to pop their heads in there and check for the sake of it, but the possibility remained solid and, knowing their luck, Sanji wouldn't bet against it happening, because he may lose his money. Along with his dignity. Shit, he was paranoid, but he needed to check the damn bathroom.
"Nah, it's fine, we've got it sorted."
"Want us to bring Chopper in? Zoro looks like he is dying," Usopp offered with a frown that was half amused half worried.
"No!"
And really, both Zoro and Sanji needed to chill and start acting like normal people do if they wanted to keep their deal a secret, because both of them yelling 'no' at the same time was, at the very least, suspicious, in a really lame way.
"He'll take the chance to start poking at me again, nope, I'm not going through this just because this bastard can't handle his alcohol," Sanji was fast to justify with frantic movements of his hand. They didn't need more company, thank you very much.
"He'll murder me, leave me alone, don't bring him in, for fuck's sake!" Zoro lamentably whined, his head popping out of his shield for the first time since they had been assaulted mid-sleep. Only for it to loll forward, Zoro's brain spinning so hard that he felt bile climb up his throat in a violent wave. "Fuck."
And he clearly didn't think it through, because next thing he knew he was standing and running towards the bathroom, opening and closing the door behind him with a bang in a flash, his nudity happily exposed to everyone standing in that room as he ran by. They had a moment to hear him start to puke his guts out (hopefully not on the floor) before Usopp started screeching in distress and Sanji viciously kicked the door with a hysterical vein popping in his forehead. So much for trying to be discreet.
"The fuck are you doing! Have some manners, you Neanderthal, no one wanted to see this!" he yelled in outrage, majorly pissed off now. What he meant by that is that no one should have seen this, and he was about to have a mental breakdown over how royally fast Zoro had fucked that logic.
"I didn't need to see that!" Usopp indignantly yelled. And really, it's not like he hadn't seen him naked before, they all had, but he didn't fancy being flashed with that image without warning, what the fuck.
"Damn it, bro, that was so not super," Franky groaned with his hands thrown in the air.
"Oh my God," Nami brought her hand to her face and pinched her nose in order to gather some patience, which she generally lacked.
"The hell is he even doing naked! He never sleeps naked!" Usopp was babbling in indignation, the entirety of the scene he had just witnessed being too much for someone who had woken up not that long ago. "And he has a hangover, what the hell! He never has hangovers!"
Usopp was asking way too many questions for Sanji's comfort.
"Tell me about it," he groaned, trying to act as normally as he would have usually done if nothing had happened the night before. "He was pissed out of his mind last night, he just started throwing clothes everywhere, the bastard, I'm surprised he didn't smash his head against a door. How many pints did you say he drank?"
Good acting there. He needed some good skills in that department if he had to compensate for Zoro's disastrous ones.
"Five. He had it coming, the idiot." Nami shrugged, half enjoying Zoro's suffering behind the bathroom's door. Sanji determined he had successfully erased any link between himself and Zoro's nudity in his nakamas' minds (if they had ever established one), which he almost sighed for.
"Need some help in there?" the redhead mockingly asked.
"Go the fuck awa-" the muffled response getting back to them was cut in half as more foretelling sounds got in the way of words.
"Oh, shit, he really is fucked," Franky exclaimed, both eyebrows raised. He was equally as shocked as he was amused. This was a first and he (just the rest) would be lying if he said that he didn't find a bit of enjoyment in witnessing Zoro go through what normal people go through when they get drunk. He had always been able to annoy the shit out of the rest of his crewmates during those hellish first moments of the 'morning after', basically because he had never been in any position to be the one being fucked with, but today was the day none of them had thought would come: the day Roronoa Zoro joined the realm of the drunken mortals. What a day to be alive! Shouldn't they celebrate? Franky was already regretting not taking the opportunity to make Zoro's morning suck for real (yes, they were all that kind to each other), but hearing the sounds the greenhead was emitting through the door made him refrain himself. He didn't want to be puked over.
"We're going to be having lunch downstairs in about an hour, if you want to join us," Nami offered as she decidedly made her way towards the door. She'd had enough of hearing Zoro's dying whines. Franky and Usopp followed suit.
"Sure, darling. I'll be there, thanks- wait, what? Downstairs?"
He hadn't been let out of that damn room for ages; he always had his meals brought to him since Chopper didn't want him moving around.
"Doctor's allowance. You can now move around the hotel, but he'll tell you himself and specify his conditions as soon as he comes to do your checkup. He'll come at some point before lunch; take the chance to get Zoro checked as well and he might not die today."
Sanji blinked at Nami's back. Was he going to be allowed out of that room? For real? He thought he may cry in happiness.
Just that joy didn't last long as the thought hit him that he was alone with Zoro, again. Anxiety crept on him as last night's events ran through his head. They had been very presently embedded in his mind during his exchange with his nakama, but he had been too worried about the external effects it might have or what may show through for his crewmates to see as to worry about the actual weight of what had happened.
It had been so sudden, they had just woken up, tried to cover the remainders of what had been going on the night before, then Zoro was rushing inside the bathroom and that's all contact they had had so far. Now that he was alone with his thoughts and Zoro in the next room, he couldn't help but think about what the fuck he was supposed to say the moment the swordsman emerged from the bathroom. How would Zoro react? Would he even properly remember what had happened? By the way he had been covering himself and basically hiding like a child, he must have recalled something, but Zoro had been pretty fucked and Sanji could only hope some parts would at least be blurry for him to remember. It would be even greater if he didn't remember it at all. God, this was going to be awkward as fuck. How the fuck do you address your rival who just delivered his first blowjob to you out of a drunken urge the night before? He swore if the bastard tried to blame this on him, he would kick his face in! It's not like Sanji hadn't tried to get him to stop.
God, this was all so wrong.
Zoro would regret it for sure, and Sanji was not ready nor willing to stand an angsty 'damn, I fucked up' session right now. Not when he had been trying to warn him that he would regret it indeed.
Why was his life so difficult?
"Burn those down."
Despite the rising anxiousness, Sanji couldn't help but turn around with a mocking smirk. Zoro had just come out of the bathroom looking like shit; he had had the decency to wrap a towel around his hips to cover his nudity (thank God fancy hotels provided its guests with thousands of useless towels per day so that there was always one available to use) and he was currently standing with his last night's clothes held between his fingers as he glared hard at the barrels that had just been placed in the room, hard enough to make one believe they might have insulted his mother.
Sanji's smirk was wiped away the moment he fixed his gaze on the clothes Zoro was carrying, a certain sense of dread invading him. "So you did leave everything there," he groaned, all too aware of the risk they had gone through simply by having that mess laying on the bathroom's floor.
"It's not like you took care of it either. Your clothes are still there, your job to dispose of them, not mine," Zoro grumpily growled as he made his way towards the basket where they threw their clothes in for the hotel's staff to wash. "Can't we burn them down? Along with the barrels. They should be reduced to ashes for humanity's sake, I swear this is fucking hell."
"It's called hangover. It's what normal people go through while you wake up like a rose after you down dozens of barrels of ale. A bitch to deal with, really, but karma needed you to experiment it at least once in your life, so yeah, deal with it and watch what you drink next time."
"You're an asshole."
"What the fucking fuck!"
It took a few seconds for Zoro to catch on to the fact that Sanji's outraged exclamation wasn't a response to Zoro's insult but an actual life-changing question with which the swordsman was about to be accused. Sanji had disappeared into the bathroom as they talked so it's not like Zoro knew what he was on about, but it didn't take long for him to find out.
"Do you think this is normal?!" Sanji screeched the moment he stomped back into the room, holding his sweatshirt's neck down for Zoro to be flashed with the most obnoxious mark he had seen in his life planted by Sanji's shoulder. Oh. So that's what Sanji was yelling about. He must've just assessed the actual damage inflicted by staring at himself in the mirror. What an image to be met with, really.
"Wow," he genuinely gaped, shocked that he had done something like that. Last time he checked he wasn't a cannibal, but hey, he'd seen weirder things. "Was it me who did this?"
"Are you fucking kidding me?! Who the fuck else do you think attacked me like a fucking caveman last night?!" Sanji kept on shrieking, his daily dose of patience already blown away for the day. "Chopper is going to come and inspect me or something, how am I supposed to hide this atrocity?!"
"Wait, what, Chopper is coming?! Didn't we tell them not to bring him here? Fuck, he is going to kill me!"
"That's not the point!"
"Stop yelling! Shit, my head is going to explode…" Zoro yelled and then whined as he covered his ears and let his ass fall on the mattress, his brain actually feeling like it was going to burst out of his ears.
"You are lame."
After that unmerciful statement, Sanji seemed to have some sympathy and grew silent. Zoro heard him shuffle around the room, probably getting rid of the remaining mess in the bathroom while Zoro tried to get a hold of himself so as not to puke his guts out on the carpet. Shit, why did people ever drink this much if they knew they were going to feel like this in the morning? This was an actual torture and Zoro was ready to get Sanji to knock him out with a kick in the face so that he would stop feeling pain all over his body.
His gaze raised the moment he heard Sanji's mattress creak, and he found the blonde sitting across him with his fingers intertwined on his knees as he observed the swordsman with a mix of frivolity and seriousness. He knew there were many things going through Sanji's mind, things he wasn't voicing out loud, things that came back to Zoro's brain the moment it started processing stuff again.
There was an unasked question in the air, an unspoken conversation waiting to be put into words, but doubt stood above them in the form of silence.
Which Zoro broke as soon as his stomach started twisting too hard for his own taste. He didn't want a nervous attack to trigger another throw up session, thank you very much, and the faster he got this started and over with the lesser chances he'd be taking.
"Okay, let's get this straight. Did I… like…" Zoro didn't seem to find suitable words not to make this awkward, but it had been awkward to start with, so he decided to fuck it. "Am I remembering the wrong things or did I blow you last night?"
Sanji grimaced at Zoro's choice of words, and he may have groaned an insult, but it was too low for Zoro to register. His body seemed to tense infinitely, only to relax the moment he sighed. Sanji unfolded his half bent body and went to hold his weight with his arms extending at his back, torso casually straightened for a change as he tried to appear calm and collected. "You did."
Zoro looked at him, blinking. He had been hoping Sanji would deny it. He had been hoping it had only been his hangover playing with him, but memories were vivid and Sanji's answer was clear as day. Sanji had also been hoping Zoro wouldn't remember. He didn't have such luck.
The blonde sighed. "I told you you would regret it."
Zoro scoffed. "You did."
Sanji felt a small pang in his chest. Something similar to disappointment, something that felt like deflating. He knew this would happen. Why had he let Zoro do what he did last night, again? Guilt started consuming him, but he didn't let it show through his blank stare directed at the swordsman as he tried to analyze him. What was he feeling like? Was he disgusted? Was he about to call it quits? That would be the best for both of them, if they were to be rational.
"I'm not about to blame it on you if that's what you're worried about. It was my own decision, I am aware of it" Zoro was fast to clarify, tone raspy and tired. Sanji preferred not to think about the reason why his voice sounded this worn out and used.
"That's gracious of you," he sarcastically jeered back.
Zoro rolled his eyes and decided he wouldn't be doing it again for the day, because the gesture had just gotten him dizzy.
"Fuck, this is horrible."
"Chopper will bring you pills or something and it will get better, don't worry too much," Sanji placated him with a scornful smirk. "You do look like shit."
"Fuck you very much."
Sanji grinned a bit, more out of habit than out of actual satisfaction. He felt like they were currently walking on ice, and he was inevitably nervous and weirdly dispirited at the way this was going. Zoro's reaction at having confirmed what he had done a few hours ago came as rather mild and neutral but not exactly nonchalant, which had the situation feeling weird and delicate since Sanji had no real way to know how Zoro was feeling about this.
"I don't want Chopper coming," Zoro weakly complained, face hidden behind his hands for stability. "He'll murder me and dance on my corpse."
Sanji barked a short breathy laugh at that. "Won't that bring me joy," he teased. "Come on, stop complaining, he'll give you a magic pill right after making you pay for your past and future mistakes, there's always a bright side."
"You're not making this better, stop talking, your stupid voice is making my headache worse."
"My foot meeting your teeth will do a better job at it, I can always arrange that."
Zoro proceeded to growl at him, but he didn't raise his head nor did he have the energy to formulate a retort.
"I need to cover the mess you made before Chopper comes in," Sanji sighed after a while, annoyed tone clear in his voice. "How the fuck am I supposed to hide this abomination? Were you even thinking or do you just not give a fuck?"
Zoro made an effort to ignore Sanji's jabs and accusations in favour of both sparing himself some embarrassment by not considering what he had done to the blonde's neck and avoiding an argument that would lead his head to kill him. Instead of answering, more out of actual guilt than anything else, he decided to be helpful and maybe get distracted from his misery in the process.
"Need any help?" he simply offered as Sanji stomped his way towards the bathroom to decide how to tackle the damage concealment with a scowl and a grumpy demeanor.
"No. You'll puke on me."
Zoro sighed, restrained the dizziness and stood up to follow the cook anyway. He found him staring at himself in the mirror with wide eyes, still trying to figure out how in the world someone could do that to his neck. That someone being Zoro.
"Staring at it won't make it evaporate."
"Shut up. This is all your fault."
Zoro restrained the urge to roll his eyes, which he already knew would do no good to him, and walked back to their wardrobe, where Chopper had graciously left some bandages for Sanji to change them if the reindeer wasn't around to do so. There were a few patches as well; Zoro did a double-take and decided to bring the box with him, putting it on the sink and staring at Sanji's reflection with a frown. The bathroom lights were too bright for his eye, which barely held itself open.
"I'll need more than one of those to cover it," Sanji grumbled.
"Then get started."
Zoro sat himself on the floor by the toilet as he felt the urge to throw up come back to him. He had the feeling that he wouldn't leave the bathroom for the next few hours and taking a spot by the toilet seemed like his best bet.
Sanji was cursing under his breath as he made a big patch out of a few normal-sized ones, plastering it against his skin and successfully hiding the bruise; not that the arrangement was discreet whatsoever. Chopper would still ask what the hell was under it and probably demand him to let him inspect it. He should start thinking of a way out other than kicking the reindeer away, and a good excuse would be brilliant if he just happened to find one.
"I'm not regretting the blowjob."
Sanji choked on his saliva and almost died asphyxiated in the process, his watery eyes flashing towards Zoro as if the swordsman had grown another head. Saying that he hadn't been expecting this would be a huge understatement.
"What?"
"I'm not regretting the blowjob per se. I mean, sure it was embarrassing and whatnot, but it's fair game in our deal and I don't think I did a disastrous job out of it."
Sanji's stare only grew wider. What the fuck was Zoro going on about? He looked damn serious, if you put aside the general pained and dying expression he was pulling, but Sanji didn't understand why he was talking about this. He didn't understand why he was talking at all.
"I'm saying this because I can almost literally see your brain cells giving you shit over how you let me do something I might not have wanted to while being drunk," Zoro huffed as he registered Sanji's expression and realized the other wasn't understanding shit. "I wanted to. So stop acting like you did something wrong. The only thing I regret is how much of a fool I made myself look like; I do apologize for that, I would have kicked me in the face if I was you."
And he did regret it. He remembered pretty much everything he had been blurting out last night. He remembered the lame insistence, the begging, and the stupid one-sided determination that drove him to do things Sanji had possibly not initially wanted. He felt absolutely and irrevocably ashamed, and he could only try not to let it show too much, but he did realize how much of a problem his last night's loss of control was. He had been acting absolutely out of character, and he had shown a rather pathetic side of himself to the blonde, which only added more weight in the self-assault he had leaded against his own pride. It was him who had fucked up big time, not Sanji. As he had just said, it wasn't about the blowjob per se, that was just a potential part of the now sexual nature of some of their interactions that didn't need to be shamed whatsoever; the problem laid in the way he had dealt with the whole issue, drunk or not. Oh, God, he swore he'd never get drunk again in his life. Things like these couldn't happen ever again, Zoro couldn't let himself fall this low.
Sanji blinked at him a few more times, processing what Zoro had said. Well, Zoro was regretting shit indeed, but it turned out it had nothing to do with his interactions with Sanji. As much as the blowjob had decomposed Sanji's mind stability and driven him over the edge, the fact of delivering it wasn't Zoro's top priority in his things-to-regret list; and that, somehow, came as relieving news to Sanji, who had been feeling conflicted about letting Zoro do everything he had done when he knew the other was far from sober. Zoro had known what he had been doing and he wasn't regretting it. He was only regretting the means. Which Sanji would be dreading too if he had been in Zoro's place. If he had to be honest with himself, even more than the blowjob, what had unsettled him beyond belief had been the way Zoro had given up on his own pride to beg for Sanji to let him do it. That was what was eating his insides in a small uproar as the feeling that that wasn't the way things should work gnawed at him. Good thing was that Zoro had realized, which meant there probably wouldn't be a second time, and Sanji thanked that, because he swore he didn't know how to act when Zoro drove out of his lane by miles, which ended up in situations like last night's.
"You were drunk," he was fast to mutter, as if he needed to help Zoro justify himself.
"That makes it even lamer," Zoro grunted in distaste. His mouth tasted bad, and he was feeling thirsty as fuck.
Sanji couldn't help but smirk. "Can't not agree with that."
"You're not helping."
"Wasn't intending to."
"Are we okay, then?"
Sanji's heart bumped in his chest before stopping for a second and going back to a stable beating again. What was up with Zoro? It was such an unusual question to ask for him and, again, it had Sanji not knowing how to proceed.
"Uhm… yes, I guess," he answered with a smaller voice than he would've liked.
Then they heard violent knocking on the door and a very familiar voice demanding entrance.
"Chopper's here."
"Fuck."
"I swear to God, Zoro, if he sees this I'm going to murder you, fillet your corpse, grill it and dance on your ashes, you bastard," Sanji snarled while pointing at the hickey area before making his way out of the bathroom with an already pissed off mood. He knew what awaited them and he could no longer find joy in life at least until this hell was over. Chopper was going to murder them both.
Zoro scrunched his eyes when he heard the front door open.
"Where the fuck is that idiot?!"
Oh, well, Chopper was swearing. He was fucked.
"Vegetating in the bathroom. Please tell me you've brought a pill or something, I swear he's a deplorable sight to witness."
"I should have left him to drown in his own misery because he fucking asked for it, but yes, I have, I am this kind. Why the hell do I have to deal with this?! I told him not to mix his medicines with alcohol, but no, Roronoa Zoro is superior to anything and everything being ordered to him, isn't he!" he kept barking as he made his way towards Zoro's hiding spot only to pop his head in as he was pronouncing his last words. Their gazes met and Chopper's brows furrowed in anger. "You can't imagine how glad I am that you're feeling like shit. You so deserve it."
"Those are some nice statements coming from a doctor," Sanji smirked by the doorframe, watching the scene with slight amusement. Pissed off or not, Zoro's suffering was his delight.
"Fuck you."
"I'm examining you right after, don't think you're getting out of this one just because your roommate is an idiot who needs a damn babysitter."
Sanji blinked at Chopper, then took a step back and closed the door behind him, leaving Zoro alone with their doctor.
Fuck his life.
A week later things had, once again, established themselves as something similar to a routine. They were four days away from leaving Terevera once and for all, which Zoro couldn't wait to do. It had taken longer than expected since repairing the ship had been slightly harder than Franky had originally assessed.
All in all, the Strawhats had kept attending parties; Luffy had won three tournaments and become the most popular fighting figure in the country for the month, which earned him free buffets pretty much everywhere; Nami had broken around a dozen of casinos; Sanji had been allowed to wander around for the day since he could do so without limping anymore; and Zoro had gone back to partying with the rest after having promised not to drink anything anymore and having found out, much to his own surprise given the hellish hangover he had experienced, that the promise had been a blatant lie.
Nami, kindly enough, had shown him how to properly drink Terevera's star drink, and Zoro discovered the pleasure of letting go of himself a bit in a comfortable kind of drunkenness that didn't involve puking his guts out the morning after or absolutely losing control of his actions. Sure it disinhibited him and made him more daring (as if he wasn't daring enough), but he didn't feel that sense of falling he had felt the first night as he watched, almost as if he was seeing everything from a 3rd person's point of view, how everything slipped out of his control.
Said comfortable state of drunkenness had led to a few more encounters with Sanji at shit o'clock at night.
Happily drunk Zoro wasn't the wasted Zoro who'd crawl his way inside Sanji's pants in the most humiliating way possible, but he definitely got turned on easier and initiated stuff he wouldn't have started otherwise. He had discovered that, if he pressed the right buttons and made it sound like a challenge to the blonde, Sanji would agree more often than not. The blowjob episode hadn't repeated itself again, as expected, and everything had been reduced to needy hand jobs here and there. It wasn't all on Zoro coming back to their room while tipsy, though; their usual arguments, which they couldn't exactly turn into a fight since Sanji's back would still give him shit if he was too rough, had also caused a few sparks igniting here and there.
It's not like they had been going at it like desperate bastards, it hadn't been more than four times (two while Zoro was drunk and two out of arguments), but that was more than enough in a week. How they had gone from awkward as fuck and fighting their urges away to completely giving in to them when it was safe to do so for the sake of quick release was an amazement in itself, but their encounters didn't lead to uncomfortable deep conversations in the morning anymore. They had settled for acting as if nothing had happened under the protection of the night and the silence of their room. It was easier that way. When the urge hit them, they wouldn't fry their brain cells to fight it away more than the minimum amount required; when morning came, they wouldn't strain their minds into discussing if they were on stable ground or not, they'd just go with it and maybe question the craziness of it all in the privacy of their heads for a moment before dismissing any complicated thoughts they came up with.
There was also the fact that Zoro's blowjob a week ago seemed to have had eased them into hand jobs, which now looked less intimidating; they felt like much less of a big deal. They hadn't done anything beyond that since taking it any step further would bring them back to unstable footing again, but staying right where they were was cutting it for now, perturbing them much less than it had initially done, which calmed their nerves a bit seeing as their deal wasn't an absolute disaster about to ruin everything they held dear anytime soon. They were both quite rational and collected, if you took away the mindfucks they had been going through for the past few months regarding their relationship, which meant that they could rationalize their actions in a way that felt slightly more comfortable for them, and so they did: as they had once agreed, release was release and they both needed a lot of it with Sanji having his mobility restricted and Zoro being constantly watched by Chopper, who would throw a tantrum every time he caught Zoro drinking, which made him feel slightly trapped.
Just that Zoro's train of rationalization had found way more obstacles than Sanji's, no matter how much he tried to play it off as if it wasn't a big deal. Where Sanji simply went with it when needed, Zoro had initiated all of their encounters, had even sought them when he had once started a fight for the only purpose to rile Sanji up and get him to play his game. In his defense, he had been having a shit day, met a lot of shitty people who had tried to take his head but were too weak for him to go all out on them, and so he had ended up frustrated and annoyed as fuck, snapping at the first thing Sanji said and starting an argument that ended with both of them on the floor, jerking each other off and almost getting Sanji's back to give in as Zoro pressed too hard against him and his healing wound interrupted what they were doing by getting Sanji to feel a heavy strike of pain, much to their dismay.
So, despite the fact that their deal had been slightly normalized, Zoro was angry at himself. Even though he had promised himself he wouldn't do such thing, he was keeping count in his head, and the fact that four out of four encounters (if he didn't add to the list the crotch-grabbing in a bathroom during the competition and his wasted begging for Sanji to let him suck him off) had been initiated by himself. Sure Sanji wasn't refusing, sure Sanji hadn't come back to their room in an elevated tipsy state like Zoro had started to do after every party ever since he had discovered the wonders of the good kind of drunkenness he had never experienced before; but Zoro hadn't been wasted nor incapable of controlling himself either. He had simply felt like seeking something else from the blonde and he had gone for it.
It shouldn't be that much of a mental struggle; that's what Zoro operated like, if he felt like doing something he'd chase it, end of the story. But, then again, Zoro's pride was picky and there were things that came as acceptable and others that came as questionable, and any out-of-the-usual interaction with the blonde had recently fallen in that second category. It's not like he felt compelled to stop it from happening and it's not like he was losing sleep over it anymore (ever since the blowjob incident he had decided to take things in a chiller way for his own mental health, which meant not entertaining unnecessary thoughts as to why shit happened; it was a step towards his obsession recovery), but that didn't keep him from feeling severely pissed off at his own lack of composure when it came to mundane things such as physical contact. He had never been needy, his head had never been placed in his dick (else he would've cut it off, he didn't need those distractions), but a spark turned into heated desire faster than blinking when it came to Sanji, and that realization had him in a moody state that ranged from 'frustrated', to 'anxious', to 'pissed off', to the always healthy 'you shouldn't give a fuck' philosophy.
And it's not even like he had been seeing Sanji every single hour of his day; that wasn't the case anymore. Ever since Sanji had been given a free pass to roam around the hotel, then the closest part of the neighborhood, and finally the market, he had almost lost track of the blonde. Sanji wasn't allowed into parties yet since Chopper feared he might pull a 'Zoro' and start drinking his life away when he was still on his medications (which was a weighty reason as to why Zoro's level of trash-drunkenness had been that high that first night), so it's not like he could run into the blonde during those events either.
For the most part, Sanji was away for the day. Zoro wouldn't say he was downright avoiding Zoro like the plague, but he was definitely putting active effort into not spending his 24h with him, which was rather sensible given how bad they had handled spending so much time together so far.
Okay, there had been this one time when Nami and Sanji had decided to start restocking their supplies so that they could do it bit by bit as opposed to buy everything in one go and risking missing some important items, and a pack mule had become a necessity. Zoro was the pack mule, everybody knew that. Despite that, Sanji had picked Usopp and Chopper to help him out. He had half-assedly alleged that it's not like he cared about what happened to the swordsman but he felt compelled to not pick him, as much as he'd like to annoy him, since Chopper would murder him if his health went back to being shit. And, really, it was a plausible justification, not that he needed any to begin with; Sanji could do whatever the hell he pleased without Zoro being a drama queen about it. He wouldn't have insisted for Sanji to get him to help him instead either; Zoro hated playing pack mule and he was still thanking his lucky stars he hadn't been the poor soul to carry that burden for a change.
However, the feeling still hovered in the air that Sanji wasn't about to push Zoro aside, but he wasn't going to allow his every move to revolve around him either if he could avoid it, which is why he was putting some needed distance where it should have been if they didn't want things to be muddy. To be fair, it kind of bugged Zoro a bit, but it didn't get to the point where the thought would hit him at unexpected times or make him wonder 'why'. It wasn't that big of a deal. Sanji hadn't stopped talking to him, neither had he stopped arguing with him like they used to (with the recent addition of a different kind of ending to their arguments that would spice things up because, why not), and it's not like he was going out of his way to get the hell away from the greenhead. He had simply taken the allowance he had to not make their lives revolve around each other; that's what Sanji was clearly avoiding. There wasn't a need to be dramatic about it (much less when certain interactions ended the convenient way they did), but there wasn't any need to abuse it either. Some healthy distance would do the trick as long as both of them understood what this was about and didn't take it too personally.
Plus, Sanji needed to be away from that room like he needed air; he wasn't made to be locked between four walls, and Zoro could relate to him 120% when it came to that. It's not like Zoro stayed in either, he'd go for walks that ended up being longer than normal due to him getting lost or/and crashing the first pub he found in his way. All in all, they had gone from spending all of their time together to grasping a breather, which they were grateful for.
The thing, though, is that Zoro should've been ecstatic about it, yet he wasn't. He felt relieved that he had finally gotten back some space, but he also found himself getting rather impatient when he came back to their shared room and Sanji wasn't there when, maybe, it was time for him to be back already. He had gotten used to having him in his face, now he was out more often than not, and it was just weird, because where he expected his blonde mane to frame a scowl coming his way, he found an empty bed and an even emptier room.
That's what had him scowling more often than not. It's not like he was terribly missing the blonde, God, no, but it did take a bit of getting used to not having him there. Anxiousness didn't really leave him until he saw him come back, even if it was mild and almost imperceptible. When he did see Sanji, they'd argue like they always did, either playfully or viciously so depending on the topic and their mood, but they had managed to reduce awkwardness consistently. It always came back the moment an argument was left half-hanging, which was the deciding point in which they'd opt to drop it or ravage each other's mouth, also depending on the mood. Zoro's main problem laid in the fact that it had come to the point where, 80% of the times, he was hit with the urge to do the latter. Which was his second reason to be angry at his own stupidity. He needed to control his urges, because it's not like Sanji was up for it as often as he was (they had come to do stuff four times only because Sanji had rejected a few other advances), and that was a problem not only for his dick but also for his pride.
A problem he was currently facing.
"Zoro, chill. We're not doing anything; consider yourself informed."
Zoro snapped out of his trance as soon as he heard Sanji's almost bored voice break the silence. What the fuck. There was some scary telepathy going on, really. That or Zoro's lack of subtlety hadn't done anything to conceal the way he had been ogling the blonde for a while now, his intentions more than probably written all over his face as his thoughts went on and on.
As many other nights, it was four o'clock at night and he had just come back from a party God knows where, alcohol still pushing his urges forward and his body feeling horny as fuck as if to mock him and his musings.
"Wasn't planning to," he groaned defensively in an attempt to save his dignity.
"Liar."
Zoro frowned. He didn't like the way Sanji knew what Zoro was thinking. That was his own business, not the blonde's. Well, that's not exactly accurate, not when his thoughts went in the line of how to get into the cook's pants again, but that's just a small detail he could overlook in his overall consideration of what was fair and what wasn't.
Resuming his mental rant, he was, as it had already been established about a thousand times in his head, pissed off. Not as much at the blonde as he was at himself. He had always been perfectly capable of restraining his urges to the point where people would assume that he was asexual, emotionless, demonic, unwavering and whatnot; he was capable of reducing them to a minimum level he chose to free or not whenever he wanted to, rarely overpowered by them, always in control of his shit. Nowadays he just seemed to have lost that ability. He hadn't been training these many years for this, damn it!
But here he was, not able to control himself around Sanji, being betrayed by his dick more often than not around him, thinking too often about him, and definitely thinking a lot about what was inside Sanji's pants and what he could do with it, which was nothing like him at all. He remembered having something called self-restraint, but it apparently burned to ashes a while ago. Which frustrated him, because Sanji seemed to be taking this in a much chiller way than he was. Granted he hadn't been ogling and analyzing Zoro's every movement for months now, which Zoro had been doing and might be a reason why he had developed this fucked up obsession with the blonde, maybe, but it still pissed Zoro off that the bastard handled it better than him; that he remained the most composed one out of the two while Zoro's brain was currently conjuring images of their encounters and prodded him to seek more of those in a pattern that started to feel familiar.
Encounters whose repetition Sanji wasn't granting at the moment, which became openly apparent when his voice broke the silence yet again.
"Zoro, no."
Zoro glared at him harder than he should've, mainly because he was embarrassed of the way he was acting like a needy bastard in front of the blonde, who could very well use that behavior of his as a mocking weapon against him if he very well wanted. Either he was too tired or not interested in doing so, though, because Sanji merely looked at him pointedly and went back to staring at the ceiling in silence instead of mocking him.
It had been a fair warning.
And he was mostly right. They could hardly do a damn thing with Sanji's condition being the one it was. Well, they could, they were stubborn like that and they had done it before, but last time they had almost fucked up Sanji's back, which meant that their possibilities were limited. The fact that a hand job felt like not a lot in Zoro's brain should've worried him, as it should have the fact that he was entertaining other possibilities related to Sanji's dick and what he could do with it, but he couldn't get passed the frustration he was feeling right now as he watched the blonde sprawled in his bed, looking nonchalant as fuck.
"We said we'd help each other when we're stressed, not that we would be going at it like fucking rabbits at every chance we got, may I remind you," Sanji spoke again, knowing full well that Zoro's brain was still stuck in whatever thought he had been entertaining all along if the predatory look he was sending his way was anything to go by, even though he had never voiced such thoughts out loud. Yet.
Zoro huffed.
"Well, I am kind of stressed."
Which was true. Okay, not stressed, really, just a bit too tipsy. More than stressed he was restless and ready to get the bugging feeling of arousal out of his organism, which his brain could only picture doing through fooling around with Sanji, apparently, but he still felt the frustration of having to hold back crawling inside him.
"And I'm kind of injured."
Well, that was also decidedly true. And weighed far more than Zoro's irrational urges, to be fair.
"Whatever, good night," Zoro forced out with a scowl as he tugged himself in his bed with more aggressive movements than really needed. He was definitely not disappointed and he was especially not pouting. Whoever dared say the contrary could go fuck themselves.
"You're a brat."
"Who doubles your size."
"I think we already established I was bigger."
"I wasn't fucking referring to that kind of size and you're not fucking bigger!" Zoro snapped with a death glare directed at him.
Sanji was smirking a bit, slightly amused.
"There's a bathroom there if you feel like little marimo needs some attention to get rid of the edge. You look tense; learn some fucking self-restraint."
"I'm going to kill you."
"Empty threats are not fun," Sanji mock pouted.
"Want to check if my fist is an empty threat?"
"Zoro, I really need to sleep, and you just woke me up by being a loud clumsy drunken bastard and hitting your face against the door, which was painfully lame, by the way. I am being nice and not kicking your ass for it, so fucking shut up and let me sleep already… And do yourself a favour and keep it in your pants. Good night."
Zoro swore he was going to murder the blonde one of these days. Why had he felt anything but blessed that Sanji was gone for most of the day, again?
When he woke up the morning after (more like at noon) and Sanji wasn't there, Zoro wasn't exactly surprised, but he still found himself frowning.
Intent on not sparing the blonde further thoughts since he was still angry and embarrassed as fuck about last night, Zoro started his day by engaging a much needed training routine he had been half-assing too much lately. No excuse justified leaving his training as anything but his first concern, so he made up for it tenfold and pushed himself to his furthest limits until his body gave in and he felt more than ready for some lunch and a shower.
Showering was fast, since he was hungry and not really interested in smelling like a bouquet of roses, so he found himself downstairs in the blink of an eye, hair still wet. Most of his nakama were already arranging a big table for all of them, Luffy being kept in place by several of Robin's arms as a preventive measure.
They all gave each other sleepy good mornings and went to grab their food, taking seat and quickly engaging conversation. Usopp was trying to put together some of last night's events since he apparently had too much to drink and had his memory falling into blank spaces. He screeched when someone reminded him of something embarrassing he had done.
"Where's Sanji, by the way?" Brook asked at some point.
Good question. Zoro would be lying if he attempted to claim that he hadn't noticed his absence from the moment he had entered the restaurant, but he'd be damned if he started showing concern or curiosity about his whereabouts in front of his crewmates.
"I think he paid a visit to the twins again," Nami absently answered as she served herself some toasts and scrambled eggs. "He's probably having lunch with them or something."
Wait. What?
"What?"
So much for not showing concern or curiosity. Zoro was now looking at Nami as if she had grown a second head, his eye wide open and his expression one of disbelief. Quite an exaggerate reaction for someone who intended to pretend he didn't give a fuck about the blonde.
"What do you mean 'what'?"
"I mean exactly that. What's that idiot doing visiting the twins? Doesn't he remember they almost got him killed? And what the hell do you mean 'again'? Has he been there more than once?"
He wasn't helping his case, really.
"Oh my God, Zoro, chill," Nami exclaimed, surprised as the others that Zoro was taking it this bad. There were no traces of him freaking out, to be fair, but it was more than obvious that the information had pissed him off big time. "He's a grown man, he can do what he wants. Did you expect him to hold a grudge against Aila? I'd be more surprised if he didn't propose to her. And, anyways, none of their encounters have ended up with him wounded or anything; they seem to be on good terms."
"What the fuck."
"Sanji asked me to pay them a visit a few days ago," Chopper intervened, his attention more focused on keeping Luffy from stealing his food than on the subject at hand. Hadn't he felt the need to appease Zoro he wouldn't even have engaged in the conversation. "I checked on them and they were still in a pretty bad condition, but it looks like my medicines have made the healing process way faster. They are nice, to be honest. They even praised my skills, the shitty bastards! How dare they!"
"They are most certainly not nice," Zoro grumbled, his mood buried teen feet underground. "Aila can read your mind, that's fucking creepy. The cook almost died and they didn't seem to give a fuck, that's how nice they are."
"Come on, Zoro, I also talked to them and they are pretty cool!" Luffy defended. Zoro barely understood him since his mouth was full and spilling food as he talked. "Sanji thinks so as well and he was the one about to die; you should get over it as well. No one suffered irreparable damage, we're all cool."
Zoro couldn't believe it. What was with all of them? Why was he always the one to appear like the heartless bastard who had no sympathy for anyone when he was merely holding perfectly justifiable mistrust against people who deserved it? Why was his crew so careless? And what the fuck did Sanji think he was doing? Where Zoro had thought he spent the entirety of his days in the market or wandering around looking for new recipes, it turns out Sanji had been visiting the twins repeated times, and he had never mentioned a word about it to Zoro while the rest of the crew knew.
What was that about?
Well, it's not like they knew a lot, they were just guessing Sanji was there again and the only reason the crew was informed of Sanji's whereabouts as a whole was probably because Chopper had spilled the beans the moment Sanji had asked him to help the siblings, seeing as Terevera's doctors weren't worth shit. Luffy was a separate case; he had probably visited them on his own accord to fangirl over how cool their powers were since the raven haired boy didn't seem to know what holding a grudge meant.
But what was with Sanji not even mentioning his visits to Zoro? He had fought alongside the cook, he had struggled as much as him against them. The more he thought about it, the weirder it became. It made sense for Sanji, being the stupid knight he thought he was, to approach Aila and apologize for the harsh treatment; but turning his visits into a routine was plain weird. Aila was the first woman Zoro had seen Sanji not swooning over, she was the first woman whom Sanji had tried to avoid, yet there he was, spending more time with her and her brother than he probably spent with Zoro. Not that he was jealous, that was just stupid, but it just didn't make sense. Much less with it being done at his back.
Zoro frowned, ignoring his crewmates' jabs about how he should take a chill pill and get off Sanji's back. He didn't like this. Why had he been the only one not to know? Did Sanji think he'd start flipping shit and screaming bloody hell at him? To be honest, he would've probably done so had the news come from Sanji's mouth. Maybe that's what Sanji was avoiding. He somehow knew or intuited how badly Sanji's close call had affected the greenhead; he somehow sensed how Zoro didn't want to hear shit about the twins after what they had done to the blonde, and that's why he preferred not to bring the subject up, if only to avoid confrontation, but that wasn't Sanji's style either… or was it? Was he so reluctant to find out what Zoro's reaction would be that he didn't even want to bring it up?
He came to the conclusion that he should stop overthinking. Zoro wasn't the cook's mum nor his husband, and he was most certainly not allowed to get angry at the fact that Sanji wouldn't tell him where he was 24/7, even though he couldn't bat away the feeling that there was something else behind Sanji's weird behavior. But it wasn't his place to question it. And so he decided to stop doing so and eat his damn food; he had embarrassed himself enough for the day.
"By the way, we have been invited to a huge party in Terevera's Royal Palace," Nami informed them like the diligent manager she had appointed herself to be. "Tomorrow night."
"What? Do you mean with the king?" Usopp gaped.
Zoro's attention went back to the conversation, eyebrow raised.
"Yes. He wants to throw one in both Sanji and Zoro's honor, and Luffy's, since they have been the indisputable champions of the most important tournaments these past weeks. I have a feeling that he wanted it to take place before, but he's been waiting until Sanji could attend."
"That's gracious of him," Robin smiled.
"Yes, he's been really nice about it," Nami agreed.
"Wait, have you met him?" Franky cut in, eyes wide.
"No, one of his escorts handed me a letter he had written for us, but he sounds like a cool man."
"Oh, that's great! I do like these kinds of kings!" Luffy grinned.
"You'd like anyone who'd offer you a meal, Luffy, don't pretend not to be cheap," Usopp elbowed him.
Zoro barked a laugh and went back to eating, his mood appeased.
"Will Sanji be able to attend tomorrow, then?" Nami asked Chopper, her tone pressing.
The reindeer rolled his eyes in defeat. "I guess. As long as he doesn't drink too much…"
"Great! It's official, then! We're attending a royal party tomorrow!" Nami singsonged, looking happy as fuck. Zoro had the feeling that some pockets would come back home emptier by the end of the event, the Strawhats' filling in consequence. Nami's obsession was scary, reall- he deadpanned for a second.
He was one to talk.
Evening came and there was still no trace of Sanji. Zoro's mood was slightly sourer, but his thoughts weren't revolving around him, which he felt proud of. Hadn't he known that one of Sanji's possible locations was by the twins' side, he would have been absolutely fine and probably not giving him the slightest thought by now.
They had had dinner together and were chilling in their rooms for a change. Since the big party was tomorrow, they had decided to rest tonight. Usopp and Chopper had come to Zoro's room to play cards on his bed as they downed a moderate amount of alcohol to spice things up, and Usopp was currently being accused of cheating by Chopper, who was outraged as he had ever been since he had been about to win this one.
"Can I join?"
Zoro turned around to see Luffy peeking through the half open door, a frown in place as he realized he had been abandoned while the rest had fun without him. He'd never stop being a child.
"It's a chill game, do you know what that means?" Usopp stated as he motioned for Luffy to get closer. He hooked an arm around his shoulder so that he'd sit beside him. "No trashing the place; no throwing punches in the air every time you think you've won, especially when you haven't; no strangling the person by your side and no yelling like a madman. How does that sound?"
"Boring."
"Don't be a brat."
And so they resumed the game, which was slowly heating up as Luffy lost control of himself and started doing the exact things Usopp had banned him from doing.
He was halfway through strangling Usopp out of sheer excitement at thinking that he had won (when he was in fact losing by a mile), when their 'peace' was broken by a loud siren ringing above their heads, making them all jump in place and almost grow deaf.
"What the fuck?!"
Zoro was fast to stand up and gather his swords, which had been allowed into his room again since his condition was finally good enough for Chopper to let him play with his weapons, adopting a defensive stance the moment he grabbed them.
Damn, that was loud. It was the kind of noise that meant bad news.
"What's going on?" he heard Chopper say.
Usopp was fast to flee the room and barge into his to get his weapons ready, just in case.
It took about one minute and the noise not relenting for Zoro to walk into the corridor, only to find his crewmates along with other hotel's guests doing the exact same, confused expression in their faces.
He approached Nami and had to get close to her ear for her to hear him. "Any idea what's going on?"
Nami shook her head emphatically, frown in place. "No clue. But it doesn't sound like a festive bell."
"More like the opposite," Zoro grumbled in agreement.
"Let's go downstairs, we may be able to gather some information," Robin suggested, to which everyone nodded and followed suit.
It didn't take long for them to bump into Charlie, a member of the staff who had been taking care of their rooms diligently ever since they had registered in the hotel. She looked frankly scared, but let out a huff as soon as she saw them.
"I was looking for you," she announced as she got a hold of Usopp's arm and guided him and the rest into an empty hotel room on the second floor, where they currently were.
"What's this all about?" Nami was fast to ask. She and Charlie had gotten along pretty well from the start, and they shared enough trust as for neither of them to dance around the subject.
"It's all a rumor for now since the emergency siren has been only ringing for about six or seven minutes, but it's being spread around that the Royal Palace was under attack just now. This bell means that a state of emergency has been declared; which means that everyone is compelled to go home and leave the streets."
"Wait, what? The Royal Palace? Damn, no, there was a feast waiting for me tomorrow night, who the hell is trying to boycott that?! I'll kick their asses!" Luffy snapped the moment he foresaw his banquet being jeopardized. "Okay, Strawhats, let's get to work, whoever has dared to threaten peace and my meal in this country needs their ass kicked."
There wasn't much more to it, they all knew they were going to get involved the moment the bell rang. It's not like they were going to let someone attack the king and stay with their arms crossed as the citizens fared on their own. Much less when Luffy's feast was at stake.
Zoro sighed. So much for a chill night.
Luffy was already heading towards the door (thank the hotel's lucky stars he hadn't decided to crash his way out of the window or/and the wall), when Charlie took a few quick steps forward and stopped him in his tracks with more strength than he had initially thought she packed.
"I wouldn't do so if I were you."
Luffy raised an eyebrow at her, much like the rest of the crew, who now were looking at the small woman in confusion.
"Why not? They need our help."
"Because there's also this other rumor… It hasn't been confirmed yet, but if it's true, and it's looking like it might be…"
"What? Get to the point," Zoro groaned, already impatient to have some action. He hadn't fought in a while, if he thought about it, and the idea wasn't the least bit displeasing.
"People are saying it's one of the Strawhats who attacked the palace."
What?
Zoro felt a deepening sense of dread fillling his insides, his stomach dropping at the twist the events had just taken in less than five minutes.
"What? We were all here, there's no way we could have-" Nami stopped herself midsentence, her eyes widening as realization hit her just as it hit the rest right after confusion flooded in.
All of them were there. All of them except for someone who had been missing since morning.
Zoro's chest constricted as he shared a disbelieving stare with Luffy, who seemed as confused as he was.
"Some are describing him as blonde," Charlie kept adding, unsurely.
Zoro let his gaze travel around the rest of his nakama, trying to look for some kind of determination left in them, but they had all lost it as they stared at each other in shock. Whatever they had been planning on doing had burned down to ashes by now, an unasked question hanging heavily in the air above their heads.
What the fuck was Sanji doing?
TBC
A/N: Okay, so this was out way faster than I had expected! It wasn't even started by the time I published the last one but I guess I was inspired, which I am happy about! I know it usually takes me longer to update and I want to thank you for your patience! Also, thank you for all your kind comments and for taking the time to read and/or comment this, it really motivates me, and I am really grateful for that! That being said, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Have a nice weekend!