*peeks out and awkward waves* hi!

I'm so sorry I've been gone so long! But I'll save the explanations and mushy stuff for the end of the chapter. Thanks so much for waiting 3


Sanji's predictions about the island had been correct.

It was a frozen, uninhabited, pain in the ass.

Thanks to Nami asking around on Little Green, they knew it took five days for the Log Pose to set. However, that information had only made the crew antsy as they counted down the days until they could leave. A dramatic turn from their original eagerness to land. Naturally, they had been excited at first; it was always nice to take a break from the endless ocean and explore a new island. But that excitement had died at the end of Day 1.

They were on Day 3.

Luffy and Chopper had explored the entirety of the island within hours of landing, and when they returned, the only interesting fact that they had to tell was that Samuhana was home to a race of angry, sharp-toothed goats. These lovely sounding animals were also the size of rhinos, or, at least, that is what Luffy had said when he had returned all roughed up and excitable.

Carnivorous goats aside, the island was boring as fuck.

Sanji, who had originally planned to stay on the ship, had changed his mind by Day 3. Chores had only occupied him for so long, and he supposed the giant goats could offer some entertainment. They had to be more fun than doing inventory. Again. Though, if he was more honest with himself, he knew leaving the ship had less to do with boredom, and more to do with Zoro being out there, somewhere. As much as he loathed to admit it, he kind of missed the mosshead.

After the cook's impromptu blowjob, Zoro had left to explore the island, and had not returned since. This no doubt meant that he had been wandering (lost) in the snow for two days, and while no one had seen him, the rest of the crew, collectively, assumed that he was fine.

Chopper and Luffy were also out there somewhere, since neither of them were deterred by the freezing temperatures, but everyone else had grown tired of the chilly island and were content to stay on the ship. So, when Sanji finally decided to go out, no one wanted to join him. However, he welcomed the chance to be alone. Those moments were rare when one lived on a ship.

But before he could go, Sanji needed to take care of his responsibilities as the ship's cook, which meant feeding the ship bound crewmembers. He quickly whipped up a large lunch, one that would keep them warm and fed while he was gone, and then he packed a few meals in case he ran into the three nakama that were somewhere on the island. With that done, Sanji was ready to bundle up and head out.

With his warmest coat on, combined with his thickest gloves and scarf, he stomped across the frozen beach. The rocky ledge was easy to leap over, hardly a challenge at all for someone with his leg strength, and he stood atop it, studying the island at a new vantage point.

They had not been kidding about the limitless snow. The valley before him was basically a white cloth. It looked untouched, despite the efforts of the occasional animal or Straw Hat. There was a forest that crawled along the base of the squatty mountains, but it was as white as the land; snow covering the pale looking trees.

On the one hand, it was beautiful, on the other, Sanji was already fucking cold.

Sighing, and seeing his breath cloud the air without the help of a cigarette, Sanji set off to explore. He was hoping that he could find something edible so that he could bring it back for added supplies. Another excuse that he could tell his brain when it tried to tell him that this jaunt was basically to see Zoro. But it seemed like tracking would be difficult since the constant snowfall was erasing any evidence of game, but he was bound to stumble across something if he searched long enough.

After an hour had passed, Sanji had found nothing, and his patience was beginning to wane. His blue eyes were now peeled for a sign of literally anything. He did not care what it was anymore. It could be a half starved squirrel, and he would consider that a prize catch. Sanji had long passed the point of being picky. He was cold and miserable, and ready to find something so that he could return to the ship without feeling defeated.

When a large set of tracks finally appeared at the bottom of the nearest mountain, he got ridiculously excited. He did not care that the hoof prints were the size of his head. All that meant was that the animal was not Chopper, and would hopefully be big enough to sate his captain's appetite.

He shoved his way through the thick snow, moving quickly so that the falling flakes would not erase his clues. Every so often, the blond would look up and study the area around him, making sure to keep an eye out for his prey so that he would not be surprised by it. However, he ended up being more annoyed than surprised.

The goats were definitely huge.

Standing a little taller than Franky, the five animals turned to stare at Sanji, their eyes red, and obscenely wide. They had large, curved horns, and, along their spines, they had armor-like ridges that rose from the dirty white fur. To add to their friendly appearance, they also had sharp teeth that protruded from their bearded maws.

The closest of them snorted, the sound more like a growl mixed with a sneeze, but Sanji's attention was on the goat that had a deer hanging in ragged pieces from its dangerous looking mouth.

"Right. Carnivorous goats," Sanji remarked, deadpan. "Joy."

Zoro was not lost. Wandering for almost two days did not mean that he was lost. Besides, how could anyone tell the difference between snow covered objects? They all looked the same. White tree, white rock, white mountain, white valley, white white white white white. How the fuck was he supposed to find anything in this shit?

He huffed, arms crossed in annoyance, and in an attempt to keep the chill at bay. It had been threatening to overwhelm him for the past few hours, but he refused to give in.

This was not the coldest island on the sea, and it had not bothered him for the first twenty-four hours, but eventually, the chill had started to sneak its way into his clothing, sucking out his body heat and making him shiver.

He was currently standing on one of the stubby excuses for a mountain. Originally, Zoro had hoped to run into some of those giant goats that Luffy had been babbling about, but he had had no such luck. This only made his mood worse, because the whole reason that he had gone exploring in the first place was to end his boredom. Why could he not find the one creature on this island that could make shit interesting?

... Scratch that.

One of the two creatures on this island.

There was a second animal that could end the monotony of snow, and it was currently fighting creature number one.

Zoro crouched on a ledge, overlooking the skirmish. The goats were definitely big, and vicious looking, which was kind of hilarious, considering it was a fucking goat. Welcome to the New World, I guess. However, Zoro was much more interested in the blond animal. The Pervertcurlybrowsaurus. Strange swirly eyebrows are its most striking feature, though the patch of golden fur, and constant scowl, are also common traits.

The swordsman watched the Pervertcurlybrowsaurus leap into the air, easily dodging the ramming attack of the goat, and slam down with his heel as the angry creature ran under him. Even from this distance, Zoro could hear the skull crack as the poor goat was crushed through the snow, and into the rock underneath. Sanji landed lightly, gloved hands stuffed into the pockets of his pale blue coat. When the other goats charged at him, Zoro got a great view of the blond spinning in the air to knock back two of the animals at once.

They were clearly not a challenge. How annoying.

Zoro sighed and began to make his way down, hopping from rock to rock until he landed a short distance from the cook, who was kicking away the final goat's attack. The swordsman had to jerk his head to the side to avoid having a piece of the horn embed into his face. Frowning, he watched the now dead creature slide towards him, stopping at his feet. When he looked up, Sanji was scowling at him, though Zoro ignored that. He was more focused on the other man's appearance. The wind had clearly been attacking the blond's exposed skin, leaving him with a red nose and flushed cheeks. One would probably describe Sanji's face as cute, if he did not look so pissed off.

"There you are," He snapped, struggling to pull the carton of cigarettes from his inner pocket. Zoro watched with a neutral expression as the cook eventually had to pull off his gloves to retrieve the box. "Did you get lost or something?"

"Shut up," Zoro growled, immediately annoyed at the accusation. "I've been exploring."

"For two days? It's not that big of an island."

"Tch. Whatever."

Sanji rolled his eyes, not in the mood to argue. It was too cold for that shit. Instead, he walked over to the closest goat and took a firm hold on the curved horn, preparing to drag it. Without having to order him, Zoro did the same, choosing the creature that was at his feet for convenience sake. As they began walking, with Sanji naturally in the lead, Zoro spoke up.

"So, we can eat super goat?"

"Of course we can."

There was a long pause, the only sounds being the crunch of boots on piled frost, and the dragging sound of two large goat carcasses. Snow was falling steadily, the heavy puffs of white clinging to Sanji's golden hair and making him wish that he had brought a hat. He had literally remembered everything BUT a beanie.

"This island is boring," Zoro stated, his tone revealing how bored he felt, the words drawn out with annoyance. "When does the log pose set?"

"Two more days," Sanji replied from around his cigarette, refusing to let himself chatter.

"Ugh."

"All you do is sleep and train. How does this island ruin that?" Sanji asked, but when he did not receive a smart ass reply, he frowned. "...Zoro?" The blond stopped, turning around to glare at the mossman, but said mossman was gone.

Correction: Not gone.

Lost.

Fucking great.

He blew out a stream of smoke and warm breath, annoyance twisting his expression. He backtracked until he found the remains of Zoro's bootprints, already mostly covered by snow. It appeared the other man had turned a hard right, for no fucking reason, and disappeared into the woods. How does he not notice?!

Choosing to ignore his annoying nakama's directional disability, Sanji turned back around and kept walking. It was not his problem to save the idiot. Besides, he wanted to get this goat back onto the ship so that he could prepare it for storage. Zoro would be fine.

The sun had set and Zoro had still not returned, which only annoyed Sanji more because the musclehead had been carrying one of the goat carcasses. He wanted that meat. The cook sat at the kitchen table, smoking in annoyance, unaware of the look Nami was giving him from across the table.

She wrapped her hands around the warm teacup, watching the angry puffs of smoke escape from Sanji's frowning mouth. It was so obvious that his irritation was due to the lack of Zoro interaction, even if he thought it was due to something else. The red-head knew that he was not worried about Zoro, the swordsman could easily handle anything on the island, but it was clear that Sanji was missing the other man, in his own way.

"Zoro has been gone a while, huh?" Nami commented, taking a sip of her drink to add to the casualness of her words.

"He's lost, who knows when he'll return," Sanji replied, his tone relaxed despite his subtle scowl.

"Think he'll find his way back here before it's time to leave?"

"I hope not."

Nami rolled her eyes, and decided to pull out the big guns, since the cook was not taking the bait. "I hope he can survive two more days… There isn't much to eat out there."

Sanji's frown deepened, his gaze staring at nothing as he imagined the stupid swordsman starving out in the snow. The thought should not bother him as much as it did, but it was his job to feed the crew, and that responsibility could not be shirked just because his crewmate was a directionally challenged moron. His irritation grew, an angry little weed spreading throughout his body, pricking him with its thorns and stirring his frustration and guilt.

"Maybe you should go find him, Sanji," Nami suggested, feigning concern as she swirled her tea. "It would be annoying if he never found his way back."

Sanji twirled to his feet, hearts exploding in his pupils as he bowed to the navigator, "Anything for you, Nami-swan! I'll track down the idiot and bring him back!"

She smiled happily, watching as he put on his coat. As he was shoving his arms into the sleeves, she heard him mutter something about mossmonsters and being chained to the ship.

It was darker than Sanji had expected it to be, the moon only a sliver in the cloudy sky. He grumbled in rising annoyance and trudged through the snow, returning to where he thought he had originally lost the swordsman. Not that that would help, but it was the only thing he could think of doing besides wandering aimlessly. But now that he thought about it, that might have been a better plan since he had no clue how Zoro's brain worked.

After an hour, or so, of searching, Sanji's Observation Haki picked up a pathetic lifeform. He followed the feeling until he found the swordsman half buried in snow. The tanned skin was frosted over, snow piling up on the moss covered head. He looked dead, but Sanji could tell the other man was alive, even without Haki, due to the obnoxious snores that were rumbling from the partly frozen body.

The cook walked up to him, cigarette crushed between his chattering teeth, and kicked harshly at the man's ribs, the ice cracking but nothing else. Even when he was extremely pissed off, the cook tried not to break his nakama's bones. At least, not without warning.

Zoro woke with a grunt, a glare breaking the thin layer of ice that had begun to crust over his face. That glare was directed at the cook, who only scowled back, equally, if not more, annoyed.

"You're half frozen. And a moron," Sanji pointed out, gloved fingers nearly destroying the cigarette in his attempt to grab it.

The green-haired man looked around sleepily, before slowly standing and shaking off the snow. He really was cold, more so than normal, and he could not help but think of how warm Sanji would be in his arms, or how hot his smokey lips would be on his. His cock stirred in his pants at the pleasant thought.

"Warm me up then," He replied, stuffing his hands under his arms in an attempt to wake up numb fingers. His gloves were not doing a decent enough job. But the cook's body would surely chase away the cold. However, Sanji's deadpan expression killed that hope, and then the cook's response stomped on the corpse of his murdered hope.

"No. It's too fucking cold for pervy marimos."

"Yeah, but we could warm each other up," Zoro argued, trying to change the stubborn blond's mind.

"I am not taking off a single article of clothing in this weather. Keep it in your pants."

Without a second glance, Sanji turned and began to walk away. He could hear the swordsman following him, but he would have to make sure to keep a closer eye on him this time. It was dark, and cold, and Sanji wanted to get back on the Thousand Sunny as soon as he could. He was in no mood for Zoro's abrupt changes of direction.

While they trudged, he passively thought about Zoro's previous suggestion. He had known the other man would occasionally get laid on islands, but ever since they had began to fuck on the regular, Sanji had become aware of the marimo's surprising sexual appetite. "... I never took you for such a pervert."

"You're one to talk," Zoro shot back.

However, the cook had a point. Zoro had the sexual drive of most young men, but he could usually ignore it. His training had many purposes, one of them being to control any and all urges so that the swordsman could be in complete control of himself.

Zoro frowned. Lately, he had been pretty lax. When he was around Sanji, he just kind of lost focus. He was not sure if he liked that. It was one thing to have fun, but had he really turned into an out-of-control pervert? The question quickly switched the swordsman's annoyance from the irritating cook to himself.

His dick had had too much control lately, a fact proven by how much the two men had been fucking. And now that he was thinking about it, it was actually kind of concerning. They did not even like each other! This was a casual arrangement. Rivals with benefits at best.

Right?

So, as the two pirates tramped through the snow, Zoro decided to take a break from their casual arrangement. He did not bring it up, since he did not want to trigger an argument, and he figured the cook would move on once his advances fell flat. It had been fun, and Zoro supposed that they could always pick it back up later, if they felt like it, but, for now, he should focus on training until his cock got with the program. Meditate more, fuck the sexy cook less.


Hey guys!

It's been a while! I am so so sorry for being gone for so long. A lot of stuff happened, but I'm okay now! I just had a rough couple years, and I kinda took a break, from a lot of things that were important to me. Which sucked, and I had to work through it. But I missed this. I wanted to come back and give you more on this story, and just more zosan in general lol
I also wanted to thank you guys for all of your comments and love while I was gone. They always made me smile and feel better when things weren't great, but it wasn't until recently that I felt like it was time to come back.
Sorry this chapter isn't full of smut, but I had an idea of where this story was going, and I plan on sticking to it. I also plan on trying to update more regularly, and maybe writing some other stories. Fire & Steel was always supposed to be a fic that I could just write on whenever I felt like it, and not have it ever officially end. So, I might take another break on it to write on another fic, but I don't have any plans on doing that yet, and it wouldn't be as long of a break, so don't worry lol
So, once again, thank you so much for waiting.
I appreciate you 3

snappdragon