Suddenly, he became aware of every little thing. Of Zoro's warm and calloused hand engulfing his own, his palm tingling and burning at the touch, of his strong presence, walking one step behind him. Sanji placed a hand over his chest as his heart started pounding, blood rushing to his ears.
Of course he knew that a relationship also entailed sexual acts, but Sanji had never once considered it up until now. He knew that he wanted to go that far, but was he ready for it? Did Zoro even crave it? For all the time that they sailed together, Sanji had never seen the swordsman show any kind of interest or sexual attraction towards either gender. So, what made Sanji so different from all the others?
And Sanji had never even kissed a man up until a week ago, how would he go immediately to— to sex? How did men even have sex with each other? Well, he generally knew that men fucked each other in the…anus, but Sanji could never picture Zoro as the guy to just open his legs and take it. He doubted the man would even be open to the idea, so that left Sanji as the one to…be on the receiving end.
Sanji imagined himself spread out beneath Zoro, nails digging painfully onto the swordsman's muscular back, lewd moans escaping his lips as the man above him filled him up to the brim, pounding into him with vigor—
"—listening? Oi, shit-cook!"
Sanji blinked, realizing that he was panting quite heavily, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead.
"Wh— what?" he stuttered, internally cursing as his voice came out high pitched.
"I said, there's a tree filled with bananas, thought you'd like to get some." Zoro said and pointed with his thumb up.
Sanji glanced up, blinking in awe at the enormous tree, having to squint his eyes to see the bananas hanging up on the top. "Good job, marimo! Seems like you're not entirely useless, after all!"
Zoro clicked his tongue, "Yeah, yeah, now let me go, so I can get up there and take some."
Sanji cocked his head to the side, "what do you mean 'let you go'? I'm not holding you back."
Zoro merely raised an eyebrow at him and inclined with his head downwards. Sanji furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and glanced down. He flushed in embarrassment and yanked his hand away from Zoro's, eyes glued on the ground.
Was he fucking holding onto Zoro's hand all this time without even realizing it? At least the swordsman didn't seem like he had noticed Sanji's previous…dilemma. He knew that werewolves had an amplified sense of smell, but it's not like Zoro could smell his arousal, right?
Right?!
"Hold onto these for me, will you?"
In the next instant, Sanji found himself holding onto three swords as Zoro climbed up the tree.
"Oi, how will you cut down the bananas? Don't you need your—" suddenly, a few bananas dropped down close to his feet. He glanced up again and saw Zoro literally rip the banana stacks from the tree.
What did I expect from that brute?
After a few more minutes, Zoro deemed that they had enough and started his descent. As Zoro finally landed on the ground, Sanji held out his swords, which Zoro took and tied around his hip.
"Thanks for holding onto them. Let's get going now, we still haven't found any animals." Zoro turned around and headed towards a random direction.
Seeing as wherever they went wasn't that much important, Sanji was about to silently follow Zoro when he caught a real glimpse of his hands. Sanji stomped towards Zoro, wrapped his hand around the swordsman's wrist and pulled it up.
"You fucking idiot, why didn't you tell me that the trunk was rough? You didn't have to injure your hands like this for some god damn bananas, you know!" he chided, moving his hands on the back of Zoro's hand, eyebrows knitting in concern as he inspected the scratches all over Zoro's palm.
Zoro rolled his eyes, "This is nothing, curly-brow, calm down, I'm fine." Zoro yanked his hand away, crossing both arms over his chest, but Sanji managed to catch a glimpse of his other injured hand, too.
"It's not nothing!" Sanji exploded, throwing his hands in the air, "I get that you don't appreciate your hands as much as I appreciate mine, but that's no excuse to carelessly get yourself injured! You always do shit like this, and frankly, I'm tired of it! You just have to play the hero, always putting others before you, and just being a stubborn, righteous son of a bitch! I won't be able to handle a second Thriller Bark incident again, especially now that I—" Sanji bit down so harshly on his lower lip that he tasted copper in his mouth.
Sanji glared at the ground a few feet away, hands clenched tightly as a tense silence engulfed them.
He really didn't mean to explode like this, but Zoro wasn't helping much either. The swordsman was such a stubborn ass when he wanted to be, always thinking how to save the crew by sacrificing himself and never searching for other alternatives. At first, he had tried to cut his own feet off, then he willingly took all of Luffy's pain back in Thriller Bark at the cost of his own life, and Sanji was— he wouldn't be able to survive that. Not again, and especially not now. Not now, when he knew what Zoro meant to him.
Suddenly, he felt fingers gently touch his chin, lifting his head up. Before he had any time to react, Zoro swiped his tongue over Sanji's bottom lip, licking away the blood. Sanji remained stunned, eyes wide as Zoro drew back, but kept his fingers grazing against Sanji's chin.
"I can't promise you that I won't be willing to give up my own life for the rest of the crew if the situation calls for it," as he was about to open his mouth, Zoro placed a finger vertically on Sanji's lips and continued, "but what I can promise, is that I'll try to be more careful from now on, and I won't result to that decision immediately. Is that alright with you?"
Sanji blew out a sigh, shoulders slumping and silently nodded. Zoro gave a nod of his own, "Good, but you have to promise me the same. While I do it because the crew needs saving, you do it as if you're…disposable. I don't know what has led you to believe that, but I refuse to be left alone to look after those idiots. Don't think that you're going to get off babysitting duty so easily, we're in this together, shit-cook."
He took in a sharp breath as Zoro's fond, yet determined eyes pierced right through him. "Okay," he agreed, "I promise to be more careful, too."
"And?" Zoro coaxed.
Sanji wanted to feel irritated, but he couldn't help the small smile that curved on his mouth. "And I will be more considerate about the worth of my life."
Zoro gave an approving nod and stepped away, walking towards the pile of bananas. The swordsman picked it all up and started walking, Sanji following silently a few steps behind him.
For about an hour or two, they kept searching for any animals, and thankfully, they had managed to find a pretty large sized rhino, which they hunted down and killed. Although, it was oddly peculiar that there were barely any other animals in sight. They had walked for miles, and this rhino was the first animal they had come across. Sanji concluded that, perhaps, the forest just didn't have that many animals (this was the Grand Line, way more weirdest things had happened).
Sanji's biggest problem was that, after having walked for hours through the woods and under the scorching sun, he was sweating like a pig. His shirt clung to his sweat-clad skin and he felt absolutely disgusting. If they didn't find a pond or a lake in the next five minutes, he was going to explode.
"I think I can hear a stream," Zoro piped in, head cocked to the side, "c'mon, it's this way."
Sanji hefted the pile of bananas higher in his arms and started after Zoro. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"
"If you wanna trust you weak, little human ears, go ahead, be my guest, but I believe I have the upper hand this time."
"It's not your werewolf senses that I don't trust. It's your admirable skill to get lost even in a straight line that I don't trust, marimo."
Zoro huffed, mumbling a 'shut up' as he kept walking, dragging the rhino behind him. Surprisingly, after a few minutes, they arrived at a clearing. A small lake with crystal clear water, as a cascade of water kept falling from a medium height precipice to their right.
"Fucking finally." Sanji dropped the pile of bananas on the grass and jogged up to the edge of the lake. He kneeled down and cupped his hands, placed them under the water and then splashed his face, letting out a relieved sigh at the cold and refreshing feeling.
As he started unbuttoning his suit jacket, wanting to get out of these disgusting clothes and go for a dive, he heard loud thumps of footsteps nearing at an alarming speed from behind him. Before he had any time to turn around, a large shadow flew over him and dived into the lake, sending a large wave of water towards him, soaking him whole.
A green wolf popped up from the surface of the lake, barking at Sanji. That green-haired ass was in his wolf form, but Sanji could still detect the smugness radiating off of him from miles away. He clenched his jaw, his face contorting in anger.
"You gigantic," he continued unbuttoning his jacket, his movements jerky, "brainless," he tossed his jacket to the side, "smug, little piece of shit." he worked on his shirt, taking it off as well. "I should fillet you for this, you damned mutt!" he kicked off his shoes and dived in, only with his pants on.
As Sanji broke out on the surface again, he was smacked in the face by another wave of water that had been coughing. "Will you fucking stop?!" he screamed, eyes blazing as he threw a death glare at the green wolf a few feet away from him. The wolf scoffed and he narrowed his eyes.
Two can play this game, fucker, he thought and immediately propelled towards Zoro, throwing himself with all of his strength against the wolf, successfully forcing his head under the water.
They continued fighting, going back and forth for a while, yet Sanji soon got exhausted, as being in the water made it even harder to move. Therefore, Sanji swam close to the edge of the lake, arms crossed as he placed them on the grass and propped his chin on them, legs swinging back and forth in the water, whilst Zoro, still in his wolf form, kept swimming back and forth.
The sound of the water falling, hitting against the surface of the lake, alongside the occasional chirps of the birds, soothed his nerves, as well as the exhaustion that had seeped in his bones, lulling him into a peaceful slumber.
When Sanji regained consciousness again, he found himself leaning against something warm and sturdy.
"Wha…" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, princess."
Sanji blinked, lifting his head and as he was about to glance around, he was met with a muscled chest. As he slowly became aware of his surroundings, he noticed that he was currently being carried by Zoro. Bridal style. He started squirming around, shoving a hand under Zoro's chin.
"Oi, stop it, you idiot! I'm trying to get back to the camp— oi!"
Sanji successfully managed to get off Zoro, stepping a few steps away. As he was about to open his mouth, he caught sight of a white hue and glanced down, blood rushing to his face as he realized what he was wearing.
"W-Why the fuck am I wearing your shirt? And why were you carrying me? What the fuck happened, marimo?!" Sanji spluttered, hand fisting on the white fabric of the shirt, pulling it down.
Sanji was not only wearing Zoro's white shirt, which reached just over the top of his bare thighs, but was not wearing anything underneath!
"What the fuck did you do to me, you perverted swordsman?!"
Zoro let out a heavy sigh, as he reached over with his hand and scratched the back of his head. "Get your head out of the gutter, shit-cook, I didn't do anything. You fell asleep while you were still in the lake, but all of your clothes were soaked, and I doubt you wanted to catch a cold right now while we're in the middle of nowhere, so I took off your wet clothes and gave you my shirt. Seeing as you were still asleep, I went ahead and built a campfire, and was currently taking you there." Zoro clarified, mumbling under his breath 'what a pain, knew this would happen'.
All anger suddenly disappeared from Sanji, as he stared dumbly at Zoro. "Oh," he breathed, "that's actually…very considerate of you."
Zoro waved his hand, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, I just didn't want to hear any more of your bitching. You can walk on the rest way, right?" Zoro's lips widened into a grin, "Unless you want me to carry you again? You seemed pretty comfortable in my arms."
"Shut up! I can walk on my own just fine!" he shrieked and bodily shoved against Zoro's shoulder as he stomped past him.
"Oi, cook." Zoro called out, and Sanji's eye twitched as he whipped around. "What?!"
Zoro's grin widened and thrusted his thumb towards the opposite direction. "The camp is this way."
Sanji's whole face turned red and silently started walking to the other direction, fingers twitching as Zoro started laughing.
I'll fucking kill him in his sleep, I swear I'll do it. I'll strangle the life out of him.
Zoro caught up with him, and Sanji fell a step behind, letting the swordsman guide them. He finally took the time to look around, and noticed that the sun had started setting, its afternoon sun rays shining through the trees. If it was already late in the afternoon, he must have been asleep for at least a few hours.
After a few minutes, they arrived into a clearing, a campfire in the middle, the dead rhino they had hunted a few feet away along with the pile of bananas, and his clothes were all spread out close to the fire.
A chill ran down his spine as a cold breeze blew by and Sanji padded towards the campfire. He folded his legs underneath him as he kneeled down and held his hands out close to the fire.
"Oi, Zoro," he called out, and the swordsman grunted in reply, footsteps coming closer. Sanji glanced up as Zoro stopped beside him, staring down at him. "Your hands, aren't they still—"
Zoro held up his hands, showing them to Sanji. His eyes went round as Zoro's palms were now spotless, not even a tiny scratch in its wake.
"How…?"
"Werewolves have fast regeneration abilities; we heal pretty quickly compared to the average man." Zoro stated as he propped one hand on the handle of his swords and the other in his haramaki.
Sanji hummed as he turned his eyes back to the fire and hummed. "Must be nice being a werewolf," He commented.
"Well, it has its disadvantages, too."
He glanced at Zoro from the corner of his eye, studying the swordsman silently as memories of the full moon flashed in his mind. "Yeah," he breathed, "I guess it does."
After a few minutes of silence, Sanji pushed himself up to his feet and reached over for his pants. As he patted down the fabric, he found that it was relatively dry, so he put it on. "You must be starving, so I'll go prepare the rhino we caught. In the meantime, why don't you eat some bananas like a good boy and wait, yeah?" He ruffled Zoro's hair as he passed by, grinning as the swordsman growled and knocked his hand away.
Although, as he stopped just before the rhino, he realized that he didn't have any of his kitchen knives with him. "Uh, Zoro? We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"I don't have any knives with me, so this will be impossible to cut." After a few seconds, he heard some rattling and turned around, blinking as Zoro unfastened the swords around his hip and held them out to him.
"You want me to…use your swords?" Sanji asked hesitantly.
Zoro frowned and shifted his weight to one leg, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. "No, I'm giving them to you cause I'm tired of holding them— yes, I'm giving them to you to use them! Do you see anything else you could use?"
"Are— are you sure? These are your swords we're talking about, I don't—"
"Sanji," Zoro interjected, "just take them."
Sanji reluctantly accepted the swords and walked over to the rhino. He grabbed the red and black sword called Shusui, placed the others on the ground nearby and unsheathed it from its scabbard. He balanced the sword in his hand, lifting the blade vertically in front of him.
It's quite heavy, he noted, admiring the sharpness of the blade for a few seconds, and then immediately got to work. Sanji fully immersed in his current task, swiftly and efficiently handling the sword, cutting the rhino into small pieces.
When he was finally done, he swung the sword sharply to the right, shaking off any remaining blood that still stained the blade and with a twirl, placed it inside its scabbard. He wiped the sweat on his forehead away with the back of his hand and placed his free hand on his hip, nodding once to himself as he looked at his work.
Then, he picked up the rest of the swords and turned around. Sanji faltered in his steps, almost stumbling when he locked eyes with Zoro's dark and predatory eyes. He thickly swallowed, suddenly feeling hot, but kept walking towards the campfire where Zoro was currently sitting. Sanji stopped right in front of Zoro and held out his swords, "Thanks for letting me use them, perhaps your shitty swords aren't that shitty—"
Suddenly, a hand closed around his wrist and yanked him down, another one fisting the hair around the base of his skull as hungry lips pressed against his. Sanji let out a surprised sound, swords dropping from his hand, fumbling and trying to find leverage to steady himself. He allowed himself to be pulled downwards and slackened his mouth, arms locking behind Zoro's shoulders.
A tongue immediately prodded against his lips and Sanji met it halfway, a low moan escaping his mouth. His hips twitched forward as sharp teeth nibbled on his lower lip, slightly nicking it. A tongue flicked over the graze, and Sanji surged in again, connecting their lips. After a few moments, he pulled back slightly, panting and slowly blinked his eyes open.
"You seem to know how to handle a sword," Zoro noted breathlessly, "you would have made quite a formidable swordsman."
Sanji's breath hitched in his throat, hands unconsciously tightening on Zoro's back, nails digging into his skin.
Flashes of the past ran through his mind, of a previous life, a small, weak boy that dreamed big, but the world was too cruel. Yet the boy didn't give up, and got up again, tiny hands clutching tighter the wooden sword—
Sanji plastered a fake smile on his face and pushed against Zoro's face, getting up from his lap. "I thought I'd leave the sword swinging to you, it's not really my style." He walked towards the edge of the clearing and picked up a few sticks from the ground. Then, he glanced over his shoulder and smirked.
"It would also be a shame to rob the title of the best swordsman right under your nose, wouldn't it?"
Immediately, the atmosphere grew tense as Zoro narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes. Sanji brought his hands forward into a defensive gesture, knees slightly bent.
"Down, boy," Sanji said, grabbed one stick, swinging it in front of him and then tossed it in the woods. "Go, boy, grab it! Go get it!" He only had a few seconds before Zoro sprang forward and tackled him to the ground, but he was too busy cackling to really fight back.
They rustled and rolled around for a while, but Sanji drew the line when Zoro started throwing bananas at him, the strength behind the throws sending them smashing against the trees. Once Sanji had made sure that he had rearranged Zoro's brain with a couple of kicks, he then grilled them upon the campfire.
When they had finished eating, Sanji's throat felt as dry as a desert. "Oi, Zoro, I'm going to get some water, you—" a snort interrupted him and he glanced over, his eye twitching in irritation when he saw Zoro sprawled on the ground, mouth wide open, drool falling from the corner of his lips.
Sanji scrunched up his nose, staring down at Zoro in disgust for a few seconds and then turned around, heading towards the direction he remembered the small lake to be. He only had the moonlight to guide him through the dark, and hoped that it would be enough. Thankfully, after a few minutes, he could hear the waterfall in the distance and started advancing towards that direction.
When he reached it, he stood back for a couple of moments, admiring the fireflies glowing in the dark, flying over the water, creating a magical image. Then, Sanji walked forward and kneeled down on the edge, reaching down with his cupped hands. As he was drinking water, he heard a rustle, but didn't pay it much attention, as must have been some animal.
After a few seconds, he heard the same rustling again, and Sanji became more alert of his surroundings as he remembered a small detail.
There were no animals in this forest.
Sanji sprung up and whipped around, eyes darting through the darkness. His heart started pounding against his chest as he heard the same rustling again, although this time from behind him. He turned around, and went rigid, every muscle in his body tensing up.
There, across the lake, eight blood-shot eyes were staring straight at him.
Sanji let out a blood-curdling scream and made a break for it towards the opposite direction. Everything became fuzzy, as the only thing on his mind was to run as fast as he could, get out of there, hurry, it's getting closer.
The thumps behind him started to loom closer and Sanji closed his eyes, heart leaping to his throat as he thought that this was it, it managed to catch up to him, he was going to get killed right here, in the dark, alone—
Suddenly, something landed in front of him, and before Sanji could stop, he collided with it. In his panicked state, he frantically flailed his arms around, trying to get away. A familiar growl made him pause, and he blinked, realizing that his vision had become blurry. He wiped his unshed tears away and let his fingers rake through the soft, green fur.
Zoro.
Instantly, relief filled his chest and sagged down, all strength leaving legs. "F-Fuck," he let out a hysterical laugh, "I never thought I'd be so glad to see you, m-marimo."
The wolf made a low sound in his throat and nudged his nose against the side of Sanji's head. He lifted his hand and petted the wolf's forehead, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I just thought I saw a spider about the size of you, but that can't be right. Must have been my mind playing tricks on me again."
The wolf snorted and Sanji rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up and get going already."
After a while, they reached the campfire again and Zoro moved closer to the fire, doing one circle around a spot, deeming it comfortable enough, and laid down. Sanji was about to move to the other side when the wolf huffed and stared directly at him. His mouth curved into a small smile and walked up to the wolf. Sanji sat down and leaned against the wolf's body.
"G'night, marimo." He whispered, and after a few seconds, a fluffy tail was laid upon him, covering half of his body.
"You sure you want to do this right now?" Sanji questioned, hands crossed over his chest.
Zoro fastened his swords on his hip, eyes widening comedically in mocking shock. "Don't tell me you're scared, cook. It's only a friendly sparring match."
His face hardened, a tense grin spreading on his face as he glared down at Zoro. "Oh, no, no, you've got it wrong, marimo-kun. I was just concerned about you, as you've been slacking on your training lately and I doubt you'll pose much of a challenge."
Zoro narrowed his eyes and slowly unsheathed all of his words, placing Wado between his teeth, and the other two in either hand.
Sanji lifted his shoulders, "I warned you, but don't start crying afterwards because you lost."
A dark glint flashed through Zoro's eyes as the man started walking to the left, "By the end of this sparring session I'll have you screaming."
Something awoke in Sanji's chest, a familiar blazing flame. As they circled each other, poised and ready to strike at any moment, Sanji felt his breathing become heavier, everything slowly fading away into background noise as he kept his eyes locked onto Zoro.
After they had woken up in the morning, they had continued exploring the woods for a few more hours before they had decided to take a break close to another pond with clear water they had found. Sanji had thought that while camping outside on their own had been relatively fun, they would soon need to head back. This day, not even a bird's chirp could be heard, which meant no available food resource in miles.
Besides that, Sanji was still creeped out from last night's event at the lake, as those eight, blazing red eyes haunted his mind. The fact that the forest was currently completely silent didn't help ease his growing anxiety either.
Then, lost in his drowning thoughts as he was, Zoro had suggested they have a matching spar, and after a bit of refusal on Sanji's part, Zoro had managed to convince him.
All Sanji saw was a blur before blades were right in his face. He jumped back, and before he could even place both of his legs on solid soil, a flash of bright blue energy came hurtling towards him from the left. The long-ranged attack was shot from a low point, aimed for his legs, which allowed Sanji, even with one foot touching the ground, to push off and get enough height to avoid the attack.
Nevertheless, his moment of relief was short-lived, as in the next instant, Zoro appeared inches away from his face. Everything seemed to slow down around him, and Sanji's eyes went round as he caught a glimpse of a black blade directed towards his face.
Sanji lifted a leg and just in time managed to connect his foot with Zoro's forearm, succeeding in altering the course of the sword, enough to avoid a lethal blow. The sharp edge of the blade managed to nick his shoulder, a clean cut, and Sanji landed several feet away from Zoro.
He lifted a hand and let his fingers lightly graze his throbbing wound. He glanced down at his bloodied hand, eyebrows knitting together. Even though it was a small cut, the blade had managed to slash quite deep.
If I hadn't changed its course, the blade would have sliced straight through my neck.
As Sanji lifted his head, about to yell Zoro's ear off, the words stuck to his throat. Zoro's pupils dilated, gaze zeroed in on Sanji, a cloudy curtain covering his eyes. At that moment, Sanji felt like prey, his mind screaming at him to flee, as the beast before him was going to eat him whole.
Sorry, Zoro, he thought, and widened his stance, seems like I was the one that didn't take this seriously.
Sanji started working on the buttons of his jacket, not daring to avert his eyes even for a millisecond from Zoro. When he reached the last button, he hesitated for a split second, and then yanked it off, throwing it in front of him.
Sanji took advantage of the cover it provided and kicked off to the side. He rounded on Zoro with a side kick from the left. The swordsman effectively blocked it, but Sanji immediately dropped down, lashing out with a kick directed to Zoro's chin. The swordsman managed to block it just in time before any fatal damage was done, but Sanji still gained that one second of disorientation and went in for the killing blow.
Sanji shot upwards and clenched his right hand into a fist. With the momentum he had, he directed his punch towards Zoro's throat. Sanji saw panic flash through Zoro's eyes, and where once his swords would have parried Sanji's attack, now the swordsman was wide open.
He barely contained a manic grin from spreading on his face as Sanji instead hooked his hand around Zoro's nape and dragged the swordsman down, kneeing him with all of his strength against his abdomen. Zoro was sent flying from the blow, crashing against a few trees.
Sanji placed his leg down, chest rising and falling rapidly, sweat rolling down his forehead. He crossed his arms over his chest, chin lifted as he stared at the ruined path which he had sent Zoro flying.
"Not so great now, are we, little marimo? Weren't you the one who said that was going to, and I quote;" Sanji furrowed his eyebrows, the corner of his lips curved downwards, "'By the end of this sparring session I'll have you screaming'" he mimicked in a deep voice, and then burst out laughing.
Sanji waited for a response, a rustle, a groan, anything, but nothing came. He waited for a few more seconds, until they turned into minutes, and by this time, he had started getting worried. He rushed towards that direction, and searched around, but didn't see Zoro anywhere close.
"Just how far did I kick him?"
As he was normally walking through the woods, the next instant he found himself being slammed down against the ground, eyes now blinking at the trees and sky above. Sanji propped his elbows on the ground and, as he was about to lift himself up, a voice tutted at him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Hope yall enjoyed this chapter! I can easily say that this chap was the most fun to write (beside the smut that will come soon ;)) Also did yall watch the new episode? The animation was flawless, especially the scene with Sanji vs X Drake!
P.S: I adopted a kitten just yesterday. His name is Steve and he's just adorable. (about 8-9 weeks old) Steve says hi :)