A/N:
This one's short, not even close to the 1k limit I usually stick to... but I didn't want to include the next scene so soon.
Sanji Kitetsu Chapter 32
Zoro sits on the damp sand, eyes lingering on the sleeping form in his lap and tracing the spread of gold and black locks, matted and hardened with dried blood. The man's temple rests against the crook of the swordsman's elbow. His eyes are hidden under a mess of entangled and discoloured hair, blood stained lips slack and slightly apart, the last hint of a smile pulling on the visible corner of his mouth. His breaths are slow and steady, sending small rhythmic waves of warmth through the fabric of the swordsman's clothes. One of his hands grips a handful of Zoro's haramaki. The other is loosely tucked under the stubbled chin. The swordsman can make out a long shallow cut on the half open palm. Smudges of blood trail from it down the pale arm, beyond the elbow, and into the loose sleeve.
Zoro reaches in and wraps his free hand lightly around the blond's injured one. The touch burns slightly, not entirely uncomfortable.
"Zoro." His captain says in that rare low voice of his, standing a small distance away with his back toward the setting sun. The boy's face is completely dark against the red globe just above the horizon, but the swordsman knows his eyes are on the sleeping blond.
"Carmen is alive and stable." The boy continues. "The burns will heal, but chopper said we won't know what the cut did to her until she wakes up."
The cut. Zoro remembers finally arriving at the coastline to find Luffy straddling the blond and howling, shaking the unresponsive man by the collar. Carmen's unconscious body was nearby, lying in a pool of blood that seemed to have come from the base of her neck. A bare-chested stranger crouched by her side and applied pressure to her wound. A marine ship burned in the distance, its smoke painting the sky blood red in the sun.
His captain watches him in silence. Waiting. Zoro takes a deep breath.
"He's my blade. His misdeeds are my responsibility. I accept any punishment you see fit, but..." He trails off, pulling in the blond protectively.
"He's dangerous to the others." The boy says. A statement of fact. An explanation of reasoning. A question.
"He was looking for me." His mind replays the sound of the cursed blade incessantly calling his name as he ran through unfamiliar streets.
The boy waits again.
"It won't happen again. I swear." He finds the boy's eyes in the dark and holds his gaze. "If he ever goes on a rampage again, I'll be the one to-"
"I see. Good then." His captain chirps, instantly back to his cheery self. "Go back to Merry. We're heading to another city by ship."
The rubber boy presses his straw hat back onto his head and turns to leave.
"Aye Captain." He replies.
Zoro shifts to grab his scattered swords on either side, carefully sheathing them behind the arm that cradles the blond. The man's body is limp, giving no indication of stirring from his slumber. The swordsman gives him one last glance before heaving up the blond to bring himself to a stand. He can still make out the dim light from the burning ship, the one the blond set aflame for the sole purpose of returning to his side. Yet, if he ever has to choose between one of his nakama and the cursed blade, he knows he would have to fulfill the promise he just made to Luffy.
That's where his loyalty lies. That's what his duty as a member of the Strawhats demands of him. That's how it needs to be, how it should be.
"Who's the undevoted one now?" He scoffs at himself and catches up to his captain, resolving to never let such a choice arise.