Happy Friday everybody,

I wish you all a great weekend and some fun with the new chapter.

Just a tiny headups, next weekend I probably won't be able to upload until sunday (I'm having my final oral exam on thursday and I fear that my friends have been awaiting this weekend for two long years of studying... please pray for me surviving friday^^')

So, till then have a great week ;-)

Chapter 6 – Conversations

-Sanji-

But this project was easier said than done.

Sanji had set out to confront Zoro after his return from the burning island and find out the truth behind his incomprehensible survival.

But well, then this thing had happened, which always happened when their crew was somewhere. Chaos had happened, enemies had happened, friends had happened, fights had happened, and so much more. Some things that Sanji remembered fondly – Nami's boobs! – and other things that had given him a strange feeling in the stomach area – Luffy, don't be careless! The New World starts here! – but no matter what had happened, now they had left Punk Hazard behind. However, Sanji had to realize that due to the presence of their new guests, it was rather difficult for him to find a suitable moment to finally address the Marimo without everyone noticing, because that was certainly not his intention.

They had just set course for Dress Rosa. After setting sail and everyone had come back together, Luffy had revealed to those who hadn't noticed before that he and Law had formed an alliance – Sanji was pretty sure that their new ally had no idea what he was getting into – and that they now intended to overthrow first the Shichibukai Doflamingo and then one of the four Emperors, Kaido.

This note had caused a wide variety of reactions within the crew. While both Usopp and Nami had shown little enthusiasm, Sanji had immediately realized that Luffy could no longer be dissented from something once he had made a decision.

The Marimo also seemed rather taken with the idea of challenging one of the four emperors. He seemed to be looking forward to new battles, as if it wasn't enough for him that they had already gone through two encounters in the short time they had been reunited.

Yes, Sanji also enjoyed some good little skirmish and yes, he also liked adventure and was happy that the New World kept what they had been promised. But if he was completely honest, he would have no objection to one or the other breather in between.

Therefore, he listened with joy while Nami explained to them that they would probably reach Dress Rosa just in a few days and anchor on another island the next day to fill up her necessities, which was already dangerously scarce again due to their past party, especially considering that they now had a few more mouths to feed.

In fact, Sanji was very grateful for this opportunity, because he had been racking his brains about it all morning. Not about his captain's decision to mess with both Kaido and Doflamingo, not about the fact that they had just gotten into a conflict with another emperor, Big Mom, the last day, not even about what Nami had revealed to him just before their adventure on Punk Hazard, and about his own constant distrust of the mosshead. No, since this morning he had been mostly worried about how to feed the entire crew plus an ally plus two guests plus a prisoner. Because whether prisoner or not, Sanji would not allow anyone to go hungry under his supervision.

Now, however, these worries were off the table, and he confidently ignored how Kinemon demanded firmly that they had to reach their destination sooner, or how Caesar cursed them all while the official meeting was apparently over. Sanji's gaze just fell on Zoro, and he decided to finally put his plan into action and confront the other who was arguing with Kinemon about some sword or something.

Nami apparently saw it differently, but he wouldn't be content with Zoro wanting to withhold the truth from them. He wouldn't, like Nami, question his own memories over and over again just so that the dammed Marimo wouldn't have to justify himself. He would not, like the others, simply let the past rest and pretend that the G-6 had never happened. Sanji wanted answers and he would get them now.

Meanwhile, the other crewmembers had spread over the ship. Chopper, Franky, and Usopp seemed to be eyeing Caesar, while Nami and Luffy were talking about the most diverse topics with Law, who seemed no less annoyed than Nami by Luffy. Robin, meanwhile, was taking care of Momo, while Brook watched the Marimo and Kinemon enthusiastically.

Actually, now would be the perfect time to retreat and prepare a tasty meal, but Sanji didn't know what to expect once he opened Zoro's box, so he wanted to tackle it as soon as possible so they could deal with any new kind of problems before they had to take care of the Shichibukai.

While he was still pondering about it, he suddenly noticed a cold eye placed upon himself and only then did Sanji realize that he had probably wandered off with his thoughts and had not even noticed how Zoro and their guest had obviously ended their dispute and the Mairmo was now staring at him hostile.

Kinemon and Brook were talking quite loudly and enthusiastically, but Sanji didn't listen to them. All his attention was inevitably on the angry algae of a man, which trudged towards him like an approaching storm.

"What the hell is your problem, cook?" The other growled angrily. "Stop staring at me all the time. That's annoying, understood?!"

"Wha.. what the…?"

The other's grumbling had taken him by surprise. Sanji had come to terms with how he had wanted to address the other, but since the Marimo had treated him as dismissively and pejoratively as ever for the past few days, Sanji had simply not expected the other to seek the conversation on his own, not that he did, as his next words made quite clear.

"I have no idea why you're doing this bullshit but cut it out. If you have a problem with me, spit it out, but stop getting on my nerves, get it?!"

With that, the other turned around and marched towards the mast.

"Hey!" Sanji called after him stunned. "Wait a second, Zoro."

The other just raised his hand as if in greeting and flipped him off.

"Leave me alone, cook, and stop gawking at me."

Then he climbed up to the lookout, leaving Sanji on the meadow.

Furious, he mashed the potatoes.

Stupid mosshead! Stupid idiot! Stupid Marimo!

Why was this fucking idiot always like that?

Hey, I've seen you've watched me now and then over the last few days, and I thought you might be worried about what happened back then. Wanna talk about it?

Yes, exactly that. That's exactly how a reasonable person would react, maybe not quite as friendly, not quite as sensible, maybe a little more casual, but somewhat like that.

But not the damn Marimo, who pretended like Sanji was the fucking problem, who pretended like Sanji had to apologize or explain his behavior.

Fucking stupid bastard!

"Oh, someone seems to be enthusiastic at work."

"Robin?" Surprised, he looked up as the beauty of his sleepless nights came in. "Can I help you, my dear?"

As always, she showed her mysterious smile and shook her head.

"Actually, I was going to take a bath, but Brook mentioned that there soon would be lunch, so I thought I'd stop by for a coffee and see if you could use some help."

Just the thought of Robin in a tub full of foam drove the redness in Sanji's face, but the sparkle in her eyes made him attentive. So he smiled and hurried over to the coffee machine.

"A coffee for my dearest Robin, of course."

With a smile, she accepted the drink.

"And thank you very much for your offer, but after such a hearty celebration I thought about preparing something simple today, so I don't need your help. But of course you are welcome to stay and keep me company, I would be very happy about that," he quickly added as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

Robin just nodded and drank her coffee while Sanji continued to work. After some minutes, they started talking about the past few days – and also about the past two years – and Sanji realized how much he had missed it.

They talked about this and that, the beautiful and the unpleasant things of the past days, weeks, months, and years, talked about what they had experienced, what they had doubted and grown on, and how the others had probably changed. They laughed at Franky's new skills, Zoro's ugly green coat, and Brook's shrill outfit, noted with benevolence how much stronger Chopper, how much braver Nami, how much more confident Usopp had become. Only Luffy, they agreed, their captain had changed very little, but perhaps that little was just the special part.

As far as Zoro was concerned, however, they had completely different views. While Sanji complained about how much more unpleasant and grumpier the other had become, Robin mentioned how much more sociable and eloquent the other allegedly behaved. Sanji really didn't like to contradict her, but nothing about the cold swordsman seemed articulate or sympathetic to him.

They also smiled about this, did not take their different views too seriously, after all, they were hardly back together for a few days, they were both aware that they could not know all the new and old facets of their friends in such a short time.

But that was exactly why Sanji enjoyed this conversation that much.

In the past, Robin had often visited him in the kitchen to help him or just for a little chat, and often they had talked about past events and upcoming adventures, sometimes they had also talked about their crewmembers and often discussed things that probably did not concern them. But often these conversations had helped Sanji to understand one or the other of their crew – even if Robin's attempts to bring him closer to the thought processes of the mosshead had been rather unsuccessful – and some evenings they had also gained one or the other realization, exactly for this reason Sanji loved their conversations while he cooked. Even that evening they had all been captured, they had prepared everything together in the kitchen for a celebration they had never celebrated.

For a moment, Sanji thought back to that first morning afterwards, when he had cowered at the table in the galley, not able to sleep after Chopper had treated his wounds, and his gaze had fallen on the oven in which the pitiful remains of a miserable cake had moldered.

Shaking his head, Sanji decided to ignore such memories and continued to mash the potatoes, but then the handle between his fingers shattered. For a moment, he and Robin glanced at each other.

"Don't say it," Sanji murmured and lifted the masher out of the bowl, "it's just material fatigue."

"Did I say otherwise?" She asked, but he could hear her grin as he cleaned the broken masher and put it aside. If he was lucky, Usopp would fix it overnight.

When he turned around again, he could feel her gaze, and she was obviously also thinking back to that evening, when Sanji had broken another kitchen utensil in this galley for the last time.

"And yet today as well you seem to think about our swordsman unusually much." She placed her cup on the counter. "Although you have already seemed quite attentive during the past few days."

He didn't even try to deny it.

"Can you blame me? You are certainly aware that there is something about his story... what am I even talking about? There is no story that could be off. There is no story at all! He didn't say anything at all, didn't even bother to explain to us what happened." Sighing, he rubbed his face. "It would be one thing if he lied to us, you know. Maybe I could even understand that; I could understand that he doesn't want to tell us everything. But it ticks me off how he just completely ignores what we must be thinking and just pretends that the G-6 never happened."

He shook his head and turned to Robin, who smiled at him honestly.

"Of course I'm worried," he actually admitted to her. "You know exactly what we talked about last time here, after Thriller Bark. I told you that his reckless actions would eventually have dire consequences, and I was right! If there's one thing the G-6 has taught us, it's that... I don't know how he survived, but I'm not ready for him to continue like before and us getting into a situation like that again."

I have to talk with him. It's my duty. It's my duty now.

Luffy, Zoro is dead!

Won't you get it? He won't return!

Zoro is dead. He died for all of us. It's over!

Luffy won't accept that Zoro's death. That's already difficult as it is and his whole talking confuses the other ones. Especially Chopper is deeply hurt, and I will break if the two of you start hoping he might have survived.

Robin, Sanji, I understand your and the others' feelings, but Nami is right. Zoro has died for sure.

I guess he knew that he would have to give in to his wounds sooner or later. Zoro knew that the injury was fatal and didn't want to put Chopper into the position of taking the responsibility to avoid the unavoidable. He shouldn't bear the burden of not saving a person he loved, not again.

It was my fault, Sanji.

"No, I don't want us to have to go through something like this ever again."

"And you think the right way is to observe him like an inactive bomb, just in case he might explode?" Surprised, he looked up after he had been caught up by the past for a second. Robin still showed half her smile. "I don't think Zoro doesn't talk to us to make us suffer. I think he has his reasons, and we just have to trust him."

Sanji took a deep breath as the truth overwhelmed him. Shaking his head, he returned to his work. He wished the problem was that Robin was wrong, that he could contradict her words, but that was not the case. She was right, she was probably really right.

"You don't agree with me, Sanji?"

He only bit his lower lip when the corners of his eyes burned unexpectedly. For a moment, he hoped that Robin wouldn't ask, but of course he knew she was far too curious – or perhaps worried – to leave him alone now.

"Why do you want to know the truth, Sanji? Just for the sake of the truth or because you have lost your trust in him."

He did not react but fought against the tears as she spoke the truth effortlessly. He didn't want to admit it, wanted to ignore these doubts, wanted to claim that he was just worried about the Marimo and the crew, but the truth was...

"No, I don't trust him anymore." He took a deep breath and finally turned to her while she just looked at him. "And how could I? How could I still trust him after all that he has done? After all that happened? When he's not even willing to tell us the truth? How am I supposed to trust him?"

"Because he came back? Because he came back despite everything?"

"And for what?" He shook his head. "To sacrifice himself again for one of us at the next best opportunity? To shoulder the whole burden alone again? To pretend that he has everything under control instead of just asking one of us for help?"

He rubbed his eyes, banished any tears that had wanted to conquer him.

"I always thought he knew what to do, when he would reach his limits," he finally whispered. "I've always trusted that he'll take care of himself, that he'll reach out as soon as he's at his limits, but he didn't. In none of our fights was he willing to trust us, always did everything on his own."

"But..."

"No, Robin. You don't know what happened with Bartholomew Kuma back then, but believe me, even then he didn't give a damn about himself, he only cared about being able to protect us. He pulled off exactly the same shit in the G-6. He could have just told us his plan. He could have just told the truth." He shook his head. "No, even if this wound had been so bad that he couldn't have survived it – which obviously wasn't the case, otherwise he wouldn't be training like some madman right up there in the lookout – he could have told me. He could have told me that we had to help ourselves and that he wouldn't make it. But he didn't and I just don't understand why. I don't understand why he didn't tell me anything, even though we are comrades. It's as if he didn't trust me at all. Even worse, his lack of trust actually makes me feel as if he betrayed me."

Sighing, he resumed to his work and ignored Robin's clear eyes.

"Zoro is always the one who makes such big speeches, about Luffy being the captain, about loyalty and all that shit, but Zoro himself doesn't trust us in the end. He doesn't trust anyone of us enough, not even to tell us how he survived."

"Maybe he has his reasons why he can't tell us, why he can't trust us in this regard."

"In this regard?" He stared at her, before shaking his head. "If it was just a little thing or something totally personal, I wouldn't say anything, Robin, but he doesn't tell us anything, nothing at all. Do you know anything about his past, his childhood? He hasn't even told us when his birthday is. He didn't even tell me he was collecting information to escape while we cowered in that damn cell day after day, waiting for judgement day. Damn it, he sent us a damn Shichibukai as a messenger and his message was just for Luffy. Why couldn't the charming Lady Loreen tell us all what had happened? Why didn't Zoro come himself?"

Robin got up and brought her cup to the sink, while Sanji continued to grumble.

"No, I don't doubt for a second that Zoro would give up everything that is dear to him for Luffy. I would entrust him with all of our lives, Robin, really, but I don't trust him anymore, not like I used to. Back then, I never doubted that he would come back, but how can I trust him now if he doesn't trust any of us." She wanted to respond, but he continued, "And now don't say in this regard again. Either you trust or you don't trust. You can't just trust in the parts that suit you, you can just cherry-pick. Either you trust or you don't trust, and Zoro doesn't trust us, period."

He looked at her.

"Or did he tell you something? He doesn't even have to tell me, but who else would he talk to about something like that? Chopper? Certainly not. Nami? She would rip off his head. Or do you say he trusts you? Did he tell you the truth? Did he at least confide in you?"

He asked her quite blatantly, did not allow her to avoid his question with her clever way of words.

"No, he didn't," she replied just as bluntly, not avoiding his gaze. "He didn't tell me anything. But that doesn't mean he didn't confide in anyone. Maybe Luffy, after all, he is the captain and if at all, then Zoro owes him the explanation."

"Oh, you probably don't even believe that yourself," Sanji waved it off in dismay. "Luffy is not interested in stuff like that. He would never ask Zoro anything like that and the mosshead is too stupid to say anything on his own accord."

Without him asking her or even really wanting to, she began to help him.

"Well, so you're going to take it into your own hands? How do you want to proceed?"

The fact that she didn't even try to talk him out of it anymore should perhaps cheer him up, but Sanji was of course aware that she just didn't do it because she knew he wouldn't back off from his decision.

"I will confront him," he replied resolutely. "I have questions and I demand answers, and I will get them from him."

She did not reply, but he did not miss her gaze.

"Of course I won't do that if others could be there, especially with Law," he tried to appease her. "I also know how he is, Robin, I won't get him to talk as long as he feels the need to keep his guard up."

"I doubt you will be able to get him to talk in general." She now sounded cooler while focusing on the eggplant. "This way you may be able to vent about your dissatisfaction with the current situation but be aware that such an approach will not lead you to success concerning Zoro."

"Worth a try," Sanji replied frustrated. He disliked the course of their conversation. He liked to make Robin laugh and exchange his thoughts with hers, usually lovingly accepted her advice and suggestions, but right now her opinion left him irritated. After Nami, she was now the second to disagree with his plan and if he was honest, the opinions of the two ladies were the ones that were most important to him.

"If you approach a wild animal in an aggressive tone, you will have to expect that it may defend itself. If you want to treat its wounds, you should approach gently, otherwise in the end you will only get hurt."

"The Marimo is not a fucking cat, that scratches when lifted up carelessly. A few honest words won't hurt him."

Now they looked directly at each other.

"And I wasn't talking about him getting hurt, was I?"

"Okay," he sighed and decided to follow her way, "how would you do it? How would you make a brainless idiot like the Marimo talk without him feeling provoked?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side.

"I trust him, Sanji, and I trust that he will tell us the truth when the time comes. But...", she said at once, when Sanji wanted to contradict, "... if you want to have even the slightest chance of getting through to him, you should not accuse him, because then he will react defensively."

"So then what?"

Now she shook her head with a soft smile.

"Just be honest with him. Just tell him that you're worried about him and don't know how it can be that he's here after all what happened. Ask him if he wants to tell you what happened or if there's anything else you can do to help him, even if he doesn't want to talk." She turned away and began to set the table. "If you really care about Zoro, Sanji, then in case of doubt you will have to accept that he will not tell you the truth."

Although Sanji was anything but happy about this, he realized that she was probably right. Of course he wanted to know the truth, but it was much more important to him that things would be like they used to be. He wanted to be unnerved again by the simple-mindedness of the other, with this naïve certainty that Zoro would survive everything, but he remembered very clearly what Zoro had yelled Luffy in the laboratory. Nothing about Zoro was reckless or simple-minded anymore and Sanji wanted to know why. He wanted to know if there was a reason why Zoro was no longer the naïve simpleton and daredevil of that time, whether he had lost that when Sanji thought he had lost him. Sanji wanted to know if he could trust Zoro to take care of himself again, but more than that, he wanted to know if Zoro still trusted himself at all or if what had happened back then had destroyed his self-confidence.

Sanji knew he wouldn't be able to have this conversation within five minutes, so he decided to wait until after lunch.

But while crewmembers and guests were coming in, he found that the idiot of a swordsman revived another misbehavior of the past; he didn't come to eat. This one time, Sanji would let him get away with it, because either way they didn't have enough chairs to give everyone present a seat at the table, so Sanji, Robin, and Franky moved to the counter.

With half an ear, he listened to the other two during their conversation, while he put together a lunchbox for the Marimo – mainly a lot of rice and fish and of course a bottle of sake – in the hope of catching more flies with honey than with vinegar.

After he was sure that the others were all well taken care of and Robin had given him her telling look, he decided to finally put his plan into action and finally find out the truth.