1 Month Later
The sun was baking down on the deck out back as he panted heavily, sweat dripping from him.
Swinging at the training post someone on the crew had made for him; Zoro was quickly beginning to understand why his parents had him training with shinai rather than real swords. The weight difference was incredible and it was really starting to take its toll on his stamina.
Deciding to take a breather he placed the swords down before walking over to the table to grab his drink.
The blonde was sat reclined on a sun lounger, book in hand; he pulled down his sunglasses as he approached.
"Are you done yet?"
Zoro chugged back more than half the glass, ice and all.
"No."
"Ughhhhh."
"Hey if you don't like it then move, shitty cook."
"Like hell, I was here first."
"That's funny; I didn't see you out here at 6AM when I started."
"I meant first as in the Baratie, dumbass."
"Oh so that makes the place yours does it, I'm sure Zeff would have something to say about that?"
Sanji scoffed, pushing his sunglasses back up.
"This place would run into the ground without me."
Zoro burst out laughing
"Sure…"
He reached into the glass, dipping his fingers into the drink contained before flicking it at the cook.
The blonde managed to move his book in time but the rest of the water hit him directly in the face.
There was a silence for a few seconds before…
"Right, that's it, you're dead."
Dumping down his book Sanji dived to his feet and sent a kick towards him.
Zoro managed to dodge before quickly diving to grab the shinai he had thankfully brought down too. Returning to his feet he squared off against the blonde.
"Come on then, shitty eyebrows."
"Boss!"
Zeff turned from the pan to his crewman who seemed a little stressed.
"What is it?"
"The boys are fighting again."
He exhaled heavily in annoyance.
"For the love of-." Shaking his head he threw the spatula down. "Watch that and don't let it burn."
"Yes, boss."
As he climbed the stairs to the rear deck the sound of laughter could be heard.
Zeff quickly came to find the two boys lying on their backs staring up at the sky.
"What were you even trying to do, gymnastics?"
"Hey! It'll look cool once I get the hang of it, I just need to get the spin down, then I can test it out on you and kick you overboard."
"I'd chop your foot off before you could even touch me."
"As if, mosshead!"
"Are you doubting my sword skills?"
"Yeah 'cause you're an idiot."
"Fuck you shitty cook!"
Zeff smirked.
"Oi, what the hell have you two been doing up here?" He spoke up, announcing himself to the teens who both turned as he walked over.
"Get back in the kitchen; it's not your day off, Jiji." Sanji teased.
Zoro tried (and mostly failed) at trying to conceal the laughter threatening to burst from his lips, the kid's face screwing up as he looked down, avoiding eye contact and shaking lightly with a quiet snicker.
"Have you two done that laundry I told you to do days ago?"
That certainly silenced them.
"Uhhh…"
He shook his head.
"Come on, get upstairs and grab it, it's far more productive then staying up here and annoying the customers."
"We're not annoying the customers!" Sanji retorted in offence.
"Whatever, go."
The two teens groaned but soon headed towards the stairs, Zoro having grabbed his swords and shinai.
The boys' room, as it had become after Zoro's arrival, saw Sanji sharing with the kid (which the eggplant hadn't been too thrilled about). There was only room for one bed, which the boys refused to share beyond the first week and so instead they'd strung up a spare hammock from the crew living quarters for Zoro to use.
Despite being initially concerned, the lad ended up loving his 'bed' which Sanji quickly celebrated as it meant he didn't have to give up the queen bed he'd had since they first built the Baratie way back when.
There were two bean bags on the floor, a rug that had definitely seen better days, a couple of books, and two trunks containing the boys' clothes, all of which had been picked up on various trips to the town on the shore.
Zoro's side was cluttered with sword cleaning parts as well as a small stack of plates that clearly at one point had been used for onigiri, the teen clearly having neglected the effort of taking them down to the kitchen to be washed.
Sanji's side however was much neater with everything he owned organised either into or on the little wooden bookcase; he could however very easily spot the ashtray the brat had obviously attempted to hide from view peeping out from under the bed.
"Oi, eggplant!"
He picked up the ashtray and held it up.
The kid seemed unfazed though.
"It's for decoration."
Zeff scoffed.
"I'll leave you both to it, but keep the noise down or you'll ruin the reviews."
"'You'll ruin the reviews'." He heard Sanji impersonate as he headed across the balcony before Zoro burst out laughing.
He couldn't help but smile.
'GERMA 66 RISES AGAIN AFTER SHOCKING ATTACK'
Walking to their room Zoro knocked lightly on the door.
"Hey, shitty cook, you okay in there?"
No reply.
"Look, can you at least say something, everyone's worried about you?"
A familiar tapping of a wooden leg approached as he turned to see Zeff, the old man sighing as he noticed the closed door.
Walking over the old man offered a pat to his shoulder.
"You go help with the lunch service, I'll talk to him."
Zoro nodded.
"Okay."
Zeff smiled.
"Good lad."
Walking slowly across the upper deck balcony towards the stairs he hesitated just long enough to see the old man knock on the door before letting himself in.
It was brief but through the cracks he saw him, the blonde sat on the edge of his bed with his head lowered, his shoulders shaking as his hands pulled at his hair as if he would pull it out at the root any second.
And then the door clicked shut once again.
"Hey lad, would you mind helping me carry the fish order to the freezer?" Called Carne.
Jumping a little at the voice he nodded before heading downstairs to help.
It wasn't uncommon to see the boy like that, scared of the world and everyone in it. Scared of a family that he largely refused to talk about besides what slipped out when he was a much younger child. He remembered hearing about a cell, a helmet, the darkness that he was still scared of to this day (not that he would ever come out to admit it), and a loneliness he could never even begin to imagine.
He'd purposely told his crewmate to dispose of the morning newspaper after having seen that name on the headline but, no surprise, he'd forgotten.
Sanji played it off well but it was plain to see to the trained eye just how terrified he was. He'd made an excuse to leave the crew canteen, which he'd of course granted immediately, before the sound of him sprinting up the stairs followed.
He'd been in his room ever since.
Slowly walking over to not spook him, Zeff took a seat on the edge of the bed beside Sanji and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Come here."
The brat didn't need anything more than that as he immediately allowed himself to rest his head against his shoulder.
Wrapping his arm around the boy he exhaled.
"There's a lot I don't know and you never have to tell me if you don't want to, but I promise that these people will never hurt you again, not while I'm here. You're my boy, and I'm going to look after you."
"Zeff..."
He noticed the light blush of embarrassment at his parental fussing and smiled, giving the kid's arm a light squeeze.
Shuffling back against the headboard he motioned for Sanji to join him which he quickly did.
"Well we haven't done this in a while, I kinda' miss it actually, you were a cute kid."
"I was really annoying, I feel bad for the fact you had to put up with me."
Zeff smirked.
"You're annoying now, eggplant, nothing's changed."
He succeeded in getting the response he wanted as the boy's mouth fell open in offence.
"And now with Zoro I have a second helping of teenage moodiness, I think we're past the point of 'annoying."
Sanji burst out laughing, the sound bringing a smile to his face.
He gave him a nudge with his elbow.
"Now, there are a few new dishes I've been thinking about adding to the menu; do you think you and watercress would be interested in being our taste testers?"
The teen scoffed.
"Zoro? You really think that moron would say no to free food?"
Zeff smirked.
"True."
Getting to his feet Sanji quickly checked his appearance in the mirror before heading for the door.
"I'll go find the mosshead and tell him the news."
He nodded.
"Okay, I'll meet you down there."
"Right."
Waiting for the boy to reach the lower deck Zeff turned to the bed and grabbed the offending newspaper and something from the nightstand Sanji had forgotten to hide. Walking out onto the balcony of the upper deck he stared down the face of the monster on the front page before flicking a light and torching the corner, watching the flames rise to consume the newspaper.
"You better hope we never cross paths, Vinsmoke Judge."
And with that, he threw it down into the water below, watching the ashes spread across the surface before slowly drifting away.
"He's my son and I won't hesitate to take you down if you ever lay a finger on him again."