Zoro was here
Zoro was here and he was kissing him
How long had it been?
Five months, nearly six.
Zoro had- Sanji pushes him away. Zoro had left only a couple of days after they had returned from the All Blue. With no warning and not telling anyone where he was going. He had said farewell to Luffy, who had been on watch, took one of Franky's subs and left the Sunny. "I'm still mad at you." Sanji says keeping his eyes focused on his fingers that were still lingering on Zoro's bare chest, and not on his eyes, which are easily his weakness.
"The feeling is mutual cook."
Sanji allows himself only a blink to show his surprise and finally looks up to meet Zoro's hard gaze. "Then why-?"
Zoro laughs. Gods how Sanji had missed that sound. "I might still be angry with you shitty cook, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss you."
"You're the one who left!" Sanji snaps, lowering his arm and letting it rest by his side. "I haven't seen or heard from you in almost six months, no one has!"
Zoro's eyes go dark. "While I admit I hadn't intended to be gone this long you know why I left in the first place."
Sanji crosses his arms and meets Zoro's glare again. "I won't apologize for what I did." Zoro opens his mouth as if to argue, but Sanji holds up a hand. One of them had to remember where the hell they were. "Old man!" He calls out, knowing Zeff was in the room. Hell, the whole staff had gathered in here and this fight was long overdue. He didn't need the customers seeing them argue, or possibly fight. "I'm taking the rest of the afternoon off. We'll see you at dinner." He taps Zoro's wrist in a silent gesture for him to follow, and without waiting for Zeff's reply, they step out of the restaurant.
Sanji lights a cigarette as he leads Zoro around the Baratie to where his ship is docked. He had bought the ship for two reasons. The first, while he hated to admit it, his nightmares were bad. His entire crew had suffered nightmares after the disaster of Mary Geoise, but during that time they had all been able to handle it together. For the past two months Sanji had been on his own and hadn't wanted to bother Zeff and his staff. The second was because of his bastard of a husband trailing behind him. When he bought the ship Sanji had given Zoro until the time the rest of their crew came for a visit before he would sail out to find him. They had one another's virve cards. It wouldn't be difficult for Sanji to go get him. They round a corner, and his ship comes into view. It was smaller than Merry, with two main sails, but it was fast and well maintained. Sanji uses sky walk to get onto the main deck and drops Zoro a line.
"Whose ship is this?" Zoro asks, as he steps onto the deck.
"Mine." Sanji smiles fondly, bringing the rope back up. "I bought it shortly after getting back here." At the worried gaze Zoro sends him he sighs. "Apparently I can't sleep unless I'm on a ship." He leans against the rail and takes a long drag of his cigarette.
"The Baratie is a ship." Zoro argues mildly.
"I think you know what I mean Marimo."
"Nightmares?"
Sanji puts out his smoke and shoves his hands into his pockets. "What do you think?"
Zoro let's out a long breath and moves to stand beside him. "For what it's worth I am sorry for taking so long. I-"
"Why did you go by yourself?"
"I was mad."
Sanji pushes himself off the rail angrily and storms to the middle of the deck. "You were pissed off at me after Mary Geoise, so why stay with us when we went back to Laughtale?" Gods it felt good to finally say the final island's name. Luffy had ordered them all to stay silent, why? He wasn't entirely sure. "Why didn't you just leave after-" He turns to face Zoro and his eyes fall to his husband's left hand, where an identical death mark was engraved.
"After I died, and you made a bargain to bring me back?" Zoro asks coldly.
Sanji turns away, flashes of that fight coming back. That bastard of a king poised to kill Luffy and Zoro taking the full impact of the blast. "I couldn't-" He manages to get out, Zoro's unmoving body lying flat on the too bright marbled ground. "I couldn't lose you."
"I did what I had to do."
"I know that!" Sanji snaps and turns, only to find himself face to face with Zoro. When the hell had he moved? He swallows and continues, "Zoro I know that, and I will forever be grateful that Luffy is still alive because of that, but-" He reaches out and touches Zoro's chest, feeling the steady beating of his heart. "You did what you had to do. I did what I had to do to bring you back. That doesn't make you sacrificing your life any less meaningful."
"So tell me-" Zoro crosses his arms and gives Sanji a glare he knows too damn well. "How much of your life-span did you sacrifice?"
"Are you finally ready to have this conversation? You didn't even wake up until we were nearly back on Laughtale and then you refused to hear me out."
"I was mad."
"And I gave up trying. You weren't going to listen to me so why bother."
"It was useless trying to talk to you when everything I tried to say pissed you off."
"If you had just let me explain-"
"what was there to explain?" Zoro finally snaps, "you cut your own life to give me another go!"
Sanji swings, hitting Zoro in the ribs. From the impact of the kick or from surprise Zoro is knocked to the ground. "No." Sanji was tired of this. Zoro moves to stand up, but Sanji shoves his foot down on his chest, keeping him there. "No. I'm tired of people assuming the worst when they see this stupid thing." He removes his gloves, revealing the black snake. "I didn't give up any of my life span." The surprise on Zoro's face pisses him off more. "If you had just let me explain in the first place you would know that." Zoro shoves Sanji's foot off him and stands up. "For God's sake it depends on who you make the deal with."
"So what was the deal?" Zoro asks calmly, but there was an edge to it.
"You still won't like it."
"Just tell me cook."
"I didn't give up any of my life-span, but the two of us are connected, which is why you also have the mark. You never questioned that?"
Zoro shrugs, "I assumed it was because I was the one you brought back."
"It's because-" Sanji bites out. "Our lives are connected. If one of us dies the other does as well."
Zoro looks at his hand, "a shared fate."
"I couldn't go through that again, so I agreed to the terms."
"And so you decided for me as well?"
"It was the only way to bring you back!" They stand in silence for a long minute until Zoro's stomach growls loudly. He sighs, realizing he hadn't eaten yet either. "C'mon, I'll make us some food, unless you want to run off again." Zoro is quiet as Sanji leads him to the door into the kitchen. It was almost an exact replica of the galley on the Sunny, just bigger. A large kitchen sits behind a bar and in the center is a huge oak table that can easily accommodate twelve people, and a futon shoved up against the opposite wall.
"You do the redesign yourself cook?" Zoro asks, dropping down onto one of the stools at the bar.
"Couldn't help myself." Sanji admits, opening the fridge and debating what to make. They had fresh fish, but Zoro had probably lived off fish the past couple of months. "It got a bit lonely."
"And the rest of the crew?"
Sanji decides on Katsudon and grabs the necessary ingredients. "Everyone is here in the East blue. Nami and Usopp wanted to say hi to their home islands. Luffy has to go back home to talk to Maka-chan-"they share a knowing look. He didn't envy Luffy for having to have that particular conversation. "They're all going to come back here before heading back to the grand line."
"Think Usopp and Nami will stay on their islands?"
"Usopp maybe, Nami no." Sanji gets the oven going and starts combining ingredients. "You know she wants to create her world map and Usopp has that girl Kaya?" He questions. Zoro just nods and continues to watch him. "After everything-he has definitely become a great warrior of the sea, so he may just stay home this time."
"I'm surprised everyone else is still around."
"Jinbei won't leave Luffy you know that. Franky has vowed to sail the world on the Sunny and Robin will stay with him. Chopper wants to find a cure for every disease and by staying with Luffy I think he may accomplish that, and Brook I don't know."
"I'm surprised he hasn't gone back to being a famous musician."
"I think-" Sanji smiles, as he preps. "After being reunited with Laboon, who has somehow gotten bigger by the way, he isn't sure what he wants. And maybe continuing to travel with the pirate king will help him." Sanji puts the breaded pork into the oven.
Zoro gives a non-committal grunt and Sanji gets out the rice, glad to have something to do with his hands.
Finally, Zoro groans, "I wasn't mad that you brought me back." Sanji pauses, thankful his back is turned. "I was mad because you didn't hesitate to do it. When I took the blow for Luffy I knew I was dead. I had done my job and you had done yours."
Sanji scoffs at that. "Hardly-Nami and Usopp were badly hurt. Chopper was unconscious, Brook was-" gods it hurt to even try talking about that fight. "I-"
"you did your job." Zoro states again. "And I did mine."
"Yeah, I just wish your job didn't involve sacrificing your life." Sanji turns back to his preparations, "again."
"I didn't die the first time with Kuma, or the second time in that fight against Blackbeard." Zoro reminds him.
"Not helping."
"Look at it from my perspective Cook. One minute I've accepted death and the next I'm waking up in the infirmary on the Sunny with Chopper telling me that you sacrificed your life for mine! Do you have any idea how panicked I felt thinking that you took my place?"
"Chopper had been unconscious the entire second half of that fight and you knew that." Sanji argues, his voice rising in anger. "If you believed me dead at the time at least you knew how I felt when I watched it happen to you." He regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth. He didn't wish that feeling on even his worst enemy. "That-I'm sorry. That was said out of anger, and I truly don't mean that."
Zoro just grunts, but Sanji recognizes it as one that didn't mean he was mad. "After I panicked Chopper quickly told me that both of us were still alive thanks to Dragon, but it had come at a cost." Zoro continues after a while. "It took me longer than I care to admit seeing it, but when I saw the mark I understood-or at least I thought I did."
"And then you proceeded to be pissed at me about it until now."
"Why are you still so willing to sacrifice your life?" Zoro snaps.
"What was I supposed to do Zoro!" Sanji snaps, turning around to face him again. "You were gone! If our roles had been reversed, what would you have done?"
"You weren't the one dead."
"What if Dragon had asked for something else? He didn't, so what does it matter?"
"It matters because you were willing to trade places, again." Sanji groans, Thriller Bark wasn't his proudest moment. "Just tell me this-"Zoro continues, his gaze hard. "If Dragon had told you that in order to bring me back you would have to die. Would you have done it?"
Sanji closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. "If we had been in a similar situation before we got together my answer would have been yes."
"And now?"
"Now I realize the grief you would have felt if our roles had been reversed. If Dragon had offered to bring you back at the cost of my own life I would've said no." He sighs and leans against the counter facing Zoro. "It probably would've taken all of our friends to help me move on, but I would've said no. I couldn't have put you through that."
"Truly?"
The genuine surprise on Zoro's face almost brings a grin to Sanji's face. "Truly, but if you think I'm lying-"
"No. No, I can see you're serious." Zoro runs a hand through his hair. "Shit, then I guess I'm sorry for thinking you were being selfish."
"This coming from the man who told me I could be selfish once and a while." Sanji snaps, leaning back and crossing his arms."
"You should be Cook, but I'm glad your first act of selfishness wasn't sacrificing yourself to spare your own grief."
Sanji resists the urge to roll his eyes and faces the stove again to finish cooking. He was still mad at the swordsman for leaving, but at least they were talking. Sanji takes out two bowls and fills them with rice and eggs, before taking the pork out of the oven and cutting it into pieces. "You know where the alcohol is Marimo, take your pick. There's decent sake in the back somewhere and grab enough for both of us." He hears Zoro shuffle around to where he keeps his booze. Sanji takes out two glasses, even if he knew Zoro preferred drinking straight out of the bottle, and hears Zoro let out a breath of surprise. He must've found his favorite then. Sanji finishes the meal, puts the dirty dishes into the sink and sets the bowls on the bar counter, where Zoro is already seated. A bottle of Sanji's favorite wine and his favorite sake in his hands. Sanji blinks once, realizing how uncharacteristically domestic this all was. The two of them hadn't had a moment alone together like this since before Mary Geoise. Zoro raises a brow, but Sanji only waves him off and opens his bottle.
Zoro smirks and takes a swig of his sake. "You still a shit drinker?"
"Not all of us have the tolerance of a mountain moss head." Sanji retorts and pours himself a drink. "I may not have your tolerance, but I've gotten better since coming back, or worse-depending on how you look at it."
"How bad?"
Sanji lifts the bottle, "I can drink this whole thing and barely be buzzed."
He sees a flash of worry flicker across Zoro's face, and he sets his bottle down before sighing. "I really am sorry. I didn't plan to be gone that long."
"Why did you go in the first place?"
"I got a letter from Perona saying she needed help."
It takes a moment for Sanji to match a face with the name. "Your ghost sister from Thriller bark?"
"She's not my sister."
"From the stories you told me she may as well be." He laughs and takes a drink. Zoro glares, but Sanji only asks, "so what happened?"
"There was one morning, after we left the All blue where I got a letter. I knew it was from Perona cause she's the only person I know who writes in pink girlish font. All it said was, please come help you big brute. I thought it was a joke or something, so I ignored it. A few days after that another one showed up this time from one of her personal ghosts saying, please I've been captured and don't know how much more I can take. I couldn't ignore that, so I left that night. Her ghost managed to get me halfway before disappearing."
"Why did you have to do this by yourself? We would've gone to help."
"I needed time by myself."
"You were seriously that mad at me?"
"Yes."
That stung. "Then why-"
"I was equally mad at myself too." He takes a long swig from his bottle. "I was and will forever be the first mate of our crew. My first priority is to my captain, but-" He looks at Sanji. The pain in his eyes startles him. "The minute I said 'I do' my priorities should have changed."
"What are you talking about?" Sanji asks nervously, the tone in his husband's voice grows dark.
Zoro clenches his hands into fists. "I would do it again in a heartbeat, save Luffy, but I should've at least tried to find a different path. I went alone to punish myself. I thought, if I left for a period of time, it would be fitting punishment if you were pissed off at me the next time we met."
"You feel guilty because you took the hit?"
"I feel guilty because I didn't even think of how you would feel." He snaps. "I should've at least tried to find a different way."
"There wasn't time." Sanji argues. "And I was never mad at you for that. I knew damn well there wasn't a choice." He places a hand tentatively on Zoro's shoulder. "In the end I got you back and Luffy is alive. You don't have to feel as though you need to be punished for that. I'm pissed you left. Hell, I'm more pissed you left just to piss me off, but fuck mosshead if you had just let me talk to you-"
"I know." Zoro takes a large swig of his drink. "But that's on you too cook. We found the All Blue and acted as though nothing had happened."
"I didn't know what else to do." Sanji groans, taking Zoro's drink from him and taking a swig himself, needing the burn. "I was afraid that if I brought up Mary Geoise then you would go back to ignoring me."
"We're terrible at this you know." Zoro takes the bottle back, "at communication I mean."
Sanji sighs, "Yes we are."
"For what it's worth I am sorry Sanji."
And he was. Zoro was a stubborn idiot, but he was an honest one. "Well, we're both idiots." Sanji hands Zoro a fork. "Now eat up before your food gets cold."
"Shitty cook," Zoro grumbles and digs into his food.
"Love you too Marimo." Sanji laughs, pouring himself another glass of the wine.
Zoro pauses in his eating to look at him. "I haven't said that yet have I?" He asks through a mouthful of food.
Sanji scowls, "stop talking with your mouth full."
Zoro swallows the food and says, "I love you." Sanji moves to say something, but Zoro continues, "and I love your food! It's been months since I've had anything decent, and your cooking is always the best."
Heat rises to Sanji's face. "You're just saying that because you've eaten my cooking for years."
"I'm saying that because I've eaten your food for years." Zoro argues, swallowing another mouthful. "Your food is seriously the best."
"What have you been eating?" Sanji asks curiously, finally taking a bite.
"Fish mostly." Zoro takes another swig from his bottle. "Mihawk is decent cook, but Perona is shit."
Sanji kicks him. "Don't insult a lady."
Zoro just waves him off. "Even you would be insulted by her cooking, I promise."
"What happened anyways?" Sanji asks, changing the subject. He would never insult a lady, especially one that offered to feed his boorish husband at all. "I assume you saved her?"
"We did."
"We?" Sanji couldn't help the jealousy in his voice.
"Mihawk showed up at almost the same time I did." Zoro explains quickly. "Honestly with both of us it took less than an hour. Apparently, he does care for her."
"You three really are a strange little family." Sanji laughs at the glare he receives. "Hey, it's not my fault your greatest rival became something of a mentor."
"He's hardly my rival anymore." Zoro finishes the last of his meal and before he takes another swig Sanji swipes the bottle.
"Are you-?" Zoro reaches for the bottle, but Sanji holds it just out of reach. "Please tell me you did what I think you're implying."
Zoro leans over and kisses him, all while reaching out and grabbing the bottle back. "Guess who beat the greatest swordsman in the world?"
Sanji gapes. The shit eating grin Zoro was giving him should've pissed him off, but only brings a grin to his face.
Zoro places the bottle on the counter and leans in to kiss him again. "There are two reasons I will forever be grateful you brought me back Cook." He murmurs, breaking away and resting his forehead against his. "The first was getting the chance to see your face light up when we found the All Blue. You were practically glowing, and I couldn't have been happier for you in that moment." Their breaths were mingling now and Sanji was becoming drunk from Zoro's scent of the sea and steel. "The second-"Zoro continues smiling, his lips inches from Sanji's again. "Was seeing the look on Mihawk's face when I beat him, and finally achieved my own dream."
"So, what's next for the new greatest swordsman in the world?" Sanji murmurs, brushing his lips against Zoro's, and wrapping his arms around his neck.
"Well first-"Zoro lifts Sanji up, who wraps his legs around his waist. "I wanted to come home."
Because, he realizes, that's what he was to Zoro.
"And I hoped-"Zoro continues, smiling against Sanji's lips. "That my stubborn husband wouldn't kick me out as soon as he saw me."
"It wouldn't have been right away." Sanji laughs. "You had to at least give me time to yell at you."
"And now?"
Sanji pulls back slightly, giving him a chance to look at Zoro fully. There was a flicker of humor in his dark eyes, but there was fear too. "Zoro-"he pauses, trying to figure out which route to voice his thoughts. "Like I told you when we got married, I choose to spend today and all my tomorrows with you. We're going to fight, we always have, and I don't see that ever changing, but I do love you. And before anything else you are my nakama. I will never turn you away." He rests his forehead on Zoro's again. "Stupid Marimo."
"So, what now Shitty cook?"
"Right now-"Sanji kisses him again. "I want to have some fun with my husband who I haven't seen for nearly half a year." He grins wickedly, "and I believe I still have three passes from that bet we made back when we fought the admirals."
Zoro bursts out laughing. "Of course, you would remember that." He leans in to kiss him again. "Alright Cook, tell me where you want to go."
"Bedroom," he murmurs. "Go back out on deck, and it'll be the second door on the left."
"Oh? Am I carrying you?" Zoro grins between breathless kisses.
"Are you going to count it as one of my passes?" Sanji jokes, as Zoro makes his way to the door anyways, while navigating with Sanji still clinging to him.
Zoro pauses just outside the door. "Tell me how to get to your room again and I'll consider not counting it."
Sanji bursts out laughing this time and unhooks himself from Zoro. When his feet are firmly on the deck Sanji kisses Zoro again, before taking his hand and leading him down to his room.
