Chapter 3

It was two days after Sanji had barged in on Zoro's boner, and needless to say Zoro was avoiding him.

After Sanji's 'What the fuck, Marimo?' outburst, Zoro had just snatched up his clothes and stalked past Sanji to lock himself in the bathroom next door. He came out half an hour later only to let a furious Chopper stitch him up and check him over, before retreating to the crows nest. He'd come down for meals, but he would avoid any eye contact or conversation with Sanji. He wouldn't even make snide remarks.

Sanji had no idea how to process the information. Part of him felt an understanding as to why Zoro was so frustrated with him and Chopper for the disturbance, but another part was slight confusion. It wasn't unusual for them to want some alone time, but what was unusual was the circumstances surrounding it. Heck, maybe Zoro was a masochist after all. Sanji didn't overly care as everyone had their dirty little secrets.

However, what he did care about was the fact that he was being avoided over something so stupid. Was Zoro ashamed?

Sanji guessed it made sense though, to a degree. The two of them were constantly butting heads and maybe Zoro thought that this would be something Sanji held over him. He wouldn't, for the record.

He wanted to tell Zoro that but thought he'd probably be making things worse if he did.

Fuck, why did it even bother him so much? Ah well.

Sanji figured he'd just give the other man the space he obviously wanted, and then hopefully they'd get back to ripping the shit out of each other, both verbally and physically, before he knew it.

Later that evening, Nami announced that they were approaching an island, which was good news all around as it gave Sanji an excuse to restock some supplies, and it also meant that the crew would be able to stretch their legs and get a change of scenery.

The island itself had quite a large harbour filled with ships of all sizes and as the crew approached the gangway they could already hear that the town was rather rowdy. Bars lined the harbour in abundance, from which drunkards emerged either talking loudly with their drinking buddies before disappearing into the next bar, or else heckling others in order to start trouble.

Nami looked around skeptically, frowning with discontent as a man roared and smashed a bottle over another man's head, which had the whole street cheering and egging for a fight.

'Erm, maybe we should wait til morning and hope it calms down?'

Zoro acted as though Nami hadn't said anything and began walking towards the source of the noise casually.

'Oi, Zoro?!' Nami questioned angrily.

Zoro carried on his saunter and called back over his shoulder with a wave, 'I don't know what you guys are buying, but this is my kind of town. Getting a beer.'

Nami face-palmed with a frustrated groan.

'I'm going too!' announced Luffy, but Nami had him in a fish hook before he even took two steps.

'Luffy, no. We don't need you causing trouble. We'll come back in the morning when the respectable stores are open and when, hopefully, all these louts are in bed suffering with hangovers and concussions.'

'What about Zoro?' asked Usopp, watching the green-haired man disappear into the crowd of hooligans. Nami sighed.

'Let's hope he has the sense to not start trouble...'

Vvvvvvvvv

Sanji was in the galley making meal plans when he heard heavy footsteps on deck. Everyone else had gone to bed already, meaning that either Zoro had miraculously found the ship, or they had a trespasser.

He put down his pen and cautiously made his way out onto the deck, careful not to make too much noise.

The person in question was already on their way to the library, so Sanji sped up slightly in order to catch up.

Dark spots of liquid caught his eye, making a trail from the gangway and shining in the moonlight. Blood. Whoever it was was injured.

As he approached the library he was able to see someone climbing up the ladder towards the bath-house on the floor above, and could make out the shape of multiple swords attached to their waist. So it was Zoro. But why was he injured? How was he injured?

Sanji continued his pursuit, reaching the ladder as he heard the door on the level above close.

He grimaced as he put his hand on a patch of blood as he was climbing, already starting to become sticky. Fucking idiot Marimo.

As he reached the door, he could hear groaning from inside. He immediately thought of when Zoro had come here a few days, and remembered that this was similar. Was he genuinely hurt? Where was the injury? ...And would he be bothering some sort of alone time if he knocked and expressed concern? Not that he was concerned with what the stupid idiot did.

Sanji sank to to the floor, resting his back on the locked door and pulled out a cigarette. The loud clicks of his zipper lighter seemed to go unnoticed by the other man, much to Sanji's relief, and he breathed in the nicotine deeply. What the fuck was this situation?

His ears perked as the sounds from inside the bathroom started to pick up pace and Sanji wrinkled his nose when it occurred to him that he was definitely listening to Zoro jack off. He decided that he'd better leave the man to it as he obviously wasn't injured too seriously if that was the case, and voyeurism wasn't really his thing.

He quietly descended the ladder and decided to call it a night.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvv

Chopper screeched hysterically when Zoro walked into the galley for breakfast. His entire face was covered in a blue bruise that seemed to spread from a cut on the bridge of his nose that was swollen.

Nami gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her hand.

'Holy shit dude,' Franky yelped, frowning deeply.

Zoro rolled his eyes.

'Yes, it's broken but I fixed it.'

'What do you mean you fixed it?' Chopper shrieked, running over to assess the damage.

Zoro looked unimpressed.

'I mean I straightened it out so it wouldn't heal funny.'

'I should have been there,' said Luffy, looking dejected. 'Looks like it would have been fun.'

Nami hit him on the back of the head, shutting him up.

Chopper let out a frustrated groan, standing on a chair so he could get a better look. 'You should have woken me up!'

Zoro squatted down so that he was on the same level as the little doctor.

'Chopper, please don't worry, it looks worse than it is because of the bruising.'

Chopper's eyes filled with tears. 'But it looks terrible,' he sobbed.

'Honestly, it doesn't even hurt. The bruising will go in a few days.'

Vvvv

After breakfast Zoro left to, presumably, go back up to the crows nest where he'd been hiding out for the past few days, but Sanji followed him and called after him.

'How on earth did someone manage to do that to you?'

This was a man who had reflexes like a cat, and yet he'd managed to get a broken nose from a nobody on a backwater island. Something didn't add up, but it gave Sanji a hunch.

Zoro slowed and turned to scowl at him darkly.

'You can go fuck yourself.'

Sanji's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

'What the fuck was that for?'

Zoro stomped up to him so that they were inches apart, his golden eye boring into Sanji's blue.

'Don't think I don't know that you followed me last night.' He hissed, keeping his voice as low as he could. Sanji's stomach dropped slightly, as he raised his hands between them defensively.

'Woah woah, what the fuck are you on about?'

'Your cigarettes, shit-cook. A late night smoke maybe? Ring any bells?'

Fuck. Zoro had left the bathroom into the hall where Sanji had lit up. Of course he would have been able to smell the smoke.

'In my defence there was a trail of blood leading up there. I thought you were either a trespasser or that you were an injured member of the crew.'

Zoro gave a mock laugh.

'So why'd you go back down then? No, don't answer that. Just leave me the fuck alone.'

'I don't care.' Sanji said simply shaking his head. 'What you do in your own time is your business. I just don't think you're going about it the right way.'

Zoro's anger spilled over into a snarl as he jabbed Sanji in the chest with his finger.

'I don't give a fuck if you don't care or what you think, we both know you're only sticking your nose in to be an asshole! Leave me the fuck alone!'

Sanji felt a twinge in his chest at that accusation. 'I could tell Chopper what I know, and then I'd really be an asshole.'

Zoro bared his teeth, threateningly. 'You wouldn't dare.'

'No, I honestly wouldn't, but don't you dare say that I'm only doing this to be a dick. Look at your face, Marimo, for God's sake. Do you really think that no-one's going to notice if you keep getting hurt? What about Chopper?'

Zoro looked at the floor with a frown. He obviously didn't like the state the doctor got into whenever one of them got injured.

'Then what? Hide it better? Stop getting hurt altogether? What, are you my mother now?'

Sanji snorted. It wasn't lost on him how awkward this situation was. They hardly ever expressed any sort of kindness or compassion for one another. That wasn't to say it wasn't there.

'I… honestly don't know. Just… try and be careful, yeah?'

Zoro grunted in response, his shoulders slumping as he let his muscles relax with a resigned sigh. He turned to walk away from their conversation.

'I'm going to train…'

Vvvvvvvvvvv

Hey guys! Thanks for the followers, you're honestly getting me back into writing again and I'm enjoying it :)

I have a friend on AO3, and apparently that's where it's at now? I requested an invitation a few weeks ago so I will be updating on there as soon as I get the invite (I'm, like, 15,000 in the queue?)

Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it, or to give constructive criticism as I do want to become better as a writer 3

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