Chapter 4

Zoro punched the wall with heavy force, and at the same time a strangled roar released itself from his chest. He felt anger and frustration building up inside him as he pulled back his fist and hit the wall a second time, the pain relieving some of the pent up adrenaline that had his chest aching. He slowly opened his hand to stare at the split knuckles he'd just given himself, the pain dissipating that awful feeling of rage to exchange it for something else, something more agreeable, and slumped to the floor, cross legged.

He'd been out in the town for the majority of the day, and had managed to wander obliviously into a shady part of the red light district. Whilst the his was definitely not his intention, an image on one of the signs that he wouldn't usually look twice at caught his eye. It showed the silhouette of a man chained up on his knees, with a second silhouette of a woman standing behind him brandishing a whip. A sudden involuntary image of himself being in the position of the man flashed into his mind and went straight to his dick.

Zoro was suddenly horrified by his body's reaction, and decided he needed to get out of there before he ended up with a full-on erection.

And so he walked in the opposite direction as fast as he could, trying his best to clear his mind. He used meditative techniques in order to empty his head, focusing on the sound of his breathing because he didn't want his mind to betray him yet again. However, he knew he'd have to try and battle his urges at some point as meditation would only be able to placate him for a shortened period of time and was definitely not a long term thing if he wanted to function properly, although the absurd idea did cross his mind.

After a few hours of wandering the streets, aimlessly looking for something hing he recognised, he managed to stumble upon the harbour and the Sunny, much to his relief as indecent thoughts kept pushing their way into his head.

And so ensued Zoro taking his frustrations out on one of the Sunny's walls with his fist.

As he continued to look down at his bloodied hand, his mind continued to race. How did he get himself into this mess? And why on Earth was it that the stupid cook was so clued in, almost more-so than himself? Perhaps it was a coincidence, but that one question from the cook a few days ago changed everything.

'Are you a fucking masochist?'

Zoro had to admit that he liked a good fight. He sought to fight, he loved the rush it gave him when he came up against somebody who could match him, and it spurred him on to improve his skills giving him a sense of fulfilment.

But there was something else. Something that he'd never really picked up on until that one unassuming question seemed to drop something into place in his mind.
Yes, he'd gotten stirrings in his loins during a heated, exiting battle, but his entire life was one where sexual urges and thoughts didn't even cross his mind for favour of a decent challenge, so he put it down to his body becoming confused by the excitement of battle.
However, the minute Sanji asked that question had Zoro wondering whether it could be true, and because his mind delved into the gutter for the first time in a long time, his body seemed to answer his question for him.

Even now, as he thought of his throbbing knuckles, he could feel himself begin to stir. Fuck this shit.

Zoro stood and headed for the bathroom. There was only one way his body was gonna calm down at this point and as much as he wished he could will it away himself, he hadn't had the practice with this particular scenario and so in theory his body was acting the same as a teenage virgin's after seeing a pair of boobs.
Once he reached the shower room he locked the door firmly and undressed in a flurry of clothing, his dick standing fully to attention now it was without any constraints. Zoro scowled down at himself, pressing his thumb into his swollen knuckles, the resulting pain making his boner twitch.

'Fucking really?' He questioned with exasperation.

He started up the shower, ignoring his aching dick in spite of himself and proceeded to lather up.
His muscles still ached from where Sanji kicked him a few days ago, and he relished the feeling as he ran his hands over his lean abdomen with a groan as he felt himself relax further

Once he'd washed himself all over, making sure to wash his face relatively gently to avoid aggravating the cuts to his eyebrow and nose, his attention went back to his dick. It was aching to be touched, and so he ran his calloused hands over it softly, the lather making everything much smoother. He felt himself respond to the contact, the feeling in his gut building slowly as he teased himself experimentally.
Testing the waters, and out of sheer curiosity, he pressed his thumb deep into the slit whilst squeezing his hand tightly around his girth, the resulting feeling making his knees almost give way.

It was an unusual mix of sensations and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not, although his body seemed to respond positively. He went back to jerking himself off rhythmically with a pressure that wasn't painful but gave enough friction to push him further to where he wanted to be.
His breathing was becoming unsteady as he sped up to bring himself closer to release, and as he felt his dick harden and his balls tighten he slammed his free fist into the tiles once, twice, three times, which was enough to push him over the edge. He emptied his load with a guttural moan onto the wet tiles as his legs shook, the shower doing its job of washing all evidence down the plug hole.

He waited, free arm holding himself up against the tiles, as he tried to get his breathing under control. He closed his eyes, and let the sensations wash over him: the warmth of the water massaging his back muscles, the amazing feeling of relaxation that followed his climax, the throbbing pain in both sets of knuckles-
He brought his hands up to his face, frowning at the angry red splits that had opened up in a few places due to multiple impacts with hard, solid surfaces, bruises already starting to appear.
He sighed as he opened and closed his hands. Chopper's probably going to notice those. He really needed to get his impulses in order or he was gonna do some serious damage to himself.

He turned off the shower, grabbing a towel from the shelf and drying himself down roughly, before dressing and heading back to the crows nest with the idea that a bit of meditation might do him good.

As he started climbing the rigging, he caught the scent of tobacco which got stronger the higher he climbed. He thought the ship was still empty. Pulling himself through the trap door, he glowered at the cook who was sat staring off into the horizon, cigarette in hand.

'What the fuck are you doing here?' He growled.
Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, turning his head to face Zoro, looking completely unimpressed.

'It's my watch tonight, shit-for-brains. So the real question should be what the fuck are you doing here?'
Zoro felt his ears turn pink, embarrassed that he'd just made himself look like an idiot.
It was Usopp's watch the night before, but only because Zoro wasn't here to do it. Other than that he'd taken over watch in the recent days past out of convenience, considering he'd been holing himself up.

'I'll do it, you can go.'

Sanji rolled his eyes.

'Go get some fucking sleep Marimo, it can't be overly comfortable sleeping up here as often as you have been.'

Zoro took his swords off and placed them down on the bench, stressing his point.

'I'm serious, cook. I want tonight's watch.'

His voice sounded urgent and strained. Sanji frowned at him for a few moments, a concerned look on his face.

'Is everything okay?'

Zoro ran his hands over his face in exasperation.

'Look, I'll take watch, and you can go make some sickeningly sweet treats for the girls or something, I don't care, but I just want to be left alone, okay?'
Sanji frowned harder, now staring at Zoro's hands.

'What happened to your knuckles?'

Zoro's stomach dropped as he realised he'd just given Sanji a full view of the damage he'd done to his hands. He turned them so that Sanji could no longer see the backs, and the cook's gaze instead turned itself to Zoro's face, questioning.
Zoro's response came without any bite to it at all, as all the confusion and inner turmoil he'd been experiencing over the past few days overwhelmed him.

'Please, just... leave me alone.'

Sanji slowly sat himself up straight, looking at the man in front of him and sensing the despair he was emitting.
It was so unusual for Zoro to act like that, and it made Sanji uncomfortable, a tight knot of worry building in his gut.

'Zoro, ' he started softly, 'I know this is totally out of character for whatever 'relationship' we have, but... let me help.'

Zoro's eyes flicked to Sanji's at the use of his name, a slight frown on his features.

'You can't.' He replied, shortly. There was no way in Hell he was going to explain anything to the cook, of all people. He'd rather be shoved off the Sunny whilst at sea.

'Zoro...'

Zoro snapped. He stomped over and grabbed Sanji by the front of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

'Stop using my fucking name, you never use my name. Don't think I can't sense your pity, Sanji, and as far as I'm concerned you can shove it up your ass. Now just fuck off before I really get pissed!'
Sanji was now staring Zoro down just as hard as Zoro was him.

'What if I offered to hurt you so you didn't have to?'

Zoro's eyebrows shot up in shock, his hold on the cook's shirt loosening.

'...what?'

To be continued...

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Okaaaay, I admit; I tried to lengthen this out as my plan literally had only a few words for this chapter, and it ended up being my shortest chapter yet... there are so many great fanfic writers who can use so much beautiful language between actions and really involve the reader, but I guess I'm not good at that and don't want to end up rambling!

Ah well.

Again, thanks for your support, I know I'm a novice ;)

PF x