Author's Note: Okay, last update this week. Next update will be next week, in November. Say, the 7th? Maybe? I don't know. The last chapter of Beautiful Disaster is written and I hope you guys like the ending. That'll be posted on Halloween! I'm kind of in shock at how many follows this story already has! Anyway, I've decided to make a rule: five reviews at least, or no update. Yes, I'm cruel. No, I don't own One Piece. Also, there's a pattern in this story, like there was in the other story. Again, first person-third-person way of writing (I think it's called third person limited), but instead of alternating every chapter, it's every 5th chapter is Zoro's, while every other chapter is Sanji's, so the next chapter by Zoro will be chapter 10 and then 15 and so forth. Dear God, did I just write so forth? Moving on, please enjoy this chapter!


Speechless
By: Setkia


Full Summary

Sanji is a cook at the Baratie who, for a reason not fully understood by all the other cooks, has not spoken a word in three years. He goes through his life normally, communicating through paper and pen. He hasn't felt the urge to speak since he's decided he would never speak again. Things change though when one day, while taking out the trash, he accidentally runs into the "Demon the Streets".

Roronoa Zoro, the "Demon of the Streets" is a mystery but he's feared by everyone who hears his name. He's on the run from the police with a wanted poster and a big prize if he's found and captured. With an accidental wrong turn, he encounters a strange man with long legs and blond hair. Zoro learnt pretty early on that in his line of work, you don't get attached to people and yet somehow this cook is working his way through his barriers.


PART ONE: BATTLE SCARS

V


To be honest, Roronoa Zoro didn't know exactly who the blond was. With the wounds making him unsteady and of course his damn eye …

Zoro knew a few things about his "captor".

He was male. Though his frame and build made Zoro think he might have been female, the way he walked and the texture of his hands pointed towards masculinity.

He smoked. Some expensive brand probably, since it didn't smell like those cheap packs at the convenience store.

He had screwed up eyebrows. At least, Zoro assumed he did since the one eyebrow he did see was weird and swirly. He covered the other with a curtain of golden hair.

He was a fucking fantastic cook, point blank.

He lived in a small apartment, despite having money tons plunge on fancy cigarettes and exotic spices.

He had the hardest handwriting in the world to read, all swirly like his eyebrow.

He kicked fucking hard and Zoro's head was still spinning.

His name was Sanji, which was a weird ass name, definitely weirder than Zoro.

He didn't speak.

Zoro had never been one to like silence. Meditation was good, but then there were things like talking. He wanted to know more about Sanji. Adjusting to vaguely seeing through one eye was hard, especially since it threw him entirely off balance. That damn bastard,

He knew general layout of course. The couch was a few meters from the TV, the kitchen was about fifteen steps from the couch, the table was in the middle of the not-so-fancy dinning room. Harder details though, like where the light switch was, if there was an island he might collide with, where the corner of the coffee table was, how many pillows were on the couch, it would take time to adjust.

Wait.

Am I really thinking of staying long term?

Zoro was paranoid. That was nothing new when you were on the run, especially when you were running from— no, don't think about that.

He squinted, curious about the cook That back alley, he had been in before, hadn't he? Was it a restaurant? He seemed to know his way around the kitchen— of course he knows his way around his own kitchen, you're the only one with that problem, numbskull!

He knew the man wore black. He saw a lot of black with flashes of yellow? No, gold. But now he saw blue with lines. Pinstripe, that was the term.

"How old are you?"

Sanji raised two fingers and a whole hand.

"Twenty-five?"

Sanji nodded.

Damn he was older than Zoro. Not by much, but still. Zoro sized him up. He was taller at least, just a little.

"Do you usually take in strays?" he asked, picking up his plate. He put his fork and knife on the plate. Thank God he didn't have to make a bigger fool of himself.

Wait, where was the sink?

Zoro looked around for a metallic colour before he remembered. People also had fridges like that. Did he have to look for a hole in the counter?

Sanji took his plate before Zoro could start to freak out. In less than an hour, this man had seen more sides of Zoro than he was comfortable with.

"You didn't answer my question," Zoro said, watching Sanji's back as he started cleaning the dishes. Didn't most people use the dish washer? "Do you always take in strays, Curly Brow?"

Sanji's back tensed.

Zoro smirked.

Sanji turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. What do you think? was implied.

"So why me?"

Sanji took Zoro's hand in his again, this time soapy. He noticed three scars on his left thumb. "Pie …" Zoro waited for the word, sound it out. "Pit ... Pity— I am not pitiful!"

Sanji's eyes were laughing.

Blond. The cook was blond. That wasn't common in Japan. Neither was green hair, but it was all over those crack TV shows— anime, right?

"I'm not," he reiterated his point.

Sanji totally ignored him.

"What do you do that you can afford such expensive cigarettes?" asked Zoro. He had an idea, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure. "Cook?" If he was, he didn't wear those white outfits, Zoro could tell from the black mass before him.

Sanji shook his head and took Zoro's hand in his. It was different, so very rare for Zoro to feel another's touch, especially since he had stated running. It brought him to attention and made him jump just a little at the difference in texture between the two of them. "Che ... Chess? No, chef?" Sanji nodded. "What's the difference?" Sanji's grip on his hand tightened and suddenly, a large strew of letters were being harshly forced into his palm. "E... Evening? Ever ... Every ... Everythin? Oh, everything!" Zoro frowned. "That doesn't really answer my question though." Sanji shook his head, as though to tell Zoro he was hopeless. Well, at least he knew what the blond did.

"So what do you plan on doing next?"

Zoro wasn't much of a talker but Sanji didn't leave him much choice. He knew unless he opened the window of conversation, no one else would. Having Sanji write on the palm of his hand was a slow process. If only Zoro could read properly— no, he had never blamed himself before and he wouldn't start now. Going a single letter at a time helped him separate the jumble of letters.

Sanji looked a him, his brow quirking upwards, his lips slightly parted. It was clear he was trying to say "next?"

"You're telling me you had no plan? At all?"

Sanji turned away from him.

Another thought occurred to him. "How do you know my name?"

Sanji took his hand again, his delicate looking fingers cold to the couch. "He … har … heard. You heard it?"

Sanji nodded.

What was he thinking? Of course the man had heard it. It was in the papers, the TV, it was everywhere.

Roronoa Zoro, the Demon of the Streets, broke out of jail where he was to pay a life-time sentence. Why?

Because Roronoa Zoro was a serial killer.


Author's Note #2: The thank-yous!

bronze andromeda shun: Your friend's OTP is Zoro and Sanji? Or Smoker and Ace? Or who?! I don't know! You know you're still ahead of me, I'm at episode 139, I think. I'm not even sure. What is it with people sharing things with me I don't know if they want me to know? I don't mind that you told me, but don't you think it's something just a tad personal to mention in passing like that?

Random Person: I just thought it was a good line, that's great that you like it.

SmAc: Balance, it's all about balance.

lilcutieprincess: I saw a video where Sanji nearly died from a nose bleed from seeing the mermaid princess. I do enjoy watching those moments, I don't know why, I just find them and I love them and then I remember that time when Sanji was sleeping and tried to kiss Zoro. Someone, I don't remember which story it was in, said that Sanji overcompensated and maybe had a deep admiration for women rather than actually liked them since, if he respects them so much, he wouldn't want to do something as "vulgar" as have sex with them.

tenshuni: Your review is enough! God I sound cheesy ...

Okay now for my question: this is Zoro's point of view, do you like it? I enjoyed writing this chapter immensely because I do like to show hints of others personality through another person's eyes to see how they interpret it, but I'm not sure why, but Zoro's inner mind has always been full of less problems than Sanji's in my opinion, since Zoro's one of those people who doesn't really worry about anything and yet Sanji's stressed because (in the anime/manga) people try to steal food, he needs to make sure he doesn't injure his hands, he's trying to flirt with girls who keep rejecting him, he needs to save his idiot captain (I'm remembering Zoro swimming after Luffy sunk in the ocean and going in the wrong way. I thought that was beyond hilarious).