Author's Note: I've decided to change the tense of this story and make it present tense so I'll be editing past chapters to fix it so that it's in present tense. I had a busy while and this chapter feels rushed to me and kind of weird, but I hope you guys like it! Also, weird thing happened: I read a book and in it, I basically found myself if I was in university majoring in English, but I probably wouldn't be getting the hot boyfriend who drives a truck ... I don't own One Piece, if you can name the book I read that's about 433 pages long and I finished in under 7 hours, I'll congratulate you!


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

XI

Sanji's back hurts.

I fell asleep on the couch.

It's when his eyes open that he remembers. Zoro. That bastard went missing. He had woken up in the middle of the night from another nightmare and found that the apartment had been too quiet. Usually, when he woke up from his nightmares, he could hear the Marimo tossing and turning in the squeaky guest bed, but instead last night he had heard nothing. He had knocked on Luffy's door and woken up he and Nami in a panic.

Looking around himself, he's ready to go rushing back to Luffy's to ask if they've found him when he remembers he doesn't have a green pillow.

Sitting there, relaxed and sprawled out like a rag doll, is Roronoa Zoro. He seems to be covered in blood and it's in the poor lighting of the morning that Sanji realizes that this looks too familiar to him. He knows that when he was grieving, he did some pretty stupid things. Gone to a strip club or two, maybe ended up on the wrong side of the tracks for a few weeks, but he's never gotten himself badly beaten up. Or maybe this isn't an affect of grieving.

What did you do to yourself?

As though sensing Sanji's gaze, the Marimo blinks an eye open, startling grey meeting Sanji's blue.

Wait.

Sanji drops to his knees and stares a little harder. He raises a hand and gently touches Zoro's eyelids. He notices the swordsman flinch, obviously slightly injured. Against his cheek, unable to muster the strength to take his hand, Sanji writes.

E. Y. E. ?

"Why are you so close to me?" asks Zoro rather than answering Sanji's question.

Sanji's hand's trembling now, too nervous to dare to press any harder, so he just retraces the same letters against the tanned man's strong cheekbones.

"E … Aye … Eye. You're asking about my eye?" replies Zoro, frowning slightly.

Sanji's hand rises up again to gently trace over his eyelid. The grey eye stares back at him, confusion and a softness Sanji didn't know the swordsman was capable of present in those orbs of his. Using his other hand, against Zoro's chest, he writes it one more time.

"I got into a fight," says Zoro, looking away from him, as though ashamed. Sanji begins to trace again, his fingers soft and gentle across the muscled chest of the taller man. "S … See …" Zoro shakes his head. "I can see, sort of."

Sanji gives him a look.

"It's a bit blurry," Zoro admits. "It's just one of my eyes though," he adds quickly as though trying to calm Sanji down, though why Zoro feels he needs to reassure Sanji is beyond the blond. "D … Do … Doc … Doctore? No, doctor …. No!" Zoro jumps away from Sanji quickly, much to the cook's surprise. "You're not taking me to a doctor, I don't need one. I can't see one anyway." He shakes his head and frowns. "No, if I see one, then … then …"

Sanji traces.

"Yes, I know my eye but I'm fine," Zoro insists. He pushes Sanji gently out of his way, much to the blond's surprise. He's expecting to be forcefully shoved, but instead there's only a light press and then Sanji's standing to the side and Zoro's walking pridefully towards the kitchen.

"See? I'm fine."

And Sanji would've believed him. The swordsman walks with purpose, with certainty. And then he stumbles when he reaches the lights switch.


"I hate hospitals," Zoro mutters from the passenger seat of Sanji's car.

Sanji ignores him and turns the street. Zoro doesn't know they aren't going to a hospital. They're going to a friend. One of Sanji's friends. He's young, but he's a very good doctor, one of the best and he specializes in paediatrics, so even though he isn't exactly an eye professional, Sanji trusts him, especially given Zoro's childish behaviour. Maybe he'll shove a lollipop in his mouth and the Marimo will shut up.

Sanji parks his car in the driveway and gets out of the car, opening the side door for Zoro who stays put, his seatbelt fastened, his arms crossed, mouth drawn in a thin line. "I'm not moving."

See? Childish.

It's times like these where Sanji wishes he could just call out to his friend and get him to come out. Of course, that doesn't happen, bad things would happen if Sanji does that, so instead, he shuts the car door, locks it and walks up to the front door of the nice, welcoming house. He can imagine the picket fence in front of it, it's so serene.

Chopper opens the door, his mousy brown hair in slight disarray, but he grins widely when he sees Sanji.

"Sanji!" he says with a grin. "I haven't seen you in forever! How've you been?"

Sanji grins back at him (it's impossible not to grin when Chopper sends you a smile) and points behind him.

Chopper has to move around the taller man to see the car he's pointing at. "You brought me a patient? He doesn't look like a child."

Sanji shakes his head. He's left his writing supplies in the car, so he supposes he'll have to drag Chopper down with him first. He pulls at the shorter man's arm and they walk down the steps together. As they go, Sanji notices the way Chopper seems to become more and more cautious, as though he's approaching a wild animal. Does he know about Zoro? Was it a mistake to bring Zoro out into the open of more people?

When Chopper finally sees Zoro, he freezes.

Sanji worries almost immediately. Oh dear God. Zoro's going to be found out and it'll be all his fault and then he'll feel awful about for the rest of his life, knowing he's put another man behind bars and—

"Why didn't you send him to me sooner?" demands Chopper. "Get out of the car," he tells Zoro. "You need to be washed up and then we can take a look at that eye of yours."

Zoro stubbornly stays put.

Sanji unlocks the door and Chopper opens it, bending down to be eye level with the Marimo. "Hi, my name's Tony, but you can call me Chopper," he introduces himself in that way of his, the one that makes the most nervous patients smile and come towards him with a warm smile.

Except Zoro isn't a child and he isn't nervous; he's pissed.

"Why would I call you that?" he snaps.

"I just want to take a look at your eye," says Chopper gently. "But in order to do that, you're going to have to get out of the car."

"Not happening, shortie."

Chopper nods slowly. "Sanji, will you wait here? I can do the examination outside, I just need to get my things."

Sanji nods and waits, feeling Zoro's intense, seething gaze as he glares holes into the back of his head.

It's for your own good, Marimo.

Chopper comes back in a few minutes and takes out his doctor's kit. It's so big in comparison to him, Sanji thinks of a little child playing with a toy kit, but he knows that Chopper's the real deal and honestly, he couldn't have gone to a better doctor.

"What's your name?"

"What's it to you?"

Chopper turns to Sanji, handing him a notepad.

Sanji panics for a moment. What should he call Zoro? Choro? That was a stupid name and besides, the only ones who thought of him through that name were Luffy and Nami and he's pretty sure Nami doesn't believe him anyway. He decides to risk it and writes Zoro.

"Zoro," Chopper says, turning to the swordsman. "How'd you get hurt?"

"None of your fucking business." His voice is cold and hard.

"Can you see through that eye of yours?" asks Chopper with the patience that only years of practice can give you.

Zoro glares at Sanji, who sends him back a harsh look. Zoro's shoulders seem to slump when he realizes that he's got no way out of this situation. "It's fuzzy."

"When did you hurt your eye?" asks Chopper gently.

Zoro seems to think for a moment. "Three days ago, I think …"

Chopper nods. "You should've gotten immediate medical attention—" here, Zoro scoffs, "— but I suppose as long as your other eye works just fine, you'll do alright. I can't do much about that eye of yours, but I can help treat those wounds of yours. Did you get into a fight?"

Zoro turns his head up and away from Chopper.

Chopper takes it as a yes.


When Chopper has bandaged Zoro up and stitched him up lightly (in the house of course, but it takes forever) he tells Sanji what he needs to change his bandages every few hours for the next while and he should stop Zoro from getting into any serious fights.

On the way back to Sanji's apartment, he's not sure if he imagines it, but he thinks he hears Zoro mutter a quiet "thank-you".


Author's Note #2: Okay the thank-yous!

crystalbluefox: I hope you liked this chapter, I'm really grateful that you like the stuff I write, I swear, I brag about it all the time.

Noir: Yup, I love that dj! (I can't write the full name and so it sounds weird when I mention it to my friends ...)

Random Person: Zoro's calling him someone who helps others when they're hungry because of the fact that the first thing Sanji did for Zoro that was hospitable was give him food and Ace says to him, "Why would he- you were hungry, weren't you?"

tenshuni: I've said this a thousand times: I don't condone abandoning education for an update, you guys make that choice yourself. I personally very much value education and so I've never read a story during class. Okay, rant over, now to talk about better things! Fact: November 11th in Remembrance Day in Canada and my school had an assembly for it. We forgot to sing O Canada and I felt like a horrible Canadian.

Ideop's: I have it open, the tabs to read what you've recommended, but I haven't gotten around to it cause I've been studying for exams, which are actually three weeks away and writing literary essays, have I ever said how much I hate those? Anyway, I will read it eventually!

LettersLover: Your welcome, why wouldn't I share it? Isn't that what the internet's for?

lilcutieprincess: All questions to be answered in time ...

Shizuka Taiyou: You'll never know! Well, you will but if I say anything about your prediction, spoilers!

Blackpiece: Thank you for your interpretations... Wow I feel like a douche for saying it that way ... My excuse: I'm listening to Skillet, it makes me less civilized.

ThePoliceLlama (x4): Still ahead of me by a lot. I can't believe I've become this popular in a series I know nothing about in comparison to other people ...

Okay my question: did you guys like Chopper?