Author's Note: So I've just gone away and came back from a 10 day cruise. I also happened to make a friend who loved One Piece. Had he asked me if I knew the anime a year ago, I sadly would've said no. He went to Tokyo Tower where there's apparently a whole floor dedicated to One Piece AND a restaurant based off of Sanji, with a statue of him and everything. He didn't buy anything at the time cause he didn't know what One Piece was. Boy did he hit himself after when that was over. I don't own One Piece and hopefully, this chapter is what you've been waiting for.


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 TWO: GOOD FIGHT

Even in the road blocks (yeah)
Even through the rough spots
When you're feeling you've given all that you've got
I'm with you in the next step
Giving you in the next breath
I'll be the voice saying "You're gonna make it"
When you're out there on your own
You are never alone

-Good Fight, Unspoken

XVI


The world's spinning, he doesn't know where to look, what to focus on but his eyes are forcing him to watch as they pull the slumped swordsman to his feet and drape one of his arms around their neck. He wants to scream, wants to shout at them to put the fucking bastard down and leave him alone, he's already limp, he already looks … already looks ….

"I know you," a voice says and suddenly Sanji's drawn back into the world. The white noise of buzzing that kept everything out is gone and now he can do nothing but hear the sounds of the hallway, eerily silent for something that has just happened. The man has two cigars in his mouth. He frowns. "Sanji, aren't you? Didn't you tell me you didn't know where he was? And last time I saw you, you couldn't speak."

Sanji's throat clams up. His throat hurts and he realizes that the person he vaguely heard screaming, that was him. It feels as though there are nails scratching at his esophagus, protesting against the words that were coming out of his mouth. He can feel the pain that shivers through him. He doesn't want to talk, that hasn't changed. So why did he?

There's the sound of footsteps running down the steps and then Ace and Luffy are standing there, Ace's eyes moving from the officer to Zoro's body. He glares at Smoker. "I thought you said you were just going to arrest him!"

"He resisted arrest," says Smoker.

Luffy stares at Zoro and then at Ace, then Sanji, then the officer. Slowly, everything seems to come into perspective for him. Sanji can see the moment the confusion leaves his eyes and realization dawns on him. Instead of saying anything, Luffy's mouth draws into a thin line and Sanji wonders what Luffy thinks of him, hiding a criminal . . .

Sanji turns to Ace, asking him a thousand questions. How did they know? Did you tell them? His face pales when he realizes that his friend may have betrayed him, but it pales even more when he realizes that Ace has every right.

"I didn't do it," Ace says quickly, as though reading Sanji's mind. "I didn't tell anyone."

"Look, as much fun as this has been, we need to get him back to the station—"

"No."

It comes out as a whisper. Out of the corner of Sanji's eye, he can see the girl approaching Zoro's body, reaching of this swords. Ace's eyes widen.

Smoker raises an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Sanji's throat's dry and it hurts and it pains him and he can see blood before his eyes, he feels himself shiver, wills himself not to speak, he can't. If he does, terrible things will happen. But at the moment, Sanji can't think of a more terrible thing that watching Zoro have his defences stolen from him.

"You can't," he hisses. His voice sounds strange to his own ears. He remembers he's been told before by his past girlfriends that his voice is warm and has a nice, slightly scratchy sound to it from the cigarettes. They tell him they like his low baritone and the way it seems to wrap them in warmth. Sanji hears his voice from his ears for the first time in three years and he can't help but disagree with them. He sounds like a dying man.

Smoker's eyes follow Sanji's and seem to understand what's happening. He makes a hand motion and the girl stares at him. "But Officer Smoker—" his hand signal silences her again. She steps away from Zoro and Sanji feels himself relax slightly.

"What's going to happen?" asks Luffy, finally speaking. He's filling in the last pieces, finishing the puzzle and Sanji can tell he doesn't like the picture he's uncovered.

"We're going to take him to jail, where he belongs,—"

"No." It's a whisper again. He wonders why this causes Smoker to stop. He knows his voice is feeble, that it sounds weak and unused. It isn't hard to ignore it, he wonders if Smoker can hear the raw need and desperation in his voice. He wonders if they know how pathetic he's being right now.

"You knew he was going to end up there anyway," says Ace and Sanji wants to scream at Ace that Ace doesn't understand. He doesn't understand because he hasn't ever met Zoro, hasn't ever gotten to know him the way Sanji has over the past few days, wants to say that Ace is just a jerk who doesn't know a broken person when he sees them, say that Ace didn't see Zoro lying there covered in blood, stumbling, limping, hungry, lost, confused. He doesn't care about Zoro the way Sanji does. He doesn't understand because he can't understand, not the way Sanji understands the feeling of being on the very brink of humanity, tittering on the edge, ready to fall over at any moment, waiting for someone to reach out to you, for even just a moment, to pull at your arm and tell you its just a dream and that even if its not a dream, they'll be there.

Because the support Sanji gets from Ace and Luffy and Nami is wonderful, he loves it, he enjoys that he can continue his life in a way that makes him feel less traumatized, in a way that makes him feel almost normal. He's grateful to Zeff, for letting him keep his job, for living. But no one can share the same pain with him as Zoro can. Because Zoro's seen it too.

Zoro's been there. He's felt the call of the darkness, luring you in, whispering suggestions that sound oh so sweet, so simple to comply to. He knows what it's like to stare down off the side of the metaphorical building, on the very edge of metaphorical existence, trying to keep quiet but begging that anyone can hear and you'll pretend you're not grateful for their outreach, you'll scream at them to throw you back in but you don't want them to, and when they push and pursue and finally bring you back up to the surface so you can breathe again, you need it. You need it every time you feel like you're sinking below the surface and it takes more and more the longer it goes on.

Zoro has him with his head just above water, barely breathing but he's surviving, not quite living yet, but Sanji's getting by. Sanji has meaning, he has a purpose now. He's keeping his head above water because he knows he's needed. But if Zoro goes … If Zoro goes, he'll be down where the bottom dwellers are and Sanji doesn't want the next time he sees him to be in a casket, or worse, with dead eyes and a monotonous voice.

"No," he whispers.

Ace looks conflicted, glancing between Zoro and Sanji. "Hey Officer," he says. "Can my friend see him?"

"Is your friend his spouse? Family member?" Smoker asks.

"You're being a dick," Ace snaps at Smoker. "You've got him already, why can't my friend—"

"Your friend is a liar," Smoker says. He nods to the woman. "Take him to the car—"

"No," Sanji whispers again.

"Let him keep his swords. For now."

The girl does not look pleased as she takes Zoro away.

"We're coming with," says Ace.

"No, you're not," says the police officer. Sanji just wants him to be quiet or move even so he can run out after the damn Marimo before the car gets out of his sight.

"You have to understand," says Ace. "He's ... He's really important to my friend and —"

"Ace, don't get me started."

Sanji doesn't even bother to wonder why on earth Smoker knows Ace by first name, especially considering how Ace mentioned how little he knew the man. "Please," says Sanji. He doesn't like talking, he's still scared, but to hell with it, he needs to see Zoro.

Ace gives Smoker a pointed look.

Smoker shakes his head. "The captain won't be happy about this."

Ace smirks. "Since when do you care about what the captain has to say?"

Smoker grins back in a way that seems just a bit too familiar. "Good point."


Author's Note #2: The thank-yous! (this is going in the opposite order I usually do it)

lonewolf: You'll have to wait to see.

Ideop's: Yeah I just think Luffy's like, 7 in my head and that's why that happened ... I'm not sure, considering Zoro was basically on the edge of passing out when Sanji finally managed to speak ...

French Reader: Don't worry, I don't plan on giving up on this story.

crystalbluefox: Yeah ... I strategically updated that chapter to leave everyone hanging and hopefully, they'd spam my e-mail with reviews and the like. I got 40 e-mails, in case you were wondering. I don't know why I like kidnappings in stories, it's weird, but yeah ... Now remember: Roronoa Zoro has never regretted anything he's ever done in his life.

(IT WON'T LET ME SHOW YOUR USERNAME!) BUBBLE.m: It's not exactly hating his voice, so much as it is he's scared to talk. It's his first word in 3 years and yeah ... I made Luffy and Zoro basically brothers ...

Tsukino Aisuru - A: Yeah ...

lilcutieprincess: Well, it's a Zoro and Sanji story, of course they'll be together, the question is just when is it going to happen?

NaruHinaLuvr: That's my job, ins't it?

Random Person: Yeah I had like, 7 exams. Well, 2 science, 2 math, an English, and a history. It's about 10 percent for first term, then 10 percent second term, and 30 the third term, but we're taking ministry exams at the end of the year to make up the rest of our grade.

So guys, did you miss me?