Author's Note: Since I wasn't here for 2 weeks, here are two chapters (the first one was chapter 16). I don't own One Piece, I don't know how jail works, I'm sorry I'm so horrible at being accurate! Also, my review section might be a bit weird cause I get e-mail notifications of them but they aren't actually appearing on the site ... It's strange.
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
XVII
"At most, I can bend the rules for an hour," says Smoker.
Sanji doesn't care, he just wants to see Zoro again and if this is what it takes, he'll do it. Sixty minutes. Okay. How can he get the maximum amount of time with him with such a time limit? Sanji grabs a pen and paper and quickly scribbles down:
I want to take fifteen. Let me see him four times, fifteen minutes each.
Smoker frowns. Clearly, they're not sure whether anyone can divide their time.
Sanji doesn't want to have to see Zoro only once, he should never have to deal with that. Seeing Zoro just once makes Sanji think of it as a good-bye and though ultimately, there will always be a parting, he doesn't want it to come so soon. He'll shorten his time with Zoro, divide up his time as much as he can to see Zoro as often as he can. Five minutes is too short for him and ten is just enough to get conversation started, but he knows fifteen … Fifteen may be able to interrupt them in an important talk and then Zoro will want to talk to him and it won't only be Sanji who needs to hear his voice. Or maybe he's just deluding himself.
Ace glances at Smoker. "How did you guys find him?"
"He was spotted," says Smoker. "Outside some runt's house, some doctor of some sort."
Chopper. Because Sanji wanted Zoro healed, he had been caught. Sanji feels bad and wishes he had listened to Zoro when he said he didn't want to go to the hospital. And yet at the same time, he can't say he wants to change what happened. It's strange, isn't it?
Smoker leaves the room, probably to talk to someone about Sanji dividing his time. He turns to Ace in the mean time.
"You talked," says Ace in a voice that's still filled with wonder.
Sanji faces the ground, trying to ignore how stupid he feels. Three years. Three years without a word and now it's all over because of the stupid fucking Marimo. And yet he wouldn't change that for the world either. His throat feels weird, he's sure that his voice must be scratchy and disgusting, but he just wonders why on Earth that made him break.
Sanji has seen things in his three years of silence that makes many people wonder how he's remained silent and yet this broke him?
No, it isn't like that.
All those other times, he was scared. He felt as though the consequences of that night may repeat itself, as if opening his mouth would send the world into a dark, black world. And yet he has spoken earlier today. Because of Zoro.
Sanji's not sure why. His mouth opened and before he could stop it, sounds were coming from his lips. It was instinctual. It was almost like Sanji had wanted to talk. But Sanji's still scared, isn't he? He still cares about the world, he still thinks the world will be enveloped by a vortex of horrible, unspeakable things should he open his lips to utter a syllable. So why?
Sanji doesn't want to think too much about it, he'll probably get too wrapped up in his thoughts and never escape the vortex of his own emotions, whatever they may be.
Sanji just nods at Ace's comment and he's not stupid, he can see the firefighter is upset that Sanji has gone back to his silence.
Smoker returns and tells Sanji he can see Zoro four times, fifteen minutes each and guides him to the cell they're keeping him in for the moment.
Sanji's glad he doesn't have to uncover his emotions that he's sure will scare him the moment they come undone.
When Sanji enters the room, the first thing his eyes see is Zoro, laying on the floor with his hands behind his head. He's either counting the tiles in the ceiling or he's sleeping. Sanji gives the guard a nod of thanks before he approaches Zoro.
He sits down on the bench that the Marimo isn't occupying and wants to kick him gently with his leg, but he knows his own leg-power and doesn't want to dare to inflict damage on him.
Zoro's eye is so damaged, it's practically closed. He's staring at the ceiling with a single grey eye that holds a look that Sanji thinks looks a bit too dead. This is wrong. Roronoa Zoro is not a dead man walking, he's a living man who's just been legally dead for five minutes, about to revive back into the world. He has to be.
They stay like that in silence for some time. How long, Sanji doesn't know. And the silence is comfortable to his own surprise, he feels no need to break it using his feet or by drumming on the bench. But he wants to fill it. Fill it with conversation, which is strange since Sanji has never been a talker before, even before the incident.
It's a long time before Zoro speaks.
"They took her."
Sanji is silent. Zoro needs to get this off his chest clearly. Sanji doesn't ask who "her" is, even though he feels his stomach clench in a strange painful way that's different from the way it drops out when his recipe turns out sour and the ingredients don't mix well.
"They fucking took her," Zoro hisses. He's still staring at the ceiling, the bandages still on him. Luckily he hasn't undone any of them, they're still holding tightly. Who's going to take care of him while he's in jail? "The fucking bastards …"
Sanji stays silent.
"Fuck …" Zoro moves his hands from behind his head to his face, covering himself. "I'm so stupid …" He shakes his head and lets out a bitter laugh. "The last thing I have left of her … They fucking took it."
It takes Sanji a while to notice, but Zoro's crying. He's covering his face, but his body's trembling ever so slightly. If he isn't crying though, he's on the verge of it. "I fucking deserve it I suppose," he mutters under his breath. "Can't even protect her fucking memory, never mind her stuff …"
Sanji wants to ask him questions about who "she" is. A past girlfriend? His wife? Sanji wouldn't be surprised if Zoro had been married, people get married young these days and when Zoro's all cleaned up, he looks handsome. No, he still looks stunningly beautiful when he's covered in bruises and blood for some reason. It's probably the eyes. The eye. Sanji's sure he's falling into some dark pit, one he's left unexplored in all his years and though he can't name what's at the bottom, he has to admit that while the sensations he's feeling are confusing as fuck, he doesn't quite hate them.
He writes quickly and keeps his eyes trained on Zoro when he lifts up his notepad.
What are you going to do?
Zoro sees it through his fingers and takes a deep breath. "Let it happen, I guess …"
Sanji does not like this answer. He doesn't like it at all.
In fact, he refuses to accept it.
But he won't press. Not right now.
He doesn't think Zoro could handle it.
Author's Note #2: The thank-yous!
lilcutieprincess: So yeah ... Tada, update.
GPEG: Yup. I don't even know how this works, but Sanji's kinda choosing when he wants to speak and when he doesn't. Primarily, he doesn't want to talk though ...
HollyWoodFix: I'm glad you like it! Have you checked out my other story, Beautiful Disaster?
Random Person : Yay! I have been missed!
lonewolf: I hope I haven't done anything lethal to your heart if you're dying ...
Question of the chapter: so ... Can YOU define that weird thing going on in Sanji's stomach?
