Author's Note #1: So HEY! Uh so school's started ... God, school loads are hard and annoying. Anyway I don't own One Piece. Got Pintrest recently, (I don't think that's how you spell it) and have just been looking through prompts, all of which are highly fascinating. And Haikyūu stuff. Because yeah ... Almost went hey hey hey, for Bokuto. Moving on, hope you enjoy. It's the longest chapter since the haitus!
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
XXIV
"I think I'm going to jail."
Sanji stares at Zoro. He's just a bit blurry, hard to see. He's still getting over the whole passing-out-in-court thing, but if Zoro needs to talk, Sanji will try his hardest to listen. There's something about the tone of his voice that's different though. Before, he seemed to have accepted it but now he sounds a bit alarmed, like he doesn't want it.
"F-fine," Sanji forces out but it sounds weird to his own ears and he can't quite formulate proper words, he knows he can't.
Zoro looks at him strangely. "Are you okay? I don't think you should be sitting up even," says Zoro, ignoring Sanji's word.
"F-fine," Sanji repeats. "You … it'll be fine."
"You don't know that." It's almost like Zoro knows Sanji doesn't want to talk about the way he's feeling. Everything's been about him, even though it's Zoro's trial, Zoro's sentence on the line, everyone's attention has been on him and he feels bad about it.
"S-sure I do."
"But—"
"W-where … that night … where were you?" Sanji forces out.
Zoro blushes. He fiddles with his fingers for a moment before he says, "in an alley. Fighting some weirdoes."
Sanji nods. "Okay."
"That's it?"
Sanji nods again.
"You … believe me? Just like that?"
Sanji nods. He's starting to feel like a bobble head.
Zoro pulls his knees to himself on his chair, which is something you're not supposed to do, so his body takes up more space than usual and it sends him off-balance. Sanji almost chuckles at it. He looks a bit like a child, rocking himself to sleep in the corner of shame after stealing a cookie from the jar. "How can you just believe me like that?"
"Do … do you not w-want me…" Sanji blushes and forces himself to continue, his sentence cannot end on that note. That sounds wrong, but at the same time a part of him wonders … "to? N-not want me to?"
"I'm not used to it," says Zoro. "Being believed, I mean."
"I believe you." It's the first thing he says with so much certainty not only today, but in three years.
"Thanks."
Zoro sends him a small smile and Sanji realizes this might be the first time he's ever seen Zoro smile. He wants him to do that more often. He looks great when he smiles like that.
"Um …" Think of something funny, make him smile again, Sanji thinks to himself. He's just about to say something, really witty too, about the chicken and the road and the— he can't remember the punchline but either way that doesn't mean he likes it when the judge interrupts.
"Hey!"
Sanji looks up at him, his mouth half-open about to say something. It's rude of him to interrupt. For a judge, he needs better manners.
"You!" The judge points an accusing finger at Sanji and he wonders why he has to call him "Your Honour". "You're talking."
Sanji bites the inside of his cheek and it hurts but it stops him from talking. He never thought he'd have to stop himself from talking before, especially since he thought he would never speak again but there's something about Zoro that makes him want to speak. But the judge … he scares him.
"Yeah, so?" says Zoro and Sanji looks at him, wondering why he's suddenly interfering. Clearly the judge has a bone to pick with Sanji, not Zoro. Why should he interfere? Plus, doesn't that just mean the judge might become biased towards Zoro's trial? More biased?
"He said he couldn't speak in court!"
"You forced him to speak," Zoro snaps.
"Yes but now he's talking all care-free and such with you! I could have him arrested for withholding information!"
"Well maybe he didn't want to talk to you and your fucking bald head! You're freaky as shit, he has all the right to remain silent around you, you old geezer!"
The judge looks offended and promptly turns up his nose and turns away.
Zoro and Sanji fall into silence.
The air is tense and yet—
Zoro laughs. And suddenly, Sanji is laughing too and he's not used to it but the sound bubbles up in his throat and escapes his lips. He covers his mouth to keep it in but Zoro pulls his hand away.
"Don't do that," he says softly. "I like your laugh."
Sanji's probably turning red right now but he doesn't care. He doesn't really care about anything because right now everything is alright. He can ignore the fact that he fainted not half an hour ago, he can ignore that Smoker and Ace are arguing, that the judge is an asshole, that Zoro is still on trial because right now it's just him and Zoro and Sanji wonders how he's lived without him.
And then it hits him.
This is what love is, isn't it?
Author's Note #2: The thank-yous!
Miss Meep- A: Yeah. I love big stories.
Raigon: So hey ... Yeah. The stress really is getting to him, but this chapter was just ... fluff.
Megenhason ZOSAN-LAWLU LOVER (x2): Yup. I was bored. And I think I had been reading that story about a ZoSan version of The Little Mermaid, which brought forth the idea of Sanji not speaking. If you want long chapters, Beautiful Disaster is for sure something to check out. Anyway you'll have to wait and see what happens next.
lilcutieprincess: Yeah, I did take a direct quote (or at least paraphrased) a moment in Loguetown where Zoro meets Tashigi while running from Smoker and he tells her to get rid of her face, or something like that. I really do like Tashigi so I want to include her in all my stories and not as an obstacle, or something to ignore because she is a reminder of Zoro's past and I feel most people antagonize her or try to make Zoro forget her so he can move on, but I don't think that's the case. He has to come to terms with it, he has to know it's part of his past and never forget. As you know in Beautiful Disaster, he questions whether or not he should forget her (Kuina, since he hasn't met Tashigi in Beautiful Disaster), wonders if he's still in love with her. I don't like people pretending she was nothing, like if it's a ZoSan story, I hate when people are like, "he loved Sanji more than he had ever loved her" (whether that's Kuina, or Tashigi, or both) because I think he loves them all, really, as equally as he ever had. I don't like when people undermine Zoro's past, see it as something for him to just forget about to be happy. Because Zoro carries Kuina with him wherever he goes and during Alabasta it was clear that Tashigi made him uncomfortable and I want to write stories where he can learn that he shouldn't feel guilty, or regret anything because he's had her/loved her and now he's ready to move on, but never to forget. Does that make sense? Since she shaped so much of his life, I feel like it would destroy him to forget her, or to put her on a higher or lower pedestal than Sanji. Like Sanji and Tashigi/Kuina should both have really high positions in Zoro's mind/life, but in different ways?
Okay question of the chapter: so ... Sanji's figured it out. What do you think he'll do about it?
