The rest of the time spent on Libertine was spent with the locals on the mountain. It was not as peaceful in the same way as Piety; as Luffy had promised. They were true people of the wilderness, hunting and gathering. When night fell, fun and mischief began with the firelight. Sanji helped with much of the cooking work and was far from disappointed with it. He was amused by a pack of varied cambion that trotted by in the cave. They were all combinations of a sort of predator, human, and other animal from what he could tell. Unlike the ones in the woods, the cambion seemed friendly. Maybe too friendly because one of the cambion was a spider-bird and Sanji wanted nothing to do with it; but of course that one took a particular liking to him for a time. Though generally they seemed tame, even domesticated, in their demon forms.
Speaking of cambion, Zoro spent a lot of time with them. He tended to accompany an older man that seemed to be some sort of baby-sitter or teacher because he was surrounded by a small pack of trouble making kids; rough housing boys and girls. They seemed to listen to the old man alright, but when it came to Zoro the children seemed to have silently converged on testing Zoro's temper. They tugged on his sword hilts and coat from behind. They stole his shoes and put dirt in his hair. Sanji snickered but probably the funniest part was that the old man let them get away with it.
"Are you in cambion kindergarten?" Sanji asked once they took a break for lunch and Zoro separated himself from the group of 8 to 10 year olds.
"Shut up." Zoro's foul mood came through as he sat more in the shadows of the kitchenette building, where Sanji was on his smoke break. He'd been cooking with a kind elderly woman that was teaching him about the spices they used there and what they were for. Zoro sat on a crate and ate at least half the stew Sanji had offered him before he took a breath and let his frustrations filter out through a long breath. "They're relentless." Sanji smiled and sat next to him, cigarette in hand.
"Fearsome Demon of the East Blue, defeated by a pack of small children," Sanji said and Zoro shot him a glare and nudged him hard, nearly knocking him off the box.
"Shut up, they're little demons. I'm just doing it because the old man is teaching me to control the damn demon. Which means I have to learn about the 'basics'," Zoro said and finally slowed down in his chewing. Sanji adjusted himself back on the box and huffed, nudging into Zoro but the swordsman didn't budge very far.
"What kind of basics could there be?" Sanji asked. He folded one leg, propped his heel at the edge of the box, and enjoyed his cigarette.
"Mostly everything that I found out on my own." Zoro shrugged. His temper seemed to be waning in any case; perhaps the small secluded area probably helped with that. Sanji mused that at least Zoro was back to his normal human looking self. No more of the hints of demon remained like the day before. "Taking energy through dreams. When to stop taking energy. Discretion in dreams." He paused and shot a glare in the general direction of the children who were blocked by the small cabin. "Not biting people." Sanji snickered. "It's not funny. Little shit nearly put another scar on my leg."
"Maybe they're just trying to tell you you're too much of a sour-puss," Sanji said. Admittedly, he himself always found it amusing to get a reaction out of Zoro. Zoro scoffed and shoveled the last of his food into his mouth. "So you're going to spend the rest of the time here in school?"
"No." Zoro handed the bowl back to Sanji, empty. "After this I'm going with the hunters to get something for the bonfire. Old man says it's the best place to practice anything dangerous. I don't exactly have years to spend here to pick it up." Sanji nodded slowly and put the bowl aside. He was a bit perturbed by how busy Zoro was while they were there. He was hoping to spend some more time together since they decided to be lovers. Not that he felt too inclined to the act itself at the moment, but embracing and touching were rewards he thought he deserved for all the months of restraint and lost time.
Zoro sat there quietly for a bit and did not immediately move away since he was done eating so Sanji basked in the company while it was present. First thing he did was dust some dirt out of Zoro's hair and chuckled. "Did your lawn need more soil?"
"Fucking brats..." Zoro grumbled and hastily dusted most of it out of his hair. Sanji shrugged and after he put out his cigarette he wrapped his arm around Zoro's back, still leaning into him. Zoro eyed him critically for a moment but relaxed and mirrored Sanji's movement, encircling his arm around Sanji's back. "If the adults are anything like the kids I'll have to watch out for a hazing ritual."
"Aw, they're accepting you as their own," Sanji said with a smile, feeling those butterflies bounce around in his belly as they pressed together warmly. "I guess you'll be bringing back dinner."
"Yeah." Zoro even laid a kiss on Sanji's lips. "What do you want?" Sanji snorted because this was such an absurd conversation they were having. Down right domestic without much of a fight.
"You're taking hunting requests now?" Sanji teased lightly. He himself had a preference for sea food, but the people of the mountains had more of a diet of land animal. Speaking of the mountain people, he'd have to ask a few of them to keep a close eye on Zoro or he'd get himself lost again. The last thing Sanji wanted to do was go searching for a lost marimo in the woods. Again.
"In case I run across it," Zoro said quickly. "Not like I'll go out of my way just for you or anything."
"Of course not." Sanji rolled his eyes. "If you come across any fish in the woods. Go ahead and bring that back."
Zoro snorted out a laugh and muttered, "A fish in the woods."
Sanji shrugged. It wouldn't be that long until they were back out on the sea, and then they'd be doing more than enough fishing, but he never got sick of food from the sea. Sanji realized they were holding eye contact for far longer than normal. Perhaps because he really had no harsh things to say. Zoro wasn't glaring at him, just watching him in what seemed to be a quiet revere. Sanji grew somewhat nervous because maybe it was one of the first moments he really felt Zoro also wanted to be in his company so it was new and a little overwhelming. His heart was thudding far too fast for such a stupid thing. Filling the silence was the best course of action. "When are you going to make up for that drunken mess, huh?" Sanji asked, his fingers tugging at the spot of Zoro's coat where they rested. "You owe me."
"I owe you, huh?" Zoro raised both brows with a light sneer. Zoro hooked his arm the rest of the way around Sanji's waist and pulled him into his lap, startling Sanji slightly. He was still used to their physical contact being out of conflict rather than something intimate, but he settled quickly and his one arm braced around Zoro's neck. Zoro's arms and lap made a comfortable seat, Sanji determined as he relaxed into it. "As soon as we set sail again," Zoro said.
Sanji thought about it a moment, calculating how many days they'd been there already. The log post still had three days to set and he was mildly amazed by how quickly the past week had flown by. "That's still several days away," he said, not wanting to wait that long. Sanji felt warm lips on his jaw and he glanced at Zoro, who then placed a kiss on his lips. They were light and could be easily mistaken for playful pecks. Sanji melted into them for several moments each, warmth flooding his skin and fueling the damn butterflies again. Then Zoro pulled back.
"You're still not 'up' for anything," Zoro said, as though he'd been making his own calculations through the kiss. Sanji huffed, drawing back with mild annoyance, but he couldn't be too disgruntled with those kisses.
"I should be the one determining whether I'm up for anything," Sanji said. Yet it was true, he still didn't feel anything sexual motivations. The butterflies wouldn't be so noticeable if he could. "Damn demons keep taking energy." Zoro stuck his tongue out at him briefly.
"By then we'll have some means of privacy," Zoro said and Sanji shrugged but he supposed it made sense. The crew was sharing a pair of tents; boys in one, girls in the other. It wasn't like the constant hum of the sea or the creak of the ship that rocked them to sleep. The cave was a quiet, echoing cavern that was vacant and loud at the same time. Vacant because of the chilly mountain rocks and weather. Loud because tents did not muffle what their neighbors were doing. Frankly speaking, there was a lot of sex noises. Zoro and Sanji only laid next to each other the previous night because they were sharing with Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy. Sanji wasn't sure how Luffy could snore though the whole thing. Usopp and Chopper each had a mild complaint. Zoro huffed and rolled over while Sanji plugged his ears. It didn't last forever, but early night after the bonfire seemed to be when the cambions and their lovers became frisky.
"Some privacy," Sanji agreed with a grain of salt. With a tiny ship like the Merry, he wasn't exactly sure where they could find privacy like, say, a hotel room. They couldn't really tie a sock to a door handle of the boys room, could they? Probably not.
"I'll make sure to pay back my due then," Zoro swore rather stoically; though the seriousness was hindered by a hand that squeezed Sanji's rear end. Even though he'd been drained of sexual energy maybe a day and a half ago, Sanji felt a warm thrill tingle his skin and goose bumps spread out on his body. He looked forward to seeing exactly what Zoro had in mind.
"You'd better," Sanji said and their lips touched again in silent confirmation. Sanji sighed into it. He could easily get used to moments like this, even if it was with a demon-marimo.
Well, especially since it was a demon-marimo.
They were interrupted by some snickering and Zoro froze in mid-kiss to look around. Sanji looked over Zoro's shoulder to see three of the kids from the earlier group. Two boys and a girl. Zoro glared at them rather fiercely.
"Go away, brats," Zoro said harshly.
"Old man said to come get you, grass-head!" One of the boys said.
"Gra'th head, gra'th head!" The second, and younger, boy echoed with a lisp.
"Just because you have a grass head doesn't mean you can be lazy and miss class!" The little girl scolded cheerfully. Sanji chuckled but felt Zoro's hands loosen around him and he was pushed back into his own seat. He momentarily mourned the loss of warmth.
"It's like dealing with 20 of you," Zoro muttered as he stood up.
Sanji smirked and couldn't help but say back, "Have fun at school, Grass Head. Try to make a new friend."
Zoro mouthed an obvious 'fuck you' and as he approached the kids scattered, chanting their new favorite nick name. Sanji just smiled and went back to feeding people.
When Zoro's 'class' let out and immediately afterwards the hunters went out. Sanji got his chance to tell the old man not to take an eye off of Zoro or he'd get lost so he had pretty high confidence that their marimo would return without too much trouble.
Zoro did come back, albeit later than the rest as one hunter was tailing him and lead him back. Also, to Sanji's surprise, Zoro handed him a very large river salmon.
"I just happened to see it," Zoro commented, though Sanji couldn't help but grin and note the frozen water droplets clinging to his grass head. He also couldn't stop smiling when the hunter who'd tailed him muttered that Zoro wouldn't come back without it.