Disclaimer: I don't own the One Piece universe.
Characters: Zoro, Sanji
Relationships: faint Zoro x Sanji
Summary: Zoro needs to be stronger. For them.
Rating: T
Contains: Mentions of Past (Canon) Extreme Violence
Prompt: 100 Men #029 "Strength"
A/N: Followed up by Overwhelmed (Chapter 7).
Overprotective
The first mate was supposed to be stronger than any other member of the crew. Second only to the captain. He was supposed to be able to protect his crew at all costs. Stand between the captain and certain death. Supposed to win at all costs.
Kuma had stripped that from Zoro. Zoro hadn't won. Hadn't come close. He'd saved his captain, protected the crew. But it had been a near thing.
He'd nearly died. A failure worse than anything Zoro could imagine.
Dead, Zoro was nothing. Half-dead, he was nothing. He couldn't protect them dead, or even half-dead.
Zoro trained himself to be stronger. Worked through the screaming in his muscles and the blood and sweat that stained his skin. Worked through the hunger clawing at his stomach and the exhaustion that creeped into the edges of his vision.
It had been one week since they left Thriller Bark. Since he'd started working harder. Zoro wasn't strong enough yet. If they met Kuma again now… Zoro would be dead. His nakama would be dead.
There wasn't anything he could do about it.
The others didn't understand. He could see it in their faces. They'd coaxed and threatened, promised and feigned. Anything to get Zoro to stop, to get him to focus on something else. But he couldn't. Wouldn't.
It was late in the night—early in the morning, even—when Sanji slipped into the crow's nest. He held a bowl of soup in one hand. The soup was sat on the table as Sanji crouched in front of Zoro.
"Oi, shitty bastard," Sanji lit a cigarette. "How long are you going to keep this up? You're not pathetic enough to kill yourself."
Zoro growled, and kept going with push-ups. Gritted his teeth against the screaming pain in his arms and legs.
"This isn't making you stronger." Zoro ignored the smoke that tickled his nose as Sanji spoke. "It's making you stupider. Weaker. You're not going to be any good to anyone dead."
Warm tears mingled with the sweat and blood on Zoro's face. He tried to ignored it, even as his arms gave out.
You're not going to be any good to anyone dead. Like he didn't know that. What the hell did the stupid shit-cook think he was doing all this for? Kicks?
He punched the floor once, twice. Frustrated, angry, vexed. There were still tears slipping from the corners of his eyes. Zoro pressed his cheek into the floor, turned away from Sanji and tried to fight it.
Sanji didn't acknowledge it as weakness, though. Didn't take the chance to point it out to Zoro. Threw his suit coat over Zoro, instead, and let one long fingered hand trail through short, green hair. "Get some rest now. I'll feed you in the morning." He moved so that Zoro's head was resting on one of his knees. "You need to heal to get stronger."
Zoro still didn't say anything, curling weakly in on himself. He fisted one hand and rubbed at his eyes futilely. The exhaustion that had been creeping up on him for days finally overtook him.