Zoro decided to leave the kitchen before Sanji got pissed off with him and decided to kick him out, he had no idea why the cook was up so early or what it was that Nami had said yesterday.
He leant on the edge of the ship and looked down at the ocean. The sky was only just barely starting to lighten but the sea still looked black from the night sky above. He stared down at the sea and absently rubbed his wrist where Sanji's mark still lay. It was just the size of Sanji's thumb along the inside of his wrist, it was skinnier than Zoro's own thumb was but then Sanji had always had such long thin fingers.
"May I see it?" Robin's voice asked suddenly from behind him. Zoro at least had the composure not to jump even though he hadn't heard her approach at all. He turned and looked at the archaeologist suspiciously. She was always so hard to read and she always had this irritating look on her face that suggested the she was watching some big joke unfold that no one else could see. He did trust Robin to an extent, she was nakama after all, so he trusted her not to try and kill him or anything. But in lots of other very important ways he didn't trust her at all.
But still, it was unwise to refuse a request from Robin without a good reason so he held his arm out to her. With a small smile Robin took Zoro's arm gently in her deceptively dangerous hands. Robin turned his arm so his wrist was facing upwards, she thoughtfully stroked along the angry red skin that highlighted where Sanji's grip on him and been yesterday.
"It is strange that for most people the scars and brands of our past that shape us and make us who we are are invisible. Usually so important yet intangible. Few of us carry actual scars of those moments, but you swordsman-san seem to be an exception." Robin mused.
Zoro raised an eyebrow, he wasn't sure that he knew what Robin was talking about. Robin smirked at him knowingly through her fringe and continued.
"Those scars on your ankles are, I'm told, are evidence for your dedication to your nakama. You went as far as to try to cut off your own limbs to save them. And that scar of your chest from your encounter with Mihawk, something that certainly was a defining moment in your life, no? And now this, you seem to collect physical evidence of important moments in your life. But this mark will face, I wonder if that makes it more profound, a mark that only you can see." Robin smiled and tapped the mark on his wrist with her long thin fingers.
"I don't know what you mean." Zoro frowned feeling nonplussed. What did Sanji giving him an allergic reaction on his skin have to do with anything important? It certainly didn't seem like anything as important as his fight with Mihawk.
"The funny thing about important moments, Zoro, is that we often don't realise that they are important until we look back at them with hindsight." Robin smiled with a catlike quirk to her lips. There was that damn all knowing look again.
"Nothing you say ever makes any sense." Zoro said flatly.
"So I'm told. Goodnight Mr. Swordsman." Robin said with a small laught and turned to leave. As she opened to the door to the girl's bunkroom Nami came out, her hair still mussed from sleep and her eyes half lidded. As Nami climbed up the mast to the crow's nest he realised that Robin must have been on watch. As always Zoro found himself vaguely paranoid that Robin had been watching him and listening in on him since he was awake, or worse, perhaps even before when he'd been dreaming. He shook off his paranoia, it wouldn't do any good, if Robin had been spying on him he'd never know so it didn't so any good to worry about it.
He watched Nami pass out of the corner of his eye and didn't even contemplate asking her what was supposed to be happening today. He'd rather eat a live eel than converse with the sea witch in a bad mood, and he knew all too well that the navigator was not a morning person. He sat down on the lawn deck and decided to take Sanji's advice and simply wait and see, and in the meantime he might as well take a nap.
Zoro awoke to a close up of the cook's face. The cook was jabbing him in the chest with one hand and holding a plate of breakfast in the other. The curly-brow looked unimpressed and slightly angry.
"What?" Zoro asked and the cook's glare deepened.
"You missed breakfast marimo." Sanji said darkly. Zoro's eyes widened at that, he swore that he hadn't been asleep that long and he certainly hadn't been so deeply asleep as to miss being called for breakfast.
"Robins aid that she called you for ages, practically shouted in your ear, but being the rude moss brain that you are you just slept right on through it all." Sanji added, the note of irritation evident in his voice.
Zoro felt his suspicions rise, he wouldn't have slept through all of that. Which meant that Robin had lied to Sanji about calling him, but why would she do that? It wasn't as if she wanted to steal his breakfast, she wasn't Luffy and anyway Sanji never let anyone go without. But missing breakfast meant that you got cold food and an angry look from the cook, as well as a few choice words and perhaps a shoe in the face.
Sanji tutted at Zoro's silence and thrust the plate into the swordsman's hands. Zoro's eyes widened, the plate was warm, almost hot in fact and the food looked tasty and warm.
"It's… warm." Zoro said dumbly. He was stunned that the cook had kept his food warm for him. Sanji was acting very strangely lately, but strangeness seemed to be catching lately what with Robin's odd words earlier as well added into the mix.
The cook fell to the floor next to him and shuffled until he was leaning against the railing. He dropped some cutlery in Zoro's lap and then leant against the railing next to Zoro in a relaxed slouch, the edges of his dark suit shoulders just brushing against Zoro's shoulder.
Zoro looked down at his plate, he had several thick slices of Sanji's fresh bread from this morning spread with a generous amount of butter. He also had fresh lightly sautéed potatoes which from the smell of them were seasoned to perfection as expected from Sanji. Next to the potatoes were fluffy golden scrambled eggs which looked so improbably airy and fluffy. On the side in a little bowl were freshly chopped fruits which looked delicious and juicy, how Sanji managed to keep his fruit so fresh for so long at sea was a mystery to Zoro.
Zoro took a bite of Sanji's fresh bread and only just managed to suppress the groan of pleasure that it caused inside of him. Apparently though enough emotion had shown on his face because he could see the edges of a self satisfied smirk curling Sanji's mouth.
"Meh, it's alright I suppose." Zoro announced in a deliberately bored voice. Sanji just snickered at that and drew a breath through the cigarette that Zoro guessed that Sanji must have lit it with the stove before he came out with Zoro's food.
When Zoro had finished his admittedly delicious breakfast he decided to press Sanji about what was going on today.
"So what is all the mystery today about?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Tch, you really are completely oblivious aren't you marimo?" Sanji tutted as he stood up and took Zoro's plate and cutlery back off of him and stood up.
"It's not my fault that I don't listen to the sea witch is it?" Zoo snapped and tried to ignore Sanji absently licking Zoro's knife clean in an innocent but highly distracting way.
"You're oblivious enough not to notice the island that we've been sailing towards for the last two hours though apparently." Sanji said pointing behind Zoro with the now licked clean knife.
Zoro turned and sure enough there was an island looming closer on the dawn horizon, they were probably only about ten minutes away from landing. That explained the early start , if they were just getting to the island at daybreak then of course they would have to get up earlier.
"Oh." Zoro said for lack of anything else better to say.
"Indeed. Anyway, you're with me today on the island. I need your help with the groceries and I don't trust you to be able to identify foods with peanuts in on your own, so when we're done shopping I'll show you how. Got that?" Sanji asked in a voice that suggested that Zoro better have got it.
"I don't need your help, shit-cook." Zoro said petulantly.
"Sure." Sanji snorted and sauntered off back to the kitchen with Zoro's eyes on his back the whole way.