This chapter came so quickly - I had actually already planned it before I wrote chapter 8!
Thanks for everyone who reviewed so far - and for enjoying chapter 8. I was aprehensive about the Luffy giving Wadou thing. But it turned out okay.
Review Replies:
Sue: I think Nami will cheer up now. And I've always thought Zoro and Ace are fairly similar, I like that Ace can be mature with Zoro if he needs to be
Blu Calling: You have no idea the GO YOU! made me :D The chopper bit popped into my head, but I just had to do it it made me giggle! I was worried about the NamiZoro coversation, I was so panicky about geting the interation wrong. So I HAD to include some Nami deals.
YusukesLover: Thank you very much, I try my best to make it unique. And after all, I can't make the character's personalities any better than Oda has made them!
I Wanna Go to A Place: You could write a one word review and I'd be happy! Yea Luffy was sweet, he's so good to his friends!
So, enjoy!
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda Sama
Chapter 9 – Settling with Sanji
It took some time for Zoro to realise the unsettling feeling in his stomach was nervousness. He woke and instantly turned to his new swords - just to check they were still there. Not that he'd just sit there and admire them like a sap, no way.
Then the weird feeling in his stomach started, when Zoro thought about getting up and seeing Luffy, and thanking him.
As he heard the rubber boy loudly stomp down for breakfast, the older man yawned, stretched and got out of bed. He glanced at his prized possessions before heading downstairs himself.
Luffy was in the kitchen alone – Ace was still asleep and Shanks had already left for work. Upon his green haired friend's arrival he looked up from his plate, cheeks full like a hamster
"Mwowning Zwowo!" The words didn't quite sound right through the food. Zoro paused - still panicking about the gift. But looking at Luffy, all smiles and cheer, Zoro realised the kid didn't buy it to be thanked. He just wanted to do something for his friend. So Zoro just smiled, and acted like nothing had happened.
"How can you eat so much in the morning, Luffy?"
"Shihihihihi, wit twastes gwod!" Luffy swallowed, and grinned back again. Zoro snorted; pouring some coffee
"Whatever, just hand me some of that meat"
Ace arrived in the kitchen as the pair were just leaving to get dressed, so when Zoro returned with the three swords hanging at his hip, he was visibly impressed. Luffy grinned as he saw Zoro show Wadou to his brother with a look of joy on his face (well, it was more a look of slight interest, but Luffy could tell that it meant the swordsman was very happy when he had that look). He wandered over and bent down like his brother, inspecting the weapon in Zoro's hands.
"Isn't it awesome Ace?" Ace sighed
"Sure is…which one you gonna use Zoro?" Zoro's voice was filled with never before heard warmth, and passion
"I use all three." Luffy and Ace looked up at him
"All of them? At once?" Zoro nodded
"Ya. I was taught to fight with 3 swords." Zoro led the trio into the garden, and he prepared to practice his katas.
Whilst at Kuro's, Zoro had practiced his katas every day, only without his swords. That is, until she died. He lost interest in swords after she wasn't around to watch him, and learn them too.
"What'cha doing Zoro?" Luffy plopped down on the floor in front of his friend, and Ace shortly followed.
"Katas. It's been a while, I need to practice" He resumed the correct posture, and surprised the brothers by holding a sword in each hand, and placing Wadou in his mouth.
"Sugoi! You keep it in your mouth! That looks awesome!" Luffy held his feet and rocked back and forth as Zoro began his movements. Ace had fallen asleep
"Shut it Luffy, I'm trying to concentrate"
"You can still talk! How can you do that with the sword in your mouth?" Zoro proved he could growl with the sword in his mouth too
"I just can Luffy. Please, let me focus."
Luffy watched as Zoro went through Katas for a few hours.
Well, he watched for a bit, then Ace woke up and the pair fought, and then fell asleep. When the brothers woke again, Zoro was napping next to them.
Luffy jumped up and rocketed over to him, earning the elder boy a not so gentle wake up call of a rubber body colliding with his.
"Gah! Luffy! What the fuck!" Zoro snarled as he pushed Luffy off him, who was so busy laughing he almost missed Zoro's question
"Hey. You mind if I head into town for a while?" Luffy cocked his head
"Why would I mind? What do you want to buy?" Zoro was putting his swords back in his hamaraki
"Nothing, just thought I'd try and get to know the place, you know? Maybe find a bar" Luffy pulled a face
"Bar? Iw Zoro, alcohol tastes icky" Zoro laughed
"You're just too young to enjoy it, baby" Luffy pouted as Zoro and Ace laughed at him
"Fine. See you later Zoro! Don't get lost!"
"Shut up!" Zoro left the house in a huff, and Luffy resumed glomping his brother for a play fight.
Zoro's hand lazily rested on his swords as he wandered through the busy streets. He grinned inwardly; the swords definitely stopped the evil glares coming his way. The katas had made him feel much better; the man was pleased to learn he hadn't forgotten too much since he last practiced. But the training had left him with a void, which normally a young girl would fill. The desire for an opponent.
Roronoa Zoro needed to fight.
The South Blue blood coursed through his veins – he couldn't deny it. Zoro felt Sandai murmur at his hip, feeding off his inbred desire for battle. The sword would have to wait – he wanted to avoid bloodshed if he could.
Zoro walked down a familiar street. This time, it wasn't the familiar street that he thought was the right one, or the 15 others before it, and the gold lettering of 'The Baratie' shone from his destination.
While it was fairly simple to sort things out with the redheaded witch, Zoro realised at the party that the cook was going to take an entirely different route. But the swordsman could see through the façade that was the suave chef. Zoro wandered into the restaurant and confronted the maitre d; who was eyeing him with unpleasantness at his attire
"Yes, sir?" Zoro smirked
"Is Sanji about? I need to speak to him" Zoro tried to dampen the threatening aura he emitted – he needed to take this slowly. The maitre d led Zoro to the kitchen, and disappeared inside to fetch the blonde.
When Clay, the maitre d, told Sanji he had a visitor, the chef instantly imagined a beautiful woman waiting for him. He was hugely displeased, to say the least, when he exited the kitchen to find an idiot green haired swordsman. Who had somehow acquired 3 swords. Why did Luffy think it was a good idea to give the Southerner weapons? Sanji took a cigarette out of the packet in his hands
"What the fuck do you want?"
"To talk. Privately." Sanji's visible (and ridiculously curly, Zoro noted) eyebrow hitched in intrigue, before he put the cigarette packet away and held the stick to his lips
"This way."
Words were short, and tense. The pair could tell that the other wasn't one for words, so when Sanji locked the door to the closed café part of the Baratie behind him, he jumped straight to the point
"So why are you here, Shit southerner?" Zoro scowled, a dark glint in his eyes
"Always so abrupt, cook? Typical"
"Typical? Of what? What the hell are you getting at?" Zoro's scowl turned into a smirk
"A short temper. It's the same for anyone I've ever met from North Blue"
Sanji's foot was an inch from Zoro's neck the second his sentence was finished. He didn't move, just kept boring his gaze into Sanji
"You might fool them, but I know better. Seems like people from Blue are a bit similar, after all" Now it was Sanji's turn to scowl
"Compare me, to you? Don't make me laugh. How am I anything like a lowly slave like you?" He withdrew his leg and lit the cigarette, which he had been too distracted to light. The tanned man spoke
"You have to bring it up, don't you? The fact you think you're better than me, just because I was a slave. Well I met plenty of people like you when I was at Kuro's; people from North Blue. All Curses and Attitude" Sanji blew his smoke in Zoro's face
"I'm not like them" Zoro had to hold back his hollow laugh
"Why not?"
"Cause…I'm not…I don't...,I'm not a criminal. I fit in better in Rouge Town" Zoro watched him disbelievingly
"You don't believe that any more than I do" Sanji growled as he sucked on his cigarette
"What? You better explain your reason for coming to my house to insult me, shithead"
"Listen to yourself. You wear your fancy suits and have your expensive cigarettes, but the way you talk, the way you act; it's just like a man from North Blue. And you know that's what you are – that's why you try so hard to fit in." Sanji was bristling with anger, but he was too busy thinking to act on it
"Shut up" He murmured quietly. Zoro's grinned victoriously
"Heh, I knew it, you still feel like an outsider, that's why you act like that"
Silence hung in the room as Sanji smoked, and Zoro stood with his arms folded, watching him.
True, from seeing the cook he instantly had the feeling that he was trying so hard. But at the party, after what Luffy told him, he saw why. Growing up in North Blue, Sanji knew little more than crime and fights – it was a way of life. So coming to the snobbish area of Grand Line, the idiot couldn't behave how he wanted to, how he was used to, he needed to fit in. Zoro remembered the looks he was getting, and wondered if it was the same for Sanji too.
Sanji stared at the floor, remembering his first few weeks in Grand Line. The restaurant was unpopular, thanks to his and Zeff's behaviour towards others. He remembered the looks, the murmurs of disgust, and he realised why. So, Sanji changed, he tried so hard to fit in. Indeed, he was so grateful for Luffy and the guys – they let him act more relaxed, more like himself. Sanji glanced at the stoic swordsman, and suddenly realised that the man must have been going through the same thing.
They knew about each other, because they understood. Like only foreigners to Rouge Town could.
Zoro clenched his fists in anticipation; it was going well. Now it was time to get what he wanted. As the chef looked at him, Zoro gave a feral smirk.
"Wanna know something else?"
"Che, I'm sure you'd enlighten me anyway" Zoro slowly reached for his swords
"All that stuff you have repress, so you can be a pansy for the idiots here, it makes you angry" Sanji cricked his neck and stretched his legs
"Heh, maybe you're right. Maybe I should kick the shit out of you for proof"
"Try it, Dartboard-brow".
The two ran at each other, weapons bared, and the looks on their faces as foot clashed with swords was unmistakeable happiness.
An hour later, the room was a mess. Tables were thrown to the sides, glasses and plates broken everywhere, and cutlery strewn across the floor. In the centre of the room, panting heavily, two faced each other down. A dribble of blood tricked down Sanji's cheek from a slice, and his suit jacket was in tatters from small cuts and scrapes. Zoro was wheezing; likely due to a cracked rib, and a heavy bruise was forming on his skull.
Despite this damage, the pair were ginning like madmen.
Sanji lit up another cigarette, and straightened his tie. Zoro watched him with a smug expression
"Feel better, ero cook?" Sanji sighed and exhaled
"Just help me clean up, Marimo"
As the pair cleaned in silence, a peg-legged chef spied through the window with a smirk
"Bout time you relaxed, eggplant"
It was dark before Zoro returned to the Redhair home (through no fault of his own of course, it was as if the streets had moved when he was at Sanji's). The family sat watching television, and expressed concern at the man's dishevelled appearance
"Zoro-san! What happened?! Shanks looked over the bruise on his head, and the rapidly growing shiner round his eye. His look of concern was almost identical to Luffy's, who was running around his feet.
"Did you get in a fight Zoro? Did you win?" The green haired man heard Ace sigh behind Shanks
"Give him some space will you? I'm sure he's fine" Father and Son stepped away tentatively, and Zoro held up a bag of delicious smelling meat"
"It's nothing. Here. From Sanji. The cook said you can't feed yourselves anyway" The family jumped on the bag hungrily
"Food! When did you see Sanji? Was everything okay?" Zoro closed his eyes as he settled on the couch for a nap
"I just bumped into him. He said he'll see you tomorrow as usual, Luffy. Now let me sleep"
Luffy turned to look at his newest friend as he followed Shanks and Ace into the kitchen, and looked at the shoe shaped bruises on his skin. Luffy smiled - Zoro may try and be closed off, but he could read the man like a book.
--
Ahh I love Sanji! He and Zoro have such a unique relationship - they really are similar in many ways. Only Sanji would understand the anger and resentment Zoro feels for being from a different place. It's bad for anyone from Blue!
I love how in the manga, Sanji and Zoro always have weird conversations. If they're not arguing, they talks little but are short and to the point when they do. I hope I managed to do their relationship justice.
Next chapter might take a while - I have to think of it first!
Thanks for Reading - Pamplemoose