Sanji feels like he has the mother of all hangovers, his head is throbbing painfully and he daren't move because he feels like his brain might just dribble out of his ears if he so much as twitches. Sanji tries to recollect what happened before the whole world was made of pain.
He remembers some shitty guy with stupid glasses, hypnotherapy. He remembers hearing… something, some kind of music. And then… Zoro. He feels himself frown. No, that wasn't right, Zoro wasn't with him. But still, he remembers Zoro very distinctly. Not in any specific way, but he remembers a certain Zoro-like quality to that moment. His brain backtracks to the reason that he was at the shitty hypnotists, he's in the wrong world, he woke up in the wrong place after eating that stupid lotus.
So… where is he now? He's lying on his side in what feels like a bed and not an especially comfortable one at that. He can smell that mix of bleach smell and antiseptic smell that makes him think of doctors. So he's not in his hammock or indeed the bed in Zoro's flat. Chopper's medical room perhaps? Or the hospital that Zoro took him to?
Sanji keeps his eyes shut. He doesn't know which world he's in and if it's the wrong one or not. In a stupid way he almost feels like if he keeps his eyes shut then he can't be in the wrong place and everything will be okay. He lets the world filter into his consciousness properly. He can't hear any distinctive voices around him, there's a bustle of noise in the distance but nothing recognisable. He had half expected to hear Zoro's voice yelling in a panic about Sanji's health, he feels a twinge of… something at the fact that Zoro doesn't seem to be anywhere near.
Carefully Sanji opens his eyes and looks about the hospital room that he finds himself in, next to him a machine that's attached to him by some clip on his finger is displaying some wavy line picture. He rolls onto his back and props himself up on his elbows to look about.
The room is simple and his bed is the only one in it. There are two faded green chairs against the wall, they're ancient and the padding on them looks worn and incredibly uncomfortable. Sanji turns to the left and spots Zeff sitting in a chair watching him silently. Sanji startles a little at the man's so far silent presence but quickly relaxes again.
"Zeff, what're you doing here? And... why am I here?" Sanji asks surprised.
"Do you remember going to see that shitty hypnotist?" Zeff asks raising large hairy eyebrow.
"I- yes. I lost about three hours of time there that I can't remember. And then right after I..." Sanji trails off. Should he tell Zeff about getting some fractured memories of Zoro back? He didn't know what they were himself yet or if they were even memories. He couldn't properly recall all of them or give them any context. He remembers those images streaming back overwhelmingly until they were unbearably painful. Should he even tell Zeff? What was there to actually tell him? He'd never been one for having heart to heart conversations with Zeff but then again when he did actually man up and ask Zeff for advice or tell him how he felt about something the man's words were always good, even if the truth could be a little hard to hear sometimes.
"Keep this a secret but... I think that I might be getting some of my memories back. Nothing big, just flashes. That's what happened when I passed out, too many memories coming back at once, it hurt and I couldn't make sense of any of them." He explains with a sigh. Zeff gives him a curious and considering look, as if he's trying to suss Sanji out.
"Why keep that a secret? That's good news isn't it? Zoro would be overjoyed to hear that." Zeff states with a frown. Sanji winces as he remembers Zoro on the sofa that morning looking at him hopefully, full of desperation to have the Sanji that remembers their life back.
"That's the point, I don't want to get his hopes up. What if those weren't memories, or what if no more come back? He'd be crushed." Sanji mutters, he knows that he would be if he were in Zoro's shoes. Having that hope raised and then dashed again would be worse than things just never getting better. No, it was better that Zoro didn't know.
"Hn, fair enough. You seem fine, I'm gonna go get that kid doctor to give you the all clear so we can get outta this place. Wait here." Zeff says rubbing at his nose as he stands up.
Sanji is grateful to have had Zeff here with him when he woke up but... he'd been expecting Zoro. That thought all by itself is crazy, he doesn't like being stuck in this world with Zoro as his primary source of company and he certainly doesn't need him. So there is absolutely no way in this world that he misses Zoro and he definitely isn't disappointed to not see him waiting for him to wake up. What did he care? The marimo could be off doing whatever he wanted for all Sanji gave a damn, he didn't want to know. He certainly wasn't going to ask about it.
"Wh-where's Zoro?" Sanji calls out to Zeff against his better judgement. The old man pauses at the door, his hand already on the handle. Zeff turns and grins at Sanji over his shoulder.
"He got kicked out of the hospital, it took about six security guys to drag him out." Zeff chuckles and turns back to face Sanji, his old face creased in obvious amusement.
"What? Why on earth would he be kicked out?" Sanji asks startled, what could Zoro have done?
"He found out that Nami was the one who took you to that shitty hypnotist. Usually the man is so mellow but when it comes to you I've seen better tempered grizzly bears!" Zeff guffaws as if it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. Sanji's heart clenches suddenly, Zoro had been here and more than a little worried about him too! The old man opens the door and exits the room still chuckling under his breath.
Sanji draws his knees up to his chest and rests his head on his knees. He can still feel the fluttering in his chest from when Zeff told him that Zoro had been here and would be here if he could be. He shakes his head, what's wrong with him? This is Zoro for goodness sake! He's never felt like this for the marimo, the most that he's ever done is perhaps looked a little too long at Zoro when the man trains shirtless on deck for hours. He's certainly never had feelings for the man! It must be those stupid memories messing with his head!
Those memories... why was he getting them? Did this mean that Chopper's diagnosis was right and the world that he remembers really was just a dream? Could that really be the case? But everything seemed so vivid, all his memories of his friends and the Grand Line, things that he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams. What was going on? Sanji scratches the back of his head and growls in frustration, he can feel the stress bunching up in his shoulders. He could really use a cigarette right about now but he knows how funny hospitals are about that sort of thing.
Chopper walks through the door closely followed by Zeff. As always Sanji finds himself surprised to see a human talking to him and not a little reindeer.
"Sanji, it's so good to see that you're awake! Zeff says that you've still got the memory loss. Other than that does everything else seem to be okay?" Chopper asks sitting down on the edge of Sanji's hospital bed. Sanji glances up at Zeff gratefully, the other man lied for him.
"Ah no, I feel fine mostly. Got a headache that feels like a bad hangover but other than that I'm good." Sanji smiles encouragingly, he really doesn't want to be kept in the hospital over night for observation.
"Well we put you through all the scanners whilst you were out to check everything was fine and you seemed ok. I still need you to take it easy though, and no more seeing dangerous hypnotists!" Chopper chides him.
"It was Nami's idea, but she meant well honestly she did!" Sanji insists. He knows that poor Nami had the best of intentions, she took him there to make up for the whole Zoro thing. And who knows what Zoro must have said to her when he found out, it must have been pretty bad to have gotten him thrown out of the hospital. He could see how badly Zoro treated Nami when she was being entirely pleasant, he must have been livid when he found out that this was (sort of) her fault. His poor Nami-swan didn't deserve Zoro being so horrible to her when she was genuinely only trying to help.
"Yes, well. She still shouldn't have done it. He's not a doctor, he's a fraud. But I think there's been quite enough yelling done about that for a lifetime, I doubt she'll do it again." Chopper says shaking his head disapprovingly.
"So... can I go?" Sanji asks hopefully.
"Sure, just stay out of trouble. Say hi to Zoro for me, and tell him to calm down, being that angry isn't good for his blood pressure." Chopper sighs with a soft smile.
After that Sanji has his clothes returned to him and after signing lots of paperwork he's free to leave. He follows Zeff, who's still limping a little despite the quality of his fake leg, to one of those odd places like the one under Sanji's building that's filled with empty cars. To Sanji's delight he finds that Zeff actually owns a car, he has to admit that he's excited to get in one, they look exciting but not nearly as suicidal as Zoro's bike.
"Come on then, let's get you home." Zeff sighs tiredly and turns a key in a slot by the wheel causing a sudden rumbling noise and a slight shaking to fill the car.
"I- wait. Can we go see Nami first? She must be so upset about all of this." Sanji says as the thought occurs to him. His poor beautiful Nami-swan must be so upset, both after her health and the worry that she might have hurt him.
Zeff drums his fingers on the wheel of the car for a moment or two before looking over at Sanji.
"I don't know where she lives and I'm guessing that you don't remember either." Zeff grumbles unhappily.
"Ah, no. Don't you have some way of finding out?" Sanji frowns, he really wants to see the lovely navigator and put her mind at ease.
"Like what? Asking Zoro?" The old chef snorts derisively. Okay, even Sanji will concede that that's a terrible idea. He tries to think of some way to find out where Nami lives, he could go back and ask Chopper but it might be hard finding the little doctor and he might be in surgery or something! That wasn't a great idea then. If only he had her address written down somewhere, then it wouldn't matter that he couldn't remember!
The memory of that little phone-thing in his pocket springs to mind, perhaps he might have Nami's details on it! He rummages it out of his pocket and stares at it. The screen is black and shiny. He remembers it showing that picture of Zoro and playing that song that sent all those memories flooding back. It's silent at the moment and his brain isn't being assaulted by an endless stream of images of Zoro.
"Last time I had this in my hand I started remembering things." Sanji murmurs as he looks at it warily as if further memories might leap from the very device and into his brain against his will.
"Of what?" Zeff asks, his wrinkled face radiating curiously.
"Zoro." Sanji answers weakly as he recalls that apparition of a naked Zoro before him purring those song words into his ear. He's fairly sure that it wasn't a memory, which left the rather more disturbing idea that it had been his imagination. He feels his face flush at the very thought.
"Would Nami's address be in this thing?" Sanji asks holding the phone-thing up.
"In your phone? Maybe, have a look." Zeff shrugs and looks at him expectantly. Sanji looks back helplessly, he's got no idea how to use the damn thing. Realising the problem Zeff swears under his breath and takes the thing from him. Sanji watches curiously as Zeff presses the little round button at the bottom of the thing causing a picture of him, Usopp and Brook singing drunkenly to appear on the screen. A little message saying "slide to unlock" appears on the screen. Sanji frowns at that, slide what to unlock what?
Zeff slides his thumb along the screen and to Sanji's surprise the message suddenly disappears and loads of little boxes with writing underneath them come up over the image of him and his nakama. Zeff stares at the phone-thing in his hand blankly for a while as Sanji reads over his shoulder.
"Hey, would it be that one that looks like an address book? It- Oh!" Sanji is surprised, no sooner had he touched the screen to point the thing out to Zeff than the screen changed again. Zeff is still staring blankly at the screen and a thought steals through Sanji's brain.
"You don't have any more idea how to use that thing than me do you?" Sanji grins at Zeff.
"Ah shut up! Some of us have better things to do than learn these new-fangled touch-screen thingies!" Zeff huffs chucking the phone at him, his plaited moustache twitching in irritation.
Sanji laughs hysterically at that and looks at the screen. This thing doesn't look so hard to use, he can already see the names of a few people he knows on the screen, Ace's name, a few of the people from the Baratie and even an entry for the Baratie itself. Curiously he runs his finger up the screen and is surprised to find that the list moves up with it. He keeps doing that until he sees Nami's name on the screen. He taps it and a picture of Nami appears with her name next to it and a series of numbers under it, none of that means anything to him but below that is what looks like an address with the words "Nami home" next to it.
"Here, that wasn't so hard was it? You gonna take me there or what old man?" Sanji smirks at Zeff.
"Shut up or I'll leave you here and drive home by myself." Zeff grouses but starts driving anyway. Soon they're out of the car park place and driving sedately through the city traffic, this is definitely much safer than Zoro's method of transportation. After half an hour of driving though Sanji is starting to think that the speed of Zoro's driving and his crazy methods of whizzing around traffic and anything else in his way has something to be said for it. Eventually they pull up outside a tall brick and glass building. As Sanji gets out of the car and looks up at the impressively high building he gets a tingle of familiarity in the back of his mind, he's… been here before.
With no other way in he wanders up to the door of the building and glances at a grey metal box with buttons on. Next to each button is a number and a little paper slip with names written on, each piece of paper has clearly been written by a different person. His eyes catch on one piece of paper that has the words "Robin & Nami" written on it and little pink flowers drawn around their names. Robin and Nami live together? Yes that… sounds right. Again Sanji is plagued by that tingle of familiarity in the back of his head, worriedly he pushes the feeling aside and presses the button.
"Hello?" Robin's voice answers after a moment, followed by a sleepy yawn.
"Robin-chan? Is Nami there?" Sanji asks hopefully.
"Oh, Sanji! How fortunate, I was hoping to come see you soon myself and I'm sure that Nami will be happy to see you. Come on up." Robin's pleased voice says through the metal box. Suddenly a harsh buzzing noise rings out and something inside the door clicks. Sanji pushes against it and the door comes open. With Zeff following slowly after him Sanji makes his way through the door.
The stairs of the building are clean but blank and it seems that each floor has just one flat on it which means that, if the address on his phone is correct, Nami and Robin's place is on the fifth floor. A substantial amount of stair climbing later and Sanji finds himself and Zeff on the fifth floor with Robin smiling pleasantly at him as she leans on her open doorframe waiting for him. She's in a pair of silky purple pyjamas and a luxurious looking red bathrobe.
"Sanji, it's so good to see you. Do come in. I would enquire after your health but I've been informed that you're not quite yourself at the moment." Robin smiles sweetly and ushers the two of them inside.
The flat is very pleasantly decorated with plenty of pieces of exotic looking artefacts and paintings about the place, there are at least four full size bookshelves that Sanji can count just in this room alone, it certainly looks like the kind of place that Nami and Robin would be happy to call home.
"Please excuse me being dressed for bed so early, I'm afraid I'm still a little jet lagged from my flight. Ah, would either of you like anything to eat or drink while you're here? I was just putting on a pot of coffee that I brought back from my trip, would you like any?" Robin enquires pleasantly as she gestures to her expensive coffee maker. Robin always did take her coffee seriously, a trait that Sanji always appreciated. Zeff tilts his head curiously at the sight, his thoughts clearly running over the same appreciation of the machinery as Sanji and a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.
"Where have you just come back from?" Zeff asks stroking his moustache thoughtfully.
"Ah, I've been all over South America, various rainforests and such. The coffee was a gift on my travels." The architect smiles secretively.
"In that case definitely. Don't you have something to do Sanji?" Zeff prompts with a raised bushy eyebrow his usual amount of subtlety. Sanji huffs at being treated like a stupid kid in front of his beautiful flower and turns on his heel to walk down the hallway. He pauses at the door at the end of the hallway and wonders for a moment is this is Nami's room or not, he'd just assumed that it must be or… had he remembered somehow? Shoving the worrying thoughts aside he knocks on the door quietly and waits, a few moments later the door swings inward revealing a rather red eyed Nami.
The navigator's eyes are puffy clearly from crying and her face is paler than it should be but with blotches of pink on her cheeks. She clings to the edge of the door and eyes Sanji with surprise and worry.
"Sanji, you're okay." Nami says in a way that's sounds like it's almost a question rather than a statement.
"I'm okay." He confirms with a warm smile to her. Nami's face brightens a little and she steps forward out of her dark room and into the light a little more. She's no longer wearing her pretty dress from earlier but instead an oversized jumper with chewed looking hems at the sleeves that hangs largely on her tiny frame, she looks small and insecure.
"I'm so sorry about today, I could have really hurt you. I was only trying to help but-" Nami starts to say in a voice that has an upset wobble to it, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Hey, hey. Don't be sorry, you were trying to help me out. You only took me there because I agreed, it wasn't your fault at all. And look, I'm fine." He coos, gathering her up in his arms and giving her a comforting hug. Nami sniffles wetly into his shoulder and mumbles apologies into his collar bone. He strokes soothing circles into her back for a while until she calms down.
"Did… did Zoro say anything awful to you? Zeff said he got so mad that they kicked him out of the hospital." Sanji asks, he's cautious about upsetting Nami again, he came here to comfort her after all, but he needs to know what Zoro said to her.
"He… he didn't say anything that wasn't true. If he was just saying nasty things that weren't true then I wouldn't be so upset." Nami sniffles pulling away from him. She leans against her doorframe and rubs at her eyes with the long scruffy sleeves and huffs a tired sigh. Sanji is about to prompt her as to what Zoro said exactly when she starts speaking again.
"He said that I never really think about other people, that I only wanted to help you because I thought that I'd benefit me. It's not entirely true, I did want you to get better, but I'd hoped that if you had got your memory back because of me that Zoro might actually start to forgive me. He is… or was my friend you know, I don't like him hating me. He said that I put your health at risk selfishly, he said that I'm a bad friend." Nami sighs morosely.
"Hey." Sanji says catching her cheek in his palm and brushing a solitary tear from her beautiful face. "You're wonderful. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do something good and have someone think better of you for it. You're a good person Nami, I mean it." He insists and smiles warmly at her.
Nami smiles back at him a little weakly at first but then stronger, she leans into his palm and encases it with her own small warm hand. Sanji thinks that she looks a little happier now, a little more like the Nami that he knows.
"You're a good friend Sanji." She murmurs quietly. She steps forward and wraps her arms around the back of his neck and standing on her tiptoes presses a soft kiss to his cheek. If this were a less serious situation he'd be all aflutter with hearts at her affection, but even he understands that some situations need to be handled like a man. He squeezes her in a brief hug and steps back out of her personal space.
"You should probably go home and let Zoro know that you're alright. He must be climbing the walls, you know how he gets with you." Nami smiles at him gently.
"If you're sure. Goodnight Nami-swan." Sanji swoons because he had to sooner or later, Nami just looks adorable in her oversized sweater and she's being so sweet. As strong as Sanji might be he's still just a mere mortal man. Nami giggles as his silliness and ushers him back down the corridor and waves him goodbye almost shyly from her bedroom door.
After that Zeff sweeps him back down into the car with a brief thank-you to Robin for the apparently very good coffee which Sanji got none of. The ride back home – and shit, when did he start thinking of that place as home? - is a quiet blur. Sanji dozes in the passenger seat and Zeff drives him back in the comfortable silence that the two of them have perfected over a lifetime of being men who don't talk much about the important stuff and dislike stupid small talk. Something about the lull of the car's engine and the way it slowly rocks when Zeff rounds a corner reminds him of the ocean and he finds himself relaxing into sleep.
He's sleepy and boneless when he stumbles out of the car at the gate to his building, next to the gate is a box with numbers on it. Zeff ambles unevenly up to the gate next to him and Sanji is about to turn to him to ask him about the gate when he realises that his hand is already on the number box. He stares at it for a moment, he didn't mean to put his hand there, but it's happened all the same, like muscle memory or something. He relaxes and lets his mind go a little blank, he wiggles his fingers to get them moving and almost of their own accord they key in four digits: 8,4,6,3. The gate beeps and unlocks.
Zeff gives him a look that quite plainly challenges him about how long Sanji thinks he can keep his memories coming back a secret. Sanji silently thinks until I get caught out. He mumbles goodnight to Zeff and wanders into the lift, keys at the ready. It turns out that he doesn't need them because when he gets to the door of the flat that he and Zoro share he can hear Zoro pacing and swearing to himself on the other side. He's about to knock when Zoro yanks the door on with his motorcycle jacket in hand. Perhaps he was about to go back to the hospital regardless of his being thrown out already once today. There's a dumb moment where they both just stare at each other.
"Hi." Sanji ventures after several moments of stupid silence. This seems to snap Zoro back to reality and the man makes a weak sound in the back of his throat and lunges forward, dropping his jacket and grabbing Sanji in one. Sanji supposes that this is a hug, not that he and Zoro have ever hugged and not that this is what he would call a hug either. It bears no resemblance to the soft comforting gesture that he gave to Nami earlier. Instead this seems more like an attempt on Zoro's part to fuse them together and crush them into one being, he's not entirely sure that he's wrong. It's just on the right side of painful and that part of Sanji's brain that has been spewing up combinations to gates that he apparently knows says that this is home. He relaxes into Zoro's arms and allows himself to turn his face into Zoro's warm neck.
"I hate you, you shitty cook. You're nothing but trouble." Zoro growls fiercely, his fingernails digging into Sanji's back. Sanji translates this as 'I love you, don't scare me like that'. He laughs at that until he and Zoro are both in hysterical laughter like the idiots that they are. Sanji looks over at Zoro and feels the faint feeling of distant music in his brain.