"Hey Zoro, wake up." A voice says in his ear as a hand shakes his shoulder. Zoro comes to in a fuzzy kind of consciousness, he'd woken up several times in the night unable to sleep and unable to stop himself from repeatedly poring over the every detail in his report. He looks up at Usopp bleary eyed, blinking sleepily as he does so.
"Zoro, you'd better hurry, you're going to miss breakfast. Sanji's still down there, you've got time if you hurry." Usopp urges him.
That startles Zoro into full wakefulness! Sanji had two rules and he's about to break one of them already! He leaps out of bed and sprints into his wardrobe, he glances around at all of the clothes and in a panicky decision decides that he doesn't have time to get dressed and sprints out again. He runs down the corridor and down the stairs, nearly running into Franky as he comes into the kitchen. Sanji doesn't seem to notice him or his hasty entrance though, the cook is flipping through some official looking papers with his fork half forgotten en route to his mouth.
Franky chuckles at him and points one large finger towards a heavenly smelling selection of homemade pastries, bread and preserves. Zoro nods gratefully before helping himself and sliding innocently into the chair at Sanji's side as if he's been there ages. Sanji doesn't react but instead scowls a little harder at his papers. Zoro cranes his neck curiously and looks at them, he spies the Royal Institute's insignia on the top right away, it matches the wax seal that was on his report.
"Oh, it's my ownership papers." He realises aloud, rousing Sanji from his absorption in them.
"Oh, yeah. I need to call them though, I think they're made a mistake. Or perhaps they sent it to me in two parts and I threw the other part out when I threw your report away." Sanji says biting into the watermelon on his fork with a frown.
"I don't think they'd send it in two parts. What're you missing?" Zoro asks innocently, not mentioning that he damn well knows that there was no additional contract pages in with his report because he's read the damn thing from cover to cover.
"Well, loads of stuff, but maybe it's in here and I just can't read the legal mumbo jumbo." Sanji sighs dropping the papers on the table defeated and slumping back in his chair unhappily.
"Let me see, I can usually read this stuff, a friend of mine taught me." Zoro says, not mentioning that he got used to reading sneaky contracts of Nami's. He wipes his hands free of pastry crumbs on his pyjama trousers and picks up the contract.
"Okay, this bit is all about me being 'sold as seen', so that refers to my report. But that's pretty standard. This part is about your consumer rights and how long you have if you want to return me and the conditions for doing that for free or with a charge." Zoro says pointing to the corresponding lines.
"There's some stuff about what the institute will do for you if I escape, that you can either have me back with compensation or you can get a replacement for free. Then there are the usual clauses about the lifetime nature of the contract, then an explanation of terms that they use and… that's more or less it." Zoro finishes handing the documents back to Sanji and biting into some of the toast made from the home made bread.
"But- but where's the rest of it? There has to be more, there just has to be! Where are the parts about your welfare, what I have to provide for you? Where does it say what you can do if you don't like me? Where does it day what we can do if someone says that I'm mistreating you? It's all missing!" Sanji exclaims, flicking through the contract again, as if Zoro wouldn't have noticed something like that.
"Are you drunk?" He asks, raising a sceptical eyebrow at the blonde.
"What?! No!" The cook splutters, clearly offended.
"Then what's wrong with you? That stuff has never been in any contract ever. A company that includes return clauses like that isn't going to care about my welfare Sanji." Zoro says with a scowl at his breakfast. He suddenly doesn't feel like eating anymore.
"Wh… what clauses? What would I ever return you?" Sanji frowns, leaning over to read over Zoro's shoulder.
"Like I said, there are certain conditions that if they fit you can return me for free. If I… resist you, you can return me and get a replacement." He mutters darkly.
"Resist me?" Sanji asks, clearly confused. Zoro sighs, Sanji doesn't get it.
"If I deny you or fight back." He clarifies unhappily. He knows all too well about this clause and why mates like him think it's better not to resist, because they could be retuned – which is far worse.
"You mean sex?!" Sanji gasps in horror, Zoro nods silently.
"But… but if you can't say no then how can anyone know if you really consent? That'd mean that anyone who has a mate could be a rapist!" Sanji balks shocked.
"Like they're not already? Anyway, legally speaking it's not; you're the one who owns my body, not me. It's not mine to decide what to do with it, it's yours. You can't steal what's already legally yours." Zoro explains grudgingly, he sincerely hopes that Sanji won't take that as an invitation.
"No, no, you must be wrong! You have to be wrong!" The cook insists almost childishly.
Zoro sighs and picks up the contract, flicking to the appropriate page. He clears his throat and starts to read, if Sanji won't believe him then maybe actually hearing it will convince him.
"If the consumer feels that his or her needs have not been met or that the provided mate is not fulfilling his or her obligated physical duties as per the terms of service then the client is entitled to bring their mate to an immediate mediation session. If a suitable outcome cannot then be reached the client is entitled to a full refund or exchange within ten days, provided on the basis of current Royal Institute stock." He recites.
"Translation; if you try to screw me and I say no or resist they can haul me in and threaten me, if I still say no or resist you get either your money back or a brand new plaything." He adds flicking the contract back down onto the table top angrily.
"Ugh… I feel sick." Sanji groans, looking away. Zoro shakes his head and looks back at the contract, he can't feel sorry for Sanji at his horrifying realisation, that horrifying reality is his life.
Sanji looks up at him suddenly with piercingly blue eyes as if some big idea has just occurred to him.
"Oh god, that's why you're so jumpy around me isn't it? That's why you're so scared of me! You think I'm going to… to…" Sanji trails off in horror.
"I'm not scared of you." He snaps, his pride speaking before his brain gets a word in.
"Yes you are." Sanji asserts shakily. Zoro glares at him but his rationality reminds him that disagree with Sanji might provoke the blonde into trying to scare him to prove his point and Zoro doesn't want that to happen. He scowls and turns his attention back to his half abandoned breakfast.
"I didn't know." The blonde breathes, his breath coming quick and panicky.
"Didn't you listen to your uncle? He had his mate 'put down'! You could haul me up onto your precious kitchen top and cut my throat out with one of your fancy knives and no one would bat an eyelid!" He snaps angrily, his so mad that his fists are shaking.
His anger wilts though when he looks at Sanji who is staring at him wide eyed in genuine horror. He's even gone a little paler than normal in his shock and is trembling slightly. Zoro sighs as his rage leaves him completely, leaving him instead just feeling hollow. His situation isn't Sanji's fault, not really. And getting angry at him for being a naïve idiot is hardly going to change things, it's not as if Sanji made the rules after all, or that he's been abusing Zoro either, he just somehow didn't know.
"I thought that my uncle was just lying to upset me, they mock the fact that I care about people all the time. I thought that they were just… just… oh poor Rose!" Sanji wails. The blonde actually looks like he might throw up now as he pushes his chair away from the table and rests his head in his shaking hands.
"Oh god, my mother!" Sanji exclaims in horror, his eyes distant.
Zoro slides off of his chair and kneels at Sanji's side, he rubs his hand between the man's shoulder blade's soothingly. At this rate Sanji is either going to faint or throw up and Zoro doesn't want to be around for either. It'd be best if he kept the other man talking.
"Your mother was a mate like me?" Zoro asks, hoping to distract Sanji… and to find out a little more about the man's past. Sanji nods his head, his body shaking ever so slightly under Zoro's hand.
"I always thought that the reason she stayed with my father was because she didn't want to leave me alone with him, or that she loved him deep down. I didn't know that she couldn't leave." Sanji says in a haunted tone.
Zoro stays silent at that. He doesn't know what the relationship between Sanji's parents was like, though from his brief meeting with Sanji's father he can guess. But more importantly he doesn't know how bad Sanji thinks that it was. Sanji was only young when he and his father were separated and his mother died, he doubtlessly didn't see things the way that Zoro sees them now. If his mother was a quiet woman Sanji might have just thought that was her way, whereas Zoro knows enough to think that she would have been too terrified to speak. He wonders what she was really like.
"I'm sorry." He offers Sanji. What else can he say? The man has just had his idea of his parents relationship shattered, discovered that his uncle is a murderer and found out that the institute really are evil and really do threaten people like Zoro; and the blonde's not even finished breakfast yet!
"You must think that I'm a monster." Sanji says quietly, looking up at Zoro through his hair. He's so close Zoro would only have to lean forward ever so slightly to touch the man's forehead with his own.
"I don't think you're a monster, I think you're an idiot." He smirks and closes the gap to Sanji with his hand and flicks the guy in the forehead.
"Gee, thanks!" Sanji squawks offended. Zoro grins up at him, Sanji's offence has returned some colour to his face and he no longer looks in danger of fainting like some delicate lady.
"You're the moron who signed something without reading it, despite being big enough and ugly enough to know better!" Zoro retorts and stands up.
"Now I'm ugly too? Thanks!" The blonde huffs and kicks him in the shin lightly with his bare foot.
"Seriously though, how did you even get through the process of getting me without anyone explaining to you what I was or how this thing between us works?" he asks with a puzzled frown.
"I told you, I didn't have much to do with it." Sanji mutters, looking away.
"Yeah but even so-" Zoro protests.
"It doesn't matter!" Sanji shouts suddenly. He reaches over and grabs Zoro's shirt and pulls him close.
"Listen to me, you and I, we're not like that. I don't care what that contract says, if you're not happy then tell me, if you hate me then let me know, if you want something or you don't want something you damn well make me aware! I won't return you, I won't hurt you and I sure as hell am not going to force you into anything, regardless of what that contract says!" Sanji snaps. As proof he snags the contract off of the table and hurls it across the room into a wall.
"Swear that you're safe here, okay? So tell me, what do you really think of me?" Sanji asks, looking back at him with wide earnest blue eyes and Zoro can't help but stare.
"Well, like I said, you're an idiot. I suppose you're alright though." He laughs.
"Well, thanks, I guess." Sanji grouses letting him go and sulkily looking at his breakfast.
"Hey, no problem. Any time you need someone to tell you that you're an idiot, any time of day or night, I'm your man." He chuckles.
"Now you're just mocking me grass-head" Sanji accuses in an affronted voice, but Zoro can see the smile quirking his lips up.
"You noticed, well done!" Zoro teases, earning him an elbow in the side.
"Eat your breakfast moron." The blonde huffs.
"Whatever you say, idiot-cook." Zoro retorts.
They eat breakfast in relative quiet after that, it's fantastic of course, but Zoro is starting to get used to Sanji's cooking being unfathomably great. Even dinner last night that he'd eaten in stony silence with Sanji tasted fantastic.
Sanji doesn't seem to notice the brilliance of his own cooking though as he absently eats his food, as he stares somewhat glumly into the distance. Zoro notices that his eyes keep landing on the crumpled contract on the floor by the wall where he'd thrown it.
"There's nothing that you can do about it." Zoro sighs, Sanji must be feeling guilty about the whole thing.
"I'm responsible, there must be something that I can do to change this." The other man frowns, picking the crusts off of his bread and eating them.
"Unless you own the institute and everyone on the board that rules it then no, you can't. And since you don't…" Zoro shrugs picking up his plate and Sanji's as he walks to the sink. He dumps them in and turns the tap on.
"If that's what I have to do then I will." Sanji asserts after a while, joining Zoro at the sink and shouldering him out of the way so that he can wash up.
"Seriously?" Zoro laughs, picking up a dishtowel and drying. Sanji squints at him searchingly as if he's just said something particularly oblivious.
"Hey, I'm not saying don't try, but just being rich doesn't mean that you can buy anything that you want. Even my freedom." He says trying to reason with the other man, he really needs to see that it's hopeless, it's something that Zoro accepted a long time ago and Sanji should too, he'll only get hurt if he doesn't.
"I'll do it." Sanji asserts anyway.
Zoro smiles quickly to himself, Sanji's definitely not a monster, but he's absolutely an idiot.
Zoro had planned to spend today exploring the house properly, something that he'd not had much chance to do so far, but when Sanji comes and finds him he suspects that his plan might change.
"I'm going to go and visit Robin, she has a huge library with all sorts of books. And I'm going to need some law books if I'm going to change things and fix that contract of yours. So, do you want to come with me?" the blonde asks proving him right about his plans.
"Sure." Zoro shrugs. He'd quite liked Robin, at the very least she was interesting and sneaky.
"Great!" Sanji beams at him.
Franky's flight there takes hardly any time, Lady Robin must live quite close by. Her home is bigger than Sanji's and as they arrive at the door Zoro can't help but admire the detail on everything. The door is carved in intricate leaf designs and the stone pillars on either side of it look like tree trunks.
The spectacled guy who opens the door has an exceedingly weird hairstyle knotted to look like a number three. Or at least Zoro thinks that's what it's been made to look like, he doubts that this guy did it accidentally, although why he'd do it deliberately is just as much of a mystery.
"Ah, Sir Prince. So nice to see you for such a surprising and unannounced visit." The guy says in a voice that's as annoying as his hair is weird.
"Is Robin here Mr. 3?" Sanji asks in an exasperated voice.
"I shall ask the Lady if she is here." Mr. 3 says turning to go back inside.
"You two should wait here, don't move." Mr 3 adds, beckoning them into the lobby and leaving them with a look that Zoro wouldn't even give to something he found on his boot.
"He'll go and ask her if she's here?" Zoro whispers to Sanji with a puzzled frown. Surely Robin is in if Mr 3 can go and ask her?
"Don't even ask, that guy pisses me off so much." Sanji mutters back.
They wait for a few minutes in the grand lobby without the weird man returning before Sanji curses under his breath and strides off down the hallway that the servant left down. The corridor is long and doesn't seem to have any doors on its right, although there are numerous doors on the left that Sanji ignores as he strides quickly down the corridor with his smart black shoes clicking on the polished green marble floor.
Along the right hand wall there are paintings instead of doors. They're all forest scenes, all of which have a disproportionately large tree in them somewhere. The slightly mystical quality of the paintings is familiar somehow, ha pauses and looks at the signatures in the corner, he can't make out what it says but it's the same one as in the paintings in Sanji's home.
"What's up?" Sanji asks him from down the hallway, clearly only just having noticed that he'd stopped walking behind him.
"You're both fans of the same artist." Zoro responds, pointing at the signature on the painting.
"The greatest artist in the world if you listen to what he says." Sanji grins, sauntering back over to him with his slender hipped shimmy of a walk.
"It's Usopp's work." The blonde adds, with a genuine smile sliding onto his face as he looks up at the painting.
"Usopp? Your Usopp?" Zoro gasps, surprised at the kid's talent.
"Yep. Come on it's not far." Sanji says, catching him by the elbow and tugging him down the hallway. Zoro follows and as they round the corner they reach a large set of double doors in the right hand wall, the first that they've come across, the doors are ajar. They can hear voices through the door, Mr 3's voice and Robin's voice.
"You're sure that you don't want any more coffee Lady Robin?" Mr 3 asks in his simpering tone.
"No, I'm quite alright Mr 3. I'm sure that I heard someone at the front door though." Lady Robin says in reply. Zoro resists snorting with derision, with Robin's powers she probably damn well saw them walk up to the door with her mysterious hands and eyes.
"Oh, no, no. It was no one really, common riff-raff selling something." Mr 3 laughs haughtily.
"Were we now? Were you trying to sell anything to the man Zoro?" Sanji says loudly and innocently as he glances through the curtain of his flaxen hair at Zoro.
"Not me." Zoro grins at the incredibly uncomfortable looking Mr 3.
"I'll just… go." Mr 3 mutters slipping out of the room red faced.
"Sanji!" Robin exclaims joyously, walking quickly over to the blonde and pulling him into a tight hug. A few hearts flutter around the blonde making Zoro raise his eyebrow. Was Sanji attracted to women? Of course the only thing that Zoro knew about Sanji's sexuality was that he was attracted to men, if he wasn't Zoro wouldn't even be here. But… that didn't mean that his interests swung exclusively that way as Zoro's did.
"My beautiful flower! You look more radiant every time that I'm fortunate enough to lay eyes on your heavenly voluptuous form!" Sanji declares with a swoon making Robin laugh.
Zoro rolls his eyes, that answers his question then.
"You're so sweet Sanji. Oh Zoro, you look much more relaxed than last time I saw you." Robin says delicately extricating herself from Sanji's swooning embrace and smiling at him.
"That's not saying much." Zoro points out with a wry smile.
"True, but still. How have you boys been getting on with each other?" She asks looking at them interestedly. As one Zoro and Sanji look at each other wordlessly. He sees doubt in Sanji's eyes but they both still turn back to Robin, smile, and say that they're fine. Robin doesn't look entirely convinced but doesn't press them on it either.
Zoro looks around the library that they're in. It's absolutely massive which must be why it took them so long to get around to a door. The shelves and shelves of books that spread throughout the room are massive, easily over three times Zoro's height. They cover every wall and rows throughout the room, there's even a second floor and higher half levels on that! He has no idea how many books are in here but it would take even a dedicated reader a lifetime to read them all cover to over. It's impressive to say the least.
"What can I do for you Sanji?" Robin asks pleasantly. Sanji's face flicks back to serious then, the hearts disappearing from his eyes.
"I wanted to look at your law books Robin, I read Zoro's contract this morning and I'm convinced that it can't be legal." Sanji says seriously.
"You mean you didn't read it before now?" Robin asks him with her eyebrows raised in surprise.
"I thought I knew what it said." Sanji mumbles looking at his feet in embarrassment, the tips of his ears are even turning pink. Zoro grins smugly at Sanji and gets an evil look through Sanji's hair for his trouble, it just makes him grin wider.
"Silly boy, never sign anything without reading it first Sanji, especially when you think you know what it says." Robin chides him.
"That said, I've devoted many hours myself to this matter in the past with no success. But, as always, you are always welcome to use my library, I'll show you my work." Robin sighs gesturing to one end of the library.
"This probably won't interest you much Zoro, and I'm sad to tell you that I don't have much fiction in here. I do have a little over there under that light there, perhaps it might be of some interest to you?" Robin suggests.
He takes the hint, thanks her and heads of calmly in the direction that Robin indicated. It turns out that what Robin thinks of as 'not much' is at least a thousand books of poetry and fiction. Zoro grins maniacally and hopes that Sanji takes his sweet time with his fruitless research.
Robin has all of his favourites and more he notes as he lovingly runs his fingers down the spines of the books. Before he came to the institute he didn't care about reading at all, and if he'd managed to avoid his fate he probably still wouldn't, but something about living in slavery gives escape to fictional worlds a huge appeal.
He touches his childhood favourites, Treasure Island, Peter Pan, the collected works of Roald Dahl. His fingers linger on the Princess Bride, he'd been able to get a whole load of kids in the institute to read it with him after dark with stolen flashlights under the cover of blankets. It always got too loud though, with other kids pitching in to do the silly voices and Zoro himself could never resist leaping up and enacting the swordfights, they'd always been his favourite bits. He was sad when the institute caught them one too many times and confiscated the books. He could remember enough of it by memory to keep it on, although sometimes he preferred Nami's alterations. He closes his eyes, he can just picture Nami perched on the foot of her bed adlibbing Princess Buttercup's lines and altering the story.
"And then Buttercup grabbed Vizzini and threw him to the shrieking eels, because she knew about them, having lived near there her entire life! And she escaped and became the Dread Pirate Roberts herself!" Nami had declared.
He smiles wistfully and pulls the book loose from its shelf. He slides it under his arm and pulls out a few more that he'd always wanted to read. He settles onto the floor and starts to read. He struggles to stay on one book though and like a kid in a candy store he pulls more from the shelves, leafing through their pages and diving in and out of their stories.
He's partway through Treasure Island, an old favourite, already so immersed that he can practically feel the sun on the back of his neck and hear the waves lapping against the hull of the Hispaniola when a hand on his shoulder startles him half to death.
"Gah!" Sanji yelps, falling back away from where he'd crouched on the floor beside Zoro. Zoro comes back to the library and lowers the book in his hand, the way he'd been holding it threatened to brain Sanji with it.
"You startled me." He mutters in embarrassment.
"Well I called your name!" Sanji snaps indignantly from his inelegant sprawl on the ground.
"He was worlds away Sanji, lost in a book." Robin smiles, crouching down at his side. She lifts the edge of his book with a long elegant finger enough to see the cover.
"Treasure Island, one of my favourites as a child. I always found pirates fascinating, didn't you?" She smiles at him. Zoro reddens and realises that he's almost made a nest for himself out of books in his enthusiasm.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Zoro stumbles as he picks the books hurriedly off of the floor to replace them in the bookshelf.
"You can borrow some if you like." Robin smiles at him picking a book off of the floor and plucking the Princess Bride from his grasp, he'd not been able to put it away.
"Really?" He asks hopefully as he looks up at the dark haired woman.
"Of course, I'll lend you three at the time, then you can to come and see me again and tell me what you thought when you change them for new ones. I'm always happy to help out a fellow bibliophile." Robin smiles at him, pulling another book from the shelf and adding it to the pile of three in her hand.
"A what?" Sanji frowns at them.
"A book lover, Sanji. Don't let all those things that they say about blondes be true now." She chuckles, ruffling Sanji's golden locks as she passes him.
"Hey!" Sanji protests offended. The laugh, free and easy, bubbles up out of Zoro's chest momentarily filling him with a glow inside that he'd previously only associated with Luffy, Nami and Ace.
"Don't you start too!" Sanji huffs and shoves at him with his shoe but Sanji's small smile speaks of him being secretly pleased.
Zoro grins and stands up as he puts the last book from the floor back in the bookcase, he takes the three that Robin offers him from her hand and holds them close to his chest.
"Hey, can you help me carry the law books that Robin is lending me?" Sanji asks as he leads the way back to the centre of the library.
"You won't find anything in them." Zoro points out. He knows that if he answer was that simple he wouldn't even be here now, the institute would have gone out of business generations ago. As it was the Royal Institute was one of the top ten most profitable companies in the whole world, making the family that owned it ludicrously wealthy, certainly more than Sanji appeared to be. The dumb blonde just didn't understand the might of the company that he was trying to tangle with.
"I'm no quitter Zoro. I won't rest until you stay with me because you want to and not because you have to." Sanji says spinning on his heel at the bottom of the staircase and smiling up at Zoro charmingly, freezing him on the staircase where he stands.
"Pft. Good luck with that." Zoro snorts dismissively as he regains his composure and breezes by Sanji.
"You're blushing." The blonde smirks at him.
"Only because your idiocy makes me angry!" Zoro snaps defensively, certain that he's not blushing, the other man must just be making it up to fluster him.
"I'm not an idiot! At least I'm not a defeatist like you!" Sanji retorts, scooping up a large stack of legal books from the table before them with an offended flourish.
"Big words for someone who can't even read a contract!" Zoro snipes back, dropping his loaned books on top of Sanji's remaining ones and picking them up with ease.
Sanji manages to get a few words into a doubtlessly weak insult in reply before Robin's giggle behind them reminds them of her presence.
"Oh no, don't mind me boys. I'm just surprised that you two developed such friction so quickly!" She laughs daintily behind her hand as they both look at her.
"I'm sorry to behave so poorly in front of you my sweet lady!" Sanji apologises profusely in his overly flowery way. He tries to boy in apology but the book sin his arms get in his way and he ends up in an awkward flailing curtsy instead.
Zoro would usually find this ineptness funny but he can't help but look at Robin suspiciously as his mind traces around the edge of that word, friction. Was it sheer coincidence? It wasn't exactly a common turn of phrase was it? But he'd been up so long last night reading over his own report that the phrase was stuck in his head and he'd spot it anywhere.
"His best relationships seem to rely on a certain amount of friction within a safe environment."
But the report's seal had been intact and the envelope it came in had been completely unopened, even at the bottom where most people wouldn't have thought to check. He'd been so thorough to be sure that Sanji hadn't really read his report and wasn't just pretending not to have done so. He was grateful for this thoroughness now. Surely then Robin couldn't have read the report could she?
Although… she had been the one to deliver it to Sanji in the first place, and he'd already witnessed her sneakiness first hand. She'd both tampered with his outfit at the ceremony and with him being selected for Sanji in the first place. No, this was a woman used to subterfuge. And really, how hard would it be to fake the seal? All you'd need was a replica stamp and some similar looking wax.
No, he was convinced now that Robin had read his report and possibly that she wanted him to know that. Sneaky woman. What was her angle though? Why did she want him to know?
Instead of speaking he pretends as if he hasn't just worked this all out and instead smirks at Sanji. Never one to miss out on an opportunity to aggravate the blonde now that it was apparent that he wouldn't be punished for it he bows at Robin smoothly, unhindered by the books in his arms. The institute had drilled signs of respect into them, regardless of what you happened to be doing or holding at the time, he was well practiced.
"Show off, let's go." Sanji mutters snagging Zoro by the elbow and tugging him out of the room.
"Oh, Sanji! You've not forgotten about Lady Hina's party tonight have you?" Robin calls after them. Zoro watches Sanji tense up with interest.
"I'll see you there my Lady." Sanji says over his shoulder instead and leads the way out of Robin's large home.
"Not looking forward to it?" Zoro asks raising an eyebrow at Sanji as they slide into the back of Sanji's car, both ignoring Sanji's enthusiastic "super" greeting.
"I don't like many of these parties, they're unnecessarily lavish and the food is always below what I could make myself." Sanji sighs.
"Well, I'm sure you run into that problem everywhere, so that's not much of an objection." Zoro points out, looking out of the window as they take off. He realizes that Sanji has paused and he turns to look back at the blonde and spots a small surprised smile on his face.
"You like my cooking?" Sanji asks hopefully.
"I- yeah. Don't look at me like that, I didn't say it to stroke your stupid ego." Zoro mutters, but instead of looking offended Sanji's smile only widens.
"You were saying?" He prompts, feeling uncomfortable with that kind of smile from the other man.
"Yes, I hate these things. Too much being forced to be nice to people that you hate." Sanji sighs resting his head back on the top of the black leather seat, making the golden strands splay out strikingly.
"Haven't you known these people for years though? Surely there must be some of them that you like?" Zoro frowns.
"A few, Robin, Brook, Kaya. There are people that aren't bad, like the Lady Hina who's hosting tonight, but everyone is so busy wearing masks of who they're supposed to be that you never get to see who they actually are." Sanji remarks quietly.
Zoro contemplates that for a moment, he's not an especially social person, but that's by choice. But it sounds like even he has more friends than Sanji.
"Sounds lonely." He says carefully.
"Yeah, it is." Sanji agrees quietly and looks out of the window silently, the conversation over.
Zoro for a moment has a vision of a younger Sanji, sixteen years old and forced into his father's big empty house – he probably didn't have the one that he has now when he was that age. He imagines a Sanji who had spent the last six years of his life in the noisy bustling kitchen of the Baratie only to be wrenched into this isolated world. He has Franky and Usopp who are friends to him as well as servants, but they are still Sanji's servants as well. Then there is Robin who seems to be nice but even he can see that Robin has her eyes on some other prize as well as being Sanji's friend. He has yet to meet Kaya but so far everyone regards Sanji as something else as well as just a friend.
The cook was indeed living a lonely life. For the first time in Zoro's entire life he could almost see the appeal of a mate. A ready made friend, confidant and lover. He'd seen all the adverts for mates which promised all that and more, a perfect match, someone who'd love you and obey you, someone who understood you. It doesn't mean that it's right or any less morally terrible but… well, loneliness could drive people to do terrible things.
The rest of the drive back to Sanji's home is done in silence and when they arrive Sanji asks Franky to help him with the books. Zoro trails uselessly behind them. Once the books are safely inside Sanji's study the cook politely but firmly shuts the door to keep them out.
"Wow, I haven't seen him this focused since he tried to get his father arrested." Franky says letting out a low whistle.
"He what?" Zoro blinks in surprise. Franky looks uncomfortable but leads Zoro through his own room and out onto the garden chairs where the blue haired man can keep an eye on the corridor and presumably see if Sanji is coming out to overhear them.
"When I was younger my name was Cutty Flam, my adopted father was a fishman and a shipwright. He built a ship for one of the greatest pirates of all time, Gol D. Roger." Franky says in a low voice. Zoro's jaw drops at this, it's almost unbelievable!
"Sanji's father Spandam is a bastard, a real slimebag. He had my father killed, I tried to rescue him but got hit by a train for my trouble." Franky says darkly.
"How are you not dead?!" Zoro asks with wide eyes.
"Lucky I guess, and I'm a damn good engineer myself." Franky smiles secretly, tapping the side of his metal nose.
"So why are you working here? Surely you hate Sanji and his father?" Zoro questions, feeling puzzled.
"That was eight years ago, you two were just eleven then, just pups, it wasn't Sanji's fault and he was missing then anyway. When Sanji returned however I planned on kidnapping him, to destroy Spandam by taking someone that he loved from him in revenge. You can see how that wasn't going to work, Spandam needs Sanji but he doesn't love him. When I grabbed Sanji and told him my plan in an attempt to gloat Sanji offered to help!" Franky laughs. Zoro considers that, it's not surprising when you consider what Spandam has done to Sanji.
"Sanji got me to build this house for him, his father didn't recognise me with a different name and a different face so Sanji was able to hire me as his servant and chauffer when really we were working on a plan to put Spandam away for good. I'd have my revenge and Sanji would have his freedom back." The older man smiles fondly.
"I guess it didn't work." Zoro says sourly, he wishes that it had.
"No, it didn't work. Sanji worked tirelessly for a year but as long as Spandam has more money than God and the influence that goes with it he can't be stopped, no matter how illegal or immoral he is. Sanji came to me and apologised when he realises this, he terminated my contract saying that he'd failed me and himself and that I didn't have to stay anymore. But I refuse to leave, Sanji is a good kid and he needs people looking out for him." The cyborg smiles.
"I've not seen him throw himself into something like this since then, if there's a way to make you free then Sanji will find it." Franky assures him with a serious look.
"There isn't though, not without dismantling the Institute and bankrupting the bastards that run it. " Zoro says shaking his head. Sanji's goal is admirable but ultimately impossible.
"It's almost a beautifully simple problem, stop the rich bastards being so rich." Franky smiles cunningly.
"I'm all for that." Zoro agrees.
"Good to hear it little bro, welcome to the team." Franky laughs and ruffles his hair as he leaves Zoro's room.
Team? Zoro wonders. He shrugs and grabs one of the borrowed books from his bed. At least he can read for a while before he and Sanji have to go to a party that neither of them wants to go to. As he leans back in his chair he can just see the edge of Sanji's office door. He frowns and slides down in his chair. Are Sanji's efforts really pointless or had he just internalised the institute's message that they are all powerful and that resistance was useless? Zoro wasn't sure that he liked either option.