"Okay… that all looks good. Now to see if he can move. The stimulant should take effect soon. Ah, here we go, he's waking up again now." Doctor Hogback's voice comes down to him. Zoro feels the pull of a needle exiting his skin in his arm, it's unpleasant enough to urge him into wakefulness.
Muzzily Zoro opens his eyes. He is first greeted by the sensation of tightness and inflexibility around his neck and he knows without checking that his collar is back on, he tilts his head and feels the weight of it hanging at his throat. He blinks a few times to focus his eyes and struggles to push back his control from the drugs clouding his veins. Sanji swims into view before him, crouched down with a worried little smile.
"Hey, your cast is off." Sanji informs him cheerfully, his blonde hair sweeping over his face as he leans over towards him.
Yes, but my collar is back on. He thinks unhappily. Why did Cindry tell him all of that about his collar and the code just to drug him and put his collar back on? And what about Nami? Feeling confused and drugged up he looks blearily around, he's back in the room that he and Sanji slept in.
He sits up awkwardly in the bed and looks down at his arm, halfway down his arm is a big square bandage taped down onto his skin but as Sanji said, his cast is gone. Curiously he peels the white taped on bandage up and looks at his arm. Instead of the burnt crater that Ace had accidentally gifted him there's a wedge of redness. He peers at it a little closer to see that it's actually muscle and skin, the replacement flesh itself is synthetic looking and clear, the redness is from his own blood flowing through the fake muscle. He sees that his own skin is already starting to heal over the edges of it at a faster rate than he would have expected. He squashes the childish impulse to poke at the fake muscle and skin, it probably wouldn't help and no doubt his doctor would shout at him for it.
Zoro folds the bandage back down thoughtfully and looks at his hand resting limp and untested on the bedspread. Part of him doesn't want to try to move it, if he doesn't try then he can't discover that the surgery failed. He shoves that thought aside quickly, avoiding finding out is just as bad as it not working and he's not a coward like that.
With stiff muscles he curls his hand into a fist, it shakes slightly at the effort of being held closed. He relaxes and his hand opens somewhat on its own. That's fine but it did that before when he had a hole in his arm, keeping his hand clenched hadn't been the problem as it wasn't the inside of his arm that was damaged but the outside.
Carefully he straightens his fingers. Instantly the burn of exhausted muscle shoots through his arm, especially through the section that had been replaced. He winces in discomfort and tries again, pulling each finger up and then down in turn in a sort of slow wave that runs along his hand. The muscle in his arm is trembling from the effort and with an exhausted huff he relaxes his arm completely. His arm works again, it's weak and sore but it works.
"It works… Thank you doctor." Sanji breathes in relief, his hand coming up to the back of Zoro's neck and leaning down to rest his forehead on the crown of Zoro's head.
"You're okay." Sanji whispers, perhaps to himself, perhaps to Zoro.
"I'm okay." Zoro agrees quietly.
"You will need to do these exercises, I've listed them all here. If you follow these instructions and take the right medication you should recover all of your former strength. I'll require a follow up visit next week and another three weeks after that. Another resounding success for the greatest doctor in the world, hah!" Doctor Hogback laughs loudly to himself, his arms akimbo on his fat hips. Zoro is pleased with the results too but the doctor doesn't have to crow like that. With a fleeting gesture the doctor flicks a printed page or two of instructions onto Zoro's bed and instructs Cindry to take pictures of his healing arm. Wordlessly Cindry obliges as the doctor sweeps out of the room self importantly.
"You can sign his discharge papers if you like now Sir Prince, they're down at the front desk." Cindry says coolly, not looking up from Zoro's healing arm as she takes pictures.
"I'll go do that. I'll see you in a minute and we can get out of here, okay?" Sanji smiles at him and grabs his coat off of the back of a chair. He slides the fine woollen thing over his shoulders and slips his arms through the sleeves, with a flick of his collar and a click of his finely polished shoes he leaves.
Cindry quickly folds the instructions about his surgery in half, grabs Zoro's trousers from the chair next to the bed and presses them to his chest. She reaches into her pocket and drops Zoro's three earrings into his hand along with a fifty beli note, lastly and with a look of importance on her face she presses a small black device into his palm. It's no bigger than Zoro's thumb and as he looks down at it he sees a small number pad on it.
"Press it just here." Cindry says, tapping the front of his collar, just to the left of his gold padlock. He knows from years of wearing his collar that there's a seam there, he's felt the frustrating notch with his nails thousands upon thousands of times. He's hoped that it would pop open or come apart there, he's wished for it fervently with his every breath and earlier Cindry took it apart just there with this device that she's just put in his hand.
"You remember the code?" She asks seriously.
"5435." Zoro answers instantly, staring down at the device in his palm. As if he could forget the code to his freedom, the code to being his own man again, the code to get this goddamn collar off and get back to Luffy, Ace and maybe even Nami. He could be free!
"Take care of your wound. Now, go out of the door here, go left and down the stairs. There's a fire escape. Get out of the building, change your clothes, take the collar off and run. That code is only good for three more hours and the longer you have it on the further they can track you, but they won't start looking until you take it off. Now go." Cindry says all in one breath, her blue eyes urgent.
Zoro stares up at her for a second, frozen. This won't work for her, she can't get her own collar off like this but she can help him escape and he won't get a chance like this again. All of a sudden it's as if the world comes back online and a jolt of energy runs through him. He leaps from the bed, pulls his pyjama trousers off and throws his trousers on then and there, damned with modesty. He shoves his earrings in the pocket along with the instructions and the money. He pauses at the door and looks back at Cindry, did she help Nami like she's helping him?
"Thank you." He breathes and rushes from the door.
He's standing in the hospital corridor and, realising his mistake he glances around warily and is glad that he did so as he spies a flash of pink hair. His heart leaps in panic and he dashes around a corner. Slowly Zoro cranes his head to see the reflection of the hallway he just fled in a window of a door opposite him. There's no mistaking the pink hair, the leather mask and the aura of evil, it's Sanji's father. He needs to leave and he needs to do it now, he does not want to be caught and more than anything he doesn't want to be caught by him. He turns to leave when a voice behind him stops him.
"Father? What are you doing here?" Sanji's voice echoes down the corridor. Zoro's body screeches to a grinding halt.
"There you are. I came to see just what you'd done to the nice gift I got you." Spandam says in an icy tone.
"Done to him? I didn't do anything to Zoro, it was an accident. But he's fine now, he's just been discharged in fact, I just went to sign the papers." Sanji answers in a clearly unhappy tone, the blonde is probably at his limit of people implying that he's an abusive bastard for one day.
"Look, I don't care what you do to him, slap him around to keep him in line if you have to, it usually works. Just don't damage him so publicly that other people know, don't you even think about what things like this could do to the company's image? Hogback told me that there were police here sniffing about and asking questions!" Spandam says scornfully.
"I didn't hurt him, and the police aren't going to cause any problems. As for the company I don't think-" Sanji begins irritably.
"No, you never think do you?! I- wait. You said that you just signed his discharge papers? Alone?" Spandam says suddenly. Zoro's blood runs cold, that was the diversion that Cindry had used to get Sanji to leave the room so he could escape, he was seriously running out of time here!
"Yes, they're here. I told you Zoro is fine." Sanji says with a rustle of paper.
"You left him alone?!" Spandam gasps in horror. Zoro backs away from the corner as he hears the door to his room being wrenched open so hard that it bangs on the wall, he has to get out of here, he has to go.
"He's gone! He's escaped! We're going to have to have him chased down, the media will be all over this!" Spandam shrieks in horror.
"Father, Zoro's probably just-" Sanji begins with a sigh, he's cut off though suddenly by a loud clear sounding slap.
"You stupid boy! FIND HIM! Do it now!" Spandam yells.
Panic overtakes Zoro like a demon, visions of being caught and chased down run through his mind and fuel his feet. He remembers everyone who ever exploited him or took advantage of him, many of his lecturers, Cabaji especially, he remembers every prospective master that came to the institute and looked at him like he was a piece of meat. All of them chase him, hot on his heels ready to drag him back to a life he can't stand.
So he runs.
He runs down corridors and hallways, ducking into the fire escape he runs down the stairs, skipping every other step with his heart in his throat as he runs. He can't be caught, he can't! As he emerges on the floor below he slows down his pace and tries to look casual, he doesn't need the staff stopping him. He knows full well that a crazed looking mate sprinting around the hospital will attract the wrong kind of attention, he tries to look casual as he walks.
In his left hand he clutches the small black device that holds his freedom. Should he ditch his collar in the hospital and then escape out of the building so that they won't have an idea about his direction or should he run further and then ditch it? Cindry said that they won't look for him until his collar registers as being off when it shouldn't be, but if Sanji's father is already here and looking for him then it's a bit of a moot point. With the thought of Lord Spandam the sound of Sanji being slapped rings clear through his mind. He shakes it off, Sanji can more than handle himself, he's been doing it for years.
Yes… Sanji had been crushingly lonely and unhappy for years, kept in his big lonely house by a threat against the people he loved by a man he hated. Sanji would surely be punished for losing him, and whether that punishment would involve harming Zeff or the rest of Sanji's real family he didn't know. He stills in the hallway as people flow around him.
Sanji… Sanji was just as trapped and caged as he was. But… he could be free, it wasn't his fault that Sanji was trapped too. Besides Sanji wasn't trapped like his was, his every move wasn't digitally logged, he wasn't walking around with something on his throat that could kill him at the push of a button. No, he needs to be free of his collar. He opens his palm and stares down at the little black device. He wants to be free but should the cost of his freedom be paid by Sanji and those he loves? Was that fair?
They were already looking for him though, he couldn't turn back now could he? How would he explain where he'd gone?
To his left a coffee machine chimes happily, selling its wares. Numbly he puts his hand in his pocket and pulls the items in it out. His earrings, the money and the little black device. His earrings represented to him his past, his strength and his honour, values that he tried to reflect in his swordsmanship. Was it strong or honourable to leave a good man like Sanji behind to his fate? To leave him alone again like he had been?
He is reminded of what Koshiro used to tell him. When he was a child he was obsessed with beating Kuina, he almost hated her for being so much better than him all the time, no matter how much he trained or how hard he worked. Koshiro said that he had to remember his overall goal, to be better, and that beating Kuina was just a part of that, not the end. He wanted to be free and there was no way that he could do that with his collar on, but was that his end goal? Did a free man just run and hide? Surely someone who was truly free could do what they wanted and be with and protect those closest to them. A free man wouldn't just throw someone else in trouble to buy a little escape.
"Three hours." He breathes. He can go home, convince Sanji to come with him or warn him to leave on his own, then he can be free. He's been in chains since he was a kid, a few more hours in them won't hurt. He shoves his earrings and the device back into his pocket and feeds the note into the machine, buying an overpriced coffee.
He takes the long route back up to his room and manages to get there just as Sanji arrives back panting. Spandam doesn't quite have his back to him, but he's turned at a three quarters angle to Zoro so he isn't noticed him return.
"You couldn't find him?!" Spandam snarls at Sanji, his lips curling back nastily.
"No I- Zoro!" Sanji exclaims, looking up at him in shock as he spots him getting closer with the coffee in his left hand, his right was too weak to hold it.
"Master, my Lord." Zoro says smoothly, nodding to Sanji and Spandam each in recognition.
"I apologise that I took so long, I wanted to get you this, you said that you were thirsty. I didn't mean to take so long but I got lost. I'm so sorry, please, accept this." Zoro apologises humbly, bowing and handing Sanji's drink over to him. He prays that Sanji will catch on in time.
"That's… that's so sweet of you Zoro. You scared me for a minute there." Sanji laughs weakly, playing along. Sanji hadn't mentioned anything about being thirsty or wanting coffee but he doesn't say this and instead takes the cup from his hand.
"I did not mean to trouble you master, I sincerely apologise." Zoro says with a serenely blank expression on his face, one that he'd perfected over years at the institute. It's a work of art really, blank enough so that he can't be read but with enough smile and calm to look sincerely vapid without danger of being accused of being mocking. Sanji though has clearly not had as much experience as him as he looks too suspiciously angelic as he sips his coffee.
"Well, father, thank you for stopping by. I'm sure that Zoro is touched by your concern." Sanji says innocently as he sips at his coffee.
"I am humbled my lord." Zoro says smoothly bowing to Lord Spandam. He hates himself more than a little for conforming like this but he tells himself that it's for Sanji's protection, as if the red hand shaped mark still visible on the blonde's fair skinned cheek wasn't enough of a reminder.
Spandam looks from him to Sanji, although Zoro is careful enough to avert his eyes ever so slightly, it's bad manners for someone like him to look directly at someone like Lord Spandam. He'd forgotten how taxing all of this mate stuff was and just how lucky he was to have someone like Sanji that he could just be himself around. Spandam clearly isn't buying their shoddy story, not that Zoro blames him, but he doesn't know what's really going on and that's good enough for Zoro.
Zoro keeps the obedient look on his face, he adds a hint of eagerness as if trying to suppress desperation for Sanji to give him another order. The whole process makes him feel sick and he's certain that coming back for someone as special as Sanji who he didn't have to be like this with is the right thing to do, someone like him doesn't deserve to just be abandoned without a word.
"I'll see you at the board meeting which you will be attending." Spandam speaks finally, his tone to Sanji threatening as if daring and goading Sanji to refuse.
"Certainly." Sanji mumbles into his drink, earning him a scowl from his father but no further reprimands.
Lord Spandam glares at them both before striding off down the hospital corridor. As soon as he's out of sight both Zoro and Sanji breathe a sigh of relief. Zoro sighs and lets his posture return to normal instead of having his shoulders back almost uncomfortably and his back in the ramrod straight formal way that he'd always been taught to show in those situations.
"I hate him." Sanji growls and drinks the last of his coffee in one scalding gulp before throwing it in a nearby bin.
"Let's just get home quickly, I need to talk to you." Zoro says quietly. Sanji nods and they both make their way out of the hospital together at a quick pace. Sanji's shiny blue car is parked outside the hospital, unusually though no one is sitting inside at the wheel and Sanji gets into the drivers seat to drive them himself. Zoro shrugs mentally and figures that no one had any idea when they would be getting out, and it'd be unfair and a little stupid to make Usopp or Franky wait in the car for them when Sanji could apparently just drive himself.
Sanji turns the key in the ignition and, after flicking a few important looking switches, takes off vertically. The blonde flicks a few more things and they change into cruising through the sky. For a moment Zoro manages to forget about Nami, about his collar and about the device in his pocket and his escape attempt and just looks out of the window to enjoy flying. As he peeks over the edge of the window to look at the ground whipping away beneath them he thinks that flying will never get old.
Reality comes back fairly quickly though and Zoro looks over at Sanji in the drivers seat. The cook is tense, that much is clear, Zoro has every suspicion in fact that any encounter with any member of Sanji's family sets the other man on edge. He can hardly blame him. He tries for a moment to take in everything about the man, the way his hair flows, the paleness of his skin, his long thin fingers. This is the man that Zoro has given up his best shot at freedom for. Sanji looks in his direction slightly to track the view of another flying car, evidently to make sure that it's not going anywhere near them, the change in angle is slight but its just enough to showcase the angry red mark on the other man's face.
Without thinking Zoro gingerly reaches over and touches his thumb to it, the mark has lost its distinctive five fingered shape and is now just a glowing red mark on the blonde's otherwise flawless cheekbone. Sanji hisses slightly and draws away from his touch, whether that's from pain or from the humiliation Zoro doesn't know but he takes the hint and drops his hand.
He looks forward out of the windscreen and says the very thing that he doesn't want to have to say, but feels compelled to anyway.
"This isn't the first time this has happened." He says, a statement not a question. Sanji at least doesn't deny it or pretend that he doesn't know what Zoro is talking about.
"I can handle it." He says dismissively instead. The cook keeps his eyes on where they're flying and doesn't look at Zoro.
"That's not what I said." Zoro points out, trying to remain gentle in his tone but it's hard when all he can think about is how much he wants to find Spandam, get his hands on him and crush the life from his body. He wants to destroy the man who would hurt someone like Sanji who is so much better than he is, so much more noble and kind and so much stronger too. Sanji could kick Spandam's ass, that much Zoro is sure of, but he doesn't out of fear for those he loves. Spandam uses manipulation to control his strong son and Zoro hates him for it.
Sanji remains silent, not answering, not denying, not doing anything but driving.
"When you were a child…" Zoro starts, not really wanting to ask but needing to know.
"Very rarely." Sanji cuts in tersely. The blonde closes his eyes for a long second and deliberately breathes some tension out of his body before opening his eyes and continuing to stare straight ahead.
"My mother would always get between me and my father. So it was only ever when I made him really angry and she wasn't there. I…. I thought that it meant that he cared for her, even if he hated me. I thought that it meant that he didn't want to upset her, and that he'd not hit her in anger if he couldn't get to me." Sanji says, his long fingers tightening so much on the steering wheel of the car that his knuckles turn white.
"I hope he never hit her too, but I'll never know I guess." Sanji adds bitterly.
Zoro doesn't know what to say so he stays silent. Maybe Spandam hit Sanji's mother, maybe he didn't. But seeing as how Spandam is a horrible piece of shit Zoro isn't convinced that Sanji's mother loved him, which brings the unpleasant idea that she'd never have agreed to have sex with him. Not that her consent matters legally, but it does matter. And, well, Sanji is here so clearly Spandam didn't care much for that. If the man's a rapist and the kind of man who hits small children it hardly is a commendation to his character to be able to say that at least he didn't hit Sanji's mother – if that is indeed true.
Zoro's mind wants to crawl away from the idea, he wants to go into the blissful ignorance that Sanji had before Zoro had ruined it for him. The idea that mates were happy and lived with people that, okay admittedly owned them, but loved them dearly. He knows that it's not true and that he's probably one of the few mates who would willingly have sex with their master even if they weren't their master. Not that Sanji has shown any interest in that, much to Zoro's paradoxical approval and frustration, because it's great that Sanji doesn't want to exploit him but good god, it was torture being around someone as good looking as Sanji without getting any.
When they pull into the garage they're alone in the room, Franky must be elsewhere. Sanji doesn't look in any great hurry to get out of the car, in fact he leans forward and rests his head against the steering wheel.
"I hated that, seeing you the way you talked to my father. It was too formal, it was like you were a zombie. As if, I don't know, like Doctor Hogback had put some other person in your body while you were asleep." Sanji groans, propping his chin on the steering wheel. The very idea makes Zoro smirk at its ridiculousness.
"I'm supposed to be like that with you too master." Zoro points out emphasising the word.
"Ugh, don't. And don't call me that, you know I hate it." Sanji says darkly.
Zoro's hand rises to his collar of its own accord. His fingers brush the heavy padlock there and find the ridge in the stiff collar, the one that he can now open.
"What if… what if I wasn't your mate? And what if you weren't my master?" Zoro asks quietly. Sanji sits up in his seat properly then, his face marked by surprise as he looks at him.
"Zoro, you know that isn't what you are to me, you know that I'm not your master." Sanji starts, but Zoro shakes his head, Sanji's got this all wrong.
"I don't mean it like that. What if this wasn't locked around my neck and you didn't wear this?" Zoro persists, shoving his hand into Sanji's shirt and pulling the golden key on its golden chain out.
"What if we were just us?" He says looking up at Sanji with the key still clasped in his hand.
There is something deep and important going on in Sanji's blue eyes but the blonde quickly locks it down before Zoro can identify it. The other man breaks his gaze, looking down at the golden padlock at Zoro's neck that he'd put there himself not all that long ago.
"I wish… I wish that was true Zoro. You don't know how much." Sanji says, his voice tight and controlled.
Zoro hesitates for the smallest of moments before putting his left hand in his pocket and pulling out the black device, he can trust Sanji. He holds it out before Sanji, it sits neatly in his palm, innocuous black plastic and small number keys not doing it justice for the power it has.
"Cindry gave me this, it's what she unlocked my collar with. I know the code, I can open my collar with it." Zoro explains holding it out between them. His right arm shudders with the effort of holding his hand with Sanji's key in up, his synthetic muscle still weak, Zoro drops his arm to his side but keeps the other hand with the device in up.
"You…" Sanji gasps and pauses for a second.
"You… weren't getting me shitty machine coffee." Sanji says quietly, clearly catching onto the reason behind Zoro's lie earlier.
"Like you wanted cheap coffee. I just couldn't leave without… I don't know, without saying something. And I couldn't just leave you with that monster of a father." Zoro scowls remembering the sound of the harsh slap, as if he could forget with Sanji's still red cheekbone glaring at him.
"Come with me. Leave this stupid house, the father that you hate and the company that you want nothing to do with. Just be Sanji and leave "Sir Prince" behind." Zoro blurts out on impulse. He hadn't thought of it properly before but the idea of living somewhere else, somewhere he'd be free was great, but the thought of living there with Sanji… Perhaps he might wake up in the morning in a cheap apartment in some anonymous country and find Sanji cooking them breakfast, maybe he could sleep on his front without his collar in the way with his arm thrown around Sanji's middle and maybe Sanji might love him. Maybe they could be okay together in a new life. The very thought makes something warm and delicate start to bloom in Zoro's chest. Sanji though just looks surprised.
Sanji opens his mouth and for a second or two just leaves it like that, as if he's forgotten how to talk and for a moment Zoro thinks that he's just going to say yes. He thinks that Sanji will wrench the key from around his own neck, watch as Zoro opens his own collar and throws it out of the window. He thinks that Sanji would turn the car back on and speed away from the collar on the floor that would no doubt be blinking a message of Zoro's escape to the institute, but by the time that they got it he and Sanji would be gone. He thinks that they could drive and not stop until they could barely keep their eyes open, then they'll pull over and curl up on the back seat together after sleepily having sex for the first time. He wants all of that to be true.
"I can't." Sanji says instead, breaking Zoro's heart a little with the words.
"I can't, what about Zeff and Franky? What about Usopp? I can't just leave them all, you know my father would take anything that I did out on them." Sanji says regretfully, looking down at the golden key hanging against the front of his shirt, chaining him as much as Zoro.
"Usopp and Franky can move and get new jobs, or escape with us. Zeff can pack up and start a new restaurant elsewhere, somewhere your father can't find him!" Zoro insists. Of course Sanji would protest, he's being held here by the threat of people that he cares about. He just needs to realise that he really can leave.
"Zeff poured everything that he had into that restaurant! I can't just demand that he abandon it at a moment's notice!" Sanji exclaims, his voice angry and his expression conflicted.
"Zeff poured everything that he had into you! If he knew that you had a chance to be free-" Zoro argues but Sanji cuts him off sharply.
"Oh and you know this from meeting him fleetingly on all of two occasions do you?!" Sanji yells at him.
"Fine, but I know you! Or I thought I did! You said that you wanted to be free from all of this and I'm offering you a chance to have that and you're turning it down! Maybe you like your cage a little too much!" he accuses angrily. He wrenches the car door open and pulls himself out, furiously shoving the device back in his pocket. He slams the car door behind him hard enough to make the car rock. His face reddens in anger and humiliation, he risked his perfect chance to escape for this?!
"Zoro, wait! That's not true, I hate this life but if I leave and it doesn't go perfectly I'll be abandoning people that I love to pain and misery! I can't do that!" Sanji pleads, clambering out of the drivers side and rounding the car to get to him.
Zoro stays still with his back to Sanji. He feels betrayed that Sanji won't just warn people to run and come with him, and if he's honest with himself he feels a little rejected too. Sanji steps closer to him and puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. To Zoro's irritation with himself he relaxes a little at the other man's touch.
"It doesn't mean that you can't go though, take your collar off and run. Take my car, I'll give you money, you can get as far away from here as possible and start a new life." Sanji says quietly to him.
Zoro's hand grazes his pocket where the device is, the key to his freedom. He could do it, he could go right now. Then he remembers the sharp slap against Sanji's face, the blonde's lonely life of not knowing if people really like him or have ulterior motives for being nice. He remembers how Sanji's loved ones lives are held in threat against him.
Spandam slapped Sanji when he thought Sanji had accidentally let him escape, what would he do if he actually did escape? How would he make Sanji suffer? What would Sanji have to endure for him?
"What about your father?" Zoro asks quietly.
"I can handle it." Sanji says firmly.
He clenches his fist shut, once again, he hadn't asked if Sanji could handle it. He had no doubt that Sanji could handle any number of things but he didn't want him to have to. He clenches his fist and shakes his head.
"If I leave I'll be abandoning someone I care about to pain and misery." He repeats turning back around to face the surprised blonde.
"Either… either we both go right now, or we both stay." He states simply. He pulls the device out again and holds it out to Sanji, it's his choice. Sanji's downcast eyes and the biting of his lip tells Zoro all he needs to know. He puts it back in his pocket.
"So we stay." He says firmly.
He reaches up and touches the red mark on the blonde's face, he rubs his thumb across it and this time Sanji lets him.
"I'm not leaving you behind." Zoro says gently.
At that Sanji bats Zoro's hand away from his face and grabs a fistful of Zoro's shirt. He's suddenly yanked close to the cook and the blonde wastes no time in assaulting his mouth. Sanji's tongue is quick and clever and utterly melts Zoro's bones to feel. He backs Sanji up against the door of the car and grinds their hips together earning him a completely filthy groan from Sanji right into his mouth. Sanji's hand snakes its way into Zoro's hair and grabs a painful fistful of it that registers just on the right side of the pleasure pain barrier for Zoro. He works his knee between Sanji's legs and kisses the other man a little more deeply.
He's completely and utterly lost in the sensation of Sanji that he only registers the interruption when he feels Sanji stiffen, and not in the way that he'd like.
"Ohmygod! I'm sorry!" Usopp yelps from the door and shuts it behind him with a bang.
Zoro pulls away out of some embarrassed reflex at being caught and by the time his brain has mustered enough functioning cells to conclude 'fuck embarrassed, I want Sanji' the blonde has already straightened his clothes with a red face and slid away.
"Ah… I'm… glad that your arm is okay after all." Sanji coughs in embarrassment. Zoro figures that Sanji would know that his hand is fine as he'd only just been trying to shove said hand up the blonde's shirt to feel him up.
He really wants to just go back where they left off but the mood is probably broken now and Sanji clearly is trying to pretend that that didn't just happen. So he sighs and goes along with it.
"Yeah, me too." He agrees. Then he remembers that his swords were thrown in the back of Sanji's car as they went to the hospital. Since making out with Sanji is apparently no longer an option he decides to go and retrieve his swords. As he snags them from their hiding place on the floor of the back of the car he wonders whether or not Ace and Luffy are okay, certainly the police wouldn't be looking for them, not without making a goddamn massive deductive leap anyway. Luffy was probably just worried but Ace no doubt felt as guilty as hell, as well as being worried. Zoro had been worried about the state of his arm too and the fear of never using three swords again too, he'd been put out of his worry but they hadn't.
He stands up thoughtfully and taps Wado's hilt against his lips, he should go and see them. He'd have to ask Sanji of course but if he doesn't they'll definitely worry. He knows what Ace is like, a few years back Ace had kicked a tree hard enough to nearly break it and when Luffy had gone tearing past it the whole thing had fallen over and crushed him. If he'd been a normal person he'd probably be dead but being made of rubber has its advantages, he was still pretty hurt for a few weeks and Ace was inconsolable. Ace wasn't good at accepting that he'd made a mistake and that someone had forgiven him, he always seemed to need to turn that rage outwards. He got grumpy and moody, taking it out on everyone else and clearly hating himself every second. No doubt he'd be doing the same now, he kind of pitied Luffy for having to be in the same building as him.
He should definitely see them and tell them that he was okay.
"What's that look for? What are you thinking about in that marimo head of yours?" Sanji questions him, leaning on the roof of the car.
"Just thinking about Ace and Luffy." Zoro answers with a shrug.
"I was thinking that I should go and see them, they're probably really worried." He adds as he threads his belt through the back of his swords and when he looks up he's surprised to see that Sanji has an expression on his face like he's just eaten a lemon or something rotten.
"You're going to see that asshole?" Sanji says accusatorially.
"Yeah, you did say that I could see who I wanted remember?" Zoro points out, in fact it had been one of the first things that Sanji had said to him on his first day.
Sanji scowls and turns away from him, resting his back on the car door and folding his arms huffily.
"He's an asshole, just because I said you could see who you liked doesn't mean that I'm happy about that. They tried to kidnap you and murder me!" Sanji argues with that scowl still fixed in his stupid eyebrows.
"They tried to rescue me and… okay, yeah, they did try to murder you. But they didn't actually do it, they're really nice. Besides, they wouldn't try to kill you if they knew you!" Zoro reasons with the other man.
"That makes that better?! He tried to burn my head off!" the blonde shouts.
Zoro groans to himself, Sanji isn't going to let this little attempted murder thing go. He's no idea why, he's as much as said that if their positions were reversed and Sanji had been convinced that someone was harming him he'd hurt them back. Hell, he already had, first that guy in the alley that busted Zoro's nose and second he'd all but ruined Cabaji's life. If anything Sanji should be annoyed but understanding of Ace, it's not like he had any other reason to dislike him was it? It was odd though, Sanji seemed to dislike Ace a lot more than he disliked Luffy, although there was that whole fire thing.
"He's great when you get to know him, really. He's strong and brave, really loyal too, he's amazing." Zoro tries to explain but if anything Sanji's expression only gets more and more angry, as if the better Zoro tries to say that Ace is the more Sanji hates him. It doesn't make sense!
"Whatever." Sanji grumbles, stalking off and leaving Zoro alone by the car. The blonde slams the door after him. Zoro is practically drowning in confusion, how did they go from making out to Sanji throwing a hissy fit over nothing and storming off? What's going on?
When Zoro emerges from the garage no one is around, clearly the embarrassed Usopp has fled and Sanji has probably run off to go into his confusing hysteria in privacy. Zoro likes Sanji, he really does, but sometimes the man completely baffles him. Still, he'd made his choice, he wasn't going to leave him behind, no matter how confusing he was.
He makes his way to the room and falls down on his bed, it's been a long and confusing couple of days. With a groan he sits up, his earrings are stabbing him in the leg anyway. He sits up on his bed and focuses as he threads the earrings through his ear. He stares absently into the distance as he tries to coordinate his clumsy fingers, it's only when he realises that he's staring at a black and white book that he pauses. It's The Princess Bride, the one that Robin had leant him. He snaps the last earring shut and goes over to the table to pick the book up, he falls into his chair with it in his hand and sighs.
Nami would know what to do here, she was always the one he went to for advice, she would understand Sanji's confusing actions. She always was smarter than him. And perhaps she really was out there somewhere alive and waiting for him, no doubt if she knew that he'd passed up this chance to escape she'd hit him in the head and call him a moron. He misses her deeply with an ache in his chest that he's not sure will ever heal unless he sees her again. But perhaps reading their book might soothe him, all the memories of reading it together, of fighting and acting out the best scenes would make him feel close to her again.
He holds the book in his hands, bends it slightly and lets it go a little so that the pages whip from one side of the book to another. A blur of grey and white flashes through his vision as the words fly past far too fast for him to even recognise. He frowns, he swears that he saw a flash of all black in there. Slower this time he fans the pages again and- there! There was a black page in the book!
This time he flicks through the middle of the book page by page until he find it. Page 169 has turned black, someone has gone over every line on the page except for four words. Zoro knows the book cover to cover so he knows what this page is about. Princess Buttercup, who was always acted by Nami, much to her distain as she always wanted to be Westley instead, has been kidnapped. She was taken by three men, the giant, the Spaniard who is the world's greatest fencer and the Sicilian a master tactician. However, at this point the man in black who is secretly Westley has stolen her back, defeating one adversary at a time to rescue her from certain death. On this page the even Prince Humperdink is tracking his bride, not knowing if she is alive or dead.
He knows all of this, he's read it many times before. But there are only four words left on this page that aren't blacked out and unreadable. He reads them aloud.
"The Princess is alive!"
Zoro shuts the book and stares into space. This was their book, it always was, their story. Others at the institute knew of it, some of them joined in but it was always their thing and their way of coping with their lives. No one else could know that, certainly not Robin whom this book belonged to. Why would a woman with a clear love of books vandalise one like this? She wouldn't, and she wouldn't know the significance of those words, she wouldn't know who the Princess really was –Nami. Which left only one conclusion. Nami had done this. Nami had vandalised the book to pass on her message that she was alive, she knew somehow that he would go to Robin's and pick out their book and find her message.
There was no doubt in Zoro's mind now, Nami was alive.