Some sounds Zoro seems to get easier than others, ones that involve the lips a lot or the tip of the tongue he seems to get with ease, Sanji would guess that it's because it's easier for Zoro to feel and see Sanji saying them.
Some sounds though seem to give Zoro no end of problems, when it comes to letters made at the back of the throat or syllables that have a lot of flow between them instead of defined breaks, well, Zoro struggles. Unfortunately Usopp's name has all of these qualities and he and Zoro have been back and forth about twenty times now trying to get it right.
Zoro had been helping him get ready for the barbeque they were going to have on the little island's beach and Sanji had been teaching him the crew's names as they did it. He'd mastered every one after a few attempts, though he refused to say Sanji's name and instead looked innocently confused (it was entirely fake goddamnit, Sanji wasn't that dumb!) and just called him cook instead. Sanji had pushed it a little more and was then upgraded to shit cook. That had resulted in a fight which ruined the salad and set them back ten minutes in prep time. They'd then reached Usopp's name.
"Hey, we forgot Usopp." Sanji remarks, sliding the now completed salad back in the fridge.
"Oh." Zoro says in surprise and looks up at Sanji from where he stands at the sink, washing knives.
"Usopp." Sanji repeats with Zoro watching him studiously.
Zoro's brow pinches into a frown, his mouth slightly open. He shuts it then tries again but the only sound that comes out is the short "ah" sound that comes when Zoro tries to force some sound, ANY sound from his throat when his brain isn't playing ball.
Sanji really doesn't like that sound, it worries him. He'll admit in the privacy of his own head that he's scared that Zoro's ability to speak again will vanish as quickly as it came back and he'll lose his rival for good. So far when Zoro's been copying names from him he's at least got the start right or at least sounding similar. But that sound is totally wrong.
"Zoro?" He calls, stepping closer as he tries to fight down the worry.
"Yes." Zoro sighs and shakes his head. Sanji's brow furrows at that confusing message, Zoro's tone is dismissive but his speech is agreeable.
"Are you saying not to worry about it?" he guesses aloud.
"Yes." The swordsman answers with a sigh, turning to the side of the kitchen counter to face Sanji front on. The marimo tilts his head curiously and reaches out to graze Sanji's lips with gentle fingers. A small insignificant and totally meaningless sigh slips from Sanji's lips unbidden.
"Usopp." Sanji breathes, as Zoro's fingers trace his lips. Zoro is still frowning though. He he traces the pattern on his own mouth but doesn't even try to repeat it before gesturing for Sanji to speak again. Sanji repeats Usopp's name but the frown on Zoro's face doesn't leave.
"Uh…ouh…ouz." Zoro cuts himself off with a frustrated noise. Zoro's still getting this really wrong, is he just tired from so many new words? Does this even work like that?
"Hey, are you okay? You've not sounded that off since… well… since you started talking again." He asks with concern. Zoro shakes his head and motions for Sanji to repeat again.
Usopp's name doesn't seem to want to come to Zoro though, and in fact with every repetition Zoro's pronunciation seems to be getting worse instead of better. To make matters worse every mistake that Zoro makes causes the swordsman to get more and more agitated, he's clearly getting stressed and upset, even to the extent that he can tell that Zoro is having trouble forcing any sound out at all, what with how stress affects his aphasia.
A frustrated scream rips from Zoro's mouth after what must be the thirtieth attempt at the sharpshooter's name, another failed attempt leads to Zoro slamming his fist into a cabinet door hard enough to make the glasses inside clink dangerously.
"Zoro." Sanji growls in a warning that's far more than he'd ever have given before. If Zoro had done that before his accident Sanji would have just kicked his face in. But now… now he sympathises with Zoro's frustration and gets it, though he still isn't going to let him trash his kitchen.
"Sorry." Zoro mutters and drags a hand through his uncovered hair.
Sanji quirks an eyebrow in amused surprise, since when did Zoro say sorry for anything? Actually… how… how could Zoro say sorry at all? Sanji had taught him some words to give him some manners (though Zoro had mostly used them with a healthy dose of sarcasm that made Sanji's plan backfire) but he'd not taught him the word "sorry".
"What did you just say?" He questions with a gasp.
"Huh?" Zoro grunts at him with a scowl.
"You just said sorry, I never taught you to say that. Say it again!" He persists excitedly catching Zoro by the arm.
"Ss…" Zoro tries, but the sound clearly isn't coming. Zoro sighs and looks slightly crestfallen.
"You're just stressed, you'll get there." He reassures the other man.
Zoro pulls his gaze away, his forehead still pinched with a frown. Sanji can tell that he wants to keep trying but it's obviously not going to go anywhere, besides if he does keep trying then Sanji is probably going to end up with a busted cupboard door and Zoro will have to be kicked to death. Which would be rather a waste of effort on Sanji's part considering all the time he's put into helping Zoro lately. He needs to give him something else to do.
"Just leave it alone for now or I swear your brain is gonna melt. Now go do something you're good and grab one of my knives." He orders as he walks off to the fridge and pulls out two racks of ribs that are almost as large as he is tall when stacked up, they got them off of a giant sabre-toothed-tiger on the last island that they were at, before Zoro got his brains splattered. Up until the night before last they had been in the deep freeze, but now they were all defrosted and ready to be made into delicious food.
When he turns around Zoro's hand is hovering by his knife block, as if he's not sure that he should actually be touching the things.
"Oi, I told you to get one of those didn't I?" He prompts as he walks back with the meat. Zoro nods wide eyed at him and carefully pulls a flawless knife out of the block and holds it carefully out of the way as Sanji drops the ribs down on a chopping board and starts explaining how one prepares a rack of ribs.
He's pleased to see that Zoro has a natural instinct for this kind of thing, Sanji only has to tell Zoro that he needs to find where ribs become cartilage and cut there for Zoro to do it. When it comes to running a blade through meat and bone with either strength or precision Zoro is skilled. The swordsman had once drunkenly told Sanji that it was a shame he was a chef as he thought he'd make a damn fine swordsman. It would have been sweet and certainly the nicest thing Zoro had ever said to him if the marimo hadn't proceeded to then steal Sanji's drink, get horribly drunk, and later throw up on his shoes. Still, he supposes that the sort of compliment goes the other way, if Zoro wasn't so dedicated to swordsmanship he'd make a fucking excellent butcher.
Sanji distracts himself from Zoro's skill by making a barbecue sauce for the ribs that Zoro is preparing for him. He still doesn't agree with Zoro's weird insistence that he learn to cook in order to better understand him or something like that... but he can't argue with the fact that it's helpful having someone else in the kitchen.
"You're actually pretty good at that Marimo." he remarks, leaning over Zoro's shoulders and examining his work. Zoro shoots him a suspicious look, pausing in his work.
"I mean it." he adds earnestly, Zoro clearly thinks that he's jerking him around.
Zoro doesn't say a word, he doesn't even nod or anything as he simply gets back to work, but Sanji is pretty sure that he's getting a pleased vibe off of Zoro. Sanji finishes up the sauce and swipes his finger through, giving it a taste. He slides the flavour over his tongue and is pleased with the result, he's about to just pour it right over the ribs when an idea hits him.
He pulls open the cutlery drawer and pulls out a fork, he quickly dips it in the sauce and holds it up for Zoro.
"Here, taste this. This is your cooking, you need to learn to taste things if you want to learn how to cook properly." He orders holding out the fork.
Zoro pauses in his cutting and frowns, his eyes flicking from the fork to Sanji and back again, as if he's not sure that Sanji isn't just teasing him. He glances down at his own hands, the corner of his mouth pulling down as he sees the raw meat juices over his fingers. With a shrug he leans towards Sanji and wraps his mouth around the end of the fork before pulling away, for some reason Sanji feels a little lightheaded but he decides to ignore it.
"Remember, with the ribs the flavour will sweeten and become a little smokier when it's cooked, you've got to take that into account. So, do you think it needs anything?" He says, shaking the feeling aside.
Zoro's eyes slide shut and his brow furrows with concentration. The cook finds himself impressed by just how much effort Zoro's actually putting into this learning to cook thing. An indecisive noise comes from the back of Zoro's throat and the swordsman bites his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Think it needs something?" Sanji suggests.
Zoro nods, his eyes still shut.
"Okay, well, usually I'd be able to tell right off what that would be- but that's an experience thing I can't teach you that. What you can do is you can smell stuff. Taste and smell are very intertwined senses, if you've ever not been able to smell you'll find your sense of taste goes to hell and everything tastes like rubber for a while. Once the old man broke my nose at the Baratie and I was useless for a week, it was hell." He laughs to himself as he opens his seasoning cupboard and beckons Zoro over.
He pulls open a few things that he might consider adding to the sauce, as well as some things that he never would, Zoro rejects them all until Sanji picks up some tabasco sauce. Zoro sniffs it and recoils back with a yelp and watering eyes. The marimo's face instantly changes into a broad grin and he points excitedly to the sauce mix.
"Okay!" the cook grins and adds the tabasco. He gives the sauce a quick stir and tastes it again, it's actually really good, just spicy enough but deep in flavour too.
"Go for it. We'll cook them in here on the grill while we set up outside." He says, handing the sauce mix to Zoro. The swordsman takes it from him and smothers the ribs in it.
Sanji puts the tabasco sauce back and watches the considerably less stressed out Zoro carefully from the corner of his eye. He can't escape the thought that this is undoubtedly the best that he and Zoro have ever got on with each other, he's thought it before but this… this helpful side to Zoro- it just never would have happened before. He doesn't think that the blow to the back of the head changed Zoro's personality or anything, he's seen Zoro be sweet to other people before, Chopper in particular. He always knew that this side of Zoro existed, but he was never sure if it was real and Zoro just acted tough and grouchy around everyone else or if Zoro played sweet just for Chopper. He's pretty certain that this is who Zoro really is, but equally so is the gruff irritable Zoro.
Now that he's being forced to really pay attention to Zoro, to see the world through his eyes, to watch his body language and empathise with him… it's easier to like him. He's always respected Zoro but he's rarely liked him all that much. And it seems like he's not alone, with their level of tension lowered from the lack of bickering, arguments and hurtful words Zoro's become almost… playful with him. Zoro still tries to piss him off, but he can see the small smirk at the edge of his lips that tells Sanji that Zoro's just having fun with him. He… he likes it. And the fact that Zoro seems to be genuinely okay with lowering himself to learn from Sanji about something that he's pretty much unrivalled at… well, that adds a new dimension to things too.
He and Zoro go back and forth from the ship to the beach, setting up the barbeque, though Zoro keeps anxiously checking on his ribs. If it wasn't the moss headed moron doing it Sanji would say that his earnest concern was almost… cute. They get the fire lit and barbeque set up, cutlery and crockery it set out along with blankets for when it starts getting cold as the sun sets. He's already got some marinated chicken sizzling on the barbeque, it's still too raw for even Luffy to consider eating so right now it's safe from the grabby hands and his male nakama.
"Go take those ribs of yours out onto the beach, they can go over on the wooden table. You can cut them when you're out there." Sanji says, pulling his salad out of the fridge and balancing it on his head while carrying baskets of bread in one hand and sauces in the other.
Zoro piles all the ribs up on one big plate, it's obvious that Zoro is pretty pleased with himself and, actually, he's got quite a right to be. The ribs smell great and look really juicy too, sure Zoro didn't do all of the work but the work he did do was good.
"You know, I think the others will like them." He says casually as Zoro picks up the giant white plate piled high with ribs.
"Yes?" Zoro asks earnestly, looking pleased.
"Yeah. Come on." The cook nods, sliding past Zoro and trying not to look at the man's beaming face, it makes him feel a little awkward.
Zoro follows him down to the beach while Sanji carries his food, he places his side dishes down, turns the chicken over and heads back inside to get drinks, calling an instruction over his shoulder for Zoro to carve up the ribs.
"Oh my Zoro, did you cook those? I can't wait to try them." Robin smiles at Zoro. And whilst Zoro isn't outright swooning like Sanji himself would be the marimo certainly looks happy and even offers Robin a rib straight off of the plate, which she graciously takes. Sanji grins to himself and heads inside, he gathers up drinks for everyone, non-alcoholic as Zoro is still banned from booze whilst he's on his post-surgery painkillers. It doesn't mean the rest of them can't drink but Sanji thinks it's a little mean to do so in front of the swordsman.
He's gone maybe two minutes at most but when he comes back out the beach is in total disarray, the barbecue is nearly knocked over, though Usopp is trying to reassemble it before any food falls on the sand. Zoro is yelling angry nonsense words and strangling Luffy on the beach.
Sanji picks up the pace and dashes out onto the beach. Franky manages to haul Zoro off of Luffy, though the swordsman takes the opportunity to clock Luffy in the eye before Franky pulls him out of range.
"Zoro! What the hell?!" Franky shouts as he tries to hold onto the struggling and thrashing marimo in his arms.
"Uncontrollable rage for no reason is a symptom of brain haemorrhage! We need to get him inside!" Chopper squeaks with wide eyed fear.
Sanji looks at the bruised up Luffy and notes the smears of barbecue sauce on his face and hands as well as his almost comically bloated belly, behind him Robin looks distinctly annoyed. The big white plate that previously had Zoro's ribs piled up on them lays empty in the sand by Luffy's side.
"It's not for no reason." Sanji sighs, waving the little doctor away.
"But..." Chopper frowns.
"Oi, Zoro, calm down." Sanji sighs, stepping close to Franky who has the wildcat swordsman barely restrained in his giant arms. Zoro snarls like some feral thing and lashes against Franky whilst one hand snatches in Luffy's direction. Sanji snags Zoro by the back of the neck and pulls him in close so that their foreheads are touching, whilst being careful to avoid his bandaged head.
"Calm down marimo, believe me I know how bad you wanna kick Luffy's ass for eating all of your food and not leaving any for anyone else, but chill." He says quietly, Zoro stops struggling so much but Sanji can still hear the growl in his throat and see his nails digging into Franky's arms.
"I know how much time you put into those ribs and how frustrating it is to see Luffy inhale the whole thing without it so much as touching his taste buds, but the point of cooking is to feed people and you did that. The point is keeping people alive, not recognition, remember?" Sanji prompts softly, not really wanting the others to hear this.
Zoro makes a sad and frustrated noise in the back of his throat and brings his dark gaze up to Sanji's own, though they are so close that their noses are almost touching. At this range he can see every emotion flit over the swordsman's face. Zoro isn't a show off but he cares what people think of him, he's going after the title of the worlds greatest after all. Of course he wants to know how good people thought his effort was and Sanji knows full well how much their black hole of a captain can frustrate that goal. After a moment or two of silent understanding Zoro leans back against Franky's chest and crosses his arms with a resigned sigh.
"Can I put you down without you killing anyone now?" Franky asks warily eyeing the swordsman as if it might be a trap. Zoro looks up at the shipwright and nods, dropping nimbly to the sandy beach as Franky releases him. As promised Zoro doesn't immediately try to murder Luffy again.
"Wow Sanji, I'm not sure I've ever seen you make Zoro LESS angry." Nami remarks with some surprise. Sanji just shrugs, he's not sure that he's got a real answer for that, luckily he doesn't have to think too long as Luffy interrupts right after.
"Oi, Zoro, you can't just attack your captain like that, it's against the rules!" Luffy says pointing at Zoro accusingly. Zoro snarls and glares at his captain but stays put.
"What's the big deal anyway? He just ate the ribs that Zoro was carrying, Luffy does that all the time." Usopp frowns at Zoro, having successfully reassembled the barbeque. Sanji can hear Zoro grinding his teeth together in agitation from where he stands. He doesn't know if Zoro understood what Usopp just said, but the context along with Usopp's tone and dismissive body language ought to tell the swordsman what he needs to know even if he can't understand the words.
"Welcome to my life moss ball." Sanji mutters and lights a cigarette.
He feels Zoro's dark eyes on him and looks up to see the swordsman thoughtfully touching his long scar, he understands Zoro's meaning, the swordsman is learning.
With a small sigh Zoro walks off past him towards Robin, Sanji watches with interest as Zoro takes her hand and examines it, his touch gentle as if holding something fragile. Zoro runs his fingers over some mark on her finger, hidden from Sanji's view.
"Oh don't worry swordsman-san, I've got quicker reflexes than that. I dropped it before he bit me properly." Robin says with a small chuckle. Wait… Robin had been holding one of Zoro's ribs! That means that Luffy had...!
"You bastard! You bit Robin?!" He yells and kicks their rubber captain so hard in the face that Luffy's jaw stretches out at least a foot before snapping back.
"I wanted more meat!" Luffy wails, backing up the beach on his butt in an attempt to evade Sanji.
A slightly smug looking swordsman catches Sanji's elbow and quirks a challenging eyebrow at him before he can dart forward and kick Luffy again.
"This is different!" He protests, he's not pissed that Luffy ate food, he's pissed that Luffy bit Robin! Zoro looks entirely unconvinced though and Sanji deflates somewhat, he supposes he can't well tell Zoro to not be violent and then do so himself.
"Fine, it is a little hypocritical I suppose." He concedes grouchily and tugs his elbow out of Zoro's hand.
Zoro makes a considering humming sound in his throat and holds up a finger as if to pause Sanji. The swordsman smirks, gestures between the two of them and then cracks his knuckles threateningly as he flicks his gaze back to Luffy.
"You're right Zoro," Sanji grins, "it wouldn't be hypocritical if we both attacked him. That would make sense in fact."
Zoro's smirk turns dangerous and deadly making Luffy yelp and scramble to his feet.
"No way, I don't wanna fight both of you! No fair! You should be cooking me more meat!" Their captain declares.
Despite Luffy's annoying attitude his words remind Sanji that he has chicken cooking on the barbeque.
"Later marimo, we've got food to attend to." He promises, grabbing Zoro by his haramaki and pulling him over to the barbeque. The chicken is sizzling and he turns it over just in time to stop it from burning. He breathes a sigh of relief and sends Zoro off to go gather the drinks that he dropped on the way to save Luffy's stupid life.
"Keep turning all of these every so often, I'm going to add more food." Sanji orders the swordsman, Zoro nods and gets to work. As Sanji lays out more meat onto the grill he thinks that he could get used to having a kitchen assistant, especially one who gives their rubber captain the stink eye whenever he comes too close to the food.
"So since when is Zoro helping you cook? I thought he was just in the kitchen with you learning to talk." Nami enquires as she saunters over to them with Usopp.
"Well he might as well help if he's going to be with me, anyway it was his idea not mine." Sanji answers offhandedly as he sets out the sausages on the grill enjoying the sizzle as they hit the hot metal.
"I think something happened to Zoro's brain when he hit the rocks, I could barely get him to do chores, let alone offer to help with something like this. I'm not complaining of course, it's way cheaper than having to pay for damages after your fights, but it's just odd seeing you two all buddy-buddy with each other." The navigator snorts as she swipes a fresh pepper from the salad to munch on, Usopp tries to take one too but is quickly stopped by a kebab stick to the hand from Sanji.
"No stealing food shitty long nose, not unless you want this up your nose instead." He warns the sharpshooter as he brandishes his weapon.
The sharpshooter whimpers pathetically and pulls his hand back, rubbing the sore spot. Sanji glares at him a little until he's satisfied that Usopp won't try that trick again. He glances back at the swordsman who is diligently working on the food, making sure that everything is being turned when it should be and checking on things.
"Hey, do this, it gives it some nice char." He says, ignoring Usopp and leaning against Zoro's side to survey the grill. He reaches out and takes Zoro's hand which is wrapped around a kebab stick with chicken skewered on it, he presses Zoro's hand down, pushing the chicken hard enough against the grill to char flame grill marks into the chicken.
"Aww, you're even holding hands now!" Nami giggles behind her hand, Sanji pulls his hand away quickly earning him a strange look from Zoro. The swordsman gestures to all of the chicken on the grill with a questioning expression.
"Yeah, do that to all of them." He mutters, glad that Zoro couldn't understand Nami.
"You know Nami, earlier when Sanji grabbed Zoro by the back of the neck, I thought he was going to kiss him or something!" Usopp cackles, clutching his stomach with laughter. Sanji's eyeballs damn near pop out of his head in shock and he nearly gives himself whiplash from snapping around to gawk as Usopp so fast.
"You're right!" Nami exclaims laughing loudly as well as if the idea of him kissing the swordsman was funny! It's not funny! It's terrifyingly weird and awful! He would never!
"What?! No way!" He squawks in embarrassment, feeling his face heat.
"Definitely!" Nami giggles, pointing at Sanji's scarlet cheeks.
"N-Nami-swan please don't say such things." He pouts, turning back to the grill. He jumps when he sees Zoro looking at him curiously. Sanji breathes a small sigh of relief that Zoro still can't seem to understand some of the others, he's not sure he wants to ever have that conversation with Zoro!
The swordsman might be oblivious to the words that Usopp and Nami are saying (thank god) but not to their teasing tone. Zoro shoots them a suspicious and disapproving look, Sanji doesn't know who Zoro thinks that the pair are mocking but he's sure as hell not going to translate.
"Come on Usopp, let's leave the lovebirds to it." Nami grins and pulls the maniacally laughing sharpshooter away across the beach and back towards the campfire.
Zoro's suspicious look flicks from the pair to Sanji and back a few times.
"Before you ask, they were teasing me, not talking about you." He mutters, trying to force down the blush.
"Shit Nami." The marimo mutters irritably.
"Oi, don't talk about Nami like that, bastard." Sanji shoots back, kicking Zoro in the ankle.
Zoro growls and shoves Sanji back, which predictably results in a fight and a fair amount of kicking, shoving and smacking with cooking utensils. It passes the time surprisingly well and takes Sanji's mind off of that considerably odd conversation with Nami and Usopp. Before he knows it it's time to serve up the people who waited for their food, unlike Luffy. Once they've done helping everyone serve themselves Sanji shoves Zoro off to go eat his own dinner and finishes putting round two into cook, once he's done with that he'll eat as well. As he's doing this however he notices Luffy sidle up to him quietly out of the corner of his eye.
"Go away Luffy, there isn't any more yet, this is all still raw or half cooked." He says flatly and skewers another piece of raw chicken onto a kebab stick and sets it sizzling onto the grill.
"Those ribs..." Luffy begins thoughtfully.
"There's definitely no more of THOSE." He says back a little tersely, not taking his eyes off of the food.
"No, I know. I just... Zoro made them right? Nami said." Luffy asks quietly, looking up at Sanji from under the brim of his precious hat. Sanji pauses and looks at their captain, he looks surprisingly young right now, Sanji sometimes forgets that Luffy is actually younger than him and Zoro, so maybe sometimes he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
"Yeah. It was pretty much the first thing he'd ever really cooked, I've been teaching him." Sanji agrees. The corners of Luffy's mouth tug down and the guilt is so evident on his face that it might as well set up a big neon sign. Oh boy.
"They were precious then." The captain says more to himself than to Sanji as he turns and heads off in Zoro's direction.
He watches with interest as Luffy drops down into the sand by Zoro. The swordsman who was just until a moment ago watching the sunset and eating quickly whips his plate further from Luffy, paranoid as they all are about theft.
Luffy doesn't go for Zoro's food though and instead takes his hat off of his head and puts it on Zoro's head, Luffy then shuffles a little closer and rests his head on Zoro's shoulder. Sanji watches the swordsman visibly un-tense and smiles to himself as the swordsman lets his own bandaged head drop to the top of Luffy's. It seems that all is forgiven. They stay like that for a few minutes before Usopp yells some outrageous lie that whips Luffy up off of the sand and heading towards the sharpshooter with yells of "so cool!" The swordsman stays sat on the sand with Luffy's hat on and a far more relaxed demeanour about him.
Sanji smiles to himself, he supposes that the captain and the first mate will be alright after all. Across the camp something Robin says makes Usopp and Nami giggle, instantly flashing Sanji's memory back to their teasing about Zoro. He tries to shake the thought out of his head but his mind keeps bringing it up again as if it was some mental itch.
Against his will his fingers remember the feel of Zoro's soft marimo hair winding through his fingers, a stark contrast to the rough texture of the bandages closer to the swordsman's wound. He remembers the intense look in the swordsman's eyes, the way his expression changed when he made eye contact with him. Spurred on by Usopp's words his mind drags him into a vision of what it could have been like if he'd pulled the other man a little closer and closed the gap between them, meeting his lips. What would Zoro's mouth even feel like? Maybe- no! He seriously wasn't thinking about this was he?! This was Zoro for goodness sake! Nothing like that would ever happen between them, thank god! Zoro would cut him in half, which was if he didn't throw himself in the ocean first!
He lets out a shaky breath and focuses on the food, that always makes sense. He turns the chicken again, noting with pleasure the nice colour that the grill always gives it. Unbidden his thoughts flick to Zoro tracing Sanji's lips with his fingers, before he can stop he's imagining Zoro chasing those fingers with his own mouth as he kisses him. His heart leaps into his throat and his stomach flutters uncomfortably, it's only the hand on his shoulder that startles him from his illicit thoughts. Out of sheer reflex he pivots on his toes, swinging the heel of his other foot around in a deadly arc. The second he realises that it's Zoro that he's attacking he harshly reigns the power back in as much as he can, but without Zoro's quick forearm block the other man would have been hit.
"I guess everything is back to normal then." He hears Franky laugh from across the beach. He ignores the cyborg and instead stares in slack jawed horror at the sight of the heel of his shoe held mere inches from Zoro's injured skull. The wide eyed swordsman had turned his face away at the moment of attack, out of reflex no doubt, but that had exposed the most vulnerable place on him at the moment.
"Oh god! I- I'm so sorry!" Sanji squeaks, snapping his leg back to him so quickly he nearly loses his balance.
Zoro stares wide eyed at him, mostly in shock but Sanji can't miss the hint of "what did I do wrong?" that lingers at the edge of Zoro's expression. Guilt flares hot and uncomfortable in Sanji's gut, swiftly torching any errant butterflies that had been there mere seconds before.
"I didn't mean to, sorry, I was thinking about something..." He searches for a word, "traumatising." He settles.
Zoro breathes out warily but nods, Sanji notices that he doesn't come any closer though.
"Sanji! What are you doing?! You can't fight Zoro, you're supposed to be looking after him!" Chopper snaps, bounding over to the pair of them with medical malice in his eyes.
"It was an accident!" He protests weakly, feeling full well like he has no entitlement to forgiveness from the doctor for almost maiming Zoro in his weakened state.
"You accidentally kicked him in the head?!" Chopper snaps sarcastically, his words a biting reminder that the cute cuddly Chopper stopped at a surgical line the moment his doctor role came into play. Sanji had nearly hurt one of his patients, right now that factor probably made him one of Chopper's enemies.
"I didn't actually touch his head, Zoro caught me in time." He says backing up a little bit.
"SANJI!" The doctor shouts angrily.
"Uh-uh." Zoro cuts in, shaking his head. Sanji starts, he had almost forgotten that Zoro was there. Zoro kneels down in the sand and catches Chopper by the shoulders and smiles at the little doctor and tilts his head offering Chopper the opportunity to see that he's unharmed.
"I get that you're both trying to get back to normal Sanji, and I know Zoro isn't an easy patient, believe me I know. But you don't understand Sanji, Zoro is injured." Chopper says softly, with a gentle smile on his face so that Zoro doesn't catch just what Chopper is saying.
"Believe me, I know." He answers, his eyes wandering again to the swathe of bandages on the back of Zoro's head which hide the metal plate and the injured entirety of everything that makes Zoro who he is inside it.
"I don't think you do Sanji, you know he's hurt, sure. But I don't think you understand really." The doctor says shaking his head.
"Your kicks are so much stronger than normal people's kicks, I don't think that you could hold yourself back to a normal person's level if you tried now. Even if Zoro was to stumble and hit his head on something by accident right now it could send him back into being completely aphasic again. If your kick had hit him Sanji, even with you barely trying… it almost certainly would have killed him." Chopper says quietly, looking up at him with his dark brown eyes.
"What?" Sanji breathes in horror.
"I know that you think Zoro is strong, and he is. But the only reason he's alive at all right now is because of how strong he is, and even so he might never get better than this, or he could get worse again. If your kick had connected Sanji we'd be burying Zoro tonight." The doctor says. His voice isn't cold or angry, he's not threatening or exaggerating, he's speaking as if what he's saying is a medical fact. He says it with the same certainty that he'd say that someone's heart stopping beating means that they're dead, he seems just as certain.
"I'll… I'll be more careful." Sanji forces himself to say.
"See that you are." The reindeer says and walks back to the others, leaving Sanji trembling in his shoes.
"Cook?" Zoro's quiet voice asks. Sanji looks down to see Zoro staring up at him with curious dark eyes, searching for some explanation of what just happened. Sanji can't bring himself to even think too much about the fact that he nearly just killed his nakama, how can he even wrap his mind about the idea that if Zoro hadn't caught his leg that he'd be dead on the beach? He can't even stand to think it, let alone put it into words for Zoro.
"Could you… could you help me with these please?" He asks shakily and points to the food.
"Yes." Zoro smiles up at him and stands up, picking up an empty plate and piling the food on it.
God… could he really have killed him? What… what would he have done if he had? He'd never have forgiven himself obviously, what would his nakama do? Surely they'd know that he wouldn't have meant to kill Zoro, but they probably would never be able to see past his betrayal of Zoro's trust. He's not sure that he could live with himself after that. A vision of Zoro crumpled in the sand again flashes behind his eyes, only this time instead of being sprawled by a blood covered rock it would be blood on Sanji's shoes and on his soul.
"Oi, cook." The swordsman prompts him quietly with a nudge of his elbow.
"I've got it, shut up." He argues back absently and gathers the rest of the food, including some on a plate for himself.
Zoro is nearly mauled by the men when he returns to the fire with more meat, Sanji is significantly less assaulted with his haul of bread and booze. Sanji settles down in front of the campfire, his eyes watching Zoro warily as he eats. The oblivious swordsman is drinking lemonade and watching Franky strum out a tune on his guitar with rapt attention.
When Franky starts to sing a familiar song, Sanji isn't sure what one but he knows that he's heard it before, Zoro starts to hum along with Franky's singing. The swordsman must remember the tune, but he's got the lilt of the words right in his humming too, so perhaps he remembers the words but just can't say them. The shipwright seems to think that this is amazing though and decides to belt out his song even louder with Brook leaping into the duo and adding his violin to the mix.
Sanji finds himself smiling at the sight despite himself.
A thought filters into his head without any real effort on his half, Zoro's apology earlier runs through his mind, the word that he never taught him.
"Chopper, Zoro said something today…" He starts, looking over at the doctor who has thankfully stopped looking at him like a murderer.
"That's good." The reindeer nods happily.
"No, well- it is. He's been talking loads whenever he knows the words, but that's not what I mean. I've been teaching him words, I say something and he eventually repeats it right and then he can sort of… say it again. It's as if he just has to learn it and suddenly he can use it whenever… as long as he doesn't get stressed." He muses, remembering Zoro's earlier wordless rage that completely erased his vocabulary.
"Good, that's progress." Chopper agrees happily.
"Except… he said sorry today, and I never taught him to say that. But when I asked him to say it again he couldn't, but I know I didn't just imagine it!" He adds quickly, wary of last time he made claims about Zoro's speech in public.
"That's normal Sanji, it means that he's healing, it just takes a while for those connections to become easily accessible whenever he wants, the fact that he's making spontaneous connections to words alone is a great sign. Just try to get him to repeat those kinds of words if he says them." The doctor chirps happily.
Sanji nods and goes back to his food, satisfied with Chopper's answers. He glances at Chopper and wonders if the doctor has forgiven him so easily or simply does not want to bring up the terrible thing that he nearly did to the rest of their nakama, either way he's grateful and makes sure to serve Chopper extra dessert later.
They all sleep on the beach that night, curled around the shrinking camp fire, but Sanji can't sleep well. Every time he closes his eyes and starts to drift off he can hear the sick sound that Zoro's head made when it connected with that rock on the beach, except this time it's when his shoe connects with Zoro's head. If he starts to dream at all he can feel the fragments of Zoro's skull against his skin, feel the hot slick of his blood dampen the sand and see the dead expression in the swordsman's eyes. In the end he settles for watching the sun rise and occasionally glancing at the peacefully resting swordsman, mumbling nonsense occasionally in his sleep.