Title: One to a Thousand
Rating: M for language, adult themes and sexual content
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Spoiler Warning: Takes place after the time skip.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sanji heard somebody making a great deal of noise, but it was distant, so he was able to easily ignore it as he drowsily contemplated going back to sleep. He realized that he should probably be waking up soon, since if one of his nakama was up, it was likely the rest of the ship would awaken and want a good meal. But he felt so very tired, and wanted to rest just a few more minutes.
The voice seemed to draw slightly nearer. It was low and frantic, and even in his sleepy haze, Sanji felt a twinge of annoyance as he realized it belonged to Zoro. But why did Zoro sound so distraught, he wondered, trying to make out the words.
A second voice, much higher-pitched, joined the fray, and he understood that the words were some kind of instruction, as Zoro murmured a reply.
With an abrupt whump, Sanji felt his body slam against a bouncy surface. His eyes groggily flickered open in surprise.
"He's awake," Zoro said, turning toward Chopper.
"Good," Chopper nodded. "It seems like he only fainted, but I'll check him over to be sure."
Faint? Tch, that didn't sound like something he would do; he wanted to argue, but his mouth wasn't being very cooperative in voicing his reply, like he was in the middle of a vivid dream he couldn't quite control. Sanji felt his shirt being unbuttoned and pulled off, as he was roughly rolled onto his side. He felt something being pulled off of his lower back.
"What the hell is that from?" Sanji heard Zoro ask.
"It's from the fight a few days ago. The abrasions on this part of his back haven't been healing," Chopper replied.
"He's been losing blood like that since then?" Zoro said incredulously, a trace of worry in his voice.
"No… It wasn't this much before," Chopper replied gravely.
Suddenly the haze lifted and Sanji felt himself snap back into reality. He was awake, and this was really happening. Abruptly, he started to pull himself upright while the doctor was still examining his back.
"Can you hold him still, Zoro?" Chopper asked.
The green-haired man stepped into Sanji's line of vision. "Ah," he nodded affirmatively, and strong arms reached out toward Sanji's body, pressing down on him and effectively preventing him from moving.
"I'll stay still, you don't need to hold me down," Sanji protested, directing an angry glare at Zoro, although he felt faint relief over finding his voice again. The swordsman simply returned the stare, his face devoid of expression. However, he did not release his vice-like grip.
"Is he going to need a blood transfusion, like he did on Fishman Island?" Zoro asked. The question was clearly directed at Chopper, but he did not break eye contact with Sanji.
Chopper shook his head negatively. "No, even with this, he hasn't lost that much blood yet—he's anemic but it's not life-threatening. There might be something else causing this as well, but I want to treat the anemia for the time being." The small reindeer looked up at Zoro. "I'm going to give him some supplements, but nutrients from actual food would be even better. Could you get some foods with vitamin C and iron in them?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "How the hell am I supposed to know what those are?"
"Citrus fruits, like oranges or lemons, will have vitamin C—" Chopper started to describe.
"No way," Sanji interrupted, his voice slightly strained. "He doesn't need to do anything. If there's something I'm supposed to eat, I'll get it myself." There was no way in hell he wanted Zoro poking around in his kitchen—or helping him in any way over this. The cook was completely mortified that he had passed out in front of the swordsman like that.
"So the mikans on the deck would work?" Zoro asked, deliberately ignoring him.
"Yes, that be great," Chopper replied.
"Don't touch Nami-swan's mikans without permission!" Sanji protested loudly.
"Ah, that's true, she'll be really angry at us…" Chopper winced.
"I'm sure she'll let me if I tell her it's for something like this," Zoro replied. Then his expression darkened, and he muttered under his breath, "although she might charge me for it..."
Sanji felt his entire body tense; telling Nami, or anyone for that matter, was the last thing he wanted to happen. Enraged, he sat up and yanked the front of Zoro's shirt. "Don't you get it, idiot marimo? I don't want her to know. This isn't that bad, so I don't want her—or anybody—worrying about me right now."
"Are you an idiot?" Zoro asked flatly, furrowing his brow, a flicker of an emotion that Sanji couldn't quite put a name to reflecting in his eye. "We should know if you're injured."
There was a barely detectable quiver in his voice as he pronounced the word we—it made Sanji almost feel as if it wasn't really what he wanted to say—and it was just enough to make Sanji hesitate instead of shooting off a comeback. The cook huffed in defeat as he leaned back onto the bed, hoping his indignation masked his confusion... not to mention his exhaustion. Just the act of sitting and grasping the swordsman's shirt had made him feel drained. He couldn't let that show, however; he had already humiliated himself enough for one day.
To his surprise, Zoro turned away and muttered, "Fine, I won't tell Nami, and I'll figure out how to get the mikans."
Sanji buried his face in his hands. "Bell peppers," he muttered.
Zoro turned back toward him and raised an eyebrow. "Hah?"
"There are a bunch of bell peppers in the kitchen," Sanji explained further, rubbing his temple in frustration. "Get the yellow ones, not the green or the red. They'll work just as well in place of the mikans."
"Ah, okay," he said, blinking in surprise. Then the swordsman glanced in Chopper's direction. "Oi, did you say iron was the other thing?... We actually eat things with iron in it?"
Sanji clapped a hand to his head; he just couldn't take it. Shouldn't that muscle-head know something about the food he's eating? Too irked to reply, he let Chopper give Zoro a quick lesson in nutrition, and then rattled off a few things Zoro could grab in the kitchen. Reluctantly, he handed over the keys that would give him access to all of the ship's food.
Zoro gave him one last, lingering look before leaving the room. As the green-haired man exited, Sanji stared in stunned silence at the door that had closed shut behind him. There was something about the complexity of the look on Zoro's face...
This time, it had been an expression that he could actually identify, and it made his chest tighten with an emotion that he didn't feel ready for.
It took one more day, but Chopper, who had already been trying to identify what was preventing Sanji's wounds from healing, was able to find an antidote to what was presumably some kind of poison. Two days later, the cuts finally closed, and Sanji was no longer steadily losing a trickle of blood.
Sanji was relieved that he did not need to trouble the rest of the crew with it; it was not that he was worried about them finding out, but he didn't want them to be concerned for him when it was such a minor affliction. And maybe also, a stubborn streak of pride made him reluctant to want to admit a few tiny scratches had been such a bother to him.
Zoro kept his promise to keep his mouth shut, but the cook was not surprised. For all of his griping about Zoro, he never doubted the shitty swordsman would keep his word. There was one thing that was annoying him, however... He glanced behind him in irritation.
"Oi, shitty marimo," Sanji called out fiercely as he flipped the contents of a frying pan with one hand while his other hand reached across the counter for a bottle of seasoning.
"Hnn?" came a sleepy grunt from somewhere behind him.
"How many times do I have to say it? Get the hell out of here," he grumbled, glancing over his shoulder to aim a venomous look at the swordsman.
Zoro was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the cabinets at the corner or the room, eyes closed. "Why do you care, dartboard-brow?"
"Because you're in my way... Dammit!" he barked, as he slammed a handful of chopped vegetables into the pan a bit harder than he meant to. Several of them bounced out of the pan and onto the surface of the stove. He cursed under his breath; he wouldn't be making blunders like this if the shitty swordsman wasn't loitering about.
"I'm not in your way sitting back here and you know it," Zoro yawned loudly, leaning back a bit more. "It's just where I wanted to take a nap."
Sanji gritted his teeth, stealing another glance at him. The stupid marimo really did look like he was on the verge of sleep. Aggravated, Sanji forced his attention back to the meal he was preparing.
This had been happening ever since he had lost consciousness a couple of days before. Although the bleeding had stopped, Chopper had warned him that he was still slightly anemic, and Sanji suspected that the young doctor had relayed the same information to Zoro. After all, why else would the shitty swordsman be there?
Sanji had a feeling Zoro was not-so-secretly keeping an eye on him. Not that it's necessary at all, he thought with annoyance.
Awhile later, when he was done cooking and had started unloading the completed dishes onto the dining table, he glanced at Zoro. Once again, his suspicions were confirmed that the swordsman was only pretending to sleep; though he had been lounging in the corner motionless for quite some time, he had yet to let out a single snore.
Sanji cast his gaze downward. He wasn't sure how he should interpret Zoro's unpredictable behavior.
He also wasn't sure what he should do with himself, for that matter; it was getting harder to stop thinking about the shitty marimo, no matter how many times he had forbidden himself from having those kinds of thoughts.
"Come on, lunch is ready," he finally managed to utter. Zoro didn't stir; apparently, he had to go through the motion of waking him from his fake sleep.
At first, the cook raised a foot to kick him over, but for some inexplicable reason, he changed his mind and leaned down. Hesitantly, he pressed a hand on Zoro's shoulder.
The swordsman slowly opened his eye and stared up at Sanji. Unfaltering, he reached his hand upward and pressed it on top of Sanji's, holding the cook's hand against his shoulder a bit longer, a steady gaze fixed on him that made Sanji feel momentarily paralyzed.
"Ah," Zoro finally nodded in response, releasing his grip and shifting his weight so he could pull himself up off the floor.
Sanji quickly turned around and walked back toward the dining room to start serving the food, trying to ignore the flip-flopping sensation of his heart pounding in his chest.
"The hell? With the way those guys at the town were going on about them, I thought these shitty bandits were actually going to be strong," Sanji huffed loudly, jamming his hands in his pockets as he walked away from a pile of unconscious bodies littered across the grassy ground, all of them wearing gaudy outfits tinged with various shades of red and orange. Squinting in the bright sunlight, he could make out Zoro's silhouette standing a short distance away.
"You're only saying that because I was there to take out most of them," Zoro called back, his antagonistic tone instantly getting under Sanji's skin.
"Are you finally losing it, shitty marimo? While you were wasting all your time on that one bulky guy with the swords, I was dealing with most of them," Sanji replied, stepping up next to Zoro with dismay.
"That's because he would've been too hard for you to take on, dartboard-brow," Zoro retorted. The cook was finally able to make out his expression beyond the bright sunlight. Shitty as usual; exactly what he expected.
"While you were wasting all your time fighting that one guy, they probably got even further away from us," Sanji said, referring to Robin, Usopp and Chopper, who they had originally been walking with.
Zoro shrugged casually, starting to walk forward. "We'll find them."
"What the hell is with that attitude?" Sanji barked, rushing forward to keep up with him. "You're the reason we got separated to begin with. You were supposed to be walking back to the Sunny with us, and next thing we knew, you were gone."
"I was right behind you."
"No you weren't, you were going in a completely different direction," Sanji fumed, furious at how the shitty marimo could say something so obviously wrong with such a matter-of-fact expression.
Zoro's brow twitched, but he ignored Sanji's remarks as he continued boldly walking forward.
"And where the hell are you going now, bastard? We were heading toward the trees, the trees!" Sanji emphasized, pointing exaggeratedly in the direction opposite of where Zoro was going. A moment later, he unthinkingly reached out and grabbed Zoro's arm, forcibly dragging him toward the right direction.
The electricity of the touch caught him off-guard, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. For the briefest second, he stopped to steal a glance at the swordsman. Whatever exchange he had just felt wasn't lost on the green-haired man. Zoro gnawed at his lip for a moment as he reached out toward Sanji. The cook inhaled sharply in anticipation; however, before the other man's touch connected, he abruptly stopped himself.
Then he turned away and began to walk in the direction that Sanji had turned him toward. The hell was that about? Sanji thought with irritation, not exactly certain just what he was irritated about, as he stepped up next to him.
Now the air between them felt stifling awkward. The pair made their way to the forest in the distance without speaking, unable to manage even their usual bickering.
"I think this is the way we came," Sanji finally broke the tense silence, as they found themselves on a meandering path in the forest. "It's hard to tell, though."
"I don't see any signs of them," Zoro said.
"Of course you don't see them, they're probably way ahead of us by now," the cook said, shooting him another angry glare.
"You probably should've let Chopper find me. He could have picked up on the others a lot quicker than you with his nose."
"It's not like I wanted to come find you myself!" Sanji blurted, turning his whole body in Zoro's direction to give more impact to his outburst.
"Is that so," Zoro muttered lowly, keeping his gaze cast in front of him.
Frustrated, Sanji groped at his pocket for a cigarette. He fumed as he lit it and took the first few drags, his agitation increasing as Zoro's words rolled around in his head. What the hell was that shitty marimo trying to imply by that comment, anyway—that he had come rushing to find him? He clenched his fists in anger.
But suddenly, he faltered in his step, his cigarette momentarily dangling listlessly from his agape mouth, as his brow twitched in dismay. Wait, did I volunteer to come find him?
Frowning deeply, he tried to recall the conversation with his crew mates. Sometimes the division of labor seemed to happen so naturally amongst them, it was difficult to keep of track who delegated what.
They had agreed that they probably did not all need to look for Zoro; Sanji had insisted Robin head back to the ship; Robin had commented that Chopper should come with her, as he was in his reindeer form that was most practical for carrying supplies, and his bags were full, so it wasn't practical for him to keep walking around; Usopp had offered to go if it was with Sanji, but seemed hesitant to go alone; and Sanji did not want to leave Robin with only the bag-laden Chopper, as the townsfolk had warned them about a dangerous bandit group in the area...
"Shit, I did," Sanji murmured under his breath. He had insisted that the three of them travel together while he found the stupid, lost swordsman on his own.
But that wasn't necessarily a bad reason, he realized. They had all agreed that it made sense—Robin in particular, he recalled—and that's why they divided their group that way. He certainly had no ulterior motives in seeking Zoro by himself.
A startlingly gentle hand pressed his back. "Something wrong?" the swordsman asked, his voice closer than what Sanji expected.
"A-ah, no, let's go," he stammered quickly. He realized he had been standing still ever since his misstep. Quickly, he continued forward, trying to ignore how the place where Zoro's hand had grazed suddenly felt inordinately hot. Why the hell did the swordsman have to touch him like that when they were all alone?
The uncomfortable silence seemed to increase exponentially with each step he took. Sanji absentmindedly brushed the fingertips of his left hand together, vaguely aware that it was the hand he had used to grab Zoro's arm earlier.
"This looks like the wrong way," Zoro said, stopping and crossing his arms.
"Coming from you, that probably means it's the right way, then," Sanji muttered, still continuing to walk. But suddenly, a prickling sensation on the back of his neck made him stop. At the same moment, he heard the unmistakable sound of Zoro's swords being removed from their sheaths.
Instinct was the only thing that saved the two men from injury. A group of men wearing orange and red clothing, similar to the men from earlier, surrounded them. Clearly, they were affiliated with the gang of bandits they had decimated just a short while ago.
Before he could think about it, he found himself standing close to Zoro, their backs nearly touching, as they cautiously eyed the enemies surrounding them, waiting for the next flurry of attacks. In the back of his mind, he was aware of his closeness to the swordsman, but there was no time to get distracted by that right now—he had to focus.
There were less than two dozen of them, but this group clearly felt like they were on a higher level than the men they had fought earlier. Their presence was considerably more threatening, although hardly to the degree where they were an actual threat to Zoro and Sanji.
Yet for some reason, when they finally made their move, the group of bandits focused all of their attacks on Zoro, which surprised both of them. Sanji quickly sprang into action to go on the offensive, while the swordsman did his best to defend himself from the sudden onslaught of attacks.
As Zoro's swords occupied themselves with deflecting the multitude of simultaneous blows, one particularly burly man wielding an axe managed to slip into a blind spot. Zoro noticed him a split second too late, and Sanji could already see he would not be able to block in time.
An irrational emotion flooded Sanji's senses. With inhuman speed, the cook leaped in Zoro's direction, somehow managing to knock the Axe-man to the side a nanosecond before the gigantic blade made contact with Zoro's body.
That was the best the bandits were able to do against the two pirates, though.
Now that the bandits' attacks were not synchronized, it was clearly Zoro and Sanji's win. Yet the cook could not just turn off the rush of dread-induced adrenaline pumping through his veins. Unable to hold back, he continued to attack with an unnecessary intensity. He told himself it was out of frustration—that he was just pissed they had all ignored him to attack the swordsman, as through he hadn't been a threat. It certainly wasn't because of the heavy blow that had missed Zoro by a mere sliver.
Sanji knew he was going too far; either he or Zoro alone could have taken this group out without much inconvenience. The first attack against Zoro, which didn't even leave him with so much as a hair out of place, was the only blow that nearly connected with either of them.
He told himself he had to slow down, to relax, to stop attacking so ferociously, but he could not decrease the pressure or reduce the speed of his kicks no matter how hard he inwardly screamed at himself to do so.
Inevitably, the fight—if it could even be called such a ridiculous thing, when the pirates had such a sweeping victory—was over in a matter of seconds rather than minutes.
Panting heavily, Sanji discarded his cigarette butt onto the rocky path. He smashed down on it with his foot in frustration; he realized just how overboard it was for him to roll out attacks of that caliber for a handful of small town bandits. He glanced at Zoro, wondering if he had noticed.
The penetrating gaze directed at him was unreadable, but maybe it was because he couldn't quite tell what thoughts loomed behind that expressionless eye that made Sanji's heart skip in something he would probably describe as panic... or shame.
"Tch, shut up, I know," he muttered lowly, unable to face him another moment. He briskly walked back him and started to continue down the path.
Blonde hair obscured his darkened eyes as he gloomily marched forward, inwardly berating himself for his reprehensible behavior. To once again act so weak... he bit down on his lip sharply.
Yet even as he tried to avoid looking at Zoro, it was very apparent that he was being stared at. With each step, he could feel the swordsman's gaze boring into his back, crushing him with its intensity.
He stopped abruptly, staring at the trail ahead with vexation. They had to be lost; whatever path they had taken on the way there, this was surely not it, because it looked far more bleak than earlier.
Maybe it was just him who seemed more bleak, though. He smirked sorely at the thought.
Studying the scenery around him, he wondered if he had overlooked a fork somewhere; it's not like he could have depended on Zoro to point out if he missed a split in the path.
A wave of frustration passed over him as he thought about how the shitty swordsman was too busy noticing pointless things about himself to actually do anything helpful. But even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't true.
He jumped in surprise as Zoro stepped in next to him, his arm brushing against Sanji's. Even through the long sleeves of his shirt, the cook could feel the heat of the other man's skin; even with a mere touch through his clothes, he could feel a shiver run up his spine that he could not necessarily call unpleasant.
That casual touch between them had been happening with more frequency lately, he realized. Even in the short while they had been alone on the island, there had been so many instances. He didn't know if it was intentional on Zoro's part, but as he thought back, he realized some of it was his fault, too.
Zoro had been the one to lightly touch his back, but Sanji had been the one to grab his arm when he was leading him toward the forest. When they stood back to back facing the bandits, they had both drawn a little nearer to each other than they used to. And now, it was definitely Zoro who had stepped a little too close to him, but he certainly wasn't making any moves to step away.
As they stood together in silence, Sanji wondered just what was the right reaction for him to have. He felt like it was to turn away from it. But how could he keep telling himself he should resist, when just the feeling of the other man's arm against him was making his heart pound this hard?
When these casual, seemingly accidental touches happened, Sanji often had an inkling the other man was merely teasing him; after all, there was usually someone else around, so no matter how he reacted, he would wind up looking foolish. Whether he chose to stay near the swordsman, or to violently oppose the touch, he would draw unwanted attention to himself.
But in this situation, Sanji's theory was undoubtedly debunked. Right now, they were all alone in the middle of nowhere, and still Zoro stood this close to him. And it wasn't like they hadn't been close before... Memories of hungry kisses, hesitating hands and arms wrapped around him filled his mind.
And then there was that moment Zoro had started to outstretch his hand toward him earlier, with such a strange expression on his face, like he had wanted to reach out for him. The cook's heart began to pound faster as he realized that thinking all of these things made his body want to act on an impulse.
Abruptly, Sanji turned to face Zoro, the cogs in his mind churning rapidly as they tried to process the heavy decisions he was contemplating.
He could almost hear the rush of blood roaring in his ears as he stared at Zoro, who was standing just a bit too closely, as he tried to read the other man's indecipherable expression. He hoped that, maybe, there would be a clue there. Maybe something there would tell him the decision he should make.
But there was no hint written on the swordsman's face that gave him the right answer. The only conclusion Sanji could draw was that there wasn't one. Nothing about what was going on between them was wrong or right; it was just piled up anxiety, and no matter what he chose to do, none of the options he picked, whether it was to take Zoro right there or to never see him again, would make him feel right or normal again.
Sanji took a step closer, and Zoro didn't try to move. Why would he, anyway? He hadn't backed away, not even once, even when he himself had constantly tried to evade.
Like he wanted to do right now. The spur-of-the-moment impulse that had made him stop and face the swordsman had long since dissipated, and now he was back to the mentality of needing to run from him. From it. That unspeakable thing between them that felt as real and present as the swordsman himself.
The hesitant moment lasted too long; he was unable to take the final step. With a sigh, he started to turn away, but Zoro grabbed his wrist and yanked him toward him until their faces were inexcusably close.
"The hell kind of expression is that, ero-cook?" Zoro scowled, his eyebrow visibly twitching.
Sanji frantically searched his mind for a retort, but as it turned out, no verbal response was required.
The cook felt a strong hand roughly grip the back of his head as warm lips crushed against his. He started to pull back, but the firm grip held him securely in place, and he gave up the fight almost before it began.
He wasn't even sure how badly he wanted to fight it. Although he could feel his eyebrows contorted in a concerned expression, his tongue seemed to be responding on its own, sliding past the swordsman's eager tongue to make its way into his mouth. His inexplicably desperate hands found their way to the other man's back, and for some reason, they seemed to be pulling him closer.
Zoro pulled back from the drawn-out kiss for a moment, still firmly holding the back of Sanji's head as he paused to study his face. The cook felt a wave of embarrassment pass over him; he was breathing heavily and his cheeks felt unreasonably warm. He didn't want the other man to get a good look at him looking like that.
But then, as he glanced at Zoro, he realized the swordsman shared a similar expression. He, too, was panting, and Sanji could not help but marvel over the pink tinge painted across his cheeks and nose; it was something he had not seen before, at least not in this way. The word lustful drifted through his mind, and an unbearable wave of longing flooded through him.
Then their lips connected again, a but more cravingly, and Sanji let himself get lost in the sensations, the flow of time around him seeming irrelevant compared to the feel of Zoro's mouth, his tongue, his hands pressed against his own heated body.
With increasing yearning, Sanji crushed his lips against Zoro's with more force. He realized that he hadn't noticed just how delectable the other man's mouth was before. Even as he already had it, he greedily felt like he couldn't get enough.
A voice in the back of Sanji's mind warned him this was a bad idea; but as he let his own longing take control, he knew there was no way he would willingly pull himself away from the swordsman at this moment.
Rather, it was the sound of a feminine voice politely clearing her throat that ripped him back into reality. An unbearably familiar voice...
They both rapidly pulled away from each other. Panic seized Sanji's body. Too paralyzed to turn around, he could only stare at Zoro's insufferably unperturbed expression.
"Looks like we were going the right way," Zoro commented, his voice nonchalant, despite the telltale flush on his cheeks.
Sanji's mind reeled, as he tried to grasp just how the swordsman could be so relaxed.
"Have you been looking for us long?" Robin asked. Sanji knew it took a great deal to rattle the cool-headed woman, but he couldn't help but feel utterly stunned that there was not even the slightest trace of surprise in her voice. After all, no matter how unshakeable Robin was, the sight of two of her male crew mates practically in each other's arms should have been at least a little bit startling...
But even if Robin wasn't startled, Sanji sure as well was. Finally mustering the courage to move—and unable to bear looking at Zoro's lackadaisical face for even another second—he turned around and glanced up at her, dreading meeting her gaze.
The tall brunette was completely unfazed, and Sanji could not help but be bewildered; how could her demeanor remain so unflappable, even as she coolly gazed upon his red face and shaky poise? How the hell was he supposed to act, now that she'd seen him? Seen them? Was he supposed to act like himself? How contradictory would his usual behavior be, given the situation...
"Not that long," Zoro replied to her, breaking into a yawn that seemed slightly in conflict with his flushed cheeks. "Is everyone up ahead? I'm ready to get back to the ship."
"Yes, they're just a short distance away. I had a feeling you were close, so I broke away for a moment," Robin replied, her cool gaze breaking from Sanji to turn back toward the swordsman.
Sanji looked back and forth between them, dumbstruck. They were both conversing as though Robin hadn't just seen something more than deserving of at least a measly comment.
"Oi, are you going to just stand there?" Zoro asked, giving the cook a look that made him feel instantly irritated; that slightly indignant, yet indifferent look, like Sanji pausing for a few seconds was inconveniencing him.
But irritated or not, he still couldn't quite overcome his stupor. Overwhelmed, he barely managed to stagger behind the two of them as Robin showed them where Usopp and Chopper were waiting up ahead.
With each difficult step, however, he came closer to a resolution. Part of Sanji's problem had been how undecided he had felt in his own heart. Now, he knew the answer: whatever this was, it couldn't keep happening. The sickening feeling in his stomach was unbearable. He couldn't keep falling into Zoro's pace. Next time he was alone with the swordsman, he wouldn't let something like that happen.
Now that his mind had settled slightly, Sanji decided to follow Zoro and Robin's lead, and also act as if nothing abnormal had just occurred. He rushed past Zoro, catching up to Robin, quickly switching into his usual, swooning demeanor. "Robin-chwaaan, wait for me, I'll walk with you," he called out flirtatiously.
She reacted the same as always—patient but indifferent—and Sanji focused all of his attention on her until they caught up with their other crew mates.
Even after they met up with the rest of the crew, Sanji couldn't bring himself to turn around and look back toward Zoro even a single time; he was too afraid that even the slightest mirthful grin would be enough to break his resolve.