AN: A family ZoSan/SanZo where the two end up adopting a little girl called Jeanne. Canon verse.
Heading below deck, Zoro stifled a yawn behind one of his hands, the other holding the freshly washed and dried bed sheets Nami had handed to him not five minutes ago in exchange for his green coat which the red headed navigator couldn't bear to look at in its filthy state. It wasn't Zoro's fault, he just hadn't had the time to wash it- being a dad was hard, you know?
Skipping the last step with a small jump, the swordsman continued on down the hall to his and Sanji's now shared bedroom which Franky had built in a two years ago after Jeanne's unexpected joining to the crew. It had been quite a shock for all of them when Sanji returned back late to the Sunny holding a little baby girl in his arms in place of his grocery bags.
Looking back on it, Zoro was ashamed to admit that he'd told the cook to put the kid back where it'd come from. He hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh and cruel but he had to step up and voice the concerns of all the other members of the crew considering Luffy thought having a baby on the ship was a great idea regardless of the dangers they all faced on a regular basis.
Of course, that had started an argument. And a vicious one it was. The worst thing was that Sanji had refused to settle it with a physical fight and stuck to verbally striking the marimo down. Zoro was bad with conveying words most of the time and he'd found it hard to express what he was trying to say so everything that came out of his mouth just sounded even more awful.
It was the only time Sanji had ever punched him. Zoro remembered clearly what he had said to provoke that reaction and he was anything but proud of it.
"Just... Just put that fucking thing back!"
Zoro flinched as the cruel words invaded his mind and the ghost of Sanji's clenched fist brushed against his mouth.
"Thing?! It's a person, fucker! A little girl. You can't just expect me to fucking leave her where I found her- she'd die, bastard! She'd... She'd have starved to death if I'd left her there..."
Zoro could see Sanji's face, imploring him with the glimmers of god knows what horrors haunting in the cook's eyes. But what the blond said next was what made him cave in.
"We could have a family, Zoro."
The swordsman had stalled at that. A family? Really? That's what the cook wanted? They'd gone over that before in the past but Sanji hadn't seemed so bothered by the prospect as he had back then so Zoro had left it as an open conversation in which they could rekindle at any time.
"Zoro..."
The use of his name had let him know that Sanji was serious about this and when he looked at the cook, he could see the silent 'please?' in his face. He didn't know what to say. Was he even ready for this? Then Chopper and Luffy had picked that moment to walk in, the little reindeer doctor running circles around his captain and squeaking not to drop the baby to which Luffy laughed and promised he wouldn't. Zoro had took one look at the tiny infant swathe in a blanket in Luffy's arms and shook his head.
"Cook, I- I dunno..."
It had been an honest answer but it didn't mean Sanji had to be happy about it. The cook had grit his teeth and left the room, almost knocking Chopper over on his way out. Zoro hadn't called after him because Sanji never listened to him when he was in that kind of mood. Chopper had excused himself and left, probably to try and calm Sanji down and Zoro had been about to do the same when Luffy stopped him.
"What happened, Zoro?" He asked calmly, gaze serious and clashing with the tenderness with which he held the baby girl.
"Nothing," Zoro had said.
"You can tell me, you know. I'm your captain but you're my crew and my Nakama. Nakama are meant to be happy together, not sad."
"He... thinks we should kee-" He stalled, looking for a better word, "We should adopt her. He wants to start a family..." The words had sounded heavy in the quiet of the kitchen galley.
"And what do you want, Zoro?"
A soft whimper came from the bundle in Luffy's arms and the swordsman's eyes looked down instantly at it as a tiny figure wriggled and fought to roll over in the arms that held her. Zoro had watched as a sharp cry of frustration had him meeting big blue eyes. One dark eye met them and the little girl gurgled happily, a tiny hand being thrown into the air, connected to a little arm. Zoro had softened when he'd seen the few blonde locks that were fair like her skin and the big blue eyes had continued to stare.
"...She's like him..." He said, voice a whisper as though he were afraid it might break, "She's so like him..."
"That's what I said!" Luffy laughed, grinning and bouncing the little girl slightly.
Subconsciously, Zoro's hand had raised of its own accord to reach out to this little girl he couldn't help but see his cook in. Luffy smiled.
"D'you wanna hold her?"
Zoro didn't remember answering it but either way he'd ended up with the little girl in his strong arms and his one eyed gaze looking down at her face with its dimpled cheeks. She'd smiled, hands making excessive grabbing movements at him and he swapped her to one cradled arm, his then free hand taking both of hers in a gentle grasp.
Luffy nodded, "You'll make a great dad, Zoro."
When he'd told Sanji his answer the cook had been... well, delighted didn't even begin to describe it. It seemed not even one kiss could convey the cook's happiness. Zoro had never received that many kisses from the cook that day than he had in the whole time he'd been with the idiot blond.
And so Sanji had named her Jeanne, a French name but Zoro didn't care because they'd decided the first time a prospect of family had been brought up that Sanji would name him or, in this case, her. He liked the name too, it suited her and he told Sanji he preferred the cook's surname to go with it rather than his own. Jeanne Roronoa didn't have the same ring to it as Jeanne Bleu. Sanji had called him a sap for that, but agreed.
Jeanne was almost three now and what a beautiful girl she was, all golden hair and bold blue eyes with little dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. Her freckled nose and cheeks much like the cook's and Zoro teased her for it too, pinning her down playfully to count them much like he did to Sanji and smiling as she shrieked with laughter.
Speaking of her laugh, he could hear it now as he got closer to their room. The loud shriek followed by huffy high pitched chuckles echoing down the hall to mingle with Sanji's voice laughing and telling her to stop being so noisy. He could hear music playing too.
Stopping at the slightly ajar door, Zoro peeped through the gap to see his cook and his daughter together. Both were standing with Jeanne stood on Sanji's shoes whilst he held her hands. Her little dress with its puffed ruffles shook as Sanji stepped in time with the beat of the tone dial on the chest of drawers nailed into the floor.
Jeanne's face was screwed up in concentration as she stared down at her's and Sanji's moving feet before she looked up with a smile, "Daddy!" She said.
Sanji laughed, "That's right! Look, Jeanne, you're doing it!"
Jeanne grinned proudly, "Yes! Yes!"
Zoro must've caught them near the end of the song because the waltz music began to slow and then ceased all together. Jeanne yawned as she shuffled off Sanji's shoes and held up her arms to him. The blond smiled tenderly and lifted her up onto his hip as she curled her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.
Zoro stayed still and watched, transfixed as Sanji bounced his daughter gently to sleep, shushing her softly and talking in a soothing voice, "I wonder where that idiot dad of yours got to..." He paced slowly to the rhythm of the bobbing ship, pleased to find the little girl closed her eyes and her grip on him slackened. He moved to the other side of the room and Zoro looked on as he tucked her into the small single bed just her size and pulled over the covers to keep her warm whilst she napped, deciding to leave her in her dress rather than put in her pyjamas and disrupt her. He sat down on the edge of her bed and leaned over, placing a kiss to her forehead, "Sweet dreams, my little All Blue."
Zoro smiled and came out from hiding behind the door to whisper fondly, "You're a hopeless sap, aren't you?"
Sanji threw a cuddly toy at him in response.