There had been so much blood. I had never seen the ground so thoroughly soaked before. You could practically taste the iron in the air, and, yet, he had the audacity to claim that nothing happened. We had both been ready to give our lives for our captain and crew, a yet he stole that moment from me. That stupid moss head wouldn't even let me share that burden with him. Instead, I had to find him barely alive in a pool of his own blood. God, there had been so much blood. The three years after we had all been separated had been rough. My days were filled with intense training with Iva and my nights were filled with nightmares of losing my crewmates one after another. Of course, that stupid self-sacrificing idiot would be the first one to disappear. What an asshole.

I tried to push the frustrating man from my thoughts as I made my way through the archipelago. I needed to find food to restock the ship. After all, I'm sure Luffy's stomach had grown even more ravenous. I chuckled to myself as I walked through what looked like a market. After asking around, I was pointed in the direction of a small fish shop that was near the shore of one of the groves. When I got there, it appeared to be unattended.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Nothing.

That's when I heard a man yelling and wailing down by the water. I asked him why he was upset, and he told me about the young man who had gotten on the wrong ship. A young man with green hair.

"What the hell Zoro?" I whispered to myself.

Suddenly, there was a large explosion in the water and up floated two halves of what looked to be an impressive ship. It had been cut in half. I felt a weird tingling sensation in my gut. That was when I saw him. Zoro was sheathing his sword as he climbed up towards us. My first thought when I saw him was that he looked much stronger. He had clearly put on a lot of muscle, which was displayed for all to see. Not that I was looking. I was definitely not looking.

"I see you're still an idiot." I said when he finally looked at me.

He smirked at me.

"Big words coming from number seven."

That's when I snapped.

"What?!"

We argued about his dumbass ranking system for a while, and it was nice to know that despite everything that happened three years earlier, we could interact normally. He didn't seem to know what I said to him after he passed out from Kuma's attack on Thriller Bark. I would take those words to the grave with me. He could never know.

XXX

Later that night, after we had all reunited on the Sunny and began our descent to Fishman Island, I was making dinner for everyone. We decided to eat on the deck, because Luffy and Chopper were obsessed with looking out into the water. Everyone was out there except for Zoro, who was noticeable absent.

"Where's moss head?" I asked Nami, since she was always the one who seemed to know everything on the ship.

"Last I checked he was napping in the crow's nest." She said. "You think he'd be interested in the sights since we're literally sailing under water, but he's Zoro so I suppose it's to be expected."

I sighed at her words and went to wake him up. After climbing the mast nets and poking my head in the nest that doubled as a gym space, I spotted him. He was laying on the ground with one arm folded behind his head. This caused his coat to slip even further open where you could see the muscles of his chest stretching with every breath. Coming up to his side, I tried not to wake him. Clearly out of my mind, I gently traced the line of his eye scar with my fingertips. That was new. I then turned my attention to the large scar across his torso. I ran my fingertips down the raised skin until I reached his abdomen. Suddenly, a strong hand shot out, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me forward. We rolled until I was on my back and Zoro's solid form was pinning me down, his face inches from mine.

"What do you think you're doing swirly brow?"

He was smirking again. I clenched my jaw. I would not allow him to bait me.

"I came to wake you up for dinner."

"And that requires feeling me up?"

I scoffed at his ridiculousness.

"Please, I did no such thing. Next time, I'll just let you starve!"

Zoro ran his knuckles up my throat and over my sensitive Adam's apple. I tried not to shiver at his touch. He then grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

"You would never. Despite being a shitty cook, you take your job very seriously."

I tried to shove him off of me, but he wouldn't budge. He was like an immovable wall. If anything, he lowered even more of his weight onto me.

"If the food is so gross, you don't have to eat it." I grumbled.

Moss head laughed at my words.

"Nah, you're the chef of the Straw Hat Pirates and I don't see that changing in this lifetime, so I guess I'm stuck with you."

I could feel my face heat up at his words. I had to get out of there. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who had gotten stronger over the last three years. With the slightest use of force in my legs, I flipped him off of me. He landed upside down on the curved couch. Finally, he looked annoyed, which made it easier.

Straightening out my suit, I lit a cigarette. I slowly let out the smoke as I looked at him.

"You're an idiot." I said before I left the crows' nest to join the others.

A/N

Hey guys!

This is the first chapter of my One Piece - Zoro X Sanji slashfic. I have changed some of the events of the story just to better fit their romance, plus I don't want to deal with Sanji's nosebleeds. It will be a casual and fun read and I really hope you enjoy it. I will try to update it every few days, but no promises.

Also, if you are interested in personal and customized fanfiction, please check out my profile on Fiverr:

CSLYNNLY

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Xoxo

Reika