Chapter 8 – Realising Stuff

Zoro

Zoro was dozing in the lookout tower, minding his own business, when he heard Nami's shrill tones call to him from below.

"Zoro! Come down! It's lunchtime!"

It was a shame he hadn't been fully asleep; he wouldn't have even heard her. He was tempted to ignore her, but ignoring Nami never worked out well for anyone.

"I'm not hungry!" He yelled back.

"You've been saying that for two days now, Zoro! You have to eat sometime! Stop being an idiot!"

Zoro would be an idiot if he wanted to, thank you very much. Besides, he had been eating – just not when Sanji was in the kitchen and dining area.

And why was he avoiding being the in same room as Sanji? Well, because Sanji was avoiding being in the same room as him. It had taken half a day for Zoro to figure out that Sanji was leaving every room that Zoro walked in, not to mention also stay as far away from him as possible when they were on the deck. The only exception was eating times, because it's not like Sanji could walk out of the dining area when he was serving food, which made it Zoro's only opportunity to make it be known that he was also avoiding Sanji.

Because if Zoro was the one avoiding Sanji, then it meant Sanji couldn't avoid him. And if Sanji couldn't avoid him, then maybe the gaping hole in Zoro's chest would start to close up a bit into something a little more manageable. He'd discovered in prison that he couldn't abide Sanji ignoring him, and that time he'd barely lasted 8 hours before desperately leaping onto a reason to make Sanji pay attention to him again. That bathing gambit had worked spectacularly.

Deep down, he'd been hoping that refusing to eat would ensure Sanji had to talk to him, because if there was one thing Sanji couldn't abide, it was one of his crewmates not eating. But Sanji had deftly dodged that outcome by sending others to berate Zoro in his place. Yesterday had been Franky, Chopper, and Brook. This morning had been Usopp. All unsuccessful. Now Sanji had sent out the big guns. Zoro wondered how Sanji had even managed to convince Nami to come pester him at all. Nami pestered Zoro all the time, but generally only for things that benefited her directly.

Maybe Zoro should feel satisfied that Sanji had spared him enough attention to convince Nami to come out here, but it wasn't enough. He wanted Sanji's voice calling to him, saying his name. He'd even take Mosshead. Who'd have thought he'd miss being called Mosshead? Unbelievable.

He just didn't understand why Sanji was ignoring him. Zoro had picked his brain over and over and over and couldn't figure out what he'd done. He'd even willingly apologise this time, if he could just work out what he needed to apologise for. Because even if he never got to touch Sanji again – never got to feel Sanji underneath him, never got to feel Sanji's hands on him again, never got to suck more marks in his neck to replace the ones that were fading too quickly – he'd get by as long as Sanji would just look at him, just speak to him, just acknowledge him. Zoro just needed him around and he'd make himself be satisfied with just that.

So, he would not stop being an idiot. Not until Sanji came out to get Zoro himself.

Unfortunately, Nami didn't agree.

"Zoro, I swear, if you make me come up there to get you, I will zap you so hard your eyeballs will fry like eggs inside your eye sockets and your dick will shrivel up into itself!"

One could never accuse Nami of not being inventive. Problem was, she always followed through on her threats. Zoro supposed that was his sit-out done and dusted, then. He liked his eyeballs and his dick exactly how they were.

"Fine, I'm coming! Just hold your horses, already!" Zoro grouched. Fucking Nami, ruining all his best laid plans. He climbed down slowly and, once he'd reached the deck, dragged his feet on his way over to Nami standing by the cabin door.

"Seriously, I'm going to get grey hairs by the time you get here!" Nami scolded, tapping her foot impatiently. "And if you make me get grey hairs…"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll fry me, I know," Zoro grumbled. But he did pick up his pace.

Nami spun on her heels and went inside without acknowledging Zoro any further. Zoro, just grateful to have escaped her regard for now, meekly followed her in. The rest of the crew was sitting around the dining room table, all talking over each other in their usual cacophony, except Sanji, who was putting sandwiches together on the kitchen counter.

Zoro reluctantly sat down and tried very hard to keep his gaze from Sanji. He failed miserably.

It wasn't his fault. He blamed Sanji for his misfortune, naturally. It was just those damn hands of his. Zoro couldn't look away from them as Sanji assembled the sandwiches, admiring their grace and dexterity. He must be truly desperate if he was lusting over Sanji's hands. It wasn't even because he remembered what those hands had done to him – though that was also front of mind. No, it was simply because he found joy in watching Sanji do something he was born to do.

Zoro started banging his head on the table. I am truly pathetic.

"Zoro, why are you banging your head?" Chopper asked, alarmed. "You might hurt yourself!"

"I'm fine," Zoro replied morosely. "Just let me suffer in peace."

"Do you suppose convalescing in a cell with Sanji for six days did something to him?" Brook asked everyone.

If only they knew.

"Oh, it did something to him, alright!" Nami laughed.

Okay, so maybe Nami knew.

"It's fine, everyone. Zoro just needs to work some things out," Robin added kindly.

And maybe Robin also knew.

"We're sorry it took so long to find you," Chopper said worriedly. "We came as soon as we discovered where you were."

"How'd you find us, anyway? Weren't we on a different island?" Zoro asked. It had actually not occurred to him to ask earlier. He'd had other things on his mind. Well, one thing, but he could really only figure out one thing at a time. It gave him a headache otherwise.

"Nah, same one actually," Franky replied. "There just happened to be four seasons on the same island, one for each quarter."

Zoro stopped banging his head on the table to track Sanji with his eyes as Sanji started to bring the plates over to the table, hardly paying attention to Franky's words.

"We just happened to look in the winter section last because it was the furthest away from where we figured you were snatched," Usopp explained before he hastily shoved a sandwich in his mouth.

"Mm shed mm shnd moo a mm mmmtnnn," Luffy mumbled.

"Luffy, don't talk with your mouth full!" Nami scolded.

Luffy gulped deeply. "I said we should look at the mountain," he said before stuffing his mouth again.

Usopp sighed. "Yeah, Luffy did say we should look there first but the rest of us thought it made the most sense to look close by." Usopp looked at Luffy curiously. "Why were you so set on searching the mountain anyway?"

"It looked cool!" Luffy responded animatedly.

"Alas, now it is no more!" Brook opined. "No bones about it! Get it? Yo ho ho ho!"

Luffy giggled. "Whoops."

Zoro's heart started beating faster as Sanji picked up a small plate from the kitchen counter and started walking in Zoro's direction.

Look at me, damn it.

But Sanji didn't look at him, averting his eyes as he forcefully placed the plate in front of Zoro, who felt electrified simply from the feeling of Sanji disturbing the air around him.

Pathetic, pathetic! His brain taunted him.

"I hope everyone got out of there okay," Chopper said nervously.

Zoro picked up a sandwich and bit into slowly. Sure enough, it didn't have cucumber in it. His chest felt warm.

"Eh," Usopp waved his hand dismissively. "I'm sure they're fine. What's most important is that we made it out alive."

"It sure was a close call!" Franky said, laughing.

"So fun," Luffy sighed wistfully before looking at Sanji. "You got anymore?"

"If I make more," Sanji replied, entering the conversation for the first time, "then we won't have enough food to get us to Spa Island. We'll have to find another island to stop at for supplies on the way."

Luffy looked at Nami, eyes big and round and pleading.

Nami rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Fine! But only for one night and only if we come across one tomorrow. Otherwise, you'll just have to catch your dinner. We've been delayed enough because of those two idiots."

Luffy cheered and started chanting "Fo-od! Fo-od! Fo-od!" Then Chopper, Franky, and Usopp joined in.

Sanji laughed and wow, it was good to hear Sanji laugh again. Not as good as when Sanji had laughed while Zoro was on top of him so Zoro could feel it vibrate in his chest, but he'd take it.

"Just give me five minutes and you'll get your food," Sanji promised as his hands started moving in a blur to assemble more sandwiches.

"I don't need anymore," Zoro said to Sanji, heart in his throat.

Sanji whirled to face him with his eyes narrowed. "I will be making you more sandwiches and you will be eating them and you'll be grateful for them too."

Damn, Zoro loved when Sanji gave orders. "Only if you sit down with us and start eating too," Zoro stated.

"I'll eat when I damn well please!" Sanji growled.

"Then so will I!" Zoro responded stubbornly. He would make that stupid man sit down and have some food with the rest of them and no food would even so much as brush his lips until he did.

"I'll eat when I'm done!" Sanji yelled.

"Then I'll eat when you're done, too!" Zoro yelled back.

"What are you guys fighting about?" Chopper cut in, curious.

Robin smiled at Chopper. "They're fighting about who can take care of the other first."

"Huh," Chopper marvelled.

Zoro started banging his head on the table again. This was so embarrassing.

But the embarrassment was worth it when he won in the end – not a morsel of food passed Zoro's lips until Sanji had sat down and taken a bite of his sandwich, scowling at Zoro. Who grinned at Sanji triumphantly in response. Sanji rolled his eyes and looked away, but not before Zoro saw a little smile tugging at his lips.

Maybe things weren't so hopeless, after all.

The next day Zoro was training with some weights at the port stern, frustratingly several hundred pounds less than his usual load, when Chopper approached him.

"Hey, Zoro!" He greeted.

"Hey, Chopper, what's up?" Zoro replied, not stopping his reps. He was at 1,384 and he didn't want to lose count.

"So, um, Sanji said I had to come over here and check on you," Chopper explained cautiously.

Zoro immediately lost count. And dropped his barbell on his foot. "Fuck!"

"Sorry!" Chopper exclaimed as he rushed over to Zoro.

"It's not your fault Chopper," Zoro assured him. "I'm okay." He was far too annoyed to feel physical pain.

"Are you sure?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah," Zoro replied dismissively. "So. Who asked you to come over here exactly?"

Maybe Zoro hadn't heard Chopper right. Would Sanji really have the audacity to ignore him all last night and all this morning and yet butt into his business by sending Chopper to do his dirty work?

"Uh, Sanji," Chopper abruptly smacked his forehead. "Ah! I wasn't supposed to tell you it was him!"

So, he did have the audacity, after all. That rat bastard.

"Don't worry about it, Chopper," Zoro said distractedly as his eyes skimmed over the deck, looking for the culprit. And there he was, near the bow, standing there smoking like he was just minding his own business when he was really probably there to spy on Nami sunbathing in her bikini. And piss Zoro off, apparently.

Zoro glared at Sanji but asked Chopper, "Did Eyebrows say why he wanted you to check on me?"

"Um…" Chopper began hesitantly. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that either."

Zoro removed his glare from Sanji and affixed it to Chopper.

"Okay, okay!" Chopper exclaimed, twisting his hooves nervously. "He said he thought you were training too hard after being so recently injured and I had to come over here and make sure you were killing yourself."

"And you just did want he asked?" Zoro inquired testily.

"He was…very insistent," Chopper said, sweating.

Zoro decided to let Chopper off the hook. It wasn't Chopper's fault he had a soft heart that was being cruelly manipulated by an evil prick.

"You're fine, Chopper," Zoro assured him. "And I'm fine, too." Sure, every single muscle ached with every single movement but he'd trained through worse. "But you don't need to go reporting that back to Sanji." Zoro grinned. "I'll tell him myself."

"Oh no, this can't be good," Chopper whispered to himself.

Zoro didn't bother to put his shirt on before he started marching resolutely in Sanji's direction. Even from this distance he could see Sanji stiffen in panic the second he noticed Zoro barrelling in his direction. Good, he should panic. But if he ran, Zoro was going to hunt him down.

He only got as far as the stairs when Usopp yelled "Land ahoy!" through the speaker on the lookout tower. The crew started appearing from various nooks and crannies of the Sunny as Nami unenthusiastically stood up from her sunbed and brought her binoculars to her eyes.

"It's land alright," she confirmed. "And I think I see a town, too."

"Yay! Food!" Luffy yelled from the bow, fist pumping.

Zoro reluctantly abandoned his objective. There were too many witnesses around for what he wanted to do to Sanji. But he'd track that bastard down the second he was alone.

The crew chattered excitedly as the Sunny pulled into the harbour. The island was small, mostly flat and very, very green with what must be thousands of tall trees with trunks so large there'd have to be six of Zoro to fit around one with his arms outstretched. All the greenery looked promising as far as supplies went, but Zoro couldn't see this town Nami had mentioned.

He looked at Robin, who was standing next to him, taking in the sights. "Where's this town supposed to be at?"

Robin smiled at him. "Look up."

He looked up into the trees and oh, there was the town. In the treetops, with bridges of thick intertwined vines interconnecting houses and businesses built into the branches and tree trunks as far as he could see. Large rope ladders that looked like they were made of hemp connected the trees to the forest floor. And Zoro could just make out what looked like hundreds of people in the trees climbing between each structure, all dressed in greens and browns with brown skin and dark hair. It looked like a fun place to explore.

"Cool!" Luffy exclaimed from Sunny's head. "They're all in the trees! This is going to be so fun!"

Robin laughed softly next to Zoro. "I don't think Luffy is going to enjoy it here as much as he thinks. I've read about this place – it's called Ylnar and they're strict vegetarians, only eating what the trees and the forest floor provide."

Luffy was going to be crushed. Guess they were catching fish until they reached Spa Island after all.

A group of three Ylnarians approached the Sunny as it docked at the small jetty.

"Greetings!" The Ylnarian at the head of the group hailed. He was small and slender, with dark curly hair and big dark eyes. In fact, all three of them looked similar and were similarly dressed in a mixture of brown and green tunics and leggings. And they were all barefoot.

"Hey!" Luffy yelled as he hopped down to the Sunny's deck and ran to the starboard side to see the welcome party. "I'm Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates! Oh, and this is my crew."

The man to the left stroked his thick beard. "Pirates, hey? Well, as long as you don't cause a ruckus, I suppose you can stay. We're a peaceful people here."

Not cause a ruckus? Oh boy.

"I'm Myra, this is Dol and Ezekiel," the lady on the right said, indicating first to the man in the middle then the one on the left. "We're three of the body of twelve councillors that govern this land."

"You must excuse our hesitation," Dol said. "We don't get many visitors. No Log Pose guides the way to our shores."

"Yeah, we came across you totally by chance," Nami said. "We just need to restock some of our supplies and then we'll be out of your hair tomorrow. And we have berry."

Myra waved her hand dismissively. "We have no use for berry here. We barter our goods and services. But as our guests, we can spare you some food. The island is plentiful."

"You mean we don't have to pay?" Nami clasped her hands in front of her chest excitedly and her eyes lit up. "This is the best place ever!"

"Do you have anywhere we can eat?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"We can host you in our meeting house, provide some refreshments for you as some of our people gather some supplies for you," Ezekiel offered.

Zoro smirked. They were going to need to provide more than 'refreshments' if Luffy was going to be there.

"You have any liquor?" Zoro asked. He'd gone through the Sunny's supply the first day after he and Sanji had been rescued. To make up for lost time and all.

Myra smiled at him. "We have a local drink we distil from a flower that is native to our land. But it's very potent. Most outsiders can't handle much of it."

"Sounds great to me," Zoro replied. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all, even if it didn't have any meat. Zoro could suffer through eating a few plants for some decent alcohol.

"Then it's settled," Dol said with a smile. "Disembark whenever you please. One of us will wait down here to show you the way. Our home can be confusing to outsiders."

Zoro looked at all the green and brown of Ylnar. Yeah, he could see how some unperceptive chumps could get lost, but he'd have no problems. Besides, in the unlikely scenario that he got lost, he could always ask for directions.

Dol and Ezekiel left the jetty and disappeared into the trees. Myra waited patiently at the point the jetty met the shore.

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled and went to jump over the side of the ship when Nami yelled "Wait!"

"Huh? Why? The food is over there," Luffy pointed wildly to the trees.

"Someone has to stay back to guard the ship," Nami declared.

"But this place is so friendly," Chopper said, confused.

"Yeah, except it could all be a front. Who just gives away things for free? It's unnatural. Remember what happened at Whiskey Peak!" Nami pointed out.

"What happened at Whiskey Peak?" Franky whispered loudly to Usopp.

"Everyone except me was duped by a bunch of bounty hunters so then I had to defeat them single-handedly," Usopp whispered loudly back.

"Eh, I handled Whiskey Peak just fine," Zoro said dismissively, ignoring Usopp's revisionist history.

"Good, then you can be the one to stay on the ship!" Sanji snapped at him.

Zoro glared at him. What had crawled up his ass and died in the last five minutes? Besides, "Why do I have to be the one to stay? I want to go have a look around and have a few drinks."

"Someone has to stay," Sanji shot back. "And if you go wandering around, you'll just get lost and then you'll have to ask somebody for very thorough directions."

"Yeah, so?" What was the big deal about asking for directions? It's not like he'd need to anyway.

"So, we don't want to have to go looking for you," Sanji insisted. "And remember what happened last time we let you get off the ship."

"What! That was your fault, Eyebrows!" Zoro yelled.

"How was it my fault, Mosshead!" Sanji yelled back.

"You were there!" Zoro shouted but inwardly felt a little thrill at hearing Sanji call him Mosshead again. He was still pissed at Sanji for his earlier nonsense, but he still felt elated that he was no longer being ignored. Maybe he could at least have this much.

"So were you!" Sanji shouted back.

Zoro opened his mouth to argue but Nami stepped between them, pushing them back. Zoro hadn't even realised they'd gotten right up in each other's faces.

"Zoro, Sanji's right. We don't have time to go looking for you," she said to Zoro calmly.

Sanji smirked at Zoro smugly. Zoro was aghast. "I'm not -"

"Sanji, Zoro was also right – you were captured too so by your reasoning you should also stay on the ship," Nami said to Sanji and the smirk fell right off Sanji's face and onto Zoro's. "But," she continued, "you're our chef so you kind of have to come choose the food."

Zoro's spirits plummeted and Sanji grinned exultantly.

"Don't think I'm not going to keep a close eye on you, though!" Nami threatened Sanji, wagging her finger at him.

Sanji beamed even bigger. "You can look at me whenever and wherever you want, Nami."

Zoro ground his teeth together and he could literally feel his blood pressure rising as Sanji spoke. He wanted to strangle that fucking philandering weasel until his eyes popped out of his head.

"And Robin will keep Zoro company for a little while," Nami continued, completely ignoring Sanji as she was wont to do. "Right, Robin?" Nami gave Robin a significant look that Zoro could not interpret.

Robin smiled in amusement. "But of course, Nami."

"Whatever, can we go now?" Luffy complained, drooping over the side of the ship.

"Of course, let's go!" Nami clapped her hands together and smiled at Zoro. "Thanks for offering to watch the ship, Zoro," and walked down the gangplank Franky had lowered probably sometime in the middle of Zoro being railroaded by Nami.

Zoro spluttered, "I didn't -"

"Yeah, thanks, Zoro!" Luffy shouted as he let his body drop onto the jetty below him.

"Thanks, Zoro!" Chopper chirped as he walked past him to the gangplank.

And then Usopp patted him on the shoulder as he walked past and Franky slapped him on the back and Brook gave him a little bow and Zoro felt the vein in his forehead growing larger and larger.

Then fuckface himself walked past and said, with a condescending smile, "I'll be sure to have lots of fun on your behalf, Mosshead."

Zoro lunged for him but Sanji deftly dodged, and ran down the gangplank, laughing his dumb ass off. Zoro watched him go and wondered, enraged, how he'd ever let that piece of shit touch his dick.

At least he didn't miss Sanji now.

"Are you okay, Zoro?" Robin asked kindly, looking at him with that placid expression of hers.

Damn, how he hated that question. But then he probably did look like his head was about to explode. That's what it felt like.

"You don't have to actually stay here with me, you know," he said instead of answering.

"I know," Robin said simply and then walked away from him without a second glance.

Well, that suited Zoro just fine. He needed to go kill something, but in lieu of that he needed to train until he passed out.

He went back to the stern and started some biceps curls, willing his brain to settle into the flow state he entered every time he trained. He needed that state of mindless monotony in which nothing existed but the feel of his body and the numbers in his head. But he couldn't enter it because all he could think about was Sanji, that lecherous lover of women, in those damn trees surrounded by beautiful, small, slender women the complete opposite of Zoro's very hard, very large, very male body.

Zoro pumped his arms harder and faster as he thought about these nameless women running their hands over Sanji's body, something he was desperate for but had never gotten the chance to do. As he thought about them kissing Sanji's lips, something he was desperate for but had been too chickenshit to do. And being able to see the look on Sanji's face when he came, a sight Zoro had had the privilege to see and was desperate to see again.

He quickly lost count of his reps as he just pumped and pumped and pumped and tortured himself with distressingly clear images of women's hands and lips running over Sanji, and Sanji's hands and lips running over them. This sucked. This was the worst. This was the lowest he'd felt since Hawkeye Mihawk had almost killed him that one time.

Zoro had no idea how long he did this before Robin startled him by saying "Mind if I have a word?" completely out of the blue. He'd been so in his head he hadn't even noticed her approaching. This fixation with Sanji was circumventing his ability to be aware of his surroundings. At least he didn't drop his weights that time, though.

Zoro put his barbells down and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Yeah, sure, what's up?"

He couldn't think of what Robin would want to talk to him about. He liked Robin a lot, but they didn't have heaps in common. She was a thinker; she knew lots of things. Zoro wasn't, and didn't. If Zoro tried to think about things that much, he'd just mentally twist himself into knots and he figured he knew just about as much as he needed to know about the world.

"You and I are very similar in some ways, Zoro," Robin said and Zoro felt his eyes bug out of his head. Could she read minds now to see he'd just been thinking the exact opposite?

Zoro leaned back against the railing behind him. "What ways?" He asked suspiciously.

"We're not the sort to wear our hearts on our sleeves," Robin started.

Zoro could agree with that.

"We care deeply for the people we love, but it shows through our actions, not our visible emotions," she went on.

Zoro could agree with that too.

"It's hard to get an emotional rise out of us."

Yep, that too.

Robin smiled with amusement. "Except for you, there's one person who never fails to."

And nope, she'd lost him. He knew what she was getting at and just…no.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Zoro grumbled.

"Really? You don't? So I shouldn't point out how every day you and Sanji manage to find a way to get right up into each other's faces and bicker about everything under the sun? So I shouldn't point out how everything he does and says seems to make you explode with emotion?"

When she put it like that it did seem kind of silly to deny. But still, "Yeah, but that's just because he annoys me. It's just anger."

Robin leaned back on the cabin behind her. "He doesn't annoy you; he affects you. Deeply. And what you call anger, I call passion."

Zoro face felt hot and he felt too hyperaware and denials were rushing up his throat. "There's no way -"

"Why not?" Robin interrupted. "Why is it so hard to believe that all this time you've gotten in each other's faces as an excuse to be near one another? Why is it so hard to believe that you get so angry and annoyed at him because he makes you feel things you've never felt before and you don't know how to handle them or express them?"

Zoro sagged against the banister and looked down at the deck, breathing hard. Robin was right, he knew she was right. What else could explain the past nine days? How he felt both unmade and remade by the touch of Sanji's hands. How lying asleep on Sanji had felt like home. How seeing Sanji come had felt like being given a precious gift. How being ignored by Sanji made Zoro feel like he was existing in a dark hole. How picturing Sanji with women made him want to come out of his skin with jealousy.

Passion was one word for it. Love, another.

Zoro ran a hand down his face. "How do I know?" He asked Robin. Maybe she would know – seemed she knew a bunch of other things already. He needed to be sure.

"Can you imagine a life without him in it?" She asked.

"No." Already these days of being mostly ignored by Sanji had made him feel like he was drowning in air and Sanji had still been around.

"Is he the first thing you want to see when you wake up?"

Zoro thought back to their time in the cell, to waking up with his face in Sanji's neck. That one was easy. "Absolutely."

"Always?"

"If I could have every one of his mornings, I'd take them in a heartbeat," Zoro replied resolutely.

"What would you give up for him?"

Zoro thought about his dream, the one he'd held onto for so long, that had driven his every action for years.

"Everything."

Dreams changed, they expanded, and now he didn't want to be the world's greatest swordsman if Sanji couldn't be the world's greatest chef by his side.

And that's when he had his answer. That's when he became sure.

He was in love with Sanji. He was in love with Sanji. And Zoro wanted to be with him, always. He didn't know how that would work – didn't care. He just wanted to be with him.

But did Sanji love him back? Did Sanji want to be with him? He'd certainly shown little inclination that Zoro could see. But then Zoro wasn't the most observant of people. So maybe…

Zoro cleared his throat, feeling emotion choking it up. "How do I know if he…"

"It's not about knowing whether he loves you back or not, Zoro," Robin replied serenely. "It's about putting your heart on the line for something – someone – that matters, that's worth the risk of it being broken. Love is its own goal."

Zoro laughed dryly. "But it would be nice if he loved me back."

Robin laughed with him. "Yes, it would be nice."

But Zoro was used to putting his dreams on the line with no guarantee of success, only being able to rely on the hard work he'd done to prepare. He did it every time he drew his blades. So why couldn't he put his dream of being with Sanji on the line too, even though there was no guarantee of success? Just go into battle for it, and hope it came true?

Zoro ran his hands through his hair.

He just had to figure out how.

Sanji

Sanji was in a great mood. He was sitting on a comfortable bed of cushions in a big room high up in a big tree, with numerous dishes he'd never tasted before in front of him and many of his friends around him, drinking and laughing and having a good time. The Ylnarians were friendly, the music merry, and the liquor plentiful. And, most importantly, he had prevented Zoro from wandering around being given very thorough directions.

Zoro might have told Sanji how he usually ended up sleeping with people as a throwaway comment to freak Sanji out, but Sanji remembered. He remembered the way Zoro had laughed, low and deep and sexual, when he'd said he usually found helpful people to give him very thorough directions when he got lost. But Zoro would not be getting lost on this island. No, he was on the Sunny, blessedly alone. Well, except for Robin but what were they going to do, talk about poneglyphs? Sanji would pay good berry to watch Zoro try to wrap his head around those.

This was an excellent night indeed. But not everyone was having as good a time as he was.

"Uh, this is great and all, but do you guys have any meat?" Luffy asked a few places down from Sanji.

They were all sitting around a large, low wood table on what felt like mountains of cushions. The fabric was obviously homespun but incredibly soft, and looked to the be the same material the Ylnarians' clothes were made from. Sanji was sitting on one of the long sides of the table with Nami next to him to his left and Luffy next to her. At the ends of the tables were Usopp and Franky, with Usopp on Sanji's right. Chopper and Brook sat across from them. And interspersed between them all were very friendly Ylnarians, showing them how to eat the dishes in front of them. All the dishes were to be eaten by hand, but also in a specific order. This vegetable dipped into this paste and this bread covered with this fruit and so on. This order of things didn't matter much to Luffy, who just shoved everything in his mouth at once, of course. He seemed to find the food as tasty as Sanji did.

But there was no meat. The Ylnarians must be vegetarians, a concept Luffy was seemingly unfamiliar with.

"What do you mean, there's no meat?" He confusedly asked the friendly Ylnarian girl sitting next to him.

She giggled. "I mean, we don't eat meat."

Luffy looked stunned. "You don't…eat meat…?"

"Nope! None!" The girl replied cheerfully.

"But…why…?" Luffy's brain was obviously not computing this strange new reality.

"Because the animals on this island are protected and the forest gives us all we need," she explained.

Luffy gaped at her. "You have animals but you don't eat them?!"

"Nope!"

Luffy gaped wider. "But then…what are they for?"

"They're an important part of our very fragile ecosystem," the girl clarified patiently. She had more patience that Sanji would have, that was for sure.

Luffy blinked at her. "Eco-what?"

"An ecosystem," she repeated. "You know, the system of -"

"Yeah, I wouldn't bother trying to explain that one to him, Layla," Nami interrupted before turning to Luffy. "They don't have any meat and you can't kill the animals for meat," she told him firmly.

"Not even one?" Luffy asked hopefully.

"No!" Literally everyone in the large room simultaneously yelled at Luffy.

He sighed deeply and deflated like a balloon. "This place sucks."

Layla blushed and looked very embarrassed. "I'm so sorry -"

"You don't need to apologise to this lug-head, Layla. He's just being a spoiled brat," Nami told Layla with narrowed eyes at Luffy. "Your hospitality is wonderful and the food is great."

"Yeah, this place is banging!" Franky exclaimed.

"Everyone's really nice," Chopper offered.

"Your treetop houses are cool even though they are definitely too high off the ground," Usopp added.

"And the music is sublime!" Brook proclaimed.

Guess it was Sanji's turn to give a compliment. Fortunately, he had plenty to choose from. "I've never tasted dishes like these before. I'd love to know how they were made."

"Sanji's our chef, you see," Nami explained to Layla.

The woman sitting next to Sanji in between him and Usopp exclaimed. "Oh! How wonderful! I helped prepare these dishes, I can talk you through them. My name's Elaina."

Sanji's eyes lit up. "Elaina, it would be a privilege to have a beautiful woman like you tell me her secrets."

Elaina blushed prettily. It did nothing for Sanji. He was broken, damn it. Zoro had broken him completely.

He and Elain spent the next 45 minutes talking about each dish, with Sanji making notes of the ones he wanted to recreate on the Sunny. There was this one dish with a sauce that had the Ylnarian liquor as a base that he particularly wanted to try. He just knew Zoro would love it and…

Sanji covered his eyes in despair. Broken.

"Are you okay?" Elaina asked worriedly.

"I'm wonderful, my flower," Sanji replied with a big smile. "I just think my brain is fried from all this new information, you see."

"Oh! Well, it's a good time for me to leave you now anyway, Sanji. I must go help with desserts." She blushed prettily again. "It was wonderful speaking to you. I do so love talking about cooking."

She was small and curvy and soft with beautiful brown skin and beautiful long, dark curly hair and beautiful big, dark eyes that were looking at him with interest and she loved cooking. She was the perfect woman. And yet…

And yet he just wanted to see Zoro.

"I'll come talk to you after dessert, maybe? I can tell you how they were done," she offered shyly.

"I will count every minute until then," Sanji replied gamely, but his heart wasn't in it. His everything wasn't in it. His everything just wanted Zoro.

Elaina giggled and left. Sanji flopped forward to smash his face against the table.

"Man, you're really fucked, aren't you?" Nami said bluntly.

"I've barely drunk anything," Sanji replied morosely.

"I'm not talking about being fucked up by too much alcohol. I'm talking about being fucked up by Zoro," Nami replied gleefully.

Sanji whipped his head around frantically to see if anyone had heard her. "Shhhh!" He admonished.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Oh please, everyone knows you're in love with Zoro."

Sanji gaped, "I'm not in -"

"Even Luffy knows," she went on.

Now that was just plainly not true. Particularly because Sanji was not in love with Zoro. "Luffy doesn't know anything about anything," he declared confidently.

Nami snorted and turned to Luffy beside her, who had recovered from being a deflated balloon and was eating his plant food sullenly. "Hey Luffy, how does Sanji feel about Zoro?"

"Oh, you mean how he's totally in love with him?"

Nami looked at Sanji triumphantly. Sanji felt like fainting.

"See? So just do us all a favour and admit it already," she said impatiently.

Sanji spluttered, "But I can't…but I'm not…it's Zoro!"

"You mean Zoro, who you pick fights with every day multiple times a day just so you can speak to him? You mean Zoro, who you piss off at every opportunity just so he'll show some emotion towards you? You mean Zoro, the man you desperately ran to find the second you woke up without him on Thriller Bark? You mean Zoro, who you can't stop looking at when he's around but look like a kicked puppy about when he's not? You mean Zoro, who gave those hickies on your neck? You mean Zoro, who you've been ignoring like a dumbass because you're afraid he doesn't love you back?"

Well, when she put it like that…

"But I'm in love with you, Nami," Sanji protested feebly.

"Oh, please!" Nami huffed. "You thought you were infatuated with me because I'm smart and beautiful and, honestly, who could blame you? But you've been obsessed with Zoro since the day you met him."

"But -"

"And," Nami went on, raising her voice, "I wouldn't even have to tell you these things if you two knuckleheads would stop circling each other like dumb sharks and just talk to each other!"

Sanji gaped at her in silence. The whole table gaped at her in silence. Except Luffy, who ignored them all and kept eating resentfully.

Chopper was the first one to break it. "I…I agree with Nami. I don't like it when you and Zoro don't talk. It makes me sad."

"Yeah," Usopp agreed. "It's too weird to see you guys avoiding each other instead of yelling at each other like maniacs."

"It's like Mum and Dad are fighting!" Franky added.

"It pains my heart to witness!" Brook declared. "Well, if I had one!"

There was an expectant silence. Nami nudged Luffy hard with her elbow.

"Wha – huh?" Luffy blinked as he came out of his food fugue state. "Oh. Yeah, you should, like, talk and stuff, I guess."

Sanji just blinked at them all, stunned. They all stared at him. All the Ylnarians at the table stared at him. Sanji had never felt so exposed. But he couldn't speak. His mind was running in circles, thinking about Zoro, about the feel of his skin, about the way Zoro had needed him that one time in the cell, about the way it had felt when they'd woken up together, about the way he wanted to wake up with Zoro always, about the way he wouldn't feel like he'd truly lived until he'd felt Zoro's lips on his, about the way he didn't want to see the All Blue unless Zoro was by his side to see it with him.

"Well, shit."

"Ah-ha!" Nami crowed. "So you admit that you love him!"

All the Ylnarians and his crewmates looked at him eagerly. Sanji blushed so hard he saw his hands turn red. But he gamely cleared his throat. He wanted his next words to come out clearly for this next part.

"Yeah, I do."

The whole table erupted in cheers. Sanji buried his face in his hands. But he was smiling. He didn't think he'd ever be able to stop smiling.

He loved Zoro. He loved Zoro. He loved Zoro. He really, really did. He felt it throughout his entire body, lighting him up brighter than the sun.

"I need to tell him," Sanji said, slowly. "I need to tell him!" He said again, faster, louder, warming up to this idea quickly.

The table erupted again, everyone shouting encouragements, such as "Yeah, you go tell him!" and "You tell him right to his face!" and "You go get him!" and "Are you sure we can't have any meat to celebrate?!"

Sanji's confidence grew with each enthusiastic encouragement, except Luffy's, which he and everyone else completely ignored much to Luffy's disappointment. He could totally do this. He just had to go back to the Sunny and…tell him. It wasn't hard. Just three words. He could say three words. He said three words all the time. Not those three words, but still. Easy. Easiest thing ever.

He was starting to freak out.

"Guys, what if he doesn't love me back?" He moaned.

All of the Straw Hats present burst into hysterical laughter. Well, that was…encouraging?

"Oh…oh, that's funny," Chopper said, holding his hands over his mouth.

"You're really just…so stupid," Nami said, wiping her eyes.

"I can't…stop laughing," Usopp said between gasps.

"I think I'm…going to…pass out," Franky said as he rolled on the floor.

"This is…exceptionally…amusing," Brook said, bones shaking.

"You guys are so dumb," Luffy said, clutching at his stomach.

Sanji sighed and stood up. "So, I guess I'll just…go then…" and slowly made his way towards the door.

"See ya!" Luffy yelled.

"Don't come back until tomorrow!" Nami yelled.

"Practice safe sex!" Chopper yelled.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Usopp yelled.

"Be sure to get freaky!" Franky yelled.

"Have fun boning!" Brook yelled.

Sanji couldn't get out of there fast enough, for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, climbing down very long rope ladders in the dark wasn't conducive to rushing. He swore he got his foot tangle no less than 16 times.

For fuck's sake! The one time I'm in a hurry!

He eventually reached the forest floor after what felt like 15 excruciating minutes too many. He looked to the east and saw the Sunny standing sentinel.

He was so close.

He started running and ran straight into Robin, catching her before they fell in a heap to the ground.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He huffed. He didn't have time for this.

"I see you're in a hurry," Robin observed calmly.

"Uh, yeah…kinda…" Sanji replied impatiently, looking over her shoulder at the Sunny.

"Well, I'll just leave you to it then." She smiled broadly. "And good luck."

Hopefully he wouldn't need it.

Sanji stepped around Robin and started running again, heedless of the mess of roots on the forest floor that could trip him up at any moment.

Zoro was on the Sunny. And he was now blessedly alone.