Chapter 9 – More Than Words

Sanji

Sanji bolted up the gangplank, his breath sounding loud in his ears. He eagerly looked over the Sunny's dimly-lit deck but could see no sign of Zoro.

Where the hell is he?

Was Sanji going to have to search the whole damn ship? He rushed down to the grass deck and looked at the range of doors and avenues to choose from. He thought of Zoro's familiar haunts, of which he was incredibly aware since he so often sought Zoro out in those places to pick fights with him.

Wow, he really was embarrassingly obvious, huh? No wonder the crew were laughing their asses off at him for being so daft.

SanjiSanji had put his cigarette out and was just thinking he should start at the lookout tower when Zoro appeared across the ship from him, approaching the stairs to the grass deck, shirtless and clearly fresh from a bath with a towel around his neck, absently rubbing at his hair.

Then Zoro looked up and saw him. Sanji froze. Zoro froze. And they just looked at each other.

Sanji had come there for words, to say them and maybe even receive them, but standing there he had no words, just emotions. He just felt so much and with such agonising intensity it was hard to breathe.

And he realised standing there, looking into Zoro's eyes, that words were not enough. He needed everything. Right now.

Sanji inhaled sharply as a tidal wave of want washed him into a sea of need and then whatever spell that had been holding them immobile broke and Sanji ran and Zoro ran and they met in a frantic clash of lips and tongue and teeth and hands, Zoro's hands – fuck, his hands – clutching desperately at every part of Sanji he could reach. Nothing could have prepared Sanji for the feel of Zoro's hands on him, those hands, all over him, and then his mouth. Fuck, his mouth.

Sanji and Zoro kissed and kissed and kissed and gripped and grasped and ground into each other. Sanji increasingly felt more and more urgent. He couldn't stop, he couldn't slow down, he wanted everything, he just needed everything and…

Zoro cupped Sanji's face and kissed him slowly, thoroughly. "Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm right here," he whispered softly before kissing Sanji again. Sanji took Zoro's face in his hands and kissed him back hard and deep and long. Zoro made a noise at the back of his throat and wrapped his arms completely around Sanji, pulling him tightly against his body and they kissed and kissed again, Zoro's tongue tangling with Sanji's before he pulled back, biting Sanji's lip.

Sanji moaned and gripped Zoro's face harder. "Please," he begged, not sure what he was begging for.

Zoro groaned and squeezed Sanji hard against him for a second before pulling back to start fumbling at the buttons of Sanji's jacket. "Off," Zoro ordered and Sanji shivered and leaned forward to kiss Zoro again. He couldn't get enough of his mouth.

Zoro managed to divest Sanji of his jacket, only to be faced with another array of buttons on Sanji's shirt. Zoro grunted impatiently and started working at those too as Sanji ran his hand through Zoro's hair, down his back, across his stomach, stealing kisses where he could.

"Stop distracting me," Zoro growled, but kissed him back all the same.

Eventually, Zoro roughly yanked Sanji's shirt off him and pulled Sanji to him again and they sighed into each other's mouths, awash with relief at finally being skin on skin. Zoro's hands ran down Sanji's back and gripped his ass as he delved into Sanji's mouth and ground them together. Sanji's breath stuttered at the feel of Zoro's hard cock rubbing against his own through their clothes.

"More," Sanji demanded.

Zoro only pulled back enough to fit his hands between them so he could start working at Sanji's pants while kissing down his neck, sucking new marks to replace the ones that had almost faded. Sanji ran his hands through Zoro's hair, urging him on.

"You going to help me out here?" Zoro asked as he shoved Sanji's pants down.

"No," Sanji replied before sucking some marks of his own into Zoro's neck. It was about time Zoro started bearing Sanji's marks. Sanji wanted to claim him.

Zoro huffed in amusement as he got to his knees and starting taking Sanji's shoes off. He then pulled Sanji's pants and underwear completely off him until Sanji was completely naked. Zoro's raised his head to look up at Sanji, only to be confronted Sanji's hard dick in his face.

Fuck, Zoro being on his knees in front of Sanji was leagues better than anything he could have ever fantasised.

"Well," Zoro said thoughtfully, "while I'm already down here…" and swallowed Sanji's dick whole.

Sanji shouted wordlessly as his hands gripped Zoro's hair so he wouldn't fall over at the unreal feeling of Zoro's mouth on him. Zoro sucked Sanji deep into his throat as he looked up at him and Sanji thought he might pass out. Sanji didn't even know what sort of sounds were coming out of his mouth as Zoro sucked and licked his way up and down Sanji's cock. Zoro hummed in contentment and the vibrations on Sanji's dick had him tightening his hands in Zoro's hair in a desperate attempt to keep his hips still.

Zoro removed his mouth from Sanji's dick with an obscene pop. "You can fuck my face, you know," he said casually. "I can take it."

There was no holding back after that. Sanji snapped his hips forward again and again and again, watching in rapt fascination as his cock repeatedly disappeared into Zoro's throat. Zoro's eyes watered, but he never took them off Sanji. Fuck, he was going to come.

Zoro took hold of Sanji's hips to stop him as he pulled off once more. "Not yet," he said as he looked up at Sanji with wet lips. "You're not going to come until I'm inside you."

"Oh, shit," Sanji whimpered.

Zoro stood up and gripped Sanji's hair, roughly tilting Sanji's head to the side so he could whisper in his ear, "I'm going to take you inside and I'm going to eat your ass until you're begging for my cock to fill your hole. Then I'm going to fuck you until you scream my name." Zoro kissed him violently and Sanji moaned into his mouth.

Zoro started backing Sanji up towards the door to the men's quarters, kissing him relentlessly. Sanji was helpless under the onslaught but didn't want relief.

"Take off your clothes," Sanji gasped as Zoro kissed across his jaw.

"Take them off yourself," Zoro replied before biting his earlobe.

Sanji's hands shook as he undid Zoro's fly and pushed his pants down his hips. He waited for Zoro to step out of them but Zoro just looked at him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow and said, "Well? Get on your knees and take them off."

Sanji gulped as he fell to his knees and helped Zoro step out of his clothes. Now Zoro's bare dick was right in front of his face and Sanji's mouth felt strangely empty. Sanji had never sucked dick before, and he'd probably be shit at it, but he very badly wanted to suck Zoro's. What had Zoro said about being down there already…?

He eyed the bead of pre-come at the head of Zoro's dick and unthinkingly darted his tongue out to lick it up. Zoro's whole body flinched.

"Yeah, no," Zoro said as he pulled Sanji back up to his feet.

Sanji scowled. "Why not? You got to."

Zoro ran the back of his fingers down Sanji's cheek. "Another time, I promise. I need to be fully functioning to fuck you like you need and having your mouth on me right now will just undo me."

Sanji sucked in a sharp breath. Well, when he put it that way…

"Okay, but only if you kiss me again," Sanji bargained.

Zoro's eyes gleamed in the lamplight. "Careful. I won't want to stop."

"Good, because I don't want you to stop," Sanji threw back.

"Well, in that case," Zoro grinned and slowly drew Sanji back into his arms. "Where do you want it?"

"Everywhere," Sanji replied seriously.

Zoro chuckled. "I'll start here," and kissed Sanji slowly on the lips.

Sanji closed his eyes and tried to memorise the feel of Zoro's mouth, his skin, his hands. He wanted this memory with him always, so he could pull it out and look at it and marvel anew whenever Zoro wasn't around to make new ones.

Sanji held Zoro tightly to himself and kissed him and breathed him in and learned him over and over again. What started out slowly quickly became passionate and fraught with urgent need. They ate at each other's mouths hungrily as they clutched at each other's bodies with desperate hands.

"I need you," Sanji gasped between kisses.

"You have me," Zoro gasped back and pushed Sanji up against the bedroom door before fervently kissing him again.

Sanji fumbled behind his back before finding the door knob and twisting it open. He and Zoro stumbled into the room, barely holding each other up, unable to pull their mouths apart for even a moment. Then Zoro reached down and took Sanji's cock into his hand and squeezed. Sanji jerked and moaned. He'd never get over being able to have Zoro's hands on him. Zoro tortured him for endless seconds until Sanji pulled back with a gasp.

"You're going to make me come," he warned.

Zoro kissed him once, deeply, before stepping back. "I need to get some stuff," he told Sanji and walked towards his locker, leaving Sanji standing there, feeling a bit bereft.

But the distance from Zoro allowed a few clear thoughts to permeate his brain. Sanji looked around the room at the rows of wooden hammock beds hanging from the ceiling and at the sunken lounge on the other side of the room.

"Uhh…Zoro?"

"Yeah?" Zoro replied absently as he grabbed a couple of items from his locker and shut the door.

"Where, exactly, are we going to do this?" Sanji asked.

Zoro turned around and looked at the small hammock beds that could only fit one person each and at the sunken lounge area with a big table in the middle of it and then at Sanji standing naked in the middle of the room.

"Err…" Zoro said, looking around for a second time before his gaze fixed on the rows of hammock beds and he grinned evilly. "Want to steal everyone's pillows and blankets and fuck on the floor?"

Sanji laughed loudly. "Absolutely." They could always just blame Franky for not foreseeing the need for a proper, private bed somewhere on the ship. And they could just throw everything in the wash. After they'd gotten some good use out of it all.

Sanji and Zoro hurriedly stripped all the beds and threw everything in a pile in the middle of the floor, laughing.

"They're going to be so mad if they find out," Sanji observed as they surveyed their ad hoc bed.

Zoro pulled Sanji into his arms and grinned at him. "Somehow, I can't find it in myself to care right now."

Sanji grinned back and kissed Zoro and they smiled against each other's lips.

"Get on your stomach on the floor," Zoro ordered.

"Yes, sir," Sanji said jokingly as he got down on his knees on the pile of pillows and blankets.

Zoro huffed in amusement. "Do not start with that shit."

"Okay, Daddy," Sanji teased as he laid on his stomach.

Zoro burst out laughing. "Shut the fuck up, Eyebrows."

"Whatever you say, Mosshead," Sanji taunted as he pulled his knees under him, making his ass stick up in the air.

Zoro groaned loudly. "You're going to fucking kill me."

"You can only die after you fuck me like you promised," Sanji complained as Zoro got on his knees behind him.

"Trust me, I won't be dying until I've been inside you," Zoro promised as he ran his hands reverently over Sanji's ass before spreading his cheeks. Sanji felt deliciously exposed. "Now be quiet so I can eat your ass in peace."

And then Zoro dragged his tongue across Sanji's hole. Quite contrary to being quiet, Sanji shouted unintelligibly as Zoro ran his tongue over him repeatedly. Sanji hadn't felt anything like this before. He squeezed his eyes shut but still saw bursts of light behind his eyelids. Then Zoro speared his tongue into him and Sanji's whole body jolted violently.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," he chanted as Zoro ate him out mercilessly. "Please, Zoro!"

"Please what?" Zoro asked.

"Please fuck me."

Sanji never thought he'd say those words. He hadn't even thought anything approaching those words until a week ago. But he needed Zoro inside him, needed to feel him everywhere.

Zoro gave Sanji once last thorough lick before telling him to turn over. Sanji did as he was asked but threw his arm over his face. He probably looked completely wrecked and gross after all that.

Zoro pulled his arm away gently. "No, let me see you," he said softly as he cupped Sanji's face and ran his thumb over Sanji's lips. "You're the best thing I've ever seen."

Sanji could not handle this tender side of Zoro. If he kept it up, Sanji was going to do something really embarrassing, like cry.

"I'm going to open you up now," Zoro explained as he pushed Sanji's knees up and open. "It'll probably feel uncomfortable at first, but if you stick with it, I promise I'll make it worth it. Tell me straight away if you don't like anything, though."

Sanji watched Zoro pick up a bottle of lube and squirt some onto his fingers.

"I'm sure I'll like whatever you do to me. I'm a natural bottom, remember?" Sanji teased. Zoro whispering dirty talk in Sanji's ear as they cuddled in their cell under the guise of needing warmth seemed like both yesterday and years ago.

Zoro smiled and rubbed his fingers over Sanji's hole. Sanji shivered.

"Cold?" Zoro asked, presumably referring to the lube.

Sanji shook his head. "No. Good."

Zoro slowly pushed a finger inside Sanji, giving him plenty of time to object. But even though it felt kind of odd, Sanji trusted Zoro. Sanji just focused on his breathing and tried to stay relaxed. Zoro thrust his finger in and out of him until Sanji started squirming restlessly. He didn't know if it felt exactly good yet, but he wanted more. And his erection hadn't gone anywhere.

Zoro started stroking Sanji's cock with his free hand as he slipped another finger in. Sanji tensed until Zoro hit a spot with his fingers that shot what felt like a bolt of electricity throughout Sanji's entire body.

"Fuck!" He cried out abruptly.

"Good?" Zoro asked slyly.

"Fuck you," Sanji wheezed as Zoro stretched him relentlessly with his fingers, pegging what Sanji assumed must be his prostate every time.

"We can do that another time, too," Zoro promised.

"Oh, shit," Sanji moaned. Being inside Zoro would be indescribable.

Zoro added a third finger and Sanji writhed and twisted the blankets underneath him with spasming fingers. Surely, he was ready – this was torture. Zoro should be arrested for the indecent things he was doing to Sanji's body. Sanji felt like he was dying and Zoro hadn't even used his dick yet. It was going to kill him.

He couldn't wait.

"I'm ready," Sanji insisted.

Zoro didn't stop as he watched his fingers disappeared inside Sanji. "You're ready when I say you're ready."

"Zoro, please…" Sanji begged, almost sobbing.

Zoro's eyes snapped to Sanji's face and he inhaled deeply. "Fuck, the sight of you riding my fingers and begging for my cock is unbelievable."

Zoro quickly withdrew his fingers from Sanji and fumbled with a condom packet, fingers shaking as he ripped it open and rolled the condom onto his dick, his swordsman's grace nowhere to be seen. Sanji was absurdly pleased that he wasn't the only one coming apart. That was only fair after what Zoro had been doing to him.

"Take your time," Sanji told Zoro.

Zoro rubbed lube over his dick. "First you're begging me for it and now you're telling me to take my time?"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "I'm just trying to be nice."

Zoro frowned at him. "Well don't – it's creepy."

"You're the creepy one!" Sanji argued. He couldn't believe they were arguing in the middle of sex!

Well, actually, maybe he could.

"Get fucked," Zoro drawled as he lined up against Sanji's hole.

"I've been trying to! Maybe if you would just hurry up!" Sanji replied testily.

Zoro started to slowly push inside. Sanji's hole clenched reflexively around it, halting Zoro's progress.

"If you want me to hurry, you gotta breath and relax, Eyebrows," Zoro replied. "Let me in."

Sanji took a deep breath and tried his best to relax. Zoro pushed in further and then further again. Sanji couldn't believe he was finally getting Zoro inside him, finally being filled up. And when Zoro bottomed out with a groan, Sanji finally felt like he had Zoro exactly where he needed him.

He clenched around Zoro, testing it out, and Zoro's snapped forward. "Oh, fuck," Zoro moaned. "You feel so fucking good, Sanji. Fuck!"

Then Zoro started to move and Sanji's world started falling apart. His breaths came out as a constant stream of "Ah!" yelled in tandem with every thrust. Zoro fucked harder and then harder still and Sanji reached up for him – he needed Zoro on him – and Zoro came and he kissed Sanji and moaned into his mouth.

Sanji completely lost track of time as they fucked and kissed and fucked and kissed. He didn't want it to end – he wanted to capture this moment and preserve it. But he couldn't, so he just traced Zoro's lips with his tongue, tasting him, savouring him. He felt tears gather in the corner of his eyes from the sheer impact of having Zoro inside him.

Zoro kissed a tear from the corner of his eye before it could fall. "You're okay. I've got you, Sanji," he whispered and Sanji's heart expanded and he was close, he was so close…

"I'm going to come," he cried out.

Zoro lifted Sanji's hips higher and thrust deeper, pegging his prostate with every snap of his hips. "Touch yourself," he ordered Sanji and Sanji touched himself and it only took three strokes before he was coming all over his hand.

"Fuck! Zoro!" He yelled as his orgasm swept through him, obliterated him. The tears were rolling down his face now. It was too much.

Zoro only lasted another few thrusts before he too was coming, deep inside Sanji, calling Sanji's name.

Zoro collapsed on top of Sanji and Sanji wrapped his arms around him and just held on tightly. That had been the most incredible, most intimate experience of Sanji's life and he felt changed, like some intrinsic part of him had been scrambled and then set to rights, put back together in a way that made more sense.

He'd found his place to belong with the Straw Hats. But in Zoro, he'd found the person he belonged with.

…

Zoro

Zoro buried his face in his spot in Sanji's neck as he tried to bring his heartrate down to a more manageable level. "That was…"

"Yeah," Sanji agreed.

'Yeah' didn't begin to cover what had been the most transcendent experience of Zoro's life. He'd no idea sex could be so…so much. Could make him feel closer to another human being than he'd ever thought possible. Could make him feel as though his heart had chosen a new home.

It was overwhelming. Zoro didn't quite know what to do with it.

"I should move," Zoro said reluctantly. He did know he needed to clean Sanji up. It was his job to take care of him now.

"No," Sanji protested and clung to him.

Zoro chuckled, "I'll come back."

Sanji sighed and let go. "Don't be long."

Zoro went to the wash basin and returned with a wet cloth. He wiped Sanji's cum off his own stomach before wiping Sanji's stomach and between his legs. As promised, Zoro laid back completely on top of Sanji as soon as he was done, snaking his arms under him and holding Sanji as tightly as Sanji held Zoro. His whole body sighed into Sanji's. This was where he belonged.

"Tell me if I get too heavy," Zoro murmured. He loved laying on top of Sanji but he wasn't exactly a small man.

Sanji squeezed him. "No such thing."

"You're such a freak," Zoro observed.

"If I'm a freak, you're a freak," Sanji returned defiantly.

"Why am I a freak?" Zoro protested.

"Well, you can't keep your face out of my neck, for starters," Sanji began.

Well, Zoro supposed that was true. But still… "That's your fault for having such a comfortable neck."

Sanji spluttered indignantly. "My neck isn't comfortable! It's…it's sexy. And manly."

Zoro snickered. "Oh, it's very manly"

"Thank y – oh wait, you're patronising me, aren't you?"

"I would do no such thing," Zoro lied.

"I don't believe you," Sanji stated confidently.

"That's not very nice. You should trust your…your…errm…" Zoro faltered. What was he to Sanji now exactly? All Zoro knew is he wanted to be with him, only him. Always.

Sanji hummed thoughtfully. "Your boyfriend?" He suggested.

Zoro and Sanji immediately burst out laughing.

"Fuck, no," Zoro vowed.

"Disgusting," Sanji agreed.

It was nice when they agreed on things.

"Partner?" Zoro suggested hesitantly.

"No, somehow that's even worse," Sanji said with a shudder. Zoro agreed with that too.

Maybe it didn't matter that they were labelled, only that they were.

Zoro rolled to his side and took Sanji with him, so he could see him face to face.

"So…it turns out I'm, like, kind of in love with you," he said.

Sanji laughed in his face. "Sorry, kind of?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm fully in love with you."

Sanji beamed at him. "Good, because I'm fully in love with you too."

Surely Zoro's heart was about to burst. This level of positive emotion could not be healthy.

"That's all that matters, right?" Zoro said. "I'm yours, you're mine. That's that. Why complicate things."

Sanji reached up and brushed his thumb over Zoro's cheek. "I like that. You're just…my person."

Zoro turned his face into Sanji's palm and kissed it. "Your person," he agreed. "And you're my person."

Sanji leaned forward to kiss him.

"Always."