Saw this, I think it would be so cute as Zosan
"I can't believe it," Sanji laughed. "You've finally sprouted."
"Shut up," Zoro reflexively snapped. He didn't bother to inquire further, rather furrowed his brow and scowled while trying to return to his nap.
"I think our cook is right," Robin affirmed. "It seems you have a companion growing from your head."
Robin could definitely be a bit mischievous but she wasn't known for lying over something so asinine and so Zoro sighed and felt around on his head. To his great surprise and chagrin, he actually felt something.
"I told you," Sanji snarked. He then launched into a tirade, incorrect, mind you, about how Zoro didn't wash himself and he was always napping with his grass head so it's no wonder he would sprout blah blah blah. Zoro ignored him and instead plucked the little green bud from his head to investigate further.
"Don't just pluck it," Chopper squealed. "You don't know what could happen! We'll have to run some tests and confirm..."
Zoro tuned him out as well despite his love for good ole Chopper. As much as he loved Chopper, though, Chopper was going to do what he was going to do but Zoro didn't need to listen to why-- the little guy was just freaking out and there was no need. The air might be salty but they must be near a summer island because it was humid and it wouldn't be unsurprising to see a sprout take root quite literally anywhere including in someone's hair.
Then again, it was a bit weird.
"May I?" Robin asked and gestured to the bud.
"Sure," Zoro replied. He shrugged and handed to her hoping that would be the last of that.
Zoro went into the bathtub at the rather obnoxious and aggressive insistence of the cook and the witch both. Usopp had traitorously made a face indicating he was weirded out by the fact something had sprouted on Zoro's head and being one to be easily swayed by public opinion, he joined the "go shower" crew. Zoro showered every time he worked out, he just didn't take long dramatic baths like the idiot cook and the damn witch. Well, every so often he did and right now he was mandated to, so he slunk down into the hot bath water and let it engulf him. At the very least, it was relaxing and soothing to his muscles, always tired and strained from being pushed in his workouts and strength training.
"Zoro is having a nice bath?" Luffy popped his head in.
"Yes," Zoro grumbled.
"Okay then," Luffy cheerily replied before bounding off. Zoro thought that would be the end of it until the cook came barging into the bathroom.
"I'm not trusting the second dirtiest person on this ship to check on your progress," Sanji snapped.
"Geez," Zoro groaned and slunk under the water.
"Oh no you don't," Sanji came over and tapped him on the head with a wooden spoon.
"What the hell's yer problem," Zoro grumbled.
He was too relaxed to be angry but if Sanji kept it up, he would totally match that energy...
"I'm here to make sure you wash yourself properly. If you're so bad at it that shit is growing out of your head, then I guess I'm the one who has to make sure you fix that."
It was a weird proposition and Zoro argued as much. After what felt like thirty minutes of back and forth (but was closer to two or three), Zoro threw up his hands and acquiesced. Sanji looked strangely smug and pleased which Zoro would have thought would have made him irritated and dissatisfied, but he didn't question any further as the cook grabbed shampoo and started washing Zoro's hair.
As much as Zoro wanted to resent Sanji for his overbearing superiority complex, his strong hands massaging Zoro's scalp and working the shampoo into his head and hair felt incredibly good. He was never going to complain about having this kind of attention bestowed upon him ever again if he could help it.
"What the hell!" Sanji gasped and backed away.
That didn't sound good.
"Huh?" Zoro replied to the cook's dramatics.
"There was nothing there before!"
"What are you talking about?" Zoro snapped.
"Your head!"
"Okay very funny. I know you think I'm a dumb ass..."
"No! There's a damn plant! On your head!"
"Very funny," Zoro replied.
The shit cook was really bad at this.
"I'm serious, idiot," Sanji snarked.
Well that was more like him. It was such a dumb way to try and pull one over on Zoro that he couldn't imagine why Sanji would lie about a plant on his head. That was absurd, even Zoro knew there was nothing there-- not only had he felt his own head but he'd seen it in the mirror. Why would there be a plant there?
After Sanji assuring him there was actually a plant on his head, Zoro insisting he stop messing around, Sanji insisting Zoro was stupid and he wasn't messing around, and rinse repeat, Zoro finally felt the top of his head where he was made aware that there was, in fact, a plant on top of his head.
"Great."
"I told you," Sanji replied. "But there was nothing there when I started washing your hair..."
Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. This was gonna be annoying, wasn't it?
~
"How curious," Robin said as she held the little sprout in her hand.
"You think it's a devil fruit power? Zoro you didn't eat a devil fruit did you?" Chopper asked.
"No Chopper, I didn't eat a devil fruit," Zoro sighed.
"May I keep this?" Robin asked Zoro about the sprout.
"Uh, yeah? I don't want it..." he replied. She was so weird sometimes.
"Thank you swordsman, I'll take good care of it."
"Ok..."
"I'll have Sniper-san make a nice little garden bed for your children," she replied.
My children, he silently bemoaned. What the hell...
"We'll run some tests and see what we come up with but if it's not a devil fruit, perhaps it's a devil fruit power? Did you come into contact with anyone recently?"
Zoro couldn't think of anyone he'd come into contact with. If someone had cursed him then anyone's guess was as good as his. He hadn't really changed much of anything. It all was just another weird Grand Line mystery that... sprouted.
~
Zoro had thought as time wore on, As time wore on, the sprouts continued popping up. It seemed like they just sprouted out of no where whenever the hell they felt like it. Robin seemed to take this very seriously and had a whole notebook dedicated to them, labeling each with a number and then planting them in her little garden box. She had tasked Zoro with keeping an eye on them, again weirdly calling them his children so he watered them daily and took his naps near the seedlings. It seemed that there were seven different kinds of plants that were growing from the seedlings despite the volume of them.
Sunflower
Rose
Peony
Aster
Iris
Echinacea
Lavender
That did seem strange to Zoro, but he wasn't one to question things and unless the knowledge of what the damn plants were wasn't going to bring him closer to getting rid of them, he didn't actually care. At this point, it was getting ridiculous. Usopp had built two of those damn garden beds already and was going to have to work on a third. Even if this was the result of some devil fruit or a weird plant he'd consumed, it had to end some time, right?
~
"Do you know what these plants symbolize?" Robin asked him one day.
"Symbolize? Aren't they just plants?" Zoro replied. That plants had symbolism seemed like another layer of plant knowledge that he just didn't need to know. Though, considering the circumstances, perhaps he should know...
"Yes. They have a lot more to offer than just being a plant," she chuckled. "Plants can be medicinal, as I'm sure our dear Doctor would tell you, and they can also have spiritual and emotional qualities as well."
"Huh," Zoro acknowledged though he didn't really grasp what she was saying.
"Would you like to know what your plant children symbolize?" she asked. He still didn't like that she referred to them as his children.
"Sure..."
He may have said sure, but he was not sure. For some reason, this felt like being told that you had been doing something you thought no one knew about and now it was revealed that someone had been watching you the whole time.
"As you know, I've been keeping and observing your sprouts, noting the time, place, and circumstances under which they appear. I've noticed that there are some patterns," she said.
The words were gentle, more or less conversational, but it felt like he was going to be in for a shock or perhaps at best an embarrassment or some variation of both.
"Uh huh," he replied.
"Would you like to hear what I've discovered?"
"Okay."
Robin laid it all out before him telling him that it seemed a sprout would appear when Zoro was in a heightened emotional state. He wasn't sure what that could possibly mean when half the time he'd been completely at peace but she said that peace was also an emotional state. That sort of made sense and so it was revealed the following:
When Zoro was around Luffy, the sunflower would appear. The sunflower representing loyalty and unwavering dedication as the sunflower itself was said to be hardy, bright and always seek the sun.
"Our Captain is quite a sun in all of our lives, isn't he?" she remarked, smiling broadly. That felt mortifying somehow to be told that Zoro felt such a way toward Luffy but it was true so he simply frowned and let her continue.
When Zoro was around Usopp, the iris flower would appear. Apparently that one represented courage in the face of things that could be scary, valor in battle, hopefulness, and wisdom.
"I'm not sure about that one," Zoro quipped.
"Perhaps it represents what you see as the true heart of our sniper and less how he shows that heart to everyone else," Robin replied.
Zoro disliked that.
As for Nami, it was the peony.
"In some cases, this can represent romantic passion," Robin started. Zoro balked and went white as a sheet-- there was no part of him that felt romantically toward her. Robin was studying him carefully, as she always did, and chuckled gently. "Don't worry, swordsman-san. I don't think that's what these flowers represent in this case and it's not a common association. Generally, the peony represents wealth, good fortune and abundance. Our navigator certainly likes an abundant and wealthy life, doesn't she?"
Zoro couldn't disagree and felt that was apropos. At least growing up, that's what the elders in the village had always done to bring abundance to their doorsteps. They'd adorned their houses with peonies welcoming in the spirit of money to their homes.
"For our dear doctor, the flower that appears is echinacea. It's quite well known medically for health, healing and resilience and one of the foundations in certain herbal disciplines."
Zoro hoped she didn't keep going on about herbal disciplines because he could already feel his brain contracting.
"It's quite on the nose for Chopper, isn't it?" she smiled.
Zoro agreed. And Robin said that his sprouts were actual flowers so Chopper had even been using some in his medicine. She seemed to think that was sweet and great but all Zoro could say in response was a reluctant and somewhat embarrassed, "great."
"The next flower is the purple aster."
"Whose flower is that?" Zoro asked.
"Why, it's mine!" Robin replied. She seemed happy by this admission and Zoro wondered what it could mean to make her feel such a way. Fortunately she didn't wait for him to ask before diving into an explanation. "There are different colored asters, but the purple one typically represents royalty."
She paused long enough that Zoro felt the need to respond, "I don't..."
She smiled and chuckled before raising her hand to stop him, "I know. Though purple is one of my favorite colors. It also represents wisdom." Zoro nodded at this, she was smart and always reading. He definitely saw her as wise. "And it represents mystery. I can be a bit mysterious, can't I?"
He didn't want to touch that truth with a ten-foot sword but he laughed gently and nodded. She didn't seem perturbed by this whatsoever so he let it lay and waited for the next mortifying read.
"The flower that pops up when you are napping or seemingly having a good time is lavender. Lavender is often known for bringing calm and even helping people sleep. It's quite good medicine as well, I hear."
"So... that's my flower?" he asked.
Robin nodded and Zoro mused on this. It was kind of nice that he would sprout something calming and sleep-inducing. He did like to take care of the crew as well. He accepted this.
"But didn't you say there were seven?" he asked. She smiled and nodded. "The cook's..." She smiled wider and nodded. "I don't want to know, do I?"
"If you'd rather I don't tell you..."
"Forget it. Just... say it. At this point, you might as well," Zoro groaned.
He did, however, almost immediately regret his reply when her face changed into something almost gleeful and mischievous like she had a grand secret she couldn't wait to tell.
"It's a rose."
Zoro didn't really need her to explain what roses represented, though she did, because knowing it was a rose was enough on its own. He figured that he was beet red with the feeling of his skin burning. At least it was Robin and not Nami or Usopp, but it was mortifying. He'd rather be stripped naked trying to fight off 100 marines than let it be known his true feelings toward the cook.
"I haven't shared my findings with anyone but you," Robin added. A very slight relief. "And I will keep that between us unless you say otherwise."
"I won't," Zoro replied.
"That's what I thought. Your flowers are safe with me," she said. She smiled sweetly and closed her notebook.
Zoro got up to leave when Robin gently called him back.
"Oh, Zoro. One last thing... it seems there's one other instance of this happening in the books on the Grand Line and their strange happenings that I've been able to find."
She went on to tell him that on one island, a sailor landed and encountered a singing bird with a beautiful song. He followed the bird into the forest where he brushed up against a fern.
"Those tend to symbolize new beginnings and are associated with magic," she said. Of course they were, he thought.
He couldn't remember anything of that sort, though he had taken a detour through the forest at the previous island before returning to the ship.
"How did the... guy cure it?" Zoro asked.
"As the story goes-- and mind you, you have to take such folklore with a grain of salt-- he too had a deep secret that the sprouts coming from his head were revealing. When he confessed this secret, the sprouts stopped."
"I think everyone knows how I feel about them," Zoro replied.
"Everyone, hmm, perhaps you're right," she answered in the way that said she didn't quite believe him.
He disliked that she and he both knew there was at least one person about whom he was not honest about his feelings. Thankfully, she didn't press it further and they parted ways with this unspoken knowledge between them.
~
Zoro found Sanji standing over the transom of the ship turning a rose around in his fingers and occasionally giving it a smell.
"Cook," Zoro greeted him casually. As casual as he could be, anyway.
"Can't believe this came out of your head," Sanji replied.
Zoro scratched his head nervously, "Yeah. I wish I knew why it was happening."
"Robin said they all have meanings," he replied.
"Oh she did, did she?" Zoro grit his teeth.
"I was helping her look at the books about your condition," Sanji answered. He didn't seem to catch on that Zoro had been upset by this development. He seemed, actually, to be distracted by the rose. A rose Zoro knew the meaning and origin of which only made it worse, somehow.
"I see," he replied. It was less upsetting if it had been by accident. Sanji nor Robin couldn't help that information getting out and as long as she didn't tell Sanji who was associated with what...
"I wonder who the rose represents," Sanji replied mindlessly, sniffing the rose once more.
Zoro didn't quite know what to say to that. He could tell him and risk getting a kick to the face which would actually be a kick to his heart. He could keep it a secret and keep having these damn plants sprout every time he was around someone long enough to have an emotion.
"It... Everyone on the ship has one," Zoro replied.
"Ya think?" Sanji snarked. "I just said that."
"Forget it," Zoro mumbled.
He turned to leave but Sanji grabbed his wrist.
"Say it, Mosshead. You were gonna say something."
Zoro yanked his wrist away.
"Might as well. Then I can be done with this shit," Zoro grumbled to himself. "T'rose is yours. Because that's how I feel about you."
Sanji looked at him completely and utterly shocked. It's not like Zoro had thought over what Sanji's reaction would be. He'd tried not to think about it and debated, instead, the merits of whether or not it was worthwhile to even confess such a thing or just live with the flowers until he died. He stood emotionally stripped bare in front of the cook while he made that stupid face, a face Zoro was unsurprised to see considering he was tragically woman-centered, until he couldn't take it any more. This time Sanji let him leave.
~
For approximately three days, Sanji and Zoro avoided each other. Sanji would blush and try to get out of Zoro's way, Zoro just tried to avoid Sanji altogether. The only benefit of the time since Zoro confessed to Sanji is that the damn flowers had stopped sprouting out of his head. Eventually the cook would forget and Zoro could move on and no one would ever be the wiser because he was cured of these shit sprouts. Zoro figured this was going to be the way his relationship with the cook would be until the late night of the third day when Zoro sat in the bird's nest beginning his watch. The rest of the crew had gone to sleep-- or so Zoro thought-- when Sanji approached him in the bird's nest.
It was, terrible, knowing that Zoro was trapped with someone who knew his heart and didn't reciprocate and there was no where for him to flee. The only comfort Zoro had at that moment was that he was well practiced in concealing his emotions and pretending that everything was alright even when it wasn't.
"Can we... talk?" Sanji asked. He seemed shy and repentant though it hardly mattered when Zoro knew it was only going to be another devastating rejection.
"Isn't that why you're here?" Zoro retorted.
Sanji sighed and lit a cigarette.
"I guess I deserve that after how I responded to you the other day," the cook replied.
"Tch."
"Listen, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Sanji began.
Zoro wasn't trying to be cruel but he let a scoff escape his lips anyway. The cook didn't have to try when he didn't try to spare Zoro's feelings at all.
"I don't go chasing after men..." Sanji continued.
"You think I don't know that? All you do is chase after girls. I don't need you to tell me something you've been throwing in everyone's face since we met," Zoro snapped.
Sanji gave an amused smile and let out a plume of cigarette smoke.
"Would you listen?" he chastised Zoro. "I'm trying to say something to you."
Zoro gestured for Sanji to continue even as he avoided looking directly at him, keeping his eyes trained on the horizon.
"I never said I wasn't into men. I just... don't trust men and don't particularly like them. Women are just so..." he started a mini soliloquy on how beautiful and perfect women were until Zoro cleared his throat and Sanji smoothed his coat and continued. "Sorry. It's just... I don't trust men."
"You said that," Zoro grumbled quietly.
"But I trust you."
That piqued Zoro's attention and he turned to look at the cook directly. Sanji was looking away from him, blushing so obviously that even in the crescent moon's light, Zoro could see the flush of his skin.
"What I mean," Sanji continued, "is that I think I feel the same as you do."
There was no way that Sanji meant what he was saying, Zoro concluded. He probably just thought Zoro meant that he loved Sanji like family-- which, he probably did.
"I don't know what you think I feel," Zoro replied.
Sanji got closer to Zoro, closing the gap between them.
"I think you do," he replied.
Zoro's heart was racing, a nervousness he hardly ever allowed himself to feel taking hold.
"And what's that?" Zoro asked.
Sanji paused and then leaned in, crushing their lips together. Zoro remained frozen in place while Sanji pressed his mouth onto Zoro's, waiting for him to reciprocate. Zoro couldn't move, he was completely taken aback-- never in even his wildest dreams had he ever believed this was possible. The taste of smoke and the hint of wine on Sanji's breath was intoxicating, clearing his mind of any form and function.
Sanji pulled away and ran his hand through his hair, pacing wildly. "Oh shit, oh fuck, oh my god I fucked it up. I'm so sorry, I misunderstood... oh my god..."
Zoro grabbed him and pulled Sanji's lips to his own, hugging his body into his. Sanji sighed into the kiss, a sweet contented exhale that felt like tingling and heat in Zoro's stomach, traveling upward and downward through his body. He licked his tongue into Sanji's mouth, letting them swirl together, heat and passion growing into each breath and touch.
"Oh," Sanji sighed.
"Heh," Zoro replied.
The clouds above them obscured the moon's subtle light leaving them in a thrilling kind of darkness, like a blanket wrapping their bodies telling the world that what transpired between them was for their eyes only.
~
"Where the hell did all these roses come from?" Usopp asked in the morning.
"No idea," Sanji replied, a blush reminiscent of said flowers touching his cheeks.
"Guess I'm cured," Zoro replied.
And Robin smiled.
Good soup
