sanji and [name] rented one yagara bull to pull them through the city, which [name] was lovingly petting from his seat in the front.
“they’re so ugly, they’re basically cute!”
”i feel like i should be the one driving,” sanji sighs, puffing out smoke from his cigarette, “how are you feeling? these weird streams of water aren’t making you sick, which is weird,”
“not completely sick, no. but i do get a weird feeling in my tummy, like i’m on the verge of being queasy…not sure what’s going on. but i’m all good in the head,” he taps his temple with a smile, turning to look forward.
“yagara, take us to the market area, please,” sanji grunts, kicking his feet up and resting them on [name]’s shoulders, “this ride is so smooth, you wouldn’t think you’re on a live animal.”
“do you think luffy would let us take one back?” he asked, stars in his eyes as he looked at the grinning yagara.
“definitely, so don’t even think about mentioning that,” sanji sighs, throwing his head back to rest in his hands behind him.
the two sat in silence until they were in a bustling market, making sanji sit upright.
“oh, look they have masks!” [name] points out, tapping sanji’s ankle and making the chef look in that direction.
“covering your face and identity never stopped you before, what’s the fuss now?” he asks, unbothered and uncaring, “if you’re really that paranoid the government is gonna come for you why don’t you just jump ship now?”
[name] rolls his eyes at sanji’s pessimistic “joke” and just slouches, “let’s just keep low profile then.”
“we already are, we’re just grocery shopping!”
sanji is now the one directing the yagara, taking the duo to different stalls for things that caught his eye.
“excuse me miss, are there any seasonal or speciality items that we can only get on this island? i’d be interested in those the most,” sanji gives [name] a bag of “water water apples” and “water water pears,” which the h/c haired man has to actively fight the urge to eat on the spot.
“interested in fish that are in season? my hubby runs a fish shop!” [name]’s head snaps up immediately, almost dropping the bag. the yagara rocks underneath him ever so slightly as he leans forward, almost invading the poor lady’s personal space.
“yes! where can we find him! i love fish, ma’am!”
sanji growls as he yanks him backwards, briefly apologizing to the laughing lady before coaxing her to continue on.
“aren’t you a spirited young man?” she laughs behind her hand, making [name] just continue smiling at her.
“spirited young man is an awfully polite way to put that…”
“well, if you were looking for his shop you’d have to get back on land, turn right six times, and turn left 12 times,” she even points to their starting direction. [name] turns around to look at sanji, a blinding grin on his face as he checks with the chef to make sure he heard it right.
“yeah, yeah, idiot, get that look off of your face,” sanji sighs, putting his palm against [name]’s grinning face and thanking the lady. he then directs the yagara, “take us to land, please!”
“fish! fish! fish!” [name] cheers, garnering onlookers at his random outburst.
“didn’t you say you wanted to keep a low profile, idiot?!” sanji shouts, not helping their case much as he is now also causing a scene.
once they touched land, sanji made sure to keep a tight grip on [name]’s wrist to prevent him from running off. the man even had drool going down his chin at the prospect of getting his favorite dish.
“can you not go running off like a starving idiot? you’re acting like you didn’t eat a hearty meal less than half an hour ago!” sanji scolds, now holding [name] by his ear, “you act like a starving kid, you’re giving the impression that i don’t feed you,”
“you always cut my portions! i wouldn’t be as hungry unless you didn’t!”
sanji’s raises his eyebrow in shock, “it’s quite literally the opposite, you asshole! i feed you and i feed you well! now stop making a scene,”
“but you’re making a scene too…” crocodile tears go down his face at the sharp pinch on his ear, but sanji doesn’t let up and keeps him close by that form of contact instead.
“with all your complaining i’m going to forget the directions she gave us…” for a moment, sanji lets go to run his hands over his face and try recalling what the market lady told him. “she said…right? or left first? and what the hell were those number of turns? please tell me you remember even a little of what she told yo-”
when sanji lifts his head up from his hands, he finds that the spot [name] was standing in was now completely empty. a dust kicked up from where he once stood, insinuating that the man had run off god knows where.
sanji’s eye twitches as he looks in the presumed direction he went off to, jaw dropping in disbelief.
“this absolute asshole, baffoon, idiot who only thinks of food…”
his insults fall on deaf ears making him stomp his foot in annoyance, “why am i on babysitting duty for a grown man?!”
“ah, but i swear she said to go straight for ten minutes, then turn left at the fifth corner…” he scratches his head as he finds himself at another dead end, “or was it the tenth corner? is this what zoro feels like all the time?!”
his realization makes him knock his fist against his palm, frowning, “that poor idiot, his mind always scattered and never thinking right. i really do pity him!”
just as he finished talking to himself, a gust of wind blew past his head. if he didn’t dodge in the last second, it surely wouldn’t knocked him right on the back of his skull.
“woah, you still move fast, huh?”
“i was wondering when you’d show yourself,” [name] sighed, putting his hand underneath his chin as he closed his eyes in thought, “that rancid blood in your system set me off from the moment we came to this island.”
“rancid blood is rather rude, you know i don’t like that kind of talk,” the voice purred, finally revealing themselves by jumping down from the roof they were previously standing on. now resting on their hip was a revolver, which they had presumably used to fire at [name].
“god you look the same,” [name] fell to sit against the fall, lazily looking over the figure, “what are you doing here, baekho? have you killed my crewmates?”
the male grinned, “would you be angry if i did?”
“i’d kill you, so don’t joke about that,” [name] glares, his gaze turned sharp as an unexplainable wave of power emits from him, “so answer the question,”
the man named baekho falters where he stands for a moment before steadying himself, screwing his eyes shut and sighing before shaking his head, “i didn’t kill them. i’m not here for them, obviously, i’m here for you. why would i kill your weak and measly crewmates for no reason? i’m no sadist,”
“could’ve had me fooled,” [name] shrugs, “i’m not going with you.”
“obviously you’d say something as outrageous as that. so i’m here to force you to come with me,”
“and how do you intend on doing that?”
“we have nico robin,” the blonde man doesn’t bother hiding his smirk as he delivers the news, “she’s currently outside my jurisdiction, you know we don’t mix well with cp9. but if you come with me, i guarantee you’d be able to see her,”
“cp9? really? that’s how far you guys are willing to go for a singular woman?”
“a woman who has the power to turn the entire world upside down, yes. but as i told you,” baekho shrugs, “i’m not here to talk about or attend to her, i’m here for you.”
“stop trying to sound like a romantic, it doesn’t suit you,”
“a lot of time has passed — you hardly know me anymore. maybe my heart has been simply yearning for this reunion,” that signature smirk returns to his face as he watches [name] carefully, “we all miss you, y’know?”
“you don’t miss me, you miss my body,” [name] rolls his eyes.
“well, yeah the government must miss your body versus your shitty personality. but, i for one miss both,” baekho announces this as if it is something to be truly proud of, but [name] just gags where he sits.
“just take me to robin,” he finally stands to his feet, walking over to his past colleague and sighing, “you look the exact same, mutt.”
“thank you~”
“Eradication of Subject 0001: a strictly confidential mission that the World Government hopes to complete with swift professionalism. The goal to publicly execute [REDACTED] D. [NAME]. Those employed to take on this task are a small group of individuals who are believed to be able to match or out-do the subject’s prowess. The group was hand selected by Admirals Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu, as well as input coming from Vice-Admiral Garp.
MISSION IS STRICTLY ON A NEED-TO-KNOW BASIS. INFORMATION LEAKED TO ANYONE OUTSIDE OF THE ALLOWED PERSONNELL WILL BE DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY.”
After the failure that was Kosuke’s pathetic attempts in killing Subject 0001, a new candidate has been chosen. Baekho, one of the top of his class, has been selected. Moving forward, any and all attempts in killing and acquiring the body of Subject 0001 will be done through Baekho. Exceptions will be made if there are special orders given.
Considering the match up of abilities against Subject 0001, it is undoubtedly the best choice to make Baekho take upon the responsibility of finally setting us free from this burden.
However, the Five Elders have overruled the initial mission’s goal, temporarily. As of right now, capturing Subject 0001 and bringing him in to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise is our new mission.
“say, do you like my fur coat? i remember you mentioned you liked fur once,” baekho asks, sitting on the front of the yagara bull with a masked [name] behind him.
“looks like shit, you’re dressed like a piece of shit spoiled brat,” [name] snarls, kicking the back of baekho’s head and clicking his tongue, “i can’t believe they’re really sending you guys to kill me.”
“ah, you should be glad that my orders were especially given. the government would like to speak to you themselves, so i can’t kill you. that should make you happy!” the blonde hums before continuing, “i should clarify — the elders wish to speak with you.”
“the elders? what the fuck for?” even [name] can’t hide his surprise at the news. he has never even met the elders, from his memory. which he’s not honestly sure he can trust, but to his honest recollection, he’s never interacted with any of the five.
“beats me. i just follow orders like a good mutt, as you’d like to say.”
”because you do. even now, you don’t kill me when you know you wish you could,”
baekho smirks and stays silent, simply nodding his head.
“it’s terrible seeing a friend of yours turn to a life of piracy, y’know? i always thought it was just going to be us, ruling the marines since we were the strongest,”
”don’t start with your bullshit. i don’t care what you have to say, you heartless moron. if you think for a second i was going to be happy being a government dog, you can’t claim to know me as well as you do!”
“hm, shouldn’t you be saying this to your crew? after all, how much have you told them about yourself?”
“enough. i’ve told them enough.”
“ah, but not the entire truth. meanwhile, i know you like the back of my hand,” baekho hums, an obvious tone of pride in his words.
“don’t piss me off,”
“i’m just telling the truth. objectively speaking, no one on that ship knows you as well as i do. except for that bumbling, idiotic, selfish captain of yours,” baekho sneers, finally showing any other emotion besides cockiness and pride, “stealing you from where you rightfully belong!”
“you’re delusional.” [name] sighed, unable to take the conversation seriously anymore, “genuinely, delusional.”
baekho only grins wider, shrugging his shoulders, “you’ll see! i’ve even prepared a welcome party for you!”
silence follows and [name] chooses to disengage from the conversation to save himself the trouble.
“where could that idiot have gone?” sanji murmurs to himself, now carrying a bag of seafood that he miraculously found. “i’ve got all this food for him to try and now he wants to disappear…typical. honestly, i must be the only sensible man on our crew. what a shame! but, that simply means robin-chan and nami-san can rely on me the most!”
hearts replace his eyes in a second’s notice as he is reminded of his very lovely crewmates. coincidentally, just as he thought of them, he caught a glimpse of robin’s figure walk past him. he spins on his feet to turn to face her and goes to catch up to her.
“do my eyes deceive me or was that…!!” sanji’s words die down in the back of his throat as he looks to see that there is nothing but a dead end looking back at him. “robin-chan?”
he puts his hand underneath his chin, “i could have sworn i saw her timelessly beautiful frame walk past me…” he drops to sit on the ground, pensively thinking, “at any rate, who the heck was that masked man who was with robin? was that chopper after all?”
“ah! sanji!” chopper’s voice rang through the empty streets, making sanji turn his head in surprise. as if he had summoned the reindeer himself.
“chopper?” the chef waits for chopper to come closer before continuing on, “aren’t you meant to be with robin?”
“and aren’t you supposed to be with [name]?!” chopper hastily replied, nervous sweat comically breaking out on his forehead, “sorry…didn’t mean to have an outburst like that,”
sanji just shrugs, “i was, but then he wandered off on his own in a frenzy to search for food. but now that i’ve got it,” sanji lifts up the bag of seafood, a displeased look on his face, “he’s disappeared, never to be found again. maybe swallowed whole by a king yagara, the world may never know,”
“why are you so nonchalant about him being missing?!” chopper exclaims, jaw dropping in shock, “this whole time i was worried about losing robin, but i guess i should be-”
“so it’s true?! robin isn’t with you?! what do you mean she’s missing? can’t you find her?”
“oi! what is this double standard?!” chopper exclaims, hitting his hoof down on sanji’s head, “shouldn’t you be just as worried about [name] as you are of robin?!”
sanji reignites the end of his cigarette, “this is simply the way of the world, chopper, it’d be best if you learnt that sooner rather than later,”
“i hardly find this a lesson worth learning!” chopper shouts once more, defending [name]’s honor.
“in all honesty, it’s hard to feel myself be concerned for [name]. he’s strong on his own and he knows it. there’s no way he’d let himself be put in a vulnerable position. not to say that robin-chan isn’t strong and can’t hold her own, which i am positive she can. she’s just…more quiet about her worries,” sanji deflates as he speaks, visibly showing how inner thought plague him so, “i wish to be the one to help her if she’s ever in trouble, y’know?”
after chopper finally gets an explanation to sanji’s behavior, he nods in understanding, “i get what you mean…[name] is so easy to look up to because of that, right?!” a bright grin is on his face and sanji has to withhold a grimace at the praise of [name].
“sure, chopper. if that helps you sleep better at night…” sanji gathers his things and stands upright, going to walk back onto the main road and find his yagara, “well, let’s just head back to merry for now. wallowing here isn’t going to do anything for anyone.”
seeing sanji softly smiling back at him, chopper’s worries for his friends’ safety dwindles down just a tiny bit.
internally, though, sanji’s mind was more scattered than he let on.
‘[name] and robin both going missing at the same time, that’s hardly a good sign. best case scenario, they both really did lose their way and will meet us back on merry later. worst case scenario, they’re both in trouble with the marines or someone else. robin being with that masked man doesn’t help either,’ the chef’s hands in his pockets ball into fists as he thinks of the more realistic possibility — the latter option, ‘they’d better both be fine!’
both board the yagara and it’s far too silent for sanji’s liking, not helping the state his head was in, “this reminds me of what [name] and aokiji were saying earlier.”
“what did aokiji say?”
“he was talking about robin’s past, right? and said that one day, we’d regret taking her in.”
“if you add on what [name] told us, it doesn’t sound like a good situation! do you think that has something to do with both of their disappearances?”
“i don’t know…”
and with that, chopper’s initial worries only grew more intense.
even if sanji tried hiding his thoughts, it’d eat away at him too much for him to mask it. he was too worried about [name] and robin, even if he does put on a hard front regarding the former. he looks at the blue water ahead, recalling one of the first memories he has of [name].
“so sanji, why did you join luffy?” [name] tilted his head in interest, making sanji still for a moment.
his back was turned to [name], so the h/c haired man couldn’t see his face, but sanji was grinning from ear to ear. the chef put out his cigarette and turned around to [name] with that look of excitement on his face.
“have you heard of the all blue?” sanji asked, making [name] lean forward over the counter in interest.
“nope!” [name] said, popping the ‘p.’
“i joined luffy because i want to see the all blue. it’s a point on the map where all the oceans all converge at a single place,” sanji said, leaning against the counter behind him while [name] leaned inwards to show his genuine interest. “it’s my dream to find it - i’m sure it exists!”
[name] grinned widely, “i can’t wait to see it with you, sanji! then we’d get to eat even more seafood! i love seafood,” [name] commented, sanji making a mental note of that.
sanji brightened up even more, “they say that there is an endless amount of entire species that aren’t even found anywhere but in all blue! never even been seen before, but they’re all at that one point,”
[name] felt himself get excited as well. sanji’s dream was surely desirable. plus the idea that there are a bunch of unknown fishes just swimming around made his stomach feel particularly empty.
“that means-” [name] slammed his hands down on the counter, stars in his eyes. sanji flinched at the sudden movement, wondering what had [name] so startled, but [name] then continued on, “we’d be the first to ever eat all that food!”
sanji paused, taking in what [name] was saying. he blinked a couple of times before his smile cracked into a wide grin, until he was laughing his head off. his boisterous and carefree laugh made [name] nod in excitement, taking sanji’s laughter as a confirmation.
“right, sanji?!”
“that’s right, we would be the first to eat all that food,” sanji chuckled, finally settling down from his outburst of laughter. he clutched his stomach and looked at [name] one more time before turning back around to check on the cooking food.
“you gotta find the all blue, sanji!” [name] cheered, making sanji chuckle as he tended to cooking the food.
he looks at the bag in his lap and shuffles slightly where he sits. he’s got a new seasonal seafood specialty — native to water 7, only available in water 7. but [name] isn’t around to even make those starry eyes that he usually does whenever he catches a glimpse of seafood. and sanji doesn’t think food is a waste — he never will.
but in this moment, he thinks all his effort in obtaining it are. if [name] isn’t here to see it, let alone try it, it feels wasted.
[ .ᐟ ] baekho literally translates to = white tiger from korean, hence white tiger themes for this chapter
[ .ᐟ ] sanji u fake nonchalant i saw a tear shed from ur uncovered eye...
[ .ᐟ ] references to chapter 5 "heartfelt conversations with a chef" and chapter 18 "the dogs are hounding on [name]" are in this chapter and i think this is my first directly referencing a past chapter so this is SO fun and exciting. makes me feel like im actually writing something "bigger" than a ff...if that makes sense. i'm just glazing myself atp, but i just think it adds so much more depth to the story !! idk i just love it and i hope you guys love this chapter as well besitos besitos besitos
“that’s a shitload of water,” [name] murmurs, rubbing his forehead, “it’s almost enough to give me a headache,”
luffy, who was clinging to his side, only continues swaying him back and forth. or rather, he tries to. due to their height difference, luffy was practically just swinging off of his still body. regardless, the captain was immeasurably excited and ready to adventure to a new island.
“tell us more about this place, [name]! tell us more!” luffy begs, climbing up [name]’s torso like a spider and resting his chin on the top of his head.
“well, they have amazing shipwrights, so there will definitely be someone here that knows how to fix merry up well,” his hands rub the top of the railing, a sad smile on his face, “besides that i have no idea what is on this island. i can’t remember much…”
luffy pouts at that, but [name] is quick to comfort him, “isn’t the less you know the better? since you’ll be able to find it all out on your own, lu?”
the nickname brings a smile to luffy’s face immediately as he grins in agreement, his previous sadness forgotten and replaced with excitement all over again. he squeezes [name] tighter and refuses to let go, leaving [name] to carry him around like a backpack.
“hey, you guys!” a random fisherman on his boat called out to them, waving them down, “it’s not good for you pirates to be openly sailing in the front. go around the backstreets over there!”
“ah…okay! thanks!”
[name] squinted at the guy before shaking his head and not even allowing himself to question what he was riding on top of. with the merry now being steered in a different direction, he was also too occupied with noticing the mass amount of water around them. it was all moving so quickly and with so much power it almost knocked the breath out of his lung.
”this is really something,” he marveled, looking up as far as his eyes could see of the city and grinning when he took in how ginormous it was, “really, really amazing. i can’t wait to adventure out here!”
“right?! [name] really gets it,” usopp cheered with him, doing a small dance in front of [name], who would have definitely joined if it wasn’t for the human backpack still sticking onto him.
“hey, you! pirate ships shouldn’t come in here!” another civilian warned them, this time on land and sweeping away at the front of his shop. “what’d you come here for? to plunder?!”
usopp and [name] both tilted their heads in confusion, wondering what the hell this guy was talking about. asking pirates so casually if they’re there to cause trouble — especially as an unassuming civilian — was something they have never seen before.
“no! we’re here to look for a shipwright!” luffy answered with a smile on his face.
“in that cause, there’s a cape ahead of there. you can anchor there for now!”
“wow, they’re like…water traffic police or something,” [name] thought out loud making luffy laugh and usopp sigh, tired of being shunned to other parts of the island that they didn’t even know about.
after a couple more minutes of sailing along the outer perimeter of the island, merry finally was anchored at a small connecting piece of floating land to the big city. upon furling merry’s sails, though, zoro ended up snapping the mast right in half and causing it to break. it would have completely fallen over if he had not caught it in time.
“zoro! what the hell! don’t you know we’re here to get merry fixed, not broken even more!” [name] shouted, walking over and slapping zoro on the back of his head.
angry tick marks appeared immediately, “do you think i did it on purpose, shit for brains?! why don’t you help me instead of standing there too?!”
“woo! zoro, i believe in you! you can do it!”
zoro pushed the mast back in place and immediately choked [name] out with his hands, “shut the hell up!”
“what an intimate love confession…” [name] gasped through his strangled breaths, making zoro toss him to the side.
“isn’t it interesting that they’re not scared of pirates here?” nami asked, completely ignoring the two fighting beside her.
“maybe they have bodyguards strong enough to deal with pirates who cause a ruckus?” robin suggested, a serene look on her face as she looked at the island.
“probably, also pirates are just any oth-”
“pirates are just any other customer on this island,” [name] cuts zoro off, watching with a blissful smile as zoro’s hands go up again to choke him out of frustration and anger. he dodges it with ease, though, sticking his tongue out at the swordsman.
“really?! what are we gonna do?! this is bad!” usopp’s familiar fearful crying was a stark difference from the calm conversation at hand. so, [name] went up to him to rest his hand on his shoulder.
“fear not, usopp, you are strong enough to take out a whole battalion, i’m sure! hey, maybe when we go into to town we might even run into some marines. how about you teach them a lesson?!”
“don’t say such scary things, [name]!” usopp jumps up and holds onto [name]’s torso as if he were a backpack resting on his front. he even hides his face in [name]’s neck and shakes his head multiple times, “get them, orphan!”
“oi!” [name]’s hand goes to chop usopp on the back of his head, but he doesn’t force the man off of him.
“quit scaring him, [name],” sanji grunts, shaking his head in disapproval, “it actually does make a difference this time, too. since we are customers,” sanji shrugs.
his words seem to put usopp at ease who jumps off of [name]’s warm body and immediately gets ready to bolt off of merry. luffy and him had the same idea as well since the captain was now ready to blast off of deck, grabbing [name]’s hand in the process. the taller man had obviously no issue with it, happy to be brought along on their adventure.
before they could get far from merry, though, nami stopped all three of them.
“hold it, usopp, luffy, [name]!” the three skidded to a halt and turned back around, “at least two of you need to come with me…preferably not [name] too…”
“hey! why not me!” [name] whined, feeling left out.
“because! we need to go and get our gold exchanged and i don’t know if you remember this, [name],” she growled out his name with an angry tick mark on her forehead, “but you’re a highly wanted man. regardless of what sanji-kun said earlier about us being customers, i don’t need you — such a high profile guy — drawing attention to us when we are going to be transporting hundreds of millions of beri! i’d rather not get robbed or run into trouble just because you decided to tag along.”
“hey, but i’m real good at hiding! look!” he covers his face with the neckline of his shirt, hiding the lower half of his face, but nami still shakes her head.
“it’d be good to have you as extra security, but who’s to say we would even need it…bringing you along is too much of a risk i will not be taking! not when beri is on the line!” predictably, her eyes turn into the beri signs and he sighs, dropping his hand from luffy’s.
“hey! that’s so unfair! you’re breaking the adventure team!” luffy cries out, stomping his foot onto the ground like a child.
“yeah, evil, heartless navigator! i can’t believe you’d break apart our bond like this!” usopp vocalizes, punching his fist into the air.
“say what you want, but my word is final,” nami waves them off, obviously not bothered at all. “now come back on deck and help me collect this gold.”
“well, it won’t be me since you’re refusing me to come along with you. hmph,” [name] says under his breath, turning his head to the side and walking back to merry.
“just for that, now you really have to help~”
“nami!!”
after [name] and luffy helped stow all the gold onto a wagon, the three began their walk into the city. sanji was waving them goodbye with well wishes for luffy and usopp to keep nami safe. chopper is beside robin and [name], downtrodden that he missed out on going with his friends to explore.
“why don’t we go into town together later, then?”
that makes the reindeer brighten up instantly, “yes! let’s go together!”
“can i come too?” [name] asks, a bright look on his face, “i wanna see water 7 too. it’s making me excited just looking at the place.”
“your stomach isn’t in any type of pain?” robin asked curiously, arm sprouting from [name]’s side and teasingly prodding at his abdomen, “you’d think with the nature of the island you’d be vomiting everywhere or something,”
“hey, that’s too nasty and crude, robin!” [name] whines, “i’ve only done that a handful of times anyway, i can keep my stomach calm for the most part,”
“wonder where all that “keeping your stomach calm” went whenever you’d go bitching and moaning about a stomachache,” sanji murmurs, lighting his cigarette, “i have to go into to town, should we all go together?”
“eh, but i don’t want to be with you sanji, i much prefer robin and chopper!”
“hah?! as if i give a fuck about if you want to be me with or not, idiot, i’m obviously only interested in hanging out with robin,” sanji shouts, then quietly adds in, “sorry, chopper,”
”it’s alright, i expected it!”
“sanji, no matter how hard you beg, i won’t be joining you,”
“i ain’t begging for shit from you!!”
“well, it would be smart if you guys were to be going separate, don’t you think?” zoro chimes into the conversation, “thinking back on what this shit for brains said earlier,” [name] smiled widely at his referral, making zoro shake his head, “the government might be on high alert for robin or [name], best for them if they get both. robin and [name] travelling together hardly sounds smart now that we know what we know,”
there’s a silence on board before robin nods her head, “i suppose you do make a point,”
“interesting, so the marimo can think clearly sometimes,” sanji says in bewilderment, making [name] clap his hands in amazement.
“so proud of you, zoro!”
“shut it!” zoro snarls, “i’m going to stay on board to watch over merry while you guys head into town, so however you go in doesn’t really affect me. just thought i’d remind you of the position we’re in,”
with that, he breaks away from the conversation and goes to sit on the railing.
“he likes to pretend like he doesn’t care, but in reality this is him confessing his undying love for all of us and saying he cares a lot for our safety!” [name] proclaims.
“well, his confession of undying love already did happen earlier…”
”no way!”
“mhm! we should tell you about it!”
“yes! i want to hear! who’s the unlucky soul?!”
you could almost hear the sounds of crickets with how quiet merry got. sanji broke the silence, though, when he continued off of where zoro left them with.
“if that’s the case, then shit for brains should come with me,” sanji spoke up.
“i was going to say, i agree! i would like for robin to come with me!” the heads all look to chopper who is speaking with a rushed tone, his hoof raised in the air as if he were in school. feeling the pressure of all eyes on him, he goes on to explain shakily, “well, since me and robin are more interested in books and…bookstores…than you guys it only makes sense,”
[name] pouts before nodding his head in understanding, “this is true, it does make more sense. plus, if you add on what nami said earlier, my face walking alongside you guys would just be asking for everyone to find out about us, more importantly - me and robin being here. so i’ll instead make everyone chase sanji!”
“as long as they’re beautiful ladies,” he breathes out, shrugging his shoulders, “this arrangement sounds fair to me,”
“very carefully crafted plans, i hope nobody tries anything lest they feel the wrath of the strawhat pirates,” robin jokes, obviously fine with the plan as well as she guides chopper to the dorms to change.
”hey, we are going to leave soon. i just have to check inventory and make a list of supplies then we will head out too,” sanji says, stepping away from [name] to get to his duties.
that leaves [name] to go change into different clothes. as he’s changing, he sees his sword resting on his bed. he’d usually leave with it, but he’d rather not draw more attention. he looks down to his wrist and frowns as he sees the cloth that shanks had given him still securely wrapped.
he takes the sword and begins undoing the knot, retying it to go around the handle of his sword. after fixing his outfit for the last time, he steps back onto the deck just in time to catch robin and chopper leaving. he bids them farewell, reminding them to stay safe, before going to find zoro.
as expected, he’s sitting where he was before and plopped down right in front of him.
“zoro, i have a favor,”
“scram, don’t bother me with your bullshit,”
“hey!! i’m being serious,” this makes zoro crack one eye open and look [name] over.
“what is it?”
“please, i need you to look after my sword,” [name] presents the sheathed sword to zoro who just quirks his eyebrow up in surprise.
”why would i do that? just bring it with you,” then he notices the cloth on the handle and narrows his eyes, “hey, you never go anywhere without that raggedy thing on you. don’t tell me you’re planning something?”
the unspoken words are clear that zoro doesn’t even need to clarify. he’s insinuating that leaving his sword and cloth with someone else, not on his person, is the least likely thing to come from [name]’s own mouth. a warning flag is going off in zoro’s head, telling him not to do this “favor” for [name], for everyone’s best interest.
”i just don’t want to attract too much attention, idiot. don’t go overthinking this,” [name] rolls his eyes at zoro’s odd way of showing that he cares, “i’m leaving the cloth here only so i don’t lose it. i’m not sure if i’ll be in my right state of mind with all that abnormal water currents surrounding me, i might act weird and misplace this cloth…not to say i’d go insane or something! from the water! i just don’t know how i’ll react so i don’t want to take chances!!”
zoro doesn’t look impressed. the words sound like bullshit to him, anyway.
“i don’t believe you.”
“oi!!” [name] cries out at zoro’s blunt tone, “just do me a solid and watch over them.”
“and i’m telling you, i won’t. take them with you,” zoro insists, glaring at [name] and poking his finger into [name]’s forehead, “quit your lies!”
“what lies?! i’m being honest!” [name] cries out, rubbing his sore forehead as he beggingly looks at his crewmate, “please, zoro! it’s really only for the reasons i said…trust me,”
zoro grumbles, narrowing his eyes before taking the sword off of [name]’s hands, “so goddamn annoying…”
“ah! zoro, so you do love me!!!” [name] exclaims, going ahead to smother zoro’s smaller frame with his and hug him tightly, “thank you so much, don’t worry, i’ll be back to get them off of your hands when sanji and i return!”
“whatever! i don’t care what you have to say, don’t make me regret it, idiot!” zoro grabs [name] by the ear and pulls him off with enough force, leaning in and pressing his forehead against his with a fierce glare, “are you hearing me, shit for brains?”
“ow! ow! ow! i hear you, zoro, i promise i won’t make you regret it!”
“ah, zoro, where is rob-” sanji’s words are cut off as he steps up the stairs and looks to see the scene in front of him. [name]’s body positioned in between zoro’s legs, his arms resting on either side of the swordsman due to his past cuddling. their faces inches apart and barely any space left in between them.
“what the hell.” sanji’s curly eyebrow shoots upwards as he takes in the sight in front of him.
zoro immediately pushes [name] off of him and glares at sanji, “shut the hell up!”
“i didn’t say anything,” sanji shrugs, a smirk on his face, “so it was true then? your love confession earlier?”
“eh? what love confession?”
“i said shut the hell up and like hell it was! there was no love confession!” zoro cries out, glaring at both of them, “are you guys trying to get me to slice you both up?!”
“i didn’t say anything though!”
sanji only shakes his head and points a finger at zoro, “me and [name] are going to go into town for grocery shopping now. make sure you watch over merry while we are gone,”
“whatever, ero-cook. hope you drown in the city of water,” zoro grunts.
“c’mon, [name], let’s head into town!” sanji calls out, the man immediately attaching to his side in the blink of an eye.
“hey, hey, sanji will you treat me to some coffee when we go?! say you will, say you will!”
“nami gave you your own allowance, get off me,” sanji grunts, pushing [name]’s face away from his own. but there was zero strength behind it as he did so, “we don’t even know if they have a specialty bean, idiot,”
“coffee is coffee! besides, every city has their own special bean! remember!”
“yeah, yeah,” sanji half heartedly replies, looking over his shoulder at zoro, who was watching them with a stoic face, “try not to do something stupid while we are gone marimo!” there’s a smirk on his face as he drapes his arm around [name]’s shoulder and jumps off of merry with the taller man attached to his side.
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