Oblivious
With a little help from Nami and Zoro, you and Sanji finally realize that your interest in each other is mutual
OPLA!Sanji/reader (uses they/them once, no use of Y/N)
Warnings: Fluff, a smidge of jealous Sanji, kissing
Notes: This is my first time trying to write for One Piece. I just loved the idea of reader making him too nervous to use his full charm 💕 Hope you like it 🥺👉👈
You hadn't joined Luffy's crew expecting romance.
Adventure and danger? Absolutely.
But butterflies in your stomach, and an ache in your chest that just wouldn't go away? Never.
Until Sanji boarded the Merry.
Sanji with his stupid blue eyes, and his stupid smile, and his–
"You should talk to him."
Zoro's voice nearly made you jump out of your skin. Moments ago, you'd been all alone on the upper deck, but when you turned your head, you found the man himself standing next to you, arms crossed over his chest.
"Zoro! You can't sneak up on me like that!"
"I just did," he said matter-of-factly, shrugging a shoulder. "Not my fault you were distracted."
"I wasn't distracted," you huffed, rolling your eyes. Your gaze ended up back where it had been. The lower deck, where Usopp fished as he regaled Vivi with a no doubt embellished story of a past adventure, and where–most importantly–Sanji casually leaned next to Nami as she pored over the Grand Line map. He caught your eye and gave you a smile, which you returned. "What makes you think I should talk to Sanji?"
Zoro could've easily brought up the fact that he hadn't even said the cook's name, but he decided to just to answer. "He likes you. You like him for some reason. And if I have to see you two make puppy dog eyes at each other one more time, I'm throwing myself overboard."
You scoffed. "I do not do puppy dog eyes. They are perfectly normal eyes, thank you very much!" Leaning on the rail, you let out a sigh. "And he doesn't like me. If you haven't noticed, other than Chopper, I'm the only one on the crew that he doesn't flirt with constantly."
The swordsman looked at you with the utmost seriousness. "He doesn't flirt with me."
Before you could stop yourself, you let out a loud, snorting laugh, loud enough to even make Luffy and Chopper tear their eyes from the horizon as they sat up on the figurehead. You quickly cleared your throat, face hot from the attention as you fully turned to Zoro.
"Classy," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching up in amusement.
"Shut up!" You gave his arm a half-hearted slap. "He totally does and you know it."
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Whatever."
Meanwhile, Sanji was watching from the corner of his eye. He'd been sneaking little peeks at you before, but Zoro's decision to join you had gotten his full attention. And after the sweet laughter you let out at something the swordsman said, he found it even harder to look away.
How could someone as dull as Zoro make you laugh like that when he couldn't?
"Someone's looking a little green."
He glanced at Nami for a moment, then back to you and Zoro, just in time to catch you playfully smacking his arm. "You think I'm jealous of ol' mosshead? You're dreaming."
"Maybe you should be." Nami hid a smirk as she looked up from the map. "He's strong, good with a blade, and let's not forget attractive." Sanji raised his eyebrow at her in surprise, and she shrugged. "What? I'm not blind. And neither are they."
"Strong, good with a blade, attractive. I've got all that in spades." But that was all bluster, because Nami's words were quickly sending him into a spiral. Surely you didn't have feelings for Roronoa Zoro of all people. "Do you really think a rare beauty like that would settle for him?"
It was something that most of the crew had caught onto pretty quickly. When you weren't around, he could go on all day about your radiance, how angelic you were. But the moment you were in earshot or he was speaking right to you, any charming words he had for you died on his tongue. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't defeat his own nerves when it came to you.
"If you don't say something soon, you'll find out the answer. And you might not like it."
Sanji found himself looking up at you again, taken by the way the sunshine lit you up you as you and Zoro stood in a comfortable silence.
A rare beauty indeed.
In spite of your efforts to resist, Zoro's words had wormed their way into your brain.
It made dinner quite hard, because you found yourself looking at Sanji in a different way. As if a veil had been lifted from over your eyes.
His smile and gentle touch to your shoulder as he placed your bowl of curry and rice in front of you, the proud gleam in his eyes when you tasted the meal and praised the lovingly developed flavors.
Was Zoro actually right? Had this been happening the whole time?
You couldn't find sleep that night, staring up at the wooded ceiling of your quarters as your mind went back and forth. Maybe what you'd noticed at dinner was just a result of the seed that your friend had planted.
But what if it wasn't?
Unless–
You threw the blanket off with a groan and got out of bed, quietly making your way to the galley in the calm of nighttime. Surely a snack would help calm you. You hadn't exactly left dinner satisfied, seeing as you'd let Luffy convince you to give him the last bites of your portion, despite Sanji's protests.
The kitchen was immaculately clean as you stepped inside, the only sign of dinner being the faint scent of curry lingering in the air. Your stomach grumbled at the smell, so you wasted no time cracking open the ice box and taking a look at what was inside. You spotted a block of cheese and pulled it out, grabbing a knife and chopping block as well. The last thing you wanted to do was actually cook something and dirty the kitchen. You could wash the board and knife when you were done, and Sanji wouldn't even know.
Well, that was what you thought until you heard his voice from the doorway.
"I was expecting to see Luffy." And though he had quite a lot of respect for the Straw Hats' leader, you were a much more welcome sight. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to tell you how stunning you were standing there in your sleep clothes, but he choked at the last second.
"I don't doubt it." Luffy was probably in there every night looking for a snack. It still amazed you that he could eat as much as he did.
Sanji stepped forward, realizing what exactly you were doing at his usual work surface. He wasn't sure whether to feel offended or hurt, or both. "You hate my cooking that much, do you?"
"What?" You looked up at him before you could make your first cut, finally registering how much closer he had gotten. "I don't hate your cooking."
He stood next to you, hands shoved into the pockets of his pajama pants. "You didn't finish your dinner. And now I find out you'd rather eat a block of cheese than ask me to cook you something."
"The food was delicious. It always is. And I do kind of regret giving it to Luffy. Knowing him, he didn't even taste it. It's a shame." His face lit up at your compliment, and you couldn't help a smile. "Are you saying you wanted me to wake you up so you could make me a midnight snack?"
"I'm the chef. It's my job," he said as if it were the most obvious thing. "In fact," he removed his hands from his pockets and held one out towards the knife, "allow me."
"Sanji. I can do this myself just fine."
He didn't lower his hand, he just slightly nodded his head towards it.
You sighed and gently placed the knife in his palm, your fingertips brushing against his skin. You could've sworn you heard a sharp little intake of breath at the skin to skin contact. It hadn't been your imagination. In fact, Sanji was quite glad for the lower light of the room at the moment, because then the flushing of his cheeks might not be so obvious.
You'd expected that he'd continue what you were doing, perhaps cutting the cheese into some odd shapes to show off his knife work. But he simply wrapped the block back up again and turned back to the ice chest. "Any requests?" He managed to ask, trying not to think too hard about your touch.
"You really don't have to–"
"I'm the chef, remember?" He gave you a smile that made your chest ache.
You leaned against the counter, the edge pushing into your hip. His eyes lingered there a moment until you answered. "Okay, fine. Surprise me."
The simple request really warmed his heart. You trusted him to make something that you would enjoy, and he had no intention of letting you down. Surely he could find some things in the limited food stock to make a meal fitting of someone so heavenly.
Your eyes didn't leave Sanji as he tied his apron on and got to work. There was something calming about observing him in his element. So practiced, so assured. You felt you could watch him do this all night.
"I know that Luffy can be...enthusiastic when it comes to food. But we can't have you going hungry like this," he said as he began chopping some vegetables. He knew from then on that he would be taking it upon himself to make sure this never happened again.
"Alright. Next time, I'll try harder to resist." Not that you would have to worry about that any longer. "So do you have some kind of sense for when someone's in your kitchen, or were you having trouble sleeping, too?"
"Yeah, I...I was just thinking too much."
"Same." Pausing for a long moment, your gaze dropped to the counter. You had to say something, and this felt like the right time. No one else around. Just you and him. "Um, I was thinking about something Zoro said to me earlier. When we were all out on deck."
Despite the lump in his throat, Sanji didn't miss a beat as he continued to cut with impressive precision. Something the swordsman told you had kept you up all night. That couldn't be good. Maybe Nami was right, and maybe he'd waited too long to tell you how he felt.
"Sanji, why don't you flirt with me like you do the rest of the crew?"
If not for his quick reaction time, he was almost certain he would've chopped off a finger from the shock. "What?"
"Well, Chopper and I are the only ones you don't flirt with. Him I understand since he's a deer and all, but I...am I that repulsive?" You couldn't help a little welling of tears, as hard as you tried to force it down.
Sanji put down the knife and turned to you, his expression much more somber than it usually was. And his eyes. They were no longer lovely like a clear blue sky, but dark and stormy.
Because you felt as if something was wrong with you.
Because he made you feel that way.
With that one devastating question, his nerves didn't seem so important anymore. He reached out to take your hands in his so gently, as if you might shatter. "You're not repulsive. Nothing about you ever could be. It's that...when you meet someone so magnificent, and so beautiful, words don't always come easily."
Your heart swelled in your chest, the warmth of his hands soothing against your own. "What you're saying is...you don't flirt with me because you like me too much?"
He laughed softly. "It sounds ridiculous when you say it like that."
"I think it's sweet."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm..." You let go of his hands and reached your hands up to his face, pushing his hair back out of the way so you could really look at him. "I also like you too much."
Sanji didn't think things could get much better than that, until you pulled him in for a kiss.
Breakfast started out the same as any other day, everyone filtering in and settling at the table as Sanji put on the finishing touches.
Only the two of you knew that you'd spent a good chunk of the night talking and making out in that very room.
Sanji came to you first, placing a hand between your shoulder blades as he sat a bowl of rice porridge down in front of you, dazzling you with a grin. In that moment, you realized that you couldn't recall a crew meal where he hadn't served you first. Even though he hadn't used sweet names or traded inuendos with you, he never failed to look out for you in every way he could.
Oh, you really had been oblivious.
Once everyone was served, Sanji took the seat next to you, eagerly awaiting your opinion. But, as lovely as the porridge smelled, before you even thought to try it, you leaned in towards him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you, Sanji."
A rosy tint covered his face. "Anything for you, my angel."
The chatter and clinking of silverware against dishes stopped abruptly–aside from Luffy, who couldn't seem to eat his food fast enough.
Usopp was the first to speak, throwing hands up. "Whoa whoa whoa. What's going on here?"
"Are the two of you...?" Vivi trailed off, just as confused as Usopp.
"Yes." Sanji answered without a moment of hesitation, taking your hand to place a kiss on your knuckles.
You nodded in confirmation, but frowned when you saw Nami and Zoro looking at each other.
"So, who made the first move?" Nami asked casually.
"Yeah," Zoro said, turning to you. "It was you, right?"
"Why do you care?" Between that question and your conversation the day before, he seemed a little too invested. Suspiciously so.
"They made a bet about it! Me and Chopper heard them!" Luffy said between mouthfuls of food, and the two in question groaned.
"The loser takes over the winner's cleaning duties for a month," Chopper added.
"What?!" Glaring daggers was a light description for the look you were giving Zoro at the moment. "You bet on me? Are you serious?"
"Oh man, you're in for it now!" Usopp teased with a clap to Zoro's back, glad that he wasn't the one on your bad side.
Sanji smirked at Nami. Using the swordsman against him was a genius move, he had to admit. "Sneaky thing, aren't you?"
Nami simply took a sip of her tangerine juice.
Technically, Zoro won. It was you who started the part of the conversation that finally pushed things forward. But, in spite of how well it had turned out, you were far too annoyed with him for trying to nudge you in a certain direction for his own gain, and you knew Sanji would never willingly let him win anything.
Your eyes softened as you turned back to Sanji, a mischievous smile playing at your lips. "You know...we should just keep that information to ourselves."
"I was thinking the same thing, darling."
Nami muttered to Zoro. "At least we don't have to deal with the constant pining anymore."
The swordsman drank to that. Though he did have a scary thought...could you and Sanji actually being together end up being more annoying than before?
The meal quickly went back to business as usual, besides the fact that Sanji was holding your hand underneath the table.
And despite finding out about Nami and Zoro's little plot, you couldn't have been happier...