The strawhats sail through a weird place on the grand line and zoro's teleported to the past
The catch? He doesn't go to shimotsuki village, but to germa instead
Zoro doesn't know a lot about the place or about its ruler, but the amount of soldiers he sees in the distance, the absolute grayness of his surroundings and the little bits of information sanji told him after wci are more than enough hints to help him guess where he is
Unaware of the change in time, though, figuring he was only transported to a different place in the world, he's ready to kick judge's ass and sanji's brothers' too if they're around, so he starts stomping around the castle grounds, looking for a door that can take him inside
Not surprisingly, the soldiers spot him within a few minutes and zoro, still putting on a fight, is taken into judge's presence (in the end he got what he wanted, to find judge, so he counts it as a win)
Inside the main room of the castle, judge eyes him up and down, staying a bit longer on the three swords strapped to his hips, and decides he'll spare his life if he's a fighter good enough to train his kids
Zoro raises an eyebrow, confused by what he means by that. Surely genetically modified adults don't need any training from him, but hey, he's not gonna say no the chance of kicking their asses being so easily handed to him on a silver platter
What isn't his surprise, though, when five kids enter the room
-
It doesn't take a genius to realize he somehow ended up in the past and he adapts to his new routine with some hiccups along the way
He keeps getting lost in the kingdom (and puts his money on it being all the snails' fault, it's obvious they keep moving and changing the layout of the place) and arriving late to the training sessions, but judge seems satisfied enough with his work and doesn't do much else other than to scowl at him
It doesn't take long for zoro to understand the dynamics between the siblings and he can't help but pay extra attention to sanji, making sure he doesn't push himself too hard to match the others while also making sure his brothers don't pick up on him
It might seem childish on his part, but he also gets into arguments with the boys more often than he'd like to admit
With sanji because he's always arguing he can endure more training or because the damn kid is scolding him for getting lost again (zoro can't believe this brat is as annoying as his older version!)
With the others because they've somehow moved on from sanji and decied to pick on him instead
They mock him for arriving late, call him weak for needing to use three swords
It's annoying and he wants to kick them all in the head, but hey, if sanji's being left alone he counts it as a small victory
Reiju's the easiest one to deal with, she listens to him and is strong too. Zoro also notices she seems amused at the change of behavior from ichiji, niji and yonji, and seems happy that sanji's having a good time for a change
-
Zoro accidentally meets sora once, having somehow wandered into the medical wing of the castle, and she profusely thanks him for looking after her children. She's talked to reiju and sanji recently and they seemed to have been on high spirits
She also thanks him for making some progress with ichiji, niji and yonji, something she herself has failed to do. Zoro doesn't know what to say to all of that and just bashfully scratches at the back of his neck, "I'll keep doing my best" he murmurs
He turns to leave the room and closes the door to the sight of sora smiling (a smile that reminds him of older sanji) and waving at him. He nods at her and feels like a promise's just been made between them
-
The training sessions continue for a few more weeks, the kids, specially the quadruplets, becoming more and mora attached to him, but before zoro knows it, he's teleported back to his present time
Sanji looks at him differently every time they cross paths and zoro can see it in his eyes it's because he remembers him from his past
Their relationship becomes awkward for a few days, like sanji's taking time to process what's happening, before it takes a turn for the better
They barely need to talk, there's an underlying understanding between them, a deep trust that's been built long ago, and they become closer than ever
They still bicker and push each other's buttons, but they can now spend peaceful moments together talking about anything and everything, reminiscing about the past, dreaming about the future
They dock at an island a few days later and zoro freezes when he spots one of germa's ships
Sanji's taken aback too, though he isn't as stiff as zoro is, he seems more at ease, like he's wrapping his head on germa being actually there
They have no time to discuss what they should do as three people land on the deck in front of them
Ichiji, niji and yonji are clearly surprised to see zoro, just as the swordsman is to see them, but they also look incredibly happy, or as happy as they can considering the whole lack of emotions thing
Zoro looks at sanji, confusion clear on his features, and sanji tilts his head to the side
"Has seaweed finally gotten to your brain, marimo? After the fight in onigashima I told you I talked to my brothers in wci about how I ended up on the same crew as our childhood instructor. I even told you I thought it was weird you didn't seem to have aged when we met in the east blue. They suggested judge, that fucking bastard, must've injected something in you all those years ago"
Zoro looks at him like he's grown another head, eye widening as the new memories trickle into his brain
In the meantime sanji continues, bashful, "Maybe I left out the part where they said they wanted to meet you again...? A-and it was because I knew you'd refuse to do it- but they sounded as eager as they could sound so I told them I'd get in contact after we left wano to tell them what island we were going to next..."
Zoro blinks slowly and tunes out the discussion that just started between the brothers, something about ichiji, niji and yonji arguing they weren't all that eager and sanji snorting, claiming that "Yeah, sure you're not eager, you're obsessed!"
What he focus on, though, is on the fact sanji had, and is having, a normal interaction with his brothers, which is a complete 180 from what he previously knew about their relationship
A warm feeling spreads in his chest and sora's smiling face comes to his mind, reminding him of their silent promise, now fulfilled
But he doesn't reminisce for long, ichiji, niji, sanji and yonji soon crowding him, demanding his attention and that he fights them
Zoro smirks and pulls out his swords, getting into a fighting stance
Guess he'll have to do his best not to end up disappoint sora, then, though honestly, he doesn't think he'll have any issues with that
