Chapter Text
Sanji put fresh flowers on the grave and lit a new candle.
"How are you today?" he asked.
The dead can"t talk, but he didn"t mind getting no answers.
"Are you happy? Is it a nice place where you are now?"
He continued his monologue, just like all the times before.
"Of course it"s nice. Someone as wonderful as you has to be in a happy place."
The crushing weight of what he felt made him fall down to his knees. His chest hurt and Sanji couldn"t breathe. Tears welled in his eyes. His head hung low, lifeless. The anguish he felt was tearing him apart.
"Are you there?"
Sanji dug his fingers into the soil covering the grave in despair. He imagined clawing his way into the grave, embracing Zoro"s dead body, and laying there with him in an eternal embrace. He imagined them dead together, with maggots crawling in their bodies. He imagined himself rotting, and it was a comforting thought.
Sanji hit the ground with his fist in anguish.
"Why?" he screamed. "Why did you have to leave?"
Teardrops fell on the quiet grave that had no answers. Sanji shook with rage and despair and pain that never subsided, never let him have peace. Trembling, he felt the anger subside, leaving behind just the pain of loss.
"Zoro, are you… w-waiting for me?"
Uncontrollable sobs shook Sanji"s body.
"I hope you are."
He spoke so quietly that his voice was almost inaudible, but deep down, he wanted to scream again, to let the whole world know about his pain.
"You better be waiting for me there because…"
His tears splattered on the ground, soaking into the soil.
"Because I–"
He closed his eyes and imagined Zoro in front of him. Smiling, strong, and so warm.
"Zoro, even after all these years, I still love you. I miss you so much."
It"s been almost ten years since it all happened, since the day they met. Sanji never stopped visiting his grave. He still craved his touch, his warmth. He’d do anything to be in his embrace again, to kiss him.
Zoro"s love was engraved into his heart forever.
There was an empty place in Sanji"s heart, he was missing a piece of him. And he knew that without Zoro, he"d never be whole again.
"I"ll… I"ll never forget you," Sanji sobbed. "Never, until the end of my days."
"So please wait for me, wherever you are. I"m all better now. I live my life to the fullest, for the both of us."
He was gradually calming down, and his tears dried on his face. He lit a cigarette and breathed in the smoke that he adored.
Sanji felt strangely at peace. A gentle wind caressed his skin, and it was warm, just like Zoro"s fingers. He closed his eyes and imagined a gentle touch, a soft kiss.
"I"ll live," Sanji whispered. "For as long as possible. Just like you wanted."
The thought that Zoro was somewhere out there, on the other side… Waiting for him, at the place where souls went to rest after death…
It was all that kept Sanji alive all those years.
I"ll live, Sanji thought. For you.