Chapter Text
"Do you even try?" The man jawns, gracefully hiding it behind a palm. He holds a dagger in another: one of the shortest blades he's ever seen, more like a woodcarving knife than a sword; and yet he still can't land a single hit. Why is he so weak?
Zoro places a hand over his wound, trying to keep blood from spilling, but suddenly falls into the sea. Water immediately fills his lungs, not giving him a single chance to struggle, and he closes his eyes, accepting the inevitable.
Someone grabs him around the shoulders and pulls to the surface. He coughs, once he's able to breathe again, and lifts his face to see a very upset girl. Upset and wet from the sea.
"She killed Usopp! I saw it with my own eyes!" He blinks. The man seems genuinely terrified, but that can't be. He just saw her. She couldn't have killed anyone. Why would she?
Out of the corner of his eye Zoro notices his new friend pull out a slingshot and curses under his breath. Why can't they stay out of this?! He can't fight off these guys and protect them at the same time! Bullet lands right in his shoulder, and Zoro grimaces from the pain, but ignores it.
"Is that all you have?" The voice sounds disappointed now and he clenches his teeth around Wado's handle, "I expected more."
Deep breath. He swings around, ready to continue the fight, but instead sees a young man with short black hair in a small cage.
"You really can't cut through it?" The man, barely a teenager, still with a childish face, sighs and taps the metal bars, "Well, not like I can break them either."
That's not his enemy. His enemy was...
"Swordsmans are totally useless against me!" The blue-haired clown laughs maniacally, his limbs twisting off in smaller particles, "Even Hawkeye can't cut me!"
That's right. He ignores the obnoxious red nose and looks around, trying to find the man. There's someone standing on the edge of the cliff, but the closer he gets the more obvious it is that she's a woman. She turns around, her eyes deep with grief and loneliness.
"Is it really a crime to live?"
No, of course it's not. He wanted her to stay. He was just scared-
"Did you really think I'd hurt you?"
How could he know? What if she did? What if she did, and everyone got hurt, just because he wanted her to stay?
His snail rings before he can reach her. Zoro stops and picks up the call, noticing how transponders features quickly morph.
"So, that's the situation," The snail informs him, shivering from the rain, "I'm going to rescue her."
No! The people they met back there were simply on another level, he can't let him challenge them on his own. Even their captain lost, what if they can't get there in time?
"Would you wait? If that was you?" The same kid from before asks him, his eyes serious despite the childish face. He can't lie to them.
"Can you wake up?" The small girl that tailed behind them tags on his pants, trying to ger his attention. She smiles, as always, and her braids sway a little from the wind, "You have to eat."
He shouldn't. He still can taste vomit in his mouth.
"There we go," Sanji pulls the swordsman up. Moss was mostly unconscious for the past three days, but when he did wake up he was delirious and clearly unaware of his surroundings. Usually vomiting, too. None of this was the issue, but it was increasingly hard to feed him anything. Most meals got rejected minutes later, omega refused to chew any solid food and on one instance he got sick from the smell alone. He ended up brewing a rich broth with thinly cut meat and vegetables.
Zoro didn't stay in one position for long, unable to properly support himself, but he was ready for this and simply sat the man in front of him, letting him lay down on his chest.
"Alright, Mossy, we're not going back to sleep right now, okay?" Sanji gently shaked him before picking up a spoon. Omega stares at it for a long second, dazed, but eventually opens his mouth and swallows the soup.
"Good job. Tasty, right?" Honestly, he was just talking to himself here. Even if Zoro heard him, he didn't give any sign that he understood him or even registered his words, which, per doctors statement, was normal to his current state. He keeps feeding him, happy that the man didn't seem to throw up the food this time. After the bowl empties, he carefully lays him down back under the blanket, "You can rest now."
Swordsmans eyes immediately flutter shut. He was still shaking and his temperature was high, but it seemed to get much better than before.
When he saw tears on his eyelashes for the first time, something in Sanji broke. The only time he ever saw the man cry was back on Baratie, during his fight with Hawkeye, but even then he didn't look anywhere this vulnerable and hurt. It wasn't something he was supposed to see. And yet he couldn't leave or look away, instead holding the swordsman in his arms through the night. He was feeling guilty, but he was asked to look after him, right? And he would never tell a living soul about what happened.
Distracted my his thought, Sanji doesn't notice when the omega takes his hand and only starts paying attention when he tugs on it. He almost falls over from the force of it, but catches himself just in time.
"Are you awake?" He asks, hovering over the man, and Zoro does look back, however he still looks out of his mind. His scent is sour, laced with distress, "What's wrong? Do you need something? Water?"
Instead of answers, omega just tugs his hand again. Is he... Is he asking him to lay down? Blonde quickly glances to the dirty dish, but this obviously takes prevalence. He will scrub it down later, now he slowly lays down next to the man. The moment he does, Roronoa scoots closer and presses his face into his shirt, closing his eyes again.
"Did you want to cuddle?" He doesn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth. This is the most lucid Zoro has been for the past three days and this is what he asks for? Of course, he can't deny him. Sanji lifts up the blanket so it doesn't get in the way and wraps his hands around the man, bringing his body closer. His shaking seems to go down with the gesture and Zoro lets out a soft sigh, unexpectedly content. His scent sweetens up a little: it was earthy and herbal, with distinct notes of thyme and eucalyptus, but now there was a small floral note he couldn't tell apart. Alpha buries his nose in short green hair, inhaling the sweetness, "Please don't kill me when you wake up..."
This isn't... A place where he expected to wake up. Simply because he didn't know what this place was. Judging by the gentle rocking and a blue scenery out of the circular window, it was a ship. Sunny?
Zoro sits up, looking around the room. It was hard to focus on anything, as if his brain was filled with fog. Strangely, he felt safe. It must have been Sunny then. But the room was so empty... Only a bed he was laying and... Oh, there was his swords. Where is his sash? Not here... Not here either...
The belt was nowhere to be seen, so he only takes Wado. Blade sits comfortably in his hand, its weight familiar. Zoro looks around the bed again just to make sure, but instead notices a strawhat laying near. That's... Luffys, isn't it? He picks it up and notices a strange smell. The hat smelled of sea and meat: which was normal for it, but now there was a separate fruity smell he hasn't noticed before. It was weird. It's just a smell, but it was different. Much like... Like the lemony scent he felt while he was sleeping, but it was still here, lingering around the room. It wasn't part of his dream then?
The bed looked empty. Maybe another blanket and pillow or two will fix the situation? He can grab something from the bedroom. Zoro nods to himself and shuffles over to the edge, standing up and almost falling in the same breath. Why is his body so weak all of the sudden? And he doesn't have any shoes... Oh, right, he was laying in bed. That's why.
He stands still for a few minutes, waiting for the weakness to pass or at least lessen, before walking to the door, Wado and the hat still in his hands.
The hallway meets him with another set of scents. He was convinced this was Sunny now, so they must have belonged to his crew. There was a heavy orange smell, lightweight rosemary, wisteria and more, somehow not mixing into one and still being distinguishable from one another. It distracts him, enough to spend good fifteen minutes just wandering around before finally finding his destination.
Bedroom was empty. Well, not empty like the room he woke up in, but nobody else was here. Also some of the scents were stronger here and, without thinking, he walks over to the lockers.
Ah, yes. Yes, yes, this will make a nice addition. This too. And this bandana. And this shirt. And this jacket. Oh, wait, this is a better one. Yes. And this shirt too... He can put it between the pillows.
Soon the clothes start flowing through his hands, dropping on the floor, but Zoro doesn't notice it, concentrated on his treasure hunt. By the end of it he felt so tired, he wasn't sure he'd make it back to the room. Maybe he should just have a nap here, in his bed.
Hugging the pile to his chest, omega walks over to the bunks and quickly notices one of them has the same citrus smell over it. The decision is made quickly and he throws the other stuff on the bed before climbing under the blanket. He was already tired, but now, surrounded by this nice scent, he quickly falls into a peaceful slumber.
"Oh, fuck! What the hell happened here?" Usopp has just opened the bedroom door to complete chaos. It looked like a small hurricane went through the lockers, pulled out half of their things and them scattered them across the room, somehow painting the path towards... Oh, for everloving fuck. He refuses to look at Sanji's bed, instead turning away and screaming, "Sanji! Sanji, come here! Sanji!"
"I'm not deaf!" Thankfully. Usopp pities him a little: the cook looked like a mess, going around the ship in his casual clothes instead of his suit, his facial hair grew out a bit, adding a few years to his face, and he definitely started developing dark circles under his eyes. Oh, how blessed he was with being born a beta.
"Chill! I'm helping you, you know," Still, he rolls his eyes and nods to the room. Sanji scans over the disaster and quickly comes to the same conclusion he did, but instead of turning away he rushes in, "Man, must be nice to be young and in love."
Nevermind that he's younger than both of them. Despite his words, Usopp definitely doesn't want to see where this leads, so he decides to return to the workshop empty-handed and just wait it out.
He was worried something have happened. That Zoro has woken up in pain and had no one to ask for help, or he woke up confused why he was alone or- Well, maybe he wasn't thinking logically. But seeing the man peacefully curled up in the bunk was furthest thing from distress.
"Mossy, you can't sleep here," He sits down on the edge of the bed, gently shaking the omega awake, "You're still in heat, we have to go back, okay?"
Swordsman slowly opens his eyes and he still has the same dazed look, but it seemed more focused now. Blonde decided to take this as a good sign and continue his negotiations.
"We can take all of the clothes you picked out there too. And then you can rearrange them however you want, yeah?"
Roronoa finally looks up at him and he expects anything from getting hit for the sweet talk to him just falling asleep again. The man does neither, instead rolling on his back and pulling him into a hug. Okay, maybe Sanji wasn't expecting anything. But in his defence, what on Earth could have prepared him for this?
"I'm glad you're here," Omega murmurs and it's the first thing he has heard from him in days. He folds in the same breath, leaning down even more and hugging him back. As nice as it is, with each passing second his instincts keep screaming at him to get Zoro back to 'safety', before anyone else comes by. It's much easier to pick him up when Moss has wrapped his hands around his neck, and Sanji grabs as much else as he can. He gets the strawhat, the sword, his own blanket, and some messy knot of shirts and sashes, and bandanas and some other random cloth. Luckily the swordsman doesn't object to being carried, so their trip back to the heat room goes smoothly.
"Finally," He breaths out, relieved they didn't run into anyone, and brings his carry to the bed, laying Zoro down with all of his stuff. The latter still refuses to let him go, so Sanji doesn't have a choice but to comply and lie down next to him. Not like he doesn't want to.
"How is your stomach? Your head? Do you feel sick anywhere?" He maneuvers them on the side, so he can properly look the man in the face. Zoro shakes his head, which was a good sign, "What were you doing out there?"
"Bed was empty," Only now he notices how quiet and just outright tired omegas voice sounded. Not suprising, considering how violent his sickness was. But his reasoning? Was he finally showing interest in nesting? Chopper will be delighted.
"Are you happy with the stuff we brought?" This time Zoro nods.
"I'm tired..."
"Take another nap then. We'll have dinner when you wake up, okay?" Sanji pulls the cover over them. Swordsman nods and moves closer, relocating his limbs so he can press his face into blondes chest.
"I like your scent."