Work Text:
“What are those?”
“Hmm? What are what?” Sanji suspects his play at innocent confusion would’ve likely gone over better if it hadn’t been accompanied by him furtively tugging the sleeves of the robe he’s wearing down low on his wrists, but, in his defense, he’d thought the damn marks were too faint for anyone to be able to see them
Unfortunately, today is yet another example of the only luck he possesses being the terrible kind. Despite the fact that, out of anyone on the crew save for possibly Brook, he should have the worst vision of all, Zoro’s good eye narrows, and he points at Sanji’s wrists with the hand not currently holding an expensive bottle of sake.
“ Those ,” he repeats firmly, neither his hand nor his voice wavering as he speaks. “You’ve got something on your hands. I saw them.”
Mentally cursing the swordsman out for this unusual show of observational skills, Sanji shakes his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lies. “You must be imagining things.”
“I didn’t imagine jack shit,” Zoro retorts, his eye narrowing even further. “What’re you hiding, Cook? If it’s something Chopper should know about, and I’m the one who has to tell him about it, he’s going to be pissed.”
“You leave Chopper alone.” Sanji says sternly. “He’s got enough on his plate with all the rounds he’s still doing checking on people who were injured during the Onigashima raid, plus dealing with his own wounds. Besides,” he sighs when Zoro’s expression makes it clear that he’s not about to drop the subject. “He already knows.”
That’s enough to cause a surprised look to flit across Zoro’s face, and he tilts his head to the side, considering. “What happened?” He asks, his voice softer now. “Are you hurt?”
“Nah,” Sanji says, still aiming to play the matter off as a minor inconvenience. “It’s just some marks that are taking longer to fade than I expected. They’re nothing to worry about.”
Zoro’s brow furrows in a way that suggests he doesn’t believe him, but what he says out loud is, “Can I see them?”
Startled, Sanji quirks an eyebrow at him. Normally if Zoro wants something, he simply demands it until Sanji either caves or sends him on his way with a kick to the head. That’s only for ultimately harmless trivialities, however. If he’s using actual manners, that means he thinks this is serious.
Sanji chews nervously on the corner of his bottom lip while he debates with himself about how he wants to handle the matter. Eventually he grunts, though, and starts shoving back his sleeves.
“It’s not a big deal.” He says preemptively, struggling a bit with the heavy fabric because it doesn’t fold as well as his preferred dress shirts normally would. “Really.”
The look on Zoro’s face indicates that he’ll be the judge of that, but he says nothing as Sanji offers the limbs up for inspection. Instead, he curls his own calloused hands around Sanji’s slimmer ones with a gentleness that might surprise someone who doesn’t know him as well, and lifts them so he can see them better.
“Did this happen when you were fighting Queen?” He asks, his gaze flicking over the matching set of bruises that line Sanji’s wrists. “I don’t remember him using anything that would do something like this, but I was only there for part of it.”
There’s a place deep inside of Sanji that’s sorely tempted to lie and take the easy out that’s being offered to him. Yet, when he peers into Zoro’s eye and notes the obvious concern hiding behind the other man’s gruff tone, he finds himself swallowing instead.
“No,” he says, his tongue suddenly feeling too big for his mouth. “Queen had nothing to do with this.”
Zoro’s ensuing raised eyebrow invites him to continue, and he takes a deep breath, trying hard to fight down a shudder. “Judge,” he says slowly. “My - you know.”
“Sperm donor.” Zoro supplies helpfully, and Sanji could honestly kiss him for not using the term ‘father’, or even ‘biological father’ the way some of the others have taken to doing. As if that’s not too much of a connection in and of itself.
“Right, yeah.” Sanji nods. “Him. He, uh, well he put these bracelets on me when I was in Germa. More like cuffs, honestly. They were an insurance policy to try and make me behave.”
Zoro frowns at this, and briefly glances down at Sanji’s wrists before back to his face again. “What good would a pair of stupid cuffs do against you? Regular chains won’t hold you anymore than they will me.”
“These weren’t regular.” Sanji explains, although inwardly there’s a part of him that’s wriggling happily at the notion of Zoro implying they’re equals. “They were - well, they were bombs, if I’m being honest. He told me they were rigged to explode if I tried to tamper with them, and that he’d detonate them if I didn’t do what he wanted.”
“He … ” Zoro rasps, his expression stricken.
“Don’t worry,” Sanji says in a rush, hating that look with every fiber of his being. “It turned out to not be that big of a deal. He left the job of securing them to my sister, and she told me after the fact that she never switched them on. Nothing would have happened if he’d tried.”
“But you didn’t know that, did you?” Zoro asks.
“No.” Sanji admits quietly, and in anticipation of Zoro’s next question, he adds, “Judge didn’t know either. He thought they were live.”
“Meaning he had every intention of using them against you if it came down to it.” Zoro concludes, his mouth flattening when Sanji nods. “Luffy doesn’t know, does he?”
Sanji blinks, thrown by the apparent non sequitur. “What makes you say that?”
“Because Judge is still alive,” Zoro says darkly. “If Luffy had known, he wouldn’t have agreed to save him from Big Mom. He’d have left him to the fate he deserved, just like I would have.”
“He wouldn’t - I didn’t want that,” Sanji says.
“Yeah, I know.” Zoro replies, his voice a little softer now as he strokes both of his thumbs over the backs of Sanji’s hands. “That’s part of what makes you the best of us.”
“Don’t deny it.” He says when Sanji’s mouth automatically drops open to protest such a ridiculous statement. “I’m not in the mood to listen to you be stupid right now.”
“That’s rich, you calling somebody stupid, Algae-For-Brains,” Sanji says in a weak attempt to save face. “You wouldn’t recognize basic intelligence if it smacked you right between the eyes with a stick.”
“Not your best comeback, Cook.” Zoro tells him, his gaze never wavering. “Not even close if I’m being honest.”
“Fuck off,” Sanji grunts. He then goes to tug his hands back, only to find that he can’t because Zoro’s tightened his grip on them. “Oi, what are you doing, Mossball? I need those.”
“I know you do,” Zoro replies. “And that bastard Judge apparently knew it too. He’d better hope I never actually run into him. I don’t care what you say, his hands will have an up close and personal meeting with Enma and Kitetsu. Right before his head gets to know Wado.”
Sanji refuses to find this charming. “Brute,” he grunts. “You can’t just go around committing regicide whenever you feel like it. People will talk.”
“ People ,” Zoro says darkly, “can say whatever they damn well please. I don’t give a fuck.”
“I know what your hands mean to you.” He adds before Sanji can think of a properly witty response to this. “How important they are. And because I know that, I’ll protect them with the same devotion that you use when it comes to protecting my back. Anyone who thinks they can get in the way of that is going to wind up regretting it. Assuming they’re lucky enough to still be alive once I’m done with them.”
“You’re an animal.” Sanji murmurs, but he imagines his words are ruined thanks to the way he’s staring at Zoro like some kind of besotted fool. “Just a wild, untameable beast in a man’s clothing.”
“Maybe.” Zoro replies, grinning that dangerous grin that never fails to send Sanji’s heart racing. “But depending on who’s doing it, I do come when called.”
Sanji wrinkles his nose. “That was terrible,” he groans as the innuendo sinks in. “I can’t believe you - what are you doing?”
Rather than answer him, Zoro continues pressing his lips to Sanji’s knuckles, not stopping until he’s kissed each individual bump, and has then moved on to other parts of his hands. He trails a path up and down Sanji’s skin, his warm breath causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand up.
“I’m treating them the way they deserve.” He finally murmurs, and when Sanji tries weakly to tug them free, he places yet another kiss right in the center of his palm. “Judge may not have fully understood what he was risking, but I do .”
“He understood,” Sanji whispers softly. “That was the worst part.”
“You deserved so much better.” Zoro murmurs, his mouth brushing against the back of one of Sanji’s hands. “I’m sorry I wasn’t one of the ones who came to get you.”
“I’m not,” Sanji says, fiercely enough that Zoro’s eye widens slightly. “It was bad enough that anyone had to come chasing after me in the first place, but with the nature of the mission being what it was, not everyone could come. I’m glad you were here, protecting the rest of our family. I knew they’d be safe with you.”
“Always.” Zoro agrees, because if there’s one thing he takes seriously above all else, it’s his role as their crew’s main protector. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t still rather have you here, helping me do that.”
“I really didn’t want to leave,” Sanji replies in answer to this confession. “You know that, right? Even though I didn’t see another option besides the one that I’d taken, that never meant I was happy about it.”
“You mean you didn’t want to toss me aside for one of Big Mom’s daughters?” Zoro asks, his voice pitching ridiculously in faux surprise. “Well damn, Curls. I had no idea.”
“Asshole.” Sanji mutters, shuffling around until he can kick him lightly despite the hold Zoro still has on his hands. “Way too ruin the moment.”
In answer, Zoro snickers, but then leans forward to still a quick kiss before returning to his earlier ministrations on Sanji’s hands. “I was never worried,” he murmurs into the skin of his knuckles. “I trusted you to do what needed to be done, and I knew that Luffy and Nami would knock some sense into you if you went too far off the rails.”
“Then you have more faith in me than I did,” Sanji admits. “I almost gave up. I almost let them win.”
“Key word being almost,” Zoro reminds him. “You’re here now, every precious bit of you.”
“ Precious ?” Sanji squeaks. “That’s - ”
“True,” Zoro finishes when he flounders. “Suck it up and deal.”
Almost against his will, Sanji huffs out a laugh. “Have I ever told you that you have the strangest take on romance that I’ve ever encountered?” He asks. “Because, I’ve got to tell you, Mossball. No one does it quite like you.”
“Are you saying you want me to change?” Zoro wonders.
In response, Sanji shakes his head and tightens his own grip on their still joined hands. “Not on your life,” he says seriously. “You may be an idiot, but you’re mine and you’re real. I’ll take that over what I was facing in Germa any day of the week.”
“Good,” Zoro says. “And for the record, Whole Cake Island was your one freebie. If you ever pull a stunt like that again, it won’t be Luffy who chases after you, it’ll be me, and I’ll have a lot more to say about it than he did.”
“You know, I’m half tempted to try it just to see that?” Sanji muses. “Kidding, I’m kidding.” He quickly notes when Zoro scowls at him. “Don’t worry, you big ox, if anyone comes looking for my hand in marriage again, I’ll make it very clear that I’m spoken for.”
“Damn right you are.” Zoro says, and this time when he kisses Sanji’s hand, it feels like a promise.