Work Text:
Zoro has always felt Sanji’s emotions right alongside his own.
He hadn’t always known they were Sanji’s — that part came later, after he’d met the smarmy bastard and fallen head over heels in love with him — but that was the whole point of being soulmates, he supposed.
He felt everything that Sanji felt, his joy, his anger, every stubbed toe and broken rib, and Sanji felt everything Zoro did too.
At first he’d found it annoying. Sanji was very emotional, with fiery rage and swooning love popping up at the worst possible moments. But Zoro learned to live with it, even growing to appreciate them the more he got to know the cook. It was nice to know where Sanji’s mood was at without having to ask.
At some point, Sanji’s mood — and Sanji himself — had become extensions of Zoro, just as much a necessary part of him as his swords.
So after he woke up from his nap during the fight in Wano to fight King and Queen with Sanji, he was immediately thrown off kilter by the lack of Sanji’s emotions.
It was like their connection was now underwater. He could still tell Sanji was feeling, but he had to really dig in and focus on it to see what it was. It made him incredibly uneasy, but he was willing to chalk it up to the drugs Chopper and the Mink doctor had given him to get him back up and running.
Then Sanji had called him up in the middle of the fight and solicited a promise for Zoro to kill him if he ever wasn’t himself.
Zoro agreed — of course he did, he would agree to anything Sanji ever asked of him — but it didn’t stop him from worrying.
After everything was said and done, Sanji said it was fine, that whatever freaked him out enough to have him ask Zoro to kill him was resolved and to forget about it.
And yet, Zoro still couldn’t feel Sanji’s emotions. Not completely at any rate.
He’d get spikes of his more intense emotions — usually rage — but the others were still muted, and growing fainter by the day. When asked, Sanji insisted he was fine, that everything was normal, but as time wore on Sanji became more and more distant. Not just from Zoro, although he felt the brunt of it, but from the rest of the crew as well. His hair grew darker, he started snapping and sniping more and more, and soon Zoro couldn’t even feel anything from him, no matter how hard he pulled on their connection.
When Sanji started lashing out at the crew, attacking them unprovoked and without remorse, Zoro knew it was time to act.
This was why Sanji had him make that promise, his heart ached as he realized. This is what he was so afraid of becoming, a danger to the people he loved most.
Their next stop was a tiny spit of land, so small not even the log pose could get a reading on it. Zoro insisted the rest of the crew remain on the ship as he pulled Sanji away, took him as far away as they could get so they’d be out of sight of the ship, and demanded answers.
Instead he got a foot to the face.
“I knew it,” Sanji hissed as Zoro stared up at him, “You brought me out here to kill me. You can’t handle the perfection I’ve become.”
“Perfection?” Zoro snarled as he tired his bandana around his head and drew all three of his swords, placing Wado firmly in his mouth, “You’re hurting your crew! Do you even realize the damage you’re causing? Do you even care?”
Sanji scoffed as he got into fighting position, “If they can’t handle it then they’re too weak to live. This crew is holding me back from my real purpose.”
There was no denying it any more. Sanji was no longer himself, and Zoro had a promise to keep.
The fight was not like their usual spars. While those looked mean and vicious, they were actually quite tame. They each knew the other’s limits and knew how far to push things so they could grow and improve, but not so far as to actually do real lasting damage.
Sanji was going for the kill with every hit, exploiting each and every one of Zoro’s weak points to do so. And Zoro had no choice but to reciprocate if he wanted to keep his head. Them both going all out changed the landscape around them, fire burning anything green to ash and sword slashes carving deep gases into the rocks, making the little island almost unrecognizable.
It was strange fighting Sanji this way. He’d land hits, slice open his skin and make him bleed, but feel none of it. He had no idea if his hits were landing or if he was doing damage, and that more than anything else made him uneasy.
It was like he wasn’t fighting Sanji at all.
So he would treat this just like any other fight, like this was just another enemy out to harm their crew.
Zoro picked up the pace, his attacks becoming more vicious, more deadly, forcing Sanji further and further back, forcing him into a corner. When he did, he swung low at his knees, toppling him over to the ground. He drove Kitetsu through his shoulder and Enma through his opposite thigh to pin him there, sat on his legs so he couldn’t use those, and let Wado hover dangerously above Sanji’s heart, or what was left of it.
He stared down into the cold eyes of the man he loved, and hesitated.
He would do anything Sanji ever asked of him. He’d kill for him, he’d die for him, hell he would have lived for him if Sanji only said the word. And here he was, holding his life in his hands.
He’d lost his first rival and best friend too early in life. Kuina was taken from him by nothing more than a cruel twist of fate. And here he was, about to lose his rival and best friend by his own hand.
The tears formed before he could stop them, dripping down his nose and onto Sanji’s face.
Something came through their connection then, muted and stilted still, and he couldn’t quite make out what it was, but there was no denying it was there.
Sanji was feeling.
“Stop it,” Sanji snarled at him, thrashing about, paying no heed to the swords going through him, “Stop doing that!”
“Doing what?” Zoro asked, his brow furrowing when that only made Sanji more agitated.
“Stop feeling things at me!”
Zoro’s eyes widened. Maybe Sanji wasn’t feeling much of anything, but he could still feel Zoro.
And maybe Zoro could use that to pull him back.
He pulled Wado off of Sanji and placed her on the ground, ready to grab her in case he was wrong. He cradled Sanji’s face gently in his hands and pressed their foreheads together.
Sanji screamed at the soft touch, thrashing about even more as if Zoro was physically hurting him, “Stop it! Stop it you shitty fuck!”
Zoro ignored his outburst, instead focusing all his attention on their connection. He dug deep and found everything he felt about Sanji, all the passion and respect and care he felt for the man currently under him, and poured it through their connection, letting Sanji know exactly how he felt about him and how deeply he was loved.
Sanji kept fighting, but Zoro kept pushing, feeling enough for the both of them.
After a while, Sanji started to settle down, and Zoro could feel the throbbing echoes of Sanji’s pain in his own shoulder and thigh.
“Zoro…” Sanji said, small and frightened in a way he should never sound, “I…I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…”
And Zoro could feel it, he could feel Sanji’s remorse and regret right alongside his own joy and elation.
He was back, his Sanji was back.
Zoro pulled away quickly, removing his swords from Sanji and tossing them aside. Sanji sat up slowly, his arm coming up to clutch his shoulder as he looked away, refusing to meet Zoro’s eyes. His hair fell over his eyes as he looked down, and Zoro could see the blond roots coming back in.
“I…” Sanji clenched his jaw, “I’ll leave the crew, I shouldn’t-”
Zoro cut him off by grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug, pressing him against his chest as if to keep him with him forever, letting his love for Sanji continue to flow through their connection to him.
“Zoro…” Sanji’s breath hitched as he sobbed, “Stop…after everything I’ve done you shouldn’t still feel that way about me.”
“‘Course I do,” Zoro muttered into his hair, “You’re still Sanji, you’re still you. That thing that’s been masquerading as you is gone now.”
He pulled back, running his thumb along Sanji’s cheek to collect his tears, “You can just be you.”
Sanji sobbed again, then leaned forward to bury his face against Zoro’s chest, his arms coming up to hold him just as tight.
“What if it happens again?” Sanji mumbled, Zoro feeling the vibrations against his chest, “What if I start losing myself, what if I hurt our crew again?”
“I won’t let that happen,” Zoro stated, his voice firm on this matter, “I’ll love you so much you’ll have no choice but to be yourself again.”
“You’re such an idiot,” Sanji let out a watery laugh, holding Zoro tight.
They stayed like that for a moment, just holding each other, enjoying the other’s warm touch.
Sanji’s blood began seeping through Zoro’s jacket, and he realized that they needed medical attention, stat.
He pulled away and gathered his swords, sheathing them quickly before returning to Sanji’s side to scoop him into his arms.
“W-wait,” Sanji frowned, but he gripped Zoro’s shoulders tight all the same, “You don’t have to-”
“I want to,” Zoro said as he stepped over the destruction their fight had caused, “Besides, I beat you up pretty bad. I don’t think you’ll be able to walk.”
“Idiot,” Sanji huffed, leaning his head on his shoulder, “I fucked you up so bad I’m surprised you can stand.”
“Those shitty kicks?” Zoro scoffed, even as he still felt their impact throbbing through him with every step, “They were nothing. Like feathers brushing against me.”
“I almost killed you,” he snarled, “You’re such an ass.”
Despite his complaining, through the connection Zoro could feel the truth.
Appreciation, warmth, love. So much love it almost overwhelmed him.
He let it consume him, basking in Sanji’s feelings for him, giving his own in return.
They fell into silence as they made their way back to the crew, the space between them filled with nothing but love and each other.