i've been rewatching east blue while i wait for egghead to finish getting animated and my brain is just hopelessly consumed with thinking about sanji's slutty little waist chain 😭😭😭😭😭😭
i love this man so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭
cw: fluff. set after timeskip.
Tonight you’ve taken charge of kitchen cleaning duty, and Luffy - initially reluctant to do any type of chore but now eagerly mopping the floor because it means he gets to spend some alone time with you - is singing loudly as he works just paces away. Stationed in front of a mountain of dishes to wash and store away, courtesy of the man just mentioned, you find that despite his questionable singing voice you’re in some way lulled into a sort of quietude by it.
Scrub, dunk, set to dry. Scrub, dunk, set to dry.
You find yourself humming under your breath.
It’s been several months since you’ve all come together again to continue your collective journey and the time just spent with Luffy, particularly the last six months between the Island of Women and Luffy’s training island, is starting to become a remote memory. You wonder how much of the blossoming of your relationship was spurred from the combination of painful grief, loneliness and forced proximity, and what will remain now that that no longer exists.
You and Luffy are happy, as are all of the Straw Hats, to be a crew again. Raucous dinners abounding every night, nary a moment alone; there is always constant play and the ever pressing hope of adventure.
You wonder every once in a while if that will change things.
Luffy stops singing abruptly, and somehow the sound of silence is deafening, as though the mirthful notes were sucked out by a vacuum. You turn a little too fast, such that it almost appears accusatory, and look right at him.
“Is everything okay?”
Luffy looks at the suds-filled bucket in front of him for a moment, then looks up at you. A big grin resumes on his face in response to your worried one, which only serves to confuse you further.
“I missed sleeping next to you, what if-”
Your cheeks warm.
“No.”
You turn back to wash the dishes but you can practically feel the pout in your direction, and in a comically long single stride over next to you, he places his chin on your shoulder.
“But-”
“Luffy, Nami and Robin will be right there-”
“Okay, they can cuddle too!”
Your eyes widen and you turn to look at him but he’s grinning, impossible to faze.
“Go cuddle with your mates in the men’s quarters then!” you hiss.
He pouts, wrapping his arms around your waist multiple times over. “But the point is to cuddle with you,” he whines.
“It’s inappropriate,” you insist, even if your face is growing hotter by the second. You turn on the faucet again, but forgetting what you’re doing you end up scrubbing your hands furiously even though you don’t need to in the least before realizing what you’re doing and stopping abruptly, letting out a sigh.
Luffy still hasn’t let go.
“I can kick everyone out of the men’s quarters,” Luffy offers, grinning. “They’ll understand!”
“Like hell they will.” You reply, just imagining the sheer dirty look Zoro would give you and Sanji would give Luffy, and he pouts.
“Well, how about the lifeboat?”
You finally wriggle around in his grasp to face him.
“All this just to sleep in the same bed?” you ask, incredulous. He nods emphatically, then kisses you on the forehead.
“Yeah, duh.”
Mollified despite yourself, you give him a long discerning look then let your arms wrap around his shoulders before pressing a kiss to his nose.
“How about we start with a nap on the couch in a couple minutes, okay?” you suggest, and he smiles, finally unwrapping you to finish his work. His song resumes and the mountain of dishes to wash continues to decrease just like any one of your misgivings about how much Luffy loves you.
And to think you thought things would change.
Summary: The same man calls you every Friday at 11:30PM. It seems like he has nothing better to do. After months of the same routine, you've started to take a liking to him, which is a problem, considering that he's your client... and you work at a phone sex hot line. WC: ~7k. CW: NSFW content! ANGSTY! Afab reader w/gendered language (she/her pronouns). Masturbation, oral sex. MDNI plz!
“Hello?”
You’re very familiar with the caller on the other end of the line. He calls you once a week—every Friday, after his shift at the bougie restaurant he works at, 11:30PM on the dot.
He must be very attractive, or at least that’s what you’ve garnered over talking to him for many months.
At first, he was evidently too shy to make use of your more… explicit services. This is a phone sex hotline, after all.
He honestly sounded like he just needed someone to vent to. So, you listened, as was your job. After the first few months, you both got more accustomed to one another. His shyness melted away. He got friendlier.
It’s been six or seven months since he first called. You’ve become very fond of him, but you have no idea what he looks like. So, one day, you decide to ask.
“Your voice is so sexy,” you start, giving him a line that you gave everyone, except this time you mean it. “I can’t help but wonder what you look like, Sanji.”
With other callers, you’d have to check what their name is before you say it. But you’re far past that point with him, and every time you say his name it makes his heart flutter.
“Well,” he says. “I’m blonde. And my eyebrows have a little… curl to them. I’m a decent height and I have a bit of a goatee.”
“And what color are your eyes?” You ask, trying to get the full picture.
He notes that question. It’s a thoughtful one. You’re thoughtful, in general. He knows that you are just being nice to him because, well, it’s your job, but also… he can’t shake the feeling that you have a soft spot for him. Do you talk to everyone like this?
“My eyes? Hmm. It depends on who you ask. I don’t know, really. Some people say they’re black, other people say grey, I’ve had a few tell me they’re blue. I’m not sure.”
You hum in response. There’s a beat of silence.
“What sort of eyes do you like?” He asks. He’s cheeky like that. You have the feeling that he has a real soft spot for you, too. Why else would he call you every week? There are plenty of others he could call. But he just sticks with you every time.
You respond. “It depends on who you ask. But historically I have liked guys with black, grey, or blue eyes. Do you happen to know anyone who fits the bill?”
He can tell that you’re smiling. He finds himself blushing, getting giddy for a few moments before he realizes that oh, right, you are at work, and oh, right, he is paying you to talk to him, like the loser he is.
His voice falters a bit the next time he speaks, a couple of seconds later. You know the exact thought that just went through his head. It’s something you are well aware of but… it does make you a bit sad with him. You like him far too much for your own good.
You wonder if you would like the look of him in real life, painfully single as you are. You wonder if he would like the look of you.
You might have a teeny tiny crush on this guy you’ve never met. Teeny tiny is a massive understatement. Just because he’s so consistent—you’ve never met a man as consistent as him—and so kind, and such a gentleman, even on the phone.
But tonight, the call ends earlier than usual. It seems that your open flirtation was a bit too genuine for him. Hit a bit too close to home. He finishes the conversation and dodges your attempt to take it farther.
“Thank you as always, beautiful. It’s a pleasure to talk to you. See you next week.” The phone hangs up abruptly. He’s gone now.
He always calls you beautiful, like everyone else does, but… it just means something coming from him. Maybe because he’s the only caller who has ever wanted to truly know something about you. And every time he hangs up, he says ‘see you next week,’ even though you never see each other. It’s cute.
You find yourself wishing he was still on the line. You’re a bit bummed that he hung up this early, not because you’re going to be left wanting for money (he always overpays), but because you always look forward to talking to him.
When you take the next caller, you’re quickly reminded that Sanji is by far the youngest and kindest of anyone who has ever called you.
---
“Hello?”
He’s on the line again. It’s Friday again, 11:30PM sharp.
You respond, tone warmer than it needs to be, given that you’re speaking to a client. “Hi.”
You’re glad to talk to him. Very realistically, this is the only interesting thing you have to look forward to—it’s not like you can afford to go out and party on the weekends. Or any day, for that matter. He’s your Friday night date every week. That doesn’t escape him.
“How was your week?” He asks, like he always does. He’s the only client who has ever asked you that.
You respond as frankly as you can without overstepping. “Hmmm. It was alright. Pretty boring, in general. It could have been better. How was your week?”
He pauses for a moment. “It was pretty good.”
“Tell me about it.” You prompt, and he begins detailing his week for you, as is your routine.
The things you know about this man’s life are random and vast, among them, you know that he lives in the city next to yours, he eats oats every morning for breakfast, and that he chain smokes as often as he can get away with (which is almost 24/7). You’ve been privy to him trying to cut back on his nicotine intake more than a few times, and he has never forgotten that you cheer him on every time he tries.
Among other things, this week he had to go to work on his usual day off (Wednesday) because the sous-chef called out (again). You can hear him roll his eyes when he says that. You roll them too, even though he can’t see.
He vents about that, and you hear him out.
“The sous-chef sounds like a real asshole,” you say. “Always has. Didn’t he call out a couple weeks ago?”
He laughs out loud at your honesty. “I fucking know, right? And yes, he did. It’s ridiculous.” Then his heart skips a beat. You really do pay attention to what he says.
“They don’t appreciate you as much as they should, Sanji. I bet I could talk some sense into them.” You say, and you both chuckle for a moment.
“What else happened this week?” You follow up, genuinely wanting to know. This man fascinates you. With how charming and sweet he is, it’s a wonder to you that he’s single. Also, the life he lives is quaint. He is a man of routine, a hard worker, and he’s driven. He has a strong and warm personality.
When he replies to your question, you can’t quite make out the tone of his voice—is that reluctance? Hesitation? Shyness? Or awkwardness? It’s hard to tell.
He responds to your question. “Well… I went on a date last night.”
Before you can wonder why, your heart starts to sink. Fuck. You really do have a crush on this guy, don’t you?
You regrettably (internally) acknowledge your disappointment. You do have a massive crush on this guy. And he’s your client. So, get a grip.
Your acting skills have to be excellent for this job. You make good use of them now. “Oh, a date?” You emanate the pinnacle of excitement for him. “How was it?”
This has happened maybe half a dozen times before. The dates always go well but the follow through rate is bad. Obviously. Or else he wouldn’t be here. But every time it has happened, your heart always sinks. Not a fun feeling.
“It went really, really well.” Sanji’s voice is happy. “Might have been the best date I’ve ever been on.” You know he’s smiling right now. Positively beaming. Your heart breaks a bit before you reprimand yourself. You have no right to like this man the way that you do.
He probably wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot-pole if he met you in real life (you tell yourself this, and you know it is a lie, but you try to say it to make yourself get a grip… needless to say, this strategy doesn’t work.)
“How was she?” You ask because you know he wants to talk about it.
“She was thoughtful, kind, and considerate. Very sweet. Kind of like you, actually.” He says, not realizing how much those words make your smile fall. “One of the cooks set us up. Like a blind date. I had no idea what to expect but she was gorgeous. Wow. So funny, too.”
His voice trails off. It’s your turn to talk.
“Awh, Sanji, I’m so glad. You deserve some attention.” Your voice is sugar coated like usual and his heart patters.
The conversation wanders into various topics. The woman he went on a date with is a veterinarian. That sours your mood. She must be real swell. Caring for sick animals and all that stuff. Ugh. The whole topic is forcing you to accept the fact that you like this guy wayyyy more than you should. You have no business having this intense of a crush on him, having this intense of a crush on a man who is, ostensibly, and for all intents and purposes, using you as his rent-a-girlfriend.
The pair of you then talk about relationships—has he ever been in one? (Yes, ages ago.) What is his love language? (Physical touch and acts of service.) What’s his type? (Essentially, you.) You ask him questions and he asks you them back. It’s a nice conversation, an intimate one, one that would have you feeling better if not for the fact that he just happened to have an amazing date.
After a while, the conversation dwindles. You know that he’s in the mood to do what this whole thing is really about—phone sex. When Sanji is in a really good mood or a really bad mood, he takes advantage of your expertise in this area. Tonight is the former.
“Is there anything else on your mind, handsome?” You ask, gauging what he’s up to tonight.
“Mmmm, there is. What are you wearing, gorgeous?”
You smile. He’s cute. Usually, you lie when men ask you this question. But with Sanji you tend to be a bit more truthful. Maybe it’s the fact that you feel like he’s going to get taken off the market soon and never call you again one day, or maybe it’s something else, but you’re getting the urge to be more candid and flirtier with him than you’ve ever been before. Real flirty, not work flirty. You’re getting the urge to step out of whatever character you put on when you pick up the phone.
“Do you want the regular client answer, or the Sanji answer?” You say, bold and not giving a fuck. Why not? He can have the real answer, hell, he can have some realness because you’ve talked for so long, and because you like him so much. Like you said, he deserves some attention.
“Oh. How about both?” He’s tickled and intrigued. “I’m flattered that I have my own option.”
“You always do. Well, the regular client answer would be that I’m wearing a babydoll slip dress made of black mesh… with a black lace thong and thigh-high black stockings. Do you like that?” Your voice starts to transform; it starts to drip pure lust, candied in honey and flattery. It’s a well-trained skill. Sanji gets hard almost immediately, tenting his pants and widening his thighs.
“I like it very much.” His voice is getting huskier, thicker. You love it when he sounds like that. His voice really is sexy. He continues. “Now, tell me the Sanji answer.”
“It isn’t nearly as glamorous. Do you still want to know?”
He nods, but it’s not like you can see him. “Of course.”
“I’m wearing a black tank top and blue plaid sweatpants. No bra, but I actually am wearing a black lace thong.” You laugh. “Very sexy, right?”
His voice comes out raspier this time. “It is, though. I much prefer the Sanji answer.”
“You’re sweet.” You say, and he can tell you mean it. “Now, what are you wearing?”
Sanji blushes and his erection strains against the fabric of his boxers. “Do you want the regular client answer, or the You answer?”
You laugh again. “How about both?”
“Well,” he continues. “The regular client answer is that I’m in black slacks and a white button down. A few buttons are undone and my sleeves are rolled up to my forearms. I’m wearing black loafers and black socks. Now, the You answer isn’t nearly as glamorous. Do you still want to know?”
“Mhm.”
“I don’t have a shirt on and I am coincidentally wearing blue plaid sweatpants as well. Can you believe that?”
“No way. Really?”
“Yep.”
“Anything underneath?” Your voice is coy and his erection pulses.
“Yep. I have boxers on. Boring black ones.”
“And what’s going on underneath of those?”
He dryly chuckles and reaches down to rub his hard on for a second. “A lot.”
“Just what I wanted to hear.” You practically purr and he runs his palm over his bulge in response.
He lets out a soft groan that make you feel some sort of way. “Oh yeah? Y’know, even though I don’t really know what you look like, I just know that you’re looking sexy in your pajama outfit right now.”
Your witty reply is stopped short. He’s the only one who is this real with you. Most of the men on the other line tend to be creepy, old, and just downright weird. This is a dying profession, after all. Sometimes the other clients are rude and dismissive, too. But Sanji… you know he really means what he says.
“You’re adorable, Sanji,” you say. “I’d venture a guess that you look pretty good right now, too.”
“Mmmm.” He hums, heartbeat rising as he continues to palm himself. “I wish I could see you right now.”
You can’t tell if this is part of the fantasy. You really did wish you could see him, though.
“What would you do to me…” your voice is smooth as silk. “If I peeled off my tanktop and shimmied out of my sweatpants?”
Sanji’s breath hitches. Something feels realer than usual about this—knowing what you’re wearing right now, what you’re really wearing, is turning him on beyond belief (assuming that you’re telling the truth, but he always chooses to believe that you are).
“If I was there, I’d kiss you, actually.”
His answer catches you off guard. You’re not sure he’s said something like this before.
There is silence for a second. You don’t know how to respond, really. You decide to just respond honestly, without appearances. Fuck it. He’d probably be off the market soon if his amazing date was anything to tell for it, so might as well.
“Wow, that’s really sweet. I’m not sure anyone has said something that nice to me in years.”
He tuts. “That’s my lowest bar of sweetness. I can go much sweeter than that, my love.”
He’s never called you that before, either. You’re starting to forget that this is a work call. It feels distinctly different than one.
“I’d like to see how sweet you can get, Sanji.”
His cock twitches again. Fuck. You really have a way with words. You get him more riled up than anyone he’s ever met before.
You continue. “After you kiss me, what would you do to me?”
“I would kiss every inch of you.”
Your heart melts. Fuck. Is this guy a saint? Where does he get off being so suave?
“Mmmm. That sounds nice. I’d like to return the favor.” Your tone, to Sanji, is effortlessly erotic. The thought of you kissing every inch of him—yes, even those inches—has him grinding the palm of his hand over his cock.
“Sounds even better. Then, if you let me, I’d go down on you.” The blonde is starting to get worked up. You can tell from his voice—when it gets all husky like this, you know he’s about to start touching himself, if he isn’t already.
Also, the fact that he said ‘if you let me’ really struck you. No one had ever said that before in your line of work. He has the tendency to say things you’ve never heard before, and he always surprises you.
“Of course I’d let you go down on me,” your voice gets softer. “What exactly would you do?” You wonder if he’d be any good. Maybe his answer will be elucidative.
“I’d start by kissing up your thighs, one at a time. Then I’d very slowly, very gently kiss your clit. Hopefully it would feel good. After a while, I think I’d be able to tell if you liked it. I’d run my tongue downwards and taste you. And tease you as much as you’re willing to put up with.”
“Mmmm. I think I could put up with a lot.” You let out a breathy sigh. You’re starting to warm up between the legs. With that voice, and those words, and that mental image… it sounds divine. You’re about to let yourself get carried away. It’s tempting.
“Is that so?” Sanji decides to keep going with the fantasy as long as you’d let him. Frequently, this happens the other way around. You usually describe to him, in great detail, what you would do to him. Apparently tonight it would be the other way around.
“In that case,” Sanji continues, “I’d take my time with you. I’d push my tongue inside of you delicately at first, then harder, and switch between that licking your clit.”
You can feel that you’re getting wet. It has only ever been with Sanji that you’ve actually gotten aroused while talking to a client. Usually, you’re as dry as the Sahara when talking to clients. But this man does things to you. Sinful things.
“What else?” You ask, biting your lip and sneaking your hand lower. You decide that, just this once, it’s okay to get carried away.
He can hear it in your voice. The synthetic, sugary (but still very much erotic) tone is dissipating and he’s hearing, for the first time, your voice bathed in genuine arousal. Your breaths are quicker than usual, your tone is less composed, and he can tell that you’re hanging onto his every word.
At the same time that his hand goes under the waistband of his boxers, yours goes under your underwear. He starts to stroke himself, relishing the first ripples of pleasure from his hand, and you do something similar. Each movement of your fingers is accompanied by his voice, by some filthy image he puts in your head.
“When you’re moaning loud enough, I’d press my middle finger into you slowly, to make sure you’re comfortable. After a moment, I’d move my finger and caress you inside a bit, and if it seemed like you liked it, I would press my ring finger into you.”
You start to mimic what Sanji is describing. It feels dangerously good. A barely audible sort of gasping sound falls out of your lips and Sanji hears it. His fist goes faster. He hasn’t ever heard you make that sort of noise before—he’s heard fake moans, sure, they were still hot (and he always told himself they were real). Anything you did was hot. But this sort of noise was the sort that could only be caused by one thing—pleasure.
Sanji’s fist goes a bit faster when he concludes that you may be touching yourself. The idea makes him feel like he’s on fire.
“I’d curl my fingers inside of you and find your g-spot… draw circles around it and press it while I place some kisses on your clit. Would you like that?”
His question catches you off guard—you’re getting lost in the act of fingering yourself.
“Mmmm. I would like that, Sanji.”
“How would I know that you liked it?”
“I’d, fuck,” another soft moan slips out of your lips and Sanji squeezes his cock tighter. “I’d run my fingers through your hair and pull you closer. Buck my hips into your tongue so you, ah, get deeper.”
“What would you say?” His voice is low now, and you can hear a faint sound in the background. He’s fisting his cock to your conversation, which is nothing new, but it brings you more of a rush than usual right now because you’re touching yourself too. “What would you say if you liked how I ate you out?”
“Don’t stop,” you shudder, and it sounds like it would if he was actually eating you out. The noise makes his heart flip. He can hear wet sounds from your end of the phone, too. He can hardly believe his ears, but sure enough, he can make out the noises of you bringing your fingers in and out of yourself.
“I wouldn’t,” Sanji says and then groans. The obscene noise goes straight to your aching core. You’re going to orgasm soon. “I wouldn’t stop until you came all over my face and I licked you clean.”
“Fuck,” you mewl. “That sounds, ah, sounds like it would feel good, Sanji.”
“Does it feel good?” He counters, twisting his hand over the head of his cock. His fist brings down the precum that has been beading at his tip, and the sensation makes his hips rock up inadvertently.
“Mmmmphhh, I—yes, it feels good, Sanji. Feels so good.”
You curl your fingers inside, searching for the spot that Sanji mentioned before. You press on it as you speak. You know he’s going to love the noise you make.
He grunts and throws his head back. He’s going to cum soon. He’s going to cum if you say his name some more. He wants it. “Say that again.”
“Fucckkk, Sanji. Feels so good.”
“I love hearing you say my name. I’m—hah—‘m gonna cum if you do it again.”
“Sanji. Sanji. Sanji, fuck, Saannnjjjiii.” On repeat, you moan his name through your orgasm, which you finally allow to wash over you. He can hear it in your voice, can hear you trying to force his name out of your mouth between keens.
Your voice has never sounded so good. He’s sure now, sure sure, that you’ve been touching yourself this whole time and that you just came. It’s a first for him. He’s suspected your arousal at other times, but this time, it’s a confirmed fact. In an instant, the fantasy fades and he can see the moment for what it is—you’ve thrown away the pretenses, acting skills, and flattery, and, for a handful of minutes, you’ve been 100% yourself with him, more so than ever before.
That’s what makes him cum. Your unreserved sincerity and desire. It’s the hardest he’s cum in a long time—and that’s a high bar, considering the fact that any time he broaches these activities with you he cums hard.
When you’re both panting in the euphoric aftershocks of your orgasms, Sanji whistles. “Damn.”
You hum in agreement. “Wow.”
He cracks a joke. “So, am I supposed to send you an invoice after this one?”
He’s hilarious in general, and this one makes you laugh. “I might allow it.” Your tone is uncharacteristically bashful. You’re about to say something you’ll later regret. “I think you’re the only person who has ever gotten me off over the phone.”
Sanji is taken aback for a second. “Really? I’m honored. And surprised.”
You almost instantly regret oversharing, chuckling awkwardly before you realize that this is a work call, and you should act accordingly. But it’s hard to pull yourself out of the intimacy of this moment and you don’t want to. So… against your better judgment, you don’t.
“I’m impressed, Sanji. Maybe we should do this more often,” you say, and Sanji’s heart thumps again. “You don’t have to only call me once a week, you know.”
“As long as you won’t get sick of me, I would love to. And we can do this again any time, gorgeous. It’s seriously my pleasure. You don’t know what you do to me, it’s only fair that I return the favor.”
While he’s saying the last part, Sanji realizes that this isn’t a favor, really. He tries to brush off that sad feeling for a moment but finds himself wondering what you really think of him.
It’s time for him to go to sleep, he concludes. He’s exhausted after a long shift and a hard orgasm.
“So, same time next week?” His voice is chipper.
“Mhm. I look forward to it, Sanji. See you later.” When the words leave your mouth, you wonder if he feels butterflies, too.
“See you later, sweetheart.”
Sanji hangs up the phone.
In your respective bedrooms, you’re both wondering what the fuck just happened. This call was full of lots of firsts and, little do you two know, the other feels elated.
But Sanji thinks about it more. He weighs his feelings for you against the practical understanding that he is, presumably, nothing more than a client to you. His heart aches at the thought.
And then he looks at his phone. The person who he went on a date with texted him while he was on the phone with you—she’s asking for another date. She says she looks forward to seeing him.
---
A week passes.
It’s Friday again.
11:30PM comes and goes. No call from Sanji.
In a span of over six months, this is the first time he hasn’t called you.
As you sit and wait for him, passing off other phone calls in case he decides he wants to speak to you tonight, your heart starts to sink.
Was last time a mistake?
Ten minutes go by.
Twenty minutes go by.
Many minutes go by. The time is now 12:30AM.
You’re left to conclude that last time was, indeed, a mistake.
You decide to take the night off. Your tears are making it hard to get any work done. You can’t put on that sultry voice and moan at old men in your current state.
There’s no denying it—his absence hurts you. Bad. Especially after last week. Especially after you admitted to him that you had never orgasmed over the phone before, and that you wanted to talk to him more often.
Why hadn’t he called you?
You wrack your brain for possibilities, but one major thing stands out. That date he went on. Maybe he went on another one and decided he liked them better.
Liked them better? You ask yourself after realizing what you just thought. He’s paying you to talk to him on the phone. Get over it. He isn’t going to keep calling you forever. What did you expect after last week? That he would just confess his love, offer to pay all of your bills, and that would be it?
You frown harder, hurting yourself deeper with your own rhetoric. The tears won’t stop.
It’s excruciating to realize that you like Sanji this much. You really like him. You know almost everything there is to know about him, too. And as much as you generally try to avoid giving out personal information, he knows a large chunk about you. Maybe that’s why it hurts so bad.
No, you tell yourself. Don’t kid yourself. You know it hurts this bad because you were hoping he liked you for real. You were hoping that this man, who you had never truly met before, who you had never seen, would, against all odds, decide that he wants you, even if he hadn’t seen you.
Fat chance, you tell yourself. Never do that with a client again, and this will never be a problem again.
---
Sanji does not call you back the next week.
Or the next week.
Or the week after that.
Or the month after that.
You are over it by the time the second month rolls around.
It’s pretty good timing, on your behalf. You think you’re really over this huge crush on a man you’ve never seen before. By the fifth month, you’re still telling yourself that you’re over this “crush”.
But that’s a delusion—any time you’re in public and there’s a blonde man, you find yourself scanning his face. Does he have a goatee? Could those eyebrows be considered curly? What color are those eyes?
When you see one that you think might be him, you always work up the courage to speak to them. But it never is Sanji. You would recognize that voice anywhere.
You wonder what you will say to him if he ever calls you again. Or if you see him in person. You decide that if he ever calls you again, you’ll either curse him out or break into tears.
In your most down-bad-hour, you contemplate showing up at the restaurant he is the chef at. You contemplate asking if you can see the kitchen. You just want a glance at him. A glance will keep your heart quiet.
But the joke’s on you—his restaurant is too expensive for you. Truly. You couldn’t afford a drink there if you tried. Okay, maybe just one. But you refuse to stoop to that level of desperation.
You’re a call away from him. He just has to dial your number.
You, on the other hand, have no way of calling or texting him. The service you work through scrambles client numbers before they’re patched through to you. The only way you know it’s Sanji is when he calls, at 11:30PM on the dot, on Friday nights. That’s Sanji time.
But it seems like Sanji time has come and gone.
You can’t shake the feeling that he did you dirty—but then you remember that he doesn’t owe you anything. This is your line of work. Phone sex. And that’s what you had. You just stepped over a boundary that you usually stay far away from. Whose fault is that?
No amount of logic can shake that feeling, though. You develop a little grudge against this man who you will never meet.
That’s what you tell yourself—that you’ll never meet him. But there’s a nugget of hope inside that, someday, he’ll call you. Someday he’ll kiss you. You try to obliterate that nugget though, as it is antithetical to the remedy to your lovesickness that you’re seeking.
Which will come first, him calling you, or you quitting this job that you’ve been meaning to quit for months at this point?
You hate to admit this to yourself, but he’s the only thing that was keeping the thoughts of quitting at bay. Maybe you really will quit this time around.
---
It is a Saturday night and you’re working again. It’s an unfortunately slow night, which sucks, because you really could use the money.
You’re scrolling on your phone, waiting for the next call to come in. It has been three hours with no calls. Guess all the creepy old men have plans tonight, which is such a shame because you need to pay rent soon. Sigh.
Time passes. You check the clock. It’s almost 11:30PM. The time doesn’t remind you of him anymore (well, much).
Maybe if you channel some of your good karma, ask the universe to cut a check of it right now, someone will call you for one long, lengthy conversation. You can help get them off as many times as they want. Five times in a row. You’ll break that record and go for six times if they just pay you. No questions asked.
Sure enough, a call comes through. You check the clock again. It’s been moving at a snail’s pace tonight. It’s 11:35PM. Hopefully whoever this is feels like talking.
“Hello?”
Your heart stops.
It sounds like Sanji for a second. But there’s no way. It’s been five fucking months.
“Hi.” You respond in your sugared up, sultry voice.
“It’s been a long time, gorgeous.”
It is Sanji.
Your heart flutters and your stomach flips. You’re speechless.
Don’t forget your game plans: curse him out or cry. But you can’t bring yourself to do either now that he’s waiting on the other line. You’re about to hang up the phone. You owe this man nothing and he owes you nothing—it’s that simple.
As you go to press the end call button, he speaks again.
“I’m sorry.”
The tears start now. The dam inside of you breaks. Hot tears pour out of your eyes and down your cheeks.
You didn’t think that hearing his voice would have this strong of an effect on you. But the heartbreak that you once thought faded away is now back in full force.
He’s waiting for a response before he hears shuddering breaths from you as you cry. Your tears are all the confirmation he needs—he knows that he was right months ago when he worked up the courage to confess to you. He should have done it. He knows that he was wrong to take the coward’s way out. And he knows he was wrong to tell himself that you didn’t care about him and wouldn’t care when he disappeared, because he was just a client to you. He was so terribly wrong. The sound of your sobs shatters him.
“I should have called you before. I’m so sorry. And maybe you hate me for waiting this long to call you again. I understand if you do. I just couldn’t keep it inside anymore, I—”
“Where the fuck were you?” You cut him off. Your anger is starting to seep through the tears. Maybe the first game plan can still happen. “I waited for you, Sanji.”
He doesn’t even try to think of a comeback or excuse. He tells you plainly what happened and, even though it breaks your heart some more, it makes sense.
“Well… I finally found someone. Last time, after I hung up, I had another date with that person I mentioned, and it went really well. So, we just kept going on dates. It didn’t feel right to keep calling you when things with her were progressing so quickly. We got together, and—”
“I understand, Sanji. That’s all I wanted to hear. Thanks.”
You slam your finger down on the hang up button. Your heart is broken enough as it is. He can keep all that yapping to himself. Good for nothing heartbreaker.
So what, he was with whoever that was. So what, they love each other and have been together almost half a year at this point. So what, he was just a client the whole time and you had gotten your hopes up for nothing and—your catastrophizing is stopped in its tracks when your phone starts to buzz again. You feel like it’s Sanji.
You pick up the phone. It is.
“Wait, wait, don’t hang up, please let me finish, please.”
“What, so you can tell me how much you love your girlfriend? I get it, Sanji. You paid me to talk to you for so long that of course you got sick of it and finally got what you had been after the whole time, a loving, very real partner. I understand that I’m just a service to be used and discarded later. That’s fine. Goodbye.”
“No. Listen to me.” Sanji’s voice is stern and harsh, a tone you’ve never heard from him before. “We got together and then she very quickly dumped me. Do you know what she kept saying to me? She said I was too absentminded. She thought I was thinking about someone else. Dumped me after two months because I couldn’t give her what she wanted. Absentminded.”
His words hang in the air for a few moments while you try to process why the fuck he’s explaining any of this to you and why it matters. He continues. His voice is emphatic, hurried, and nervous sounding.
“And if I’m being honest, I was absentminded. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I know this sounds fucking ridiculous because we’ve never met, and I understand if you tell me to go fuck off because I’m sure this happens to you all the time, but… I can’t get you out of my head. I’ve tried to for months. Three months. I told myself that I was an idiot for falling for someone out of my league. And the crazy thing is, I don’t even have to see you to know you’re out of my league. The way you act is out of my league. YOU are out of my league. You’re thoughtful, and kind, and considerate, and you pause before you respond whenever you talk because I can tell you’re really thinking over your response. And you’re funny. And witty, and charming, and you never once made me feel weird or less than for calling and finding solace in you. I’ve been lonely for years. I make the first move all the time, but it never works out. And I know I fucked this one up, and I know I didn’t have a chance in hell with you to begin with, but I just, fuck, I had to get this off my chest. I love you. I fell for you the first conversation we had. Now please tell me to fuck off.”
You can tell that every word he is saying is sincere and earnest. You can hear the emotion in his voice. While you wipe your tears dry and mend your heart together, you take deep breaths. He can wait for your response. Like he just said, you’re intentional about your responses to people. Every word matters. Especially with Sanji.
“Do you know how bad it hurt after our last conversation to not hear from you again?” You start.
He winces. He knew that was coming.
“I’m so so sorry. I’m so sorry. It was disrespectful of me, and callous, and if you hang up and never want to speak to me again, I understand and I deserve it.”
“You do deserve it.” You say, regaining some composure. “You really do, Sanji.”
“I’m sorry.” You can hear his frown. It’s a cute one. Fuck. His cute words are playing back in your ears too. So, he loves you?
Should you tell him how you feel? How you’ve felt for a long time?
One part of you is screaming at you to get a grip. But the other part—all the other parts—are finally, finally hearing what you’ve been wanting to hear for around a year at this point. That he likes you for you. That he sees you as you, and not some dolled up object of affection that’s only there to get people off and talk dirty to them. It has never been like that between you.
“If I accept your apology, Sanji, what then?”
“I—I actually didn’t think I would make it this far. But if you accept my apology, my next step is to ask you out to dinner with me. And to ask for your phone number. Your real phone number.”
You let out a long, deep sigh. “Sanji. My love. You could have told me these things months ago. It would have saved both of us so much heartbreak. I was devastated. Do you know that?”
You know that he already profusely apologized but you feel like driving it home a bit more. He deserves it. But while you talk, his hopes start to rise. You’ve never called him ‘my love’ before. Maybe that bodes well?
“I’m so sorry. I really am.” He sounds like he means it. You trust him enough to know that he does. Well, fuck it.
“Don’t think I’ll just forget about this because I’m head over heels for you, okay?”
“You—what?” He’s caught off guard. “You are?”
“Sanji. Yes. And you could have found out ages ago. Now, when are we going to dinner? You can apologize to me again then, too. And even if you don’t like what you see, you have to pay for everything. I’m getting an appetizer, an entrée, a dessert, at least two drinks, and whatever else I want. Okay?”
He laughs in relief. “Yes, okay. Yes. Holy shit, I didn’t think you would say that. I wish I could kiss you.”
“Wait—one last thing. If you decide you don’t like me after our date, Sanji, you have to tell me there on the spot. You can’t leave me waiting for another five months. You just can’t.”
“I promise, I won’t leave you waiting. I promise.”
When you hang up the phone a few minutes later (after more twisting the knife), you’re so thrilled that you can hardly breathe.
You can’t believe this is real life. You also can’t believe how quickly you just forgot your dignity, but you’ll unpack that later.
Dinner is set for tomorrow night. 7:30PM on the dot. Sanji is calling out of work, and he’s taking you to the (second) nicest restaurant in town (his is the first, obviously, and he wants to save that for a night where he can really plan ahead and spoil you).
---
When you get to the restaurant, Sanji is already there, waiting outside with a large bouquet of flowers.
He’s more handsome than you could have imagined. Of course he is. You do have great intuition, and you knew from the start that he was sexy. But… goddamn, he is sexy.
It makes sense now what he meant by curly eyebrows. He’s dressed well, too. He’s wearing black slacks and a white button down. A few buttons are undone, and his sleeves are rolled up to his forearms. He has black loafers and black socks. And he smells good. And he smiles good.
He’s so nervous he could puke. He hopes that when he sees you the nerves will melt. But they get 20x worse because he’s enamored with you. You’re beyond his wildest dreams—no number of fantasies could have led him to guess that you look like this.
He’s so obsessed that he starts to stammer before you tell him to calm down, and that he’s making you nervous.
Over dinner, you catch up on everything you’ve missed in the past few months of silence. You fill him in on details in your life that you previously kept to yourself, and he sees a whole new side of you.
At the end of the date, he tells you that he still loves you, that he loves you even more now, and that he’s so so sorry. He says that he’s mesmerized by you, that you’re more than he could have ever dreamed of, and that you can count on him for anything.
You seal the night with a kiss. A long one. It’s so romantic that you feel a bit disturbed with how happy you are after.
And it turns out that yes, this is your big happy ending. You make a perfect pair.
Epilogue: The day that Sanji finally shows off the techniques he told you about long ago, you’re more than satisfied. In fact, it seems like he was actually underselling himself there. You always knew he was the modest type.
thanks for reading! this was inspired by a whole lot of laufey! i hope you liked it. i love sanji so much it hurts me ;(
here's my masterlist if you're interested!
divider courtesy of @cafekitsune tag list @eggrollforyou
they almost lost you in a fight against a powerful enemy. they just need to feel your touch to know that you’re really here, safe and with them.
includes: luffy, sanji
TAGS: hurt/comfort, mentions of blood and injuries.
law, zoro | luffy, sanji
Luffy’s world seemed to spin on its axis as Nami told him you were injured. He ran towards the spot where you were fighting with all his might, the taste of victory souring in his mouth. When he found you, he had to take a step back. Injured seemed like such an understatement for the shape you were in. Battered and bruised, cuts and blood staining your skin, it more so seemed like you’d been to hell and back.
And yet, you were awake. Your eyes found him the second he came into view. Soundless, you called his name and he was quickly by your side. “It’s alright, you’ll be alright”, he whispered, though he was finding it hard to believe his own words.
His hands held your shoulders, his touch so soft it would’ve taken you by surprise had you not been so focused on not passing out. Luffy helped you to a sitting position and brought your body against his. He wrapped his arms around you, held your head against his chest, right above his accelerated heartbeat. He shut his eyes tightly, focusing on the way your body molded to his, repeating “I’m not losing you” in his head like a mantra.
Sanji paced outside the door, glancing at it every time he heard a noise. Over and over again he replayed in his mind the moment you got hurt. The blood all over you, the sound of bones breaking, your desperate cry of his name, your hand reaching out to him—it would all haunt his nightmares, even if you survived this.
When the door finally opened, his head snapped back to look at Chopper. All distress and anguish vanished the moment he said you would live. Sanji clutched his hair and cursed. Chopper's pleas to let him take care of his wounds fell on deaf ears. All that mattered was that you’d be okay, everything else could wait.
Ignoring his friend’s protests, he stalked into the room. Sharp pain made its home in his chest, all air stolen from his lungs, as he gazed upon your unconscious body on the bed. Covered in bandages, traces of blood still everywhere. You looked so frail that, for a painful moment, Chopper’s promise tasted of lies.
Wavering steps took him to your bedside. Weightless, he fell to his knees. A trembling hand held yours, but it was not enough to convince him you would be alright. Sanji inched closer and pressed his chest softly against your side, his head buried in the crook of your neck. He nuzzled into your skin, letting your warmth seep into him, deep into his bones, so that he’d know, with every fiber of his being, that he had not lost you.
TRAFLAWGAR 2025
*dreamily sighs* luffy… *dreamily sighs again* luffy…
I'll always love you, Luffy
req: Could you please do a Zoro x reader (fem or gn) where the reader is trying to plan a surprise thing for him and has been hanging around Sanji more to help get stuff prepared and in the process accidentally is ignoring Zoro. Zoro starts to worry that he isn't romantic or affectionate enough like Sanji and will loose the reader to him. Maybe Zoro even starts purposefully avoiding the reader like the mindset of 'if we don't talk I can't be broken up with'. Idk hurt comfort please make me cry but end nice 🩷
a/n: ngl i rubbed my hands together like a raccoon or smth when i was brainstorming for this req bc i’m just a sucker for hurt/comfort that isn’t dramatic hehe anyway thanks for 100 followers! :D i’ve been having a great time writing for one piece these past few weeks, everyone has been so kind :3c
contents: some suggestive content (16+ only ty!), insecure! jealous!Zoro, suspicions of cheating (but no actual cheating ofc), miscommunication, hurt/comfort and reverse comfort, angst to fluff
wc. 3.9k
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i.
for the first time in over a year, Zoro wakes up in an empty bed.
the absence of a familiar weight resting on his chest nearly startles him awake, his brain skipping over the initial first few minutes of grogginess most feel when they’ve just woken up. he runs his hands over your side of the mattress before crawling over it just enough to check if you’re on the floor.
it dawns on him, in that moment, that this is the first time you’ve gotten up and left before him since you began seeing each other. usually Zoro would be the one waking up at the break of dawn to get some early morning training in, always carefully taking a few minutes to lift your sleeping form off his body and place you back on your assigned end of the bed without waking you. it never seems to matter if you went to bed cuddling or not, somehow, throughout the night, you always find your way on top of him.
setting aside the foreign feeling in his stomach, Zoro decides to go look for you–he tells himself he’s just curious about the reason for your absence but the part he won’t admit is that he just misses seeing you first thing in the morning.
it doesn’t take him long to find you, catching a glimpse of your back when he’s walking past the open kitchen door. before he can decide to get your attention, however, Zoro realises you’re not alone.
in front of a counter upon which is laid half-used utensils and uncooked ingredients stands you and the crew’s one and only chef. you’re both deeply engaged in a conversation spoken in a volume low enough that the swordsman can barely make out any of the words. he does, however, notice that you’re wearing Sanji’s favourite apron–it’s a tad too long for someone of your height, or maybe the stupid chef just has freakishly long legs, who knows? –and it causes his heart to stir in a way he struggles to describe to even himself.
if Zoro had to choose a past feeling that comes the closest to comparing, it would have to be when he’d challenged Dracule Mihawk to a duel and lost.
“oh, no, my sweet,” Sanji finally says something loud enough for Zoro to hear from behind the two of you. “you’d want to pinch it more than just squish it,” he continues before repositioning himself behind you to demonstrate. it’s hard to see exactly what the two of you are doing but it’s clear to the swordsman that the pervert chef’s most likely cupping your hands in his to guide your movement with whatever dish you’re seemingly making together.
Zoro isn’t surprised that you don’t try to push Sanji away in any capacity, not due to any lack of trust between him and you but because you’ve always been a very physically affectionate person. it was one of his first impressions of you when you joined the crew at the behest of Luffy. it was common on the Merry–and still is on the Sunny–to see you hugging, holding the hands or even kissing the cheeks of your companions in the most platonic sense. it’s just the way you show your happiness.
although every bone in Zoro’s body is screaming at him to storm in and tear Sanji away from you, a sudden realisation washing over him roots his feet to the ground.
is this what you actually need from me? if i touch you more, would you need it less from the others?
the swordsman can’t help but recall how just last night you’d kept bugging him for pre-sleep cuddles but he pushed your needy hands away every time.
“it’s too hot and humid tonight for that,” he grumbled after you frowned at his rejection.
“you’ve been saying that for the past two weeks,” you whined, wiggling around your side of the bed in protest.
“well, too bad the weather’s just been too hot. it’s not my fault.” he shrugged. when your frown only deepened, he decided to give you a few forehead kisses as compensation. “now stop being a brat and go to sleep.”
Zoro walks away from the kitchen, opting to leave you and the chef alone; and wonders if you would’ve been in bed this morning when he woke up had he caved in and given you the cuddles you so wanted just last night.
he only sees you again when the sun’s started to set and all of the Straw Hats begin to gather for dinner. instead of taking your usual seat beside him, you end up serving him a plate of onigiri with a wide grin on your face instead.
“here’s your serving, my love,” you say with a satisfied hum that only serves to confuse the man. surely these are just the usual onigiri Sanji occasionally makes for meals, right? “how does it taste?” you ask after he takes a bite.
it tastes richer today and the rice is fluffier.
“it tastes the same as always.” the swordsman shrugs, physically incapable of praising anything remotely made by the crew’s dedicated cook. “why?” he adds when he catches the way your smile falters at his reply.
“nothing, it’s nothing.” you lean over to kiss his temple. his heart has been so deprived of your affection for the entire day that the simple gesture is enough to make him forget about your faltering smile from just mere seconds ago.
ii.
the next morning, after the Thousand Sunny has docked at a new island, Zoro wakes up yet again to an empty bed. this time, though, he wastes no time getting up and jumping into the shower after remembering a specific conversation from a week ago.
“we should go out on a date when we reach the next island,” you’d said, your bare sweaty chest sticking to his as you rested on top of him after an eventful night together.
“whatever you want,” he’d hummed in agreement as he rubbed your sides and back in an attempt to soothe the parts of your skin he’d been a bit too rough with. “we can even go right after we dock.”
rushing out the door of your shared quarters, green locks still dripping with water, Zoro makes it out just in time to catch you alighting the Sunny with two of your fellow Straw Hats: Chopper and, much to his dismay, Sanji. the three of you walk towards the bustling town together with the reindeer in between you and the chef with one hoof holding your right hand as his other holds Sanji’s left.
Zoro feels the same stirring sensation from yesterday in his chest, except this time its intensity has increased tenfold. a bitterness forms in the back of his throat when he realises, if he wasn’t really paying attention, how much the three of you look like a family: a mother, a father and their child.
for a split second he imagines the kind of future you could have with someone like Sanji–someone who could provide for you and your children in a more meaningful way than a swordsman can. after all, what’s the point of teaching your kid how to wield a sword if you can’t even feed them properly, right?
a part of Zoro considers catching up to your little group and grabbing the basket from your other hand to replace it with his own. it would be a foreign experience to him, not usually being one to initiate even something as simple as hand-holding—aside from the times when your lives were being threatened and he needed to make sure you escaped safely with him.
the swordsman feels his face heat up at the thought of holding your hand for no reason other than the action itself. he tries to recall the last time you wormed your hand into his, intertwining your fingers with his calloused digits. Zoro remembers how soft your skin felt, how cold your hand initially was before it was engulfed in his warmer palm, and his heart skips a beat.
by the time he snaps himself out of his reverie, he realises you’re nowhere to be seen.
”what’s bothering you, swordsman?” a familiar voice speaks from behind him. without turning around, Zoro simply shrugs in response.
”i don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
he hears Robin chuckle before he feels her hands sprouting from his shoulders to gently turn him around. though he really doesn’t want to talk about his feelings to the archeologist, he decides it’s better to comply than to fight it.
her arms are crossed as she looks at him with a smile. Zoro can’t help but compare her expression to that of a person seeing a pitiful baby animal struggling with eating solid foods for the first time—they know the only thing they can really do is watch.
”i think you should talk to her. you won’t know what she’s thinking unless you ask.”
Zoro curses under his breath. had he really been that obvious with his pining? how pathetic he must look to the rest of his crewmates.
how pathetic.
still, he can’t deny that she’s right—Robin always is, most of the time. he knows he’s been making a lot of assumptions lately and it’s not fair to either of you; and yet when he thinks about sitting you down to hear your actual feelings, he fears that not only will he be unable to offer you what you need, you would realise it as well.
would it really be the end of the world? if we go back to just being friends?
Zoro’s lived his entire life up to this point without any romance, having deluded himself into thinking that any relationship—platonic or romantic—wouldn’t serve his goal of being the best swordsman. if anything, it would only be a distraction. he’d made it far in life with this belief and then, of course, he had to meet Luffy and subsequently: you.
he realises then that he can’t remember what it’s like not being your partner; to not have the privilege of being the one who sleeps beside you every night, to touch and hold and kiss you in ways only appropriate behind closed doors. when he thinks about his future as the world’s greatest swordsman, he can only imagine it with you by his side. it wouldn’t be the same otherwise.
maybe… if we just never talk about this, i can be yours for a little while longer. with a bit more time, maybe i can convince you to keep loving me.
iii.
a few days later, on the morning of the day you’ve been anxiously preparing for for a week now, you wake up, once again, to an empty bed and your heart sinks lower than it did yesterday.
Zoro has been waking up earlier these past few days and you’re unable to find out why. anytime you try to look for him during his usual training hours, you struggle to even find him, let alone spend time with him. for some reason that even the others are unsure of, he’s been training in odd places around the Thousand Sunny, seemingly forgoing the crow’s nest altogether. on the off chance you do manage to run into him, he’ll give you some random excuse for why he “can’t talk right now”.
”Luffy needs me to run some errands.”
”i have an appointment with the local blacksmith.”
”i think i see Chopper drowning.”
clenching your fists in your lap, you stay sitting in bed for a while longer, your heart pounding faster and faster no matter how hard you try to calm it down. you feel your eyes begin to burn with tears as you come to the realisation that maybe Zoro isn’t interested in you anymore.
under your breath, you curse at whatever god is listening for their horrific timing. you’d spent the past week with Sanji and Chopper meticulously planning for tonight’s surprise birthday picnic and now you’re not sure if you’ll be able to convince your boyfriend to even look at you.
mind racing, you try to recall if you’d done anything to remotely upset him lately but you draw a blank. if anything, you’ve been spending more time away from Zoro in order to maintain the secrecy of your plans but surely that’s not what he’s upset over, right? wouldn’t he have welcomed the me-time with open arms?
finally deciding that it’s really not the time to be overthinking about this, you wipe away your tears and get ready to freshen up for the day. you and the others have put in too much effort into tonight to just throw it all away so you decide that no matter what, you will see it through, even if it ends up being the last time you spend with him as his partner.
iv.
Zoro’s on the verge of falling asleep whilst sitting upright in bed when the door to your shared quarters bursts open and startles him awake. before he can beat the crap out of whoever it is, Nami’s frantic shouting freezes him in place.
”(Y/N)’s been taken!” his throat tightens as he feels his heart drop and his skin go cold. “quick you need to hurry!” the navigator yells. instinctively he grabs his three swords and leaps out of bed towards the door, more of the Straw Hats coming into view as he exits the room.
”you fucking dumbass mosshead!” Sanji shouts, furious, “sweet (Y/N)’s been kidnapped and you’ve been asleep this whole time?!”
”i-i last saw her being taken away towards the southmost cliff,” Chopper sobs, words muffled by his hooves as he frantically rubs away his never ending tears.
”remember, Zoro,” Sanji grabs the swordsman’s shoulders firmly, “southmost. SOUTH. it’s literally the closest cliff to the dock.”
it does cross Zoro’s mind that the chef’s acting fucking weird but right now isn’t the time for that. without a word, he takes off, running as fast as his legs can carry him toward what he hopes is the right direction. once he’s out of earshot, the Straw Hats let out a collective sigh.
”do you think he’ll make it?” Nami asks no one in particular.
”seeing as he really thinks (Y/N)’s in danger, i’d say so,” Robin replies.
”well, at least we have Usopp keeping an eye on him,” Sanji adds, “if mosshead really gets lost, we can at least rely on Usopp to get him back on the right track.”
a moment of silence passes as they all watch Zoro gradually disappear from view—all except for the sound of Chopper’s sobbing.
”he’s not here anymore, you don’t need to keep crying, Chopper,” Nami says to the doctor. he sniffles as he pulls his hooves away from his face, revealing a mess of snot and tears.
“i-i know,” he chokes, reaching out to hug Robin’s leg, “i was faking it at first but now i’m scared something will happen and they really do break up.” Chopper lets out another cry, smooshing his face into the archeologist’s pants as he wonders if this is what children feel like when their parents get divorced.
“don’t be silly,” Nami leans down to pat his head, “i’m pretty sure hell would freeze over first before they decide to break up. besides, once Zoro sees all the stuff (Y/N)’s prepared, i think that’ll be the last thing on his mind.”
v.
the swordsman barely thinks about where he’s going as he makes his way to you, his legs carrying him through twists and turns as though they have a mind of their own. all he can really focus on right now is the sound of his scabbards clicking against one another and the way you’ve been looking at him these past few days.
how your smile would melt away when he gave you another half-assed excuse to leave. how he felt you lingering a distance behind him so many times before your presence disappeared without saying a word. how just last night it seemed like you wanted to ask him something before going to bed, your mouth opening and closing as you laid down beside him, head turned just enough for your eyes to meet his. he’d almost asked you what’s wrong but before he could, you simply shook your head and turned around to go to sleep with your back facing his way.
i’m sorry. i’m sorry i kept avoiding you. i’m sorry i hurt your feelings.
Zoro takes a sharp left turn before he’s halted in his tracks when an entire tree branch falls just a few steps in front of him. before he can manoeuvre his way around the unexpected obstacle, he realises he’s going the wrong way; so he turns around.
i just needed more time to think. i just wanted a bit more time to figure out how to fix myself for you.
through the darkness of the night, his eyes catch a glimpse of light as he nears the edge of the forest that leads to the southmost cliff of the island. heart pounding rapidly in his chest as he continues to run, Zoro readies himself for a fight, to shed as much blood as necessary to bring you home without so much as a scratch on your skin.
please be okay. this can’t be how it ends for us. i need to tell you that i—
he comes to a sudden stop, the inertia from running at top speed causing him to nearly stumble forwards. still panting heavily as he holds his unsheathed swords by his sides, Zoro simply stands there wordlessly as his eyes take in the sight before him.
you’re by yourself, sitting cross-legged on a large picnic blanket with a large array of food and bottles of alcohol surrounding you. you’re wearing a dress he’s never seen before but it fits you perfectly and he wonders if you’d gotten it just for tonight. you simply smile at Zoro as you wait a good while for the truth to fully dawn on him; to be honest you didn’t expect him to show up so frazzled and upset.
”happy birthday?” you eventually say, unsure yourself why the phrase comes out sounding like a question. still donning a look of shock on his face, Zoro sinks to his knees, dropping his swords onto the grass. he furrows his eyebrows, clearly deep in thought and your own eyes widen when you realise— “did you forget today’s your birthday?”
”i…” he murmurs, “… yeah, i forgot.” he swallows thickly. “is this all for me?”
”of course it is,” you can’t help but laugh a little as you reply, still unable to wrap your head around the fact that he truly did not see this coming at all. “i spent the whole week getting ready for this.”
Zoro feels a pang in his chest.
”you’re not breaking up with me?” he asks, stunning you into silence. for a second you think he’s trying to make some kind of sick joke but you know him well enough to tell from the way he’s staring at you so intensely that he’s being completely honest. “i thought…” the swordsman steadies his voice as best as he can, unable to help the words he’s been keeping hidden from spilling out of his lips, “you’d fallen out of love with me. i thought you just didn’t want to be around me anymore.”
you feel your eyes burn with tears as you hear your own thoughts being spoken aloud in his voice. your bottom lip quivers as you feel an odd mix of relief and sadness wash over you. upon seeing you cry, Zoro scrambles towards you until he’s within arm’s reach.
”no, no,” he clumsily wipes away your tears with the pads of his thumbs as he cups your face in between his hands gently, “please don’t cry. don’t be sad.” you place your own hands over his, keeping them held to your face as you give him a wobbly smile.
”i’m not sad, you silly man,” you reply with fresh tears still running down your face. “i’m so relieved. this whole time i thought you were going to break up with me.”
”what made you think that?” Zoro can’t help but speak with a hint of indignance in his voice.
”you’ve been avoiding me the past few days,” you sniffle, the sound alone twisting his heart even further. “i thought you’d gotten sick of me or something but i didn’t wanna waste all the effort me and the others put into tonight so i thought we could at least have one last date together before you break up with me.” you feel his hands tense up as you speak before a frown spreads across his handsome face once you finish saying your piece.
”i could never,” he responds resolutely, as though offended by the mere idea of ever falling out of love with you. Zoro admits he’d been dodging you in order to avoid being broken up with. “i just thought,” he says, face turning red as he realises how dumb it all sounds now that he’s saying it out loud, “that if i didn’t give you the chance to leave me, i’d have more time to fix myself… to have more time being yours.”
”what’s there to fix?” you can’t help but ask, turning your head ever so slightly to press a kiss against the palm of his right hand. you smile when you notice Zoro’s already blushing face turning a deeper shade of red. “i already love every part of you. don’t you ever dare think again you need to change.”
you let out a squeak of surprise when Zoro lunges towards you without warning, tackling you into a tight hug. his hand reaches out to cushion the back of your head as you fall backwards onto your back with him laying on top of you. running his fingers through your hair, the swordsman gazes down at you warmly as he just now registers the smell of onigiri and sashimi.
”you made all this for me?” he asks in a soft voice, his breath brushing against your face. you nod, smile growing even wider when he leans down to kiss the tip of your nose. “is that why you were hanging around the shitty chef so much?”
you hum affirmative in response, unable to help the racing of your heart as you bask in the sudden display of physical intimacy he rarely shows you outside of the bedroom. you wonder if he can feel your rapid heartbeat from how closely his chest is pressed against yours.
”the onigiri from earlier this week was my first attempt at making it,” you share before you feel Zoro start to pepper kisses all over your face.
”i lied when i said they tasted the same,” he admits, the occasional syllable muffling from when his lips make contact with your skin. “they tasted really good. i just thought the shitty cook made them so i lied.”
”oh really?” you chuckle as you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. “i hope you like the ones i made today then.” Zoro brushes the tip of his nose against yours.
”i’d love anything you make for me,” he mumbles before capturing your lips with his own, pulling away only when his lungs begin to scream for air. “thank you for the surprise, (Y/N). i love you.”
”love you, too.”
—
taglist: @irethepotato @i-reblog-fics-i-like
_____ Pairings: Luffy x Reader; Sanji x Reader; Zoro x Reader Summary: You go undercover and flirt for information, your boyfriend doesn't particularly like it. Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Comfort, Harassment, Unwanted Touching/Kissing [One Piece Masterlist] _____
The man in front of you is charming, or at least that's what he claims as he talks to you. "Women just can't seem to resist me it seems-" You force yourself not to sigh and not to leave your place next to him as you try to remind yourself what is at stake. Your crew was undercover again, on an island full of powerful enemies, and half of you had gotten captured. In desperate need of information, you had volunteered to flirt with this man, but you hoped the grimace on your face had contorted into a believable smile.
Fortunately for you, this man is so in love with himself he barely seems to notice, but unfortunately for you, it means you have to try a bit harder to get him to spill the information for you. You lean closer tilting your head in mock interest and you force a laugh from your throat at a tasteless joke he spills. He looks up and meets your gaze, eyes sparking in what seems to be surprise and desire; maybe he had finally looked at you properly instead of getting lost in his rants about himself.
A short distance away, Luffy, Zoro and Nami watch from a distance. Unfortunately for you, Nami had already been recognised by the enemy earlier on and so she hadn't been able to take your place, more required to keep a low profile. She was eying you carefully whilst Zoro indulged in drinks and Luffy indulged in the meal placed in front of him. In all honestly, Luffy had been so distracted by the prospect of food he had barely registered the plan that was actively taking place.
"Numi whe-re's [y/n], 'might be hungfy foo!!"
An irk mark rises on Nami's forehead as she hears Luffy's words muffled with the plates of food he devours. "She's trying to get us information, idiot! Were you even paying attention to the plan?!" She whisper-shouts to her Captain who tilts his head in utter confusion, hands not stopping as he continues to reach for food. "Reaflly? Where?" He swallows another plate-full harshly as he grabs a piece of meat. Nami nods her head in the direction of you.
You had leant even closer to the man in front of you, to the point where you were reaching for his hand and causing him to flush red at the proximity. You smiled prettily and gazed up and through your eyelashes, your dress revealing soft flesh that the man couldn't help but admire. He whispers something in your ear that has light laughter fill the air, though Luffy only thinks of the fact that it sounds more strained than usual. Your Captain doesn't know why a sudden twisting feeling erupts within him at the sight of you and him.
"Wow, so you're a commander of this lot, are you?" You say in what you hope is a teasing tone, playing with the man's hands in what you hope is a believable flirt. You nod to the others who are at the bar where you and some of your crew reside; at the men who enjoy their drinks and their meals. "Impressive, isn't it sweetheart? You know, we even captured some of the Strawhat crew this morning. They're nothing compared to our strength-" Finally, a glint of a true smile makes its way onto your face at his words. "Is that so..."
Back at the table, Luffy pouts and suddenly and surprisingly to Nami, slows the pace at which he eats as he watches you. "Why's she there with him?" Nami sighs deeply, though she looks proudly at the way you seem to be getting them the information they so require. "I told you, she's getting information. We need to find out where they're keeping Sanji and the others." Luffy's frown remains on his face. "Why can't we just beat them up?" Nami keeps her eyes trained on you. "Because we don't want unnecessary fighting-"
Her words seem to die on her tongue however as she witnesses a sight she wishes she didn't have to.
You had been about to leave the man in front of you, having got the information you required. But, in your distraction and excuses, you hadn't seen as he leant forward, and suddenly his lips were on yours. Freezing in utter shock, you pushed him back and away as bile rose within you. You see a flash of his confusion before all of a sudden he is flung from the seat in front of you, your boyfriend standing from his seat with an outstretched fist in the air.
Steam seems to unravel from Luffy's skin, his eyes sharp with an anger you have only seen in battles. He pulls his arm back to him from where he has punched the man who had harassed you. "Hey, what do you think you're doing to [y/n]!!" The man you had just taken information from was now unconscious, but his subordinates took notice of your boyfriend's actions. "Hey, it's Strawhat Luffy!!" Zoro takes it as a cue to retrieve his swords but it is for naught as Luffy goes on a rampage, fists flying along with the bodies of men.
You look on in shock until Luffy finally finishes and makes his way to you. "Luffy I-" But before you have the chance to continue, he has connected his own lips to yours, making your words falter in your mouth. When he lets go, Nami and Zoro are looking at you dumbfounded as Luffy grins at you. "There, all better." You blink in utter surprise until a soft, true smile reaches your face, causing Luffy's insides to churn in warmth. "Thank you, Luffy." Your boyfriend grins wider, satisfied with your contentedness.
"No more kissing for information next time! We can just beat them up!"
You continue to smile and try not to roll your eyes.
"... okay Luffy."
"You expect me to stay here while that no-good, brainless, revolting, bastard touches my [y/n]-chan so carelessly?!"
Zoro's teeth clenched together in blunt irritation at the crew's cook who looks like he is about to explode from the utter rage that fills him. "Yes, now would you control yourself, damn cook?!" Sanji's anger remains on his face, fire building in his eyes at the nonchalant expression on Zoro's face, vastly contrasting his own. "Get out of my way!!" Sanji tries to side-step the swordsman who pulls out two of his swords. "She said she can handle it!"
There is then a flurry of movements as Sanji and Zoro attack each other, legs kicking and swords slicing. They continue only for a short moment, however, as Sanji hears your light laughter from within the building they wait for you outside. The two men pause, looking into a window and at the elaborate party that takes place from within it. As Zoro looks for potential threats, Sanji's eyes instantly go to you.
You are adorned in an utterly beautiful dress that elegantly glides across the space in which you walk side-by-side with a man you try to pry information from. Your group - the Sanji, Zoro, [y/n], group - had come to this Island later than other members of the crew after being separated. However, you had all learnt that Luffy and the others had been captured, resulting in the need to know exactly when and where. The place you were at now was large and full of enemies, so discretion was necessary, thus you volunteered to flirt with one of the executives in charge, much to Sanji's dismay.
Sanji's heart jolts in his chest as he looks at you from outside. How can you be so beautiful? You were like a goddess, an angel. But inside, Sanji felt as though he was also thrown into the pits of hell. The man you talked to was old and rich and completely enamoured by you it seemed. Your flirts and charm were working, as the man seemed entranced by the younger woman on his arm, showing such keen interest in him; Sanji's woman.
"So, powerful man, large mansion, elaborate party, what's the occasion?" You look up with sharp eyes glinting hypnotically; the older man is no match for you. "Well, we captured the Strawhat Crew this morning, if you could call that a source for celebration. Especially their Captain, though his bounty would only be enough to pay for this one party." You smile and let out light laughter, the sound like ringing bells to the man next to you, but it sounds strained to your boyfriend who listens in.
"Care for a drink?" The man holds out a glass of champagne, and you reach for it, but his hands linger and pull you closer to him so you are flush against his side. You force away the sick feeling in your chest and fight to keep the smile on your face at the sudden proximity of him against you. "Thank you," you murmur, as an uncomfortable feeling erupts within you. But you remind yourself you are so close, finally having heard the utterance of your Captain's presence here on this island. Your thoughts, however, are unlike Sanji's.
"That slimy bastard!"
Sanji's anger erupts with such vigour, that he is practically clawing at the glass he looks through, causing Zoro to have to push him back and away from the visibility of those inside. "Have you lost your mind?!" Zoro basically shouts at the cook, but Sanji retorts just as quickly. "Have you?! That's my girlfriend in there-" Zoro tries not to slice off the head of his crewmate, not understanding why he finds it so hard to let you just do what you need to do.
Lucky for him though, amid Sanji's incoherent rambling you have finished your task and were running up to them. "Hey, guys!! I got the information!" Sanji instantly freezes his words and turns, whilst Zoro finally lets his headache ease. "Finally-" "My Love!!" Sanji turns to you instantly, heart in his eyes at the sight of you still adorned in your dress. His hands however then reach for yours, suddenly as serious as his sudden happiness had come.
"Are you okay, love?" You smile gently at the concern that brims in his gaze but you nod easily, finding comfort in the presence of your boyfriend. "I'm fine, but I think we need to go quick before he notices I haven't just gone to the bathroom." Sanji seems to tense once more at the remembrance of the man and how he had touched you, but you seeing that, gently kiss his cheek before guiding him away. "Come on!" Sanji can't seem to say no to you as he nods hesitantly, all the while Zoro grumbles under his breath about how the show of your love has him nauseated and confused.
"Don't pull that lovey-dovey shit while I'm around-"
"Shut up Marimo!"
"... I don't like this."
Zoro's voice was low as he eyed your figure by the bar, teeth gritted against the other. You were adorned in a beautiful black dress, one you know that he loves, one the man in front of you is enjoying a bit too much. "She'll be fine, she can handle this." Nami rolls her eyes at your protective boyfriend and the permanent frown on his face. He could trust you in battles to take down a thousand men, but not one at this bar who looks to you in clear desire.
"Why couldn't you do this?" Zoro sharply retorts, grip tightening against his bottle of sake to the point where it creaks beneath his fingers. "[y/n] knows these people, and you know we need to keep a low profile if we want to find where they're keeping Luffy and the others." Nami sighed as she thought of the crew who had somehow become captured again by powerful enemies. They needed information, and you were their best bet; it was the best plan they'd got.
Zoro stays silent to Nami's words, eyes not wavering from yours. He can see how you force a smile, hands lingering on the arms of the man in front of you flirty. You batted your eyelashes and laughed, making Zoro's insides churn. He tries to control his emotions and his haki that threatens to spill out from within him, cursing the way you have him so wrapped around your finger. He takes a rough swing of his beverage and continues to brood in the low lighting of the room next to Nami.
You, on the other hand, are getting bored beyond your mind listening to this man talk to you about his role on this vast Island controlled by pirates. The only reason you knew anything of these pirates was because their Captain had taken a liking to you many years ago, before you joined Luffy. But now you see how lucky you were that you rejected his advances to join such a revolting crew. The man in front of you reeks at the proximity you both share and his hand is coming dangerously close to your upper thigh.
"We actually captured a bunch of rookie pirates tonight, the crew of some idiot with a straw hat." The man continuously seems to lose himself to the alcohol in his grasp, but your heart jumps at the mention of your Captain's name. Finally. But just as you are about to get him to expand, that is when his lingering hand finally grasps for the flesh of your upper thigh, his yellowed teeth flashing beneath a sickening smirk. "So, sweetheart-" His words are cut short with the sound of shattering glass.
"Zoro!" Nami whisper-scolds the swordsman and tries to tug him back to his seat to very little avail. "That bastard..." The shattering of glass had been from Zoro's bottle of sake, its contents now spilt upon the table and his unrest causing many eyes to turn to them. But Zoro doesn't care anymore. All he sees is the uncomfortable expression on your face, the grimace that you try to contort to a smile, the hands of a man that isn't his on your figure; the woman he's meant to protect. He witnesses you try to pry back the attention of the man as you lean close to him, making him sick.
"Zoro, come on, please!" Nami continues to whisper as eyes still linger on her and the swordsman. Zoro finally turns to meet eyes with the navigator and her touch falters on his shirt as she looks at the deadly glint in his eyes. Zoro knows what is at stake, but isn't used to being forced to stay put when you are so uncomfortable. He knows what is at stake, but at what cost? At least on battlefields, he can step in if he deems it necessary. He grits his teeth defeatedly and sits back down, eyes now trained on the table to try to control himself.
It feels like eons when you finally make your way back to them.
"Okay, I know where they are we can go now!" Zoro's eyes snap upwards to meet your warm gaze, before travelling behind you to the man asleep on the bar table, most likely your doing. His hand itches for his sword to go and make sure that when the man wakes, he will have no wretched hands any longer, but he recedes. "Let's go," Zoro's voice is short and sharp and he avoids your gaze. Nami rolls her eyes once more at his attitude as you give her a questioning glance, but she shrugs in response as you go to lead them to the crew.
Only a few moments pass when Nami goes to find the keys to where the crew are confined and you go to Zoro who leans against the wall of the room you are yet to enter. "Zoro," you murmur as his gaze reluctantly meets yours. "Are you mad? Look, it was all just to get information, you know I wasn't flirting with that guy on purpose I-" Zoro cuts you off sharply, as he eyes the way your eyebrows furrow together and he realises his anger of the revolting man had seemed like anger towards you.
"I know. I trust you."
Your eyes widen in surprise, and even more so when a slight flush reaches the tips of his ears. Your surprise then morphs into a sigh and a smile lingers on your face as you realise he had just been worried for you, and most likely trying not to commit murder of the man you had to manipulate for information. "If you want some consolation, I did give him a good punch to the ribs before he was knocked out." You whisper as you reach for his hand that had been clenched into a fist. It instantly unravels at your touch as he allows you to hold it and you guide it to the side of your thigh where the man had touched you.
Zoro's eyebrows seem to furrow, but he seems to concede to your words as he traces your figure, trying to eliminate the man's touch from your skin. "That's my girl." You grin as you look up to him when Nami sprints back to you, a hoard of men on her heels. "[y/n]!! Zoro!! Deal with them!!" In her grasp is the key to your crew's confinement and Zoro smirks as he readies his swords, seemingly more at ease now that you are next to him again.
"Mind if I take care of them?"
"By all means."
_____ Pairing: Sanji x Female Reader Summary: Sanji wakes before the dawn breaks, and so you find yourself doing the same to keep him company Warnings: Fluff [One Piece Masterlist] _____
Sanji wakes up before five every morning to prepare breakfast for the crew and prepare meals for the day. He is used to waking up to the chill that comes with a dawning day and pulling himself from the warmth of his bed. But the one thing he despised most was leaving you beneath blankets and having to begrudgingly remove you from his embrace. You always looked so beautiful as you slept, and his heart could only beat faster when you reached for his warmth as he pulled away, only making him want to stay.
He was in awe of your love; he couldn't believe you were his.
The pleasant company of you in his room was a stark contrast to the dim kitchen where he would be left to prepare meals for the day alone. Despite the sound of Brook playing his violin into the early morning, he could not help but selfishly miss your presence in the daybreak. He was so used to your words frantically reaching the air or your presence next to him, that he could only wait for the sun to bring you from your slumber and back to him again.
However, unbeknownst to Sanji, you have started to take more notice of the fact that your boyfriend would often be gone from bed whenever you woke. In fact, rarely did you wake up to his warmth next to you, and his peaceful face as he slept or stared adoringly to you. So, you had decided to embark on a secret little mission of yours, one that may require earlier nights, but hopefully result in mornings spent with your beloved.
Today, was the beginning of those mornings.
You can feel Sanji stir from next to you, and trying to hide a smile, you pretend to be asleep. You can feel his arms shift from around you and you hear his sigh as he realises he needs to get up for another day. A few moments pass before he gently shifts you from his arms, and places a soft kiss on your head. "Good Morning, love." His words are soft-spoken as to not 'wake' you but low from his sleep, and it makes your heart jolt in your chest. He then groans and pulls himself to his feet, before stepping to the door and leaving for the kitchen.
You wait two beats before deciding to join him.
Sanji has only just started retrieving ingredients from the fridge and picking out utensils when he hears the creak of the door behind him. Figuring it might be Brook who sometimes comes in for a cup of tea, he doesn't turn at first. "Morning Brook," he says casually, but what greets him instead is a sudden but familiar warmth that has his heart hammering. "Morning, love," you say, pressing your face into Sanji's back and relishing the warmth of him in contrast to the cool morning air. "Expecting someone else?"
Sanji pauses for only a moment in pleasant surprise before he turns from within your arms so he can look down at you. You smile sleepily up at him, and you appreciate the way his eyes seem to enlighten as he looks at you, a gentle smile on his face. "Love, why are you up so early? Aren't you cold? Tired? You can go back to bed if you-" You shake your head against his chest, shushing his concerns and rolling your eyes. "I'm fine, Sanji. Besides, I wanted to keep you company."
One of Sanji's hands reaches for the loose strands of your slightly dishevelled hair, tucking it behind your ear and lingering there. He stares at you in silent wonderment for a moment, how someone so kind and beautiful and loving could care for him in the way that you do. He places a delicate kiss on your head and you smile up at him at the action, just as you hear Brook's violin gently start to play a tune into the early morning. "This is actually kinda nice," you murmur and Sanji's fondness only grows.
"Let me make some tea for you, love."
Sanji's gentle voice interrupts the rhythm of slow swaying but it is you who pulls away from the confines of his arms. "No, no, you continue with your meal prep, I can make us the tea." Before your boyfriend can say anything to retaliate, you have reached for the kettle, and so Sanji joins you by your side as he heats up the stove and starts cutting up vegetables. You teasingly bump his hip with yours, as you reach for two mugs and start boiling the water.
Time passes in the ease of the other's presence; you sip your tea and help Sanji prepare breakfast. During the quiet of the morning, the two of you find yourself comfortable in the domesticity of it all, as Sanji guides your hands to a variety of tasks. You spill your words easily into the morning air, of your plans for the day, of funny things you saw the prior day, of anything that's on your mind. Throughout, all Sanji does is smile softly and nod to your rambling with keen interest.
You only stop when your tasks are finished and you feel you have been talking too much, hearing too much of Sanji's silence. "Love, are you okay? You've been quiet." You ask as you carry finished plates of breakfast to the dining table. But Sanji only looks to you with an expression adorned in love. "Everything's perfect, love. You are perfect." He walks over to you and suddenly you are in his arms once more, as he leans down and captures your lips. You kiss him back with equal fervour and he feels your own smile on your lips.
The both of you pull away just in time for the kitchen door to slam open.
"Sanji, I'm hungry!!"
"Morning Sanji-kun, [y/n]!!"
"Good morning!!"
"Hey, cook! Where's my breakfast?"
The rowdy crew enter the confines of the dining area and makes their way happily to the meals that have been prepared and are waiting for them. Suddenly your quiet morning has disappeared, replaced by a lively atmosphere. "Morning," you reply back in a sing-song voice, smiling as Nami gives you a knowing glance. But you simply take Sanji's hand in yours and guide him to the dining table as he obliges to your actions in contentedness.
"All right, let's eat!!"
Luffy's voice is all it takes for everyone to start their meals, and you do the same, but Sanji can't help but sneak glances at you throughout. When you finally meet his gaze and smile, a light blush adorns his face.
All of a sudden, the morning becomes his favourite time of the day.
I can’t get this fic out of my mind. Thank you @mytanuki-kun 🙏🏻😌✨💕
Is so well written...........
Summary: Zoro can’t stop dreaming about you, his best friend and crewmate. When his dreams start to wander from themes of romance and tenderness, he finds himself splitting at the seams. How long can he keep up this balance of night and day before he starts to go crazy?
Part 2 of 3 (or 4). ~5k words. CW: Mostly smut / PWP! Afab reader w/gendered language (she/her pronouns). Poor, pervy Zoro. Non-consensual voyeurism, masturbation, toys, kissing. NSFW content - minors stay away!
As much as Zoro told himself that he learned his lesson—don’t eavesdrop on conversations that are clearly not meant for your ears—the dreams about you didn’t stop.
Days went by and he could find no reprieve from the phantom version of you at night. Torture wasn’t the word for it. Agony, more like. He was in agony. Every night.
While the swordsman affirmed to himself that the dreams were a non-issue, and that they’d inevitably stop soon, you were rapidly starting to infect every single facet of his life.
This duality was maddening—at night, he’d answer to a fantasy world with you, where you treated him like some precious thing, called him ‘baby’ or ‘honey,’ and kissed him. But during the day you were his crewmate, friend, and nothing else. He’d smile at you like usual, sit by you at dinner, and tell himself that nothing changed.
This was a half-truth. The only thing that had changed was Zoro. You were behaving typically, maybe a bit quieter than usual, but he told himself that he was overthinking it.
The issue was that you wouldn’t leave him alone at night, and each of your sickeningly heart-melting smiles during the day was making his heart do that twisting thing. He couldn’t stand it.
Zoro didn’t know why his brain wouldn’t abandon this fixation with you—it had almost been a week; how much longer would this keep up? How many more tender moments would he share with you at night before he went insane during the day? If he got to a breaking point, what would fix it?
The dreams were festering inside of him. Confounding this effect was that the quality of sleep he was getting was atrocious. It’s like he wasn’t able to rest properly at night because the dreams were so concerningly lucid—he felt like he almost wasn’t dreaming at all, just living in an alternate reality, a reality turned upside down, where you loved him and smothered him in affection. A reality where he liked that.
Zoro had no one to confide in about his troubles—you were the person who he was the most emotionally close to. If he could have told you, he would have. But he was worried that it would change something. What would blurting out his dreams and baring these hidden thoughts accomplish, other than make you uncomfortable?
If he did that, you may get the wrong idea. He wasn’t trying to come onto you, he wasn’t in love with you, didn’t have feelings for you, etc. Zoro didn’t think he was capable of romantic love, it just wasn’t in the picture for him and never would be. But that wasn’t the issue here, he told himself. In Zoro’s mind, the problem was that he was being tormented by you at night and couldn’t help it. He was at a loss for what to do.
You were one of the highlights of his days, even before the dreams started. Now he could feel himself, more than ever, looking forward to those moments and latching onto them during the day. He harbored the suspicion that his brain would memorize your face more each time. The dream version of you kept getting more lifelike, more brilliant, more real. It was uncanny.
After the first three nights, Zoro started to brace himself. He knew what was coming when he fell asleep. He knew you’d be there waiting for him in some new scenario.
DREAMS 5, 6, & 7: “You’ve been a bit spacey recently.”
The fifth dream Zoro had about you was one where you held his hand (literally, just you holding his hand, nothing else). Your hand was warm and soft—it felt like it was made for him, like you were made for him. You ran your thumb across his skin and squeezed his hand through your intertwined fingers.
It was a short dream. When he woke up, he could still feel your hand on his. If he kept his eyes closed, if he stayed still, he could feel your fingers, your weight, maybe even your breath against his neck…
When he woke up, he was befuddled. Seeing you on deck the following morning, he glanced down at your hands. Would they feel the same as they did in his dream?
The next night, in the sixth dream, you studied his face quizzically.
“What’s wrong babe? You’ve been a bit spacey recently.” Your eyes explored his face imploringly.
He said something in response. He couldn’t remember what it was, and it was of no consequence. After you studied his face more, you remarked, “Zoro, you have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.” He flushed even in his sleep and woke up moments later to a quicker heartbeat than was normal. This was seriously starting to concern him. As mundane as these sequences were, they were abnormal and confusing.
Were these dreams some subconscious manifestation of a nascent health problem? Or was he not training hard enough? Perhaps this was some form of self-performed punishment for being so distracted by your presence? Maybe he needed to double down on the stoicism and the ascetism.
The seventh dream was also mundane. You were wearing one of his hoodies and a pair of his sweatpants; you kissed him and told him he smelled good. He had seen you wear his hoodies before, in real life. You always had an excuse (“mine are all in the washing machine, can I wear some of yours?) and he always looked at you more than normal.
There was something about you in his clothes that stirred him inside. He didn’t know what was up with that. Something squeezed inside of him at the sight of your face peeking out of his hoodies, your limbs filling up his shirts and sweats; he couldn’t put his finger on it.
The morning after the hoodie and sweatpants dream, Zoro woke up perplexed. His dreams, in the wake of the conversation he overheard, stayed relatively romantic. They weren’t straying from themes of tenderness and endearment (well, except that first dream, the shower sex one).
The romance is what baffled him the most—he had never looked at anyone with romantic intentions before, so why was his brain throwing it at him? Why you, in particular? It was mystifying, suffocating, and excruciating.
There were floodgates inside of him, pooled up dams of emotion, burgeoning romance, desires and fears, and your conversation with Nami sent a shockwave through those walls. They began to crumble, and new cracks showed every night.
Zoro tried not to worry, but he had an understanding that this odd trend of (what was it at this point?) six nights consumed by you was only sustainable so far as the dreams stayed this way—tender and, above everything, mundane.
He was a regimented man. He stuck to a clear and concise schedule, as far as waking up, feeding himself, working out, etc. But the dreams threw a wrench in his daily routine. The negligent quality of sleep he was getting, even after only six days, was starting to have quite the effect on him.
He was barely keeping it together by the six-day mark, dark circles deepening into sunken rings under his eyes. He concluded that he couldn’t handle anything farther than these dreams of kisses and cuddles. If the dreams changed—if they got explicit, he told himself—then he’d start to really lose it.
Emotional turmoil be damned, he could retain a sense of normalcy as long as his waking hours went on as usual and nothing else changed. He may be exhausted, but he could cope. He hoped the dreams would fade into absurdity, cease, and leave him the hell alone.
This was a self-deluding hope.
DREAM 8: Breaking point
The next night, Zoro dreamed that he was walking around the ship aimlessly. He did a lap around the deck, meandered lazily through the galley, and checked the crow’s nest. It seemed like the whole thing was empty. Where was everyone?
He sauntered to check out the sleeping quarters. All the doors were open, the lights were off, and the cabins were empty, except yours. Your door was ajar and the light was on—he felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity. As Zoro walked towards your door, time seemed to alter. He moved in slow motion, laser-focused on your cabin, approaching slowly with bated breath.
As he got closer, he started to hear something.
It was a mix of sounds. There was a wet sort of clacking sound, first, and when he got closer to your door, he also heard faint gasps and gentle moans. His heart beat faster. He reached the door—it was only a couple inches open. He knew way lay ahead.
The sounds were getting louder. He leaned in, staring through the miniscule gap between the door and doorframe, to see what was happening. His hand was poised on the doorknob, ready to push it open.
When Zoro saw what was happening inside, he froze.
You were lying on your bed naked, thighs spread, propped up on your pillows. Your face was contorted into an expression of bliss, mouth agape just slightly, brows pinched together, eyes closed. His gaze travelled down to fix on your breasts, a perfect pair in his opinion. But your arms looked like they were moving, so his gaze trailed down farther. He saw clearly now that you were touching yourself.
You were moving one finger very slowly in and out of yourself; your sensitive spots were red and inflamed, juices seeping out and covering your thighs and hand. He listened to your labored breathing and heard the messy sounds echo through the room.
When you stuffed another finger in yourself, he heard you murmur something, but he couldn’t quite make out what you said. He leaned closer, his proximity to the door threatened to push it open.
You let the sound out again. He heard it this time.
“Zoro.”
Your moan was quiet and needy. He was mesmerized—you moaned his name again and moved your fingers faster. Your pitch increased, your body tensed up, you were so wet that arousal was pooling beneath you, saturating and staining the sheets.
He thought you were about to orgasm when you stopped suddenly, drawing your fingers out of yourself with a gasp.
Reaching to the side, you picked something up. Zoro’s brain registered it with a considerable lag—that was a vibrator. That was your vibrator. He saw it once on accident, when he offered to grab some of your laundry and put it in with his load.
That must have been months ago. When he walked into your room and looked for your hamper, the vibrator caught his eye, sitting on your bed as plain as day. You had forgotten that it was there. He found himself blushing and pretended like he hadn’t seen it. But now it made an appearance in his dream—how sick and twisted.
You pressed the toy into your entrance, pressing it inside yourself with it for a few moments before you pulled it out again. Every thrust of your wrist was coupled with a keen of his name.
The vibrator was dripping wet. A string of your arousal connected the tip of the vibrator to your core and his eyes followed as you brought the toy to your clit. Pressing a button, the vibrator sprung to life, filling the room with a low whirring and pulsing sound. You whined his name again and pushed the vibrator back and forth on your sensitive nub, toes curling in pleasure. Your other hand crept down and snuck a finger back into yourself.
Zoro was hypnotized by the sight of you getting off with both your vibrator and fingers, evidently touching yourself to the thought of him. Your moans got louder again, along with the obscene sounds emanating from down there. He could feel his erection. He was painfully hard.
You started to writhe and squirm.
“Zoro, fuck,” you mewled, tone pathetic and desperate. “Fuuuucccck me, Zoro, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Your thighs started to shake.
It seemed like you were about to cum. He wanted you to cum, wanted to see you cum from fucking yourself with your fingers and toy to the thought of him—but right when you started moaning the loudest, right when you were one good pulse away from screaming his name, Zoro woke up. Of course.
Upon opening his eyes, he was immeasurably frustrated. Any time that these dreams, sexual or not, seemed like they were coming to a climax, he’d always wake up. It was like his brain was telling him to go fuck himself. And he was about to.
He couldn’t take it anymore, it was like his mind was playing games, like it was edging him or trying to piss him off. He was rock hard, about to cry from frustration, wishing more than anything that he could just have you, but knowing that would and should never happen.
Zoro had been telling himself that the dreams were just an aberration, a mistake, that he could forget about them during the day because they only were a nuisance at night, and nothing really happened in them that would impact his day in any meaningful way. But the narrative of the dreams not impacting his day didn’t hold up when he started to fist his cock while thinking about you.
He was forced to face the facts—the dreams were getting worse to the point where they started to bleed into his waking hours.
The morning after Zoro dreamed about you masturbating, he had to step away. Seeing you walk around the deck, interacting with you and watching you walk away… it was too much.
He went to the bathroom, locked the door, and palmed his growing erection until he couldn’t hold back anymore. Unzipping his pants and sneaking a hand into his underwear, he started to touch himself.
Maybe it had just been too long since he orgasmed (or even touched a woman). Sure, that’s what all of this was. His brain was grasping for straws because he was too repressed, right? You were there in front of him every day, so his brain had to make do—this was just a matter of proximity, nothing more. This is what Zoro coddled himself with, soothing his worries for a few moments. It had just been too long.
While he squeezed and stroked his aching length, he could barely keep in the feral grunts and groans threatening to leave his mouth. He bit his lip. Every time his fist grazed his angry, leaking tip, his cock twitched. It felt so good, but it would feel even better, if only…
At first, he tried to not think about you while doing it. He felt guilty enough as it was, having explicit dreams about his closest friend. But when his hand was wrapped around his shaft and precum trickled down his fingers in clear rivulets, the image of you touching yourself seared in his brain, unrelenting and arousing.
“Zoro.”
His name had sounded otherworldly when it parted your lips, coated in tones of lust and desperation. Just like the dreamscape he entered every night, composed of only thoughts, his thoughts in this moment could stay internalized too, couldn’t they? Kept private? This could be a one-time thing, hell, maybe it would make the dreams and nagging thoughts go away altogether. It had been too long, after all. Against his better judgment, the swordsman indulged. Just this once.
Scattered scenes flashed through Zoro’s mind the instant he decided to let his thoughts wander. All of it thundered at once like a maelstrom.
First, the look of your eyes, glossy, rolling back in your head in ecstasy. Then, the image of him shoving his cock in your wet mouth and watching you choke on it. The feeling of scissoring his fingers inside of you, of pulling your hair, of listening to your whimpers while he wrenched orgasms from you, pushing his fingers into your mouth while you sucked on them and made eye contact with him, watching your body writhe and writhe and writhe… every morsel and droplet of your envisioned pleasure fueled the force that was Zoro’s fist on his cock.
It would be hot and sloppy. Filthy.
You’d tell him to “keep going,” you’d dig your fingernails into his biceps, drool from how good it felt, swallow up his inches like nothing—he revered you, craved you, and worshipped you. He needed all of you. Wanted to smell you, taste you, hear you, and have you. He was getting carried away.
What if you walked into the bathroom right now? The door was locked, obviously, but the mental image of you stumbling across him like this gave him some sort of nasty thrill. If only you approached him, sunk to your knees and opened your mouth, petted him and praised him—
When the swordsman came all over his hands, he felt vile. He felt like a hypocrite.
He always called Sanji a pervert and derided him for his lack of control around women, and now here Zoro was, getting off on a dream he had about his own friend and crewmate. And what’s worse is that he didn’t look away in the dream when he saw you touching yourself. He didn’t even try. (To be fair, it’s not like he had control over what he dreamed about, nor could he control what he did in them, but that was a nonfactor to him.)
Zoro felt like shit.
The next time you talked to him, he turned crimson. He seemed distracted. He had been working out more than usual, so you told yourself it was the post-workout glow. You’d never seen him blush a day in your life, but sure enough, it was creeping up his neck and slowly starting to take over his cheeks.
He tried to forget his trip to the bathroom, but your pretty face made his heart thump and his stomach turn. He tried to forget the mental images his brain conjured up in his rabid state of desire. It was futile. He felt like he was going to be sick.
In your brief conversation after dinner the same day, you asked Zoro if he’d grab a drink with you. “It’s been a while,” you smiled at him, same as ever. “Let’s catch up in the next couple days over some sake. Deal?”
He hesitantly agreed. He missed you—the real you, not the dream version of you. When he said yes, you beamed at him, and his mouth went dry. He needed to get a grip and figure out what the fuck his problem was.
Zoro gave up on talking to you about the conversation he eavesdropped on over a week ago. He felt like he missed his opportunity (which is arguable) and, more than that, he felt like he wouldn’t know how to approach that conversation. What would he say at this point? “Hey, I’ve been having vivid dreams about you and I’m going fucking crazy?”
No. So, he kept it inside. He figured that he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. Would he ever admit that he heard the conversation? He wondered about this. Maybe he’d never fess up to it. Maybe he’d keep it to himself, internalize once again. But he was quickly learning that when he tried to stuff these huge emotions back inside of him, they got bigger, louder, more unruly. It was like psychological warfare, except the assailant was his brain.
At this point, the dreams felt all-consuming. He’d get so wrapped up in them at night that he felt like he was in a daze during the day. Perhaps he was being dramatic, or perhaps his brain was desperately struggling to regulate a whopping load of emotions he had never encountered before, or rather, that he had never let himself acknowledge before.
He worried that you could tell something was off with him. You could.
Later, you asked, “Hey Zoro, you doing ok?”
He stuttered out a response, flustered by your presence, falling apart in seconds. It was very unlike him. “Wha—? H-hey, uh, yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?”
“Nothing, just checking on you. You’ve been a bit spacey recently.” Your expression was one of concern. He seemed off, not to mention those dark circles of his. Was he getting sick? Was the insomnia coming back?
Upon hearing your words, it was like a lightning bolt hit Zoro. “You’ve been a bit spacey recently.”
What an insane coincidence. You said those very words to him in a dream a few nights ago, after which you complimented his eyes. He froze for a second, then tried to play off his shock with a yawn.
“I feel fine.” He shrugged. It wasn’t convincing in the slightest. “Just haven’t been sleeping the best.”
The paranoia was coming—did you know that he was dreaming about you? Had he been acting weird? Could you tell that he was thinking about you every moment of the day? God forbid, were you starting to form the misconception that he liked you in some romantic or erotic way? Fuck. This was getting ridiculous. Get a grip, man, he told himself.
You tried to ignore how odd he was acting. If he said he was fine, then he was fine.
He tried to convince himself that he was fine. He tried to wait it out and see that his attempt at convincing himself was effective.
It was not.
DREAM 9: A shocking revelation
Zoro’s dream the following night was delightful and concerning.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, fiddling with something. Maybe he was sharpening a sword, refitting a sheath, polishing his boots… something like that. That part was foggy. Behind him, Zoro felt a weight on the bed. He knew it was you.
You scooted close to him from where you were sitting and reached your hands under the hem of his shirt. Your fingers ran over his bare skin, relishing the feeling of his abs and happy trail, every inch of his taut, tanned skin. You reached around his front and wrapped your arms around him. Your palms were warm, and you moved closer, body flush on his from behind. It was not lost on him that he could feel your breasts pressing on his back.
“Zoroooo,” you cooed right in his ear. Goosebumps. “You’re no fun. Pay attention to me. I’m bored.” You were whining.
You tickled him, poked him, kissed his back through the fabric of his shirt. You were all over him and it felt like your hands were everywhere. You were begging him to put down what he was doing and give you his undivided attention.
“Fine,” he responded in mock annoyance, rolling his eyes and putting his things away. He turned, maneuvering his body so he was facing you. “What do you want me to do?”
You pouted. “I don’t know. I’m bored. Let’s lay down and cuddle. Please?”
The scene shifted. You two were lying in bed, facing each other. You were eye to eye, arms thrown over each other. Zoro tucked your hair behind your ear, breathless. He was enamored, entranced by your beauty and admiration. Your hand was placed under his shirt, resting on his side. The skin contact felt electric. You leaned in and started to pepper his face with kisses—a recurring theme in these dreams. He must have really wanted that.
He closed his eyes.
You first brushed your lips lightly over his, and then you moved to kiss all over one of his cheeks, all over his forehead, his other cheek, his chin, his nose, his eyes, his jawline, ending at his lips again. You nuzzled his nose, ran your fingers through his hair—it was like you couldn’t get enough of him. Your lips were soft, meeting his delicately. When you pulled away from him. You held eye contact, an affectionate smile playing across your lips. He smelled you, felt you, and felt enveloped by you.
Zoro leaned in and kissed your forehead. You giggled and pulled him closer.
He could feel himself starting to say something in the dream, working up the nerve to say something that made his heart feel like it would stop. The words were getting caught in his mouth, they felt like they were taking forever to form…
They were words he almost said to you once before in a dream. He forced them out through his cotton mouth and hesitation.
“I love you.”
When the words left his lips, that twisting feeling happened inside of him so intensely that it must have detonated something. Each piece of shrapnel sent bolts of lightning through his body; he felt like he was vibrating, euphoric, every nerve on fire. He couldn’t breathe.
The dream version of you looked into his eyes and nodded. “I know you do, Zoro. I see you.”
Buzzing, Zoro felt like he wanted to rip his heart out of his chest and give it to you. He wanted you to see him, to see every part of him, to bare his soul to you and say ‘look, here is everything in me, here is every part of me.’
You were about to pull him into another kiss before he awoke up with a start, sweating and practically shaking.
Zoro’s heart was beating out of his chest. He sat up. Immediately, his first instinct was to check whether or not you were really in his bed. You weren’t—to both his relief and disappointment. He checked the time—3:36AM. Far too early. But he couldn’t fall back asleep now, not when his heart was pounding like this.
Why did he tell you he loved you?
It would be an understatement to say that Zoro’s mind was racing. He recalled that in one of his first dreams he wondered if you would still feel lonely if he embraced you. But if he did more than embrace you, if he gave all of himself to you, what then? What would you feel if he did that?
Would you stop feeling lonely and sad if he gave everything to you, even his heart? Would you give him yours, in return?
He ruminated on the concept of giving all of himself to you. What did that mean, and why did the thought pass through his mind when he was dreaming?
To give you all of him, for you to see every part of him… was that love? Is this what it meant to love? If giving you every part of himself meant spending every moment with you that he could, kissing and caressing you, making you feel better, listening to every word you stored up inside, sharing every word he stored up inside… The realization hit him like a train.
He wanted that. He ardently wanted to fill in the whole that loneliness had carved out of your life. And he realized that there was one in his life, as well. A lacuna of would-be companionship that he had forever thought was out of reach.
Could he give you what you needed? Is that what love is? To share yourself with someone else, to want them, to cherish them, care for them, see them for who they are?
He wanted to give you all of him. He didn’t want you to feel lonely, sad, or distressed ever again. He wanted to always be there, he wanted you to know you could tell him anything, wanted to know you like the back of his hand, and he wanted you to know him like that, too.
Zoro understood now what that twisting, thumping feeling inside of him was. No, it wasn’t arrythmia, or indigestion, or anything of the sort—it had been lying low for months, boiling under the surface. It all clicked into place.
That stirring and twisting feeling? It was the feeling of that lock inside of him breaking into a million pieces. The lock around his heart that prevented him from wanting to love and from knowing how to… it was gone now, obliterated.
That impenetrable lock, the lead chains, the crushing weight of it… He used to think that the key to that lock didn’t exist. But now that you were here, Zoro realized that you were the missing key. You were the one capable of ripping open that relentless opacity, that stoicism, that brick of pain that he tried to ignore and train away. You had ripped it to shreds, like it was nothing. You did it over the course of many months, many days, and even in his sleep.
Zoro realized that he was in love with you.
He wanted to recognize you completely and absolutely, and for you to do the same to him.
Zoro wanted to take showers with you and take turns shampooing each other’s hair. He wanted to hold your hand in public, feeling and seeing nothing else but you. He wanted to come home after a long day and hold you tight, kiss you and call you sweet names. He wanted to nuzzle your nose every day and drink up every smile like he was starving for it.
To think that you were so sad and lonely you cried? That shattered him. Hearing you be so vocal about it, seeing a different side of you that he never knew before—maybe he never felt this emotion until he met you for a reason. Now that the pieces were falling into place, he saw that it was you. It was always you. It was only you. It would only be you forever.
He did not have another dream about you for three nights.
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taglist: @riftmage27 @eggrollforyou @imhwajaez @wiyenspanel @xxmysticxxx @moonmaiden1996
a/n: thanks so much for reading! part 3 is going to be a minute - lmk if you want to be on the taglist! i have yet to write (most of) it.
(prompt list here) & 2025 Request List - requests open
...a kiss as a promise for Luffy
You had never seen colours quite like it. Deep oranges burning into dark reds, rippled with blues so rich they seemed tinged with purple. It seemed the closer your ship drew to the Grand Line, the more ethereal the whole ocean became. Perched in the crow's nest on the Going Merry as the sunset painted the horizon in deep speckled tones, you wondered how you ever felt at home anywhere else.
It had been a couple of months since you left your island home in search of adventure and intrigue, all sparked by the moment you met a man more extraordinary than the night sky itself: Monkey D Luffy.
It had felt more natural than breathing when you met the famous straw hat captain, the two of you instantly falling in step in a way the rest of the crew chuckled about behind closed doors. Luffy always had such a strange way with people, often chaotic and always unpredictable. But you brought a quiet calm to the pirate that no-one had seen before, giving him a stable harbour in his life's stormy sea, slowing him down enough for him to finally settle and rest. On beautiful nights like tonight Luffy was more drawn to you than ever, the ship's proximity to the fated Grand Line only filling him with need to hold you near.
"Nami thinks we'll be in the waters of the Grand Line in just two more days." You expected Luffy to sound more excited about the announcement than he did, his eyes fixed straight ahead at the sunset as he spoke. His stony gaze betrayed the smile on his face, an air of uncertainty hanging in the space between you, his confidence seeming to falter for the first time.
"And then you're one step closer to being king of the pirates. You'll be achieving your dream soon." You reminded him, his smile softening into something more sincere as you closed the distance between the two of you and let your hand rest on his shoulder. He brought one arm up around your waist, his hand settling on your lower back as he held you and spoke again,
"Do you think someone can have two dreams?" He looked squarely at you as he said the words, the intensity in his eyes sending a shiver down your spine in anticipation.
"I think so. What's on your mind Luffy?" Your free hand swept a lock of hair out of his face, giving you a little more of him to examine as you searched for the meaning behind his cryptic words.
"You'll stay with me, right? When I've achieved my dream and I'm king of the pirates, and you've lived out your dream too. You're not going to go somewhere else after all this, are you? Or can it be somewhere we can go together? What happens after the Grand Line?" His words dripped slowly from his lips like honey, each one a falling grain of sand in the hourglass of time he feared would drive you apart.
It wasn't unusual for Luffy to cling to you like this when you were alone together, his arms encircling you whenever he could. But this the first time he'd voiced his need to cling to you beyond that. A first look to a future that he knew he needed to have you in. From a man who skated through so much by just knowing things would work out somehow, this moment of desperate uncertainty struck your heart with all the meaning it carried. Luffy had a second dream. One he believed in just as strongly as his undeniable destiny as king of the pirates. Luffy's new dream was you.
"I'll still be by your side when all of our adventures are done, Luffy." Your thumb stroked soft stripes over his scarred cheek, his brow dipping in thought as he pondered your reply. Wide brown eyes rose to search yours, deep murky pools of hope and need.
"Do you promise?" It was impossible to say no to a question posed so sweetly, his inner child shining through in these rare moments of vulnerability he saved for only you. You decided to do something you hadn't before, something you hoped would portray the enormity of your affections for him better than words ever could. You leaned forward, hopeful the rest of the crew weren't keeping a watchful eye over their fearless leader, and kissed Monkey D Luffy. It was just a gentle peck, his lips as warm and soft as his heart, the sea around you seeming to settle into a moment of serene silence the moment you touched him. Luffy made no effort to move, his arms lightly locked around your waist as he leant just the slightest bit of weight forwards, just enough to feel his lips press against yours. Your eyes fluttered shut as you stood frozen in time, letting the endless well of love and admiration you have for your captain spill out from your heart.
When you blinked your eyes open the sky had grown darker, and you couldn't tell if a second or an hour had passed as the two of you embraced. You pulled away and rested your forehead against his, breathlessly whispering the words he needed to hear,
"I promise."
The yearning for Sanji is a physical pang in my chest and flip in my tummy and burning in my eyes. Like this shit is ridiculous, I am swooning and sighing and yet he’ll never get to be mine 😔 just get OVER HERE
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Buenísimo
Just Between Us
- ☆ - Sanji x Reader
- ☆ - !WARNING OF EXPLICIT CONTENT- 18+!
- ☆ - 12k
- ☆ - a/n: ♧ reposting this fic because tumblr nuked it from the tags. if you ever happened to find the original two-parter floating somewhere lmk :3 ♧
- ☆ - tags: ♧ reader is a member of the straw-hats ♧ light!voyeurism ♧ teasing ♧ fem!reader ♧ some subby!sanji and dom!reader but Sanji-kun is a true switch :3 ♧ panty sniffing ♧ begging ♧ male!masturbation ♧ cum play-ish ♧ leg fetish(?) ♧ body worship ♧ humping ♧ Sanji gets a nose bleed so there will be mentions of blood ♧ idk how else to tag this but reader teases sanji and he's a lil desperate cunt-slut ♧ never had a beta, we die like fools ♧
“Bye, guys! Stay safe!”
Seated on Franky’s mechanical shoulders, Chopper waved back at you. His adorable laughter drifted past the treelines along with their farewells and energetic chaos fleeing towards another mini adventure. One you would not be a part of this time.
The rest of the crew left you on board with the promise to return soon as they scoured for supplies on an inhabited island, but with the way Luffy sped away— and Nami shouted after him— you knew there wouldn’t be much hope reigning in the Captain’s excitement.
You could trust Luffy to disrupt a plan and completely derail a simple situation. His shouts and the crew’s calls for him to slow down faded faster than the dust he left behind.
The seconds ticked.
You held your breath.
Standing alone, you listened intently for the silence to shatter the way you have become accustomed to— only to hear nothing but the squawk of birds resting on the mast. Undisturbed and unthreatened. Without so much as a song or laughter to burst, the ship rocked against the crystal waters of the shallow shore as you stood on the massive boat.
The world quiet, the view serene.
“Yes!” You let out an excited squeal, stomping your feet on the grassy deck in a silly dance of freedom and peace. “It’s finally quiet!” You shouted, laughing to yourself when no one answered you but the flaps of the wind against the furled sails above you.
There were no shouts other than your own, no arguments or explosions— no disturbances of other people. Finally! After five weeks of non-stop excitement and open sea, you twirled, jumped and danced your butt off with no one to interrupt or insult your ridiculous display of glee because you were alone!
“They all left, yes, yes!”
You sang merrily, taking up space with wide arms and a beaming smile.
You loved the straw hats. Travelling with them has been the most thrilling adventure of your life. They were amazing! Incredible, free-spirited— but sometimes, when the songs turn repetitive, and the merriment mutates into mayhem, you just want time to yourself.
Having grown up alone, you had become accustomed to the stillness of an empty room. It was comforting, the calmness of your own company and the hyper-independence it developed. A stark contrast to the life you started with your new makeshift family, and after so long of bumping and sharing space with colourful, loud personalities, you were thankful for the chance to stretch your arms and lay on the soft grass.
A moment to unwind, relax, and hear nothing but the waves below and revel in the tranquillity of solitude.
“Now, iced tea on the deck or a long bubble bath?” You mused out loud, whistling while making your way to the kitchen, “or both?” You paused up the stairs.
You sought to utilise all the time you had with maximum relaxation — with the way Luffy screamed over the odd-looking animal that stole his fruit; reading a book in the bathtub right now would guarantee no disturbances or uncomfortable attention for a while. No long lines or perverted interferences. You could take your time soaking in the warm water, and if they arrived by late dinner, they would find you already sated, happy and relaxed in the kitchen.
Right, decisions finally made, you went back down the stairs.
First, you needed your book back from Usopp, who swore he would finish and return yet never did, so you made your way to the boy’s quarters. They have lockers with their names, so it wouldn’t be too difficult unless he stashed it somewhere else, hopefully, the room wasn’t too messy— “Damn,” you heard someone hiss, a low voice that stopped you in your tracks, followed by inaudible murmurs that most definitely belonged to a man.
Fuck. Just like that, your good mood died, snatching your solitude away before you had the chance to indulge in it fully.
There was someone else here wrecking your fantasy and all the excitement of relaxing alone. No one ever said you would be guarding the ship with another person, yet the sounds of shuffling filled you with instant disappointment as you stood outside the room with the door slightly ajar.
You eyed them carefully through the crack, peeking in to seize a glimpse of who was ruining your day of fun, only to catch a wisp of blonde hair and a streak of smoke before you heard him hum something to himself as he shrugged off his suit jacket, clearly undressing.
Oh.
Swallowing your nerves, you spied from the slim gap through the door— watching smooth, slender hands loosen and tug on the tie around a pale neck until it slipped out and neatly folded on the dresser in front of him.
You paused, disappointment somehow melting as something else fluttered through your body. Something hot. Something wicked and indecent thumped an ache in your core as you watched him unbutton his top collar.
Then the second.
Third.
Unwittingly, your thoughts began to drift. Obliviously slipping into a heated dream envisioning how his strong hands would feel on your hips, your waist, gripping your supple skin when he presses you into his chest. The hot wisps of smoke and spice fogging your perception when he tilts his head down to yours, lips soft and slightly parted…
Sanji rolled his neck, popping the tension that released a low hiss from him, startling you out of the fantasy you unknowingly faded into before a sudden realisation rooted you to the spot— you were watching a man undress.
You were watching Sanji undress.
You only needed your book— a simple noise or shuffle would make your presence known, but you watched Sanji rake his fingers through his hair instead and toe off his shoes, standing in the middle of the room.
You weren’t all that sure about the layout of their quarters, considering you were usually respectful— but you could tell Sanji was closer to the beds and had a medium-sized dresser beside it with a sink and mirror in the corner. The room was spacious, bigger than the girl’s quarters, including a sofa and table in a sunken spot nestled in the middle of their room. It wasn’t as disorganised as you pictured. A lot of colourful knacks matching different aesthetics, but they all had a place that belonged to them. A piece of individuality.
You leaned back, hoping you went unnoticed by the man who often sang for your attention— and Nami’s and Robin’s, and any pretty girl he laid his eyes on. He was shameless, obscene. Yet there you stood, watching him unwind and strip ever so slowly exposing a physique you never expected from the ship’s cook.
The wavering sense of guilt drifted from your consciousness, fading into a vague afterthought with every second you spent gazing into the rift through the door as if it were luring you into depravity.
You wondered why you held your breath when his humming stopped.
Say something before—
His tired groan flushed warmth on your cheeks as you ducked behind the frame, shamefully peering into the room and watching him finish unbuttoning his blue striped shirt with deft fingers. Gingerly unclasping the buttons one by one until the shirt hung loosely on his shoulders. Over soft skin and hardened muscle.
It was almost elegant how he shifted his cigarette with his teeth to avoid the tiny trickles of ashes from falling on his suit, then gently placed his black jacket on the bed with grace you couldn’t fathom as he slid the shirt off his broad shoulders in the same motion.
Brightening the room, hitching your breath.
Sanji... he was beautiful.
In a gentle sort of way, with poise, strength and a style all his own. In an amorous way that kept you fixated on his toned back. His broad shoulders, smooth chest, and the cut of his well-defined abs. In the sense that had you admiring the grace of his movements and all the years he must have spent perfecting them.
You have watched him work while travelling with the strawhats these last few weeks. For no other reason than admiration, at the time, because you respected his power and the regency of his fighting style. But now, in the absence of stubborn rivalry and heart-eyed temptations— to glimpse the softness of his smile for yourself was like witnessing the shimmer of undisturbed water shining in the light of a spring day.
Peaceful.
A smile all his own, no snarky comment or perverted leer to taint the innocence or sincerity of his expression— you could only describe it as pretty.
It had you clutching the hem of your sundress, crouching down slightly when his lithe body sauntered from your sight. Was he preparing to take a shower? Did they have their own private facilities? Or is he about to walk out and catch you and your hidden decadence for unassuming men?
Your mind raced with questions, mixing with a perverted sort of fascination you dared not to admit, leering behind the door that hinged on the stillness of your presence.
Sanji turned back to your frame, humming another tune that was all too familiar when music played merrily on the deck. He sounded at ease, his voice carrying through the room softer than the smoke that swirled around him.
You bit back a smile, unintentionally slanting into the door, craving more than a slim peek into the room. deeper than a glance, especially when his hand inched towards his pants.
His movements were effortless— if it were not for the click of the buckle and the loud snap of leather, you would have missed how he unclasped his belt with one hand and yanked it fluidly with one rough tug out of the loops.
Fuck, that should not have been as attractive as it was, yet heat flushed anyway like it was coursing through your blood vessels, pumping your heart into a sensual beat out of its control. As much as you wanted to deny it, and turn your guilt away, it forced you to realise how difficult it was becoming to justify your presence— and even tougher to care about the intrusion of Sanji’s privacy.
He would have done the same, right? Though Sanji would have been less conspicuous and ten times more audacious, it was still innocent for you. For now.
“Where’s?” He mumbled before a soft aha came right after, a blue towel appearing in your field of vision. Hard muscles and a lean torso shifted through the gap, his back to you as he fiddled with something you could not see.
Your gaze lingered, slinking down every tight ridge and exposed skin you were blessed to witness.
There was a beauty to him you had not seen before, a tenderness to his features you only noticed now through the sliver of light. The colour on his cheeks, the tilt of his lips, the little curl of his eyebrow most people teased him for. There was something feminine about it— a spark of gentility he may have inherited from his mother, not that you knew much about that, just a softness he seemed to be blessed with.
It was admirable how he took excellent care of his things too. Rolling his belt, setting aside his cufflinks, buffing his shoes, even hanging his shirt over the chair to be later washed and pressed— you know he did after Brook thanked him for kindly ironing his shirts as well.
Perhaps there is more to him than silly sexual deviances. More than hazy eyes over full tits and round ass-cheeks. Sanji was diligent. Thoughtful. Tender.
Whereas you were the deviant leaning in a little too intently now, your perverted gaze following the veins on his forearms as he stretched them above his head, emitting low groans when his back pulled tautly and the muscles constricted tight.
You squirmed, the sounds of his groans and sighs making you clench your thighs as you watched him stretch, then admired himself in the mirror, rubbing his chin over the dark hairs you wished he wasn’t thinking of shaving. You liked the facial hair— almost as much as his ass when he leaned forward to splash some water on his face.
“Wait..” you murmured out loud without thinking. When did he snuff the cigarette?
Shame filled you instantly. Sanji’s ass distracted you for too long because now he was wiping his face with a clean blue towel, droplets of water rolling down his sturdy neck before they were selfishly wiped away just when you began imagining licking it off his skin.
You huffed, your feet planted to the floorboards, unable to speak louder than a tortured gasp while your thighs cinched to ease an unpleasant ache when he ran his hand through his hair again, with pretty blonde strands falling wet over his face. Over sweet eyes and high cheekbones.
It was exhilarating, intrusive, and extremely impolite, yet you could not turn away or apologise for the violation, too mesmerised by the physique usually clad in lavish suits. Only witnessing a faint glimmer of the man you had never known before— lurking behind the shadow of the door frame that separated you from him and spared him from your wandering stare.
There was a clink and a small flame before the smell of smoke wafted through the door once again. A thick cloud of vapour swirled around Sanji as he tilted his head back, eyes closed and basking in the serenity of the surrounding silence. Much like you wanted to before you became lustfully distracted, spoiling his privacy. Invading his space. That guilt you previously estranged yourself from inched back into your consciousness as Sanji sighed softly, looking every bit of the peace you intended for yourself earlier.
Your teeth latched on your bottom lip, nervousness churning, desire twisting into a sick delusion— your prying had to end. Even Sanji deserved the politeness of privacy.
So, you turned to leave, determined to ignore all you had seen, just for the floorboards to creak under your weight when your feet shuffled a little too loudly.
Your body stilled, you felt your pulse explode, and excuses and apologies were ready to spill from your trembling lips as you whipped your head back to the door— only to freeze when you caught him unbuttoning his pants.
He stood there, shirtless, hair damp and dark pants low on his hips as the zipper rang louder than the blood rushing in your head.
A smothered gasp escaped behind your hand, an inaudible “Oh god,” choking out beneath the pleasured grunts you heard through the wall. Sweat beaded down your temple, somehow feeling hot and sticky despite the chilling wind that ruffled your hair, tickling the flushed skin of your chest as your breathing quickened.
He was... touching himself— idly, lazily, using the heel of his palm to rub on his crotch as it steadily grew into a heavy bulge pressing into the teeth of the zipper.
“Fuck... ”
You squeaked, thankfully no louder than his own low grunt.
His teeth peaked through his smile, chuckling at something past your sight. His smile was sultry, his laugh airy. Thank God, no one could ever see the creeping blush up your neck over Sanji. Or feel the stickiness that marred your panties over the sight of his erection lewdly shaped beneath the fabric of his dark pants. The man who needed blood transfusions whenever he saw a pretty girl.
You would have felt humiliated if you weren’t so distracted. And breathless, lightheaded, and not to mention wet.
His ridiculousness was why you never noticed these things before, like the slenderness of his long fingers, or how his sharp jaw clenched to keep the cigarette in place— or the elegance of his strides across the room to place his shoes in the locker and hang his suit jacket before stepping into the sunken sofa.
A new light, a new Sanji to you— a voyeuristic secret you could never confess even through the stuttered breaths of your own arousal.
Shit, shit, shit!
He was right there, facing you— yet unaware of the glowering eyes and thundering pulse a few feet away from him. At least, that’s what you hoped as you watched him throw his head back over the couch and rub the back of his neck tiredly— teasing you with a view of his sculptured body and the heavy tent straining against the zip of his pants.
Fuck… he was a vision. Perhaps if he had a fraction of this elegance towards women, he would have them falling at his feet, begging for his attention— panting his name— raking your nails down his smooth chest.
Caressing him the way your fingers unconsciously mimicked on the door as you pressed yourself against it, tits hot and heavily squished into redwood, desperate for cool relief on your flushed skin while straining to see past the hem of his pants. He was so close, yet out of reach, as you watched his hand run down his neck, gliding it on his chest sensually before grasping the chubb that had him sighing lowly into his own touch.
“Just a little,” he groaned, rubbing on his cock lazily, as if he was convincing himself to indulge in his own pleasure, “before they come back.”
Oh god, oh god.
You weren’t in the right state of mind to be making decisions when every grumble and low hum of his vibrated straight between your thighs. Pooling slick in your panties that had you chewing on your bottom lip to sanctify some sanity when heated arousal rushed through your body.
“We have time,” he murmured, shifting in his seat to tug down his pants a little more, dark blonde tufts of hair peeking through, giving himself room to breathe with his underwear sliding just beneath it. His chubb was fat and still hidden, but you could see the tip twitch with every squeeze of his abdomen, teasing himself with the friction rubbing upon his dick. “uhh, yea, please.” He moaned a sweet sound seeped in desperation, his eyes closed and hips jerking, playing his fantasy out loud, his hands clenched by his sides. “Touch me, please, I’ll be good”, he whispered, smiling as he did, a flush colouring his cheeks. “Jus’ for you, yea? All you. Pretty girl, make me so hard.” He choked the last word, taking the cigarette out of his mouth for a steady breath of air before clenching it back in his teeth.
You were a mess.
You had to stop, turn away— breathe.
Sanji was begging, whining to be touched as he bucked his hips, using his abs to move his cock in his pants. Edging himself in a fantasy you only hoped to be a part of— but you could never dare to interfere. Your chest heaved, nipples taut and stroking against the door, gripping the handle so it stayed put even as your legs shook from the pressure to keep you upright.
Leave, you had to leave.
Move your feet, release the grip on the door and shift your weight to the side.
You manually counted your breaths, ripping your gaze from Sanji’s pleading stare.
Leave, just leave.
“Don't leave,” he whined, sitting upright. “at least let me watch you too, it’s only fair.”
It was as if a wave of cold, salty, ocean water dunked on you from the way you shrieked at the sound of your own name.
The door creaked, opening wide, betraying you by exposing the statue you had become and on the brink of collapsing from shame or even darting from his sights if you could have managed to work your knees.
Though his eyes were free from shock or disgust, he looked almost excited. Eager. The cigarette clenched in his wide grin; hair pushed back— you could see how his eyes glowed.
You gaped back at him, shock contorting into a dry wheeze you couldn’t control while his smile curled into a light chuckle, amused by your flustered expression.
“Don’t leave,” he repeated, the invitation sounding almost kind coming from his lips, a charming smile hidden behind an obscene request while tugging on his pants when his hard cock pressed too tightly in its confines. “Watch me, please.”
Sanji asked you not to leave.
Sanji said your name while asking you not to leave— not to leave watching him masturbate.
Your breath fell past your lips, frozen just outside the bedroom door, your blood still humming through your body. You were stuck. Mortified. No matter how many times you rephrased or repeated it in your head, you could not move or answer him in anything but a squeak. “Why?”
“Why not?” He countered, striding towards you, bulge still prominent. “You’ve been watching me the whole time. Why stop now?”
“No! I-I didn’t mean to—”
He nodded teasingly, “you liked it.” Sanji snickered when you snapped your mouth shut, your denial ruined by the searing shame choking your words as he stalked closer. “I liked it too,” he said lowly, “made me so hard.”
“I wasn’t—” you huffed, desperate to explain yourself despite the way your gaze flickered down at his chest with every pathetic stammer. “I just wanted- and then you- it’s only—”
Sanji laughed, waving his hand dismissively with his cigarette pinched between his fingers, twirling a ring of smoke between you. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. No harm in a little peeking,” his teeth flashed prettily, excitement shining at your bashful glances towards his shapely crotch. “If you want, maybe you can make it up to me. I’d hate to tell the rest of the crew what you did.”
“How?” You hated how timid you sounded, so you cleared your throat and stood straighter, only taking a small step back when he got closer, heart thundering and not at all bothered by his proximity. “It’s not like I’d let you watch me. I know what you’re like.”
“Do you?”
“Y-yes.”
His curly brow quirked up, amusement glossing his tone, “You don’t sound so sure, dearie.”
“I know you’ll just brag about me looking at you as if I’m some horny perv lurking around the boy’s room—”
“But you are,” he interjected, taking a slow drag of smoke and blowing it downwind. “I wasn’t the one caught lurking—”
“This time!” You bristled from the accusation, digging an accusatory finger at his firm, muscled chest, lingering a second too long before snapping. “You’re the one always butting in when the girls bathe. You’re the one trying to sneak a glance when we change! You’re the rude one!” You shouted, guilt clawing in your chest when all he did was smile. “I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry, okay? But don’t make me out to be a pervert like you.”
Sanji rubbed his chest sadly, palming the exact spot you touched as if he were cherishing the contact with his big hand sprawled on his own skin. “Aw, darlin’,” he cooed with a cute pout on his lips, “do I make you uncomfortable?”
“No!” you shrieked a little too quickly, “I-I mean, yes! When you—”
“When I undress?”
“God!—”
“When I rub my cock?”
Your cheeks burned, a strangled whine slipping before you could clamp your teeth on your bottom lip, “That’s not! You—”
“I, what?” he purred, tilting his head down again, the simmering scent of smoke tickling your lips, “you can’t even look at me in the eye, but you had no trouble watching me stroke my cock to you. Did watching me make you wet, darlin’?”
The lie spilled in an undignified splutter, the word no holding too many syllables when you tried to say it.
His laughter chimed in your ears, a vibrant sound that brightened his face, and though he was laughing at you, a part of you softened from the sight. Mesmerised by it.
Pretty. Shimmering waters.
Somehow, it helped you release a steady breath, perhaps for the first time since you discovered him. Putting you at ease and in control.
Taking another step back, it was easier to blurt out your next half-lie. “I wasn’t watching you, I came for something.”
“Is there any chance that thing being me?”
“There is a better chance I slap you if you don’t back the fuck up.”
“Promise?” Sanji chuckled, a rosy blush tinting his cheeks. He invaded your space again, smoke and soap stroking your senses while his hands stayed respectfully by his sides. “Wow, dirty words sound so pretty when you say it.” He tilted his chin, inching closer, lips inviting, “Say fuck again.”
In your head, you slapped him. You pushed past his large, dominating frame, and went on your way to enjoy the bath you had planned and forget all that you have seen.
In reality? In the sensuous bubble of arousal he encased you in— the curse tickled his lips in a low murmur. Like a pre-emptive kiss he savoured by swiping his tongue on his bottom lip just so he could taste the words you teased as an insult.
“Again,” he pleaded, slanting you into the wooden railing. Gripping the beam. Almost chest to chest. Almost touching.
“Fuck,” you breathed, “you.”
“Please…again..”
“Sanji—”
“mmhh..”
“—fuck… you.”
“Shit.” his laugh strained into a desperate husk.
You could almost taste it. And you wanted to, to taste him that is, because you could tell he was cracking. In a singular moment, you turned the tides on him, taking the upper hand and the dominance he flexed exposing you. And like a switch, Sanji was pleading— his adams apple bobbed, lips parted, eyes blown. Not anything like the charm he exuded earlier. He sounded helpless. Distraught. Struggling against the invisible line you still held between you, yet honouring the boundary you have placed because he was still a gentleman.
You admired that.
Part of you— the wretched, drunk on lust part you shoved in a cage most nights to escape her fantasies— wished for him to push the waters and break the barrier. To feel the warmth of his skin pressed against yours. His hands, his lips.
His eyes shined instead. Hooded and sparkling a desire you mimicked with your slow breaths.
The birds squawked above, and Sanji finally found his voice.
“Can I masturbate to you?”
“Huh?”
“You’re so pretty, so tempting,” he said. Flexing his grip on the beam as if it were a lifeline. “I loved it when you were watching me. If you don’t want me to touch you, that’s fine. I won’t push you. But please, watch me. And I promise it will be just between us, okay?”
You squirmed. The words of rejection faded faster than they formed while you tried not to shrink under his pleading stare. You could feel your back pressed against the rail, digging into your skin as Sanji stood tall, shirtless and strong— caging you with his hand gripping the wooden beam right by your hip. Your bodies close, breaths hot and almost in sync, yours just a little shakier as you contemplated his invitation.
To watch him. Openly.
Why was it so daunting with his permission? With his lust blown eyes homed in on yours. Longing for something more than your stuttered breath to brush his skin.
Even in the open air, all you could feel was the heat raying from his bare chest and the twinge of smoke fanning around you. His arousal straining yet inches away from contact with your thigh he keeps achingly out of reach. It was just him, you, and the birds sitting on the mast, but it felt like you were locked in a steel cage with hundreds of spectators waiting on your next move.
You couldn’t hear them above the raging waves of your own thoughts. However, it was hard to stay objective when the currents that pulsed in your blood rushed between your thighs, dousing you with a tender ache that was becoming harder to ignore.
When you took too long to respond, his smile faded. “I’ll leave you be—”
“Sit back down,” you commanded, pushing on his chest and smiling when he shuddered beneath your palm.
Sanji grinned. He took your hand, your name spoken softer than any ballad as he whispered it into your skin and placed a kiss to accompany the warmth it spread. “Yes, my lady.”
In the depths of his eyes, you fell. The world blackened and you plunged deep into his domain. Into his desires.
Tethered only by the delicate hold he kept of your hand, you stepped into the room behind him, keeping your head up despite the nervousness that swirled within.
The anonymity you deluded yourself into believing snapped when the door closed behind you. Sanji was freakishly deceptive. Of course, he knew. Of course, he was teasing you. But the genuine plea that shined in his eyes made it impossible to walk away.
He looked so cute. So masculine and vulnerable at the same time. You wanted to see more of him it drove you right into the lustful fog that blanketed the space in between.
When he released your hand, you found yourself missing the contact of his large palm clasped in yours.
Sanji took his place back on the sofa, thighs spread, and lips parted in breathless excitement. But before anything else happened, he snuffed his bud in the ashtray in front of him. “You can walk away any time you want, sweetheart. No hard feelings or awkwardness, okay?”
Your shoulders visibly relaxed, unaware they were ever tense, but it made you smile anyway. Grateful for the reminder and the familiarity of his gentlemanly deference.
“I know,” you give him a genuine smile, “just between us, yeah?”
“Of course, darlin’.” His smile mirrored yours like the glimmering waters they are modelled after. Putting you at ease and in control once again when he affirms; “Just between us.”
With a deep breath— you cooled your expression, while his eyes shined as an air of apathy befell around you.
There was no turning back from this, and as you stood there, shielded from the cooling wind and the anchoring weight of the door you once hid behind, you realised that you truly didn’t want to.
You were inside.
You had his attention. You could watch him— Sanji, undress, and pleasure himself without anything obstructing your view or fixate on the shame twisting in your gut this time because he invited you in. Led you by the hand while you pretended the contact didn’t ignite anything.
That the warmth of his hand clasped in yours didn’t buckle your knees when you stepped over the threshold. Or that you could still feel the brush of his lips on your fingers.
You could continue pretending none of it mattered because this was just a game, and you were good at playing games. You could play this one with him too.
“Sit back,” you ordered after finally finding your voice, “—and show me what you were doing.”
“Fuck,” his hands fumbled.
His excitement forced you to chew on your bottom lip to surpass a snicker. It was endearing, but you held onto your indifference like a vice. You were looking forward to seeing him unravel.
“Keep—” he swallowed thickly. “Keep talking to me like that.”
“Like what?” you watched him palm his cock through his pants again, his erection growing harder with the new stimulation beneath his hand. “Tell you how I like to watch pretty boys touch themselves?”
“uhh-ha,” Sanji choked softly. “You think I’m pretty?”
You crossed your arms, smirking when his attention locked on to the swell of your breasts curving over the top of the dress, flashing delectable skin that had him swiping his tongue hungrily. “I think you’re a little pathetic,” you shrugged, “and predictable.”
His lip tilted. “I guess I just can’t help myself.”
“Hmm, well, you can have a little more decorum, though. Be a little less obvious too.”
He chuckled airily. “Not when I’m stroking my cock to you, darlin.”
Sanji shifted slightly, dragging his pants down lower and exposing more of the dark blonde trail that led past his waistband. Taunting you with a flash of skin you couldn’t turn away from. “Want to see how hard just looking at you makes me?”
A smile peeked through despite your best efforts. “I can see well enough from here.”
“That’s not what it looked like before,” he teased, cupping his balls through the fabric. “I thought you might fall through the door from how far you leaned in trying to sneak a peek.”
“I wasn’t—”
“I thought we were passed the bashful lies, sweetheart?”
You peered down at him through your lashes, ignoring the flush creeping up your neck from his sultry gaze.
Neither of you said another word for a minute as the room filled with Sanji’s breathy sighs. He was using his abs again, clenching them and bucking his hips to rub his cock against his pants. The friction making him grip the sofa. His lips part.
Your thighs cinched watching his reddened tip slip through when his pants slid further down. He looked wrecked already. Pearly dribbles of pre-cum smeared over his abs, trickling over the toned lines and ridges with every jerk of his hips, adding a lewd sheen to his skin as the rise and fall of his chest quickened.
Just standing there stumbled whines from his throat, you wondered about the sort of sounds he would make into your neck.
“Sanji”. His gaze snapped up. “Use your thumb for me,” you said softly. “Rub on your slit, I want to see your tip get sensitive.”
“Sh-it, like this?”
“Good boy.”
He moaned.
“Oh,” you grinned. “You like that, huh?”
Sanji nodded timidly, his blush darkening when his control slipped. He didn’t mean to confess such a kink, but the way you purred the praise sent shockwaves up his spine. Made his cock twitch, hand tremble.
“I like how you talk to me,” he confessed lowly. “Your voice, how it sounds when you say my name. How you lower your tone, or your breath catches when I groan— fuck. It drives me crazy.”
You hummed playfully, nibbling on your bottom lip when he canted his hips into his hand rhythmically. Now completely free from the confines of his slacks, his cock stayed caged in his fist, his shaft long and slender throbbing with a hue that matched his cheeks as pre-cum slicked loudly, coating his fingers in its sticky mixture while you stood there ignoring the wetness soaking your own panties.
“You look desperate already, Sanji-kun.” You teased lightly, hiding your hands behind your back so he couldn’t see you dig your nails into your palms. “Do you like being watched that much? I can see you leaking, your cock is so wet, and we’ve just started. Are you going to cum so soon? That’s sort of pathetic, don’t you think?”
“I can’t help it,” he groaned, damp blond strands falling over high cheekbones. “It’s like your eyes set me on fire. Igniting everything that sits under my skin, burning me through, it feels so good, it almost hurts. Fuck, sweetheart, I can’t imagine what would happen if you touched me. Your hands on my chest, your sweet lips on my neck. If you so much as leaned into me, letting me breathe in your scent, uhh-shit- I’m ashamed to admit I might cum untouched.” His throat constricted, seizing his words into a tortured rasp. “Darlin’, for my sake, for my sanity, you have to stay back and let me just watch. Let me look at you and imagine all the ways you’d set me alight with just a kiss.”
“Would you let me?” you asked breathlessly. “Kiss you, I mean.”
“Oh, in a heartbeat.”
“Even if you’d gush blood and pass out?” you couldn’t help the giggle.
“Even if it were my last,” Sanji groaned desperately. “To kiss you would be the end of me, and I would pray they’d bring me back so I can do it again.”
Your chest tightened hearing the affection hidden beneath his moans.
There were deep crescent shapes in your palms now, the skin reddened and pinched from your efforts to maintain even an ounce of control, but the sting paled in comparison to the drum of your heartbeat slamming against your ribs. Rattling the bars of your sanity the longer you stood in his presence.
Sanji looked at you as if— as if he would never see the light again.
With awe, longing, and something close to anguish when the light shines further away from him. As something beyond his reach yet to be cherished and marvelled at all the same. To be revered. Desired. Loved but never possessed because it wasn’t his place to assert his will, but to bask in the warmth the light spread.
It was intoxicating, and he was unravelling faster than you anticipated.
You could tell from how he thumbed the thin veins forking along his length, how pre-cum spilled over his fingers, pooling at the base of his cock and how his chest heaved that he was chasing a fast-approaching release that had him stuttering your name past his lips— involuntarily rising heat all the way to the tips of your ears.
Sanji was too erratic. Too frenetic.
Moaning and thrusting and rolling his wrist over and over his shaft so fast, it was a wonder he remained conscious. He looked unbalanced. A sort of frantic that reminded you of all the times he over-excited himself and exploded into a fit leaving him comatose and bloodied.
You had to slow him down, to set the pace for now only to have him moan in a melody of salacious cries later on, and then bend him into a rhythm only your pulse can match.
At your mercy, your control.
In a way that wouldn’t end with the rest of the crew returning to find Sanji dead on the floor seeped in his own cum and blood. This is exactly how this was heading if you let him continue down this path.
Whining incessantly while fucking his tight fist in faster strokes, his teary gaze seared straight into your core, almost certain you could feel the warmth of his touch from across the room as you fought the urge to squirm and find the power to bark:
“Stop.”
The command shot straight through him. Snapping him at attention like a stinging whip on his back.
His jaw ticked. Veins pulsed.
Sanji’s rigid composure would have been comical if his erection hadn’t slapped against his stomach. Angry red and swollen with need, it looked almost painful, especially with the way his brows twisted miserably as he panted heavily glowing with sweat and desperation.
“Breathe.”
When he inhaled a wheezing, sharp breath— you shook your head, instructing him to go slower. Calmer. Until his shoulders laxed and his throat swallowed a decent gulp. “Good boy, just breathe for me.”
Sanji nodded meekly, even managing a smile as he clenched and unclenched his hands on his knees, wiping off the gooey, sordid evidence of his arousal in quiet shame.
You observed him critically, assessing his mental and physical state and deeming him a little untethered. As if he were floating, glassy-eyed and adrift in his own mind until enough deep breaths grounded him back to your focus. You watched him come to grips with things— his attention shifting to his pants bunched at his thighs, to his cock standing full mast, to the hot air suffocating the room.
Sanji sighed wistfully, threading his trembling hand through his sweaty bangs and out of his face, a deep blush colouring his cheeks.
“Feeling better?” you asked gently. “I just can’t have you passing out on me before things really get started.”
It took him a moment to find his voice again. His throat was dry despite the wetness clinging to his skin.
“Sorry. I’m just— I’m so hard,” he chuckled weakly. “Can’t, uhh— I can’t imagine what you might think of me right now. How ridiculous and pathetic I might look being so— so enamoured by you.”
You shrugged to lighten the mood. “I always assumed you were a two-minute man, but I won’t tell anyone.”
The laughter didn’t quite reach his eyes as he flexed his fists, actively avoiding the erection pulsing against his stomach, or the truth of his blinding lust and the dizzying spell it held over him.
“I thought I could— I thought I had more control, like when we were on the deck.” Sanji said sullenly, vaguely aware of the festering insecurities. “It was exciting being the one to tease you, to look down at a beautiful woman like you and make her flustered. Being so close to you was- it was so hot, electric even— but having you watch me right now in that commanding tone is ten times more intense. It’s addicting— it’s also humiliating and thrilling all at once. I feel so contorted and … I’m embarrassed to admit how far I’m willing to let you break me”. He confessed shyly.
“Sanji…”
“But that somehow turns me on even more. It’s just… you’re so beautiful”. Sanji whispered gravelly, “It’s just not fair what that does to me.”
“It’s okay,” you released your own shaky inhibitions with a slow exhale and offered a tilted smile, warmth tickling your cheeks upon his conviction. “I like seeing you this way. It was fun on the deck, how dominating you were teasing me. But right now, your eyes shine and it’s really flattering.” You smirked playfully, “Pretty boys like you look best when they’re sweaty and desperate.”
Sanji’s blush was much more obvious than yours, his fair complexion making every inner thought radiate through his skin, but he stayed quiet for a few seconds, his smile strained.
“Be honest with me. If-if I hadn’t said anything, would you have walked away without a word afterwards?”
You thought about it for a moment, stunning him with your impassive gaze towards his raw vulnerability.
There was a touch of wistfulness in it— in the tenderness of his question making it clear that your answer would mean more to him than simply feeding his ego— he needed to feel desirable, worthy— so with a wicked idea, you took those steps forward to bridge the gap between you and relished when his chest hitched visibly as you stood planted between his open thighs.
You pulled him back from the edge, only so you could push him down yourself.
You were so close he could reach out and touch you now if he wanted, his leg could press against yours. His arm could brush your thigh and call it an accident, or he could even brazenly drag you into his lap to finally feel relief on his aching cock. It wouldn’t even take much strength on his part, to grab you by the arm and yank you into his awaiting heat. Your body warm and pressed against his. Flushed and tight.
But as you peered down at him— his lashes wet, face burning, pre cum glistening. Hands stilted on his knees as he inhaled your scent so deep it filled his chest— you know Sanji would never cross that line, not without permission.
You felt powerful in that fact. In the knowledge that you could break a man as powerful as him with a caress, a word. A kiss.
“Yes. I would have walked away,” you confessed firmly. When his expression fell, you bent down at the waist, the words brushing on his lips. “But I would have paid extra close attention to you.”
His mouth fell open, your name almost coherent in the pitiful whimper that escaped disguised as a breath. Yet he still managed to smile despite the blood rushing to his head. “Sweet God, you’re cruel.”
“And you’re shaking.”
He was.
Already unsteady and trembling to keep himself upright. To stay conscious and not let his vision completely glaze over as white spots danced across your face, sparkling you in a tantalising light he fought to keep in his sights even if it muffled his other senses when your scent enveloped him too. Erotically feminine and something so distinctly you his pulse ticked beneath his jaw.
“More, please..”
“mhmm— you have to open your eyes and look at me, Sanji-kun. I might get sad and walk away if you don’t.”
When he finally opened them, you were blessed by the sight of shimmering tears glossing wide, love filled pupils.
“y’know…” you sighed, fighting the warmth spreading between your thighs, “watching you made me realise something.”
“What?”
“That there are layers to you, and I liked discovering them.” The noise he made resembled a strangled animal when you brushed your thumb over his soft cheek. “Your patience, tenderness, diligence, I never paid it any special attention until today. How you take care of your things, how gentle your hands are— I never thought you would be so…” you swiped your tongue upon his bottom lip. “Beautiful.”
“Fuck..” his eyes rolled. A full body shudder raked down his back this time, prickling every fibre etched in his being and ultimately triggering sensitive blood vessels in his nose to pop suddenly as spurts of cum pre-emptively dribbled out of his tip.
You giggled. “Are you okay, Sanji-kun?”
you watched him shake his head inaudibly, hips humping the air for much needed relief as the blood trickled down his nose in slow drips. Almost mimicking how his cock drooled obscenely.
He wouldn’t last much longer like this. Every muscle, nerve and vein burned to keep himself tethered to the seat. “More, I beg you. T-talk to me more, ‘m so close..”
His plea sounded hoarse even to his own ears, but it made you smile all the same.
“I think,” you trailed off, flickering your eyes to his lips, then wiping off the blood gently. “I would have paid attention to your laugh.”
That sobered him a little bit, the confusion furrowed his brows.
“You looked at ease, even though you were teasing me. I liked hearing you hum, chuckle, seeing you smile. You looked relaxed. There was something attractive about it, I can’t quite explain how much I enjoyed seeing that, even before you unzipped your pants. I think I was a little enamoured by you.”
His expression glowed. “R-really?”
You nodded earnestly. “You’re beautiful, Sanji. That’s why I was watching you, why I had to walk away cause it made me feel guilty to see you so … unguarded.”
“I—”
“Do me a favour,” you cupped his jaw with a warm palm, “don’t pass out.”
Before he could reply, Sanji tasted heaven.
It was the slightest touch on his lips, barely a kiss, hardly a brushstroke, but it was enough to hear something akin to an angel’s song as he was bathed in a white light.
Or …
His eyes rolled so far back, his vision became discoloured, and the sound he heard was a high-pitch whine that tore through his own throat and reverberated in the room.
“On your knees.”
Sanji collapsed, gasping and quaking on his hands and knees as if he’d been fighting for his life. Which, in a way, he really was. Fighting to keep some blood in his system that hadn’t already poured into his cock or down his nose when the heat coiling in his belly burned that much hotter from your kiss. Scorching him, blistering the goosebumps that prickled along his flesh making him hypersensitive and numb all at once— numb to the sounds outside this room, hypersensitive to your every move. And if anyone were to find him like this— no, he didn’t care. You were a dream he never wanted to wake up from, even if it ripped him apart, and he’d be damned if anyone came to ruin it now.
Instead, he chewed on his bottom lip, savouring the taste of you, of your sweet gloss and plump lips and dizzying scent— but when he reached to fist his cock to the memory of you pressed against him— Sanji couldn’t stop himself from keening loudly when your foot pushed his hand away.
“I didn’t say you could touch yourself, cutie’.”
“What can I do?” Sanji quivered up at you pleadingly. “I’ll do anything, please. Oh please, please tell me what to do for you, darlin’.”
“Take off my shoes.”
You lifted your right leg for him, offering up your foot clad in the strappy sandal and watched him inhale sharply through his nose.
“I—” his adams apple bobbed as he sat back on his heels, “I can touch you?”
This was a test, a prank. You were only playing with him. the kiss was enough to kill him, and your smile was too sinful to be sincere, but he prayed, nonetheless. Pleaded and hoped and then choked on his own spit when you nodded firmly.
“Yes, but only my legs. And if you’re a good boy, I’ll give you something better.”
Sanji nodded heartily, murmuring his thanks and gratitude for the opportunity presented to him, his voice carrying a thick layer of emotion he didn’t have the sense to evaluate for this blessing. Only knowing the relief he felt when your bare skin pressed against his, whispering the praises into the cleft of your ankle— his lips brushed a chaste kiss, a sweet touch that could only be seeped with devotion.
You wouldn’t have heard it at all if it weren’t breathed into your skin, ardently sincere like the last prayer whispered by the helpless. So, in an act of mercy, you brushed his hair back and tilted his head up towards you, holding him delicately as if he’d shatter by your hands. Which you were fully capable of doing— but you presented him the tenderness of your smile instead, verbalising your consent and letting it flow soothingly between you.
He took a few seconds to stabilise himself, though even with your permission, Sanji’s touch felt shaky against your skin as if he was unsure about your words or his own strength to maintain consciousness, but he did anyway. Willed himself with the strength to harden his spine and indulge in his deepest desires. Just this once, while you still graced him with it.
His hands were warm, soft, and gentle. Everything like the man they belonged to as Sanji stroked your leg sensually, starting from your knee all the way down to your ankle. His long fingers pressing and squeezing the supple skin beneath his palms, curving along your plump flesh pulling quiet sighs you didn’t bother to hide that he drank in greedily, relishing in your pleasure as if it was pierced straight into his vein.
“y’so beautiful,” Sanji groaned into your leg. “I can’t believe—” he shook his head, ridding himself of the doubt that plagued him before dragging his lips along your calf as his fingers fiddled with the strap that wrapped around you. Achingly slow and deliberately unhurried. “You’re so soft, it’s incredible. Even your legs are gorgeous.” he spoke as if thorns were scraping his throat, every word coming out in a low rasp filled with need. “Every part of you sets me on edge,” he continued, his kisses following where the straps once curled, “— as if I’m holding on by my fingertips, and the only thing that keeps me from breaking— from plummeting and colliding into the ground is you.” He slipped your shoe off and placed it gently to the side, your foot now bare, then moved on to the other leg and gave it the exact same treatment. “But… its also like you’re waiting for me at the bottom, ready to unearth me and giggle as you dust off the dirt from my shattered bones.”
You feel his kiss on your ankle again, a breathy sigh tickling your flesh as you swallowed your nerves. “What if I am? I like you beneath me.”
“I don’t mind,” he replied easily. He held you up carefully, his grip firm yet tender as he kneaded the taut muscle, every caress and gentle stroke pooling desire deep in your core. “If it were anyone else, I would have done what I usually do by making a fool of myself as soon as the rest of the crew left.” The heat of his stare was almost unnerving. “But it was you, and I never felt more compelled to fall.”
Fuck.
You lost your resolve, and your expression softened with a laugh that fluttered out like the butterflies tickling your chest. “You shouldn’t look so attractive with your cock so wet, Sanji-kun. It’s unfair, and hard to remain impassive when you look so beautiful desperate for me.”
“I’m sorry, darlin’.” He laid his cheek against your leg, exhaustion weighing him. “We can stop”, he offered sincerely. This momentary pause gave him the clarity he needed, the fog inhibiting his senses cleared enough to think. Though his cock still ached, there was a layer of calm settling too. Your comfort important to him above all else. “You’ve done more than enough for me,” Sanji pressed another kiss to your knee, your shoe accompanying its twin on the floor, “more than I could have hoped for already. It won’t take much for me to finish on my own. You were wonderful, darlin'.”
“You would stop, just like that?”
“Of course,” Sanji affirmed candidly, his eyes kind. “Like I said, I would do anything for you. My pleasure is secondary.”
The words hung in the air, but your plan was still in motion.
“Tell me, then. What would happen if I touched right…here.”
“Ahh-uhh!”
“Does it hurt?” you cooed sickeningly sweet. “hmm, from your expression it looks like you’re enjoying it a little too much.”
He bobbed his head frantically, blonde hair flailing with the movement, your devious plan wrecking him immediately. “Ye-es, in the-uhh best way, angel. Fu-uuck, I-I can’t believe you’re tou-ching me like this.”
“Yeah? y’like it that much?” you laughed airily. “Your balls feel soft on my foot, all rounded and heavy.” Lifting your leg up higher, you rubbed your leg on his length, sliding it up and down, skin to skin, until those salacious moans spilt from his mouth in loud cries. “wow, it’s’warm and wet from all the pre you were leaking earlier, too. How gross.”
“Oh-oh, god, pl-ease, sweet darlin’. Fuck-ngh!”
You hummed delightedly, watching his cheeks blossom into another sweet blush, his eyes glazing over immediately as Sanji shuddered and keened beneath you with the familiar scent of desperation clouding the room in a thicker layer. A potent, charged atmosphere that had you panting as you watched Sanji unravel once again in the short time you had him under your command— your plan a success.
“You’re dripping all over again.” you teased with another slow drag of your foot, his balls resting on top while his shaft twitched upon your shin. “Look at how your pretty cock leaks! All red and cute! So much cum, I’m surprised you haven’t squirted.”
“ohh-ahh, sw-sweetheart don’t be me-eean!”
“I’m not!” you insisted through unfiltered giggles. “Look at you, humping my leg! Gettin’ yourself all worked up from just touching me, you’re so cute, Sanji-kun.” Your laughter seized as you clicked your tongue, faux disgust colouring your tone as you rolled your foot over his long shaft, collecting the stringy wetness that drooled from his tip on your toes. “Tsk, your cock is makin’ a dirty mess all over my leg, though. Could you be anymore pathetic?”
“’m so’rry,” he squirmed. “Ca-an I clean it uhh-up?”
You leered down at him, “only if you use your mouth, pretty.”
Sanji licked long strokes along your leg, collecting the sticky essence that spit from his tip the harder he rolled his hips. Swallowing his own dirty arousal while fervently grinding his cock along the curve of your leg with no sense or rhythm, only following the lust you stoked within him, stumbling moans, hitching his whines. Begging and squeezing his eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling, but you saw them anyway.
You saw everything. How his chest concaved with every breath he took, how his balls pulled tight on your foot, how deeply and utterly he was at your mercy.
It filled you with pride. Along with a dark sense of satisfaction you couldn’t quite place to have Black-leg Sanji— bounty over a billion berries, the left wing of the future king of the pirates— whinging and coating your skin with his arousal.
And you had one more trick up your sleeve. One that could possibly kill him, but you wanted to push the boundaries.
See how far you could bend him before he snapped.
“You can’t cum yet,” you sang cheerily, weaving your fingers through his hair again. “You have to be good for me, okay?”
“Fuu-uk, ‘m tryin’!” Sanji cried out, his last threads of control almost slipping from his grasp, stitch by stitch, seam by seam, but he gripped them tighter in his fists, and fiercely blinked away the fog misting his vision just to have the chance to gaze upon your smile for a little while longer. “I wo-on’t, jus’ for you. Cause you-you asked.”
“Good boy. Now, tell me you like it.” you gave his hair a firm tug, directing focus to his bucking hips. “Tell me how much your cock aches, how hard it is, how much you love touching me.”
Sanji shuddered, another frantic nod dizzying his vision as he jerked his hips harder. “I do! So-so much”, he hiccupped. “I lo- ohhh, uhh, yes!— I love you touch-in’ me. Teasin’ me, makin’ a mess of me-eee— ahh, shit! Tou-uch me, please, fuck! Please, I love it— love your eyes, your voice, your touch. I’ll die, ohh, god-oh god, lemme jus’ die like this, it’s oka-ay if it’s you. For you, all you, fuck-fuck!”
“I think you deserve your reward now, Sanji-kun.”
Sanji snapped his head up, his hips stilting. “This-this isn’t the reward?” how could it not be? He was touching you, kissing your body, smearing his cock all over your pretty leg. What could be better than this?
You pulled back from him, and slowly, painfully slow, deathly slow, you lifted the hem of your dress.
He first saw your thighs, thick and supple, making him swipe his tongue along his bottom lip just imagining the taste of your sweat, of the grooves of your cellulite.
your dress lifted higher, and his hands flexed, picturing squeezing on the squishy flesh and feeling it fill his palms and pudge out against his fingers where he couldn't quite grasp.
This was the reward, yes? Pretty, coloured thick thighs he’d be happy to touch, to worship with hips he could sink his teeth into, full and curved and beautifully rounded.
But your hand lifted higher. Higher. Until he ascended so high he heard the angel’s song again, welcoming him to paradise.
“Sanji, you’re shaking an’ whining loudly.”
Was he?
“Wipe the blood first… good boy. Come here, it’s’okay,” you tugged him closer, his face inches away from your panties. “You’ve been so good, I thought you might like to ...” your cheeks burned, “To touch.”
He could smell it now, the wetness that made your thighs clench earlier. That had you sighing and chewing on your bottom lip as he chased his own pleasure. The arousal that allowed him this far with you, coating your pink panties and, fuuck.
You-your panties… they— they had the cutest bow on it. right above your mound and the lewd wet patch he ached to… “Did-did you say touch?”
You nodded, tugging him closer by his hair. “I won’t take off my panties, but I don’t see why you can’t use them to get yourself off, just this once. It’s what you always wanted, right?”
What he always wanted.
“Are… are you sure?”
What he always wanted and prayed and dreamed and lusted after— but he had to make sure. To know this is what you wanted. Sanji couldn’t— he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if it weren’t your desire too. Even if he was seeing double and the room tilted on its axis or his blood pooled on the floorboards more than his own body, he wouldn’t be able to stand again without hearing you say—
“Sanji-kun, touch me.”
You tugged him closer, cooing your affirmations, stroking his hair. Going slow and speaking so softly, he wondered if you were talking to him at all.
“It’s okay,” you purred, your eyes gentle. “You can use me to cum. I want to see you cum for me.”
Use you?
His brows knitted. That didn’t sound right.
Use.
Use.
Use?
That word felt wrong, dirty. Even in his inebriated, lust-filled fog, Sanji knew that it wasn’t right. That it was tactless. That you deserved better than that.
“I don’t— I don’t want to ever use you.” he husked. Just saying the word made his stomach churn, and though his limbs felt heavy, he lifted himself a little taller on his knees. “Don’t ever say that to me again.”
Sanji’s sudden coherency surprised you when he was trembling moments before, but there was no mistaking the sincerity in his tone, and you could only stare— awed, heated and incredibly wrecked with the emotions he stirred. Yet rather than replying, your grip on him tightened, a challenge tilting your brow, waiting to see what move he’d make with the offer you raised.
“Okay… oh-okay, ‘m gonna touch you now, darlin’.”
With all the strength he could muster, Sanji pushed forward and inhaled deeply, pressing his nose in your crotch, and filling his lungs until the only air that could possibly flow through him was you. “Ohh, fuck.” Sanji groaned, the sound vibrating on your most intimate parts, pulling deep from his throat, and sounding nothing short of sinful that had you keening lowly in response.
“Oh, fuck- oh fuck, darlin’ you’re a dream.” He murmured into your cunt, his words bleeding back to babble as he breathed in long and deep. It was intoxicating, the heady scent of your pussy. Driving him mad, sick, practically delirious by the slick that marred your panties, creating the most dazzling patch of arousal right in the middle. Oh fuck, his tongue immediately began lapping at the damp fabric caging your plump lips. “Fuck!”
You choked on a moan. “Is that all you can say?”
Sanji shook his head, his hands finding your full-figured hips and squeezing, eliciting a low mewl with the fat filling his palms and bulging out at the sides just how he pictured it. “Fuck!” he grunted again into your cunt; his mouth muffled but his shouts reverberated from the intensity that shook him at the core. “Fuck-fuck!”
You huffed out a chuckle. “Sweetie, if it’s too much for you—”
He couldn’t hear you. Sanji held you tighter, drew you closer into his open mouth, his jaw slack, muscles taut, cock aching— but it was a sensation he could ignore while his tongue messaged and rolled and lapped at your clothed cunt. Dragging along your labia over and over until it wettened enough to slip his tongue down the seam of your pussy, spreading it to finally circle your pulsing clit and suck, the fabric damp with a lewd mixture of slick and saliva as your whimpers rang loud.
“Fu-uhh, shit, you taste so goo’ fo’me”, his words were gruff, his mind addled— Sanji couldn’t focus past your cunt, your scent, not when it wafted through him and settled deep in his abdomen— twisting lust straight down to his neglected cock drooling on the floor.
“Sa-anji! Fuck, hmm, keep-keep going!”
He groaned, digging his fingers into your hips and shoving you harder into his mouth. “Su’ch a pretty cunt, shit-fuck.” He held you firmly, his strength unrelenting even as you swayed, letting you writhe on his face. “Darlin’, sweet girl, sweet sweet cunt, uhh, y’make my cock hurt so-so much. Make me so hard, so dizzy. All you, shit-shit. Uhh-uhh, s’wet fo’me. Tha’ank you. thank y-you, than-k you.”
You moaned for him, and the sound of it tingled his spine, acutely aware of the sharp tugging on his scalp, but Sanji paid the rest of it no mind. He was touching you, licking your pussy through your pretty panties, inhaling your arousal, making you moan.
Making you cry his name, making you wet.
And he answered it all with low hums and deep grunts of praises, thanking you fiercely, his devotion syphoning from every breath as if you poured into him yourself.
Sanji flickered his tongue on your clit, alternating between soft and hard strokes that had you grinding your hips on his tongue, and he revelled in it while your pussy rewarded him by staining your panties with sticky fluids he drank greedily. Devouring your cunt with his whole face, bumping his nose into your clit, his chin wet, cheeks flushed.
“Imma cum!” you tried to warn him, to stave off the flutter in your belly and not embarrass yourself by cumming so soon, but his touch, his tongue— even with the panties in the way it only added to the friction. To the burn flooding over your body from the moment you discovered him. You squirmed, rocked, and sighed as the coil tightened in your belly— a sensation so intense you attempted to cinch your thighs, but Sanji pinched your hips, pulling you apart for him, ignoring your pleas.
Holding you closer, grunting praises, flattening his tongue, pressing hard until you came with a loud cry.
“Su’ch a goo’girl, so good for me. that’s it, lemme clean that up for you, darlin’.”
Sanji lapped at your cunt, your panties ruined and almost dripping from your release that he swallowed as best he could before you ripped him off with a harsh tug.
“Stand,” you panted harshly. Your balance was shoddy, but you stood firm, yanking the man to his full height, and wrapped your fist around his cock. Gently tugging on his flushed sex in quick strokes. “Cum for me.”
Sanji curled into your touch, white-hot and just barely keeping himself standing with a hard grip on your hips— he slumped into your chest, fucking into your hand chaotically. “I-I didn’t— y-you. Uhh, fuck!”
“What is it?”
Tears stung his waterline. “I di-idn’t clean u-uhh, ahh, mmm, I wanted— wanted to clean you u-uhp.” He cried out, fidgeting in your grasp, his cock overly sensitive and shamefully drooling all over your wrist. He wanted to be strong, to make you cum and slump on his chest, but Sanji could hardly keep his eyes open at this point. He felt airy, foggy, every sensation felt like it was dolled up to ten and he couldn’t find the strength to keep standing.
And it hurt, fuck, his cock hurt. His balls hurt, his chest hurt, breathing hurt— it ended up as short gasps and high-pitch whines into your neck until you brushed your thumb over his slit and Sanji saw stars.
“ahh! Im-imma cum! ‘mma cu-uuh, fuck-fuck!”
“It’s okay, sweet boy,” you jerked him firmly with one hand and pulled down the bow of your panties, exposing your plump mound. “Cum right here, I wan’ feel you cum on me.” you slipped his tip between your pussy lips, a low, wet, squelching noise added to his moans now.
To yours and the raunchy sounds that swirled in between.
“Sweet-sweetheart!” Sanji squeaked, bucking his hips widely, your pussy smearing wet kisses all over his cock. Hot and squishy and so so delicious his orgasm crashed through him like a tidal wave, surging and pulsing and dousing him with a pleasure that raked a voiceless cry— splatting his cum in your panties and slathering your slit with gooey, icky glops of his release. Your panties filled with both stains of arousal.
“Good boy.” your kisses feathered over his rapid pulse, the praises almost as gentle as your lips. “Such a good boy, shh. I got you, hun.”
Sanji held you close, shivering through his climax, pitifully cowering his face into the warm crook of your neck until his cries settled into cute whimpers and the spots misting the corners blended into colours he could actually see.
“Shh, you did so well, cutie.” You stroked his back, unbothered by the sweat clinging to his skin or the sticky, hot mush that was caged to your cunt. the latter tingling the nerves of your spine in an addictive way. “That felt amazing.”
“Ye-yea?”
“Yes, hun.”
There were a few seconds of heavy breathing, then shuffling of clothes, and suddenly, Sanji was seated back on the sofa, but the comforting weight of your plush body sat on top of him too. He liked it, it was grounding. Safe.
Sanji held you tight, his strong arms locking you in place over his lap. Your bodies hot and tempering down ever so slowly in each other’s embrace.
There’s was a gentle hum in the room, or maybe it was your voice, tenderly washing over him as Sanji came to grips with his body again. With the heat, the sweat and throb of arousal cooling into a low ebb in his abdomen. With the reality that you both stood in and your roles in it. But he couldn’t bring himself to care of anything else but you curling in his lap.
You smelt nice, you played with his hair and hummed in his ear, and you felt so… so good in his arms.
“Thank you.” he croaked after a while. Feeling satiated and satisfied sinking into your embrace, Sanji could do nothing else but whisper his thanks into your lips over and over, his kiss filled with all the gratitude of an answered prayer. “Thank you for this, for holding me. I don’t know when it got so out of hand.”
You smirked, patting his chest playfully, hoping he did not notice how your heart soared as you attempted to joke. “probably as soon as I agreed to this little game.”
This time, Sanji’s smile beaned wide, pretty teeth shining bright. “I just can’t help myself, darlin.” he nuzzled into your cheek, savouring the intimacy. “I told you what would happen if you got too close.”
You laughed softly, “I suppose I was warned.” You shifted in his lap, straddling him now instead with the gooey mixture flushed hot in your panties, squishing against your achy clit, it made you breathless. Eager. “If you’re a good boy—”
His stomach flipped excitedly.
“—Maybe we’ll play again.”
Sanji shuddered, his smile waning as his lips parted cutely. “Don’t tease me. I—”
“SANJI! OI! I GOT THIS BIG FISH! IT HAS TWO HEADS CAN WE EAT IT?!”
“Oi, Shitty-brow! I found this buried sword, lemme cut you with it!”
You stifled the laughter behind your hand, the cutest frown scrunching his face from their untimely interruption. Even so, you began moving to crawl off his lap before the other straw hats walked in with their treasures, but Sanji gripped your wrist, his pleading stare shooting familiar sparks in your core.
“Promise we’ll do this again?”
You smiled warmly, leaning in for a kiss only to swipe your tongue upon his bottom lip, “Yes, and it will stay just between us.”
Sanji blushed, savouring the taste of you on his own tongue. “Yea, of course. Just between us, darlin’.”
This time, you stood up to leave, but not without one final look over your shoulder, “just like your cum soaking my panties right now.”
You quickly slipped out of the room before anyone could notice, twirling your shoe as the sound of a heavy thud crashed behind you and the boys shouts followed shortly after.
“WOW! So much blood! Was there a fight?! Are they still here?! I wanna fight!”
“LUFFY N-NO THAT—”
“EW SHITTY BROW! WAKE UP AND CLEAN THIS SHIT YOU PERV—”
// - tysm for the support! hopefully the tags will hold up this time:333 please do not repost or translate my stories.
My man
All blue 🐠🐟
little saunter.mp4
_____ Pairing: Zoro x Female Reader Summary: An offhanded comment makes you insecure, but Zoro is there to reassure you in his own way. Warnings: Angst to Fluff, Ussop's unintentionally mean in the beginning? [One Piece Masterlist] ______
It was a passing comment; one you knew you shouldn't look into, one that meant no harm. But the words hit you harder than you thought it would. You had been talking rapidly about your adventures from the last island you and your crew had visited. There, you had all fought enemies, saved new friends and eaten together; the same old. Luffy, Chopper and Usopp had been listening eagerly matching your grin with keen interest in your tale as the crew had once again been split up on your journey. You spoke of the obscure things you saw on your side of the adventure, the enemies you faced and how they compared to those your crew had fought, the new fighting methods you had mastered, the people you met; everything. You hear Luffy's laugh brimmed with light humour as Chopper's eyes gleamed when you spoke of how you dealt the finishing blow on your opponent. You probably should've noticed how long you had been talking and exclaiming but you were lost in your glee, so much so that you didn't realise until Usopp spoke out with a teasing grin.
"Damn [y/n], you can sure talk a lot." You stop your story short at his teasing words meeting his mischievous gaze with a roll of your eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?" Chopper nods eyes determinedly looking to Usopp as Luffy starts to doze off once his initial interest has passed. "Yeah, I wanna hear [y/n] tell their story!" Chopper exclaims from beside you as you smile at his excited and adorable form. Usopp sweatdrops at the sudden ridicule aimed at him and tries to backtrack on his words, only to make things worse. "I didn't mean anything bad about it- I just mean like you're so talkative and outspoken- and you know Zoro's-" Your eyes turn to him in surprise as he mentions your boyfriend. "Zoro?" You ask as you raise your brow. What has he got to do with this? "Yeah well, Zoro's so reserved and nonchalant, I just guess it surprised me that you got together- I mean, Zoro doesn't seem like one to tolerate people that- I mean, that came out wrong-" You can't help but frown at his words as he continues to ramble and you listen to what he implies. Was that really what Usopp thought; was it what the crew thought? That you were "too much", that Zoro was just tolerating you?
"I just meant-" Usopp starts to panic now as he sees the fall of your features at his misplaced words, making it seem that you were a burden, but Sanji's voice rings through to cut him off before he can try to redeem himself. "[y/n]-san~ dinner's ready!" You turn to see the love-lost cook burst out from within the kitchen now looking down to you from where you sat on the deck of the ship. His facade quickly falls however as his eyes sharpen towards the men that surround you. "Oi, Usopp, Chopper, wake Luffy and hurry or there'll be none for you!" You turn to your friends as Sanji whizzes away in search of the other female members of the crew. You give Chopper and Usopp a smile despite them seeing how it didn't gleam as it usually did. "Come on, let's go. Hey Luffy!" You then nudge your Captain purposefully as he sits up in confusion. "[y-y/n]?" You sigh at his drowsy state but go towards the kitchen. "Dinner!" You say, and the three all promptly follow to the dining room.
When you sit down at the dining table, you would have thought you'd forget the brief inclinations of Usopp's words just moments earlier, but you didn't. It suddenly made you self-conscious, made you think so deeply into the conversation you had, despite you knowing better; it was just Usopp taking things too far as usual. But then it made you think about all the interactions you had with your boyfriend. You remember all the instances you would speak animatedly about your day, talking while he trained or lay around the ship. Was it annoying to him? You think of his reaction, he didn't seem too fazed when you did. But he never seemed invested either, merely a nod of his head or an odd grunt of acknowledgement. Then, your thoughts go deeper. You think of the instances you would seek him out, you think of every time you showered him with affection behind closed doors, thought of every brush of your hand against his and every move you made.
Was it too much? Was I too much?
Tolerating; is that the word you would use to describe Zoro's demeanour to you? But the more you thought the more you saw how you were the one seeking him out the most, the one talking the most, the one giving affection the most. And the more you thought the more you realised you never took the time to see if Zoro actually enjoyed it; your constant want to be in his presence. You knew you were being stupid. You knew that there were more than enough ways that Zoro showed his love to you in return. You would hear his murmured words, notice small actions, would see affection deep within his eyes. After all, Zoro was nothing if not confident; he would never agree to a relationship unless he truly wanted it; unless he truly adored you. Yet you let the small comments churn within you, buried insecurity rising as you notice your differences. You feel dread next. He wouldn't leave you for it, would he?
You are so lost in your thoughts you don't notice said man walking into the dining room, skin slick with the efforts of his afternoon workout as he makes a beeline for his spot; his spot next to you. Zoro sees you absentmindedly sitting in your seat and nudges you causing you to realise that he is now present. You smile at him then, "Hey Zoro," you grin but Zoro sees slight hesitance in your eyes and your lack of prying words or subtle affection. He nods but decides not to question it as Sanji then puts out the dinner for everyone to share and soon everyone around you is lost to the prospect of food. As you go for your share watching as crew members devour Sanji's new creation you find yourself timid as you look around you. Your friends are shouting and talking and eating joyously, and though you would often be the centre of the overly animated show of dinner, you suddenly feel so drained from your thoughts; almost sad. There is a gnawing feeling of vulnerability in your chest pulled open by the words shared earlier, but you can't help but feel like you're overreacting.
"Oi, are you okay?" You turn in surprise at Zoro's passive words as he goes for another cup of sake sharp eye trained on you. He had noticed how you hadn't filled the air with your vibrant words, talking about all that had happened in the short time you had left him to his workout. He noticed how you, usually up and shouting with the crew as they did now, sat rooted to your spot just eating. He noticed how your eyes didn't shine with the usual mirth they usually did. Sure, he wasn't one to be as talkative as you, or openly share his affections as you did, but it was one of his favourite things about you. Being able to just listen to your joyous voice, feel your love in so many ways, and have you by his side; the one he would protect till the end of time. You, surprised to see that he had actually taken the liberty to notice feel your heart constrict at his care but shake your head nonetheless. "I'm fine."
Only, maybe you weren't.
When evening came, you merely kissed the corner of his face before turning to your side of the bed. No long nightly rants, no excitable or adoring words, no cuddling like you usually begged. Zoro shook off his concern however, thinking you just needed a moment like he sometimes did. That night he slept horribly without you in his arms. When morning came and you awoke to his absence as he left for his early morning workout, you didn't seek him out as you usually did. That morning, Zoro found it strange when you didn't grace him with your lively presence as you usually did. The teasing words as you watched him work, the abundance of plans you shared for the day, your sweet pout as you asked for his attention. Yes, he would merely blush fiercely or nod passively or roll his eyes but the chime of your laughter as he did made his heart warm. The lack of you left the empty spot in the crow's nest cold where you usually sat. These happenings became the entire day, which followed into the week, and despite Zoro putting off his concern earlier, now he was confused and annoyed.
Had he done something wrong?
On your end, you were merely trying your best. You tried to limit your conversations with him, the touch of your hand to his, the engulfing of his form, the kissing of his face. And it honestly hurt. You felt so urgently the need to be by his side, you craved him and yet each time you tried to push away your insecurity, it ate up at you and you hesitated. Was I too much? Would he be annoyed? Would he leave? Was I a burden? So, you didn't. For a week you tried, but you could feel yourself breaking. Currently, you were sitting at the dining room table as Sanji was prepping for the day's lunch. You let out a deep sigh full of sadness, and Sanji, with that woman-radar of his, turned at your blatant dismay. Many of the in-tune members of the crew had noticed the lack of vibrancy in your figure and the much more irritable form of Zoro. "What's wrong [y/n]-san?" You look up to see the blond-haired man looking at you with an unusual seriousness in his eyes; concern. You have seen that a lot this week.
"Nothing's wrong Sanji," you say with a tired smile. But Sanji frowns at you, seeing clearly through your words. "It's that damn Marimo isn't it?" You look up surprised to see that Sanji now has raging anger consuming him. There is literally fire in his eyes as he turns to the door readying to go beat up your boyfriend. "Damn, moss-head thinks he can take poor [y/n]-san's heart away from me and then break it so carelessly, I'll show him what-" You quickly get up stopping Sanji and hoping to prevent a seemingly unlawful murder. "Wait! Sanji it's not him!" Sanji sobers quickly at the gentle touch of your hand on his shoulder holding him back as he turns to you in surprise. He then frowns and surprises you when he looks at you with confusion, "Then what-" He is quickly cut off by the slam of the door as an angry-looking swordsman quickly enters the fray. His sharp eyes travel from your hand to where it still clutched Sanji's shoulder, then to your frozen gaze and then to Sanji's.
"Damn cook! Get your filthy hands off my girlfriend!" Sanji's eyes blaze instantly at that and before you know it the two are fighting like deranged idiots. You observe the suddenly escalated scene in surprise hearing insults thrown left to right and the flurry of limbs as they try to take a chunk out of each other. You then, laugh. It fills you slightly and then it hits you fully. How much you missed Zoro, how much you missed the normalcy even if it was just watching two overpowered idiots fight as they usually did. Zoro turns at the melodic sound of your laughter pausing in his fight as Sanji's eyes turn to hearts at the sound. It had been so long since he heard it; since he saw you as you usually were. A warm hand encapsulates your arm and you look up to see that it is Zoro, now taking you from the kitchen in silence much to the dismay of Sanji.
When the two of you reach your shared room, he turns to you, form tense once again as he forces his words to you. "Okay [y/n], what's actually wrong? You've been avoiding me all week. You haven't come once to the crow's nest. You haven't done the usual shit you do.-" You look up at your boyfriend's unusually frustrated form listening off the things you haven't done that week and you feel your heart brim at his concern. You feel stupid. "I'm sorry." You cut him off as he turns to you, and you look up to him hesitantly. "I- I just thought you know, it might've been annoying to you?" You advert your eyes when his eyebrows raise in surprise. "I'm just so used to sharing everything, and I sometimes get carried away, I just thought- what if-?" You stop yourself as a familiar tugging your heart weighs you down. You hear a deep sigh. "[y/n], is this what this week has been all about?" You nod as you trace the floor with your eyes. "I just didn't want you to leave me."
You feel it then, the strong embrace of your boyfriend's arms, toned with his training and warm against your form. He sighs once again at your words as he rolls his eyes despite you not seeing. "You're an idiot you know that?" You laugh slightly against his chest as you relish the feeling of him after what felt like so long. Zoro doesn't know how to comfort; it was out of his capabilities but you felt it within his arms. His reassurance, his love and the fact that he had missed you too. Suddenly you are overcome with emotion at the fact that you let such small insecurity cause you to waste so much time with the man you adored. "M'sorry, it's just Usopp was saying and I-" Zoro tenses at your words releasing you as he stares into the depths of your eyes. "Usopp?" You freeze then, realising your mistake as you see his signature murderous aura extend from his form. "W-wait Zoro." But he has flown through the door quicker than you can force him to stay and you hear the darkly uttered words at the crew's sniper.
"Usopp, so this was all your fault huh?"
"W-wait [y/n]- tell him I didn't mean it, I'm sorry-"
You watch as he tries to evade your boyfriend's wrath but he merely sees the reason you have been sulking all week; why he had suffered the whole week. You just laugh at the comical sight, free of your doubt and reminded that despite your differences the both of you would be just fine.
_____ Pairing: Zoro x Female Reader Summary: The different ways Zoro shows that he loves you. Warnings: Fluff, slightly suggestive in some parts? [One Piece Masterlist] _____
People often think that because Zoro seemed so frequently serious or emotionally distanced, he was incapable of offering love. So, when you and he started to date, it was a surprise to almost everyone who knew of the two of you. Even those around you who knew him best, namely your beloved crew, would tease even the faintest flush of his cheeks when he was caught looking at you, as though it were some sort of miracle. Some members would even ask if he truly reciprocated the love you so blatantly showed for the green-haired swordsman because the concept of Zoro and the notion of 'love' didn't really click. They knew he loved his swords and was dedicated to the crew and his dreams but that type of devotion seemed foreign and unlikely. You knew that their words came from a place of concern; concern that you were in a one-sided relationship. However, what your crew failed to notice is how Zoro loved. Sure, maybe he wouldn't blabber sweet words or openly display physical affection beyond your rooms, but within the confines of you and him you see it; he loves you.
Zoro loves through thoughts of you.
Before you, Zoro thought his only ambitions in life were to stay devoted to his Captain and to become the world's greatest swordsman. Love was a concept that hadn't even crossed his mind, he had never been tempted with it nor had he ever been driven to consider it. But then he met you. He saw your sweet smile, your doe eyes, your kindness, your beautiful demeanour. Suddenly, he could only mock the love-drunk cook half-heartedly, because though he would never show it, you were all that clouded his mind. Through workouts that he was so usually lost in, he found himself losing count of the amount of times he swung his weights forward; his thoughts drifting to you. The naps that usually brought nothing but peace from the rowdy crew suddenly became overwhelmed by images of you in his arms, or in his bed. So, when the months had passed and he learned from Robin's constant but subtle teasing that maybe he was in love, imagine his surprise when you confessed that you were too. Even now, when the two of you had been together for more than a year, his thoughts were littered and lingered with you; every movement and action with you at the forefront of his mind.
Zoro loves through his attentive stare, always watching for you.
It could be on days when countless enemies threatened your lives. It could be on days so serene you could not envision anything going wrong. Either way, it didn't matter. Zoro's senses were always perceptive and ready to protect, even when danger was not imminent. During quiet days when the crew set sail over the open seas, Zoro always kept one eye open. He always searched through the muddled voices of the crew for yours. One yelp or one surprised gasp had his heart pounding. It was his sixth sense. He would get up to search for you instantly, even if you had only gotten caught up in a harmless prank or got a papercut paging through books; even if all he had to offer was a roll of his eyes or muttered words, "be more careful woman," when he found you. You didn't know of the crew's shock as he seemingly vanished from the place where he lay to come in search of you. You didn't hear the rapid spike of his heart. Zoro knew you were strong, but he also knew how easily he could lose someone close to him. He had experienced it with Kuina; he would die before he experienced it with you.
Zoro loves through the trust he so willingly gives to you.
Zoro wouldn't love anyone who was not as devoted to the crew, to improving themselves or who didn't have the will and evidence to call themselves worthy of the Straw Hat Crew. You were capable and loyal, thus you were worth his trust both on the battlefield and in his heart. It was shown through countless battles where you fought off powerful enemies, protected less combat-focused crew members and provided emotional consolation atop burdens you held yourself. He trusted you to handle your battles and knew of the pride that came with it; you were his respected partner. His trust would even extend off the battlefield. He would trust you to look after his prized swords and he would trust your word; he doesn't even know the meaning of jealousy. He would watch in rowdy bars as you get two drinks and the fifth man that night approaches. Zoro sees it as a compliment, you were beautiful. But he watches with pride as you turn another man away from you and walk back to his side. The only movements he would make were when men go too touchy, too confident in their drunkenness. Zoro would have them bleeding to the floor before they uttered another filthy word as they tried and failed to pry away the trust that was so concrete in his mind, so obvious in the kiss you would grant him afterwards.
Zoro loves through quiet and hidden intimacy.
Zoro was not one to show open physical affection with the likes of the crew or strangers he could care less for. Only in quiet and drunken evenings would he maybe let slip, wrapping an arm around your waist tightly and placing sloppy kisses along your neck. Well, only for Sanji to then start screaming incoherently at the sight of him, to which a drunken argument would soon take place. Normally, behind closed doors, you saw Zoro's love for you more blatantly. You didn't have to have perceptive eyes when you could feel his lips on yours, hungrily mingling with your tongue and your skin. People would never question his devotion in countless nights spent with his tight grip against your wrists, his swift movement against you, uttered words of praise whispered in your ear. His love was shown in the marks that he gifts you and the ones you would try to cover under the light of day. His love was obvious in his wide smirk as you trace the scratches upon his back, your love etched within them. You see the shock around you when he walks shirtless and proud, displaying your work as though it were a given. You hear more screaming from Sanji, see a frozen Nami as she observes the sight, and a teasing smile from Robin as she turns to you, "Oh my..."
Zoro loves through the dream of you.
In return for the trust he so easily receives from you, he returns it with his devotion. Everyone knows of Zoro's loyalty to Luffy and his goal, but they were the only things that could best his loyalty to you. All else didn't matter to him; you were his end game. People could try to take his eyes away from you, but it would be for naught because his gaze was stubborn. How could it not be? You were beautiful, strong, kind, loving. Zoro never thought that he would even consider a life outside of the straw hat crew, but he created the dream just for you. Images of you and him together through every age and every trial. You and him after he achieved his goal and witnessed his Captain do the same. After that, you would be all that mattered to him, the only dream that he had left. He even considered smaller versions of you and him running about, you swelled with his child, your motherly form. He dreamed of owning a dojo and waking to you each day, he dreamed of you and him and two rings on your fingers, a quiet ceremony held to seal your love and his. He dreams of him old in his age watching the sun fall to the depths of the horizon with you by his side, years of life upon your form but still beautiful nonetheless. It was his most private dream, but one he found desiring the most.
It was an impossible dream to him before he knew of you. Now, he has you in his arms and you are distracted by exhaustion, not seeing but feeling Zoro's gaze on you. You had murmured words about your day to him but as the night dragged on you found your words become more slurred, ready for sleep to take you. He simply watched as your excited blabbering seeped into slow utterances, but he didn't mind. He loved the sight of you in his arms. He loved the sound of your voice. You look up to glimpse at him and he meets your gaze easily. You see flickers of adoration and a glimmer of emotion in his eyes as he breathes in the existence of you. And you could never question it, you could never wander of his love as others would. But you supposed it was an honour, to love the swordsman and have his love for you returned. "You love me." Your words are tainted with fatigue as you push your face into his chest, relishing the warmth that he so easily provides. Zoro rolls his eyes as though dismissing your words but pulls you closer to him anyway, and that is enough for you to know and for him to show that he does; he loves you. You would rarely hear it. However, as the moments pass in peaceful silence, and when Zoro thinks that time would have surely taken you from your consciousness and into the depths of sleep he murmurs it within your hair.
"I love you."
_____ Pairings: Luffy x Reader; Sanji x Reader; Zoro x Reader Summary: Self-doubt creeps up on you and you question if you are enough. Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Body image in Sanji's A/N: Writer's block is not fun, but I hope you enjoy this :) [One Piece Masterlist] _____
You don't feel the tears until they have already slipped past your cheeks and you're rushing to wipe them away. You don't know why you suddenly feel the onslaught of stress upon you but deep down you know that at the core it is doubt.
Self-doubt.
You adored your crew, of course, you did, and with more of your battles placed on papers that travel the world, there weren't many who didn't know of the Strawhats. However, with your successes came a lingering thought that was brought to the forefront of your mind: that you were being left behind.
Your friends were so strong and developed in their skills and knowledge, with dreams so incredible it was no wonder Luffy asked them to be a part of your crew. But you felt like you paled in comparison. You had joined with no real stand-out dream, only one that followed your crewmembers on their journey. Your position on the crew was also a haze, as you chipped into various roles and fought to the best of your ability, but you never stood out.
It had brought out a craze in you, a desperation to get better for your crew and to get better for your boyfriend. An irrational fear that maybe Luffy would see just how insignificant you were among your crewmates. You realise now that maybe you had worked yourself up too much over the matter, but you couldn't seem to stop.
You were exhausted after studying and training and trying to better yourself. Exhausted after witnessing how Luffy interacts with princesses, an empress, incredible women and doubting how he could ever be happy when he returns to your side. Exhausted, and now the tears were running and you were trying to stop your uneven breaths.
But only a second passes before a familiar voice reaches the confines of your room.
"Hey, [y/n]!"
You freeze as your boyfriend bursts into your shared chambers, hoping that in his excitement he doesn't stop to notice your puffy face. You frantically push your tears away, pushing back hair that had fallen to your face by the number of times you had run your hands through it in stress.
"Nami says we'll be arriving at the new Island in five minutes!! Let's go to the deck!"
Luffy's grin is wide and he shouts in his excitement. You quickly take the excuse to turn away and make it look as though you were collecting things for the trip, not facing him. "That's great Luffy, but you go ahead, I'll catch up." Your words come out less convincing and excited than you hoped, rather taking a duller tone. But you continue grabbing random things and putting them in a bag, fixing parts of your room so Luffy doesn't see your tear-stained face.
"I'll wait! I want to go together!"
"It's really okay, Luffy, I just need a minute."
"I'll wait!"
"Lu, please."
A long silence follows your words and for a moment you think that Luffy has left the room, but that is when you feel a surprisingly gentle hand on your shoulder. "Hey [y/n], you okay?" You stop your frantic movements and are honestly quite shocked by Luffy's words, but that is when you realise he must've noticed your tears when he first entered. Of course, he did. In areas where he would be the last to realise anything, he always seemed to be the first when it came to things about you.
Just that is enough to make more tears fall from your lashline, and all of a sudden, all you want is to be embraced by Luffy and told everything would be okay. Lucky for you, your boyfriend is right there, and so you fall into him and of course, he is there to hold you. Luffy will try not to show it, but he is silently more worried than you will know. Your tear-stained face was a rare sight and not one he liked seeing often.
The crew always has a special place in Luffy's heart, but you are so important to him in a different and even more intense way. You wouldn't know the depths of Luffy's anger until it was pointed at anyone who dared hurt you or injure you. You wouldn't know what lengths Luffy would go to for someone else's happiness, not until he showed you how far he would go just to make sure your smile never faltered on your face.
"[y/n], what's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Luffy's words are surprisingly calm and gentle. Like the seriousness you would hear amid his battles. You shake your head against him, and Luffy frowns though you do not see it. You feel the embarrassment fill you as you think of what internal battles have caused such inconvenience. You go to pull away, but when Luffy still sees the silent tears that run along your cheeks and the way your frown has yet to falter, he grabs you before you go too far.
"[y/n], what's wrong?"
"Luffy, it's really nothing serious. I'm sorry, let's just-"
"Tell me the truth."
Your eyes widen as Luffy's eyes sharpen when he hears your words slip your lips. He would listen to any concern you had to share, but he didn't want to hear lies or excuses, he wanted to help you; needed to. It was his duty as your Captain; it was his duty as your boyfriend. Your brows pull together and you swallow harshly, and finally, you let your thoughts slip from your mouth.
"I've just been thinking Lu, what if... what if I'm not what the crew needs anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Your gaze is now trained on the ground and so you do not see the way Luffy looks at you with utter confusion and the tilt of his head.
"I mean," your words are softer, head lightly throbbing with the intensity of your thoughts in your head, and the doubt that lingers within them. "The crew, our friends, they're so strong and capable and smart, and I'm just- I don't know. I feel like I'm kind of, useless amongst them, like I'm adrift. I- I don't even have a dream worthy of the Pirate King's crew. I-" You sigh brokenly, pulling at your hands in an anxious movement.
"What if I'm not good enough anymore, what if you deserve better than me... I see how Hancock looks at you, how many more powerful women look to you. They're more worthy of the title of Pirate Queen... Maybe we need a break, maybe I need a break from the crew, just until I get better, or stronger or something-"
"No!"
Your heart jumps at Luffy's sudden shout, and you look up to meet his angry facade, hiding the fear that the most important person to him might want to leave him, and his crew.
"But Luffy-"
"No, I don't want you to go! I don't want to date anyone else! I don't wanna break up!"
You stare in silence, unsure of what to say, unsure of anything but one word. "Why?" Your voice trembles, self-doubt makes your vision unclear, and weeks of burying it suddenly make it all you can see. "Why, Lu? I'm not that strong of a fighter like Zoro, I'm not smart like Nami or Robin, I can't cook or build ships or heal people... I'm nothing like them..."
"That's right you're [y/n]! And I don't want that to change!"
Luffy is pouting when he looks at you, but you know he is dead serious. "I want you on my adventure, I want you there when I become the Pirate King! I chose you for a reason! You're part of the crew, and you're important to us. If something is bothering you, we'll face it together!"
More tears line your eyes as you look to your boyfriend, suddenly speechless. "So, no leaving okay?" Luffy's words are soft and vulnerable once more; he doesn't think he could ever get used to when someone says they want to leave his crew, but he couldn't bear it if it was you. You nod silently, the beginnings of a smile making its way to your face as he wraps his arms around you and lets the stress of your words melt away.
When a short moment passes you look up to Luffy, and on his face is his signature wide grin, and utter adoration reflecting his eyes. You can't help the soft smile that reaches the corners of your own face at the sight. "So, a new Island huh? You want to check it out?" You murmur, and if possible, Luffy's grin only widens as he pulls away and clutches one of your hands in his.
"Let's go!"
Maybe your insecurities couldn't fade overnight, but with Luffy by your side, you felt like you would be just fine.
You pull down the top you have on, adjusting the straps for the thousandth time. Your hair falls on your face and you push it back frantically, now looking to the mirror and seeing the distress clear on your face. Nothing looks right, you don't feel right, and suddenly all you want to do is crawl back into bed and ignore the island that awaits just outside the ship.
"Hey, [y/n], you ready? The guys should be waiting for us."
The door opens and Nami steps in with a smile on her face, beautiful as always, adorned in a tight-fitting dress and light makeup that made her skin seem to glow. "Yeah," your words are weaker than you intend and she pauses in concern, eyebrows furrowing. "You sure?" Her hand touches your shoulder in what you know is comfort, but self-doubt has filled you along with your unfair comparisons.
You nod quickly, grabbing your purse and forcing your eyes away from the mirror that seems to taunt you today. Nami smiles hesitantly, but leads the way nonetheless, soon absorbed in a conversation about clothes she's going to get. The next few minutes that follow are a blur to you, and you scarcely remember Nami pointing you in the direction of your boyfriend before running off.
The depths of the open markets do nothing but make your anxious thoughts rise and your doubt increase, as beautiful women smile as they pass you. The only thoughts providing comfort are of your boyfriend's awaiting presence... or so you thought. When you look up, you are met with a sight, close to all you could take for the day. Sanji, your boyfriend is immersed in conversation with a young, pretty woman with smiles and laughter and keen interest. You can already hear the compliments from the short distance away.
"Madame, your dress is utterly exquisite! And those flowers are beautiful, just where did you-"
You freeze at the sight of your boyfriend stepping closer, his hands delicately tracing the bouquet of flowers the woman has in her hands, smiling as she lets him look on. They are so close to each other that they could be mistaken for a couple, and what's worse they seem a good fit. Your handsome boyfriend and this beautiful woman. Did he realise now, how you dulled in comparison?
You feel something slip past your eye, and you quickly put a hand to your cheek, realising you are crying... in public. You quickly go to turn and leave, but you do not know if it is fortune or not when Sanji turns and chooses that moment to find you.
"Oh, love!"
You curse yourself as you frantically push your tears away, though they seem unable to slow. You turn for a moment to try to collect yourself, but Sanji is already moving to you, and you can only hope you look okay. "My love!! I have been waiting for your arrival!" He whizzes to your side, hearts in his eyes and desiring the only thing he had been waiting for all day: you. "Look what I've-" but Sanji's words falter when he sees you smiling up at him in a way that doesn't reflect your usual joy.
"Oh, Sanji, there you are! I've been looking all over for you." You try to implant enthusiasm into your tone as you see the way Sanji's eyes flicker, like a radar to your sadness. But your words sound monotone as they reach the air, dull and exhausted despite having done nothing all day. You're fine, you're fine you're fine... The same words repeat desperately in your head as your smile strains against your cheeks.
"Love, are you okay?"
Sanji's words are gentle to you but then his eyes grow wide, as though shocked by a sight that he sees. It takes you a minute to realise, that his simple words of concern are all it takes for more tears to slip past your eyes; you are crying. Despite your false smile fighting for its place on your face, you can no longer continue your fake facade, and you crumble. Hands go instantly to your face, as you look to the floor, trying to hide your show of vulnerability from the townsfolk that surround you, but the man in front of you has his heart beating frantically in his chest.
Why was his love crying?
Were you injured, hurt, threatened, insulted?
Who does he need to kill?
His mind is rampant with his concern and with his anger that was trying desperately to find the person to blame for your sorrow. His eyebrows pull together, worry filling him as he witnesses you try to hide your face from him, more tears falling before you have the chance to wipe them away. Just who has made the love of his life cry... how dare they? His body moves instinctively, craving to protect you from whatever hurt you feel now as arms pull you in.
You can't seem to care anymore and delve your face deep into his chest as he holds you and leads you to a more secluded area of town. When the two are out of the way of others, he gently releases you but still within arms reach. He delicately guides your face upwards and his heart clenches at the way your hands go to your face once more. "Love... It's okay, you're safe, you're okay-" His words tumble relentlessly out his mouth, pleading with you to stop the tears that have his heart breaking.
It takes several moments, but he finally coaxes you enough for you to place your hands away from your tearstained cheeks and look up at him with your glossy eyes. Sanji doesn't know how you look so beautiful even when you are crying. Honestly, you could be doing anything, wearing anything, and this man would still think you were the most beautiful sight in the world. He tries to push his love-lorn thoughts away for a moment, reminding himself there are greater matters at hand.
"Love, please, what's wrong?"
Your eyes travel his gaze, unsure of whether you should share what has been haunting you these past few days, and especially this morning. Sanji reaches out, tucking a loose strand of hair away from your face. "Love, you know you can trust me. We don't have to talk about it now but there seems to be a lot on your mind." Sanji had, after all, never really seen you cry the way you had today, and concern was all he knew.
"I'm just-" Your words are soft and hesitant and broken, but Sanji can only thumb soothing circles on your hips in the hopes that he can comfort you in the silence. "I don't feel good about myself right now. Nothing looks right, nothing feels right, and I just can't help but wonder. What if I'm not good enough? Sanji... I'm not pretty like other girls are, like Nami, like that woman you were talking to in the streets. You deserve better, I'm just-"
Your tears return and Sanji can't explain to you the amount of disbelief that floods his system at your words. You think you're not enough? For him? You were the most beautiful woman in the world, perfect in every measure of the word, and he can't help but shake his head in dismissal of your words. "Love, love, hey..." You gaze upward at his words and he catches your tears on his fingertips in marvel at your ethereal gaze.
"You are the most beautiful woman, I have ever had the pleasure to know. You are utterly stunning, love, I could spill compliments for eons if you let me. But my love, you are also so kind, generous, loving, caring, strong... If there's anyone who should be doubting their place in this relationship, it should be me. You are perfect, how could I ever let you go?"
Your gaze shines in utter surprise at the comforts that slip Sanji's lips, at the care in his hold, at the love in his irises. "I don't know what made you feel this way love, but I promise you, nothing could ever turn me away from you. You are beautiful." Your tears calm to nothing, if anything, a smile starts to twitch against your lips. You instantly lean into your boyfriend once more, arms wrapping themselves around him and his arms wrapping around you.
"Thank you Sanji, I love you." He kisses the top of your head with care before pulling away. "I love you too, my love." He then pauses before reaching down to his side and picking up something you had yet to see. "Oh, and this is for you love. The woman I was talking to earlier, she was a florist, she also recommended some dress stores we could have a look at."
In Sanji's hands was a beautiful bouquet of your favourite flowers, contained in elaborate wrapping. "Sanji, they're beautiful..." Tears skim your eyes once more, but a different kind. "Love, are you okay?!" Sanji exclaims, heart instantly picking up pace once more at the sight of your tears but he stops when a true, genuine smile reaches the corner of your lips. You were truly beautiful.
"Everything's perfect."
Sanji lets out a soft smile of his own and then holds out an arm for you to hold. "Come, my love, I found a lovely cafe down the street." You take his arm and follow him back into the liveliness of the markets, but this time with a lack of doubt that filled you. How could you ever feel that way, with such a doting boyfriend by your side?
You take in a deep breath, steadying yourself before moving once more. Your knuckles were already black and bruised, muscles straining, but you couldn't seem to get yourself to stop. Words were tumbling in your head and the only way you could get it all to quieten for a little while was through the repetitive movements of your fists against the punching bag, battered and wilted after your onslaught.
You're not strong enough.
You're not good enough.
Loser. Weak. Failure
You yell out and at last, the punching bag gives way, tumbling to the floor. Your hands ache, and your mind is a buzz. You had been at it since much too early in the morning and dawn would soon break along the horizon. The hours spent training are taking a toll on your body, and it was not just today. Your thoughts had been running rampant for the past week, taking sleep from you, taking confidence from you.
Filling you with doubt.
You were a primary fighter on the Strawhat crew, but recently you felt as though your growth had faltered. You felt as though you were letting friends, and worse your boyfriend down. The crew had a particularly bad battle a week ago, and you felt like a lot of the disaster was your fault. Missing shots you should've made, getting hit when you should've easily been able to block attacks, unable to protect less attack-focused members of the crew due to your struggles.
Your friends had not blamed you, they had no reason to in their minds; it was a tough battle for everyone. But you saw it differently in your head, leading to early mornings and more hours spent in the crow's nest, before even your boyfriend's sessions. Another punching bag, another round, kicking and punching and losing yourself in the moment.
But even your body has its limits.
A sudden wave of dizziness stops you from moving any further, little stars entering your vision and forcing you to stop. You gasp for air before leaning on a wall and sliding to the ground. And then, all of a sudden it is like all your pent-up thoughts finally find release. You feel the beginning of tears fall from your lashline, and no matter how hard you grit your teeth, you suddenly can't make it stop. Words linger, harsher, throbbing in your head.
Weakness; was it weak to cry?
Your tears fall faster and your frustration does nothing to help. You are so lost in your mind that you do not notice a certain swordsman entering the room.
When Zoro woke up to the lack of you in his arms he couldn't deny the disappointment that flooded his chest, alongside his worry. He was not stupid, and he knew you were having trouble sleeping, not to mention he saw you more often in the crow's nest than usual. He wanted to give you space, knowing the pride that comes with working through your own problems, but he figured now his concern had won.
However, the last thing he expected when he made his way to the crow's nest was to see the tears that were streaming down your face. Instantly, his heart rate picks up. You were one of the strongest women he knows and rarely did he see you in a state of such vulnerability. He curses himself for not reaching out earlier, but more so, he is worried about what is causing you such distress.
Did someone hurt you?
Threaten you?
He swears he'll beat the living daylights out of the bastard that makes his woman cry.
"[y/n]"
Zoro's words are a murmur, softer than you would expect, and certainly softer than he expected after having the murderous thoughts he was having now. However, he finds himself unable to raise his voice in your presence, afraid to startle you somehow. He sees the way you clutch at your arms trying to hide within yourself, and internally winces at the bruises that scatter your knuckles and body, a sign you have clearly overworked yourself.
You have yet to react to his words, and it only causes his worry to worsen. Such emotions were ones he didn't think he could ever get used to, but ones you seemed to ignite in him; like the pain you were in made him hurt too somehow. Due to your lack of reaction, Zoro does the next best thing he can think of and sits next to you on the wall you leant on.
Your eyes instantly perk up at his warmth, and Zoro tries not to flush at the way your glistening gaze looks up to him. "Zoro..." You feel warmth reach your cheeks at the show of your tears in front of your boyfriend and move to frantically wipe your tears away, but Zoro stops you. He reaches out, clasping one of your hands in his, whilst his other hand thumbs your tears away.
"I'm sorry I-"
"What's wrong?" Zoro interrupts your words before they tumble in your embarrassment. Now both his hands hold one of yours, caressing bruises with a delicacy that matches the care he would use with his swords. "Nothing's wrong," you murmur, but that causes his eyes to sharpen as they look at you, not in anger, but in a way that makes the excuses on your tongue disappear.
"Tell me."
You hesitate, but it is only for a moment. And you feel some of your stress falter at your boyfriend's rare show of gentleness amongst his blunt words. "I just- I fucked up in that battle a week ago, and my training isn't going the way I hoped. I- I wasn't strong enough, fast enough. I was weak, and slow, I couldn't protect my friends. I feel like I'm not doing enough, Zoro..." Your words start to fade in their strength the more you say what's on your mind, and more tears slip past your lashline, causing your boyfriend's brows to furrow.
"I couldn't do anything... what if- what if I'm not strong enough for the crew now, what if someone gets hurt next time, what if I'm not enough-"
Your words stumble to a halt as your boyfriend's piercing eyes meet yours, a strange mix of sadness and disbelief in them. "[y/n]," now his words are hesitant, unused to the emotions that fill him or the need to comfort another. "You're strong, stronger than you know. I've seen it, your loyalty and your skill. So you had a bad fight? Everyone has them from time to time, everyone fucks up. But it's like the damn things you're always saying: You're enough, you're not alone."
Your eyes widen, and Zoro has to fight the flush on his cheeks once more at the delicate words that pass his lips "You don't need to train at insane hours and hurt yourself to prove your strength. I have your back, you have mine. So goddamit woman, would you stop thinking so much and see that?" His words are soft against the brashness of his words, eyes faltering from your gaze but hands sure as they hold yours. The beginning of a smile twitches and you feel your self-doubt flicker in the presence of your boyfriend; usually so harsh, becoming vulnerable for you.
"Zoro," you say, and your gaze meets his once more. "Thank you." Zoro smiles, soft and rare as he looks down at you. For a long moment, the two of you just sit there, side by side to each other, your head resting against his shoulder. You don't know when you fall asleep, but the next moment you find yourself waking in your shared room next to a napping Zoro, your hands bandaged with a care only your boyfriend could know.
Summary: Zoro overhears a private conversation and starts having disturbingly vivid dreams. He can’t figure out why, but as thoughts of you start to take over both his sleeping and waking hours, he realizes that something else must be happening.
Part 1 out of 3 (or 4). ~5k words. CW: Mostly plot. Some explicit/NSFW content, though; minors don't interact. Afab reader w/some gendered language (she/her pronouns). Kissing, fingering, masturbation.
Zoro did not think he was capable of romantic love. He’d never desired it, never felt empty about it, in fact, he saw it as an unfortunate distraction from his goals. On top of that, there were some things in his life that he could not and would never compromise on, and he had a feeling that this mindset was simply incompatible with relationships in general.
Sometimes, when he saw couples hang all over each other or make out in public, he cringed. He would roll his eyes when he saw couples holding hands, when he saw them saying “I love you” to each other, and when he saw Sanji act like a love-sick dog.
Zoro would cringe doubly hard when he heard people say, “making love,” he balked at the idea of holding hands or PDA, and felt off put by the whole concept of marriage. Like he could or would tie himself down like that forever. As if.
He never questioned his reaction to (or stances on) these things. He just shrugged it off—to him, PDA was an eyesore, and romantic love was a futile waste of time.
But the underlying reason, the reason he would never admit, was that he felt like it was forever out of reach for him. He felt like he shouldn’t even try, and he convinced himself for years that it would add nothing to his life. Nor had Zoro ever met someone who made him feel like he wanted to access the part of him where his capacity for romantic love was buried (if it existed, that is).
The few times he strained himself to imagine what it would be like to have a partner, what it would feel like to share himself with someone completely, he felt like there was a brick inside of him, literally and physically. There was some weight inside, some opaque block that he couldn’t see past. He knew that he had never experienced romantic love and he felt that at his age, if he hadn’t felt anything like that before, it’d never happen.
There was a lock inside of him and the key did not exist.
It's not like Zoro was insecure or lacked confidence. He was Roronoa Zoro, after all. He knew who he was, and he had no issue with that. It’s not that he didn’t love himself enough, but rather that he didn’t think he was capable of loving someone else.
Romantic love felt completely inaccessible for him. Maybe his insides had curdled at one point. Maybe he had too much pain to plant seeds of love inside of himself and watch them bloom. If the block was already built, he had no intentions of breaking it down. If the lock without a key was there, guarding something, he knew that it would never be opened.
He wasn’t too pressed about it, or so he thought.
One night, you and Nami were having drinks on deck. Zoro was finishing up an extra round of exercises on the upper deck, a little way away. When he was doing his exercises, he couldn’t hear anything. He was in the zone, meditating, heaving air, locked in. But when he finished working out and started stretching, he heard your conversation with Nami clearly.
He just caught the end of the conversation. He was technically eavesdropping—he wasn’t sure either of you realized he was up there, or else you wouldn’t have been so candid, but he couldn’t turn his ears off. When Zoro heard what you were saying he was intrigued. He knew he shouldn’t, but he held still and listened, against his better judgment.
“What do you mean?” He heard Nami ask you. It was the sort of conversation that you could only share with your best friend. It seemed like you were telling her everything on your mind, baring your soul, not holding back.
“Well, you know…” you answered softly, after a pause. “The type of love where you take showers together and shampoo each other’s hair. And when you’re together in public together it feels like no one else is around…”
Nami hummed in agreement, prompting you to continue.
“The type of love where you come home to them after the worst day and one look at them makes it all feel better. Forehead kisses sort of love. When you give them every part of you, and they do the same. I want a love like that. Do you know what I mean?” You asked.
You were blushing. Zoro could hear it in your voice. He had become very familiar with you the past few months. You were good friends, and he paid special attention to you. He watched your every move. Even so, he didn’t think anything of it—so what, he wanted to know you were safe all the time and spent hours studying your face. So what, he remembered every word you’d ever said to him. What’s the big deal? You were friends.
Zoro knew you were pretty, there was no question. If he was honest with himself, he was attracted to you. But being attracted to someone and being in love with someone aren’t the same—and no matter how much he thought you were pretty, it didn’t (and wouldn’t) go farther than that, nor would he be able to.
He thought he just didn’t have the range for a relationship, he could never see himself like that, had never felt those emotions before. Zoro had a fondness for you and told himself that this was normal between friends. Your pretty face and smile were irrelevant to the closeness and strength of your friendship, and he reprimanded himself any time he caught himself staring at your lips or musing on how pretty your fingers were.
But… Zoro would roll his eyes sardonically at Sanji anytime he got a ‘nosebleed’ over you and passed out. Zoro would call him a “fucking idiot.” If Sanji touched you or said something over the line, he’d chew him out. And if someone made one wrong step in your direction, Zoro got protective.
He wouldn’t mince words and would pull his swords out with no hesitation. He saw red one time a guy got handsy with you at a bar without your permission; Zoro caused a scene and thought about it for weeks afterwards. Any time you were injured, he felt worried sick. He told himself that all of this was the case because you were close friends.
The thought never crossed his mind that he didn’t do these things for the other people he called friends.
As he was listening, Nami responded to you. “Have you ever had a love like that?”
There was a moment of silence. Zoro figured you were shaking your head yes or no. He wondered which it was. Had you felt a love like that?
“That’s really sweet.” Nami continued. “I understand. It explains why you’ve been feeling that way recently…” Her pensive voice trailed off.
Zoro heard your voice crack after moment, your breath hitching quietly. It sounded like you were crying. “I know I’ll be fine, but it’s just hard being so lonely when you’re around someone who… who… well, you know. I just feel so empty inside. It’s been hurting really bad recently, Nami. I don’t know what to do.” You sniffled and he could tell that you were frowning.
There was a pause for many seconds. The only thing audible was quiet sobs. He wondered if tears were getting caught in your eyelashes, rolling down your cheeks. He had never seen you cry before.
“Awh, I get it.” Nami answered. She was being kinder than Zoro thought she was capable of. “I’m sure you won’t feel like this for long though, I think he’ll come around eventually. We can all see it. I’m always here for you and will always listen to you. So, don’t get yourself down, okay? Do you want a hug?”
You squeaked out an “mhm” between sniffles. Some quiet moments passed and some shuffling. Nami must have been giving you a hug.
“Let’s wipe those tears away and get you feeling better. How about we get another bottle to distract us, and then maybe we can get Sanji to make us something yummy. I’m sure Usopp and Chopper are doing something silly, too. Does that sound like a good idea?”
He heard you answer her with another sniffle, but it sounded like you were smiling now. “Thanks for listening to me Nami, you’re the best. Yeah, let’s go get another.” Your voices and footsteps retreated inside.
Zoro was stumped for a second. He paused to let his gears turn. He was creating a mental map that looked something like this:
You were talking to Nami about what type of love you wanted.
Nami asked you if you had experienced that before… met with silence.
You were crying—you said it was hard being around someone, and you felt empty inside.
Nami made a comment, “we can all see it.” The ‘all’ in question would presumably be the crewmates… right? What did they see, and why wasn’t he aware of this?
As Zoro pondered this mental map, he was caught up on two things. First, he was surprised to hear that you were lonely. Any time you were around him, you seemed fine. You smiled and laughed every day and had great conversations, so to hear that you were lonely was surprising for him. He wouldn’t have guessed it.
Second, when you described what sort of love you wanted, he felt something. Something shifted inside of him, or maybe it twisted. If Zoro didn’t know any better, he would have said he had butterflies, but that never happened before, and it was never going to happen. Besides, he had no clue what that felt like. So maybe he had like… indigestion or something?
He shrugged that off but was then struck again by the idea that you were lonely. You were so lonely that you started crying about it. He’d never seen that side of you before, and he was rattled. It didn’t feel good to hear you cry. Also, you were such close friends, why hadn’t you talked to him about it? Why did you feel like you couldn’t tell him? He wondered if he hurt your feelings recently or if he did anything wrong to prompt your silence on the matter.
He was starting to worry. But a voice of reason came into his mind—that was a private conversation, he told himself, you had no business listening. So keep your trap shut and mind your business.
That would prove more difficult than he imagined.
DREAMS 1 & 2: A weird coincidence
Falling asleep that night took Zoro longer than usual. Your words played in his head like a song on repeat and it was starting to drive him crazy. He remembered that you said, among other things, that you wanted to take a shower with the person you loved and shampoo each other’s hair. He was cursing himself for being so fixated on your words and he tried to force himself to sleep.
He questioned himself—why was he interested in this? What did he think about it? He was borderline pissed off at himself, telling himself to stop being weird about it, and consoled himself with the idea that he could just tell you he overheard the conversation and ask you why you were lonely.
As Zoro drifted in and out of consciousness, finally starting to dream, he found himself in a hot shower. There was someone in the shower with him, but he couldn’t tell who it was because his back was facing them. The shower was so steamy it was hard to see. He realized that the person behind him had their fingers running through his hair, scrubbing—they were washing his hair. It felt like bliss, the soap smelled lovely, and the hot water felt great.
He turned around to see who it was, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who it was already.
You were standing behind him, suds on your hands from shampoo. Your hair was soaked, and your naked body was glistening wet. You smiled at him, and he could feel his arm reaching out to wrap around your waist, pulling you closer.
When your bodies touched, warm and wet, his hands slid up to squeeze one of your breasts just briefly. You pulled him into a kiss and your fingers crept into his wet and soapy hair. You hummed into his mouth, and his fingers trailed downwards, grabbing handfuls of your skin… It quickly turned into a sex dream.
He felt himself grind his erection onto your wet stomach and thighs, heard you whine into his mouth and smash your lips on his. His hand crept downwards, reaching into that valley where your thighs met. He slipped a finger between your folds, already oozing arousal. His finger explored, reached further, started to slip into you…
Zoro’s heart was pounding so fast it woke him up. He was painfully hard, disoriented, and panting. The dream was so vivid it felt like it just happened in real life. It was like he knew what your skin felt like, and your lips tasted like, as if his fingers actually felt between your thighs and rubbed on your sensitive spots. He felt every moment of it, he had seen you so clearly…
Zoro never had a sex dream with you before this. He didn’t get those dreams a lot, to be fair, and he didn’t know how to feel other than flustered and confused, considering the fact that you were his “friend”. He palmed his cock and grinded his hand over it through the fabric of his underwear briefly before sleep swept him away again. He was out like a light.
Later that night, Zoro dreamed of you again. This time, he was walking down a busy street through an open-air market. It was loud and crowded; music was playing, and it smelled like spices, baking bread, and roasted meat. Zoro was completely lost in the crowd, but he felt like the scene was missing something. His eyes shifted through the sea of faces and pinpointed you looking at him from the other side of the market, eyes riveted on his. You stood out in the crowd, radiant, smiling softly.
As he made his way through the throngs of people, you caught his eye again and waved at him. He was breathless. When Zoro reached you, you slowly slipped your hand into his and entwined your fingers together. Saying nothing, you brought his hand up to your mouth and gave it a kiss, looking right into his eyes. His heart twisted—it was that same feeling from before, one he wasn’t used to.
In this dream it was like he had tunnel vision. There were hundreds of people around him, but the only thing Zoro could see or pay attention to was you. The world melted away; you were the only thing left. He could feel himself place a hand on your waist and pull you closer. He leaned in to kiss you and you dodged, bringing your lips to his ear instead.
“I love you.” You whispered, your voice hushed, and he could feel your breath on his ear so clearly that it gave him goosebumps. Everything about it felt real. He could feel warmth seep into his core; it was like something bloomed inside of him, flowers letting out tendrils of precious petals and buds, enveloping the pair of you. He was intoxicatingly close to you; it was so real.
Zoro could feel himself about to whisper three words back to you before he started to fall—he woke up with a start. It was like one of those dreams where you’re rocketing towards the ground in a free fall, and right before you slam into the ground you wake up, terrified. But instead of scared, he felt distressed and weird.
Why had he dreamed of you for the first time after hearing your conversation with Nami?
Zoro recognized a possible connection immediately. Was it just a coincidence that he had dreamed about the same scenarios you discussed with Nami? Namely, that you wanted the sort of love where you could shower together, or be with them in public and the whole world melts away?
He was disturbed, to say the least. He was quite perplexed by the coincidence, by seeing you naked (at least, it felt like he had seen you), and by that weird twisting feeling in his chest.
More than that, he was distraught at the idea that he felt himself in his dream about to whisper something to you too, too, something which was blatantly and patently false. Why was he going to whisper those words back to you? It was just a dream, right? It was just a dream.
Thoughts nagged in his head—he was thinking about how fucking gorgeous you were, how serene he felt, and how close you had been. In both dreams he felt like you were staring into him, peering through his irises and seeing his soul for what it was. He didn’t know what the fuck was going on in his head.
Zoro usually wasn’t one to dwell, and so he tried to go with that strategy here, too. Just don’t think about it, he told himself. It was just a dream. Go back to sleep.
When the swordsman saw you on deck that morning, his heart did a thumping thing and his body tensed up. He had the irrational fear that you’d go up to him and say, “I know what you dreamed about last night, you perv.” Or something like that. He also had no clue how to interact with you after he had eavesdropped on you and then had two very intimate dreams about you, but he tried to pretend like nothing happened. After all, he couldn’t control what he dreamed about, and you were a friend.
When you walked over to him on deck and smiled at him, he didn’t know what to say to you. “Good morning, Zoro!” There was that charming smile of yours, again. He had seen a lot of it last night.
He responded with a gruff “morning” and waved a hand as he walked upstairs to do some lifts on the upper deck.
A few hours later, you and Nami came out on the lower deck in your swimsuits and started sunbathing. You were lying on two foldy lounge chairs and you had a colorful umbrella over your heads. Sanji whipped up two fruity drinks with maraschino cherries and mini (matching) umbrellas, and it looked like you were having a fun time. There was nothing objectively unusual about this scene, in fact, it must have happened plenty of times before.
Zoro was doing his thing and working out like he usually did. Whenever he did his afternoon routine, sometimes he saw you and sometimes he didn’t. He would smile and wave sometimes when you caught each other’s eyes.
But today, he was preoccupied. He was trying his hardest not to snoop again. He couldn’t hear you at all, other than your giggles and laughs, so that made it easier to ignore you. Your laugh was clear over the crash of waves and his own heavy breaths from exercising. He really liked the way you laughed; it was one of those infectious laughs that bring a smile to other peoples’ faces. He had noticed before that when you laughed, your nose scrunched up a little bit—he thought it was cute.
After hearing bursts of raucous laughter from the pair of you, he snuck a couple glances. This was a bad idea. The view confirmed two things. First, he had a rather superficial reflection—the you from his shower dream and the you in your bathing suit looked very similar. That is to say, he saw your body in a quick glance and had to tell himself to fuck off in his own mind.
The second thing his quick glances confirmed was that something about the conversation he overheard last night changed how he felt about you (hopefully temporarily). He couldn’t put his finger on it… But he spent all day so far thinking about that conversation, trying to break it down and put the pieces back together in a way that made sense.
Why were you lonely? Why did you cry? And who were you referring to when you said it was hard to be lonely around someone? Why didn’t you ever talk about this stuff with him?
You shared so much with him. He knew where you were from, what your family was like, your favorite color, your favorite food, your favorite animal, favorite song, the list went on. But you were lonely? And that’s something you didn’t tell him?
It’s not like you had to tell him every little thing. But this felt like a big thing. And he was mulling over the type of love you wanted. The type of love you told Nami about and the scenarios you listed off were sweet and thoughtful, just like you. Hearing you talk about what sort of love you wanted didn’t make him cringe like he thought it would, given that it was lovey-dovey fluffy stuff.
Zoro couldn’t recall a time when you had a conversation about that sort of thing. Maybe once or twice, drunkenly, but those memories were foggy. Why the fuck couldn’t he get you out of his head? Why did he care so much? He was miffed and puzzled.
Dinner that evening went on as usual. You sat with Nami and Robin, giggling and smiling. Zoro tried to listen to your conversation from the other side of the table (he was being self-indulgent, and he knew he shouldn’t have).
He heard Robin speak about her newest archaeological research, Nami spilled the tea about some recent designer shopping scandal, and when the conversation turned to you, there was a moment of silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see you three exchange some glances, a cocked eyebrow from Nami, a set of flashing eyes from Robin, and a pink flush splayed across your cheeks. He wondered what that was about. Zoro tried to keep inconspicuously observing, but Luffy started shouting about something and Usopp spilled his drink all over the very distracted swordsman.
Sometimes after dinner you helped Sanji do the washing up. Usually everyone would wash their own plates but sometimes no one felt like it, so you gave Sanji a hand. You’d go around and collect the empty plates at the table—and this night, Zoro was still sitting at the table with his empty plate. Chopper was across from him going on and on about some medical incident he witnessed years ago, and Zoro was humoring him. They had the cutest dynamic. Zoro was nodding “uh-huh” and Chopper was enthusiastically gesturing and dramatizing. When you went to collect the dishes, you walked over to them.
“Hi guys, may I take your plates?”
Zoro’s heart did that thing again, that flipping twisting thing. Was he developing a heart arrhythmia? What was up with that? He wondered, troubled.
You scooped up both of their plates. When you got Zoro’s plate, you took a moment and smiled at him particularly sweet. He mumbled out a thank you and returned the smile, but it looked more like a grimace. He was having crazy cognitive dissonance—he was feeling weird, his heart was beating funky, and he felt laser focused on you, more so than usual. He told himself that he didn’t care about the conversation last night and that it was no biggie, but his body felt the exact opposite.
Zoro’s eyes followed your frame as you went to wash up the plates next to Sanji. He noted your pretty hands and the way you cleaned the plates, delicately but thoroughly. He saw the way that Sanji slid over to you and put his hand on the small of your back to lean in and whisper a compliment to you. You shied away but smiled and blushed all the same. Zoro felt a twinge of annoyance at Sanji. He’d have to chew him out later for touching you like that. Fucking creep.
Later that night, Zoro was getting ready for bed. He was shirtless, in sweatpants, lying on the bed in his cabin with his hands behind his head. Staring at the ceiling, he contemplated the last 24 hours, trying to process why and in what ways he felt different.
The familiar sounds of your footsteps padded past his open door and he didn’t turn his head to look at you. He had enough for one day, didn’t feel like scrambling his brain anymore. He was ready to go to sleep and forget about the confusion, hopefully it’d all be gone tomorrow. Zoro had just closed his eyes when you backtracked, and he heard a wooden creak as you leaned your body against the doorframe.
“Hi Zoro, how was your day?” You asked, as charming as ever.
His tone was curt, but you could recognize a note of kindness in it, one with which you had become acquainted with in the past few months. You had a short conversation about each other’s days. Before you turned to go back to your room, you wished him “sweet dreams, and good night!”
He scoffed at himself. Sweet dreams, huh? Sure thing. Underneath that urge to push away the confusion, Zoro was tickled that you had come to check up on him. He couldn’t help but notice your pajamas, how cute you looked in them, how beautiful your face was, freshly washed and all ready for bed.
As he fell asleep, he tried to fight off the relentless stream of thoughts that his mind obsessively thew at him. More than anything, he was stuck on this idea that you were lonely, and that it was hard for you to be lonely around someone. Much to his chagrin, he couldn’t help but wonder if that someone was him.
DREAMS 3 & 4: A long day at work
Zoro fell asleep eventually and his extreme agitation, he dreamed about you again.
First, Zoro found himself walking through the doorway of a house. He didn’t see much; all he knew was that this was his house. He felt like shit; he was tired, grumpy, and burnt out. As he opened the door, he heard your voice, loud, clear, and light. “Welcome home, handsome.”
You were standing in the foyer, presumably waiting for him. He threw his work briefcase on the ground (apparently he just came home from work?), and you advanced, putting your arms around his waist and pulling him into a tight hug with your head nestled on his chest. When he wrapped his arms around you, he leaned his head on yours and noticed how soft your hair was.
“I missed you.” You spoke into the crook of neck.
Again, the feeling of something blooming inside of him radiated from his core. Every muscle of his could feel you. He could hear your heartbeat, he noticed when you pulled him closer. When you grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss, the negative feelings from his day at “work” melted away.
The whole day was worth it just for this moment. Your hand reached up to cup his cheek, you ran a thumb over his stubble, caressing his face... Zoro kept feeling that twisting, thumping, skipping sensation in his core. He felt it when he thought about you.
Lucid thoughts cut through the dreamscape—would you still feel lonely if he embraced you like this? If he pulled you into his arms and held you tight, would that make you feel better? What was this feeling when he thought about you? If he gave his all to you, would you feel better then? Would you stop feeling lonely if he gave everything to you, even his heart?
The dream faded into thoughts of other things. Swords, battles, weights, stress, more Zoro thoughts, etc. But hours later, in the early morning, another dreamscape with you in it materialized.
It was sickeningly real and strikingly intelligible. This dream was not within the list of scenarios that you described to Nami about the type of love you wanted—Zoro’s brain must have concocted it on its own.
Zoro was in a bed, his bed, and pale morning light trickled through half-shut blinders. He heard a door creak open and shut somewhere in the distance. His eyes were almost completely closed, just the tiniest peek of the bedroom and the muted blue-gray it was bathed in. Soft footsteps treaded over to the bed. A blurry figure crouched down, eye level with him. The dream came into focus more—you were inspecting his face while he was half asleep.
“Good morning baby,” you whispered, barely audible. You brought a hand up to pet his hair. He grumbled something in response, an acknowledgement. After a moment, you leaned in and started to adorn and sprinkle his face with kisses, as soft as possible. You brushed and pressed your lips around his cheeks, forehead, eyelids and chin gingerly. Your lips met his again, briefly, the same moment that Zoro drifted out of sleep.
He was awake now, actually awake. The light in his cabin was the same blue-gray that the room in his dream was shrouded in moments ago. He tried to roll over and go back to sleep but he was unsuccessful. He wondered what it would be like to wake up to you kissing his face like that and petting his head. Would it be the same?
Why did he keep dreaming about you? Surely all this fuss couldn’t be because he just overheard your conversation with Nami.
He felt tortured. If listening to the conversation was the prompt to you appearing in his dreams, then he just shouldn’t have listened to it. Lesson learned.
stay tuned for part 2! perhaps next week?
i know i promised the aphrodisiac fic first, but i lost all progress on it last night and am working from scratch again ;( rip. that's the first time that's happened to me in a long time. sorry everyone, i'll have it out in the next few days~
here's my masterlist! thanks for reading!
Me when @chibinasuu @livelaughloveluffy @mysteriousmagicx @armiliadawn @zorosangell @laughtalelogs @sanjisleggy @fanaticsnail
Yall so talented 😭🩷
i hope y'all are doing well, have a nice year 🫂🌸💞
I worship
Luffy has a specific face he makes whenever he accidentally no-sells an attack
Summary: You never seem to like sleep but with Luffy there, sleep isn't so scary.
Content: gender-neutral reader, Luffy being a love bug as usual, set on the Thousand Sunny, Sanji mentioned
Word Count: 880+
A/N: Cause I will never and can never get enough of love bug Luffy like he's too good SOB like can I just get one hug from him? Please? I hope you all enjoy!
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The deck of the Thousand Sunny was quiet.
A rare occasion when the crew you belong a part of was as rowdy and chaotic as they came.
Night had fallen on this part of the Grand Line, and though your crew members were not quiet sleepers, their rooms lay on the other side of the Sunny, leaving you in the silence of night. Silence only broken up by the dark waters below lapping at the hull of the ship.
You’d been a part of Luffy’s crew for a long while now. They were your family. Your comfort but nights never ceased in being a battle for you.
You were used to it. It was a battle you had waged since you were little. Though now you had company here and there, joining Robin in her own sleepless nights in the library. Tonight, though, she had found sleep it seemed.
You were happy for her. Very much so but…it left you alone in your discomfort.
You hugged your knees a bit tighter from where you sat at the stern of the ship, peeking out at the sea through the white rungs of the railing.
Your eyes burned in exhaustion, body feeling all too heavy.
All you wanted was to sleep, but every time you closed your eyes, shadows came to haunt you.
So you kept them trained on the sea. On the moonlight shimmering over it’s waves and the occasional sea creature poking its head upward.
Waves lapped at the hull.
The ship rocked like a mother would her child’s crib.
Your eyes blurred.
Eyelids dipped and rose. Dipped and rose. Dipped--
Something landed beside you, startling you from your wearily found sleep. Something that giggled impishly at you.
“Whatcha doin’?” The warm sound of your captain's voice filled your ears. You rolled your head to the side, letting your cheek rest on your knees as you gazed up at Luffy. He grinned widely down at you, eyes trained on you and you alone.
“Just trying to sleep.” You murmured. “What are you doing?” Luffy was quick to kneel beside you, leaning in so close his nose was brushing against yours. You couldn’t help the small tug your lips gave at his closeness.
“Got hungry.” The quietness of his voice wasn’t all too quiet. Maybe two notches turned down from its typical volume. You didn’t mind. It kept your brain full and occupied and away from the shadows plaguing you.
“Oh? And did you wake Sanji up for a snack?” Luffy’s eyes glanced away from you, lips puckering tightly.
“...yes.” You couldn’t help but laugh at his truly horrible lying skills. It was adorable.
“Sanji’ll kill you, you know,” Luffy whined, fingers grabbing hold of the sleeve of your pjs and giving it a small tug.
“But he’s so grumpy when he wakes up.” You gave a small huff in agreement. Sanji was a monster if woken by someone other than the sun or an alarm. Many who tried received a swift kick to the head.
“We can say it was both of us. Maybe he’ll go easy on you then.” You said in amusement. Luffy huffed, all but smacking his forehead into yours, the motion knocking his straw hat from his head.
“Okay.” He groaned pitifully, big old puppy dog eyes gazing straight into yours.
You smiled, letting one of your arms slip from around your legs to snake its way around Luffy. Your captain was quick to scoot closer, face moving from your forehead to bury itself in the crook between your knees and chest. His own arms wrapped around you, pressing you tightly against him.
Your eyes began their tedious dip and rise all over again as Luffy’s warmth seeped through you to the very bone. You moved sluggishly to rest your cheek against his head, wild black hair tickling at your skin.
Dip and rise. Dip and rise. Dip--
“...are you okay?” Luffy’s voice had you lulling your eyes open once more, lips pulling into a sad little frown.
“I’m…I just don’t like to sleep I guess.” You responded, fingertips pressing into Luffy’s warm skin. “Being alone like that…scares me.” Luffy snuggled deeper into you. Held you just a bit tighter.
“I don’t want you to be scared.” You nodded into his hair.
“Me too.” His hands began to make soothing circles into your back. Circles that made the heaviness of your eyes and body feel unbearable to keep at bay.
“Can I help?” You nodded again.
“Stay with me? Till morning? Please?” As soon as the last words left your mouth, Luffy was plopping to sit down. His strong but gentle arms moved you around so that your side was pressed against his chest. Legs and arms wrapped around you, keeping you curled up in his warmth and musky scent.
Keeping you safe.
Your eyes burned in something other than your exhaustion.
You grabbed hold of one of his hands he had stretched to allow the hold. Held it like a lifeline as sleep called to you once more.
“I love you.” You whispered to your captain, who responded with a firm yet tender kiss on the top of your head.
“I love you too.” He beamed, giving you a few more kisses before nuzzling his face down to rest next to yours.
More Like This: Demons and Claws {Zoro x gn!reader} ⋆ Couldn't Sleep? {Robin x gn!reader}