Things remained rather uneventful after this episode in the morning. The chibi cook was back to following around the swordsman.
Sanji: (excited) 'Zoro onii san I want to help you exercise!'
Zoro: (playful voice) 'Oh yeah! And how do you want to help me?'
The little cook turned his head from side to side as he examined the deck. Finally his eyes rested on the barbell Zoro used for weight lifting.
Sanji: (excited) 'I will bring that to you!'
The child sprinted off before Zoro could stop him. He got to the huge barbell and clasped the rod with both hands and pulled with all his might. It didn't budge even a millimetre. The child tried this four more times but to no avail.
Zoro: 'Oi! That's enough! It's too big for you!'
Sanji: (stubbornly shaking his head) 'No! I will do it! I will help you exercise and one day I will grow up to become stronger than you!'
Zoro: (amused tone) 'Squirt you're a million years too young to become stronger than me!'
The swordsman tousled the little cook's shiny blonde hair. The child puffed up his marshmallow like cheeks and pouted at Zoro in disapproval.
Zoro's POV:
'Already I was having a hard time trying to prevent myself from laughing. What is with that face? Is it supposed to make me give in? Rather than make me succumb I am getting a terrible urge to bite those fluffy cheeks.'
The thought brought a smile to the swordsman's lips and immediately the memories of the big cook from their bath time came rushing back to him. His blushing face, his wet body with soap lather scattered over his white skin, his damp hair sticking to his neck and how his skin felt to the touch....
'Wh ...what was I thinking again? B-bite...I wanted to bite his cheeks?
Zoro recalled the older cook's wet face and the embarrassment in his eyes. Zoro gulped. Suddenly he felt his heart throb and tighten.
'What is happening to me? Am I coming down with something? Why am I even remembering this?'
The swordsman had suddenly gone quiet. He was brought back from his train of thoughts by the little cook's voice. He gave out a sigh and spoke to the child.
Zoro: (pumped up) 'OK so you wanna help me train right?'
His eyes sparkling, the chibi cook nodded his head excitedly in agreement.
Zoro: (smirking) 'Then come sit here and grab the rod tightly so you don't fall off!'
The swordsman had placed the barbell perpendicularly and was instructing the child to sit on the plate using it like a seat. The child complied and grabbed onto the shaft. Zoro began doing perpendicular deadlifts. The chibi cook was being turned more than ninety degrees along with the weights each time.
Nami and Robin were sitting at the patio table near them and reading.
Nami: (irritated) 'I don't believe him! Who uses a child as a weight?'
Robin: (smiling turns a page of her book without looking up) 'I believe the chibi Cook san is happy to train with his Onii san.'
Franky: (while tinkering with his tools nearby) 'Yup they have grown SUPERRRRRRR close!' (strikes his super pose)
Nami : (shaking her head in disapproval) 'Boys!!'
Suddenly the child called out in a feeble voice.
Sanji: 'Onii san I fe-feel d-dizzy'
He lost his grip on the shaft and was about to fall but hands bloomed from the deck and caught him in the nick of time and seated him on the grass. An astonished and worried Zoro had dropped to his knees beside the child.
Zoro: (panicky voice) 'Oi you ok – bwak!'
He had hardly finished his sentence when Nami's diary hit him squarely at the back of his head and he lost balance falling face forward.
Nami: (angrily) 'That's why you shouldn't use children as weights!'
The child grabbed Zoro's head in a bear hug and shouted back at Nami.
Sanji: 'Don't hit my Zoro! It wasn't his fault!'
Everyone was taken aback by the child's outburst. In the quiet Zoro clearly heard the loud thumping of the child's heart and felt his tiny chest heaving like crazy as he remained clasped in the child's embrace, face squashed to his chest.
Zoro: (internally) 'H...he is standing up for me? And he didn't call me "onii san" or "marimo" but by my name?'
Suddenly the child seemed to come back to his senses. He let go of Zoro and looked at him and then everyone else with terror in his eyes. Then he dashed off at full speed. He could hear voices of the others calling him but he didn't stop. He ran up the stairs and entered the kitchen closing the door behind him. He sat on the kitchen floor for a long time crying his eyes out and occasionally sniffling.
Sanji: (red eyed and sobbing) 'Why ....why did ....*hic*....I .....*hic*... shout....*sniffle*.... at Nami onee...*hic*....san? I....*hic*....even ..... *sniffle*....messed up.....*hic*..... Zoro onii...*hic*.... san's training! Will....*sniffle*.... they even....*hic*.... forgive..... *hic*......me.....*sniffle* ....if I .... *hic* ....say sorry?'
Zoro was sitting quietly on the deck near the base of the ladder going up to the kitchen. He shut his eyes and recalled the chibi cook's face. He looked terrified before he made a run for it. He would never have shouted at Nami if he was at his right age. The swordsman felt a strange sadness weighing him down knowing that he was the cause for the child's fear and yet the fact that the cook had stood up for him made him happy. Zoro leaned his head back to touch the hand rails.
Zoro: (mumbling) 'Damn my head is all messed up!'
Zoro heard tiny footsteps on the ladder that came near him and then everything remained quiet for a while. Zoro pretended to be asleep. Next something was placed near him and the tiny steps ran away.
Zoro opened his eyes and noticed a small brown plate near him with three oddly shaped white masses that he could only think of as 'onigiri'! He felt the intense stare of the child watching his every movement from behind the ladder. The child had taken up Chopper's odd way of hiding.
Zoro: (speaking loudly to the air) 'Look what we have here! Looks like Luffy left his food here by mistake! I should go and give it back to him!'
The child was in shock and ran to Zoro immediately shouting, 'No no no! It's for you! It's for you!'
Zoro held back a smirk and said, 'For me? Why though?'
The child had just realized that he had come out of his hideout and became flustered. His whole face turned crimson and he pouted as he looked at his feet and mumbled, 'A-apology....I-I am sorry!'
The little cook's face reminded Zoro strangely of a cherry tomato and he felt a great urge to squeeze those plump cheeks. However, he held back and instead took the plate in his hands and popped an onigiri into his mouth.
Zoro: (speaking with food in his mouth) 'Wow these are really good!!'
Zoro swallowed the first and was about to eat the second when the child called out in an alarmed voice.
Sanji: 'No no no. You can't have all of them!'
Zoro : 'Why?'
Sanji: (timid voice) 'One is for you, one is for me and one for Nami onee san.'
Zoro: (surprised) 'Why Nami?'
Sanji: (timid voice) 'Apology'
Zoro: (stubbornly) 'Well I got them first and I am not sharing these delicious rice balls with anyone!'
Zoro swallowed the other two and gave a satisfied smile while the child looked devastated. Zoro looked at the child and patted his head saying, 'Don't worry. Let's go and apologise together. I am sure she'll forgive us. Okay?'
Sanji immediately brightened up and nodded with a smile.
Zoro: (internal thought) 'Damn his smile is so dazzling! Was he always such a chibi angel?'
Zoro entered the library carrying the child in one arm. Nami had been working on her maps. She looked up at the two.
Zoro felt the child's hand on his neck grip his shirt tightly. He came close to Nami and bowed his head.
Zoro: (still bowing) 'We apologise for causing all the trouble earlier. Please forgive us!'
Nami was taken aback. Then the child came down from Zoro's arm and walked upto Nami.
Sanji: (feeble voice) 'Nami onee san I am sorry!'
Nami kept her pen down and took Sanji's hands in her own.
Nami: 'You don't have to apologise Sanji kun I am not mad! But please be careful and don't ever get used as a weight again no matter what anyone says!'
Nami threw a distrusting look towards Zoro and looked back towards the child with a smile.
At lunch everyone was gathered around the table. They were talking and enjoying the food the older cook had made in the morning. Sanji was sitting on a high tool beside Zoro.
Sanji: (looking at the swordsman) 'Onii san this delicious food was made by the big me right?'
Zoro: 'Yeah.'
Sanji: 'So between the onigiri I made and this food which is better?'
Zoro: (immediate reply) 'You win by a long shot! No question about it.'
Sanji: (smiling) 'Really! Thank you!'
In the afternoon Luffy , Usopp, Franky and Brook had gathered near one of Nami's tangerine trees. They all looked intently at the spectacle at the base of the tree.
Usopp: 'Shouldn't we call him?'
Franky: 'He's been going through a lot so I feel we should let him rest a little longer.'
Usopp: 'But once he gets up the Sunny will get damaged!
Luffy: (while digging his nose) 'I am getting hungry! I wanna eat Sanji's food!'
They were all surrounding the sleeping figure of Zoro sitting cross legged and leaning on the trunk of a tangerine tree. In his arms he held the older cook in princess style. The swordsman had fallen asleep in this position with the chibi cook and while they were both asleep the cook had returned to his normal state. This unusual scenario had drawn the Straw hat crew to the scene.
Usopp: 'Really if they could only retain five percent of this friendship when they're awake!' (shakes his head in hopelessness)
Usopp walked up to Sanji and called his name to wake him. The older cook twitched in his sleep and opened only one eye to look at his nakama's face.
Sanji: (sleepily) 'Go away Usopp let me sleep a bit more!'
With that he turned on his left side and raised his right hand which automatically rested on Zoro's neck. He once more slipped into slumber.
Zoro slept through all this.
Brook: 'Yo-ho-h-ho-ho! How romantic!'
Luffy who by now had gotten very impatient threw himself at the sleeping figures of his friends shouting, 'I am hungry!!!'
He embraced them along with the tree in his rubber arms almost squeezing the air out of them.
'Luffy get off!' cried both Zoro and Sanji in unison. Then they looked at each other in surprise. Sanji quickly got his bearings and started pushing the faces of both Zoro and Luffy away from him.
Sanji: (shouting angrily) 'Let go of me you idiots! And what do you think you're doing baka marimo?'
After a lot of quarrelling, fist fights, kicks, etc. Sanji came into the kitchen to prepare dinner for the crew. It was already evening and Sanji was busy making an evening snack when Zoro came in.
Sanji: (irritated voice) 'What do you want?'
Zoro: 'Give me some booze. I haven't been able to touch any since I was busy babysitting all day!'
Sanji became flustered and stopped the work he was doing. Zoro enjoyed the cook's reaction and tried to push him a bit more.
Zoro: (smirking) 'Don't you think I deserve some good booze as a thank you for all my efforts for the little duckling who keeps following me all day?'
Sanji's eyes became overshadowed. He wanted to shout back, 'Who do think you're calling a duckling?' However, he couldn't refute the facts so he just replied, 'Top shelf, third from the right.'
Zoro: (happy at his achievement) 'Thanks eyebrows! Bye the way, what's for dinner?'
He had come near Sanji and picked up a snack to taste. He swallowed and gave a satisfied smile.
Sanji: (mechanically) 'Onigiri, miso soup, omelette and vegetables.'
Zoro: 'That's great!'
Sanji: (suddenly irritation giving way he blurts out) 'Why I thought you only liked the chibi's cooking? Will the food I made even satisfy you?'
This outburst resulted in complete silence descending in the kitchen as neither of the two spoke another word for a few moments. Sanji was cursing himself mentally.
Sanji: (internally screaming) 'What the hell was that? That was so embarrassing. And why of all the people in the world did I have to do it in front of this lost marimo!! I should just jump into to the ocean and die!!! Or maybe I could...'
As Sanji contemplated the ways in which he could kill himself it was his nakama who broke the silence.
Zoro: 'Oh were you getting jealous of the squirt?'
Sanji : (abruptly turns to face the swordsman with a sinister smile) 'Do you have a death wish marimo? In that case I'll be more than happy to comply!'
Zoro: (devilish grin) ' I don't but looks like you're in a hurry to crossover to the other side!'
Sanji: (through gritted teeth) 'Why you muscle head...'
They butted heads but soon Zoro calmed down and backed off with a sigh.
Zoro: (earnestly) 'I will stick to my words – the squirt's onigiri were the best!!'
Zoro finished the sentence and bent down to eat the snack that Sanji was in the middle of preparing and still held in his hand.
'Thanks for the booze!'
With those words the swordsman turned about and left the kitchen.
When the doors closed behind Zoro, Sanji crouched on the ground and embraced his legs. This encounter had left him a nervous wreck. The tips of his fingers still tingled where Zoro's lips had touched.
Sanji: (mumbling) 'What were you even thinking stupid kenshin? Why would you eat from my hand?'
Sanji looked up to see at the far end in a corner below the sink there was a plate with something on it. He hadn't seen it before while standing. The cook reached for the plate and saw to his surprise that there were at least ten if not more failed attempts at what he could only presume to be onigiri. They were all broken, out of shape and spilling their fillings. Curiosity got the better of him and the cook tasted one of them. He immediately felt like throwing up. Though he prevented himself from puking the cook had to wash his mouth several times and finally get rid of a fish bone stuck among his teeth.
[**For the reader's information here is the list of ingredients used by the chibi cook to make onigiri:
1. rice soaked in cold water for ten minutes
(since he didn't know how to switch on the stove nor how rice had to be cooked *smile*)
2. unwashed raw salmon cut to uneven sized pieces without removing the bones
(since it was the first time he was using a knife and had luckily not lost a single finger even though there were many opportunities for the same *everyone big round of applause for the chibi*
He didn't know how a fish had to be prepared so the blood and entrails remained = naturally coloured onigiri *smile*
The problem of fish bones never crossed his mind *smile*)
3. spices: crushed sugar obtained from a large container in the bottom shelf mistaken for salt
(salt was kept above the counter where it was easy for the older cook to reach but impossible for the chibi who would require a chair to reach that height and which he didn't take *smile*
The chibi cook found the crushed sugar and mistook it for salt ( he knew salt had to be used * everyone big round of applause for his knowledge*) but he never tasted to double check.
The chef didn't check the amount but he kept putting handfuls of it on to the salmon fillings till he was satisfied (not before eight handfuls atleast).
4. glue
( This item was not present in the kitchen, it had been procured covertly by the chef from Usopp's workshop when the sniper was not looking.
After a number of failed attempts when the rice refused to stick to one another the chef had come up with an ingenious solution to the problem; the answer was glue * someone give him a trophy already*
The glue was mixed with rice and this time even though the shape was not perfect the onigiri didn't break *smile*)
*There was no taste tasting at any step of the process, hence the chef had no idea how his dish tasted.]
Sanji finally looked up from the sink. Water dripping from his face the older cook muttered under his breath, 'YOU IDIOT!!!'
At dinner everyone was filing into the kitchen and Sanji was putting the last plates in order when Robin came in and asked with a smile, 'So how did the onigiri come along Cook san?'
Sanji looked up in her direction, blushed a dark tinge of crimson and "poof!" There stood the chibi cook once more wearing the older one's clothes. Zoro had just stepped into the kitchen.
Zoro: (with a groan) 'Not again!'
Sanji: (innocently smiling) 'Onii san!'
After dinner Zoro went into the crow's nest for it was his turn to keep watch. The chibi cook naturally followed.
Sanji: 'What will you do onii san?'
Zoro: 'I'll work off the calories a bit. You can go sleep on the bench.'
Sanji: (excited) 'Onii san this time I want to help you with your training. PLEASE!!'
The chibi cook pleaded with such sparkly, big eyes that despite the incident in the morning Zoro had to give in. But this time he had thought of a plan. He sat the child on his back and got into plank position. The chibi cook sat upright on the swordsman's back.
Zoro: 'Once I start you keep count.'
Sanji: (nods) 'Hm'
Zoro started doing push ups but before he had done ten he felt the chibi cook softly fall asleep over his back. Zoro carefully got up holding the chibi cook. He was about to lay him on the bench when the child got up.
Sanji: 'You're not exercising anymore?'
Zoro: 'I will. You go to sleep first.'
Sanji: (sleepily) 'No! I will help you!'
Zoro: (sitting on the bench) 'OK! OK!'
Sanji sat facing Zoro on his lap with his legs on either side of the swordsman. Zoro took one small barbell in either hand and started lifting them.
Sanji: (sleepy voice) '1...2....3......3..........3..............'
His voice trailed off as he leaned dangerously to his left. Zoro caught the child just in time. This woke up the chibi cook.
Sanji: (sleepy protesting voice) 'I'm awake! I'm counting!'
Zoro shook his head in disbelief. He started weight lifting again. The little cook resumed counting.
Sanji: '1.......2.......2.........'
This time the child was falling to his right. Zoro quickly held the back of the child pressing the child to his abdomen. The child woke up and started counting again. The swordsman had had enough. He raised the child by his collar in one hand and in the other he pulled his haramaki. Zoro placed the child in the gap between the haramaki and his abdomen. They were squeezed together, the child's face buried into Zoro's chest.
Sanji: (flustered) 'Wha-what are you doing baka onii san?'
Zoro: (satisfied with his handiwork) 'There! Now count all you want.'
Without paying heed to the child's feeble protests the swordsman began to lift the weights. After a while the child gave in and started counting once more.
Sanji: (propped on his elbows on Zoro's chest) '1.... 2.... 3.... 4...... 5......... 6............ 7........................ 8....................9..............................................10..................................................................'
The child finally drifted off to sleep, resting his head on Zoro's chest. Zoro quietly put down the barbells and switched off the lights. In the dark room illuminated in places only by the stray feeble moon light creeping in from a window, the swordsman softly patted the back of the child on his chest. Zoro couldn't comprehend the reason but a warm, fuzzy feeling crept into his heart. Soon he too gave into peaceful slumber.
Author's note: I would like to thank everyone for reading the story. I would like to specially thank @Py for making an art for this chapter. Everyone please check out her Twitter handle for more of her zosan fanart.
https://twitter.com/Py123609