A Crush Leads the Way

Happenstance

Zoro felt groggy the next morning. Fog enveloped his mind as he opened his eyes. Thankfully, no intense hunger tore him from bed, allowing him to relish in the softness of his blankets and the plushness of the pillow. Beneath the covers, his hand drifted to his stomach.

The feeling of his stomach made his eyes widen. There was a definite layer of fat around the bump of his belly that definitely wasn't there last night. His stomach was soft and smooth, abs disappeared beneath the new squishiness.

Zoro slowly sat up in bed, surprised to find that it was a little harder to actually get fully upright due to the firmness within his softened stomach. Since the covers were now thrown to the side, he could see his half naked body. Everything about him seemed wider then he was used to, hips looking on the verge of being fat, thighs beginning to press together, and stomach turning into a full on belly.

The green haired man rubbed his hands against his belly, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Maybe this new "medical breakthrough" had something to do with helping people gain weight? It definitely felt like it. But then why was his stomach firmer then ever beneath that soft layer? Gaining weight is supposed to make you soft...right?

Zoro flushed as he thought of when he'd need to go back to work. There was no way Nami wouldn't notice the sudden and intense weight gain, which was strangely focused in places that made it so much worse. He'd never seen a man with bigger then average hips and thighs. All the men in the city were lean with narrow waists and skinny legs.

It was annoying that he was apparently the exception to that, sweatpants beginning to bite into his soft lower stomach.

That very same stomach groaned with hunger, but thankfully not starvation hunger. Zoro bit his lip. Nothing in the apartment sounded particularly tasty, and he found himself craving the All Blue's cooking he ate yesterday. But also nothing on the menu he could remember sounded good to eat right now.

A burger sounded amazing. A burger cooked to perfection by a certain blonde chef... Zoro remembered the meals Sanji used to make for them when they were all in highschool. It almost brought tears to his eyes when he realized that that was not on the menu. Sanji's special burgers. Of course, he had to be craving something that doesn't exist anymore.

That thought really did bring tears to his eyes. The only thing that sounded satisfying was locked behind Sanji, the person his heart yearned for but who hated his guts. There was only one thing to do.

Zoro got up from bed and pulled on a black sweatshirt to attempt to hide his growing body with little success. He needed that food and the only way he might be able to get it was talking to Nami, the woman who made Sanji go gaga over.

Nerves made him hesitant to pick up his cellphone from the bedside table but his stomach reminded him that he was only going to get hungrier the longer he waited.

The phone rung a few times before a cheerful, feminine voice greeted him.

"Hey Zorooo~! It's not often that I get a phone call from you." Nami spoke in a singsong tune.

"Can I ask you to uh....do me a favor?" Zoro rubbed his stomach to try to calm himself down as a blush heated up his cheeks.

There was a moment of silence on the line as Nami considered it. "What kind of favor? You know this will cost you." Her voice went lower with the thought of receiving money.

"C-Can you-" The words were catching in his mouth from embarrassment. "Can you ask Sanji to make something?" It was killing him to ask anything from this woman.

There was an interested hum. "I can do that. What did you want?"

"Burgers." The word blurted from his mouth. "The burgers he used to make in school." His stomach groaned at the thought of eating them.

"Is that it?" Nami questioned.

"Yes, I'll pay you back for this. I just...I need them." Zoro almost groaned along with his stomach when it growled again.

"Alright, I'll ask him. Have my money ready when I get there!" She chirped happily before hanging up.

Zoro slowly lowered the phone. Fuck, how was he supposed to look presentable like this? He must've gained at least 30 pounds in the last two days. The blush returned to his cheeks even stronger then before. As soon as she gets here, she'll figure that he's letting himself go. The sweatshirt didn't exactly hide anything. Especially with the way it was feeling snug around his hips and bottom and gently clinging to his belly.

He just needed to not let her into his apartment. Maybe he could hide behind the door?

_____

It was a while later that there was a knock against the door, startling Zoro from the hunger daze he was in where he was lounging on the couch.

"Zoro? I'm here!" Nami's voice drifted through the closed door.

Zoro struggled to stand up for a moment, stomach hindering his efforts a bit. "Coming!" He yelled back.

He fixed his sweatshirt so it didn't cling so much to his rounded tummy and tried to loosen it around his wide hips.

The door was very hesitantly opened and Zoro peeked out at her.

"Aren't you going to let me in? I went to all this effort to get you your food." Nami quirked her eyebrow at his odd behavior. He would normally just open the door all the way.

"You wouldn't want to come in here, it smells bad." He pushed an arm out of the crack to offer her the money.

"I don't mind, it always smells kinda musty in your place." She rolled her eyes at the hand holding out the money. "For goodness sake, let me in so I can put it down-" she pushed open the door almost into him and was stunned when she got to see him fully.

Her eyes swept from his startled expression to his wide hips to then rest on his belly. Nami tried to rationalize some kind of explanation in her head to only be pulled back to reality when the man in front of her teared up and hunched into himself.

"Z-Zoro I'm s-sorry I didn't mean to, I-" she quickly put the box down on the table and came back over to him to offer a hug which shockingly enough, he accepted. She could feel her arms sink into his body a little, making her extremely worried about what was happening.

A few sniffles later had Zoro pulling away from her. "I don't know what's happening to me." He admitted quietly.

"You do seem...softer then on Friday." Her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Did something happen after work? Do you want to talk about it?" She was very worried about her friend's health.

Zoro walked over to the table to take a seat. "The check up happened." He considered telling her more but she would probably look down on him from agreeing to be a test subject for an experiment. "I don't want to talk about the rest." His voice lowered at the end. "Your money's there. Thanks for going." He motioned towards the bills on the table before opening the lid of the box on the table. Four sizable burgers greeted and wafted their delicious scents at him that pulled another stronger gurgle from his stomach.

Nami took the bills that were on the table, trying not to look at her friend as he quietly started inhaling the food.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow I guess. Don't worry about what anyone thinks, I'm sure it'll be fine." She offered on her way out the door, still very concerned.

Zoro didn't respond to her as she closed the door behind her, too focused on getting that perfect food in his stomach. He didn't want to go to work tomorrow. He blushed as he thought about the looks he'd receive.

Only one way to find out.

A/N: it's getting weirder but imo, also cuter! Hope you enjoyed reading! :)