Unexpected bond

Deja vu?

It was months after that day, Zoro and Sanji haven't bickered much and the other crewmembers find it strange. There are many times that they had pushed the two into situations that are very complicated to solve but they always managed to do it on their own without eachother's help.

Another day came, it was bright and the sunrise was coming to the surface of the ocean. The day goes by as usual without the two bickering, still.. The Strawhats aren't used with it but they let it be.

They arrived on another untamed island, no towns and nature only. Kind of the same as the island that they traveled to months ago and Sanji found the kitchen spotless again. All foods eaten by the Captain's endless hole stomach.

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Third person's POV :

"Nami-sann!"

Sanji called out on the deck but Nami was nowhere to be found..

"Maybe she's in her office.. "
Sanji thought.

He then headed down to the deck, glancing around the deck as his gaze landed on the Swordsman. Lifting his dumbbells as he counted, Sanji's gaze lingered longer than he intended to do but he quickly shook it away. Feeling a pang of something in his heart but he continued walking towards Nami's office as he knocked gently on the door, making sure that he's not disturbing the navigator too much.

"Who is it? "

"It's me, Sanji.. may i come in? "

"You may."

The door creaked open as he stepped inside, playing a soft smile on his lips as he greeted the Navigator.

"Nami-san, I wanted to talk again about the supplies.. we-"

"Ran out again..? I expected that pretty much.. Luffy's been taking more food than usual. Gosh it would be better if he ate food and gain braincells at the same time."

The navigator pinched her nose bridge as she huffed a small frustrated sigh, glancing at Sanji and seeing his small sigh.

"I agree, it would be very much more convenient though.. i can't just leave him to starve, he has fast metabolism that Chopper said so. "

"Hmm... He's lucky. We've encountered another island, it's an untamed one but last time we picked supplies it lasted two months. "

".. Another island? Will we be doing pairs again? if yes, please let me pair up with you Nami-san.... ~! I'll lead you the way! "

Sanji swooned over, his eyes heart shaped with his sweet tone. Pleading to be paired up with her.

"No. Last time you paired up with Zoro, you guys get along pretty well. "

"NAMI-CHWANN PLEASEE NOT WITH THAT GUY! "

"Why can't you go along with him? You guys have been pretty distant lately.. "

Nami asked with her lazy expression, she didn't want to deal with the love-sick guy right now.. especially not when they're getting supplies. But soon she noticed something's off because Sanji went silent for a moment. An idea popped in her head and so she decided to go with it.

".. um.. Well, I don't want to.. he's.. well, annoying! I can't stand him, he's damn ignorant.. "

"Is that so? Zoro's not that ignorant, you're probably just annoying him.. by the way, we should be here already. I'm not changing pairs, you go with Zoro anyway. "

Nami replied quickly, organizing her maps away in places as she walked passed Sanji.

Sanji on the other hand stood there, lost in thoughts for a moment. He raised his hand to his chin, "annoying..?" he thought. It sent a pang straight to his core this time, Nami said it.. annoying. Could he be that annoying?

He decided not to think of it too much, putting the thought aside for now as he followed outside after a few minutes. For some reason, he lit up his smoke.. clearly affected by the thought.

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Half an hour later, The Strawhats were now left to go and find supplies, each of them are paired with eachother. As usual, Luffy will be with Nami, Usopp and Brook, Robin and Chopper then Zoro and Sanji... Franky stayed at the ship as guard, taking care of the Sunny.

Sanji's POV :

"Shit- this is awkward... Why am i feeling guilty...?"

I kept leading him towards the deep forest, trying to distract my thoughts away from the lingering unease as he spoke up behind me, catching my attention.

"Oi watch it, you're gonna fall if you step on that. "

I looked down at the pointed direction he said as i stepped back. Embarrassing.. utterly embarrassing.. beneath my feet earlier was a quick sand, i would drown in there if he didn't warn me.. How can i lose my focus so fast when I'm thinking about- wait.. am i thinking about him..?

"I-I know.. just shut it mosshead. "

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Zoro's POV :

I followed as i was instructed, this is annoying. I can't face him right now, I didn't know what i did a few months ago and suddenly there's a big gap between us.. What the hell did i do?

The witch has the audacity to put me up in this situation.. but suddenly, i felt an uneasy feeling as i snap my attention back to Sanji. I looked down on his step noticing that he's about to step on a quick sand, without further realizing.. my mouth moved on its own.

"Oi watch it, you're gonna fall if you step on that. "

PHEW, that came out smoother than i thought it would.. glad he stopped at timing..

"I-I know.. just shut it mosshead. "

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Third person's POV :

The two continued to walk beside eachother, without talking or sharing a single insult.. not even glancing at eachother's face. They had this very, very awkward silence between them, the only sounds that they could hear were the sound of bird chirping, cicadas ringing and just basically forest sounds with the grass beneath them as they walked.

They've gotten pretty deep into the forest until something unexpected happened. Something bad. Zoro's missing.

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To be continued.. ASAP.
I'll be quick!
(Total words : 1006 words)