Mixed Up (ZoSan)

Foreign Object

Later, Sanji couldn't say whether or not he'd made the right decision regarding not telling Nami about Robin. At the time, he'd felt that as long as he kept an eye on her nothing would happen. There wasn't anything she could do if he saw a chance to intervene; if he saw it coming, he could stop it, he was sure.

He'd been wrong. Things happened outside of his control that didn't allow him time to do anything but watch as terrible things transpired, and he had no way of knowing if informing Nami before they happened would have changed the outcome at all.

Could it have all been avoided? Or would it have just caused something worse to happen instead?

Not knowing if he'd made the right choice left him with a guilt that he would carry for a very long time.

Before any of that happened, though, he'd merely tried to enjoy the game.

Down on the ice, things were looking rough. The second period started hectically, with the Whiskey Peak Cacti coming back from the intermission with an offense that was so overwhelming, Zoro's team was taken off guard. The sudden switch in momentum had allowed the Cacti to slip a goal into their net almost as soon as the game had resumed.

They'd won the face off and immediately gone to swarm the goalie to the point where he couldn't figure out where the puck had gotten to until it scored. The Bison seemed shocked, but didn't allow themselves to linger on how they'd let that happen. They rebounded ferociously, and with the game tied now, both teams played with matched aggression- the Bison weren't going to be taken off guard again. Bodies slammed into the Plexiglas barrier at an almost consistent rate as the players tried to bully their way to a victory.

It was an exciting, rousing game that was incredibly intense. The announcer was speaking as fast as he could to try and keep up with the action so he could accurately broadcast it.

Sanji did his best in balancing his time between keeping an eye on Robin and watching Zoro play. He found that he was, still, inexplicably nervous about her being there. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything from what he could see, but just knowing she was there made him uneasy. It looked like she didn't even want to be there, which kept him wondering why she was there at all when it became obvious she wasn't a fan of the sport.

People around her were going as crazy as Nami was. The fact that she wasn't vocalizing at all or standing up to shout or doing anything made her stand out simply because she wasn't participating. An air of foreboding surrounded her as she sat there; a dark, stationary figure of boredom that managed to disguise the omen of misfortune she brought with her.

It was difficult for him to focus on anything else. Her solemn beauty was as threatening to him as it was alluring, but he managed to turn his attention to the ice whenever Nami or the rest of the audience cheered about something. Despite how involved he became in supporting the team, he couldn't shake how apprehensive he was feeling with Robin so close. It curdled in his gut, trying to upset it as he attempted to figure out what, if anything, was meant to happen by Robin being there.

"Are you alright?" Nami had asked him once, catching him off guard as he was staring away at Robin's section. "Want a drink or anything?"

She'd already begun losing her voice at that point, and spoke in a raspy voice that she tried to clear with a cough. He'd assured her he was fine, and yelled alongside her when Zoro violently body-checked one of the Cacti into the wall, earning him a penalty.

His nerves had never been so bad; not since he'd been a child, at least. He'd had a problem with anxiety growing up, and now it seemed that it was coming back in full force. It just existed within him for no discernable reason. Something was wrong, and not knowing what it was was impacting him negatively.