Don't Lie

Don't Lie (Sanji's POV)

The swordsman had been acting strange, and Sanji was not the only person who had noticed. The cook's suspicions were confirmed when Nami expressed her opinion that the green-haired man seemed different—and around Sanji, specifically.

"Did something happen between you and Zoro?" she asked him one afternoon.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Why do you ask, my sweet?"

"A few of the crew commented that things have been oddly quiet on the ship, and I'm sure it's because the two of you haven't been fighting lately."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Usopp and Franky think so, since they don't have to fix whatever the two of you usually break, but I'm getting a little concerned. It's been almost a week, and I don't think I've heard Zoro exchange so much as a word with you. He's just been staring like he doesn't know who you are or something," she commented idly.

"Staring? At me? I'm sure you're imagining things. What would that idiot have to be concerned about me for?" he argued, laughing at the notion that Zoro would spare him even a thought.

"You haven't noticed? It's not like he's trying to hide it," she told him, shrugging prettily. "Oh well. I hope it blows over, whatever it is. Not having the two of you bickering all the time is so weird—it's like the lack of tension between you is somehow creating an uncomfortable atmosphere of restlessness for the entire crew."

"I guess I can ask him what his problem is," Sanji told her, smiling placatingly, "but I'm sure it's nothing. Don't worry your pretty little head over us, Nami-swan."

The navigator rolled her eyes in exasperation, leaving him to his thoughts. The cook wanted to doubt her suggestion that Zoro was somehow preoccupied with him, but she was a lady after all, so he had no choice but to heed her words and see if there was any truth to them.

Now that the issue had been brought to his attention, Sanji realized that the swordsman really had been staring at him. Whenever they were in the same room, Zoro would follow his movements with a strange, contemplative expression as though the cook were a difficult puzzle that needed solving. It was definitely weird, and more than a little creepy, but Sanji was confused by the intensity of his gaze and didn't know how he should go about bringing it up.

One time he had purposely met the green-haired man's eyes and barked, "What? You got something to say, Shitty-swordsman?", which usually would have pissed him off and inevitably started a fight. Instead, Zoro just frowned at him, his brow furrowing in concentration as he continued to scrutinize the cook with unabashed attentiveness, and Sanji stormed off in annoyed confusion.

On a different occasion, the blond lost his patience with demanding answers from the swordsman who never deigned to answer him with a single word, let alone one of his typical insults, so he simply waited to see if the bastard would eventually stop. On the contrary, Zoro took advantage of the opportunity and spent a good fifteen minutes staring, and frowning, and even muttering to himself as he looked at the cook.

It was beginning to concern Sanji, too. Did I piss him off somehow? That can't be it—we're always mad at each other for something. This is different...he thought, truly bemused. There wasn't a single reason he could think of for Zoro to have suddenly become so fixated on him. What the hell was going on in the Stupid-marimo's head? His brain was probably too small to focus on more than one thing at a time, so why was he putting so much thought into Sanji of all people? What did those penetrating looks mean?

It was honestly driving the cook crazy wondering about it which was ridiculous since Zoro was the one who had some sort of problem with him. He even asked the beautiful Robin-chan for her advice, hoping that his highly observant crewmate might have a useful insight into the matter, but her answer only confused him more.