The Greatest Swordswoman

Sanji's Heart

The straw hat pirates were worried. Zoro lay unconscious on the bed, having been attended to by Chopper. But, it wasn't Zoro that they were worried about. Sanji had been acting extremely strangely after the battle.

The crew knew quite well that Zoro and Sanji were close. A few of them even suspected quite heavily feelings on either one or both sides. But even so, the way Sanji was acting seemed fairly extreme.

It was true that Zoro was badly hurt. More than usual. However, Chopper had announced that she would live. She was extremely tough after all as well, not someone who would let a few near mortal wounds stop her.

Nevertheless.

Sanji wouldn't sleep. He wouldn't eat.

Whenever someone tried to talk to him, he would lash out in anger.

He was jittery and would jump at random sounds.

He wouldn't leave Zoro's side and kept checking her constantly.

Chopper tried to look over the cook to see if there was anything wrong, but the cook brushed him aside.

After two days of this, Luffy called a meeting with the members. They discussed possible reasons and what they could do help the cook.

"Maybe he'll snap out of it when Zoro wakes up. I mean they are pretty close." Usopp suggested as they sat around a table in the next room.

"Yeah maybe, but is he going to start acting like this anytime something happens to Zoro?" Nami questioned.

"I think..." Robin started, "there may be something internally wrong."

"Like his stomach? Maybe he's hungry. He hasn't eaten." Luffy wondered.

"Ahh, psychologically?" Franky asked. Robin nodded.

"Zoro's incident might have triggered this response from him." Robin continued.

"Let's say that's true. If so, what could we do about it? No one here is exactly a psychologist." Nami said, tapping her chin with her finger.

"Maybe we could try talking to him again?" Usopp suggested, shrugging.

"He bites our heads off every time we try." Nami sighed. There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and Brook stood up and silently left the room.

"Right... maybe he just needs time then. Let's wait until Zoro wakes up." Franky told them.

===========

Brook entered the infirmary quietly with his guitar and walked over to the bed where Sanji was watching over Zoro. The cook raised a defensive gaze towards the skeleton, but Brook simply sat down across from them and settled his guitar on his lap. Seeing the musician had no intention of getting closer, Sanji turned his attention back to Zoro as Brook started lightly strumming his guitar. This continued for some time, and they simply sat in near silence, only the slow simple tune of the guitar wandering the room.

Slowly, Sanji felt the tension start to release from his body as the melody started to distract him from his thoughts. He concentrated on listening.

Eventually, he found himself feeling exhausted. He slowly laid his head down on his arms on the bed, keeping an eye on the sleeping swordsman. His eyelids drooped. He tried to keep them open but lost the battle and soon fell into a deep sleep.

===========

Sanji awoke with a jolt. Surprised and upset that he had fallen asleep, he quickly looked over Zoro to see her still asleep. He sighed and glanced around. Brook was still sitting but was no longer playing the guitar.