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“Marimo’s not coming for lunch?” asked Sanji as he glanced around the kitchen and then rubbed the back of his neck. It was lunch time and everyone except for Zoro was there. It was kind of odd, Zoro was usually one of the first ones to arrive, mainly because he was there for the booze (and the food, too, obviously). But that day he didn’t show up and it seemed kind of odd to Sanji. They’ve just set sail, they stopped on an island to restock some of the things that they needed - mainly in the kitchen, with Luffy’s appetite, Sanji always had to make sure there was enough in stock. They didn’t explore the island too much, they were there for a couple of hours and then they set sail. Sanji was proud of himself; he managed to get a good bargain on the food and Nami even allowed him to buy a few extra things, which were quite expensive, but it wasn’t all in vain. The spices were going to make his food even tastier and Sanji couldn’t wait for the crew to try what he prepared for them that day. And that was why he was quite pissed off to see that Marimo didn’t seem to care about that. But then again; this was on him, wasn’t it?
Usopp glanced at Luffy and then he shrugged. “Yeah, Zoro’s not coming,” said Usopp and the corners of Sanji’s lips twitched a little bit. How dared he? Sanji took a deep breath in and then he placed his hands on top of his sides, shaking his head. So, this was on purpose then? “He said that he wasn’t feeling very well,” said Usopp then and Sanji’s anger soon transformed into worry. It wasn’t like he worried about the swordsman, but… what was that about him not feeling well? There was a sort of uneasy feeling that settled in within him and he glanced over at Chopper, who was also-
“I tried to take a look at him, but he didn’t let me,” said Chopper and then he sadly looked down. “He didn’t let us near him. He is laying in his bed and refuses anyone from coming close to him,” mumbled the reindeer sadly and then he chewed on his lip. It hurt Chopper’s feelings that Zoro was shutting him out. They were all friends there, no? Then again, Zoro was always way too stubborn, always making it hard on Chopper to look properly after his wounds.
“Now that I think of it,” said Nami and Sanji looked over to her. “He was acting sort of strange ever since we’ve gotten back on Sunny,” she said and Sanji pressed his lips together. That didn’t make him feel better. He didn’t really see Marimo that day; he was too busy in the kitchen. There were so many new things that he wanted to try out that he completely forgot about Zoro and the others if he was being completely honest. And now he felt bad about it. Marimo was usually in the kitchen, bothering him when he was cooking, but that day he didn’t come and Sanji took in a deep breath.
“Was anyone with him on the island?” asked Sanji carefully. The others glanced at each other and then they shook their heads.
“No,” said Robin and looked at Franky.
“Robin, Usopp and I have been buying some spare parts for Sunny,” explained Franky and Sanji huffed under his breath. Nami was with Sanji; she was there to make sure that he didn’t spend too much. Luffy then explained that Chopper and Brooke had been with him, which left Zoro completely alone. He was supposed to be with Luffy and the others, but then they got kind of split up? That didn’t really come as a surprise; since when was Zoro even good at following directions? Even if he had people walking right in front of him, he would get lost. It was some sort of a talent and Sanji clenched his jaw, his worry now really settling in because if Zoro was alone on the island then maybe something happened to him? But… this was Zoro that he was talking about. Zoro wasn’t weak, he could handle himself on his own pretty well. He was stronger than most people and that shouldn’t really concern Sanji.
But if the others said that he was acting strange since they’ve returned back to the ship and if he said that he wasn’t feeling well- Sanji pressed his lips together and then tried to brush it off. “I’m sure he’s fine,” said Sanji and then sat down with the others so that they could have the meal together, but even if the others started eating, there was still something that… Sanji couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was really off. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he was worried about Marimo. Fuck it! Ugh. And it annoyed the hell out of him!
Sanji couldn’t even eat, it was all of Marimo’s fault. He was making him worried! In the end, Sanji piled some of the food onto an empty plate and then stood up. Nami arched her brow when Sanji stood up. “Where are you going?” she asked even though everyone around the table already had a pretty good idea where Sanji was headed with that plate full of food now.
“I’m gonna take this to Marimo,” said Sanji.
“Aw, you’re worried,”she teased and Sanji pressed his lips together.
“Not worried, pissed off because I’ve been slaving in the kitchen for hours and I made delicious food,” said Sanji. “Marimo will taste it,” he then said, barking away because he was clearly embarrassed and then he huffed under his breath. “Even if I have to stuff his face with it, he will-”
“Yes, yes, we get it. You’re not worried,” chimed in Usopp and the others started laughing when Sanji finally left.
Sanji knocked onto the door of the room. No reply. Sanji pressed his lips together and tried again, but Zoro didn’t respond and that was why he decided that it was okay to let himself in. It was his own room as well, after all, so he didn’t think much of it. “Marimo,” exhaled Sanji in, trying to make it sound like he wasn’t too worried and just like the others told him - he found Zoro on his bed. He was turned away from him, he was covered with the sheets and was refusing to reply to him. But Sanji was pretty sure that he could hear him, right? Still, the lack of response worried him. “Oi, Marimo, get up, I brought you food,” said Sanji and went closer to Zoro, who grumbled under his breath.
“Not hungry,” said Zoro in the end and Sanji’s eyes widened. Ah, so he was present! “Leave,” he then barked and Sanji’s eyes darkened. Oh, he was the same old Zoro, pissing him off! Ugh. Sanji took a deep breath in and then remembered that Usopp told him that Zoro wasn’t feeling well.
“Usopp said that you weren’t feeling well, I brought you food,” said Sanji. “Stop being so fucking stubborn and listen,” said Sanji and Zoro slowly shifted on the bed and just when Sanji was sure that Zoro was going to turn around to face him, he didn’t. “I’ll leave after you at least take a little bite,” he then said, the worry in his voice clear enough, but he didn’t know how to hide it. He and Zoro were after all-
“Tch, so annoying,” said the swordsman.
Sanji opened his mouth to say something, but then he realised that what was about to come out was pretty stupid and he pulled back a little bit. Sanji placed the plate of food down onto the drawer and then he slowly came closer to Zoro’s bed, stiffening a little bit. They were alone, so now he could show that he was worried. Not too much though, he didn’t want Marimo to get the wrong impression that he cared too much about him. “What’s wrong?” asked Sanji, his voice coming out much softer than he wanted it to.
“I told you, leave me alone,” snarled Zoro. Sanji rolled his eyes, but didn’t take those words to heart. Zoro was… not a man of words, he was a man of action, so he wasn’t too surprised when Zoro pushed him away like that and then he sighed under his breath. “Cook, you’re pissing me off,” said Zoro and Sanji clicked with his tongue.
“Usopp said you’re not feeling well, what am I supposed to do? Not care?” asked Sanji softly and his hand landed on Zoro’s back. Zoro stiffened up, but he didn’t shove him away. “C’mon, turn around and at least have a few bites,” said Sanji softly. Damn it, thought Zoro. Sanji knew what to say to get Zoro to listen. Eventually Zoro did turn around, but he refused to take that blanket off of him. His whole body was covered with it. Even his head. Sanji huffed and then smiled when Zoro turned to him, face to face.
“Happy?” grumbled Zoro.
“Can you sit up?”
Zoro looked around. “No,” he said in the end and Sanji’s heart fell.
“I’ll call Chopper in here to take a look at you,” whispered Sanji softly and he lifted his hand up, bringing it closer to Zoro’s face. His eyes were carefully following Sanji’s hand. Zoro froze a little bit when he felt the cook’s hand upon his cheek, then going a little bit up, in the end resting on top of his head. Zoro was lying perfectly still, Sanji was too close. Sanji, on the other hand, didn’t think too much of it and he absently stroked Zoro’s head. Usually Zoro would grumble and bitch when he would be this soft to him, but this time Zoro… purred? “What was that?” asked Sanji in shock.
Sanji wasn’t the only one that was in shock. “What was what?” asked Zoro.
“Did you… purr?”
“Don’t be stupid, cook, why would I-” Zoro didn’t get to finish that sentence.
Sanji stroked his head again, but that time he felt something underneath the blanket. Zoro’s hair either suddenly had a growth spur or- Sanji slowly pushed the blanket away, uncovering Zoro’s hair, Zoro trying to hide the evidence, but it was too late. Sanji could see that… on top of his head there were a pair of green… ears? Sanji had never been so confused in his entire life before and he blinked a few times. Was this some sort of a prank? Sanji didn’t know if he should laugh or not. He thought that Zoro was only fucking around with him, but then one of the ears twitched and Sanji’s jaw dropped.
Nothing made sense. Why did Zoro have… what it looked like cat ears sitting on top of his head? Sanji reached up with his hand to touch them, but then Sanji smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch, shit cook,” growled Zoro and it was obvious to Sanji that this was not something that Zoro planned. What the hell happened to him on that island? Usually Zoro found trouble… or troubles found Zoro. Anyway, something happened to Zoro and Sanji didn’t know if he should laugh or not. But Zoro was turned into a cat. Some sorts. Half cat. Half cat, half human hybrid. And it was kind of… cute? Sanji blinked a few times, Zoro’s ears drooping down.
That explained why Zoro refused to come out and join the others. He knew that some of them would make fun of him. Sanji snickered and Zoro’s jaw dropped. “You’re… why do you have cat ears, Marimo?” asked Sanji, who was amused. He wanted to pet Zoro’s head again. He had cat ears and he purred. He was definitely a cat. Feline at least. Sanji was beyond amused. Did he have other cat traits as well? “Why are you a cat, I-”
“Tiger, you idiot,” whined Zoro and then his tail came from out of the covers. Oh wow. Zoro pointed to the black stripes on his green tail and Sanji laughed. Well, then a tiger, whatever. Sanji guessed that being a tiger was more badass than a cat to Zoro. To Sanji it didn’t really make a difference because this was just… what happened? The smile on Sanji’s face pissed Zoro off.
“What happened?”
Good question, to which Zoro didn’t have a good answer. Not really. Zoro didn’t really know what happened either, but he seemed to have pissed off the wrong person, which ended up with him being turned into… this. Zoro didn’t even want to think about how he looked at the moment, because this was beyond humiliating. And the fact that he was embarrassed was an understatement to say at least.
Zoro definitely pissed off the wrong person. It was a woman, but how the hell was he supposed to know that she had devil fruit powers? He had no idea and before he knew it, she turned him into a tiger. Not quite a tiger, but some sort of a weird human and tiger hybrid. He didn’t like it at all. There were two ears sticking up at the top of his head, but that wasn’t even the worst thing of it all. The worst was that he had a freaking tail! He was trying to ignore it, but it was starting to bother him, pissing him off even more. It was angrily dancing around and he had no idea how he should make it stop moving. Zoro was pissed off. On every level there was.
He was trying his best to stay away from the others and it was working up until now. The damned cook was the last person that he wanted to see him like that, but now it was too late. He knew what was coming next - laughter. Ugh. How great. Sanji was never going to let him live this down, was he?
Sanji was fascinated by the tail itself. The ears alone were fascinating, but the tail was mesmerising and without even really thinking about it too much, Sanji reached over and gently held the tail, which suddenly stopped moving. Sanji didn’t really pay attention to Zoro and he gently stroked the tail, chuckling softly; it was so soft. He ran his hands up and down and quickly looked up when he heard a little muffled gasp coming from the swordsman. Zoro’s cheeks were red, his ears were drooped down and he quickly pulled the tail away from Sanji, curling it around his own leg and he snarled. He was surprised how good Sanji stroking the tail felt like.
“Pervert!” hissed Zoro.
“I didn’t-”
“You touched me like that on purpose!”
“I only wanted to see how the tail-”
“Perv! Shit cook, get out!”
“Oh, did it feel good?” asked Sanji because he could remember Zoro purring before and the swordsman rolled his eyes.
“No.” Zoro was a bad liar. “Don’t get any stupid ideas, you pervert,” said Zoro, tapping his finger against Sanji’s forehead and the cook started laughing. Zoro wasn’t acting like himself and he kind of liked it. Zoro wasn’t in control for once and it was kind of… fun. Amusing, to say the least. Zoro’s tail was again angrily dancing around, he snarled when Sanji started laughing.
“Being a cat kind of suits you.”
“Tiger!” growled Zoro again and leaned closer to Sanji, narrowing his eyes. Sanji smelled… different. Zoro didn’t know whether it had to do with him suddenly turning into the tiger or not, but he didn’t like how Sanji smelled. He smelled like cigarettes and food and… perfume . Zoro narrowed his eyes. He did not like that at all. A perfume that belonged to a woman. Zoro didn’t know to whom it belonged to, yet there he was, getting jealous over it? It was so freaking weird. Zoro wasn’t usually the jealous type, in his own humble opinion. “You stink,” commented Zoro and wrinkled his nose.
“I bet you a pardo-”
“Of perfume, you stink,” said Zoro and leaned closer to Sanji, taking in a deep breath and he shuddered. Yep, it didn’t smell good. At all. Too floral and too sweet. Nothing like Sanji at all. Sanji was dumbfounded, not knowing how to take that. Was it Nami’s? Zoro didn’t know nor did he care, but he was still annoyed as hell. “Whose is it?” asked Zoro, annoyed and Sanji glanced down.
“Oh,” said Sanji and rubbed the back of his neck. “Nami and I-”
“Nami, huh?” asked Zoro and then leaned closer to Sanji. He didn’t like Sanji smelling like Nami, so he was going to make sure that Sanji smelled like him. Sanji belonged to him, anyway. Before Sanji knew what was happening, Zoro was already there, nuzzling into his cheek and then he did what felt right at the moment - flicked his tongue over Sanji’s cheek. Sanji narrowed his eyes and then he blinked a few times. What the hell was happening? Slowly connecting things… Sanji- Was Zoro grooming him? Sanji snickered and started laughing. Cats were pretty jealous creatures, so-
“I didn’t know tigers are such territorial creatures,” laughed Sanji softly and Zoro narrowed his eyes, his arms still wrapped around Sanji and he was now glaring at him. “Though cats are pretty jealous-”
“Shut up,” growled Zoro and quieted down the annoying cook the best way he knew how - he pressed his lips on top of his. Sanji grinned into the kiss, but responded by kissing the other one back and as he pulled away, he placed his hand on top of Zoro’s head and then ruffled his hair. Zoro stiffened up a little bit because that felt so nice. Fuck. He didn’t like not having control over his body. But he- Sanji scratched him behind his ear and his body responded on its own. Zoro nuzzled into the touch and then closed his eyes for a split second. Sanji could hear a little purr and even though Marimo started complaining again, he didn’t stop.
Zoro was adorable, surprisingly. And what got Sanji the most was that Zoro’s tail somehow found its way wrapping around his waist, holding him close. Sanji placed his hand on top of his tail and stroked it again, making Zoro growl and then purr again. “Stop touching it,” said Zoro angrily and unwrapped his tail away from Sanji, crossing his arms on top of his chest and he decided to keep glaring at the door on the other side of the room.
Sanji laughed softly. “What happened to you, anyway?” asked Sanji and Zoro huffed under his breath.
“I ran into some trouble,” said Zoro gingerly.
“Yeah I see that.”
“There was this woman,” started Zoro and Sanji snickered, nodding. “I pissed her off. How was I supposed to know that she’s a devil fruit user?!” asked Zoro and Sanji was again laughing. “Don’t laugh at me, idiot,” carried on by saying Zoro. He laid back down, pulled the covers back over his head and turned away from him. The idiot, traitor, stupid cook was-
“C’mon, stop sulking,” said Sanji and laughed harder. “I’m sure Chopper will know what to do.”
“Hmm,” said Chopper for what felt like the hundredth time as he was checking out Zoro’s condition. After almost an hour of talking Zoro through it, Zoro finally agreed to go out of his hiding spot and show himself to the others. The reaction that he got was what he expected. Most of them laughed at him, except for Nami and Robin. They were the only ones that managed to hold themselves back. But now, Chopper was taking a look at Zoro, studying his tail and then he hummed again. “Hmm.”
“Stop humming and tell me what’s wrong already,” grumbled Zoro, his tail fluffing up in anger and his ears drooped down. Sanji giggled next to them; it was really easy to tell how Zoro was feeling now; his feline side was really expressive and it was funny as hell.
“I’ve never seen something like that,” said Chopper and hopped down onto the floor.
“Can you reverse it?”
“I’ll have to do more research,” said Chopper and then he looked up at Zoro. “It’ll take a few days, weeks possibly,” said Chopper. That was definitely not good news for Zoro, but it was marvelous news for Sanji.
“ Weeks? ” growled Zoro. Yes, growled. Chopper jumped back.
“C-c-calm down.”
“You know I can eat you as a snack now,” said Zoro, who was of course only joking around. Not really. He was pissed off. He knew that Chopper was trying his best. Chopper jumped behind Sanji and gripped onto his leg.
“S-S-Sanji, tell him-”
“How will you turn back, Marimo, if you eat Chopper?” asked Sanji and that worked like a cold shower on Zoro and he pulled back. Chopper placed his little hoof over his chest and took in a deep breath. That was scary.
“Thank you,” said Chopper, still gripping on Sanji’s trousers, timidly approaching Zoro again. Chopper continued his research and after it he… didn’t really know much about what would help him to reverse the state Zoro was in at the moment - he would definitely need to read up on a few more books. Zoro was in a terrible mood, sitting on the deck of the ship, his arms and legs crossed and was feeling sorry for himself.
Zoro’s ears were drooped down, his tail wrapped around his leg - honestly he looked so pitiful. It made Sanji feel bad, so he plopped down next to him and decided to cheer him up a little bit. “You’ll be back to normal, Marimo, no need to keep on sulking forever,” said Sanji and then placed his hand back on top of Zoro’s head. Zoro hated how much he liked that, but he didn’t stop Sanji and to show his gratitude, he licked his cheek and then kissed him as well. Sanji gave him a little smile. He kind of liked this side of Zoro. He was more expressive with his feelings. It was always hard for Sanji to read him. “I kind of like this side of you.”
“Piss off,” grumbled Zoro and Sanji snickered.
“Cute kitty,” cooed Sanji.
“Wanna die?” grumbled.
“Ah sorry, Mr Tiger,” teased Sanji.
Zoro grumbled under his breath and looked away from Sanji. Nearby them, Usopp was sitting and was going through his arsenal, checking how much of what he had in there. One of his Pop Greens slowly rolled down the deck and Zoro managed to quickly catch on that. It continued rolling and the first instinct that kicked in was… catch it. Zoro didn’t even think about it and before he knew it, he pounced the seed, his back hunched down and he- everyone was staring at him.
Zoro’s cheeks burned with embarrassment as he stood up, cleared his throat and the picked up the thing, trying to act like he totally meant to do that. He slowly carried it over to Usopp, who was holding back his laughter, but Sanji couldn’t. The cook laughed and he then shook his head. “Maybe I should get you a collar, it would look great on-” he started, but Zoro only flipped him off and walked away. “I love you too, Marimo!” hollered Sanji after him. Zoro’s traitorous ears perked up when he said that. Oh!
Zoro groaned and walked away faster.
He was going to get back at shit cook!