Chapter Text
Not all those who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien
The Thousand Sunny was docked at a small island, inhabited by people who were happy living their lives. Zoro napped against the mast enjoying the bobbing of the ship. It was a lazy day for the Straw Hats as most of them had ventured out to the island earlier in the day and only some had returned by midday. There wasn’t much to see at that island which made Luffy upset, but Zoro enjoyed the quiet once in a while. The only sounds to be heard were the soft waves lapping at the Sunny’s hull and noises coming from where Franky’s workshop was located. Zoro had noticed Franky, Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper heading down there earlier.
A presence suddenly appeared on the ramp to the ship, a familiar presence to Zoro. The cook must have left again at some point when he wasn’t aware and had now just come back. He didn’t pay it any mind and continued to nap. He felt the presence get closer to him and could barely hear the footsteps of the cook approaching him. Zoro waited, figuring that if Sanji wanted to bother him he would and if not Zoro would just keep napping (more like meditating at this point). To his surprise, no kick came and the cook’s presence stopped in front of him. Something was off about the presence. It felt familiar but yet not. Zoro wasn’t the best at Observation Haki, but he’d never felt this before while around the cook.
Confused, he opened his eye and looked up at the figure in front of him. It was hard to tell the height from where he was sitting, but he’d guess the figure was about as tall as the cook. He had the same legs that Zoro knew so well through their scuffles. The sun was partially blocking his view of the figure’s head, but he saw long curly blond hair that covered the left side of their face. That was odd. Sanji had his hair parted in the opposite direction ever since they reunited. Squinting to get a better look at the face he saw the same blue eyes, the same face structure, and the same curly eyebrow he’d seen when he first met the cook. But there were a few things off about the face. It looked older, but only slightly. The beard had also filled in a bit more.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asked flatly, scowling up at the man.
The man just laughed. Sanji’s laugh. Shaking his head, the man said. “Ah you never change do you, marimo.” The cook’s voice came out of the man and he used the same name Sanji used for him. This was becoming more confusing by the second.
“Uh...no. Why would I change? And why do you look like the ero-cook?” He glared at the man and put a hand on the hilt of Wado. If this was some weird trick or clone or something then Zoro was going to put a stop to it quickly.
The man who looked like Sanji laughed again, causing Zoro to glare even more as he sat up from his position. The man put his hands up in a pacifying manner. “Sorry I just think this whole situation is extremely amusing. Didn’t mean to alarm you. I mean you and the crew no harm. I’m just trying to find something I lost and I knew you could help me.” The strange man backed up a couple of feet to give Zoro room and motioned him to stand. Zoro did so slowly, keeping his hand on his sword hilts and his eye locked on the man.
“Okay. But you didn’t answer my question. Why do you look like…” before Zoro could finish his statement the kitchen doors opened and Sanji walked out. Zoro looked up at the Sanji that just walked out of the kitchen then back to the man in front of him who looked like an older Sanji. He looked back and forth a couple of times, blinking his eye. He figured he must be dreaming, but he’d go along with this crazy dream for now. As long as more Sanjis didn’t start showing up.
The Sanji who just came out of the kitchen finally looked up after lighting a cigarette and saw the strange man standing on the deck. The cigarette promptly fell out of his mouth as it gaped open and he pointed at the strange man yelling, “Who the fuck are you?!” Sanji looked over at Zoro and Zoro just shrugged. The man looked back and forth between them and smiled. He turned towards the Sanji standing outside the kitchen, leaving his back open to Zoro.
“Ah, excellent. I was hoping to find you, but you came out on your own before I was done talking to the little marimo over here.” He pointed at Zoro over his shoulder who then growled back. The strange man turned his head and winked at Zoro. He felt a blush creep over his cheeks as the man smiled and turned his head back to keep talking to the other Sanji. Zoro was mostly convinced by now that this man was Sanji or some version of him. “You see, I lost someone. I mean I’m always losing him, but this time he got lost on a whole new level and I found myself here. I’ve been unable to locate him so when I saw the Sunny docked I figured I’d try the local expert.”
The younger Sanji (Zoro’s Sanji, he thought in his head and his head alone) closed his still open mouth looking confused. “You lost someone? Who did you lose?”
The strange Sanji (Zoro decided that this man was indeed Sanji) smiled again. He seemed to smile a lot. “I lost my marimo.”
The younger Sanji looked at Zoro then back to the strange Sanji. “What are you talking about? Zoro’s right there.” He pointed over to Zoro who kept standing there with his hand on Wado’s hilt, no longer glaring just looking confused about everything.
The strange Sanji looked over his shoulder at Zoro then turned back to the younger Sanji. “Yes, but that’s not my Zoro.” He pointed to himself then pointed at the younger Sanji, he continued, “that’s your Zoro.”
The younger Sanji scoffed and Zoro heard him say quieter but not too quiet, “my Zoro? What the hell?” He paused for a moment while he lit up another cigarette. “Alright even though I’m very confused, where do you think your Zoro went?”
“Well,” the strange Sanji said looking out towards the island, “I know he’s on the island but oddly I can’t actually find him. This hasn’t happened before. I mean not being able to find him not ending up in this time. I guess ending up in this time hasn’t ever happened before either.”
“What are you talking about? Time?” Zoro growled from behind.
The strange Sanji looked at Zoro then at the younger Sanji and rolled his eyes, but before he was able to speak the door that led to Franky’s workshop burst open and Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky walked out. All froze when their eyes fell on strange Sanji. Luffy’s eyes widened a bit and then he wore the biggest smile jumping towards the strange Sanji yelling out Sanji’s name. The strange Sanji just stood there smiling much to Zoro’s surprise and opened his arms ready to catch Luffy, which he did gracefully.
“Sanji! Why is your hair so long? Why do you look older? You look happy! Are you happy?” The barrage of questions from Luffy kept going and the strange Sanji just kept smiling at Luffy until Luffy finally stopped talking for a moment.
“Yes, Luffy I’m quite happy, but I have a problem right now that I need the marimo and your cook’s help with. Is it alright if I borrow them?”
Luffy looked from the strange Sanji to Zoro then to the younger Sanji then back to the strange Sanji. “There’s two of you!” Strange Sanji just laughed. “Why are there two Sanjis?! Does that mean I get more meat now? Yippee more meat!”
“Luffy,” Zoro interrupted Luffy’s tirade about meat, “I don’t trust this,” he gestured to strange Sanji, “person.”
“Yeah Luffy,” Usopp joined in, “how do we know that is really Sanji when there’s two of him?” Pointing towards the younger Sanji, “this could be a weird devil fruit or something.”
Strange Sanji kept smiling, “Well I was just about to explain that before you all interrupted. It’s not a secret, just something that happened and I’m trying to go back to where I belong.”
“Where do you belong?” Chopper walked up to strange Sanji.
Strange Sanji smiled down at Chopper. He put Luffy down then sat down on the deck and crossed his legs. “I’m from your future. I’m him,” he pointed at younger Sanji, “19 years from now.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Luffy burst out, “you’re from our future?! That’s super cool! Do I become Pirate King? Do you find the All Blue?”
Strange Sanji shook his head. “Ya know I can’t tell you that Luffy. What’s the point in an adventure if it isn’t fun, right?”
Luffy just smiled again and skipped away to the front of the ship. Before he got too far away he yelled back, “whatever future Sanji needs we’re gonna help him.” Then went to sit on the lion head.
Everyone just looked at each other for a moment. Franky broke the silence, “Yow! We’ll help super future Sanji-bro with whatever he needs!” Everyone else nodded in agreement even younger Sanji seemed fine with it.
Zoro growled low, “What? I know what Luffy said but you trust this guy?”
“What, you don’t trust me, marimo?” Zoro looked up and saw younger Sanji staring at him. He was the one who had spoken.
“I trust you, shit cook, but I don’t know who this is,” he said pointing over at strange Sanji.
“Oh come on. You heard him. He's me from the future. I don’t know why he’s here and I don’t care. The sooner we help him the sooner he leaves and this whole strange encounter can be forgotten.”
Zoro sighed then let it go. “Fine. Let’s help this weird cook so he can leave. What is it you need us to help you with? If you’re a future version of the cook you should be strong, right?”
Strange Sanji smiled up at Zoro. “Yeah I’m strong, but what I need help with isn’t dependent on strength. Actually I don’t know what it depends on, but that doesn’t matter. I need you,” he pointed at Zoro, “and you,” he pointed at Sanji, “to help me find someone. I need help finding Zoro.”
“But Zoro’s right there,” Chopper said pointing.
“Your Zoro’s there, but not mine.” Sanji replied, smiling at Chopper. He spoke with an emotion that Zoro couldn’t place.
“Your Zoro got lost? Tch. Typical moss brains are always getting lost.” Younger Sanji sighed while he walked down the stairs towards them. “So how’d he get lost this time?”
“I’m not sure, honestly,” strange Sanji replied. “I was making us dinner and when I went out to get him he was gone. I figured he just went to a different part of the ship, but I didn’t find him anywhere. When I went back to the deck there was this weird black hole near the front of the ship. It was so small that I almost didn’t notice it. I went towards it and suddenly I was here. Didn’t actually know I came back in time until I spotted the Sunny. I did try to look for Zoro on the island but I can’t sense him with haki, which has never happened.” He paused and Zoro could see his hands clenched into fists. “I’m honestly a bit worried.” He sighed as if he was letting out some emotion, “That’s why I want your help. I think you can find him for me.”
Younger Sanji scoffed. “Great, marimo. You got lost in time. Typical.”
“Oi, I didn’t get lost anywhere! The other one did, not me.”
Strange Sanji started laughing. “Ah, I’ve never seen our bickering from the outside. It’s quite funny and way too obvious.” Both Sanji and Zoro froze looking over at strange Sanji for a moment. He didn’t seem to notice or care. “Well, we don’t have time to waste. I’d like to find my Marimo and get out of this time before he messes something up.”
“Right,” younger Sanji said, “before we go anywhere I want to know what we should call you since we can’t both be called Sanji.”
“Yeah,” Usopp said, “what about a last name? Do you have a last name?”
Younger Sanji froze and looked at strange Sanji. Zoro couldn’t tell what was wrong with the cook but he was tense and extremely uncomfortable. Strange Sanji nodded, “Yeah I have a last name, but I don’t know if you’d like hearing it.” Younger Sanji paled.
“Uh why wouldn’t we like hearing it? We won’t know unless you tell us?” Usopp replied feeling more unsure of the situation.
Strange Sanji nodded in agreement, looked right at younger Sanji and said, “My last name is Roronoa.”
Silence fell on the deck until Luffy could be heard laughing. Usopp laughed, “But that’s Zoro’s… last… name. Oh.” He started slowly shuffling away in fear for his life. Sanji stood there with a confused look on his face.
Zoro started to pull Wado out its sheath but was suddenly stopped by a foot. He looked up to see strange Sanji glaring at him. “Don’t do that, Zoro. You are no match for me. If you don’t want to use my last name, call me Cook and call him,” nodding his head towards younger Sanji, “a different name, but we are not fighting.” With that he put his foot down and walked away. His blond curls whooshed around as he turned, Zoro was memorized by them. “Let’s go before it gets too dark, you two.”
Without checking to see if Sanji and Zoro followed, the Cook walked towards the ramp. Sanji looked over at Zoro and shrugged. “Let’s just go with him. Find the older you and go back to normal.” Zoro nodded following behind Sanji knowing that things would never be normal again.
~~~
Once they were all off the ship the Cook stopped and turned around. “Alright. Since my haki is shot I’m going to be relying on you,” pointing at Sanji, “for that. I want little Zoro here to lead the way.”
“Little Zoro, huh?” Zoro did not like this new name the Cook decided to give him.
“Why should he lead?” Sanji spoke angrily, “He’s just gonna get us lost too!”
The Cook sighed and looked at Sanji, “Exactly. How do you find one lost marimo? With another lost marimo.” He smiled and put out his arm to gesture for Zoro to lead the way.
Zoro laughed a bit and bumped shoulders with Sanji when he walked past. “Come on, curly brow, don’t get lost.” He heard Sanji grumble angrily in the background while the Cook just laughed as he followed.
A few hours passed and Zoro was sure that they were not lost. Nope. This island was small but he didn’t see the Sunny anymore. Maybe the island wasn’t as small as he originally figured and why was the path moving on him so much? He glanced back at the two Sanjis behind him. One looked at him a bit angrily while also glancing around their surroundings while the other had a permanent smile on his face and kept staring at Zoro in amusement.
“Do you sense him?” The Cook asked Sanji.
Sanji just sighed and shook his head. “It’s harder to try to feel out the presence of someone already here. He could be in front of us for all I know. This idiot’s presence is too annoying to concentrate on a second one.” The Cook laughed again. It seemed like he laughed a lot. More than Sanji did.
“Well just keep trying. I’m counting on you and the little marimo.”
Zoro glared over his shoulder at the Cook. “Why do ya call me that?”
The Cook raised his eyebrow, “What? Little marimo?” he asked with a smile.
“Yea, it’s… weird.” Zoro grumbled.
“Oh?” The Cook asked and his smile widened. Zoro felt himself shiver under that smile. “What should I call you then? Zoro feels weird. How about…” he paused and held his hand out like he was going through a list to find the right item. “Ah! How about I call you my adorable little algae?” Zoro stared at the Cook as a blush formed over his cheeks. He hastily turned around and kept his eyes forward.
He heard Sanji scoff at the exchange. “Can you not flirt with the bastard?”
The Cook turned towards Sanji and Zoro saw his long curly blond hair out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head slightly so he could see more of it. His hand twitched when he thought of running his hands through it and ugh stop it brain.
“Why not?” The Cook asked Sanji cheerily. “You’re not doing it and it’s a waste not to see him blush like that. It’s quite adorable. Don’t you think?”
Zoro could hear Sanji laugh, it sounded a bit nervous. “No,” Sanji scoffed, “why would I think that idiot is ever cute.”
“Oooh don’t kid yourself. I know you since I am you. It’s easier if you just give up now. He’ll make you much happier.”
Sanji didn’t answer the Cook right away. Zoro was glad. He was tired of being in the middle of the two blondes. Concentrating on where he was going he thought he could feel something ahead and to the left?
They came to a split in the path. Zoro stopped and looked both ways. He still felt a pull to his left so without a word he walked that way. He could feel the gazes of the two blondes behind him but he decided to pay them no mind. Something was ahead. Something interesting. He wanted to know what it was. As he walked the feeling became stronger and he started to forget about the others.
He walked around a bend in the path, went between some rocks and found a waterfall. Its sound was comforting to Zoro. He walked on through the path between the rocks until he came to a clearing. A small pond was in front of him. The waterfall crashed into it making the air feel moist. Zoro could see little rainbows being created from the waterfall. In the middle of the small pond was a large rock with a path leading to it created by smaller rocks. On the large rock sat a man and Zoro knew this was what he felt. This man’s presence was what he was walking towards.
The man sat on the rock with his legs crossed. Three swords sat in front of him. He wore a green robe but had the top of it thrown back to reveal his muscular chest. A large scar ran down it from shoulder to hip. His face showed his age with a few wrinkles starting to appear but also had smile lines. His eyes were closed and a scar covered his left eye. His green hair was slicked back and wet from the water spraying off the fall. To Zoro he looked weirdly peaceful. The man opened his eye and looked over at Zoro. The same gray eyes met and Zoro wasn’t sure that this was even an older him. He didn’t recognize that eye as his.
Zoro was pulled out of his thoughts by a flash of blond hair that appeared next to him and was yelling, “Marimo! I found you! I can’t believe you got lost through fucking time, idiot. Dinner is probably cold by now.” The man’s eye still held Zoro’s even through the Cook’s rant.
The man finally closed his eye and sighed. He looked up at the Cook and smiled wide, “You always find me don’t ya? Dinner is probably fine and we’ll eat it either way you know that, dumbass.”
The Cook crossed his arms. “Obviously we’re going to eat it, but look at the trouble I went through to find you!” He waved his arms towards Zoro and Sanji. “How awkward do you think these two have been? If it wasn’t for my little algae I’d never have found you. Didn’t I always tell you that when you got lost to find the shore and follow it till you found us?”
The man’s smile dropped slightly, “Your little algae, huh? That’s new. You going to call me that now?”
The Cook laughed, “Nah you’ll always be my marimo. Now come on, the kids are getting restless.”
Zoro didn’t realize that Sanji was standing next to him. He looked over and found Sanji staring at the older Zoro. At him? Zoro really hated time travel. Sanji’s mouth was slightly open as he stared. The older Zoro noticed Sanji staring, he smiled at him and winked. It looked a bit off with one eye, but the message got across. Sanji started blushing and looked away quickly.
“Oi, stop flirting with young me! That’s not fair.” The Cook said and crossed his arms. Older Zoro laughed and stood up. He belted the swords back to his waist and walked across the path. Once he got to the Cook he put one arm on his waist and the other in his hair and kissed him. Zoro and Sanji both just stared. The two kept kissing for an awkward amount of time. The older Zoro kept running his hand through the Cook’s hair, gripping it lightly. They broke apart finally and looked over at their younger selves.
“Well,” older Zoro said, “this was a fun trip, but how do we get home? I am still hungry, ya know.”
The Cook rolled his eyes. “Like I know how to do this. You’re the one who walked through the black hole in the first place!”
The older Zoro laughed and turned away from the Cook. He glanced at Zoro and nodded. Then he looked over at Sanji and stared at him for a few moments. Zoro could see Sanji’s face start to blush under the stare. Older Zoro just smiled and turned back to the Cook.
“Ya know I think I forgot what you used to look like, shit cook.”
“What? I look the same! Just older.
Older Zoro turned back to Sanji and looked him over again. “Maybe it’s the hair. I like the long hair better.” He shrugged then turned back to the Cook and put his hand back into the Cook’s hair. “Easier to grab this way and I know you like it when I grab your hair.”
The Cook smiled. “At least I have hair to grab still, marimo. Your garden has gotten a bit thin hasn’t it?” The older Zoro tsked and pulled a bit more on the Cook’s hair.
Zoro could see Sanji’s face turn a deeper shade of red. He wondered if that would work for him like it seemed to work for the older him. “Don’t we need to get you two back to whenever you’re from?” Zoro spoke up mostly to get the flirting to stop.
“Ah yeah. Looks like we can leave through there,” the older Zoro nodded towards the entrance to the pond. Zoro turned and saw a strange black hole near the entrance that wasn’t there before.
“How convenient,” the Cook drawled. “Well as fun as this little time adventure has been I’d like to go back and hope our dinner isn’t cold.” He started poking the older Zoro in the chest as he spoke, “and you stop wandering into strange black holes! I’m tired of going after you.”
“You love it, cook, don’t lie.” The older Zoro said smugly.
“Yeah well. Maybe next time I won’t come find you.” The Cook crossed his arms for a moment. He walked over towards Zoro, “It was amazing to see the younger version of you. You’re quite adorable.” He smiled and Zoro found his face turning red which made the Cook smile wider. He walked over to Sanji and motioned back towards Zoro. “Keep that one in line. He’s worth the headaches.” Sanji scoffed but nodded slightly. The Cook turned towards the entrance. “Well come on Marimo, let’s go.”
The older Zoro nodded to Zoro then winked once more at Sanji before he walked towards the Cook. When he got to the Cook, he entwined their hands and they walked hand in hand through the black hole, disappearing completely. After they left the hole disappeared as well and Zoro and Sanji were left standing there.
“Well,” Sanji started, “that wasn’t awkward at all.”
Zoro glanced at him, “Why did you keep blushing and staring at the older me?”
“Wh...What?” Sanji stuttered. “It was just weird seeing you old like that.”
“Yeah, I get it. It was weird seeing you older too. You aged well though.”
Sanji smiled slightly, “Come on, marimo. Let’s go back to the ship.” Zoro nodded and followed Sanji down the path.
They were both quiet as they walked until Sanji stopped and turned towards Zoro. “Do you think we could have what they have?” Sanji wasn’t looking directly at Zoro but off to the side. Zoro thought over it for a second. Their relationship had always been odd, but there had been moments that Zoro was almost sure that Sanji felt something similar for him that he felt for Sanji.
“Yeah. I think we could,” he replied with a smile. Sanji finally looked at him. Blue eyes met gray and the most beautiful smile that Zoro had ever seen graced Sanji’s face. Zoro held out his hand to Sanji who took it and they walked back towards the Sunny. They kept holding hands when they got back to the ship, ignoring the stares of their crewmates, and went into the galley. The door closed softly behind them.