Chapter Text
"How long do you intend to mourn, kid?"
Sanji didn't know how many times Zeff had asked him the same thing in all these years, on every first March of every cycle.
Honestly, he was too exhausted to think about it.
"I'm not in the mood today to deal with you, you old man. Get someone else to annoy you with your grumbles."
"Listen here brat" Zeff approached with firm steps "It's been centuries since he died, how much longer do you intend to stay like this? You know if he saw you that unhappy, he'd cut you in half and I'd help him with kicks."
"Can't you leave me alone just for today?" Sanji questioned tiredly. The cigarette in his mouth had lost its flavor a long time ago, as had the four empty packs of cigarettes strewn across his desk.
It's not like a vampire like him is going to die of lung cancer.
It's not like vampires die at all.
He was a pure vampire, from birth, from all the glory of the golden age and its grim end. However, the perception of death, the sensation of feeling his heart stop beating and the presentiment of devastating darkness ravaging his soul, he only had the displeasure of knowing these sensations when Roronoa Zoro decided to appear in his troubled life. More specifically, when Roronoa Zoro decided to die in his arms and whispered smilingly in his last words that Sanji should find his treasure and be happy in the vast blue sea.
How could he find his treasure and his happiness when the only spark of the most beautiful love was dying in front of him?
Zoro was a big hypocrite, imbecile, idiot, arrogant, without a shred of intelligence.
Stupid Marimo.
Damn it. He was thinking about the damn nickname again.
"Boy, you look like you're about to cry your eyes out like a snotty baby" Zeff accused mercilessly. As hard as his tone was, the former red leg's blue eyes brimmed with concern "Come on kid, you've got a restaurant empire to run. You can't put it all on me, pity a fallen vampire."
Sanji knew the old man was right. He should have gotten over the damn marimo a few centuries ago. He need to forget the vibration of the deep voice, the rhythm of his breathing, the stormy gray eyes, the greenish hair, and the damn laugh that plagued all his dreams like torture. Roronoa always stole kisses after brief discussions, as if he were sealing a peace deal after the storm. Even with his icy fingers, if Sanji placed his fingerprints over his lips, he could feel the human warmth of Zoro's mouth.
Zoro's warmth seemed to disappear more and more as the years passed.
"Look, moody day or not brat, you at least have to get out of there to face the new classes."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Pay attention to that fucking language" Zeff threw one of the table decorations right in his face, making him almost choke on his cigarette "I didn't raise you like that, you little shit, where did you see me saying that, your animal? Besides being foul-mouthed is forgotten? Bartending and confectionery classes start today."
"I thought everything was resolved" He answered sincerely. For the last few weeks, all the preparations had been organized by his team. He remembered signing several reports for the release of the rooms.
"Everything is ready, the point is that one of the reasons for students to enroll in Baratie classes is the names."
"Aren't you going to teach confectionery?"
"Students want to see your depressing face on the first day of school, you dumb brat."
"I'm not interested."
"There will be young ladies for you to traumatize with you sung."
"I'm still not interested."
Heavens, business was complicated. Zeff hadn't gotten to know the Zoro guy personally at the time, he didn't know what exactly the swordsman had done to tie his adopted son's heart in such a decisive way. He was starting to theorize that Roronoa was a witch. A warlock killed for his folly, with magic capable of breaking through the barriers of death.
Honestly, love was a headache.
"Interested or not, you go anyway because I'm in charge here" Zeff ended the discussion "Go down to room twenty-two in less than an hour for the preparations."
And with that, Zeff left the room, leaving Sanji facing a closed door, in a silent office, his thoughts submerged in deep memories.
#
A few centuries ago:
"Are you blind by any chance, seaweed head!?"
"The only blind one here is you with that ridiculous fringe, you crappy cook!"
"Crappy cook!? Since when does your brain have enough neurons to form a sentence?"
"Well, you see-"
"How are you engaged!?" Usopp interrupted " I can't believe you're really going to get married in a month and you almost kill each other every day."
Sanji and Zoro also asked themselves the same question at the beginning of their relationship. The two were too proud, they shouted too much, they fought too much, they felt too much, but mostly, they loved each other too much. Everything was so intense and so vivid with Roronoa that it terrified Sanji's heart to the core. So terrifying that even with only thirty days left until their union, he still hadn't worked up the courage to tell the truth.
How tell Zoro, the fearsome vampire hunter, that he was one of them?
"Don't ask difficult questions Usopp" With his inner thoughts, the one who ended up answering was the swordsman. Roronoa straightened the last boxes from the ship's galley and handed them to Usopp, who almost died from the weight "Ready Curlys, everything packed for moving. Any more complaints?"
A voice in his head, perhaps the famous conscience, whispered that it was the perfect time to tell his fiancé the truth. He couldn't forever count on the advantage of being the son of a pure vampire and a human. It was now that he would speak. He wasn't a coward, at least not anymore.
"Marimo, I need to tell you something-" The words were stuck in his throat, giving way to a startled scream when Zoro suddenly fell into his arms "Chérie, are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you eat right? I'm sure my new recipe is balanced for your bo-"
"I'm fine, stop mumbling so close to my ear" Roronoa adjusted his head on the blonde's neck to look at him directly "It was just dizziness, I'm not going to die."
Dying. Humans die, vampires don't. Why was he thinking about that at this time of the morning? It was too early to think about the end when he was still living the beginning of his journey.
"You're in the moon world again, shitty cook" The gray eyes seemed to read all between the lines of his soul "You must think of a lot of useless things to have all these wrinkles."
"I don't have wrinkles, stupid marimo."
"A few seconds ago I was Chérie, have I gone back to being a stupid marimo?" Damn human part that still made his cheeks blush because of the swordsman's boastful smile.
"If you don't shut up now, I swear I'll throw you to the sharks."
" You can throw, I'll slice them in no time."
"I hate you."
"And why are you going to marry me?"
"Because your algae virus infected my brain and unfortunately Chopper still couldn't formulate the cure" The cook's pale hands ran over Zoro's broad back, looking for anything strange, only stopping at the shoulders when he didn't feel any irregularity "But no change the subject, what the hell do you feeling?"
Ronronoa sighed in boredom.
"It's just a dizziness, cook" Zoro repeated, taking his head from Sanji's shoulder and grabbing him by the waist "Don't worry about nonsense, we have a wedding to organize."
"Your welfare isn't bullshit, you brute," Sanji grumbled, putting their foreheads together in an affectionate touch.
"I'm fine" Ronronoa's callused fingers caressed his fiancé's face, never losing the passionate sparkle in his eyes "We're fine."
Yeah. They were fine.
"If you pass out on the floor, I'll tie you to a bed myself" He threatened, even though his threat was of no use against his companion's hard head. Zoro just detached their bodies and before leaving, he stole a kiss from the cook's pink lips, leaving Sanji stunned by the hunter's boldness and bravado.
#
Sanji, exhausted by the morbid day, looked at the wristwatch, realizing that had spent almost an hour lost in memories. Was it too late to ask Zeff to bash him in the head in an attempt to acquire amnesia?
"Well, it's not like he gave me choices" Sighing heavily, Sanji got up from his office chair and walked to the door that led to a small closet. Inside the space, the blonde kept designer suits and shoes, since there were always last-minute meetings or events like that.
He ended up laughing dryly at his thought. If Marimo had complained about the ship's change boxes containing only the necessary, imagine if he were alive today and discovered the existence of his closets.
If he were alive today. Of the psychological torture that his mind did to him, “what if” was one of the cruelest. And if only he were alive to see the completion of the renovation of their lovely little house on the island reserved just for the two of them. And if he were alive to taste all your new recipes made with him in mind. And if he were alive to wake up every day by her side as soon as the sun's rays bothered both of them.
And if he was alive to see Sanji every day wanting to wither away to death because he was too pathetic to think about living a life without him.
Heavens, he would go a long way in this little game, time permitting
He took the first available black suit, threw his unlit cigarette in a trash can, and left the closet, not wanting to spend another second in his cold and lonely office. Maybe it really would be a good idea to break out of the shell and get in touch with humans. Perhaps the warmth that only living people provide would help to dispel the memories.
"Why am I like this?" He muttered irritably as he locked the door behind him. The corridor was completely deserted, a sign that classes should have already started. It wasn't all bad, with the hall empty, his steps were calm, with a steady rhythm, without the need to dodge his employees.
Well, until the need to dodge someone arose.
He frowned at the sight of a man in a baseball cap standing in the middle of the hall. He held a yellow paper between his firm hands, which Sanji soon recognized to be the basic instructions for the rookies' first day. The man was leaning against one of the walls with his head down reading the sheet, and by the tic in his right foot, he was probably irritated.
Irritated and lost. Then Sanji put both hands in his pants pockets and approached with a relaxed voice:
"Are you Lost, boy?"
"I'm not lost" It was such an upset mutter, that if it wasn't a vampire, Sanji wouldn't have understood "It's those walls that keep changing shape all the time. Who the hell designed this confusing building? It should be processed."
It's those walls that keep changing shape all the time
It was a hallucination, he had finally gone completely insane. His prayers had been heard by the Gods and he had met the end of his miserable life as it was the only explanation for recognizing that lame excuse, recognizing that voice. He was in the world of the dead.
He felt his hands shake and his legs give out briefly. He didn't trust his voice to speak at the moment, so like a lovestruck fool, he stared at the black cap until the human was bothered by the blue eyes piercing his being and finally stared back. And Sanji didn't find his fiance's well-known gray eyes, strong and dangerous like a turbulent sea storm, he found infinitely green eyes, mesmerizing and shining like the most beautiful emeralds in the world.
And either way, Sanji knew he was hopelessly fascinated.