Chapter Text
Zoro fell face first into the worn-out pull out couch with a groan. He had just paid rent for his shitty-ass apartment and only had $3 left in his bank account. There were two more weeks left until his next paycheck, and he didn't have much food in his cupboards; just rice, a few packages of ramen, and a can or two of tuna. He was just fucking thankfully it wasn't winter, sure he didn't get cold easily and was a figure skating fan but living in an apartment with no heat was no fun.
“What's wrong with you?” Nami asked, standing over him.
Zoro turned his head to glare at her. “Kill me now, I'm done for. I can't afford to eat with only $3 to my name… guess I'll have to sell one of my posters.”
The thought of that hurt. Zoro didn't want to; even if Mr. Prince was no longer skating, he still was one of the most famous and decorated skaters out there. He had won the grand prix finals six consecutive times, and was the only skater able to land a quad axle.
“Maybe the signed one would fetch a good price.” He muttered. Nami, the witch she was, had just ignored him and spent the whole time on her phone.
“Stop being so dramatic I have a solution… I just need your phone.” Nami huffed and stopped texting to hold out one manicured hand. Her long orange nails sparkled as her fingers motioned impatiently.
Zoro stared at the hand for a moment before handing his old phone over. The screen was cracked and the battery life sucked, but he couldn't afford to buy a better one.
“Thanks, hm… Oh this is a great photo!” Nami looked excited for some weird reason. She handed his phone back. “Here, I've sent it to myself.”
“What did you do?” Zoro snapped, taking it back. “What did you even need a photo for?”
Zoro wasn't sure he liked where this was going.
“You know that BDSM club we’ve been trying to get you to come to?” Zoro nodded, confused. Did she sell a photo to a BDSM club? It wasn't like he had any nudes, just a few shirtless gym pics, and she could get them off the shitty gym website where he worked as a personal trainer. The pay was crap, but it was the first place that hired him. “Well, I've known the owner for a long time, I usually send her photos of myself for extra cash. And I just sent your shirtless gym pic to her. I, of course, added a retainer’s fee but you should be getting a hundred dollars soon. Next time I’m taking a 20% fee for doing this– but I'll be nice this one time.”
Zoro stared at her in shock, unsure if he should feel violated or grateful for the extra cash.
Nami poked him in the forehead. “Hey this is gonna sound crazy, but you, sir, need a sugar mommy. You can't keep living like this. I know you have your pride, but is it worth the price of starving? Or working yourself to death at a dead end job?”
“Shut up, that's not funny.” He glared at Nami. “I'm doing just fine on my own, my job isn't a dead end!”
His stomach growled angrily at him in disagreement.
“Zoro, it looks like your stomach is disagreeing with you.” Nami said. He could hear the smugness in her tone.
“How many times have you been broke? Just one meeting, and a free meal?” Nami offered, Zoro stared at her for a while before his stomach growled again. “Trust me, Sanji’s great, and loaded, she would love to spend money on you.”
“That's not as reassuring as you think it is, witch!” Zoro hissed at her. What the hell was this woman thinking!
Nami sighed and knelt on the floor next to him. Zoro was lying on the only furniture in his shit hole studio apartment. “Look, I've known Sanji since I was five years old. When Zeff’s restaurant opened, Bellmere would supply them from our orchard. It was the first time we finally had some money coming in. Every time we went there, we even got a free meal. That's where we met. Sanji, like you is transgender. Back then she was a ten year old blond Zeff had adopted off the street. Nojiko and I felt kinship with them, most of the other kids had two parents, parents that were related to them.”
Zoro would admit he did like the idea of this “sugar mommy" being part of the same community as him. Even if he wasn't fully on board.
“Sanji inherited a shit ton of money from her shitty birth family. She loves to spend it on shit that her ass hole father would have hated. Like my only fans or feeding hungry people. Also, Luffy knows her if that makes you feel better.” Zoro was starting to warm up to the idea of maybe meeting this person the longer Nami talked. The Luffy part was also a major plus in his book, Luffy was a pretty good judge of character.
“Okay, the OF I can sorta understand,” A lot of people had hang ups when it came to sex work. “but feeding hungry people, what the fuck was that dudes problem?” Zoro asked, confused, why were so many people so against basic human decency? “Also why are you just outing this woman?”
“Hell if I know, Sanji's tight lipped about it though. Besides she prefers it, helps weed out the transphobes…like her shitty birth family. So are you willing to give her a chance? It's at least one free meal. I'll even be nice and deduct from your debt.” She added sweetly.
“Fine, whatever, I'll go.” Zoro huffed and rolled his eye.
“Great!” Nami stood up and whipped out her phone again. He could hear it ringing as she called someone. “Get changed out of your work clothes and we can head out.” Nami waved a dismissive hand at him.
“Nami-swan!” A deep, raspy feminine voice spilled from the phone’s speakers as Zoro got up, grumbling. “What can I do for you my dear?”
Zoro walked over to the plastic dresser and dug out some clothes before pausing to stare up at the poster of Mr. Prince he had his leg above his head in a Biellmann spin, a serene look on his face. His skate costume was white with gold accents and a small red cape billowing across his shoulders. The free skate of "Only Love Can Save Me Now" was his last one, his 6th gold at the grand prix final before he vanished. No one knew what happened or where he went still to this day. Zoro began to change his clothes.
"Baratie?” Zoro read out loud as they walked along the dock towards a large fish shaped boat restaurant. “Sounds familiar."
“I'm sure you've heard of it in passing, it's pretty popular.” Nami commented as they stepped on the boards that led up into the restaurant.
When they stepped inside, a young hostess in black pants, black button down and a pink tie greeted them. Her thick wavy brown hair was done up in pigtails. She gasped and ran around her podium when she saw Nami.
“Big sis Nami!” She ran into Nami's open arms for a hug, her voice pitched to an excited squeal. The young women, maybe nineteen or twenty, looked up at Nami. “I didn't see your reservation on the books… did I miss you?”
“Nope! This is a last minute visit, Pudding. Is Sanji here yet?” Nami asked. Every damn time Nami said that name, Zoro’s stupid heart did a little leap.
“Nope,” The other shook her head. “She should still be finishing up at the soup kitchen since it's Wednesday.”
“Oh right, forgot about that. Tomorrow is your turn, right?” Nami asked.
“Yup, I'm making pot pies.” Zoro stood there awkwardly as the two women conversed. He was tempted to slip out and leave. Now he had a hundred and three dollars to his name, that should hopefully be enough to last two weeks.
“Little Lutin, I don't pay you to chat with the customers, bring them to their seats.” A rough but still warm male voice interpreted the conversation. His voice was fatherly, and homey– almost like a campfire, in the opposite way that Mihawk’s was. Mihawk’s voice was sharp, cold like his blades, judgement almost always present in his tone. After Koushirou’s death he had been adopted by him. A tall figure entered the room, sporting an even taller hat and a ridiculously long blond braided mustache. He walked in with a slight limp.
“Sorry, chef.” The other woman, Pudding, flushed with embarrassment.
“Tangerine… wasn't expecting you today.” He spoke to Nami when he spotted her.
“What, am I not allowed to drop in as a surprise?” Nami teased and gestured towards Zoro. “Brought a friend along to meet Sanji, and to finally try the food.”
The chef gave him a searching look, studying him. “Your Wino’s brat aren't you?” He asked him.
“Wino?” Zoro asked. What was with all the nicknames? “Wait, do you mean Miwhak?” He did have to admit, the name did suit him.
“Yes, he and Strawberry were here just yesterday.” Oh, that would explain why the name sounded familiar.
Soon, they were seated and looking over the menu. There was, unsurprisingly, a fuck ton of fish. As much as he preferred it, Zoro was burnt out on fish, and chicken as well. Canned meat was a life saver in his tight budget, but he wasn't paying for this meal, so he could afford to indulge.
“What can I get you?” A waiter in an all black suit and white tie asked.
“I’ll have the chili citrus roasted cod, with a glass of Gewürztraminer from Villa Wolf. You can leave the bottle.” Nami ordered. “And for Sanji…hmm just surprise her.”
“Gochujang butter steak donabe and sake.” He ordered handing the menu over. After the waiter left he turned to Nami.
“Did you know Miwhak comes here?” He asked. This better not be some plot to get them to talk.
“Honestly, I didn't even think about it,” Nami looked at him with a straight face. “I just picked it because the food's good.”
“I'm so sorry Nami my sweet, I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long.” A deep, feminine voice spoke. It was a sweet and elegant voice.
Zoro looked up as the woman cooed. Long legs clad in smooth, black pants drew his eye up to a colorful blouse with a mixture of wild patterns that Zoro couldn't even begin to describe. If it wasn't for the curly eyebrow preached above a blue eye he would have thought the blonde woman was Mr. Prince's twin sister..Did he have a thing for blondes? Because she had to be the prettiest woman he had ever seen. With her shoulder length wavy blonde hair that curled at the ends, her bangs covering one ocean blue eye, the slightly crooked nose that looked like it had been broken before. He watched as she slid into the seat next to Nami before turning to him.
“You must be Zoro. I've heard so much about you, and yet you're never shown your face.” He watched as her red painted lips quirked up to the side in a lopsided smirk.
“Yeah, well I'm too fucking broke to do anything.” Zoro shrugged, refusing to be ashamed.
“Hm, well I suppose we should fix that problem then, Marimo~” the blonde teased him.
“Marimo!?” Zoro felt a flush creep up his face, Nami snickered.
“If the look fits.“ Sanji merely shrugged..
“Shut your mouth you damn curly brow!” Zoro sputtered, it was a pretty shitty comeback. And the women had the audacity to laugh. “I never agreed to anything.”
“Hmm, how about a month-long trial?” She offered, taking a sip from the wine glass that had just been placed in front of her.
“A trial? What will I even be doing?” He asked, grabbing his bottle of sake as soon as it was in front of him. He ignored the glass and took a swig straight from the bottle.
“How about, once a week, I take you out to eat and pay you for it. You send one sexy photo a week. And one trip to my club. I'll also provide you with plenty of gifts. At the end of the month you can walk away, or sign a contract and become officially mine.”
“How much?” Zoro asked.
“Let's say a hundred for each photo and two hundred a date, we can negotiate further after the month trial.”
“If I send more than one photo do I get more money?” That was at least twelve hundred dollars if he didn't go to the sex club. While it wasn't a ton of money, it would help him out a lot. He could finally afford to eat something other than tuna or chicken, he could afford real meat. And alcohol. He could even put some more away to afford to buy the Dojo he grew up in before Kuina and Koushirou died. “Also, what kind of gifts are we talking about?”
“Yes, you will get paid more,” She pulled out her phone. “I suppose that depends. What kind of gifts do you like?”
“Booze, swords, knitting and figure skating.” He began to list off, when he had extra cash he'd buy yarn from thrift stores, it was meditative and Chopper loved the stuffed animals he made for Perona before he had left the manor after him and Miwhak had a falling out.
“Oh! Who's your favorite?” Her eyes lit up. She must also be a fan of the sport - that was at least something they had in common.
“Mr. Prince.” A surprised look crossed her face. “I know that he's not skating anymore but still, I mean no one has even come close to beating his records as of yet. What's with that look on your face? Don't tell me you're one of those people who think he paid his way to the top.” Zoro scoffed and was about to launch into a tirade when she cut him off.
“No, I'm just surprised to meet a fan of mine.” Zoro stared at the woman in front of him… that can't be. The skater he admired the most was sitting in front of him. Sure she could be their twin but it was still hard to believe.
“Prove it.” He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to calm his racing heart.
“Wait here,” Zoro watched as she stood up and walked away leaving her purse behind.
“What the hell witch!?” Zoro hissed, turning towards Nami, who had been too damn quiet during this exchange. “You could have warned me!”
“But this is more fun, and it's not like you would have believed me anyway.” Nami pointed out, which, to be fair, was true. She shrugged, smiling wickedly at him. “Besides, you wouldn't have come if I told you.”
Zoro huffed and leaned back in his seat, waiting for the blonde to return. When she did, the chef in the tall hat was with her.
“This is Zeff.” She gestured to the man. “And this…”
She placed a framed photo down on the table. “Is Zeff and I after my first gold medal. As a long time super fan, you should recognize the skate costume I was in.”
Zoro picked up the photo. In it was a young Prince, in the costume from Lorelei, the free skate that won them their first gold medal. Standing next to the young skater was a younger Zeff. Zoro would recognize that crazy ass mustache anywhere. “I can show you my medals later if you still don't believe me.”
Zoro looked from the baby-faced blond in the photo, bangs pushed back, normal eyebrows, scale-patterned skate costume, to the blonde in front of him. Bangs covering one eye, with curly eyebrows. They looked near identical. He was willing to begin to believe that this woman in front him was indeed his favorite skater, but part of him wasn't yet fully on board.
“Right, so, I'll give you a chance, but I'm not certain of you being who you say you are . You could just be cheating me, but I might come around.” Zoro admitted, he just couldn't wrap his mind around this, besides there was always the chance that the photo was edited.
“Then shall we proceed with our conversation?” Sanji asked and Zoro nodded. “What was your favorite skate?”
“Another thing to mention is not to discredit some of the upcomers, that little silver haired Russian might be coming for me. He has great potential, I've also been keeping my eye on the little one from Japan, his step sequences are phenomenal.” Sanji steered the conversation back to figure skating.
“Yeah right, I don't think he's got a shot. The kid is all drama and jumps, there's no music when he skates, the complete opposite of the newcomer from Japan. He won't make it if he can't land a jump.” Zoro dismissed before launching into talking about his favorite skate. “The Free Skate to “Only Love can Save Me Now”, while they have had several prince-like outfits, only that one was more prince-like than the others. The hope and desperation on their face after the short program was full of agony and despair. It felt like a ray of light, a way out of the dark.”
Zoro was a little hesitant on misgendering Sanji. So he’ll stick with using they/them pronouns for Sanji for now. Just in-case they were who they say they were. Cause it definitely was still mind reeling that he was in front of his favorite skater. Zoro can’t help being skeptical.
“That was a good one, however I much prefer the short program Comme j'ai mal— my personal favorite. The title translates to ‘how much I suffer’. Without the suffering and agony, the light from the free skate doesn't shine as bright; it doesn't feel as good. That little bit of hope wouldn't be of any significance otherwise. So story telling that season was superb, my personal fav.” Zoro nodded in agreement as Sanji explained.
“Who had the chili citrus roasted cod?” The waiter interrupted their conversation.
“That would be me.“ Nami spoke, Zoro glanced at her in shock as she looked up from her phone. He had completely forgotten that she was still here, too engrossed in the conversation and drama. The waiter placed her plate in front of her. It was white fish with a large reddish orange slice on top of it.
“And the Gochujang butter steak donabe?”
“Here,” The smell wafted up from the small clay pot that made his stomach growl. The dish consisted of chunks of steak on of white rice with a scoop of orange butter on top. Zoro didn't care what the food looked like as long as it fueled his body.
“And finally, mapo tofu.” A plate of very red sauce with chunks of tofu was placed in front of Sanji.
Zoro mixed everything together, the rice searing in the pot, he could see bits of golden crispy rice mixed in with the white fluffy rice. The butter began to melt coating everything, soon he took a large bite of his meal, he closed his eyes as the favors burst across his tongue. The steak was tender and juicy, the rice was crispy and coated in the rich spicy butter. He couldn't remember the last time he had such flavor in his mouth, and all the different textures.
“Cute.”