Remember that Time?

Part III – What?

Rating: T

Pairing: SanjixZoro

Summary: Part III of a mini-series. The crew reminisces over times in the past.

The mood was restored to the Galley by the time that Sanji returned. Zoro was sitting close to the rum supply and was laughing heartily as Sanji had seen him do time and time again whenever they were partying. However, in instances prior, Sanji had been in a state of euphoria much like the one that everyone else was in right now, and he had always failed to notice time and time again just how happy Zoro looked. He watched Zoro interact with the women – very, very, carefully – and he noticed that...Zoro didn't treat the women with disrespect. He treated them...well...he didn't treat them in that extraordinary way that Sanji had a habit of doing, but he wasn't constantly being crass as he had often accused, nor was he disrespectful to the point of anything beyond playful teasing. Sanji found this to be rather odd. He'd expected that his opinions on the swordsman's behavior would be a little bit more...accurate.

However, what had really gotten to Sanji was Zoro's ending statement. 'We could've been friends!' Sanji didn't see how that would have been at all possible. But as he continued watching Zoro interact with people, he realized Zoro wasn't as black and white as he imagined. He saw that customary frown when his attention was drawn away from the rum barrel by one of Usopp's drunken stories, but his furrowed brow raised to quirk an eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile. He laughed before saying something that didn't reach Sanji's ears. It hadn't really dawned on Sanji, but Zoro considered all of these people his friends. Well, he knew that they were Nakama, but he had never paid attention to their interactions before. He never really realized that Zoro actually ever had fun with the other crewmates. He had thought that Zoro's life was only eating, sleeping, and training. How could he not have seen this earlier? How could he not have known that Zoro could actually smile and laugh with his crew mates? Well, he'd never experienced it, so he was rather unaware. But why had he and Zoro never shared a thought and laughed about it together? Was it because...he and Zoro weren't friends?

Sanji didn't realize he was glaring until Nami gave him an "are you alright" expression followed by a subtle quirk of the head. He put up his hand and shook his head gently, smiling at her. He looked back to Zoro and started frowning again. Deciding that having a sour face the rest of the evening would do nothing to better his circumstances, Sanji decided to do the smart thing and drown his problems in delicious rum. In fact, Sanji was so into trying to numb himself that the rest of the night faded away into drunken fuzziness and an inevitable black out.

o()o()o

Sanji felt the pounding of his head and the churning of his stomach before he actually awoke from a dreamless sleep. He felt sluggish, as if his body had a speed restriction on it, and if he tried to move any faster he'd shut down like an over-heated computer. Slowly, he lifted one leg out of his hammock and let it dangle over the edge. His other leg followed suit in a similarly apathetic manor. He grabbed hold of the sides of his hammock as e slowly eased himself up, his headache seeming to shift inside his head as if his skull were water logged. But instead of water it was liquid discomfort. He blinked his eyes open. It was still dark outside, thank god. Eventually, Sanji's sloth-like movements got him to the kitchen, where he decided to simply leave the lights off as he prepared breakfast. Why the hell had he drank so much? He should have known better. He couldn't remember a thing after his conversation outside with Zoro.

'Damn...what happened last night?' Sanji thought to himself as he began to prepare the perfect hangover breakfast. 'As long as I didn't do anything stupid things should all be fine. I don't usually act out when I'm drunk...' He turned on the stove and oiled up the pan for some fried eggs. Today would be an eggs benedict kind of day. 'But...something was bothering me last night...what was it...?m Shit, I can't remember.'

Robin was the first to appear. She smiled at Sanji and bid him a good morning in a delicate voice, but her true goal was the coffee pot. It had long been established that, especially after a night of drinking, Robin was not to be disturbed until she had the steam of a fresh cup of coffee tickling her nose.

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp waddled in soon after. They were always hit the hardest by hangovers the next morning and were sometimes quite the handful. Luffy ley his head down on the table, Chopper doing the same. Usopp was the ony one who remained standing. Sanji saw out of the corner of his eye that Usopp was giving him a funny look.

Sanji turned to reach for his whisk as he got ready to make the hollandaise sauce. "What're you staring at?" He asked, feeling his grumpiness slip out for a moment.

"So, uh, are things going to be different now?"

Sanji furrowed his brow in confusion and turned to face Usopp fully. "What? What're you talking about?"

"Oh man..." Usopp made a face that clearly depicted that he sensed something ugly would surely abound in the near future.

"Naaa~ Sanjiiii~Did you drink too much?" Luffy slurred.

"I don't want to hear that form you, shitty-gomu." Sanji didn't want to think that he was the only one who had no memory of last night.

"Yaaaawn~ g'morning, Sanji-kun." Nami greeted.

"Shh! Nami...not so loud!" Luffy whined.

"Not so loud, Nami!" Chopper echoed.

"Right, right. So, erm...Sanji-kun...about last night..." She had this look on her face that was like she felt she had to tread on eggshells.

The door swung open one final time and in walked the green-haired swordsman, yawing and offering a garbled 'when's breakfast.' When he turned to Sanji, his disgruntled expression lightened up. His frown loosened and his mouth relaxed. He looked at Sanji and offered an awkward half-smile.

'What the hell happened last night?'

To Be Continued...