Sanji is stood in the kitchen leaning over his kitchen counter as he reads. In his hands is heart covered pink stationary with needlessly ostentatious writing. On the counter before him sits the vial that he's been carrying around in his jacket pocket since he landed.

'Dear Candy Boy' the letter begins. Sanji just manages to not throw it out of the window at that, he hates that name.

'Make sure that you're very careful with that serum, I put it in reinforced glass but I know the scrapes that you get yourself into.' Sanji scowls, as if all of the 'scrapes' he was in on Iva's island wasn't Iva's own fault!

'One sip is enough for it to be effective, but I included extra in case you mess it up. Future doses will override previous doses but other than that nothing can reverse the effects, so be careful.' Sanji looks at the long glass tube and the slightly amber coloured liquid inside of it, suspended in the middle is a thin ribbon of blood from Sanji's heart. He's still got the needle hole in his chest under a sticky bandage, that hadn't been fun to get. Zoro was worth it, though.

'The serum will instantly sever any soulmate connections present. Any blood from the heart inside will form a mutual soulmate bond in the person who drinks it. As the serum is now anyone who drinks it will have a mutual soulmate bond with you and no one else.' Sanji frowns and puts the letter down for a moment. So if Zoro drinks it he'll stop being soulmates with Perona and become soulmates with Sanji and Sanji himself will be soulmates with Zoro. It won't just be one way.

That doesn't solve Sanji's Camie problem, though, which was the whole reason that he took this thing in the first place. But... if he drinks it... No, then he'd lose all of his soulmate connections including with Zoro. He supposes that he could drink it first and then give it to Zoro, but what effect would drinking his own blood have? He reads more of the note.

'Drinking your own blood won't make you your own soulmate.' Oh, well, that'll teach him to stop reading, won't it?

'The result is instant, although sometimes people pass out so don't hold anything super fragile when doing this. Use it responsibly!'

Iva had only given this to him under the solemn promise that everyone using it was aware of what it would do. He doesn't know if Iva had worried that he might pour some into a shot glass and dare Zoro to drink it, which would have absolutely worked. But Sanji doesn't want to be Zoro's soulmate if Zoro doesn't want it too, that's kind of the point. He hadn't even considered that Zoro might say no. That was until Perona had shown up with him.

Now he doesn't know what to do.

He turns and looks out of the window, he's sure he'll be able to find the two of them together. They almost always are together. He realises that he's gritting his teeth in irritation, both at how much it bothers him and at how oblivious Zoro is as to why.

If Zoro's opinion on his own soulmate changed over time then the obvious parallel is what if Sanji's own will? What if he falls out of love with Zoro and Camie is who he belongs to? What if the bond overpowers him so much that he gives up looking for All Blue and just stays with her?

He should have done what Zoro used to do, covered every inch of skin and never touched Camie in the first place.

He can't see the pair so he heads out onto the deck and realises that it's because they're in the rigging. Zoro is checking for wear, probably on the orders of Franky who is doing the same on the other side. He's hanging upside down checking the underside so he likely can't see Sanji at all, at the mast Perona's body is snoozing and her ghost is floating up near Zoro just as it was the first time they touched.

"-where we're going Zoro. You can't just think it's not a problem." she says, evidently partway through some debate.

"It's not a problem." Zoro grunts and climbs a little higher. Perona sees Sanji and her eyes widen a fraction before she starts to smile.

"And what if he sees her, because she will be there, and ditches you for her?" Perona asks and Sanji clenches his fists. She's trying to break them up.

"You don't know him very well." Zoro snorts dismissively.

"You told me he did it before." Perona points out and Sanji's eyes widen, Zoro told her that? No wonder she hates him, Sanji still hates himself for that.

"That... sucked." Zoro says carefully, evidently that still pains him. Sanji could drown himself in guilt, but he's actually trying to fix things.

"But first reactions don't count, you know how powerful they are. Anyway, he chose me. Maybe you should stop being so protective and get to know him yourself, I can take care of myself you know." Zoro points out and climbs some more to stare at more rope.

"Oh yeah, you were doing such a great job before. But fine, you're big enough and ugly enough to look after yourself, I get it." Perona sighs, leaning back in the air.

"Why do I talk to you?" Zoro grumbles bitterly. Perona flicks a look at Sanji and smiles slyly.

"Because you love me more than anyone else." She says sweetly. Zoro throws a pair of clippers at her and... through her. Because it's her ghost form. Sanji watches as they sail over the edge of the boat and onto the mainland with a wet slap.

"You are picking those up." Franky calls from the other side.

Sanji realises that Zoro is about to come down and will see him and realise that he's been there the whole time eavesdropping. Sanji puts on a burst of speed and darts to the back of the ship and is already in hiding by the time Zoro's boots thud onto the floor.

Sanji catches his breath in time for Perona to float through the wall and scare it right out of him again.

"You and I need to talk." She says in a voice that is both sweet and threatening.