Contains SPOILERS for Thriller Bark and Kuma.

Things had been very tense between the ship's cook and swordsman since Thriller Bark..zoro & sanji friendship/nakamaship fic. could be taken as zoroxsanji if you want to. rated for language.

--

Zoro was frustrated. Very frustrated. Ever since the Thriller Bark incident, things had been very tensed between him and the cook. They hadn't fought a single time! Not being able to get rid of the boredom living on a ship for weeks with a small number of people brought by fighting was very hard on Zoro. That Kuma had really messed things up.

"One thousand three hundred and fifty two". He counted as he lift the weights.

The wounds he's taken over from Luffy still pained him. Damn! He never knew his captain took so much damage in his fights! And here he thought he himself got injured a lot!

The swordsman frowned slightly as he remembered the look he'd received from the chef as he knocked him unconscious. Zoro didn't really know how to feel when he thought about it. He'd seen a strange emotion in those blue eyes that he couldn't put his finger on. He was sure it hadn't been anger. No way. Surprise? Possibly, but he was sure there'd been something more.

Zoro let out a frustrated grunt as he let the weights fall to the deck. He was done with training for the day.

He got up and leaned against the railing, closing his eyes as a cool breeze ruffled his short hair. Damn he needed a good fight! He sighed and reached down to pick up the shirt he'd removed as he began his workout.

"Keh, stupid cook!" He mumbled as he dropped down on he deck, leaning his head in his arms. He threw a gaze in the direction of his swords leaning towards the wall a few feet away. He deemed them safe. He relaxed once again. Maybe a good nap would calm him down.

I've gotta talk to him, he thought before drifting of to sleep.

--

Sanji was frustrated. Very frustrated. Not only because Luffy, the king of the idiots, had bothered him by attempting another kitchen raid, forcing Sanji to fight him off. That shitty rubber moron! Since his attention had been pulled away from the food he'd been cooking, he'd burnt dinner.

Sanji growled as he franticly tried to repair the damage. But as mentioned, the food was not his only source of irritation. He and the marimo hadn't fought since Thriller Bark, and it was really getting on his nerves. The lack of fighting, his way of reliving stress, had made him smoke twice as much as he normally did, and that's saying something, since he was quite the chain smoker.

Sanji bit at his lower lip thoughtfully as he recalled the Kuma incident at Thriller Bark. There had been a strange look in the marimo's eyes as he'd knocked Sanji out, that bastard! Sanji had thought about it a lot lately. He thought he recognized the look from when he was a kid at the baratie. He'd seen it in the shitty geezers eyes once when Sanji'd cut himself badly while chopping vegetables. Was it… concern? No. No way. Not Zoro.

Zoro. That ass. He'd barely talked to Sanji since they left the island. It was bad enough they weren't fighting, Sanji really missed their word-fights. And the rare times they talked like normal people. Sanji felt some kind of connection to Zoro, the two of them being the manly figures of the crew. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were practically children. And Franky and Brooke where… well, Franky and Brooke.

"Fucking swords-moron!" He growled and dropped the saucepan which'd contained the burnt food in the sink, causing a dish-watery splash.

I need to do something about this!

--

Zoro opened his eyes. It was dark. Dark like, at night dark. What the fuck..?

He let out a yawn and stretched his arms. Damn, did he really sleep for that long? He looked up at the clear sky. A grey cloud was slowly making it's way across the sky. Good. They wouldn't drift off course. Why was Nami always so strict on the "always follow the logpose thing"? Watching the clouds is good enough.

Zoro turned his attention to the deck and raised an eyebrow as he noticed a white piece of paper on the ground in front of him. He picked it up.

Zoro! You're on watch you snoring moron, I'm going to bed.

Nami

...He snored? A well, the witch could sleep if she wanted to, Zoro was man enough to keep watch. He yawned once again and got to his feet. He briefly considered going down to the men's cabin to get a blanket, but decided not to. It was a cool night. He started moving towards the mast to climb up to the crow's nest, but stopped as he heard the door to the kitchen open. He turned around to see Sanji in the doorframe, two bottles of sake dangling from one of his hands.

"Zoro, we need to talk." The chef sighed and closed the door behind him. Zoro looked at him.

"…Yeah, we do." Zoro admitted and followed Sanji to the railing.

"Here." Sanji handed him one of the bottles and uncorked his own.

"Thanks." Zoro leaned against the railing next to the cook, biting the cork off the bottle and spitting it overboard. They stayed like that for a while. Watching the same grey cloud Zoro'd seen earlier float by, taking the occasional swing of sake. Zoro was kind of glad Sanji'd taken the first step, he knew they really needed to talk about this. He needed those fights, damn it! Finally, Sanji started:

"We need to talk about what happened at Thriller Bark. About Kuma."

Zoro sighed. He didn't know what to say. If Sanji'd knocked him unconscious to remove him from a fight like he'd done to Sanji, he'd be pissed off! He'd believe Sanji thought he was weak, and he wouldn't want that from his rival! He knew what he needed to do, he'd thought about this for quite some time, even though that wasn't going to make it easier.

"Sanji I.. I'm... "Zoro swallowed. "I'm sorry." He finally managed to press out. Sanji stared at him. Roronoa Zoro, apologizing?!

"What? yo-" Sanji started, but Zoro intereupted him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't take you out of the fight because I thought you were weak, there's no need to be upset about that" Zoro fidgeted with the bottle, but stopped as soon as he realised that he, Roronoa Zoro, was fidgeting!

"I did it because I… I don't want my nakama to get hurt." He sighed. "When I saw you walk up to Kuma, offering your head, I got… scared. I got worried about you. You are my.." Zoro could feel himself blushing slightly. "You're my friend. And I don't want you to get hu-"

"Oh, you dumbass!" Zoro shut his mouth and stared at Sanji.

"I'm not upset because you took me out of the fight!" Sanji turned to face the swordsman. "I'm upset because you almost died!" The cook showed a finger in the larger man's chest. "I was worried about YOU! I mean… what about your dream?" Sanji sighed and backed off. "How are you going to be the best swordsman in the world if you're not alive! My dream.. I mean… if I died.. It.." Sanji lowered his voice. "I mean, we don't even know if my dream exists."

Zoro stared at him. He had been worried about him? And what was that dream talk?

"Sanji, of course it exists." Zoro began.

"Are you sure about that?" Sanji turned back towards the sea, shoulders hanging. "I mean, you have a clear goal with your dream, beat Mihawk. For me it's… I mean, there's no proof it exists! We've been sailing for a long time now, and I've not heard a single thing about it! I know there's still a lot of ocean left, but… damn it! I'm starting to doubt my own dream!" He turned to Zoro with a desperate look on his face. Zoro looked back at his friend. He didn't really know what to say. He was not used to this kind of stuff. He'd just used up his supply of emotional talk, but he realised his friend needed him, so he helped in the only way he could think of.

"Oi, cook. Have you already lost faith? Believe in yourself and your dream, pansy!" Zoro smirked. Sanji stared at him with a stunned face, but he quickly shook it off.

"Wha- what!? Pansy?! And that's coming from you, Mr blush! I had a small moment of weakness, that's all, shitty Marimo!" Sanji growled.

"Oh, so that's the deal?" Zoro's grin widened as the Sanji he knew stood before him once again.

"Hmpf!" Sanji glared at him, but then his face softened into a smile and the blond put a hand on Zoro's shoulder and said quietly:

"Thanks."

Zoro couldn't help but blush, despite the previous "Mr blush" comment.

"It was nothing."

Sanji's smile turned into a smirk and he said:

"Now let's do this shit, cus' I've got a LOT of frustration I need to get rid off!" The chef threw his leg up in a fast motion and kicked Zoro right in the chest, sending the swordsman crashing into the wall behind them and the chef flying backwards.. The smirking chef vaulted and landed lightly on the deck.

Despite the pain, Zoro couldn't help but grin as he grabbed his swords, which now lay on the deck next to him, drew all three of them and got up.

"Hah, you're going down, love-cook!" He brought his blades up in an attack position.

"Bring it, Marimo!"

The two pirates crashed together, grinning like madmen.

--

Nami was snatched out of her sleep by a loud crash from above early in the morning.

"What the…!" She jumped out of bed and threw herself up the stairs.

What is it? Marines? Other pirates? …Luffy?

As she reached the deck, she was greeted by a smiling Robin wearing a dressing gown and a Brooke going at his trademark laugh.

"Yohohohoho!"

"Good morning, Nami-chan. It appears they have started fighting again."

"What? Who've sta-" She was interrupted by yet another loud crash and a:

"Hah! Take that, Marimo!"

"You're going down, asshole!"

The ship's cook and swordsman where going all out. Really, all out. Looking around, Nami could detect multiple damaged parts of their ship. A piece of broken railing here, a rip in the sail there, or why not that large, lovely chunk of wall over there?

Nami's face darkened.

--

The ship's sharpshooter nudged his captain's side, turning the rubber boy's attention away from his fighting nakama.

"YEAH! GOOO! ZORO! SANJI! Wohoooo- what?" Luffy turned towards Usopp.

"Lu-luffy! Look at Nami! We ha-have to get outta here!" The trembling teen pointed at their navigator. She was practically vibrating with anger, this was bad.

"Yeah, you're right! We better run for cover! Fast!" The now nervous Luffy grabbed the innocent Chopper by one of his horns and followed Usopp.

"What? Luffy, what are yo-" Chopper began.

"yyoooOOUUUUU…!" Nami began.

"Sh-she's gonna blow! RUUUN!" Usopp sprinted towards the door, Luffy and Chopper short on his tail.

"Oh my…" Could be heard from Robin.

"Hey what is going o-Oh my GOD!" Franky's head came up from the hatch leading to the machinery room, but he quickly disappeared after he lay is eyes on the bubbling navigator.

"Yohohohoho!" Brooke continued, not realising the danger they were all in. The two fighters, oblivious to the world around them, kept on fighting, still grinning like maniacs.

Nami finally snapped.

"IDIOTS!!"

Edit I've corrected some spelling mistakes, thanks for the critique :)