love language barrier
a fan comic of sanji and zoro from one piece, during the wano raid scene where sanji bandages zoro.
panel 1: sanji looks disgruntled, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he ties strips of bandages together. he asks, “hey. still alive in there? say something, wouldja?” zoro answers from off-screen. his speech bubbles are shaky, and his words are occasionally interrupted by groans or hitches of breath. he says, “do… you think… luffy feels… attraction?”
panel 2: a closeup of sanji’s gobsmacked face, shocked by the seemingly random topic. he shouts, “what?!”
panel 3: zoro is wrapped in a cross-pose in bandages with only his face visible. he says, “on the roof… i could almost swear he was putting the moves on traffy…” sanji practically yelps, “traffy?!” with a large, jagged speech bubble.
panel 4: a closeup of sanji’s hands as he continues to wrap zoro. he says, “there’s no way. you’re hallucinating.” zoro snaps back, “he was hanging all over him! and they were fighting and arguing and stuff!” sanji replies, “and what did you think that meant?! we do that, crap-swordsman!”
panel 5: a closeup of zoro’s face. his expression looks fairly neutral, though his eyebrows are slightly raised as he processes sanji’s words.
panel 6: the same closeup of zoro, but now his brows are furrowed and his mouth is flattened in embarrassment. his cheeks are flushed as he comes to terms with the realization that arguing is not always considered a form of flirtation.
panel 7: a full-body silhouette of sanji tending to zoro by candlelight. after a moment of silence, sanji asks, “mosshead. how hard did kaido hit you.” zoro answers, “pretty fucking hard.” sanji repeats, “pretty fucking hard, yeah.”
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The thing in her cargo hold is looking at her again.
Really, Gem should have sold it by now. If the fishmonger had refused to take it--and really, it seems unlikely, Gem thinks, that the fishmonger would refuse to take it; he has taken and carved up and made meals of far stranger fish than one with a human face and hands and torso--she could have easily sold it to the man on the train, who takes exotic catches for his zoo. She could have even taken it to Grian; it's not a mending book, but it's the sort of thing he'd like to make fun of her for catching, instead of anything she's after.
Really, she should have. The longer she keeps the thing in her cargo hold, the more it starts to look properly human to her. She should know better. She has caught far stranger fish, and none of them have been human. It's another trick these seas have been playing on her, she thinks.
Long nights alone do that to a woman.
She ignores it. Instead, she opens the lid of the tank and starts depositing salmon. "It's a really weird request, that I keep them alive the whole time. You won't eat them, right?" Gem says, knowing the thing in her cargo hold can't answer. "Because if you eat them, this time, I really am going to sell you to the fishmonger. Or maybe I can figure out how to get fillets from you on my own? I've certainly eaten weirder fish..."
The thing in the cargo hold continues to stare. It has eyes that look like little moons, and brown hair, and it is smiling for some reason. Gem huffs.
"Don't give me that look! You are a fish. I am a fisherman. If mere human faces stopped me from doing my job, I would have gone mad a long time ago."
The thing in the cargo hold smiles wider. The lights flicker. Gem rolls her eyes and finishes putting salmon in the tank. As though to spite her, the thing in the cargo hold immediately lashes out, grabbing one in the claws on her otherwise-human hands and then tearing it apart with razor-sharp teeth. Blood rises on the water. Gem sighs.
"I have a harpoon in here somewhere, or at least a very sharp knife," she says to herself. She doesn't really want to use her nice knife, the one she always keeps on her belt, but she ought to have another knife around with which she can finish the job, right?
The lights flicker and go out. When she looks across at the tank, there are two silvery-moon eyes looking at her.
Gem pulls a wire. Gem turns the lights back on. She takes a deep breath.
"I really should have sold you by now, really. If the fishmonger won't take you, then the zookeeper would love you," Gem says.
The radio crackles. Gem startles. Very, very few people ever contact her on the shipboard radio, but if she's getting a signal, that's more important than a grudge match with a fish. She heads over to answer the call.
An amalgamation of voices responds:
YOU ARE FUNNY. I HAVE A MESSAGE. A DELIVERY. YOU'VE TRAPPED ME THOUGH.
Slowly, Gem turns around to the thing in the cargo hold.
"This won't stop me from treating you like a fish," she says. "If messages from the ocean stopped me--"
A terrible, crackling laugh sounds from the radio.
I AM THE MOON'S PEARL. YOU WILL NOT HOLD ME FOREVER. WE WILL SEE WHO EATS WHO.
Gem wags her finger. "We'll see, for sure, as long as you don't eat my salmon. That man in the fish-scaled suit was VERY insistent, you know."
TELL ME MORE.
"You're tying up my radio. What if there's another ship? What if there's something important?"
OH GEM. YOU KNOW THERE WON'T BE.
Gem swallows.
The thing in the cargo hold is staring at her.
"I need to sleep. I need to go to shore," she says.
YOU WON'T, the radio says.
She won't.
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