#niki's fics: a captain's intuition | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

asliceofzosan · 6 months

Text

in which Luffy watches as his first mate grows fonder and fonder of their new cook. (and vice versa)

part three of the rice ball series

People have a lot of assumptions on what a captain is and should be. The man who makes the tough calls, the one who puts his crew over himself, the guy who should know his ship like the back of his hand.

But Luffy isn't really any of that.

He doesn't really like making decisions. Heck, the only definitive thing he's ever laid out is his preference for meat. Also, he can admit to be selfish a lot of the time. Even if his crew don't want to scope out a new island for adventure, he's already diving headfirst into the maw of a sea beast just to see if it tastes good. (The conclusion is that as long as Sanji cooks it, anything can taste good.) And he loves the Going Merry, he does. It's just he will get confused on what to do with a rudder or which way is starboard.

But he's come to learn that his crew didn't join him because he was like all the other captains. He's impulsive, gets distracted easily, and runs his mouth when words don't need to be said. However, when he is in need of help, his crew is there by his side. He doesn't need to say anything at all because he knows his crew has his back.

And he's learned that it's because he knows them. Even if it seems like he gets bored or uninterested, Luffy stores the knowledge of what makes his crew tick in a makeshift treasure chest up in his brain. He understands them in ways no other captain could. Luffy likes to think he's gotten really good at reading them after that revelation.

Like Zoro, for example.

Zoro likes to pretend that he doesn't care about other people's feelings.

Luffy knows better, however. Luffy knows that out of everyone else on this crew, Zoro cares the most. He stands as a pillar of stability and strength because he now has something to fight for. Something he has to protect. To be the greatest swordsman is inexplicably linked with keeping his crew safe.

In keeping them safe, he considers their wants and fears. He calculates the best moves not just to keep them out of harm's way but to make sure they don't feel like a burden on his behalf. He takes out the big guns but leaves the bigger guns to his captain. He provides a path for Nami or Ussop to land hits and it never feels like hand outs or small fries to them. The triumph in defeating enemies together rather than just slicing them all up before anyone else gets a hand on them is something Zoro takes the most pride in.

So Zoro cares. He cares so deeply about the welfare of his crew that he'd rather die than lose them. However, the subtlety of it all is what passes over everyone's heads.

Except Luffy's.

It's really funny when one thinks about it too much. Zoro pretending he doesn't care, covering it all up with grunts and eye rolls, while always being the first one to someone's side when they're injured. Or being the guy who looms dangerously behind his crew when they're on an innocent stroll. Luffy can't help but watch him carefully, wondering if something could make Zoro knock down his translucent walls.

Luffy is the first to notice that it's not something. It's someone.

That someone happens to be Sanji, the cook Zoro dragged over to them at the Baratie. Even in the midst of stealing the rice balls Zoro brought, Luffy saw something different between them. Like a shift in direction out at sea. Zoro's sails commandeered by the winds of nicotine blown past the lips of a particularly handsome waiter. Who, Luffy might add, would stare at Zoro in an intense way that is both as subtle and as obvious to anyone who looked at the two of them long enough.

He doesn't know much about romance. It's not like he knew his parents. His grandpa certainly didn't keep a partner either. But what Luffy lacked in general knowledge or experience, he more than made up for in intuition.

The minute shift in the air is evident to him after weeks of observation. Sometimes it would go way over his head. Other times, it's clear as day. Sanji would say something to tease Zoro. Zoro would bite back with insults of his own.

Then Sanji would laugh, amused or delighted, and Zoro would stare at him like his whole world stopped.

It's both a thrilling spectacle and a slow motion trainwreck waiting to fly off the rails. It's entertaining to see Zoro's face get all red and his mouth to start sputtering random nonsense before he stalks off to train. It's doubly entertaining when the source of that reaction just leans against the railing, equally intrigued by the results of his mischief, blowing a cloud of smoke above his head with a fond chuckle.

When Zoro brought Sanji to him, he wasn't sure what to make of it. Nami had to spell it out to him that Sanji was the waiter who flirted with her. At the time, and to Luffy, he was a cool kicky guy who brought him meat and milk. He was an awesome fighter. Luffy thought that Zoro brought him so that he could have a sparring partner.

"Luffy, we need a cook right?" Zoro not so subtly dragged Sanji to be beside him, a firm grip on the man's wrist like it belonged there. "What about him?"

"I would have loved to be informed of what your intentions were when you said I should meet your captain," Sanji said with narrowed eyes. "Here I thought you just wanted us to be friends."

"We could be friends!" Luffy chimed in, lighting up at the prospect of adding a new crew mate who could cook. "And I saw you fight earlier – that was really cool! You went all wapow and baaamm!"

Luffy did a poor imitation of Sanji's kicking moves in the booth, almost accidentally hitting Ussop in the process. An amused grin spread on Sanji's face as quickly as it disappeared a split second later. He continued to glare at Zoro, who hasn't let go of him at all. Luffy glanced at it but said nothing.

"I told you, I'm staying here–"

"Didn't sound like you wanted to five minutes ago."

"We're not even crew mates yet and you're already this irritating!"

"Yet. You're considering it then?"

"H-Hey, you're putting words into my mouth!"

"Just tell him."

"Tell him what–"

It was like watching a sport seeing them go back and forth. In the span of their argument, Luffy already stole six handfuls of nuts from the nearby table. But the last sentence from Sanji faded into a murmur, one that made Zoro step closer to him, lean in and whisper in his ear.

The faint blush that colored Sanji's cheeks was interesting. Luffy wondered what Zoro said. But it was enough for Sanji to consider his words for a minute before he turned to look at Luffy with an unreadable expression.

Then he opened his mouth and said,

"Have you heard about the All Blue?"

Between then and now, it was clear to Luffy that Zoro saw in Sanji what Luffy saw in Zoro back in Shells Town. A dream still unrealized but not impossible to achieve. A fierce loyalty to both staying true to oneself and to the people who care for you. Zoro saw it fit that their little crew is where Sanji belonged. Where he would flourish.

Zoro recruiting Sanji to the Straw Hats was definitive proof that he cared so much more than he let on. And Luffy knows that.

Then of course, there was Sanji.

He openly shows his affection to everyone. Nami gets a princess treatment with him waiting on her hand and foot. Ussop gets a willing audience whenever he launches into another one of his stories. Luffy even gets kisses into his curls when they all get excited. Sanji was the type to wear his whole heart on his sleeve and showed it in different ways.

For Zoro, it's really no different. The execution just includes varying petty nicknames, sparring, and teasing that makes Zoro shake with intense repressed emotion. But of course, Sanji would show it through the way he knows best... by cooking.

Specifically in the form of Zoro's favorite food.

Sanji likes to create his weekly menu based on the crew's food preferences. The main course would be someone's favorite one way or the other. Luffy loves it the most when the main course is meat. But Sanji keeps it interesting and switches it up every now and then. Though there's always going to be a dish that has meat so that Luffy wouldn't complain to high heavens about it.

And there would always be at least one rice ball for Zoro.

Zoro never asks for it. He could eat anything. But when Sanji would slide a plate of rice balls wordlessly across the table to him, slapping Luffy's hand away without even looking, the quick glance Zoro gives Sanji contained words that were better left unsaid at the dinner table. Well. Better to Zoro. Luffy knows he'd wax poetic if he could find the words fast enough.

Instead, he just reaches over and savors every bite. His entire plate would be licked clean yet he'd still have room for a rice ball Sanji made special for him.

Then, Zoro would wordlessly help Sanji with the dishes, growling half-heartedly at the blonde cook's witty quips. The way Sanji would steal glances at the swordsman is an occurrence so frequent that it's really funny that Luffy is the one who notices over Zoro.

Then again... It's also not much of a surprise. Zoro purposefully refuses to notice things sometimes. Like how Sanji would let their fingers brush against each other every time he passes a plate to him. Or how Sanji would grip Zoro's bicep if something makes him laugh so hard he cries.

Whether he chooses to ignore it or not, Luffy sees Zoro visibly relax when Sanji is beside him in a fight. He sees how each time he picks a fight, it's to have an excuse to rile up Sanji until he's red in the face. He sees how he's taken up dishwashing duties because that's how he properly started to know Sanji and he relishes in the routine of it.

Romance is infinitely confusing to Luffy most of the time. But he knows what loving someone looks like regardless.

"Luffy, you got a minute?" Sanji asks one day, poking his head out of the galley door. "I need a taste tester."

"You trust me not to eat it all?" Luffy bounds up to the galley anyway all excited.

"No," is Sanji's immediate response. Luffy pouts. "I just can't ask mosshead to do it for me."

"Eh? Why not?"

Zoro had become Sanji's unspoken taste tester since he joined the crew. Luffy didn't really need much convincing – food is food, cooked or raw. Zoro's palate isn't refined either but Sanji would always gravitate towards the swordsman for a second opinion no matter what kind of dish it was.

So when Sanji seeks out his captain instead of Zoro, it's something to note. Luffy tilts his head at him as he ladles a bowl of some sort of soup and slides it in front of him. Luffy leans down to smell it and it's a beautiful assault of fresh herbs from the last island and the mouthwatering smell of a variety of meats and veggies. There was also a bed of hand pulled noodles holding up the different toppings, including a perfectly jammy soft-boiled egg.

"I'm trying out a new recipe," Sanji starts to explain, shoving his hands into his pockets. "From a fellow cook back at the Baratie who hailed from Shimotsuki Village."

Luffy hummed, having no idea where that is. But he pretends to know. He thinks he's good at that.

"You don't know where that is, do you?"

Damn... he thought he was good at this.

"Nope," He confesses, popping the p. "Should I know it?"

Sanji just stares at him for a few seconds before sighing. "It's where Zoro's from."

Oh. Oh. Now this makes sense. Immediately, Luffy remembers a conversation he overheard between Nami and Zoro the other day about how he misses the noodle soup he used to have at the dojo. So, with a bright smile, he just shakes his head and pushes it gently back to Sanji.

"He'll like it," Luffy says without even taking a sip of the soup. A first for him to refuse food. It's significant enough for Sanji to take notice and he's about to say something else before Luffy puts a hand up. "I know Zoro. He'll like it."

Sanji blinks several times, his eyebrows furrowed, and Luffy expects he's gonna argue again. So he lets out a big whine and slams his head on the counter.

"Sanjiiiii!" He groans with a pout. "I'm hungryyyyyy!"

"There is soup right–" Sanji starts to say but then stops himself when Luffy just continues to whine. He stays silent for a while, just staring at his captain, until a resigned sigh leaves his lips.

"Wait out on the deck, I'll bring you your snack."

The smile Luffy had on his face was no less mischievous than his usual, so he just thanks Sanji and catapults himself out of the galley.

After dinner, Luffy overhears Zoro ask Sanji where he learned how to make the soup. Sanji pretends he did it because he was curious. A bickering match ensues, but there is the ghost of a smile on Zoro's lips all throughout.

"It hit the spot, cook." Zoro says after the futile bickering dies down. Then he bumps their shoulders together as a wordless thank you. Sanji's face glows with pride as he watches Zoro walk away from him, the swordsman's satisfied smile lingering on his lips.

And the smile on Luffy's face is ever present.

A/N: Hello, everyone! This is the last Main installment of the dirty rice ball series. I might cross-post it to AO3 eventually. Thank you so much to those who gave a lot of love to the first two parts! I'm still learning as I go with zosan and I'm so happy with all the support 🥹 I might do some smaller ficlets within the series since it's become it's own alternate opla universe. The dynamics have shifted a bit with the knowledge that Sanji is already in love with Zoro due to Shells Town. So it would be so fun to explore it more! Let me know if you have suggestions or prompts for the rice ball verse ^_^

#niki's fics: a captain's intuition #one piece #sanji #roronoa zoro #zosan #opla #one piece live action #monkey d luffy #fic series: it all started with a dirty rice ball #roronoa zoro x vinsmoke sanji #zoro x sanji

155 notes · View notes