Finally finished this one!
Title: The Mysterious Bottle
Theme: # 2 Promise - Set 1
Claim: Zoro/Sanji
Words: 1127
Rating: PG
Warnings: One or two foul words
Disclaimer: I own One Piece, not...
Notes: A sequel to this, but I guess you can read it separatly. Dedicated to mishagirl as she said that the other fic needed a sequel!
The shore had become Sanji's absolute favorite place during the time he was forced to spend on Kamabaka island. The sound of the waves and the seagull's cries was a welcome change from the tranny's high-pitched chatter: the sounds of the ocean reminded him of the life that was currently on-hold.
He drew a hand through through his blond hair an sighed, eye fixed on the open sea. Not a day passed when he didn't think of his crew. God, he missed them so much... The idiot-captain Luffy, the delicate Nami-swan, and the wonderful Robin-chwan~ … And Zoro...
Craning his neck upwards looking up at the passing clouds, he recalled memories of the other man. Happy, sad, wonderful and terrifying; like the last time he had seen him. The green haired man had been down on the ground, still affected by his shitty sacrifice on the Thrillerbark, with the bastard general hoovering over him. And even if the old man Rayleigh had stopped the devil fruit user, Kuma had blasted him of to god knows where. Seeing where he himself had ended up, he suspected that Zoro hadn't ended up in heaven, but there was another side of the problem.
He had no idea if the bastard was alive or not; not that he was worried or anything... He just didn't want to spend two years thinking of the bastard and well... worrying about him...
His eye was back on the ocean, watching the battle the waves fought with each other. The horizon was far, far away, but yet he couldn't rip his gaze from it. Somewhere out there, perhaps in this direction, but probably in a completely different one, Zoro was waiting and training away these two years. Or his dead body was laying somewhere in the open on some hell island.
He chewed on his cigarette and blew out the smoke before he crouched over and undid his shoe laces and took off both shoes and socks. With his slacks rolled up over his knees, he waded out into the warm water, feeling the sensation of wet sand between his toes. His hands were buried deep into his pockets as he strode forwards, outwards against the horizon.
It was a long shallow beach, and he could walk out at least a hundred meters before the waves threatened to dampen his trousers.
And there he stood, wind in his hair and cigarette almost finished. He lost track of how long he had stood there, staring into nothingness, but when he felt a fish swim between his hairy legs without being bothered by it, he decided that it was time to turn around.
Just when he was about to do so, something caught his eye. A big bottle floated a bit away from him, slowly making its way towards the shore. A flask post?
Hearts suddenly appeared in the blond's eyes. Was it perhaps a call from a damsel in distress? Skipping through the water so it splashed up against his legs, he imagined what could be in the mysterious bottle. Anything that wasn't from this cursed island would be a true blessing.
Rescuing the bottle from the waves, he opened the lid and looked into it. Resting on the glass bottom was a small shell like device. He recalled memories from the Strawhats' adventures on the sky island. It was a dial inside the bottle, a sound dial not too unlike the one Brook kept inside his skull, only this was smaller.
He carried the bottle carefully to the shore, not wanting to risk to drop the dial into the ocean. Back at his seat in the warm sand where he had left his shoes he pauses and looked out over the horizon again. Finally something that wasn't an okama had come his way. Lighting another cigarette, he took a deep breath, lifted the dial to his ear and pressed play.
Luckily enough for Sanji, he sat on sand and not on dry grass, or else he would have started a fire when his cigarette dropped out from his mouth. Of all the things that could have been recorded, this must have been the most unlikely by far. He had really been prepared to not hear that voice, not in another two years, and maybe not even then...
The message was short and it ended before Sanji's initial shock did, so he pressed play once again.
“Sheeh, whoever picks this up: if your not the shitty cook, you can delete this I guess. But if you are, well, then I'm the luckiest guy on earth. Or almost at least. You better not be hurt, you hear me, cook? Uhm, right...”
Zoro's voice sounded from the shell like he had been beside the cook, whispering in his ear. When the message had played through Sanji pressed the button again, not because he hadn't heard the message this time, but because he wanted to hear more; especially the last words that the swordsman had squeezed in before the recording ended.
“I just called to say I love you...”
Resting his forehead in his palm, fingers tangled into his long bangs, Sanji smiled and sighed deep. He was safe. Without noticing it, he let out a breath. Zoro was safe, hell he was worried about Sanji. When was the idiot going to start taking better care of himself?
He stood up in the sand after he had put on his shoes again, brushing of the sand from his feet. The dial slipped into his pocket, and out came the pack of cigarettes. He lit a new one and took a deep drag of it. Blowing out the smoke, he laughed straight into the sunset that had begun to crawl down the horizon.
It seemed like Zoro had the last word for these two years. He had no idea how the bottle had managed to find Sanji; all he knew that the swordsman's sense of direction wasn't a part of it. But the bottle would never find its way back again.
Grinning, Sanji took a last look at the sea before he turned around and started walking in towards the center of the island. If Zoro was okay, then things were back to normal. He needn't worry that the bastard had gotten himself killed or anything, and instead he could focus on the swordsman in a whole different manner.
“You might have gotten the last word for now marimo, but I'll train and get stronger. Believe me, I'll be the last one standing, the last one awake, the last one to say I fucking love you, you idiot swordsman. That!”, Sanji said to the confused bird that rested in a nearby tree. “That is a promise!”