Property of Sanji 13
Zoro sits quietly in the car with Sanji next to him as they leave his father’s party. They’ve both been subdued since Nami burst in and tried to kill Spandam and Blackbeard causing the party to come to an abrupt close.
He’s pleased that Nami is alive, unspeakably so but… well, his pleasure is muted by the still cold touch that Blackbeard left him with. Spandam had clearly invited him there deliberately and as a threat, but why?
Just how is he supposed to respond to this? Does Spandam think that he’s denying Sanji the use of his body and that perhaps Sanji isn’t “man enough” to force him? Or is this a threat to Sanji that if he doesn’t use his toys properly they’ll be taken away? Should he just… give in? He wouldn’t mind sleeping with Sanji…
Somehow however his mind recoils away from the thought. Usually thinking of the blonde like that makes his blood heat pleasantly but the idea of doing it with Sanji on command, as a mate, rather than as himself… it sickens him. The fact that it would be Sanji wouldn’t make it any better, in fact it might worsen it. He respects Sanji because he’s not like that, so there’s no way that he’d sleep with him on order. He shudders at the thought and as he does so Sanji’s warm hand gently touches his back, right between his shoulder blades.
“Hey, he really spooked you didn’t he? I’ve never seen you like that.” Sanji says quietly. Zoro looks over, in the dark of the car Sanji’s expression looks almost sombre.
“You would be too if you’d heard and seen everything I have.” Zoro grumbles feeling offended at Sanji’s pity. The blonde’s hand retreats from his back and silence falls in the backseat of the car for a few minutes before Sanji speaks again.
“I’d thought before that the institute just did bad things because they hadn’t thought about the consequences or about how people felt.” Sanji says quietly in the darkness.
“But the more time I spend with you, the more I see that it’s deliberate. They hurt and threaten people on purpose and then tell everyone that it’s all fine.” Sanji adds in a numb voice.
“I want to cut the throats of everyone involved in that place, everyone who just lets it go on, everyone who gets rich off of this torture!” Zoro growls in agreement, his hands clenching in the wish for his swords.
“I wouldn’t stop you, you deserve to. Everyone involved deserves it.” The blonde says in a dead voice as he looks out the window into the night sky.
Zoro’s rage softens then from the sharp razor’s edge it had to the quiet hatred he’s had his entire collared life. Sanji looks guilty as all hell. He knows that the cook feels bad about owning him, that he feels like he’s part of that system. The stupid idiot probably thinks that he’s almost as bad of a monster as Cabaji is.
“You’re not like them you know, I know you’re thinking it.” He says quietly, bumping the other man’s knee with his own. Sanji winces and looks over at him, his blonde hair almost white in the moonlight.
“You know what I’m thinking huh?” Sanji asks with a hollow little laugh.
“Yeah, I do. It’s written all over your face, you feel guilty.” Zoro replies, pointing at the blonde.
Sanji shifts uncomfortably in his seat and tugs at the hair covering half of his face, almost as if he wishes he could pull it over the rest of him.
“Zoro I- I need to…. I just…” Sanji says suddenly but is clearly scrambling for the words. Zoro raises an expectant eyebrow at the other man but the words seem to die on his lips.
“…never mind.” Sanji concludes with a shake of his head and turns to look out of the window again.
When the car pulls into the garage Zoro gets out first and shuts the door behind him.
“I’m… I’m going to go get some air. I’ll be outside.” He says thoughtfully, Sanji doesn’t answer him but just nods instead. Zoro leaves him to the car and heads into the kitchen. He pulls two crystal glasses out of Sanji’s nice booze cupboard and selects a bottle of rum and a bottle of amaretto. He sets both glasses down on the counter top and goes upstairs to retrieve his swords and their polishing kit. With that at his hip and the glasses and bottles in his hands he shoulders the wide glass patio door open and steps out into the coolness of the night.
He takes a brief moment to enjoy the cool air on his skin as he heads over to the pool, he sets the glasses and bottles down on the metal table between two sun loungers. He pours a glass of each drink and sits down. He gently unsheathes one sword and starts polishing it, it’s nice work to do and it’s always relaxed him. The only light but the stars and the moon is the dim glow from Sanji’s bedroom light at the far end of the pool, after half an hour it too goes dark.
Zoro’s eyes take a minute or so to adjust to the dark and by the time they have he sighs and flicks the used cotton ball onto the floor. He’d been done polishing his swords for a while now, he was just killing time really. Sighing he leans back and picks up his glass and takes a deep drink of it.
“If you don’t come out, I’m going to drink yours too.” He announces into the night.
The black figure slides out of the shadows and toward the loungers. Zoro looks up, she’s petite as ever, except for her chest of course. She’s barely changed, except for the entirely black outfit and the hooded mask over her face, but the orange hair peeking out from under that mask, the violet eyes and the clever mouth he knows by heart.
“Nice mask.” He comments dryly and takes another sip of his drink. She falls into the chair next to him and picks up her own glass.
“They’re terribly comfortable.” She remarks, quoting again as she pulls it off and shakes her hair completely free. She drinks her own drink for a moment.
The night is quiet and dark, the moment itself is peaceful but Zoro’s heart and soul are far from matching that.
“You let me think you were dead. Do you have any idea what that did to me?” He says darkly, glaring at the still water of the swimming pool.
“I’m so sorry.” Nami breathes regretfully.
“Screw sorry, you witch! I thought you’d burnt alive because I wasn’t strong enough to protect you!” He snarls at her as all of his rage and pain comes back to him.
He remembers being held down in the hospital bed, his chest held together with stitching, glue and bandages when they told him. He remembers sobbing, screaming and shaking apart as the reality of her death ripped through him more painfully than Mihawk’s blade ever could. Nami seems to know and before Zoro registers it she’s put down her glass and crawled into his lap with her arms around his neck.
“I’m sorry.” She whispers into his skin. He wraps his arms around her slender body and holds her tightly, he can feel her breath against his neck, the wetness from her tears against his skin and he can feel her heart beating under his hand on her back. She’s alive.
“You fucking bitch, I hate you.” He chokes out and buries his face in her shoulder. She smells like mikans and sunshine.
Eventually they pull apart and both act as if nothing had happened, both of their lives and personalities make them a little emotionally stunted and neither of them is all that good at dealing with real raw emotion. Instead he sits cross legged in his chair and Nami sits on the leg rest as they both stare into their glasses of alcohol.
“Talk.” He orders her and pours himself another drink.
Nami swirls the drink around in her glass, piecing her thoughts together before speaking.
“They caught me, after they’d finished with you I guess. I wanted to go back for you but I knew you’d be furious if I did, so I ran. But I still had my collar on, so they tracked me and caught me, I gave them a run for their money though.” Nami smiles and Zoro can’t help but smile with her, he bets that she did.
“I started the fire at Arlong’s place, made it so he couldn’t escape. Only… I didn’t get out in time, I breathed in too much smoke… I passed out just as the fire crews arrived but I was confused and disoriented enough for them to take me to the hospital.” Nami continues with a frown.
“You met Victoria Cindry, the nurse with the collar.” Zoro adds over the rim of his own glass. Nami glances up at him in surprise.
“Yes, how did you-?”
“I’ve met her too, go on. She helped you escape.” He says, leaning back in the lounger.
“Well, yeah. I ran, but the institute’s guards were already suspicious about the fire, I think Cindry kept them away as long as she could but they knew who they were looking for, they knew that I’d run before. There’s only so far you can go on foot and so many places that you can hide you know?” Nami frowns into her glass. Zoro hadn’t considered that, if he’d run from Sanji when he was in the hospital perhaps they would have caught him too, then where would he be? Probably in Blackbeard’s cold dark clutches by now, perish the thought.
“A car pulled up and the woman in it offered me a ride, she wasn’t institute so I leapt at the chance. I’d thought it was just a regular car until it flew off, then I realised just how rich this woman was.” Nami sighs and refills her glass.
“Robin.” Zoro fills in with a nod.
“Robin.” Nami agrees quietly.
“She offered me a deal. I accepted, I wanted to but I didn’t have much choice anyway. If I didn’t I was on my own. She knew everything about me, everything about us. She said she would help me, hide me from the institute and help to bring them down. She also promised that she’d keep an eye on you for me, she was the one who put Chopper through college, she helped him get the job there so that the institute wouldn’t be so awful and she had a man on the inside. She promised me that she’d keep you safe.” She explains softly.
“She’s trying to destroy the institute and everyone involved in it in one go, she has fingers in so many pies you wouldn’t believe.” Nami says shaking her head. Zoro thinks of Robin’s powers and considers that actually he could believe it.
“So what did you do for her?” he questions curiously.
“Different things. It helped that I’d somehow become a legend, I showed up often enough to let people know I was alive, the institute faked my death of course but if the mates knew they might try to escape too. As well as that she had me steal the institute’s bank records and the records of all of its board members, that way we know where their money is going and we’ll know how to hit them where it hurts.” She explains.
“I didn’t want to tell you I was alive because I knew they were watching you closely. You’re a terrible liar and if they knew that you knew well, we know who you would have ended up with.” Nami says with a shudder and Zoro nods, they would have just given him to Blackbeard right off instead of Sanji.
“So Robin and I tried to protect you. Although I guess she couldn’t stop you from being bought, even Chopper can be overruled.” Nami adds, her fingers brushing the padlock at Zoro’s throat.
“She hardly stopped it. She was the one who picked me out for Sanji, she manipulated Spandam’s orders to make sure that I was the one that got selected for him.” He replies with a frown.
Nami’s fingers freeze at his throat and her eyes widen in shock.
“You didn’t know, Robin is the reason I’m here.” He states obviously. Nami’s hand snaps into a fist and she glares at the ground furiously.
“No.” She manages after a second.
“Well, she’s done playing with us both. Let’s get out of here.” The redhead declares standing up suddenly.
“Wait, leave? I can’t leave.” Zoro says staring up at her in surprise. Nami stares back down at him with a frown.
“Sure you can, we’ll steal one of his cars and drive to Cindry. She’ll help break you free, we’ll drive to freedom, ditch the car, pick up Ace and Luffy, steal another and get the hell out of here!” Nami huffs as if he’s being stupid. She tugs on his hand to try to pull him to his feet but Zoro isn’t going to move.
“I’m not leaving without Sanji.” He says flatly.
“What?” Nami gawps at him in disbelief.
Zoro sighs and gets to his feet, scrubbing a frustrated hand through his hair. He really doesn’t want to have to have this conversation again, it was bad enough with Ace.
“Look, I know what you must think of Sanji but he’s not like that. He’s not laid a finger on me, he’s honest and kind, he’s really not what you think or what I expected. He doesn’t want this situation any more than I do, he’s just as much a victim here.” Zoro explains wearily.
Nami is staring at him like he’s lost his mind, she seems too shocked by his words that she’s actually rendered speechless for a few moments - a first for her.
“Are you insane?! We’re talking about the same man here, Sanji Prince?! The Sanji Prince?!” Nami squawks in horror.
“Yes! Look, you don’t know him like I do. Just… take a minute to get to know him, I’ll go get him if you like, you’ll see what I mean.” Zoro offers, stepping towards the house. Nami seizes his arm though to stop him.
“Are you crazy?! You know who he is!” She hisses at him.
“Yeah, I do. Unlike you and Ace who have completely the wrong idea about Sanji!” he retorts angrily, why does everyone think he’s too dumb to know his own mind about someone?
“You don’t know who he is… I don’t believe this, he’s-” Nami fumes
“Please don’t.” Sanji’s voice cuts across them.
Zoro looks over to see Sanji step into the moonlight by the pool, next to him Nami growls and pulls loose her blue weapon. She levels it threateningly at Sanji and Zoro can hear the crackle of lightning in the air around it.
“Nami don’t! How long have you been there?” He demands glaring at Sanji, he doesn’t like eavesdroppers.
“Only a moment or two, I heard you two talking and figured that this must be Nami. I thought it might have been when I saw your face earlier tonight when she broke into the party. So I thought I’d come introduce myself, offer her a place to hide if she needed it. Then I heard what you were talking about…” Sanji answers quietly. Zoro spots that he too has a glass in his hand, it seems like he had just come out to say hi.
“Don’t move you bastard!” Nami threatens him with her weapon.
“Nami!” Zoro snaps, shoving her weapon aside. He’s been on the receiving end of an accidental shock from that thing and seen it’s deliberate destructive power first hand, so he’s less than comfortable with it being pointed at Sanji.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Zoro, you don’t know him!” she shouts and levels her weapon back at Sanji. The blonde obligingly raises his hands in surrender.
“I know him! You’re the one who’s making rash judgements!” Zoro snaps, standing between them. If Nami won’t lower her weapon then she damn well won’t shoot through him.
“Get out of the way Zoro! He’s been lying to you, and I can’t believe that you were dumb enough to believe it!” Nami growls, not lowering her weapon.
Zoro bristles at her words. It was bad enough Ace accusing him of being stupid and brainwashed by Sanji, but Nami too? He opens his mouth to scream at Nami but someone else gets there first.
“She’s… she’s right Zoro.” Sanji’s voice says quietly behind him.
“What are you talking about?” Zoro questions turning to face the blonde.
“Yeah Sir Prince, why don’t you tell him?” Nami taunts.
It’s dark out but even in the night he can see Sanji’s guilty expression in the moonlight, the same as he saw in the car earlier.
“When you first got here I thought you knew, I really did and the more you told me about your past… I thought that’s why you didn’t trust me. Then I realised later that you didn’t know, but by then you’d started to like me a little and… I know it sounds awful but no one treats me like you do. Usopp and Franky… they’re my friends but I can’t ever get away from the fact that they also work for me, and everyone else is so isolated by money or politics. But you… you just saw me.” Sanji says quietly, not able to look Zoro in the eye and instead looking off to the side.
“I… I wanted to tell you, I did. I didn’t like lying to you but… well you never outright asked and I guess I was pretty spineless. I didn’t want to lose you, especially after everything.” Sanji insists looking at him pleadingly this time.
“Tell me what?” Zoro demands irritably, Sanji’s just talked around whatever it is and told him nothing.
“Spit it out!” Nami agrees angrily behind him.
“Well… my father he’s… I mean, his company- the company that I hate, you know that. I just… it’s… well…” Sanji tries hesitantly.
“It’s the institute Zoro. You’re looking at Sir Prince of The Royal Institute, the heir to that entire ill-gotten fortune.” Nami says venomously behind him. Sanji shoots her a sharp look, clearly irritated about being interrupted.
“What?” Zoro reels, no, he can’t be. He looks over to Sanji, desperate to hear him deny it, to hear him laugh at the ridiculous idea that he could be behind the institute but Sanji just looks sullen and guilty.
“Sanji…” He breathes, begging for the other man to say something, anything, to prove Nami’s words false.
“She’s right.” Sanji mumbles unhappily.
“You lied to me!” Zoro roars furiously. Sanji doesn’t deny it, doesn’t move an inch, doesn’t say anything. He flies across the distance between them and grabs the blonde by the collar, he hears the glass fly from Sanji’s hand and shatter on the pavement as he throws the man against the wall of the house and holds him there. He pulls his fist back sharply, ready to lay it into Sanji’s face.
Sanji doesn’t do anything to resist, every muscle seems lax and his eyes closed, as if resigned to his fate. Zoro’s hand stills, he remembers Sanji’s words from the car, the blonde said that he wouldn’t stop him when he vowed to cut the throats of everyone involved with the institute. Sanji said they deserved it, he meant that… that he deserved it.
His fist sinks down to his side as he stares at Sanji.
“I know who you are.” He says finally. The blonde opens his eyes warily, the flash of blue shining in the night.
He releases Sanji’s collar and lets the other man drop to his feet. The cook looks at him in surprise and he doesn’t need to turn around to know that Nami is giving him the same shocked look.
“You’re the same person you were yesterday. You’re kind and you’re caring and dumb as a bag of fucking hammers. Seriously, how long did you think that you’d be able to keep me from finding out?!” He demands angrily.
“I don’t know! Hopefully indefinitely? I was a coward okay?! I couldn’t bear the thought of you hating me!” Sanji argues defensively.
“I’m impressed that he managed to pull it off for this long. They talked about the Prince family in class all the time.” Nami adds in a patronising voice.
“You know I never listened to that crap.” Zoro argues, shooting her a glare. She doesn’t need to make him look dumb in front of Sanji.
“Even so it’s the Royal institute, he’s Sir Prince, how hard is that?” Nami points out.
“Shut it.” He snaps and turns back to Sanji. The blonde looks at him with a ray of hope in his eye, as if he thinks that things might just work out. Zoro rolls his eyes and punches Sanji hard right in the ribs with his good hand.
“That’s for lying to me.” He adds and turns back to Nami. She’s standing with her blue pole-type weapon in her hand and the most perplexed and angry expression on her face, it’d be almost comical if the situation wasn’t so serious.
“That’s it?!” She demands angrily.
“Oi, calm down. Even if he did lie he’s still just Sanji, he’s not his father and he doesn’t want to be here any more than I do. The only reason he has anything to do with his father is because Spandam has threatened to destroy the people that Sanji actually considers family. He dragged him away from his real home as a kid, Sanji’s life has been ruined by that bastard almost as much as ours have.” Zoro explains calmly.
“I doubt that! Don’t you remember being in the institute?! Don’t you remember Cabaji?!” Sanji screeches furiously and raises her weapon with intent written on her face. Zoro thumps her on the top of the head and shoves her weapon aside.
“Knock it off. I’m not playing ‘who had the worst childhood’ here. And Sanji was the one who just got Cabaji fired.” He chides her.
“What?” Nami stares at Sanji in disbelief.
“I’d rather have kicked the shit out of him after I read what he wrote about Zoro but it was better than nothing.” Sanji says with a shrug as he rubs his sore ribs from where Zoro had just punched him.
“So he did one good thing, but he’s sitting here living off of money that he’s made from our suffering, from the suffering of our friends!” Nami accuses angrily.
“Hey, now that isn’t true!” Sanji protests, clearly offended.
Sanji looks from one to the other, both of them looking at him imploringly to believe him. He narrows his eyes at Sanji.
“Go on then.” He says, arching an eyebrow at the blonde.
“I have my own money, as soon as I got away from my father I took a small portion of the money he gave me, only half a million Beli or so, and invested it. I happened to do quite well and live off of that. My father’s money goes into its own account and I give it away as fast as I can, charities, that sort of thing.” Sanji says in an uppity voice, as if having to justify himself to Nami is degrading. Zoro supposes that it must be a little.
“Well, you’re the one rooting through everyone’s accounts by the sounds of it. Does that sound right?” He asks, looking pointedly at Nami.
“Well, it… it’s probably some sort of cover up for something. That’s what I’d figured.” Nami mutters in embarrassment, looking away.
“But he… I mean… he can’t be…” she mumbles, her cheeks reddening.
“You were wrong for a change, get over it. Now put that thing away before you hurt someone, probably me.” Zoro says, pushing her weapon away from his and Sanji’s direction. Nami obligingly dismantles the blue weapon, although she still looks at Sanji suspiciously.
Silence falls between the three of them and Zoro wonders just how much the blonde heard. He looks over at Sanji who is still pouting and rubbing his side.
“I need to go, I can’t stay here.” Nami announces suddenly as she picks her mask up from the floor.
“What? Why? You only just got here, if it’s about Sanji you can trust him.” Zoro frowns at her, he doesn’t want to see her go so soon, especially after meeting her again after so long.
“Even if I can, it’s not just him. Lord Prince could well be watching this location, especially if he doesn’t trust his only son as much as he pretends to. It was enough of a risk coming here when it was just you, let alone more people. You know where to find me.” Nami nods at him. She does up her mask and before Zoro can fully protest she disappears into the night. Zoro squints into the tree line but accepts that Nami is long gone.
“What does she mean by that? Where’s she going?” Sanji asks, appearing warily at Zoro’s side as if worried about being punched again.
“She’ll be at Robin’s where she’s apparently been this whole time. I think Robin’s been behind more of this than we know. Tomorrow we’re seeing her and getting this set straight.” Zoro answers in a tone that brokers no argument.
He grabs their empty glasses and bottles, steps around Sanji’s smashed one and makes his way back inside. He places the glasses and bottles on the counter in the dark and with a tired sigh he heads upstairs. Sanji is right behind him but for some reason remains silent until they get to their hallway.
“Do… do you ever feel like something is going too well?” Sanji blurts out suddenly into the dark silence. Zoro turns to Sanji but can barely see the man in the dark, he leans into his room and flicks the light on, illuminating Sanji in the hallway enough to see.
“I just feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, for you to realise that there’s no way you can live with me knowing who I am. That or I’ll wake up to you slitting my throat, not that I wouldn’t deserve it, after all I put that collar on you.” Sanji mumbles unhappily.
“Unless you were making really big corporate decisions as a kid, you don’t deserve it and you didn’t put this collar on me. I’ve spent enough time defending you to people today to be bothered to do it to you as well.” Zoro grumbles irritably. First Ace, then Nami, now he has to tell Sanji what he’s like? He’s starting to feel like a broken record.
“I’m here because I know who you really are.” He adds with a sigh. Then, because he’s still feeling a little vindictive about Sanji lying to him he decides to be a little mean. He snags the cook’s tie and pulls him forward, their hips bump as Sanji stumbles against him, he hooks his fingers into Sanji’s belt loop to stop the cook going anywhere.
“Besides,” he murmurs into the blonde’s ear, “if I was going to cut your throat in your sleep you wouldn’t wake up to it.”
With that he grins, releases Sanji and slides into his room, closing the door immediately after him.
“Very comforting, you bastard!” Sanji shouts from the other side of the door, kicking it hard enough to make it shudder against its hinges. Zoro snickers to himself and decides to finally go to bed. His room is thankfully glass free now, although there’s a big wooden board over where his window was, he supposes even someone as rich as Sanji can’t get a window that big repaired completely in less than a day.
He slides under the covers and relaxes muscle by muscle, wriggling his body every so often as his joints loosen more. As his body relaxes his mind starts running over the whole day. The fight with Ace was pretty nasty and he’s not sure that he wants to speak to Ace for some time yet, intellectually he knows that Ace didn’t mean what he said but he still said it with the deliberate intent of hurting him. So, with that in mind, Ace can either suck it up and apologise to him in person soon or he can wait until Zoro feels magnanimous enough to forgive him. He might have to wait a little while.
As for Sanji being the heir to the Institute well that… that was a fucking surprise that was for sure. Though, looking back on it the clues were there, and if he’d paid attention in class he would have known. He doesn’t regret his decision to stay with Sanji now that he knows though, Sanji is so unlike his asshole of a father that it’s almost comical. Still… would he have thought of Sanji so nicely if he’d known the truth from the beginning?
He stretches his neck a little and digs his fingers under his collar to rub at the ever sore muscles underneath it. When he first got here he was convinced that Sanji was a bastard rapist like the rest of them, and if he’d known that Sanji had effectively owned him before Zoro was signed over to him well… he’s not sure that he would have let the other man in. He’s not sure he would have been able to forgive him and seen the man’s good qualities. He’d like to think that he wouldn’t have just shut Sanji out but… well… with the way his life has gone so far he’s probably entitled to hold a few grudges against people, Sanji’s entire family for starters.
A flash of Sanji’s body pressed against him in the hallway flashes through his mind. Despite himself Zoro grins, he doesn’t want to hold a grudge against Sanji, but there’s plenty else that he’d like to hold against the other man.
Zoro has always been apathetic about coffee, he likes it well enough, it can be good to wake you up and it goes nicely with some foods but on the whole he can take it or leave it. Right now however he hates it, he hates it because coffee is the excuse that Robin is using not to talk to them. The four of them, Robin, Sanji, Nami and him are all sat in Robin’s conservatory as the dark haired woman goes about pouring coffee and not answering their questions.
She pours a cup for Sanji, then him and then Nami. The then proceeds to offer cream which he and Nami tersely refuse. Seeing that this is going nowhere Nami pulls a flask from her bra and sloshes it in offer at Zoro who gratefully nods as Nami spikes both of their drinks. Robin shoots them both a disapproving look.
“Sugar?” Robin offers equally sweetly.
“Oh, no thank you.” Sanji answers politely.
“Just ANSWER the goddamn question already!” Nami yells, leaning forwards and slamming her small fists on the table. Robin gives her an icy look.
“Manners.” She says simply and leans back in her chair and takes a sip of her coffee.
“My flower, as much as I hate to press you, it would be nice to have some answers. Why did you make a deal with Nami and why didn’t you tell us about it? How come you paired Zoro and I together? What’s going on here?” Sanji presses gently. Zoro rolls his eyes, Sanji is hopeless when it comes to women.
“Sanji, I can only answer one question at a time.” Robin points out delicately and plucks a plate from the table. Zoro’s eye twitches, no one ever claimed otherwise!
“Biscotti?” She offers with a smile.
Zoro knows enough to throw out his arm to stop Nami from simply leaping the table and strangling Robin. Nami’s fuse has always been incredibly short, more so when she thinks that people are messing with her.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Zoro suggests as calmly as he can manage through gritted teeth.
Robin hums around her coffee cup for a moment before straightening up in her chair and tapping her mouth with a napkin delicately.
“Before any of you were born Spandam Prince, he wasn’t a lord then, dabbled in weapons and warfare. Apparently he felt like he wasn’t a terrible enough human being already. At that time I was living on the island of Ohara, where I was born.” Robin explains simply, as if discussing the weather.
“Ohara, in West Blue? Wasn’t that where that big natural disaster happened?” Nami pipes up curiously. Robin shoots the redhead a sharp look.
“Do you want me to explain or not?” Robin says primly.
“Ah, go on my dove.” Sanji smiles soothingly. With her fittingly metaphorical feathers un-ruffled Robin continues speaking.
“The people there were mostly researchers, primarily archaeology but history too, there were some philosophers, it was all very academic. We were passionate about knowledge and learning from the past, our goal was to understand the past so as to better shape the future.” Robin says leaning back in her chair and looking up at the glass conservatory roof. For a moment she is quiet and only the pitter-patter of rain on the glass can be heard.
“A few researchers, my mother among them, started pointing out that mates were a relatively new convention and that in previous times this would have been considered slavery. They put forward research about societies in the past that have used slavery and sexual slavery in particular to control classes of people less valued by society. All of these societies eventually crumbled or were destroyed from the inside out. At best a few had managed to reform from the inside and become different societies, ours being one of them although it was a very long time ago.” Robin says academically.
“Spandam didn’t like that, he threatened to shut us down but my mother was adamant that her research and that of her colleagues wasn’t a threat and was based in academic fact, we had all the books a research to back it up in our library. It was indisputable.” She explains, running her finger around the edge of her coffee cup.
“He used a weapon that he had his company develop called Buster Call. It destroyed everyone and everything on the island, I am the only survivor.” Robin states in a clinical tone of voice as she stares up at the glass above her.
“That can’t be-” Sanji begins but Zoro quickly elbows him in the ribs.
“Shut up. How often have you said that about your father since you met me?” Zoro challenges the blonde man quietly. Sanji looks pale and sick.
“But… that’s genocide!” Sanji breathes shakily.
“Stellar man your father. So, continue.” Nami prompts gently.
“Needless to say, I want to destroy your father completely and I am not the only one.” Robin says simply and drinks her coffee.
“Franky. You… you had something to do with Franky finding Sanji.” Zoro says as the realisation suddenly comes to him.
“Hm, yes. He is very useful to me, as Sanji’s staff he’s left unattended with everyone else’s staff from the institute and other important people, he hears things that others don’t and tells me everything. Our initial plan had been to destroy Spandam through Sanji by killing him, imagine our surprise to find out just how far the apple can fall from the tree.” Robin smiles at Sanji.
The blonde stares at her in shock, Zoro’s pretty surprised as well and he’s not sure that he’s ever heard a compliment and a death threat all mixed up in the same sentence before.
“So how does that involve us?” Zoro frowns, indicating himself and Nami.
“Well, with our initial plan faulted by Sanji I had to come up with someone new. And finding that Nami had escaped all on her own was a coup in itself, if mates started escaping and killing their masters left right and centre the institute would go bankrupt immediately. Spandam was quick enough to fake Nami’s death before I could get a plan in motion, I hadn’t counted on her whereas he clearly had to some extent. Still, Nami is incredibly astute with money so we’ve started to work towards bringing the board down financially, that’s only part of the plan though.” Robin concedes.
“News to me, I thought that was the entire plan.” Nami says darkly as she leans back in her chair and crosses her legs with an unimpressed expression on her face.
"I only told you what you needed to know.” Robin explains with a sigh and rises to her feet. She walks to the window and looks out into the rain.
“I didn’t tell either of you two anything because it worked best if you didn’t know.” she continues, glancing over her shoulder at Zoro and Sanji.
“You’re both such terrible liars, you see. And it needs to be genuine.” She says thoughtfully.
“What does?” Sanji questions with a frown.
“Like I said, I don’t want to destroy society, just the institute, your father, and everyone involved. The best way for that to change is from the inside out, for the system to be peacefully dissolved. But movements like that… they always require a catalyst and a figurehead. They need an example, every great movement has one. Think of every revolution or advancement of rights in history, there are always central characters in that story, and you two are ours.” Robin declares looking at them coolly.
“Us?” Zoro exclaims in disbelief.
“You.” Robin nods as she returns to her chair.
“Sanji isn’t just the heir to the institute, he’s the metaphorical embodiment of its future. A public story of love and equality will change the system, Spandam is already considered freakish enough by the general public to represent the institute as we reveal it to be. All you have to do is be the poster boys for the future.” Robin smiles cunningly.
“And what does that involve exactly?” Zoro questions suspiciously.
“Just be… adorable, in love, that sort of thing. You two already have enough natural chemistry to convince everyone, assuming that you’re putting up any kind of façade at all already.” Robin smiles with a surreptitious look on her face. Zoro doesn’t like what Robin is implying, even if it has made Sanji go a comical shade of red.
“It doesn’t matter to you if we want to go along with your plan or not does it? Unless he starts publicly treating me like Spandam would then your plan still works, we don’t get a choice.” Zoro says slowly as the full scale of the web that Robin has woven becomes clear to him. Her Cheshire smile tells him all that he needs to know.
“As if you don’t want to destroy the institute too, what does it cost you to help?” Robin points out cleverly.
“I’m nobody’s dog to yank around and do tricks on command, regardless of what the collar implies.” He growls at her angrily.
“Come on Zoro, I’ve heard enough. I’d thought that we were friends Robin.” Sanji declares in a tearful tone as he gets to his feet.
“We are friends Sanji.” Robin says in a surprised tone.
“No, I considered you a friend, you consider me a pawn.” Sanji retorts with more spine than Zoro is used to him showing to women.
“It’s not personal, everyone is a pawn.” Robin answers quietly, her fingers wrapping around her coffee cup.
“That hurts!” Sanji exclaims, clearly upset.
“Get used to it. Life is pain princess.” Nami says flatly.
“Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Zoro agrees finishing the quote.
“I’m in, not that I have much choice.” Zoro sighs in agreement.
“Agreed.” Nami nods.