#for all the extremity and gratuitous violence nothing gets taken deep enough

[dykesynthezoid]

Remembered why I stopped watching Castlevania ❤️ too many men ❤️ didn’t care ❤️

[your-iron-lung]

Mixed Up 20 | We’ll Find Out |

Chapter Word Count: 4948

Pairings: Zoro/Sanji

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Chapter Warning: Strong Language

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 , 17, 18 19

Next Chapter: 21

He would have been lying if he said he didn't have an interest in sports. Sanji was a competitive person by nature, and used to believe that if his career in culinary arts didn't work out for him he could easily find a place for himself in the athletic world.

Sanji enjoyed soccer; he knew the ins and outs of that sport particularly well. He'd been good at it when he played as a kid, and even made the high school varsity team when he tried out for it. Occasionally he'd allow himself to fantasize about having an alternate life as a super star soccer athlete, complete with the women, fans, fame, and gratuitous amount of money- but he was, ultimately, grounded by his current profession.

He knew a lot about wrestling, too. Hell, he'd even had that phase in middle school where he'd been a hardcore WWE fan and started making up his own signature moves to use. To say he'd been devastated when Zeff had told him it was all fake would have been an understatement; he'd almost started to cry before he was told about a sport where the violence was real and unscripted. A sport where just about anything could happen, and involved more strategy than boxing or mixed martial artists used in their fights because they had to rely on the other players on their team.

Hockey. A team game where every player was encouraged to throw punches if it came down to it.

It was one of those sports that Sanji knew next to nothing about, except for that it had a reputation for being notoriously violent. In order to prove to him that hockey violence was real, Zeff had shown him a video where an unfortunate hockey player had gotten his jugular slit during a game.

Sanji couldn't forget the absolute geyserof blood that had spurted forth from the player's neck, painting the ice red even as the announcers casting the game panicked and freaked out. Ever since then, he'd gotten the impression that hockey was a dangerous game full of innumerable risks that people should probably try to avoid playing.

That being said, 9.9 times out of 10, hockey games were resolved without any blood being shed. Injuries of that dangerous caliber were rare, and leagues everywhere had taken precautions to protect the brave souls who played the game.

His excitement for the game lasted up until he'd realized that not every game played involved life-threatening injuries. Sanji had grown bored of following the sport after that, and focused more on what Zeff had to teach him in the kitchen.

But the unexpected bouts of violence were part of what made the sport interesting to watch when he did. Knowing how violent the sport was, coupled with the knowledge that Zoro was a rough person who could fight and did fight at the slightest of provocations had Sanji admittedly pretty excited to see him play.

Did he take the sport as seriously as his music career? Was it a just a placeholder he used to fill the time that his band used to take? Or was it a means for him to display his aggressive tendencies? After all, Zoro had told him at the art show that he honestly just liked to fight for no real reason.

Hockey was one of the only sports that actually off-handedly encouraged that sort of behavior, anyway. Was Zoro smart enough to utilize it in that way?

All his thoughts on the matter only further reinforced how little Sanji actually knew about Zoro. He decided not to think about it too much, but he had a whole days' worth of time to kill before Nami said she'd come to pick them up. It was hard for him to think about much else.

He didn't know yet if Zoro knew whether or not he was coming and if that would even matter to the punk or not. Zoro had, in the past, reacted extremely negatively to having Sanji experience these sorts of personal aspects of his life with him.

Sanji didn't rightly know what to make of that, because, while it seemed that Zoro didn't like him tagging along, he still took the time to get him properly involved.

The art show was a good example, but the guitar he was currently harboring in his apartment was a better one.

It had taken him a few hours before he'd finally worked up enough nerve to take the bass Zoro had loaned him out of the case and hold it in his hands. He'd been warned against harming the finish on it, but really didn't see the need to worry about it; the guitar itself was old and came with a few nicks and scratches already embedded into its dark, cherry burst coloration.

'Shusui'- as Zoro had called it- turned out to be an acoustic bass, which explained why the gig bag it had been given to him in was so wide. The instrument was relatively large, especially when he compared it to what he knew about guitars. He was wary of its weight, but due to its hollow nature, it was incredibly light and easy to hold. Sanji sat down with it on the couch and tried to remember the scales Zoro had told him to practice, but unfortunately couldn't remember much about them except for which fret to start on.

He ended up simply dicking around with it; holding down different strings in different positions and plucking out simple notes just to hear the different sounds they made. Impressed with the range of tones each string alone could produce on an instrument designed for creating lower tones, he could almost ignore the anxiety waiting around for the hockey game to start was causing him.

It was hard not to dwell on it, but he did a relatively good job of keeping himself too preoccupied to think much on it.

And then, suddenly, it was time.

Nami called him around 5 o'clock to tell him that she was outside and waiting. Hurriedly he set Shusui back into its soft case and then scrounged around to find his long coat that he could wear inside the rink. What little he could remember from his short lived interest in the sport told him that it could get pretty chilly while one sat and watched the game play out.

It was very cold outside when he finally left his apartment; a drastic difference from how the weather had been just the day before. He locked up hurriedly, stifling a shiver as he buttoned up his coat and strode out to the parking lot.

She sat parked in the road behind a few of the legally parked cars with the engine idling. Sanji couldn't help but smile to himself as he noted just how beautiful she looked sitting in the cab, looking intently at her cellphone, probably trying to get in contact with Zoro.

Part of him wished he were in 'like' with her instead of Zoro, and he wondered what his life would be like currently if he'd met her first. Would he have fallen for her instead? It would certainly have been easier for him to pursue his romantic interests if he had. Though, it was doubtful he would have met her at all if it hadn't been for Zoro.

He did shiver then as he approached the truck, where she looked up and smiled at him in greeting when she saw him come near.

"Good afternoon, Mon Cherie," he cooed, blowing her a kiss as she manually rolled down her window to talk to him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Romeo." She rolled her eyes but smiled at his words regardless. "Save it for someone who gives a shit. But, hey, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Of course not!" Sanji exclaimed, practically floating off his feet, eager to please her. "Anything you would ask of me!"

"Calm down! You don't have to pop a boner every time I talk to you," Nami said with a laugh. "Anyway, I need you to go up and get Zoro. I emailed him and told him I was on my way about an hour ago but he never replied. I think he's probably asleep. Just knock on his door till Chopper wakes him up."

"If you bid me to retrieve him, then retrieve him I shall!"

Despite her words, he kept up his antics and twirled with a flourish on his heel in order to make his way back into the stairwell of his building. There he ascended the stairs confidently and in a manner he assumed Nami would find flattering if she were watching him, but one look over the railing told him that she'd gone back to looking at her phone.

He stalled at the top of the stairs and noticed the familiar trail of mud that led straight to Zoro's apartment. As he approached, he paused and put his ear to the door to see if he could hear anything on the other side. Sanji heard nothing but silence, leading him to believe that Nami's assumption that the oaf had fallen asleep must have been correct.

A sharp, winter wind blew through the breezeway, coaxing him to shiver and burrow down into the fashionably thick confines of his coat. Despite the fact that it was almost Christmas, Sanji absolutely hated how cold December was becoming. There was absolutely no need for it, honestly; he never had liked snow much.

Hating the cold more than he felt he hated Zoro, Sanji followed Nami's instructions and knocked upon the door.

The sound that emitted from Chopper inside was sudden and thunderously loud. Sanji's eyes widened as he heard the dog run to the door, claws scrambling across the hardwood floor as he barked as loud as he possibly could in an effort to alert whoever it was that had knocked that he absolutely would not let him inside. If Zoro were asleep, he certainly wouldn't be for very much longer.

Chopper's deep, booming barks didn't relent until Sanji finally heard Zoro scrambling to rein in his dog.

"Down, Chopper- down!"

As the door cracked open and Zoro peaked out through the opening, it was immediately apparent from both the smell and the sight of his bloodshot eyes that the punk had not, in fact, been sleeping as Nami had thought. Rather, he'd been getting high.

"Are you seriously fucking stoned right now?" Sanji couldn't help but ask, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Did you forget you were playing tonight?"

"I always- Chopper! Shut the fuck up!" Zoro yelled as Chopper continued to growl and bark. With a frustrated sigh, Zoro slid out of the opening and closed the door behind him, muffling the dog's rage. "I always get high before playing. It helps.

"Wait, how the fuck did you know I was playing tonight?" he asked, suddenly suspicious. "Quit meddling in my life!"

"I'm not meddling, I'm-" Interfering. Being a nuisance. Trying to be your friend? "Participating."

"Partici…? The fuck does that mean?"

"Look, Nami is waiting for us," Sanji said, trying to escape this train wreck of a conversation. "Get your shit or whatever and hurry up. It's rude of you to keep her waiting."

Zoro looked like he had something else to say, but when he heard Chopper jumping up and presumably scratching at the door, he scowled and swallowed whatever it was he had to say in retort.

"Ten minutes," he bit out instead, and pushed the door open against the weight of his dog and slid back inside his apartment, careful not to accidentally release the beast.

Rolling his eyes, Sanji figured that Zoro's reaction to him tagging along was unwarranted. It was kind of annoying how against him Zoro seemed to be. But it didn't matter; Nami had been the one to invite him out tonight anyway.

He turned and made his way back down the stairs, a little bummed that Zoro apparently didn't want him to come along. When he got back to the bottom, he cast his doubts away and smiled reassuringly at Nami who was now watching him.

"He said he'd be about ten minutes," Sanji said as Nami leaned across his seat, pushed open the passenger side door, and gestured for him to get in.

It was so amazingly warm inside the truck that Sanji couldn't help but sigh contentedly as he began to settle into the seat. As he strapped the seatbelt around him, buckling it into place, he realized again just how tiny Nami's truck actually was.

Where the hell was Zoro supposed to sit? Was he going to drive himself?

Almost as though she'd read his mind, Nami supplied him with an answer.

"Zoro can ride in the bed," she said, gesturing to the back end of her truck with her thumb.

Turning in his seat, he looked over his shoulder and out the back window doubtfully. The size of the bed was relative to the rest of the trunk, in that it was rather small but looked like it could probably fit one or two people.

"Is that street legal?" he asked, unsure of the answer as he turned back around.

Nami shrugged.

"I mean, as long as he's not flailing around over the edge and acting like an idiot," she said. "It's honestly not much different from letting a dog ride back there anyway."

That was good enough for Sanji; he probably considered Zoro to be more of a mutt than a person at this point anyway.

"I've thought up another question," he said, and noticed the way she seemed to stiffen when he brought it up. That was fair, considering how intrusive his other questions had been. "Is it alright if I ask it while we wait?"

"Sure," she said, but sounded rather hesitant and reluctant. Setting her cellphone aside, she turned to face him.

"Alright." This had question had been a long time coming, he thought. He honestly had no idea why he hadn't asked it sooner. His expression became steely as he prepared to ask: "What the hell is up with that dog of Zoro's? What is Chopper's like, story? What is he doing here?"

Nami stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

"Jesus," she said, trying to calm herself out of laughing long enough to answer. "You scared me! I had no idea what you were going to ask with your face looking like that!"

Sanji laughed along with her a little bit, a grin spreading its way across his face. When she'd finally calmed down, she hummed thoughtfully, casting her gaze up towards where Zoro's apartment was as she considered how best to answer his question.

"It's a long story; I'm not sure ten minutes is gonna be enough to cover it all," she admitted. "But I'll try.

"First of all, Chopper was not our dog originally. We got him when an older guy posted an ad in the paper, saying how he couldn't take care of him anymore in his old age and how he was probably gonna die soon and didn't want to see Chopper be put down when no one came to claim him because he was hard to handle.

"It was Luffy's idea, I think," she added, looking away from the building now to make eye contact with Sanji. "We were all living together at the time and he really, really wanted a dog. So we showed up at this guy's door, and boy, he really did look like he was dying. Chopper wasn't as aggressive back then, and we all fell in love with him but were really surprised by his size!

"We thought he was a big type of shepherd or something at first, but the guy, Hiluluk, told us he was actually a wolfdog."

"Wow, that does explain his size," Sanji said. "How the hell is Zoro allowed to keep him here?"

"I bribe management." She cast him a wink and rubbed her fingers together. "They don't know what the money doesn't let them know about."

His appreciation for her rose drastically at the same time that his fear of her did. He made a mental note to never, ever cross her in the future if he could help it.

"But, anyway, back to the story- So yeah, this guy, Hiluluk, told us about how he first found Chopper, all banged up and shit from trying to assimilate with the native wolves or whatever and they'd rejected him, so he felt he had no choice really but to take him in.

"Hiluluk was afraid that if no one took Chopper in, then the state or whatever would put him down when he died. He was desperate to find someone that could take care of him, and felt that between the three of us we could probably handle him. So he let us have him, and when Luffy left, Zoro and I decided he should probably be the one to handle him since he's just so damn big."

"That makes sense," Sanji agreed. "That is to say, I don't think you aren't a strong, capable woman! Chopper is just…"

"In a league of his own, I know," she said, smiling. "He actually listens to me the best, but he can be hard to take care of. I provide him his food, and Zoro provides the housing."

That explained why Nami had been bringing over meat when Sanji had first met her. Given that Chopper had been a semi-wild wolfdog, the raw meat diet made sense.

"I think that actually covers everything," Nami said, looking proud that she'd been able to explain his backstory to him before Zoro had come down. "Chopper's a good dog. He's anxiety-aggressive, but he'd never actually hurt anyone. All bark and no bite."

"I believe it now," he said, and meant it. Chopper had had a hard life; he was just glad that he'd fallen in with people that loved him and were able to take care of him properly.

Their conversation was interrupted by Zoro throwing his duffel bag into the back end of the truck. They both turned to watch as he lifted himself and rolled into the bed, causing the truck to lean and then find its balance again.

He looked surly and agitated, wearing a frown that was as noticeable as the Navy coat he was bundled up in. The military green clashed with the brighter shade of his hair.

Nami rolled her window down and stuck her head out, looking back at Zoro awkwardly as he opened the toolbox. To Sanji's bemusement, he pulled out a warm looking blanket and wound it around himself before he sat down; he must've rode around in the bed a lot.

"Ready to go?" Nami asked, to which Zoro gave the thumbs up.

Nodding in affirmation, Nami rolled up her window, put the truck in drive, and drove them out of the parking lot and towards the highway.

They didn't talk much on the ride over. At one point Nami brushed him up on the rules of the game at Sanji's request when he told her he didn't remember much about it. She told him to mostly focus on the audiences' reactions to know whether something good was happening or not. Beyond that, they mostly sat in companionable silence, listening to whatever the radio decided to play for them.

Occasionally Sanji would find himself glancing backwards to check on Zoro, who sat remarkably still bundled up in the blanket. He caught Nami's eye once as he'd turned back around. She'd smiled at him with knowing, but he'd been too embarrassed to smile back and settled for staring out the window as they rode instead.

It took them roughly an hour to get from the apartment complex to the ice rink where Zoro was to play. Sanji noticed as they pulled in that it wasn't the same one that he'd brought Zoro to earlier in the week for his practice, as this one was much larger. Definitely not the size of an arena, but not small enough to be a public ice house, this one sat somewhere comfortably between the two.

"The game doesn't start until seven," Nami said as she pulled into a spot and parked. Glancing at the dashboard clock, Sanji noticed that it was only six. "Zoro has to get here early to get into gear and warmup and stuff."

"Makes sense."

The weight of the truck shifted, causing the vehicle to tilt as Zoro stood up and swung over the edge of the bed. He packed the blanket back into the tool chest as he grabbed his duffel bag and approached the driver's side window.

Nami rolled it down so he could lean in through the opening. He eyed the both of them with a steady squint before saying, "Don't embarrass me tonight."

"Never do," Nami said with a cute wink, to which Zoro scowled.

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Sighing out of frustration, Zoro relented and pulled away from the truck. He made the gesture with his fingers from his eyes to her, signaling that he'd be keeping an eye on her. Zoro then made his way into the mini arena, leaving Sanji to ask her what that had been about.

"I like to cheer," she said with a smile that could only be described as menacing. "Like, really cheer; I get way into it."

They left it at that as she cut the engine and they got out. Though they were an hour early, the parking lot already had a fair amount of cars in it. There was even a large bus that had probably transported the enemy team parked right up on the curb beside the ice rink.

Seeing it parked there as they passed it by prompted Sanji to ask, "What league does he play in?"

"Oh, he's not pro or anything," Nami said casually. "Well, no, I guess he kind of is. It's not the NHL or anything; I think they call it a class 'A' minor league? He's paid to be on the team, at any rate."

"That's kind of cool."

Nami flashed him another smile in agreement as they stepped up onto the curb and made their way into the small arena. She led them to the ticket vendor, who smiled ta Nami and handed her an envelope.

Sanji wasn't surprised by the fact that Nami apparently held season tickets; he'd half-expected that to be the case with how close she and Zoro were.

"You can pay me back for this later," she'd said to him, opening the envelope her tickets came in and passing one to him. "My sister and I split the cost for these, so you owe us."

That being agreeable to him, he'd simply nodded and together they'd been admitted inside. It was a little chilly because of the rink and the close proximity to it that her seats had. He was glad he'd worn his long, winter coat.

They were a few rows back and up from the Plexiglas barrier that stood between the spectators and the players. On the home team's side, they were relatively close to the bench that the Bighorn Bison would occupy once the game started.

Small chit-chat was made between them as more fans arrived and began to fill most of the empty seats that were left available. It struck him then that this was the real deal. This was an actual sporting event that people paid to attend. These weren't just friends and family of the players come to encourage a hobby, but actual fans of the sport who wanted to cheer their team on to victory.

There was even a drop down, over-ice, center scoreboard. For such a small arena, the setup was pretty nice.

A lot of the seats for the audience were now beginning to fill out, and some people that were coming in were actually wearing copies of the home team's jerseys. He noticed with some degree of fascination that there were a few people wearing a jersey that had Zoro's name and number on the back.

'RORONOA 68'.

"Why 68?" he asked Nami, watching as a cute girl with pink hair take a seat a few rows ahead of them. She had one of Zoro's jerseys on and looked excited to be there.

"69 was taken," she replied with a sly wink.

Sanji was about to comment about how typical that was of him when the players finally took the ice.

The audience rose into a loud cheer as the announcer came over the intercom and introduced the two teams who were lazily skating around the ice in full uniform.

Nami was on her feet and clapping enthusiastically along with a few other people around her, cheering for the home team and booing the away team, the Whiskey Peak Cacti. Sanji tried to pick out who Zoro was among all the players that had been identified as the Bighorn Bison. They were decked out in jerseys that were primarily white with pine green and brown accents. There was a large, identifying image of a bison's head placed smack in the middle of the front of their jerseys.

From his seat, Sanji could hear the slight swoosh and clacking noise that the hockey skates made against the ice as the players skated along. He finally picked out Zoro when he skated by along the far edge of the rink, turning and gliding easily with a few of his teammates as they headed for the bench.

The rest of the players left on the ice began to form up as the referees joined them on the ice and they readied themselves for the game's opening face-off.

As far as Sanji could tell, Zoro's team won that and the game began.

Beside him, Nami was truly in the mood, screaming and leading a few cheers as her team took an early lead. Sanji could safely say that he wasn't nearly invested in the game as she was, and could see why Zoro had told her specifically not to embarrass him with her team spirit.

Every once in a while as the first period went along, when Zoro was on the bench, he would turn around to look at her with the most annoyed expression he'd ever seen plastered on his face.

If Sanji were in his position, though, knowing a woman as beautiful as Nami was cheering for him so hard- he would have been thrilled to pieces. He could envision himself playing better than he'd probably ever played if he had cute women screaming at him to "Beat his ass!" whenever he body checked an opposing player.

The first period flew by with not a whole lot of action despite Nami's enthusiasm. Zoro incurred a minor penalty once for cross-checking someone, and Sanji had to admit that it was rather funny to see him sitting in the penalty box, glaring deadly daggers at Nami who was shouting something rude about the refs.

Bighorn had scored one goal against Whiskey Peak in the first 20 minute period before the timer hit zero and the teams retreated back into the locker room for the first intermission.

Nami was beyond breathless at that point, and had to excuse herself from Sanji's company to get herself something to drink to soothe her throat. She'd asked if he'd wanted anything while she was up, and he had declined.

Left alone, Sanji let his gaze wander around to view all the different types of people that had gathered together for the event. There were a lot of families, some couples, a bunch of kids, and-

Was that-

Seated in a section that was curved behind one of the goals was a woman he recognized fairly well. It was hard to forget that particular shade of blue her eyes had that could keep you locked in a stare even as she flayed your mind with her gaze.

Sanji shivered when he felt a chill overcome him; a chill unrelated to being close to the ice rink.

Robin was here.

But she was alone.

No one around her looked like anyone Sanji could remember seeing from the art show, but that didn't change the fact that he'd become supremely uneasy after noticing her presence. Why was she here? Did she come on her own or on Crocodile's behalf?

To what end was she sitting there, gazing morosely at the ice rink while the players took their reprieve?

There was no way of knowing.

Despite what he knew about her, Sanji couldn't help but acknowledge how serenely gorgeous she was, with her long, black hair framing her perfectly angular face. Who was he to judge her character? Maybe she just enjoyed hockey and had come to see the game. There was no real reason for him to suspect that she was there under some dubious circumstances. After all, she'd helped them out before; what reason would she have to hurt them now?

He wasn't sure if it was worth telling Nami that Robin was there. She was having fun, and he didn't want to spoil her mood. There wasn't a whole lot Robin could do sitting in the audience, at any rate, unless she planned to distract Zoro somehow into throwing the game.

Sanji highly doubted that was the case, though. Still… what could she possibly be here for?

When Nami returned, large beer in hand, he kept quiet about seeing Robin.