#lusona

What other ships do you like in one piece? I see zoro/sanji - shanks/buggy and chaka/pell (which is very cute and would definitely read your fic)

I definitely caught those death flags Oda's throwing up, but maybe Cobra will recover. Tbh I want him to for Vivi's sake. I miss Vivi too. Glad she's doing well, though. Baby girl deserves it. :')

So as far as emotional investment goes, my ships are Zosan, Shanks/Buggy, Namivivi, Chakapell, Frobin, Lawbin (it just makes a lot of sense to me and is definitely one of those ships that are based on asking "what if" rather than actual canonical interactions), Usolu + Usona which I often just combine to make a polycule that I call Lusona (Lu and Nami aren't dating tho), and that's pretty much it. I've managed to write about each ship I'm emotionally invested in minus Chaka/Pell, but maybe one day I'll surprise myself. For now I just have a list of headcanons that I came up with when an anon asked me.

And, well, I'm the kind of shipper that I have different tiers when it comes to shipping. So while I'm emotionally invested in a handful of ships (which tbh is a lot more than a lot of people hahaha) I do have a list of ships that fall into different tiers. I made a list.

send me a pairing and a number and i’ll write you a drabble

41. “You did all this for me?”

Note: Tagging @optigeress in case you wanted to read this later <3

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With the last of the groceries from the final supply run put up, Sanji let out a long, tired sigh. He slumped against the kitchen cabinets, loosening his tie as he considered the prospect of fixing himself a quick meal, taking a bath, and then heading to bed early. It was one of those rare days where Sanji could afford to turn in early, what with the rest of the crew enjoying their time on the island where the ship had docked, freeing Sanji of his cooking duties.

His thoughts turned to Zoro and he sighed again, rubbing at his weary eyes with the heels of his hands. He would have liked to spend the evening with the swordsman, but Zoro had been elusive today, seemingly lost in thought as soon as Luffy had spotted land. Sanji had seen him chatting with Nami, then Robin, and then Usopp before the Thousand Sunny docked, but he hadn’t done much talking to Sanji when asked about his plans for the day, grunting something about being busy before disembarking. He hadn’t seen Zoro since, only hearing from Usopp when Sanji returned from his last trip into town that Zoro said he would watch the ship in Usopp’s stead.

Sanji, his arms full, had looked up at the crow’s nest, his lips clamped tight around his cigarette, and he frowned. “Asshole,” he’d muttered before heading for the kitchen, wondering why Zoro had been so evasive, thinking nothing about the way Usopp had looked at Sanji and smiled knowingly before he’d left, eager to find Luffy or Nami.

One plate later, Sanji took his meal with him as he pushed the kitchen door open. He sat down on one of the adjacent staircases with his meal, leaning back against the stairs and staring up at the sky. Chewing on his food slowly, Sanji took in the oranges and yellows of the sky and the swirl of clouds above the ship, the colors reminding him of sorbet. He was busy contemplating making sorbet for dessert later on in the week when he sensed Zoro approaching him.

“Oh,” Sanji said, looking at Zoro. “Look who decided to come out and be social.”

Zoro sent Sanji a dirty look. “Come upstairs with me, Cook.”

“‘Hi, Sanji,’” Sanji said, speaking for Zoro, his words taking on a bitter edge. “‘How are you, Sanji? How was your day? Sorry for blowing you off earlier.’”

“I didn’t blow you off,” Zoro said.

“Then what do you call this morning?” Sanji said, brows shooting up.

“I said I was busy.”

“Oh, yes. Busy doing marimo things, I’m sure,” Sanji said, nodding calmly like they were having a reasonable, levelheaded discussion. “I bet you had a busy schedule of drinking at the closest tavern. Or loitering.”

“You’re impossible. If you’d just–”

“And you’re an insensitive asshole!” Sanji spat.

Zoro stared at Sanji for a few moments before he released the tension in his shoulders. He sighed, shaking his head slightly. “This is the exact opposite of how I wanted tonight to go,” he said, sounding like he was talking more to himself than Sanji. 

Sanji snorted and angrily stabbed at his food. 

“I’m sorry, Cook,” Zoro said, his voice much calmer now. Sanji looked up into Zoro’s eye. “Would you just come up to the crow’s nest with me so I can make it up to you? You can bring your food if you want.”

Sanji blinked, taken aback by Zoro’s apology. He felt himself soften, the resentment in his chest uncoiling until it disappeared completely. “Okay,” he said softly. He got to his feet, plate in hand, and he followed Zoro up to the crow’s nest. 

He stared at Zoro’s back, wondering when he’d gotten so soft with him. He thought back to the early days of their relationship. Such a petty fight could have lasted for days, with both of them refusing to relent at first because to do so would be to show weakness, only for them to come together later and make up. Looking at Zoro, Sanji realized that both of them must have stopped caring about appearing weak to the other over petty fights. 

“So what’s upstairs?” Sanji asked.

“A surprise,” Zoro said.

Sanji blinked. “A surprise? For me?”

“No, for Brook,” Zoro said sarcastically. He looked at Sanji over his shoulder, a small, affectionate smile softening his features. “Yes, for you.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t act so shocked, Curly.”

“Well, it’s just that’s not usually your style,” Sanji said as they neared the hatch. 

“There’s a first for everything.”

“Hm.”

Zoro came to a quick stop, looking into Sanji’s eyes. “Before we go in, I just wanted to...” He trailed off, staring at the floor. 

“What is it?” Sanji asked. Zoro looked so uncertain, something Sanji rarely got to see. It was kind of cute.

Zoro looked back up into Sanji’s eye. “All right, you know I don’t know shit about romance.”

Sanji laughed both in shock and delight, anticipation growing in him. Zoro may not know anything about romance, but there were days where he could make Sanji melt just by something as simple as telling him that one of his favorite things was waking up next to him in the morning. Zoro wasn’t romantic because he tried, but because he spoke from the heart. “That’s okay,” Sanji said.

“So if I messed this up, I don’t want you chewing me out,” Zoro said. “I tried asking the girls about it–Usopp, too, since he seems to do a pretty good job at making Nami happy–but, you know...”

A grin slowly formed on Sanji’s face as he looked at Zoro. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Sanji said. “Let’s go up there! The suspense is killing me.” Zoro smiled at Sanji before climbing up the ladder and entering the crow’s nest. Sanji followed, balancing the plate while climbing with ease after the dozens if not hundreds of times he’d come up with food for Zoro.

Sanji looked around the inside of the crow’s nest, the room lit by dozens of candles. He set his plate down on the floor and promptly forgot it. 

“Usopp told me candles are romantic,” Zoro said. He nodded at the center of the room, where he had set the futon they kept up here for when they wanted to share a night together. Next to bed sat a bottle of wine that Sanji bent down to pick up and examine. He ran his thumb against the label while Zoro said “Nami says wine and a good meal are the way to go. I couldn’t do anything about the food because I can’t cook and nothing’s as good as your food, but I found a guy selling wine. I hope it’s as fancy as he said it was.”

“What did Robin tell you?” Sanji asked. The wine was as fancy as Zoro hoped, but that didn’t matter to Sanji so much as the fact that Zoro was so concerned with impressing him.

“Some ‘be yourself’ crap that didn’t help at all,” Zoro grumbled.

Sanji chuckled, looking up at Zoro. “She’s right, you know.”

Zoro blinked. “Yeah?”

Sanji nodded. He set the bottle back down and approached Zoro, feeling like he was floating. He wrapped his arms around Zoro in an embrace. “You did all this for me?”

Zoro nodded, returning his embrace. “You’ve seemed stressed lately,” he said. “I thought this might make you feel better.”

Sanji smiled and he kissed Zoro. “It does,” he said when pulled away just enough to speak. He closed his eyes and laid his forehead against Zoro’s. “It was actually pretty sweet of you, Marimo.”

Zoro brought one of his hands to Sanji’s face, rubbing the pad of his thumb against Sanji’s cheek. “Glad you like it, Cook.”

Sanji pulled back, looking at Zoro sternly. “Just don’t be an asshole next time you want to plan a surprise like this,” he said.

Zoro snorted. He laughed as they pulled apart. “You got it,” he said.

“Now,” Sanji said, kicking off his shoes so he could be more comfortable. “Why don’t you open up that bottle and we’ll see if all that money you spent was worth it.”

This is a long post. I don’t feel like putting it under a read more. So. Enjoy. Or keep scrolling. Either works.

So this post happened

These roles just came to me. Didn’t need to give it much thought because Sanji has the appearance and demeanor of a lead singer and I like the idea of him using his skilled hands to play piano at the same time.

I also watched the movie Rocketman earlier in the week. You know, that Elton John biopic. I adored it and it’s been heavy on my mind lately and I liked the idea of Sanji giving a high energy performance from the piano. (Sir Elton John’s music comes into play later.)

And as for Zoro, I find the bass and/or the beat the sexiest part of the music in a song and, naturally, I can see him rocking at either.

So I asked Cas if she had any other headcanons for this AU and this thing is too good to not share.

Yeah, so Zoro and Sanji are in a boy band with Usopp and Luffy. Luffy started the band. Luffy does guitar, Zoro is on bass, Usopp is on drums, and Sanji is on keyboard and vocals.

Nami is their manager. She works them hard and has taken a 40% cut of the profits because of the guys’ naivete and inexperience. But she’s why they took off. She booked their gigs at every venue she could manage, no matter how small.

They got their big break when Nami met Vivi, who’s a talent scout for the record label Baroque Works. Nami insisted that Vivi had to see the boys perform because they’re something else and Vivi’s heard that a thousand times, but she agreed because Nami is cute. Nami and Vivi are dating. Also, re Baroque Works: Crocodile looks like a sleazy music producer, doesn’t he? So does Doflamingo.

So Sanji is the pretty one, Luffy is the funny one, Zoro is the quiet/broody one, and Usopp is the smart one.

Zoro has a lot of deals with fitness brands, but secretly finds the famous life unfulfilling. This comes back later, so keep that in your back pocket.

Robin runs their social media. She’s so good at her job, running all of their accounts and tweeting simultaneously, you’d swear she had four sets of hands. Wink.

Franky does pyrotechnics/lighting.

Brook is their stylist.

Chopper was their first real fan. He and Zoro grew up in the same neighborhood and Chopper just always idolized him. He followed them before anyone knew their names. He was their hype man, saying encouraging things like "I know you guys are gonna be great!" He believed in them even when they didn't believe in themselves.

Usopp set up their recordings before they got signed because he’s savvy. And then Chopper would sell their crappy CDs. At these tiny gigs. Like coffeehouses and stuff.

Sanji can play keyboard because his parents forced him to play piano as a kid. They had this idea that classical music would teach him discipline and make him smarter. This is how he meets Zeff. Zeff’s your typical stern instructor, but he’s the first adult to ask Sanji what he actually wants and likes. Zeff sees Sanji’s not into it so he asks him what music he likes and Sanji tells him he likes pop, so Zeff gives Sanji a more rounded education. This includes Elton John because I say so. It did inspire me to put Sanji on keyboard, after all.

But other than being Sanji’s piano instructor, Zeff becomes the one positive adult figure in young Sanji’s life and he becomes something of a mentor figure for him. Zeff has a garden and he lets Sanji work in it with him. This garden is how Sanji gets his “little eggplant” nickname. Sanji pulls an eggplant out before it’s ready and it’s so small and pitiful and Zeff won’t let him live it down. Like, Sanji keeps in touch with Zeff even into adulthood and after he makes it big and he still calls Sanji little eggplant.

Zoro and Sanji are always doing that, "Kind of flirting, not really” thing on stage.  Sanji is always like walking up to Zoro on stage and acting like he's going to kiss him but pushing him away at the last moment. And it's this huge mystery whether they're actually an item or not. This comes from Nami. Sanji and Zoro have this natural chemistry with each other that leads to speculation and Nami, knowing how boy band fan bases work, saw dollar signs. But it’s not just pragmatism on her part; she knows that one cannot simply go up to Zoro and Sanji and say “You obviously like each other. You should date.” So she makes money and helps her friends find happiness.

Usopp has speculation going on as well. People are always confused as to who he’s dating. Tabloids keep being like "Usopp dumped Nami and is now dating Luffy!" "Luffy Scorned?" "Luffy ditches Usopp and steals his girl!" And they just think the entire thing is hilarious. They collect headlines. The answer is Usopp is dating Luffy and Nami and Luffy and Nami just become really affectionate with each other after dating Usopp long enough. Also Nami is dating Vivi, like I mentioned, and sometimes Nami brings her on as a plus one. 

Sanji and Zoro keep giving conflicting answers about their relationship status. Like they'll tell one person they hate each other and another person they're gonna get married someday. Sanji has to walk this fine line of being "in love" with all of his female fans and also "in love" with Zoro. Or not. Who knows? Like Sanji enjoys the attention but he really really plays shit up for his fangirls. This makes Sanji even more popular. Just picture pages upon pages of Sanji/Reader and “Zanji” fics on Wattpad. Nami is one smart lady. "I am the smartest, prettiest, most clever person alive."

Zosan getting together really is just a bunch of Fake Dating tropes. At first it really is just to get more press for the band. Nami schemes with Usopp and Robin to push them together. Robin's a social media genius and knows how to craft tweets and Instagram posts that fans will overanalyze. 

Meanwhile eventually Zoro and Sanji admit to each other they have actual feelings and one day Usopp finds Sanji sleeping in Zoro's bed, both of them completely tuckered out. But they don’t know Nami crafted this. They just come clean and hope she won't be mad and she's like, "Yes! Finally!" and they're like "What?" and she's like, "I've been waiting for you two to realize you have actual feelings. Did you really think I'd just use you for profit like that?" and they're both like "Yes" "Of course"

Zoro’s mad at her for meddling. Secretly he’s grateful, but he doesn’t want to give her the satisfaction and he’s yelling until Sanji grabs his hand and he just calms down.

And to bring Elton John back into the picture, just picture Sanji doing a cover of “Your Song” and uploading it online and thinking about Zoro. Naturally the comments are abuzz with people speculating that he’s singing about Zoro. And like. Onstage Sanji does his rendition and sends these small glances Zoro’s way, partially because he knows it’ll get the band a lot of attention, partially because that song is sweet and beautiful and it’s such a simple way to explain his feelings. (There is a reason why Moulin Rouge included it!!) I imagine this happens before they come clean to each other. Like, Zoro comes to him and is all “I keep thinking about that song you did...” And they go from there.

And eventually the band comes to its natural end. 

Usopp goes solo and flourishes, working as a songwriter and a producer. He wrote the band’s songs and he’s had a drum kit since he was, like, ten and he can make his own beats. He’s not the singing type (though he is good at it and could reach new heights if he came out of his shell), so he’s the kind of artist who makes the beat and then gets super famous pop singers to feature on his tracks. But he also writes songs for other singers and is so good at it and produces other artists’ tracks. I also like the idea that he’s taught himself to play multiple instruments, but he prefers the drums/percussion. He totally played percussion in school and was in marching band. I was in marching band for one year. I loathed every second of it, but I know he’d be phenomenal in drum corps.

Luffy isn’t much in music anymore, but he keeps himself busy. He’s something of an influencer, the kind of celebrity who gets paid to wear fashion brands’ clothing. He’s also Usopp’s trophy husband, living off the money he made off the band. Usopp grew wise to Nami’s antics and made sure he and Luffy would live comfortably for the rest of their lives, even if Usopp were to retire. Luffy also is secretly a Buzzfeed journalist because it’s fun for him to write these hit articles and people not know it’s him because he’s writing on this super bland pseudonym. 

And then there’s Zosan. They have a falling out after the band splits and go their separate ways.

Sanji quits being a professional singer because he’s tired of the prying into his personal life, but he still mentors and/or teaches. He has a string of girlfriends and finds no fulfillment in those relationships because the women are only interested in his celebrity.

And they aren’t Zoro.

Zoro tried branching off into commercials for fitness, but his heart wasn’t in it. He kind of takes up ranching on a whim and learns that he’s really good at it. He likes the physical labor, the quiet, being away from it all, nobody knowing his name. He doesn’t pursue anyone after Sanji because he feels like if it’s meant to be, someone will appear.

And Sanji does.

Sanji finds out where Zoro is through Luffy. So he makes his way to the ranch and finds Zoro and Sanji is all “Come back. I miss you.”

And there’s just a lot of soft Zosan content during Sanji’s visit. Sanji’s always been afraid of horses, but he’s not afraid when he’s with Zoro, and Zoro teaches him they can be gentle creatures, it’s just that you just have to respect them. (Ha. Get it?) Zoro takes Sanji on a ride and they go out and he takes him up the mountain and shows him how beautiful the view is. Sanji's watching the sunset and he's like, "Damn that's the prettiest thing I've ever seen." And Zoro is looking at Sanji and he says, "It sure is." And Sanji's like, "you're not... even looking." And Zoro's like, "No, I'm looking alright. Prettiest thing I've ever seen for sure."

More soft things like Zoro taking off his cowboy hat and putting it on Sanji. Them sitting by the fire, Zoro playing acoustic while Sanji sings. Whenever people see them they’ll ask them if they’re musicians and they share a knowing smile and say “Yeah. Something like that.”

And Zoro convinces Sanji to move out there with him. The others come to visit. Luffy and Chopper are obsessed with the cows and horses and the chickens. Luffy wants, like, eight pet chickens. Usopp is skeptical. Doesn’t believe Lu can look after a pet.