WINTER HEAT | ZoSan ❄

3

"To hell with you then."

The Cook dusted himself off of the ground and tried to make his way back up the hill, attempting to leave Zoro behind as soon as he possibly could.

Unfortunately for him, the mountain was impossibly high for him to climb, even using his abilities to walk on air.

His legs were too cold for him to boost himself up, so he ended up in the same place that he was trying to escape from.

"Hey, number three! I doubt you'll be able to climb that unless you have snow boots, instead of the slippery rain boots you have on right now."

The Cook's determination was strong, but his will to continue moving forward was starting to decline when Zoro's sarcastic comments got to his head, causing him to tumble back down.

"You might be able to reach the top within a few days."

"And hey, didn't Nami mention something about a big snow storm headed here soon?"

"Bummer... That's gonna be a hassle when you try scaling up that hill."

The Cook's skin was cold, but his blood was boiling from the inside. Despite his dedication to making it back to the top of the hill, he simply couldn't.

And every time that he would lose his balance and slide back down, the Swordsman would have something new to say to him.

"Put a sock in it! At least it's better than standing there to freeze for hours!! It's cold as hell out here!"

The Cook defended himself, lashing out on Zoro.

"Last time I checked: Hell isn't cold."

Zoro responded, staring at a nearby pathway, far into the forest.

"You've been to hell before?" Sanji raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Where do you think I come from?" The Swordsman smirked.

"Yeah. That's plain to see. Too bad you didn't stay there, faaaar away from this world."

Turning away from the Swordsman, Sanji made his way down one of the two pathways that he was standing in front of before.

Both trails were identical, but only one would lead him to a safe way out.

Without putting much thought into the path he chose, the man followed it as if he knew where he was going all along.

The wind blasted snowflakes onto his clothing and parts of his exposed skin, like his hands, neck, and face that were deprived of gloves and a scarf.

Not having a pair of gloves to keep his hands warm wasn't the smartest choice that the Cook made upon arriving at the Island, but forgetting something important was inevitable for him and his busy mind.

"S... Should be here somewhere..."

He thought to himself, dismissing the negative emotions that wanted to torment him.

Wrapping his arms around himself, the Cook rubbed his shoulders, hoping to heat himself up if he rubbed fast enough.

However, the strong wind gusts showed no mercy to his body or the clothing that he had on.

"There."

He unknowingly guided himself deeper down the path he had chosen, watching the trail getting more and more reduced by the amount of pine trees surrounding the forest.

The hazy sunlight was no match for the trees Sanji found himself trapped by, the further he travelled.

Motivated to find a way out or possibly bump into one of his crew mates, the Cook was optimistic about what would lie down the end of the path he had chosen to take.

However, after walking for nearly an hour and a half to no avail, paranoia started to settle into Sanji's mind when he realized how cold he felt.

"Tobacco..." Desperately digging into his pocket, the Cook searched for a cigarette.

Having found one, of the many that he still had on him, Sanji dug further to take his lighter out, only to feel an empty spot within his pocket where his lighter should have been.

"Huh?"

Although he vividly recalled storing his lighter away in his left pocket, he checked his right side, just in case he mistakenly misplaced it there instead.

Rummaging through the left side for a few seconds, Sanji's hand sank straight to the bottom, reminding him that he hadn't misplaced the lighter at all... He had lost it.

"Haha... You're joking, right?"

He unzipped his jacket and held it upside down, flailing it around the air.

After a pack of cigarettes and a handkerchief dropped to the ground, the rest of the coat was now empty. Completely empty.

Groaning out loud in disbelief, the Cook swung the coat around his shoulders and zipped it back up, taking a few steps back to see if he happened to drop his lighter nearby.

His vision grew blurry a few minutes into searching for the shiny golden object that he had lost, as a consequence of straining his eyesight to stare down at the ground for prolonged periods of time.

"It must've fallen when that asshole dragged me down the hill. Damn him..."

The Cook grumbled to himself, blaming Zoro for his misfortune while leaving behind the path that he had taken before, all just for the sake of finding his lighter.

The sound of his boots swaying against the ground as his feet were plummeting a few feet into the heavy layers of snow were slowing him down, but that wasn't going to stop him from retrieving back the item he was looking for.

"Aha! There! These are definitely that bastard's footprints. Him and those ridiculous mortal combat boots of his."

He rushed over towards the trail of footprints Zoro had left behind, slightly curious as to where to Swordsman had gone to, but worried more about finding his lighter instead.

"Where... Where.... Come on..."

The Cook's eyes beamed at something shining from deep within the snow.

The color of the object was convincing Sanji that what was buried beneath the snow, was his lighter.

Eager to have it in his hands again, the man scooped up a pile of snow in his fist.

"FINALLY!"

As it slowly broke off and diminished, Sanji sighed in relief and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, to smoke it as soon as he cleaned the snow off of the lighter.

But to his surprise, what he uncovered from the snow wasn't his lighter at all, but a shiny golden piece of jewelry that was left behind by someone that he knew all too well.

"What? Hey wait, this is... One of his earrings."

Holding the dangly earring up to his face, Sanji stared at it for a few seconds.

"Must've fallen out when we fell down the hill as well. Oh well, that's not my problem."

~~~