[Hearing someone else say it feels weird. Moreover, someone who sounds rather like he actually understands, not just 'oh I get it' but really, somewhere deep down, is capable of understanding him. Zoro presses a hand to his lips for a moment, not to hold anything back but to give himself space to think.]

I was. But...it's not so simple anymore.

[dragging this out of him is like pulling a hundred-ton anchor from a long-dead galleon out of thousand-kilometer deep water with your bare hands, but given that Sanji also saw his memory of his demand to be trained, the two moments actually fit with one another. After a long pause, it finally comes out.]

It isn't just my promise to her. It's about Luffy, and the rest of the crew, now. She got me started on the path, but I have to keep going for him, not her. At least, that way I can still keep my promise to her.