Chapter 6- Future Hell, I Mean, Home

Zoro finished their baths and tucked them into bed. Sanji got to sleep in the secret hideout and Robin slept in an old wooden crib that sat in the corner of the master bedroom. Zoro was tossing and turning in bed, trying not to think about what he was going to have to deal with for at least several weeks, and on top of that, he was worrying about the other members of the crew.

A few moments later he heard the creaking of floorboards. He heard a series of noises that alternated between a light slap of a small naked foot, followed by the sturdy clunk of a walking cast; then the sound of squeaking hinges. He cringed at the thought, but somehow he knew that whatever just stepped into his room, was dangerous on a whole other level; a level that he hadn't ventured to and hadn't planned on experiencing, but here it was: in his room. And now he was going to have to deal with it.

"Nii-chan...I can' sweep. Can I sweep wiff you?"

"Uhn...Sanji, what the hell are you doing in my room..." Zoro rolled onto his back and sat up so he could glare down at the little boy.

"Pwease, Nii-chan I can' sweep." Sanji was swaying and twiddling his fingers and staring at anything other than Zoro.

Zoro heaved a huge sigh. Weighing the pros and cons of letting the little boy sleep with him in bed. He finally came to a decision after much difficult thinking, "No."

"Bu—Buh...Nii-chan I'm..Ih's (it's) scawy up dare."

"What, you don't like your 'secret hideout.'" Sanji shook his head wildly, trying to convince Zoro of his sincerity. When he stopped, Zoro saw that the little boy had tears in his eyes.

'Oh shit.' Zoro quickly hopped out of bed and was kneeling in front of the boy in no time, grabbing onto his shoulders and looking him straight into his big teary eyes. "Oi, Sanji, don't cry, ok? You'll wake up Robin, and then she'll start crying, and the last thing I need is a crying baby."

"Nii-chan..." Sanji suddenly threw himself at Zoro, wrapping his arms around Zoro's neck and crying into Zoro's broad shoulder. The action caught Zoro by surprise, but eventually, he rolled his eyes and placed his hands on Sanji's back, rubbing gently.

Sanji sniffed and rubbed his nose on Zoro's shirt, smearing it with snot.

"Ah, Sanji! That's just gross..." Zoro heaved a sigh.

"Sowwy Nii-chan..."

"And PLEASE don't call me Nii-chan. It's Zoro. Zo-ro." Sanji clenched his little fists into Zoro's shirt and Zoro sighed again, "Alright fine, you can sleep here, but just keep on your side of the bed." Sanji smiled a toothy grin and jumped into bed. He snuggled down under the blankets and giggled a little. Zoro followed suit, after removing his snotty t-shirt.

"Night-night Zowro." He said, the smile never leaving his face.

"G'night baby-ero-cook." And with that, the two of them fell into a deep slumber.

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Then Next Morning

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"Zowro....Zowro..."

Pitter-thunk pitter-thunk....

TWUMP

"HUA!" Zoro was wide-awake and pissed. He fell back down to the pillow when he realized that Sanji had just done a full-scale body-slam from the footboard, his cast ramming him square in the crotch. With a grimace plastered on his face, Zoro rolled over in bed, only to have Sanji climb back on top of him.

"Neh, Nii— oh..oopsie, Zowro, when's bwea-fast?"

Zoro put one of his big hands over his eyes and slowly dragged it down his face, pulling the skin and stretching out his face. Sanji giggled from his position on Zoro's hip.

"You're funny Zowro!" Just then, Robin started to cry. She was holding onto the bars so she could stand and was reaching out with one arm, desperately trying to get Zoro's attention. He pushed Sanji off and threw the blankets over the blonde boy's head.

He walked over and looked at Robin who was now gurgling happily. She released the bars and let herself fall onto her bum and reached her hands out for Zoro to pick her up. Reluctantly, Zoro complied. Robin snuggled into his broad, naked shoulder and stuck her fist in her mouth and began to suck vigorously, drool sliding down her face and onto Zoro's warm skin. Although absolutely repulsed, Zoro smiled a little and walked out of the bedroom and into the small cupboard of a kitchen. He opened the cabinets and searched for anything that might seem mildly edible.

"Zowro, wha's fow bwea-fast?"

"I don't know Sanji."

"Buh I'm hungy-y-y."

"I get it now shut up!"

"Buh—"

"Sanji, if you say one more word I'm going to..." It took Zoro a moment to think of an effective threat, "Or you'll have to sit in the secret hide-out alone for 5 minutes in a time-out." Zoro grimaced as the words rolled off his tongue, but was glad when he saw how effective it was. Sanji slapped his hands over his mouth and backed away.

Zoro continued to look through the cabinets until he found some dried goods, an assortment of canned foods, and some powered milk.

"Better than nothing..." He muttered to himself. Zoro turned around to see a small table with two chairs and a high chair sitting not to far away.

'It's like he knew we were coming.' Zoro was slightly uneasy that everything was set up as if the house had been specifically designed for them. He was brought out of his musings when Sanji started tugging on his pant leg, silently asking for food. Zoro ignored the child and placed Robin in the highchair and went about preparing breakfast.

"Da!" Robin slapped her hands against the tray of the plastic highchair with a frustrated expression, contorting her normally very cute face.

"Hang on Robin..." Zoro was juggling a glass baby bottle, the canister of powdered milk, cereal, an assortment of canned fruits, and a pot to heat the milk in, all the while trying not to trip over Sanji who always managed to get under foot.

"GODDAMMIT SANJI!" Zoro bellowed from the floor. Sanji had finally succeeded in tripping him, sending everything in his arms to the ground with a loud clatter. Robin started to wail and the sudden loud noise and was kicking in her chair and flailing her fists, her face growing red from screaming. Zoro quickly stood up and gathered the baby in his arms, bouncing up and down like he had seen so many other mothers do whenever the crew docked.

It was then that he noticed Sanji was missing. He felt mildly worried that the child had run off somewhere and was going to hurt himself, but the feeling, as soon as it came, was gone again.

"Zoro...you can put me down now."

"Eh?" Zoro took Robin away from his shoulder so he could look at her eye-to-eye, "You're back to normal."

"Yes, I was relapsing. Sorry." Zoro put her back into the highchair, which she didn't object to incase she had another memory relapse.

Zoro sighed as he looked at the mess on the floor: a broken bottle, spilled cereal, and the powdered milk canister that had opened and spilled out; the pot and cans were fine. Sighing again, he leaned over and picked up the cans and the pot, before getting to work on cleaning up the mess.

After tripping his Nii-chan—although forbidden to call him as such—Sanji fled the scene, afraid that Zoro was going to punish him. He felt really bad when he saw the unhappy face of the older man as he struggled to get the fine powder and crumbs of cereal off the floor. Feeling tears well up in his eyes, Sanji ran to go hide in the master bedroom, underneath the warm blankets that had yet to be made.

He pulled the covers up over his head and snuggled his face into Zoro's pillow, trying to find comfort in the scent. He ended up only getting more upset and decided that he needed to be punished. Taking the blankets and pillow with him, Sanji walked crookedly out of the master bedroom and up the ladder into the loft. He struggled, after all, this was no easy feat to accomplish: climbing a narrow ladder with a broken foot, heavy blanket and bulky pillow. But Sanji, however, had miraculously managed to do so without too much effort. He sat on the twin-sized mattress in the dark cubby and quietly cried to himself. Glancing around he spied a spider's web above his head, with a big, hairy spider dangling from it, slowly descending towards Sanji.

"AHHHH! NII-CHAAAN!!!" Temporarily forgetting that he had been banned from calling Zoro by that nickname, he screamed and cried, awaiting his night in shining armor to save him from the foul beast, which was now only a foot above his head. Too scared to move, Sanji only watched in horror as the spider continued to lower itself towards Sanji's big weepy eyes. Only inches above it's target, the spider seemed to got even more malicious and frightening to the young boy.

"Sanji!" It was at this climactic scene that Zoro had finally been able to locate the crying boy and save him from the dreaded spider. grabbing it by the thread it dangled from, Zoro carefully removed the spider from it's web and carried it back down the ladder. Sanji crawled over and stared after Zoro, who had disappeared around the corner and was not muttering to himself. Sanji felt even worse than he had before. He was causing his guardian misery and was only trouble for him. 'Niii-chan,' Sanji thought, 'Ih's awl my fauwt. I make you sad.' Sanji could feel tears well up again, but furiously wiped them away. 'I ain't gonna cwy no mow.. I wanna help Nii-chan.' Sanji unwrapped himself from the blankets and threw them down the ladder, which were shortly followed by the pillow he had brought up only moments before. He carefully made his way back down the ladder and heaved the blankets up into his arms. 'Don' wowry nii-chan. I is gonna make you 'appy agin.' Sanji, determination glimmering in his big blue eyes, set out to do just that.