Chapter 14 - Answers

The walk home from the strange basement clinic was silent, between Zoro and Sanji at least. The others weren't silent at all. Luffy followed them a part of the way, carrying Chopper in a backpack like a stuffed animal, talking excitedly about something and all Zoro did was nod quietly as he listened.

Sanji walked besides the two men, close enough to Zoro to catch him if he fell, but still not so close that their shoulders were touching. Johnny and Yosaku were walking right behind them and Sanji could feel their glares at the back of his head.

"-It was really nice to have your help Sanji!" Luffy said, yanking the blond back to reality, startling Sanji into looking at him and catching Zoro's half smile as it widened into a lopsided grin. The black haired boy grinned widely, a soft delighted hum in his tone.

Sanji smiled back subtly, shaking his head as he lit himself a cigarette. "Don't mention it. I'm glad no one got too hurt."

He really would like to tell Luffy about his predicament with Crocodile, maybe ask for his help and see if they were all crazy enough to help a stranger like him. But Zoro was injured and Luffy had suffered a beating, everyone was probably tired right now and poor Chopper had bigger worries with the doctor hunt going on.

He couldn't possibly trouble them with his issues right now. He didn't know them that well, they didn't owe him anything. Taking on Baroque works was too dangerous, he couldn't risk these people getting involved. What if someone got hurt because of him? Sanji couldn't bear the thought, so he smiled.

"See ya then! Gotta go see Nami and Nojiko!" Luffy smiled right back, laughing cheerfully and waving them goodbye. He gave Zoro a harsh pat on the back that caused the swordsman to groan in pain. Chopper struggled in the backpack, waving frantically at Zoro.

"Zoro! Come to the clinic soon or I'll kick your ass!" Chopper yelled angrily, flailing his arms around as Luffy ran down an alley and stretched bizarrely to grab onto a rooftop and swing over a wall, disappearing into the dark of the night with Chopper yelling threats from his back.

Johnny and Yosaku waved as they followed after the younger man, keeping their eyes on Sanji for a little too long and almost running into a streetlight. After quite literally saving face, the two men scurried off to follow Luffy.

Sanji watched as the men clumsily scaled a half wall, pulling each other up before they disappeared over the wall with loud sounds of garbage cans toppling over and comically meowing cats. He serviced his cigarette, turning back to Zoro who was currently heading the wrong way.

"Oi. That's not the way to my place, marimo." Sanji caught up with by widening his steps, gritting his teeth in pain as he jolted his bruised ribs. "Unless you want to stop by your apartment and get something-"

"No." Zoro said firmly, and Sanji arched a curled eyebrow at him suspiciously. Zoro sighed and scratched the back of his green head, raising the white hilted sword Sanji had hid two days before. "There's nothing in my apartment I care to get. This sword is pretty much the only thing I have that has any value to me."

"Oh?" Sanji leant forward as much as his aching torso would allow, looking the sword over carefully. It really did look beautiful and very old. "That's right, you said it was an heirloom."

"Why do you bother remembering that?" Zoro paused in the middle of a wrong turn, looking Sanji over curiously. "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't understand." The blond remained slightly leant forward, blinking innocently up at the other man before he grinned teasingly. "It's simple."

Sanji averted his eyes to the few windows in the neighborhood with lights in them. The street would have been completely silent if a distant TV wasn't blaring some action movie. Rather strange for a Saturday night.

Usually there would have been at least some stumbling drunk young people around. The air was warm and full of dust. The sky was dark and clear, it felt like forever since Sanji last saw a cloud. It hadn't been raining at all for a long time.

Zoro seemed to be waiting for a reason. His shoulders tensed as he watched Sanji intently. Sanji straightened up, taking a long drag of his cigarette before blowing smoke into the air dramatically. He looked at Zoro over his shoulder, looking him over in a way that made the swordsman's jaw tense before Sanji crushed the bud of his cigarette under his foot.

"It's because you're a moss brain." Sanji said dramatically, watching as Zoro's serious expression vanished and was replaced by the funniest embarrassed scowl Sanji had ever seen in his life.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO SLICE OFF YOUR STUPID CURLY BROW?" Zoro swung the sword for Sanji in a fit of rage, and Sanji dodged it with a jump backwards, laughing at Zoro's indignant and annoyed grimace.

"YOU… SHOULD HAVE SEEN… THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE!" Sanji barely managed to gasp in between laughing and heaving for breath, the strain of laughter on his poor abused ribs making him buckle over and wheeze in a mix of joy and horrendous pain.

Zoro grumbled something in annoyance, clutching his own injuries and growling like a muzzled dog. It was hilarious and Sanji suffered for it. The pain eventually got too much and he grabbed his sides, trying to stop laughing before they woke up the neighborhood.

"You hurt curly brow?" Zoro's frown was directed to Sanji's bruised ribs, the blond brushed off his pants and rolled his eyes. He lit himself a cigarette to try to dull the pain pulsing in his side.

"Of course I'm hurt, idiot. Everyone was hurt in that fight." Sanji grimaced, resuming his walk to his apartment. "Some more than others; do you think Nami-swan will be alright?"

"She'll be fine. She's stronger than she looks." Zoro caught up to his side, warmth lingering in the air between their shoulders. The entrance to Sanji's alley was in clear view and the blond was already fishing for his keys when Zoro stopped walking. Standing in the middle of the street and not moving a muscle until Sanji stopped walking to turn and look at him.

"Don't tell me you got lost standing still-"

"You didn't have to help." Zoro said somberly, his expression utterly serious as he stood a safe distance away, looking right at Sanji's shocked face. Shock turned to anger, fury as Sanji stormed up to Zoro and grabbed him by the collar of his stupid black shirt.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD! IF I HADN'T BEEN THERE-"

"-Someone could have died." Zoro finished calmly, and Sanji paused his tirade to stare at the man who was so very close right now, and utterly serious.

Zoro slowly reached up to grabs Sanji's wrist, turning it slowly and gently until the blonde's fingers peeled off of his clothing. He held Sanji's hand by the wrist, dirty bandages peeling off of his pale skin and Sanji was sure Zoro could feel the thundering pulse beating against his palm.

"That's not what I mean. If you hadn't been there someone might have been seriously injured or died." Zoro continued calmly, his voice a little lower than usually and not a single twitch of amusement in his face.

"Then what the hell are you talking about shitty marimo-" Sanji was shaking with anger, completely buzzing with adrenaline and gritting his teeth so hard he could taste the disgusting remnants of the cigarette filter. And why was this damn fluttering in his chest mixing in with all of this?!

"You didn't HAVE to come. I didn't wait for you or ask you to, but you did." Zoro said slowly, brow furrowing slightly as his grip on Sanji's wrist tightened. "Why? What is your issue here? Do you get off on helping people? Do you have some sort of god complex?"

Sanji blinked in confusion, trying to place Zoro's bewildered look. The grip on his wrist didn't hurt, but it was warm and tight and his heart was beating a thousand beats a minute. They were standing in the middle of the empty street with the warm and dusty air laying over the night like a warm blanket.

"Why do you help people?" Zoro reiterated, his voice a bit more demanding this time. "I won't judge whatever your motives are. I just want to know them." Sanji chuckled darkly, shaking his head slowly. He looked up and smiled subtly at Zoro, amused by this whole thing.

"Oh? Are answers suddenly required now that you're the one who's asking the questions?" Sanji's free hand threw his burned up cigarette on the ground, he crushed it under his foot, his smile stretching out until his lips were a thin line. "-Then I'll just go right ahead."

Zoro's eyes widened slightly as his grip on Sanji's wrist faltered, the blond stepping into his personal space with the most furious expression. Sanji's finger poking him in the chest dangerously close to his bandages.

"What happened at that construction site?" Sanji started, his face an inch away from Zoro's. "Why are you so against doctors you'd rather bleed your guts out on my doorstep?" Sanji's tone was perfectly calm, but the entire world seemed to have fallen silent around them.

"Why do Rika and her mom like you? Why can't you go see them?" His voice slipped into an angry snarl, Sanji was sick of this. Like hell he was about to give Zoro any answers while he was still left in the dark. His deep inhaling was straining his ribs , but he didn't care.

"Why were we fighting fishmen?!" Sanji's shoulders tensed and Zoro let go of his wrist staring at him in wonder as Sanji stood on his toes to pour himself over the other man. His voice was gaining volume and he was fully aware he was glaring the other man down. Zoro gave him a blank look, jaw slightly slack as Sanji continued his tirade.

"And WHY-" Sanji paused trying to reel in his voice that had gained booming volume as he was sure he was spitting on Zoro's face. He didn't care. He saw red, he'd had enough and he wanted answers right now. "WHY did you choose to come here with me instead of going with your friends?" Sanji tucked a cigarette between his teeth, snarling at Zoro as he lit it with a violent flick of his thumb over his lighter wheel.

He blew smoke into Zoro's face, watching it slither and curl around the man's features. Breathing out his frustrations as he leveled Zoro with the most displeased expression of challenge he could possibly muster. The other man didn't move, looking Sanji directly in the eyes before he grunted out in frustration and grabbed Sanji's hand again.

"What are you-" Sanji's objections died when Zoro grabbed hold of his wrist.

Without a single word, Zoro pulled him towards the entrance of Sanji's alley. He let go once he reached the door, waiting with an impatient expression for Sanji to unlock it. He sort of looked like a puppy, but Sanji was so suspicious and tense about Zoro's behavior to comment on it. Why wasn't he saying anything?

Sanji stuck his key into its home and turned it, heart racing as he wasn't sure what exactly was going to happen when he stepped inside his apartment. Zoro was terribly hard to read right now. Had he angered the man somehow? Sanji bit his lip, it didn't really matter. Zoro wasn't going to hurt him, right?

He pushed inside and turned on the lights, Zoro followed him through the door and closed it, locking it determinedly with a click that seemed to rattle all of Sanji's bones. Tension coursed through his veins as Sanji froze in place. It was different when someone else locked his door; it didn't feel like the world was locked out, it felt like Sanji was locked in.

The air was tense for a moment as Zoro looked through the small window next to the door, cats lined on the half wall outside and staring intently inside. Gleaming eyes followed the men inside with slow flicks of tails. The green haired man muttered something under his breath and pulled the curtains, tension in his shoulders obvious and worrying.

Sanji glanced to the bathroom door, he could lock himself away from the other man until whatever was lingering in the air was gone. Lock himself away from all the things he didn't want to deal with, this trouble he'd gotten himself into. He just needed a moment to think things over, damn it, he'd been expecting Zoro to have a snarky comeback for his question, not get overly serious and tense!

Zoro walked right past him, sitting down on 'his' couch and putting his sword on the coffee table in front of him. There was a certain finality in the air, and when Zoro didn't seem to make a move, Sanji calmed himself down and took a seat in his chair opposite the other man.

"What's going on?" Sanji kept on his toes, watching Zoro warily as the man tried to get comfortable without pulling on his stitches.

"Nami is an old friend of mine. I've known her for a while." Zoro began, his voice sounding almost monotone as he stared at his sword. "She used to go around joining gangs and socializing with criminals to steal their cash."

"That's dangerous-" Sanji started objecting, displeased thinking about someone as lovely as Nami-swan putting herself in danger like that.

"I know." Zoro interrupted, continuing his story. "Long story short, back when it was just me and Luffy hanging out, she thought we were a part of a gang and wanted to rob us. She got angry when she found out we weren't criminals, but by then we'd all become pretty close so she didn't really leave."

"I suspect she was using the money to pay that fishman? Arlong?" Sanji plucked the cigarette from his lips and breathed smoke into the air, watching as Zoro nodded solemnly.

The events of the news segment earlier started seeping in, and he could feel anger bubbling in his blood again. "So that's what the money was? No wonder she was so angry." Sanji said mournfully, remembering the horrified and angry look on Nami's face.

"She usually came to us if the criminals she was running with caught on, turned on her or attempted to get… physical, with her." Zoro said and the corners of his mouth turned in disgust. "We were her safety net if she got in over her head."

"That's not good enough! She could have gotten seriously hurt." Sanji pointed at Zoro with his cigarette, leaning forward in his seat as much as his bruised ribs would allow. "You should have just tackled the root of the problem and taken those fishmen out to begin with."

Zoro glared at him from across the table, but Sanji didn't budge. He stood fully with that statement and there was no reason for the others to allow Nami to put herself in danger again and again. Zoro didn't look happy with him, but as long as he didn't have that terribly serious expression on, Sanji didn't care. He could glare back all night!

"She asked us not to do anything!" Zoro objected, poking the table aggressively as if he was trying to physically create his point. "She said that if she could solve this deal with money, no one would have to get hurt."

"But she did get hurt, moss brain! Those fishmen didn't treat Nami-swan with respect!" Sanji objected, frowning at the man. "You should have beaten them up from the start!"

"We knew that if we did attack as we were; someone would get seriously hurt." Zoro made a disapproving grunt sound from the other side of the table, staring into his hands for a moment before he let out a deep relieved sigh. The tension in his shoulders eased and his brow smoothed, he instantly looked much younger and less frightening.

"It's strange how one extra person can make a difference." Zoro looked up at him, his face much softer than usual and for the first time in what seemed like forever Sanji felt like the man in his apartment was his age. Zoro's lips curved in a subtle smile and Sanji's heart did an uncomfortable sudden jump against his bruised ribcage.

"No need to thank me, moss brain." Sanji frowned, trying to ignore the fluttering in his chest. Zoro was annoying. "It is a man's job to come to a lady's rescue after all." Zoro snorted loudly and rolled his eyes, apparently not putting too much faith in Sanji's code of chivalry.

"So. Why did you come here?" The blond crossed his long legs and leant back in his chair, curled brow twitching in annoyance. "Even when you had your friends offering to take you back, you still wanted to come back here."

"You got any booze?" Zoro grimaced, scratching his jaw and rubbing off some blood that was apparently not his own. He stood up and raided Sanji's fridge, returning with the damn gigantic glass he'd claimed as his own. "Here. It's for the pain." He offered Sanji a much smaller glass, similar to the one he'd used at dinner.

"Don't try to change the subject, mossy gorilla!" Sanji held his glass out for Zoro to fill it, grimacing at the amount Zoro's large glass could hold. "I'm not hiding anything else you own, there´s no reason for you to come back here."

Zoro placed the almost empty bottle on the table, looking at the glass for a second before he took a large drink with an audible swallowing sound. No manners! Sanji crossed his legs tighter, trying to ignore the display of bruised dirty skin at the bottom of Zoro's neck.

"It's because Johnny and Yosaku are annoying when they are 'taking care' of me." Zoro eventually said with a slight sigh. "They treat me like I'm fragile and take turns watching me sleep just in case I 'stop breathing'. Then they freak out and start crying the MOMENT I puke up a little blood or move around."

The living room was silent for a moment, Sanji had his glass laying against his lower lip as he listened, staring wide eyed at Zoro. The man looked rather embarrassed about the whole thing, and Sanji couldn't help but narrow his eyes in wonder as he pictured the two men crying in motherly hysterics by Zoro's bedside.

"That's why I'd rather stay-OI!" Zoro snarled when Sanji lent against the side of the chair in a semi silent laughing fit. His body shaking with the effort not to burst out laughing as he precariously balanced the drink and cigarette in his hands as he struggled to remain silent.

"D-don't mind me…" Sanji wheezed in between barely restrained chuckles. "Continue." The word gained pitch at the end and Sanji was sure he was going to burst.

"You're an ass." Zoro grimaced, slamming his feet on the table and crossing them at the ankles, which immediately got Sanji out of his laughing fit.

"Feet off the table! Damn caveman!" Sanji used his own long legs to push Zoro's feet off the table, both men silently wrestling with their feet intensely as neither of them was willing to 'loose' and move anything besides their feet.

After a fair bit of fighting, Sanji's leg strength prevailed and he managed to kick Zoro's feet off the table, along with the charger for his laptop, his cell phone and the remote control. The plastic clattered on the floor when Zoro's foot left the table.

"Don't knock my stuff to the floor!" Sanji huffed in annoyance, leaning over to pick the cord of his charger and fish it from the floor. Zoro leant down awkwardly, apparently trying to strain his bandages as little as possible as he managed to toss Sanji his phone and fish the remote close enough with the tip of his finger.

"You're the one who kicked this down, asshole." Zoro sat back up, holding the remote in a way that suggested he was about to throw it in Sanji's face. The blond brought his arms up to block but the hit never came. Zoro rolled his eyes and turned the TV on, moving so he was laying sprawled on the couch as he flipped channels.

"This is my home, I'll pick the channels." Sanji argued, reaching out for the remote. Zoro moved it further out of his reach however, flipping them faster and squinting at them as the scenes passed in a blur.

There wasn't anything wholesome on at 3 am, horror movies and romance flashed one after another on the screen, Sanji squirmed slightly when Zoro seemed to linger longer and longer on the horror movies than the romances.

"Oi, you just passed a good looking one-"

"You chose the movie yesterday, I'll choose this time." Zoro argued, and Sanji sulked, crossing his arms as he settled back in his chair, glaring at Zoro before pulling the half full bottle of alcohol off the table and holding it away from the swordsman.

"Oi!" Zoro struggled to sit up, pushing himself up on his elbow in an attempt to grab the bottle before Sanji claimed it completely. It failed and Zoro almost rolled off the couch.

"Turn back the channel or I'll be drinking all of this alone." He swung the bottle between his fingers and Zoro grumbled something, settling back into his seat. The channel begrudgingly changed from the scene of a man being pulled apart by a giant squid, over to a woman narrating how terribly messed up her life was because she didn't have a boyfriend.

"Are you SURE you don't want to watch anything else?" Zoro tried to reason, and for a second Sanji paused and stared at the TV. His eyes trailed over his apartment, lingering on the light in the kitchen and drying plates on the counter. Then he looked over at Zoro, who looked completely disinterested in the struggles of a beautiful middle class white woman.

"Shut up and throw me that blanket." Sanji gestured for the blanket and Zoro groaned slightly in pain before balling it up and throwing it at Sanji's face, the fabric spreading out the moment it hit Sanji's head and wrapping around it comically.

"Well now I'm DEFINITELY am not planning on changing the channel." Sanji said testily as he unwrapped his head from the blanket, grinning devilishly when Zoro cursed. He'd never had to argue with anyone over what to watch before. There was a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach and he wasn't sure it was just the alcohol.

Zoro groaned in frustration when the woman on TV spilled her coffee on an extremely good looking stranger's jacket. Leaning his green head back on the armrest, Zoro tossed the remote onto the table in resignation. As a reward, Sanji refilled about half of the marimo's glass.

The woman on TV narrated some cheesy double entendre about 'Caution: hot' coffee labeling and then made an idiot out of herself the moment she opened her mouth. Sanji couldn't help a smile when he saw Zoro visibly cringe, glass resting at his lips as he attempted to drink without sitting up properly.

"What? Not a romantic Marimo?"

"I swear if someone spilled coffee over my back and then said they were 'latte' for a meeting, I'd punch them in the face." Zoro groused almost painfully as he slung his arm over his face, placing the glass back on the table. The tug of his shirt revealed the hem of his pants and the dip of his hipbones, an enticing curve of muscle and a tight line of boxer elastic visible in the gap between the front of Zoro's pants and his body.

"Even if that person was ridiculously hot?" Sanji asked absent mindedly, wondering if his hand would fit in the gap if he'd run it along Zoro's-

He wasn't going to think about that, no he was not. Sanji averted his gaze to the TV the instant Zoro uncovered his eyes, glaring contemplatively into the ceiling. Was the man actually putting some thought into the question? He hadn't meant it seriously.

"No. I'd still punch them in the face for that pun." Zoro huffed from the couch, frowning in disapproval. The woman on TV was somehow weaving past traffic in her stilettos without tripping over herself in her embarrassed rush.

"You have no sense of a moment, moss-brain. If you'd punch a lady in the face I'd personally come over to curb stomp your ugly face." Sanji snorted, prompting an amused evil sounding chuckle from the other man. Zoro didn't argue though, so Sanji mentally tallied that as his win. Again.

Sanji moved around in his seat, propping up a pillow to his back to ease the pressure on his ribs. He sank back into the chair, watching the movie dumbly pass on screen.

'But I'm not wearing my lucky lipstick!' The brave heroine wailed in horror as she fixed her make up in her friend's mirror. There was a loud snort from Zoro and Sanji twitched in his seat, turning to look over at the man who'd been relatively silent for a large portion of the movie.

Zoro' arm was slung over his face, mouth hanging open and he snored inelegantly, drooling on the arm rest. Sanji lit himself a cigarette, resting his head on his hand as he watched the rising and falling of Zoro's chest. The idiot would probably be angry if he found out Sanji was watching him sleep, that had been one of the main reasons he didn't go back with his friends after all.

Not that Sanji could blame them; Zoro did look like a different person while sleeping. The blond flicked ashes off his cigarette as the TV droned on completely ignored. A lot had happened today, the evening alone felt a week long. Sanji rubbed his poor tired eyes, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

He really should look up some more info about Crocodile. Mr.1 was going to do something news worthy tomorrow, and if Sanji could catch him in the act or get some proof, he might be able to gain an edge. Zoro snored loudly, moving on the couch so the wood creaked. Sanji looked at his laptop for a moment, mulling over it for a second before he yawned loudly.

No. He wasn't going to be able to stay up much longer, let alone wade through forums of conspiracy theories and fans arguing about Crocodile's shoe size. He got up with slight difficulty, grimacing when the bandages holding his cold pack in place pulled at his skin. He turned the TV off and crushed the remnants of his cigarette into the overflowing ash tray.

Blowing the last smoke of the night into the air, Sanji pulled the blanket from his seat, dusting any trace of ash from it before he crouched next to Zoro to drape it over him. The blanket barely reached Zoro's collarbone if Sanji made sure to cover his feet, the blanket rose and fell with Zoro's breathing but the snores were gone.

Sanji glanced to Zoro's face, his gaze falling on dark eyes looking suspiciously at him from under a muscular forearm. For a second Sanji held eye contact, not sure if he was seeing right in the dark of the room. When Zoro blinked however, Sanji jerked from the shock, hitting his back on the coffee table as he fell backwards. The sword rattled against the ash tray, spilling some of the contents over Sanji's hand and the white sheath.

Zoro chuckled darkly, lowering his arm again with a deep annoyed sigh as he shook his head slightly. "Stop sticking your nose into other people's business and get your half asleep ass to bed curly." Zoro groused in a husky sleep drunken tone. Zoro's lips curved in a subtle smirk before he added thoughtfully, "You look like shit."

"You are the only one who looks like shit here moss-head." Sanji scoffed, dusting ash off his fingers and using his already worn and dirty bandages to wipe ash off the white sheath. Zoro glanced at him when the sword clattered from Sanji's cleaning attempts, feeling like he overstepped some boundary the blond instantly withdrew his hand, leaving some ash on the polished white surface as he got to his feet.

Zoro didn't scold him or tell him off, but he kept looking at him intensely, dark eyes narrowing in silent curiosity until Sanji was sure the bastard was trying to see into his soul. The blond sidestepped away from the sword, dusting off his hands before turning to the bathroom.

"If you don't keep your shitty snores down tonight; I'll break your nose." Sanji threatened half heartedly, storming off to the bathroom and locking the door before Zoro had a chance to argue.

This story is offically OFF hiatus! You can expect regular updates!

Thanks to VioletClockworker for being the beta for this!