I don't own anything but my ideas.

Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?*

Zoro sat perched on the table of the exam room in the arena's hospital, back from the latest fight. The drive back had been five hours because Luffy was literally incapable of sitting on a plane quietly enough not to disturb other passengers and Shanks had yet to get his own plane, which meant that Zoro could only take so many feet accidently rammed up his nose before he lashed out. So he'd decked Luffy and ripped his stitches open in the process. It had been worth it.

Law was cutting the remainder of Chopper's stitches from his bloodied skin, pulling the pieces of thread out with a pair of tweezers and leaving them in a bowl next to him on the table. Law was quiet, but he usually was when he worked and neither of them felt the need to talk if it was just to fill empty space. Kid and Killer were the blubberers of the family, always spewing crazy shit even when the quiet would be nice. So when Law did speak up, Zoro couldn't help but be a little confused.

"Who has Sanji?"

Zoro shrugged. "Shanks said I don't have to watch him every second anymore. Thinks five weeks is enough time to prove Sanji doesn't have any other reasons for being here. He's had no contact with the outside and hasn't made any attempts either. The priss was way too concerned with matching his pants and his socks to talk to anyone when we went out."

"…Well, he was pretty injured when he came in."

Zoro twinged as Law poked the lesion and watched Zoro's reaction, testing how much anesthesia he'd have to administer.

Zoro shot him a look. "Yes, it hurts."

"Well you shouldn't have pulled your stitches out. I'm not going to waste lidocaine on you because you can't remember to punch with your uninjured arm."

"…Kid said you guys have been enjoying the apartment to yourselves."

Law didn't answer or meet Zoro's eyes, leaning around him to grab a packaged alcohol swab and peel open the package, wiping first his gloves and then Zoro's injury again. He sighed when Zoro didn't speak again, giving in to Zoro's unasked question.

"…It's odd."

Zoro waited, watching as Law pulled the cap off the syringe and flicked it lightly to get the bubbles out.

"…I guess we—well, I got used to having you two around the house. Eustass seems fine, the impassive ape."

Zoro smirked despite himself and ducked his head to hide it. His eyes flicked back up though as the tip of the needle found his skin, and he watched it slip in, too small an area for him to feel after what he was used to receiving from fights.

"Gives me shit for calling Killer to make sure he's still alive. He acts like the second Killer hits double digits, everyone that previously would have made off with him if they had the chance suddenly lost interest." Law picked up the needle, already threaded, and tested the knot once more. He jabbed Zoro's skin a couple times, watching for another flinch, but when Zoro didn't move he started stitching. Zoro followed Law's fingers with his eyes, watching them pass back and forth methodically with the needle, and then the doctor stopped mid-suture and reached up, pulling lightly on the bandana with yellow embroidery thread tied securely around Zoro's arm.

"You still carry this thing around? It must be a biohazard by now."

"…I got used to fighting with it."

"At least tell me you remember to wash it."

"…Sometimes."

"Zoro."

"I forget, alright? I got used to having it there and it feels weird when I take it off."

Law didn't answer and just went back to his stitching, the low heels of his boots clicking against the tile floor as he shifted.

Zoro's lips pinched together as he followed the slight crease in Law's brow, the one he always got when he and Zoro talked "family." Zoro had trust and family issues, but the older he got the more he could see how fucked up Law was on the same things, and all those times Law had been touchy when Zoro had pushed them away made so much more sense.

And somehow it didn't help lessen Zoro's guilt at all about taking their childhood from them—he and Killer forcing their way into the lives of two teenagers—one of them studying to be a surgeon—and throwing down roots before either of them could say no.

Every once and a while, he and Law would talk. Really talk. But it never got easier. There was something different about talking to Law as opposed to Kid. Kid never seemed disappointed in him or Killer, and he was always knocking Zoro around as a kid and showing some sort of affection in his physical way. Law was different. The way he showed he cared was like how a shy child would show that they had a crush, namely by avoiding the subject all together. But when he and Law talked, sometimes it would be years before those creeping doubts rose up again in the back of Zoro's mind. And right now he really needed to talk to Law.

"…Kid cut it out of one of your sweatshirts."

"I know."

"…The night our building came down."

"I know." Law's voice was infuriatingly calm.

"…I thought it was going to be the last thing I had of you."

Law's sewing hiccupped for a second, but picked up again so quickly it was like he'd never stopped.

"…Did you ever regret taking us in?"

Law dropped his hands to his side abruptly in annoyance, yanking on the thread in what Zoro was sure would have been a very painful manner were it not for the drugs. He couldn't bring himself to look up to where he knew Law was glaring at him.

"How many goddamn times have we had this conversation?" the surgeon snapped. Zoro choked a little on his thoughts before answering.

"…I just… moved in. First it was once a while, then once a week, then all of a sudden it was every day. You and Kid could barely pay for the apartment with college, let alone more food for me—"

"You didn't just move in," Law said curtly as he resumed his sewing, much rougher now but still just as precise. Zoro thanked the sky quietly that Law had given him a painkiller at all. "It was months of staying with us on just Thursdays before it started being more frequent. And then we freaked Mihawk out by bringing Killer home and you couldn't stay for months."

"I was such… a brat. I was just throwing tantrums—"

"You'd lost what made you feel normal and happy and you were panicking because nine year olds don't know how to adjust to situations they don't want to be in. Jesus, we had no clue why you wouldn't want to live with Mihawk, he was a perfect parent." The sarcasm was practically dripping off of Law's voice.

"…But you never got a choice, with Killer or me—"

"Killer was our choice. He would have been an easy one to skip. One more day and he would have been dead in that facility. And you were our choice too. We had to fight to get Mihawk to let you come live with us. I can't tell you how often I came home to Eustass on the phone with someone who was offering to take you in just to get you out of the bastard's house, screaming so loud that he'd woken Killer up, yelling that if you were going anywhere, it was back to our apartment. People stopped calling pretty quickly. Except Shanks, he never stopped offering, and towards the end we considered saying yes, but it took us months of arguing with Mihawk to get there."

Zoro didn't answer, his brain automatically counting the stitches Law had already put in place as he tried to fill the awkward silence.

Law sighed heavily, pausing again in his stitching in resignation before he continued. "…Do you remember the first night you stayed over?"

Zoro's lips pinched tighter and Law paused as the tendons in his arm rippled as his muscles tightened, throwing off where he could do the sutures. Of course he remembered. He was up all night bawling his eyes out as his head split in two from the headache ripping through his brain, unable to sleep with Kuina's funeral still only hours old in his mind. Law had stayed up with him the entire night, just holding him. Of course he fucking remembered—

Law shook his head, slapping Zoro's arm to get him to loosen up.

"Not that one. You stayed with us two times before that."

He took Zoro's dumb silence as an ok to continue.

"The first time you stayed over, you were six. Mihawk had business, the nanny you usually had was busy, and no one else could take you that night. I was studying for finals and Eustass was working on a car that'd been commissioned, but Mihawk knows I have a weak spot for orphans, so the manipulative asshole brought you along when he asked us. We knew he had his brother's kid, but we'd never had the chance to meet you. Mihawk just showed up at our door that night. No phone call or anything, asking if we could take you that night and he would get you in the morning for school. You'd only been living with him a little over a year at that point and he'd given you no reason to warm up to him, and I was going to say no because of my final but you looked so pathetic standing next to him. You had this permanent scowl that made it too easy to tell how shitty your first family had been, and then you got Hawk-eyes to top it off. He was making you carry your own bag, and it was too big so you kept tripping, but it had nothing in it except a toothbrush and a new pair of socks and underwear for the next day. You were trying to keep away from him but also knew that he was your safe point, so you were trying to find a good middle ground while hiding behind his leg to keep away from me. I just remember thinking that if we didn't take you Mihawk was going to leave you alone in the house. You'd be asleep, so what was the difference? So I said yes."

Law knotted the end of the stitches and clipped the thread, but took a seat in the chair next to the table instead of heading for the door so Zoro stayed seated and waited.

Law chuckled under his breath, remembering the night. "I was eighteen and Eustass was sixteen and we had no money and fulltime jobs and school and we'd barely been able to convince the landlady to rent to us at all because we were so young and all of a sudden we had a kid with us. And you had nothing to do for the night because Mihawk didn't bring anything along and we didn't have much beyond beer and cereal in the kitchen, so Eustass and I got creative. Eustass took you down to the garage and let you climb all over the cars while I borrowed noodles from the neighbors and threw some cheese in it. Then when you got back I bandaged the cuts you'd gotten—which were a lot because Eustass doesn't care if kids get hurt and you were tough—while Eustass found the extra sheets we had buried in the closet for the couch. The notes I hadn't consolidated were still out on the table, so we made a game out of throwing the noodles on them and trying to hit certain words. When Eustass accidentally hit me with a noodle I threw my fork at him and he ducked and accidentally cracked his head on the table. That was the first time we'd gotten you to smile all night."

Zoro cracked a smirk again, still unable to look up and meet Law's eyes. Hearing the older man say all of this made him feel like a kid again, especially sitting up on the stupid table. He didn't remember any of it; he must have been to young.

"The neighbor that gave me the noodles lent me some of her daughter's picture books when I told her that my little cousin was having an impromptu visit, so when it was time for bed we tried to read them. At first you were confused at what we were doing because no one had ever read to you like that, and then when I explained it you got all offended and said that picture books were for babies." Law laughed, pushing his hat up on his head to twist his bangs. "So I told you that we'd try one and if you didn't like it we wouldn't read anymore, and we ended up reading for two hours past when—we thought—you were supposed to sleep. Mihawk never told us what time he put you down so I just guessed. I had to go back to the neighbor and keep getting more books."

There hadn't been a bedtime. He didn't remember much about living with Mihawk, but from what he did, there was no reinforcement, there just was. There was just structure and rules, and everything he needed he did for himself. Mihawk had made it clear from the moment he got custody of Zoro that it wasn't that he didn't want Zoro living with him, but he had chosen not to have kids for a reason and wasn't about to become a father just because he'd been given one.

"After that we saw you all the time. When we picked Ace and Luffy up from school we'd sometimes get you, and then drive to Sabo's school and get him if his mom wasn't being a bitch that day. Eustass would take you all to the park if he didn't have anything that afternoon before bringing you to Shanks' place. Whenever Mihawk thought he could get laid at a function, he would bring you for the initial cuteness, but invariably you would be playing with us by the end of the evening, which was nice because it saved me from having to stop Eustass from barking at girls who hit on me. I don't know if you remember, but I took you to all of your doctor appointments because I could make up believable things on the spot if Mihawk couldn't pick up on them or forgot to tell me, otherwise you'd have been shipped off to a foster home for neglect. That went on for about a year and you got really comfortable with us, so the next time Mihawk was away and the nanny wasn't free, we offered to take you before Mihawk had a chance to ask Shanks. Got registered with the school so we could pick you up and I switched one of my classes to keep from making you wait at the afterschool program. Eustass was putting the finishing touches on that car before the deadline and Mihawk was always late so I wanted to be on time. You came racing out of the school when the bell rang with the biggest grin on your face when you saw that I wasn't late." Law smiled to himself as he said this. "I didn't care at all when I had to switch that class to make time to pick you up every Thursday. And you didn't stay over all the time at that point, but Mihawk didn't care if we decided to pick you up from school and do something so we picked you up all the time. And he did pay us for things like gas and meals; he knew we were broke college students and we were a lot cheaper than real childcare."

Law sighed, pulling his hat back down tighter over his eyes. "…I didn't want a kid at that point in my life—god knows Eustass sure as hell didn't, he wasn't even legally an adult yet. And there were some days I did regret taking you in—if I missed something important at the hospital or Eustass had to put off what he was working on because we had a commitment to you. And for a while I told myself that it was because we didn't want to let you down after your family and Mihawk, but you were so comfortable with us and Eustass took you in like it was always in the script that you'd come live with us at some point. You made the apartment so happy, even when I was drowning in schoolwork or fighting with Eustass, and you never had any qualms with anything. You were the easiest kid and sometimes I wonder if we would have adopted anyways if we hadn't gotten you. Eustass would have taken some convincing; adoption is fucking expensive. You were free, win win."

Zoro snorted, finally making some sort of noise, and it made Law look up at him from across the room with that impish smile.

"…I was so glad that day when Mihawk couldn't make it to the funeral."

Honestly, Zoro had been too, but it hadn't made the day any easier.

"I don't know how that would have affected you if you had to go home to that house, unable to cry because of Mihawk's unspoken rules or whatever with no one to comfort you. Especially with your family issues and how long it took you to learn to trust people. I think Luffy was the fastest I've seen you get close to anyone. I was worried for a long time after Kuina died. …And then suddenly you had a baby brother and all we would have needed to make our home the perfect dream would have been a dog and a grill. So yes, I regretted taking you in, but would I have changed anything about the situation? No." He stood, leaning back and stretching. "And now you're both flying the nest. It comes with the territory. Eustass will just have to put up with me calling Killer at night."

Zoro grinned, something suddenly occurring to him. "Does Kid get annoyed because it means he has to wait for sex?"

"You'd think he was fucking fifteen. Christ, we're never on the phone for more than twenty minutes."

-oOo-

"I'm really happy you took the bandage off!" Chopper squealed, holding Sanji's bangs out of the way and flashing Sanji's murky, unfocused eye with a flashlight. His pupil had no reaction, but Chopper was good with patients and didn't once waver in his happy attitude. "This means that your retina and photoreceptors can adjust to incoming light and hopefully relearn to correctly send the signals to the brain."

He didn't mention that they were doing any healing, Zoro noted from the other side of the room where he was leaning up against the wall, arms folded in front of him. Sanji also didn't ask, which meant that he'd noticed too and wasn't expecting them to be better anyways.

"And your tibia looks great!" Chopper was like a kid in a candy store; it was actually pretty cute. "Any pain in your right ankle?"

Sanji shook his head, raising the cigarette in his fingers back to his lips. Zoro was surprised that Chopper was letting him smoke in here, but Chopper was usually trying to keep Sanji happy anyways.

"What about your ribs?" He poked a couple of places in Sanji's side as he said this, but Sanji just shook his head again.

"And your shoulder?"

Again.

"Are you still having trouble fighting?"

Oh hell yeah he is. And it was a bitch; they had to keep cutting fights short when Sanji got hurt.

Sanji blew out a thin stream of smoke. "I feel tight."

"Well, that's to be expected. Your ligaments don't heal by flexing, so they're stiff for the time being until they're healed, but then they'll be flexible again. But other than that, no strange pains? Hurting when you wake up or at the end of the day? Exhaustion beyond what you should be feeling? Energy enough to work in the kitchen as much as you do and not have to rest all the time?"

Sanji nodded.

"This is wonderful!"

Zoro wouldn't have been surprised at this point if Chopper started actually dancing. It was like he was winning big on a game show.

"All of your lacerations and burns are healed with extremely minimal scarring, your ligaments seem almost back to normal, and once your tibia is healed, you'll be all set! You could even move out of the hospital if you want."

That made Sanji perk up. His good eye popped open and Zoro could have sworn he saw the beginnings of a smile tugging at Sanji's lips. Even the cigarette was forgotten in his fingers.

"Really? I'm ok enough to not stay in the hospital?"

Chopper nodded, fixing his hat on his head so it wouldn't fall off when he leaned over to scribble something down in one of Sanji's charts. Sanji was so elated that he didn't even react to Chopper taking notes on his condition. Zoro smirked, chuckling to himself.

"I think you're fine. If you don't want to rush off, you could stay around so we could keep a little bit of a close eye on your, err, eye, and you're not really fighting as well as you could be so discharging you completely would make me nervous with whoever kidnapped you in the first place still out there, but medically it's your choice if you want to stay or not."

Zoro felt something hiccup in his chest and his heart dropped into his stomach, eyes flicking over to Sanji as he watched the cook's reaction. Sanji's gaze had frozen as he took in Chopper's information, cigarette letting off a thin stream of smoke halfway to Sanji's open mouth. Chopper didn't mean out of the hospital. He meant out of the city.

…He can go…

Sanji was ok to leave—more or less, but he was still fine. He could be gone by tonight.

He only had two weeks left to stay with them, but still… it felt like it had happened fast.

"I—" Sanji started quickly, and then stopped himself, planning out what he wanted to say and taking a deep drag before he continued. Chopper blinked up at him, a little confused at the frantic reaction.

"…I don't mind staying." His voice was much more collected now. "I won't know what to look for in my eye anyways. And I think you're right, I wouldn't be able to defend myself well enough if I left now."

The clenching in Zoro's chest released, and he let out an unconscious breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. What the hell was wrong with him?

"All right," Chopper was beaming, not really ready to let Sanji go either. "I can talk to Shanks and get you set up in one of the apartments for the fight club. I know there are a couple free now, I just want to make sure they won't be used for the next couple of weeks."

Sanji's drop was instantaneous. His smile fell and his head dipped, arm dropping back onto his lap where the cigarette lay next to his hip, and then he stuck it between his lips and starting puffing away heavily. The apartments for the fight club were right upstairs from the hospital rooms, and still very much so under Chopper and Law's nose. Zoro's eyes flicked back and forth between the two, watching Chopper try and figure out what had happened to Sanji's good mood and fluttering his hands uselessly around Sanji as he spluttered. "Wh-What's wrong?! What happened?!"

It… was almost like Sanji had never left the truck. Always being watched, always contained, always kept in certain rooms and never allowed outside on his own. It was like he'd made it from the research facility straight to the slave auction and now his last amount of freedom was being taken out from under him and he really had no option to say otherwise. What could he do? Change his mind and leave? He couldn't find a place in the city on his own—

Oh. Uh… "He can stay at my place."

Chopper turned to Zoro from where he'd been about to put his hands on Sanji's shoulders and comfort him, eyes desperate. Sanji's one good eye drifted up slowly and Zoro shrugged, turning away from the scrutiny and scowling.

"You know, only if he wants to. So he can get out of this damn building. I have enough space. And I'm gone all the time for fighting so… yeah."

Chopper whipped back to Sanji, obviously looking to see if it would cheer Sanji up again. And finally Sanji nodded, though he had yet to slow down the rate at which he was spewing smoke. Mentioning staying in the hospital had had put him in a funk.

"Sure."

"Really? Will that be good?" Chopper blubbered.

"Yeah, Chopper, don't worry about it."

"Ok, but you'll tell me if you need some place to yourself, right? I can always get you an apartment here—"

"Really, Chopper," Sanji managed a sad smile, looking up to meet Chopper's gaze and placing a hand on the top of his hat. "That's fine. I don't mind staying with the marimo-head if he doesn't mind having me."

Zoro grunted at the name. "Hey."

"Ok!" Chopper broke into another grin, taking out a pad of paper to scribble down some numbers. "I'm giving you the hospital phone, Shanks' hospital phone, Shanks' cell phone, his office phone, my cell phone, Law's cell phone, Kid's in case you can't get ahold of Law, Zoro's cell phone—"

Sanji finally grinned to himself, shaking his head as the little doctor rambled on. After a moment he looked back up to where Zoro was standing, a quiet moment passing between them as Zoro could see the thanks behind Sanji's eyes for giving him an out from the hospital.

It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. And he really didn't use his apartment enough; it would basically be Sanji's anyways.

"Oh," Chopper stopped his rant, remembering something else. "And Shanks wanted me to tell you to go see him after we're done here. He wanted to talk to you about hiring you as the traveling chef for the upcoming fight. We were supposed to eat at this place out there, but they had a fire and are closed for renovations, and we can't eat anywhere without reservations because they need to ship in extra food for Luffy's appetite. So he wants us to bring food and rent a hotel room with a kitchen instead."

Zoro could practically see Sanji's eyes filling up with excitement.

"…Yeah, ok."

"—And here's the phone for Shanks' right-hand men, I guess Robin's number but you may not be able to get ahold of her—no one ever can—the agency Nami works through sometimes if she won't pick up her phone, but she's really good with that, Shanks' chef if you need more supplies—"

-oOo-

Zoro grinned, twisting his feet to a comfortable position on the cement floor as his opponent jumped down into the arena. Ohm, Zoro was pretty sure was his name. Second to Enel, who'd challenged Shanks, and Shanks had sent Luffy in his stead. Enel had almost called off the fight, insulted that Shanks thought a kid was enough for him and Shanks hadn't come himself to defend his honor, but Shanks had convinced him to just watch Zoro's fight, and if he still wasn't convinced that Luffy was strong enough to defend the city's honor, they would postpone the fight and Shanks would come down himself. Zoro couldn't help but laugh to himself when he heard this; Enel was getting off easy if Shanks wasn't coming himself. He should be grateful.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the crew standing on the edge of the arena in front of the roaring crowd, opposite Enel's crew on the other side of the railing surrounding the pit. Chopper had hopped up onto the top bar to cheer for Zoro between Luffy and Sanji, Luffy who was laughing happily and Sanji who was smoking calmly, waiting for the fight to start and sizing up both men in the arena. The cook's sharp body was turned casually in on itself, his arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other. There was no tenseness in his shoulders, despite how out in the open he was, but he had insisted on a hat, which probably made him feel better. Zoro met Sanji's iridescent blue eye and stuck his tongue out at the cook before turning back to Ohm, ignoring Sanji's quick attempt at a rebuttal.

Zoro slid Shusui and Kitetsu from their sheaths and faced Ohm, grinning and waiting for the other man to move. He had yet to take the dark glasses off, which probably meant that he wasn't going to. His skin was dark, and a deep purple tattoo roped up his arm where Zoro could see something on the tips of his shoulders where a design had been tattooed onto his back and stretched up over his neck. He was wearing baggy pants and a simple tank top with a sash around his waist where an odd sword with a large ball on the end was tucked. The sword was just as calm as it's master, and Zoro's own swords twittered happily in his hands in anticipation for the fight, making his grin stretch.

"Let's get on with it," he growled, unable to keep the adrenaline-filled shivers from running up and down his spine.

Ohm stared blankly at him, tranquil stance unaffected by the energy of the crowd, and reached up to push his glasses further up his nose. "Your desire to speed up the fight is unfortunate. Greed and your need to gain fortune is a weakness that will very soon be your undoing, especially in a power-driven world like this."

Zoro gritted his teeth, stretching his toes in his boots.

Ohm pulled his sword from the sheath in his sash, pointing it towards Zoro. "I will free you tonight from such burdens."

"Oh yeah?"

Ohm turned his sword to the side and grabbed the ball on the end of his sword, tugging gently until a strip of barbed wire started to unravel from inside the ball. Almost immediately, the crowd screamed with excitement of the blood to come. Ohm did this four more times until he had five long strips of barbed wire held loosely in one hand, his sword still in the other. "I will defeat you without ever touching you."

Zoro growled, lunging forward for the cocky bastard, the blood rushing in his ear drowning out the cacophony of the audience around them. He slashed out with Kitetsu just as Ohm's arm whipped up and a flash of rusty metal shot by his ear. Zoro tumbled to the right just barely out of reach of the wire Ohm had thrown, fighting to keep his eyes on his opponent as he turned. He rolled and leapt to his feet, something slicing through his shoulder the second he had his footing and he dropped back to the ground with a grunt, head snapping up to find a second wire Ohm had thrown. Both wires had been tangled in the bars of the railing around the pit, creating a cage over the part of the arena that he was standing on. Zoro gritted his teeth and turned back to Ohm, who was twirling a third wire in his hand, deciding where to place it.

Zoro waited, watching for the tenseness in Ohm's muscles, and the second the cords on his arms popped, preparing to throw the wire, Zoro dove backwards, rolling to the other side of the arena and out of the way of the third wire, and he grunted as the fourth one shot past him and tore through his side, ripping through flesh as it shot with the force of a bullet. Zoro grunted, jumping away from the wire and pressing his back up against a wall of the arena, surveying what he had left to work with. The wires had created an obstacle course over much of the pit, making significantly less room where he could fight. He had to get in closer.

"You are not strong enough to defeat the shear will of a desire for freedom," Ohm called, gripping the last wire tightly. "It is your destiny that I will free you. If you accept it, you will be much happier for the loss of material burdens."

"Fucking Buddha," Zoro snarled, sliding Wado out of her sheath and placed the woven hilt between his teeth. Dimly, he could hear the crowd screaming in approval, but it was lost in the calm that he'd forced through his mind. He leapt off of the ground and slammed his feet back into the wall, launching himself through the two wires blocking his escape as the fifth one smashed into the wall right where he'd been standing a moment ago and a chunk of the cement blew off in an explosion of dust.

Zoro rolled across the ground and pushed himself to his feet, charging through the wires toward Ohm.

That was five, all he has left is his sword—

Ohm swiped out suddenly, the flat end of his blade catching one of the wires above Zoro's head and it snapped from it's hold on the railing with a loud twang, whipping through the air like a snake and clawing its way deep into Zoro's back. Zoro gasped, twisting out of its hold just as Ohm yanked it back toward him, just missing losing half of the skin on his back. Vaguely he heard someone scream his name, but the adrenaline in his ears was too loud.

…I have to use them.

And he had to make space. He couldn't do anything this far away.

Zoro rolled over onto his side under one of the wires and slashed up just as Ohm was reaching out to catch the wire he'd yanked back towards him. The wire snapped back like the last one had, coiling through the air and Zoro ducked as it sliced through the ground around him and whipped back towards Ohm. The large man grunted and dove out of the way as the wire snapped into the ground where he'd been standing, taking out another chunk of cement where his feet had been not moments ago. The shards of cement flew up, barraging Ohm and making him stumble back.

Zoro lunged to his feet, leaping through the remaining wires and slashing out with Shusui and Kitetsu, steal ringing as they connected with Ohm's sword. Both blades screamed with exhilaration at being so close to their pray, smelling the blood dripping from both men. There was a big drop on Ohm's forehead that was about to drip into his eye, and Zoro watched it carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"You're pretentious preaching is getting on my nerves," Zoro growled, head whipping to the side and Ohm launched himself up and over Zoro's head out of the way of the Wado. Zoro's footing slipped as he turned to follow the movement, the blood he was losing starting to catch up with him and make his vision swim. Offhandedly, he wondered how deep the gash in his side was and if it'd hit any organs. Chopper would be mad. But even with the world starting to warp in front of him he could see that Ohm had landed right where the wires were lying like a pit of serpents woven together behind them.

Shit—!

Zoro whirled, shooting forward as Ohm grabbed two of the wires and launched them at Zoro's head. Zoro grunted, twisting out of the way as much as he could, wincing as one ripped through his thigh and another knocked him slightly off balance when it caught his arm. He stumbled, foot slipping out from under him as Ohm wound back, raising his sword for another strike. Zoro wrenched his body to the side, forcing the wire deeper into his leg as he moved out of the way of the blade coming for his head, and his swords flashed forwards, bending the air around them, sweeping under Ohm's feet and knocking him onto his back like a turtle, and Zoro brought Shusui down to rest on his throat, skidding to a halt and just barely keeping from losing his balance.

Ohm glared up at him, motionless, and then very slowly raised his hand to signal his defeat. Zoro nodded, respecting the decision, and slid his swords away, taking Wado out of his mouth last. He grunted in pain, a stabbing sensation running through his side and reached down, hand coming back with a lot of blood from the tear through his belly, and the arena twisted sideways as he fell.

Damn.

Zoro coughed, blood splattering his cheek as his sight and hearing started to come back to him, Chopper's blurred outline zipping around him through the glaring white lights of the arena. The room was getting darker though, and he knew he was coming to, which must have meant that they were carrying him out of the pit. Almost instantly he grinned, though the movement hurt and made him hack up more blood. Chopper shrieked and quickly wiped it away, palpitating Zoro's middle to find the source of the bleeding.

Zoro's eyes drifted up to find Sanji standing above him, stance calm except for the slight telltale tenseness in his shoulders as he sucked on his cigarette. Zoro grinned again, picturing the last time Ohm had landed on his back and hadn't gotten up. Egotistical asshole.

"Not bad, huh?" he gritted out. His voice sounded heavier than it should have been.

"Don't talk!" Chopper barked. "Or I'll sedate you! I think the blood you just coughed up came from your mouth, but I need to be sure it isn't your lungs or stomach or any other organ, especially with that tear in your side! You need to be more careful!"

Sanji left the cigarette between his lips to stick his hands in his pockets and smirk down at Zoro. The tenseness hadn't left his shoulders. "Idiot. I wouldn't have taken nearly as much of a beating if I was the one fighting him."

Zoro growled and would have swiped at him were it not for Chopper's standing threat. He knew the doctor meant it and had the means right at his fingertips though, and forced a shit-eating grin back on his face. "Yeah? Why're you so tense then, cook?"

Now it was Sanji's turn to growl, and he took the cigarette out of his mouth to blow a stream of smoke in Zoro's direction, making Zoro cough again. "Don't flatter yourself, shitty-swordsman. And sit the fuck still so Chopper can fix you, if I miss Luffy's fight because you're a pussy I'll be pissed. That Enel guy looked strong."

Zoro's brain was starting to twist what he was seeing again, and a funny weight was settling over his brain. Suddenly Sanji's tenseness seemed a lot funnier than it had a moment ago.

…Must be the drugs.

"…You're a really good cook."

Sanji raised his eyebrow before grinning. "That sedative hitting you, marimo?"

Zoro nodded, a stupid smirk puling at his face. "'S good stuff, whatever the 'ell it 's."

"You're supposed to be asleep," Chopper grumbled, cutting a couple strips of bandages and laying them out over Zoro's chest so he could reach them easily for the laceration in his side. "Just hold still, or I'll have to do another dose. Or a couple," he added to himself under his breath.

Zoro nodded, settling back into the stretcher before turning again to look at Sanji, Chopper's warning already forgotten. "Ser'sly though, Shanks' cook was awful. And the guy Shanks had traveling was even worse… sucks going into a fight with shitty food in your stomach."

Sanij barked out a laugh and crossed his feet to sit down near Zoro's head. "You trying to butter me up, shithead? Think I'm going to be cooking for you at your apartment?"

Zoro shrugged. "I'd take whatever you'd serve. Even the stuff I don' like is too good to turn down."

"Really."

"…I'm glad you decid'd t' stay."

"…Just sit still, marimo. Luffy's fighting after they clean the blood up and you can't come watch if you're leaking like a popped water balloon."

"I haven't… really seen you fight yet. …You leave b'fore you're healed an' I'll be pissed."

Sanji snorted out another laugh, resting an elbow on his knee and leaning his head against his hand. "I want to try whatever Chopper gave you."

Zoro slurred out a laugh, eyes pinching at the hilarity of the statement. Sanji was great.

"But you can stay at my apartm'nt for however long you want. Kill'r comes sometimes but i's boring otherwise."

"All right, marimo, I hear you, just sit still."

"I am," Zoro replied indignantly, fighting what he was sure was a pout starting to appear on his face. "Chopp'r hasn't yelled or anything."

"Don't make me," the little doctor growled, putting the last of the tape over the bandages on Zoro's side. "No organs hit, thank goodness, but it'll be a while before that heals."

Zoro waved his hand flippantly. "I giv' it four days."

"STOP MOVING!"

Zoro dropped his hand to the ground, and was quiet for a while before he realized that Sanji had avoided his question. Or had it been a statement? "But you're gonna stay until you're healed?"

Sanji took a slow drag on his cigarette, trying to hide his smirk with the hand over his mouth. "Sure, marimo, whatever, I'll stay."

Zoro grinned to himself and leaned back into the stretcher, letting his eyes close. Just for a second. But just in case, "You better wake me when Luffy gets ready t' fight. He'll be upset if I miss it."

"Yeah sure."

Zoro furrowed his brow, a movement behind Sanji's head catching his eye. His blurry eyes found a dark figure hovering above them a couple rows back in the crowd, completely still in the chaos of the screaming crowd, staring straight down at them. Zoro squinted, trying to see past the wide-brimmed hat obscuring the figure's face. He wasn't sure why that particular man had caught his attention, but he was unable to take his eyes off of him.

Something about the man screamed blackness, a dark, draining aura that closed him in like a cloud, keeping him away from everyone else around him.

"…Wha…?" he slurred, trying to lean up and Sanji suddenly appeared in his line of vision, a hand on his shoulder to keep him down as he vaguely registered Chopper screaming for Sanji to hand him his medical bag so he could get another couple of sedatives out, not about to put up with Zoro fighting him with how much he was bleeding.

He felt a sharp prick in his arm, followed quickly by another, and was swept over almost instantly by the wave of cotton that threatened to smother his brain and felt his head drifting back down to the stretcher.

"…N-no-o…" he tried, but it was impossible to speak anymore. His brain couldn't remember that he had once known words that others could understand him through, and he struggled pathetically against Sanji's hold to lean around him to see if the man was still there. Sanji moved an inch to the side, and Zoro's eyes narrowed as he watched the man take something from his pocket and tap it a couple times with one finger, and then he held it up to his ear, plugging his other ear with his free hand.

No… he's there… he's still there…! Can't you see…?! Look…! He's right there…!

"Stay down," Sanji's murmur broke through the noise, and then Sanji was the only thing Zoro could hear anymore as the sedative washed over him, static and waves of something that was keeping him from being able to concentrate making everything around him fuzzy and unfocused. "Everything's fine."

Something in the back of his mind urged him that it wasn't fine, that his instincts had never steered him wrong, that he knew an ominous aura when he felt one, that he had to make Sanji listen!

…Listen to what?

He couldn't remember what had been so pressing.

He thought it was… important…

"Everything's fine, Zoro, just stay still." Sanji sounded like he was on a ship three thousand leagues under the sea. Zoro was having trouble making out the words. "We'll wake you for Luffy's fight."

…He supposed that was ok.

And with that acceptance, everything drifted into deep, inky black.

-oOo-

-T. S. Elliot