I don't own anything but my ideas.

Unraveling the Universe at the Seams

Ace meandered his way out through the door Zoro had disappeared through, finding him leaning up against the railing of the stairs leading down to the alley out of the arena. He was lucky Zoro was so directionally challenged, if the idiot hadn't gone straight the whole way out and taken a different route to lose him, because he was going so fast, Ace might not have seen him for a good couple days. He was staying at Luffy's place for the night, and Vivi had opted to stay with Nami in order to catch up, but he had work to do with Shanks and things to do before he decided whether or not he wanted to move back into the city. And now he had to hunt down his friends on the first day he was back in this long? Ain't nobody got time for that.

He stepped up to Zoro's side, pushing the hat back further on his head so he could see the stars and pulling his coat tighter around him. He sighed to himself. He'd gotten way too used to not wearing a shirt during his time exploring the islands off the coast of the country.

"Hey," he said finally, smirking at the green-haired moron beside him, "I thought you weren't interested in Conis."

"…Hey, Ace."

Well. So it's bad then. Ace made a face.

After some prying, Zoro filled him in on what had happened in the last two months. From the night Nami had taken the job shipping for Blackbeard to what had happened between him and Sanji last night. Everything about Sanji spilled out, along with everything about Crocodile, the attack on Killer, Law and Kid, Shanks, Luffy, the new apartment… it almost seemed like half a lifetime had passed while he'd been gone.

Ace pulled his hat back down firmly on his head. Jesus, for three years while he'd been here the city had been… well, thriving wasn't really the best word but it worked, and he's gone for not even six months and that's when everything happens. What beautiful timing he had.

"Sanji looks so…" Zoro paused, trying to find the way he wanted to word what he wanted to say. Ace took the moment to readjust his hat as the wind picked up, "guilty when he talks about her."

"He never mentioned her name?"

Zoro shook his head. "The only things I know from his past are that he has an adoptive father somewhere and that he was higher than my level in the hierarchy in his territory."

"And no word of any territories looking for missing people?"

"Not with his history. He has to stay too well hidden, advertising it would be dangerous."

Ace nodded and moved to lean against the railing alongside Zoro. "…I still can't believe… I mean, because they're both vampires—or, NHTP or… whatever they're called—it makes sense that they'd try out a relationship. They have a lot in common because of it."

Zoro was quiet for a moment, just staring blankly up at the night sky littered with tiny lights. They shouldn't have been that visible in a city, but no one had ever had the budget since the city had been rebuilt to flood it with as many lights as it had before the NSPH invasion. "…And now she's here, and he obviously still has feelings for her, so he's going to go home."

Ace eyed Zoro's expression quietly for a moment, picking up on the way Zoro was turned in on himself and the fact that he had yet to look Ace in the eye.

…So he's that important, huh?

Ace shot him a shit-eating grin. "Well now we know a ton about his past because of what we know about Conis."

Zoro turned slowly, finally meeting his gaze, leveling him with a blank stare.

"Sanji Black-leg… that name doesn't ring a bell?"

Zoro shook his head.

Ace's grin stretched. "What the name of the boss in Conis's territory?"

Zoro deadpanned. There was no way he'd ever remember something as stupid as that—

"Come on, dumbass. Black-leg. Black-leg."

"I heard you, Ace! It still doesn't—the only thing that sounds even a little… oh fuck."

Ace stood up and crossed his arms. "Yeah."

"…It…" Zoro's heart did a little hiccup, "like Red-leg."

"Yeah."

"You think… Zeff Red-leg is Sanji's adoptive father?"

Zeff Red-leg ran one of the most shrouded territories of the entire country, which was why Zoro had always suspected that Conis's parents chose to live under him instead of Shanks. Zoro himself knew next to nothing about the man—along with nearly everyone else in the world, let alone the city, even Law and Kid. Shanks had always called him an old softie and respected Red-leg's attempts to keep his cities quiet by not saying anything further than that. Zoro had picked up over the years—through Conis and Shanks and other people that had drifted through his territory—that Zeff Red-leg ran a haven for everyone pursued, offering food and shelter to those in danger and homes for those looking to begin new lives. Conis had always said her family could never repay Red-leg for what he'd given them and given back to them, the biggest one being their lives.

The only thing Zoro knew for sure about Red-leg was that he commanded an extremely high amount of respect, and that Shanks was lucky to be on good terms with him. Not that Red-leg wasn't lucky to be on good terms with Shanks, but Red-leg had so many networking options and had helped so many powerful people over the years that would all take bullets for him… a war between Red-leg and anyone would be a sight to behold. The man literally had an empire to his name.

If Sanji was his son… it was perfect. Sanji had said he worked in espionage, and he needed a home that could hide him above all else. It was literally perfect.

Zoro's heart suddenly did another little jump as something else occurred to him: Red-leg had one leg. The leg he'd cut off and bled to save Sanji.

It was him.

"Makes sense. Conis lives in Red-leg's territory too, so that's how they would have met. Conis's parents don't let her do anything; they're so paranoid about her being a N… NS… that."

"It's a negligible senescent porphyric humanoid."

"Yeah, what does that mean anyways?"

Zoro paused, suddenly realizing that he had no idea and had never even asked Law. "…I don't know. Never asked, we just always called Killer that. It was just… medical bullshit."

"Huh. I'll ask Chopper later."

"How…" Zoro's brain was still trying to come to terms with his recent discovery. "…Does Shanks not… he has to know…!"

Ace gave him an odd look. "Shanks said that he didn't know where Sanji was from?"

"He—" Zoro started, and then suddenly realized that Shanks had actually said nothing on the matter. Sly bastard must have known all along. Which actually made incredible amounts of sense, seeing as how Shanks had never distrusted Sanji, even with supposedly knowing absolutely nothing about him.

"Yeah," Ace chuckled to himself, playing with his hat again, "he does that. Trust me, after all those years living with him, I know."

The two went quiet, blending silently into the darkness around them, watching the stars. They used to do this so often, after Luffy passed out and they could actually enjoy the quiet.

"…You gonna stick around for a while?"

"I think so. Vivi was really the one that wanted to come home so soon. I could have gone another year. …Not sure what we're going to do next, but we'll hang around for a bit. Probably just long enough to get a place, a couple ratty pieces of furniture, a TV, and a six-pack in the fridge."

Zoro snorted. "Vivi won't put up with that."

"Yeah, but a man can dream."

-oOo-

Sanji had found a quiet place on the roof of the arena, cigarette resting casually in his fingers as he leaned against the railing of the building and gazed up at the stars. Every once and while he'd take a slow drag and release the smoke up into the sky, watching the way it obscured the stars for a moment before dissipating into the night air. The night was silent. He'd gotten used to the sirens and normal bustle of the cities back home, not to mention the rush of the kitchen, but he was finally starting to feel settled in the absolute lack of sound.

The sudden slapping of sandal soles against the cement broke through the quiet, and Luffy joined him on the roof, leaping up onto the railing and chuckling happily at his new companion. Sanji sighed, taking another deep breath off of the cigarette. So much for the quiet.

"Sanji? Will you make me some meat? I'm starving…!"

Sanji grumbled under his breath, fighting to keep himself calm before he said, "Later, Luffy. You just ate dinner."

Maybe that would get him to shut up.

Hah, yeah right.

Luffy cocked his head to the side, staring off blankly into the night as he tried to make sense of something. Sanji sighed quietly, preparing himself for the conversation to come.

"…Why didn't you try to kick me?"

"What?"

"I asked you for food. Like, not that long after eating. And you didn't try to kick me."

Sanji grunted.

"Is something bothering you?"

"No."

"But you didn't get mad at all. Something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Luffy. I'll make you something later, that's all."

"What happened?"

"Jesus Christ, nothing happened—"

"You looked like you were having so much fun early with Zoro—"

Sanji couldn't help his reaction. Zoro's name triggered the most recent happenings to play through his mind again and Sanji's shoulders locked up, the cigarette crunching in his fingers as his muscles spasmed. Zoro had looked so… betrayed, broken, hurt, abandoned… pick one. His expression though…

Sanji dropped his head into his free hand, scrubbing at his eyes and pulling slightly at his hair as he tried to get Zoro's face out of his mind. He had yet to notice that Luffy had gone quiet at his side, surprised at Sanji's violent reaction to such a simple statement.

Luffy cocked his head further to the side. "…Did you fight with Zoro?"

"…No, I didn't fight with the idiot marimo. …No more than we ever do." Sanji added the last part mostly for himself. His head was still in his hands, but he was too tired of hiding everything to bother trying to hide every little physical tell in front of the straw-hat idiot. Luffy would most likely miss most of it anyways.

"…Then if it's not Zoro… are you afraid because he saw you with Conis?"

Sanji's reaction was instantaneous. "WHY WOULD I BE AFRAID OF THE STUPID MOSS HEAD?"

Ugh, such an immature, kneejerk response. Luffy, to his credit, didn't seem perturbed at all by the outburst.

"Because you care for Zoro." Luffy said this like it was the most obvious thing. "And Zoro cares for you, so you don't want him to be hurt because you care for her too."

Sanji slipped his cigarette between his lips. Maybe this would be one of Luffy's rare moments of clarity.

Luffy didn't take Sanji's silence as a sign to stop, which was good and bad, based on the situation. "Does Conis want you to go back home?"

"…Probably."

"Then you're leaving?"

Sanji said nothing.

"It's ok if you do. Ace left for a long time too. And Makino does all the time."

Sanji was content for the moment to ride this out until the younger man got bored and left with smoke in his lungs. Conveniently, that also meant that he didn't have to talk. Luffy, unfortunately, seemed fine to hold the conversation all by himself. He loved the wild idiot with everything in him, but right now he just really didn't—

"Do you want to leave?"

Sanji thought for a moment, mind quiet enough that he could seriously entertain the thought without provoking himself.

…He didn't honestly know.

"Why would you leave if you don't want to?"

"…I have a duty back home, to all my friends and family—"

"Well why can't you do that from here?"

"It's complicated, Luffy."

"What's so complicated about it? If you want to stay, stay, if you want to go, go." He grinned. "We'll still be your friends. You have to come visit and cook for us though!"

Sanji didn't answer and Luffy's grin dropped as he tried to figure out what was such a huge problem to be causing his cook so much grief. He cocked his head to the side, scrunching up his nose as he thought over all of the possibilities of what could have upset Sanji so much.

Maybe it was that Zoro had beaten him in a fight. Or maybe he hadn't cooked something the way he'd wanted to. Maybe Zoro was upset and that was upsetting him. What would he have been cooking that he'd messed it up? What could Zoro have been upset about? Maybe he was cooking meat. Luffy would have been very upset if meat had been ruined. Would Sanji make him meat later? Maybe Zoro had said something. Zoro always said silly things. Sanji had said he'd make him something; he really hoped it was meat.

Oof, he could feel a headache coming on. Luffy pushed on his temple with the heel of his palm, trying to relieve some of the pressure building up. Sanji was standing patiently beside him, just smoking quietly to himself and watching the stars.

…Maybe it wasn't Zoro.

"If it's not Zoro… is it that you're worried Conis will be hurt? Because you care for her, and she cares for you, so you don't want her to be hurt because you care for Zoro?"

Sanji was quiet for so long, hand holding his cigarette in place in his mouth, that Luffy thought he wasn't going to answer and started wracking his brains again for another possibility. He was definitely going to need some meat later for this headache. And then all of a sudden the cook pulled his hand away from his mouth and his head dropped down slightly.

"…I'm such an asshole."

"Huh?"

"…I disappear for weeks without even telling her I'm alive, and now that we're together for the first time in a couple months, I don't even want to talk to her. We were together three years and I can't even give her that."

"…You don't love her anymore?"

Sanji placed the cigarette back in his mouth, and Luffy took that as an affirmative. Also an ok to continue. "What made you stop being in love with her?"

"It doesn't work like that, Luffy."

"Yes it does. Sometimes you just stop being in love with someone."

Sanji huffed to himself, his voice starting to take on an annoyed tone. "It's not that simple, idiot."

"Yes it is," Luffy insisted firmly. "If something changes, you can fall out of love. Even if you change, you can fall out of love. Shanks and Makino fell out of love for a little while after everything with the city happened. Shanks wanted to have an adventure here and Makino thought it was too dangerous. They changed, first differently and they had their own adventures, and then they realized that they were changing together again and missed each other."

Luffy waited for Sanji to say something, watching the almost weird calm in the cook's muscles and waiting for him to snap. Sanji was normally so easy to fire up; he must have been really upset. But Luffy would do anything to help his cook. He hoped that Sanji knew that. Maybe Sanji would want some of the meat later, eating meat made everyone feel better.

"You had a huge change, Sanji. You started from scratch, had huge injuries, people hunting you down, new friends, new nakama—"

"New what?"

"It's your family. The family that you pick because they're important to you. Ace and Sabo used to tell me about it."

Ace and who? Sanji recognized that name from somewhere, but he couldn't place it. Maybe Zoro had mentioned it at some point.

"Those are big changes," Luffy continued, not the slightest bit bothered by the interruption. "You didn't think you were going to stay the same the whole way through, did you? When things around you change, you change too."

Sanji took another drag, mulling over that last one. He had been planning on going back the whole way through this shitty ordeal. He'd been so convicted, held so strongly to the idea, and then…

And then Zoro had happened.

Luffy was right. He'd changed.

"And if you fell out of love along the way, that's ok. If Conis really cares about you, she'll understand, even if it hurts, because she wants you to be happy."

Luffy gave Sanji a wide grin and hopped down from the railing, throwing his arms over his head and grunting as he stretched. "If Zoro makes you happy, I think you should stay."

Sanji followed Luffy's movements, watching the way he moved so unabashedly through the world, like nothing around him could hurt him simply because he chose not to let it. Life would be so much simpler if he could do that.

"Can you make food now? I'm really starving. They wouldn't let me eat after the fight because they're saving it for Ace and everyone to eat all together and he and Zoro are talking."

"You can wait, you idiot, they'll be done soon. You know Zoro's not much of a talker."

"Shishishishi," Luffy chuckled, heading for the door. "That's why you're so good for him. Because you understand him even without the words. Tra-guy does that too, and Killer and Kid."

And Sanji was left to smoke under the stars, thinking quietly to himself until he was called upon to whip up as much protein as he possibly could.

Well, he'd enjoy the quiet while he could.

-oOo-

She was beautiful.

Conis had silky, long, platinum hair that she normally wore in loose braids. Her skin was unnaturally pale and her skin always looked delicate, but especially so under the white lights of the examination room. Conis had always said that her skin and hair were those colors because of medication she'd taken when she was younger, but after Ace had revealed her NSPH status, Zoro had always wondered if her appearance was actually due to the experimentations she'd been through during her time in the facility.

She was beautiful. And she looked delicate, but Zoro knew how tough she could be. Ace didn't date damsels in distress, he was too rough and tumble, and the impression her tattoo had given Sanji…

Zoro felt something twist unpleasantly in his stomach and he shifted despite himself, though it was getting easier to be around the two of them. Maybe his talk with Ace had helped.

But whatever the reason was, he'd found himself standing off in the corner of the examination room, Conis up on the table while Law laid out his tools next to her. Both Conis and Sanji had yet to even look in the direction of the tools, and probably weren't planning on it any time soon. Sanji was sitting off to the side on one of the empty chairs, smoking quietly to himself with his eyes glued on the floor. Conis, to her credit, seemed to be doing better and was smiling and chatting with the people in the room. Beside Sanji, Ace was leaned casually up against the wall with Shanks and Luffy, there more as representatives to gain any helpful information in keeping dangerous visitors outside, especially now with so many NSPH in the city. The only one slightly out of place in the room was Laki, who had refused to leave her sister in the hands of a doctor, even Shanks' doctor and one of the most respected surgeons of the underground.

Law had explained negligible senescent porphyric humanoids to Conis in extreme detail. Everything of their history, everything that he didn't know, what he thought the three levels of NSPH and a lack of a fourth meant, Killer's lack of venom, his and Chopper's hypothesis on the government's involvement—Law was hiding nothing from his… well, test subjects. Whether that was to gain their trust by showing them that he would always be as upfront as possible with them, or that he thought they deserved to know after all these years—especially so they could protect themselves—Law seemed vehement about telling every NSPH he encountered everything he knew about their condition.

Conis, instead of shying away like Sanji had, engrossed herself in the topic and was rattling off questions like she only had ten minutes with Law to learn as much as she possibly could before he'd leave forever. She'd finally reached the end of her questions and was closing the circle with the question every one of them had asked at some point.

"But… but why…?"

Law shrugged, snapping on two gloves and walking back over to the tools next to her hip. "Perhaps as weapons, perhaps as genetic experiments to improve the human race… who knows. It's very difficult to guess, and there are a lot of plausible explanations, but as you've probably figured out, most of them aren't very nice."

Conis nodded, mostly to herself, before continuing. "Well… I want to help as much as possible. Zoro, I still can't believe your little brother is a vam—err, NSPH too. I can't believe how many are ending up in this city—especially after what happened. Ace talked about you two almost as much as he did Luffy and Sabo. How old is he again?"

"…Thirteen." Zoro was surprised at how firm his voice was, but nevertheless happy that his tenseness wasn't showing.

"That's right," she mused, shaking her head slightly. "Thing's happen so quickly nowadays. …Or maybe that's just me getting older." She gave him a smile, slightly pained and no doubt wrought with memories that were being drudged up about a lot of horrible things as she was sitting on an exam table, and Zoro could help but quirk her a smile in return.

Conis was great. He'd never hated her; she was a wonderful girlfriend to Ace and a great person to be around. Nami and Vivi loved her, and the fact that Ace wanted to keep contact with her after they broke up (most of his relationships ended in threats from his girlfriends and warnings not to contact them again) said a lot about how wonderful she was.

But his stomach was still churning with Sanji visible out of the corner of his eye, even as she smiled at him.

"Law…" Conis turned back to him, pointedly ignoring the needle he was preparing. "Am I… NSPH major? You said Killer was minor, but I don't know… how to distinguish… it sounds like I drink more blood than him…"

"Killer is minor," Law nodded, "and I'm assuming you are too, based off of how much blood you normally consume, as well as healing time from what you've told me. You do eat more than Killer, but not nearly as much as Sanji, so that could just be an age thing. But I'll be able to tell you after we look at the concentration of the virus in your blood. That's the real determinant." Law picked up the tourniquet and wrapped it securely around her upper arm. "Anyone that doesn't want to see this should leave now."

Sanji sucked in another breath from his cigarette, eyes still locked on the tiles, but he made no move to leave. Conis, finally eyeing the needle and the rubber wrapped around her arm, shifted uncomfortably and her face tightened like she'd eaten something sour, but she nodded for Law to continue when he asked her silently with his eyes if she was ok. How many years had she been in the facility again? Four? Five? Long enough to leave some scars.

Law slipped the needle into her arm and began filling the first of four vials he'd laid out, trying to finish as quickly as possible. Conis's eyes were trained on the needle, watching Law's every movement with her fist clenched tightly. Beside her, Laki had grown stiff too and her muscles were tensed, like she was prepared to run to Conis's side the moment she showed any signs of real distress. And then Law was done, and he slid the needle out of her skin and tossed it into the container marked "sharps," and most of the tenseness left the room in a rush, like someone had opened a window and physically let it all out.

"I'm going to leave the bandage off if that's alright with you, so that we can get a visual of your healing. Sanji is the only major I've ever come across, and regardless of the viral count, your body may behave in different ways than his. May I take a cheek swab?"

Conis nodded and opened her mouth for Law's q-tip, which Law swept quickly over both cheeks without looking, focused more on his watch while he eyed the puncture in her arm. Already it was almost completely healed over, and resembled more of a tiny blood blister than an actual injury.

Zoro looked up as the door to the exam room clicked and Chopper trotted in with some files in his arms, which he placed on the table next to Conis and immediately moved to take the swab from Law and place it in a sterile container without even making eye contact with the surgeon. They worked so well together at this point that it wasn't really necessary. When Conis opened the top file curiously, Chopper climbed up onto the table next to her and started pointing some things on the first page out.

"This is the file of the first NSPH we know about, Neculai Sergiu Pescariu. There may have been ones before him, but there's no paperwork that exists. Or if there is, the military doesn't have it. This stuff may not be up to date either, Law was able to get these before the city collapsed, but it's too dangerous to try and hack in again now, so it's a couple years old."

"1583?" Conis asked, reading from the file.

Chopper half shrugged, nodding and shaking his head at the same time. "Well, he was captured in 1583; they don't know when he was born. It also doesn't say anything about if he was born with the virus or if it was administered to him, like we think it was. It's too bad he didn't make it just a little longer, we could have asked him ourselves."

Zoro blinked, looking over to where Conis had also looked up at Chopper in confusion and Sanji had actually stirred in the corner for the first time since sitting down. He hadn't moved in so long that his cigarette was about to burn his hand.

"I doubt his mind would be salvageable enough to ask him questions after all those years of experimenting," Law interjected.

"That's true," Chopper shrugged again.

"Whoa, wait, asked him ourselves?" Laki spoke up, voicing everyone's question.

Chopper looked up to all of the eyes on him, expression blank, like he couldn't figure out what the problem was. "…Have we never mentioned this? Pescariu died during World War II after the Nazi scientists got ahold of him. He was in captivity for 357 years being passed from government to government, but we have no way of knowing how long before that he was born."

"357?" Conis gasped, covering her hand with her mouth. Chopper nodded apologetically. Aside from Shanks and Law, who apparently knew, the eyes of everyone in the room had gone as round as dinner plates. Zoro's heart had done another little hiccup, and he was having trouble figuring out how to breathe again. His eyes, almost as though they were magnetized, had locked on Sanji and seemed unable to look away from the cook's aghast expression.

357.

"If the virus was administered to him when he was captured, than he shouldn't have been much older than 390," Law interrupted. "He looks about thirty in all of the pictures they have—don't look," he added as Conis reached for the file, and she yanked her hand back like it had been burned, her face starting to take on a green tinge. Beside her, Sanji twitched and immediately reached into his pocket for another cigarette, even though the one in his mouth wasn't completely out. "But any paperwork before that could have been hidden or lost, or it wasn't a military experiment before and they started a paperwork trail when they took it over… for all we know, he could have been around when some of the first homo sapiens were."

"That's what negligible senescent means…" Chopper trailed off, looking around the room incredulously. "Did know one know? And no one bothered to ask or look it up?"

All eyes found the floor almost guiltily, avoiding meeting Chopper's eye.

"Seriously? No one? Ugh! You all…! …Fine! Senescence means that organisms, like…" he waved his hands around him, no doubt trying to dumb down the medical terminology so they could all keep up, "deteriorate as they grow older. So their muscles start to lack function, their reproductive systems start to fail, their senses are less astute, that sort of thing. Negligible senescent means that age and time have no affect on the physical form of certain organisms. Death rate doesn't increase, they can reproduce… they basically function exactly the same way whether they're ten or a hundred years old. It's not actually as uncommon as you'd think. Some types of fish are negligible senescent, some turtles, lobsters, certain bacteria, naked mole rats, clams… it's hard to tell for sure because there are environmental factors that affect death rate, like you wouldn't be able to tell how long a clam could live if it got eaten, or if a disease kills something off, but from what we have seen, there are some species that are basically immortal."

"Because of the NSPH virus's effect of speeding up the healing process," Law finished for him, ignoring Chopper's miffed expression as the smaller doctor glared at his audience, "which is basically just healing the body constantly and always giving it new cells, along with evidence like Neculai Sergiu Pescariu, it seems that NSPH are negligible senescent."

357.

Zoro couldn't wrap his head around the concept.

Sanji… could live forever. Theoretically.

No wonder the military wanted control of the virus so badly.

Zoro found Sanji again, brow furrowing as he took in Sanji's wide eyes and the ash that had collected on his forgotten cigarette. He knew exactly what was going through the cook's mind: Sanji and Conis and Killer and every other NSPH maybe could live forever, but that didn't specify how or where.

If the three of them had never been broken out, they could have very easily ended up in the military facilities forever.

Sanji found himself back outside with a much-needed cigarette in between his fingers, his lungs filled with smoke as he tried to get as much nicotine out of the breath as possible. Zeff had tried to get him to quit a couple of times, and in all honesty he could if he wanted to, but they were so helpful in calming him down. His body healed and rid itself of toxins fast enough that the addictive part of the nicotine as well as the withdrawal was almost nonexistent. And he didn't have to worry about cancer because his body healed too fast for anything like that to even begin. He didn't even really have a smoker's cough, and he'd been smoking for close to ten years.

He'd quit once just to prove to Zeff that he could, and the withdrawal had only lasted a week or so before he'd felt fine, but the stress of everything around him caught up to him so quickly. Everything set him off now; he was just quick-tempered and hotheaded and he had too much psychological scarring to really care or for anyone to really fault him. But the nicotine helped to calm him, and it was easy to get to and simple to administer without pills or needles or anything else fucking with his body. He'd never been gassed in the facility so the cigarettes didn't trigger anything, and he'd spent eleven years in that hellhole and come out relatively sane so if he wanted a fucking cigarette he would have a fucking cigarette.

Sanji snorted to himself and knocked the accumulating ash off over the railing of the roof.

…I guess that riled me up a lot more than I thought it would. Ranting to himself about how he could have a cigarette if he wanted? Seeing Conis in the position of the patient with Law must have really bothered him. Not that he was sure why he thought he wouldn't be bothered. Just knowing that Chopper was a doctor put him on edge sometimes when he came to visit the apartment, like showing his home to any doctor would put him in serious danger. It was ridiculous, but he couldn't keep himself from flinching every time Chopper walked in the door. Thank god the kid was so bubbly and had no such thing as a poker face, and that he'd never realized that Sanji's discomfort was a direct result of his presence, or he'd have a real problem.

Needles were a huge trigger for him. He had scars on his arms from how many times he'd been injected with things and had samples taken from him, and scarring was not easy to do, considering how fast he healed. Idly, he wondered how many times he'd have to have been stuck for his skin to break down and stop healing correctly in those spots. His eye was one thing, it was delicate and he was pretty sure he'd been able to smell acid when they were experimenting on it. The point of that was to see how much his body would be able to withstand and still heal, especially on a part of his body so important for hunting. His arms were a different story. Needles left almost no marks, so getting a scar from just that meant hundreds of thousands (of maybe tens of thousands) of injections. Just the thought made a pretty significant shiver shoot up his spine, and he had to change positions just to get comfortable again, crossing his arms so his inner elbows were tucked away.

But if he were being honest with himself, what was bothering him was more than that.

357.

357 years as a prisoner. 357 years living just by the scientific definition of living. Law's comment about the man's mind not being coherent enough to answer questions had really thrown him too.

The older Conis and Killer got, the less likely they were to be found again unless they did something stupid like attack someone in front of onlookers. He just looked like an older, albeit healthier version of himself. He was so easily identifiable, especially to someone that was looking.

Sanji growled to himself as he noticed the distinct tremor his hands had taken on and he quickly sucked in another breath, relishing in the nicotine washing over him. He needed to find a brand with a higher dose; his body filtered it out of his system too quickly. The good thing about healing that fast was that he didn't build up a tolerance to the nicotine, so when he had a cigarette, that was fine and generally all he needed. You know, if whatever was throwing him went away. Otherwise he could go through a whole pack in less than half an hour.

The calm was short-lived though as his sharp ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and a cactus-like feeling prickled up the back of his shoulders.

Small feet. Long legs. 127—no, 128 pounds. Light steps. Slightly on the toes. Nervous. Cautious.

It was Conis.

The thoughts 'shit' and 'well, now's as good a time as ever' invaded his head simultaneously, and he took another deep breath on his cigarette as the door to the roof was pushed open and Conis stepped quietly out onto the roof. She could probably hear him puffing away nervously all the way from the door—if her momentary pause said anything. Sanji closed his eyes and sucked in another breath.

Her arms found his middle as she joined him, and his heart rate leveled out as she laid her head against his back even with what he had to say next sitting on his tongue. It was… nostalgic, sort of. She was a reminder of better times, back when he still had two fucking eyes and all of his hard work getting over triggers hadn't been obliterated by him being kidnapped again and beaten within an inch of his life, again.

She felt good. Warm. And without him even realizing it, she had made him calmer than any cigarette ever could. The only person that could have calmed him faster was—

A rush of heat swept over his body and Sanji ducked his head, biting down hard on his tongue and clamping down on his breathing. A lump had clogged his throat, leeching anger and hate into the rest of his body.

I want to go back—do not fucking cry—I want Zeff—don't you fucking cry—I need Zeff—don't you fucking dare—I want Zeff—

"What's wrong?"

Sanji forced himself to suck in a slow and even breath, looking back out over the city as he blinked to make sure his eyes weren't wet. And then he turned to face her, really look her in the eye for the first time since she'd gotten here.

And she was smiling at him. Despite everything, everything he'd put her through, everything they'd been through together, everything he owed her, she was still smiling that breath-taking, altruistic, angelic smile at him.

He was the worst.

"Are you going to call Zeff?" she murmured. The lump jumped violently in Sanji's throat again, but he was pretty sure that he hadn't flinched in any physical way that she would have picked up. "Because you should, selfish jerk."

He wished her joking tone were doing more to cheer him up.

He wished that he didn't have to be the one to make her stop smiling.

He wished she hadn't come yet.

He wished that he was home with Zo—Zeff—

Sanji blinked, realizing suddenly that his mind had started associating home with Zoro, even after such a short period of time. He even realized that he'd wanted to go back to Zeff, not home.

What was happening to him?

"You didn't think you were going to stay the same the whole way through, did you? When things around you change, you change too."

The corners of Sanji's lips quirked upwards and he chuckled to himself. Leave it to the idiot to make him laugh at a time like this. Conis cocked her head in his direction, her smile still gentle, but he shook his head and snuffed out his cigarette on the railing.

The change in her expression was instantaneous. He used to always put out his cigarettes in front of her, not wanting to disgust the lady, but then they'd gotten too close and always getting away from her to smoke had become a pain. More recently, he didn't bother not smoking around her unless there was something serious they had to talk about. She knew that.

She pulled back slightly, hands still on his arms but clearly giving him the space he needed, her expression tight now as she tried to stay strong for whatever he was going to say. He despised making her feel like this.

"…I want to tell you what happened," he whispered.

The words didn't feel real on his tongue. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. He even told her about the night he'd been kidnapped, how they'd had some woman scream off in an alley and lured him away from anyone that would help or even see when they kidnapped him—things that no one else knew. Everything came out.

Everything but Zoro.

For some reason, he couldn't get himself to say anything to her about Zoro. He hadn't even told her that his new apartment here was specifically so that he could live with the moss head.

Conis was openly crying by the time he was finished, and when she reached up slowly he stilled, feeling that, if nothing else, he owed her as much trust as he'd placed in her before, and let her sweep the hair out of the way of his eye. She brushed over his lid carefully with her thumb, her expression never faltering from the warm, open, loving gaze she was giving him as she took in the newest and biggest physical scar. She looked like she wanted to hug him, or cover him with a blanket and shield him from the world, or grab him and run far enough away that nothing would ever stand a chance of finding them again. The lump in his throat refused to move.

"You…" her voice was heavy and waterlogged, and she combed his bangs back in place and allowed him his privacy again, "you… Sanji, I'm so sorry… you went through that all on your own…"

Sanji shook his head, a slight smile forcing his way onto his lips. He leaned back heavily against the railing with his head tipped towards the ground so he wouldn't have to look her in the eye. He was such a coward.

"I wasn't alone," he said firmly, watching the first few snowflakes staring to fall around his feet. "I had my… nakama here."

"…Your what?"

"…Conis, I…" he had absolutely no idea how to say this. "…These past few weeks, they've really changed me. And I didn't realize how much until I saw you today."

"…You weren't planning on coming back at all, were you—"

He shook his head quickly. "No, I was. But there are people chasing me and I was really hurt and I had to be safe. I wasn't healed enough because of the drugs they gave me to stand a chance of getting back on my own until really recently."

He took a deep breath before continuing, running his tongue over the spot on his lip where a cigarette normally would have sat. "While I was here, I… I joined this crew. This crew of psycho lunatics who would support my every decision just because I thought it was important, not even that they agreed with it."

She seemed at a loss for anything to say, so he just kept talking.

"I found something really incredible here. And I don't want to leave."

"…I don't understand."

Sanji winced at the wobble in her voice. He couldn't look at her; he couldn't see that broken expression and the tears in her eyes that were there because of him.

"…I think… the way I feel about you has changed too."

"…"

"…I'm so sorry, Conis. You're so beautiful, and strong, and wonderful, and so, so perfect, I'm so angry at myself that I feel this way… but I won't lead you on. That disgrace would be even worse than the one I'm putting you through now."

"…Sanji, I… I can wait." Her grip on his arm tightened. "We can work through this. I know you've been hurt and god knows after how many years you were in that facility that this wasn't easy, but—"

"I don't want you to wait for me."

"…There's someone else, isn't there." It wasn't a question. "Here, in the city."

Sanji nodded after a moment, eyes still locked on the ground. "I'm so sorry, Conis."

She pulled her hand back slowly, and part of his heart broke as her warmth left his skin. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't face her as she turned and walked back to the door, not even as he heard her choke on a small sob behind her hand and another piece of his heart broke for her. The door clacked open loudly, her jerky and unstable movements making it much louder than when she'd joined him, and Sanji waited for the following slam as she closed it. It never came, and he blinked, looking back over his shoulder just enough to see that she was still there without actually looking at her.

"…Please call your father," she whispered, knowing that he would hear her even from that distance. "He's really scared."

And with that she stepped through the door and it clicked shut behind her, leaving him alone out in the black with the snow falling silently around him.

-oOo-

Zoro was pretty sure that Sanji would have ended up on the roof. The cook liked open spaces with lots of escape options. But he wasn't honestly sure the best way to get to the roof from where he was and he was passing the back door anyways (how did he get here again?) so he pushed it open anyways. Might as well check while he was there.

The night was cold and silent with snow just starting to fall, though it wasn't cold enough to stick on the black pavement, which gave the scene a strange a strange, surreal feel, like he was flying through space.

Someone was outside, but it wasn't Sanji. Zoro tried to duck back out the door quickly, not really in the mood for chit-chat, but Laki turned quickly and saw him, giving him a warm smile and he sighed to himself, resigning to join her for a little bit.

He trudged down the steps and moved to stand next to her, pulling his jacket tighter around him. They were quiet for a long time, watching the stars and the snow and breathing in the crisp, pure air. Zoro had gotten so used to the smell of debris in the air that smelling actual air was kind of odd, though definitely not unappreciated.

"Long night," Laki said finally, and Zoro nodded. "…I never realized that you had so much involvement with… you know, people like Conis."

Zoro just nodded again. He'd been having way too many of these types of conversations in the past few weeks.

"I can't believe I didn't realize that Sanji was one too."

Zoro found himself rolling his eyes before he even realized what he was doing and quietly thanked the stars that it was dark out. He didn't need to be making enemies with Conis's sister with everything going on. But seriously, did she think all NSPH had a stamp or something on the backs of their necks? NSPH actually weren't that easy to pick out unless you were looking for them. The woman who'd rented them out their apartment had been a fluke because she'd been able to see Sanji excited and unreserved, Laki would have had no way of telling. And good thing too, they would have all been in hiding years ago for Killer if it was that easy to pick an NSPH out of the crowd.

On that note though… "Why…" he started and Laki looked over to him, waiting patiently. "When we were in your shop that day… you called NSPH's "monsters—"

Laki blew a raspberry, cutting him off, and he blinked over at her.

"The ones that destroyed the city were monsters. My sister is not a monster, and neither if Sanji, and from what I've heard, neither is your brother, but I guess I can only take your word for him."

She winked in his direction and Zoro found himself smirking.

She'd known there was a difference all along. Duh.

They were quiet again after that, Zoro suddenly content to stay for a while before going to find Sanji as they watched the snow falling from the stars.

The man leaned around the corner of the building he was watching from, keeping one eye to where Black-leg was standing on the roof smoking quietly and one eye on the rest of the street to make sure no one surprised him. He raised the phone to his ear at the sound of someone picking up on the other end, ducking away so he wouldn't be seen while he was distracted. He was really close to the heart of their territory anyways; he should start working his way back before someone saw him. He was still surprised at the fact that Black-leg had yet to notice him; maybe he was more frazzled than he was letting on, but he was definitely unnerved so it was possible that he did sense something. Something was definitely throwing him off though, perhaps something to do with the fight tonight, or that blonde girl that had come to talk with him earlier.

-Yes?-

"It's Kaku. I found how we can do it."

-Yes?-

"Black-leg has been hired as the traveling chef for Shanks' fighting team."

-…When's their next fight?-

"I'm pretty sure it's in a couple weeks. Moriah only has them on the weekend because a lot of his fighters have ties outside the underground. I was going to leave the city tonight and head straight there, just to be sure. Also maybe to get Black-leg to relax more so his guard is down, so he won't feel me over his shoulder. I doubt anything will happen while I'm gone, but we can have Fukuro or someone come to watch while I'm gone."

-Good. Take whoever you need, you have jurisdiction to pull people from wherever they're stationed now. No one should be more than 100 miles away from your current location.-

Kaku smiled to himself, able to hear Lucci's pleased tone even through the phone. Finally. "Done. I'll keep you updated."

He flipped the phone closed and slid it into his pocket, looking up once more at Sanji to see if he'd moved before he jogged off down the black alley.

Up on the roof, Sanji's shoulder blade prickled uncomfortably and he reached up to scratch it, looking around in the night, but there was no one there.

-oOo-