Title: Almost Easy
Author: kikokus (AoiTsukikage)
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters/Pairing: Zoro/Sanji, Law/Sanji, Law/Zoro/Sanji
Chapter: 2/?
Word Count: 3613
Summary: Sequel to 'So Good So Far.' Everything was supposed to get easier after Dressrosa – at least, that's what Sanji had assumed. He was wrong. .
Spoilers: Recent chapters, but especially chapter 769.

Chapter Two

"What's that for?"

"Your crew," Sanji replied, stirring a large vat of oatmeal. He hadn't really slept the night before, laying there staring into the darkness, and while he was fucking exhausted now he knew he couldn't shirk his duties.

"My crew?" Law sounded confused, prompting Sanji to turn and look at him. It was the first time he'd set foot in the Sunny's galley since they'd all reunited, and Sanji could tell that he was anxious to be there and encounter everybody that didn't know about his arm yet. Sanji was glad that he was, of course, because it showed that he did trust all of them, but trying to anticipate what all of their reactions would be was probably eating away at him. He was dressed casually, hair still a mess of bed-head and a in a short-sleeved V-neck shirt that not only made it impossible to hide his arm, but also showed off a fair amount of skin on his chest that Sanji was more than appreciative of. He was also wearing a pair of dark-rimmed glasses, the morning news and a cup of fresh-brewed coffee spread out on the bar in front of him, and while they may have been practical Sanji was convinced the glasses only made him look hotter.

For the life of him he couldn't understand why Law was so certain Sanji would suddenly think he was some sort of hideous monster, because the man was one of the best-looking human beings Sanji had ever laid eyes on, and he didn't think anything could change his opinion on that

"Yeah. The first day I had a whole crowd of them in here so now I always make extra for whoever wants it," he checked the pot, seeing that it was finished, and set it aside with a large tray containing a pitcher of milk and assorted toppings.

"I told them not to bother you…"

"It's not a bother," Sanji waved the words off. "You should know by now that I love cooking."

"Still," Law sighed, and Sanji spun around and crossed to the bar. He leaned over, gripping Law's chin in his hand, and pressed a short kiss to his lips. "Hmm."

"It's fine. I promise," he straightened up. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Whatever the rest of you are having," Law took a sip of his coffee, setting it down and frowning before turning a page of the paper. "Don't give me any special treatment."

"I'm making French toast," Sanji replied, digging through the cabinets for the griddle he needed. "And I know how you feel about bread."

"Ugh," Law sounded disgusted, Sanji grinning to himself because Law's aversion to bread would never fail to amuse him. "Then whatever won't take you too much effort to prepare."

"Got it," Sanji grinned and turned around, humming while he got out the other ingredients He worked on preparing the French toast, setting aside a couple of eggs for Law's breakfast, and when he turned back around to see if the other man needed a coffee refill or anything he was a little shocked at how…relaxed Law appeared.

None of the usual tension was evident in his body, his posture casual and the usual dark aura that always surrounded him was diminished so much Sanji could hardly sense it.

"What?" Law looked up from the paper, sensing Sanji staring at him, and lifted one eyebrow a little. "What's the matter?"

"You look…at peace," he said slowly, and Law seemed to consider that before nodding.

"I suppose I am, in a way. Doflamingo's not a threat to me anymore, and I've spent half my life with his presence hanging over me so to have that entirely removed is…it's freeing," he admitted with a small laugh.

"He's not dead though, is he?" Sanji turned back to the griddle, dipping a piece of bread into the egg mixture and placing it on the heat. "Luffy said he wasn't."

"No," Law admitted. "Maybe he should be, but right now I don't care if Kaido catches him or if he gets sent to rot in Impel Down for the rest of his life. I've got what I needed from him, and if I can make him feel even a fraction of what he put me through, I'll be content," Law's voice had gone dark again, something vindictive and harsh in his tone. Sanji couldn't fault him, not knowing what he did, but it was a vast shift from how he'd been only moments earlier.

"So what does that mean?" Sanji finished dipping the first batch of toast and cracked two eggs onto the griddle, grabbing a spatula and watching everything cook.

"I took some…things from him," Law said vaguely, although a glare from Sanji made him continue. "His heart, of course, because that's the easiest way to ensure he'll never be able to hurt me. Let him be afraid every moment that his life could end and there would be literally nothing he could do to stop it. I could stab his heart, or crush it, or leave him in excruciating pain, and he won't know it's coming," his teeth were bared in a rictus, golden eyes flashing. "And, well, since he took my arm, I only felt it fair to return the favor. He uses his hands as much as I do when using his power, so weakening him that way seemed like an even trade. It might not have caused him pain, but I could tell you were uncomfortable last night feeling your arm doing things that you weren't directing, so imagine that feeling for a lifetime."

And fuck, Sanji thought as he turned back away, sometimes he forgot how fucking creepy Law could be. Yes, he knew it wasn't his real personality, but it had been a part of him that had been created by what he'd been through in his life and knowing that only made Sanji feel worse for him.

"Yeah. Fair," he said instead, not sure if that even made sense, and told himself to concentrate on his work before he ended up burning something. "Remind me never to piss you off."

"You won't," Law promised, the darkness that had surrounded him dissipating again. "I doubt I could ever despise anybody as much as I did him, and I'm content with that. Carrying that much hatred with me for so long…it's going to take me a while to let that go," he stated, and Sanji was glad he at least was aware of when he was slipping back into that mindset that seemed solely focused on his personal vendetta against Doflamingo.

Sanji figured the first batch of French toast was cooked perfectly, transferring the slices onto a plate he placed inside the oven to keep warm before repeating the process with the next few pieces of bread.

The galley door opened then, Sanji glancing over and relaxing when he saw it was just Penguin and Shachi coming to collect the breakfast for the rest of their crew. "Morning, Sanji!" Shachi called to him, waving, and Sanji grinned at him in reply.

"Hey, guys. That's yours," he gestured with the spatula toward the large vat and the tray, and they headed over quickly. Law's crew, at least the ones he'd interacted with, all seemed to be good people and certainly were always in better moods than their captain, but he liked having them around.

"I thought I told you not to bother him for food," Law mentioned idly, still reading the paper, and Penguin and Shachi nearly ran into each other as they turned to look.

"C-Captain!" Penguin stuttered, standing up straighter and setting his hands on his hips. "It's nice to see you out…"

"Cut the shit and don't change the subject," Law raised an eyebrow, but he was smirking and Sanji knew he was pretending to be annoyed in order to make the other men sweat a little. "Sanji here already has enough work to do feeding his own crew and the guests they've taken on board, and we're practically anchored in the middle of town so finding good places to eat can hardly be a challenge. Yet, you persist in making him do more work for, I'm sure, no repayment whatsoever."

"Um," Penguin visibly swallowed, turning his head toward Shachi, and the other man merely shrugged. "Well, he…"

"Your Captain's being an ass," Sanji checked the eggs, removing them from the heat and placing them on a plate with a few slices of salmon he'd smoked himself and a small bowl of the oatmeal. He went to the fridge, grabbing a pitcher of fresh-squeezed juice made from a mixture of local fruits, and poured a glass of it that he set beside the serving tray. "And since I just made him a special breakfast, he's also not one to talk."

"Brat," Law replied, smiling over the rim of his coffee cup. Penguin and Shachi were looking between them as if watching a tennis match, and while Shachi seemed mostly confused, Penguin was frowning in a way that said he was putting two and two together (although, since he'd walked in on them about to make out the night before, it should have been obvious).

"If it's too much trouble, we won't ask again," Shachi eventually said, prompting Sanji to break off his staring contest with Law and turn back to him.

"It's fine," he promised. "I already told your captain, I love cooking, so it's no bother. Take it," he gestured, and they gladly did.

"Glad you're feeling better, Cap!" Shachi called before they left, the door swinging behind them only for Nami to come through before it had even settled again.

"Sanji-kun! I've got news…" she stopped, noticing Law a lot faster than his own crewmates had, and she blinked for a few long breaths before taking a step back. "Torao?"

"Good morning, Miss Nami," Law was obviously trying to sound neutral but there was a tiny waver to his voice Sanji immediately picked up on. "It's nice to see you again."

"Yes. Nice," she said haltingly, moving forward a little hesitantly. "I…"

"Here, eat your breakfast before it gets cold. Well, cold-er," he amended, since the salmon already was. He could tell Nami wasn't sure if she should mention Law's arm or just ignore it, so he took it upon himself to break the tension. "Do I need to cut anything for you, or…"

"No, this should be fine. I think I can manage," Law replied smoothly, and Sanji might not have been consciously thinking about it but he had made Law all things that didn't require him to use more than one utensil to eat. "Thank you."

"Yeah," Sanji spun back to check on his toast, hearing Nami's heels click across the floor as she took the barstool beside Law.

"You can talk about it if you want, Miss Nami," he said, mouth obviously full by the muffled sound of his words (and honestly, Sanji thought with a grin, for as intimidating as he was Law tended to eat like some sort of oversized chipmunk by storing food in his cheeks so they puffed out, and it was fucking adorable). "I've…at least come to terms with it now."

Nami didn't answer, and when Sanji turned around she'd reached to lay a hand on Law's shoulder, sliding down to rest on his back. "I'm glad you're alive. We all are, I think."

"I appreciate that," Law sounded genuine, at least, and it was a nice change from his usual self-deprecating ways. "But you said you had news."

"Oh! Yes," she looked back at Sanji, her eyes narrowing and a smirk on her lips. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear this, but apparently some of Kaido's ships have been spotted in the area and are heading toward Dressrosa. We don't know how many people he's sending there, but word of the factory's destruction would have gotten to him by now so chances are he's checking it out personally. The Sunny's fairly recognizable, and if we get trapped in the middle of a convoy of his we wouldn't stand a chance," she explained. "So until we know where he's going or what his next move is, it's probably better to hide the ship in one of the coves around the island and lay low here."

"So we're delayed again?" Sanji raised an eyebrow and she sighed in response.

"It looks that way. I talked to the Samurai already and they're fine with waiting, and I think we could all use a bit more time off since whatever happens next we're going to have a pissed-off yonko after us and that's not going to be easy," she pointed out, glancing toward Law.

"That's very true, and probably wise. Not that I would have come to Wano regardless, but rushing into things never turns out well. I've known that for years and I still disregarded my own advice, and look what it got me," he looked down at his arm, frowning.

Nami patted his shoulder standing up and stretching her arms above her head while Sanji watched appreciatively. "Luffy's been badgering me, so how long until breakfast?" she asked, and Sanji looked down at the griddle.

"Ten minutes," he decided, figuring even if not all the toast was done by then there'd be enough to get Luffy started.

"I'll hold him off until then," she promised, smiling to both of them before she left, and again she'd barely passed the door when Zoro lumbered in, blinking and seemingly still half-asleep.

"Hey. Morning," he yawned, stopping beside Law and throwing his arm over the surgeon's shoulders. Law had a rather stunned look on his face at the casual embrace, but he sank into it quickly. "Food?"

"Coming," Sanji replied, not surprised to see Zoro's hand inching toward Law's plate. "Leave him alone, Marimo. You can wait for five minutes."

"You're so nice to him, Cook," Zoro sighed, resting his cheek on Law's hair and frowning. "You never make me special food."

"It's because he's nice to me. You should try it sometime," Sanji replied, starting on the last batch of toast.

"Nah, it's more fun to piss you off," Zoro snickered and Sanji rolled his eyes, hiding a smile by facing away. Of course it would be, but then, if Zoro did start suddenly being nice to him he'd assume he'd been put under a curse or something.

He could hear the swordsman come up behind him and anticipated some sort of contact, but he didn't expect Zoro to grab his arm, spin him around, dip him halfway to the floor and thoroughly plunder his mouth.

He got kicked in the head for it, as much as Sanji could from that position, but when that didn't dissuade him Sanji smacked his thigh with the spatula he was still holding. Zoro thankfully pulled him upright then, still holding his arm with one hand and the other arm snug around his waist, and Sanji blinked at him and licked his lips.

Zoro being spontaneous wasn't really a normal occurrence, and while the action was delivered with his normal lack of grace and subtlety, at least it was an effort and Sanji appreciated that. Zoro had a grin on his face, obviously expecting some sort of reply, and that was exactly what Sanji wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of.

"If you ever molest me in my kitchen again I'm kicking you through the porthole," he threatened, brandishing the spatula at Zoro again before turning and making sure the food wasn't burned.

It wasn't, thankfully, and he knew he only had a couple of minutes before Luffy came bursting in so he started getting everything else set out for breakfast.

Zoro went back over to Law, arm slung over his shoulders again, and this time Law didn't look nearly so alarmed. He let his head rest against Zoro's chest, eyes half-closed, and Sanji smiled to himself at how far those two had come.

It was nice.

000

"Hey. Need help?"

"Are you ill?" Sanji reached over to feel Zoro's forehead with the back of his hand, laughing as Zoro irritably swatted it away.

"No. Wanted to talk," Zoro stepped up beside him at the sink, taking a plate out of the soapy water and drying it off. He set it aside, repeating the process with a few more dishes while Sanji waited for him to speak.

Breakfast had been mostly drama-free in the end. Chopper, of course, had thrown himself into Law's lap and refused to leave, and Law allowed him to sit there with what seemed to be a great deal more patience than he usually exhibited. Everybody at least seemed to realize the other man didn't particularly want to talk about his arm and left it alone, although Sanji caught most of them sneaking furtive glances in Law's direction from time to time.

Franky managed to solve that problem by standing up and announcing that he'd finished work on the initial model of Law's robotic arm and left with him so they could see if it fit him properly. Everybody else dispersed after that, leaving just Sanji in the galley as usual to clean up, but for once Zoro had hung around as well.

"Well?" he asked after a few long minutes of silence, not wanting to be kept in the dark. "What is it?"

"Law. He's…you're really good for him," he muttered. Sanji almost lost his grip on the glass he was cleaning, managing to grab it before it hit the floor and shattered.

"I'm what?"

"Look, this last week he's been…nobody could get to him. It was like he'd thrown all of his walls back up and was just hidden somewhere inside this shell or something. He was just…not here, y'know?" he frowned, bracing his hands on the counter. "I mean, his crew, and even Luffy…nothing anybody did got any sort of reaction from him, but you go to see him and he's at least closer to normal."

"I don't think it's me," Sanji said, trying to cover up how much he was actually affected by the words, because fuck, he'd always considered himself expendable and the thought of being some sort of…life motivation to somebody wasn't a burden he wanted to carry. "I mean, yeah, he told me he was worried that I'd feel different or something, but it's probably just that he was relieved that wasn't gonna happen that perked him up."

Zoro grunted, obviously unconvinced, and Sanji breathed out slowly through his nose and turned to the side, making sure Zoro was looking at him.

"This isn't going to last, Marimo. We all know that, and he's not the type of guy to put all his eggs in a basket that's got a hole in the bottom," he didn't know if Zoro would understand that particular analogy, but it seemed to fit. "He's got his own crew, and they're not gonna follow us around forever. This isn't some fucking romance novel, and one day he's gonna go his own way and we'll go ours and that'll be it," he forced his voice to stay steady, because he was still convinced of that but thinking about it hurt.

"So what?"

"So he's not gonna find…what? The will to live? Just because I'm around. He's too realistic for that," he shoved his hands in the dishwater again, scrubbing a little too violently at a mug and making water splash over the edge of the basin.

"I know that," Zoro said, sounding exasperated. "But you've got to stop thinking that you're not as important as the rest of us, because you fucking are, Cook," he grabbed Sanji's shoulders and spun him around. His fingers were tight, digging into Sanji's shirt. "Admitting you help him doesn't mean he's weak or that you're building yourself up too much," he looked serious, eye boring into Sanji's, and Sanji sighed.

"Well, whatever. I'm glad he's better," he hoped Zoro would drop the topic now. It always made him uncomfortable to talk about his own personal feelings of inadequacy, especially because if Zoro was involved it never failed to remind him of Thriller Bark, or of any of the times he was willing to sacrifice himself for his crew but he'd never even gotten the chance to and that rankled.

Not because he necessarily wanted to die a hero, but because it always seemed like nobody believed he could, and yeah, that was always going to sting. He knew the universe hated him, but that it hated him so much it wouldn't even let him try to go out with a bang made him feel really shitty.

"Sanji."

Sanji looked over, because Zoro saying his name was still incredibly rare. This time the kiss Zoro gave him was gentle, hand cupping his chin and guiding him into it softly. Sanji felt his eyes flutter closed, letting Zoro lead, and when he opened them again the look on Zoro's face was still incredibly sombre.

"What was that for?" Sanji cleared his throat, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Because," Zoro replied with a shrug. "If that's what it takes to get you off of your pity pot, I'll gladly fucking do it," he half-smiled then and Sanji wanted to come back with a snarky response, but he really couldn't say anything since Zoro was right.

"Maybe I did help him. A little," he conceded, hearing Zoro groan, but it was all he was going to admit to.

It was all that was true, anyway, and he was at least sure of that.

Notes:

1. One of the things Sanji and Law definitely have in common is that both of them seem to have some pretty major self-worth issues, and while I mentioned it in the last fic I didn't really go into it as far as Sanji was concerned until this chapter. It's definitely canon, though, and one of the parts that always hits me the hardest is during Fishman Island where he seems honestly shocked the rest of the crew would go so far to save his life, and that even after all they'd been through together he somehow didn't think anybody would go out of their way to keep him alive which…says a lot about how he views himself, I think.

2. Some of the things in this fic are what I personally would be fine with happening after Dressrosa, but since we have no idea how that part of the story is going to go yet I feel okay being a little self-indulgent with certain elements of the plot…

3. I do promise there will be smut in this fic, because I'm hardly going to write a threesome fic and not include smut scenes, but these guys have a few things to work through first and then those will will happen ;)

4. Thank you all for the kind words I've received so far, and I'm very glad so many of you enjoyed the first fic enough to want to give this sequel a chance!