Title: Almost Easy
Author: kikokus (AoiTsukikage)
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters/Pairing: Zoro/Sanji, Law/Sanji, Law/Zoro/Sanji
Chapter: 9/?
Word Count: 3378
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: Up to chapter 773.

Chapter Nine

"It's a treasure map."

Nami's eyes were shining in the way they only got when she got really, really excited about something. Nine times out of ten that 'something' had to do with money, and apparently this time was no different, if the rolled up piece of paper she slapped on the table the next morning was any indication.

"Awesome! Is it meat?" Luffy asked, shooting his arm over to grab it and whining when Nami snatched the map up before he could make off with it.

"No," she said firmly, tucking it under her arm. "According to the locals, the neighboring island used to harbor a thriving community, mainly because they had a lot of jewel mines there. A few years back the town suddenly mass deserted for some reason and a lot of the old inhabitants came to live on Zou, although nobody seems quite sure why everything shut down over there seemingly overnight. Anyway, there's still a chance to find rare gems in the mountains, and apparently once word got out that it's full of caverns and half-dug tunnels, pirates have been stowing their loot there in the hopes that nobody will find it," she explained. "From what the shopkeeper told me, this was left behind by one of the pirate crews after their supply run, and nobody from here wants to go back over there because a lot of the mine shafts are unstable now and digging around more might trigger a collapse. I figure it's worth it if there's treasure, though!" she added, smiling a little maniacally.

"B-b-but if nobody here's going, then that means it's too dangerous…" Usopp started, but his words trailed off into silence at the look Nami gave him.

"What kind of pirates would we be if we avoided something because it might be dangerous?" she pointed out, and eventually he nodded and scratched at the end of his long nose. "Good. We'll go tomorrow to check things out, and if it does look like there's no chance of getting in without the tunnels caving in on us, we'll look for a way around it," she decided, and Sanji smiled to himself. Nami might love treasure, but she wasn't going to put them in mortal danger over it.

"I'll go back into town today and see if I can find a local historian, or at least somebody that knows a bit more about why the town was abandoned," Robin spoke up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "If most of the inhabitants are living here now, there must be somebody with at least a bit of knowledge about the incident."

Nami smiled at her, obviously appreciating that somebody was outright taking her side, and Sanji knew that if the two girls were in the rest of them would eventually follow. Still, that meant he probably would have to stay up late preparing picnic lunches for everybody, so that likely meant another night of minimal sleep.

Oh, well. He was pretty much used to it by now.

"Right, we'll leave in the morning," Nami decided, looking to Luffy, who shrugged and then started picking his nose, so he evidently had no objections.

Everybody dispersed after that, leaving the galley empty save for Sanji cleaning up the breakfast plates and Law sitting at the bar, once again poring over the newspaper.

"What are you even looking for in there?" Sanji asked, since it had been a morning ritual for him every day since leaving Dressrosa, and Law looked up from his reading.

"News on Doflamingo's fate, first of all…I know he's alive, because his heart's still beating, but it would be nice to know where he is so I can stop being so on-edge about it," he admitted with a shrug. "And, probably more importantly, whether my Warlord status has been revoked yet. I don't doubt Fujitora has more important things to do at the moment what with everything on Dressrosa and Doflamingo himself, but at the same time I'm still anticipating it soon, and I'll have to start being a lot more careful once my bounty's been unfrozen," he explained.

He had a point, Sanji thought, but he'd never had to worry that much about his own bounty…yeah, sometimes they ran into assholes like they had before Dressrosa who figured out who he was, but his identity was pretty well-hidden considering his wanted posters were always horrible.

"What were you worth, anyway?" he honestly hadn't paid that much attention even though he'd probably seen one of Law's wanted posters somewhere.

"440," Law said, as if it were nothing, even though Sanji choked on the tea he was drinking. "And I'm sure it'll go up considering what happened on Dressrosa and that it was fairly well-known I was part of it," he sighed, seemingly not noticing Sanji's attempts to stop what was bound to be a rather large coughing fit.

"Holy shit, man, what did you do?" Sanji managed to squeak, thumping his chest to get himself back under control. That was bigger than Luffy's bounty and he'd been in the middle of a war that the entirety of the World Government had seen, so for Law's to be bigger than that…

"100 pirate hearts in a chest, remember?" Law had a rather sadistic grin on his face.

"But I mean…they were still…"

"Yes, of course," Law waved his real hand. "But the people I delivered them to hardly knew that my ability doesn't actually harm the person I use it on. All most of the Marines know is that I like to chop people into tiny pieces, so they fear me despite the fact that most of my attacks are painless."

"Speaking of pain," Sanji cleared his throat and took another sip of tea. "How do you feel after last night?"

"A little sore, but that's to be expected. Zoro certainly didn't take it easy on me," he grimaced and shifted on the hard barstool. "It's manageable enough, though, and it's not as if he did anything that would cause lasting damage."

"Good," Sanji set his mug down and rounded the bar, slinging his arm over Law's shoulders and resting his cheek against the surgeon's hair. Law's arm came to wrap around his waist automatically, even as he kept reading the paper, and Sanji thought about how fucking domestic they were.

It was nice, though. Maybe not what he ever would have expected from Law, necessarily, but the type of casual intimacy they'd grown into always made him feel warm inside.

"Hey, bros!"

Sanji knew it was too late to move because Franky would have noticed, and while he and Brook were the only people on the crew that Sanji wasn't sure knew exactly what sort of relationship he and Law had, at this point it didn't really pay to keep it secret any longer.

"I take it you broke in that arm last night?" Franky waggled his eyebrows suggestively at them and Sanji groaned, resting his chin on Law's head. "Look, no judgment from me, but I'm kinda bummed I'm like the last one to know," he looked directly at Sanji, lifting up his sunglasses, and Sanji wasn't sure what to say to that.

"I…I mean…"

"I told him," Law said in a quiet, guilty voice. "When he and I were working out the details for my arm. I do trust all of you by now, you realize, and I couldn't speak with you directly…"

"Of course you could have," Sanji cut him off, because while he wasn't really angry about it, it still rankled a little. "There was no fucking reason you couldn't have come to me…no offense, Franky," he added, because that hadn't come out sounding all that good.

"None taken, bro," Franky assured him, looking a little uncomfortable to be caught in the middle of some sort of lovers' quarrel. "But seriously, the skeleton and I kinda heard you way back in that Inn before Dressrosa, so it didn't blow my mind or anything."

Sanji buried his nose in Law's hair this time, groaning, because apparently the whole damn hotel had heard them and even if he wasn't ashamed of it, he wasn't any sort of exhibitionist and knowing that most of the crew had heard him in the middle of sex (and of course it would be him, since Law was damn near silent) was embarrassing just on principle.

"But yes, the arm," Law said quickly. "It seems to be in perfect working order, Mr. Robo. Thank you."

"No problem, man! Glad you like it," Franky thumped him on the back. "If it starts getting creaky or anything just peel the skin off and oil the joints, but since you don't have any super weapons built into it or anything it shouldn't give you too much trouble," he assured the surgeon.

"Again, I do appreciate it more than I can say…"

"Yeah, sex is probably super tricky with one arm, huh?" Franky was teasing again and Sanji, still not bothering to look up from his view of Law's hair, reached a hand out to flip him off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm happy for you, dudes," the cyborg promised before Sanji could hear his footsteps receding, and he sighed heavily before finally lifting his head.

"I do apologize for not coming to you," Law spoke in a tone that was utterly serious. "I wasn't in my right mind and I had…built up a false worry in my head that for some reason missing a limb would be enough for you to reject me entirely. It was foolish, and entirely unfair to you because I know you care about more than what's merely on the surface."

"Nah, don't beat yourself up about it," Sanji mumbled. "I know you were going through shit and I don't actually blame you for not telling me. I just…need you to know that you can talk to me about whatever from here on out. Okay?"

"I do know," Law promised, turning and lifting his chin in an obvious invitation. Sanji bent to kiss him, lingering a little to let the older man know he truly held no resentment toward him, and when he pulled back Law was smiling gently at him.

"Good," Sanji ruffled his hair on the way by, getting a resigned sigh in response. He knew Law would still keep some secrets, of course, because that was just how Law was…but maybe by now he'd learned that Sanji, at least, wasn't going to judge him for them.

000

"Can we talk to you?"

"Yeah. What's up?" Sanji leaned against the railing, letting the wind ruffle his hair as he lit a cigarette. Law's crew had cornered him as he'd left the galley…well, at least, the three members of Law's crew that Sanji figured were closest to the man himself. He'd talked to Shachi and Penguin enough by now, and while he still wasn't quite sure what Bepo was, the polar bear was fiercely loyal to Law and that made him alright in Sanji's books.

"You're behind the tattoos, right?" Penguin asked without preamble, and in a way that implied he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Sanji didn't see a reason to lie about that of all things. "What about them?"

"It's just…" Shachi started, crossing his arms, "it's not even something we thought of, and we've known the Cap for years. He must really trust you," he sounded unsure if he should be prying that much, but Sanji had wondered if Law had even told his crew half the things he'd told Sanji about his past. This kind of confirmed that he hadn't, at least not in any great detail, and Sanji wasn't sure how to respond because he didn't want to come off as sounding smug about having as much of Law's trust as he did.

"Um," he knew that was probably the worst answer he could have given, but he was kind of drawing a blank being put on the spot like that. "I mean, he…"

"Do you love him?" Penguin interrupted, and Sanji balked again without knowing why. It should have been so easy now to answer that question truthfully, but his first reaction was always to hesitate.

Well, time to fucking man up, he decided.

"Yeah. I really do," he promised, blowing out some smoke and crossing his legs at the ankle, trying to look relaxed and self-assured.

He wasn't sure how they would react to that, but both Penguin and Shachi grinned at him and Bepo's ears wiggled a little.

"Good," Shachi nodded, reaching out to pat Sanji's shoulder. "I mean, I know the Cap's probably not the easiest guy to love, but it's what he needs more than anything. All of us know that he's a pretty nice guy despite everything, but he's still putting up a sort of front around us and I think if he has somebody he can completely bare himself to…that's a good thing."

"We all want Captain to be happy," Bepo put in, "but I don't know why he'd pick you over any of us," he shuffled forward, black nose snuffling like he was trying to smell why Sanji was somehow different.

Penguin and Shachi suddenly developed an extreme simultaneous case of loud coughing, probably because Bepo apparently had no idea exactly what was going on, and Sanji tried not to react because he did like the polar bear even if he sometimes seemed a little too innocent

"What?" Bepo looked at both of them.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Bepo," Penguin clapped the bear on his shoulder. "Just be happy the Cap's not wandering around scowling or refusing to come out of his room. He's done that," he said, the last part directed at Sanji, and Sanji could easily believe that.

Law sulked like a five-year-old, after all.

"Yeah, well, I'll kick his ass if he tries either of those, don't worry," Sanji grinned, and Bepo's mouth fell open as he gazed at the cook in obvious amazement.

"Yeah, it's love, if he'll let you do that without cutting you in half," Shachi returned his smile. "I guess we don't need to threaten you with treating him right, huh?"

Sanji had been expecting that the entire time, so he shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets, cigarette still dangling from between his lips. "You can if you want to, but I'm not gonna do anything to hurt him."

"Are you bothering Sanji again?"

"Captain!" All three of the Heart Pirates turned, Penguin and Shachi grimacing and Bepo merely grinning at Law's appearance and running over to hug him. Sanji didn't miss the way Law nuzzled his nose into Bepo's fur, or how tightly his fingers, both real and mechanical, clutched at the polar bear.

He seemed to remember he was supposed to be annoyed a moment later and stepped away, clearing his throat. "It's not enough you're making him cook for all of you? I assure you, you don't have to threaten him on my behalf," he stepped beside Sanji and crossed his arms, glowering, and Sanji rolled his eyes and elbowed the other man in the side. "But I do appreciate the gesture," Law muttered from between gritted teeth, though Sanji knew he was secretly happy that his crew actually did like him enough to do something like that.

"I just don't get why it can't be one of us," Bepo whined a little, looking utterly dejected, and Law glanced over at Sanji and raised an eyebrow in a way that made Sanji a little nervous.

He wasn't entirely surprised when Law's metal arm clamped around his waist and dipped him back a little, free hand grabbing the knot on his tie and lips firmly planted over the cook's own. Sanji wrapped one arm around Law's waist, the other hand fisting in his hair, and gave back as good as he was getting.

Fuck, he didn't think Law was any sort of exhibitionist, but if this was how he chose to get his message across…well, Sanji wasn't going to complain.

Their mouths separated with a fairly audible 'smack', Law giving him a feral grin before hoisting him upright, and when he turned to look at Law's crew again Penguin and Shachi were obviously blushing and Bepo's mouth was hanging open.

"As you can see, Bepo, my relationship with Sanji is quite different from the one I share with any of you," Law's voice was entirely calm, no shame in his posture, and somehow he wasn't even a little out of breath.

"…oh," Bepo looked at his feet. "Okay."

The polar bear was obviously feeling down, and Sanji could tell neither Penguin nor Shachi seemed to know how to react to that display. Law frowned, thinking, before he straightened up to his full height.

"However, the three of you have all been with me for an exceptionally long while, and I think it's far past time that I explain at least a little of what's been going on to you. If you're willing to listen," his voice was a little shaky, a little unsure, but Sanji was proud of him. He was still convinced that nobody would ever get Law's full life story the way he had (although he was also convinced that even he didn't know everything), but that he was willing to open himself up to more people, that he trusted more people enough to do so, was undoubtedly progress.

"Yeah," Penguin grinned, Shachi nodding furiously. "We'll, um, meet you in your parlor. C'mon, Bepo," the man tugged on the bear's sleeve and Bepo, after a last long look at Law, followed them over to the submarine.

"So I guess I pass their test, huh?" Sanji mentioned.

"I knew you would. They already like you because you feed them," Law's hand lingered in the small of his back, warm through his thin dress shirt. "But even if they didn't, it wouldn't affect my feelings. And besides…" he glanced up toward the sky, the smile on his face entirely wistful now. "The one person whose opinion I care most about…he's already given his blessing."

"Yeah, by setting me on fire and landing me on my ass," Sanji rubbed his tailbone absently. Even though Law seemed convinced it was a good sign, he still thought it sent somewhat of a mixed message.

"Yes, well, he always did lack a certain…grace," Law noted. "Ironic that his ability was so useful in performing espionage considering…" he stopped, blinking, and shook his head.

So. There was some solid confirmation that Sanji definitely didn't know everything yet.

"Anyway, don't leave them waiting too long," Sanji stepped away and Law nodded, walking across the deck.

Sanji watched him hop to the submarine and disappear into the doorway there, and his only warning of somebody else approaching was a slight sigh of warm breath against his ear before two strong arms wrapped around his waist.

"You two were putting on quite the show there," Zoro growled, nipping at his ear, and Sanji leaned back against the swordsman's body. "So his crew knows?"

"Yeah. Franky told us today that he and Brook do, too," he added, and Zoro grunted. "Why? Feeling left out? Like you're my dirty little secret?" he teased, tilting his head obligingly when the other man's lips moved to the long line of his neck.

"Nah. It doesn't change anything, and honestly, they're all gonna have a much harder time believing we're doing it than you and Law," he snickered.

"We'll have to tell them eventually…at least, the rest of our crew," Sanji pointed out. "They're gonna find out sooner or later anyway since it's not like there's a lot of places for us to sneak off to on the Sunny."

"Yeah, well, I choose later," Zoro decided, pulling away from Sanji when they heard the door to the men's bunk room slam open.

Usopp looked confused when he passed them, his eyes darting from one to the other before he disappeared in the direction of the library.

"Think he can handle it?" Zoro asked, and Sanji nodded slowly after pondering it for a few seconds. Usopp probably would have been next on the list anyway.

"Yeah. Let's tell him."

Notes:

1. I apologize for the wait on this chapter; I normally write on weekends and I had a bunch of assignments due at the same time so I had to delay working on this until those were completed. I don't have a whole lot else to say about this chapter, but I'm very glad (most?) of you enjoyed the Zoro/Law scene in the last chapter, and now we've started getting into the actual plot of this thing!