Title: Almost Easy
Author:kikokus (AoiTsukikage)
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters/Pairing:Zoro/Sanji, Law/Sanji, Law/Zoro/Sanji
Chapter: 19/?
Word Count: 3323
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 782.

Chapter Nineteen

Zoro, as expected, didn't react much to the news that the entire crew knew about their relationship. He half-shrugged, gave Sanji a look that the cook didn't entirely like, and then muttered something about 'so I can do this out in the open now?' before kissing him right there on the deck.

Usopp gave a rather obnoxious wolf-whistle as he wandered by and Sanji could hear Robin's tinkling laugh accompany it. He tried not to be embarrassed but, well, he still kind of was since it wasn't as if he was that big on making his private life public. Plus, it felt kind of rude to flaunt it, since nobody else on board had that sort of relationship.

"Okay, enough," he mumbled and shoved Zoro away, getting a rather cheeky grin from the swordsman. "You can't just eat my face in public."

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro sighed, tugging at Sanji's arm and pulling him so that his back was leaning against the other man's chest, Zoro's arms snug around his waist. "You smell like Law," he mumbled, nose pressed to Sanji's shoulder.

"I'm wearing his clothes, Marimo," Sanji replied, like it should be obvious.

"Yeah, how'd that happen anyway? Zoro asked, and Sanji wondered just how much Zoro knew about what happened on Dressrosa. He was pretty sure that the only reason Luffy knew was because he was actually there, after all, since it seemed to be something Law didn't want to broadcast.

"He was…showing me how he stopped Doflamingo from using his body for target practice," he said softly. Zoro stiffened against him, his breath coming out in a warm, slow drag over Sanji's ear, and it was a strange reaction since it wasn't as if most of them didn't risk their lives almost every time they set foot on a new island.

"That girl of yours…the princess…" Zoro began, and Sanji blinked.

"Viola-chan?"

"Yeah. She, um…me 'n Usopp were up on the hill with her and she was giving us updates on how everybody was doing, and she thought…fuck, Cook, she told us he was dead," he snarled. Sanji reached for his hands, putting his own over them and holding on tightly. He could feel Zoro's fingers trembling under his and that, more than anything Zoro would ever say, told him how the other man felt about Law.

"Fuck," he echoed, because really, what could he say to that? Sure, Law's ability would have anybody fooled if they didn't know, but for somebody like Viola, who could see everything, to think he was dead…he could see why Zoro would believe her, because really, he'd have no reason not to. "Did you…how long did you think…"

"Not long. She could see when…when he got up and everything, but for a few minutes," he sounded shaken and Sanji squeezed his hands more tightly. "I'm glad you weren't there," he said after a long stretch of silence. "I couldn't do anything. All I could do was just…stare up at the palace and hope that somehow he'd make it."

"I could have handled it," Sanji snorted, hearing Zoro sigh heavily and feeling the swordsman's lips press against his neck.

"I know. But it would have hurt you, and I never want that," he said, and Sanji pressed his body back more fully against Zoro because he honestly didn't know what to do when the other man was being this contemplative. Still, something about it made him feel braver asking what he was about to, because this out of all moments seemed like one Zoro would be completely truthful in.

"Why?" he almost whispered, hearing Zoro groan softly.

"Becauseiloveyou," Zoro said quickly, muffled against his shirt, and Sanji sighed.

"Try again, Marimo. I never pegged you for a coward…"

"Because I love you, okay?" Zoro growled between gritted teeth and Sanji felt like a weight was just lifted off of his chest.

He'd been waiting a hell of a long time to hear those words, after all.

"I know," he said instead, trying to play it cool. "What about Law?"

"What about me?"

"Fuck!" Sanji still didn't understand how a guy as tall as Law could move around without making any noise at all, but he was causally standing beside them, looking far too comfortable in a suit for somebody who claimed to never wear them.

"He wants to know if I'm in love with you," Zoro's voice was a lot lighter now than it had been only a few moments previously, but Sanji figured neither he nor Law probably wanted to dwell on the topic of Dressrosa for longer than they had to.

"Hmm, I think we both know the answer to that," Law's voice was flippant. He frowned then, shifting his right shoulder back, and then sighed. "Excuse me," he wandered off without explaining anything else.

"Some things never change, huh?" Zoro grunted. "And no, you know I'm not in love with him. I don't mind spending time with him and he's hot as fuck, but that's it."

And yeah, of course Sanji knew, but at least Zoro and Law were on the same page when it came to each other. They were a lot alike, so he'd assumed as much, but sometimes he still wondered…

"You wanna go check on him?" Zoro asked after a few more moments of silence, and Sanji decided it probably wasn't a bad idea so he nodded and they both headed over to Law's sub.

000

"Can I not get five minutes of peace anymore?" was the grumbled reply from behind the locked door. This was strange in itself since Sanji had never seen it locked, not even the first time he'd come to the sub when Law was still trying to hide his arm.

"Hey, we just wanted to check on you," Zoro sounded completely impatient and Sanji head a rather exaggerated sigh from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine. I need some space. Please leave."

"That's funny, since this morning you were the one telling me you didn't want to push me away," Sanji knew that was a low blow, but sometimes those seemed to be the only things Law responded to.

"I realize that," Law's voice was softer now. "I…fine. If you want," he stopped talking and Sanji heard a click, which made him wonder if Law had used his ability to open the door somehow, but the sight that greeted him wasn't what he expected.

Law was lying on the bed, shirtless, his left arm wrapped around a pillow that he was hugging rather tightly, and a quick glance around the room showed that his prosthetic arm was lying on the dresser as if Law had flung it there carelessly.

"Hey," Sanji took a few steps forward, something tugging at his insides when he saw that Law had at least tried to fold his shirt and tie properly after he'd taken them off. "What's wrong?"

"My arm was hurting," he replied, glancing up at Sanji from behind the pillow. "It's not bad most of the time but sometimes it starts to ache where it's joined up with my real skin."

"That's not what this is about, though," Sanji frowned, sitting down carefully on the bed. "I mean, you know I don't care about your arm…"

"You might not," Law mumbled. "I can't say I feel the same."

Sanji wasn't sure how to respond to that, since it wasn't as if Law wallowing in his own self-pity was new but it was certainly frustrating after everything.

"Yesterday," Law finally spoke up, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. The pillow was still wrapped in his arm, held tight against his chest. "The operation on the girl…it took much longer than it should have because of my…disability," he said the word like it left a bitter taste on his tongue. "And, as a result, tired me out much more than it should have, as well. With two real arms I probably could have finished removing the poisoning from four people in that same amount of time, and that sort of inefficiency is disheartening both for me and for those that have to wait longer for me to get to them. And then today, just folding your shirt…" he finally looked at Sanji. "I couldn't. I got so frustrated with myself that I just…I couldn't," he finished, his voice sounding thick, and Sanji knew how hard it was for Law to admit to failure. "I can't make Rooms with it, I can't do intricate tasks, I'll never be as good a surgeon as I was…" he covered his eyes with his remaining hand and took a shuddery breath, and Sanji felt his heart damn near break.

Yes, Law had said he'd try to be more positive, but it was understandable that some days everything would catch up to him and he'd backslide a little. And this, well, Sanji couldn't blame him for being upset about it.

"I had mistakenly assumed that once I got the working arm that things would go back to normal, and I suppose for the most part they have, but what…what bothers me the most is seeing any reminder of what happened," his voice was low, rough, and Sanji lay down next to him without touching and listened. "Because he might not have killed me, but he's crippled me in a way that I'll never recover from, no matter how much I try to pretend it's not affecting me."

"You did it, though," Zoro said softly. "That girl. You healed her. Yeah, maybe it's not gonna be exactly the same, and maybe you're gonna have to adjust, but like I told you before, you're stubborn enough to do it one way or another."

"This is going to sound entirely petulant and childish, but I don't necessarily want to have to work hard for this. I've…" he sighed. "I've fought my entire life. Just once…just fucking once I want things to be easier. Every time I think something's finally going right it falls apart, and it's going to be the same with you both when you leave."

He fell silent then, breathing harshly, and Sanji was a little lost how to comfort him this time because there was nothing that Law was saying that wasn't true. He looked up at Zoro, who looked just as unsure as he felt, and eventually decided that Law probably wouldn't push him away so he snuggled up to Law's back and threw an arm over his chest.

He wasn't sure if what he was planning on doing next would make things better or worse, but it was obvious Law was still more bothered by losing his arm than he let on. He stroked his fingers down Law's neck and over his shoulder, down to where his arm ended, and then over the rounded skin there. "Does that bother you?" he asked quietly, and Law nodded, still not uncovering his eyes. "Should I stop?"

"…no," Law said after a moment. "It's okay. It does help, a little, knowing that you don't view me any differently, but I'm starting to realize I need to…accept this, somehow, instead of just trying to ignore it by pretending things won't be different."

"You've been doing pretty good until now," Zoro settled himself on Law's other side. "I mean, yeah, it's probably never gonna be as good at doing some things as a real hand, but it's not like you can't make it work."

"Mm. Perhaps," Law finally took his hand away from his eyes, but he kept them closed. "I suppose what I fear most is that one day I won't have…anybody to talk me out of it when I start feeling sorry for myself, and as much as I hate to admit to needing anybody, there are times that I do."

"Well, even if you don't have us, you'll still have your crew," Sanji pointed out.

Law laughed harshly, and Sanji glanced at him curiously.

"You really think my crew is going to…what? Sit here for five years or however long it takes for me to heal everybody? No, they're free to sail where they want, and I wouldn't expect them to want to remain landlocked with me, nor would I ever command them to. More than likely it'll just be me," he curled up a little, burying his face in the crook of his elbow.

Sanji didn't really have a reply to that, since there wasn't a reply to that, and he knew that trying to be falsely reassuring wouldn't get any sort of positive response from Law.

"You're still not gonna be alone," Zoro grunted, and Law gave him a look that was pure exasperation. "What?"

"You…" he sighed, rolling his body toward Sanji's. "Maybe you don't realize how hard he had to work to get me to tell him anything about myself. He trusts you, and by virtue of that I do as well which is why I haven't been quite so…reluctant to tell you things. My crew, though, has been with me for years and I hadn't told them anything until now, so the chances of anybody getting to this place with me again…it's not going to happen."

Sanji wrapped him up as tight as he dared, nose buried in Law's fluffy hair, and didn't say anything.

He knew Law was convinced that what he was saying was true, which meant that even if there was a chance somebody else could worm their way past all of his defenses, he wasn't going to let them. And, if he was being completely honest, in a corner of his brain that he refused to acknowledge very often because he knew how selfish it was, he…kind of liked it that way.

It was validating, somehow, as much as it fucking terrified him to have somebody like Law depend on him, to know that somebody like Law did depend on him, and that somehow, as unremarkable as he himself was, he'd been the one Law had opened up to.

It wasn't something he'd ever take for granted, in any case, but it made his insides squirm with guilt whenever the thought crept up on him because he was sacrificing Law's chance to be happy with somebody just to stroke his own ego, and that was really kind of shitty.

"I realize I'm behaving in a completely contradictory fashion, but I'm trying to balance my desire to eke out as many shared moments as I can with trying to wean myself off of them so losing them altogether won't be such a shock to my system," he curled up a little more in Sanji's arms, his body tensing when Zoro flopped onto the bed to spoon him from behind.

Sanji wasn't surprised, since that morning when Law had been insisting only on the 'spending time together' part he'd been a little suspicious as to whether Law had really felt that way or whether he was trying to do it for Sanji's sake.

It was probably a little of both, but in the end, Sanji knew that Law could survive on his own. Maybe he didn't like doing it as much anymore, but he was fully capable of it nonetheless.

Still, just because he could didn't mean he had to, and Sanji decided in that moment that he was going to try to make this as easy on Law as possible.

The other man deserved at least that.

"Hey," he murmured. "Get some rest. I've gotta get some things ready for dinner but I'll be back," he promised, leaning to kiss Law's forehead and getting sleepy grumble in response. Zoro glanced over at him, one raised eyebrow telling Sanji that he didn't buy the excuse, and Sanji jerked his head toward Law in what he hoped was at least a hint as to what he was up to.

Zoro shrugged, pulling Law closer to his body, and Sanji watched them with a tiny smile because, for as rough as they'd started, they fit together remarkably well now.

He debated putting at least his own shirt on again before leaving the room before deciding that he didn't have anything to hide so there was no need for it.

And besides, he kind of liked wearing Law's clothes, anyway.

000

"He's really dense sometimes, isn't he?"

"Well, you guys know as well as I do that he'd never actually ask for anything like this, and the idea that somebody would care about him enough to volunteer never seems to cross his mind, either," Sanji sighed, because that's really what this came down to.

As he'd expected, though, explaining the situation to Penguin, Shachi and Bepo had all of them a little offended but not particularly surprised that Law would take this route.

"He's so hell-bent on being a good captain that sometimes he forgets he's not the only one with obligations," Shachi commented, sitting back on a rail overlooking the inner workings of the submarine and swinging his booted feet. "I mean, we're his crew, right? So we're loyal to him, and just like he wants to do right by us, if we abandoned him when he needed us that would make us a pretty shitty crew."

"B-but he does want us to stay. Right?" Bepo appeared a little fearful and Penguin clapped him on the back.

"Of course he does. And hell, even if not all of us stay, the three of us can take shifts or something. It's not like we're on any important missions, so even if the sub just goes on short trips to explore or get more supplies or something we can trade off every couple of months so that he's always got somebody around," Penguin shrugged, and Sanji was satisfied with that.

They didn't want Law to feel smothered, after all, but as long as not all of his crew were always underfoot he probably wouldn't complain too much.

"You'll come back one day though, right?" Bepo asked, twitching his ears and laying his large head on Sanji's knee so he could look up at him. Sanji glanced down, unsure if he should…pet the polar bear or not. He would with a regular animal, probably, but whatever Bepo was he certainly wasn't just an animal.

Bepo nudged his nose up against Sanji's fingers, snuffling, and the cook figured that was enough of a sign. He raised his hand and scratched the bear behind his ears, causing Bepo to sigh and half-close his eyes.

"I…" he realized he still hadn't answered the question. "I mean, I hope I can, but I can't make any promises."

"Look, you're wearing his clothes, he's told you damn near all of his secrets, and he lets you threaten him with bodily harm and doesn't get mad. It'd be a crime to let go of that forever," Shachi's normally bright grin was a little sadder and more melancholy with those words. "We've been with him a hell of a long time, and he's never looked at somebody the way he looks at you."

Sanji felt his cheeks flush, because even though he knew that, it still was a little embarrassing to hear anybody else talk about it.

"Yeah, well, I'm just a cook," Sanji shrugged, trying to downplay it the way he always did. "I'm nothing, but whatever he sees in me, I'm glad if it's helping him."

"Y'know, I really think it is," Penguin hopped up beside him and threw an arm over his shoulders, seeming to understand that nothing he said was going to change Sanji's mind about how he saw himself. "But don't worry. We'll take care of him."

Sanji nodded, keeping his fingers moving through Bepo's fur, and knew with complete certainty that even if he couldn't be there himself, Law would be in the best possible hands.

So, when it came to that, he wasn't worried at all.

Notes:

1. The last part of this chapter was inspired by the last actual chapter of OP, because hearing Law talk about his crew and how he wouldn't be able to face them if he didn't try to fight his hardest really got me in the feels. Law doesn't talk about his crew a lot, but it's obvious he cares about them and, more than that, he wants to be worthy of them and that shows not only what sort of captain he is but what sort of person he is, so I really appreciated Oda putting that in.

2. I wrote a kind of…AU one-shot to this fic involving Usopp because it was his birthday last week. It's not 'canon' since it doesn't happen within the fic verse, but it was the easiest way to have Law/Zoro/Sanji/Usopp happen since the ZoSanLaw is already established. So if you're interested in that at all, it's called 'No Regrets' and it's on my main page :)

3. Thank you as always for all the lovely reviews and comments, they really are great motivation for me! This fic is coming to the end now but I do know what's happening in the sequel so that's still the plan after this fic is finished…