"Like bones to the human body,

the axle to the wheel,

the wing to the bird,

and the air to the wing,

so is liberty the essence of life.

Whatever is done without it is imperfect."

- Jose Marti

Urouge had a hand placed over his mouth as he stared down at the charts thoughtfully. He had barely said a word throughout the entire review, but it seemed more-or-less his personality to sit back and calculate the situation. And throughout it all Sanji was no better, though his thoughts had taken a darker route.

As he stared up at the giant before him – stature forever changed by Impel – and the small wings that adorned his back remained dead and motionless, Sanji began to contemplate himself. Sanji took a large gulp of the wine hoping the alcohol would somewhat lessen the tiny bit of fear that had started to form in his gut. He had thought about it a lot lately, but of course never voiced it and tried to stifle it at most times, but what if he couldn't be cured?

What if after all the crap they had put in his body; what if he could never be normal again? The feathers on his chest had expended a little as of late; not enough to be alarming, but still he had noticed. And his nails had changed to too. Instead of a pale pink they now had a bronze hue to them and were a bit thicker – stronger. But that was hardly enough to console him. What if he would never really be human again?

Indeed he was grateful to still be alive, and have been graced with an amazing gift. But at what price? Would he ever be normal again? After all was said and done would he be able to return home and see Zeff? Would this ability within him continue to fester until he lost either himself or his mind?

"I have some friends over in Skypiea," Urouge offered thoughtfully, putting forth his first few words since Usopp had begun explaining the problem of the supplies that would need to be reserved for the refugees of Impel, "They can be sent some of the supplies to be brought here."

Sanji managed to pull himself away from his spiral of panic inducing thoughts and tried to focus on the conversation. Usopp handed Urouge a small file, "That is the supplier that Rayleigh has hired; her name is 'Shakky'. Have her meet with your men and figure out the transfer. I can trust you will know to keep the meeting quiet."

"What do you take me for?" Urouge boomed with a laugh, and poured himself another glass of ale. Sanji wasn't sure what glass he was on, but with his size he could imagine that it would be fairly impossible to get the man drunk.

"So everything else is still going as scheduled?" Usopp asked carefully, as he downed the remnants of his ale and set the glass off to the side for it to be taken away by one of Urouge's lackeys.

"Of course." Urouge leaned back in his chair with a grin, "The men are just getting a bit restless is all."

"I know what you mean." Usopp agreed with a chuckle as he stood with finality, "Well, I'll be by later to help with checking over those tankers."

"Alright. Alright." Urouge nodded and made a shooing motion, "Now get outta here. I have work to do."

Usopp chuckled and began putting away most of the papers and diagrams – leaving out a few for Urouge to keep – while he said, "By the way, the final meeting will be on the 21st."

"At Kidd's base again?"

"Yes." Usopp confirmed as he slung his side bag over his shoulder and scooped up the remaining papers into his arms, "Although Rayleigh probably come by at some point just to check up on things here."

"We're always ready for a visit from him," Urouge smiled as he stood and followed Usopp out of the door and back into the main room of the base, "Now, I need to get back to work so I shall see you later."

"Of course, sorry for keeping you." Usopp called after the giant who was already lumbering away before turning and making his way through the room and back toward the exit. As they made their way through the crowd of people Sanji noted that everyone parted as soon as they saw Usopp coming. Maybe the man wasn't aware of it but he seemed to actually have a domineering presence over these idiots.

They exited the raucous room with many people bidding them good bye and when they got to the doorway the red head was once more standing by the entrance – holding the door open for them – and looking disgruntled, face still red as he glared at Sanji. Sanji flipped him an award winning smile as they left, and the door was slammed behind him with a bit more force than necessary but Sanji fully felt like he had won that entire confrontation.

Usopp fumbled with the torch – dropping several papers in the process that Sanji picked up – before finally finding the switch and flicking the light on as they made their way back to base. Sanji smiled to himself, it was kind of funny to think that all the men at Urouge's base stepped aside for this fumbling kid.

"So, are all the Supernova like him?" Sanji asked casually as he ducked around a large stalactite that hung low from the ceiling. Rippled with built up limestone, it was probably centuries old.

"Eeh..." Usopp shrugged and adjusted the pack on his shoulder, "You can't really generalize them. They're all so different."

"How so?"

"Well, personality wise they're the most diverse group of people you will ever meet. Having them all in the same room at once is hell; they just all butt heads all the time. They're competitive. Not to mention some are psychotic." Usopp's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "You'll see for yourself at the meeting."

Sanji chuckled at that, though honestly he was really interested in meeting all of these people. If they were anything like the ones he had met so far they were probably an interesting bunch. "So where do Luffy and Zoro fit in with this group?"

"Luffy and Zoro – they are in no way normal – but they definitely are the more level headed among them." Usopp grinned, "Although Luffy is still a wild card. You never know when he'll take something serious or as a joke."

"Luffy seems like a wise kid; especially for his age." Sanji commented lightly, remembering the few times he had hung around the kid and been surprised by his wisdom. Although it was usually short lived since the kid would do something comedic a few seconds later.

"Oh, he is!" Usopp agreed quickly, "He's just easily distracted by... well... life."

The doorway to the base slowly came into view ahead, threads of light leaking out from under the wooden panelling, "That's definitely a good thing." Sanji offered as he turned the knob and pushed open the door for Usopp to walk through.

Inside they found the room completely empty, everyone must have still been at their assigned bases or working on one of Rayleigh's assignments. Usopp gave a cheery nod after a failed wave had him dropping half his maps and charts, "I'll see you later, yeah? Gotta go check up on Brooke and Apoo; half the time they don't even work."

"Yeah. Be back around dinner or I'll kick your ass, okay?"

Usopp just chuckled nervously not sure if Sanji was joking or not and made his way over to a door that was shaded behind a potted plant. He fumbled with his arm load of charts, dropped several and then finally managed to get the knob to work before stumbling through the archway.

"Hey." Sanji spun around to see Franky's blue hair peeking out from behind a monstrous pile of blue-prints and various mechanical materials that was laid out on the main table. He was surprised he had missed the man's presence when he had first glanced around the room, "How'd it go?"

"Not bad." Sanji conceded with a shrug as he made his way over, "Still a little behind but more informed than I was yesterday."

"Don't worry." Franky consoled as he finished screwing the back shut on a tiny box he had been working on, "I'm still confused by some of the things going on, but I stick to my job and that helps."

Sanji nodded thoughtfully at the words, and vaguely wondered if Zoro had said the same thing to Franky as well as Usopp. If so then Zoro was shaping up to be actually a more thoughtful and companionable leader then he had first taken him for. No wonder everyone loved him despite his stingy attitude.

"So what exactly are you making?" Sanji asked curiously as he leaned over the table and glanced over all the spare parts and electrical circuits. There was also a pile of molding clay, and tools littering the rest of the work space, "Those hand held things?"

"Exactly." Franky grinned as he held up a small piece of putty and tossed it to Sanji who caught it casually and looked it over. It looked like any regular piece of modelling clay or play-dough that you might give child; although it's grey hue and smell left much to be desired.

"Looks harmless."

"Yeah..." Frank said slowly, "That's C-4. Don't breath or eat that, you'll have seizures."

Sanji immediately dropped it, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"Relax. It won't kill you." Franky waved off Sanji's worry, "Not unless something activates it."

"Uh-huh." Sanji huffed slowly as he absently wiped off his hand on his shirt, "So why exactly do you have an explosive just laying around?"

"See these?" Franky held up picked up a jar that looked to be filled with small metallic pebbles, each the size of barely a millimetre in diameter. "They're small detonators. I'll mix them into the C-4. Then all you gotta do is put the clay on to a lock, or door handle, press this," Franky held up the small device he had been working on. "Then boom! Door is open. Pretty super, huh?"

"That'll really work?" Sanji raised an impressed brow as he took the small controller and glanced it over. It was simple enough; a small grey box that enclosed all the circuits, an antenna and a square red button right on the front.

"Of course it'll work." Franky boasted, "Where's your faith?"

"No. I just – that's genius." Sanji handed the controller back to the blushing cyborg, "So how do you keep them from all going off at once?"

"You're clever." Franky pointed out before pulling out a black jar, "These keep out infrared waves. So only the clay you have out will react."

"You really have thought of everything." Sanji conceded while glancing around at the mountains of supplies piled up on the table, "So I guess the only difficult part is making them all, huh?"

"Got that right." Franky chuckled, "But I got Bege's team working on them too. But at this rate I'll need to get more supplies. Good thing C-4 is so available in Jaya."

"It is?"

"It's somewhat of a military town; big and prosperous but the people are paranoid as hell. Bomb shelters, army surplus stores, tanks rolling around – it's like the people think they're gonna get attacked at any minute."

"Well, could I ask a favour then?" Sanji began somewhat nervously. Franky and Usopp may have been the main traffickers for supplies in and out of the base but he still felt bad adding more on to the man's list. Asking for help in general made him just uncomfortable.

"Fire away."

"Next time you head over there I was wondering if you could grab me some tobacco?"

"Sure." Franky boomed, looking all too pleased to help out and strangely that just made Sanji feel more awkward. He was still getting thrown off by the such friendly nature's of these people compared to those in Impel, "Any kind in particular?"

"Oh... well..." Sanji ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully, "I don't know... Cavendish if you can find it?"

"Sure thing." Franky promised happily as he procured a list and jotted down the item. "By the way, Zoro is looking for you."

Sanji raised a brow, "He is?"

"Yeah." Franky jerked his thumb toward a door beside a large painting of an island floating on a cloud, "Down that way."

"Oh, okay." Sanji made his way over before pausing, "Thanks in advance about the Caven."

"Dude, it's not a problem." Franky reassured, but his face was already back in his work and he seemed thoroughly distracted.

Turned out the door opened to a hallway that had eight collective doorways, all doors were closed, except for one at the end that had no door at all. A light was on and movement could be heard. Sanji assumed that it must've been Zoro and made his way over.

The archway was low and Sanji had to duck to allow enough space for his wings to get through. When through he straightened and looked around the room. It was just a basic room that was probably about ten square feet, Zoro was at the opposite wall, scraping away rock and smoothing out the surface.

Zoro had his shirt off, a light sheen of sweat glistened on the tan skin that was pulled taut over defined muscles. Every movement was highlighted in his back as various cords and bunches of muscles tightened. His body was perfectly sculpted, like something magazine worthy; most men would give anything for a body like it. He absently wondered how much of it was natural, and what was chemically engineered by Impel.

The man's hair had been altered, so perhaps other features as well. He'd never really taken in the man fully before; maybe because he'd never actually had time to stare at him without it seeming awkward. But now that he was he had to admit that he was physically very attractive – his attitude could use a little work however.

"Whatchu up to, moss-head?" Sanji decided to go with a snarky approach.

Zoro glanced over his shoulder, hands not diverting from their task, "I'm making your room, duck."

"M–My room?" Sanji's smirk fell away like a lead weight.

"Yeah," Zoro smirked, "You didn't think we'd keep making you sleep in Chopper's infirmary forever, did you?"

"Ah well." Sanji nervously ran a hand through his hair, "No, but..."

"Actually," Zoro grinned and turned away from the wall and made his way to Sanji, "It's a good thing you came; I needed you to fix the entrance."

"Fix it?" Sanji glanced back at the door way, "What's wrong with it?"

"It's too low." Zoro explained as he gathered some rock shavings from the ground and molded them together with his hands, "I didn't know how tall your wings were so I waited until I could actually do it with you here."

"Ah..." Sanji made a small sound, that was actually amazingly considerate of the man. Had he always been this nice and just never wanted Sanji to see this side? "Thanks. I really mean that."

Zoro shrugged and tossed the rock into a pile with several identical looking ones in the corner and made his way over. Sanji back up until his wings touched the doorway and he was vaguely reminded of standing against the large wall in the orphanage having his height measured on his birthday.

Sanji craned his neck back to watch as Zoro rested his hand on the top of the doorway but didn't make any move to do anything. Sanji glanced back at Zoro and immediately felt uncomfortable under the heavy stare that Zoro had directed his way. He seemed almost dazed but caught Sanji's look of confusion.

Zoro quickly shook his head, looking back to what he was doing with a chuckle, "Sorry, zoned out."

Sanji couldn't quite shake the uncomfortable emotion that was now stirring in his gut, but managed to stamp it down as he looked up. Zoro tapped the rock right where the crown of Sanji's wing hit, then went about three inches higher, dragging his finger across the rock, effortlessly making a line as though it were butter.

Sanji immediately side stepped so he was out of Zoro's path and the man set to carving the stone away with his bare hands, chunks falling to the floor with resounding thuds, but looking as though they should be infinitely lighter. One piece fell and tumbled before coming to a rest at his feet.

He picked up the sizable chunk and weighed it in his hand, tossing it lightly. It was fairly heavy; a strongly compacted piece of sediment that was unbreakable in his human grip. He looked back at Zoro who was now scraping at the edges of the doorway, rounding and smoothing them out as though he were working with clay.

Sanji's grip tightened on the piece of stone as he finally got a taste of the man's real strength; it was past inhuman. It was God-like. He was actually able to shape the foundations of the earth, he could move mountains. Anything this man wanted to accomplish he could do.

Sanji let the piece fall to the ground and casually walked around the small room noting the pile of spherical boulders piled up in the corner and took a closer look. They were akin to how a snowball was shaped after you formed it; pieces of the rock coming up in ridges due to the cracks between your fingers when you squeezed the snow.

"What do you do with those?" Sanji asked, breaking the silence.

Zoro jerked his head to look at the balls and then back to his work, "Keep 'em. Make stuff. Franky's always making me make furniture; probably should make your bed frame."

Sanji's eyes widened, "You make furniture?"

Zoro looked up, hand wiping his brow to remove built up sweat, leaving a streak of dirt in its place, "Yeah. How do you think half the shit in here is made? Sure as hell don't order it from Ikea."

"Oh, shut up." Sanji muttered in response to Zoro scathing tone, "I keep forgetting you're not human, you stupid plant."

Zoro chuckled andSanji once more embarrassingly found himself watching the man's back as it shook with his chuckles. The definition in the lines of his shoulder blades was mesmerizing and for some reason Sanji found his eyes following the line of his spine happily to the edge of the man's pants. Sanji quickly looked to the side with mixed confusion as Zoro turned to look at him, "I'd rather be a plant then a shitty duck."

"So was that all you needed me for?" Sanji shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and refused to look up lest Zoro figure out that he had been staring, "Cause I should probably start dinner."

Zoro stepped away from the doorway with a satisfied sound and placed his hands on his hips, "Yeah, pretty sure it's all good." He grinned and swept a hand toward the door, "Try it out."

Sanji stepped through and found that he didn't need to duck nor side step at all, and he turned to Zoro with a broad grin, "Thanks; it's perfect."

Zoro smirked lightly and gave a nod, "You're welcome."

That simple smile had Sanji's cheeks flaming up and he turned abruptly, striding away purposefully with his gut fluttering and his brain a whir of confusion.

~X~

Sanji sighed with his hands disapprovingly on his hips as he stared at the large deer that now adorned most of the counter space. It seemed that Zoro didn't have time than to do more than leave it in the kitchen like an odd sort of offering. The carcass lay flopped pathetically on the counter; head lolling off to the side with a tongue casually hanging out, legs in a tangle and the fur on the chest matted with blood from where the arrow had entered its body.

Sanji reluctantly went to work on getting a tarp underneath the body and beginning the process of skinning the animal. Luckily, living on the streets – as well as Zeff – had taught him more than enough about how to skin and make use of an animal. The deer was eventually divested of its coat and he set to work cutting it up and labelling each part and storing them in the freeze box for later use. The fore legs were just finished when Zoro came into the kitchen, looking tired but accomplished.

"Hey." Zoro offered as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, downed half its contents and then took a seat at the large preparation table. He was sweaty, and had smears of dirt all over his face and body but Sanji was no better currently up to his elbows in deer blood and guts so he didn't say anything about the man's appearance.

"Hmm." Sanji grunted in acknowledgement as he continued concentrating on hacking at a rather persistent piece of sinew joining haunch and thigh. The deer was happily plump due to its storing up for the winter but the muscle had seized up somewhat and the knife had wasn't as sharp he would have liked.

"Your room is mostly done." Zoro offered, as though trying to make conversation, "Just need to get a bed in there and then its finished."

"Thanks." Sanji gritted out as he finally managed to detach leg from body, and Zoro remained quiet as Sanji finished up with remaining parts of the animal. Soon the body was all taken care of and frozen in the ice box except for the pieces he had left out for dinner.

Zoro sat at the counter and seemed to be off in his own little world while Sanji set about preparing dinner – slicing the cuts properly and dicing up the required vegetables. Neither said a word as a comfortable silence fell between them while the kitchen was slowly filled with the scent of roasting venison, and fried vegetables.

~X~

Sanji laid out the venison tangine with chickpeas and could barely restrain his look of awe at how fast the rubber monstrosity could cram food into his mouth without managing to choke. The others weren't much better – how Brooke managed to get food on his forehead of all places was concerning – as they all ate with a ferocity of starving animals. The only exceptions were Nami and Robin who seemed to have accepted the fast paced eating and ignored the men while they had a calm conversation near the end of the table.

Not wanting to get caught in the splash zone of the flurry of eating, Sanji made his way to sit near the end next to Nami. The girls were discussing something Impel related, and seemed much more relaxed now that they didn't have to stop all conversation when Sanji came near. Robin was explaining some details of what had happened with Basil and Sanji tuned it out while he ate.

A hand took hold on a couple of his feathers, pulling them and causing his sensitive skin to twitch away from the hold. He quickly glanced at Nami who was holding the edge of his wing and pulling the appendage open somewhat as she inspected the feathers.

"Urgh." Nami made a small noise, "Sanji your wings are filthy."

Sanji glanced back at his wings noted that, yes they weren't as nearly white as when he had first gotten them, but they weren't dirty. He was not one to argue with a lady but found the statement a little insulting, it wasn't like he was unhygienic or anything. "They're not dirty, not exactly white but..."

"You wash them right?" Nami raised a brow.

"Of course I do." Sanji flushed, and he found his wings fluttering in slight annoyance.

"Then why are they so brown?" Nami scowled and ran her fingers over a couple feathers to ascertain that they indeed were not actually dirt ridden.

"Well it's mostly cause I can't reach." Sanji admitted lightly as he speared a couple chickpeas and popped them into his mouth. "The fronts I can get at, but the backs are impossible."

A chuckle was heard from the end of the table and Sanji hucked his fork in the moron's direction, the metal utensil deflected off the idiots head but nonetheless made its point, "Shut your face, shithead."

"Well then, Zoro can help you." Nami offered with a cheeky grin at the green-haired man who was wiping tangine from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Since when was I dubbed the babysitter?" Zoro snorted absently wiping his hand off on Luffy's shirt, the rubber boy to preoccupied to even notice.

"I do not need his help." Sanji protested.

"You said you couldn't do it yourself."

"Well, no but..." Sanji faltered, the look Nami gave him was clear that arguing the point would change nothing. Glancing at Zoro for help only proved that the superhuman had accepted his fate and had turned back to his food. Sanji sighed reluctantly and shoved a large chunk of meat into his mouth, "Fine."

~X~

Once dinner was done, the dishes were washed and put away, and the kitchen had been completely cleaned Sanji found himself in the large bathroom getting rudely shoved face first into the large bathing pool. He surfaced coughing, sputtering and trying to spit up some of the water he had swallowed.

"Fucker." Sanji reached around blindly, his hair plastered over his eyes and his pants dragging him down as he tried to wade through the water. He managed to find the edge and just as he brushed the hair out of his eyes a bucket full of water was poured into his face.

"Missed a spot." Zoro muttered as Sanji was crawling out of the tub after the green menace, sopping wet wings and clothes slowing him down.

"I'll show you a missed spot you damned-"

Zoro kicked a stool toward Sanji and the blond – blind from his wet hair – nearly tripped over the damned object before recovering and righting his stance with flushed embarrassment. Zoro made a circular motion with his finger, "Turn around."

"As if." Sanji scoffed as he finally managed wipe his sopping hair from his face, "I'm not turning my back on you, you green gorilla."

"Well then how am I supposed to wash your wings?" Zoro drawled mockingly and held up a bottle of shampoo; jiggling it for emphasis.

Sanji opened his mouth to argue that he didn't trust the man as far as he could kick him but was silenced by a pointed stare and a commanding finger pointing at the stool. With a heavy sigh Sanji turned his back to Zoro – feeling extremely apprehensive – and plopped down on the stool and awaited the impending torture that the damned asshole would no doubt bestow upon him.

There was an obnoxious squirt of hair cleanser out of the bottle and then hands rested on his wing joints and began to thoroughly work the soap into the feathers. Sanji immediately melted under the touch and gave a relieved sigh as he blushed, thoroughly glad he was facing the other way.

Sanji sat on the stool, elbow propped on his knee as he rested his chin in his hand with an annoyed pout while Zoro stood behind him working on his wings. Water was dumped on a section of his wing and Zoro began working scrubbing the feathers with a generous handful of shampoo, working out the grit and dust.

Neither said anything as the job was being completed. Zoro was busy actually working and Sanji was focused on trying to not notice how amazing the hands felt on his wings. The perfect application of pressure did wonder for the muscles that were knotted and the sensitive skin was reacting badly to the gentle touch. Zoro touching him and pleasurable feelings were two ideas that shouldn't be put together. But try as he might Zoro's touch felt too good.

"Geez." Zoro muttered, more to himself than anyone else, "Curly, you should wash these more."

"Oh shut the fuck up, you green monstrosity." Sanji shot back as he glared at the opposing wall wishing it would burst into flames, "I didn't want them in the first place."

"Just because you don't want them doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of them." Zoro picked up a bucket and poured some water down the end of one wing, washing away the soap and dirt and leaving a stark white in its place, "I mean, they're kinda pretty."

Sanji cast an incredulous glance over his shoulder, "What?"

Zoro smirked and smeared a handful of the red foam over Sanji's face, "You heard me, duck."

Sanji spluttered and wiped the foam away but it was too late. The sudsy taste could not be erased from his mouth and his face and hands were wet and coated in bubbles. Zoro immediately took a couple steps back with a laugh as he knew what was coming.

"Since when do you use the word pretty?" Sanji whirled around, grabbing a handful of foam from his mid-washed wing and launching himself at Zoro.

"I do have a vocabulary." Zoro chuckled as he dodged the persistent blond, scooping up the bucket he had been using earlier and filling it full of water as he ran past the pool, "I'm not illiterate."

"You sure about that?" Sanji mocked as he tackled Zoro and smeared the red bubbles into Zoro's face. "And besides nothing about me is pretty. I'm one hundred percent manly."

"Phft." Zoro scoffed and pushed Sanji off of him, "Manly as a twelve year old girl."

Sanji rolled out of the fall and launched himself at Zoro, "Take that back!"

Zoro side stepped the blond and grabbed the bucket he had dropped earlier that still had some water in it. Sanji threw himself at Zoro again and the man jerked the bucket forward and the water hit Sanji directly in the face. Sanji coughed and sputtered as he inhaled some of the water, spitting out the soapy water with a sound of disgust. Zoro dropped the bucket as he laughed and Sanji watched the man with disdain. He flicked his wings and caused a splatter of soap to hit the man, some even getting in the idiots mouth.

"Dumbass."

Zoro gagged and spat out the shampoo and Sanji took the opportunity to attack the distracted man. He jumped up as high as the ceiling would allow and threw himself at Zoro. He kicked aside one arm, but he wasn't able to with the second and Zoro caught Sanji with a hand to his mid-section, turning him abruptly and slamming him down on the ground. He stood above Sanji, foot on either side of his hips and hand still in place on Sanji's stomach; his insane strength keeping the blond pinned.

"Ass." Sanji chuckled, though his breath was slightly stressed.

"Second time I've pinned you in a fight." Zoro mocked cheerfully, "Maybe you should take the hint and retire?"

"You're the one that keeps doing it." Sanji muttered, leg snapping out and kicking Zoro's foot. His foot slipped out on the slippery floor and Sanji manged to twist out of the way just before Zoro face-planted onto the stone. Sanji sat happily on Zoro's back in victory, "Maybe you just like having me pinned."

"Fat chance." Zoro's voice was slightly muffled by the water and bubbles on the floor that he spoke into.

From there on out it turned into a full on brawl of cheap shots and low blows that would normally be informally allowed in a fight. Fighting on slippery rock might be a bit dangerous but he was pretty sure if Zoro slipped and fell the man couldn't possibly get any stupider so he wouldn't have to worry about that idiot's safety.

Usopp poked his head into the large room, closely followed by Luffy and Chopper, "We heard yelling; is everything okay?"

Luffy took one look at the scuffle and whooped before running into the room and fully tackling Zoro who had been on top of Sanji and in the middle of rubbing a handful of soap up the blond's nose. Sanji sat up abruptly when Zoro was torn off of him and snorted out as much soap as he could manage before Usopp tackled him.

It wasn't long before Franky and Brooke had heard the noise and also joined in on the fight. Everyone's clothing was soaking wet, and more than a few people had eyes permanently shut due to shampoo and soap that had been splashed into their faces.

The door slammed open and no one took notice except for Luffy who threw a handle full of shampoo at the new arrivee. It took only a moment before everyone clued in to the fact that it could only be one person in the doorway and the following gasp of shock could only belonged to one girl.

Everyone froze in fear as Nami stood eyes closed and mouth open in shock, her face splattered with the pink hued hair cleanser. She raised a delicate hand to wipe some of the shampoo off of her eyes, flicking her hand to remove it from her fingers. All the men in the room braced for whatever punishment she was about to bestow upon them. Usopp's knees were definitely shaking in fear.

"You are so getting it!"

Nami grabbed a bar of soap, hucking it at Luffy as she grabbed a bottle and ran into the room to join the fray.

~X~

Sanji sat on Zoro's bed with a towel draped casually on top of his head, his wings hung over the edge so they were above the floor and dripped onto the stone. Drying them with a towel was too much of a hassle so he chose to just let them air dry. They were now an amazing white; once the brawl had ended, everyone trekked out of the room to look for dry clothes and Zoro had finished cleaning Sanji's wings.

Zoro left had his towel hanging from his shoulders as he searched his dresser for a dry tee shirt. Once one was selected and the drawer was closed, he dragged the shirt over his head and he made his way over to the bed, throwing his used towel on Sanji's wing.

"Oi." Sanji mutter and flicked the towel off, making it hit Zoro in the face with a splat, "I'm not a clothes rack."

Zoro chuckled and threw the towel on the floor under Sanji's wings to let it soak up some of the water that was still sluicing from the feathers. Sanji's constant sass had originally annoyed him, but the more he learned how to react to it and how to out smart it the more fun he had dealing with it.

Sanji raised an eyebrow as though expecting Zoro to give a snarky come back and instead just grinned and plopped down on his bed. Times like this were the best; when Sanji would do something purposefully annoying and he would look up at Zoro like an expectant puppy for a reply. Zoro would then just not reply and internally soak up the glory of that confused look the blond would fail to hide.

Eventually Sanji seemed to give up on getting a reaction and flipped the page in the binder as he turned back to his reading.

"You're actually reading that?" Zoro asked in disbelief as he crossed his arms behind his head and shifted himself, getting comfortable. That book was ridiculously long, and literally filled with everything and anything that you wanted to know; and half of it was just so bloody boring.

"Unlike some people I haven't been here since the beginning." Sanji countered, not looking up from his reading, "I don't exactly know what's going on."

"How far have you gotten?"

"So far just all the floor levels." Sanji replied and Zoro glanced at the page to see Sanji currently reading the summary of the Captains at the beginning of the chapter. He hadn't personally read it but he knew that it was terribly played up and made them all sound like revolutionaries and God sends.

"Hmm. Impressive." Zoro muttered, "Think you got them memorized do you?"

Sanji didn't fall for the jab, "Mostly. Though I was actually looking for places that they might keep children."

Zoro was silent for moment trying to guess why Sanji would be interested in something like that. His first thought was that perhaps Sanji had a child, but that idea was quickly cast aside, the blond neither looked mature enough to already have a kid or even interested in having one. "Why?"

"I want to find a little girl that I met while in there."

"And you think she's still alive?" Zoro asked and though he honestly tried to sound sincere the question just came out condescending. He wanted to kick himself right after he had said it.

"I don't know." Sanji mumbled, "But she gave me incentive to escape, I owe it to look for her. Or at least give her a proper grave."

Zoro didn't reply. Partly because he wouldn't really know what to say if he did and also because if he did open his mouth he knew he would say something discouraging. True it was admirable that Sanji cared so much for someone he had met in Impel, but what were the odds that she was still alive? People died daily by the thousands in that place and he hoped to find a little girl? It seemed like a waste.

Sanji continued reading through the Abstract about the Captains at the beginning of the chapter before a frown slowly worked it's way on to his face. "So the Captains are all the Supernova?"

"Yup. Mostly just because we've been around the longest and know the most of what is going on."

Sanji eyed the Captains list again and frowned.

"Where's the missing one?"

Zoro sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair before mumbling quietly, "Bonney."

"Who?"

Zoro sighed as he vaguely remembered that pink haired woman who had broken out with the rest of them and had been so strong willed and confident. He hadn't even had the chance to thank her for saving him from getting shot when they had all been in the midst of escaping.

"When we escaped she was the one who volunteered to go find civilization and bring help, she was the most normal looking of all of us and calm headed."

"And?" Sanji asked after hearing the unspoken 'but' at the end of Zoro's sentence.

"She disappeared." Zoro explained quietly, she had left almost immediately to go get medical help, media, the police, anything. They were going to expose Impel to the entire world and in the end they had just waited for weeks with no reply. When their wounds had finally healed Zoro and a few others had went to search and find out what was wrong, "We found out she had gotten taken in by Black Ops. That's when the whole conspiracy came to light."

Sanji didn't say anything – for once – just stared quietly and waited for Zoro to continue. Though Zoro honestly didn't know what he was supposed to say. Once everything had been brought to light it had felt like the world had fallen out from under his feet and that he was drowning.

"She – we've search everywhere for her – Rayliegh has been snooping around everywhere but we haven't seen her since. I didn't know her that well – I hadn't even had a conversation with her – but she was definitely the tipping point that made us all start to cooperate. When she disappeared and we realized what was actually going on and that we were basically up against the entire world." Zoro chuckled, "It really made everyone more level headed and committed."

Sanji nodded slowly as he seemed to take in the new information and seemed to sense Zoro's want to not continue on the subject. Instead he smiled lightly and glanced down at the book and ran his finger over a certain paragraph, "You never mentioned that that little escape of yours was actually the Breakout."

Zoro shrugged, "It didn't really seem important."

"Usopp explained it." Sanji smiled, "Seems to think you're this epic hero or some shit."

Zoro actually laughed, "I'm no hero. Fuck, I'm the opposite."

"I think you're a hero." Sanji mumbled quietly as seemed to forcefully be looking down at the text.

"What?" Zoro got caught somewhere between a laugh and a snort and instead ended up making an odd sort of choking sound. He recovered and just gifted Sanji with an incredulous look. "Why?"

"You saved my life." Sanji admitted as he glanced up at Zoro. Zoro swallowed thickly at the innocent and completely honest expression on the man's face, "If that's not a hero, then what is that?"

"Good timing?" Zoro offered, trying to use humour to cover for the uncomfortable embarrassment that was that was threatening to expose itself on his cheeks in the form of a blush.

"Bull." Sanji laughed, "Shit."

"Not kidding." Zoro grinned, "I'd actually gotten turned around and couldn't find the base, next thing I know there's sirens wailing and then this half-naked man with wings almost falls on me."

There was a long silence where Sanji watched Zoro impassively and he couldn't decipher what could possibly be going on in the blond's brain. Lines began to form from Sanji's brows drawing together and it seemed like he was trying to hold in some emotion. When the frown deepening Zoro was actually worried that he had offended the man, but then a small snicker was heard and Sanji fell over clutching his gut as he completely fell into hysterics.

"Why are you laughing?" Zoro asked in complete disbelief. That would be the last response he would expect from the temperamental blond. Maybe a rant about taking a compliment. Our a fit about being a rude ass. Certainly, not the blond rolling around on the bed as he pointed at Zoro and laughed.

"You – you -" Sanji choked on his words, and he fell into a completely new round of laughter, "You got lost?!"

Zoro's eyes widened at the realization that the damned blond was making fun of him, "Shut up."

"No." Sanji pushed himself up and wiped away a tear, still catching his breath from his giggles, "Oh no no no. This is too fucking precious."

"Oh fuck you." Zoro snarled without any venom and tackled the blond-haired, crouching over him as he playfully battled with the blond's arms and legs. Pushing the annoying limbs aside to pinch the annoying blond, "It's a confusing forest."

Sanji just relapsed into a new fit of chuckles as he continued to fight back, planting one foot to Zoro's chest and kicking, "It's a valley. Look for the fucking mountain."

"I said shut up." Zoro muttered through a grin as he finally got a hold of one of Sanji's hands and promptly shoved it against the blond's face, "Stop hitting yourself."

Sanji looked incredulous for a moment before attempting to reef his hand away to no avail. Zoro kept up the immature hitting and chuckled as Sanji struggled. A knee to the ribs and foot in the face had Zoro conceding and he reluctantly let go. The frazzled blond sat back up; hair in a static mess, clothes askew, and his cheeks burning from a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

And in that moment Zoro wanted to kiss Sanji.

He wanted to grab that strong jaw and drag his face to Zoro's and press his lips to those stupid, talkative ones. Hold him close as his hands could run over that pale skin that was always on display since the stupid blond never wore a fucking shirt, or stroke those soft feathers on his wings that he had just been washing an hour previous. Keep the blond in his arms and for once not having him fighting every fucking step of the way and just hold him back.

Sanji noted the silence and raised an eyebrow as his scintillate blue eyes watched him curiously. "What?"

"Nothing." Zoro lied and pushed Sanji's binder off the bed in attempt to take his restraint out on something. It fell with a clatter and landed with the pages crumpling into the stone, Sanji just stared at the empty spot on the bed looking at a loss for words.

"God, you're like a child." Sanji muttered and leaned over to grab the book only to have Zoro promptly shove him off the bed as well.

Sanji lay on the floor, face and wings holding him up as his feet still hung from the bed.

It resulted in another brawl but Zoro didn't stop grinning the entire time.

TBC...

A/N: Sorry about the delay :(