***Warnings: Language, violence/bloodshed/war, humor

Chapter 10

Sanji looked down at himself, dressed in a leather cuirass with a thick belt and a sword at his side. On the heels of his boots were blades tilted upward, pointing to the ceiling. The blades would be his main weapon in the battle. It was almost time to move out, and Sanji started to feel a little nervous. This would be his first time in battle, and he'd be going in with Zoro. He wondered if they would fight side-by-side or separately. He likely wouldn't know until he got there and the fighting began. He took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. Now would be the best time to prove that omegas were just as strong and resilient as alphas.

The door to their chamber opened, and Zoro came in, also dressed in a leather cuirass only his was darker. Their eyes met, and Zoro gave Sanji a nod in his direction.

"Are you ready to go?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready,"

"Feeling nervous? I can sense it in our bond,"

"A little bit," Sanji replied. "But I'll be okay." He went over to Zoro and planted his hand on the alpha's shoulder. "Let's get moving. If we get separated-"

"We'll meet up at the end of the battle at the camp," Zoro said. "They're setting up camp as we speak. But now it's time to move out."

Sanji leaned forward and gave Zoro a kiss on the lips. "Let's go."

The East army arrived at the camp first, and the West army arrived shortly after. Zoro was in charge of the mercenaries, while some generals were in charge of legions. Sanji stood by Zoro's side as the alpha gave orders. The mercenaries cheered, with Luffy being the loudest of them all. It didn't take long for some scouts to come back to say the North and South were marching this way. That was their cue to march out.

Sanji stayed on Zoro's left, while Luffy was on the right. Zoro had three swords strapped to his belt. Sanji had never seen Zoro use all three blades. Luffy's only weapons were brass knuckles with small blades on them and a dagger at his waist. Sanji looked up at the desert sun, already feeling hot in the leather armor. Zoro wasn't breaking a sweat, and Luffy was grinning like a madman.

The North and South armies finally came into view, and Sanji swallowed hard. There were hundreds of enemy soldiers. Despite the vast numbers, Sanji was certain their army was bigger. There was an eerie silence when both sides stopped marching. Sanji wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

One of the generals came up to Zoro and asked him to come to discuss terms. Zoro nodded and asked Sanji if he wanted to come. Sanji agreed, though there weren't horses for them to ride. The two generals were on horses, but since he and Zoro were mercenaries, they had to walk. The other side sent out three riders, and soon, the small group met one another to talk terms. Sanji recognized one of the alphas as Mihawk, the man who wanted them to join forces. Sanji glanced over at Zoro to see that his lover was staring hard at Mihawk. The other two men must be generals.

"Before there is bloodshed, will you consider surrendering?" Asked the general from the enemy army.

"We will not surrender," said one of their generals. "If you know what is best for your men, you will surrender now."

"It seems we're at an impasse," Said another general. "What terms do you offer?"

"Our only terms is we do not take any prisoners of war, do you agree?"

"We can agree to that," Replied the other general. "The one who raises the white flag will surrender, and the other will not attack. Do you agree?"

"We agree,"

Zoro never took his eyes off of Mihawk, and he hoped he could meet the alpha in battle. The terms were necessary, but Mihawk didn't say a word. As mercenaries, they were usually not permitted to offer up terms. One of the enemy generals noticed Sanji, and he smirked, showing dirty teeth.

"Is that an omega I smell? Are you all so desperate that you need to recruit omegas?"

Sanji frowned and he heard Zoro give a small growl.

"That is none of your concern," said one of their generals.

"Change of terms," said the general who kept looking at Sanji. "No prisoners of war, but omegas aren't included in that,"

Sanji wanted to draw his sword and lash out at the general alpha, but Zoro stopped him.

"We do not accept those terms," said their general. "Be prepared to defend yourselves,"

With that, both parties turned away and went back to their armies.

"Don't listen to him," Zoro said to Sanji as they headed back.

"Leave that general for me to fight," Sanji said. "I'll show him what an omega can do."

"Just be careful not to be caught," Zoro said. "They will not hesitate to capture you."

"...I can feel your concern in our bond," Sanji said. "I'm going to be fine, mosshead. You don't have to worry about me,"

"If they were to take you-"

"They won't. I won't allow it," Sanji told him and threaded their fingers together. "I promise."

Zoro gently squeezed his hand. "You know what they would do to you,"

"I don't want to think about it, and neither should you," Sanji said.

They arrived back at their army and waited for the word to attack. Sanji and Zoro had still been holding hands until a battle horn was blown, echoing over the vast open land. Sanji slid his hand from Zoro's, and the pair rushed off with the army. The enemy was coming as well. A group of their army split up on the way here as a means of flanking the enemy. The generals had used Zoro's idea.

Zoro pulled out his swords, two in his hands and one in his mouth. Sanji also drew his sword. Luffy was already in front of them, the only one who was happy to be in a battle. The armies clashed and the battle began.

Sanji stayed close to Zoro, swinging his sword at the enemy. He didn't actually want to kill anybody, but that was one of the downsides of war. He used his feet and the blades on them to cut and slice enemy soldiers, then running them through with his sword. Zoro was cutting down enemies left and right. Sanji suddenly got knocked down and blocked the blow from a soldier. He spun around and used his leg to kick the man off his feet. Sanji quickly got up and stabbed the enemy with his sword. He paused for a moment when he saw the soldier's wide, terrified eyes as he died. Sanji wasn't paying attention, and an enemy soldier came up behind him.

"SANJI!" Zoro shouted his name and struck down the man trying to kill Sanji. "What are you doing?" Zoro shouted. "Get it together, or you're going to get killed!"

Zoro was right, and Sanji forgot about the man he killed and continued to fight, staying near Zoro.

Zoro cut down soldier after soldier, noticing that they were poorly armed. Zoro wouldn't be surprised if the North and South just pulled anyone to fight rather than using trained soldiers. They were going down too easily.

He kept Sanji in the corner of his vision, impressed with how well Sanji was doing. The omega was making good use of the blades on the back of his boots. Zoro cut through another soldier, sliced the arm off another, and slashed one across the face. He spun around with his blades out and sliced through four soldiers. Zoro glanced over and saw Sanji was still holding his own.

Sanji stayed close to Zoro, but not too close should he meet with those blades. He was using his legs so much that they were starting to ache. The blades on his boots were small, enough to stun the enemy, leaving room for him to attack with a sword. Some of the soldiers went down just from the blades alone. Unlike them, the enemy soldiers were poorly armored, if at all. One of his blades slashed through the gut of a soldier, and the man went down. Sanji took a quick moment to notice how the man was, probably no more than a young teen. Did the North and South send more civilians and children than soldiers? If that was the case, Sanji was starting to lose his will to fight. He didn't want to kill untrained people.

While Sanji was focusing on the young man writhing in pain and blood, a real soldier charged at him. He swung his leg around and sliced the man's neck, blood spraying everywhere. Sanji didn't notice the man behind him until a hand fisted in his hair and pulled him backward. Sanji wasn't prepared for the sudden action, and his feet slipped in the blood-soaked ground. His hands flew to the fist as he tried to get away. He heard the man shout 'omega' and started to drag him. Sanji couldn't get out of the hold, and his feet kept slipping. He couldn't believe that this person could tell he was an omega. But the fist in his hair disappeared, and he fell to the ground. Sanji looked up to see Luffy above him, his brass knuckles stained and dripping with blood.

"Come on!" Luffy helped Sanji to his feet and pressed their backs together. "Stay by me if you have to!"

"Thanks for your help!" Sanji said.

Zoro had lost sight of Sanji, but he couldn't stop to look for him. He had to trust Sanji that the man could protect himself. Zoro kept cutting through the enemy when he saw a familiar person nearby. It was Mihawk. Mihawk saw him as well. Both were covered in speckles of blood, and Zoro charged at Mihawk first. Their blades met, Zoro's two and Mihawk's one. Mihawk was known to carry a very large, long sword. Their blades clashed, Zoro striking violently and Mihawk blocking. Mihawk got a swing in, just missing Zoro's face. Zoro had leaned back to avoid it. The long blade did slice at his chest, but the wound wasn't deep. Their blades continued to hit and spark as they fought through the battle around them. Zoro was starting to get winded, but Mihawk looked like this wasn't even an effort.

Zoro wasn't sure what happened, but he lost his footing and fell. He had tripped over a fallen body. Mihawk raised his sword, and just before Zoro could block it, Sanji rushed in and blocked the blade. He knew that Sanji was no match for Mihawk, and he jumped up to protect him. Now, Mihawk was blocking three blades, but he quickly took out Sanji with a slash across his arm. Sanji stumbled back and Zoro slid in front of him to further protect from other blows. While Zoro was still blocking, Sanji slipped around behind Mihawk and grabbed him under the arms, holding him. But Mihawk bent forward and flipped Sanji over in front of him, slamming into Zoro. Zoro was knocked down, and Sanji landed roughly on top of him. By the time they got up, Mihawk had already disappeared into the battle. Zoro cursed under his breath as he pushed Sanji off of him.

"We need to keep fighting!" Sanji said when he was back on his feet.

"Damn it, I lost him!" Zoro growled.

"Don't seek him out!" Sanji said. "Concentrate on the battle going on around you!"

The battle continued on with more fallen soldiers on both sides. The air stunk of bloody corpses and the sound of battle cries and the clash of weapons were all that could be heard. Sanji was near exhaustion, as was Zoro. Both men had a few slashes on their bodies from blades.

But the battle had finally come to an end when one of the generals on horseback said that they, the North and South, had raised the flag of surrender. A horn blew again, traveling over the battle, and the enemy soldiers started to fall back. Zoro smirked at the surrender, for he knew it was his flanking technique that made them raise the white flag. They had trapped the North and South in the center, surrounding them from all sides. With the battle over, the armies fell back while they collected their dead.

Zoro found Sanji and planted a heavy hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I'm exhausted, though," Sanji said. "I'm glad you're alright, though."

Zoro nodded. "I have some scratches, but they're nothing."

"Hey, you guys!" Luffy came running and jumped on Zoro's back, wrapping his arms and legs around Zoro. "We did it! We won the battle!" Luffy grinned and laughed.

"It's just one battle," Zoro said. "There's likely to be more. This war isn't over yet,"

"Come on, let's head back to camp! I'm starving!" Said Luffy.

Zoro had his own tent, and Sanji came with him. Their wounds were not serious and would heal. Chopper was making his rounds in the camp with other doctors to help the wounded. They weren't on the top priority list. Zoro removed his cuirass and his undershirt, which was stained with blood. Sanji took off his boots followed by the cuirass and let out a sigh.

Sanji looked down and scanned his body, finding the cuts along with splatters of blood that weren't his own. He would need to get cleaned up. He looked at his hands, which were shaking a bit. He thought about that one young man he killed, how the look of shock and terror was reading in his dying eyes. Sanji knew it was kill or be killed in war, but something wasn't right. Many of the people he fought had no armor, and they looked young.

"What are you thinking about?" Zoro asked him.

"Did you notice the fighters they had? Most of them weren't armed, and they looked young,"

"I did notice that," Zoro said. "They likely drafted young men to make up for their lack of soldiers. Only Mihawk's mercenaries had armor and were skilled, same with ours. I will bring it up to the High Priest when we return."

Sanji smiled then, and said, "We fought well together,"

"You seem to be coping well, this being your first battle."

Sanji looked at Zoro's now naked torso covered in thin cuts atop rippling muscles. They were both covered in dirt and blood, but Zoro managed to make the look very…appealing. Sanji swallowed hard, feeling his omega side reacting primitively to a battle hardened alpha. HIS battle hardened alpha. He felt his cheeks heat and his bond mark throb. Zoro must have felt the desire through their bond, because he was coming over to him with a gleam in his eye. Sanji's heart began to race, and he welcomed the hard kiss from his mate.

Sanji was the first to deepen the kiss, clashing their tongues together and taking turns pummeling the other's mouth. Sanji wrapped his arms around Zoro's neck, pressing his body up against him. He could already feel Zoro's erection poking at his groin, and he instantly became hard.

The battle they just went through did something to them, and they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Even though they smelled of sweat, blood, and grime, it didn't stop them. Zoro lifted Sanji up by his ass and the blond wrapped long legs around his waist. There was no bed in the tent, but there was a table. Zoro practically slammed Sanji down on the table on his back and started ripping at Sanji's pants. Sanji's body had produced so much slick that it dampened and weakened the thin fabric, making it easy to rip off. Zoro made quick work of Sanji's pants, revealing his naked lower half. Zoro didn't bother with any preparation due to the amount of slick Sanji' produced.

**edited for site. Read full scene on AO3***

"Where did that come from?" Sanji asked, staring at the tent ceiling.

"You started it," Zoro said with a smirk.

"We need to get cleaned up," Sanji said, finally sitting up. "We're a mess. We're covered in blood and dirt and…other stuff."

"I can go get us some water and cloths from the medical tent," Zoro said. "Wait here. I won't be gone long."

Sanji watched Zoro leave and then looked at the broken table. His hips hurt and so did his lower back. He tried to stretch to crack his back, but it didn't help. Sanji ran his hands over his skin to search for any splinters he might have gotten. When he went to get dressed, he found his pants ripped! He forgot that Zoro ripped them off of him. As erotic as that was, he was now without pants. The tunic he wore barely covered his lower half. He took a seat on the one chair in the tent and waited for Zoro to return.

Zoro eventually came back with a bowl of water, a spare pair of pants, and some cloths thrown over his arms.

"Chopper will be here soon to bandage us up," Zoro said. "But we can get cleaned before then."

"Let me wash you first," Sanji said.

Zoro raised a brow. "That's very…omega of you."

Sanji cleared his throat. "Um…well, it's easier to get your back if someone else is doing it for you."

"I won't stop you," Zoro placed the bowl and cloths on the ground and sat beside them. He smiled at Sanji and said, "Well? I'm waiting,"

Sanji narrowed his eyes. "Don't get too used to this," he warned and moved to sit in front of Zoro.

Sanji took one of the cloths and dipped it into the water. He started with Zoro's shoulders, gently washing away the dirt. He was careful when brushing over open cuts. Sanji wiped down Zoro's right arm, and then his left. The water was already getting a big dark with dirt. They could have a proper bath when they get back. Sanji continued to wash away the specks of enemy blood as well as Zoro's. Zoro was right, this was a very omega thing to do. It was always drilled into Sanji's head that it was an omega's job to tend, to care, and to serve your alpha. This was different, though. He was bonded with Zoro, and he wanted to do it. That was the difference. Zoro wasn't expecting him, or commanding him, to do it. Sanji chose to do it by his own will. Plus, he liked sliding the cloth over all of Zoro's muscles. He wasn't near as buff as Zoro, and he wouldn't want to be. Such muscles would complicate and get in the way of his agility.

The last place he had to get was Zoro's face. Gently as he could, he washed away the dirt, blood, and grime. He was careful around Zoro's eyes. Unable to help himself, Sanji pressed their foreheads together, looking into Zoro's eyes as he washed the alpha's cheek. He did this in a sort of loving manner. Zoro didn't protest, but he stared back into Sanji's eyes. Their bond was reacting to the moment, and they felt a wave of comfort wash over them.

Zoro grabbed Sanji's hand and said that it was his turn. Sanji grinned and turned around, removing his dirty tunic. His body shivered when the cold cloth pressed against his skin. Zoro was being gentle, and Sanji closed his eyes to let himself just feel. To think they have come this far from when they were children, always bickering and fighting. Never did he think they would end up like this, mated and bonded, while tending to each other.

He let out a short moan when Zoro moved the cloth to his chest, rubbing it in slow circles. It's like Zoro was stroking his chest. Sanji leaned back into Zoro, letting his head rest on the alpha's shoulder. Zoro wiped down both arms then moved to Sanji's lower stomach. Sanji grinned and put his hand over Zoro's.

"I can do that part myself. I don't trust you,"

Zoro let out a little chuckle. "You think I was going to do something?"

"Possibly," Sanji said, turning around to grin at his lover. "You were going a little bit too low there,"

"Knock knock!"

Both men looked to the tent flap when they heard Chopper.

"You can come in," Zoro said. "Wait, why are your eyes closed?" He asked Chopper.

Chopper peeked one eye open, saw they were normal, and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good, I'm not interrupting anything. I'm here to tend to your wounds."

"We were just cleaning each other," Sanji said. "We're ready for you."

They both sat on the ground while Chopper applied various salves and patches of bandages. Chopper said they were some of the lucky ones to have gotten away without too many wounds. Zoro asked Chopper about the other soldiers he'd seen, and Chopper said that they have more living than dead. Both Zoro and Sanji were relieved to hear that.

"You two might as well head back," Chopper said when he was finished. "I'm going to stay here a few days and watch over the other patients."

"Don't overwork yourself too much," Zoro warned. "There are other doctors here as well. It doesn't all have to be you."

Chopper smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I understand! Just try to take it easy for a few days. No training for at least two days. Your bodies need time to rest."

"We'll heed the good doctor's orders," Sanji said.

After Chopper left, they dressed themselves and prepared to leave when Luffy found them.

"Hey you guys!" He leaped onto Zoro, wrapping his limbs around him.

"I see you have some marks," Zoro says.

"Nah, they're nothing. Where are you guys going? Can I go too?"

"We're heading back to the villa," Sanji said.

"Oh, I'll come too! There's nothing else to do here and I'm bored."

"You can come, just get off me." Zoro had to pry Luffy off of him. "This was just one battle. I'm sure there will be more to come. Unless someone surrenders, we're going to be in this war for a while."

TBC