Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Better End	By : Lepidottero Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 1979 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the One Piece fandom, nor any of the characters mentioned. I do not make any money off this, or any fanwork I've made.

Chapter List
- 1-Better End
- 1
Super long A/N- All righty. This is not only my first AU fanfiction, but also my first fanfiction meant to be anywhere near long. In the past I've stuck to short stories with one or two parts, or short one-shots, but never any 'novels.' But, since it's National Novel Writing Month, here I go with my first good-length and really serious fanfiction.

Like I said, this is AU… it takes place in a universe I created for another story of mine. You might notice that I follow a lot of things from the One Piece storyline, but some things are off. I'm only staying along the lines when I can. Remember this is AU so nothing happened the way it did, though I do try to stay somewhat true to the character's pasts to hold the reasons they are the way they are, I've altered it all to fit the universe better.

This is a slash fic, as specified in the summary. It focuses almost entirely on Zoro and Sanji, but there is a minor amount of Zoro x Luffy as well. Also, there is PLOT. Lots of plot… and angst. Remember I'm doing this for NaNoWriMo so I gotta have something big to go off of.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, because this is written for it, I'm going to update by day instead of by chapter, provided I have a good amount of words and a good stopping point for that day. Regardless, updates for this story should come every 1-3 days if I keep up with NaNo.

Also keep in mind that unfortunately, I'm going for quantity more than quality here, so it definitely won't be up to snuff. But I'll try my best to keep it readable! Hopefully the quick updates'll make up for that.

-End of super long author note.-

The group didn't exactly cause his immediate inner insistence that they were sky pirates when they walked through the door, but he kept his eye on them. They came in casually, arguing, laughing and shoving each other like a bunch of friends on a night out. If they were pirates, he couldn't spot one that stood out as a captain.

There were four. A kid, couldn't have been older than fourteen or fifteen, wearing a large, obnoxiously pink hat that almost let him match height with the shortest of the others. Behind him was a skinny, average looking guy in simple clothes and a straw hat. There was also a tall muscular man with a wacky blue hairstyle, and not wearing any pants to boot. The last, and by far the most interesting of the quartet was a tall beautiful woman with straight, black hair that cut off at her shoulders. She was dressed in a short black dress, and to Sanji, her aura was mature and mysterious and irresistible in its own unique way, as all beautiful women were.

Four was a small number for a pirate crew this deep in space, but everyone else who'd come in was a regular. Had Usopp been pulling his leg when he said the ship that had docked in the starport was "definitely a sky pirate's?" What did he call them? The Straw Hat Pirates?' One of them did have that straw hat… didn't he? He'd only know if he found the strength to tear his eyes away from that raven-haired beauty.

"Stop day dreaming and finish that dressing." The voice broke his concentration, and shred his fantasies into microscopic pieces.

Sanji groaned and jerked his head around. "I can fix it and day dream at the same time, old fart!" He barked at the back of the blond haired head with its epically tall chef's hat. Zeff didn't say anything back, having feigned temporary deafness, and Sanji grumbled and turned his neck back to focus again.

The dining room in the Baratie was enormous, but it was a slow day at a typically slow time. Only the smaller tables were seated, and many left empty, so keeping track of who was where was easy, even alongside all the work he had to do in the kitchen. He'd personally asked designers to install the window so he could see the dining room as he worked. At the time he suggested that it would come off as authentic if the customers could see the food being made, but he didn't give a rat's ass about that. Atmosphere was important but the people didn't need to see the food being made, just the final product.

Usopp was walking away from a two-person table with an empty tray under his arm when they made eye contact. Sanji cocked a curled eyebrow as if to ask why he was looking in this direction, and Usopp nodded his head toward the group with the pretty black-haired girl. That was enough for Sanji to assume that the group was indeed the sky pirates he'd mentioned. Usopp always kept up with the bounty boards.

They'd just taken a seat to eat, and by the look on the waiter's face and the way his pen struggled to get everything written without missing bits after he'd asked the straw hat's order, they'd be eating a while.

Sanji untied his apron, and crumpled it on the stove counter. "Dressing's done." He said. "I'm taking my break." He waved with a single hand-motion over his shoulder, and left the kitchen through the back door.

Never underestimate the power of a cigarette to calm your nerves when you're about to board a notorious pirate's skyship. The security in the starport was widely known as top notch, so hardly anyone who parked there had any reason to leave behind any biological security, and anything mechanical could be dealt with. But pirates were pirates, and he'd learned on more than one occasion that he couldn't always fight them off when caught. Worse, being caught by Zeff on any occasion would have meant getting stuck under that old fart's thumb with no freedom to do it again.

Sanji had his back against the far side of the east wall, just out of sight to anyone roaming the starport that aligned with the north wall. He heard the heavy breathing first, and turned to see the long-nosed man, still in his Baratie waiter uniform, running alongside the building in his direction. The beat-up brown bag over his shoulder stood out against the rest of his more formal attire, and bounced against his hip with each step.

He stopped a foot in front of Sanji and heaved to catch his breath with his head bent over and hands braced above his knees. "People are going to start wondering…" He said between breaths. "…Why my bathroom breaks are so long."

Sanji shrugged. "I'm sure they don't worry." He mumbled with the cigarette hanging of his lip.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usopp quibbled.

"Nevermind, you're in a hurry aren't you?" Sanji held out his hand. "Give it to me."

Feeling greatly under appreciated, Usopp pulled the bag strap over his head and dug into it. He pulled out a small square device, sloppily encased in metal with wiring sticking out two opposite sides. On one face there were dials and a small screen like a calculator, the others were blank.

"That should knock out any security systems the ship might have for five to ten minutes." Usopp explained. "But be careful, most ships of that one's model only have select systems that it's set to shut down, and there's no way of knowing whether the turn off is a success or not."

Sanji snickered. "So it's left to chance." He stuffed the small device in his pocket.

"You'll need these to get into the door's control system." He pulled a small hammer and a flat-head screwdriver out of his bag and handed them off as well. Sanji never felt quite right with so many things in his pockets.

"Thanks Usopp." He turned away. "Oh, Nami gets off in about 10 minutes. Make sure you're there to greet her because I won't be. Remember to ask how her day went!" He kept walking, increasing his volume as he got further away.

"But I'm working!" Usopp protested, but Sanji like Zeff before him, feigned deafness.

The starport's grounds were surrounded by a ten foot barbed fence with electric wiring lining the top. The gate itself only opened through mechanical command and was near impossible to bypass without the right identification and codes. There was no easy way for an outsider to get in with the wrong reasons, but luckily, Sanji wasn't an outsider.

"Ah, Sanji-chan!" One of the guards spotted him and called, waving an arm obnoxiously. "Running low on those spices again?" The other security officers watched in disgust as he twirled over to Sanji like a ballerina.

Sanji forced a charmingly sheepish smile and lied through his teeth. "Yeah, they go fast."

Bon Clay twirled and shouted. "Business is business!" He held his arms over his head and dipped his hands down to make a heart. "I'll let you right in!" He started twirling toward the gate and Sanji followed, walking like a normal person with his hands stuffed in his pockets to hide the bulges.

The second guard that was next to the gate didn't question it when Bon Clay opened the gate for Sanji, just sat still in the chair, staring off as if day-dreaming. He was young, probably new, with pinkish hair and a suspicious scar above his left eye.

He looked over and blinked when the gate clanked open, but seemed to choose not to question it.

"You know, Sanji-chan…" Bon went on as he skipped away from the gate control and back next to Sanji's side. "…Normally they have workers to pick up the supplies from the shipyard, but you always come here yourself anyway…"

Sanji opened his mouth to explain, having already cooked up a suitable story to cover that, but was cut off.

"…I'll be there's some kind of secret, isn't there?" Bon hopped and twirled in a manner that Sanji was used to, but still made him want to look the other way. "Don't worry, Sanji-chan, I will not ask about nor reveal your secret!" He said that, but he was practically shouting now. "As your friend, I will respect your privacy!"

"Thanks." Sanji waved half-heartedly, and walked past him to find the ship Usopp had described.

The scary thing about Bon Clay was well, everything. But the nice thing about him was that he could be trusted to stay true to his word. This was why Sanji didn't need to bother making sure he wasn't followed, just casually slipped behind one of the larger ships to make himself disappear.

The Going Merry, it was called, as printed in simple beige capitols on the side. A small, older model, and not exactly in pristine condition. If he remembered correctly, Usopp had said it was a second generation Scimitar model, old but common and exceptionally reliable. Hopefully that didn't so much apply to security systems.

Planting Usopp's little devices had become a piece of cake. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd done it over the years. Granted, Usopp took care of all the technical stuff, he just did as he was told. But the whole thing had become almost second nature. He knew that the moment it was planted he'd have a minimum of ten seconds to open the door, get inside, and shut it again. It was a simple task, and the only way to screw it up was to forget to grab the device once the bypass was complete and take it inside. Otherwise there was no way out without setting off the alarm.

This time went smoothly, as usual. He was in, silent as a mouse, and everything was accounted for. He tucked the device back into his pocket, took a drag of his cigarette, and looked around. By the blinking green and red lights, pumping bars and rotating gears, he'd clearly stumbled upon a machine room. It was pretty typical for the main entrance to lead to a machine room, as it was the basis for everything the ship could do, and everything, with the right know-how, could be accessed from there.

Unfortunately what Sanji was looking for had no specified location on every ship, so it would take some digging.

It was a particularly noisy room, an uncomfortable place to be as there was no way to hear someone coming after you. He'd have to get out of there as soon as possible to be on his best guard. He didn't expect to be followed, but better safe than sorry. Worst case scenario, someone could still be left on the ship.

Based on the shape of the ship and the side he'd come in on, the main cabin was likely to his left, so he started in that direction. He kept his footsteps quiet, but quick, just in case someone had a damn good ear. The floor was like a drain, overlapping and intersecting narrow sheets of metal, rather than a solid slab. It was the type of construct that would make quite a racket if hit hard enough, so he'd tread lightly.

He could see an exit, a large steel door with a heavy handle just a few more paces in front of him. It was right in front of him, he was practically there, and then… he was falling. All of the sudden his control of his footing had ceased to exist, and the ground was closing in on his face. He hit the floor hard, first his chest, then his face, and then his legs sprawled out sloppily behind him. At first he just lay there, either not believing or not fully comprehending what kind of shit had just happened. Aside from the bruises he'd have tomorrow, if anyone was still on the ship, they'd have to be deaf to have not heard that.

He lifted his head and looked back over his shoulder. There, just a few inches back from the up-turned soul of his shoe was a giant, thick metal wrench. As the only obstruction in view, it must've been the culprit. Sanji wasted no time jumping to his feet, face red with anger. He drew back his left leg with all his might and, with no restraint or consideration for consequences, thrust it forward.

"Shitty wrench!" He shouted and the heavy tool made more than just lift-off. It flew through the air in less than a millisecond, and slammed directly into one of the ship's machines. For a moment Sanji hoped for the Straw hat's sake that that contraption wasn't anything important, because he doubted it would ever work again. On another note, when the red lights started flashing and multiple alarms started to sound from different places around the room, it was clearly his cue to cut his losses and get the hell out of there. If he could escape in one piece and without being caught maybe he'd have a chance to come back later.

He thought he had easy chances, the door he'd entered through was so close, there was no way anyone would make it to investigate until he was already long gone. With the alarms already sounding, there was no reason for him to shut down security, he just had to get the hell out and run, and running was something he was particularly fast at.

His first mistake was losing his cool over a fall and breaking that machine. His second, and more fatal mistake, was stopping as the alarms suddenly came to an end. The red lights stopped flashing, and for a moment, he thought he was safe, and slowed down. If that hadn't happened, he may have managed to get the hell out before that blade bared itself aside his head, directly below his ear. It was steady, firm and the sharp side was nearly biting into the skin just beneath his jaw. He had no choice but to stop running and submit to it.

The moment he did he was yanked backward by a hand that closed itself around his upper arm. The blade turned so it was underneath his chin and against his throat, and he could feel breath on his left ear.

"O-Oi!" He tried to protest, afraid for a moment that this obvious pirate swordsman was just going to cut his neck open without a second thought. He shut up fast when the edge pressed closer against his throat, close enough to shave the tiny invisible hairs under his chin.

"I'll give you a tip for next time." A deep, heavy voice spoke. "When the alarms turn off, it means someone turned them off." It was right against his ear, whispered hoarsely like a demon's manner of seduction. A large hand settled on his midsection, and stroked roughly down his side to his hip, like some sort of almost sexual version of intimidation. "That means run faster, not stop." Sanji scoffed, having expected interrogation rather than insults. "Dumb blond." The voice whispered with a sinister snicker on the side.

Sanji frowned, thinking he would have preferred being chopped into little pieces as opposed to being insulted by some sword guy with a big, dumb-sounding voice. With gathered confidence, he launched himself backward, knocking the swordsmen back with him. He regained his footing quickly, and so did the other guy, but the sword gave just enough space between its blade and his throat for him to duck out of the way before it could reclaim him. Once down with his hands braced against the floor, he swung a leg around to try and trip the swordsmen off his feet, but the other man jumped back to dodge.

Sanji straightened himself and turned his body around to face his opponent, now standing just as straight a yard or so ahead of him. They regarded each other for a moment, but there was zero change of expression, both kept the same irritated glares.

"It's pointless to try to fight me." The swordsmen seemed to be in a suddenly more serious mood. While he babbled on, Sanji quick let up a cigarette, having dropped his last one when he'd tripped. "Not only would you lose, but this starport's security is probably already here."

Sanji snorted. "I'd lose?" He grinned with the smoke stick dangling from his lips. "Bullshit."

The swordsmen didn't hesitate to laugh back at him. "Well, it's all the same to me. I was going to leave you alive for the guards, but I'd be just as happy sending you out in pieces." He held the sword out in front of him, turned on its side. There were two more secured on his hips, along with a green haramaki. Three swords, santoryuu. That word was only commonly associated with one man, and while Sanji rarely kept up with the current celebrities, this name was hard to miss.

Roronoa Zoro, not an opponent to be taken lightly.

The thought for what the hell an infamous headhunter was doing on a sky pirate's craft crossed his mind, and he entertained it. Maybe, just maybe, this guy was after the straw hat's head, and if Sanji took him down, perhaps his little incident of breaking and entering would be overlooked. That or he could blame it all on Zoro.

Even if not, there was no way Sanji was about to turn down an obvious challenge. Besides, this guy didn't look so tough.

Sanji let out a short, sharp "ha" and shoved his hands casually into his pockets. "As if a shitty swordsman like you could."

Roronoa Zoro was put off by the statement, but then smirked and aligned the tip of his sword with the space between Sanji's eyes. "We'll see, swirly-brow." He cocked his head and grinned. His last real fight had been over a month ago and he was aching for some decent action. Maybe the blond would be able to land a hit or two before losing a limb or two.

"Let's go then, marimo-head." Sanji spat back his own spur of the moment insult, and raised a leg. Zoro took a step, but Sanji was the first to make a full move. He thrust his left leg into the air, spun, and threw it down mercilessly. Zoro had to move fast to block it, and with one sword he barely managed to keep it off him. The force was at least five times more than he'd braced himself for, and he almost faltered.

It was crazy! How could a kick be that powerful?

"Don't underestimate." Sanji advised, and thrust himself backward. Zoro took a swing when he did, but Sanji had expected that, and dodged with a side-step, though closer than he'd planned.

Zoro was put off by the arrogance, but unsheathed his second and third sword anyway. Sanji watched, pleased that he was being taken seriously, and wondering just how one uses three swords at once. He almost laughed when the swordsmen placed the hilt in his mouth and bit down on it. But he quickly changed his mind when Zoro made his move.

When it came to dodging and blocking, three blades was a pain in the ass, especially when all three were evidently handled with near perfection. Sanji was ready, perfect stance, but when all three blades came at him something happened. He blocked the first swing, dodged the second, and then the third came, straight at his face, he couldn't move in time…

Then it stopped. Sanji was sure he'd been in for a painful blow at least, so much that he'd shut his eyes, but it never came.

When he opened them, Zoro's face was just as surprised as his. He looked to the sword with the white hilt, the one that would have given him a nasty gash, had it not been for the hand that was now clasped around the blade.

"Franky?" Zoro said in a mostly irritated, partly questioning voice.

"Don't go all out in my machine room." The blue-haired man let go of his sword, and Zoro let it's tip drop from aggression. "If you want to pick fights with chefs, take it outside."

Chef? Sanji scoffed. So they knew who he was already? Damn it.

Behind the blue haired man, Franky, as he'd been called, were the other three. The one with the straw hat in the middle, pink hat on his left, and the beautiful raven haired lady to his right.

Sanji's eyes became huge, and his heart rate picked up until it was bulging out of his chest. Such unique, unbelievable beauty, just a few feet away, and not only that, but she was looking right at him. Could this be… love at first sight?

"I'm not picking fights." Zoro explained, calmly sheathing his swords. "It's this asshole that came aboard and randomly started breaking shit."

"What was that?" Sanji's moment was shattered, and he took a leg swing at Zoro's head. Zoro ducked it and tried to throw back a punch, but it was stopped by another hand. Smaller than the blue-haired man's, but apparently strong enough to stop that force.

"Luffy?" Zoro's eyes flicked to the straw-hatted man, who'd stepped forward. Sanji noted how this man's interference had subdued Zoro much more efficiently than Franky's. Luffy, his name was, and the straw hat in relation to the crew's nickname would've made him the captain.

"What were you doing on our ship?" He asked Sanji, releasing Zoro's arm. Sanji couldn't say there was anything intimidating about this man, so he wasn't all that inclined to answer.

"I was just out for a walk." He shrugged, and puffed at his cigarette.

The captain, Luffy, considered this. "Oh." He said, and then considered more. "Well why are you talking walks in other people's ships?" He frowned. "And breaking things!" His hand balled into a fist. Sanji just stared at him in sheer surprise. Had his obvious sarcasm really just been taken seriously?

"Luffy." Zoro put a hand on his shoulder.

"Shut up!" Luffy shook it off. "I won't forgive him for damaging Merry without a better reason!" He pulled his arm back, but Zoro restrained him with both arms this time.

"But security's on the way and you'll just break more things!" Zoro tried, and the others got involved as well. Well, Franky and the kid did, the woman was just smiling, amused by the scene.

"Luffy!" The pink-hatted kid just latched onto his midsection to help hold him back, but didn't seem to be doing much.

"Just let his people take care of him!" Franky tried to reason.

"Shut up!" Luffy was still struggling.

Sanji didn't have the slightest idea what he was looking at, or what the deal was with these weirdos, but he'd stopped caring the moment he got an eye full of than woman again. Finally, with the others busy, he might have a chance to…

"What's the problem here?" Another voice from the ship's entrance broke into the scene, and all attention turned. One of the security guards walked in with a few others following. "Pirates?" He raised his weapon, voice shaking. "What are they doing?"

"This is our ship." Franky said, and pointed a huge finger at Sanji's face. "He's the one that's trespassing." Just taking his word for it, the guard turned his gun on Sanji. Sanji didn't move from his spot. He was fucked, that was for sure, and he didn't see a way out of it. His reasons weren't even worth talking about, or trying to explain. As far as anyone else would ever be concerned, he really had been 'just taking a walk' and he had no choice now but to accept any punishment for doing so.

It wasn't the first time he'd been caught, but times before he'd only been caught by security, not the pirate ship owners themselves, and he'd never left any trace that he'd been there. In those cases he'd just paid all of the guards that had found him their to keep their mouths shut or convinced the dumber lot he'd just stumbled into the wrong place.

But this wasn't a situation he could get out of. If only he hadn't been provoked by the damn green-headed swordsman.

"Sanji-chan!" Bon Clay's head and hand poked into the ship, frowning sadly when he saw Sanji standing there, hands stuffed in his pocket. "What's going on here?" He hopped the rest of the way in and demanded one of guards an answer.

"We're not sure yet." The skittish one stuttered.

Sanji noticed Franky turning around, and walking deeper into the machine room.

"Hey!" Luffy shouted. "I remember you! You're that Mr. 2!" He pointed his finger hard at Bon Clay. Bon's eyes widened at first, and he blinked, then shot forward, placing both his hands on Luffy's shoulders.

"Shh." He said. "Don't blow my cover!" Luffy wasn't sure what was going on, but with that horrid looking face and crazy make-up and eye-lashes so close to his, he couldn't say anything, just stare, dumbfounded.

"Oh hell." Franky's voice came from further into the room. "The main engine's completely destroyed!" He shouted.

Luffy gasped and whipped around. "You can't fix it?" He flailed.

"I can fix it." He peered into the hole that Sanji had created in one of the machines, the main engine apparently, where he'd kicked the wrench. Franky reached his right hand in, and ripped the heavy wrench out like a cord and plug from a wall. "But the adapter's in halves." He looked again. "Those things are expensive as hell, there's no way we can afford a new one." He pushed up his sunglasses, revealing a set of embarrassingly prominent lower eyelashes. "Can't fly without it."

Luffy was flabbergasted. "We're broke?" He whipped around back to Sanji. "You bastard!" He pulled his arm back to punch again, and this time no one in his crew made a move to stop him.

"Hold on!" The voice was loud, authoritative, and for Sanji, horribly familiar. He cringed at the sound of it, knowing he was in for the worst now. "I'll take care of this idiot." He said, and started toward Sanji. Sanji watched his peg leg as he walked, hoping it would get stuck in one of the holes and he'd make a fool of himself. But he was too accustomed to walking on it for that.

"I knew you'd been sneaking off and doing something lately." Zeff said, in his stupid old daddy-figure voice. Sanji just snickered, thinking only that he'd been doing this a lot more often than lately, and there for has managed to keep the majority a secret. "What's the meaning of this? Trying to rob pirate ships? Don't I pay you enough?" He went on. "What, are you going to ask me for a raise?" When he got close he lifted a leg and took a swing at Sanji's head, and Sanji ducked it and backed away.

"Old man." Luffy interrupted. "Let me kick his ass and you won't have to punish him." He held up a tightly curled fist.

"Shut up, Luffy." Zoro stepped up. "Someone here has to pay for what this idiot cook broke, because we can't." He tossed the insults over his shoulder at Sanji, and Sanji scowled back.

"An adapter, huh." Zeff crossed his arms. "For an engine model like that, he doesn't have that kind of money, and neither do I."

"Well someone has to do something." The pink-hatted kid flailed. "How are we going to leave here?"

"We're not in any hurry." The black-haired woman inquired, fingers placed thoughtfully upon her left cheek.

"Robin?" Luffy looked back at her, wondering what she was thinking. Sure, they weren't in a big hurry, but they had adventures to complete!

Sanji's attention turned once again… Robin, what a beautiful name!

"We could stay here until we have enough." She suggested, then smiled in Zeff's direction. "For free, perhaps?" She tilted her head charmingly.

Luffy's eyes suddenly lit up in realization and he shot his arms into the air. "Free meat!" He shouted, making it clear that he could agree to her idea.

"This is a hotel as well as a restaurant, isn't it?" Robin finished. Zeff regarded her, wondering what these pirates would do if he just refused them everything. After all, as sky pirates, they weren't under the protection of any laws, so the government wouldn't stop them if he just forced them away without any compensation. But for the time being they seemed decent, and like they didn't want any trouble. If he provoked them, he didn't know what they were capable of.

"All right." He sighed, accepting. "Come inside and we'll go over the details of how and where you'll be staying. Try to come to some sort of reasonable compromise." Then he looked at Sanji. "As for you, you're fired." With that, he whipped around and started to leave.

"Like hell I am!" Sanji shot forward. "I'm the assistant manager and the sous-chef, you can't fire me!" It wasn't true, the 'can't' part, but there was no way Zeff would just kick him out over this.

"Then you're working without pay." Zeff was quick to retort, and to that, Sanji couldn't object. He gritted his teeth, but submitted.

"I guess a free vacation would be all right." The kid in the pink hat said thoughtfully, and Franky grinned and put an arm around him.

"That's the spirit, Chopper." He said. "As soon as we can get a replacement I'll fix the ship. For now we can just stay here." He smiled at Robin, as if to silently thank her for the idea, and she smiled back, nodding.

"Whoo!" Luffy waved his arms around and started walking back toward the ship's exit. "Let's go eat some more then!"

"Luffy!" Zoro shouted, but Luffy just kept on going. The guards looked confused over the whole situation, but as the starport was under the Baratie's watch as well, Zeff's word was final.

It had been decided that the whole of the straw hat crew would stay in four of the available rooms and be allowed free dining with some limitations (that would only really cripple Luffy's eating ability) and unlimited access to the pool and entertainment areas. Zeff had to offer unlimited room service and bar access as well to get them to accept not occupying the hotel's two available suites. All in all, Zeff wasn't happy about it, but he could take a good percentage of what would be lost out of Sanji's pay.

Sanji was especially irritated, because in addition to the no pay factor, he was on a much shorter leash. Zeff wasn't going to allow him any breaks unless he said exactly what he was doing and where he was going, and he'd be monitored during his time off as well. He was being treated more like a child who needed a slap on the wrist than a criminal that needed punishment.

Not to mention those damn obnoxious straw hats got on his nerves every time they decided it was time for a bite, which ended up being about five times a day, likely thanks to that hungry as hell captain of theirs. The Baratie was used to lively pirates, as were most of their regular customers, but those four (excluding the lovely Robin, who was always very considerate to those around her) in particular left some of the worst messes and made some of the worst racket. Worst of all, Zeff had decided that Sanji was still allowed to eat for free as long as he helped clean up the dining room after closing. The straw hats had a habit of sitting at the same table, and he always found the most interestingly disgusting things on and around it.

Thankfully, Usopp and Nami stayed late to share his misery as well. Helping? No, they just 'kept him company' while he worked. Sanji was very grateful to Nami for this, as not only did just seeing her face lift his spirits to full throttle, she probably had better things to do. Usopp was more likely just bored.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't let those other girls up stage you like that." Usopp was babbling on about something that was starting to get on Sanji's nerves, though he hadn't been listening very closely. It sounded like he was questioning Nami's actions in some way, which was simply unforgivable.

"Up stage?" Nami said. "You mean parade around like a prostitute?" She was definitely offended, but Usopp wasn't buying it. Not one of the other dancers was more willing to show a little extra leg for a little extra cash than Nami. "Besides it's not like I want to do this for a living like they do." Nami sighed, "I'm just saving up so I'm not completely broke when I find a way to become a private navigator."

Sanji sighed dreamily. "That's right, you want to see the universe." He spun around as he swept, as if dancing with the broom. "What a beautiful dream!" He danced his way over to her and tried to take her hand in his, but she moved it.

"Not just see it." She said proudly. "Draw it." And winked. Sanji couldn't decide whether to faint or have a nose-bleed, so he did a little of both, and crumbled on the floor with his chin and big dumb smile on one of the tables.

Usopp rolled his eyes, and stood up from his chair. "I gotta get going." He said. "I'm meeting Kaya tonight."

"Like every other night." Nami tossed out as Usopp walked toward the exit.

"Yeah, yeah." He said, waving her off. "See you guys tomorrow."

"See-ya." Sanji was back on his feet and sweeping, mostly just to appear busy at this point. There wasn't much left to do, but he could pretend forever if Nami would stay there with him.

" I should get going too." She said, not bothering to explain herself. She had little explanation aside from being tired, and he wouldn't question her anyway. Sanji was disappointed, but he didn't show it. The last thing he wanted to do was make a lady feel bad for him.

"Good-bye, Nami-swan!" He sung as she walked toward the restaurant's exit. "See you in the morning!"

She waved half-heartedly, much like Usopp had, and left Sanji there alone in the dining room with his broom.

Sanji deemed himself finished not long after Nami had left, but it was too early to sleep. He used to go for a swim most nights in the hotel pool after most everyone else had left. Though his new chores had gotten in the way of that recently, there was no better time to get back into the habit. Not only did he like what swimming did for his physique, it gave him time to clear his head and think.

The pool area was simple, but very large. The pool itself was at least thirty feet wide and even bigger in length, with a maximum depth of 10 feet on the diving end. There was also a bubbling hot tub at the far end, and two extensive locker rooms for changing and storing less water proof items.

Sanji left his clothes in his suite, and walked to the pool house in swim shorts with a towel in hand. He would have been yelled at if Zeff caught him, but he hated fussing with the damn locker rooms, and there was nothing worse than walking into one to find a naked fat man in the middle of changing in or out of his swimsuit.

Despite the extensive guest list, the pool house was almost always empty on weeknights after eleven o'clock or so. It didn't close until 1 AM, but Sanji was just about the only one that ever stayed that late. That's why, when he walked in, he was surprised to see a figure gliding underneath the water. The swimming style was graceful, but he could tell from the shape and size that it wasn't a lady, to his misfortune. Admittedly, he was a little put off, and had been counting on some alone time.

When the man surfaced, Sanji recognized him immediately. He hadn't been able to tell against the blue of the pool walls, but the bright green hair gave him away. As soon as he wiped the water out of his eyes, he looked up at Sanji.

"You?" He asked. He'd thought he heard the door shut. "Don't you have some chores to do?"

"Shut up marimo." Sanji stamped to one of the chairs and tossed his towel onto it. "Just keep searching for a nice rock to attach to." He paused there, contemplated his folded towel where he'd thrown it, and then just snatched it up again and turned to leave.

"Change your mind?" Zoro said , grinning mockingly.

"I don't swim with algae." He mumbled back. He could save his swimming time for another night.

"Hold on." Zoro's tone became serious, and for reasons he wouldn't be able to explain if asked, Sanji stopped and looked back at him. He had his arms folded on the outside edge of the pool now, and his chin rested on one of his wrists. "I wanted to ask you something." He said. Sanji was a little curious, but didn't encourage him.

Zoro asked anyway. "Why were you on our ship that day?" He said. Sanji scoffed to himself, as that was exactly the question he'd been expecting, and his answer wasn't going to change. "Just seemed like you had some greater purpose than killing our engine, and it didn't look like a gold robbery either."

"Maybe I was there to assassinate you." Sanji shrugged, content with keeping this a guessing game.

Zoro chuckled darkly, and Sanji disallowed the chills that built up at the base of his neck to crawl down his spine. "Watch what you say." He said. "If I didn't know you were bull shitting I'd kill you for that one. After all, kill or be killed, isn't it?"

Sanji was facing the opposite direction, but he heard movement in the water behind him. When he glanced back, Zoro was in the process of pushing himself out of the pool and onto his feet.

The first thing Sanji noticed were his dark green swim trunks, and had to snicker at that. They were baggy and when all the way down past his knees- overly masculine as far as Sanji was concerned. The second thing, and what stood out a lot more was the single yet very apparent gash that ran diagonally across his torso. Starting at his right shoulder and ending at his left hip, and quite visible from the few yard distance. He didn't even realize he was staring at it until it was no longer visible as Zoro turned to grab his towel.

"Don't leave on my account." He said. "I was just going anyway." He dried his minimal amount of hair, and then just let the towel hang over his shoulders around the back of his neck, as if the rest of him wasn't still dripping wet.

Sanji felt like it should have been too late, like the dumb marimo's presence had already killed the mood. But in actuality, he really did want to have a swim.

The swordsman disappeared, still sopping wet, into the locker room. Well, if he was on his way out anyway… Sanji's eyes flicked back to the pool.
- 1
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Better End