Zoro leapt from the remains of the ship he’d cleaved in two, landing on the shore. His boots crunched against the sand and broken shells, and behind him, the two halves of the ship continued settling into the water. A few people had gathered to watch, pointing and shouting about the damage. Zoro ignored them.
Sanji was standing there, holding the strings of supply balloons, wearing an expression that clearly read dumbass. His suit was different, his hair a little longer and parted on the other side, and he still had a stupid cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Damn, it was good to see him.
Zoro had been on Sabaody Archipelago since early that morning. He'd already seen five other people from the crew, but he hadn't realized until that very second – until he saw Sanji – who it was that he'd been waiting for deep in his bones these past two years. Everything around him expanded and contracted at once, and his heart stopped, then started again, spiking before squeezing in his chest.
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Let's get married."
Sanji stared at him, smoke burning from the end of his cigarette. Zoro could feel the heat climbing over his face as the words hung in the air. Behind them, someone shouted about the ship, and another person yelled that they should call the Marines. Sanji looked past Zoro at the gathering crowd, swore under his breath, and grabbed him by the arm.
Zoro went willingly. The cook's grip was surprisingly strong. He'd clearly been training over the last two years. Zoro couldn't wait to see what he could do.
On the nearest street between buildings, Sanji turned on Zoro. "Did whatever took your eye go too deep and mess with your brain?"
It was a fair response, and it would've given Zoro an out if his emotions hadn't decided he should be honest. "I want you to be there every time I open my eyes. Or eye."
His mouth grimaced around the would-be joke. His breathing was too fast, and he was probably as red as a brick, but it was out there, and he wasn't going to take it back. Two years, and the thing he'd been longing for every morning when he woke up wasn't to get stronger or be better so that when he rejoined Luffy, they'd be ready to take on the New World. What he'd been missing was Sanji, bitching at him, fighting with him, telling him to bathe, to eat, to move his lazy ass.
It seemed stupid that his heart had suddenly decided on this man, right now, but Zoro had never been one to think about things much. If this was where his heart was taking him, then that was that.
"I like women," Sanji said slowly after another long moment.
"Okay," Zoro said, his palms clammy. "Can you like me, too?"
Sanji laughed around a drag of his cigarette, smoke coming out in little puffs. "If you'd asked me that before the last two years in the Kamabakka Kingdom, I might've laughed in your face."
"And now?"
Sanji took a deep drag off his cigarette, flicked it to the ground, and crushed it beneath his heel. "And now I must've lost my mind because I'm thinking about saying yes."
Zoro caught himself grinning. Sanji was thinking about saying yes. It was close enough for Zoro. His chest felt as though it was filling up with cola bubbles, fizzy and popping. "Let's go, then."
Sanji laughed again. This time it had an almost drunken edge to it. "Just like that, huh?"
"Just like that," Zoro said.
"You do know you're missing all the in-between parts."
"We can do those later." Zoro wanted to pin Sanji down now, make this so they'd be side by side through the end. He'd spent two years feeling a part of him was missing. He'd thought it was Luffy. He'd thought it was the whole crew. Now he knew with unwavering certainty it was Sanji.
"How do you know that I want to do those things with you? I like women."
Zoro did pause then. "Do you want to do them with me?"
Sanji flushed. "Aren't you the least bit concerned I just said I like women?"
"No. I know you like women. Everyone knows you like women because you're stupid about it. Doesn't mean you can't like me, too."
"You're impossible."
Zoro heard the note in Sanji's voice, and a grin tugged at his lips. "But not wrong."
"Shit. Damn it. You're crazy, you know that?" Sanji shook his head, a rueful smile on his lips. "I guess that makes two of us."
Zoro latched onto Sanji's arm. "Come on." He started dragging Sanji out of the alley.
Sanji followed, laughing again. "You don't even know where you're going."
"When have I ever known where I was going?"
That earned another laugh. "True. Let me lead."
"I'd follow you anywhere," Zoro said, and it was the truth.
They walked through Sabaody. Shops lined the street, their displays spilling onto the sidewalks, and voices carried from the open-air stalls. The air smelled of grilled meat, frying oil, and the sweet stuff one of the vendors was selling from a cart. Zoro's stomach growled. He'd eaten breakfast hours ago, and Sanji was right there, so maybe he could convince him to make something once they got back to the Sunny. He’d missed Sanji’s food. A few pedestrians stepped around them while a cluster of smaller bubbles rose from the roots of a nearby mangrove. One popped against Zoro's shoulder, leaving a damp spot on his coat.
Sanji glanced at him as they walked, supply strings grasped in one hand. "You know, I was going to try something slow, suss out your interest, have many more gay panic attacks."
"You thought about this? Us?"
"Since the last time we were here, when Kuma–" He cut off abruptly. "The last two years have been a roller coaster of all the stages of grief over you not having breasts. And now we're here."
"And now we're here." Zoro walked at Sanji's side, a lightness in his step. He wasn't a deep thinker, mulling over things as Sanji apparently had. He focused on what was in front of him, which was why the feeling of something missing had been chalked up to Luffy and the crew until Sanji was in front of him again.
As they crossed into a new grove, he caught sight of a pair of kids scuffling beneath a tree. "You're still gonna fight me, right?"
"Depends. Are you still an ill-mannered, uncouth ape who eats with his mouth open, rarely bathes, and calls sweet Nami-san a witch?"
Zoro grinned. "Good. Gotta keep you on your toes, shit cook."
Sanji snorted. "Figures you haven't changed."
"Got better. Stronger." Zoro glanced over Sanji from head to toe. "So did you."
"And I did it without losing an eye." Sanji steered them toward a building. "Leave you alone for two years, and look what happens."
"Better not leave me, then."
Sanji paused with his hand on the door and gave Zoro a pointed look. "Why do you think we're here?"
Here turned out to be a justice of the peace.
The building was small, with a narrow lobby and a handful of offices branching off a short hallway. A reception desk stood near the entrance, with a few chairs along one wall and framed government notices on the other. The tiled floor was scuffed, and fluorescent lights illuminated the plain cream-colored walls. A clerk sat behind the desk, sorting through paperwork.
Zoro went right up to the desk. “We want to get married.”
The clerk glanced between the two of them without batting an eye, pulled a piece of paper from an organizer on the desk, clipped it to a board, and passed it over along with a pen. “Fill this out.”
Zoro took the paper and pen and immediately passed them to Sanji. “Fill this out.”
Sanji huffed, thrusting the shopping strings at Zoro in exchange. “One day, we’re going to have to teach you how to read.”
“I can read.” Zoro pointed at the wall. “That sign right there says you’re an ass.”
Sanji snorted, filling out the paper on the board with quick, neat handwriting. It took him less than two minutes. He handed it back to the clerk.
“That’ll be fifty beli,” the clerk said.
“Fifty?” Sanji glared at Zoro as he paid. “This is coming out of your booze money.”
Zoro scowled, but let it pass.
They were directed to sit on a bench against a wall as the clerk did clerk things. Sanji smoked, bouncing one knee and checking the hallway every few minutes. Zoro braided the strings in his hand into a complicated plait – all that practice on Perona made it easy. He considered asking Sanji why he looked so nervous, then decided he'd probably get kicked for it.
The clerk eventually ushered them into a side chamber, where three other people waited. The room was small, with cream-colored walls, a tiled floor, and a ceiling fan turning overhead. A wooden desk occupied one end, with a pair of chairs facing it and several more arranged along the wall. A framed World Government seal hung behind the desk, beside a clock and a filing cabinet.
An older man stood behind the desk, dressed in a dark suit with a neatly pressed shirt and wire-rimmed glasses. His gray hair was combed back, and he had a trimmed beard. He glanced up from the papers in front of him as they entered.
"Welcome, gentlemen. I'm Justice of the Peace Mercer Harold," he said. "I'll be officiating your marriage today."
Zoro nodded. Sanji turned a bit green. Zoro glanced at him, wondering if he'd eaten something that disagreed with him. That'd be embarrassing for a cook. Sanji caught him looking and scowled, so Zoro turned his attention back to the old man.
Mercer opened a small book to a marked page. "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of Sanji and Zoro in the bonds of matrimony. Do you, Sanji, freely choose to enter the marriage, to take Zoro as your spouse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish from this day forward til death do you part?”
Sanji looked as though he might hyperventilate. “Yes?”
“And do you, Zoro, freely choose to enter the marriage, to take Sanji as your spouse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish from this day forward til death do you part?”
“Of course I do,” Zoro said, without question.
“Then by virtue of the authority vested in me by the World Government, I now pronounce you married.” Mercer closed his book and smiled at them both. "You may now kiss your spouse."
Zoro hadn't expected kissing. He turned toward Sanji, his gaze dropping to Sanji's mouth. Sanji had nice lips, actually. Zoro had never paid much attention to them before, unless they were running off with some insult about his hair or his manners. His throat went dry as his pulse suddenly hammered. He blurted out, "I've never kissed anyone."
Sanji blinked, and his shoulders came down. He turned toward Zoro, a slow smirk tugging at his lips. He reached out, cupped Zoro's cheek with a calloused hand, and murmured, "That makes this so much easier, you wouldn't believe."
Then he took a deep breath and pressed his lips to Zoro's.
Zoro lit up on the inside, fireworks setting off all at once. His breath went sideways. For a moment, everything else disappeared but Sanji.
The kiss was short, soft, and Zoro would never be the same again.
When Sanji drew back, a stunned expression colored his face, along with a rosy blush. He cleared his throat. "That wasn't so bad."
"Do it again," Zoro whispered.
Sanji's cheeks darkened.
Mercer spoke, breaking the spell. "Save that for the honeymoon, boys. I need your signatures now."
Zoro dragged his gaze away from Sanji and saw a different paper placed on the justice of the peace's desk. The witnesses came up from the side. Zoro moved closer and looked at it. It was a marriage certificate, with a pen waiting. He signed where his name was typed, then held the pen out to Sanji.
Sanji looked nervous and hesitant when he saw the document, but then he touched his lips and signed. The witnesses signed, and the justice of the peace signed. The certificate was notarized, and a copy was made. The clerk said it'd be filed with the World Government, and they were given one of the certificates.
Mercer congratulated them, and they were ushered out.
Zoro stood holding the certificate in the hall outside, Sanji beside him. He looked at the certificate. Marriage was emblazoned across the top, with both their names printed underneath. There was an official seal, several signatures, and a bunch of other writing he didn't bother reading. He ran his thumb over Sanji's name. Huh. It'd really happened. "We just got married."
"Yeah." Sanji sounded stunned. "We did."
The repeated flicking of Sanji's lighter drew Zoro's attention. Sanji was trying to light his cigarette, and it wasn't working.
Zoro shifted the plaited supply strings to his other hand and reached out for the lighter. Sanji flinched, then went still. Zoro took it, lit it, and held it out. Sanji leaned in and lit his cigarette. Then he snatched the lighter back and stuffed it into his pocket, inhaling deeply on his cigarette.
Zoro searched for something to say. Words never did suit him. "You good?"
"Hn." Sanji smoked.
Zoro rubbed his fingers over the certificate. "Hey, can we kiss again?"
Sanji coughed on his smoke. "You can't just say things like that."
"Why not?"
"Because we– you and I–" Sanji struggled, then said, "Fuck it."
He grabbed Zoro by the lapel and dragged him in for a smoky kiss.
Zoro got lost immediately. He didn't know what to do with his hands. He stared blurrily at the swirl of Sanji's eyebrow above his nose. The world narrowed to Sanji's lips against his and the rush of blood in his ears.
Sanji broke away, stepped back, and cleared his throat. Zoro blinked at him as Sanji took a drag on his lit cigarette, ears pink.
"Right," Sanji said. "I need to pick up a few more things and get us back to the ship."
He took the plaited supply strings from Zoro and headed out the door.
Zoro’s brain started working again, and he hurried after Sanji. "I wanted to go fishing."
"No way."
Outside, the afternoon sun filtered through the mangrove canopy, casting patches of light across the street. Pedestrians passed between shops and market stalls, while bubbles drifted upward from the tree roots. A man pushing a cart loaded with crates shouted at them to get out of his way, and Sanji stepped aside, tugging the supply balloons after him.
Zoro stopped walking abruptly. "Why not? You're not my boss."
Sanji scoffed, turning toward him. People wove around them on the street. "I'm not letting you go off alone. You'd only get lost, mosshead. The others should be here any time now, so shut up and follow me."
"That's rich. Number seven telling number one what to do."
Sanji shot him an annoyed look. "You think turning our order of arrival into some kind of ranking matters? It's a miracle you got here first. Don't let it go to your head."
"Tch. Whatever." Zoro grinned rottenly. "Number seven."
"I'm going to kick your head in."
"I'd like to see you try."
"At least I don't have to cut a ship in half to prove my manhood."
"My manhood's bigger than yours."
Sanji snorted. "It's not."
"Oh, yeah? Want to find out?"
Sanji turned bright red. It took Zoro a second to understand why, then he felt his own face catch fire. They were married. They would be having sex.
The certificate was still in Zoro's hand, and he glanced at it. "Do you even want to have sex with me?"
Sanji sputtered and kicked him. "We're in public!"
Zoro blocked with a quick draw of a katana. "So?"
"So don't talk about things like that!"
"You get nosebleeds like a horndog in public all the time."
"Not on purpose!"
"Still do it." Zoro eyed him. "You're not going to do it over me, are you?"
A horrified expression came over Sanji's face. "Oh, shit."
Zoro sheathed his sword. "Ha. Pervert."
"Shut up." Sanji took a hard pull on the remains of his cigarette, the ash growing long. "I have to get something from one of the shops. Keep up."
He started walking again, bubbles bobbing overhead. Zoro hurried to fall into step beside him. He rolled the certificate carefully and tucked it into his haramaki.
Sanji stopped at a fruit stand first, picked up another shopping bubble, then led Zoro into a sundry general store. "Stay here."
Zoro didn't have a problem with that, leaning against the wall by the door as Sanji disappeared farther inside. He was mildly curious about what Sanji wanted here. Probably fancy shampoo or froufrou soap. Perona and Mihawk had tried to force him to use some, but he'd put his foot down. A regular bar of unscented soap was good enough.
Sanji returned a few minutes later, tucking a small bag into the inner breast pocket of his suit coat. His ears were quite red. Whatever he'd bought was apparently embarrassing. Maybe he'd gotten something for Nami and Robin and didn't want Zoro making fun of him. That'd be pretty stupid, considering he'd just married Zoro.
"Let's go, mosshead," he said, then pushed out the door in a rush, shopping bubbles bouncing behind him.
Zoro followed him out, falling into step again. "What's the big hurry?"
"You already know we need to get back to the ship. The others are probably waiting."
"I still want to go fishing.”
"And I wanted someone with big tits, yet here we are."
Before Zoro could say anything else, the small Den Den Mushi in Sanji's exterior coat pocket rang. He took it out. It was Franky, warning them about the Marines on the island and telling them they'd moved the ship to Grove 42 and would be leaving from there.
"Understood. The shore of Grove 42. See you there." Sanji tucked the mini Den Den Mushi away.
Zoro looked at Sanji curiously. "What was that about?"
"Weren't you listening?" Sanji huffed an exasperated breath. "Marines come. We go ship. Run."
"Why are you talking like that? Talk normally."
Sanji smirked. "I thought I'd put it in a way you can understand."
"I'm definitely going to cut you up later," Zoro threatened, but the goings-on at the other grove had drawn his attention. "Isn't that grove over there getting rowdy?"
Sanji looked in that direction and frowned. "Yeah. Grove rowdy. Let's check it out."
It turned out to be Luffy – should've figured – and Zoro got to say a final goodbye to Perona, which he pretended he didn't like. She did the same, before he, Luffy, and Sanji were swept off by Chopper on a giant bird, away from the Marines.
They got dropped off at the Thousand Sunny, where everyone hurried to set sail. They pulled away from the grove, and within minutes, they were sinking into the depths of the Grand Line, courtesy of the bubble coating protecting their ship. They were finally, after two years, on their way to the New World.
Greetings and hugs were exchanged all around, with comments made on how everybody had changed. Luffy asked Zoro about their time apart as they stood at the rail, and Zoro told him about Mihawk. Sanji had gone into the galley to store the shopping bubbles he'd bought. He'd had a nosebleed upon seeing Nami and Robin. Zoro had mouthed pervert, and Sanji had flicked him off while holding his nose before going up to the galley.
Going beneath the sea was interesting. The water was clear enough near the surface that Zoro could see the undersides of passing ships and the enormous mangrove roots stretching down toward the seabed. Fish of every color swam around the Sunny, some traveling in schools, others approaching the bubble to investigate. A particularly ugly one with a mouth full of teeth followed them for several minutes before swimming away. Zoro wondered if it tasted any good.
The descent was very slow, not only to ensure the bubble held but so they wouldn't bump into any creature that might take it personally. They could defend themselves, but the purpose of the bubble coating was to keep the air inside the Sunny, not burst a hole through it because of a fight. As they went deeper, the sunlight weakened, and the water gradually darkened. Zoro could still make out the shapes of larger fish moving beyond the bubble, although it was getting harder to tell how far away they were.
Sanji eventually came out of the galley with snacks and drinks for everyone and passed them out. By then, Zoro was up in the crow's nest checking on his weights, thinking about doing some training while they descended.
Sanji pushed open the hatch with a sigh that spoke volumes. "Of course you're up here already. I'm sure you missed your weights terribly. They were probably pining without you."
"I do need to give them a good cleaning," Zoro said.
Sanji set a tray with snacks, two cups, and a bottle of sake on the bench. The bench circled the crow's nest, broken up by a locker that stored Zoro's stuff, and the bench seats came up for additional storage. Zoro's weight bar, weight rack, dumbbell stand, and weights filled up the remainder of the space. Everything was where he'd left it two years ago, although Franky had apparently reinforced the brackets holding the racks to the walls sometime today. He'd been worried somebody might've moved his equipment around. A familiar smell of metal, leather, and old sweat greeted him, and he was already thinking about how much more weight he could manage now.
Sanji kicked the hatch shut and moved one of the dumbbells over it. Zoro gave him a sideways look. It was a strange thing to do. They were already up in the crow's nest, and nobody usually bothered him while he was training. He shrugged and made a beeline for the alcohol, uncorked it, and took a guzzle. Good, cheap sake. He'd missed this, too.
"You could at least pour it into a cup," Sanji said.
"Why bother?" Zoro responded.
"You are such a mannerless pig." Sanji dragged a hand through his hair. "I have no idea what I see in you."
Zoro picked up one of the snacks and bit into it with a shrug. "Can't answer that."
"No kidding. And chew with your mouth closed."
Zoro clapped his mouth shut loudly and chewed, giving Sanji a pointed look. Sanji huffed another sigh. He pulled out a cigarette pack, started to take one out, then changed his mind and stuffed it back into his inner pocket. His fingers paused, and then he pulled out the small bag from the general sundry shop earlier. He stared at it, and Zoro watched as pink slowly crossed his cheeks, slid down his neck, and went up to his ears. Zoro stopped chewing. He'd seen Sanji turn that color over women plenty of times, but this was new. He glanced at the bag again, wondering what the hell could be inside it. "What's in there?"
"Stuff," Sanji said. "For us." He refused to look at Zoro.
Zoro's brow furrowed as he took another bite. "What kind of stuff?"
"Sex stuff."
Zoro choked on the food in his mouth when he inhaled sharply.
Sanji came closer and whacked him hard on the back until he stopped coughing. Zoro grabbed the drink again and guzzled half of it down. He pretended he hadn't heard his voice squeak when he finally managed to say, "Sex stuff?"
Sanji's blush came back, but he said, "Yes, marimo. Sex stuff. Guys don't have the same parts and therefore can't have sex the same way as with a woman."
Zoro had zero intention of thinking about women's body parts at any time in his life. Now that he was, it didn't so much make him shudder as make a face. "If you say so."
"How much experience have you had with anyone?"
"How much experience have you had with anyone?" Zoro countered.
"Enough that I know how to have sex, even if I never needed sex stuff because I was with a woman."
"Can we please stop saying sex stuff?" Zoro said, feeling his own face flushing.
"If you can't say the word sex, you shouldn't be having sex," Sanji said, sounding like somebody's father.
Zoro gave him a flat look. "Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex."
"Have you ever done it?"
"No."
Sanji met his gaze squarely. "Do you want to have it?"
It was the same question Zoro had asked Sanji earlier. This time, he was the one who suddenly wanted to kick Sanji, while at the same time, everything inside him caught fire at the thought. He didn't really know how two guys did it. He'd heard enough at bars to get the general gist, but it wasn't the same thing.
Sanji was still looking at him, waiting for an answer. The Sunny creaked around them, and through the windows, fish passed through the darkening water. A large one swam close enough that its pale belly briefly filled one of the windows before it disappeared below them. They weren't in public. He glanced toward the hatch. Sanji had put a weight over it, and nobody was going to bother them up here. They were alone, with a marriage certificate still rolled and tucked against Zoro's belly beneath his haramaki.
He looked back at Sanji. He wanted to kiss him again. He wanted to do a lot of things with him, actually, although he wasn't entirely sure what some of those things involved. Sanji knew, though, and Zoro trusted him.
"Yeah," Zoro said quietly. "With you."
Sanji reached out, held Zoro's face with both palms, and kissed him. The sparks inside him came back, and he lost track of everything else immediately. It was only him and Sanji and the kiss.
Sanji's tongue swept along his lower lip, which tingled, and when Zoro parted his lips, it slipped inside his mouth to brush against his own. A new type of sensation slid through him, and he chased after it with his own tongue. The kiss became wet and messy, and their breathing grew heavy until Sanji broke off, saliva trailing between their lips. Sanji's pupils were blown.
"You got Observation Haki?" Zoro asked.
Sanji blinked. "Yeah. Why?"
"I can't focus on anything but you when you kiss me."
Sanji cursed and then dove at Zoro again, kissing him with even more urgency. Zoro felt it clear to his toes and everywhere in between, and he didn't want it to stop.
But Sanji stopped again. "Damn it," he said, panting heavily. "Clothes off. Now."
It took Zoro a beat to get it, then his eye widened and he started shedding his clothes. They were going to have sex. Zoro got horny sometimes, as everyone did, but he usually found it an annoyance. He had better things to do than jack off, even if it felt good. Now that horniness came with an edge of excitement, of wanting to do something about it, even if he didn't really know what that something was.
His katanas went on the bench, his boots got tossed aside, and his sash and coat dropped onto the floor. He almost yanked his haramaki off when he remembered the certificate. He took it out and carefully set it on the bench beside his katanas, where it'd be safe. He wasn't going to ruin the thing on the same day he'd gotten it.
Sanji glanced at it, his shirt unbuttoned and his trousers loose, and paused. "Holy shit. We're married."
"Yeah." Zoro felt as though a Sabaody balloon had gotten caught in his chest and was expanding to bursting. He grinned widely. "It's great."
Sanji made a strangled sound, then looked at Zoro just as Zoro dropped his trousers to the floor and yanked off the haramaki. He made a louder strangled sound.
"You need a drink or something?" Zoro asked, dropping the haramaki into the pile on the floor as he stepped out of his pants legs.
Sanji's answer was to grab the sake and guzzle the bottle.
"Hey! I wanted more of that!" Zoro protested.
Sanji wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, an unholy gleam in his eye. "You're naked."
Zoro looked down at himself. "Well, yeah. You said to take off my clothes." He had a semi, and he stroked it once with his hand.
Sanji wheezed, and Zoro glanced back at him with a frown. "You good?"
"Yeah. Good." He tipped the bottle back again, then thumped it, empty, on the bench seat.
Then he was on Zoro, kissing him hot and heavy again, and Zoro was making his own noises and clinging to Sanji's forearms, and his semi became much stiffer.
Sanji drew away, which Zoro was beginning to hate, but he pulled off the rest of his clothes, which Zoro didn't hate at all. Sanji had gotten ripped. Zoro was impressed. Then he saw Sanji's dick and cursed. "Damn, you are bigger than me."
He looked over at his dumbbells. He wondered if there were dick exercises he could do to get bigger.
Sanji laughed suddenly, a raspy sound that filled the crow's nest. "You're thinking about lifting weights with your dick."
"And?"
"I married a moron."
Then Sanji was kissing him again, and any retort died on Zoro's lips.
Zoro wasn't sure how they ended up in the pile of clothes on the floor, only that Sanji was with him, and a hand that wasn't his was on his dick, slick with the sex stuff that turned out to be some kind of oil, stroking him until he came all over his belly with a reedy sound that Sanji swallowed with another kiss.
"They were right, damn it," Sanji muttered, wiping his hand on Zoro's discarded bandana when he pulled away.
Zoro just blinked blankly at him, still buzzing.
Sanji shot him a dark look. "This is all your fault."
"My fault?" Zoro tried to sound offended, but it came out as a croak.
"Yes. Now touch my dick, damn you."
Zoro did, because it was only fair, and it was hot and hard in his hand, and Sanji cursed up a blue streak before kissing him again.
Zoro lost track of time after that, only knowing that everything felt new and weird and good, and having sex with Sanji ranked right up there with reaching his personal best in lifting.
Afterward, Sanji lay beside him smoking a cigarette, and Zoro lay on his stomach, arms pillowed under his head, eye on his dumbbells, running through possibilities. The air smelled heavily of sex and sweat, with cigarette smoke drifting toward the ceiling. The floorboards were hard beneath his chest, his clothing providing little cushion, and one of his discarded boots was digging into his hip. He reached back and shoved it away.
Sanji's free hand was idly drawing patterns on his thigh. "What do we tell the others?"
"Why do they need to know my dick is smaller than yours?"
Sanji snorted. "I meant about us, dumbass."
"Oh." Zoro turned his head to look at Sanji, cheek pressing into his forearm. "The truth? That I'm happy to be married to you."
Sanji's fingers stilled, and he continued looking up at the ceiling, his cigarette near his mouth. "Happy, huh?"
"Why wouldn't I be? Aren't you?"
Sanji took a drag and blew it out slowly. "I believe I am."
"Then what else is there to say?"
"Hn." Sanji tapped ash into the tray he’d made Zoro get. "We should get cleaned up."
Zoro didn't want to get clean. He wanted to stay up here, dirty, with Sanji. "You can do that thing with your fingers that made me feel like I was having the best piss of my life again, instead."
A laugh sputtered from Sanji. He stubbed out his cigarette, rolled onto his side, and clever fingers pressed into Zoro's still-squelching bottom. "This what you mean?"
Zoro saw sparks behind his eye and tilted his hips up, seeking more as Sanji pressed that spot. "Fuck, yeah. Where'd you learn this?"
"A very detailed book, a lot of unwanted advice, and two years with my own hand and a toy or two."
"I wasn't allowed to drink until I mastered Armament Haki." Zoro rubbed against his discarded clothes as he hardened again. "Your time away sounds more fun than mine."
"It was hell," Sanji said flatly. "For many different reasons. Some of which involved you."
"Yeah?" Zoro's voice sounded breathy to his ears. Sanji was really damned good with his fingers.
"Yeah." Sanji pressed a kiss between Zoro's shoulder blades. "Didn't know if I was going to be able to do this, even though I'm stupid in love with you."
Zoro's chest caught on the words. He suddenly wanted Sanji to be closer. "Put your dick in me again."
"With pleasure."
Sanji's fingers left, and Zoro felt bereft for a moment as Sanji used the oil on himself. Then Sanji pressed over him, into him, with a slow pressure that stretched and burned just a little, reminding him this was real. Sanji slid his arms beneath Zoro's, his chest against Zoro's back, his thighs bracketing Zoro's on the outside, and he began to rock.
Zoro felt full and held and… loved. That's what this feeling was, the one tightening his chest. It was different from the love he felt for Luffy and the others. He cared deeply about them and would do anything he could for them. This was him giving his back to Sanji to do with what he wanted.
Zoro really didn't think about things. He dealt with what was in front of him when it was in front of him, and what was in front of him – or behind him, surrounding him – was Sanji.
"Stay with me," he said, voice catching. "’Til the very end."
Sanji's nose was warm against the back of his neck. "Not going anywhere."
Zoro let everything go and just let himself feel. Sanji moved with him, in him, building the still-new sensations into a wave of pleasure. When release finally crested, Zoro melted bonelessly into the pile of clothes they were using as bedding. Sanji shuddered against him a few minutes later, his movements faltering as he came, then relaxed over Zoro with a satisfied sigh.
"I could get used to this," Zoro murmured, all of him content.
"Yeah. Me, too." Sanji pressed another kiss to the back of Zoro's neck, then rested his cheek against his shoulder for a while. Zoro reached back to run his fingers through Sanji's hair, enjoying the closeness.
Eventually, Sanji moved off him, settling against Zoro's side. Sex was surprisingly noisy and messy afterward. Zoro was starting to think about that bath. Through the windows, he could no longer see fish passing through the water beyond the bubble. They'd gone a lot deeper since he and Sanji came up here. He didn't know how long it was going to take them to reach Fish-Man Island at the bottom of the Red Line, and as much as he needed and wanted this time with Sanji, he really wanted to go back down and be with the crew again.
Two years was a really long time without them.
Sanji seemed to have the same idea, because after a minute, he sighed, stretched, and sat up. "I'm going to clean up. I know Luffy's gonna want a feast to celebrate being back together again. A snack's only going to last so long."
"I'll come, too," Zoro said.
They both got up and sorted through their clothing. Zoro just pulled on his trousers and gathered the rest into a ball. Sanji took the time to put more on himself, then gave Zoro a disparaging look. "They're going to know exactly what we were doing up here if you go out like that."
Zoro shrugged. "So? We're going to do it again, aren't we?"
Sanji's ears pinked. "That's not the point!"
Zoro brushed him off. "Deal with it."
Sanji muttered under his breath about apes and stares and apologies and despair over breaking Nami and Robin's hearts – the usual ridiculousness that came out of Sanji's mouth.
Zoro tucked his clothes under his arm and went to pick up his katanas. He paused when he saw the rolled marriage certificate.
He set his clothes down, picked it up instead, and unrolled it. He looked at the names and the signatures and the pronouncement of what it meant. He'd never thought much about marriage before today. Now he was married, and Sanji was waiting for him by the hatch. Zoro ran his thumb over Sanji's name again.
It meant them. Together. No matter what.
He very carefully rolled it again, brought it over to his locker, and opened the door. His spare bandanas and a few other things he'd left behind were still inside. He moved them aside, cleared a space on the upper shelf, and set the certificate against the back where it wouldn't get knocked around. He checked that it was secure before shutting the door. It wasn't something he ever wanted to lose.
Then he collected his clothes again and his katanas. Sanji moved the weight from the hatch and opened it.
Zoro followed him down to the deck, where their nakama and the New World awaited them.
End