The large room was quiet, despite the number of people filling it, a sea of formal black suits and dresses. They sat, solemn, on rows of wooden benches, the occasional cough or creak the only sounds to break the silence.

Franky sat beside Robin in the front row, his large hand holding onto hers in his lap, the man looking put-together, but odd in his long pants and suit jacket that strained to fit his broad shoulders. Robin held onto him tightly, in her own black jacket and skirt, her blue eyes fixed, motionless, on the wall ahead of her.

That front row was full of their allies, Smoker and Tashigi seated beside Franky to his right, the two interns beside them. Across the aisle were Ace and his blond comrade, both sitting rigidly, dressed in their full decorated uniforms. Their illusion of stoic composure had shattered when Robin noticed Ace gripping the blond's hand just as tightly as Franky's on hers, the freckled man's entire forearm trembling as he clung on desperately.

It was, in fact, the Navy that took up the majority of the seats in the room, including the most adorned officers of all, a huge man with an impressive white mustache - Whitebeard - and a woman with a deep burgundy ponytail, the sides buzzed close to her scalp in a curious style - Nami's mother, Bellemere. Both sat quietly on Ace's opposite side.

Of course, there were some very key individuals missing from the room, individuals who had every right to be there, should have been, if only it were possible.

The merpeople…. Queen Reiju and her brothers, Zoro, Kuina…

Dr. Red…

And, of course, Sanji…

Robin was exhausted. The past three days had been full of relentless questioning from the authorities following the events at Marineford Island. The merpeople had been safely shepherded away to O.H.A.R.A. before they were discovered, and had it not been for the Navy's presence, Robin didn't believe there was any way the incident could have been explained. In fact, it remained questionable whether any of their attempts at covering the matter up would be accepted.

Everything had taken an emotional toll, and this was obvious in the room's atmosphere when a side door opened in the wood-paneled wall, a line of people entering in a silent procession. Their audience merely stared back tiredly as the line took their places at the long desk in front of them, sitting behind their designated name placards, some of which Robin recognized as rather important government players.

Navy Chief Garp Monkey, a grizzled, but fit old man with a prominent scar circling his eye, who seemed to have his gaze set on Ace, the pair's eyes locking intensely for a long moment. Head Staff Officer Tsuru, an imposingly tall elderly woman with a stern expression, beside Garp.

And at the head of it, seated in the center, at a desk raised above the rest, was Inspector General Sengoku, surveying the room behind circular glasses, the old man's light hair a spherical cloud around his head.

The last chair scuffed against the floor and scooted into place, the ocean of black now fixated on the white-uniformed wall that sat before them.

A shuffling of paper and a stroke to his goatee before Sengoku looked up to address the audience.

"We are gathered here today," he began, his sentences wordy and serious. "To discuss the conclusion and proceedings of the government investigation regarding the destruction of the headquarters of the Maritime Animal Research Institution of North, East, and South Blue, previously located on Marineford Island in the region of North Blue. I thank each of you for your cooperation and your testimonies regarding the tragic events that took place three days prior."

Robin's fingers tightened around Franky's in the moment the man took to glance at the files in his hand, his expression frustratingly unreadable.

Franky plopped his other hand on top of Robin's too and gave a comforting squeeze.

Finally, Sengoku continued.

"The incident has been officially ruled an accident, the result of a gas explosion caused by pipe damage and pressure build-up in the facility's water heating system."

And, for as stoic as they'd all been moments ago, the room seemed to ripple with relief following his statement, shoulders slumping visibly, subtle glances shot amongst the rows.

Robin's reaction manifested in a mere closing of her eyes and a long exhale, though Franky had let out a louder huff and now ran a hand over his face.

"Unfortunately," Sengoku said, cutting into the changing atmosphere of the room. "The casualty count was high, with eighty-five confirmed deaths, as of this morning."

A sharp inhale across the aisle, and Robin resisted the urge to look over when she saw Ace flinch in her peripheral. Thankfully, the blond was there to calm him, not letting go of his hand, though the action did not go undetected, Robin noticing Garp's eyes dart to the freckled man again for reasons she didn't know.

Sengoku stacked his papers on the desk in front of him.

"Relief teams are still at work, as you know, to recover the remaining bodies," he continued. "And victim compensation will be discussed with the families of those affected. This now brings to question the steps for the island's future, and the rebuilding that must take place."

"Rebuilding-?" Ace shot up from his seat, a snarl on his face and fists clenched, glaring dangerously at Sengoku. "Like hell we'll-!"

"Inspector General, if I may," Robin cut in swiftly without another thought, her hand raising for a brief moment before she stood, just as Ace's companion managed to yank him back down, the man still trembling quite obviously with fury.

She felt it too, brewing in her chest, but she willed her voice to remain calm.

"Sir, rather than rebuilding the headquarters, O.H.A.R.A. would like to propose the establishment of a monument on Marineford Island," Robin stated. "To commemorate the lives lost." All of the lives lost, past and present.

Sengoku's brow rose slowly over the top of his glasses, though his expression remained impassive as ever.

"And what of the headquarters?" the man asked.

"Moved to a more central location," she replied. "Here, on Reverse Island, perhaps."

"I sense you have something in mind," Sengoku said, eyes narrowing again.

"Not I, but Dr. Red of B.A.R.A.T.I.E."

His email had been short and tense when she'd received it the previous night, with no further elaboration on his personal matters, but his desire had been clear.

"Due to his unfortunate absence today," Robin explained. "I would also like to propose, upon his request, the formation of a joint alliance between B.A.R.A.T.I.E., O.H.A.R.A., and the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. So that we may better coordinate and increase our conservation of the entire archipelago under a unified vision moving forward."

She believed in it too, now more than ever, now that the greatest evil had been snuffed and their allies had proven themselves trustworthy. Franky had been right, as always, with his reassurances. And although it hadn't been her dream from the start, she was prepared to fight just as hard as Dr. Red for this allied Blue.

She hadn't known the reaction she was expecting, but what she got was rather surprising. Something changed in Sengoku's eyes, a softer warmth, certainly curiosity, slowly flickering across his face, giving a glimpse of the human behind his stoic mask.

The man put down his papers and gave Robin his full attention.

"I am open to this proposal," he replied, lips turning up ever so slightly. "Though it will be necessary to appoint a new director to front the M.A.R.I.N.E.S."

Robin had an answer to that as well, not Dr. Red's, but her own answer this time, the memories of the burly man seated nearby running through her mind, single-handedly taking down his former colleagues to keep them from reaching the injured mermaid.

"If I may nominate Captain Smoker," she offered, gesturing down the row to the silver-haired man.

Immediately, Tashigi's hand shot up, her features blazing.

"I second that!" the woman added.

"Third!" Coby's hand flew up determinedly.

"Only if we finally get our college credi- ow!" Helmeppo hissed when Coby elbowed him hard in the side before he begrudgingly lifted a hand too. "Fourth…"

Sengoku lifted an eyebrow at the scene, his gaze drifting slowly to Smoker, who looked vaguely disgruntled, perhaps embarrassed, for a moment before his eyes landed determinedly on the Inspector General's.

The room was quiet again as the two men surveyed each other.

But eventually Sengoku nodded.

"Let us discuss it in the weeks to come."

The courtroom began bustling the moment the officials stood from their seats and began to file out of the room following the meeting, an instant hum of voices murmuring as they discussed the Inspector General's announcements, reactions ranging from relieved to shocked to apprehensive, and everything in between.

Robin noticed, nearly as soon as Sengoku had made his closing remarks, Ace jump up from his seat without another word, dragging the blond with him, the two of them nearly sprinting down the center aisle to escape the room before anyone else.

She had a feeling she knew where they were headed. And she couldn't blame them one bit.

Franky noticed their escape too, the man letting out a heavy sigh and reaching for Robin's hand, her fingers slipping easily into his warm grip.

"Well, we got a ferry to catch. Guess we should head out too," he mumbled to his fiancée, and she nodded absently in response, her gaze still lingering on the huge wooden doors that slammed shut with Ace's exit.

Perhaps they should have stayed for some closing words with Captain Smoker, or the Navy admirals, but quite frankly, there were places Robin would much rather be, and she was grateful Franky felt the same way when he tugged her gently towards the aisle.

"Dr. Nico. If I may have a word."

But she was forced to freeze, her brow furrowing slightly when she turned and found none other than the Inspector General himself standing in front of the court bench, his tone serious, but his eyes betraying a bit of the warmth she'd seen earlier as he waited for her response.

Robin exchanged a glance with Franky, who now frowned, quirking a brow at the imposing old man.

She sighed, squeezing Franky's hand before releasing it.

"I won't be long," she murmured, to which Franky nodded.

"I'll wait in the lobby."

She patted the lapel of his suit jacket gently, then turned to approach Sengoku, who moved, surprisingly, towards the private side room through which the government officials had entered.

Still, odd as it was, Robin followed, the chatter in the courtroom growing quieter as Sengoku closed the door behind her, and she found herself in a smaller boardroom, the room sparse, save for a long table surrounded by large leather chairs. The room was now empty, meaning the other officials must have exited into the hallway beyond the opposite end of the room.

Robin moved closer to the table, absently smoothing out her jacket, waiting as Sengoku crossed to close the other door as well, leaving the two of them properly alone.

"Please, have a seat," Sengoku offered, already moving to pull back one of the chairs himself, where he lowered himself down with a huff, shifting to rest his ankle on his knee.

She followed suit, taking a seat around the corner of the table, crossing her legs smoothly.

"I'm sorry to hear about Dr. Red's boy," Sengoku said quietly once he'd settled, elbows on the armrests and fingers steepled before him.

The words hung uncomfortably in the air, Robin's heart twisting in an attempt to break her composure, but she kept it, simply replying, "I am not the one who should be receiving that apology, sir," as levelly as she could.

Sengoku nodded.

"I plan to contact Dr. Red, but I realize it's a delicate time," he replied.

"Yes…. I'm afraid I haven't heard anything more from him since..."

There was nothing else to say on the matter, and it was certainly not her place to speak on it.

She found herself a bit relieved when, after a few moments, Sengoku changed the subject, though the man's gaze had hardened again into something more guarded and serious.

"Dr. Nico," he said. "If you would humor an old man, I'd like to discuss something important with you, and you alone."

No emotion crossed her face, despite the immediate suspicion that rose within her. There was too much at stake for anything else to go wrong.

But her voice remained calm when she answered, "Very well. You have my discretion."

Sengoku sat back in the chair, the room going quiet again as he considered his words, until, eventually, he spoke.

"I was a very young man during the world war," he explained, leveling Robin with his bespectacled gaze. "I'm not proud of it, but I took part in many weapon tests that destroyed countless ecosystems. My guilt led me to support O.H.A.R.A.'s formation."

He smiled faintly at the memory. "A small group of us, Chief Garp and Officer Tsuru among them, worked in tandem with Dr. Clover as Navy ambassadors to minimize the damage caused to the environment. As you can imagine, one day we saw too much."

He trailed off, lips still with that smirk that began to look far more significant when his eyes met Robin's pointedly, as if she should know exactly of what he spoke.

Her lips parted, a slightly nervous anticipation fluttering in her stomach as she stared back, calculating.

"Do you mean to say…?" she murmured.

His smirk widened at the same time as her eyes.

"I must thank you, Dr. Nico, for stopping Sakazuki. For doing what I couldn't as a government official." His eyebrow lifted slowly. "Not without revealing their existence to the government at large."

Yes, there was her confirmation. This man knew. The government had known, if only a few people, and though the secret hadn't been revealed to the general public, it was almost disturbing to think that, all along, the merpeople's fate, which meant so much to her, had been in the hands of those few she knew nothing about.

And yet, the man's gratitude seemed genuine, his eyes kinder than she'd expected, his demeanor calm as a meditative deity, presiding over the world in his golden years.

The defensiveness that normally brewed within her at the mere thought of the merpeople's exposure had begun to simmer and relax.

"It was not my doing," she finally replied. "The credit lies entirely with Sanji Red."

"Does it now…" he responded with curiosity.

The man seemed to sense Robin's apprehension, as he continued rather gently.

"Dr. Clover was a great friend, and to honor him, we plan to take the secret to the grave, as many of our comrades already have."

"So I suppose this entire 'investigation' was merely a show for President Kong and the Elders," Robin guessed, Sengoku again confirming her theory with a mere tilt of lips.

"You could say that. I've had my practice with Admiral Whitebeard's appointment back in the day," he assured with a chuckle.

Admiral Whitebeard… His appointment to the Navy had been incentive for a cover-up. Just as Robin recalled Ace mentioning...

"I'm not sure whether to be appreciative or terrified of your concealment capabilities, Inspector General…"

Sengoku chuckled again, almost in pride of said capabilities, though his grin faltered slightly after a moment, the atmosphere turning a little somber once more, so Robin waited for what he inevitably had to say.

"I am an old man, Dr. Nico," he murmured, his voice weathered, taking a slight tone of fatigue. "And my term as Inspector General is limited. I plan to retire in five years' time. And while I will do my best to find a worthy successor, I must warn you that the secrets uncovered during this void century may soon spill forth, without my protection. And as I'm sure you can imagine, this world has many, many secrets."

Robin frowned, eyes narrowing once again as she struggled to read the man's words, and the implications behind them.

"Why are you telling this to me?" she asked slowly.

Sengoku sighed in response, and shifted, planting both feet on the ground and leaning closer to the woman.

"Dr. Clover was a good man with good intentions," he said. "Creating a positive relationship between humans and merfolk was a beautiful thing. But if you truly wish to keep them safe forever, I fear you may find yourself faced with a difficult choice."

His deific gaze turned commanding.

"You must think long and hard, Dr. Nico, about whether our contact with their kind should be allowed to continue."

O.H.A.R.A. - West Blue - Hours later

Delicate, practiced fingers carefully unraveled the tight bandages from the mermaid's forearm, setting them aside on the nearby rock, those fingers gently turning her arm and feeling a few spots along the bone.

"Any pain when you bend your arm?" Chopper asked after a moment, the young vet-in-training releasing Kuina's arm to give her a chance to move it around.

"No," the mermaid replied after a few experimental bicep curls, appreciation clear and sincere in her eyes when she met Chopper's brown ones. "Thank you."

The young man chuckled a little, a blush coming to his cheeks, and he waved off the thanks, scooting back from her in the shallow water to push himself out and plop down onto the ledge to put away his tools.

A faint smile came to Kuina's lips, as she, once again, thought something she'd never imagined she'd think about a human.

Chopper was pretty damn adorable.

But then again, after the past three days, it was actually getting easier to admit things like that now. How a mere three days could even begin to erase years of hatred and contempt for humans was beyond her, but she had to imagine things like Chopper's earnest, caring smile, or the equally cold animosity Dr. Nico displayed at the slightest mention of the M.A.R.I.N.E.S….certainly the complete trust the Queen placed in them…

It was consistent things like that that had, slowly but surely, begun to affect Kuina the more time she'd spent around O.H.A.R.A.

They'd originally come for safety, following the events at Marineford, even the three princes cooperating with far more compliance than expected. They had seemed to face the aftermath with heavy hearts, Yonji the most, who'd largely been quiet since, his mind seemingly stuck somewhere between anger, guilt, and pain, while his brothers had simply remained stoic, far from their usual cocky selves.

The fact that they had hearts at all was perhaps the most surprising discovery.

The mermen sat together in the shallows on the opposite end of the grotto now, still wary, isolating themselves, but at least they'd come to the surface in the first place. They seemed to respond the most to the attractive redheaded woman, Nami, but that was certainly predictable.

It was quiet in the grotto, little else in the way of noise but the dripping of water and the murmurings of Ichiji to his brothers.

Kuina leaned back against the rock behind her, tilting her gaze up to the ceiling high above, the stalactites that reached down from the top.

It was beautiful in here. There was air, sure, but the space still managed to feel one with the sea, and it was an odd feeling, to feel burgeoning trust for such a space…

Yet...

They might have been safe, but her troubles hadn't ceased. None of theirs had….

Not when Zoro was still...

The sudden loud clanging of metal caused her to jump, her head whipping towards the door across the cavern.

It was an awful sound, one that still triggered the fight or flight response in her. Even when the large wheel on the door turned, the burly form of Franky striding through a moment later, she still had to calm herself, remind herself that never again would she see the stark white of a M.A.R.I.N.E.S. uniform.

Never again would that sound signal danger.

Robin followed Franky into the cavern, the pair of them dressed formally in black, Franky balancing a flat rectangular box in one hand.

Chopper, having just finished putting away his supplies, lit up upon seeing the two enter.

"Franky! Robin!" he chirped. "Welcome ba-!" But then his eyes grew impossibly wide with hopeful excitement. "Wait, are those donuts?!"

Franky chuckled, coming right up to the edge of the water where he delivered the box into the younger man's eager arms.

"Chopper, buddy, you've earned it these past few days!" Franky said, reaching out to ruffle Chopper's curly hair. "Thanks for holdin' down the fort here!"

"It was mostly Brook!" Chopper replied, though he was thoroughly distracted by the enticing array of colorful icing that awaited him when he flung open the top of the box. "I sent him home early tonight. I didn't want him to die of overwork or something - Kuina, you've gotta try one!"

Already taking a bite of a pink-frosted one, Chopper slid the box closer to Kuina, who tentatively swam closer to stare at the things with complete bewilderment.

"Are these really edible…?" she muttered, cautiously selecting a plain brown one that lacked the rainbow-colored bits that looked strangely like ground-up coral or something.

"Of course they are!" Chopper exclaimed happily, his face already a mess of smeared icing.

"Would Your Highnesses care to try?" Robin asked the brothers, all of whom had glanced over with equal measure of distrust.

"We'll pass," Ichiji muttered dismissively as Kuina took her first bite and subsequently grimaced at the impossibly sweet taste that assaulted her tongue.

"Suit yourselves," another voice cut in teasingly, Nami descending the stairs from the library, the woman's wedge sandals clicking on the stone floor to join the group, eventually picking out an orange-colored donut for herself.

It took a mere beat and a shared look between them before Yonji and his brothers splashed over as well, the three soon squabbling over who got the last remaining orange one to match hers.

Nami merely smirked, and settled herself down beside Chopper, smoothly holding out the donut box for Kuina to discard her half-eaten one with disgust.

"Well? How'd it go?" the redhead asked Robin and Franky after a moment, her tone softening a bit, drawing the attention of all of them. The tension in the cavern heightened, particularly when Franky and Robin shared a look.

But Robin's lips turned up slightly as she lowered herself to the floor as well, gracefully tucking legs beneath her and leaning her weight on her palm.

"The incident was ruled an unfortunate, but entirely accidental gas explosion. Nothing more," she explained, a glint of amusement in her eye.

And it was enough to send a wave of relief crashing over the group, even the princes relaxing with cheeks stuffed with donuts.

"Whitebeard's testimony was strong," Robin continued smoothly, then directed a wry smile at Nami. "But your mother attesting to the same made the situation all the more plausible, I believe."

Nami merely shrugged coyly and reached out to tap Chopper's nose teasingly, eliciting a giggle from the younger man and a chorus of disgruntled noises from the three brothers.

"Where else would I get my powers of persuasion~" she replied.

"What about...the interns," Kuina cut in hesitantly, still remembering the bold kindness the bespectacled one in particular had shown her. She hadn't known how to react, but it had nevertheless stood out. Not to mention the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. woman. "And-?"

"Your twin?" Franky interrupted with a snicker.

Kuina rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"They were all unharmed physically," Robin informed, smiling and choosing a simple glazed donut when Chopper offered her the box. "Though the blond intern seemed rather wounded complaining to his father about some matter as they left. Coby has volunteered to help us with the memorial efforts, however."

"Did Dr. Red go…?" Nami asked, her voice quieter, and her teasing tone all but disappearing.

It affected everyone, that sudden question, the mood sinking as gazes averted and spirits wilted.

Robin shook her head.

"I delivered his proposal," she replied softly. "But I'm sure the case details are the last thing on his mind right now…"

Just then, a soft splash in the deeper water, and the group turned to see Reiju's familiar rosy hair cresting the surface, the mermaid swimming closer with a dejected look on her face, as if she'd perhaps heard the topic of conversation.

Though, to all of them, it was quite clear why she looked like that.

"Still no luck?" Franky asked the mermaid, who came to a halt near Kuina, curling her tail and resting it on the bottom of the pool.

"No," the queen replied, her brow furrowing, almost in self-blame. "He's reverted to communicating with grunts. There was no hope of getting him up here… He wouldn't even look at me…"

A heavy sigh from Robin, the woman's eyes just as troubled, seeming to slip into a time long past, but ever vivid in her memory.

"It's just like when you were taken, Kuina," Robin murmured, her blue eyes lifting to the mermaid, whose heart knocked hard in response. "Once he learned you were gone, he stopped speaking for weeks…"

Kuina's gut clenched, her own painful past threatening to resurface as well, but she forced it down, forced it away because there were far more important things that needed to be dealt with right now.

"I'll try again," Kuina said, and she turned to head back towards the far end of the pool, determination fueling her.

"Tell him he's making Chopper sad," Nami called after her, but when Kuina looked back, the redhead's gaze was a little forlorn, as if she knew it likely wouldn't work.

There was nothing to do but keep trying…

Kuina nodded and dove down into the luminous blue water.

The dull clang of metal clashing against rock.

Over and over, and how long had he been doing this? Darting forward again and again to swing his sword at the large rock nestled in the sand at the bottom of the grotto.

CLANG

He was actually leaving a mark now, a white chipped nick that he challenged himself to hit perfectly each time, even as he changed his stance and motions to mix it up with each attack.

CLANG

Zoro had ignored Reiju and her attempts to talk him round.

CLANG

He hadn't even glanced her way, and dammit, he knew it had hurt her, but how the fuck was he supposed to look at her when all he would see were familiar blue eyes, boring hauntingly into his soul until it was painful.

It was painful just thinking about it.

CLANG

How long had it been? Three days? He could barely keep track. He'd hardly eaten, hardly slept. The only reason he was even here at O.H.A.R.A. and not B.A.R.A.T.I.E. was because Robin had insisted, for his safety and her peace of mind.

CLANG

But what good was any of that when Sanji wasn't there?

Yes, he knew. He knew logically that there was nothing he could've done, nothing he could do, trapped in the water as he was. He couldn't have followed him when they took him aboard the huge Navy ship. He couldn't have known what was happening onboard, could only stare as forty minutes passed until a huge flying boat with a massive spinning propeller had appeared in the sky, whipping wide, rough ripples in the water as it had landed directly on the upper platform of the boat.

CLANG

He hadn't even known for sure who'd boarded it, but he knew - just knew - they had to have taken Sanji when the thing took off again, climbing higher and higher into the sky, so impossibly high that not even a human could reach them as they flew off.

CLANG

He remembered little else after that, his mind hardly occupying his body anymore, instead following Sanji and staying with him, wherever he'd gone, for days, the moments blurring together the longer he went with no certainty, not even a word either way.

CLANG

So he sliced at that rock, over and over, with all of his might, twisting his body, charging it, willing himself to believe that Sanji was alive. They'd taken him somewhere to help him, as Reiju had continued to insist. Sanji was strong.

But how could he beat death? How could Sanji come back from that when the memory of his cold skin and unmoving chest still seared a brand right behind Zoro's eyes, making it impossible to close them for too long?

How?

CLANG

How!

CLANG

Please…!

CLANG!

The rock shattered with the force of his final blow, crumbling as two halves flopped onto the sand, displacing soft puffs of it and sending small crustaceans scattering.

Zoro floated there, still gripping the sword, his muscles quivering and his gills taking in deep rushes of water. Then, a frustrated growl, and he swam for the wall, slamming a fist there, his forehead following, digging his skin into it for a pained moment before he let go, allowing himself to sink until his tail too hit sand and he sat there, running his hand over his face.

Kuina was watching him, had been for a long minute. He'd sensed her, but he hadn't looked over yet, not even when he felt the water swirl with her movement as she approached, slowly settling on the grotto floor beside him, leaning her back against the rock.

He said nothing, but opened his eyes to stare hard at the grooves and crevices in the stone.

It was another minute before she spoke, but when she did, her voice was soft, even a little teasing.

"You're making Chopper sad, y'know," she tried.

Zoro knew this. He knew he was worrying everyone with his behavior. But his heart was at stake here, again, perhaps more dangerously than ever before.

If he lost Sanji...

His silence seemed to concern Kuina. He felt her dark eyes on him for a long moment before she turned to lean her shoulder against the wall instead, facing him.

"It's too late for apologies," she murmured. "But….I'm sorry, Zoro…."

He didn't reply, but she continued anyway.

"For thinking you only trusted him because you were blinded by….yeah…"

Kuina trailed off, her own gaze falling, troubled, and while he didn't understand her perfectly, he caught her gist well enough.

Slowly, he lifted eyes to her, feeling entirely drained. But even after so long in silence, he felt the urge to reply now, knowing it wasn't fair to drag her mind right down with his.

"You don't have to apologize…." he muttered, not having the energy for human language. He hoped she'd catch his meaning.

She looked confused for a moment, and whether it was over his words or the fact he'd spoken in general, he wasn't sure. But eventually, she replied, slowly.

"I do…" she said, clearly guessing as to his meaning, but when he didn't shake his head or correct her, she gained confidence with her words. "I saw how badly you wanted to be with him…."

Under any other circumstances, Kuina's acceptance would have brought him great contentment. It had when she'd accepted his legs. Sanji was good, and she had to have seen that by now.

But she was right. He wanted desperately to be with him, but he couldn't. And dammit, it was right back to this, his doubts and fears floating up just like the beads at his neck, those black orbs coming into his view, almost fortuitously, as the water lifted them.

He remembered how delicately Sanji had handled them, especially after learning what they'd stood for. Would the blond want this? Would he want Zoro to feel as helpless as he did…?

Things had changed, yes. But not all of them for the worse…

Zoro reached up to slip his necklace over his head, offering it out to Kuina.

"Here…" he murmured quietly. "This is yours."

She stared at it, eyebrows rising in surprise before they lowered again, her fingers lifting towards it hesitantly.

"The Queen helped me make it," Zoro continued, finally passing the beads into her hand after so many years, a tiny weight lifting from his heart in turn. "You probably don't remember but…"

But then her eyes shot open wide, immediately darting to his with intense realization.

"One black pearl for every fifty victories…." Kuina replied in shock, though she actually let out a small disbelieving laugh when she stared at the necklace with newfound respect.

"Yeah," he replied, relaxing some, and he was surprised to feel his lips twitch up, even as minutely as they did. "So...that's forty for two-thousand…"

"Technically it was two-thousand and one," she shot back, making sure their gazes met so he could see her smug expression.

But her voice was sincere when she murmured, "Thank you," in their language.

His smirk widened, the softness reaching his eyes when she finally slipped the beads over her head, the iridescent orbs a good match for her inky hair. It was a simple touch, but it made her look ever the warrior Zoro had always known her to be, with that symbol of her victories worn so proudly for all to see.

She had so many more now, would always be that one tail-length ahead of him, but now there was a future in which he could chase after her. He had to remember that.

And he had to believe that there would be a future with Sanji too.

Suddenly, a splash from above, and the two looked up to see Reiju high up on the shallow shelf, her gaze wide and insistent.

"Zoro! Get the hell up here right now!"

And it was the urgency in her voice that immediately had the merman snapping to attention, his heart all but stopping in his chest as the possibilities for that urgency, both good and unfathomably bad, crashed through him like a waterfall.

The sword slipped from his fingers, and he gave a powerful pump of his tail, shooting up to the surface as fast as he could, Kuina right behind him.

His heart was pounding now, his stomach twisting itself into knots because the closer he got, he could hear a ringing above, the familiar melodic tones of Robin's phone getting louder the closer he got until he burst up from the water, practically trembling by the time he reached the grotto's edge.

As soon as he'd appeared, meeting Robin's serious gaze, the woman answered the call, clearly having waited for him to do so.

"Dr. Red!" she blurted out immediately, skipping her usual formalities altogether. "Is-?"

But she stopped, looked a little surprised for a moment before stammering, "Y-Yes...Yes, one moment."

And then Zoro found the phone jutted out towards him, something that set his nerves aflame when Robin murmured, "Zoro, Sanji's father wishes to speak with you."

Nerves aside, the merman lunged, wrenching the device from her hand without even drying off and slamming it to his ear to growl a frantic, "Sanji is-?!"

"Calm down, boy. He's alright. I'll explain-"

Zoro collapsed forward against the rocky ledge with a noise that was half sob, half moan, whatever it was brought about by the flooding release of the pent-up tension that had squeezed and twisted at his heart unrelentlessly for the past three days. His shoulders slumped, and he brought a hand to his eyes, his forehead pressing to the rock as the euphoric deluge of relief overcame him.

"F-Fuck…." he finally managed to grit out after who knew how long, uncaring of his audience, uncaring of anything save for the fact that Sanji was alive. He was fucking alive!

"We lost him for a bit," Dr. Red was saying in his ear, though Zoro didn't move, just stayed as he was, wetness welling against his fingers where they pressed hard against his eyes. "But they got his heart beating again in the helicopter. He started breathing on his own last night. This morning he opened his eyes for a short time. Think it'll be another day or so before he's fully lucid."

Dr. Red sighed, his voice sounding weary when he continued. "He's sleeping again now. Those damn drugs did a number on him…"

It took Zoro another long moment to manage a reply, the merman struggling to pull his mind back to some semblance of coherence, when every ounce of his being screamed, louder than ever, to be free of the grotto, free of this fucking tail so he could be with him as he should have.

"Can I talk to him?" he finally managed. Maybe if he could just hear his voice...

"I said he's sleeping, boy," the old man chided. "But given the...circumstances, I assumed you'd want an update."

"Then when can I come-?" Zoro countered automatically, trying to quell the disappointment that bubbled within him at his inability to do anything in that moment. He'd fucking run to him if he had to, even though he'd never done so-

But he cut himself off, remembering. There were things he could never do again…

So he corrected himself with a frustrated grinding of teeth, his hand falling from his face, only to clench into a fist. "When will he...be back?"

"Not sure," Dr. Red replied with a heavy sigh. "He's stable, but still being monitored for complications. Might be a few days yet."

The old man grew quiet then, and it was only in that moment that Zoro realized the total ease with which the conversation had progressed. Neither had spoken a word of human language.

"Oi, hold on, you speak-?" Zoro stuttered.

"Very observant, aren't you," Dr. Red drawled in his ear. "Yes. It's been many years though. I'm rusty."

It was a surprise, though maybe it shouldn't have been, given the man's history with the merfolk. It was just odd, to be speaking like this with Sanji's father, someone who, until very recently, had practically existed in myth alone in his mind, for so many years. But then again, hadn't Sanji as well?

Sanji...

Zoro also realized, now, that this meant Dr. Red had understood him. He had to have understood Zoro's desperate pleas in his lowest moment, those words that had spilled out of him, admonishments, promises, anything that might have roused Sanji.

Nothing had worked.

He felt a bit of embarrassment creep up on him at the thought, not only for baring his soul so openly, but because it had done nothing. He'd done nothing but watch as Sanji nearly slipped away.

He hadn't protected him...

"I'm sorry…." Zoro muttered, closing his eyes as his ever-persistent guilt began to breach the surface once more, just as it had with Kuina. "I promised the Queen I'd keep him safe. But if they hadn't caught me off-guard-"

"If it weren't for you, my son would be dead," the old man cut in, and his tone was fierce enough to snap Zoro to attention. His chest clenched hard, the adamant words cutting into him like a blade. "And if he hadn't fished you up in the first place, Sakazuki would still be out there… I'm the one who owes you...and your people...an apology."

Dr. Red's voice quieted then, though his words stayed sincere, his regret hanging heavily in the air, even through the phone.

"I turned a blind eye to the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. for all these years," the man murmured. "I let them continue to take. I kept my son from you...and I'm sorry."

Zoro didn't know what to say, could only close his eyes again in silent acceptance.

How would things have been different if Dr. Red hadn't protected Sanji? Would anything have changed? Did it even matter anymore? The pain and suffering of the past couldn't be altered, no. But what good would it do if they didn't move forward, away from it all? If they didn't let that pain fuel their future?

"I want him to have the life he should have had from the beginning," Dr. Red continued in lieu of a response from the merman. "My protection will not keep him from that any longer. ...But I trust that you will keep him swimming straight."

The irony of that statement was not lost on Zoro, his fingers absently brushing over the rock he leaned against, that separated the water from the land, a barrier neither him nor Sanji would be able to breach now. They couldn't anymore, not as they had, for the brief time they'd been together. And that fear was there, even with the battle won, that fear that he couldn't protect him in the future, with their worlds permanently separated.

And yet, despite that fear, Zoro knew one thing.

He knew that there were things more powerful than fear. He'd seen proof of that in the past few days alone.

He'd seen it in Kuina's eyes when she'd showed acceptance of humans. He'd seen it in Reiju's determination, in Robin's hand squeezing his, felt it in Chopper's tight embrace.

There was something far more powerful than fear out there, and he felt it so strongly when he looked at Sanji, in a way he'd never felt before and hadn't thought he'd ever feel again if he'd really lost him.

"When he wakes up….can you tell him….that I..." Zoro murmured before he could stop himself, his heart and tongue two tail-lengths ahead of his brain. He could have said it, should have. But he found himself trailing off as soon as his mind caught up, the merman eventually muttering a quiet, "Nevermind…"

And yet, in the silence that followed, there was something knowing in the way Dr. Red exhaled, a soft grunt of acknowledgement leaving him before he spoke, almost fondly, if Zoro were so bold to assume.

"He was barely conscious earlier, but your name was the only word out of his mouth…" the old man said, and Zoro thought he could hear a smirk in his gruff voice. "I think, in time...you can tell him yourself."

Zoro's face heated, the merman suddenly feeling exposed in a way he wasn't used to. He spoke his mind no matter what, never seeing the need for the filters humans seemed to put up on a daily basis. What was the point ofthat?

But there was something about the magnitude of everything he'd begun to feel for Sanji, a magnitude that he wasn't even sure how to define or put to words at all yet….

It left him glad for the escape Dr. Red had afforded him.

"If you wish to wait at B.A.R.A.T.I.E.," the man said after a moment. "Patty and Carne will secure the area. You will be safe there."

"Thank you…" Zoro murmured, his heart already pounding a little harder. He'd wait as long as it damn took for Sanji to recover, even if his longing for the blond felt ready to burst his chest.

Zeff grunted in reply, his voice quiet.

"Then I'll leave him to you."

And with those words hanging heavily, Zoro soon heard a soft beep in his ear, and he pulled the phone away to see Dr. Red had ended the call without further remarks.

Zoro took in a rush of water through his gills, slid the phone onto the rock beside the pool, and immediately arched himself back to dive beneath the water once more.

"What - Hey, bro, where are you going?" he heard Franky call after him from the surface. "Is Sanji-?"

Zoro popped up again, already several tail-lengths away, to call back, "B.A.R.A.T.I.E. Waiting for!"

He managed to catch Reiju's eye with a reassuring grin, the first he'd displayed in days, the mermaid visibly relaxing after a moment, her jaw dropping and her lips spreading into a shaky, relieved smile.

And then he ducked underwater to dart off as fast as he could.

East Blue - One week later…

The air was warm as it whipped through the open car window, the sunlight bright and the ocean glistening like a blanket of jewels beside the highway.

Palm trees swayed past, colorful beach umbrellas dotted the coast, and Sanji's chest clenched pleasantly when the first glimpse of B.A.R.A.T.I.E. came around the island's bend, the immense relief and comfort of seeing home again, finally, bringing a content smile to his lips.

He leaned his head back against the seat and took in a deep breath of that salty sea breeze, something that drew the attention of his father at the wheel, Sanji sensing the old man's eyes on him, lingering as they often had during the past week.

The past week which had been shitty as hell, he couldn't lie. Never in Sanji's life had he landed himself in a hospital for that damn long. A few stitches here and there, sure, thanks to animal bites or mishaps when diving, but never a stay as long, boring, and fucking weird as what he'd just escaped from.

He'd woken up attached to a million tubes, even one down his throat, for fuck's sake, memories gone to shit, a cocktail of drugs coursing through his veins, and one thought in his mind.

Where the fuck was Zoro?

The only thing that had remained vivid in his memory, stayed there through all the confusion, all the frustration he felt that no one would even catch him up on shit right away... The only constant there, save for his dad's calloused hand on his, was the thought of the mosshead, and the feel of Zoro's arms circling him tight, of which he was sure he remembered, through all the haziness.

Zoro was fine, he'd learned, that one reassurance from his dad the thing that had allowed Sanji to fall back asleep, drifting on and off for days, his visitors and his own head still a blur until he'd become lucid enough to stay awake for normal hours.

Only then had he learned the full story of his ordeal. Only then had he realized why his dad's touches had been so shaky, yet tender, while he rested. Why Ace had cried so damn hard into his chest when he'd visited, with a mix of blubbered apologies and curses falling out of him unintelligibly.

There was nothing to do or say but be thankful, immensely so, for that deep breath he took, for the sight of B.A.R.A.T.I.E. ahead of them, and yes, even for the barely masked concern that still rippled over his dad's face when Sanji glanced over to meet his gaze. He wondered if that look would ever go away.

"What's for lunch?" Sanji asked after a moment, considering it was close to midday now and he wanted to bring some form of normalcy back to the situation. Not to mention he was desperate for some real food.

His dad let out a sigh, finally averting eyes back to the road, his hands wringing the wheel.

"Don't know," Zeff replied. "It'll have to be simple though. Haven't been to the store."

Ah, Sanji supposed that was true. His dad had only returned home once, as far as Sanji remembered, only to pack them both fresh clothes, as well as bring Sanji his laptop and phone.

"Oh, right," Sanji replied, and the car fell into silence once more, save for the quiet radio commercial that occupied them as Zeff finally flicked on the turn signal and pulled into the familiar parking lot of the lab center, which branched off to the private drive that led to their bungalow.

The silence was a little awkward, but it was hard to focus on that when a giddy anticipation had begun to flutter its way through Sanji's stomach.

The last week had felt like a strange dream, especially when his dad had insisted he rest and only rest, waiting until the night before his discharge to properly fill him in on the aftermath of the chaos at Marineford. It had been difficult to get a moment alone with doctors hovering.

Ace, and eventually Luffy and Sabo, had kept him company at the hospital, though he hadn't yet told Luffy and Sabo the full truth. He would, in time….

Zoro, his siblings, Kuina….all of them were safe at O.H.A.R.A. Franky had sailed to East Blue, Johnny and Yosaku meeting him for a report that the colony was unharmed as well.

The building at Marineford had been destroyed in the gas explosions, and there had been casualties, many, as Sanji already knew, but the losses had belonged to the M.A.R.I.N.E.S. staff. Everyone he cared about was unscathed.

And Sakazuki…. He was gone for good.

It was hard to come to terms with it all, to feel like it had actually happened when there he was, opening his car door as soon as Zeff parked and stepping out with a casual stretch, as if nothing had changed at all.

He wanted desperately to visit O.H.A.R.A. To hear exactly what Dr. Nico had proposed to the government council, at his father's request.

But he wanted, above all, to see Zoro. He wanted to see the idiot and confirm for himself that he was fine. He wanted to touch him again, talk to him, hear his stupid voice. But most of all, he wanted to assure him that this could still work, between them.

Because, yes, he knew what he'd done to the bracelets. He remembered.

And for all his initial adamance, that a relationship with a merman would never be feasible, well….it had been denial, nothing more. He wanted that damn merman in his life, wanted his lips, his smile, and he wanted to express (if he even could), just how grateful he was that Zoro had stayed with him.

A future with him, somehow, was something he'd come to desire deeply, even if it was highly unconventional. After everything, he didn't give a shit about the impossibilities, only the fact that he couldn't lose Zoro, as he'd discovered. He couldn't lose him and he hoped Zoro felt the same…

He just couldn't think too hard about the world he'd lost instead...

Sanji opened the back door of the car to grab his blue duffel bag off the seat, his dad pulling his out from the other side.

Doors slammed and then the two were walking up the path together to their bungalow, still quiet while Zeff pulled keys from the pocket of his shorts and moved to unlock the front door.

Even the lab seemed quiet behind them, Patty and Carne having kept everything in order while they were away, but now taking the day off for a well-earned rest of their own.

Zeff swung the door open, holding it there in clear indication for Sanji to head in first, which he did, the blond striding through the threshold and into the small living room, duffel bag thrown over his shoulder.

He heard his dad come in after him and shut the door, which only seemed to intensify the silence between them.

They weren't the most vocal pair with each other, when things were normal, but it never felt off or tense. They were simply content with few words, and Sanji had assumed that was just how things were going to pan out. His dad had been attentive, but quiet, all week, probably still disappointed in him after their argument that now seemed so unimportant and stupid.

Maybe he should apologize, finally, long overdue, but at least it would be something to mend that heavy silence. There were things he'd wanted to say, but dammit, he hadn't even been able to talk for several days, with tubes down his throat, and by the time his voice had returned, the setting had prevented it. It just hadn't felt right.

Sanji paused, staring hard at the hallway wall visible around the corner, circular picture frames like portholes looking out on past times that had certainly been easier, but ultimately operating under a false reality.

They'd talk. He'd work up to it. He just had to-

A hand clamped down on Sanji's wrist suddenly, spinning him until he found himself pressed tightly against his dad's chest, the old man's sturdy arms coiling tightly around him, fingers threading in his hair.

He felt the old man shaking as he pressed his nose to blond strands.

"Never again, son," Zeff said fiercely, voice trembling just as hard. "Never again."

It was instant, the way Sanji's eyes welled up, the blond unable to react for a good, long moment as the shock of his father's embrace stunned him.

But it only took another moment before his grip on his bag strap slowly slid the duffel off his shoulder where it dropped to the floor unceremoniously.

And he lifted arms to hug his father right back, his teeth clenching with a choked sob as every stress and fear he'd felt since learning of the merfolk rushed him hard in a way that felt truly liberating, now that he was safe in his dad's arms.

He'd put his old man through so much, put everyone through so much, but it was his dad alone who had been burdened for almost twenty-five years, and Sanji couldn't have made it easy for him.

Hell, he'd just nearly died over all this, and the mere thought of that in and of itself was-

Shit, it had been terrifying for him, he could admit, but Sanji couldn't even imagine how his dad had felt, though this was certainly the biggest glimpse he'd ever gotten into his father's suffering, this desperate hold and those hitched breaths against his own chest.

"I'm sorry, Dad," he found himself gritting out, his fingers gripping the loose fabric of his father's shirt, as they had when he was just a little boy, crying over surely insignificant things. "From the beginning, I know you didn't ask for any of this-"

But Zeff cut him off, his embrace tightening, leaving Sanji with no choice but to let it envelop him, particularly when he felt lips tilt to his hair, his dad's voice murmuring close to his ear.

"I didn't ask…" the old man said. "Because you were a gift."

Sanji shook with another sob, and the two stayed like that for a long while, until emotions ran their course, and the tremors and shaky breaths calmed, leaving Sanji still curled there against his dad's chest, sniffling as he slowly but surely came back to himself.

Eventually, it was his dad who pushed him back gently, lifting hands to cup Sanji's face where thumbs rubbed tear tracks away delicately.

"You did them proud, son," his dad breathed, his eyes just as red-rimmed, but unashamed, a rare smile on his face.

This time, Sanji had the self-awareness to give an embarrassed laugh, pulling the sleeve of his hoodie over a hand and using it to wipe at his eyes and leaking nose.

"Shit…" he mumbled, chuckling again and stepping back.

He bent to pick up his duffel bag, saying, "I'm gonna go unpack…"

But his dad stopped him, taking the bag right out of his hand and throwing the strap over his own shoulder.

"I'll take care of it," he said, to which Sanji instantly protested, reaching out for it again.

"I'm fine, Dad," Sanji insisted. "My ribs don't hurt as much as-"

"I'll take care of it," Zeff repeated, adamant. And just before Sanji's annoyance kicked in, the old man smirked, eyes twinkling before he added pointedly, "You shouldn't keep him waiting."

Sanji froze, his eyes widening, breath catching and his heart doing a flip in his chest. Surely, his dad didn't mean...

"Patty said you've had a visitor waiting for you at the docks all week," Zeff said.

Sanji probably looked completely insane with the way his face lit up, an ecstatic grin unable to keep itself off his features. His heart now pounded hard with excitement, the image of Zoro frying himself into fish sticks under the sunlight all week while waiting for him an instant source of joy.

"That idiot!" Sanji exclaimed, laughing, and then he took off, already rushing right back out of the bungalow.

Sanji shoved his way through the lab doors with bruising impact, bursting into the rehabilitation room and sprinting across the concrete floor, shallow puddles splashing water onto his nice boat shoes as he ran, but he couldn't care.

Past the turtles, who seemed to watch his odd behavior curiously as he went. Past the lab benches he knew like the back of his hand.

His recuperating body wasn't quite ready for the exertion just yet, breaths panting more harshly than usual, ribs stinging by the time his palms slammed down on the pushbar of the opposite door. Still, he surged on through the short hallway beyond, where the light of day, the bobbing boats, and the sparkling sea outside beckoned him.

The automatic doors slid open, his feet pounding out onto the dock, eyes immediately scanning the water for any sign of a tail or a green head of hair.

Nothing for a moment….seagulls….floating buoys…. Would he really have to splash around in the water to call hi-?

But then, Sanji's heart knocked hard in his chest, already heavy breaths shuddering when he spotted a certain merman floating on his back near the breakers, arms crossed behind his head and his eyes closed as he lazed there in the beating sun. Fuck, the idiot would surely be sunburnt to a crisp before long if Sanji didn't do something.

"Zoro!" he called, letting out another dumb laugh, and it was stupid that tears pooled in his eyes yet again upon seeing the way the merman jolted, his tail quickly sinking below the water as he froze.

It took Zoro far too long, but finally he turned, slowly, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping like the fish he was when their gazes locked.

Sanji laughed again, seeing Zoro mouth his name in shock, and he lifted his arm to wave.

"Get the hell over here, mosshead!" he yelled.

And Sanji took off running again down the dock as soon as Zoro moved, the merman ducking just below the surface to dart as fast as he could through the water, his approaching dorsal fin comically ominous, despite Sanji knowing there was only a handsome dumbass lurking beneath.

Zoro popped up first, the merman practically leaping out of the water like something from an animated film and pushing himself up onto the dock, the look on his face relieved, excited, incredulous, all of it smashed together in an expression of wide-eyed wonder.

Sanji dove at him, nearly hurtling himself right into the water but certain that Zoro would catch him, and he did, ever the sturdy safety net that kept the blond from flying off the dock.

He tumbled to his knees, grabbed Zoro's face, and kissed him harder than he ever had because dammit, what if they hadn't been so lucky? What if he'd never been able to do this again? And while he'd had those feelings on Marineford, there was something different about this moment, now that he was so keenly aware of the fragility of his own life, how damn precious and amazing it was.

He wanted to live, desperately, relished the feeling of his fluttering heartbeat as Zoro opened his lips to him because it meant he was alive. He was alive and free. They both were, and no one could ever threaten that again.

Zoro kissed him right back hungrily, the merman pulling Sanji's head down closer to reach him better, drawing a content hum from the back of Sanji's throat, the blond parting from him slightly for a breath before diving right back in for another deep kiss.

It lasted a few seconds, however, before he noticed fully the prominent trembling of Zoro's hand when the merman touched his cheek.

Sanji pulled back for a proper look at his face, surprised to find a new expression on Zoro's, one he hadn't seen before. The merman's lips trembled when they parted, his eyes almost fearful when he opened them, searching the blond's with so much desperation and vulnerability that it hurt Sanji to see the rare and powerful emotion on Zoro's face. Whatever it was, it was beyond relief. It was something Sanji couldn't name.

"You're - You're-" the merman stuttered, even his voice quiet and unsteady.

No. No, he couldn't have Zoro looking like that, and it was enough that Sanji quickly took Zoro's hand from his cheek and kissed his fingers, squeezing them tight before bringing his own hands to Zoro's jaw, stroking there with any hope of fixing Zoro's distress.

"I'm fine," he murmured. "I promise I'm fine. I'm right here."

Zoro's hand came shakily to his chest, and Sanji pressed his over Zoro's, holding it there securely against the fabric of his shirt. He brought his forehead to the merman's and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself as well.

He remembered all too well those awful feelings and fears, thinking he'd lost Zoro. Now he had to be strong, let his presence and vitality alone reassure him.

"Don't worry," he said softly, nuzzling his nose against the merman's. "Everything's working now, it's okay."

He hated it, after all. He disliked making people worry in general, but this ordeal had taken things to a whole new level. And he was so damn eager to take the pain away from those he cared for. They were all so strong, and Sanji refused to be the one to break them.

So he stayed like that with Zoro for a while until he too began to calm, the hand at Sanji's chest no longer trembling as much. Eventually, the merman pulled back slowly, if only to shift so he could press a tender kiss to Sanji's forehead that seemed to speak more volumes with its innocent reverence than even their most heated embrace.

For a moment, it looked like Zoro wanted to say something, his brow furrowing in concentration before he finally asked simply, "Hurt?"

"No," Sanji assured, relaxing his grip on Zoro's hand a bit when the merman moved his palm from Sanji's heart to play with his hoodie strings instead. "Though I was sore as fuck for a while there. If my brothers give me a hard time, I might have to fillet them."

"What?" Zoro asked, his typical confusion clear, but also a bit of amusement.

"Nevermind, idiot-" the blond huffed, scolding, "Get down, you can't breathe," when the merman tried to pull himself up too high on the dock, in an effort to get closer. Zoro slid lower again as Sanji pushed his shoulders.

"Humans forget too…" he sulked, his childish pout turning a little wistful when he flicked eyes back to Sanji.

But the blond was determined to keep Zoro's thoughts up on the bright surface with him, so he made a show of rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Humans bad at everything. I get it," Sanji replied with mock annoyance, a real smile coming back to his face when Zoro grinned in response and shook his head.

"Not you," Zoro said, shifting to at least rest his elbows on the dock, where he folded arms over Sanji's bent knees and plopped his chin there. "You're-" He paused, fumbling for the word until he settled on an unsure, "-living?"

At that, Sanji smiled warmly, stroking fingers through Zoro's wet hair, pushing strands off his forehead as he admired the bits of sunburn that flushed the merman's cheeks and nose. He really must have stayed close to the surface all week.

"I told you," Sanji said, and he dug in his brain for the phrase Zoro had taught him until he remembered. "I won't leave you. Right?"

Zoro merely snickered obnoxiously at his no-doubt botched pronunciation.

"Really bad," the merman snarked to confirm it.

"Shut up. I've been drugged all week," the blond shot back, embarrassment heating his cheeks, but it couldn't last long when Zoro continued to look at him with such intense fondness behind his dark eyes.

Aside from a few scuffs here and there, the mosshead really was fine too. And dammit, Sanji had wanted this so badly in his hospital room. Just this, just having him there. It would have made things so much easier, Zoro's presence alone making him feel normal again. But at least they were together now.

Sanji sighed, a hopeless grin on his face.

"How stupid is it that I missed you?" he muttered, trailing a finger over Zoro's earrings.

A sigh and Sanji traced his fingers down from Zoro's ear to his shoulder, sliding them smoothly over Zoro's slick skin before he noticed something.

"Where's your necklace?" he asked, furrowing his brow at Zoro's bare collar that almost looked strange now that he'd grown so used to those black beads.

"Gave Kuina," Zoro said with a shrug. "Hers."

Oh, right. That was a good thing though. For years, Zoro had likely thought he'd never get the chance to deliver them.

"Is she okay?" Sanji asked, to which Zoro nodded.

"Okay," he assured. "Everyone at O.H.A.R.A."

Sanji smiled, relief, but mostly happiness flowing through him at that thought. For Kuina and his brothers to finally experience the good of humanity….that was big, and everything Sanji had wanted since first learning of their plights.

"My dad told me about the plans for the memorial at Marineford," he said, brushing gently at Zoro's collarbone. He smirked, meeting Zoro's eye teasingly. "Any chance of getting you in a suit jacket?"

Predictably, Zoro frowned in confusion, drawing a chuckle from the blond.

"Nevermind," he said, keeping those attractively silly images filed away in his own brain for the time-being, at least until he could bring them to fruition. Then, for Zoro's benefit, he simply said, "I wanna go see everyone."

He'd said it casually, but he wasn't expecting the way Zoro's confusion twisted, not into his usual smirk, but into something sadder, certainly more pensive.

"I want…." the merman replied quietly, working for words. "Want…."

Zoro didn't elaborate, just trailed off regretfully, but Sanji understood. He'd understood every time he'd so much as thought of the ocean during the past week. He'd had dreams about it, and in the moments his dad had fallen asleep on the couch across his hospital room, moments when he'd finally had a minute to himself, he'd let the tears sting his eyes, knowing the mer-world was now lost to him, at least in his freest form.

Never again would he experience his amazing tail, the liberation of breathing underwater, unencumbered and uninhibited from exploring all the sea had to offer. He'd given up his chance of fully integrating himself with the merfolk, as he'd so wanted. As he'd so, so wanted, more than anything…

There was nothing left to do but gaze sadly out at the ocean's horizon and let out a sigh.

"I know…" he eventually answered. "Me too."

Zoro nodded, not taking eyes from Sanji's face, and when Sanji looked back over at him, the merman still looked troubled, enough that it was Sanji's immediate response to cheer him up again.

"I'll come see you every day," he assured with a stroke to Zoro's hair, hoping to shed some light on their situation. "And unlike you, I can swim as a human."

The blond played gently with green strands, staring at Zoro's features fondly, knowing he'd do just about anything to ensure they could still have a fulfilling relationship, despite the separations that now plagued them.

"We'll make it work," Sanji murmured, brushing at Zoro's temple. "Even if I have to scuba dive down to Noah." His attempt at a smile fell though, as Zoro's silence began to sow irrational doubts in his mind. "...Unless...that's not what you want…"

But thankfully, Zoro shook his head immediately, and lifted himself to bring his face closer.

"Want," he assured adamantly, Sanji letting out a small breath of relief.

He noticed the way Zoro's gaze shifted to the building behind him though, looking at the land just as wistfully as Sanji viewed the sea.

It was still hard, but Sanji could admit that he felt less alone, if Zoro pined for similar things.

"Don't tell me you actually liked being human~" Sanji teased, quirking a brow and giving a playful shove to the merman's shoulder. "What was your favorite part? Being scared of the shower? Or maybe your complete inability to walk in flip-flops?"

"Liked be with you," Zoro said sincerely, shutting down any of Sanji's attempts to rile him up.

Oh.

That statement was enough that the blond softened entirely, the damn romantic in him doing a shitty triple lutz as a rather dopey smile made its way to his lips.

"But number one is wanted to train."

Oh.

His inner triple lutz crashed hard on the ice to the sound of Zoro's snickers.

Still, when his scowl had lessened some and Zoro's amusement had calmed, Sanji found himself leaning in closer to the merman, hands coming to his face and his thumb trailing over Zoro's bottom lip.

"I'm sorry, Zoro," he breathed. "But I had to do it. To keep you safe."

Zoro gave a faint smile and he nodded, his eyes understanding despite his teasing.

And Sanji's lips replaced his thumb shortly after, pressing slowly but passionately, working to convey every hope he still had about their future. Sure, some things would be difficult, but what he wanted above all was Zoro. Whether he had a tail or legs? It didn't matter as long as he had him.

"Eggplant."

A gruff voice behind him sent a cold jolt through Sanji's chest and up his spine, the blond cringing hard as he pulled back and turned with dread to find perhaps the only thing that could have gotten him off Zoro's lips in that moment.

His dad, standing several paces away on the docks.

Instantly, Sanji's face flushed, the blond stammering, even though Zoro seemed unperturbed, the merman's hands staying right where they'd come to rest on Sanji's waist. Their contact had been nothing more than innocent, but still.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, how embarrassing - what do you want, geezer?" Sanji grumbled, fingers fidgeting with his hair irritably.

But his father, oddly, wore a smirk on his face, before reaching into his pocket to take something out and toss it at the blond.

"Don't lose it," he said, as the object flew threw the air, Sanji scrambling to catch it automatically, fingers closing around the thing before it could fall into the water. "It's the last one now, isn't it," Zeff continued. "Thanks to you."

Sanji's fingers recognized the shape even before he properly looked at it, his eyes widening impossibly and his heart stuttering in his chest.

No. It couldn't be.

But, sure enough, when Sanji finally (fearfully) looked down at the object in his hand, he stopped breathing for a good long moment. Because what lay in his palm was a familiar circle of metal, small and thin, but immensely powerful, he knew.

What lay in his palm was a bracelet.

He almost dropped the damn thing into the ocean by accident in his shock, Zoro reacting similarly with the way he quickly pushed up higher on the dock to gawk at the thing.

"Where the hell did you get this?!" Sanji exclaimed, feeling his pulse start up a fast, thundering beat as he gaped at the bracelet with growing excitement for something he dared not hope for again. "I thought they'd all been destroyed!"

"Not all of 'em," Zeff replied, crossing arms over his chest, almost smugly. "Your mother gave it to me. The day she dropped you off. She wanted you to have it when things got better, but - well, I didn't think that would ever happen, so I kept it locked up." A proud smirk began to spread across his face, eyes crinkling with genuine affection. "You and your reckless little friends proved me wrong."

Sanji let out a shuddering breath, meeting Zoro's eye in disbelief, the both of them staring open-mouthed like a pair of wide-eyed guppies.

"My mom…?" Sanji managed to stutter out, his brain spinning.

"That's a story for another day, brat," his dad said, and when it seemed he would say nothing else, Sanji knew he couldn't wait.

He passed the bracelet to Zoro and instantly started ripping off his clothes, nearly breaking the zipper of his hoodie in his haste to get the thing off and practically tearing his T-shirt over his head. Shoes, socks, and jeans he shimmied out of until he was down to his boxer shorts, uncaring if his dad was still standing there for the whole damn strip show.

That left the bandage still taped to his chest over the stitched-up wound from the dart that had pierced him. Fuck that shit. He ripped it right off, knowing the stitches were dissolvable anyway, not to mention it would heal ridiculously fast in his shark form, along with the unsightly yellowish-green bruising that still decorated his chest and ribs.

He could hardly believe any of this.

Zoro grabbed his hand then, yanked his wrist forward, and Sanji had to laugh when the merman's teeth impatiently ripped off the hospital band still on his wrist. The thin vinyl joined his pile of clothes, dumped unceremoniously onto the dock, and the blond slid right into the water in his boxers, straight into Zoro's arms where they both sank beneath the surface.

The merman snapped the bracelet onto Sanji's wrist.

And there it was, the tingling warmth that crawled up his legs, just like before, fusing them together and replacing human skin with the silky smooth blue of his tail, forming at full length with a graceful swish through the water.

As soon as his gills took their first gulp in what had felt like an eternity, Sanji crashed his lips to Zoro's, sheer joy overtaking him, just as it had upon seeing the merman again, except now, there was nothing holding them back. The full light of day now shone on their future, and the blond couldn't help the giddy twirl he forced them into, kissing Zoro through the tornado of bubbles that whirled around them.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, pulling back briefly to grab Zoro's face and blurt out another ecstatic, "Fuck, mosshead!" before squeezing him close again, an equally ecstatic grin of Zoro's pressing into his shoulder.

A moment later, there was a heavier clunk on the dock above, and Sanji glanced up to see the blurry, undulating shape of his dad stepping closer to the water.

Sanji pressed lips one more time to Zoro's hair, then swam back up, breaking the surface to see Zeff setting down one of B.A.R.A.T.I.E.'s expensive underwater cameras, in fact the very one Sanji had used to get those pictures of Zoro on their first meeting.

"You still have a job to do," Zeff said, tossing Sanji his familiar ID lanyard too. "Unless you want me to take you off payroll."

"Hell no!" the blond shot back with a grin, slipping the lanyard over his head and grabbing the camera as well, throwing the strap over his shoulder.

Then he turned to Zoro, who'd come up beside him, unable to keep his excitement from his face.

But just before he could duck under again...

"Sanji."

His dad's voice, and he turned back to look at the old man, who'd propped up a knee where he'd crouched, gazing down at him.

"You look like her, y'know," was all the old man said, but it was the softness in his tone and the meaning behind those words that had Sanji smiling.

Reiju had told him the same thing. He looked like his mother. And though he'd never met her, it was those words alone that made him feel closer to her now than he had his entire life.

She was with him. His whole family was with him, now. And they always had been, the proof in the bracelet he wore around his wrist.

"Thanks, Dad," he murmured in reply. For everything.

Zeff's smile was closed, but it reached his eyes, lighting them in a way Sanji hadn't seen for a long time. For all he ragged on his old man, Sanji would do him proud too. It was his duty and his desire, as his son.

"Don't catch cold," Zeff said, to which Sanji smirked.

"If merpeople even can," he replied teasingly, his eagerness returning full force. "If I don't come back, it's 'cause this idiot got us lost!"

Then, with a two-fingered salute to his dad, he grabbed hold of the mosshead and dove back under with him, his tail already shooting him out towards open water and the colorful reefs he knew lay just beyond the breakers.

"Where going, Your Highness?" Zoro mocked, though there was a grin on his face when he swam up beside the blond.

"Oh, if you're calling me that now~" Sanji replied, with a regal flick of his hand. "Amuse me, peasant~ Show me the best this kingdom has to offer~"

Predictably, Zoro's face scrunched up in utter perplexity.

"Adventure, dumbass," Sanji shot back. "If you don't know that word by now, then you're completely clueless."

Zoro stared at him blankly.

Sanji rolled his eyes.

"Okay, you're clueless - mmph!"

The merman's lips colliding with his caught Sanji off-guard, but he kissed the idiot back with any hope of transferring his superior knowledge to the mosshead.

"Ad...Adven…?" Zoro tried when he pulled back.

"...ture," Sanji said, close to Zoro's lips.

"...Ture," Zoro finished.

"There you go, mosshead," the blond replied with an amused pat to Zoro's cheek. "Now, where can I take good pictures?"

"Show you Jaya," Zoro answered with a shrug.

"Is it cooler than Noah?"

"Yes."

"Then lead the way-" Sanji replied, gesturing for Zoro to swim ahead of them, only to grimace a second later. "Fuck, can't believe I just said that. We better not be wandering for days!"

"Won't!" Zoro shot over his shoulder, already swimming ahead of the blond.

"Yeah, right," the blond called after him. "Coming from the idiot who swam into a boat's propeller!"

"Started everything."

"Nuh uh! You would've floated there and died like a goldfish if I hadn't found you."

"Shut up!"

A growl, just for show, and Sanji flicked his tail to hurry after the merman before the idiot got himself shot out of an underwater volcano or some shit.

But he supposed it didn't matter because he'd be right there to make sure it didn't happen. He'd be right there to protect his people and his world.

He was a marine biologist with the Bio-Aquatic Rescue and Testing Institute of East Blue.

And he was a merman.

The ocean was clear and boundless before them.

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Fishman Island - Grand Line

The eerie glow of the lights emanated in the dark water from the windows of the underwater research station, its exterior covered in crusty barnacles and algae, the structure seeming to grow in the distance like a living organism from the ocean floor itself.

Six pink arms tentatively gripped the rock, the arms' owner peering out over the craggy boulder with apprehension on his tattooed face.

"Do you really think we can pull this off, boss?" The question fell worriedly from thick pink lips.

A massive blue form appeared beside those six arms, not the boss in question, but the form's presence just as imposing nonetheless, black hair floating about in a massive cloud.

"Sakazuki's death has them reeling," the second figure answered. "There is no better time."

Bubbles of uncertainty escaped the multi-armed figure, who glanced back in the water to ask again, "Boss…?"

This time, a third figure approached, red skin and a blazing tattoo of the sun on his chest, like a fierce beacon of hope in the depths.

The red figure took a long moment to glare ahead at the building in the distance, a building that had no place pretending to integrate itself with their underwater world. With their home.

"As long as they hold captives," the boss rumbled, his voice low as thunder. "We cannot truly be free. I cannot show mercy to any human."

The boss glanced at his two comrades, the massive burgundy coat he wore draped over his shoulders billowing like the broad wings of a manta ray.

"And neither should you," he finished.

Then, voice commanding, and sharp as the teeth of a tigerfish, he turned to face the dozens that floated behind him, awaiting his orders.

"Let's move!" he called, lifting a fist with a trail of bubbles.

A loud resounding warcry in response, and the dark cloud of shapes descended as one upon the building.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: At long last, it is done! To everyone who's stuck with this fic, I applaud and appreciate your patience. I know I was a mess with updating it. But I'm quite proud of this fic and I'm sad to see it go (I cried writing the ending lmao), so I hope you all enjoyed it! Since it's the end, I humbly request your thoughts and/or feedback if you have the time to comment.

Yes, if any of my fics were to get a full-blown sequel, it would be this one! I have ideas. However, right now, I'll be prioritizing some new works. But if you'd be interested in a sequel, please let me know, and perhaps I'll consider working on it sooner rather than later. I'd really like to make 2020 a much more productive year!

Thank you so much again for all the interest in this fic, as well as to everyone who's contributed art/videos over on AO3! It's been so much fun! See you in my next work!