~12:45am~

Discarding his bike on the front lawn, Sanji adjusted his pack and trudged up the walkway. Much to his relief, he noted all the lights were out which meant he'd probably be able to sneak into his room without any trouble. Even though Yonji had had more than enough time to cool off, Sanji wouldn't put it past the angry kid to stay up waiting for him; it was likely that Sanji would have to pay for his behaviour in the morning.

As he made his way inside, Sanji kept the doorknob engaged so as not to make any extra noise as he slowly slid the portal shut. Once it was aligned with the frame, he gently rotated the knob to allow the deadbolt to slide back in place and then turned to listen for any signs of anyone hearing him return home. After several moments of bated breath, all he was met with was silence and Sanji released a heavy sigh and then made his way upstairs to his room.

Upon using the same tactic to open his bedroom door as he had with the front, his shoulders sagged in disappointment. At the sight of his trashed room, Sanji immediately regretted pissing off his brother in such a petty fashion. It wasn't like he hadn't known something like this would happen, and he had goaded the other man anyway.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he set down his bag and slowly began picking up his stuff of the floor. Returning papers to his desk and clothes to his drawers - it had been a long time since Sanji had had anything breakable in his room as it had been destroyed years ago by any one of his brothers on numerous occasions. Just as he was about satisfied with how clear he'd managed to get the floor, the sound of his door opening had him spinning around but a moment too late.

Someone tackled him and clamped a hand over his mouth as another wrestled his arms behind his back to pin them up in a painful lock. Both then began shoving him from his room as Sanji already had some idea of where he was being dragged off to. Fighting as best as he could in the hold, he managed to reef his jaw out of - who he could now see was Ichiji's grasp - and began flailing even harder as he hissed over his shoulder, "Fucking let me go!"

"Shut up, twerp!" Niji grunted as he continued to struggle to keep a grip on Sanji's wrists as he guided him through the house, "Or you'll wake Dad."

Sanji was tempted to tell Niji to suck a cock, but the idea of having to face their father after waking him up in the middle of the night was something he'd rather not do. Besides, whatever the three of them were planning for Sanji would be child's play in comparison to a pissed off Judge that got woken up because they were fighting.

Out in the backyard, Niji finally released him with an aggressive shove that sent Sanji stumbling out onto the grass. Catching himself, he glanced back at his two other brothers who watched silently from the porch, before turning to face Yonji who had been standing in the yard waiting for him.

"You serious?" Sanji scoffed, "I'm tired and don't have time for your shit."

"And I told you you'd be fucking dead for your attitude earlier." Yonji sneered, and it was then that Sanji noticed the bat that his brother had clutched at his side. Eyes tracking it nervously as Yonji raised it to level on Sanji as he ordered, "Take it back."

"Punch rocks." Sanji snarled.

Rage morphed Yonji's face into something even uglier than usual and he was lunging at Sanji with a furious growl, bat raised. Leaping back, Sanji barely jumped out of the way of the wild swing in time that managed to clip his shirt and send a chill down his spine with how serious Yonji was taking this.

It became a game of cat and mouse as it was all Sanji could do to avoid each strike Yonji made in an attempt to take off his head with the damned bat. Occasionally able to block and kick aside a strike that was aimed lower and had a bit less power to it; it wasn't like they hadn't brawled before and Sanji was more than capable at keeping his brothers at bay whenever they got into fights.

With a final harsh swing, the bat clipped Sanji in the side and managed to force a pained scream from him that sent him stumbling back and had his knees buckling. Biting back the rest of his scream, all four of them cast a trepadcious look towards the house and when no movement could be detected, Yonji and Sanji were facing off once more.

A gleeful look took on Yonji's face as he reiterated, "Apologize, fuckhead!"

Hand falling to his side, it took all Sanji had not to wince as the pain was causing him some difficulty breathing. Deciding to not risk speaking lest his voice waver, Sanji simply channeled all his anger into a dark scowl and slowly shook his head. Adding in a vulgar hand gesture to complete the notion.

Yonji's face fell and he came striding over with a look of murderous intent on his face. Reeling the bat over his shoulder and winding up to hit Sanji as hard as he could with it as Sanji only squared off and watched him near. He was more than happy to use Yonji's rage to his advantage and finish this stupid fight.

Right as Yonji swung, Sanji dropped low and kicked straight up. Heel connecting with Yonji's hands and sending the bat sailing out of his grasp to land off somewhere on the lawn, and before Yonji had the chance to even glance back to see where it was, Sanji was stepping forward and bring his leg up in a vicious kick. Foot planting directly on Yonji's face as he sent his brother sailing across the yard with a pained crack and a yelp.

Pain flared up his side but he managed to bite it down - not wanting Yonji to know just how good a hit he had managed to get in - glaring at the man who lay curled up on the lawn clutching his face. Hand coming down to wrap around himself, he pressed it against his side in an attempt to ease some of the pressure from the blow to his side. With a final distasteful look, Sanji turned and limped his way up the back steps and across the porch, pointedly not meeting either of his brothers stares.

At least he knew that his brothers wouldn't try any shit when he had won the fight fair and square; it wasn't necessarily a rule they had always followed, but if anything it showed that even the worst could learn some redeeming qualities. Making his way as silently as he could through the house, he purposefully held his breath while passing his father's room to not risk waking him, before heading upstairs.

Shoving his way into his bedroom, Sanji managed to lock the door behind himself before slumping to the floor and clutching his side. A pained wheeze that he had been holding in slid out as the full brunt of Yonji's blow was sinking in and he was finally able to drop the facade without the asshole figuring out how badly he had actually managed to hurt him.

Tears stung the corner of his eyes and Sanji tilted his head back in an attempt to keep them from actually falling, not wanting to give Yonji the satisfaction of managing to get a single tear out of him. Gulping down a few harsh breaths he eventually got a handle on the pain and even managed to get the urge to cry to subside before feeling ready to deal with his wounds.

Slowly pushing himself to his feet and divesting his clothes down to his boxers, Sanji cast a quick glance in the mirror at his side, already swollen and turning red and was sure to look a mess in the morning. Refraining from heaving another sigh - the action putting too much stress on his ribs - Sanji turned towards his bed and climbed under the covers. Easing his body back into as comfortable a position as he could, he let his mind go blank.

~7:54am~

Pulling up in front of his father's house, Zoro sat in his truck for several minutes and simply enjoyed the quiet tranquility before entering what he knew would be an hour of excruciatingly invasive conversations. With a reluctant sigh, he hopped out of his vehicle and made his way up the extravagant front steps, and had to barely wait a couple seconds after ringing the gaudy doorbell before the portal was being ripped open and Perona was huffing in his face.

"You're late."

"Yeah. Yeah." Zoro grunted and shouldered his way past her, kicking off his shoes and keeping an elbow out to keep her at least a foot away so when she shouted it wasn't directly in his ear. "I know."

"We've been waiting for you so we can start!" Perona stamped her foot, and sure enough yelped far louder than was necessary into his ear, "You know, like a normal family; and now it's gotten cold because you decided to sleep in, you jerk!"

Zoro just rolled his eyes and tossed his jacket in the general direction of the coat rack, revelling in the annoyed shriek from Perona as he ditched her and made for the dining room. Mihawk was already there and dressed for the day, sitting in his favourite chair at the head of the table, sipping on a cup of black coffee and reading that morning's paper. Upon Zoro entering the room, he look up and greeted, "Zoro."

Zoro inclined his head.

After which he took a seat and poured himself his own cup of coffee and waited for the next hour to pass by. Sitting in silence with his father was easy enough, but dealing with Perona always made it a little tougher as she didn't much like silence, and loved being snippy.

Coasting into the dining room with a pan in hand, she made a beeline for Zoro and was already brandishing a spatula to give him whatever weird concoction she had decided to make for them that week. It was always something far too sweet, or something experimental that usually tasted of hot garbage.

"Eggs and toast is fine." Zoro waved off Perona's annoying advances with the pan she had poised in her hands, "Get that shit away from me."

"Ugh!" Perona stamped her foot before wailing indignantly - an odd action to see a woman in her late twenties pull off, "You're such a dick!"

"Zoro, I prefer my morning coffee as silently as possible." Mihawk intoned without looking up from his paper, "Perona came by an hour early to prepare everything so you're gonna try it, and like it."

Staring down the old man for several moments, Zoro tried to ascertain whether or not Mihawk was being serious. When no such indication was given, Zoro sighed defeatedly and turned to look up at Perona as she watched him with a triumphant smile. As much as he enjoyed quality time with his family, Sunday breakfast at his father's house was always incredibly trying to get through.

Shoving one of the free plates on the table towards his sister reluctantly, Zoro watched as she loaded it high with waffles before smothering it in some sort of chocolate sauce, topping the whole thing off with whip and strawberries before shoving it back towards Zoro, looking at him expectantly. When the silence stretched a tad long, she gritted out through her teeth, "You're welcome…"

"Ah, yeah, thanks." Picking up a fork, Zoro picked at his plate for several moments before gathering some of the sugary mess onto the tines and tried not to think about how much it was going to hurt his teeth. Taking a bite, he chewed for a second or two before glancing up at Perona and adding an unconvincing, "Mmm." for good measure.

A wicked smile lit up her face, and she turned to leave as Zoro had a suspicion she couldn't give two shits whether he liked it or not so long as she got her way. Finishing chewing and swallowing the sweet mess, Zoro cast a disdainful look at his father who had returned to his paper but still managed to add, "Was that so bad?"

Zoro decided not to answer.

Perona rejoined them with her own plate, and without even touching it, began regaling both of them with a multitude of stories from work. Zoro ignored all of it as he continued to silently eat, while Mihawk gave small noises of acknowledgement every few minutes that were too conveniently timed for him to actually be listening to anything he had to say.

"-and then he said he liked my teddy bear display so I stopped putting laxatives in his lunch."

"Wow," Ignoring the chilling thought of Perona slipping things into people's food and that fact that Zoro had just ate something prepared by her, Zoro responded in a completely monotonous tone, "sounds like you two are made for each other."

"Naw, he's not my type." Chin falling to her hand as she pouted, "Not cute enough. It's such a pain; there's no cute boys out there."

"I'm sure you'll find someone, dear." Mihawk intoned, and Zoro knew that man was being sincere in the dullest way possible, however he always found a way to sound patronizing when he tried to reassure her. Luckily, Perona never seemed to catch onto it.

"How about you Zoro~?" Perona jeered as she rounded on him, "Gonna settle down anytime soon? Or are you still just picking up floozies after work?"

"You're the oldest." Zoro shrugged around a mouthful of food, trying not to think about how the sweetness was killing his teeth. Downing the last bite in relief, he straightened in his seat, grabbed his coffee, and grunted, "You get on it before your eggs start drying up, and then maybe I'll think about it."

"You're such a twat."

Raising his cup of coffee in a mock toast, he nodded towards her, "Learned it from the best."

"It's probably for the best." Perona huffed, arms crossing as she turned away from him childishly. Glancing back over her shoulder and adding, "Any kids you had would be ugly, little green monsters."

"You're not wrong." Zoro murmured into his coffee, eyes wandering over to Mihawk where Zoro could've swore he saw a flicker of a smile crook the corner of the grumpy man's face. Setting down his cup as he turned back to Perona and added, "Though you'd think when adopting you'd pick better looking children, ain't that right, Mihawk?"

"Oi!" Perona shrilled, "I'm not part of this!"

"I worked with what I was dealt," Mihawk muttered without glancing up.

That comment sent Zoro into a spiral of uproarious laughter as Perona began shrieking indignantly, launching out of her chair and screaming empty threats at their father who simply ignored them both. Even after Zoro laughed himself out, there were still tears in his eyes as Perona was still throwing a tantrum. Wiping them away, Zoro sat there - coffee in hand - watching his family and he had to admit that he wouldn't trade these two insane people in for the world.

~9:24am~

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror in nothing but his pajama bottoms, Sanji assessed himself as he waited for the shower to heat up. A massive bruise had formed in the middle of the night to cover a large portion of his ribs; twisting his body side to side, he found the initial motion caused a hiss to slip from between his teeth, but the more he moved it the less agitated it became. A final test with his thumb found the area incredibly sensitive to pressure, but after a little prodding, was thankfully able to ascertain that Yonji hadn't managed to break anything.

"Really, Yonji?" Sanji muttered to himself, "A fucking bat…"

Letting his hands fall to his sides, Sanji let out a huff as he stared himself down balefully. It was his fault for getting Yonji all riled up for no good reason, but at least it was an injury that wouldn't be too difficult to hide. Turning to test the temperature of the water, he divested himself of his pants and hopped in. The shower helped to ease some of the stiffness and when he was done, he felt remarkably better.

Returning to his bedroom, Sanji felt his stomach drop to the floor as his dresser had obviously been pillaged in his absence and all of his shirts had been taken. Checking his hamper and some of his other drawers, he found that Yonji had managed to completely clear him out except for one horribly white shirt he had been left on Sanji's bed.

Picking it up by the shoulders, Sanji let the shirt unfurl to display large words written in black marker and had to refrain from rolling his eyes at his brother's lack of imagination. Not only was it unoriginal, but the lack of proper spelling was also a really nice touch.

im

a

dum

fuck

Throwing it down on his desk and snatching up a marker, Sanji altered it as best he could before pulling it on and throwing a hoodie on over top. He'd be a bit hot considering it was summer, but it'd have to do until he could get his shirts back.

Grabbing his pack, he bolted down the stairs two at a time with the full intent of getting out of the house as soon as possible lest he run in Yonji. He was nearly out the door when a gruff voice called after him, and judging from the livid tone it wasn't going to end well, "Where you think you're going, boy?"

Freezing in his tracks, Sanji's shoulders were already hunching as he turned to face his father who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Yonji at his side looking worse for wear as the blow from last night had caused a glorious bruise to spread across his face; both eyes bloodshot, sockets dark and swollen, and the entirety of his nose covered by large bandages.

Seemed like Sanji had actually managed to break Yonji's nose; he tried not to let his glee show.

Judge however, looked the exact opposite of happy as he grunted, "What I tell you guys about breaking bones?"

Biting down on his tongue, Sanji decided against pointing out that he hadn't technically broken a bone, knowing that that kind of comment wouldn't make his case any better. Instead, he responded with a murmur, "To not to."

"What's this then?" Judge jerked his thumb towards his brother's face, and when he didn't immediately continue it let Sanji know that the question was not meant to be taken rhetorically. Hand tightening its hold on his pack strap, Sanji knew Judge was just putting him through the motions, but it would almost be easier for the man to just go ahead and get straight to the disciplining.

Head falling forward in what was meant to be a polite inclination, Sanji tried not to sneer as he answered, "A broken nose."

"Yeah, that's what the nurse said." Judge grunted, "So you wanna tell me why you think it's okay to break my rule?"

"He-" Sanji bit his tongue against ratting his other brother out, knowing there was no point as he simply dropped the whole thing and shook his head. Judge had a lot of rules, and whether Sanji had a good reason for breaking them or not, the man never wanted to hear any of his excuses.

"That's what I thought." Judge growled, pointing at the ground as he commanded, "Get over here."

White knuckle grip on his strap slackening, Sanji let his backpack slip from his shoulder and fall to the floor before shuffling forward to where his father and brother stood. Judge cast a glance to Yonji before gesturing invitingly to Sanji as he came to a stop in front of them. A malicious grin lit up Yonji's - still very swollen - face, cracking his knuckles in anticipation as he stepped forward to return the favour from last night. Knowing better than to block the hit, Sanji braced himself for the fist that was lashing out towards him.

The strike connected in his side, and it was by no accident that his brother aimed for the spot he had managed to strike with the bat. Pain flared up his side and before Sanji could help it he was falling to his knees with a pained scream.

Hunched over on the floor, Sanji dry heaved from the force of the blow that had caused him to become winded from the shock and pain. A thick line of saliva trailed from his mouth, hanging open in pain until he managed to draw in a large, desperate gasp and felt the panic - that had begun to cause his heart to stutter erratically - taper off. Still panting heavily in a bid to recover from the blow, Sanji scowled at the floor and bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying anything.

A couple more months… he only had to put up with this bullshit for a couple more months.

Slowly pushing himself to his feet, Sanji stumbled as the pain to his side coupled with the soreness from yesterday nearly had him falling back on his ass. Steadying himself with a hand on the wall, Sanji kept a protective hand wrapped around his side as he finally raised his gaze to his father - ignoring Yonji's jeering - who had nothing but a cold glare to offer.

"Seems like you learned your lesson."

Still panting heavily through the pain, Sanji just watched his father through the mess of his bangs currently hanging in front of his face. Eventually giving a stiff nod in agreement, but doing nothing to hide the venom in his glare.

"Good." Judge grunted, flicking a hand to dismiss him before turning away, "Get outta here."

Shuffling over to his discarded bag, he carefully picked it up with his free hand and slung it onto his shoulder with a wince, still keeping his other hand pressed to his side. Shoving his feet lazily into his unlaced shoes, he didn't bother to do them up as he made his way out the front door as fast as possible.

~1:34pm~

"Alright, let's switch." Zoro ordered a tad breathlessly, straightening his stance and with his hands planted on his hips let his head fall back into a long stretch. Letting up a bit earlier than normal, but Perona's breakfast was not sitting well with him, and while he didn't think she spiked it with anything, he had a hunch he was going to feel uncomfortably sticky and full all day.

Relaxing his stance and releasing the punching back, Luffy leaned against it and watched as Zoro retrieved his water bottle, chuckling to himself softly before noting, "You're lazy today."

"Yeah. Yeah." Zoro waved the younger man off, pausing for a minute to chug back a large portion of the bottle. Releasing it with a relieved sigh and running the back of his hand across his mouth before explaining, "Just an off day; Perona made waffles."

"What?!" Luffy piqued instantly, nearly indignant as he strode over, "And you didn't invite me?!"

"My mistake." Zoro rolled his eyes, placing his water bottle aside in favour of nabbing up Luffy's gloves and tossing them at the still annoyed man, "I'll bring you along next time."

"No, no; you have to warn me." Luffy waved Zoro off with a scowl, pulling on a glove before murmuring venomously, "Last time I came, she made vegan hash and it sucked."

"Alright," Zoro chuckled, "I'll let her know ahead of time."

"And make sure there's bacon!" Luffy ordered, pointing a gloved hand at Zoro and wailing, "What's the point of breakfast if you can't have bacon?"

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro reassured the guy, "I'll let her know…"

Luffy finally seemed satisfied and took his place in front of the punching bag before waiting for Zoro to take his place behind it. Bracing it as best he could as Luffy began stepping into his set, switching between low and high strikes first before moving on to jabs.

"By the way, Lu, I picked up an extra shift on Thursday down at Elbaf." Zoro waited for Luffy to take a break between sets before asking, "Think you can cover?"

"Sorry, I got a match that evening." Luffy paused and let his gloves lower for a moment before asking, "What about Sanji?"

"Huh." The thoughtful noise left Zoro's lips before he realized he had made it, going back to holding the bag as Luffy began another set of strikes. It had completely slipped his mind, but after months of planning shifts around the four of them, he had completely forgotten he now had a new person on staff, "Completely forgot about him."

Speaking of Sanji, the kid had... well, he had grown up.

Reiju had been correct in her claims that the guy wasn't the same immature kid he had remembered; the Sanji he had worked with last night was mature, confident, and a bit on the smarmy side, but certainly not any bit the rambunctious dickhead Zoro remembered them all being. That didn't necessarily mean Zoro was ready to go marching over and meet all of Reiju's brothers again, but it was at least nice knowing they had managed to grow up a bit.

"Do you remember Sanji at all?" At Luffy's pause, and look of confusion, Zoro amended, "At school."

"Not really." Luffy huffed out between punches, following through with several aggressive strikes before pulling back and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Hands raised, he hummed thoughtfully, "I like him though."

"He doesn't seem too bad." Zoro agreed cautiously. While Sanji seemed like a great kid, it was clear he already knew Nami and Usopp from school, and that didn't bode well. The two of them already gave him enough headaches as it was, adding a third into the mix might just be his limit, "Not like any of his brothers that's for sure."

"I kinda remember them." Luffy offhandedly commented, finishing his set and taking a step back. Resting his gloved hands on his hips as he informed Zoro rather cheerfully, "They were in first year when I was in fourth; all kinda angry."

"Yeah," Releasing the bag and straightening, Zoro gave Luffy a few minutes to rest while chuckling, "that's them."

"Ace didn't like their father much."

"He was a bit of an ass." Zoro scratched absently at his jaw. There was never any evidence of him actually doing anything to the kids, but something always seemed off with them. "Rei didn't want us getting involved. Made us promise; infuriated Ace to no end."

"Is everything okay now?"

"I don't know, I guess?" Zoro shrugged, "She finally moved to Germany so I'm assuming things got better."

"Well, we gotta make him feel welcome; we need to have a movie night for him." Luffy grinned while slamming his gloves together in excitement, "We haven't had one of those in forever!"

"Sure, why not." Zoro crossed his arms casually, "What'd you have in mind? Old or new?"

"New." Luffy said definitively, making his way back over to the bag and waiting for Zoro as he explained, "We got White Horse in a week early."

"Ugh," Zoro made a face, "Cavendish? I hate his movies; the plot is always fucking awful."

Not to mention, any time they got any big name movie in theatre - especially something with Cavendish in it - the film would end up staying upwards of a month and drive Zoro crazy. There were only so many times he could handle hearing the same shitty movie played back to back every shift for a couple weeks before he wanted to gouge his ears out.

Gloved hands lashing out, Luffy gripped the front of Zoro's shirt as best as they could given their bulk, and he began jerking Zoro's shirt in an aggressive attempt to shake the other man. "But the action scenes are so cool!"

"You got me there." Zoro conceded begrudgingly, untangling Luffy's hold on him and shoving the guy away back in front of the bag so he could get on with his next set already. Heaving a defeated sigh as he gave in, "Fine. We'll do it Wednesday."

"Yosh!" Luffy cheered, hand striking out in excitement and hitting the bag as hard as he could and an unprepared Zoro taking the brunt of the swinging bag to his face. Zoro's pained grunt completely drowned out by Luffy's ecstatic yell, "Unlimited popcorn!"

~11:47pm~

"Can you believe that one man wanting the refund after sitting through, like, nine tenths of the movie?" Nami scoffed as she pulled off her work shirt and hung it in her locker. Taking a moment to shake out her hair from the ponytail it had been forced to be in for her work shift, "I swear, I take no greater pleasure than denying men a refund."

"That doesn't surprise me at all." Usopp muttered snidely before turning to Sanji with a wide grin, "I got her beat though; lady yesterday wanted a refund on her popcorn cause it was too salty, but she'd already eaten the whole bag."

"I gotta go Nami on this one." Sanji chuckled as he pulled open his locker, keeping a hand on the door to keep it angled out of his face so he could keep looking at Usopp as he rationalized, "It's clearly just an asshole who threw a fit afterwards because he wanted to get the movie for free; probably didn't even hate the movie."

Usopp's eyes narrowed, "You just picked her because she has tits."

A raised hand and a large grin was all Sanji offered as he agreed, "Guilty."

"A win's a win." Shoving between the two boys, Nami shouldered Usopp's locker door shut as she bared down on him. A playful smirk twisting her lips as she held out her hand towards the other man, making an impatient gesture with her fingers before prompting, "Pay up."

"Fine!" Usopp conceded as he threw his arms in the air in defeat before he dug a dollar bill from his pocket and slapped it down in her extended hand, "You win this week."

Dollar bill in hand, Nami folded it between her fingers expertly before slipping it into her bra. Turning away with a pleased smile to finish getting her things, as Usopp pulled open his locker that Nami had so ceremoniously slammed shut on him.

Sanji still not entirely certain what he had just helped vote on as he asked, "What even is this?"

"Every Sunday we offer up our worst customer interaction of the week and vote on which was worse." Nami explained as she pulled her jacket and purse from her locker, closing it before turning to face Sanji, "Winner gets a dollar."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Nami huffed, "If I'm gonna get yelled at by a middle aged woman for not having a gluten free option at a damned movie theatre, then I'm at least gonna have some fun with it."

"And no one minds?"

At that moment Zoro waltzed into the breakroom - having supposedly just finished cashing out the last till - to add rather succinctly, "I could give two fucks."

A bright smile lit up Nami's face, and she made a happy gesture towards the man to indicate that all was okay.

"Anyway, you're going to be here regularly now." Nami grinned, "You can play next Sunday."

"Fantastic." Sanji tried not to let his voice sound too sardonic as he chuckled, "I look forward to getting yelled at by strangers."

"Eh, it's not so bad. It's only the big dudes that are really scary when they start screaming." Usopp reassured as he grabbed the last of his things. Jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "I'm giving Nami a ride home; you want one?"

"Thanks, man, but I brought my bike." Sanji waved him off, "Really appreciate the offer though."

"Alright, well maybe next time." Usopp shrugged, slinging on his laptop bag as he made his way out of the breakroom, "I'll see you at my place tomorrow though, yeah?"

"Absolutely."

"See you later, Sanji!" Nami crooned pleasantly as she followed after Usopp, sending Zoro a much less sweet look as she nodded, "Later."

Waving them off, Sanji turned back to his locker and began pulling out his things. Dropping his pack at his feet as he wrestled his work shirt off and tossed it into his locker before scooping up his hoodie, about to pull it on when he felt like he was being watched and he turned to find Zoro watching him with a curious look morphing his face. Trying to not let the stare get to him, Sanji fought down a blush as he stammered nervously, "What?"

Jerking his head down towards Sanji's shirt, Zoro asked, "'I'm a dumb duck'?"

Sanji's face scrunched up in confusion before the events of that morning came back rather vividly and his head was snapping down to look at the shirt he had had to alter that morning. Placing a hand to his forehead in exasperation as it seemed that as far as Zoro was concerned, Sanji really was unable to get a break.

"Yeah," he sighed, "Yeah, I am."

That only caused Zoro to look more confused.

Placing a hand on his hip to properly expose the shirt to the older man, he waved a hand in front of it disparagingly, "My brother thinks he's a comedian."

Frowning, Zoro took a step forward and Sanji hated how much it put into perspective how much taller the other man was. Zoro leaned down to take a closer look at the shirt and finally noticed the lines on what used to be the 'f' that Sanji had managed to salvage into a 'd'. Pulling back with a less impressed look on his face as he commented, "Seems like an asshole."

"He is." Sanji agreed.

"You couldn't just wear another shirt?"

"If I could don't you think I would?" Sanji sassed, huffing before properly answering the man's earlier question, "No. He hid all my shirts and no doubt has done something unspeakable to them. I'll find them later."

Turning back to his locker, Sanji tried not to think about all the horrible things Yonji may have done with his clothes, hopefully it was only something mild like the time he took all off Sanji's pants, put them out on the lawn, and doused them with the hose. Unlike his pants, he actually had a few shirts he actually liked and he prayed Yonji hadn't smeared them with dog shit or something.

"Here." Zoro's voice pulled Sanji from his shudder inducing thought, in time to see the man pull a neatly folded black shirt from his locker. Zoro tossed it to Sanji so the blond wouldn't have any way of refusing, before speaking in a tone that sounded more like an order than an offer, "Take my spare."

"I…" Sanji wanted to refuse purely on principle that it felt pathetic being given another man's shirt, however, a much more love struck part of him held the fabric with reverence. Stomping down the squirming sensation in his stomach and muttering softly, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Zoro shrugged, gesturing to Sanji, "And throw that out."

Placing the shirt on the edge of his locker, Sanji's hands fell to the hem of his shirt as he made a motion to remove it before halting in his tracks. Acutely aware of Zoro nearby and the very noticeable bruise on his side from Yonji that had grown in size after getting hit again thanks to Judge deciding to make his point that morning. Yonji's nose probably hurt worse, but it didn't make Sanji's hurt any less.

Regardless of how he got it though, he was certainly not ready to have someone else see - least of all someone he might have to explain it to - and he really, really did not want to have this particular talk with Zoro of all people. So now, he just stood in place with his shirt half off like an idiot, not entirely sure how to get out of this mortifying situation as he awkwardly hummed, "Uhhh…"

"What?"

Sanji looked over at the older man, uncomfortable agony clear on his face as he really hoped Zoro wasn't going to make him say it. It was already embarrassing enough he had to pretend he was shy about showing his body to Zoro, he didn't want to have to spell it out for him too. It would make him sound like even more of a virgin than he already was.

For his part, Zoro just seemed confused - almost concerned - until a dawning look of realization had him opening his mouth and uttering a soft, "Ah." before turning his back to the blond. Going about taking off his own work shirt in the meantime while giving Sanji some privacy. "Didn't take you as the modest type."

"I-" Sanji refrained from correcting the other man, as he most certainly wasn't modest, but decided to take the hit in exchange for not having to discuss his injuries. He quickly divested himself of the horrible shirt provided by Yonji, and pulled on Zoro's, noting how, the second he pulled it on, it felt like he was drowning in the man's musk and Sanji began to beg for the sweet, merciful release of death.

"Good?"

Taking a moment to not choke on his words, Sanji coughed before muttering, "Yeah, thanks."

Turning back to his locker, Zoro finished pulling out his own belongings before slamming it shut. Sanji following suit though still thoroughly distracted by the soft fabric of the other man's shirt and how it hung far too baggy on his slighter frame.

"You know… the duck thing ain't half bad." Zoro mused as he began to make his way out of the break room. Sanji following after, killing the lights before joining Zoro in the hallway, just in time to see the man was make a flaring gesture with his hand over his own head, "When you were like, nine, your hair did that thing where it looked like a duck's butt."

"No, it didn't!" Sanji cheeks heated up as the last thing he needed was for Zoro of all people to bring up his unflattering years as a prepubescent - lashing out on instinct and kicking the man in the shin, "Take it back, asshat."

Both of them froze on the spot as Sanji realized the ramifications of what he had just done, and Zoro was no doubt shocked that Sanji had just done something so monumentally stupid. After a few seconds of silence, Sanji finally got the courage to look up at Zoro who arched a brow and chuckled, "Did you just kick your boss?"

Deciding to double down, Sanji nodded, "Yup."

Another round of laughter shook the man's shoulders before he eventually shook it off, looking at Sanji again with that smile that caused the blond's brain to short circuit unhelpfully and made his tongue feel swollen in his mouth. That wry grin never left Zoro's face as he reached out and ruffled Sanji's hair aggressively, "You really haven't changed, dumb duck."

Zoro's stupidly attractive smile, and the sensation of his hand being dragged through Sanji's hair was enough to distract Sanji for several long moments. Knowing, shamefully, that the feeling of Zoro's hand in his hair was going to supply him with multiple fantasies that he really shouldn't indulge. It distracted him long enough to allow Zoro to begin to walk away and make for the door of the theatre before Sanji even realized what the man had said and he was bolting after him with an indignant, "OI!"

TBC...