Hello all! Yes it's been a while, but I come bearing posties, forgive me? Here is the final presmut post to Pivot point, after this don't read if you don't like M stuff. Beyond that I own nothing and no one in this, and be aware (as if you'd still be here if you weren't) this story centers involves boy on boy smexing, so please flee if you don't want to read that! (you know you do)

The evening progressed in silence as the two drank down their rum. Truthfully Zoro chugged his first bottle in under two minutes and was slowly enjoying his second as he watched Sanji get blitzed by about one-third of a bottle. Zoro never really got drunk, per se, but he did relax with alcohol and even got a bit mischievous, so just to watch Sanji choke and splutter on his rum he couldn't help but throw out, "You know ero-cook, I am shocked that someone so...prissy, and so intent on impressing the ladies would ever do something as...crass as going commando."

Zoro leaned back with a smirk as he got the reaction he was wanting, and chuckled as Sanji couldn't even curse properly for coughing. As he got his breathing back the cook swung sideways, blanket twisting and slipping off one shoulder, so he was facing Zoro's profile, the cook's face unnaturally reddened by the fire and the alcohol.

"You damned, shit-head, marimo bashtard! I'm not Luffy, or you, so don't you dare go shpreading lies like that to Nami-shwan or anybody! You do and I'll feed you thish bottle." The threat was lessened dramatically by the slurring, but Zoro got the point.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the girls you're a closet pervert, but the fact that you were going commando, which I sadly noticed while carrying your scrawny ass around this shitty island, lessens the credibility of your denial somewhat."

Zoro had smirked and closed his eyes, waiting for an even more enraged denial. Several seconds passed with no retort before the swordsman opened his eyes and turned to meet the stricken gaze of his companion. Sanji didn't say anything, just sat with his eyes widened as he slowly paled.

Seeing Sanji such Zoro collected his wits rapidly. "Oi, ero-cook...Sanji, what is it?"

When he got no reply Zoro fully faced his nakama, and grabbed the other man's shoulders, fixing the blanket as he did so, shook the cook slightly.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Sanji seemed to snap out of it, and with a glare grabbed Zoro's arms to shove the swordsman away. A few fierce, but injured and drunken, tugs later Sanji seemed to realize the futility of his actions and merely gripped Zoro's arms as he hung his head.

"I'm not Luffy, marimo, I don't run around half dressed. When those shit head's hunting darts got me I couldn't move at all at first, thought I might be dying actually, and one of them found me. He cut up my suit and, well, what I wasn't wearing when you found me was thrown in the fire, except my shoes, don't know where those went."

While Zoro tried to think of something, anything to say, Sanji continued.

"As much as my ribs hurt right now...I'm glad the leader of those bastards found us, I can take any shit head's beating, hell Zeff's kicks was ten times worse, but what that shitty scum had planned..."

Zoro didn't want to hear anymore, what he really wanted was to bring the bastard that did this back to life so Sanji could have the privilege of killing the son of a bitch again. His own hands matched the tremble in Sanji's thin frame, but he couldn't put two words together that might console the injured cook. Now that the alcohol had thoroughly numbed the blond, he could finally curl his legs up and form the miserable ball he'd been trying to since they'd entered the cave. The effect was only broken by the fact that his hands were still around Zoro's forearms, clinging.

Zoro thought he got the message. The cook wouldn't, and probably couldn't, ask for help, and certainly not from someone he'd likely only barely tolerated before today, but he still needed it. Needed to know that he wasn't completely on his own.

As soundlessly as possible, Zoro scooted closer, just enough that his chest brushed against the cook's folded legs, the blanket the only barrier between them. He then lightly tugged away from Sanji's grip. This would be easier if Sanji's legs weren't a pressed between them, or if his own lower limbs weren't still sticking out toward the fire, but he would manage. Slowly, gauging whether Sanji was going to pull away, he slid his arms around the other man's shoulders and tugged him into an awkward embrace.

Sanji jerked at first, not away rather in shock, but slowly relaxed. The slight tremor in him became more pronounced as he slowly lowered his legs to the side and leaned forward toward Zoro. A blanket can only take so much movement of course, and was pulled from under Zoro's arms to pool around Sanji's waist and legs. The cook froze as his covering fell, and seemed to stop breathing. Feeling that his nakama needed reassurance more than he needed his pride or his covering at the moment, Zoro tightened his grip on the blonde and pulled him close. Sanji's head was resting on his shoulder, so Zoro didn't even try to see the other man's face, but he took in the body before him.

Those bastards really had worked Sanji over good, the man's back and arms littered with bruises, and dotted with small punctures from the knife, and the bruising on his left side was turning a myriad of colors.

There were no tears, at least not that Zoro noticed, but the cook did latch on to his tee shirt in a viselike grip and shuddering breaths were all that could be heard over the fire for some time.

From Zoro's shoulder level Sanji voiced what, to him, must have been a pressing concern.

"How can I go back to the ship like this? I can't go back naked, or they'll know something happened. What am I going to do?"

"You could just tell them, Sanji, they're all your nakama, and you wouldn't deny Luffy a reason to sink the island would you? Besides, when chopper sees the bruising, he'll know you got into a fight."

"A fight yes, but not..." He awkwardly gestured at his blanket-covered form, "not this."

Zoro understood what he meant, and in fact already had a solution in mind for when Sanji brought up this problem.

"Look tomorrow morning I'm heading back to the ship, you can just stay here-"

"NO!" Zoro sat shocked as Sanji's head snapped up and the other man pulled away from him.

"You bastard! I get hurt and once, just once, need your damned help and you want to leave me here?" The cook ignored his attempt to interrupt as the blond scooted back until he hit the far wall from Zoro, not even looking at the swordsman as he continued to rant. "I could have beaten them all, damn it, I didn't even need you there..." The drunken cook violently swiped a hand across his eyes as he sat and shook in what Zoro hoped was still rage.

Shocked and insulted at Sanji's assumption Zoro lunged across the small cave, nearly tripping over the blanket that Sanji had been too drunk to drag along, and threw himself against the trembling cook. The two struggled briefly, both lashing out with fists at the other. Sanji managed to clip Zoro on the chin before the swordsman's strength won out over the drunk and injured chef and Sanji was thrown violently to the cave floor, with the green haired fighter catching himself just before landing on top of the other man. Even enraged, Zoro knew that the full weight of a muscled fighter on Sanji's injured ribs would definitely worsen his injuries. If he killed the bastard chef he wanted it to be on purpose.

They struggled on the ground for a few more moments before Zoro laid his forearm against Sanji's throat and pressed, hindering but not completely stopping the other's airflow. Sanji tried to pull the offending arm off before the swordsman caught both of the other's thin wrists and pulled them above his head. He sat next to the cook's chest while his upper body was stretched across the blond, holding him in place. Zoro was trying his best to subdue without injuring his irate nakama, but if got kicked for his efforts he would crush the damned cook and be done with it.

His face was bare inches from Sanji's as he snarled, "What. The fuck. Is your problem, you bastard chef."

"You! You betraying...Marimo...I'll kick...your ass-" Sanji could barely breathe with the pressure on his throat, but still managed to curse his crew mate.

"Betraying? I'm never getting you drunk again you complete moron. You really think I meant to leave you here? What the hell kind of scum do you think I am, Sanji?"

Sanji struggled underneath him, but failed to budge the muscled swordsman.

"You're the one who said you were leaving, asshole, what the hell else could you mean?"

Zoro looked down at his companion, the hurt and near fear from the situation finally plain on his pale face. He felt his own anger toward Sanji ebbing away, realizing the other man was probably so ashamed that he had failed to protect himself that he had thought his own nakama might abandon him. With a deep sigh Zoro explained what he had meant.

"I wasn't going to abandon you, you moron, before you threw this fit I was going to say that I would go back to the ship, while you stayed here." He ignored Sanji's flinch over this, "When I got back to the ship and 'found out' that you never made it back, I would volunteer to find you, stopping downstairs long enough to grab you some clothes, and head back out here. Then we could just return to the ship, and you could explain the fight however you wanted. I doubt that anyone would notice the color of your suit in the face of your injuries."

His monologue complete, Zoro released Sanji's wrists and moved his other arm to rest by the blond's head, freeing up the cook's airflow. He hovered over the other man so he wouldn't miss any reaction. Sanji must be even more mentally messed up than normal to think Zoro would just leave him here.

The green haired fighter almost backed away when quiet laughter bubbled from Sanji.

"Heh heh, I really heh...am drunk, aren't I? I thought...ha ha...that you were...disgusted with me or...ha...something-" Sanji's eye widened dramatically as a rough hand was clamped over his mouth. Zoro had heard enough of this derogatory crap. He wanted to punch the cook for being so stupid, but knew that wouldn't help. Instead this required more of one of his least favorite activities, talking.

"Could you just stop with that crap, ero-cook? We might not get along much, or at all, but I wouldn't just leave you here. Even if I did, Luffy, Nami and everyone else would come for you, then kill me when they found out what happened. You're not weak. You're as strong as me and Luffy, and even if you weren't, we wouldn't abandon you. Look at Nami and Usopp, they might not be superb fighters, but they're our nakama. We don't abandon our nakama." Zoro would never be as eloquent as the moron sprawled beneath him, but that didn't mean he couldn't try, "They won't, and I won't abandon you."

Zoro watched as Sanji closed his eyes and slumped back against the cave floor. He smirked a bit as he pulled his hand from the other's mouth. Maybe he had finally gotten through to the cook that losing to five men while drugged was not a reason to be ashamed of yourself.

Figuring that the exhausted man might actually pass out now that his fears had been set to rest, Zoro began to move away from the cook. He was slightly surprised when Sanji's hands swooped down from above the blond's head to clutch Zoro's shirt collar.

Zoro froze as chapped lips were pressed roughly against his own. Not moving, hell, not even breathing the swordsman tried to take stock of the situation. Sanji's eyes were closed and what Zoro could see of the man's face seemed to be set in fierce determination. Yes, the cook was definitely determined as he began rubbing his mouth against Zoro's with soft pressure, the blond's tongue lapping at the swordsman's lips in a request of entrance. More concerning, if that was possible, was that the cook was pulling Zoro's chest down to meet his own, hard. Finally overbalancing the green haired man, Zoro's upper body collapsed on that of his nakama.

"San-" Zoro started worried he had further damaged his friend when any speech was cut off by Sanji's successful invasion. Zoro's eyes slid closed as an enthusiastic tongue began mapping his mouth. The swordsman tasted rum, cigarettes, though it had been hours since Sanji had smoked any, and some kind of Sanji cooked meal that he couldn't place. Of their own volition, Zoro's hands came up to cup Sanji's face and he raised the kiss to bruising level. The swordsman was blind-sided. He hadn't seen this coming at all, but damned if he wasn't thrilled to reciprocate.

Author's notes:

Woohoo another chapter! I know Sanji is acting odd and a bit emotional, but remember, he was drugged, is now drunk, and I can only imagine the emotional fallout of what he's been through would be enough to knock him off his game.

Please review, flames will be used to keep my corner of hell nice and toasty!