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The next morning, Sanji was happily tossing pancakes in the frying pan before the others were up. Or so he thought. He heard the door swing open and he stopped his humming and flipping to glance at who was first up. He kind of hoped it was Robin, as it was most mornings. No such luck. Half slumped in the doorway was a very hung over Zoro, who looked like a dead thing with dark rings beneath his eyes and knackered-looking limbs.


"Oi cook, do you have that spare key to my locker? I lost mine and I really need those hang over meds Chopper made me…" he whined, frowning. God, he didn't even remember when he last felt so bad just because he had a few too many the night before.


Sanji rolled his eyes and reached over to a small key rack on the side of a cabinet to unhook a small set of keys, and found the spare one he'd had cut of Zoro's locker- the idiot was always losing the damn thing…


"Here," he said, handing them to him. He then poured his lover a glass of water to take the pills with.


"Thank you," Zoro said, and lurched back to the bunk room.


Sanji mentally stamped on the feeling of domesticity he got from the exchange, and then carried on with breakfast.


About an hour later, Robin joined him in the kitchen after having showered and dressed, and Sanji made her a cup of coffee after his usual swooning.


"What happened with Navigator-san last night, Cook-san?" She asked, obviously having worked out where Nami had disappeared off to the previous night.


Sanji blinked at her. "Do you know everything, Robin-chan?" He asked, a bit incredulously.


"I know a lot of things," she answered enigmatically.


Sanji smiled and took some pepper out of the cupboard. "Well, she knows," he replied, "she walked into the galley when I was arguing with Zoro about the way he acted at the restaurant."


"Oh," she said, "what did she say?" She didn't imagine the redhead would have taken the news badly.


Sanji suppressed the helpless feeling as he remembered her reaction. "She said she couldn't wait to rub Nojiko-san's nose in her defeat when she told her about winning their bet," he replied, comical fears running down his face.


"Ah, I wondered if she would remember-" Robin stopped herself. Of course Nami remembered everything when it came to her financial dealings. "Well, at least now we have another brain to help us with this situation," she finished.


"I suppose," Sanji said, "thank you for all your help, Robin-chan," he added sincerely, and placed her breakfast in front of her. Robin nodded at him with a smile, thanking him, and then the blond left to wake the rest of the crew.


First he woke Nami, with polite and gentle knocks on the door, and then the others with loud, quick knocks. "Get up if you want to eat breakfast, you lazy shits!" He bellowed, and walked back to the galley to eat his own.


Luffy was first to the kitchen, nearly knocking over the redheaded navigator in his unyielding search for food. They ate breakfast as usual, though Zoro ate slightly more slowly than his crewmates thanks to his hangover. Eventually, they all left the galley to prepare for a day of adventures, but to Sanji's surprise, Nami stayed, along with Robin, Chopper and Zoro.


"You know, Sanji, Zoro," she began, placing the coffee cup on the table, "I have a secret."


The others perked up at this. "Secret?" Zoro asked, intrigued.


"Yeah. For some time, I've been stashing some riches away- not much, but every time we hit the jackpot I always managed to store a small amount away, and I'm sure that by now it must be a small fortune."


"You put money away?" Zoro said disbelievingly. Sanji glared at him.


Nami narrowed her eyes and looked affronted. "Yes, actually, even I can save. I have to keep hold of some money, for times like when Merry passed away." She flicked her eyes to the tabletop briefly, then continued. "It's not a huge amount like it was before, because it hasn't been so long since we left Water 7, but there's more than enough to buy all the essentials, and then we'd still have a considerable amount of money for an emergency. Though if you ask me, I'd say this was kind of an emergency too." She explained.


Sanji swooned. "Oh, Nami-swan~ are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" He wailed, his eyes popping into hearts.


"Well, I am a woman, you know, I do have these kind of qualities-"


Zoro snorted.


"Oi, Zoro, do you have a problem with what Nami-san is offering?" Sanji said darkly.


"In a way," he explained, "I'm the father, I should be providing for my kid."


Sanji rolled his eyes. Typical idiotic swordsman honour. "Well do you have the money we need?" He asked, folding his arms, "this isn't something that's going to be cheap. We need baby clothes, bottles, a sterilizer, a cot, baby food, a high chair, toys, nappies*, carriers… that's far too expensive for someone who struggles to pay for his sword repair bills, let alone a child!"


"Since when did you know so much about babies, love-cook?"


"Alright, I think that's enough you two," Nami yelled, close to banging their heads together.


"Sorry, Nami-san," Sanji said. Zoro grunted and looked away.


"Right. I'm going to change, and you're going to draw up a list of everything we need. Chopper, I think you should write a list of any medical supplies you'll be needing." She said robustly.


"Okay," Chopper replied, and Nami turned to leave.


***


They left shortly after Luffy, Brook and Usopp set out to do some exploring; Franky stayed on the ship to keep an eye on things. They walked the short distance to the nearby market place, first renting a cart to pick up the necessary groceries (which wasn't much), and then taking it back to the ship so nothing defrosted or went bad in the heat. They then made their way to what seemed to be a large shopping centre; there was a large glass dome they could see on the horizon and a large maroon sign that read 'Jessamine Arcade' positioned on a ledge beneath it.


"Right, first I think we should get the medical stuff." Sanji said, eyeing Zoro who seemed very disinterested in their current activity.


"Okay," Chopper said, and trotted over to a map, now in his all-fours reindeer form. He read it intently, and then mentioned for the others to follow.


There was a wing of the mall which was full of health stores and chemists', and Chopper walked into one that specialised in herbs first off. They looked around others, buying medicines and equipment, until they came across a rather unusual contraption.


It was a small, pocket sized screen that had a thick wire trailing out of the bottom of it. At the end of it was a kind of wand with a rubbery pad, and there were several buttons below the screen and on the wand itself.


"What's that, a sex toy?" Zoro asked bluntly.


"Why would they sell a sex toy in a health store, idiot?" Sanji replied.


They bickered for a couple of moments until Chopper pushed his head between them to have a look for himself. He gasped and then grinned excitedly.


"I heard about these!" He exclaimed excitedly, grinning widely.


"What is it?" Robin asked, intrigued.


"It's an ultrasound machine," Chopper replied, "it uses ultrasound waves to penetrate through solid objects, and then it creates an image of what's inside. Kind of like those X-Ray things I was telling you about, but they're not as dangerous. They started using these in maternity hospitals a few years ago, and they're really useful!" He raved.


"Wow," Sanji said, impressed.


"So how much is it?" Nami asked, looking for a price tag.


She frowned when she saw it. It was fairly expensive, probably more than she was willing to pay for it. Where was that shopkeeper? If there was one thing she was good/scary at, it was haggling.


"I could use it for all sorts of things. I could use it if anyone of us sustained an internal injury in a battle, and as for the baby, you could see an image of the foetus, what sex it is, if there's more than one, if there's something wrong…" Chopper trailed off, rambling on in his excitement.


Nami eventually found the shopkeeper of the large store, and promptly began haggling with him. She got it down to a reasonable price, and they purchased it, Chopper immensely grateful that he'd been gifted such a rare item.


"Arigatou, Nami-chan!" He thanked. Sanji did the same, but with a lot more swooning.


"Yeah well, it's a good investment if it really can do all those things," she answered.


They left the store with a last 'thank you' to the clerk, who gave them a defeated look and nod. They visited a few more medical stores and then checked the map for the children's department, and found a store that sold clothes designed for young children and babies. It was a brightly coloured space with several women and families browsing through the shelves and clothing racks, and Sanji set about finding what they needed. Nami had given them some money and then she, Robin and Chopper had decided that they were going to look in the weird global import store around the corner, which left him and Zoro alone.


Sanji stumbled across a large island counter with folded goods arranged around it, and he picked up numerous babygros, making sure that they were unisex, a couple of tiny coats, some socks, a few pairs of tiny jeans and shorts, shirts, as well the other necessities like hats and gloves for colder weather, night clothes, and everything they had listed.


"Can you carry all that?" Sanji asked as he went through a pile of bedding.


"Just about," Zoro replied, ignoring the judgemental looks of the women in the store. He knew exactly what they were gasping about.


"Okay, well here's some more bed linen, and that should be it for clothes and whatever." Sanji said, but gave him a concerned look when he saw the darkness in the swordsman's expression. "What's wrong?"


"Nothing, let's just pay and get everything else we need," Zoro replied, walking toward the cashier.


Sanji frowned but followed him anyway, and they left the shop with several bags in each hand to meet the others just outside the building. Robin appeared to have noticed that something wasn't quite right between him and Zoro, but she didn't say anything.


The next stop was to a cosmetics and basic grooming store that had a large section devoted to infantile needs. They picked up everything they needed, such as bottles, sterilizers and a large supply of nappies*. As they left the store they noticed a bright, colourful section of the centre that seemed to attract a lot of attention from children, so they decided to have a look.


"Sugei!" Chopper exclaimed as they entered the huge toy store. It was quite busy and there were a number of kids running around the place happily, with their parents either following them or screaming at them for being horrible little shits. The walls were deep navy and were patterned with stars, and music echoed around the place loudly. There were countless stalls and shelves arranged around huge pillars and along the walls, with soft toys, dress-up costumes, toy cars, dolls, action figures, building toys, arts and crafts, outdoor things- it was like a kid's paradise, so Sanji decided that they wouldn't stay there too long.


Zoro, on the other hand, was slightly terrified of what he had gotten himself into. With the amount of kids pulling things off the shelves, screaming because they couldn't get what they wanted, kicking, flailing and generally being hell raisers, he felt a kind of dread he only felt when he was in real shit. He gave a nauseated expression as he watched them.


They looked around the store in a group until Zoro decided he was going to have a look around himself.


"Oi, Zoro? Where are you going?" Sanji called after him, as he, the girls and Chopper were watching a demonstration for a new gadget. He cursed under his breath and mentioned that he was following Zoro.


The swordsman found a fairly quiet part of the store that seemed to have a lot of stuffed animals and eyed them disinterestedly. It wasn't like he had any money to actually support his children, he thought with a sneer.


Unfortunately Sanji caught it as he approached him from the side, and he frowned at the man, though it lacked the usual venom. "What's that look for?" He asked quietly, trying not to attract any attention.


"What look?" Zoro asked, picking up a light brown cat toy with soft fur and a pink satin nose and ears.


Sanji rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that crap. You've been moping around all day with that look on your face," he said.


"Look, I'm just a bit annoyed that I'm not doing anything for that kid," he explained without looking at the cook.


Sanji didn't answer, but he looked around at the little section of the store which he imagined must be for very young children. Finally, he spoke up. "It's not about money. Some fathers might support their kids financially but they don't do anything fatherly at all. And Nami might be the one who keeps hold of it, but you had equal part in earning that money- we're pirates, remember? Besides, there's nothing wrong with accepting help from the crew. They're family too, aren't they?" He said, and reached for the cat that Zoro had picked up. "Half and half?"


Zoro folded his arms and nodded.


After they had left the store, Nami had decided that Sanji needed new clothes. It was true, but it didn't mean he was looking forward to it any more than Zoro probably was - though he'd probably be pleased that Sanji wasn't going to keep stealing his clothes anymore.


Robin and Chopper had decided to leave them a little early to do some of their own shopping before the centre closed for the day, leaving Nami, Zoro and Sanji alone. Nami seemed to be re-energized once she knew they'd be going clothes shopping and was leading them, apparently instinctively, to the fashion floor.


"Okay, Sanji-kun, I don't think you're going to find maternity menswear, so you'll probably have to make do with plus size things." Nami said, and continued to ramble on before them.


Sanji nodded along, not really listening but swooning anyway. His Nami-san was amazing when she was doing- well anything, really. Zoro ignored them both and eyed the passing stores with disinterest, until he spotted a menswear shop that seemed to specialize in fugly prints- something the cook appeared to be rather fond of.


"Oi, cook, what about that one?" He said, pointing at the brightly coloured sign.


Sanji blinked and looked over to where the swordsman had indicated, and then he shrugged and began walking over to it. "Can't hurt to look," he said.


They had a look around a few other menswear shops until Nami apparently cracked and decided she was going to go on a shopping spree of her own. Sanji waved goodbye to her with lots of swooning, and then turned to Zoro with a slight scowl.


"Let's go back to the ship," he said, carrying a couple of bags full of his new clothes.


Zoro grunted and followed.


*


The two men struggled to hide the numerous bags they had been carrying behind their backs as they made their way to the men's bunk room, as Usopp, Brook and Luffy had returned for dinner and were irritated that it was not there waiting for them upon their return. As well as this, they were also increasingly curious as to why Sanji and Zoro were carrying so many bags.


"It's medical stuff!" Sanji said, hiding the bags behind his back, "Chopper asked us to bring it back because he doesn't know how much more stuff he- ah, needs for the rest of the journey!"


"You can't lie to us, Sanji, especially not me!" Usopp replied, even though Luffy appeared to have bought it and now had half of his index finger lodged up his nose.


"So can we see it?" Brook asked.


"Yeah, if its just medical stuff, we can look at it right?" Franky chimed in, hammering away at the mast to fix a tiny little dent from a minor storm that had occurred the previous week.


Sanji glared. "No." He said, and, grabbing Zoro with a hooked arm, bolted for the men's quarters, where he promptly locked the door behind them.


"Good save," Zoro snorted, ignoring the banging on the door, dumping the bags on the floor and stretching his arms over his head, groaning as his back made little crunching noises.


Sanji scowled in disgust. "Do you know how much it grosses me out when you do that?" He said, placing his bags in the corner where Zoro had dumped his.


"Yeah, and I don't give a crap," the swordsman replied, shooting a haughty grin towards his lover and then flopping down on his nearby bunk.


Sanji eyed him slowly with his one visible eye; the blue iris trailing up the swordsman's crossed legs, broad chest and muscled arms folded behind his head, and slowly toward the tanned face that was giving him a suspicious look. "Don't even think about it," Zoro said quietly, as if he didn't quite agree with his own words.


But Sanji didn't listen to him, as always. His strange hormones had once again decided to do a complete one-eighty on him and within a few moments, he was straddling his lover's hips and leaning down to kiss him, completely uncaring of the others right outside the door.


Zoro kissed him back and ran his hands up the loose-fitting fabric of the blond's navy vest sweater, stroking the clothed flesh beneath with some annoyance at the blue and white checked under-shirt. The layers allowed for the cook's small bump to look like crumpled fabric, but it made him a little hot on this kind of island.


Sanji sighed and laid down on his lover's chest fully, feeling somewhat content and tired after their long shopping trip. He loosened the white tie and undid a couple of buttons to reveal a small amount of pale flesh beneath, and that took up all of Zoro's attention.


"Hn," he said, and buried his face in the cook's neck, breathing in his scent. "You smell nice," he muttered. Sanji's flesh smelt like the sea and slightly of smoke, though not as much as it used to. Though he worried about the health of his kid, he couldn't help but miss it a bit.


Sanji smiled a little and licked along the shell of Zoro's ear teasingly. "You taste good," he said with a grin.


Zoro shivered. "Damn it, cook," he said, "we can't do that right now…"


Sanji nuzzled his neck gently. "Why not? Not even a quick one..?" He said hopefully.


"No," the swordsman replied, but Sanji was already kissing his neck and moving to pull the thin sweater over his head.


Zoro eyed the cook's body slowly with his green eyes and smirked as he leant up, the dark material ruffling his blond locks and pulling the curtain of hair up slightly, momentarily revealing another blue eye, darkened slightly with arousal. Sanji threw the garment off to the side after some minor fumbling and smiled softly as he leant back down, kissing the swordsman once again and running a hand up the dark green t-shirt he had worn today with the haramaki, dark cargo pants tucked into his usual boots. His hand caressed the smooth, muscled skin he found there as Zoro rested on hand on his lower back and his right threaded through his soft hair slowly, his lips gently pressing small pecks to his mouth.


Sanji felt the calm around them expand like a bubble. It wasn't often he and Zoro had moments like this; intimacies between them were usually shared with rough, hard caresses and muttered insults. But for whatever reason, Sanji just didn't feel like it this time, and apparently, neither did Zoro.


He sighed and tilted his head so Zoro could work his mouth down the pale skin of his neck, his full, lightly chapped lips caressing him gently and letting out small puffs of air and making the cook shiver. His fingers gently unbuttoned his shirt slowly, ignoring his own words about it not being the best time. The swordsman moved his mouth to kiss the lightly panting cook's lips once more while his hands spread themselves over Sanji's chest, making the other man shiver lightly and arch his back.


Sanji purred and straightened his back, leaning upright to straddle the other man's waist. He smiled as he wordlessly covered his long, pale hands with Zoro's tanned, calloused ones, flicking his blue eyes down toward them and grinning. He and Zoro had such differing complexions and he wondered, at the back of his mind, what colour the baby's skin would be. With this thought he slowly pushed his lovers hands down so they covered the growing bump, and Zoro stroked it gently with a small smile tugging at his lips.


The bubble of calm around them suddenly popped dramatically as Luffy's shrill voice began his ominous, trademark sentence: "Gomu Gomu nooooo…"


*


Oh God, this was a bitch to finish. I personally hate the ending; that's got to be the worst cliff-hanger I've ever written >.< I did actually write a little more but it seemed too lingering.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to tell me what you thought ;)