... my terrible week of endless insomnia was topped today when I fell down the stairs .

I was 'lucky' and only got a few bruises from that but it did mark the end of some very shitty days, so yeah: I wrote this for therapeutic measures XD

The story had been in my mind for a while now, so it didn't take long to type down. And for those who are waiting for an update of 'AKitD': I should be able to post it either next weekend or the week after next :)

Please enjoy and do write a review after reading! I'm always happy to read them.

Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, I just want to play.

Lost, only to be found again

The strawhats ran out of the burning building, thick smoke and a raging fire following close behind them. Coming to a stop in safe distance, they turned around, panting while looking at the former marine headquarters, now destroyed by its own corrupted captain.

"I-Is everyone here? Is everyone safe?" Nami asked breathlessly, looking at each of them.

"Z-Zoro! Zoro is missing," Chopper answered, tears already welling up in his big, brown eyes. "He was behind me! I thought he was behind me!"

Everyone gaped at him and then looked back at the destroyed building.

"You don't think... he is still..." Nami started.

"Even if he is, Zoro won't be killed by just a fire," Luffy said. "He is too strong to-"

Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

A flash of light and a deafening, terrifying sound had interrupted Luffy's confident words as a giant explosion rocked the earth. The shockwave threw Nami, Chopper, Usopp and Brook to the ground while the others barely managed to stay on their feet, shielding their eyes from the flying debris.

Luffy's eyes widened in shock. The building was nothing more than a sea of flames, boulders and ash. He screamed Zoro's name as he slowly went closer, the flames, still so far away, already burning his rubbery skin. His screams were echoed by his nakama who all stared at the inflamed remains in shock.

Only Sanji stayed silent, watching with disbelieving eyes as Franky and Usopp tried to hold Luffy back from running right into the flames. His mouth was opened in a silent 'O', the cigarette, he had wanted to lit seconds ago, lying forgotten on the ground.

One impossible, horrible thought sneaked its way into his mind:

No one, not even him, could survive an explosion like that.

They were crying... his beautiful flowers, not less gorgeous even in tears, clutched at each other, trying to give what small comfort the warmth of another could bring. The others were crying, too... Franky big crocodile tears, Luffy and Usopp the usual combination of tears and snot. Chopper cried silently, hiccuping now and then... exhausted by the amount of tears he had already shed. Even Brook cried, though Sanji wasn't quite sure how he did it... without lacrimal glands and all.

Sanji laughed a hollow laugh. Skull joke... how sick it felt to think something like that in a situation like this.

Maybe he still didn't accept it, maybe he still thought Zoro, Roronoa Zoro, wouldn't be defeated just like this. Maybe that was the reason, Sanji didn't cry. He felt... numb. Empty and tired.

Watching the still angry flames, he lit another cigarette, dragging in the smoke as his eyes wandered for the hundredths time over the ruins, searching for even the slightest hint of green hair. An hour had passed by now and even though more marines could come at any minute, they still refused to leave... refused to accept the inevitable.

It was impossible. Sanji knew it wasn't possible to survive in those ruins. The flames, all the boulders and the explosion itself... There was no way someone could-

"Woah, that sure is a big fire. No one could survive something like that..."

Sanji nodded, eyes still on the flames. "Yeah, it's impossible. The explosion was just too big... Not even he could have-" The blonde stopped, eyes widening as he first realised everyone from his crew was still in front of him, then his numb brain slowly recognised the sound of that voice.

Slowly, Sanji turned around, another cigarette falling as his mouth opened up in silent shock.

Roronoa Zoro stood behind him, smirking like a damn shitty bastard.

"What? You look like you've seen a-" Whatever the swordsman wanted to say was lost in cries of joy and relief.

His nakama suddenly ran past Sanji, wrapping their arms around a startled Zoro, while the cook continued to stare.

"Oi! What the hell is wrong with you all? " the marimo said, fighting against the tight hugs. "Why are you crying? What the fuck-"

"We thought you were dead!" Chopper howled from below where he hugged Zoro's leg. "You were suddenly gone and we thought... we thought..." Snot was running from his nose, making his words nearly undistinguishable. Then Chopper transformed into his big human form, drawing Zoro as well as everyone else in a bone crushing group hug.

Sanji watched them, sucking in breath after deep breath, his rapidly beating heart thundering inside his chest as his eyes took in every little detail of the swordsman's body, absent-mindedly scanning him for injuries.

He was alive... the damn bastard was really alive.

"Will you cut it out?" Zoro cried, breaking free of Chopper's suffocating hold. "I'm not dead, got it? How can you think I would die like that?"

"Are you kidding?" Nami suddenly yelled and the swordsman was startled to see fresh tears inside of her eyes. "Didn't you hear that explosion? Where were you, anyway? How did you... how did you even get out of there?" She sounded exhausted, her words slightly strained and Zoro wondered just when the sea-witch had started to care so fucking much...

"... you said the Sunny was anchoring south, so I ran... south," the swordsman grunted, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Nami's eyes turned into slits. "And south means you went... where exactly?" Zoro could practically feel her last words biting his skin.

"There were a couple of stairs and then a tunnel, so..."

Nami pinched the top of her nose. "And south means down, yeah I got you..."

Collective groans were heard. Then everyone laughed, relief finally settling in and turning the strawhats' strained mood into one of insane happiness. Chuckling, Franky and Usopp teased Zoro about his sense of direction. Chopper suggested trying to find a cure for it and Robin, normally quiet, composed Robin intervened, saying it had its good points as it did save Zoro's life that day and kept his body from being torn into thousands of bloody, little pieces.

Zoro growled and mentioned just where exactly she could shove that damn comment of hers, while the others gasped and told Robin to stop saying such horrible things.

After several seconds of watching the others scolding a chuckling Robin, the swordsman blinked, thinking he had missed something very, very important...

He had insulted Robin just then, didn't he? Wasn't insulting a woman usually followed by immense pain?

Scratching his head, Zoro looked around until his eyes fell on the cook who stood exactly where he had been when Zoro had talked to him earlier. Sanji's eyes were wide, his jaw slack as he stared at the swordsman. Then their eyes met and the cook blinked rapidly. Zoro suddenly saw him gasping for air as if he had held his breath the entire time.

And then Sanji strolled forward.

The others seemed to sense the change in mood as they fell silent all of a sudden, looking back and forth between the two men. Usopp and Brook went quickly out of the way when Sanji neared them, staring after him as he passed by.

When the cook came to a stop in front of him, Zoro swallowed, not sure why he felt so damn nervous by Sanji's strange behaviour but nonetheless certain something important was happening between them right then.

The cook's eyes looked troubled, his gaze shifting over Zoro's face, over his body and the swordsman felt his heart inexplicably speeding up at the blonde's damn scrutiny.

Slowly, agonizing slowly, Sanji lifted his hand and placed it over Zoro's now thundering heart, eyes following his own movement curiously, looking like he couldn't quite belief the feeling of Zoro's heart beating beneath his palm.

Zoro released a breath, he didn't know he had been holding. "S-Sanji, I-"

His words couldn't go any further as Sanji's hand had moved quickly then and a blinding pain suddenly exploded on the swordsman's chest.

The damn ass was twisting his bloody nipple!

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you damn asshole?" Zoro yelped, jumping back from the offending hand and covering his hurting chest with both arms. "Are you friggin' out of your mind?"

"I'm out of my mind?" Sanji yelled back, raising a leg as he spoke. "What about you, you shitty swordsman?" He swang his raised leg down at Zoro's head who blocked it just in time with his swords.

The others watched as the usual fight broke out, simultaneously cocking their heads at the sight.

Had the strange tension, they had felt, just been their imagination?

Sanji kicked, dodged, jumped and grinned. Happiness, pure undisguised happiness, warmed his body from the inside out as Zoro, irritating, green-headed, alive Zoro slashed out at him, dodged his kicks and tried to land a hit on the blonde.

But Sanji couldn't be beat... not today, not when he felt as if he could find All Blue, make Luffy pirate king, serve Robin every poneglyth in existence on a silver plate and still be back for dinner all in one go... not when he felt so damn happy and relieved.

Putting every bit of strength in his next attack, Sanji broke through Zoro's defence and planted a kick straight at the swordsman's chest, sending him flying flat on his back.

The marimo first groaned in pain, then glared up at him and said, "What the hell was that for?"

Instead of answering, Sanji strolled forward, placed one foot on either side of Zoro's thighs and sat down, effectively straddling Zoro and pinning him to the ground.

An adorable blush spread on the swordsman's cheeks and Sanji grinned delightedly at the sight.

"What do you think, you-" Zoro's words were interrupted by Sanji's hands grabbing his white shirt and yanking his upper body upwards. Before the swordsman had time to react, the cook crashed their lips together.

Zoro's eyes widened at the unexpected pressure on his mouth. Then the sensation was gone as quickly as it had come, Sanji pulled back and looked at him with hooded eyes.

"It's like that," the cook said. He licked his lips and looked to the side, avoiding Zoro's eyes as he apparently waited for him to speak.

Zoro blinked and opened his mouth, trying to say something but cursing when no coherent words seemed to form inside his clouded mind. There was so much... so much he wanted to say, needed to say, but nothing, not even a word passed by his lips.

Frustrated, Zoro cursed, decided actions would speak more than words anyway, grabbed the back of Sanji's head and crushed their lips back together.

Using the cook's muffled 'umph' to his advantage, Zoro pushed his tongue deep into Sanji's mouth and massaged the blonde's tongue. The cook reciprocated in kind, a hand wandering up to Zoro's head, fingers entangling in his hair and tugging the swordsman even closer.

Pushing one of his legs up, the swordsman's thigh brushed against Sanji's crotch, causing the other man to first gasp and then moan at the welcome friction.

Feeling smug at the needy noises the cook was making, Zoro continued to attack Sanji's lips, oblivious of seven pairs of eyes watching them with opened mouths.

After several minutes had passed, Luffy scrunched up his face in deep thought as he watched his first mate and cook making out right in front of their eyes. "Does this mean... dinner is gonna be late today?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Not only today," Usopp muttered, still watching his friends and not quite able to believe his eyes. "Sanji might be really distracted from now on... we'll be lucky, if we're gonna get any food at all."

Luffy looked horrified at him. No food meant no meat and no meat meant... The captain's eyes widened. Turning, he angrily stomped up to his two face sucking friends.

"Oi! Zoro, Sanji! I'm against this relationship, you hear me? Zoro, stop eating my cook! Sanji, make me meat! Lots of meat, you hear me? Oi! OI!"

When they ignored him, still lost in their own little world, Luffy punched them, sending both men flying several feet across the ground. "I'M THE CAPTAIN! I WANT MEAT!"

Growling, Zoro and Sanji stood up and all hell broke loose as the three of them began to wrestle, arms and legs entangled in a knot of limbs.

Not to be left out, Franky, Brook and Chopper in his human form joined in as well, rolling across the ground as each of them tried to get the upper hand.

Usopp fidgeted and stared, torn between claiming to have a sudden case of 'I-can't-wrestle-with-mad-people'-sickness and joining in on the fun. Then he shrugged and with a death cry, he dived in as well, tackling down a surprised Brook.

Nami sighed deeply and put a hand over her eyes. "Robin, do you think it's too late for me to find myself a nice, rich man and settle down? They will be the death of me one day..."

Robin smiled. "Too late, navigator-san. But you know? What a way to go!"

The End