"Guys, meet Mr. Pink!"

Everyone sitting in the room simultaneously groaned.

"Mr. what now?" Sanji stuttered, looking down at his shirt and suddenly feeling like he'd been tricked.

"Luffy, come on now, give it a rest." Said one of the men sitting on the couch, he had crazy curled black hair and a strangely long nose, he rested an arm over the edge of the furniture.

"No!"

"The names don't work, stupid. We know everyone here. The whole point of code names is to remain anonymous to each other." Piped a fiery red head next to the first man.

"It doesn't matter, it sounds cool!" Luffy squawked. "Anyway, MR PINK here is going to make up dinner!"

"Shit cook's making us stuff?" Zoro asked from his spot on a plush chair, though his expression was annoyed, the happy undertone in his voice gave away his true feelings towards Sanji's cooking.

"Shut the hell up Marimo, you fucking loved my cooking back at my place."

"You two know each other?" The woman asked curiously, shifting in her spot to get a better look at Sanji.

"Yeah they do! This is Sanji, he's the guy that got shot and Zoro brought back here."

"Wait, you're Sanji?" Sanji shuffled uncomfortably in place.

"Ummm, yes?"

"I've heard lot's about you, Sanji. I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better. I'm Nami, by the way." She purred.

"No, you're Miss Orange!"

The two continued to squabble, completely forgetting about Sanji standing there. Sanji watched Zoro sigh and stand, lean down to pick up the groceries that Luffy had put down, and gestured with his head for Sanji to follow him.

They entered a small kitchen through a swing door, still able to see everyone in the living room from the large cut out in the wall that practically connected the two rooms. He could see Nami hitting Luffy upside his head.

"So you live here?" Sanji asked casually as he unpacked the bags that Zoro set down on the marble counter. "Hey, where are the pots at?"

"They're up here." Zoro replied, reaching down the pop open a cupboard door. "I'm here more often than not, but I have my own place."

Sanji gently poured water into a large copper colored pot and heaved it on the stove, his stiches complaining from the strain. After turning on the burner he began selecting herbs to toss into the water, a pinch of salt here and there. He easily found a cutting board, and after selecting the correct knife, he quickly diced and chopped the vegetables. Zoro busied himself with acquiring a beer from the fridge.

"Do you think Luffy would mind me smoking in here?"

Zoro shrugged. "Just open a window and I don't think he'll care, his brother smokes all the time here."

Not needing to ask twice Sanji expertly pulled out a cigarette and lit it with the stove burner, happily taking a drag as he popped open a window above the sink, blowing the smoke with a sigh. As he greedily pulled in more smoke into his lungs, he looked at the city below, the trails of his smoke lazily drifting into the canyon before disappearing completely.

"You're taking to all this really well." Sanji picked his head up, stopping his work with cutting and perfecting cuts of meat on his cutting board, looking back at Zoro who was leaning against the counter.

"Huh?"

"You know, you're not freaking out." Zoro made a gesture with his beer. "I mean, this is a lot to take in, and you're adjusting really quickly."

Sanji shrugged a shoulder, picking up the little chunks of meat to place them in a bowl of flour.

"It's hard to question when it's all there in front of me, I can't really deny anything you've said." He reasoned, adjusting the heat of his pot. "So how do you know these guys?"

Zoro cast a glance into the living room, watching the bubbly laughter leave Luffy as Usopp told some of his ridiculous heist stories. While Sanji stirred the pot with a wooden spoon, Zoro played with the condensation on his bottle with his thumb.

"I got into some trouble, Luffy helped me out." Zoro said shortly. "Since then, whenever he needs people for a job, he usually comes to me first."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Trouble." Zoro replied curtly, keeping his eyes trained on his bottle. Sanji let the topic go, breathing out a cloud of smoke from his nose.

While Sanji worked, Zoro stood quiet, creating an odd comfortable silence in the kitchen.

Though Sanji had some questions that he would have loved to bring up, they all caught in his throat, and he just couldn't bring himself to voice them. Besides, he didn't think Zoro was really in the mood to answer anything, let alone talk: the larger man was clearly the 'silent type'.

Every so often, Sanji could see Zoro sparring a glance at him out of the corner of his eye. With his back to the other man, Sanji could feel could feel Zoro's gaze digging into his shoulder blades.

Filling several bowls full of the rich and savory stew he'd created, he handed some of the dishes to the silent pick pocket and walked into the living room, easily finding the already set dining table. To his surprise, three more people had shown up.

"Dinner's ready." Sanji called after clearing his throat, following behind the crowd of eager people to the table.

"Sanji how are you doing that?" Nami asked incredulously as Sanji bent down to place a bowl in front of Usopp.

"Doing what?" He asked, standing up straight. Nami pointed to the top of his head.

"How're you balancing that?!"

"Huh?" Sanji looked up, as if he could see the top of his head. After placing another bowl on the table he used his free hand to pick up the bowl off his head and balanced it on his fingertips. "I just have really good balance I suppose."

"HOLY COW SHANJI THITH ISH SHO GOOD!" Luffy exclaimed with a mouth full, continuing to shovel stew into his mouth as he talked. Sanji grimaced at the sight.

"Don't choke on my food, you shitty bastard!"

Sanji found himself a spot at the giant table at the corner spot next to a lovely women with sleek black hair. She gave him a simple but kind nod as he sat down.

"Good evening." She greeted in a smooth alto voice with a small smile, Sanji returned the nod gracefully. "I'm afraid my husband and I had been running a bit late to this little get together, so I've missed introductions. My name is Robin. Ah, or should I say Mrs. Purple."

"Luffy gave you a code name too? I'm Sanji, or Mr. Pink." Sanji gave a slight grimace at his code name.

"Mr. Pink…" She eyed his attire before returning to his eyes. "Suiting."

Sanji could feel his cheeks heating up, he turned his face away in embarrassment.

"Oi cook, what's this green plant in here? It tastes like shit." Zoro called from across the table.

"It's parsley you shitty Neanderthal. You don't have to eat it, it's just there flavoring: eat it with something else and it'll be masked." He snapped, just starting to dig into his own bowl.

"I don't get what you're complaining about Zoro, it's all tasty!" Luffy said as his grabby hands began to wander, getting slapped away on more than one occasion. "But anyways, time to get to business!"

"Business?" Sanji questioned allowed, searching his table mate's faces for an explanation.

"First off, thanks for the meal Sanji!" Luffy cheered, accompanied by a few 'here here!'s. "And welcome to the crew!"

"Curly brow's in the crew now?" Zoro asked, his brows drawn up in surprise.

"What crew? I didn't sign up for anything." Sanji declared, pointing his fork accusingly at Luffy. Luffy nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I've already decided, Sanji is now a part of the crew!"

"Again, what crew?" Sanji repeated. Usopp leaned in, resting his arms on the table top.

"Everyone here is a member of Luffy's crew: united thieves. It's a common thing around here, after all, more heads are better than one. It's kind of like an alliance under one leader." Usopp vaguely explained.

"And I'm now… A part of it?"

"Guess so." Usopp shrugged.

"But I… I'm not a thief! Not really at least." Sanji balked. The large man blue haired Sanji had come to learn as Franky, Robin's husband, spoke up from the other end of the table.

"Don't sweat it, bro. Stealing isn't so hard, you'll get the hang of it!" Franky said as he flashed a wide grin. Sanji slouched for a moment for regaining his composure, that wasn't quite what he had meant but oh well, at least everyone was supportive.

"I had been talking to Zoro about your situation earlier, about how you have a hit on your head." Nami began, some murmurs of surprise rose around the table. "Its safest for you to be in a crew like ours, actually. It'll protect you for now, until you find out who issued the hit."

Sanji felt himself slump a little in his chair, he mused with his hair for an awkward moment before sitting up. He felt his eyes wander to the green haired pit pocket, whose dark eyes were once again watching him.

"We have a room for you and everything! You only have to steal a little bit, you can be like our cook or something!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically, practically bouncing in his seat in excitement at the mere idea.

"Chef." Sanji corrected quietly. "I suppose I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Luffy raised his glass happily, the contents sloshing around and droplets spilling out onto the table top.

"To our new crew member! Sanji, Mr. Pink!" He declared. Everyone around the table raised their own classes in a similar fashion, laughing and cheering before taking a heavy swallow.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, I've got another announcement!" Luffy called, reaching to Usopp's plate as he did.

"Quit it Luffy!" Usopp said as he smacked away Luffy's hand. "What's this announcement? I thought we're here for Sanji?"

"Well yeah, but I've got another thing. We're going to Vegas!"

"We're what?" Nami asked, tapping her fork against her plate in a quiet but irritated manner.

"I've decided we're entering the Great Heist!" Several jaws dropped around the table. Sanji sat back in confusion, trying to gage the situation from everyone's expressions, but he just couldn't understand what was going on.

"Y-you're sure you wanna do that, Luffy?" Chopper asked hesitantly. Luffy nodded.

"For sure. This is our year guys. I know it."

Conversation and debate followed, but Sanji understood none of it. While some were enthusiastic at the idea, others were reluctant. This 'Great Heist' thing had to be a big deal. It was clearly some kind of competition but that was all Sanji could understand.

Sanji stood and began collecting dishes as crew members began to disperse for the night each giving him a word of thanks for the meal as they left. He had a large mountain of bubbles forming in the sink as Zoro walked into the kitchen, snatching up a clean rag of a rack and standing next to Sanji.

"Though you could use some help…" Zoro muttered.

"So what is this 'Great Heist' thing? Here you go." He asked while handing a clean dish to the awaiting hands of Zoro.

"Every five years, this competition takes place to determine 'King of the Thieves', it's a big position to have that comes with a lot of power. Basically, whoever pulls off the biggest heist by the end of the competition wins the title."

"Ah. Here, Zoro."

"It gets pretty dangerous and crazy, as you can imagine." Zoro said as he thoroughly cleaned the plate in his hands. The warm water from the sink was beginning to make Sanji's fingers prune.

"Why are we going to Vegas?"

"That's where the sign up is. The thing starts in a few weeks from now, so we have to get there soon." Zoro replied easily, placing a dry plate in the slowly growing pile.

"Here Zoro. Do you know when we leave?" Sanji questioned, blowing his bangs out of his eyes as he looked down into the sink, washing the last dish.

"Mmm, a day or so."

"Here you go." He said, handing the last dish to the pick pocket.

"You know you don't have to say that each time you hand me a dish." Zoro quipped.

"Sure I don't."

Zoro gave Sanji a playful push that was more of a warning. Sanji would have risen to the bait if he didn't feel so tired, his feet ached and his abdomen was softly throbbing, his eyelids getting harder to hold up. He was very much ready for bed.

"Hey so where do I sleep?"

Zoro nodded for Sanji to follow him, out the kitchen and up a set of stairs, into a room at the right of the hallway. Inside was two cot styled beds in a simple room, two walk in closets on either side of the room.

"This bed is mine." Zoro explained, gesturing lazily to the bed on the right then pointed to the left. "That one is yours now."

The bed was already made with soft blue cotton sheets, Sanji pressed down to find the mattress was pleasantly firm, bed springs creaking slightly against the force.

"Does everyone share a room?"

"Yeah, but not everyone is here all the time, and so they all share a bigger room."

Sanji nodded. "Well I'm going to sleep, I'm fucking tired as shit."

"Same." The thief pulled at the hem of his shirt, lifting it over his head to reveal that massive scar on his chest. After pausing to gaze at the sight of the mark, Sanji did the same with his new shirt, which he neatly hung up in his new closet. It was strange looking into the bare closet; it really hit Sanji that he was essentially starting a new life here.

Sanji sat down on his bed and placed his head in his hands, rubbing harsh circles into his eyes until he saw colors.

He slid into bed easily, as soon as he laid down his limbs reminded him how tired they were, they rested heavily on the bed. He looked up at the dark ceiling, his eyelids already beginning to droop with exhaustion. Across the room, he could hear the heavy snores coming from Zoro's bed, the rhythmic sound somehow comforting. Sleep soon took Sanji into its arms, his thoughts drifting away into dreamless slumber.

Sanji stood in line to board the plane, playing with the ticket in his hand, shuffling his feet impatiently against the tackily patterned airport carpet.

Eventually, he made it to his seat, where he found the green haired pick pocket already waiting there, getting his seat ready for a long nap. After placing his heavy carry on away, he slunk into his spot, mindlessly rubbing at his sore stiches that were beginning to itch.

"Ever been to Vegas?" Zoro asked beside him.

"Nope, my first time."

"The touristy area that everyone goes to is alright, if you have money." Zoro rubbed at the back of his neck lazily, breaking into a jaw busting yawn. "The real fun is where we're going."

"Oh yeah? What should I be expecting?" Sanji asked playfully, stretching into his seat.

"You'll see." Zoro answered his a toothy smirk. "But I think you'll like it. I think you'll like being a thief more than you know."

"Is that so?" Sanji muttered to himself. Zoro was already reclining into his seat, his functioning eye shut. He still had the cotton bandage covering his battered eye, the edges of the forming scar just peeking out from underneath.

As the plane took off, Zoro began to snore softly, already in deep sleep. The cabin tilted slightly as they gained altitude, and the sleeping thief's head slid into Sanji's shoulder. He glanced down at the napping man, his eyes following the strong line of the man's jaw down to his neck and further to his chest where Sanji could see the very tip of that jagged scar hiding underneath the plain shirt the man wore.

Zoro was a peculiar man, that was the first thought that came into Sanji's mind. But for some reason, Sanji liked it. Most people drove Sanji insane, and Zoro did too, but the other man did it in a way that Sanji almost liked. It was strange, he didn't know how to feel about him.

Sanji readjusted himself, shrugging his shoulders slightly, rolling Zoro's head further into his chest. He noticed the slight trail of dribble of drool going from Zoro's mouth to his shirt and grimaced, using his free arm to try to push the other man's head away.

The moss head just came right back, and despite Sanji's efforts, stayed pressed against him. Sanji sighed and lowered himself further into his seat. This was going to be a long flight.

A/N

HEY GUYS. I'm so sorry for such a long wait, life has just been really busy! But I promise you my writing is not forgotten, I work on my stuff whenever I have free time! Thank you for all of the feedback, I appreciate it so much, it really does mean a lot to me. :3