Looking for balance

1. The spark

Information:

This story is a translation of my fiction En équilibre.

I tried to build realistic and ambitious couples in the midst of their wacky daily life so I took time to develop and go through many adventures to dig into characters' psychology.

I tried to respect as much as possible the characters' consistency and everything that happened until the end of the Thriller Bark arc.

Main pairing: Zoro/Sanji

Secondary pairing: Luffy/Nami

Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own One Piece and his characters. I do not get any commercial benefit and I thank the author for giving us permission to have fun with his masterpiece.

This is rating E for raw and vulgar language, canon-typical violence and sex scenes - very suggested and/or explicit. Attention, those are scenes of homosexual relations between men and I will not warn you at the beginning of each concerned chapter for not spoiling them. Just so you know, there will be smut now and then.

I want to thank Typone Lady who made me discover One Piece. If she hadn't made me read her stories, I wouldn't have been writing this. Thank you so much.

I would be delighted to have your opinion on my story so don't hesitate to leave me reviews.

Thanks to KumaZura for proof reading this chapter.

Enjoy your reading.

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Chapter 1

The spark

Sanji stared at himself in the mirror. He had enormous dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pale. He was exhausted. He sighed and tied his tie over his blue shirt, then checked his suit for wrinkles before leaving the bathroom.

It had already been more than two weeks since they had set sail once again after their adventures on Thriller Bark... Outside, the sun was barely rising and the morning air was fresh. He saw Robin a little farther, her eyes clear despite the end of her watch.

Back in his galley, Sanji cooked the huge quantities necessary for the crew's breakfast thanks to his expertise and force of habit. He was enjoying a cigarette when his companions began to join him.

As usual, mealtime was a perpetual battlefield where food and drinks were counted as booty in the midst of indescribable chaos. This morning was no exception and Luffy had already swallowed half the food before the cook could stop him in order to save something for the others. Then the captain decided to serve himself from his crewmate's plates around the table and soon enough, complaints were rising.

Sighing, Sanji decided to at least fight for his two goddesses' breakfasts and a fork brushed an elastic hand. He then brought their meals to Nami and Robin who thanked him. Chopper and Usopp were trying to eat while watching their food, to no avail. Franky was sipping his cola and Brook was competing with the straw hat boy about the amount of food he was swallowing up. Zoro came in a little later and also tried to eat, escaping the captain's arms while glaring at him.

As soon as the tornado of the crew dispersed to its various activities, Sanji washed the dishes and cleaned the galley. When he emerged from the room, the morning was pretty advanced and the blond stretched.

He had just finished managing the first meal of the day. Two more were waiting for him. Not to mention the captain's and crew's snacks. And refreshments. And sweets for Nami and Robin, even if this last task didn't bother him as much as the others. Fortunately, the cook loved his job and the straw hat crew's adventures brightened his life enough.