Usopp never got tired of stargazing. Watch in the middle of the ocean made for a very uneventful night. Usopp used to assume that since they were on the Grand Line, nights would be even more exciting than the days; sea serpents, enemies, and ghosts. But every night so far had been relatively peaceful, not that he was complaining.

He'd never have guessed, but Sanji loved the stars just as much as he did. Stars gave Sanji hope, that somewhere someone was looking at the same stars he was, connected by fate. Or so he'd like to believe.

To Usopp, stargazing wasn't a long for romance, it wasn't a dream he'd hope to accomplish one day, it was an escape from excitement; from the adventure he lived every day. The night was his time to dwell, he enjoyed the quiet and the light of the moon; he liked the poetic feel of the nights at sea. He believed this was part of what his father lived for.

He was surprised to see Sanji emerge from the men's quarters. When Sanji made eye contact with the sniper, he smiled.

"Want some company?" It wasn't really a question. More like an offer, Sanji was never a very talkative person anyway.

"Sure." He was always happy to share the silence with someone else; there was something soothing about dreaming with someone, instead of dreaming alone.

Usopp never believed that looking at the stars was a way to find romance, an excuse to be together maybe, but never a way to find what you were looking for. Sanji had always believed that the stars were a perfect way to find someone who, by chance, took the time to enjoy the same things, that stars bring people together, stars reveal things that others can't see.

Both of them had found something in the stars that night: someone to share a prosaic silence, someone to spend a life with.