It was a rare occasion that the unrelenting sea of the New World was so calm. The last few days had been uneventful for the Strawhat pirates, and everyone was enjoying the opportunity to relax. Brook was enjoying it too of course, but the ship's musician decided he wanted to spice it up with something new, or more specifically, a new instrument. Although playing the violin was more of Brook's forte, the idea of having a piano on the ship made the skeleton nearly jump out if his skin in excitement (although he had no skin, yohoho!)

One day, after the typical breakfast routine of Luffy choking on too many pancakes at one time, and Chopper screaming for a doctor, the ship's musician felt it was time to consult the three people needed to make his idea a reality. These people were to be approached in a certain order. First of all was Luffy. Brook needed to make sure that his captain was accepting of the idea, and of course as soon as he mentioned wanting to add something new to the ship, the raven haired boy had agreed and walked away picking his nose. The next step was a risk the skeleton was willing to make. The biggest bump in Brook's path was the person responsible for paying for the tools needed to build the piano, Nami. The debt he narrowly escaped with the orange haired navigator was bargained on the expense that he was not to play any wake up songs on the piano, and that it be placed in the crows nest, far away from her and Robin's sleeping quarters.

Now he had to add another person to his list. He needed to talk with the regular occupant of the crows nest, who was none other than the sword wielding first mate. Brook was nervous about requesting to take up a small space in Zoro's workout room, but he had nothing to worry about, as the green haired man only asked that the piano not be played during his meditations. Now the final step towards success was as easy as 1, 2, 3 knocks on Franky's factory door. The oil covered shipwright opened the door and immediately smiled at Brook, ushering him in excitedly.

"What's up bro?" The blue haired man asked, continuing to tinker on one of his latest projects.

"Well Franky-san, I would like to make a request for you to build something for me, and the crew actually."

Franky stopped his working and pulled up his goggles, looking worriedly at the musician. "I'd love to help you out but, you know how Nami can get with spending money on the materials and every-"

"It has all been taken care of, as I have received permission from both Nami-san and the captain"

At this Franky was more on board with what Brook was requesting

"Great! So, what'll it be my friend?"

"I wish for you to build, in the crows nest, a beautiful piano!"

Franky hollered in agreement, and after stopping at an island and buying the right materials, the piano was built within a week.

Brook's slender bones softly stroked the sleek black piano in front of him. The crew clapped in approval of the new addition to their ship, and waited for the skeleton to make his next move. Sitting on the new chair adjacent to the piano, Brook placed his fingers on the new keys. The crew stood and watched in merriment as they listened to their musician happily play an unknown tune to them. One by one they each drifted off to continue their own thing, until it was just Brook, playing with all of his heart onto the keys that slid perfectly underneath his boned fingertips. The crew was satisfied with the instalment on the ship, and allowed Brook to play to his heart's content over the next few days.

Two weeks later the crew finally landed on the island of Adentum, and new supplies were severely needed for the ship. Each member of the ship had split off on their own to collect necessities such as food and water. Sanji had finished settling the newly bought food into their designated places, and he realized he was finally alone on the ship. Smiling to himself, he decided that now was his only opportunity to give into his guilty need. Placing a new cigarette in his mouth, the chef sneakily climbed up to the crows nest. Sanji peeked into the room through the hatch door, and as soon as he deemed the place empty, he made his way over to the object of his dreams. His long fingers twitched in anticipation as his blue eyes roamed over the black beauty in front of him. Releasing a stream of smoke excitedly, Sanji sat on the rectangular leather chair and traced his fingers over each key. Deciding to give it a quick shot, the man hurriedly peeled off his suit jacket and threw it over to who knows where, oblivious to a surprised grunt. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, Sanji became jittery at the thought that he was finally going to use the sleek piano. Placing his index finger onto a random key, he paused momentarily, breathing in deeply before he pressed down. The sound reaching into his ears made his heart flutter with joy, and soon the other nine fingers connected to a different key each. Sanji closed his eyes and wracked through his brain as to what song he should play first.

Zoro had fallen asleep behind one of his large weights, which was conveniently hiding him from the man currently across the room. Gripping onto the suit jacket which had hit him hard enough to wake him up, he wondered what exactly he should do. The common thing to do would be to let his nakama know he was in the room, and was watching his every move. Yet Zoro was strangely intrigued as to why the chef was being so suspicious around the piano, having what looked like an orgasm just from touching it. Deciding that this could become some form of blackmail on his curly eyed crew mate, Zoro watched on in somewhat suspense as to what the cook would do next.

A smile was brought to Sanji's face as he knew what song he should start with. Shifting his fingers onto the starting keys, the chef began to slowly start a tune. Still weary from not playing this instrument for far too long, Sanji tried not to go too fast in case he ruined his tempo. Although his pinky fingers ached slightly as they stretched to extend to each key, he allowed just this once for his hands to deal with this treatment. The build up of the song was nearing, and Sanji's heart sped up as his fingers moved deftly along the keys. His concentration was on high alert as the climax of the tune was being played, and his fingers almost seemed to blur in front of him as he hit each note at perfect precision. Swaying now as the song slowed down to the end, Sanji closed his eyes and raised his chin towards the window that the piano was placed underneath.

Zoro watched on as the sea breeze ruffled through silky blonde hair. The green haired man placed a thick hand over his bare chest and felt that underneath his scarred, tanned skin, his heart was irrationally beating from watching that performance. Zoro almost let out a disappointed grunt as the song slowed to an end, and the crack of knuckles brought him to the realisation that Sanji would now look for his suit jacket. Hiding back behind the large weight, Zoro bit his lip in thought as to what he should do. The sound of the hatch opening made Zoro think that perhaps the cook had forgotten about his suit jacket, yet as he was about to come out from his hiding spot, a voice stopped him. "I had no idea that you could play like that Sanji-san!" It was Brook's voice.

Now peeking around the weight again he noticed that both Sanji and the skeleton were seated together on the chair, fingers ready to play a tune.

"Yeah, I used to play a bit on the fancy piano we had at the Baratie."

"Ah yes, I heard that you were recruited by our captain from a floating restaurant. I always knew that you were a great chef, but who knew you could play the piano so well?"

At that comment Sanji gazed down at the keys splayed before them.

"Back whenever there were no customers around, I would practice on the piano," At this Sanji began a slow tune "and it took a while, but once I had the hang of it I realised that playing the piano feels like cooking..."

"How to you suppose that, Sanji-san?" Brook inquired, joining along with the tune Sanji had started.

"Well... To play the piano, you use each key to create a melody, which is kind of the same as adding the right ingredients to create a delicious meal. It's a strange way to see it, but both of these forms of creations make me feel so... at ease..."

"That's beautiful Sanji-san. I can see what you mean though, that feeling of every small key making such a harmonious sound makes me feel at peace somehow..."

From then on none of them spoke, as a song they both recognised was played, and still the spy in the room watched on. After their duo performance had finished, Brook offered to retrieve Sanji's jacket as the chef made his way down to start on dinner. The skeleton walked, humming merrily, to where Sanji remembered tossing it to. Brook eventually found the jacket, but the sweaty hands clinging to them were unexpected, and if the skeleton had eyebrows he would have raised them in surprise. Zoro raised his index finger to his mouth to signal that he wanted the musician to be silent about this discovery. Copying the swordsman actions, he took the jacket from Zoro and made his way over to the hatch. Stopping in his tracks and turning to the green haired man now staring at the piano, Brook quipped, "It truly was a magnificent sight, watching him play with such enjoyment, don't you agree?"

Zoro stubbornly grunted before he followed his crew mate down the ladder to the grassy deck. Making his way into the bathroom, Zoro walked past the mirror and had a double take at himself. A discreet blush was present on his usually scowling face. Zoro splashed his face with water and tried to scrub away the red tinge to his cheeks, wondering why it was there in the first place. The now evenly skin toned man opened the door to the sounds of excited voices making its way toward the ship. He casted a quick glance to the place where a new side of Sanji had accidentally been shown to Zoro, and the man's heart beat sped up. This was bad, very bad.

TBC?

So I've always had this head-canon that Sanji can play the piano, and that it somehow reminds of him of the feeling of cooking. I'm not sure whether I should make a second chapter about Zoro fumbling awkwardly around Sanji and asking him to play the piano again? Or should I just leave it as it is..

Anyway, reviews are welcomed with open arms, as well as any constructive criticism!

Also for my 'snug' story, some have wanted it to go in a fluffy direction, where as others are looking for a bit of steam. I want to write it going both ways, but I feel I should only choose one. help?!