A word to my reviewers:

VarisVaris, Imperial Mint, Pocky Ichigo- Thank you all for the positive reviews! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as you did the first!

HappyMe-O- I actually didn't think someone would get the point that Sanji has a crush on Zoro XD Thanks for noticing that! I've read the little mermaid fics, but I have yet to see the beauty and the beast one! Link me XD

Santoryuu apprentice- Me too actually. This was originally gonna be a genderbent fic (seeing how Ivankov can freely change someone's gender) but I just can't. I'm not a genderbend fan. (Except maybe for Ace since his female name "Ann" was canon. XD) That aside, no. No genderbend.

To that random nameless guest who inserted a freaky smile on your review- Calling me an awesome writer doesn't make me happy at all you asshole! *Cue Chopper's dirty old man dance* No, no I kid, I'm absolutely flattered you actually think that! * V* (inserts freaky smile back)


Chapter 2

Today was not a good day. Not a good day at all.

It's been three months.

Three. months.

Three. Fucking. Months.

Sanji snatched a tuna from the cutting board on one of the other chef's work station and threw it at Patty's face.

"PATTY I SWEAR IF YOU DONT FUCKING SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH I WILL SHOVE THIS FUCKING TUNA'S SKELETON SO FAR UP YOUR ASS IT'LL BE IMBEDDED ON YOUR FUCKING BRAIN!" Sanji screamed at the other chef. He was confused. But more importantly, he was fuming.

"Alright, alright, geez," Patty snorted, returning to his station, wondering what got the head chef in such a bad mood. It's times like these when the blonde has his girly mood swings that he wishes the old geezer was still around.

"You and your shitty mouth, Patty." Carne grumbled under his breath as he minced the vegetables. "Just what did you tell him this time?"

"Hey, it was just the usual teasing!" Patty snorted in defence, waving his knife in the air dramatically. "About that Zoro guy he has a huge crush on. Then he fucking burst like that nuclear explosion that killed Hitler."

"Hitler fucking killed himself with cyanide you idiot," Carne smacked the backside of Patty's head, earning a slap to the face with the latter half of a salmon. "And you should know better than to tease the man about that. He's what, fucking 21?"

"Well, the shitty brat will always be a shitty brat so I don't see why not," Patty scoffed as he avoided a well aimed punch to his face. "Besides it's not like he minds when we tease him about it then! What makes now any different—"

"Didn't I just tell you to SHUT the FUCK UP, Patty?"

Both Patty and Carne stiffened and quickened their pace, cutting and frying, washing the dishes and checking on the others, doing anything that would get them away from where their head chef was glaring holes at.

The two older chefs looked at each other briefly, exchanging worried looks about their boss. Sure Sanji could be a pain in the ass most of the times, but they've known him since Sanji and Zeff had just open the restaurant, and he's like a younger asshole of a brother they never ever want to have, but do.

Something was bothering the blonde chef, and they're both confused and clueless as to what it is. "Hey do you think Roronoa Zoro got a girlfriend?" Patty whispered, looking around to make sure no temperamental twenty one year old blonde man was anywhere near hearing range.

"What? Why should I care?" Carne whispered back, taking a quick glance around the kitchen. His gaze resting on their little brother of a head chef. "Wait, you don't think…"

Patty nodded. "Maybe that's why he's so, you know, PMS-y?"

"What? What the heck's that supposed to mean?" Carne gave him a are-you-an-idiot-or-something look, making Patty groan.

"You know, like… Hey Rika! Hey!" Patty whispered loudly, grabbing a girl with twin pony tails by the arm, earning a tray being smacked at his face.

"That's sexual harassment!" She exclaimed. "Or so Miss Kalifa says whenever men try to touch her and stuff." He onyx eyes glint mischievously as she giggles at Patty's swollen cheek. "So was there something you need?"

"Dammit Rika, you're barely sixteen!" Patty exclaimed, holding a hand at his reddened cheek. "And stop hanging around with that bitch Kalifa! If anyone's harassing anyone, it's her—"

Rika and Carne watched him with bored looks as he was sent across the room by their head chef. "How many times have I told you to shut the fuck up?"

Turning to Carne, jammed a few papers onto his face, sticking between his shades. "What the fuck have you both been doing? We're a couple of orders behind. Table six has been waiting for five minutes longer than they normally do. Unless you can make these in less than two, get the fuck out of my kitchen. I've had enough shit dealing with the others and I do NOT need more coming from you assholes."

"It seems something's up with boss and you need my help, am I right?" She mused, tossing back her caramel brown locks. "Well, what is it? I need to be back outside or the boss'll fire me."

"You do six, I'll handle nine." Carne said, handing the other man a slip of paper. "And Rika, he wouldn't fire a woman even if his life depended on it so you're in the clear. Us on the other hand."

"Ugh, the fuck is wrong with this menu? Serving dishes like… like these!" Patty groaned and rubbed the back of his head as he grabbed a medium skillet. "One confit byaldi coming up!" He shouted. He doesn't really know why he does. It just… seems so right. Feels so pro and stuff.

Rika peers over his shoulder and giggles. "Someone's been watching Ratatouille," she said in a sing-song voice. "I mean seriously, why doesn't he just put 'Ratatouille' in the menu? I'm sure the kids would love it."

"So, so, so! About your problem?" She nudged. Patty shrugged her off as he poured a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin oil into the pan and placed it over the stove. "Why'd you call me here for?"

"I don't have a fucking problem," Patty mumbled, cutting red, yellow and orange peppers in half and removing the seeds with blinding speed. Moving to turn the heat of the oven to 450 degrees and placing the pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, before shoving them inside.

Taking an onion, he twirled the knife between his fingers and diced it. Shoving the diced onion onto the pan he pointed the knife at Rika and scoffed. "The fucking kid does. Here." He said, tossing three tomatoes at Rika, who caught it with practiced ease. "I want those peeled, seeded and finely diced. Save the juice."

"Tuna caviar for table six!" Carne yelled in the background.

"You do realize I'm a waitress and not a kitchen boy," She laughed, but did what she was told nonetheless.

"Well you did used to work at Shell's Cafe before this. Makes life easier for me too," Patty guffawed as he tossed the minced garlic into the pan along with the onion and turned the stove on. The fire roared to life as he turned it down to low heat, occasionally sifting the pan so it wouldn't burn.

Grabbing a rag with the other hand, he took out the peppers and started to peel them, the heat not bothering him at all. The old man's voice rang in his head. As a chef, you should never be afraid of fire. Or heat for that matter. "Anyways, our shitty boss is going all PMS-y and Carne here doesn't get what I mean."

"Another order for Tuna Caviar for table three! Oh and Grilled lobster tails with that secret sauce for table fourteen!"

"I'll handle the caviar! Carne you take table fourteen's order!" A blonde woman chef shouted.

"Who the fuck understands what you mean anyways?" Carne scoffed, grabbing a couple of lobsters from the aquarium and chopped their heads off with a swift movement of his knife.

"Why you fucker—"

BANG. Another slap with the tray. "That's sexual harassment," Rika giggled, handing Patty the tomatoes she just chopped and the juice."Calm down Patty, and let me explain."

Patty growled and rubbed his cheek before taking the tomatoes from Rika. Great now both cheeks are swollen. "I swear Rika, you're just using that as an excuse to hit us."

"So what if I am? Kalifa always did!" Rika stuck her tongue out. "Anyways, what Patty means is that boss has been even more moody than his usual moodiness, there fore being compared to that time of the month for women, since women are already moody to begin with and having that during that time of the month, you get a crankier, moodier woman, and in this case, man." She babbled. "You get me?"

Carne nodded wisely, cutting the tails in half, lengthwise, exposing the flesh. "I see…"

"You actually understood THAT?!" Patty exclaimed as he added the tomatoes, their juices, some parsley, thyme and bay leaf to the mixture. He chopped the peppers and added those to the mixture as well as a couple pinches of salt to for added flavour. "Gah. Moving on, we need you to find out why. Since the last time I did, we were rewarded with a brand new hole in the wall."

"You're patching that by the way," Carne called out, mixing olive oil, lemon juice, some fresh dill, salt and black pepper in a bowl.

"Mmmhmm~" Rika hummed, watching Patty discard the herbs and take out a tablespoon of the piperade and spread the remaining on an eight inch skillet.. "Is it about Zoro again?"

"Tell me about it," Patty rolled his eyes. He took out a pan and began arranging various vegetables—zucchinis, japanese eggplants, squashes, roma tomatoes and the like—in a cute (in Rika's opinion) spiral pattern. Like the one in Ratatouille. "I was just asking him how his obsession over that moss head of a super model was and he fucking kicks me and screams like an old lady whose cat got ran over by a bus."

Rika chuckled at the comparison. Even though she never really heard how old ladies scream when their cats get run over—and she sure didn't want to know— but it was funny to imagine it. "Okay, and assuming you have a plan, what part exactly to I play in this?"

Patty got a bowl and mixed some garlic, oil and thyme leaves together. He added salt and pepper and sprinkled the mixture over the vegetables before covering the pan with foil. "Well, maybe you could go to one of those bookstores that sells magazines and—"

"We have a fucking magazine stand across the street." Carne cuts in, brushing his previous mixture onto the exposed flesh of the lobster tails and placing them on the grill. "Why would you let poor Rika run four fucking blocks to the bookstore?"

"Right that," Patty crinkled foil by the edges on the pan to seal it off nicely, then shoves it inside the oven to bake. "Who the fuck ordered fresh Ratatouille anyway? Don't they know it takes like two fucking hours to bake?" Carne stiffened and pretended not to hear Patty and flipped the lobster tails.

"The people who ordered that will be here for it during dinner rush shit head," came the head chefs voice, sending chills down Patty's spine, grabbing a few ingredients from the shelf above Patty's work station before walking off to the other side of the kitchen. "And its fucking confit byaldi you fucking asshole. Also, Rika dear, there are people to serve outside."

She nodded and hurried off outside.

Patty shrugged and started on the vinaigrette, combining the reserved tablespoon of piperade, extra virgin oil, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper. "This is one hell of a mess we've got into."

Carne shook his head. "Well we'll just have to wait for Rika to come back."


*CLICK*

"Good, now turn around and show me some of that ass!"

*CLICK* *CLICK*

"Suuuupeerr!"

*CLICK*

"Ok now tilt your head a bit. Thaaaat's right."

*CLICK*

"Now a little angle please? And show me that sexy smirk!

*CLICK*

"Aww yeah! Super!"

*CLICK*

"You're doing juuuust—"

*CLICK*

"SUUUUPER!" A rather robust and muscled man with shocking blue hair yelled heartily, tilting towards the right, bending his right knee and raised both his arms, locking them together in some sort of weird gesture. "Okay, let's take a short break people! A few couple more costume changes and we're done! I'm feeling EXTRA SUUUUPER this week!"

"Here's your cola Boss!" A goggle-wearing man wearing a Galley-La shirt, shorts and fishnet stockings and large knee high boots exclaimed rather loudly, holding a litre of cola in both hands. His long black hair stuck out and up from under a white cap.

"Thanks Zambai!" Franky nodded and took the bottle gratefully, popping the cap off with his overly large mechanic thumb and finishing the contents in a few gulps. "Ahh! Nothing like a bottle of cola to make my day even more suupeerr!"

"Hey Zambai," a deep voice said, causing the man to turn around. "What's with the fishnet stockings? You wearing drag now?"

"Hey! Zoro bro!" Zambai grinned, looking down at his stockings. "Naw, it's just my style you know? How about you Zoro bro? You seemed in pretty high spirits today! Who's the lucky lady?" He teased, eyes narrowing, a cheshire grin slowly spreading across his face as he elbowed the green haired man.

Zoro spluttered, not expecting the question at all.. "What? How did you—"

"Ohoho! So I was right!" the other man guffawed, giving Zoro a congratulatory pat on the back. "So who's the lucky lady? Oh, oh lemme guess, is it that goth chick you hang out with often?"

"What the fuck that's my fucking sister!" Zoro shouted, hitting Zambai with the plastic bottle he was currently drinking from. "And no, before you even ask, I'm not into incest. That's just fucking disgusting."

"Oh? What's this I hear?" a soft voice purred from behind them. "Zoro in love?"

"Fuck of witch," Zoro sneered. "No one's in love with anyone. Except maybe you with that monkey."

Nami's face turned red in embarrassment and anger. "Wherever did you get that idea, Zoro?" Her honeyed voice made Zambai twitch. Her caramel eyes glares at him, seemingly saying, you're not supposed to mention that at all!

Zoro sneered. "I dunno, was just messing with ya."

"I see…" her voice was sweet but full of venom. "Well, what about you then? I heard there was a lovely lady at the ball last night."

"Yeah? Were you talking to that crack head Ussop again?" Zoro raised a brow, masking his irritation. "Wait, don't tell me you actually believed him?" Zoro said in mock surprise. "And I used to think you were smarter than that."

"Hmmm…" Nami turned away murmuring. Zoro didn't care to know but he did heard a couple of words which caught his attention. Such as blonde and blue eyes. And something about a Cinderella? Casting him one last mischievous glance with those caramel eyes, she smirked. "Who knows?"

Zoro scoffed. "Witch."

"Alright break's over!" Franky shouted, doing his signature pose again. "We're gonna finish this suuuuper shoot so both of you go change! A few more shots and we get to get off work early!"

Zoro shrugged as he and Nami were led by the crew to different dressing rooms to change. The swordsman sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. It's getting long again. The room was small but snug. It had one full body mirror by the door and a table on the right. On the far left corner was a small couch which could fit about three people, given they were as thin as Luffy and he were.

Glancing at the clothes neatly folded on the table, he reached out to touch the scarf that caught his eye.

It's soft.

And blue.

Like her eyes.

Damn witch. What did she learn this time? He shrugged out of his coat and taking his shirt off. He briefly looked at himself in the mirror, his finger unconsciously reaching for that one long scar that covered most of his torso.

Sighing, he unbuckled his belt and chucked off his pants. Scanning his reflection. There were a considerable amount of scars throughout his body. A huge one across his chest as well as a couple of obvious ones on his ankles. He turned around and twisted his body to get a look at his back and grinned, satisfied that it was as smooth and scar free as a baby's skin.

Which is good. A wound to the back is a disgrace for a swordsman. He grabbed the clothes Ussop made for him to wear and scowled. It was a 3/4 sleeve, plain, white button up collar shirt with a black stripe running diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip. He hated button up shirts, but he had to admit, Ussop was a pretty good designer.

He was about to put it on when he noticed a black shirt with a note attatched. He reached for it and smirked.

"I know how you hate anything with buttons but for the sake of my fashionistic sense of artistictry, it has to be done. So I made a shirt to go with it so you don't have to button it up.

- The greatest bravest, most awesome fashion designer/ friend forever, Ussop-sama"

Zoro laughed quietly at the honorific. He must have gotten it from Robin.

Tossing the note aside, he grabbed the smooth black shirt and puts it on. He smiles wider as he puts on the butt when he notices that on the shirt was a white line running diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip—same as the one on the button up shirt. That way it really does match up. This guy's a genius.

Not that he'd ever tell him. His ego's high enough. No more need for boosting.

He slipped on a pair of black slim fit trousers. Fit enough not to fall off and slim but with enough breathing space for him to move comfortably. Not to mention it was made out of fine denim. The guy really knew how to sew.

Which brings him back to two years ago when Ussop practically begged for him and Nami to pose as his models as he auditions to become one of the designers for Fashion Blue.

Zoro buckled the white belt as he slipped on a pair of black designer military boots. The term still baffled him. Why make designer boots for the military anyway? Who cares if their designer or not? Everyone'll be too busy fighting everyone else. But Ussop insisted to call them such so whatever, he shrugged.

He stepped out of the room and was greeted by a excitedly nervous looking Ussop. Raising an eyebrow, he approached the wary man and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him jump.

"Z-Zoro-kun!" He squeaked in surprise. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"I work here stupid."

"Y-yeah… Yeah I knew that!" Ussop stammered, then straightened his back and puffed his chest out as if to emphasize the point. "Anyways, you haven't seen Nami around, have you?"

"What, you made a deal with the devil again?" Zoro crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the other man. "What is it this time?"

"W-well, nothing really." Ussop bit his cheek and looked warily at the ground. "She sort of overheard me and Robin talking about a project and stuff…"

"What project…?" Zoro eyed him suspiciously. "This is probably something I will object to isn't it. That's why you look so terrified." It offended him sometimes that his friends see him as nothing more than a pretty faced, muscle headed swordsman with demonic strength. Sure, he has a somewhat lesser great sense of direction than the others, but that doesn't make him stupid.

"Well… Sort of…" Ussop fidgeted, handing him a magazine. "It-it's in this month's issue of Fashion Blue… And I know you don't read it because well, I don't know why, but I know you don't. So Robin and Nami and I organized a little thingy for my new collection and stuff and you know the whole thing about three months ago at Robin's party, Robin and I want to help you but you wouldn't tell us anything about it and we had to ask Perona and-"

Zoro glared at him. He was clearly not liking where the conversation was going. Or rather, where Ussop's babbling was going. Robin and Nami were one thing. But talking to his gothic freak of a step sister was another.

"Eek!" Ussop screeched, feeling Zoro's murderous curiosity chilling his spine. "Don't kill me Zoro, I swear it was Robin's idea! She noticed you were a bit off and we were even asking you about how you were! Especially on the day after the whole masquerade party you were so… depressingly happy, as Robin puts it."

"The fuck's that even supposed to mean?" Zoro growled. So Robin noticed.

"Like, something must have happened that night that made you really happy and really depressed at the same time!" Ussop explained and quickly added with a furious wave of his hands. "A-according to Robin, I mean. I've got nothing to do with it, I swear! I'm only a super famous, simple designer!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro grunted. It's been three months and nothing. It's not like he didn't look. But this is fucking New York. The blond could be anywhere. He turned to leave but was stopped when Ussop grabbed his coat. "Just leave me out of this."

"Well, from what we got from Perona, and by we, I meant Robin and Nami," Ussop stated nervously. "Well she said you were mumbling about some curly blonde in your sleep and…"

"She said I what?" Zoro exclaimed, grabbing Ussop by his shirt.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Franky called, jogging towards them. "This is totally not super bros!"

"And?" Zoro prompted, eyes narrowing. He can't believe he actually talked in his sleep. And of all people who heard him it had to be that creepy ass sister of his.

"And so Robin proposed a new project thing and pleasedon'tkillme!"

"C'mon Zoro bro," Franky said, dragging the green haired supermodel away from poor shrivelling Ussop. "We can talk about this after the shoot."

"You know about this too?" Zoro looked at him, pissed that he was the last one to know. Again.

"Course I do. She's my wife, remember?" Franky grinned at him. "'Sides, I'm the photographer. I should know these things."

"What does being a photographer link to knowing things?"

"You know what, I don't know either," he shrugged, taking his place behind the camera. "But I do know that you're supposed to be over there with Nami sis so we can finish this shoot already."

Begrudgingly, he took his place besides Nami and scowled as the witch flashed him a fake smile. "So, I see you've talked to Ussop?"

"What are you planning bitch?" Zoro growled.

"Just a project," she smiled. "Has Ussop told you about his fall collection yet?"

"What project? I'm supposedly involved in this shit and no one tells me a fucking thing about it. And no, I haven't."

"Well you should." Nami said a matter of factly, tossing her hair back. "It's really nice. And you'll find out about the project soon. Robin's gonna brief us in on it later after the shoot."

"Not coming."

"Don't you want to know what it's about?"

"Couldn't care less"

"Places everybody! Zoro bro! Lean a bit closer to Nami sis!"

*CLICK*

"Good, good!"

Nami placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head a bit while Franky clicked away. "Dammit Zoro, you're playing a major part in this so would you shut up and just listen?"

"Alright Zoro bro, do whatever it is you do and look sexy for me!" Franky yelled.

Zoro positioned his body so that Franky would get a 3/4 view of him and smirked as he combed his hair with his fingers, the other hand resting on the hem of his pants and held the pose. "Alright! Great!"

"What part?"

Nami rolled her eyes. "A major part okay? That's as much as I know. Something about new recruits posing with you for Ussop's new collection. There I said it, now come ok?"

Zoro shrugged and took on a new pose. "I already know all there is to know. What's the point."

Nami sighed in exasperation, palming her face. "There'll be booze."

"I'm in."

Nami rolled her eyes. Zoro's such a sucker for booze. Grinning, she made note to add that to the mans ever growing list of debts. Flashing an honest smile at the camera, she turned her body slightly to the size, emphasizing her curves and chest. "Great!"


A/N:

** The Rika here is the very same Rika who gave Zoro onigiri to eat when he was captured by the marines back in Shells Town. (Her age here is roughly 15 years old.) Btw, trivia, in one of the cover pages, two years later, she is seen as a waitress at the restaurant she and her mother runs and is quite popular with the marines. I can't quite remember the chapter though. But if you wanna see what she looks like post time skip, check the wiki!

** About the dish Patty was cooking, it's called confit byaldi and it's a real dish made by French cook, Michel Guérard. It's actually just a variation of the popular dish Ratatouille. The confit byaldi differed from the ratatouille by not frying the vegetables, removing peppers and adding mushrooms. By the way, spoiler-trivia, in the Pixar movie Ratatouille, the dish Rémy had cooked especially for Ego during that last bit was actually a confit byaldi, not a ratatouille. Go look it up. :D

** Zambai's that guy from the Franky Family who's Franky's right hand man (I think), he kinda looks like it, seeing as he's the one who talked to Luffy about joining up as a team to retrieve Franky and Robin during the Enies Lobby Arc.