Who wants to test the moat?

Enjoy~

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Chapter 4

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"He is so gonna kill us."

"No he's not. Come on, don't chicken out on me now."

"Sanji, you're insane..."

"Probably. Now come on! His back is turned!"

Sighing deeply, Usopp glanced over at the blonde looking through a pair of binoculars. There was a wide grin on his pale face as he chewed eagerly on the filter of his cigarette. 'He's enjoying this a bit too much...'

When it was apparent the cook was dead set on doing this, Usopp let out a deep sigh. "Well, at least we have this fort wall for cover..." he muttered before raising his sling shot.

At area 58, Luffy was holding little Chopper up so he could add some detail to one of the tall towers of their castle. "This is actually kinda fun. It's starting to look awesome, Chopper!" he complimented the tiny doctor happily.

Chopper blushed bright red as he came close to knocking down the thin tower. "I'm not flattered, you bastard!" he squeaked while trying hard to resist the urge to wiggle.

Ignoring the two on the other side of the sand castle, Zoro was placing all of his focus on mixing up more sand and water to form another tower. The events of the past hour were still ringing in his head to the point he had the urge to crack his skull open on the plastic bucket he was using. He wasn't sure if it could be done, but he was willing to give it a try.

'What the hell was that bastard thinking?' he kept thinking over and over. Better yet, why was he always afflicted with this strange tingly feeling every time he thought of it? All he did was pin that annoying cook to the sand. On a deserted beach. With the water lapping around them. Barely clothed...

'Shit...'

Shoving those unwelcome thoughts out of his head, he was about to add more sand to his bucket when a sharp sting caught the back of his head. "Ow! What the hell was that?!"

Luffy and Chopper peeked around the castle to see the swordsman rubbing the back of his head. "What was what?" Luffy asked with a raised brow.

Feeling the welt right at the base of his skull, Zoro frowned. "Something just hit me from behind."

"Do you need me to look at it?" Chopper quickly asked in concern.

The green head shook. "No.. I'm fine. It's probably nothing. I'm going to get more water." Zoro got to his feet, but when he bent over to pick up an empty bucket he felt another sharp sting strike him dead center of his left ass cheek. "Grah! Alright! Someone's screwing with me!"

His dark eyes shot over the area until he saw the sandcastle in area 59. There he caught sight of two heads ducking down below a tall wall of sand. "You shitheads are asking to die!" he growled before storming off for the neighboring castle.

"Zoro! We only have another hour until the break period!" Chopper called out quickly.

"Don't worry, Chopper. We have plenty of time. Let's keep working. Sanji and Usopp want to play with Zoro right now." Luffy chuckled, completely confident in what he was saying.

That confidence soon had Chopper smiling. "Okay!"

Hands clenched in tight fists, Zoro was sorely wishing he could make a more intimidating approach, but the shifting sands didn't add much affect to heavy footsteps. As he drew closer to the other sandcastle he was a bit perplexed when the walls seemed to get bigger. He had noticed the two building them for the past two hours, but when he finally got closer he was a little surprised at what he found.

The walls were five feet tall, and were detailed into looking like they were made of blocks. At the corners there were six foot tall rounded towers that had arched windows with pointed roofs that looked tiled. If that amount of detail wasn't enough, Zoro stared blankly when he saw that around the sand fortress walls was a three foot wide moat filled with water. He raised a brow at the excessive width, then noticed that there was a wooden door at the front fortress wall. 'When the hell did they get that?'

He came to a stop at the edge of the moat and glared at the wall in front of him. He could clearly hear the pair hiding behind it desperately trying not to laugh. The muffled snickers and snorts of amusement made his anger raise another notch.

"I know it was you two. Just come out and take your beatings like men." he grunted flatly.

More choked laughter was heard before a grinning blonde head popped up from behind the wall of sand. "Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!"

"Bahahaha!" Usop's voice exploded from behind the wall.

Zoro bared his teeth in a growl. "That's it. I've had it with you, blondie!"

"Heh, you're not getting in unless we lower the drawbridge, Marimo~! So growl all you like." Sanji shot back while flipping the swordsman off.

"Hn. Right. Like I'm scared of your stupid little moa-GYAH!" The moment Zoro took a step forward he immediately dropped into the water that went completely over his head.

Usopp's head popped over the wall to look at the bubbles floating to the surface of their moat. "You tried to warn him."

Sanji nodded as he took a drag from a half finished cigarette. "That I did."

Seconds later the green head finally emerged from the water gasping desperately. "Shit! How deep is this damn thing?!" Zoro exclaimed when he couldn't feel the bottom.

"About twelve feet, give or take a few inches." Sanji answered casually.

Zoro's jaw dropped. "Twelve feet?! How the hell did you fill it up with this much water?!"

Usopp readily held up a familiar looking shell. "Water dial! Took only a minute to fill everything!" he stated proudly.

"You're using the dials? How the hell is that fair?!" Zoro demanded as he attempted to get back on dry sand.

"Now now, Marimo..." Sanji took another drag from his smoke and held it for a moment. "You wouldn't begrudge the only team that doesn't have a devil's fruit user from taking what advantages they can, would you?"

Crawling out of the moat, Zoro shook his head and lightly pounded on his ears to knock the water out. "I'm sorely tempted to begrudge you of your breathing privileges..." he muttered loudly as he wiped the dripping water off his face.

"So vicious. You should be nicer. If you had asked politely, I would have let you in." Sanji countered coyly.

"I'm not about to ask you for anything, Shit cook. Let alone politely." Getting back to his feet, Zoro leveled one last glare on the pair behind the wall. "Last warning for the both of you. You try this shit again, I don't care how much Nami bitches. I will knock down that castle myself and drown you in your own damn moat." he warned before turning away.

Deciding to be merciful, Sanji merely smirked as he watched the marimo walk away. "See? That wasn't so bad. He was even nice enough to test out our moat."

The sniper folded his arms over his chest and nodded. "Yes, Zoro is definitely a bastion of kindness."

A silence fell between them, but the moment they looked at one another they immediately fell into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Further away, it took all of Zoro's willpower to keep walking away. 'I'm gonna kill those two one day...'

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"Eeee.. Mellorine~! Mellorine~!"

When he heard another giddy sigh coming from the other side of the central castle, Usopp rolled his eyes and tried to keep his focus on the sculpture of Kaya that he was carving into one of the castle's towers.

"Oh.. Oh yes.. No! No no no! Don't go behind the castle, Robin-chawn! Nooo! Dammit..."

Snorting to himself, the sniper resisted the urge to take a peek to see what the blonde was up to.

"Nami-swan~! Oh my.. Yes! She's been in the water! Oh... How you torture me, little red bikini... Why must you and your brethren always get in my way... Wait.. Wait! Oh! Oh yes! Yes!! Kyaaaa!!"

On hearing the heavy thud that struck the compacted sand, Usopp blinked in confusion. He crawled around the castle only to gawk when he found the cook passed out on the sand with blood dripping from his nose. "Wah! Sanji!"

Scrambling across the sand, Usopp pulled the blonde to sit up and lightly smacked his face. "Sanji! Sanji, speak to me! What happened?!"

It took a moment, but eventually Sanji brought up the binoculars he was holding up to his chest and hugged it as a giddy grin was on his face. "A scantily clad wet Nami-swan hugged a scantily clad Robin-chwan~! Mellorine~!"

Usopp could only stare blankly for a moment before he promptly allowed the perverted blonde to fall back to the sand. "Dammit, I was worried about you..." he grunted as he returned to his Kaya carving.

Still hugging the binoculars, Sanji was snickering like mad. "It's a beautiful thing. Seeing two luscious ladies getting along so well..." He was quick to scramble to his feet in order to resume peeking.

Letting out a sigh, Usopp finally couldn't hold back. "Hey, Sanji? Can you tell me why you're so hung up on Nami? I mean seriously tell me? She's never going to like you like that, but you let her string you along."

Sanji lowered the binoculars for a moment as a private smile twitched across his lips. "Sometimes the chase is better than the capture, Usopp. Until she figures out the one she really wants, I'm content with being a stand in prince charming."

The surprisingly mature answer had Usopp looking around the castle at the blonde. The moment he did he was greeted to the sight of Sanji once more grinning insanely as he adjusted the focus on the binoculars. An unimpressed stare fell over Usopp's features as he let out a deep sigh. "I suppose other than that, you're just a big pervert."

"Says the guy secretly carving his girlfriend's likeness all over the place." Sanji smirked on hearing a choking sound, but continued to look through the binoculars. "Don't bother lying. I've watched you draw her enough to know who she is. I must say I'm impressed, Usopp. She's quite the lady. Classy looking."

His words surprised the sniper a great deal. "You... You're not going to tease me? Crack jokes on how she's too good for me?"

Sanji lowered the binoculars and looked towards his nakama with a slight frown. "Why would I do that? You're my friend."

The simple answer blew Usopp away. He stared at the blonde for a long moment as if it was the first time he was seeing him. After a long silent moment, Usopp found himself scrubbing at the moisture that collected in the corners of his eyes before offering a bright grin. "So what's next for our evil plan, partner?!"

Seeing that grin immediately had Sanji beaming. "I believe it's time to class this place up a bit. Break out the spray bottles and start mixing up the colors. I'm going to acquire the crowning piece for our happy little castle."

Reminded of the flat pedestal that comprised the top of their castle, Usopp looked at it curiously. "Oh yeah. What are you going to put up there?"

Sanji smirked and took a look through his binoculars at a small passing ship that was out on the water.

"Let's just say that the prince is going to be claiming his throne."

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TBC

He can claim my throne~

Later!