Author's note: Okay, I know some of you are looking at the line of BBBB's going across and scratching your head. Honestly, I tried every method I could think of to get a line to separate the chapter and my author's notes and nothing would take. Not asterisks, not lines, nothin'. In pure frustration, I tried a line of just straight letters and to my relief, THAT at least worked. So I'm using BBBs from now on.

Also, to those of you that wanted me to add a few more chapters before the separation at Sabaody, you got your wish. This chapter six was not the one I intended to be chapter six. I'm adding in a few things before the separation.

Many thanks go to Pentastic, as usual, as this chapter is muuuuch better after her edits. Thanks!

Chapter Six

I had every intention of ducking into the kitchen long enough to grab a cup of coffee, maybe something to eat if anything were handy, when a newspaper on the table caught my eye. Once in a while I read the paper, just to keep abreast of things but I admit, I didn't pay attention to it that often.

This time, though, it was Hawk-Eye's picture on the front along with several other familiar faces. Ever since my defeat... fight with him, I'd tried to keep tabs on the man. If I ever got a chance for a rematch, I wanted to take it though I might need some more training before I really stood a chance. But I'd certainly gotten stronger since our last encounter. Anyway, I wanted to know where the man was if I could.

Picking it up, I unfolded it so that I could read it. Hmm, seems this had something to do with a call for all of the Shichibukai for some meeting but the article didn't mention specifically what the meeting was for. I swear, sometimes the World Government just likes to flaunt that it has pirates for lapdogs. Calling them to heel like this is just embarrassing to watch.

Unless they had good reason to hold that meeting…hmm. I wonder if something is stirring? Something that we don't know about yet?

The kitchen door opened behind me. Before I really had a chance to look and see who it was, a particularly annoying voice scoffed, "Reading the comic section, Marimo? Need me to pronounce anything for you?"

Why that… I turned just enough to give him a glare. "Shut it, Love Cook."

"I know very well you don't have the brains to read that," he jerked his chin to indicate the newspaper in my hands. "Don't try and pretend otherwise. Your brain will fry."

I slapped the paper down to the table. "You wanna go, bastard?"

He got right up in my face, that cigarette of his sending disgusting smoke up my nose. "Fine by me. Let's take it outside."

Chopper, who apparently was close enough to overhear through the open door, sprinted into the room. "Wait, wait, wait! No fighting!"

Neither Sanji nor I even glanced at him, just headed for the door.

Chopper splayed himself across the doorway, blocking our path. "I mean it!" he said sternly. "Zoro, you're not healed enough to get into any fights, not even mock-fights with friends."

Mock-fight? Ha! I never pretended to fight with this idiot.

"And besides, after that explosion yesterday, Usopp used up all of my clean bandages. I can't treat you guys if you get injured," he added.

Ahh, I bet that was the real reason. "Don't worry about it," I told Chopper with a wave of the hand. "I'll kill him quick and clean and toss him overboard. You won't need to worry about a thing."

"Haaaa?" he demanded, getting back in my face. "You bastard, you think you're strong enough to take me?"

"Is the sky blue?"

Chopper (rightly) decided that he didn't have what it took to stop us and called for help. "Robin!"

"What is it?" I heard her ask calmly.

"Come stop them," Chopper pleaded.

Uh-oh. I couldn't help but glance a little nervously toward the door. Why did he have to call Robin, of all people?

Robin stepped in from the hot sun outside and blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the cooler interior of the kitchen. She took in our positions with one look and then quirked an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"They're trying to fight each other," Chopper explained quickly. "But Zoro shouldn't be fighting yet and I don't have bandages to treat them with if they do!"

"Hmmm." She didn't say anything else. She didn't need to. She just pinned me with a look and I knew exactly what it meant.

Argh, dammit.

At the time, it had seemed such a good idea. Robin had been overdoing it, working all night on her book, standing watch, and even helping Love Cook out in the kitchen. She was beyond tired. So exhausted, in fact, that she'd almost toppled overboard one night and straight into the ocean. If I hadn't been miraculously awake at that time of the night and saw her swaying, we'd have lost her to the depths of the sea.

After I'd dragged her well free of the railing, I'd demanded, "When I gave you that idea of writing a book, I didn't intend for it to be the death of you! Woman, this is crazy. You lost sleep worrying about what to do, now you're losing sleep trying to fix the problem!"

"I'm fine," she insisted calmly, as if she hadn't been this close to taking a dive into Davy's Locker.

"The hell you are. Stop and go to bed, get some proper rest."

Instead of agreeing, she'd stubbornly argued with me instead. "If you can push yourself past your limits," she'd snapped, "then I can do the same!"

Of course, she'd had a point. Not that I went overboard like she did, no pun intended, but she did have a point. So we'd made a promise to each other. If she would stop being reckless and get some proper rest, I'd not fight until I was properly healed up and Chopper gave me the okay.

A promise that she reminded me of with a single look. Ah, hell.

"But he's completely weaker than me!" I protested. "It's not the same thing!"

"Oy!" Sanji protested loudly, squawking at the insult.

Robin held my eyes steadily, that impenetrable smile on her face.

I wanted to splutter, and argue, and convince her that I hadn't meant any fighting at all, just fights with, y'know, opponents stronger than me. Or as strong as me. Which doesn't include this idiot cook at all. But I was clearly aware that we had an audience unabashedly listening in. That look on Robin's face also told me that whatever I said would be useless and my pride would just take a ding if I kept going.

So I snapped my mouth shut instead and glared at her.

"You promised," she reminded me serenely.

…yeah. Yeah I did. Dammit.

Sanji stared at my face like he couldn't believe that one look from Robin could make me stand down like this. Completely incredulous, he asked Robin, "Robin-chan, you are so beautiful that I would gladly stop fighting if only to gaze at your gorgeous visage…but Marimo, what did you do?! Since when do you care about a beautiful woman?"

I gave him a glare hot enough to melt steel. I hoped it covered up the blush I could feel heating my skin. That wasn't what this was about at all but I really didn't want to explain or justify myself to this mush-for-brains idiot either.

Ignoring the question, (she was good at tuning out things she didn't want to answer) Robin instead asked me, "What started the fight?"

I jerked a thumb at him. "He walked into the room."

Sanji snapped back around and with a curled lip sniped, "You were reading something and you don't expect me to comment? I mean, you were reading. That's like finding Luffy playing chess!"

"I do read, you idiot," I snarled back.

"No you don't!"

"Yes, he does," Robin came to my defense with an amused chuckle. "And more often than you would think. He's got several books of his own in the library. He also read the book that I bought him, didn't he?"

"Robin-chan, you are so sweet to only think the best of people, but this stupid Marimo does not read. If he said he did it was only because you so generously gave it to him."

I grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him in close. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Moss-head, that you have a thing for my precious Robin-chan!" Sanji locked eyes with me and raised his eyebrow knowingly, not giving ground at all. "I mean, look at you, you're even kowtowing to her!"

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Actually, he isn't," Robin intervened again, putting both arms between us and gently shoving us back apart.

Of course, even that gentle touch was enough to do so, simply because it was her between us. (She knows good and well that we'd rather lose a hand than harm her and takes advantage of it. I know she does.)

"Robin-chan, you come in here and just look at him and he obediently stops trying to fight me!" Sanji protested, now genuinely confused. "Robin-chan, you are so wonderful that I must listen to you, but I can't help but notice that he obediently stopped trying to fight me when you gave him a look. Please tell me that he has not done anything to compromise your virtue. Oi, you bastard, what did you do to her?!"

My fist started twitching. Surely one solid punch to that mouth of his wouldn't count as fighting? Right? I pictured running that reasoning past Robin and frowned. Even in my head, it didn't work.

(Unfortunately?) Robin stepped in before I could come up with a Plan B. "He made a promise to me, and I to him. He's keeping his end of the bargain." She patted him on the shoulder in an affectionate, patronizing manner, the way a mother would soothe a scowling child. "You can play with him later, when he's fully healed."

Sanji, naturally, missed the sarcasm completely just because Robin was smiling at him and voluntarily touching him. He beamed at her before shooting a promising glare at me.

I glared right back. Yeah, as soon as I could, I would beat the snot out of him. But not now. I didn't dare now, because if I broke my promise, Robin would feel free to break hers too. I didn't want to have to guard her 24/7 because she had driven herself back into exhaustion.

Knowing good and well that if I stayed there, I'd get into a fight with Sanji, I chose instead to escape the kitchen without my coffee. Brows slammed together, I grumbled under my breath and headed instead for the crow's nest. At least there I'd get some peace.

I'd barely settled on the bench when the hatch opened and Robin came through. She had two extra hands coming out of her shoulders, both of them holding a cup of steaming coffee. Without a word, she gave one of them to me before joining me on the bench.

I took a long swallow, pleasantly surprised to find that she'd fixed it the way that I like it. Now, when had she learned how to do that? I think I'm the only person on ship that only puts one sugar in and no cream. "How did you know I like it like this?"

"I have eyes," she said mildly, tone amused. "Two of them. They both work quite well."

Is there anything that she doesn't notice? I swear some days that there's not a thing on this ship that she doesn't see. It might look like she's innocently sitting there reading a book, but I'd lay odds that it was a just a cover so she could spy on people.

"I'm sorry," she offered after a long moment of silence.

I let out a sigh. "For what?"

"Bruising your male ego."

I gave her a sour look for that. "You don't look sorry."

"You forgot your promise. I merely reminded you," she said unapologetically.

Women. I tell you, they have the memories of elephants.

It didn't take prophetic powers to know what was happening below right this second. Someone (I'd lay odds on Sanji) would tell the whole crew about how Robin and I were making secret promises to each other, which would get completely blown out of proportion, and then everyone would be teasing us about it. For days. Weeks, maybe. Hell, I might never live it down.

I looked at the woman sitting so serenely in front of me, a slight smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Aw, hell.

She's worth it.

Annnnnd...the next chapter will be out when I figure out what needs to happen before I give you the already completed chapter eight.