Don't own One Piece

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Taking in a Stray Cat: Chapter 6

Nami stalked down the stairs very quietly, occasionally looking over the banister, as she began her search for her prey. After she had changed into some clean clothes she had immediately grabbed her wooden three-poll staff before leaving the privacy of her room, she had a complaint to make to a certain pinkette resident of the castle for that little bathroom incident, and she was going to make sure that the complaint was heard loud and clear. Sure she didn't really want to cause any true harm to Perona, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least try and scare the other woman.

As she made it to the ground floor she peaked her head around the doorway into the social room and saw the back of her intended target's head as the goth seemed to be pre-occupied with something while sitting on the couch. The mikan-head slowly tip-toed towards her until she was well within reach of Perona. She tightened her grip around the wooden-staff and reached it back, posed to strike: 'I'll just hit the couch a couple of inches from her, I won't actually hit her', Nami thought as she held her breath, and just before lunging forward… a ghost appeared from the floor underneath her, wagging its tongue at Nami only a few centimeters away from her face, causing her to screech loudly in surprise and fall backwards on to her backside and dropping the staff in the process.

"Horo-horo-horo…" Perona let out without ever turning to look at the mikan-head. "I see you got out of the bathroom okay. Come around here and sit down. I want to show you something."

Nami glared up at the back of Perona's head from the floor, as if trying to bore a hole through it with just her thoughts. "You know I'm mad at you right?" She asked Perona from where she was still sitting.

"You'll get over it." Perona responded to her simply before beckoning her to come around and sit next to her.

Nami let out a sigh before standing and heading around to sit on the couch. She sat down next to Perona with a little extra force than what was needed and crossed her arms over her chest. Just because she decided to comply didn't mean she was going to be happy about it… she just didn't have any real reason not to. She noticed that Perona had some kind of book sitting in her lap, with curiosity getting the better of her, she leaned slightly to get a better look at what it was, and it was a photo album.

"That talk earlier made me want to look at some old pictures." Perona spoke, almost as if she had been reading Nami's thoughts. "Here, look at this…" Perona directed Nami's attention onto a picture in the book. It was of a young boy with green hair, in a training uniform and he had three bokken* in his possession; one in each hand, and one clenched between his teeth. Nami couldn't quite believe what she was seeing; the picture was obviously of Zoro when he was younger, she would guess around the age of eight or nine, but there was something surprising about the picture, it wasn't the fact that he was once actually a kid, or that he had the one sword clenched tightly between his teeth… it was the fact that despite the sword being in his mouth, a huge face splitting smile was clearly on his face. "See… I told you he was actually pretty cute when he was a kid." Perona said with a smile on her face as well.

Nami relaxed a little, the anger she had been feeling seemed to completely disappear as she sat with Perona and watched her turn page after page of photos. She watched in awe at how cute both Zoro and Perona were when they were little. She found herself admiring how beautiful, yet fierce their mother was, with her dark blue hair and the same serious expression that Zoro often wore on his face. She did wonder why there seemed to be no pictures of their father, but made no comment on it. She could feel the smile creeping on her face as Perona started to take her through memory lane…

-0-0-0-0-

After exiting the shower and finding a change of clothes in the hallway; Zoro immediately went and collected his swords from the dojo. Afterwards he made his way to his room, there was something that was bothering him. He wasn't even quite sure what he was looking for while he searched through all of his dresser drawers, before finally making his way over to his wall safe; pulled open the door, not having to put in a combination and unlock it because he had broken it long ago after forgetting the combination, dug through an un-organized pile of Beli before his hand settled on a few old pieces of paper. They were wanted posters, three of them to be exact: The first being his first bounty as a pirate of 60 million Beli, he quickly cast it to the floor to look at the next. The second was of his second bounty of 120 million Beli, he let a small smirk cross his face as that poster brought him quite a bit of pride, but it wasn't the one he was looking for. He tossed the second poster back into the safe before letting his eye settle on the third…

The third was the bounty poster that Zoro and Luffy had taken off of Captain Morgan after they defeated him in Shells Town; it was the final proof to show Zoro what the Marine's Captain had intended to do, and assisted in Zoro's decision to join the young straw-hat wearing teen. Zoro had known that it was a pirate crew that had placed the bounty on his head, and that it was for a large sum of 90 million Beli… but it wasn't the sum of the bounty that had brought his attention onto the poster, it was the mark from the pirate crew in the bottom right hand corner, it was the exact same as the tattoo on Nami's arm.

Zoro placed the poster back into the safe before crossing over to sit on the edge of his bed. He leaned back, placing both of his hands behind his head as he laid there, trying to process the information he now knew. He let out a large yawn as he closed his one good eye, hoping a nap would help clear up some of the conflicting emotions that he found himself feeling.

-0-0-0-0-

Back in the social room Nami continued to look at the photos with Perona, she slightly envied Zoro and Perona's childhood; they seemed to be such a happy family, but she also noticed a huge difference in the pictures as Perona got into the later pages. At about the age of 10 Zoro's smile had completely disappeared; the mikan-head realized that it was due to the loss of their mother and that he did not enjoy having his picture taken anymore, and soon afterwards the pictures of him almost completely stopped, it was mainly just pictures of Perona.

"Why isn't Zoro in anymore?" Nami asked, slightly disappointed.

"He refused to be in any after he was 10. He was always saying stuff like that kind of thing is meaningless for a swordsman, it was really un-cute. But I still liked having my picture taken, and even though father didn't like being in any pictures either, he always enjoyed taking pictures of all of us. But I think I do still have a few more of Zoro, let's see…" Perona flipped through some of the pages quickly before settling on a lone picture of just Zoro. "Here we go, this is one on his 16th birthday."

Nami examined the picture; Zoro had his signature scowl on his face and was obviously not very pleased with having his picture taken. "Who took the picture, whoever it is, he looks really mad at them in this one?" The mikan-head asked, genuinely interested to know who could get that kind of glare from the young-swordsman.

"Oh, it was me?" Perona said with a slight chirp to her voice. "I insisted on taking a picture of him, after all; that was supposed to be the day that he and father started the final stages of his training and I wanted to get a picture of him before he ended up getting covered in scars. But then he disappeared later that day."

"Disappeared?" Nami questioned.

"Yeah… He was there in the morning, but by the time father got back later that day… he was just gone. We figured that he must have went out to find some of the Humandrills to spar with and just got lost, he did that a lot back then, but he just never came back. Father searched the entire island, at least wondering if one of the Humandrills actually killed him or something, and that's when he noticed the small fishing boat was gone from the docks. We figured that he would just show back up eventually, until one day we got a call from Grandpa Koshiro explaining to us that Zoro showed up out of the blue, paid his respects to mother's grave, and then left almost as quickly as he showed up."

"So he just ended up in East Blue all of a sudden?"

"We were just as confused about it as you are." Perona admitted. "Soon afterwards we started getting envelopes in the mail addressed to him that had checks in them from the bounties he started collecting. Father suggested that maybe Zoro decided to go out and test his ability as a swordsman, and he started to put the money away in an account that Zoro could have access to, to take care of his travel expenses. Before too long he was starting to become famous, especially in the East Blue." Perona flipped another page of the photo album to reveal a newspaper article of Zoro at a bounty office in East Blue, it had a picture of him handing an entire group of pirates who were tied together with a thick rope over to the Marines.

"I know that picture." Nami said, recognizing it immediately. "That was distributed by every newspaper publisher in East Blue and delivered to every island. That crew was the Orphan Pirates* and had been making quite a name for itself in a really short time, and it was the first time anyone had ever heard of a lone bounty hunter capturing an entire crew."

Perona smiled while Nami told her that; sure she had already known all about that because she had been keeping whatever tabs on her younger brother she could have back then, but she noticed there was a hint of awe and admiration in the mikan-head's eyes when talking about it, as if there was more to it, but she wouldn't press it, she would instead just continue along with their picture viewing. "I kept all the newspaper clippings that he was in for the three years that he was a bounty hunter."

Nami watched eagerly while the pinkette turned each page. She noticed that all the pictures weren't the most flattering of Zoro, in fact; some of them made him look downright menacing, but she didn't care, because the menacing look just kind of fit the image people had of him back then, especially with the reputation he had as a bounty hunter, plus she was genuinely interested to see which ones she recognized. "Oh I had that one…" She blurted out impulsively pointing at an article. "…and that one."

Perona's smile increased, she had to fight every fiber of her being to not let out a laugh before asking "You had them, were you collecting them too?"

Nami's eyes widened in realization and a small blush formed on her face from the fact that she had admitted something that she never intended to, so to cover up her statement she quickly explained with "No… I ah… I wasn't collecting them. I just remember reading the articles and then throwing them out afterwards." The statement wasn't a complete lie, she had eventually threw out the articles, but it wasn't until two years ago that she had done so, after the news that the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro may have joined a pirate crew himself. The fact was that Nami had been collecting newspaper articles about the fearsome Pirate Hunter whose mere name frightened many pirates in East Blue. She dreamt of a day where she might meet the man, hoping to enlist his services as a last resort for a problem of hers, but that hope was soon smashed when he disappeared from East Blue suddenly.

Perona accepted Nami's explanation without comment, and continued through the photo album. They came across smaller copies of both of Zoro's official government wanted posters and then the pictures seemed to stop again. The next photo Perona turned to was of a picture of her and Sanji on their wedding day. Nami would be lying if she said that she wasn't slightly jealous of the pinkette; she wasn't jealous of Perona's and Sanji's relationship, but of their wedding, because every young girl dreams of her wedding day, even Nami. Perona looked so beautiful in her gothic style black wedding dress with pink frills, and Nami could also tell by the tears of joy, in Sanji's eyes, that it was truly a joyous occasion. "How did you and Sanji meet, Perona?" Nami blurted out without realizing until Perona's curious gaze was on her. "I… I mean, what brought you guys together? Sanji is just so…"

"Sanji." Perona finished for Nami, getting a nod from the mikan head in return. "Horo-horo-horo… Sometimes I don't understand it myself. The first time I met him I absolutely hated him…"

~~~Flashback~~~

Perona sat at her sowing desk, quietly sowing herself a new stuffed Teddy Bear that she wanted to name Kumashi. Perona didn't really love to sow as a rule, it was a skill she picked up growing up to help patch Zoro's clothes when he torn them during training, but doing stuff with her hands was always nice to keep her busy so she wasn't worrying about other things, and after the news her father told her about her younger brother's encounter with Kuma the Tyrant, she had a lot to worry about. She would never admit to many people how much she cared for her brother, but she loved him deeply. Despite being a year younger than her, he was always someone she felt she could rely on, he always made her feel safe, more so than even her father, who was quite often away on business, she hid it well, but the last three years he was away had been very hard on her. She would give just about anything to see him in person.

Perona was torn from her sowing by the sound of the front door being open roughly; she nearly fell out of her seat in fright from the sound of the screaming to soon follow. "YOU DAMN SHITTY MARIMO!" She heard come from an unfamiliar male voice. "Why the hell didn't you warn me about those damn monkeys? This was a brand new shirt and now it is completely ruined!"

The pinkette slowly made her way down the hall, she was slightly nervous because she didn't know what this uninvited guest's intentions were, and to top it off, he seemed to be yelling at someone else, so there were at least two uninvited guests. But when she heard the second male voice she felt her heart skip a beat and she froze in place. "Oh would you quit bitching and just shut the hell up curly-brow?" Perona's heart started to beat faster as excitement and hope started to fill her very being. She finally mustered the strength to continue towards the stairs, so she could look down them and possibly see the face she had been hoping to for almost three years. And there he was, her precious younger brother, yelling at a blonde man that she didn't recognize. "I told you to just leave me at the docks and I would go the rest of the way myself! It is your own damn fault that your stupid clothes got ruined! Maybe if you weren't such a pansy the monkeys wouldn't have been able to tear your precious shirt?"

"If I had left you there you would have got lost and never even reached the castle. What the hell do you live in a castle for anyway shitty-swordsman? Is this even really your home?"

Perona felt her feet starting to move on their own towards the young swordsman, who hadn't even noticed her presence because he was still much too occupied with the man in front of him. "I wouldn't have got lost shit-cook. And yes this my…"

"You're home!" Perona screeched as she found her footing on the ground floor and made a run for her brother with open arms. She could barely see anything at all except for the shape of a body in front of her because of the tears of joy pouring from her eyes. When her body made contact with the warm body in front of her, she quickly wrapped her arms around them and buried her head into their chest. "I missed you so much, don't ever leave without telling anyone like that again you un-cute baka." She was surprised when she felt the other person's arms wrap around her as well and return her hug in a warm-affectionate matter. 'He must have actually missed me a lot too, it's not like him to return a hug' she mused to herself, but then noticed something was very strange. 'Are his legs wiggling?'

"Oi! Get your damn hands off my sister you stinking ero-cook!"

Perona looked up at the face of the man holding her to realize that it was not her brother, but the blonde man he had been arguing with instead. She could see that he had a weird, almost lewd, look on his face. His one visible eye had transformed into the shape of a heart, and he was mumbling something about "Mellorine."

"AAAHHHH!" Perona screamed out in surprise as she placed both hands on his chest and pushed him off of her as hard as she could, sending the man falling backwards onto the floor. "Who the hell are you?" She addressed the man loudly. "And why the hell did you let him hug me?" The latter question was addressed to her brother.

"Because the damn freak pushed me out of the way when he saw you running towards me!" Zoro explained angrily.

"That's because a warm embrace by a beautiful woman would have been wasted on a brutish oaf like you." The blonde man said standing from the ground. "Where are my manners? My name is Sanji, it is a pleasure to meet you mademoiselle." Sanji told the pinkette with a polite bow. "May I have the privilege of hearing your name?"

Perona looked at the man skeptically, and then to her brother, asking his advice without speaking any real words. "He is a useless-perverted-love-freak-cook… but he is pretty much harmless." Zoro confirmed and gave her a slight nod.

"Perona." She said rather impersonally.

"What a beautiful name, for such a beautiful woman!" Sanji gushed loudly. "Allow me to repay you for telling me your name in such a beautiful voice be giving you a warm embrace of my own!"

Sanji spread his arms out wide and moved in to hug Perona again, but was soon stopped by a "Negative Hollow" Perona said coldly, and sending the man to the floor with a dark cloud over his head. "You forgot to mention annoying." She said to her brother about the blonde man now on the floor uttering something about wanting to be reborn as a potato only to be smashed.

"I figured that went without saying." The swordsman said with his arms crossed over his chest, while shaking his head at his rival.

Soon afterwards Perona and Zoro saw Sanji set off to head towards his own destination; all the while the cook still going on with confessions of love and promising to return to see the pinkette…

~~~End Flashback~~~

"So it wasn't love at first sight then?" Nami asked after hearing about the first encounter.

"Horo-horo-horo!" Perona let out before continuing. "It was barely memorable for me. But the second meeting, now that is something I could never forget, let me show you something…" Perona pulled back the film that kept her wedding photo in place and removed a picture from behind the wedding one that was hidden to people who didn't know it was there before presenting it to Nami.

The mikan-head cringed at the idea of what the picture might be of, hoping it had nothing to do with the married couple's hobby and the room in the basement, but she looked at it anyway. When her eyes focused and she fully saw what the picture was of, her eyes nearly popped out of her head and her mouth nearly fell to the floor…

~~~Another Flashback ;p~~~

-Sanji's POV-

Four months after parting from his dear friend and heading off to the exclusive Kamabakka Culinary School; Sanji could see the castle in the distance as the boat neared the docks. Once beside them, the cook quickly hopped out of the boat and onto the wood planks; the school was having a two week break from classes, and Sanji was so excited to spend it with his dear friend that the cook almost forgot his manners. Sanji quickly turned to his fellow classmates who had been nice enough to give him a ride to his desired location and excitedly waved them off with a high pitched "Thank you girls! I'll see you in about 10 days!"

Once the boat was out of sight Sanji quickly pranced his way up the trail to the castle delicately, while humming a happy tune in between puffs of his cigarette. The cook didn't bother knocking on the large main entrance to the castle, and made his way inside.

-Perona's POV-

Perona laid lazily on her side while on the couch in the large social room, using one hand to prop-up her head, and the other to turn the page of an S&M fashion catalog; she didn't really think too much into the kinky role-playing of Doms and Subs, but there definitely was an appeal to the clothing for her. She heard the front door open, and paid it no mind, believing that it could just be her father returning home from his recent business trip, until she heard a loud and unusual high-pitched-almost-feminine-voice call out.

"Oh Zoro-kun! Where are you my dear friend? I've come to pay you a visit." Perona laid all the way down on the couch to hide herself completely. She then let one of her hollows appear to discretely see what was happening. She had yet to see the strangers face, all she could make out was a tall figure with long blonde hair that went all the way down to the waste, a pink dress, and… hairy legs?

While Perona looked on; she could also hear her brother heading down the stairs towards the strange guest. "Oi, did someone call my name?"

"It is so nice to see you after all this time Zoro-kun." The stranger said, while Zoro responded with a simple "Eh" because he was obviously confused. The swordsman squinted his eyes at the person; Perona knew exactly why he was doing so, she wasn't sure exactly what it was about the stranger, but there was some reason that this person seemed familiar.

Suddenly Zoro jerked backwards in shock. "Curly Brow?" He screamed out in surprise. "Holy crap! I told you this shit was going to happen! You've actually went Okama haven't you?"

"Okama?" The blonde stranger said. "Nonsense, I just discovered the real me was all." Perona moved her hollow around to see the face of the person talking to her brother, and she had to fight back the laughter when she realized exactly who it was. It was that perverted-cook who had brought Zoro home that day 4 months ago.

"What in the hell are you even doing here you freak? What do you want?" Zoro spat at the cook angrily.

"Is that anyway to treat your dear friend? It hurts my feelings. After all; I came all this way to spend my break from school with you. I'm sure you've been stuck in this dreary castle this entire time, holing yourself up in a room doing nothing but training, and pretty much wearing the same filthy rags every day. You and I are going to go SHOPPING!" Sanji emphasized the last word with a quick snap of his fingers, while Zoro could only continue to stare in horror.

Finally Perona had reached her limit, she couldn't hold it in any longer; from her spot on the couch she let out a huge fit of laughter that would echo through the entire castle "HORO-HORO-HORO-HORO-HORO-HORO-HORO!" She couldn't stop the fit of laughter regardless of how much she tried, she even started to kick her feet furiously into the air with each laugh, bringing both her brother and the man dressed in… a dress, full attention's onto her. But what Perona didn't realize, was that the sounds she was making, would change the atmosphere so much.

"What is this?" Sanji said, the pitch in his voice lowering back down to masculine levels instantly. "What is this heavenly sound? Why does it seem so familiar, yet so new and so intoxicating?"

Perona was finally able to regain control of her actions and sat up from her spot on the couch to look at the man to see what was causing his sudden change in behavior. As soon as their eyes met she saw something in him change instantly.

"A woman!" Sanji said excitedly pointing her out towards Zoro. "That's a real woman."

"Yeah…" Zoro said dispassionately. "It's my sister dumbass, she lives here."

"But you don't understand you baka marimo, it's a real woman, it's… it's…" Sanji's attention went to his current outfit, and an even worse look of horror overtook his face than what had been on Zoro's. "What the hell am I wearing?" He screamed in shock, before grabbing Zoro by his shirt and pulling himself only inches away from the other man's face. "Why am I wearing a dress and high heels? How the hell did this happen?"

Zoro quickly shoved the cook off of him before responding "How the hell would I know? You got here wearing that crap."

By this time Perona was starting to walk towards the two males. Seeing her coming his way Sanji started to panic, he desperately looked around for a mirror before seeing one over by the wall and dashing toward it, running rather well in his high-heels. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed in agony over the sight of his appearance. He quickly ripped the wig off of his head and threw it to the ground, he then reached down to undo his heels, falling over in the process of getting them off. After standing back to his feet, he used the dress to wipe off what he could of the make-up on his face. After he was done attacking his own face with the dress, he quickly turned back to the two siblings before addressing the swordsman again. "Marimo, you have to help me."

"And how the hell am I supposed to help you? There is no fixing a baka like you." Zoro told him with narrowed eyes.

"Screw you shitty swordsman!" Sanji yelled at him while pointing a threatening finger in Zoro's face. "Just give me some damn clothes to wear so I can get the hell out of this shitty dress.

"Horo-horo-horo!" Perona let out again as the two continued to argue. "Yeah Zoro, quit being rude to your boyfriend."

Both Zoro and Sanji turned their heads towards Perona and their mouths dropped in shock. "He's not my boyfriend, I can't even stand the bastard!" Zoro yelled at his sister angrily.

The swordsman's outburst would have normally enraged Sanji, but he was too shocked by the boyfriend statement to yell at him about his rude behavior towards a woman, and the sound of Perona's voice sent him into a small fit of love. "Aww… there is that heavenly voice again." Sanji moved slightly towards Perona causing her to take a step back warily, but her eyes widened when he dropped to one knee in front of her and quickly clasped one of her hands in his own. "Thank you so much Perona-fawn. You have lifted a dreadful curse that was upon me with just the sound of your angelic voice and your beauty. From this moment on I will forever be your loving servant. Just name the task and I will do it for you gratefully." Sanji moved his lips towards her hand to kiss the back of it…

But was stopped by the impact of Zoro's fist colliding with his jaw and sending him halfway across the room. "Keep your filthy perverted lips away from my sister you shitty-love-cook!"

Perona stared at the fighting duo for a few moments, thinking about what Sanji had said to her: 'I always did want a bunch of servants of my own… he's not as cute as I always envisioned my servants… although in that dress…' "Horo-horo-horo… Zoro, go and get him something to wear. Since he is here he might as well stay for dinner. It will at least be more interesting than only having you around to keep me company again."

"Aye Perona-Frawn! Thank you for having me! Please allow me to repay the kindness by allowing me to cook for you!" Sanji said excitedly with a heart in his eye, while Zoro let out a "Tch" to the cook's actions.

"Horo-horo-horo. Sure, it will be nice not having to cook for a change and have someone to wait on me for once."

After that second meeting, Sanji would spend all of his breaks from school on Kuraigana Island to shower Perona with his affections, much to her brother's and father's annoyance, and before long she even desired his affections, and began to return affections of her own. After only a little over a year, and Sanji's graduation from Kamabakka Culinary School, they were wed, and Sanji made his permanent move to Kuraigana island to be with his wife. They soon turned to Zoro, to seek financial assistance in beginning their desired trades of restaurant owner, and fashion designer/manufacturer. And though their relationship is complicated at times, neither could be happier…

~~~End Flashback~~~

Nami continued to stare at the picture of Sanji in full drag as Perona finished her story. Perona had explained to her that she had got the photo from one of Sanji's fellow classmates who shared a fellow interest in the pinkette's S&M hobby. She found it rather odd that something like that could have led to the two's matrimonial state, but then again, this entire group was quite odd, and she couldn't help but like them for it. Even though she had been mad at Perona only a short time ago, she was now thankful to her: the photo album and stories had been a great distraction from her conflicted feelings, and now that the story was over she was already thinking about how things might be awkward around the swordsman again… If only there was something to distract them for just a little while longer…

Suddenly the front door to the castle burst open and the empty halls of the castle were filled by "Oi Mina!" Luffy's shouts drew everyone's attention towards the main-hall, even Zoro came out of his room to see what was going on.

"Dammit you shitty-rubber-bastard! Don't just go barging into other people's homes without knocking!" Sanji screamed at Luffy and pointed a large serving spoon threateningly at the younger man.

"He must forget that he just barged in himself a couple years ago." Perona mumbled only loud enough for Nami to hear.

And Nami said nothing in return, because she pretty much did the same. In a way, they all had a knack for doing it, barging into each other's lives, whether intentionally or not, but even though she had only known everyone for such little amount of time, she liked it. If anything else, she could feel that it made all of their lives even more interesting.

"Sorry for intruding mina." Usopp apologized as he followed Luffy in the door soon afterwards, with Chopper right beside him, and Franky and Robin behind them.

"Oi, what the hell is going on?" Zoro asked as he made his way down the stairs, slightly irritated by everyone's presence and the fact that they interrupted his nap.

"Mugiwara-bro is bored again, and called us all together." Franky began to explain. "I think we all know where this is going, I'm sure he wants to have a SUPER…"

"PARTY!" Luffy finished for the cyborg. "Oi Sanji, cook the meat!"

"Don't go just making plans on your own you shitty-bastard! I wanted to have a nice quiet and romantic night with Perona-fawn, and Nami-swan… now if only we could get rid of the damn marimo everything would be perfect." The cook mumbled the last part. "Although it would be nice to also have Robin-chwan around as well."

Zoro shook his head in disgust at his rival's thought process. "Oi, love-cook, you know full damn well that there is no reasoning with that baka captain of ours. Just go and start cooking more food."

"Shishishi! Yosh, than let's go outside and have fun with the monkeys again, and let's start the party! Captain's orders." The three youngest of all the nakama, cheered in delight together that they were all going to be having fun with everyone again, while Franky struck his signature pose. Sanji hung his head in defeat and headed back towards the kitchen, to get supplies ready. Robin had made her way over to the other women and gave them her signature polite smile, and Perona just laughed at the group.

Nami wasn't sure how to react to all of it. She glanced at each person, seeing the happy looks on their faces, and then at Zoro: he had moved to lean up against the wall and closed his good eye, as if he was thinking about something. The mikan-head's heart sank a little, 'is he still thinking about my tattoo?' but her spirits picked up a little when she noticed a small smile cross over his lips when something was said by the other men in the room. This was just the distraction she was looking for.

But… how long would the happy distraction last?

End Chapter 6

Author notes and translations:

*bokken = a wooden sword often used for training purposes

*Orphan Pirates = OCs from "Pleasure's Guilty" (I like to recycle)

Okay… so I know I said I would be introducing some of the other characters in the last chapter… but I didn't get to it for a couple of reasons:

1: I got a little carried away with the Sanji X Perona backstory (I came down with another case of "I'm having so much fun with this that I can't stop writing" disease), and the chapter would have been close to 11,000 words if I didn't stop…

2: I'm going to go see KimuraMinami again and I wanted to give you all an update before I got on the plane to go see her.

So… tell me all what you think, yell at me if you want because there wasn't much ZoNa in this chapter. And as always = Thank you for reading and please review ;}