Chapter 7:

Okay... so my uni deadline is in less than one week... and I really shouldn't be doing this, but I really want to upload another chapter...

So here goes.

Enjoy Chapter 7.

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(The first scene from the previous chapter but told from Zoro's point of view.)

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Hard Lines: Provoked.

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'It's getting dark already. Damn I'm so tired! After all that exercise I could definitely go for another nap.' I climbed to the top balcony to get away from everyone, and out of range of their voices, but that didn't seem to work well today.

'I hate having all these extra people on board. It's so damn annoying. I can't get any rest with all of these idiots demanding my attention. Granted, we do need to keep an eye out (no pun intended) for Dolfamingo or one of his cronies, but I hadn't expected everyone to get so on edge. … Even with my back to Usopp and Chopper they still make the noise of a yowling seahorse, sound like music with their dumbass chatter. Gah! How did Usopp talk Chopper into wearing that ridiculous thing. Doesn't Chopper know yet that he's braver and more intelligent than Usopp.'

"It's already late!" Usopp started to yell. "No one has come!"

"Yes, sir! I didn't see anybody!" Chopper agreed, giving his report to the older man whom Chopper obviously thought was the right person to follow.

"Uh-huh. Good job!" Usopp said loudly and as formally as possible.

"Thank you sir!" Chopper call out in similar fashion.

'I wonder if they actually acting this out to impress the ex-warlord, or the military personal on board. Damn that's daft. Funny, but stupid, anyone can tell these idiots don't have much of a clue when it comes to staying alert for the enemy.'

Usopp called out to someone. "Hey, do you think they can still find us? How many people are looking for us!? Tens of thousands? I can't stop worrying since I heard you blackmailed Doflamingo! You fool!"

"Me neither, you fool!" Chopper added.

'Oh, so he's talking to Law. I wonder if they'd be calling him names if Luffy hadn't already told them that he had made a pact with him.' I scratched the top of my head. 'Why am I getting so itchy, is it from the salt in the air.'

"Ahhh!" At the loud exclamation I opened my one good eye and saw the Samurai guy before me.

'Well, I never really expected to get much rest at this time of the day, but I didn't expect this guy to bother seeking me out to talk too.'

"Hey." I nodded a greeting to him.

"I heard you're quite a legend where you come from."

'Of course I am.'

"You heard that did you?" I said. "I've been keeping a low profile for years now. I would have thought the stories would have died down."

"Yes, your bravery proceeds you." Kinamon added.

'Hell Yeah! I'm more well known than I gave myself credit for. Take that second rate Pirate A with the drawn poster.'

I sat up straighter. "Good news. By the way, could you tell me in your unbiased opinion, which of us Strawhat pirates apart from Luffy do you think is the most well known or is classified as the strongest?"

He sat down and scratched his shoulders. "Well I heard that the red-haired woman's poster is very well known." He grinned. "Well I haven't seen it, but I heard that many government officials have been talking and insisting about getting a new one printed because it looks too sexual for a Bounty Poster." He stroked his odd-shaped chin beard. "Apparently quite a few wives of Marines have complained that their husbands have been printing off large copies of the posters and putting them up in their studies. It apparently helps them get motivated to catch other pirates."

'Really? It helps them to get motivated...what a denial. If they have a poster like that in their office then it'll do more than get them motivated. I felt a grin spread across my face before I could stop thinking about the ridiculousness of it. I wonder if the Marine woman copy-cat gets motivated in a similar way with another pirate poster... Okay think about something else.'

"They have no idea what she's really like though." I coughed. 'I can still remember how much money she had been able to weasel from me in such a short amount of time.' "Damn witch."

"Yeah," he looked back at me with that serious look on his face. "..but you live in the same crew, surely you might have felt something for her by now." He tilted his head back in relaxation one could only imagine what he was thinking about.

I raised an eyebrow. 'So he thinks that does her?'

"She's hot, and she knows it. Nami likes doing things sneeky-like, just as Usopp does." I yawned and leaned back again. "That's just not my style."

"But you won't deny that a woman like that is nice to have around just to look at." Kinamon knelt down beside me and looked out to sea in the same direction.

"Nope I won't deny it, but I'm thankful I haven't seen much more of her junk."

"What?" Kinamon looked at him strangely. "Why would you say that."

"It's too expensive."

There was an odd pause in the conversation that didn't seem to want to shift in any way for a little while. "So... You wield three swords. What possessed you to learn a technique that would incorporate the use of three swords in combat?"

"I guess I wanted the challenge." I said. I lifted the three swords up to show him.

"Well, these are some fine … WHAT!"

I scowled at such a loud outcry right near my ear, and here I thought that Luffy, Usopp, Franky, and Nami where one of the few people that I had been unfortunate enough to travel with that had such loud gobs. 'Obviously not.' "What is you're problem?" I asked him.

"That... that …. that … Sword!"

"Yes! This sword is mine! What is the deal with you?"

"YOU CLAIM THAT SWORD... AS YOUR OWN AND YET TOTALLY DISREGARD ITS BEAUTIFUL HISTORY AND PEACE!"

'What the hell is this guy on about?'

Kinamon stood up and drew his freak'n sword. "Fight me thief! You have no right to hold that sword. I will take it back by force if I have too."

'What the hell is wrong with these people? Why do I always seem to attract the crazy, self-righteous, religious, nut-cases? First the marine woman, and now this guy.'

"Wait." I stood up and jumped out of the way of the swinging blade. "It's not what you think."

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…..."Kin gave us armour and some helmets. Just let it go!" I heard Luffy speak out loudly.

'CLANG... CRASH... BOING! SMASH! Got to avoid him. Don't provoke him any further. Why won't he listen?'

"Resign from the Warlords or fight one of the emperors." Brook voice could be heard clearly above the clang of Kinamon's sword. "Nobody can choose between those options. He'll just come to kill us. Yohohohoho. I'm scared."

'CLANG... CRASH... BOING! SMASH!' I jumped backwards again out of range from Kinamon's blade. 'It wasn't too much of a serious fight, but he was being damn annoying.'

"You bastard! Fight me squarely!" Kinamon yelled.

I carried on trying to avoid his attacks and back up into Caesar. "Wahhhhh!" Caesar dodged some fire attacks. "Cut it out! Stop!"

"I said it's a long story!" I tried to explain.

With nothing better to do obviously, Nami butted in. "Come on! It's dangerous to fight on the ship! ZORO!"

"Oh, are you guys playing samurai?!" Luffy started walking over to us. "Fight fight!"

I locked gazes with Kinamon trying to show him that I was innocent of any crimes that he might have thought he could place at my feet. But there seemed to be no way of getting through to him his eyes were blazing in a fury. "You should be ashamed of yourself! The whole country was left heartbroken, when the grave of the Wano Kingdom's hero was left plundered by a thief! That was you!"

"I said I didn't do it!"

'I can't believe this. I'm being blamed for stealing the dead Zombie samurai guy's body and sword. That's just rotten luck.'

"You must have! You have the legendary swordsman Ryuma's great sword Shusui on your belt!"

"Come on, come on! Fight, fight!" The others started to cheer us on.

"Just cut him already!" I heard Sanji cheering for Kinamon somewhere above me. 'Moron swirly eyebrows.'

"Who wants to eat a midnight snack?" Sanji interrupted.

'Okay, I'll admit. Good interruption idiot cook.'

"Oh, what is it!?" Luffy and Chopper yelled excitedly.

"Pizza." Sanji said flatly.

"Pida?" Kinamon stopped trying to fight me and turned around interested. "I don't know what that is but if he cooked it, it should be good." He walked over to the others and looked around and then asked if his son had gone to bed yet.

"He's taking a bath with Robin." Nami answered calmly.

'Oh great why did she have to go and say that.' I rubbed my head again and started making my way … away somewhere.

"What!" Brook, Kinamon, and Sanji yelled all at once.

I walked around and picked a different sport to rest in peace. Hopefully no one will disturb me this time. I close my eye and just enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by fresh air and peace.

"YOU'RE THE WORST YOU BRAT!" 'Well it looks like they found the kid. What a bunch of morons, that's only going to make the women treat the kid better if he's picked on.'

"DON'T PICK ON HIM!" Nami's voice came down from upstairs. "Bang. Bammm. Boing! Boom!"

'Yep, I called it. That's definitely Nami's revenge on them for picking on the kid.'

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I woke up and felt even more tired than I did before. 'I could really go for a shower round about now. Yep...' I yawned, stretched, and straightened up. 'I'll have a shower.'

I made my way up the stairs and then noticed a sound coming from above. I threw my towel onto the side hooks and made my way up the stairs to the roof. …

'What is Sanji doing here?'

"So, you had your shower yet?" I asked.

"Sshshhhhhh!" Sanji waved me back and went back to … pressing his eyes against a crack in the wood of the bathroom ceiling.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" I looked down at him in disgust, and moved to sit down on one of the wooden panels at the side. 'This is ridiculous. Even if he did want to see Nami naked he didn't have to get a high from watching and listening to her take a bath.'

"You wouldn't understand, Moron." Sanji snapped.

"No I understand perfectly. You're a dumb cook that can't get his eyes off some stupid ass chick."

"She's stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, and talking about her life's struggles openly." He sniffed and wiped away his new emotional tears. "It's such a beautiful moment."

'Stupid.' "Talking to who?"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "Tashigi's in there."

"What? Why?" 'Considering how she reacted this afternoon, I'd have thought she wouldn't want to go anywhere near Nami.'

"If you want to know, then listen." Sanji raised his fingers to his lips and became really quiet.

"No... I meant your mum." 'That was the marine woman's voice. What does she mean by that?'

"My mother was rich, wealthy, and a real party organizer. I never really liked the attention she was always trying to get. And she got married about four times."

'Her mother got married four times! Sounds like she lived an easy life off other people's money.'

"Wow. You're not much like her at all are you?"

"No way." The marine woman continued.

Sanji put his eye back to the minuet crack in the boards. "Oi." I whispered. "Stop looking at them you creep."

"What, you jealous?" Sanji laughed with a stupid smug grin on his face and wiped a small trail of blood from his nose. 'That Bastard! That was it.'

"Don't just watch them you Creepy Cook." I stood up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "That's low even for you."

"Shut up. Don't act so high and mighty. I know you only want me to stop looking so you can be the one watching."

"BAM!" "BOOM" I smashed Sanji into the floor.

"Big mistake Swordsman." Sanji stood up and threw a kick into my stomach making me walk back a few paces. "It not like this is a new thing for me. I want to be the ultimate...!"

"Shut your trap!" I drew my swords and held my position. "I thought you took pride in being a gentleman where did all that pride go that you would do something so trivial and disrespectful?"

"I still have plenty of pride." Sanji pulled out his lighter. "I just so happen to take pride in the fact that I can see a beautiful woman without being detected. And anyway it's not like I haven't done this before and you never complained th..." Sanji looked up at me then and scowled. "You had better not be thinking about spying and stealing away my lovely Tashigi."

"What?!"

"She's way too good for your unappreciative mind to even consider …"

'Bom,badombombom...' I threw him again. "Get lost and take you're stupid opinions with you."

I stopped for a moment and got ready for another kick attack of his.

"Hahaha." I heard the woman's laugh coming from downstairs. 'woman... no Tashigi, her name is Tashigi... I need to remember her name. She's utterly different from Kuina now... so that should be easy.'

"Who do you think it is?" Tashigi asked Nami.

I could feel my entire back stiffen. 'What if she found out it was me up here? Would she think I was actually spying on her.'

"... Luffy …" I heard Nami utter something about Luffy and I let out a sigh of relief. 'I did not want anymore misunderstandings.'

"Woah...ho ho" I turned my attention back to Sanji again as he began raising his voice.

"What!" I muttered angrily. 'I'm feeling pretty on edge right about now so don't say anything else stupid.'

"I've never seen you get so worked up about me being near to and keeping an eye out for a beautiful woman. She must be rather special to you then." He raised the dartbrow in amusement and nodded.

"What?! She's not special at all!"

Sanji raised that annoying eyebrow again and smiled that stupid smile. "Ah... well that's good. Tashigi's the sort of girl that's perfect for me."

'Perfect... yeah right. The feministic swordswoman would sooner stab him through the heart than give him her own.' "Don't be a moron. She's a marine."

Sanji put another cigarette into his mouth and lit it. "Marine's have been persuaded into leaving the Navy if they fall into love." He sighed. "It's inevitable. She compliments my cooking constantly, she's sweet, she's hot, she's got a great body..." Sanji did the hourglass shape with both his hands in mid hair. "... she's funny, she's got a really kind and generous heart, and by the sounds of their conversation just now I'd say she's got a broken heart, and I will be the one to do it. I'll fix her broken heart and dashed dreams and shower her with love. With my cooking, love and support she will will be able to accomplish everything she dreams of. She's the sort of girl that's sweet, stubborn and hard to win over, but once I do and she makes her mind up she will love me forever." Sanji's mind disappeared into fairy land with a smirk on his face. "Yep, she's my soul mate."

"Shut up! Stop acting like you know her. You don't."

"I do know her. I've been watching her recently. I can tell she still suffering." He frowned. "Especially after finding out that a man she respected in the marines betrayed her entire unit of men back on Punk Hazard."

"Who?" 'I don't remember this.'

"That's because you weren't there, but I was. I could tell with the way she looked at me, when I saved her from the bastard that she was falling for me." Sanji spun around in his normal ignorant bliss and held out his arms as if he were catching someone falling.

'I can't stand this. This is sickening. If she was here she would give him a kick in the face... or would she? I don't really know how she would react...'

"All I need to do now is let her feel the true passion of my love for her..." Sanji carried on.

'...Would she actually get off on that sort of stuff?'

"... and she and I would make such adorable kids."

"Shut up you damn idiot! Don't look at her in that way, don't touch her, and I don't want you anywhere near her." I felt my mouth drop as I heard those words leave my mouth. 'What the hell did I just say?'

"I thought so." Sanji looked smug for whatever reason. "So you do like her, but you just won't admit to it."

'Why can't I say anything?'

He then sighed and turned his back on me. "You're a waste of a woman's time anyway, where she would actually want to get to know you, you would keep her at a safe distance and never show her or share with her any real feelings. You're the sort of guy that will live his life apart from others. You want to be alone. You want to train alone." He walked to the edge of the roof. "And you want to die alone."

'No... that … Is that really what it looks like to other people? That's not true. I just want … more …NO STOP. You're dream is important. It is a promise, and way more important than some trivial affair of some sort.'

"It's none of your bloody business." I said.

"And that's why she will never even think about staying here for you, because you never share what you're really feeling with anyone."

"I don't want her to, and I don't care what you think or what words you say. I don't like her. You're just twisting my words around. I never said I did, and won't." I scowled back at him. "I don't need anyone to help me achieve my dreams. It's not necessary to be in love with someone to feel accomplished in life. I'm not like you fantasizing about every single woman's ass that comes you're way. To be honest it's disgusting to act the way you do. Just because you see and like a beautiful woman doesn't mean you should treat her like a piece of meat you can just admire the flesh of, pick up whenever you want, cook up, eat up, and then throw away when you're done. It should take time, and any decent relationship should be handle by both parties with respect."

"YOU DAMN IDIOT! COMPARING WOMEN TO MEAT IS HORRIBLE!"

"No more horrible than your drawling over their cup sizes and asses like some animal."

"Every man acts like an animal with the person he wants the most. Those that don't obviously have no competition or drive to get their mate."

"That's stupid."

"And So are you! … You! And so you..." Sanji paused dramatically. "A drunk penniless pirate, actually want to handle your woman with respect?" Sanji raised his dartbrows in suspicion.

I felt frustrated again. "That's not what I said. I said that's the way they should be treated. I don't want any relationship with one it's too complicated and time consuming."

"What? You think you're some great advice giver? What the hell are you doing giving out romantic advice when you don't have a romantic bone in your body!"

"No. I don't care about it." I felt my face burning. 'Get out of here. Quick...'

"What are you trying to be? A romantic man? Someone who intends on getting married to the right person. I would have thought you would be the sort of guy for the quick dip and out relationship." Sanji paused. "Wait … Have you never..."

"That's none of your business either." I interrupted. 'How had the stupid conversation gotten to this?' I tried to push pass Sanji, but he kept blocking my way. "Move." I demanded.

"I didn't think I'd see you get so worked up about this. If you like her so much, you should just tell her before someone else does."

"No one else is going to get her attention." 'hold up … what? I did not just say that.'

"Wow. You're a bastard." Sanji spat out his cigarette and scowled properly at me. "Not only do you like her, and think she's into you, but you're not going to do anything about it because you're sure she will never be in love with anyone else, and are content knowing that. You would do that to satisfy your ego." He shook his head. "You're sick." With that Sanji went out the door first and down the steps.

'I …... didn't mean it like that …... I don't think.' I lay down on the floor and rubbed the back of my head.

'What the hell just happened?'

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End of Chapter 7.

Yikes! That was different.

When I started this chapter I had no idea it would end this way, but it did seem to flow together so well that it had to be written like this.

Zoro's a bit confused...

But then again so am I. Why did you say that Zoro? What are you going to do next?