Chapter 9: Good Terms
*_+_*
A good month went by and Luffy was out with both Sanji and Usopp. The atmosphere around them was an awkward one, but Usopp would try to lighten the mood with his tall tales, which would make Luffy laugh and Sanji to be a bit of a critic.
"So… uh… Luffy…" Sanji started. "How have you been doing since… you know?"
"Well… I've made a friend and that made things very easy." He said.
"Is he the guy with the green hair?" Usopp asked. "And looks kind of scary?"
"Yep! Roronoa Zoro. And he's not scary!" Luffy said as he playfully punched the long nosed man.
"What kind of guy is he?" Sanji asked.
"Huh? You're not jealous are you?"
"It's not like that moron."
"We're just friends Sanji. I'm not going into any relationship for some time."
"Luffy…"
"It's fine guys. Now that I think about it, I practically forced Sanji to be my boyfriend because you can cook great food."
"It's a good quality to have." Usopp said.
"Oi!"
Luffy laughed before continuing. "But now I have to take it easy for a bit until I'm ready to start dating someone else. Now that I don't feel bitter about you two."
The two men looked at the other with some guilt but knew that the other was going to do just fine.
"Well… If you ever do start dating," Sanji said as he took a cigarette. "You better let all of us know so we can tell him just how lucky the bastard is to be dating you."
"Sanji…" Luffy whined.
"I may have screwed up, but that doesn't mean I don't care."
"Same here." Usopp said. "And the last thing we want from you is you hurting."
Luffy smiled. "Thanks guys." He said as he looked at his watch. "Oh! I better get going to work. See ya!"
"Take care Luffy!"
"See you around!"
_/\/\/\_
While Luffy waved to the two, the men continued to look at the other until he disappeared from their vision.
"He's grown up a bit." Usopp said.
"Yeah…" Sanji said with a bit of a chuckle. "But he's still a happy go lucky moron."
"That's just Luffy." Usopp said with a sigh. "For awhile there, I thought I would never laugh with him again, you know?"
Sanji nodded. "I didn't think there was even a chance to tell him that I'm sorry. I'm okay if I could just say that… but then I realized that it wasn't the case." He said as he took out a lighter, lit up the tip of the cigarette, put the lighter back into his pocket, took a drag before letting it out through his parted lips. "I was selfish to think that I would be okay with saying sorry… What about Luffy? At that point I realized that I wanted to be forgiven and know that he'll be okay. And for a long time I thought it was never going to happen."
"Yeah…" Usopp said as he took a deep breath. "Well, at least he's happy now. And I think this Zoro guy may have been a great help."
"I guess… Though it's weird that his hair looks like a moss ball."
"And you're going to kill yourself with that cancer stick in your mouth."
The two looked behind to see the man standing there.
"How long were you standing there?" Sanji asked.
"Just long enough to hear what you guys have to say about me. Now if you will excuse me…" He said as he went pass the two to continue walking. "I have a grave to visit."
"A grave?" Usopp asked.
"Oi!" Sanji called, making the other stop walking. "You better not tug on Luffy's heart!"
Zoro turned to look at the man. "And end up like you?" He said dully. "We're just friends… It wouldn't do good for either of us if it went farther than that." He said as he turned away and continued to walk away from the two.
"The hell?" Sanji said a bit pissed off that the other slightly insulted him.
"He sounds like he's going to a funeral." Usopp said.
Sanji took another drag and let it out. "Whatever… it sounds like his intentions is good enough."
"Still scary to me though." Usopp said. "But if Luffy is okay with him then he can't be all that bad."
"Yeah… Luffy has that way with people." Sanji said. "Even if they did screw up one way or another."
"Would you cut that out already? He's forgiven us and we're back to being friends… well we're actually dating but you know what I mean!"
Sanji smiled as he grabbed the other's hand. "Yeah… I get it."
Usopp smiled as he returned the grip as they continued to walk down the street.
