Chapter 9

Sanji woke up the next day and lazily realized it was Sunday and he didn't work that day. Zeff would give him two Sundays off every month. However the last Sunday Sanji was supposed to have free, he went working anyway, but this time Zeff had forbidden him to put his feet on Baratie. Sanji had been working more hours than usual doing extra hours and extra days until Zeff snapped and gave him a lecture about working according to his schedule and he would only work extra hours if Zeff agreed with it and this Sunday he was not agreeing with it. Sanji was going to stay home and rest.

Sanji got up and as he passed by his mirror he stopped to watch his reflection. Unconsciously he lifted the huge T-shirt he was using as pajamas and observed the scar on his right side. The moment that punk had cut him he had wanted to beat him to a pulp, but with time he had almost thanked the guy for it. It had triggered a relationship with that stupid marimo and Sanji had been quite happy with him. But now he was thinking if that hadn't been a curse instead. It had showed him the taste of it when clearly he and Zoro were not meant to be. But Sanji should have known all along. He had always believed there was a girl out there he was meant to be. Why did he get involved with that shitty swordsman? It was definitely a curse.

But then he remembered the words he had heard the day before they broke up. "Because I'm in love with someone else!" Zoro had said to Nami. Sanji had the opinion that the word love in this kind of manners shouldn't be pronounced unless a person really means it. That is why he had rarely used the word love seriously. He would say jokingly "I'm in love with that girl" if he saw a pretty girl passing by, but when it came to say it seriously and truthfully Sanji most of the times would prefer not say it because he was never sure. And Zoro seemed like the type of guy who would never use that word for any matter, joking or serious. So hearing that had confused Sanji's mind and had him questioning his feelings for Zoro. Had Zoro meant it? Or had he said it just to shut Nami up? The thought that he had meant it warmed Sanji's heart, but at the same time broke his heart because the next day they had broken up because of his own insecurities. However the thought that Zoro didn't mean it crushed his heart more brutally. After all Zoro had been the one suggesting they should break up. No… Zoro wasn't that way. He wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it.

Sanji let out a frustrated grumble. There was a reason he had been working extra hours. Working kept him focused and wouldn't allow him to think about other matters. And he didn't want to think about this particular matter. It would only get him confused and depressed. He needed a way out. He needed his mind away from those thoughts. Working was a good solution. He cursed Zeff for not letting him work that day. He had just woken up and he was already thinking about it.

He got out of his room, too annoyed and lazy to make breakfast, and stepped inside Ace's room who was still sleeping. He opened the blinds only a tiny bit, so the room wasn't completely dark and then sat next to Ace slipping his legs under the sheets.

Ace woke up at the sound of someone sitting by his side and by a few sun rays that were now crossing his room. Turning his head sleepily he saw Sanji in his bed. It had been a long time since Sanji had done this. There was a time when Sanji would do this sometimes on what they called a "lazy Sunday" and they would talk about everything. Some days it would be about serious things, other days about stupid things and they would laugh, or about things that happened to them through the week and they hadn't had the chance to talk about or even to remember some old memories. Ace rubbed his eyes trying to get rid of the sleepiness. It took him almost a minute to be enough awaken to process a certain thought. 'Maybe Sanji wants to tell what he didn't want to tell me yesterday!' That finally got rid of his sleepiness.

"So… What's up?" he started.

"Nothing… nothing at all… Zeff didn't let me work today."

"Well, it's your Sunday off. And besides you have a big dinner to prep for tonight!"

"I don't need a whole day to prepare a dinner…"

Silence.

"So… Anything you want to tell me?"

"Nope…"

Ace tightened his fists in frustration under the sheets. Okay! Change strategy!

"Don't tell me you are feeling lonely and you want someone to cuddle with" he said wrapping his arms around Sanji's waist and rubbing his cheek on the chef's side.

"What the hell? Get off Ace! I don't want to cuddle with you for certain" Sanji yelled while pushing him away.

Ace removed his arms and sat up. "Oh right! Luffy is a much better cuddler."

Sanji let out an irritated sound followed, almost simultaneously, by a chuckle. "I don't want to cuddle with Luffy either." Though he tried to sound stern, a laugh trying to be suppressed could still be heard in his voice. "You're an asshole, you know? I don't want to cuddle with you, and much less with Luffy."

"Oh! I'm flattered. Then you prefer to cuddle with me than with Luffy!"

"Ace…"

"I'm joking man! Then who do you prefer to cuddle with?"

The blonde rolled his eyes. "No…"

"I would have accepted something like «the cute girl from the bakery downstairs», you know?" he fireman said shrugging.

Sanji smirked. "For what? So you could stalk her to know if I was being serious or if I was just joking?"

"Stalk? No! Do I look like a stalker?" the black-haired man said with a fake shocked expression.

"Hmm… Yes, you actually do."

A pillow quickly crashed into Sanji's face.

"Hey! Asshole!"

And it crashed into his face one more time.

"Stop it!" Sanji protested between Ace's laughs.

"SAAAANJIIIIIIIIII! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

The next moment the door opened and Luffy came in running and jumped on the bed, landing on Sanji.

"I'm going to kill you Luffy!"

"Shishishi! Sorry…" he apologized smiling.

"You're lucky my legs are under the sheets, or I would have kicked the shit out of you."

"Where's breakfast?"

"Go make it yourself!"

"No! I'm hungry!"

"Just get something from the kitchen and stop bugging me!"

Luffy left immediately. It was rare for him to get permission from Sanji to get something from the kitchen. He came back shortly after carrying as much bags of potatoes chips as he could.

"So what are you talking about?" he asked with his mouth full between the sound of munching and crunching (receiving a menacing look from Sanji).

When Ace was about to say "nothing", the blonde by his side suddenly said "what would you do or feel if you accidently overheard someone say they loved you?"

Ace and Luffy shared an intrigued look. They were definitely not expecting that.

"Hmm… well that depends. I mean do we love that person back?" Ace said.

Sanji thought for a while and then replied "no".

"It's always nice to hear someone loves you. So I think I would be happy" Luffy said.

"But I would also feel bad for not returning the feelings. And I would hope that person would not suffer because of it" Ace completed.

Sanji kept looking down at the sheets. He wasn't even sure what he was feeling. "And what if…"

Ace looked at him, examining him for a moment. "What if you loved that person back?"

Sanji motioned yes with his head.

"I would feel super happy! If I heard Nami say she loved me, it would be one of the happiest days of my life" Luffy said with an honest and happy smile.

"What if you can't be together because of… things… reasons…"

Ace gave Sanji a suspicious look while Luffy looked confused. "What do you mean can't be together? Aren't we talking about two people who love each other?"

Sanji signed at his friend's naïve personality. "Yes… but sometimes there are obstacles preventing those two people to be together."

"Well, then it depends on the obstacles. But most of all it depends if your love has enough strength to take down those obstacles."

Ace and Sanji looked at Luffy like he was an alien. How the hell were those words coming out of Luffy's mouth?

"I mean, for example, Usopp and Kaya, apparently they liked each other for ages, but only recently they started dating. Part of it was because they were shy, according to Nami, but it was also because Usopp was afraid of her father. He knew he wouldn't approve it. It took him some years to gather enough courage to ask her. But then her father found out and went crazy. But Kaya faced him and said she wasn't going to give up on him just because he disapproved. So they had an obstacle, but they didn't give up. It took them some years, but they stayed true to their feelings."

Ace and Sanji's jaws dropped. "Wow! Luffy… could it be that you are a romantic deep down?" Ace whispered with his eyes wide open.

Luffy shrugged. "Not really. I just don't like the idea of people giving up because of one obstacle. I believe that if people try hard, strengthen their muscles, heart, mind, whatever it's needed, they can overcome any obstacles. And I think it applies to love as well."

Sanji stayed silent thinking about the whole conversation. How had he felt when he heard Zoro say it? Part of him was happy yes. But it could have been because, as Luffy said, it's nice to hear that someone loves you. Did he felt bad for not returning the feeling as Ace had suggested? Well not exactly, because he did have feelings for the marimo, otherwise he wouldn't have been together with him for so long. But he wasn't sure how strong those feelings were. Not love for sure, that's why he panicked a bit. So he didn't feel bad, but he kind of panicked. So he had feelings for him, but it didn't quite make to love. Was his logic right? He didn't know what to think. But they were over, so why was he still beating himself about it? 'I guess Luffy's right. Our love just wasn't strong enough. It wasn't even love most likely. As I thought, it isn't meant to be.'

He got up suddenly, startling both brothers who were talking about something else he wasn't paying attention. "I'm going to buy the eggs someone forgot yesterday" he announced, leaving while Ace gave him an irritated look.

X x X x X

"Sanji!" the black-haired boy's voice filled the kitchen and almost immediately he jumped and wrapped his arms and legs around said cook.

"No! Dinner is not ready yet, Luffy! Get off me and let me finished!"

"I wasn't going to ask about dinner" the younger boy informed releasing his friend. "Yesterday Nami asked me if she could bring her nephew here today. Her sister asked her to take care of him for the whole day. I said it was okay, but she told me to warn you and Ace. But I kinda forgot, so I'm telling you now!" he said scratching his head and smiling apologetically.

Sanji widened his eyes. "Nami-san has a nephew?"

"Yes, she does. Has she never mentioned it to you?"

The blonde shook his head. "How old is he? Is he going to eat?"

"No, he's like a year and a half, I believe."

"By the way, Nami is the only one who isn't here yet, right?"

"Yeah… but she'll be here in a minute." That said and the door bell was heard ringing.

Both run to the door. Sanji opened it revealing the lovely orange-haired girl they were expecting. In her arms was a dark-blue haired baby boy with big expressive brown eyes.

"Welcome, dear Nami-san! I didn't know you had just a lovely nephew!"

"Yes, this is Namiko. Say hello Namiko! This is Luffy and this is Sanji!"

The baby started stretching his arms towards Sanji and said "Aji!"

"Oh I think he likes you, Sanji-kun!" Nami said smiling while Sanji took the baby in his arms.

"He's so cute! He has your eyes, Nami-san!"

"Yes, they're also my sister Nojiko's eyes" she said after giving Luffy a quick kiss.

"I didn't imagine you would be an aunt by now" the cook said still surprised.

"Neither did I. My sister is a few years older than me and Namiko was a bit of an accident. A happy accident as my sister says," she said patting her nephew in the head and smiling. "Thankfully she was already in a stable relationship with her boyfriend and they both had secure jobs. So even if they weren't planning to have kids so soon, everything went well."

"That's good to hear. He looks like a wonderful kid," Sanji said smiling sweetly at the kid in his arms, who seem quite comfortable there even though that blond man was a stranger.

On the living room Zoro was seating on the couch observing Sanji, Luffy, Nami and the baby. He had met Namiko before and he wasn't very good with babies, so he wasn't interested in the unexpected guest. He was paying attention to Sanji. The weather had finally started to warm up, so it was warm enough for a person to wear a t-shirt at least inside a house. And that what was Sanji was wearing. He wasn't wearing a suit, but some black pants and a navy blue t-shirt with the words "gentle cook". It was the first time Zoro got to see some more of Sanji's skin besides his face and hands since they broke up. He could see his arms, but he didn't like what he was seeing. Sanji's arms always looked thin, but a sexy thin, a thin that Zoro knew hold much strength. But in that moment his arms looked too much skinny. Was that even possible? Apparently it was. He had held those arms many times and they weren't like these before. But he couldn't hold those arms again to make sure if it wasn't just his eyes that were tricking him. He looked at Ace who was seating next to him and he got this urge to ask him about it, but decided against it.

"Is Sanji losing weight?" He decided against it! Then why did the words come out of his mouth anyway?

Ace was surprised for a moment, while taking a quick glance at Sanji, and then replied "I know! Right?" The way he said it easily transmitted the idea that he thought the same, but Zoro was the first person to agree with him.

"Now that you mention it, he does look slimmer" Usopp, who was seating on the other side of Zoro, said.

"I think the same, but one day I asked him that and he told me I was the one getting fatter!" Ace informed.

"I wouldn't be surprised! I don't know how you and Luffy live with Sanji and you still keep your shape," the long-nosed shared.

"Well, we have a fast metabolism and we do a lot of exercise. But the thing is that I wondered about that and I actually weight myself after so many years and if my memory is correct, I weight exactly the same!" the fireman said.

"So… Sanji really is losing weight?" Zoro asked.

"Well… look at him! I believe so. I started noticing it some months ago; Sanji was pretty stressed by that time, so I thought that was the reason. Stress can do that to a person. But then he stopped being stressed and I thought he was going to go back to normal."

Zoro had noticed that too by that time and that was one of the reasons that triggered him to think their relationship was not healthy. He also had thought Sanji would go back to normal after they broke up.

"But I think he just got worse and now it's even more obvious." Ace concluded.

"Hmmm… Why do you think he got worse? Are you sure he's not stressed anymore?" the engineer-to-be asked.

"I know a stressed Sanji when I see one and that is gone for a while. I think the reason now might be he's working way too much," the dark-haired boy said. "He's working extra hours and days. He just didn't work today because Zeff forbid him."

"Why is he working extra hours? Is he having money problems?" Usopp asked.

"No, I don't think so, Sanji is the one who makes more money out of the three of us in this house. I asked him if he has something in his mind he wants to buy, but he said no. He said he just has been having this will to work, so he's taking advantage of it to make some extra money in case he needs it in the future."

"So you are saying that he's working extra time, but he's enjoying it and he doesn't look stressed over it. Could that really be reason?" the curly haired boy said looking all serious as if he was a detective trying to solve a case.

"It doesn't sound plausible, right? He was a bit depressed a while ago, but he has been looking better, though not completely" Ace said.

"Hmmm… Is he really better? Or is he hiding his depression?" Usopp asked mysteriously.

'He's hiding something alright…' Ace thought, but decided not to share with his friends.

"I don't know…" he said instead.

"Maybe he's just sick. Have you thought about it?" Usopp said.

"Who's sick?" Chopper came out of nowhere, at least that was the impression the three men at the couch got, looking all worried.

"No one! We were just wondering if Sanji's sick, because you know… he looks like he has been losing some weight," Usopp said.

"You're right! I'll go talk to him!" the doctor-to-be said worriedly stepping away towards the chef.

The dinner went quite well. Sanji's lasagna was delicious and he didn't have to kick Luffy many times for trying to steal food from others. Namiko insisted in staying on Sanji's lap the whole time, thought he accepted to go with Nami for a while, so Sanji could eat in peace. Brook told stories about his business trip to another country, how one day he started playing violin in the middle of a street and people loved him. Usopp told about his inventions in his engineering projects, though Franky was the only who seemed interested and was giving him advices. It was a cheerful evening and not even Zoro was able to keep his frown or apathetic look all the time. However he sometimes would quickly glance at Sanji and his skinny arms with a worried expression. Those glances were so quick that Nami was the only one that noticed, because she was keeping an eye on them to see how they react near each other.

After dinner Sanji was seating on the floor with Luffy while both played with Namiko. Zoro was once again sitting on the couch, but this time alone, and he was watching Sanji. The cook looked happy playing with that kid. Zoro had no idea Sanji was that good with kids. Apparently cute girls weren't the only creatures that ero-cook was fascinated by. It had been a while since Zoro had seen him looking so happy and care-free. The last weeks they had been together Sanji never looked care-free, it was quite the opposite. And he missed those times when he knew Sanji was happy with him, because of him. But seeing Sanji happy in that moment, even if all he could do was observe from distance knowing he had nothing to do with the blonde's joy, it made his chest warm a bit, but it hurt a little too. But he couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Sanji looks happy, doesn't he?" Zoro was startled at hearing that female voice he was so familiar with. He looked around to find Nami smiling sweetly at him. However there was something in her smile he didn't like. That all-knowing feature! He almost beat himself when he realized she had just caught him smiling while staring at Sanji.

"Yeah, he does… But I don't care. I was noticing Namiko has grown since the last time I saw him," he replied after putting back his stern face.

"He has indeed. But you know, I had no idea Sanji would be this good with babies. I was guessing Luffy would because he's like a big kid, so it's normal kids love him. But Sanji was a surprise. And Namiko is a bit shy with new people, but he completely forgot his shyness with Sanji. Look at them! Next time Nojiko needs a babysitter I'll recommend Sanji!"

"Are you sure you want your nephew at the hands of that stupid-cook?"

"Don't be stupid Zoro! Sanji will be a great father someday. It's a shame it didn't work out with that Keimi girl," she said eyeing Zoro attentively as she noticed him flinch.

"What do you mean? I thought he said their date went pretty well," the words came out of Zoro's mouths more urgently them he wished.

"Yes, it did. But I happen to know it didn't work out, so there won't be a second date."

There was a quick expression of satisfaction crossing Zoro's face that Nami hardly caught.

"I guess that ero-cook isn't as good with women as he believes he is." The satisfaction was no longer shown in his face, but his voice still revealed some of it.

"No, I don't think that was the problem," Nami said smiling knowingly and after a wink she walked away.

'What the hell does that witch know?' However Zoro could not ask her what the problem was, because it would be too suspicious. 'She knows something and she's messing with me' he thought as he watched her walk away.

I'm sorry for taking so long to update D: but I really have a lot of work to do that keeps me busy x.x

I hope you enjoy this chapter =)

[Special thanks for Mori-chan for encouraging me to write this chapter 3]