Chapter 10: Lunch Talk

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Luffy went up to Zoro's apartment room with a bag with his latest cooking attempt. He knocked rapidly on the door and waited for about five seconds before knocking again.

"I'm coming Luffy!" Zoro said through the door before opening it. "This is a surprise." He added with a yawn.

"Were you taking a nap?"

"I was."

"Gomen! I brought us lunch!"

"You were cooking again?"

"Yep!"

"What's on the menu this time?" He asked as he let the other in.

"Stir fried fish!"

"What kind of fish?"

"Well… I got the tuna one."

"Okay." He said as he closed the door and headed to the kitchen to take out the plates. "What else is in it?"

"Vegetables, rice and soy sauce."

"Sounds simple enough." He said. "Last time you did something completely different."

"Yeah, I thought it was easy to throw something in. But Sanji said I have to get myself a cook book if I'm serious about cooking."

"And you did?"

"Yep! Cooking Basics for Dummies."

Zoro smiled when he heard that. "So you admit that you're an idiot?"

Luffy stuck out his tongue, which caused the other to chuckle. "Wow…"

When Zoro stopped chuckling he looked at the other. "Nani?"

"You sound nice when you chuckled." He said with a smile.

"Don't say such stupid things." Zoro said with a bit of pink on his cheeks as he set the plates down. "What would you like to drink?"

"Milk if you got any."

"Got it." He said as he went back to grab two glasses and found his prescription bottle to swallow a pill before pouring their drinks into the glasses.

Luffy put the latest mass of food on the plates when the other came out with their drinks.

"Thanks for the meal." Zoro said as they started to eat, which Luffy finished his in a matter of a minute.

"So… How many of those pills do you usually take?"

"Depending on the day… Six at the most but I usually take one or two each day."

"How come?"

"To keep my heart from stressing out too much."

"What do they do?"

"If I sense that my heart is going to act up, I take one, wait five minutes for it to work, and I would usually take a nap or sit somewhere for a half an hour before continuing what I was doing a moment ago."

"Has it ever gotten so bad?"

"Like I've told you before, the first two years were hell, but I got a hold on it now."

Luffy smiled knowing that the other was okay as he looked around the apartment. "Naa, do all the apartments look like this?"

"Hm?"

"Do all the apartments look dull like this?"

Zoro shrugged. "How the hell should I know? I preferred it this way."

"Why?"

"Too much work and I'm not patient enough to paint the whole damn room."

Luffy blinked as he continued to look at the apartment.

"Does it bother you?" Zoro asked.

"Well… the first time I saw your apartment after I got better, I thought it was so… lifeless. It really made me uncomfortable. But now it doesn't really bother me as much but it wouldn't hurt to have some color here."

Zoro looked at his apartment as well before shrugging it off. "If you feel the need to paint, go for it. Just make sure the windows are open. You don't want to end up killing me with paint fumes."

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Like I would do that!"

Zoro smiled as he finished his plate. "I have to say, you definitely improved since last time."

Luffy smiled. "That's good!"

"Maybe I should make something for you for a change."

Luffy chuckled. "I would like that. Then I could see how good a cook Zoro is compared to me."

"Don't get to cocky with me, baka." Zoro warned as he pointed to him, which the other just laughed.

_/\/\/\_

As they put their stuff away, they settled down on the couch and watched something about pirates of the Caribbean.

"When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a pirate." Luffy said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I would always think about traveling around out at sea, picking up a crew along the way and go out to find treasure and kick ass."

"You still think like that?"

"Yeah! Even though it'll never happen, I will never give up on that. In a way I am a pirate to the kids where I work. The other staff would have to hide candy and other treats somewhere and I would lead them to look for it while the other staff members play a role of monsters and what not for them to fight their way through. We even have a few days where we have to save someone from the monsters." He chuckled. "It's a great way to get their confidence up, have teamwork, and be a better person in the future by never losing a dream and always help others, even if they never wanted help in the first place."

"Sounds like you're a very motivational person to those kids."

Luffy chuckled. "I don't know about that…" He said as he leaned back on the couch. "But those kids need someone who can look up too, and to let them know it's okay to be a little crazy if it could make someone smile." He looked at the other with a smile. "It took me a while before I could see you smile."

Zoro blinked before he grinned and trapped the other in a head lock. "You baka…" He said as he gave the other a noggie.

Luffy laughed as he tried to get out. "Zoro!"