Chapter 10: Seven Days

"Sabo, get up!" Luffy yelled, turning his brother´s hammock upside down.

"The hell Luffy?" the blonde yelled from the floor.

"I´m bored; let´s play a game!" Luffy said, making Sabo sigh; he should´ve known.

"Shut up Luffy, we´re still trying to sleep here!" Zoro yelled, throwing a pillow at Luffy. Franky had the watch last night, so the swordsman had gotten quite good sleep, but his mood had just been ruined by the rubber man.

"Go yell outside" Usopp muttered.

"Yeah, outside" Chopper muttered, still half asleep.

"Okay, I´ll just get dressed first" Sabo said with a sigh "Now get out and don´t you dare to wake up the girls; Robin´s already enough of a zombie."

Luffy laughed at that, leaving the room. Sabo sighed in relief, starting to dress up. His brother could be so handful sometimes… well actually, almost all the time.

"Zombie?" Zoro questioned the blond, sitting up on the sofa.

"Well she seems pretty down" Sabo said with a shrug. Zoro knew what he meant; Robin was so worried about Kôkogaku all the time.

"She´ll cheer up soon… hopefully" Zoro added the last part, remembering that their son was leaving in seven days. He didn´t know if Robin would get better or worse after Kôkogaku left, but he was sure neither of them would never be the same as two years ago.

"Master would laugh himself to death if he ever found out about this" the swordsman thought with a sigh "Wait a second…"

XXXXX

After the breakfast Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were trying to teach Kôkogaku hide and seek, but there wasn´t really any results; the toddler didn´t seem to be interested.

"C´mon kid, pay attention" the sniper said, but Kôkogaku ignored him, deciding to climb up the stairs.

"Hey, be careful!" Chopper yelled, running after the toddler and lifting him up "Stairs are dangerous for someone your size!"

"But you´re not much bigger than him, Chopper" Luffy told and Usopp nodded in agreement.

"Stairs are dangerous for someone you age!" Chopper corrected as he realized his mistake.

"Hey Chopper, are you sure it´s safe for you to be carrying him when you´re that size?" asked Zoro, who had just woken up from his nap against the railing.

"Don´t worry; he´s not heavy" Chopper assured.

"I was more worried about you losing your balance" Zoro told, standing up. He walked over to the stairs, taking his son from the reindeer "Sorry Chopper."

"It´s okay" Chopper said and Zoro went up the stairs, setting Kôkogaku down while wondering what the toddler wanted. The little kid laughed, walking over to Brook who was playing his violin. The skeleton stopped playing, looking down at the child who was now pouting.

"Don´t stop playing; he wants to listen" Zoro said, sitting down against the railing. Brook looked down at the toddler, who was now sitting, and started playing.

XXXXX

At lunch Zoro had a hard time feeding Kôkogaku and defending his own plate from Luffy at the same time.

"Luffy cut it out, I´m trying to feed the kid!" Zoro yelled, whacking Luffy´s hand away.

"But I`m hungry!" the captain protested.

"Then steal from your brother!" Zoro yelled, getting a glare from Sabo who had been able to defend his own plate for now.

"That´s too hard!" Luffy yelled back, this time trying to take food from Kôkogaku´s plate. However, the toddler reacted fast as he bit Luffy´s outstretched hand.

"Ouch!" the captain yelled, pulling his hand back "He bit me!"

The others laughed, minus Nami who hit Luffy on the head, yelling: "Don´t steal from a child!"

Everyone fell silent, looking at Kôkogaku who had started to tremble.

"Here we go again…" Sabo thought as Kôkogaku started to yell for his mom.

XXXXX

After the lunch Zoro was taking a nap on the deck, his son sleeping on his lap. Nami and Robin were sunbathing with Nora a little farther away from them, the second one with a book in her hands.

"They look cute, don´t they?" Nora giggled, looking at the sleeping father and son.

"That they do" Robin said, looking up from her book.

"And identical, save for the eyes" Nami added, imagining grown up Kôkogaku running around with swords in his hands and mouth.

"Well they are father and son" Nora said "Right, Robin?"

"Of course" Robin said, not sure if the red head was trying to annoy her or just wanted to confirm the fact. She didn´t like that comment either way.

XXXXX

After the dinner Usopp came to the deck with a bag of colored blocks, looking for Kôkogaku.

"Where has that kid crawled to now?" he muttered, looking around.

"If you´re looking for Kôkogaku, he´s over there" Robin said, pointing at the toddler that was, once again, on Zoro´s lap. The swordsman was playing chess with Sabo, trying to keep Kôkogaku from taking the pawns.

"How long ´till Zoro loses?" Usopp asked, walking to them.

"Not long" Sabo replied, ignoring Zoro´s protests "Do you need something?"

"Oh, right" Usopp said, showing the bag "I made these for the kid."

"What´s in it?" Zoro asked, taking a pawn from Kôkogaku´s hand and putting it back on to the table.

"Blocks" the long nose replied "He should have something else to do than eating your pawns."

"He´s not eating my pawns"

"Actually, Zoro-san" Sabo said, pointing at the toddler "He is."

"What?" Zoro asked, looking down on his lap where his son was biting his black knight "Hey, put that back."

Kôkogaku looked up at his father, the pawn still in his hand.

"Put it back on the table" the swordsman repeated, tapping the table with his finger. The toddler looked at the table, then at the pawn and held it out for Zoro. The swordsman shrugged; it worked this way too. He took the pawn, putting it on the table and putting his son on the floor. When the toddler tried to get back, Zoro pushed him towards Usopp.

"Take him to Robin so we can finish the game"

"You know this is almost over" Sabo said but was ignored as the toddler followed Usopp to his mother.

"No it´s not" Zoro said after moving his king.

"Yes it is" Sabo disagreed with a smirk, moving his tower "Check mate."

Zoro frowned, saying: "Want a rematch?"

XXXXX

"Mommy" Kôkogaku said, tugging at his mother´s leg, getting the woman´s attention.

"Yes?" Robin asked, hoping that she didn´t need to pick him up. Kôkogaku just pointed at the bag that Usopp was now emptying on to the floor. Unsure of what her son wanted, Robin turned to Nora for advice.

"I think he wants you to play with him" Nora said, rolling her eyes at Robin´s wide eyes "It´s not that hard; just put some blocks on each other."

"Yeah Robin, playing with blocks isn´t that hard" Usopp said, but shut up immediately when he noticed the dark look Robin was giving him.

"Maybe your captain could teach you?" Nora said, not being able to resist it. The look on Robin´s face was priceless!

"What are you guys doing?" Chopper asked, coming to them.

"Teaching the mother and her son how to play with blocks" Nora replied, laughing as Kôkogaku accidentally threw a block at Usopp´s face.

"Can you teach me too?" Chopper asked, making everyone pause in their actions.

"…sure" Usopp said, sweat dropping. Apparently the little reindeer had never built anything out of blocks. Kôkogaku turned towards the reindeer, blinking. Then he smiled and said: "A beal!"

Chopper was about to correct him, but one glance at Robin told him not to yell or else.

"No" he said firmly "I´m a reindeer."

"Be-"

"Reindeer" Chopper interrupted, veins popping on his head.

"I don´t think he´ll ever get your point" Nora said, starting to build a wall around the toddler from the blocks.

"Robin, can you teach him that I´m a reindeer?" Chopper whined. The archeologist just shook her head with a smile.

"Don´t worry, he´ll learn it soon enough" Robin told "Probably."

A.N: About the chapter´s name, well, hehe… when you have to, you just have to. Review please!