I finally updated after .. holy shit .. almost 2 years. T.T

I'm so sorry it took me so long and i don't even want to make up excuses. Yes real life was busy, yes the ZoSan or SanZo couple isn't my favourite couple at the moment but still .. i shouldn't have left the story in such a state. *sigh*

But at least my muse came back to me (let's hope it won't wait that long until it strikes again!)

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I hope my writing style improved a little bit, but well i can also hope for winning the lottery, can't I? ^^)

Usopp looked at Zoro expectantly, oblivious to the storm of thoughts rampaging through the first mate's mind.

"Well … you see … it was like … err …"

Unsure what to do, Zoro began to stutter uncontrollably. He didn't know what he could tell them without hurting Sanjis pride. After everything the cook went through he didn't want to torture him even further.

Robin came walking onto the Sunny behind Usopp and looked at the swordsman with a lot of interest. It wasn't everyday that someone like Zoro stuttered like a little school girl. He couldn't even look them in the eye.

Fortunately for Zoro the door of the galley swung open and an expressionless Sanji came out of it with a cigarette dangling in the corner of his mouth.

"Wait till the others are here. It would be a pain in the ass to explain everything countless times."

With that said he turned on his heel and disappeared in the galley again, throwing the door closed behind him.

It didn't take long for the rest of the crew to assemble back on the ship and soon everyone was seated in the galley waiting eagerly to hear the story and, on Luffys part, to get something to eat.

Having made up his mind Zoro told them part truth and part lie. So he spun a tale about how he met an old lady, argued with her and got jinxed. But instead of telling them about how he turned into Sara he told them that he got locked inside the old manufacture and that he couldn't get out of it because he didn't have his swords with him. It wasn't until this day that Sanji and Sara appeared and freed him from his prisonment.

While telling them he couldn't really look his nakama in the eye and he avoided looking at Sanji altogether.

But he needn't have worried. Most of his crew didn't even think about questioning his story because truth be told, Zoro was back and that was everything that mattered for them. So when Zoro finished his tale they started laughing about his bad luck and Luffy asked for meat (obviously!).

Only Robin looked at Zoro and Sanji with a knowing look, but she refused to voice her thoughts. Instead she asked something different, something she was really curious about.

"What happened with Sara? Why didn't she come back with you?"

The rest of the crew grew silent once more and looked at the both of them attentively.

That question was definitely one that Zoro wasn't prepared for. He looked at them blankly for a moment and tried desperately to come up with a good comeback.

At that moment Sanji came to his rescue. Until now the cook had just sat there with a pensive face. He hadn't even really listened to the story because his mind was filled with a smiling and gentle face framed by long green hair. When he heard the name 'Sara' he came back from his daydream and noticed that the swordsman didn't know what to say. So he decided to do the same as Zoro: tell half of the truth.

"Apparently she's related to the old lady responsible for Zoros misery. As soon as the women saw each other her memory came back to Sara. Apparently they are grandmother and granddaughter. She has a husband who's currently on a trip to a nearby island on an errand. In the end she decided to stay with her grandmother. But she told me to send you all her best wishes and good luck on our journey."

As soon as he finished he lit up a fag and otherwise went back into his stupor.

While the rest of the crew turned loud again talking at the same time ("I'm glad she found her family." "She could have said farewell personally." "What a wonderful and touching story. Yohohoho" "Sanji, where's my meat?") Zoro looked at the cook for the first time since they assembled in the galley. He tried to read his face and his eyes but he couldn't. It pained him to see such a blank and neutral face on the blonde. It didn't fit. Oh, how he wished the cook would rant and shout and try to kill the swordsman. Anything to see an emotion on that face. But he knew that Sanji wouldn't. Maybe he was still in shock and had a trauma, maybe he just felt dead inside or maybe he's still feeling too much hurt.

Whatever it was, the cook was as far away from his nakama as one can be while still sitting amongst them.

For the rest of the day Sanji continued to be quiet and reclusive. Only doing his job with cooking and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. But all those actions were done on autopilot. For once he was grateful that most of the crew was dense and naïve. It made sure his behavior wouldn't be noticed for now.

By the time the galley was clean everyone had already retired to bed, but Sanji didn't want to go to sleep just yet. He feared the dreams he would most probably have. But if he feared the good dreams about Sara more than the nightmares about her disappearance, he wasn't sure of. He thought that both options would be bad because it would entail that he would dream about her and he would see her and he would most probably think that he's really touching her. Waking up would be such a torture then.

In the end he was standing on deck, leaning on the railing and smoking a cigarette. All the while wondering what he did wrong in his last life to be dealt such a bad hand.

He was a lady's man, always loving every single woman he came across, but never giving his whole heart away. The single time his heart goes out to one is one who's unreachable. Literally. You can't have a relationship with a corpse after all. Well some twisted minds would argue about that, but well, Sanji still thought of himself as halfway sane so necrophilia is something not even considered about.

He was so far in his thoughts that he didn't notice a tall figure approaching him from behind, walking soundlessly on the grass of the ship. If he had he would have most probably reacted, tried everything to avoid a confrontation with the one person he couldn't look at just yet.

But alas he didn't notice. So he was startled quite a bit when Zoro's voice came from behind him.

"I don't really want to disturb you in your thoughts, but I really think we have to talk."

See you and please leave me a review :) I would like to know what you thought about that chapter (and please don't hold back on berating me about my long absence ~.~).