It has just occurred to me that, in chapter 12, Bleib ich bei dir, Sanji is dipping his hand in SEAWATER and says it feels better, when, in actuality... I think it would be painful, stingy and itchy. I'm so fucking smart (not). Anyway, I'll probably explain that away later on. Excuse any mistakes, people, and do enjoy~!

Sanji watched as Luffy and Ussop, both laughing, pushed a shirtless Zoro, now wearing black swim trunks with a thick blue stripe around the top. Sanji had been working the grill, as per Luffy and Ussop's request, but then he had to pause. Zoro looked like he worked out as a habit and a hobby, which Sanji wouldn't doubt. He remembered seeing Zoro with swords hanging at his hip more often than not, so, he figured that Zoro was either trying to intimidate people by pretending he knew how to handle swords, or he actually knew how to use swords and did so obsessively. At that moment, Sanji decided it was the latter.

Zoro seemed only slightly embarrassed, probably because he'd been forced out of his typical clothing into some stranger's shorts. Aside from what little protesting Zoro did to being forced into the whole situation, he seemed perfectly at ease. Sanji didn't know how he could be. Even around his friends, Sanji was too modest to be comfortable enough to take his shirt off. He couldn't help but wonder if Zoro was silently bragging, the way he carried himself.

And, it didn't help things that Zoro was fucking tan. Sanji, himself, was pale as the moon, if not more so. Stupid Zoro, with the inability to get sunburned. Sanji silently damned him and turned back to the various meats on the grill.

"I can't believe Dad's pants actually fit him!" Ussop shouted, amazed. Sanji thought he might have been amazed, too, had he met Ussop's dad, but he kept his reply to a simple 'hmm'.

Nami looked up from stirring her drink with the little pink umbrella, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs the other way. She seemed to analyze Zoro as the three boys stepped onto the wooden deck around the pool. She frowned. "You trust this guy enough to lend him some pants? Aren't you dirt-poor, Ussop?" Nami asked, grinning sinisterly when Ussop shivered.

"Y-yeah, but that's your fault! You're the one stealing all my money!" Ussop cried, thrusting an accusing finger at her. "And, anyway, my dad will hardly miss one pair of pants... Er, maybe." His confidence seemed to drip away as he thought of something that made his face contort in something akin to horror. "Just, uh, you can change back into your regular clothes before you leave, and I'll just wash those shorts and put them back and no one will be any the wiser!" Ussop told Zoro.

Suddenly, water splashed far and loud and Nami screamed. Everyone turned to look at the pool, concerned about what might have happened to her. Until, of course, they saw it was only Luffy and he had just splashed her and jostled her float. When Sanji turned his eyes back to Ussop and Zoro, he saw that Zoro had both his hands hovering around his left hip. He didn't mention it, though.

"Monkey D. Luffy! You got me all wet! You now owe me a conservative fine of eighty-million beli!" Nami shrieked, pointlessly trying to wipe away a puddle of water that had gathered on her chest between her boobs. Sanji caught the movement and shouted, "Mellorine~!"

Nami threw her now-empty cup at Sanji and he caught it with his face. Whether his nose bleed was caused by her cleavage or her aim didn't matter as Luffy and Ussop laughed at him. Zoro was appalled by their behavior. He didn't know humans acted that way towards their friends. He could take it, of course, he was much stronger than they were, but it was still shocking that they treated each other that way.

"Wipe your damn nose and get me a towel! Luffy! Get over here and push me over to the steps so I can get out!" Nami commanded. Sanji immediately complied while Luffy laughed. "Sure, sure!" Luffy said, hooking his arm around the side of Nami's float and pulling her over to the stairs at the edge of the pool.

Nami slid out easily, getting only knee-deep in the water, but she purposely made a large splash and knocked the float back so it fell onto Luffy. Meanwhile, Ussop and Zoro were watching, one laughing hysterically, and the other staring on, not quite sure how to react.

The cook spun around and presented Nami with a fluffy white towel and her pink-tinted cup, nearly full to the brim with iced lemonade and a fresh umbrella. Nami grabbed the towel first and dabbed at her chest and mid-section before taking the drink from Sanji, who was giving her that goofy perverted grin he so often wore. "Oh, shut up." She hissed, turning her back to him as she sipped at her drink.

Sanji just giggled. "You're so cute when you're pissed off~!" He swooned, taking a seat at a little square table with a glass top.

There were three other chairs at that particular table and a couple of beach chairs on the other side of the pool. There was only one tree in the whole of Ussop's yard, so there was hardly any shade to speak of, and, despite his previous determination that, no, he would not get into the swimming pool, Sanji was feeling the need to get away from the sun. It was just so damn hot.

He hadn't wanted to swim because, anytime they're even near a pool, Luffy always asks Sanji to teach him how to swim. Which, of course, Luffy couldn't get Ussop to do, or Nami, because he was so hopelessly bad at trying to swim. The only reason, Ussop had told him, that there was even a shallow end of the pool was for Luffy. The only reason, again, Ussop had told him, that there was a pile of water wings, floaties, swim noodles, snorkels, inner tubes, boogie boards, life vests and goggles was for Luffy. Hopelessly bad swimmers looked down on Luffy's 'swimming'.

Sanji sighed. Of course Ussop and Zoro seemed to be stalling getting into the pool, leaving Luffy in there trying to walk his way to the deep end, which was a staggering nine feet deep. Once Luffy was chin-deep in water, Sanji decided to give in. "Luffy, stop. You're just going to fucking drown yourself!" Sanji scolded, tossing off his blue t-shirt and jumping into the deep end. He swam underwater to get to Luffy and surfaced only a foot or so away, so he could reach to stop him.

"No fair! You're just showing off!" Luffy pouted, slipping a little further down the slope into nine-foot water. Sanji pushed Luffy back with little difficulty and guided him to the edge of the pool by the massive pile of floatation devices.

Sanji heaved himself up out of the pool and snagged a circular float with palm trees painted on it. He handed the float to Luffy, who begrudgingly slipped into it. "But, I wanna swim like you! You're a good swimmer, so you can teach me!" Luffy pouted, kicking his legs and accidentally turning himself around in circles.

The cook rolled his eyes. "Well, you're retarded and annoying, but, as always, I will do my best." Sanji told him. The blonde took hold of Luffy's arms, vaguely aware of Ussop and Nami telling him it was pointless to try and teach Luffy again. He showed Luffy to shovel outwards with his hands and allowed him time to copy it on his own.

"Don't people usually learn to swim as children?" Zoro asked, oh-so-helpfully. Sanji turned his un-amused eyes to Zoro and frowned slightly. Zoro returned his frown, although it looked odd and slightly less effective, since he was half naked.

Without a word, Sanji turned back to Luffy and began, for what must have been the fourteenth time, trying to teach Luffy how to swim 'like a frog'. Suddenly, he thought of confronting Zoro about that morning's events. But, he didn't think it would be appropriate, in front of all his friends, to bring up all the many questions he had about Zoro's uncanny visit. Although, he did think it would be fine to bring up that doctor-child, since he seemed to be a friend of Zoro's.

As soon as Sanji set Luffy off to practice swimming, (not really, because he was hardly making any progress), the cook turned to look over at Zoro, who was staring with an odd expression at the pool. "Oi. I meant to ask earlier about that doctor kid- er, Chopper?" Sanji said, catching Zoro's attention.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"

Ussop and Nami appeared to be listening in, while Ussop pushed Luffy's float around the pool. They didn't know what Sanji and Zoro were talking about, but it was more interesting than whatever else they might have been doing a moment ago.

"Well, for starters, how is a kid a doctor? What is he, twelve?" Sanji asked, not in a rude way, more in an innocently curious sort of way. Zoro still narrowed his eyes at Sanji. "He's a great doctor, and he's older than he looks." Zoro answered sharply.

Sanji put up his hands in mock surrender. "Just asking." The cook said, deciding that, in fact, talking to Zoro about anything seemed like a bad idea.

"So, wait," Ussop cut in, floating Luffy over to beside Sanji. "You got your hand patched up by a kid?"

"Yeah. It was weird, but he seemed like a nice kid." Sanji said, thoughtfully. Luffy perked up. "Can we meet him? We need a doctor for our crew!" Luffy flailed about in his float with renewed enthusiasm, grinning yet again. Ussop agreed and the two of them began discussing, (talking loudly at each other, not really hearing what the other was saying), the prospect of their journey out to sea, never mind that they hadn't actually planned for when they would set sail.

"Crew?" Zoro asked, now sitting cross-legged beside the pool. Everything seemed to fall silent for a second before Luffy and Ussop exploded with chatter, Nami adding in a hyper sentence here and there. The cook just smiled, shaking his head a little. Sanji decided to get out of the pool for a while, let the nut-cases talk themselves and Zoro to death without anyone in between.

-~Switching~-

Zoro realized he probably shouldn't have asked, the moment everyone started talking his ears off. He was only mildly curious; he really didn't want to be there for ages listening to the ramblings of three adolescent humans, especially if he wasn't going to get a straight answer.

He watched Sanji climb out of the mini-lake and dry off. He didn't understand why they would willingly jump into a body of water like that, only to get out and dry themselves a few minutes later. It seemed like a pointless ritual, almost as much as the 'swim trunks' ritual. What were they, anyway? Netted, short, noisy pants, with uncomfortable waistbands and odd colors. He felt stupid for subjecting to the human customs.

Although, Zoro would admit, they all seemed to match perfectly with their choice in clothing. Well, not Nami. He didn't understand why she would wear only undergarments and bare her breasts and backside, because that was completely indecent. He did not understand Sanji's affinity for that woman.

Thinking of Sanji, his eyes gravitated to that goddamn bandage. Yet another thing he didn't understand was the weird feeling he got when he looked at the bandage adorning Sanji's right hand. It was stupid and it felt bad, but it wouldn't stop no matter how much he wanted it to. Fucking... whatever it was. A hindrance! A hindrance is what it was. Fucking hindrance.

Zoro turned back to the two-headed blathering beast that was Ussop and Luffy, trying to pick out the point of their endless words. He heard something about pirates, various pirate-y things like treasure and whatnot. Ussop was going on about being a brave warrior, while Luffy kept saying he was the Captain. Zoro hardly understood them, but he found their enthusiasm was making him smile. They were really confident, for having only double-digit ages.

"Ne, Zoro, why haven't you gotten in yet? The water's great!" Luffy shouted, grinning and telling Ussop to push him over to the shallow end so he could walk again.

Zoro shrugged. "Don't wanna." He said, simply. He was starting to get a little warm, but he wasn't sure what to think of the perfectly-clear water. It didn't seem trustworthy.

Suddenly, he was launched forward by a strong blow to the middle of his back. He face-planted into the water, getting the air knocked out of him in the process, though he was half certain that was from whatever had pushed him.

Zoro was a little disoriented, but he found his way the surface soon enough and took in a loud gasp of air. Immediately, he spotted Sanji standing beside where he had been sitting before he was launched into the water. Sanji was grinning a stupid, evil grin, his leg raised slightly. Damn him. He must've kicked me.

"The fuck was that for?" Zoro growled and Sanji laughed at him. Luffy was laughing, too, though Ussop and Nami both had paled. Why were only two of the humans scared of him?

Sanji shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea." He said nonchalantly as he continued to grin at Zoro. God, Zoro wished he had his swords with him. He would fucking slice that little bastard into tiny- Oh, wait... He's a human... Damn it...

Zoro continued to glare at Sanji and that only made the cook laugh again. "Nice face, Marimo bastard." Sanji taunted, grinning down at him. It wasn't an intimidating grin, or even a teasing one, but it still pissed Zoro off.

He walked through the water quickly over to the edge and was about to climb out when he saw that everyone was staring. Then, it occurred to him that humans have difficulty walking through anything but empty air. And, he had practically just sprinted through the water in a moment's time. "Uh..." He began, not quite sure what he was going to say.

"That... was..." Ussop was searching for words when Luffy blurted out; "AWESOME! That was so fucking cool! You have to do that again!"

"Y-yeah... How'd you do that?" Nami asked, staring at him with wide eyes and holding her drink at such an angle that Zoro was surprised it hadn't spilled all over her lap.

Zoro looked at each of their faces in turn, trying to come up with some logical reason. He figured that right then was not a good time to bring up the fact that he was not really a human like the rest of them. "Just... had a lot of training." Zoro said, almost a question. Luckily for him, Ussop and Luffy just gawked and Nami seemed to believe him. He couldn't tell what Sanji was thinking, but it didn't look much like he believed him.

"Wow!"

"Zoro you're so cool!"

"Hey- maybe you can train us?"

"Yeah! That's a great idea!"

The next few minutes were spent explaining away his small feat, though they already believed him, he just felt it was necessary. Sanji was still giving him that skeptical look, almost distrusting. That wasn't a good look to be on the receiving end of; Zoro knew that from experience.

Eventually, everything leveled out a bit, not so much gawking and talking, just goofing off. Zoro didn't really know what typical teenage humans acted like these days, but he had a feeling that they were not far from the norm as everyone swam around in the pool, (aside from Luffy, who was clinging stubbornly to the side of the pool in the deep end).

Nami floated past him in her odd device, the tips of her toes barely touching the water. He didn't understand the point of being in the water, only to not be in the water, but no one else was saying anything and he really didn't want to hear the redhead explain herself. Her voice was so annoying.

Zoro had an odd urge to show off again. Not that he'd tried to show off before; it was really just an accident. But, he was a little bored just listening to senseless babble about sailing and whatever the hell 'high school' was. He didn't know what he could really say about either subject, so, for the most part, he was silently swimming above water, trying to act at least similar to how a human would act.

He felt slow and weird trying to swim like the water in any way affected him. Zoro had never really been one for swimming, even though, as guardian of an island, he did know how to swim quite well. He preferred land to water. Well, sometimes when he makes up ways to train himself, he would include the ocean, or a river, or whatever he felt would make it even the tiniest bit more difficult.

But, he decided, acting like a human was a difficult enough way to train.

"Ne, Sanji~ Get that float for meeee~!" Luffy whined, pointing to a solid black floating device, similar to the one Nami was using. Sanji barely paid him any attention, just calling over his shoulder, "You can get it yourself."

"But, Sanjiiiii..." Luffy pouted, reaching as far as he could out towards the middle of the pool where the float was turning slowly. He was a good two feet from getting it and he couldn't reach any farther without losing the support of the wall. He pouted harder.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "I'll get-"

"No." Sanji interrupted him.

Zoro glared at the back of the blonde head. "No?" He asked, his voice giving away that he wasn't completely past having been pushed into the water by Sanji.

The cook turned from where he had been doting on Nami to look at Zoro. "Exactly. No. He doesn't seem to be able to learn with help, so, maybe on his own..." Sanji trailed off with a shrug and Ussop applauded. "Of course, that was my plan, all along!" The long nose announced.

Nami seemed skeptical. "Are you sure that's a good idea? He's such an idiot... He'll get himself drowned."

"Hey! I'm right here, Nami!" Luffy grumbled, casting a longing glance towards that float that really wasn't very far out of his reach.

Zoro decided he wouldn't listen to Sanji, which wasn't really a stretch from his usual, so, he took a slight breath and slipped underwater. He didn't limit himself to human-speed that time, coming up quickly between the float and Luffy. When Luffy saw him come up, he grinned brightly. "Thanks, Zoro!"

The swordsman returned the grin slightly. "Nothin' to it." He said, handing the floating device to Luffy. A weird feeling crawled up his spine and stopped at the back of his neck, causing Zoro to turn around. He didn't see anything different. Ussop and Nami were still discussing the pros and cons of letting Luffy learn how to swim on his own, Sanji was still keeping himself afloat near the edge of the pool. So, what the hell was that feeling, just now?

Sanji figured the stuff on the grill was almost done, so he got out of the pool. He felt the beginnings of sunburn on his shoulders and cheeks, but it really wasn't bothering him as much as he'd thought it would. He was actually having an okay day, despite how it had started.

The cook dried off quickly and looked around. There weren't any plates, or dishes of any sort, aside from a pitcher and a couple of cups like Nami's. And, of course, the refrigerated foods and snack foods that were requested and mostly picked up on the way there were still in the house. Sanji started on his way towards the house and, only as an afterthought, shouted over his shoulder; "One of you bastards come help me, and don't you dare send Nami-swan!"

He didn't really like having to ask for help, he was the chef, after all, so he should be able to make his friends lunch without bothering them. And, ultimately, it was only bothering him, because their help was never very helpful.

Sanji opened the back door and shut it almost all the way, leaving it open as a small, little, tiny, insignificant courtesy to whomever came to help him. As he twirled around the kitchen, turning every which way in search of the 'secret hiding place' Ussop had put most of what they'd bought on their way there, Sanji was reminded of work and, by extension, Zeff. Stupid fight. Banned from work. Sure, it was probably all just Zeff's twisted way of showing concern about Sanji's injury, but it was fucking idiotic. Sanji always worked. He lived his work.

The cook held his hand up to his face and a wispy thought about the bandages being soaked passed through his mind. He wasn't sure if he should change the bandages or not, since it was only around two o'clock in the afternoon, but the wet feeling was starting to bother him. Sanji realized he'd completely forgotten what he was supposed to be doing and quickly got back to work. Then, he noticed Zoro standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring.

Sanji gasped and practically jumped out of his skin. "The fuck, Zoro? You some kinda ghost or something?" Sanji asked, hand over his chest in an attempt to keep his heart from jumping out and punching him.

Zoro had a weird look on his face. He didn't act like he'd heard Sanji at all, so the cook rolled his eyes. "Hey! Marimo!" He snapped his fingers in front of Zoro's face and gave him a reprimanding look. "What's with you?" Sanji asked.

"... I... uh..." Zoro blinked several times. He looked like he was thinking, which, Sanji had decided, was not a good sign. "About your hand..." Zoro finally said, sounding like someone other than himself. Sanji's eyebrows shot up. "Do you know what happened?" Sanji asked, too curious to be angry that it had taken Zoro so long to mention it, if he really did know.

"Just, er..." Zoro looked frustrated, then, trying to come up with what to say. Sanji widened his eyes at Zoro briefly, silently telling him to spit it out. "Is it hurting?" Zoro finished, causing Sanji to deflate considerably.

The blonde barely kept himself from pouting. He had really wanted to know what happened to his hand. "Not really. 'S fine." Sanji mumbled, flexing the fingers on his right hand carefully. He flinched slightly at the pain, taking in a sharp breath and cursing himself for being so pathetic. It was just a cut. He was a chef of the sea; he shouldn't be affected by a mere cut.

"That was a good lie." Zoro said, sarcastically. Sanji scrunched up his nose in Zoro's general direction, as he turned away and began to gather up the stuff they needed for lunch. Since Zoro wasn't moving to help him, Sanji circled around the breakfast bar and handed Zoro a bunch of paper/Styrofoam dishes.

Zoro grabbed onto Sanji's arm as he started to turn away. "What?" Sanji asked, confused and annoyed. There was stuff to be done, and besides, Zoro never touched him unless he was trying to start a fight. Sanji looked down at Zoro's hand on his arm, realizing with odd timing that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"I'm sorry about your hand." Zoro said. His eyes were so serious Sanji couldn't believe that Zoro didn't know more than he was telling. He couldn't figure out what the hell Zoro was thinking, staring unwaveringly at Sanji with a strange remorseful expression. And, then it occurred to him;

"You did this?"

xDD I am a masterful story-ender! Hahaha, that was so bad! You all get to stew in suspense for the next few days while I work on teh next chapter! lolz!

This chapter didn't turn out like I planned, but there's always next time. I had hoped it would be funner, but sometimes it just writes itself and decides, "No, I want to be dramatic!" Stupid self-writing story... I thought I was in control? Well, whatever, I still know what to do. ^-^ The next one will be a good chapter, I think... 3