Here's the next chapter… Yeah… You know… Enjoy!

Chapter 21

"BATH! NOW!!" Nami yelled as she threw Luffy out from the kitchen. "YOU! MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T DROWN!" She pointed to Zoro, who was being checked by a now scared doctor out on the grass area.

"Fine!" The first mate called as the door slammed. He looked to see the young captain sitting there with a clueless expression on his face.

The young man was completely covered in dirt, dried blood where the small scrapes were, and some strange food particles and liquor stains. "It's not like it's my fault!" He yelled to the closed door.

The swordsman sighed as Chopper finished bandaging his arm. "Come on Luffy." He said as he walked to the baths, with the other dragging behind. He sighed again on all that happened in the past three hours.

"It really wasn't my fault!" The straw-hat boy whined.

"I know." The older teen said as he opened the door to the baths, which caused the other to whine more. He rolled his eyes, knowing that this was work in itself.

"It's not my fault those bastards came up and tried to make Robin feel bad!"

"Drop it Luffy!"

"But it's true!"

"I know! I was fucking there!" Zoro called out, which he took a deep breath and apologized, which the other said it was okay, even though he knew it wasn't. He remembered what happened those few hours ago…

Flashback

They were at the port town earlier and Nami gave them some beli to buy stuff with. "Okay guys, does everyone know the rules?" She said to everyone.

"Don't buy anything you don't need." Chopper said.

"If you've been given a list to buy certain items, then buy those items first." Usopp said as he held out a piece of paper.

"Don't gamble it all away." Robin said, while she was slightly nervous about something.

Nami looked at Luffy. "Well?"

"Let Sanji be in charge of buying food of any form." The young captain grumbled.

The young woman crossed her arms and looked serious. "Good! Now, this town we're in is a little slow on getting information about bounties, but they're really heavy duty on those who are DF users. So, to cause less trouble on all of us, don't… I repeat, don't use your DF abilities at anytime until we get out of port. Got it?!"

"Got it." Said those who have DF abilities.

"All right! Let's head out!" With that, everyone went their separate ways, with the exception of Nami, Robin and Chopper who always shop together, and Luffy and Zoro, who was ordered to keep an eye on the young captain or his debt will be raised yet again.

Everything was going great for the first couple of hours. Sanji made some great deals on food. Usopp got most of the stuff from the list. Nami bought fabrics and thread, and other things a girl needs, while Robin and Chopper were standing by. Meanwhile, Luffy and Zoro were sight seeing.

"Aw! Cool!" Luffy said as he grabbed the other's arm and dragged the first mate to a window display.

'This is the tenth time he dragged me to a window.' Zoro thought as the other dragged him into the store where the display was in. 'And the sixth time he dragged me into a store.' He got a good look at the store, and seemed okay with it. 'And so far he has yet to disappoint me.'

The store was about swords and other weapons throughout the ages. Luffy placed a Viking helmet on and showed the swordsman, who chuckled before telling him to take the thing off. The store keeper tried to make a bargain with him for his swords, which he irritably declined.

After purchasing some cleaning materials for his swords, the first mate and the young captain headed back out into town, where they nearly bumped into a Marine. "Shit!" Zoro whispered as eh grabbed the young captain and hid in an alley. "That bitch forgot to mention those guys!"

Luffy put a hand over his mouth and nose to muffle a giggle. "It's not that bad." He said.

"How?"

"Well, if this was a Marine town, we'd be raising hell hours ago."

The older teen sighed and shook his head. "You're too positive."

"And you're stupid, so it works out."

"Shut up!" He said with a blush, which thankfully was hidden in the shadows.

They got out of the alley as soon as the coast was clear.

"Everyone is probably on their toes by now." The swordsman said.

"Yeah." The young captain said with a smile, when he saw Robin up ahead. "There's Robin!" He said with wide grin and was about to charge up when he saw a can being thrown at her.

"Get out of her you demon!" Said one of the men.

"Yeah! Go back to hell where you belong!" Said another as he threw a rock.

"What the hell?" The straw-hat boy said as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to see the swordsman, who was pointing to an old poster that had a picture of Robin when she was eight years old.

"What do you want to do, Captain?" The first mate asked as he saw the other adjusted his hat the way he does when he's going to settle injustice his own way.

"Let's go." The young captain said as he and Zoro soundlessly ran to the archeologist and faced the crowd.

"Who're you punks?!" Said one man.

"Get outta the way!" Said another.

"Luffy! Zoro!" Nami called out as she was being held back by the guys along with Chopper, who was in his reindeer form.

"Let them go." Luffy said in a dangerous tone.

"Why should we?"

Luffy went up to the men holding down Nami and Chopper and did only a swift punch to each man's face. "No one hurts my nakama…" He said as the men backed off. "Nami, get Robin out of here."

The young woman nodded and she and Chopper helped the older woman out of the crowd, whose attention was on the two men now.

"Ya say that demon is yer nakama?" One of the men boldly asked.

The straw-hat captain glared at the speaker, who slightly backed away. "Yeah, what about it?"

The swordsman waited for either a cue from the other or a suspicious movement from the crowd to attack.

A rotten cabbage came out of nowhere and hit Luffy at the side of the head.

"Anyone who's nakama with that woman is to be taken out!"

"Get out of our port!"

"Yeah, go to hell!"

At that point food and liquor was being thrown at them as well as dirt and rocks.

"Don't attack." Was all the young captain could say to Zoro.

"Aye, aye." The swordsman said as he and the young captain stood there until the people had run out of things to throw. That's when the Marines come in. "Captain?"

"Time to go!" With that they fought their way out and caused an uproar. "Nami's not gonna like this!" He said while laughing.

"I don't care!" The first mate said. "As long as we get out her, I'm fine by this!"

Luffy laughed. "When I become Pirate King, we'll come back here!"

"Why then?"

"By then, everyone will learn to respect each and every member of the crew!"

Zoro laughed. "Sounds good to me!"

After, once again, turned attention to themselves, they made it to the ship and made it out without any further complications.

End of Flashback

"I said no salt water baths!" The young boy said as the salty scent reached his nose. "Do they want me to drown?!"

The other sighed and he rubbed his eyes. "I'm here, so I won't let you drown."

The young man looked at the other. "Like all the other times?"

The older teen raised an eyebrow. "I am your first mate."

The young captain nodded as he stripped down, trying to hide his blush as he did so. 'Two baths in one month? Could it get any worse?' He thought as he looked at the warm yet slightly murky water.

The other knew the young man was completely hesitating over the bath and sighed as he started to strip down himself. Once he done with that he went up to the bath the other was glaring at and went in.

The young captain's eyes went a little wider than normal when saw the other go in. 'This is like last time…' He thought with a blush. 'Only this time he could see!'

"Well?" Zoro said. "Are you coming in or do you want to face Nami's rage?"

Luffy didn't want to face the young woman again, even though she should be thanking him for at least getting to the ship with no problems. He sighed as he grabbed the edge of the tub and just jumped in, which made him feel dizzy.

Zoro, slightly shocked that the other jumped, grabbed a hold of the other and pulled the now limped form towards him.

The young captain landed on the other's chest, but was still dizzy due to the water.

"I won't let you drown, Captain." The older teen said as he grabbed a wash cloth and started to wash the dirt and food particles away from the lithe body.

The young man relaxed as the other washed him. He liked how the other's hands, though rough, felt on his skin. He really liked it when those said hands massaged his scalp. Before he knew it, they were out of the tub and was being dried by his own red towel.

"You okay?" The first mate asked.

The young man nodded. " 'Cause Zoro's here." He said with a characteristic grin.

The other chuckled as he ruffled the other's hair with the red towel. "Zoro's glad to hear that." He said making the other giggle before grabbing another towel, since he's already wrapped his other towel around his waist, and tried to dry his hair.

The straw-hat captain continued to look at his first mate. 'That's funny, when I look at Zoro like this earlier I feel really weird, but now… it's still weird, but not in a bad way.' He thought as he got dressed.

As soon as the other got dressed as well, they headed out of the baths just in time to hear Sanji call out for dinner.

"Food!" Luffy said excitedly and tugged the other to hurry up.

"Okay! Okay!" Zoro said.

You would think all was back to normal, but a certain woman with blue eyes has an idea on her mind.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! R&R!