Apologies if it's OOC. I try not to, but it sometimes happens. And apologies it's short. The next chapter is quite lengthy. Enjoy anyway!


Sanji blew out another cloud of gray smoke into the night air as he continued to look out at the glimmering sea. He had left the kitchen a short while ago, tired of hearing the group talk about what could be going on up in the gym at that very moment. Of course, Sanji's first idea was to go check, but he was stopped by Nami who reassured him nothing was happening between those two other than arguments. However, Usopp had to break that by mentioning how well the swordsman and marine were getting along lately. This didn't help the chef any.

Sanji sighed, running a hand through his hair. On top of this new problem, Sanji still had the problem from earlier: what was he going to do about Zetsumei's birthday? The others were planning fireworks, but, yet, he had nothing to contribute other than a cake and dinner.

Pretty soon, the chef broke from his thoughts when something tapped against his arm. He looked down to see a hand coming out of the railing, holding a folded and slightly crumpled up piece of paper in its hand. Sanji lifted an eyebrow and took the paper. The hand vanished right as he opened it. He flinched when seeing his list from earlier. Perhaps it had fallen out of his pocket again without him knowing. Lucky for him, Luffy or the others hadn't found it and instead Robin did. However, the list was a bit different from what he had earlier. Things had been crossed out and something had been circled and added to it.

Sanji was a bit surprised he didn't even think of such a simple thing. It was perfect for a woman who didn't care for things romantic. However, there was only one problem with this idea, how was he going to accomplish it?

"Perhaps Nami-san has something I could use…" Sanji thought out loud, turning around and beginning to head back towards the kitchen. This was until something caught his eye from the small portion of window he could see of the gym. His face paled and turned into a look of horror at what he saw.

In the window, the chef could make out two figures, Zetsumei and Zoro, in a rather intimate embrace. Zetsumei's back was to the swordsman's chest with her arms reaching around his neck while Zoro had his arms around her waist, holding her close. The swordsman's head was near Zetsumei's ear; however, from the chef's position on the ground, it looked more like he was necking her. To make this situation worse, the two figures soon disappeared from the window, which made the chef's ideas wonder to even darker ideas.

Sanji knew one thing right now: He was going to kill Zoro for touching Zetsumei. The chef was infuriated by the picture he saw, and with the ideas coming to his mind. There was no way those two were…canoodling. They hated each other to no end, but Sanji couldn't deny what he saw. There was something indeed going on, and the chef wanted, needed, to find out. There was no way he was going to lose Zetsumei to that bastard swordsman.

So, the chef rushed towards the gym. He climbed the rope ladder and slammed open the hatch, shouting, "I'm going to kill you, you ba-" However, he stopped when seeing the real situation in front of him. They weren't canoodling at all, they were fighting.

"Something wrong, Cherry Boy?" Zetsumei asked, continuing to hold Zoro in a head lock with his arms painfully behind his back.

Sanji stared blankly at the two before he was suddenly crying tears of joy. "Oh, Zetsumei-san!" Sanji ran over to Zetsumei, hugging her tightly, much to her dismay. "I'm so happy you're not being tainted by this shithead!"

"Why the hell would I-" Before Zoro could finish, Sanji had stepped on him, sending him into the ground once again.

"Quiet you," Sanji snarled, digging his foot into the swordsman's back.

"Get off me!" Zoro shouted, getting the show off his back and standing to his feet.

Zetsumei sighed as she listened to the childish argument unfold from the two while the chef continued to stay latched onto her. She didn't understand what was going on. She simply asked Zoro to spar with her for a few hours this evening because her fighting was getting rusty, but the situation ended up causing misunderstandings, ones she had hoped to avoid. However she wasn't complaining one bit about it.