Thanks to yukino76 for your review.

Welcome aboard for the new readers.

Enjoy your reading.

03/24/22 EDIT: Thanks to KumaZura for proof reading this chapter.

Chapter 14

Like a Monday

"Shit!"

Zoro sat up, grumbling. Once again, he had fallen asleep in the crow's nest after his training and he had dropped everything to collapse on his carpet. This morning, he was regretting it after he got hit in the head with his dumbbell when he had turned on his makeshift bed.

The swordsman stood up sullenly. Annoyed by his painful awakening, he threw his dumbbell a little further and it bounced and burst the wooden slats of the floor. Freezing, Zoro sighed. He couldn't train properly now because of the damage.

"Great." He grimaced once again before moving, heading for the galley to have breakfast.

When he arrived in the room, everyone was already around the table and chatting happily. They were back at sea for a few days and the next island would soon be in sight according to Nami. Zoro helped himself without flinching and chewed silently while trying to ignore the surrounding noise.

"Hey, why do you have a bump on your head, Zoro?" His captain suddenly wondered in between bites.

"Have you already fought with Sanji?" The little reindeer worried.

"Seriously, you're unbelievable," The navigator grumbled, glaring at them.

The cook looked questioningly at the swordsman who was feeling a headache coming. He clenched his teeth before glaring at his crewmates. "I banged my head. End of story."

Everyone felt the threatening aura of the fencer spread into the room and they turned away from him to resume a more pleasant conversation.

As soon as the meal was finished, Zoro went to take a shower and then intercepted the cyborg who was tinkering in his workshop. "I had a small accident with a dumbbell in the crow's nest," He informed him nonchalantly, "You'll need to come and see."

"Okay but be careful with the equipment," His friend muttered, knowing better.

"Yeah, yeah."

The shipwright shook his head and went back to work as the fencer headed back to the kitchen, ready to forget the catastrophic start of his day.

"Love cook, I need to relax."

From his sink, Sanji turned around and gave him a disillusioned look. "Are you aware that I ain't at your disposal?"

"I ain't joking, I really need to clear my head..."

The cook sighed and wiped his hands."Actually, I didn't start well either," He admitted, "I have this fucking song Brook keeps singing in my head and I wrecked the cutlery drawer when opening it..."

"See, it'll do both of us some good," The fencer encouraged him while approaching resolutely.

"Lemme finish what I'm doing. I'll meet you at the crow's nest, okay?"

"Hurry up."

The blond rolled his eyes and heard Zoro go away as he was resuming his dishes. Their conversations were surrealistic sometimes...

As soon as Sanji closed the crow's nest trap door, the swordsman jumped on him, sending his jacket and shirt to the floor as he had already stripped off his own tee-shirt. However, the blond stopped him at the sight of the state of the room. "What the fuck did you do, marimo?" He asked, stunned.

"Nothing. I just had some back luck."

Sanji didn't reply but his jaded look spoke for him and Zoro pulled him back to forget the subject. The cook didn't want to be outdone and he squeezed up against the warm body of the swordsman until they fell on the carpet, their mouths banging and their breaths getting tangled.

No words were needed, their desires spoke for them and their bodies reflected it. Just like that, Sanji got surrounded by the fencer's muscular arms above him while Zoro was nibbling his neck with excitement.

"Holy crap!"

Franky stared at his crewmates from the crow's nest trap door and the two lovers broke apart, aghast. The cyborg finished entering the room and gazed at them for a few more seconds with astonishment. He then saw his pile of planks for repairs in a corner and the clothes that were strewn over.

"Fuck, guys! That's gross!"

Zoro frowned and Sanji felt his heart contract strangely at these words but no sound came out of his mouth. The engineer approached the woodpile and he was about to clear their belongings when he changed his mind. He turned to them, unsure. "Don't tell me you did it in my workshop?"

The swordsman replied with a predatory smile and the shipwright groaned. "Shit, I won't dare to touch anything anymore!" He then stared at them for a long time while Sanji grabbed his shirt, looking away. "You did it everywhere, huh?"

In front of the cook's silence and the provocative smile still present from the fencer, Franky sighed. "You clean up at least? Oh, no, don't tell me. Actually, I don't wanna know..."

"What do you want, Franky?" The swordsman grumbled, visibly annoyed.

"Well, you asked me to go make repairs!" He reminded Zoro, pointing out his toolbox in his hand. "Besides, you totally destroyed the floor, what the hell have you done?!"

"An accident with the dumbbell."

"Yeah..." The cyborg sighed after assessing the damage and then looked back at the cook and the swordsman. "Robin told me not to go up right now but I didn't understand why. She could have told me, really..."

"This ain't a good time," The fencer agreed, folding his arms sullenly.

"I can come back later but... Still..."

"What?" Zoro growled.

"Why didn't you guys say somethin'?!" The shipwright suddenly sniffed. "Luffy told us about Nami!"

"Huh?"

"My beautiful Sunny has given birth to love a second time and you say nothing? That's not cool, dudes!"

Sanji and Zoro stared at him in horror as the cyborg was pulling off his sunglasses, his eyes watering.

"Franky, don't you dare cry for that!" The fencer choked.

"Yeah, honestly, it makes me uncomfortable," Sanji grimaced as he was lighting a cigarette, his fingers shaking.

"But I ain't crying! I just got something in my eye... Oh, Brook! Come look at this!"

The skeleton poked his head in his turn in the crow's nest and the cyborg grabbed him by the shoulders, wiping his eyes, while the other two looked at him with bulging eyes. "Can you believe it, man?" The engineer whined. "They found their soulmate on my ship and they didn't tell me!"

Sanji turned brick-red and Zoro felt all his muscles tensing, ready for battle. "Fucking hell, Franky, stop telling it to everyone!" He hissed.

"Oh, come on, it's your fault if you hide it!" The shipwright persisted.

"Love?!" Brook exclaimed. "Oh my God, I'm going to cry my eyes out... Oh no, I don't have eyes! Yohohohoho!" The skeleton burst into laughter then stopped only when he found that the other three stared at him wearily.

"And besides, what are you doing here?" The swordsman asked Brook, his teeth clenched.

"I came to inquire about a new technique of meditation," The musician told him with delight. "I'm really stressed right now, I need to relax!"

"Relax?"

"Yes, all my muscles are tense, I need to release the pressure. Although I don't have any muscles...!"

Sanji then noticed that the fencer was threatening to lose his temper. Gathering his wits, he decided to take things in hand. "Guys, you're nice but Zoro and I would like to keep it quiet," He began, unsure.

"Oh, I see!" Franky rejoiced. "You're still in the Honeymoon phase? That's so cute!"

"Uh... Yeah, yeah," The blond stammered, "So if you could act... as if nothing had happened, huh? That would be cool..."

"You can count on us, Sanji-bro, we won't tell!" The cyborg promised him gravely, "We'll preserve your privacy! Right, Brook?"

"Absolutely, I'm a man of my word!"

"Th-Thank you, guys."

With these words, Franky dragged the skeleton to the door but not without a last tender glance at his friends. Behind the cook, Zoro thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

"Fuck. This time we're really busted," Sanji sighed, sitting down heavily on the pile of planks once they were alone again.

"What a moron, this piece of junk! And what is this shitty excuse about the Honeymoon phase?!" The swordsman got upset, violently grabbing his tee-shirt.

"Yeah, well, if you don't like it, you needed to think of something else!" The blond snapped. "I did what I could and besides, it's all your fault, you bastard! It was you who dragged me here when you told Franky to pass by!"

Zoro grumbled between his teeth. This day had started out terrible, he should have known it would be the time for their crew members to catch them.

After a few moments of tense silence, the cook finally sighed. He stuck his cigarette between his lips and leaned against the wall, thoughtful. "You know, I was afraid for a minute... of what he was gonna say." He glanced quickly at his lover to see if he understood the hint and Zoro scowled.

"If it had come to rearrange his face, I'd have done it with pleasure."

"There was obviously no need, but everyone doesn't have this... open-mindedness," The blond mumbled.

The fencer stared hard at him. "I don't give a fuck what anybody thinks."

Sanji looked back at him, dragging on his cigarette butt. "If you don't care about it, why did you almost beat him up when he insinuated we were together?"

"Because this idiot is the type of man to sprinkle the galley with rose petals to create a romantic atmosphere!" The swordsman replied disgustedly.

Sanji nodded softly and finally chuckled. "I wonder if you wouldn't have preferred that he insults us rather than his reaction actually..."

Zoro grimaced and felt a shudder of horror run through him when he thought about the tears of their naval engineer again. No matter how much metal this guy was made of, he was more sentimental than a girl...

Brook and Franky had kept their promise and not a word had been said on the subject during the midday meal, nor even a meaningful look exchanged. Reassured, the swordsman and cook had decided to meet again a little later to finish what they had started when they would have time. The afternoon had begun quietly for the crew.

The weather was cloudy and Nami was regularly watching over the course and the Log-Pose, trying at the same time to channel the captain's boredom. Usopp had suggested to Luffy to participate in the creation of fireworks but the navigator had refused under the pretext that there was too great a risk he set the Sunny on fire.

Since the gunner had gone back to his workshop, the captain was dragging himself on the deck in the depths of despair. "I'm gonna play cards with Chopper!" He decreed suddenly.

"You do that," Nami agreed, correcting precisely their direction with a slight change on the helm.

The straw hat boy disappeared in a flash before returning a few moments later, annoyed. "Did you see the card game, Nami?" He asked her. "I can't find it!"

"Where was the last time you saw it?" The young woman sighed.

"Uh... In the hold! I put it in the hold!" Luffy cried out before trying to rush into it.

"No way you're going down there, there's some of our food supply!" Her navigator stopped him.

"But... please!" The captain whined. "I'm bored..."

Nami gave him an exasperated look before surrendering. "Okay, I'll get your damn card game!"

Ranting, she rushed down the flight of stairs that would lead her to the hold. What an idea to have put this thing in a place so inappropriate! Of course, there was no question of letting Luffy go to the food stock so she had to do it otherwise, she would hear him whine until tonight...

She abruptly opened the room's door and fell on the most unexpected scene. Incredulous, she saw Sanji pinned against one of the walls by the crew's swordsman, their mouths tearing away from one another to the sound of the door. The blond's face became distraught when he noticed her on the doorstep and she looked back at him, completely stunned. For his part, Zoro only turned his head in her direction, already cursing her for disturbing them without loosening his grip on the cook.

"Do you really think it's a place to do that?!"

On that note, she quickly came out and slammed the door behind her before shaking her head. Sanji was spending his time twirling around girls but it didn't surprise her more than that. Those two were constantly fighting and there was a fine line between love and hate, so they say...

She walked up the stairs and shook her head to the captain who was waiting impatiently. "You can go do fireworks with Usopp."

Luffy had a beaming smile and didn't even wonder why the navigator had so suddenly changed her mind. The young woman sighed and returned to the helm, shrugging.

"Well, it's not our day," The swordsman noted after the door closed behind Nami, "Must be Monday..."

Against the wall, the cook slid to the floor, white as a sheet.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Zoro grumbled.

"Nothing. Give me a minute..."

The fencer rolled his eyes and Sanji finally got up before putting a semblance of order in his clothes. "Franky and Brook have already seen us this morning, now it has to be Nami-san," He grimaced.

"Robin wasn't wrong," The swordsman noticed, philosophical, "We should have locked the door."

"Shit, everyone knows!" The blond became alarmed.

"Not everyone but I grant you that's a lot of people all at once."

"I hope Nami-san isn't going to talk to us about it, I won't know what to say to her!"

"As if it's any of her business anyway," The swordsman muttered.

"We have to find a solution, marimo!" The cook suddenly said, annoyed. "We can't go on like this!"

"Okay but what are you suggesting, huh? Waiting for islands?"

"Yes! It'd be safer," Sanji agreed, relieved, "We'll wait for the next island!"

Zoro didn't add anything but he gave him a look that said a lot. As if they were going to refrain more than a few hours anyway...

Usopp looked at the swordsman who slipped noiselessly into the galley late in the afternoon. It wasn't like Zoro to take precautions to sneak around, especially since Sanji was there too. They probably wouldn't be long to throw the chairs at each other once again.

The sniper shrugged and refocused on his fireworks mix. Luffy had cowardly abandoned him a little earlier to lend a hand to their musician who wanted to compose a ballad to the glory of the fishes in their aquarium. Usopp still had a lot to do. His reserves were decreasing but he still had enough to make a nice collection of projectiles of all kinds.

After several minutes, he raised his head, smiling. His preparation was ready and he carefully slid the mixtures into his pocket. His gaze then went back to the galley door and he frowned. Sanji and Zoro were still in the room since he would have seen anyone go out, which wasn't the case. Even stranger, he was hearing no noise, no scream, no fight. It wasn't normal. And then he remembered that the swordsman had had a strange attitude on his way to the galley. As quiet as possible.

"Damn it!"

He jumped up and Chopper, not far from him, gave him a questioning look. "What's going on, Usopp?" He asked.

The sniper stared at him anxiously. "I think Zoro did a stupid thing..."

"What do you mean?" The little reindeer said, coming closer.

"He entered the galley where Sanji is and there's been no noise since earlier. I'm afraid they killed each other!" He whined.

"You think?" The doctor asked, frightened. "But we would have heard something!"

"He entered silently, he had to prepare a revenge or a trap!"

"Zoro would never do such a thing!" Chopper protested.

"There's only one way to find out," The gunner decided bravely, "Follow me!"

The two friends leaned against the galley door, watching for the slightest hint of noise, to no avail. They exchanged worried glances. Then they tried to take a look through the porthole on the door but it was a fake window that didn't allow them to see anything. "We need to go through the outside of the ship, there's another porthole," Usopp thought.

"Okay!"

At the rail, the sniper and the reindeer looked at each other apprehensively. The next task was for them to walk along the hull on tiptoe while clinging to the tiny edge until reaching the side of the galley. Usopp took a deep breath and threw himself first, Chopper on his heels.

"Whatever you do, don't fall, Chopper," The gunner whispered, moving slowly.

The doctor shook his head vigorously and continued walking, focused. His little hooves weren't as skilful as hands but he wasn't lacking. Finally reaching the galley, they watched the porthole a little higher above them.

"Climb on my shoulders, I'll raise us," Usopp suggested, "Don't make any noise!"

The reindeer jumped nimbly on his back and sat on his shoulders. The sniper then used the strength of his arms to climb up to sight. "So, what do you see?"

"Ahhh!"

Chopper jumped and Usopp almost lost his balance. Clinging to the edge to keep them from toppling over, he shook with fear. "What's wrong?! What's wrong?!" He panicked. "There's blood everywhere, is that it? Sanji's dead?!"

"They... They..."

The gunner took a deep breath to calm down. Such a vision had a doctor as experienced as Chopper losing the ability to speak! The carnage must be atrocious but he was the proud Captain Usopp, he couldn't turn back now!

He hoisted himself up again so he could look in turn while Chopper was hiding his eyes under his little paws.

"What the..." Usopp managed to keep his balance and left as quickly as possible in the opposite direction, legs like cotton wool. When they jumped back onto the deck, the two friends exchanged a look filled with astonishment and terror.

"We shouldn't have done that," The sniper grimaced.

"We should never have," The little reindeer agreed guiltily.

The gunner ran a hand over his face, haggard. "I'll never get those images out of my head, Chopper, I'm a trauma victim..."

"Don't say that," The doctor tempered, "It's our fault if we saw something. We should have left them alone..."

"You're right so we shouldn't talk about it anymore," His friend sighed, "It's none of our business..."

The reindeer nodded firmly and they left, determined to act as if nothing had happened.

"Did you hear somethin'?" Sanji stopped the race of his tongue on the naked chest of the swordsman for a moment. The galley was quiet and he wasn't hearing anyone approaching the door but he had had the distinct impression to discern voices nearby.

"No..."

"I must be paranoid," The blond mumbled, "With all that happened today..."

"Not to mention the fact that we didn't wait for the next island after all," Zoro pointed out to him, catching his breath.

"Yeah... We really lack will..."

The fencer shook his head and returned to the cook's body who resumed his caresses on his own. The next island was still several days away and there had only been Sanji to believe they would have waited patiently until then.

The evening meal went as usual between shouting and laughter. To the greatest relief of the blond, Nami didn't look at him or say anything about what she had caught that afternoon and he was really grateful to her. However, Sanji soon noticed that their ship's doctor was out of sorts and he asked him to stay as their crew members were going away one by one. He liked the little reindeer and he wanted him to understand he was ready to listen to him when needed.

Still sitting at the table, Chopper was playing nervously with his little hooves while they were now alone. "What's up with you?" The blond asked kindly, finishing clearing. "You didn't eat anything and-"

"I'm fine, leave me alone!" The little reindeer cried out, trying by all means not to meet his eyes.

"Okay, sorry. I didn't want to rush you." Sanji fumbled in a drawer before showing the contents to the doctor who couldn't help but take a curious look. "Here, it should cheer you up."

"Th-Thank you." The reindeer caught the lollipop before raising his head to the cook, red with shame. "I'm sorry, Sanji," He stammered, "It's just that... I..."

"You know you can tell me everything," The chef encouraged him, taking out a cigarette.

The doctor then burst into tears, stunning his interlocutor. "I'm s-sorry, S-Sanji... I-I didn't w-want to b-but... w-we've s-seen you w-with Zo-Zoro..."

Sanji set his cigarette on the table as serenely as possible. We? There were several? He sighed. So that was why the reindeer was all worked up... He didn't like to see that their secret was really no longer one but Chopper seemed to feel even worse than him so he made an effort. "It's okay, Chopper," He reassured him with a forced smile, "I'm just... a little surprised."

The doctor sniffed. "Usopp thought that Zoro wanted to trap you because he noiselessly entered the galley... So... we just wanted to make sure everything was fine..."

So it was Usopp. The cook kept from laughing nervously. He had to remember this date to be careful about it in the future… "I'm the one who's sorry, Chopper, you shouldn't have seen that... We should have been more discreet," He admitted, uncomfortable.

The reindeer wiped his eyes and gave him a small smile. "I feel better to have told you," He confessed, "I wanted to pretend I didn't see anything not to annoy you but..."

"Never mind, don't worry about us."

Chopper jumped from his chair, his lollipop in hand. Before leaving the galley, he turned one last time to his crewmate, suddenly determined. "You know, I'm a doctor and if you or Zoro need anything or any advice, I 'm-"

"Chopper, do you remember that desire you had to let us manage on our own?" The cook strongly cut him short.

The reindeer nodded. "Above all, don't forget it."

The doctor got the message and finally left the room.

"We're in deep shit," Sanji mumbled. The cook had found the swordsman in the brand new crow's nest and had informed him of his conversation with Chopper.

"I'll talk to Usopp to make him forget what he saw," The fencer decided.

"What's the point, no one doesn't know now!" The cook grumbled.

"Yeah but nobody knows that others know it too. If they are threatened, they won't dare to talk about it again."

The blond shook his head. Their crew had a lot of qualities but discretion wasn't their forte. Threatening them would be absolutely useless, he was sure of it.

"You're not gonna have your existential crisis again, are you?" The swordsman grumbled, glancing sullenly at the cook.

Sanji glared at him. "It's gonna depend on your attitude, you moron. If you start believing that I ain't able to tell the difference between the eyes of others and my legitimate questions again, I tell everyone that it's you who begged me to start all of this!"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Luffy doesn't know, that's something," he went on.

"Well, it's almost a shame 'cause he's the only one who could have understood nothing!" The blond bitterly pointed out.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," The fencer got annoyed, "From now on, we'll be more careful and that's all." At these words, Zoro came out of the crow's nest and Sanji let his eyes get lost beyond the windows in the nightfall.

He didn't like the turn of events. This was getting out of control.

"Usopp."

The gunner jumped at the sound of the swordsman's deep voice who had just entered his workshop. "Huh... Is there a problem, Zoro?" He asked, surprised to see him here.

"Yeah. You."

"M-Me? B-But what did I do?" He babbled, already terrified by the first mate's aura.

"You better forget what you saw this afternoon."

The sniper raised shy eyes to his crew member. "I don't know what you're talking about," He tried awkwardly.

"Don't be smart. Chopper spat it out." To support his claims, Zoro pulled one of his swords out of his sheath and Usopp uttered a little shriek.

"O-Okay! Don't get upset, I promise I'll never say anything to anyone! I swear! Until my death and beyond, you've got my word!"

Satisfied, the swordsman put away his weapon. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Totally terrorized, Usopp nodded stiffly and Zoro walked away from his workshop, confident. Threatening always worked whatever the cook could think.

I had a lot of fun at the expense of our two heroes!

I tried to imagine the reaction of each crewmember according to their personalities and I hope it seemed realistic!