Chapter 3: Giant Chickens

Luffy yawned and rolled over, a smile gracing his lips. His hands met something warm and not even really thinking, he wrapped them around it. It felt hard like muscle, but so nice.

"Ah, Luffy?" Zolo's gruff voice said beside his ear. Luffy cracked an eye open and realised his hands were wrapped around the swordsman's neck. He abruptly released the older man and sat up.

"How did I end up here?" Luffy asked. Zolo looked at him.

"I thought you would know, seeing as you crawled into my bed." the green haired man said. Not that I'm complaining.

"Hmm, must have been sleepwalking or something. Oh well." Luffy said and leapt lightly out of the bed. Sanji was already up, Chopper was still asleep on the couch and Usopp usually slept in either the crow's nest or the store room where his chemicals were stored, so that was okay. Chopper yawned as Luffy poked the fluffy reindeer in the shoulder.

"Luffy, go away." Chopper mumbled. Luffy pouted.

"But I wanna play and Zolo's falling asleep again." he said. The swordsman snickered as he fell asleep again. He had a dream then, well, more like a nightmare.

"Zolo!" Luffy's voice cried. Zolo opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the straw hatted boy. He smiled as Luffy grinned. "I love you Zolo!" Luffy said and opened his arms, inviting the older man to come over to him. Zolo got up eagerly and then was hit from behind, slamming into the ground as Sanji loomed over him, that scary smile on his face. He then pulled out this gigantic piece of meat and handed it to Luffy who squealed.

"Thanks Sanji!" the black haired boy cried and then suddenly he turned a sad smile towards Zolo. "Sorry Zolo. But Sanji has meat!" and then Zolo's world faded to black as the blonde haired bastard leaned in closer to Luffy.

"Luffy…" Zolo muttered.

"What?" that was Luffy's voice. Real voice. Zolo opened his eyes to see the wide eyed captain leaning over him. Luffy cocked his head.

"What…?" Zolo asked.

"You were calling out to me. What did you want?" Luffy asked with a shrug.

Do you really want to know?

"Oh, I just had a dream with you in it." Zolo mumbled as he sat up. Luffy jumped onto the side of the bed.

"Oh yeah? Well, what happened?" Luffy asked. Zolo hadn't expected that.

"Ah…well, you ah, became King of the Pirates and then you were attacked by giant chickens." Zolo sweat dropped. WHAT? Luffy was looking at him with a strange stare and then he leaned towards the swordsman.

"Zolo…" Luffy said and the older man thought for a moment he had been discovered. "…how did you have the same dream as me?" Luffy asked. Zolo face vaulted and Luffy continued watching him with a suspiciously narrowed eye. Zolo got up scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously.

"You…ah, had a dream about giant chickens?" Zolo asked. Luffy nodded and Zolo truly thought Luffy was without a doubt, an idiot.

"Fooled ya!" Luffy cried and then laughed, falling off the side of the bed and hitting the hard boards with a thud. Zolo laughed nervously again.

"Yeah…you, ah, you really got me." Zolo muttered. Phew.

"Luffy!" Sanji's voice filtered through sounding seductive and rather loving. "Luffy, I have something to give you." Luffy jumped up. Sanji's gonna do it! That…bastard! and with that, the paranoid swordsman jumped off the bed, grabbed Luffy's arm and spun him back towards him. The rubber captain looked up with a mildly sad glance.

"Zoloooo. Sanji said he had something for me." Luffy whined. Zolo shook his head.

"So do I." he said and then pulled Luffy close and kissed him. Admittedly it was a little rough at first but then they both relaxed into it, surrendering themselves to the other. Luffy's arms slowly came up to wrap around the older man's neck and Zolo pulled Luffy tight against him. Zolo let his fingers trail over Luffy's back and up the younger man's spine, making Luffy shiver. Zolo smiled against Luffy's lips. This was it. He had won. Luffy had surrendered to him.

"Luffy!" Sanji's voice demanded. Luffy was about to pull away as Sanji's heavy steps were heard. Zolo pulled Luffy back against him. Luffy whined but relaxed again anyway. That brief moment they had parted had given Zolo a new breath and he was determined to keep Luffy there until Sanji saw them together. He wanted to annoy the cook. But, what actually happened was totally different and unexpected. The door was opened and Sanji peeked in. Luffy's eyes opened and he jumped back, scratching the back of his head. Zolo smiled smugly as he kept a solid grip on the rubber man's hand.

Sanji watched them a moment and Zolo thought the love cook was going to just come in and kick him senseless, but, instead, he laughed. He started with a chuckle and then turned into a booming laugh and he walked out.

"Nami!" he yelled. Zolo looked at Luffy who raised an eyebrow. They stood in silence until two sets of steps announced that Nami was hurrying down for a look. She stopped in the doorway, Sanji standing behind her.

"It worked!" she squealed. Zolo jumped at the shrillness in her voice. Sanji laughed.

"Of course it did my lovely Nami. He couldn't resist. But, how you ever figured out what goes on inside that mossy head of his I'll never know." he said. Nami giggled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Zolo demanded. Luffy was silent, apparently listening intently to what the others had to say.

"You! It was so easy!" Nami said and then laughed again. "You thought you were so smooth, covering how much you liked Luffy. Puh-lease, anyone with an eye patch could see you liked him. You give him your food, play with him, look after him, you practically tuck him into bed. You stare at him when you think no-one's looking, flare up as soon as anyone seems like they're going to approach him and say something about love, and when I tease you about blushing, you practically dive off of the ship to prove you're wrong." Nami reeled off. Luffy raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't notice." he said. Nami looked at him.

"That's because your attention doesn't span further than a spoon." Nami responded. Luffy titled his head and then frowned.

"It does so." Luffy mumbled.

"So…you never liked him?" Zolo sputtered looking at Sanji. Sanji chuckled.

"I like Nami." WHACK! "As a friend!" Sanji quickly said after Nami whacked him and threatened to hit him again. Nami smiled. "No, I never liked Luffy. Did I ever show any indication? All I did was make entrances at the appropriate moments. Heck, I even helped you, though why I did that is beyond even my comprehension!"

"Helped me?" Zolo scoffed. Sanji frowned.

"Think about it. I played with you and Luffy, and I left you two alone for hours. I stopped Luffy from eating off of my plate because I knew you would be a smug bastard and give him your food instead. I was the one who put Luffy in your bed. Trying to bloody well motivate you to do something. Moping around like some lovesick fool. It was getting unbearable." he said. It suddenly dawned on Zolo. This had all been done for the two of them? Why? What had they gained from it?

"Oh, and Zolo. Say cheese." Nami said. Zolo looked up and Nami took a picture. Luffy blinked.

"Nami. If you think you're going to use that for blackmail, you're wrong." the captain said. Nami grinned.

"Captain's orders"

"Damnit." Nami mumbled and stomped off. Sanji sighed.

"Ah, young love." he said. Zolo stomped over and raised an eyebrow.

"Bye bye." he said and slammed the door. This is where the story ends, but, let's just suffice it to say that Sanji and Chopper were kicked out of the room and the two pirates didn't resurface until dinner time.
Tee hee again. Nami is such a coniving...woman. Ahem... anyway, what did you think?