Jade: I have an awesome forum that no one is posting into, it's called "Be a pirate" come and be part of a good or evil crew! Heh heh heh…
Luffy: Oh! Oh! Oh! Can I join? I can be the captain of the good crew!
Jade: MWAH HA HA HA HAAAA! FOOL! I have already taken that position! MWAH HA HA HAAA! –twitch-
Luffy: You don't seem to suited to it…
Jade: -gives him the evil eye-


Zoro came around the corner into the courtyard. Immediately he saw Sanji, just standing there, then Luffy, who jumped down from the apple tree. Sanji turned around to see Zoro crying.

"Come on Sanji," he thought to himself, "remember you're going to be a great nakama. No matter what."

Sanji stepped towards Zoro and put his hand on his shoulder. Zoro lost all sense of hate towards Sanji and put his forehead on Sanji's shoulder and cried all the more. All feelings of guilt washed away as Sanji patted his nakama on the back and looked over to Nami and Ussop who were coming over.

Luffy came up beside Zoro, "What happened?" he asked in a voice so soft it sounded like it couldn't belong to Luffy.

Zoro didn't answer. Sanji put his hands on both of Zoro's shoulders and held him at arms length, forcing Zoro to make eye contact with him. His eyes were red and his cheeks shone with dry tears.

"Hey Zoro," Zoro never heard the cook actually call him by his actual name before, "what happened? You know we aren't going to let you leave until you tell us."

"My," Zoro choked up, "dad, my dad is dead." If it wasn't for Sanji he would have still been denying the whole thing, but now he knew deep down that his father wasn't coming back, the reality hit him like a brick.

He was about to burst into tears again, but he wouldn't while everyone was watching him. He had to speak, just to stop himself crying.

"I'm going to be king, I, I'm going to be crowned soon. Soon, this evening," Zoro looked up to see the sun was half set, "now, evening, no…"

"Chin up marimo," this time the name was said with kindness, "we'll be there beside you. You'll see."

Sanji let go of Zoro who immediately left for the bench where he sat down and buried his face in his hands. Ussop started to walk over to him but Sanji grabbed him by the shoulder. He looked from the hand on his shoulder to Sanji's eyes which were watching Zoro.

"Why?" Ussop said quietly.

Luffy knew exactly why, "Nami, you go instead."

Nami looked at Luffy with a confused face, "why me? He doesn't even like me."

"He does," said Sanji, not looking away from Zoro, "I love you too, but so does he, it is so painfully obvious. You only think he doesn't like you because you hurt him, and he is acting hurt. Do you think many people could hurt his heart of iron?" Sanji turned to face Nami, "he loves you and he needs to hear words from you."

Sanji swore he felt his heart tear in two at that precise moment. Nami broke her gaze with Sanji and walked over and sat beside Zoro. The others left to the other side of the courtyard where they sat in silence.

"Zoro, I'm so sorry," Nami began.

"No, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have left the castle in the first place," he had stopped crying.

"Don't say that" Nami said, "If you didn't leave the castle, then we wouldn't have our gang, our nakama."

"Don't be stupid, you would still have Luffy, Sanji, and Ussop."

"No, Luffy and I wouldn't have met up if he hadn't found you and taken you to the waterfall, and then if he didn't find youhe would have stayed at his house that night and wouldn't have found Sanji the next day!" she began, "and if it wasn't for you, Ussop would still be hitchhiking around the forest. It was because of you that five lonely people were able to become nakama!"

Zoro retorted, "it was coincidence! Pure coincidence! The day I left the castle, Luffy just happened to be at the same place where I exited from, right over that wall!" he stood, pointing at the wall which the apple tree stood against, "he probably wouldn't have been there any other day!"

Nami stood up, "if you didn't leave, Luffy would still be there now," she spoke softly, "he would hang around there because he wants to be king and he likes being near the castle, you know that. Face it, if you didn't leave then, I would still be waiting for someone to rob, Ussop would continue hitchhiking around the forest, and Sanji would still be drifting across the land. It doesn't matter when you left, but it does matter that you did, because no matter when you chose to leave, we would still all meet. The only coincidence is that we just happened to meet so quickly. We were all destined to meet; it just took you that leap to make it happen"

Zoro was still angry, "two days, it all happened in two days! It's hard to believe that I just jumped off that wall yesterday morning!" his voice was rising, "how can you say we're nakama? We all JUST met! And look at us! A thief, a prince, a peasant, a drifter and a hitchhiking coward! We are the MOST unlikely of friends!"

Tears stood in Nami's eyes, they blurred her vision, she blinked and they fell to the ground, not touching her face. Her throat burned and her chest hurt, similar to the feeling she had before but heaps worse.

She looked up at Zoro, "You don't have to be life long friends to be nakama, if there is such thing as love at first sight then there has to be friends at first sight as well." Nami quoted Ussop.

Zoro calmed instantly, he thought back to when he first saw Nami.

FLASHBACK

"She's really pretty…" Zoro said to himself.

Zoro listened intently to Nami's laughter; he had never heard a laugh like it before. He blinked and looked away from her; he couldn't be falling for a thief could he? That was beneath his stature.

END FLASHBACK

Zoro never believed in love at first sight, but looking back at that moment he saw that it was true. He could remember exactly how Nami was standing, how light it was, how curious he was to get to know her better.

"I never believed in love at first sight." Zoro said as he put his hands on Nami's shoulders.

Nami felt the pain in her chest grow worse, she realised it was her heart breaking.

"That was," Zoro said, pulling her closer, "until I saw you."

Zoro leaned in and caught Nami in a kiss. Nami felt the pain liquefy as Zoro's hands ran down her arms to hold her hands.

In the distance a small smile crept over Sanji's face as he felt his already broken heart tear again. He couldn't help but let a single tear fall.


Jade: Who says 13 is unluckyi ught nami " nami'ight. but looking back at that moment he saw that it was true. he that. face ? Chapter 13 and the long awaited kiss comes!
Nami: aw Zoro, -puts hands on her heart-
Jade: I think this was my longest chapter so far! I am expecting some reviews from very happy ZoroXNami fans :D

mrrrrh... tired... sorry, may be no chapter update tomorrow, it's to late now and i'm working tomorrow... and i wanna write the next chapter sooo bad! how sad, busy on a saturday... i'l try and get a chapter done tomorrow night, if i don't go to sleep :P

goodnight my beloved reviewers whom i love so much! 28 reviews so far! make it 30 for me! i know that because of my updating speed there isn't much time to review but hey! review when you can!