A/N: ZareEraz here! Another update! Yay! Enjoy

Chapter 8: Eye of the Beholder

Tell you what: After my friends and I travel the Grand Line, we'll come back here and find you. Then you'd better be ready for a rematch!

"Goodbye!" Luffy yelled while waving at Laboon as the Merry sailed away towards Whisky Peak. The Island Whale roared back, saying goodbye to his new friends, proud of the hastily drawn Jolly Roger on his head (even if it was messy and splotchy). Crocus was smiling at the crew, even if they couldn't see him anymore, dwarfed by the huge whale whom he looked after. The young man he'd just met was quite extraordinary and reminded him of a good friend. He and Laboon both hoped to meet him and his crew at some distant day in the future. He'd be waiting for them all once they'd traveled all the way around the world. The Twin Cape Lighthouse shined its light, the rays becoming visible with the setting of the sun, letting the Straw Hats know that a peaceful shore was there waiting for them when they came back.

"I feel sorry for that whale," Usopp commented as Luffy continued to enthusiastically wave.

"What do you mean?" the rubber man asked, not even turning around to look at his crewmate until the whale and his caretaker disappeared from sight.

"Well…I…uh…ah…well… The sniper didn't know how to put it without hurting Luffy's feelings or starting a fight, so he floundered, trying to come up with a good lie. Fortunately or unfortunately, Zoro beat him to the punch.

"You know, your drawing really sucked this time," the swordsman snidely remarked, a mean grin on his face.

"What did you say?!" Luffy growled, giving him a glare and a pout at the same time.

"Yeah, it looks pretty awful," Sanji remarked, taking a drag of his cigarette before letting the smoke drift into the air.

"You should've seen what he tried to draw on our Jolly Roger," Nami scoffed. "It was worse than Laboon's. I'm surprised that the whale liked it, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"I don't think that Laboon could actually see Luffy's drawing," Usopp remarked, but he was ignored.

"Oh god, if you guys had a flag drawn by that idiot, I'd never have joined the crew," Sanji rolled his eyes, thanking his lucky stars that someone had drawn the Jolly Roger right.

"Good thing Usopp is handy with paints as well as equipment; otherwise we'd have a pretty pathetic mark." Nami sighed, as she continued to poke fun at her captain.

"Thanks…I think." Usopp replied, confused. The sniper wondered if she was complimenting him or not because it didn't sound like it, but you never really knew with Nami.

"Hey! Stop making fun of me!" Luffy shouted, his glare turning into more of a pout with each passing moment.

"But it's so easy," Zoro chuckled. That comment got Luffy mad enough to tackle him to the deck and start trying to beat the crap out of him. However, Zoro was stubborn and mostly they just ended up rolling across the deck in a dust cloud, trying to choke the daylights out of each other.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Nami teased. "They get along so well." The navigator watched the two idiots try to strangle each other, wondering what Zoro found appealing in Luffy in the first place to follow him to the ends of the earth on a crazy adventure. Of course, she was doing the same thing, but Zoro's motivations seemed to be a little different from hers or Usopp's or Sanji's. It was intriguing and entertaining, to say the least, and she was sure that she'd figure it out someday. I guess Zoro's found a little beauty himself, even if it's our weird-ass captain. Nami was pulled out of her musings when Luffy managed to get on top of the swordsman and sat his butt right on his torso, halting the rolling, but still struggling to pin the swordsman's arms down.

"That wasn't very nice, Zoro!" Luffy snapped. Zoro glared at his captain, finding Luffy's face shoved right into his - almost as if they were going to kiss –and his arms were suddenly stuck to the deck in each of the boy's hands. His surprise at the closeness had broken his concentration and now he was pinned. The swordsman got a little hot under the collar, having his close friend on top of him like this. Not that Zoro would ever admit that out loud or even admit it to himself for that matter, but Luffy's butt was almost a little too low down – oh, god what was he thinking in a situation like this!? He had to get Luffy off him!

"L-Luffy! Get off me!" The green-haired man stuttered, blushing slightly and trying to throw the boy off him, but only succeeded in getting Luffy to cling to him tighter to keep his dominant position in the "fight."

"I'm not giving up that easily!" the rubber man shot back, wrestling his arms and legs around his first mate as they began to roll around on deck again.

"They get along very well," Nami said, an evil grin splitting her beautiful face.

"I don't even want to know!" Usopp threw his hands up in the air in denial as Nami's meaning started to come through. He'd noticed some odd things about Zoro's and Luffy's relationship, and he was not in the mood to dive into it any deeper.

"What is wrong with these guys?!" Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday screamed, wondering how the hell they got stuck on this crazy ship.

To be Continued...

A/N: And there you go! See you all later!