They arrived at the village early afternoon, Nami had been pleased that Zoro's detour hadn't lost her too much time, she seemed to know every short cut and secret path on the way here. It had meant travelling on worn dirt paths instead of the wider roads at times.

He hadn't been sure what he had been expecting from the village that had shunned the young Zoro but it looked normal. The homes were well kept; they had a tavern with an Inn, even a small town hall. The villagers too looked normal, they clearly had pride in themselves and their village as they clearly took care of how both looked. He tried not to dwell on how many of these people had chosen to abandon a baby and ignore a hungry child, that wouldn't help and that is what they were here to do.

The group had been greeted by a very relieved mayor who was so happy to get help he didn't seem to even notice the swordsman or maybe he just wasn't one of the superstitious ones. The village had clearly been having troubles, there was damage to some of the buildings and the mayor had talked about injured people. His heckles had risen when he'd heard about the stolen food.

After the conversation they had set up camp at the edge of the village near the woods. Luffy as King would stay at the Inn along with the ladies, Luffy had fought it wanting to stay at the camp but after Nami had spoken to him separately he had stopped arguing for now at least.

They would be meeting the mayor again tonight to go over the situation but until then they were free to explore. He'd seen Zoro hanging near the edge of the forest, he could almost feel the desire to go in rolling of the swordsman. He went over brushing up against his side 'Want to go for a walk?' he hadn't been able to get a proper read of his feelings since he'd arrived, he was good at masking them.

Zoro's arm brushed his arm and his fingers slipped lightly through Sanji's. Without a word Zoro walked over the boundary into the woods. They walked in silence as Zoro seemed to be set on a destination and for once Sanji didn't think he was lost.

Eventually they came to a small clearing, in it was a small stone cottage surrounded by a fence was its small well kept garden. He could almost feel the wave of relief of Zoro. 'It's still here' he could hear the mixture of relief and joy in his voice as the swordsman opened the gate.

Sanji followed him as Zoro had already opened the door and gone in. Any fear of running into an owner disappeared when the stale smell hit him.

'Garp had said he'd make sure it was taken care of when I left' Zoro's eyes were flicking around the room. He went over to a wooden chest opening it ruffling through old clothes. The quality dipped drastically after a certain size and buried at the bottom were a few carved toys and what looked like a tree branch whittled a little to look like a sword.

He let Zoro enjoy his memories in silence, clearly the woman who had taken him in had loved him. He understood that to his core, Zeff had saved him and despite their gruff way of communicating the old man loved him in his own strange way. He hadn't heard back yet from his letter home but he wasn't really expecting much of one anyway. It was just to let his old man know he was alive and well in Foosha.

'This is the only thing I miss around here, it was the only safe place I knew before Luffy took me in' Zoro looked content as he put everything back. 'I swear she was a witch or something, she used to tell me all the time that I'd grow up to be the Kings swordsman'

'The villagers used to ask her advice on all sorts when she visited, she never led them wrong. They would just never believe her about me' he shrugged.

He went over as Zoro stood up, wrapping his arms around the swordsman 'Well they'll just have to believe her now' Sanji felt him soften against him before something made him stiffen up again.

'You can't be in here' a voice from the doorway made his head snap round.

He could feel Zoro's mood turning so fast that even he backed away from the aura of anger rolling off him.

'I'm sure it's fine' Sanji walked towards the man but stopped as he leveled a crossbow at them.

No no no, that was not a good move. He heard the sword being unsheathed before he saw it.

'Now come on let's talk this out' he carefully stepped between Zoro and what he was pretty sure was about to be a dead crossbow man.

'Kings orders this place is out of bounds to all except the owner and the caretakers' the man was shaking. He couldn't blame him; he swore he could see a dark purple aura around the swordsman.

He stepped nearer the intruder 'I'm pretty sure he is the owner. If you just lower that bow I'm sure we can talk about this'

It happened in a split second and he almost didn't react fast enough. The shaking man had his finger on the trigger like the genius he clearly was. The bolt fired directly at Sanji's chest because he had been stupid enough to get between the two of them. He twisted away feeling the tip rip through his shirt but not touching his flesh. Almost on pure instinct he used his landing momentum to kick the intruder out of the way of the blade of energy flying from the black sword. It passed through the doorway leaving no damage and hit a tree instead of its intended target. He watched as the tree went from looking like nothing had happened to it to splitting in two.

'Don't you think that was a little overkill?' he glanced back at Zoro who appeared to be less angry and more concerned.

'He shot you!' Zoro had come over and was digging at the hole in his shirt inspecting the skin below 'I hate this place, nothing good comes from being here'

'Normally I'd love you feeling me up but I can take care of myself remember'

Zoro sighed he could feel him relaxing, all the anger leaving him. He hoped he'd never have to see him like that again but he got the feeling every feeling was going to be amplified here.

The swordsman walked over to the man on the ground who looked petrified.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't see your hair. Please don't kill me, I'll leave, I swear. I won't tell anyone please' The man sobbed.

He felt the last of the fight go out Zoro 'it's fine you were just protecting it right? How about next time you keep your finger off the trigger until you know you need to fire' he leant down helping the confused man up 'You do need to apologise to him though' he flicked his head at Sanji 'he's going to complain a lot about his damaged shirt'

The man apologised profusely to Sanji making promises of a new shirt. Whilst he was trying to convince the man to calm down, the raven landed on Zoro's shoulder with a note. He unravelled 'Nami wants us back for the meeting' his attention switched to the gibbering man 'can you take the cook back to the village' the man nodded fervently 'Curly I'll catch up later ok'

'OK but don't take too long or Nami will kill you' he grinned 'keep the bird with you though don't want you getting lost'

He followed the man who for some reason wasn't feeling too chatty for about ten minutes before hitting the edge of the village. From here he was only a short walk to the camp.

He'd walked about half an hour or more with Zoro.

He had felt so sure that Zoro had known the way. The confidence, he'd lived in the woods for years.

He couldn't help laughing out loud the Marimo had been lost the entire damn time. His guide gave him a panicked look, the poor guy probably thought he was stuck with another unstable lunatic.

'Sorry, I just had a funny thought. You can go home now my camps right there'

As he walked in he noticed Nami and Luffy hanging around the fire.

'He's really not with you then' there was a hint of accusation in Namis tone.

'I'm sorry mellorine he wanted to stay just a bit longer at the cottage' he hadn't expected her to look so stressed at his response 'I can go get him now if it will help' he felt confident he could get there faster without the mossball.

'Won't help apparently he's of to deal with the bandits so he can get out of this hell hole' she thrust a note at him as he noticed the raven sitting on Luffys hat'

Luffy

I want out of this hell hole bet I can deal with the bandits faster than you.

I sent Sanji back, he'd have stopped me going to keep Nami happy.

Zoro

He rubbed his eyes to try and hold back how angry he was, that sneaky bastard. He was right though he'd have kept the bastard back if he'd told him but then they could have gone together.

'Don't worry Sanji I don't blame you, now tell me exactly what happened' Nami sighed.

By the time he'd finished Luffy had left to find Zoro, the raven had gone ahead as well. He had wanted to go but Nami had stopped him, she clearly had plans for him but they had to meet the mayor first.