AN: Please enjoy :)

After a few ocean mishaps, the crew finally found themselves arriving at the island of Alabasta. The plan was to stock up on supplies at one of the port cities before boarding their ship again and docking at a different location on the isle.

Eager for food, Luffy was the first off the ship and ran in search of a restaurant while the others got new clothes and supplies. So, it didn't surprise them in the least that the next time they saw Luffy was when he was being chased by marines.

The crew tensed and prepared themselves for a fight when they suddenly saw a huge column of smoke and flame rise above them. In the midst of the flame was a shadow of a body.

"I've got this. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later." Said the shadow. The crew looked towards their captain who suddenly looked incredibly bright. Luffy grinned and nodded to his crewmates.

"Let's go!" He told the others, grabbing one of the bags and taking off towards the ship. The others didn't question their captain and grabbed their things and hurried after.

After they got aboard their ship and were far enough away from the shore, they gathered together on the deck to go over the situation.

"Did you know that guy?" Zoro asked her captain as she leaned against the mast.

"Oh yeah, that was my brother, Ace!" Luffy exclaimed, obviously very giddy from seeing the man.

"You have a brother?" Nami asked, looking surprised. Luffy nodded.

"Yeah, 3 years older. He left to become a pirate 3 years earlier than me, so it's been a while since I've seen him. He didn't have that kind of power back then though." Luffy replied, seeming very impressed and proud of his brother.

"He seems pretty strong, he was able to hold off all those marines at once." Sanji noted.

"Sure, but I could take him." Luffy bragged with a laugh. His moment didn't last long, however, as he was promptly knocked forward by a man jumping aboard the ship. The crew all jumped up, tensed.

"Yo." The man greeted, waving his hand to the others, "Talking behind my back, eh bro?" The man grabbed Luffy's vest and pulled the man back to his feet. Luffy just laughed and punched his arm.

"Ace! You came! Everyone, this is my brother, Ace." Luffy introduced, grinning. Ace bowed his head courteously to the others. He was taller than his younger brother, well built, and had a splash of freckles across his face.

"Nice to meet you guys. Thanks for looking after Luffy, he must've been a handful." Ace ruffled his brother's hair.

"That's saying it lightly." Nami replied, chuckling.

"Why don't you come in for some tea?" Sanji offered.

"Thanks, that would be great." Ace replied, and the crew all headed inside for drinks. The meeting room seemed much smaller will the amount of people currently inside of it. Zoro and Usopp had to grab some barrels for extra chairs around the table as Sanji got the drinks ready.

Zoro took the corner and found herself squished between Ace and Chopper. They went through introductions and Ace was quite impressed with the crew that Luffy had managed to form so far. The crew exchanged stories of their adventures well into the night.

Zoro somehow found herself caught in a drinking contest between herself and Ace. Not one to turn down a challenge, she started downing the drinks. They both seemed to be able to hold their liquor well, and as the night wore on, one by one, their other crewmates retired to their beds. It was past midnight and only Luffy, Sanji, Ace and Zoro remained. Sanji had cut them off and was now washing the dishes at the sink in the corner of the room. Luffy had fallen asleep in the middle of the room. Ace hiccuped and grinned at Zoro.

"Guess it's a tie?" He asked, leaning his head against his hand.

"I would've won if the cook hadn't stopped us." Zoro replied, shooting a glare at said cook. Sanji rolled his eyes.

"We just restocked our supplies and you guys are depleting them all in one day." Sanji replied.

"Lighten up, dartbrow." Zoro replied, and Ace suddenly snorted in laugher. He quickly covered his mouth and apologized but couldn't stop grinning.

"If you throw up, you're cleaning it up, shithead." Sanji retorted.

"Yeah yeah, I know how to hold my liquor." Zoro waved her hand at the cook and stood up from her seat. She tossed her empty glass towards Sanji, who caught it easily, then headed out onto the deck for some fresh air.

The cool air felt good on her slightly warm skin from the drinks. She started stretching. Exercise always helped her sober up after drinking a large amount. After a few minutes she heard the door open again and a familiar smell drifted her away. She finished her stretch and turned with a grin. Sanji was holding out a cup a tea.

"Why do you keep looking at that thing? Haven't you memorized it already mosshead?" Sanji accused, trying to snatch the letter out of Zoro's hands. She turned red and pushed him back, stuffing the letter she had received upon arriving into town into her haramaki.

"It's none of your business, shitty cook!" Zoro replied, sprinting ahead of the group to get away.

"Don't think I won't go in there!" Sanji warned, pouncing on the swordsman, the two tumbling in the sand.

"How do they have so much energy?" Nami asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. The group was trudging through the sand dunes of the Alabasta desert.

"What are they even fighting about anyway?" Vivi asked, squinting at the two wrestling in the sand in the distance. It looked like Sanji was trying to pull Zoro's haramaki off her person. She had bitten his hand in retaliation.

"Something stupid, I'm sure." Nami replied, rolling her eyes.

"It had Mihawk's signature…" Usopp said, looking worried. The crew looked at him in surprise.

"Do you think… he wants to join our crew?" Luffy asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah right," Usopp waved his hand, "More like trying to recruit Zoro from us or something."

"I-I don't want Zoro to go!" Chopper whined, looking worriedly at his friend in the distance. It seemed Sanji had successfully pinned Zoro to the ground, sitting on her waist while pinning her hands down with his knees. She was kicking wildly.

The group caught up to the two. Sanji had stolen the letter and was reading it. Zoro was red in the face and practically shrieking at him. In a manly way, of course. Sanji finished the letter and looked down at Zoro. She looked mortified and couldn't speak. Sanji smiled wickedly at her. She shook her head quickly.

"Is Mihawk really trying to recruit you, Zoro?" Luffy asked, frowning. Zoro glanced at her captain, then back at Sanji. Her eyes were begging him not to speak. Sanji leaned down and whispered in her ear. She shivered

"This isn't over…" He warned, with an edge to his voice before sitting back up and flashing a smile to the others.

"Of course not…." Sanji started ripping the letter to shreds, a bit aggressively. "Our idiot swordsman would never, ever, agree with anything on this letter, right?" He glowered down at her. Zoro paled slightly, surprised at his animosity.

"O-of course not… ahhaha…" She laughed nervously. The crew stared at the two. There was obviously something going on with that letter. It was also weird to see Zoro not fighting back against her opponent.

"Oh okay. Great!" Luffy replied with a grin and continued their trek. The others weren't as quickly convinced but continued after him. Chopper hovered behind, looking worriedly between the two. Sanji looked like he wanted to say more to Zoro but let go of her and got up and followed the others.

Zoro felt so…helpless. The water level was rising, and they were all sitting ducks. They had been locked inside of a seastone prison, effectively preventing them from escaping. She rammed her sword in frustration against the bars of the prison to no avail. Luffy also looked quite upset. This was literally his kryptonite. Just touching the bars made him feel very weak.

"Sanji…! Sanji can save us!" Usopp exclaimed, trying to cheer the group up. Hope started to spread through the group. Sanji and Chopper had been separated from the group and their current whereabouts were unknown. They could find the key and open the gate.

Zoro felt her stomach twist. For some reason she felt uneasy. It wasn't the water rising or the possible explosion. She felt weird about Sanji. She hadn't seen him since he ignored her after reading the letter. It was a strange letter, of course, but she herself didn't write it. It didn't make sense for her to be embarrassed by it. But, she was.

This made her feel weak. Emotions only got in the way of things, they clouded judgement. Sanji was her crewmate, and him coming to save them all was a good thing… even if he also saw her unable to break free of the prison on her own.

"Dammit Sanji…" She growled, frustrated with her own thoughts that made no sense to herself.

"That's twice that you've said my name, you must really be in deep shit, eh?" Sanji announced as he entered the room calmly, walking down the stairs at a leisurely pace.

"Sanji!" The crew cried out happily, gripping the bars of their prison. He gave a mock bow, looking them over.

"At your service~ Ah Nami-swan, you look beautiful even in distress! I'm sorry you are locked up with all those smelly men~" He cooed, walking over to the cage.

"Yeah yeah, can you get us out of here? One of the alligators ate the key! It's seastone and we can't break out!" She replied, gesturing over to one of the many large alligators that were thrashing about.

"Anything for you, Nami-swan~" He replied, winking. He turned to take care of the creature, but his eyes paused on Zoro. She was staring at him with an odd look on her face.

Is Sanji… wearing glasses? Why does he suddenly look so…? Her thoughts trailed off. She had completely forgotten everything she had been worried about before. He raised an eyebrow at her, and her face turned red. Not knowing how to react, she glared back.

"T-took you long enough damn cook!" She yelled.

Zoro awoke to see Usopp hovering over her bed. She sat up and stretched, feeling the pain of her wounds with each movement. They had defeated the evil head of Baroque Works, Crocodile, and saved the town. Zoro had made it out alive, though it had taken Chopper a long time to patch her up. Her friends kept hovering and Chopper ended up having to put up a privacy screen for the two while he worked.

"Hey, you're awake! Luffy just woke up too." Usopp gestured to the bed on the other side of the room. Luffy was currently eating everything in existence.

"The others?" She asked, her mind a bit cloudy on what happened after Luffy had defeated Crocodile.

"Fine! In fact, we were all about to go to the bathhouse together! I came to see if you were up!" Usopp said excitedly. Zoro nodded.

"Sounds good, where—" She started but cut off as Sanji walked over after hearing their voices.

"Oi mossbrains, took you long enough to recover." Sanji said as he gave her a onceover.

"I'm fine, cook. I was doing actual fighting, not slacking off." She returned. He kicked her bed, making her wince.

"Nah, I'm just better than you. Who was it that had to save your sorry ass? Oh right, it was me." He smirked down at her. She started to retort but remembered something.

"Oh wait, you were wearing glasses?" She asked curiously. He tilted his head put pulled them out of his pocket, putting them on.

"What, these?" He asked.

"Y-yeah… they uh… look very good on you." She replied.

Usopp and Sanji stared at her.

And stared some more.

"Chopper! I think Zoro has brain damage!" Usopp yelled, looking around for the little deer. Sanji wasn't sure how to react to the compliment, his cheeks tinted slightly. Zoro, as if suddenly realizing what she had said, turned red herself.

"I don't need a compliment from a man!" Sanji finally reacted, kicking her bed over. Zoro fell on the floor but quickly recovered as well.

"N-not like you'd ever get one from a woman!" She shouted in return, her face still burning.

"Nami-san compliments me all the time!" Sanji grabbed her by the front of her shirt.

"No, she compliments your cooking! That doesn't count!" Zoro grabbed his shirt in return.

"Of course it counts, I still did it, didn't I?"

"She's only using you for your cooking skills!"

"Oh, like Mihawk's using you for—" Sanji couldn't continue as he had just been kneed in the groin. He crumpled to the ground.

"Uhh…" Usopp winced and backed away, "So, bathhouse?"

AN: Thank you all for reading! As you can see, the next chapter has an interesting setting hahaha~ Please wait for it eagerly! :)