Here we go again^^

Have fun with the next chapter. I wish you all a great weekend and thank you all for your lovely comments and your favos :-)

If everything goes well chapter 9 will be out next friday again. Thank you for your patience ^^

Chapter 8

-Sanji-

Now they were sitting there.

Zoro had left them behind only a few seconds ago to talk to Robin alone, and none of them really knew what to do now.

Their captain was still laying on the lawn, cozily asleep. If it wasn't Luffy, Sanji would probably worry that the fight with Korekuta could have been too much for him, but the rubber boy didn't break so easily.

Rayleigh was still sitting behind Luffy at the mast, his legs crossed, watching them with an expressionless look. Sanji felt as if the Dark King had presented them a trial and was now judging if they were passing.

Sanji almost felt like he was nothing more than an uninvolved spectator. Yes, it shocked him how much they had not known about the swordsman. There was this saying that still waters ran deep, but he had always thought of the Marimo being a puddle rather than a sleeping volcano.

That point of view hadn't changed that much, if he was honest. So, the Marimo had a much longer history than Sanji had been aware of. So, he was a being whole stories had been written over. So, it was his name children spread all over the world, knew out of scary stories. So, he had enemies, who even made the former vice-captain of the Pirate King turn pale.

In the end, he was still the annoying Marimo, who spent half the day snoring at the most unbelievable places and the rest of the time training and not doing his chores. He was still the same idiot, who wanted to chop off his own feet to keep fighting, who had been prepared to be killed by Hawkeyes just because of his damn honor. He was still the man, who had wanted to sacrifice himself to save Luffy and also to save Sanji.

Perhaps that's why it was that hard for the cook to understand why the others behaved so strangely. Whoever Zoro had been before, whatever monster he had been, now he was Roronoa Zoro, no one else. The past should not matter.

"Rayleigh," Sanji finally raised his voice, "do you know what issue Robin-swan has with the Marimo?"

"You mean, apart from the fact that Bronze is the asshole responsible for Ohara's downfall?" Franky grumbled roughly.

"Franky!" Nami yelped in horror.

"What? It's true. And just because we're talking about Zoro, it doesn't change the truth."

The cyborg seemed rather irreconcilable. Unlike Sanji, he obviously didn't accept Zoro's past as easily.

"But wait," Usopp said, while counting with his fingers, "if I've calculated correctly, Zoro hatched in the same year Ohara's Buster Call was, and he said that eggs take two years before the dragons hatch. How is he supposed to be responsible for the Buster Call, while being in an egg? Even before that, he had been nothing more than a toddler or something."

Sanji could not hinder a small smile. Usopp wasn't as stupid as he acted sometimes.

Franky blushed slightly. "Well, Tom always said that the World Government only knew about Ohara because of Bronze, so..."

"So, you jump directly to the conclusion that Zoro betrayed the researchers of Ohara? After all, he is the evil one from the stories, right?" Nami replied sarcastically.

"Why would Tom say such a thing if it's not true?" The ship's carpenter defended.

"Because he's basically right," Rayleigh admitted.

"What?" Chopper whispered. "Zoro would never betray anyone!"

"And he didn't," the Dark King agreed. "Overly simplified it's correct to say that Ohara's Buster Call happened ultimately due to Bronze. But it's probably a little more complicated if you take a closer look at the events."

The old man folded his hands in his lap.

"As already mentioned, the three of us visited Ohara for the first time while still being rather young and after Bronze left the crew, he did go back. I would say that outside of our crew, the researchers were one of the few people he might have trusted more or less."

"So, he would probably not willingly betray them," Sanji concluded. "Does he even have something to do with the Buster Call?"

Rayleigh nodded: "Well, I told you that Roger wanted to take Bronze along on his last trip, therefor we visited him on Ohara."

The straw hat pirates nodded listening.

"However, the problem was that at that time we were no longer these unknown pirates from the early days and the World Government became curious why infamous criminals like us were interested in a small researcher island. That's why they took a closer look at Ohara and became suspicious."

Now he looked at Franky.

"So yes, if Bronze hadn't gone to Ohara at that time, we wouldn't have visited him there, and the Buster Call would probably never have happened. Tom was probably right." Rayleigh laughed softly. "Good old Tom, I think he meant something completely different than you might have understood. You know, he totally fanboyed about Bronze when we were on Water Seven and kind of followed him wherever he went."

"So that's why Robin slapped Zoro?" Usopp asked.

The Dark King shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess so. Without us, she would not have lost her home."

"But it's totally not Zoro's fault!" Chopper yelled. "That's really mean, if she blames him."

"You're a bunch of idiots," Nami murmured, before sighing deeply.

"What do you mean?" Usopp looked at her from the side, but she just shook her head and waved it off.

"I have another question," she abruptly changed the subject and looked at Rayleigh seriously. "Korekuta said something about not signing a contract with you, but with your captain. What did he mean by that?"

Surprised, Sanji looked up.

"Is this really necessary now, Nami-swan. Don't we have more pressuring matters to talk about?"

She kneaded her hands in her lap.

"Well, for me it sounded like Zoro had already been chased by these rarity hunters when he was with you guys and Roger managed to get rid of them once and for all." Seeking help, she glanced at Rayleigh. "And I also want Zoro to stay. Whatever's wrong with Robin, we will figure it out, but you've seen how he reacted when this Muchinushi-guy stood in front of him."

She bit her lip briefly before she continued, calming herself again: "Muchinushi seems to be really strong and if he hunted Zoro for so many years, he will probably never stop, so we have to find another way. Otherwise Zoro..." She shook her head and suddenly her voice became a little bit too annoyed and impatient, showing her confident self too easily. "Otherwise, these Korekutas will never leave us alone and it's already more than enough for me that we're chased by the Marine. I don't need an insane world aristocrat as addition."

Sanji wholeheartedly agreed to that. The cyborg to his right one the other hand snorted quietly but said nothing. Brook next to him was suspiciously silent, as if he was caught by deep thoughts.

"But why?" Usopp looked over to Rayleigh. "Why are they so interested in Zoro? This guy called him his number one. I mean, he's hardly going to be number one on this weird list, right?"

"Oh, yes, he is." Rayleigh laughed softly.

"What?" Chopper screamed. "I'm number 4,052 and you're telling me Zoro is number one?" He sounded almost jealous.

Rayleigh nodded: "As I said, the list is sorted according to how valuable the listed ones are for the world aristocrats, or Muchinushi to be precise." He remained silent for a second. "As far as I know, the rarity hunters captured dragons so that the scientists of the world aristocrats could study their abilities and, if needed, take advantage of those. They were especially interested in the longevity of the dragons."

"How old can dragons get?" Brook asked, surprisingly after not talking for most of the conversation.

"I don't know, to be honest. Bronze only told me once that Korekuta had captured him because of his blood, among other things. Apparently, humans cannot tolerate the blood of a full-fledged dragon, but by regularly injecting Zoro's blood, a human being can considerably extend their own life span."

"A fountain of youth made of flesh and blood," Franky muttered, shaking his head, "and that's why they're chasing him like madmen? Not like something like that would actually work."

Rayleigh shrugged his shoulders. "Well, Muchinushi is over a hundred years old and his daughter Joudama is only ten-something years younger than me, so I would..."

"What?" Sanji dropped his cigarette. "You want to tell me that this lovely creature is supposed to be an old granny?""

"So I'm an old grandpa for you?" The former pirate asked slightly reserved.

Sanji wanted to apologize, but Nami continued the conversation: "Okay, so we know now why they're chasing Zoro, but the question was, what did Roger do so they left Zoro alone."

Wary Sanji observed Nami. Her face was a mask of objectivity, but her hand clawed into her shoulder and she repeatedly bit her lower lip. He worried about her, almost more than the Marimo. This all seemed to be very emotional for her.

"To be blunt, he made a deal with Muchinushi," Rayleigh replied.

"How?" The only woman present straightened up.

"Well, we've ran into the Korekutas several times over the years and it's been a pretty tough fight every single time. His minions are nothing but cannon fodder, but we knew we couldn't do anything against Muchinushi himself, so we always fled, except for once when Roger stayed stubborn and refused to run."

He did not grin, and his voice lacked the otherwise often present wit. On the contrary, he sounded very sad.

"It's been a fight like few I've seen, and it really didn't look good for us. But in the end Roger was able to keep up with him."

"He defeated him?" Sanji asked.

"Oh no." The former pirate shook his head. "They were pretty much on a par, and neither would have survived the fight. Through a fraud we were able to capture Joudama. But even her life wasn't important enough for him to let go of Bronze. However, he offered the deal to let Bronze be for as long as Roger would live. Presumably he did want to prevent Roger from killing both of them."

"And what did Roger say?" Usopp sounded dissatisfied. "Why accepting such a sick deal? He should have kept fighting!"

"Maybe," the Dark King replied quietly, "but this deal alone had a very high price. Astin and Joe Bloggs died that day for that very deal, so that Bronze could live in freedom for a few years. We had lost two friends in battle. Who knows who would have fallen if Roger had rejected this deal."

He shook his head. "But now Roger is dead."

"And Muchinushi will hunt Zoro down again," Nami ended Rayleigh's sentence quietly.

The old man nodded tired.

Suddenly loud grumble startled them. Luffy, who had been asleep for who knows how long, yawned loudly.

"Urgh, I'm hungry," he muttered, yawning again, before finally opening his eyes.

Surprised, he stared at them.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Unanimous everyone else present sighed.

"Luffy, do you even know what's going on?"

"Yes, of course," Luffy grinned, "Zoro's back and that's the only thing that matters."

Laughing, he jumped up.

"And now I'm hungry! Sanji! Food!"

At first the cook wanted to deny his captain's order, but then he sighed softly and shook his head.

"Maybe that's a very good idea. All of us should eat something."

"To the galley," Luffy yelled, and ran ahead.

"Shouldn't we tell him the truth?" Usopp muttered as he got up.

"Not that it would make a difference," Franky grumbled. "And I don't want to be in the same room when he hears that both Zoro and Robin want to leave the crew."

"Or when he hears that some of us don't want Zoro to be part of the crew anymore," Nami hissed.

"I never said I wanted him to go," the cyborg replied. "Just that it's complicated. You only see Zoro as who he is today and hear what we say about the past, but Brook and I grew up with Bronze or the dragons, it's different."

"Maybe we should drink a cup of tea first, before continuing this discussion" the skeleton proposed diplomatically.

"I welcome that suggestion," the Dark King agreed, and one by one the pirates followed the rubber boy.

On the way up to the galley, Sanji briefly held the navigator back.

"Hey," he muttered, "let's call Robin-swan too. I'm starting to worry. It's so suspiciously quiet over there."

Nami looked at him without the slightest smile.

"You don't need to worry. I think she and Zoro have a lot to talk about with each other. Must have been quite a shock."

"Not only for her, but for all of us," he replied.

"I didn't mean it like that." She shook her head and raised her hands slightly irritated as he looked at her only questioningly.

"You must have noticed it," she said quietly, leaning closer to him.

"What?" He had no clue what she was talking about.

Nami rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you notice that both of them like to spend time with each other?"

"What?" He tilted his head. What was she talking about?

"Yes, when we go ashore, Zoro usually accompanies her. She taught him Mah-Jongg. Sometimes she reads in the crow's nest while he's training."

She made further movements with her hands.

"So?" Sanji asked.

"Oh, Sanji!" She stomped slightly with her foot. "Robin likes Zoro and he apparently likes her too and now something like that happens, of course she's shocked. She probably thinks like Franky about Bronze, or worse, and now it turns out Zoro is that Bronze. I mean, she probably feels desperate and betrayed. It's so hard for her to trust someone, but she trusted Zoro, of all people. And I don't want to know how he must feel, not able to tell us the truth because he thought we would... Sanji? Are you okay?"

He tried to breathe but couldn't and slowly became nauseous. He cleared his throat as the world began to blur. By now he was feeling sick.

"Sanji?! What's going on?"

Nami patted him on the back but he couldn't breathe.

His knees gave in.

"That can't be," he whispered, "Why did it have to be the Marimo out of all?"

Then the world turned dark.

-Zoro-

Heavily he climbed up the steps, left the other crew members behind on the lawn and walked outside the dining room towards the bow.

He took a deep breath as he saw her standing at the railing, she had placed her forearms on the white wood and looked at the limitlessness of the sea. Even from where he stood, he could see that she had been crying; her eyes and cheeks were reddened, and she was still holding a handkerchief in her left hand.

For a moment, he looked carefully at her profile, looking for the words with which he wanted to explain to her what could not be put into words. Then she looked over to him and closed her eyes briefly. But since she did not leave, he decided that she at least tolerated his presence.

Slowly he joined her and leaned against the railing with his back without looking at her.

None of them said anything.

This was basically nothing unusual. They had never needed many words to understand each other. They were very similar to each other, she once had said they were related spirits, whatever that meant. Both were more of a quieter, observant character, and both were willing to consider more drastic ways to protect their friends. Especially before Brook and Franky had joined the crew, Zoro had been grateful to be able to talk to someone whose naivety he did not have to take in consideration for once.

Unlike Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Chopper, even in contrast to the cook, Zoro had always felt different, not necessarily older, but they had always obtained this childlike innocence, which he had lost a long time ago and although he never had been able to explain it exactly, he knew that Robin had understood and that she felt it in a similar way.

But now it was different, there was no wordless understanding, no inner unity.

Both were suspicious people, who could hardly trust strangers, even harder open themselves up to others and communicate with an honest heart. That had been one thing he had appreciated about her. She was one of the few people, who were able to read him.

In the beginning he had disliked it very much, because he had distrusted her. After all he had been able to read her as well, had noticed that she had withheld something from them. But at some point, that distrust had faded away and then eventually overturned into something else.

When she had been the only one in the room to realize that he had been dissatisfied with his training that day, she had offered to take on some of his duties so that he could continue to train. When she had been the only one in the room who had noticed that he had been training continuously for two days, she had sometimes asked him for help with trivial things so that he would take a break. She had noticed when he had slept badly and prevented the cook from awakening him rudely. She had noticed when he had been looking at one of her books and the next morning he would find it on the sofa in the lookout.

If he was honest, he had become accustomed far too quickly to the fact that she could look behind his mask with ease.

But it was the same for him.

He knew when she was hiding grief or insecurity behind a smile, when she drank a sip of coffee to avoid a harsh remark, when she was just staring at the lines of a book with fatigue instead of reading.

And just now he could see that at this moment she wanted to be anywhere else in the world but here on a small ship, where she could not run away.

Not that Robin normally was the type, who'd run away. No, but she had done it when her own past had threatened to catch up with her, and now that his past had caught up with him, he knew that she saw no other option but to flee.

He stared at the wooden wall in front of him, trying to find the right words for the first time in a long time to talk to her.

"I'm sorry about what happened," she said softly. "I shouldn't have slapped you."

He laughed softly and couldn't prevent a crooked grin.

"You could have cut off my head and I wouldn't have minded."

From the corner of his eye, he could see her smiling for a fraction of a second before her features became cold again.

They were silent again and although there was a tension between them - a deep pain - he was glad that she had not left, that she at least gave him the opportunity to talk to her.

But it was much more difficult than he had feared. He had never been good with words and it had never been necessary with her, but now everything was different.

Several times he opened and closed his mouth without even a sound leaving his lips. Shaking his head, he snorted quietly.

"I don't even know what to say," he quietly admitted. "What can I even say? Nothing I could say could explain or even make up for what you had to go through."

She did not respond but continued to look at the sea.

Swallowing harshly, he decided to continue talking, perhaps only to fill this silence.

"I can't change what happened back then and I can't ask you for forgiveness, so I just want to ask you for one thing."

Now she looked at him surprised but also very suspicious.

"Please don't leave this crew." Her eyes grew large. "You've lost your home once because of me. I don't want to be responsible for a second time."

Very slowly she opened her mouth as he continued to speak.

"And you don't need to worry. I knew from the beginning that I would have to leave this crew at some point. That's why I ask you: please stay." Now he looked back at her. "We are both loners, but we are different. You need them."

Robin looked back at the sea.

"And you?" she finally asked.

He laughed quietly. "Oh, I deliberately chose this path. Besides, I have Silver."

He folded his arms and looked up to the sky, watching it slowly growing darker. A long day finally came to an end, and yet he was afraid that it would pass.

Slowly, he wondered if he should go. It was all said, wasn't it? What else was he supposed to say that she didn't know?

It was true that he could not change the past. How many times had he wished during the last two years that his memories were not true, that he was not that other person, this other man from another life. How much he had wanted to be just Roronoa Zoro, that small, insignificant swordsman from the East Blue with a big dream.

Once, long ago, he had hated himself for his human side and now he wanted nothing more than to forget the last dragon, the death angel Bronze.

But at the same time, he could not forgive himself for having such thoughts. It seemed to him like he was betraying all that had ever been important to him. His tribe had not died, so that he would deny his inheritance. His father had not saved him, so that he was ashamed of what he was.

But the guilt weighed heavily. His deeds from another life and his sense of honor today were worlds apart, and he could only hope that his former vice-captain was right, that he would be able to make peace with time going by.

"You know what?" Now Robin also looked up to the first shining stars, her eyes a shimmering reflection of the sky. "You're wrong. I don't give... I don't blame you for the Buster Call." Her voice trembled, but she continued to speak steadily. "I have spent my entire life figuring out exactly what happened on Ohara and I know that Bronze - no, you - have sought refuge and that the researchers of Ohara have welcomed you voluntarily and with open arms. The World Government is responsible for the Buster Call, no one else. Not you, not the inhabitants of Ohara, not even Roger and the archaeologists he took with him. None of us could do anything about it, it was just an unfortunate chain of causal relationships."

Zoro closed his eye and let her words echo within him, remembering the faces of those who had lost their lives due to the Buster Call. So many people had died in the last twenty years, and he hadn't even remembered them.

"And yet," Robin almost whispered, "and yet the name Bronze alone fills me with so much anger and despair. Why Ohara? Why our small island out of all? Why did you have to come to us? If you hadn't been there, Roger would never have drawn attention to us."

Quiet tears ran down her face.

"If you hadn't come, my mother would have never left, and no one would have died. It is not your fault and yet..." She shook her head and pressed a hand against her mouth. "And yet you are the reason that Ohara was destroyed, that they all died, that I lost my family, my homeland. You're the reason for that and I'm just supposed to...?"

She did not finish the sentence.

"How shall I ever look you in the eye? How shall I ever forgive you?" He remained silent and asked himself exactly the same. "Tell me, Zoro, was there any reason? Or did you just come to Ohara by chance?"

Slowly he lowered his gaze back down to the wooden wall.

"Would it make a difference?" he asked hoarsely. "That wouldn't change what happened."

"It makes a difference to me," she whispered softly into the night sky.

For a long time, he looked at her from the side, wanted to understand why it was important to her, and yet he did not. Quietly sighing, he turned back to the wooden wall before nodding: "Well, the truth is, I didn't accidentally land on Ohara."

Now her eyes were back on him, but he stared stubbornly ahead.

"In fact, I would never have thought of going back there on my own."

He shook his head slightly before adding: "I don't know how much you know, but back then I was looking for a way to cure a curse I was under. A curse that weakened me and could have probably killed me."

"I know Professor Clover mentioned something like this."

It was almost like always when they talked to each other, and yet quite different.

"When I reached the island of Ishira in the West Blue, I met an old acquaintance of Ohara. Did you meet Radiata?"

She nodded quickly.

"I have read countless dissertations from the famous researcher Professor Lycoris Radiata and she was a good friend of Professor Clover."

"But have you ever met her?"

Questioningly, she tilted her head.

"Liz was an impressive woman, but she was often in an incredibly nasty mood and with her fire-red hair she always looked like she was on fire when she got angry."

He laughed softly as he recalled seeing her again after all these years, her roaring his name over half the island. Her temperament had been a single force of nature.

"After I told her what had happened, she more or less dragged me to Ohara in chains to find a solution together with Clover." He remained silent for a second. "She and Clover kind of forced me to stay there and because of my condition I had no choice but to surrender to their will."

"Your condition?" she asked. "What was your curse about?"

"The curse of the Reverse-Reverse-Fruit," he said, watching her eyes grow large. "When I came back to Ohara, I was once again in a teenager's body."

Carefully he raised his hands and regarded at them, saw the weals and small scars on his palms and fingers, opening and closing them over and over.

"Clover and Radiata gave me a refuge when I couldn't go anywhere else."

Now Robin looked away again.

"So your time ran backwards?" she asked after a moment. "Instead of ageing, you got younger? Through a devil power's curse you were under?"

He nodded calmly and explained to her what he had previously told the other crew members. After that, they remained silent again.

"You knew my mother?"

He nodded again: "She was one of Radiata's students and a very inquisitive one at that."

"Tell me about her." Neither looked at the other. "What kind of person was she? How did you get to know her?"

For a moment Zoro closed his eye and remembered Nico Olvia.

"I think the first time we met was when we stranded on Ohara, she was almost a child back then and incredibly shy. At that time, Clover wrote a work on lost cultures and followed me around like a limpet, just like she did with Radiata. Whenever the two discussed over some topic, she sat quietly beside Liz, with big eyes, listening thoughtfully, as if she could suck up all the knowledge of the world."

He shook his head.

"Then later, when I came back, she was just writing a thesis on dragons and wanted to know all sorts of things. She was really annoying and even more clingy than Clover. She never left me alone, even if we were doing some tests or I wanted to rest. She was always around and she always spoke relentlessly. She kept asking me questions about the most unimportant things." He laughed softly. "She had become so smart in those few years, so confident. Before, she always hid behind Liz, but as an adult she gave lectures to the whole college. She wanted to know everything, to explore every secret and had grown into an unmatched archaeologist. There was nothing more important in her life than to find out the truth about the lost century... almost nothing."

Now he glanced at her. She quickly turned her gaze away.

"I know you have a hard time believing it, but she loved you. Even during her pregnancy, she only ever talked about you and when you were finally born..." He sighed lightly. "When my crew came and offered her next to Radiata to accompany them, it broke her heart."

"But she did go." Robin didn't sound accusing.

"Yes, she did," he agreed.

"And you didn't."

He took a deep breath.

"And I didn't."

For a long time, none of them said anything. The world around them gradually became darker and the air fresher. Each of them was caught by long-gone times, precious but – oh - so painful memories.

"There was a boy," Robin muttered. "I remember him. He was the only other child within the rooms of the Tree of Knowledge. I know I wanted to play with him sometimes, but he was pretty nasty and mean. Nevertheless, the others had always treated him with respect."

Zoro replied nothing.

"The older I got, the less I saw him, and no one talked about him anymore. They even said that I had been imagining him. But once I saw him in this underground room together with Professor Clover. He sat on the Poneglyph quite unabashedly and discussed the content of it loudly. He scared me. For a child, he sounded far too serious, far too bitter. Like an old man who hadn't come to terms with his age. Once I asked the professor about this boy and I remember exactly how he had bent down to me and said 'Robin, this boy never existed, because if he had, it would mean that some of the lost history would still be alive and that would mean that we would have come much closer to the truth. But since we're not studying the lost century or offering refuge to children, you've got to imagine it.' I didn't understand what he meant at the time and thought he was just making fun of me."

She looked over at him.

"That boy was you, weren't you?"

He looked away.

"You are the only one who, like me, breathed the air of these books and still lives today." He swallowed heavily. "You are the only one who knew them all, you knew my mother, the Professor, Professor Radiata and all the others. You've been down there; you've seen all this."

She shook her head.

"And then you lie to me? You don't tell me the truth? All this time, I thought... I was alone. Why didn't you tell me?"

He was silent.

"Why Zoro?! You can read it, can you? The Poneglyphs, after all, this was the language of the dragons. You knew my past and you... why didn't you say anything?"

He did not answer directly but listened for a moment to the whispering sea.

"You were happy," he muttered. "After all these years on the run, after all this time alone, you had finally found a home, people to whom you are important to. I should have told you everything, but I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't want to tear open your old wounds again."

For a moment, he hesitated.

"And I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want you to not be able to look at me anymore. I didn't want to be the reason for your pain."

Slowly she turned around leaned her back against the railing as well.

"Some people lie to get what they want," she said calmly, "and others to protect what they hold dear."

She shook her head: "And yet both hide secrets and my dream is to find out the truth. You shouldn't have lied to me, even if it was for my protection."

He nodded.

"So, you can really read the Poneglyphs?"

"More or less. Contrary to what you believe, this scripture is not made by dragons. The language, yes, but dragons could not write. Humans, who were able to speak the dragon's language, have developed this scripture. Clover taught me to read it."

For a long time she said nothing, but then the hint of a smile hurried over her face.

"If I showed you a few notes, could you imagine sharing your thoughts with me?"

Quietly, he laughed: "You know that I am not a scholar. I doubt I would notice something you've missed."

An inner warmth filled his heart.

"But I would feel honored to see your work."