Not only did Luffy return within the hour, he also brought the rest of the crew. They all were fascinated with Zoro's strange new form, especially Chopper; most likely since he was no longer the only one of the crew who had different animal forms. Though with Zoro being a predator, Chopper also seemed more nervous around him at first glance. Zoro was not used to the attention so he just answered all of their questions as quickly as possible and begrudgingly flapped his wings for the other boys' amusement. Sanji only filled in scant information and left out anything intimate that had happened; even less information than he'd shared with Zoro.

Chopper verbally questioned how to turn Zoro back into a human form and Robin assured him they could work on it another day since Zoro seemed clear minded and healthy besides his obvious feline and bat attributes. Nami mused lightly about having a ships' cat, but Zoro being the ships' cat was ridiculous. Usopp and Luffy asked Zoro stupid questions, such as: Did his ears help him fly? Did he purr? and Did they need to get a litterbox for the Merry now? Zoro answered them all, especially Luffy's ridiculous last one with resounding 'No's. Finally they all shut up when Sanji announced food.

When they had exhausted all inquiries about Zoro's new form their attention was drawn back to Luffy's new expedition to the mountain to meet the tribe of people that settled there. Nami made the plans mostly with Sanji and Robin; supplies and gear were needed so as not to freeze when they got up to the snow cap. Zoro, finally having some peace, laid down just outside of the firelight and closed his eyes for a nap that he was in desperate need of.

The dreamscape was quiet and at first; no one else slept. They were far enough from Piety that he couldn't find the town in his area. He did however find a bear-bull wandering around at one edge. They exchanged a look which was enough to have the other cambion lumbering out of his territory. Or at least, his dream territory. Zoro stayed alert in his dreamscape for a while, but since nothing was happening for the longest time, his own dreams started seeping into his mind. It wasn't like he didn't have them. In fact, he got better sleep when he did allow them to take over his unconsciousness. But that night he shook off the lingering fog of dreams, feeling the need to be aware.

Soon enough, his nakama also joined him in dreamland; their clouds formed as quick as they fell into deeper sleep. The first was obviously Luffy's; with strange adventurous images of mountain climbing and dancing with baboons, tanuki, and also a kappa around a hot spring. Zoro only entertained himself there for a bit and found the others drifting off. They were all lustless, but content. Considering they had been in Piety not hours ago, he wasn't surprised. Most of them lingered with thoughts of what the mountain people would be like that Luffy described in vague detail. Luffy really seemed charmed by who ever was up there so it was no wonder that the dreams were mostly pleasant. Usopp's had a mountain voyage with a floating Going Merry and about 8 thousand mole people following up the side of a mountain. Nami's incorporated a hot spring made of gold and being served sweets. Robin's was one of possible cultures that could be there and they looked like really hairy humans with cave dwellings but somehow they held a wealth of information that Robin seemed to be enjoying. The adventures of super-doctor continued in Chopper's mind as he flew to the top of the mountain where medical tents were set up and he was helping anyone with temperature related issues. Though there were no people, the patients looked more like regular animals. Sanji…

Well, Zoro didn't look in on Sanji's dream but he was tempted to, per usual. His dream cloud made all of Zoro's fur stand on end. It was like a hum of charged electricity was just beyond his reach. He sat and watched it for a bit and in that time, he realized it was stupid to pine for it. It was just like when he was awake. Sanji was right there, vibrant and warm, but the sky would fall before Sanji ever let him in.

He felt a physical bump against his back and Zoro's eyes opened, weary for a moment. He lay mostly on his side, but because of his strange new body, he laid like a cat, half curled with his tail curled around him and his arms as a pillow. He was turned onto his chest enough that he wasn't squashing his wings. He looked behind him where the bump had come from and stilled, finding Sanji seemed to have rolled onto his back in his sleep and his arm rested against the back of Zoro's ribs. Zoro quickly laid back down in the opposite direction. The last time they'd laid near each other, Sanji woke up and started screaming his head off about him not being Nami. Zoro had to be amused by it now since the cook had nearly kissed him in his sleep. The only reason he'd woken up slightly before the cook was because Sanji had still been in a sleep haze while Zoro had been promptly dropped out of the dream.

Sanji was asleep at that moment and he shifted, curling his chilled fingers into Zoro's back fur. Zoro laid very still and had vague thoughts -or were they memories?- of tucking Sanji close to his body to shield him from the chill of the night with the primal sense of protecting both prey and mate.

'Prey' was a strange word but he could tell it was from that demon mentality. It seemed to be one without a concept of nakama or honor. The simple rule of survival of fittest without attaching value to things like emotion or goals. Prey was people, whether it be their flesh or energy. Mate was a worthy comrade for companionship and physical intimacy.

Even now the primal mind wanted to edge in but Zoro squashed it away, not wanting to fall back into it so quickly after regaining himself. Sanji might be 'worthy', but Zoro knew Sanji was not his 'mate'. Sanji made that very clear that it would never happen so Zoro had a strict line that he did not allow himself to cross. But he had a feeling that the demon had run far across that line and never even looked back at it while it was running the show.

Zoro let out a long sigh and closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Though, since Sanji was just under his folded wing and he could probably fake that he was not in complete control of them while sleeping, he opened it and let it drape over Sanji's chest. To Zoro's silent enjoyment, Sanji seemed to curl into it like a blanket and settled back into sleep.

Zoro drifted back to sleep as well, though his night was mostly keeping a certain wolf-ram and cougar-hawk away from his dream territory; and Sanji's dream.

It only took them half a day to clean up, retrieve coats from the Going Merry, and keep Luffy on track to going up the mountain. Their captain's trail upwards was haphazardous at best but since he'd mentioned the people lived in the slouch of the mountain, they had a general direction to head in. Zoro was able to secure his long black coat around his body, even if his wings were cramped. It wasn't like he was using them to fly anyway.

"At least you look a little more human today," Sanji commented as they were halfway to the top. The crew had been following a spiraling trail upwards once they reached a more rocky landscape. They hadn't reached snow yet, but the wind was strong and Zoro's ears were pinned to his head.

"Eh?" Zoro had heard, but he hadn't sensed a difference from the day prior. Somehow he and Sanji were more ahead of the others on the path so they stopped to wait for them to catch up.

Sanji took Zoro's hand in his, looking oddly pleased. The cook had been in a much chipper mood all morning. Zoro assumed it was because Nami and Robin were with them again. Sanji certainly didn't say anything about waking up with a wing over him; nor had Zoro. "They're more like hands than paws," Sanji said, "and you're back to being my height." Their hands warmed each others' for a brief moment before Zoro shook Sanji's off and placed it into the pocket of his coat.

"Guess things are getting back to normal," Zoro said and tried to ignore the pained look on Sanji's face, mostly because Sanji had no reason to be upset by him keeping his hands to himself.

"Yeah, I guess so," Sanji said as a poker face settled into place. They stood in the quiet for several moments and it felt strange. No petty insult or jab. It was sort of awkward and it stressed Zoro enough that he felt a bit guilty for pulling his hand away so fast. He'd rather Sanji be annoyed with him than be in this sort of mood.

"So when do I get fed again?" Zoro asked and that immediately creased Sanji's brow.

"Is that all you think about?" Sanji asked angrily. "Feed me. Feed me. Like some stray cat. Can't you wait until we get some quiet time. The others are just around the bend."

"We could have kissed after you sent Luffy away but you wanted to delay it," Zoro told him.

"I told you to wait for today."

"You said when I looked more human. It wouldn't take that long."

"Says who?" Sanji asked, as though offended. "How am I supposed to get in the mood with you looking like a cat?"

"I don't know, think about what you usually do when you get into the mood," Zoro said. He suspected it was a boob-fest in Sanji's head but he never asked for clarity on the situation.

"Stupid bastard," Sanji gave him such a venomous look. "You don't understand a damn thing." Zoro frowned. It was easier having Sanji ticked off at him, but he wasn't quite expecting the cook to be that easy to ruffle since they'd been having a good morning. Well, perhaps Sanji was right, he didn't understand. He didn't get a lot of the reasons Sanji did things because they seemed like really stupid reasons to him.

"Probably not, since I'm not a perverted cook like you," Zoro told him. "You did just fine before."

"Well believe it or not, my lust does not have an on/off switch for you to play with," Sanji said and Zoro scoffed because that was just a bull headed lie. He could name several triggers that piqued Sanji's lust, even some that he knew Sanji would never admit to. Sanji did not react to Zoro's sound of disdain because the others rounded the corner and it was unspoken that they dropped the subject of his energy feeding with the others around. Even if he'd told the rest of his nakama what he was, it didn't mean he paraded kissing the cook. It was private, especially since Sanji was so touchy about the issue of them both being men.

The rest of the walk Sanji seemed fed up with him and started following Nami and Robin more closely. Zoro huffed in annoyance, hoping everything went back to normal soon. Simple and uninhibited by Sanji actually being decent towards him.