The first step is always the most important.

Enjoy~

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Chapter 11

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"So can you do it?"

Placing a familiar ruined black jacket on a cloth tailoring form, an old man looked over the black material carefully. His finger lightly tapped on his chin as his dark brown eyes carefully examined the stitch work that was already looking on its last legs.

Zoro and Nami watched anxiously as the old tailor circled the jacket slowly. It had taken them longer than they had expected to find the tailor, mostly due to a certain swordsman taking two wrong turns, but they finally found the shop nestled in a string of storefronts on a quiet street. The area was nice, and from asking around, they found out that this man was the best there was on the island.

It sounded promising.

And expensive, much to Nami's hesitation.

The old man seemed nice enough, and from the clothes that were hanging on various racks around the shop, they could tell he was skilled. He had an easy way around him and seemed to take his time in whatever he did.

The way he kept walking slowly around the jacket felt like a ceaseless torture, but the way the graying head kept nodding seemed like an encouraging sign.

Finally the old tailor came to a stop and pulled out a notepad from his green apron pockets before he started to jot down a few notes. "I don't have the exact materials, but I have a fabric that is similar. Your friend will notice the difference, but it's a hardier fabric than this. It'll hold up to more abuse. You said he moves around a lot, right?"

"That's right. It'll have to allow a good range of motion. He's the type that likes to dress nice even if he's in the middle of a bar fight." Nami readily answered with a smile.

The tailor gave a light chuckle as wrote a few more lines. "You don't see that every day. Sounds like my kind gentleman. Yes, the fabric I have in mind will be good for that. I'll have to dye it a darker shade, but I can match that black easily enough." He glanced up at the mismatched pair that was standing in the middle of his shop and gave a light tap on the ruined jacket with his pencil. "Is there anything you want to save from this? I'm going to have to take apart some of it to see how the cloth panels fit together."

"Just the gold buttons." Zoro answered, much to Nami's surprise. "Use the same buttons on the new one."

"Ah, yes. Those buttons are special. Not to worry. I will make certain to include those." The tailor wrote down another note before continuing. "Now, I know this is a sort of surprise, but, in order to get an exact fit, I'll need him in here after I'm finished to do some final adjustments. I'll be able to get a closer fit if I have another article of his clothing to base my measurements on."

"I have that covered!" Nami called out as she reached into the bag she was carrying. From it she pulled out Sanji's favorite blue pinstripe shirt and held it out to the tailor. "It's his favorite shirt, so we'll really need it back in the same condition, or he'll come after our heads." she added with an uneasy laugh.

The tailor took the shirt and looked it over carefully. "Haha, I don't blame him. This is very good quality. I see he takes care of his things. That's always good." He glanced to the jacket on the cloth form and furrowed his thick brows. "I know it's none of my business, but how did it get in such a state?"

"We were caught in those storms that hit the west side of the island. Several of our things were damaged or have gone missing." Nami explained with a frown of her own.

That gray head nodded again as a deep hum left the old man. "Yes, Those storms have been brutal. Not many of the younger folks know, but those storms hit us once every fifty years or so. It is unusual that they're hitting the west side of the island. Usually they come in from the east."

"The east..?" Nami repeated slowly. "But.. We just moved our ship to the east..."

A grave look formed on the tailor's face as he heaved a sigh. "I'll offer a bit of advice. These storms usually last a couple of weeks. The safest place to be during them is inland. If your ship can handle it, I suggest you head for the nearest river and go inland until you're ready to leave."

The serious advice had the pair glancing towards one another warily before Nami bowed slightly to the tailor. "Thank you for telling us. Do you know how long it will take for you to finish the jacket?"

"It'll take a day for me to dye the fabric and let it cure out, so I won't be able to really start until the day after tomorrow. I'd say check back in four days. I should have the majority of it finished by then."

"And the cost?" Zoro asked while eyeing the woman warily.

"Ah, that I'm uncertain of..." The tailor looked back at his notes for a moment. "The materials alone will run you around.. 20 thousand. Add in my time and labor fees... A custom fitting... I'm going to roughly guess around 50 thousand."

"50 thousand beli...?" Nami repeated, her eye twitching slightly.

A smirk formed on the old man's face as he pointed the pencil at her. "That's me being ridiculously fair. I'm certain your friend paid twice as much when he bought this jacket new. Those gold buttons alone are worth around 20 thousand."

Zoro knew that Sanji had expensive tastes, so he wasn't entirely surprised at the potential price tag. However the conflicted look on the woman's face told him she was fighting with her own 'frugal' nature. 'She's wavering...'

"Nami..." he grunted with an expectant glare.

He didn't care how much it cost. He was having this done.

Instantly seeing that when she looked into the swordsman's eyes, Nami finally heaved a defeated sigh and nodded. "Alright. I'll go ahead and pay the cost of the materials now, and then you can sum up the remaining amount when we return."

Snapping the notebook closed, the tailor smiled brightly and was quick to hook the young woman by the arm. "Excellent. If things go smoothly, I may be able to cut you a bit of a break. Just follow me and I'll set up your order." he stated while dragging her off to his office.

A bit thrown off by the sudden departure, Nami was soon glaring back over her shoulder and pointing at the swordsman. "You so owe me for this..."

"Yeah yeah, double interest, whatever." Zoro muttered with a careless wave of his hand. He honestly didn't care if he had to sell his soul to get this done.

'As long as it makes him smile...'

He glanced back when he heard the door to the tailor's office close. Now alone in the main shop, Zoro focused on the ruined jacket. His feet closed the space between him and the cloth form so he could get a better look at the rumpled jacket. It was strange to see the jacket like this. It was almost sad to see it in this state after watching the blonde take care of it for so long.

It was the jacket Sanji had been wearing the day he first saw the blonde.

He couldn't replace whatever sentimental value that was behind it, but he knew he could at least do the next best thing. Sanji just wouldn't be Sanji without it. Zoro knew that the moment he walked into the galley that one morning and saw how distraught the cook was over it.

He never imagined that he would be the one to take this step. He had no clue what he was doing, so was grateful for the navigator's assistance.

'I never thought Nami would be so helpful with this.'

There was no way he would have had the foresight to bring one of Sanji's shirts for the sake of measurements. Then again, he had never set foot in a tailor's shop before now. It was always too high society for him to even consider. He didn't have time for such pointless crap as dressing up.

Anyone that insisted upon it usually irritated the hell out of him.

"Damn.. I really don't have an inch of common ground to stand on with him..." Zoro mused to himself as he ran his finger over one of the gold buttons. When he did he felt a strange texture on the surface that he hadn't noticed before.

Curious, he leaned forward to get a better look at the buttons.

There on the face of each button was a faint swirl pattern.

Zoro immediately recognized it as the same swirl as those infamous eyebrows.

The sight made him chuckle.

"Heh... Annoying Curlicue..."

Yeah.

This was worth whatever price he had to pay.

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TBC

The price you pay to make someone smile is never a burden.

Later~