Chapter 7

There she was, in Sunny's kitchen, standing right next to that ero-cook and holding a sterling salver in her hand.

A pink apron surrounded her slender waist. It had a funny pattern of cartoon panda on the front—Zoro gritted his teeth as he recalled that hideous piece of garment actually belonged to that damn cook.

In fact, he didn't even know which pissed him off more: the fact that she was wearing the cook's apron or that radiant smile plastered on her face—she looked as if what had happened between them hadn't affected her at all.

He stared at her, HARD. She didn't stare back. Somehow she managed to look around the entire galley but not him.

"Oh I smell food~~~~~~!" Luffy exclaimed while literally bouncing through the doorway, followed by a mildly amused Nico Robin, an equally amused Brook who had Chopper clinging to his walking stick-slash-sword, and a very honest Ussop who was busy briefing Robin, Franky and Brook about how disastrous Nami's cooking had been before Sanji joined the crew.

"I'm telling you guys, it's a miracle that we even made it till Sanji came along—" Ussop stopped mid-sentence staring in horror at the salver in Nami's hand. "Oh no…she's doing it again, she's trying to poison us, isn't she?" He whispered to himself.

Luckily Nami didn't hear him. Neither did Sanji. He already jumped over and started fawning upon Robin.

After telling the dark haired woman how great she looked this particular afternoon, the cook turned straight to the orange haired girl standing next to him, the pink heart in his visible eye never faltered a second. "Now that Robin chwan is here—shall we begin, Nami san?"

Nami nodded: "Yes, Sanji kun."

Zoro made an uneasy sound through his throat. What the heck are these two planning on? He hated to be on the side of not knowing.

"Behold, minna—" with that Nami slowly removed the white cloth covering the salver and revealed what's underneath.

"Mochi!" Luffy cheered out. "And they are GREEN!"

"Very observant, Luffy, they are matcha flavored. "Nami said in a slightly mocking tone. "I made the stuffing and Sanji kun molded them."

"I see. That actually helped explain why they are heart-shaped." Robin commented with a slight smile on her lips. She seemed quite amused by the idea of a plateful of green hearts.

"You and Nami-sis made these together?" Franky laughed while patting the cook on the back. "Way to go, cook-bro!"

"Yes! The first batch of mochi Nami san and I made together! "Sanji exclaimed blissfully whilst twirling over Nami like a love hurricane." Nami swaaaan, what shall we call it? What shall we call it, huh? It deserves a name, an official one, don't you think so? Oh I know! "he raised one hand to eagerly answer his own question before anyone else could voice their opinion:" Sanji and Nami's collaboration of LOOOOOOOVE~~!"

A giant sweat drop rolled down Nami's forehead.

"…you know what, Sanji kun? Let's…don't do the name thing." If it were some other time Nami believed her fist would have been planted on the cook's head by this point. But he had been so incredibly nice to her today; maybe she should let him have this one?

"Just stop spinning and let everyone have a taste of …uh, our collaboration, okay?" letting out a defeated sigh she said.

"I CAN DIE A HAPPY MAN ANY MINUTE NOW!" too absorbed in his own love-cook world, Sanji totally ignored her words.

He should really do that—die a happy man now, or just die. Zoro thought resentfully. So what if ero-cook and Nami had made some stupid food together? It didn't mean anything. Just two innocent crewmates who happened to have worked on the same thing at the same time and place , like the other day Ussop and Franky working on their newest cola-operated shooting weapon together, it's not romantic, it's not even close to being romantically inclined…right?

Zoro looked at Nami, trying to find some prove in her eyes to back up his theory. But again the girl quickly looked away.

Nami tightened her grip on the thin rim of her sterling salver. She knew he was staring. She could feel the heat of his angry gaze piercing through her body, but she just couldn't handle looking back at him at the moment.

She hated him. It was a known fact to the crew that she always hated Zoro for being too lazy, too stupid or snoring too loudly on deck. But this was the first time in her life that she truly hated his guts.

No man in the world was allowed to reject her like that. In fact, no man had before. She just couldn't believe that of all people, Zoro was the one capable of making her feel the way she was feeling right now—angry, rejected and humiliated.

Just hours earlier, he'd almost made her shed tears in front of her crewmate. That was by far the most embarrassing thing that had happened to her and there was no way she could easily forgive herself for ever doing so, let alone to forgive him.

Subconsciously Nami moved a step closer to have herself semi-hidden behind Sanji's back. Even in the midst of self loathing she knew better than to face Zoro all by herself. She needed someone to hold onto. This wasn't some childish competition of who's over who first. This—she reminded herself: was war.

Luckily she had Sanji. The guy truthfully and utterly worshiped her and would be more than happy to serve as her safety cushion whenever she was experiencing a setback in her ego —Nami sorta felt bad about using Sanji without his knowledge, but nonetheless she moved another step towards him until their clothes were almost touching.

For once her cushion appeared to be otherwise preoccupied. "Stop stealing Nami swan and Robin chwan's food you idiot! What part of FOR LADIES ONLY don't you get?" the cook berated aiming a kick at Luffy's disappointed face.

"Ehhh? But you said we are all invited to bite you—"

"Yeah! Bite me! "The cook challenged.

"Why? You are not food. I know we agreed on eating Chopper under very emergent circumstance, but you…?" Luffy looked genuinely confused.

"Aaaah! Don't eat me!" Chopper shrieked.

Nami sighed. This conversation was getting weirder and weirder with every passing second. "Just let him be, Sanji kun."She said, gently placing a hand on the cook's lean shoulder to calm him down."We both know you're gonna yell at him for 5 minutes and then let him be anyway."

Zoro stared fiercely at her hand: did she do this on purpose? If she thought this would make him jealous she'd better think again! He was NOT jealous, not even one bit. He just wanted to chop her little hand off so that he'd have something to throw at the damn cook!

"Fine." Sanji conceded." If Nami san said so, then Rubber can eat."

"Yoshi!" Luffy cheered.

"Everybody can eat." Nami added.

Very soon the strawhats began to enjoy their afternoon snack together, for some reason minus one sulky swordsman who stood by looking as disinterested as he could.

Luffy was mercilessly chewing on about a dozen mochi in one mouthful, while Ussop took an experimental bite and looked up:" This isn't bad at all! I'm impressed, Nami." He then called out to the swordsman:" Hey Zoro! Come have some. Her cooking is actually getting better than ya thought!"

"Not hungry." Zoro simply answered.

"Is that so?"Robin smiled.

Not bothering to utter another word of explanation, Zoro turned around and exited the kitchen.

"What's his problem today?" Sanji snorted.

"Yeah! He isn't sick is he?" Luffy seconded. "He just turned down FOOD!"

"He's not you!"Ussop pointed out.

"Maybe he just can't eat green colored food." Franky tried to reason. "It kinda make sense, don't you think? Say Chopper, I bet you will never eat a tanuki, right?"

"I'm a REINDEER not a tanuki!"

"Betcha I can eat rubber!" Luffy grinned proudly.

"You eat everything!"

Nami tried to laugh along with her nakama as usual. Their antics had always been entertaining. But somehow she found herself constantly peering at the doorway, disappointment weighed on her mind when she saw no one there.

Author's note: Sorry if that was an abrupt halt. It's Friday morning and I'm typing this in my office still refusing to meet all the deadlines at my work. (Yeah I do feel guilty, why do you ask?)

Thanks to you guys, I actually have an idea as to how to carry on the storyline (I might change it though). So BIG CYBERHUG, my sweet sweet reviewers! You guys are so helpful~!

If any of you have difficulty remembering Sanji's apron, check this out:

25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3g634Arnn1rsd67fo1_400.jpg

See ya next time:) R&R pls~~!

Minami