One Piece Goda belongs to. Author's notes bottom at.


Chapter Six

Ain't She Sweet

There were three fancy porcelain cups filled with coffee, juice and Japanese tea on the metal table just by the bank of a beautiful canal flowing south. Outdoor cafes were really a popular concept for cafes around Water 7, and this one was located more upstream, where generally none of their crew mates would ever find them. And by them, I do meant Zoro, Robin and Chopper.

Of course, Chopper had excused himself for a while to visit the nearby bookstore. Whether coincidentally, or intentionally giving the two some privacy, only the little reindeer knew.

"Sorry for whatever happened back there," Zoro broke the silence between them both, although he was guessing that the woman might held her words back due to her in-confidence of putting some new he doesn't know into words. He was rather impatient.

"It's fine," she told him calmly. "Don't let it happen again."

"Sure," Zoro leaned back against his chair. "I'm sorry. It's just that it's getting harder to hold myself back these days. Sorry."

Fearing to further interpret that, she took a sip of her coffee, and placed her hands on the table. She had to tell him the thing, but she was worried of how he would react. She had no will to carry on with whatever happens next if he decides to be ignorant about it. No, she have no strength to go through that.

"You've been a little distant lately," Zoro said again.

"I've a lot on my mind."

"Hmm. Mind sharing?"

She needed to tell him. "I did my medical check-up with Chopper last night."

He remembered how she didn't look very well lately, so he leaned forward, displaying a little concern. "You're alright, right?"

"I'm alright. It's just that, it wasn't the normal medical test that I consulted to Chopper about." Robin sighed heavily. "I took the pregnancy test."

It took the swordsman by surprise, that he nearly choke his saliva. Cusses ran through his mind like a downpour of heavy rain, but he resisted saying anything stupid for now. She was quiet, but clearly bothered. Trying to be optimistic, he asked her, "what's the result?"

"Chopper will give out the result tonight," she explained, her hands trembling for the first time in months, over such situation.

"If you're pregnant-"

"I don't want it," she said immediately. "I'm not ready for it. I couldn't find myself fit to raise it."

He was quiet.

"We're pirates. Carrying titles as criminals."

Out of nothing, he shifted his chair nearer beside her, and put his hand over hers. She flinched at the sudden action, but to her surprise, though, he wasn't being all rough. The touch was gentle and reassuring, comforting. "Look... I have no idea how to make things better, but let's just hope the test comes out negative tonight."

Neither of them were ready to be parents, after all, they weren't lovers to begin with. For a moment, it felt like they have truly messed up the whole comrades-with-benefits thing. They weren't even lovers to begin with... Or are they?

"Uh, does this make you feel better?" The swordsman said awkwardly, as he grabbed both her hands softly, fingers intertwined.

"We are nakamas, right, Zoro?"

"We are nakamas, yeah."

"Hold to that thought while you're holding me."


"I'm back, Baa-san!"

The young girl, of fourteen maybe, with lime-green hair tied into braided ponytails and side-swept fringe, a cape around her shoulders, fancy conductor hat on her head and of course, her shorts bearing her scraped knees as tokens of her adventurous endeavours. She was almost as tall as Luffy, while her pet rabbit who seemed to produce cat-like sounds stood by her, with an absurd height almost reaching her knees. With a quick glimpse you wouldn't quite be able to tell who was the girl, but should you remember her braided ponytails, yes, you could really start justifying that puberty has done this girl good.

"Luffy ni-chan!" She abandoned her conductor cape as she leaped across the room of their little home by the Water 7 sea-train station, the home the Iceburg had build for them after Franky's departure years ago. The house was only a storey, much like the two - Kokoro Baa-san and Chimney herself - would prefer, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a reasonably large living room filled with old belongings of the Tom's Workers, as well as a comfortable couch set, a jukebox put together by Zanbai and the rest for no reason, and Chimney and Gonbe's butterfly collection on the wall.

"Oho, Chimney!" Luffy said as Chimney pounced on him like an impatient little sister. It has been four years, really. Kokoro Baa-san gave her easily-amused laugh, while Sabo and Koala simply smiled.

"Where's Nami nee-chan and everyone else?" She said as she released him, and seated beside him.

"You'll see them at the wedding," Koala added. "They're all invited!"

"Ngeahaha! I bet everyone looks so much different now!" Kokoro Baa-san said, her merry and loud voice booming in a way Tom would once upon a time. "Ah, I didn't even know you're related to Sabo. Such a small world, whad'ya know?"

Chimney nodded, while Gonbe made nyan-like noises beside her. "Koala nee-chan and Sabo ni-chan would always visit us while Ice-ossan made or repair ships for them!"

Koala lifted up a paperbag placed beside her earlier. "I have your flowergirl dress here, Chimney. Do you want to try it out?"

Excited, she jumped off her seat. "Let's!" She said, and led Koala to her bedroom.

"Ngeahahaha, Chimney had been excited since Monday," Kokoro Baa-san said. "And I bet she'll be willing to be the bridesmaid if you and Nami get married!"

Sabo let out a teasing snicker. Well, duh, his little brother is twenty-two now, and despite his ongoing adventures and bloodshed pirate battles, he ought to know at least the basics of marriage.

The rubber boy gave them a poker face, scratching the back of his head under his straw hat. "But I wasn't planning on marrying anyone."

Yeah, he knows. Just too effing dense to accept teasing as, well, teasing. The blonde shook his head.

The old mermaid boomed out a laughter. Ah, she's always in a good mood! "Well, you'll get to hear tonnes of that during the wedding later!"

"It's Sabo and Koala's wedding," Luffy said, starting to get uneasy. "Why would people ask about my wedding? That's so dumb."

"Well, Pirate King needs a Pirate Queen. Duh, Luffy," Sabo tried to fit into Luffy's reasoning. "Roger must have a queen, that's how Ace came into this world anyway!"

"So, I'm going to make an Ace? Cool!" Luffy's eyes were gleaming, and both Kokoro Baa-san and Sabo laughed at the hilarity of Luffy's choice of words.

"Sure, Luffy. Make an Ace."

Koala and Chimney returned to the living room, the former making a dramatic introduction and the latter, in her free, beautiful lime-green curls, her pixie-like white dress and a pair of silver-sequinned Mary-Janes. Kokoro Baa-san smiled at her stunningly beautiful granddaughter. "Chimney, you aren't the one getting married, right?"

Koala chuckled, throwing an arm around Chimney. "She looks beautiful, isn't she?"

Chimney blushed a little. Upon noticing the roses in a vase on the coffee table, possibly one or two days old she didn't really realize, she grabbed it and handed it to Koala. "Hold it for a sec. Sabo ni-chan, stand up!"

"What, why?"

"Just stand up!"

Sabo complied, and stood up.

"Luffy ni-chan, you stand next to him."

"Okay! Shishishi!" Luffy, probably thinking that it was a game, complied as well.

"Here comes the bride!" Chimney said excitedly, as she pretended to scatter flower petals from an imaginary basket in front of Koala. Once Koala got the hint, she chuckled and clutched the vase of roses, walking towards Sabo's direction behind Chimney, who was now humming Here Comes The Bride.

When Chimney finally reached Sabo, she quickly pushed the brunette to be caught into his arms. "Now kiss!" Chimney said teasingly, while Luffy tilted his head to peek, curious of how a kiss would be like.

Now, Sabo and Koala had a little problem. Sure, they were all over each other when no one else is around, but kissing in public, or in the presence of someone else, is something they have never ever done. First it was because they wanted their relationship to be a secret from the rest of rhe Revolutionaries. Secondly, they were just a pair of shy cuties. Very shy cuties, thank you very much.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Luffy and Chimney chanted together, Kokoro Baa-san still grinned widely.

The two blushed in the middle of their chant, Koala swore Sabo's cheeks just might spontaneously combust any second now. It became awkward, but sweet, and embarrassing, but their heart pounced like dubstep.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Sabo immediately pulled Koala closer by her waist, took his top hat off and covered their faces, blocking their view.

And then he gave his lovely fiancée a sweet kiss.


Sanji had prepared dinner a little early that evening for a surprising reason. It did felt a little weird, leaving the kitchen to the two women, as he was usually the man of the kitchen himself. Just out of the concern so that his crew mates will be pleased and taken care of for dinner, he laid out heating instructions on the kitchen counter for both Nami and Robin to comply to. Arriving in a good pair of shirt and and the invigorating scent of Paco Robbano 2 Million perfume he rarely wear, he darted around the kitchen, fixing his tie and checking his wallet and cigarettes, and while at that, mumbling on dinner-related reminders to Nami and Robin like a mother leaving her children home alone for the first time. "Don't heat it longer than a minute, or you'll burn your mouth. Chopper doesn't take olives so make sure you don't put them on his plate. Don't remove the tamarind steamed sea king meat from the current plate, it's very tender, just heat it in the steamer as it is-"

"You wrote those down, Sanji-kun, we know," Nami finally shushed the blonde cook as she leaned against the island counter top. "We'll be fine, don't worry!"

Robin gave Sanji a reassuring smile, she find it quite adorable that he was worrying about their dinner while he should already be heading out for his own dinner. "We'll manage, Sanji-san. You better get along now."

"Yeah, you better get along now, or you'll be late!" Nami gave him a push on his back, and the both proceeded to the front door. It was when Luffy, Usopp and Chopper appeared at the doorstep that they stopped to make way for the three mischievous guys.

"Ooh, where is Sanji going?" Usopp asked curiously.

"He is going on a date," the orange-haired navigator explained, which made Usopp dramatically froze, Chopper's eyes gleamed in wonder, and Luffy - well, being Luffy - picked his nose with his pinky finger expressionless, pulling of that poker face better than Lady Gaga.

"Jeez, man, why didn't you tell me?" Usopp immediately threw an arm around Sanji, boastfully. "Listen, I'm going to tell you all that is needed to know while going on a date, hohoho!"

"When have you ever been on a date yourself?" Nami arched her eyebrows, looking at Usopp with a sarcastic-like glare.

"You can't judge him, Nami-san. He has that doctor-chan back at Syrup Village," Sanji added, while Usopp nodded in agreement.

Nami gave a slap on his forehead. "It's good enough that you're going on a date with someone instead of bugging me around, but you're siding Usopp instead of me too," Nami looked into her reflection in the glass window, puffy cheeks, locks tied up into a big messy bun, "gosh, I must be getting more unattractive for you to do this to me."

Dramatically, Sanji began to look tearful. "Nami-swan! I didn't mean for you to feel that way! I'm so sorry!"

"I'm joking, Sanji-kun! Now off you go! You'll be late!" The navigator gave him another light push.

"How do I look?" Sanji inquired, rather awkwardly.

Nami gave a lick at the tip of her thumb and adjusted the tiny lock of frizzy blonde hair above his forehead. "All good. Now go!" She turned the blonde cook and gave him a playful slap on his butt. "That's for good luck!"

"Na-nami-swan," Sanji trembled, pressing his palm up his nose. "D-don't do that..."

"Aah! He's going to get nosebleed again!" The little reindeer panicked.

Usopp squinted his eyes towards Nami, "Nami, that's so cruel of you. That's sexual harassment."

"Oh, really?" Nami placed her hands on her chest, pretended a surprise unconvincingly. "Move along, Sanji-kun, and good luck!"

That was that. The four watched as Sanji disappeared into the distance. The sun was setting, the boys were admiring the orange yellowish hue of the lovely sky. Lovely.

"You face, you look like a mom sending off her son to some sort of high school prom night," Usopp sneered, as she closed the front door. "How did the lucky bastard got his date anyway? Who's the girl?"

"Well, I was out with him earlier and I let him out of my sight for a while to buy some tangerine pies. When I got back, he was all jelly-wobbly with some girl with purple hair. Ivanna-something. Next thing I know, they're going on a date tonight," Nami explained quickly, while examining her shady reflection in the glass window, once again. "Usopp, am I getting more unattractive?"

"No, Nami, you're still very pretty!" The handsome rubber boy grinned sheepishly after having to stay quiet for quite some time.

"Nami's pretty only when she isn't angry," Chopper murmured to himself on the background, much to his luck, Nami didn't quite catch.

"Aw, thank you, Luffy," the navigator returned his compliment with a smile, and five-six seconds of eyes-locked dreamily between both took place.

Now, to Usopp's eyes, he saw sparks fly. "Oi oi oi oi oi," he said loudly, breaking the so-called romantic moment - Usopp, you cock-blocker. Nami blushed, awkwardly avoiding eye-contact from either of the three.

"Must be nice to have a date," Chopper said, his definition of a 'date' far distorted from the understanding of people past puberty. "Imagine all the cotton candy I could have during a date..."

"Mmhh," Luffy groaned with a little pout, "what's so special with Sanji having a date anyway? It's the same thing, eating and hanging out with someone-"

"Of course it's special, Luffy!" Usopp tried explaining. "It's not the same thing! A date is when a boy and a girl go out together somewhere nice to spend time with each other."

"Then I've also been on a date!" Luffy boasted proudly.

"Eh? Have you? When?"

"Yesterday with Nami! Shishishi!"

Nami's cheeks reddened at this, but while containing herself, she buried her forehead with the palm of her hand, looking downwards hoping the idiotic conversation would pass.

"What? A boy and a girl, me and Nami, go out together, somewhere nice, hang out," he justified proudly, trying to sound like a smart ass. "It's a date."

"Usopp, opposing his weak justification due to his hopelessness, you know that it's not technically a date, right," Nami sighed, tomato strawberry and other red fruits flushed face still slightly hidden under her bangs.

"Don't worry, Nami," Usopp whispered back, "I know how dense our captain is."

"Sanji's out," Luffy interrupted, raising his one hand while the other holding his belly under his orange shirt. "Meh, I'm hungry..."

"Me too," Chopper raised his hands imitating the captain, with his tongue sticking out.

"Alright, alright, let's heat up dinner," Nami raised her head and they began walking to the kitchen.

"Ooh! What are we having today? Meat?" Luffy said excitedly behind Nami.

"Maybe."

"Pork?"

"Nope."

"Fish?"

"Sea king, Luffy!"

"Cool! With rice?"

"Not sure if Sanji left fried rice..."

"Mmhh, I want fried rice..."

"What about I try making some for you?"

"Yay! Thank you, Nami! Shishishi!"

Chopper and Usopp both sighed behind them. "Must be nice being the captain... Doubt Nami would make us some too..."


You know what I did instead of doing my methodology writing today? You know what I did? I was writing songs! For musicals! For Luffy In The Sky With Diamonds Musicals! One short song each chapter! Imagine the duets and dramatic gestures while they sing!

RosesAndRavens's dream came true. Sanji is out for a date with a... girl. Well. Uhm. Anyways, thanks RosesAndRavens, scatteredPhilosopher and ShiningHeart of Thunderclan for the reviews. Appreciated it so much!

Thanks for the reads, reviews, favourites and follows. I love you like I love fried chicken.