Oh hey everyone! I'm a little late on this chapter - being sick really throws a wrench in things. But I've recovered for the most part and can now bring you the next, longer-than-average chapter that I hope you all enjoy!

I just want to take a second to also say thank you for your patience! I hope in the end, it pays off for you my dear readers!

Day 11, Friday

If Sanji was ever asked to tell someone about a few of the craziest moments in his life, he would have to sit that person down and advise them to get a pen and paper because his stories could fill a book. Like the time when he was staying in Vegas and found that the cleaning maid had left fully cooked chicken wings under his pillow. Or that one day back in middle school while doing his job as light technician, he ended up falling from the rafters and straight onto the stage and was forced to improvise a brand-new, never-before-revealed character in Romeo and Juliet. Or that one memorable time when he was literally snatched off the street which somehow resulted in him swimming with the whales at Sea World.

Yeah, crazy was probably a mild term to describe his life.

He mostly blamed it on the friendships he had made – more accurately, one in particular. Because who was it that had asked for the maid to leave poultry in his bed? Who caused him to trip so that he suddenly became an actor for a play he'd never auditioned for? And who kidnapped him with the sole purpose of meeting Brook's whale friend?

The answer was the same every damn time: Monkey D. Luffy

With a friend like Luffy, who took the policy of 'living in the moment' to the extreme, Sanji eventually just learned to get used to acts of impulsiveness like this. Therefore, he probably could have never spoken to anyone and he would have already of known to stand outside DJ and wait for someone to pick him up.

As it was, dear Nami was the one to kindly inform him that their friends had all either gotten the day off or previously had it off and were already at Sabaody. Franky was the only other person besides them that had to work today; he would be coming to get them so they could carpool together and save on the parking cost.

"So text Usopp and let him know Franky will get him if he wants us too." She had finished with even though he hadn't yet said a word about the longnose coming, as if she knew Luffy would insist on it and that the other would agree. Aah, she was so lovely when she was omniscient like a true Goddess!

So here he was, just outside the front doors of the restaurant, waiting with quite an interesting accessory on his shoulder. It wasn't every day that Sanji could be seen sporting a pink purse with cutesy-looking cat charms hanging from the pull tabs. But Nami was counting her tips and he was not going to allow her to juggle such a heavy weight on her shoulder when concentrating on such a delicate task.

Still, he couldn't help the blush that spread on his cheeks when Usopp arrived and took one look at it, saying, "I thought you wanted to stay out of the drag queen scene?"

"S-Shut up shithead!" He cried.

He was grinning, taunting, "Maybe you should change your screen name to MrPrincessthecook instead."

"Don't make me kick in that nose of yours until it pops out the other side of your head." He grumbled, trying his best to ignore the other's laughter. "Be quiet, you're distracting Nami-san!"

Completely absorbed, the orange-haired woman hadn't noticed their exchange going on, looking up only when she heard her name. "Oh! Usopp, hey! You're here!" She realized, chuckling abashedly.

"Yeah. Um, hi." He returned, shifting awkwardly.

"Did you walk the entire way here? You know Franky would have been happy to pick you up at your place."

"Oh no that's fine, I actually went to the school to drop off my homework and get next week's since I wasn't going to class." When the waitress started to giggle, he frowned a little. "What?"

"Usopp…" Sanji said slowly, "When you skip class, you're not supposed to go tell your teacher."

The dark-skinned man blinked then rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. Well… you know what they say: Doing things the wrong way makes you a wiser person!"

"Who says that?" Nami asked.

"Me of course! Look it up; you'll find the author will be Usopp the Great!" He waved his hands outwards as if framing his name in the air. Sanji snorted in amusement, raising his cigarette to his lips to hide his smile. In the corner of his eye, he noted even Nami looked humored.

During the twelve minutes they stood there waiting for Franky to arrive, Sanji was expecting Usopp to be stuttering and fidgeting the entire time; so he was taken aback when he and Nami started chatting in a relaxed manner, appearing as if they'd been friends forever. Not that it should be surprising since Nami-san was naturally friendly and one of her greatest skills lay in her ability to get others to talk. She was so sly in fact she could probably get the combination to Fort Knox's gold bank in half an hour.

Still, it left Sanji with little to have to mediate between. He mostly listened instead, wondering how women seemed to make everything look so easy.

"No way! You've really never been to an amusement park?" The waitress was saying.

"Well, I mean, I've been to fairs and carnivals and stuff like that, but never anything this uh… big." Usopp replied. "I was looking it up last night. There are so many rides!"

"It's actually pretty tiny." He intervened.

At his curious look, Nami leaned forward, revealing, "When he lived in Paris, Sanji used to go to Disneyland."

"Disneyland?! How cool!" The African said, but his smile dropped to one of befuddlement. "Wait…" He looked at Sanji sharply. "You lived in Paris?"

"Yeah. I didn't tell you that?"

"No! Does that mean you saw the Eiffel Tower!?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

Usopp smacked his arm. "Agh, you lucky bastard! Do you know how much I would kill to see the Eiffel Tower?! If I was ever in Paris I'd probably just set up a tent and live right underneath it!" He waved his hands about for emphasis. "What a dream to be in the presence of such a glorious… mechanical… artistic… masterpiece!"

Both of them snickered at the eccentric display. "Why don't you go then?" Nami asked.

"Go?"

"Yeah. You and Kuro could afford it, right? And it would be so easy to convince him." She nudged her elbow into his ribs. "Just tell him that cities aren't the only things in the world that never sleep."

Usopp's cheeked reddened at the obvious innuendo. "Well, I uh…"

Meanwhile, Sanji was trying not to spit out the half of the filter he had bitten through, relieved when he spotted the light blue BF-36 rolling against the curb. He stomped on his cigarette, announcing, "Hey, Franky's here." He hurried to the passenger door a slight too eagerly, making up for it by opening it and waving towards the seat with a deep bow. "Of course, the beautiful lady first!"

"Why thank you Sanji-kun." Nami said, climbing into the car and exchanging greetings with Franky as he carefully shut the door. He turned his head, seeing Usopp giving him an unimpressed look. "What?"

"Oh… nothing." He said, before opening the back door and mimicking his movements. "And now the other beautiful lady."

"Huh?!"

The artist peeked up at him, smirking as he pointed at his hip where Nami's feminine pink purse still rested.

"Oh shut up." Sanji shoved his shoulder as he got into the car, which made the other cringe but laugh before doing so as well. After they also said hello to the driver, he crowed, "Naaaami-swan, would you like your purse back?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you."

Franky pulled the car from the curb, saying, "I got the stuff you asked for. Sis, yours is in the glove compartment. Cook-bro, yours is on the rear dash. "

The… where? He must have looked about as lost as the Marimo, because Usopp jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "Behind you."

"Oh…"

The student chuckled, looking back as Sanji gathered the lump of stuff sitting back there. "Clothes? What do you need those for?"

"You didn't think we'd be going around in our uniforms did you?" It was Nami who answered.

"Well I guess not bu- W-W-What are you doing?!" He screeched as he looked towards her.

Already shirtless, Nami looked over her shoulder. "Changing?"

"H-Here?! NOW?!"

"Well, where else would I do it?" She rationalized.

While Usopp tried to splutter out a response to that, Franky rose an eyebrow and tilted his head some. "Hey long-nose bro, I thought you swung the other way."

"W-Well I do but-but-!"

"So, wouldn't the super show going on next to you be more interesting anyways?"

There was a second of silence, and then he slowly looked over, only to cry, "NOT YOU TOO!"

"What? I'll be in even more deep shit if I ruin my clothes." Sanji grinned, shrugging off his dress shirt and secretly enjoying the way the other's eyes involuntarily checked him out before he hid them behind his hands.

"My poor virgin eyes!"

Franky was laughing. "Of all people bro, you gotta be the least amount of virgin of anyone in this car!"

Usopp sounded like a stuck pig the way he squealed, "You pervert!"

"Why thank you."

"IT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT!"

Sanji was telling the truth when he said Sabaody Park was a small amusement park. Barely on 50 acres, Sabaody only held twenty rides, nearly half of them kiddy ones. The only other attractions the park had were some typical game booths, an arcade, and a miniature golf range. Even the food left a lot to be desired since it was basically all from stands that sold the typical carnival fare like corndogs and cotton candy.

But for Usopp it might as well have been Disneyland as he stared at the place with wide eyes and a giddy smile. "Oh man, look at that one go!" He cried, pointing towards a corkscrewing roller-coaster known as the Sea King.

Somehow, he had a feeling a lot of the excitement was synonymous with the way he reacted to the dishwasher. "We'll go on it as soon as we find the others."

"Vivi says they're playing miniature golf." Nami said, putting her phone back in her purse.

"Ow! Sounds super fun! Let's go find them!"

The golf range was towards the back of the park so it took them awhile to dodge around the crowds and make their way there. Not that Sanji thought Usopp minded much if the worried frown and way he kept rubbing his hands on his pants like they were sweating was any hint. He might have said 'Don't worry. It'll be fine' if he didn't already know saying anything would be useless.

It was probably a good thing he had kept it to his thoughts anyways. Usopp wouldn't be bound to believe him seeing as Luffy tried to murder him the second they met.

It happened just as they spotted the group at the fifth hole, Nami opening her mouth with a yell that never made it past her throat. Because, just at that moment, Luffy was taking his swing, throwing all his strength into it as he always did. His aim was too high though and his club flew right over the ball. "Where'd it go?" Head already angled forward and expecting to see a blue blur whizzing across the field, he carelessly swung his club the other way, this time hitting the ball.

Hard.

With a loud smack, the plastic projectile went flying towards them and, with aim that had it not been accidental would have been outstanding, nailed Usopp right in the head.

He went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Usopp?!" Nami cried, looking at the sprawled male.

Utterly oblivious, the straw-hatted man turned around and waved. "Oh, hey Nami! When'd you guys get here?"

"YOU SHITTY BASTARD!" Sanji yelled, crossing the distance just to give him a good kick to the chest.

"ACK! What'd I do?!" The other whined from the ground.

"You killed Usopp!"

Luffy's eyes grew wide as his jaw dropped open in shock. "WHAAAAAT?! BUT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BREAK INTO THE FRIDGE FOR ME!"

"IDIOT!" He kicked him again.

From behind them where she was trying to rouse him, Nami snapped irritably, "He's not dead!"

"But," Franky spoke up, crouched on the artist's other side, "He sure ain't moving either."

"AAAH!" This cry came from Chopper. "HE NEEDS A DOCTOR."

Standing a few feet away with three golf clubs in his hand for some idiotic reason, Zoro inclined his head towards his brother. "Oi, Chopper. Aren't you in training?"

"Oh. Right." The curly brunet haired teenager rushed over to where Usopp lay, inspecting the growing red bump on his head.

"I do hope he's alright…" Vivi said worriedly as she started to head over. As if she was the beautiful moon pulling the tides, the rest of them gravitated after her, forming a sort of half-circle around the fallen man.

"I sure hope he doesn't have a soft spot right there." It was Robin who spoke up, cheek rested in her hand. "Or else he'll hemorrhage to death."

"Robin!" Chopper cried.

There was an unexpected second response: "Nnngh, that sounds scary."

Sanji's gaze darted towards Usopp's face, seeing him squinting open his eyes as he placed a hand on his head.

"Super! You're awake." Franky said.

"Yeah… but what hit me?" He asked, carefully sitting up with Chopper's help.

"Luffy." More than one of them deadpanned simultaneously.

The culprit in question rubbed the back of his head and started laughing. "That sure is a fun way to start out the day right?" Beside him, Sanji and Nami scowled and grabbed onto one cheek each, pulling hard. "Y-Yes! I'm bewwy sowwy!"

"Usopp, can you look over here really quick?" The African did so, staring in surprise at the younger boy sitting beside him. "Follow my finger with your eyes." He ordered, waving it in front of his face until he was satisfied. "Okay good. What's today?"

"Uh… Friday."

Chopper sighed happily and smiled. "Doesn't seem like you have a concussion but you'll definitely have a slight headache."

"Well, that's good." He replied, rubbing the bump. "…Who are you anyways?"

"Ah-!" The doctor-in-training's eyes went wide before he quickly stood and stumbled backwards, grabbing onto Robin's leg, hiding half his face behind her back.

One dark eyebrow rose and Usopp tilted his head, perplexed by the display. It was Nami who spoke up. "Chopper, wrong way."

"Ut!" The boy yelped and shifted the rest of his body behind her, keeping an eye on the other.

"Are… you okay?" Usopp asked worriedly.

"OF COURSE I AM, BASTARD!" He cried. "And… and make sure to take some painkillers."

He didn't look very convinced. "I'm the one who got hit in the head right?"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed, crouching down and catching the student's attention. "That's just Chopper's funny way of saying hello." He leaned forward on his heels. "Neh, neh, so you're feeling better right?"

Like a timer ticking down the seconds, Sanji could already sense that the straw-hatted man was about to go off on one of his eccentric displays and he felt a little bad for the chemistry major. Before he could even speak up to maybe halt what would happen next, Usopp was already saying, "Yeah. I'm fine."

And then Luffy grabbed Usopp's wrists. "Great! Come on! You can play with us now then!"

"Wh-AH!" The poor man yelped as he was yanked to his feet and dragged towards the teeing ground. "Wait! Uh, Luffy!?"

The two halted about halfway there and the younger looked back. "Yeah?"

"Uh… nothing just I- uh… It's nice to meet you."

Luffy blinked then laughed. "You're kinda odd you know that?"

"I'm-?! Isn't that a normal greeting?!" Usopp cried as he was pulled along once more.

"Who cares about that boring stuff? Here! You can go next. Now where's the – Oh yeah, I hit you with it." A pink golf club was shoved into his hand as the straw-hatted man sprinted away.

Dumbfounded, either by the color or just by everything that had happened in the span of two minutes, he stared at the club a little helplessly. Sanji sighed piteously as he came over, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, I should have warned you."

"Warned me?"

On the other side of him, there was a lovely giggle and Vivi said, "Luffy-san is always like this. It's best to just go with it." She held her hand out, saying properly, "And it is wonderful to meet you Usopp. I'm Vivi."

Sanji could practically hear Usopp's thoughts yelling 'Thank god! Someone normal!' as he accepted her smaller hand with a grateful smile. "Yeah, you too!"

Before any more introductions could be made, Luffy was hopping between them, handing over the golf ball. "Okay, go on!"

"Sure okay but, shouldn't we start over then?"

The younger shook his head. "Nah, we're all on teams. And you're on mine and Chopper's!"

"I am…? Wait, you want me on your team? What if I suck at this game?"

"Ah, we're in the lead anyways! We have way more points than anyone!"

"Uh… Luffy, you want less points."

"What? Who would ever want less of anything? That's like having less slices of meat and no one wants that!"

Usopp opened his mouth, possibly to explain, but seemed to change his mind as he glanced towards Vivi. "Whatever you say Luffy."

At least he learned fast.

As the ball was being placed down though, the words finally sunk in. "Wait, teams?!" Sanji's eyes widened as his brain quickly did the math, turning abruptly, "Nami-sa-"

"Sorry Sanji-kun." Nami smiled from where she stood between the other two girls.

"But Nami-san," He whimpered, realizing which two idiots that left him with. "I thought you loved me."

"Hnn. If you're so incapable, you can sit on the sidelines and play cheerleader, dartbrow."

Sanji's eyebrow twitched, spinning around and shouting, "What'd you say shithead? At least I'm not pretending those sticks are swords!"

The marimo's eyes narrowed, shouldering his clubs. "It's for focus. Not that an ero-cook like you could understand that. Which is why you lose. At everything."

"HAH?! THAT'S IT YOU BASTARD!" He cried, already kicking towards him.

"SANJI?! STOP!"

The sole of his shoe and the green club had just met when the loud cry froze them both and he glanced over his shoulder, wide brown-eyes staring back at him in shock. What is this strange feeling? Déjà vu…?

"Don't worry about them Usopp. They're always like this." Nami said uninterestedly.

Luffy crossed his arms and grinned. "Shishishi, aren't they great?"

"Oh uh… yeah sure."

It was for only a moment as he turned back to the ball, but Sanji was sure he had seen something. He wasn't sure what, just something that was… off.

"Oi." He had almost put his finger on it when a hard shove against his foot had him stumbling to catch his balance and made him lose his train of thought.

"Tch, jackass." He grumbled but left it at that.

Sanji shoved the nagging thought to the back of his head though as the game got going. It was easy to get swept up when having fun. For such a lame game that seemed impossible but well… that was how things tended to go when they were together. And, when he was given the chance, he made sure to correctly introduce Usopp to Zoro, Robin and Chopper. He acted rather reserved with the first two – which, with that muscle head who hardly had the brains to talk, he could understand why; but, he just couldn't wrap his head around what his issue was with such a precious flower like Robin-chan!

Chopper was another matter entirely. Fidgety himself, the small teenager and the gaunt artist seemed like a match constructed in hell. So, it was a complete shock when they both seemed to instantly take to the other.

"When that ball hit me, you were the one checking me over. How'd you know what to do?"

"Huh? O-oh well… I'm learning to be a doctor." Chopper said, scuffing the toe of his sneaker on the ground.

Usopp regarded him curiously. "Learning…? Like, on your own?"

"No, I go to college."

"Wait but…" He scratched the back of his head. "Aren't you fourteen?"

"…Yeah." Sanji almost winced, knowing this was a sensitive topic. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the marimo glancing over.

However, Usopp wasn't condescending as so many others had been. Instead, he said with honest admiration, "Wow, that's really amazing!"

"Eh, I guess so…" He shrugged.

"Guess so?"

"I'm just missing the entire high school experience; I guess I just worry I'll regret it."

There was a momentary pause, Usopp crossing his arms and humming, "Well, I don't really know much about that. But I do know this: If I had been seriously injured just now, I'm really grateful that I would have been in such capable hands."

Chopper immediately grabbed the pink hat on his head, pulling it down over his eyes as he blushed. "S-Shut up idiot. Your compliment doesn't make me happy!" But the sunny smile on his face definitely said otherwise.

"Hn." The marimo looked away, but it was easy to spot the smirk of approval on his face.

Seeing Usopp so effortlessly win over all his friends just by being himself, Sanji was pretty sure his heart actually turned into molten puddle. Luckily, before he could start declaring his eternal love for the other, Franky shoved a club in his hand with a deliberate look. "Your turn bro."

"Ah, right." And the game was back on.

For… a little while at least.

By the eighth hole it was over for his team when Zoro used his 'three-club style' to smack their ball between the slates of a winding windmill. It was successful getting past but as they waited and waited for it to reappear out the hole on the other side of the giant mechanism, Sanji mocked, "Figures you'd get the ball lost, shithead."

Then at the eleventh hole Luffy hit the ball so hard it flew right off the range and into a nearby pond. "Aaah! I got it!"

"No Luffy, you can't swim!" Chopper cried, grabbing the elder's waist just as he was mounting the railing.

He let out a displeased whine. "Then you get it Chopper."

"I can't swim either!"

"Boo!" He stuck out his lip, looking towards Usopp with pleading eyes.

The other spared the pond a distrustful glance, saying, "Uh, well you see I have a horrible, incurable case of I-Can't-Wade-Into- Questionably-Murky-Waters-Or-I'll-Die Disease. It's very serious."

Before the straw-hatted man could try and recruit anyone else for the unpleasant task, Franky spoke up, "Guess that means the game's over."

"And the beautiful Angel Team wins!" Sanji crooned, getting Nami's club shoved into his chest for him to take, in which he happily did.

"Amazed we got this far." She murmured. "So what do we do now then?"

"Oh! Food! Meat!" Luffy cried, throwing his hands up into the air.

Chopper waved his too. "Cotton Candy!"

As sure as the sun rises, another hand shot up. "I agree with this!"

"YOSH!" Luffy threw his arms around his teammates. "We win! Food it is!"

As the three headed off, Vivi questioned exasperatedly, "What happened to the other six votes?"

"It's useless. Give it up." Zoro replied wisely, shouldering his three clubs as he started walking.

Another followed. "I did work up a super appetite!"

The rest of them had no choice but to come along as well.

It was sharp-eyed Nami who noticed the way he was staring at the back of black curls the entire time. "Going better then you expected?"

"I shouldn't have been worried." He swooned, grateful they were out of earshot. "He's perfect."

There was only a thoughtful, "I wonder…" From Robin.

"No one's perfect Sanji-kun." This advice came from Vivi.

"Well, he's as close as it gets. Well… except for you three divine-blessed ladies of course!"

The orange-haired girl shook her head. "I don't know whether to be worried or to just let you be a fool."

"Ah, it's simply the curse of love." He said, fingering a cigarette in his pocket. At her warning look, he added, "No need to waste your wonderful voice on an idiot like me. I know Nami-san." His eyes slowly wandered back to where the trio was, Luffy saying something that made the other two cheer. And somewhere out there, there was someone who made Usopp even happier than this.

The stick snapped in his hand as he repeated dejectedly, "I know."

"Is this the last one?"

With the clunking and clanging of metal wheels being dragged up the drop lift, Sanji almost didn't hear Usopp. He saw him holding onto the hand grips of his lap bar tightly, sparing uneasy glances over the edge; but that had been his reaction to every new ride so he dismissed it. "Of the big rides yeah, but we still have time to ride some of them again."

There was a slight grin. "I definitely want to go on the Firebird one more time! With you this time, okay?"

"Yeah, deal!" This was only the second one they'd been on together. He hadn't needed to keep last night's promise since the rest of his friends had no qualms sitting with him or, in Luffy and Chopper's cases especially, were practically dragging him along. It didn't seem to bother the long-nosed man though; in fact, he seemed extremely happy and like many times before the longer the day wore on, the more comfortable and open he became.

"Wow." Usopp breathed just as they peaked the hill. They were on the ride he had spotted when they first got here, the Sea King. It was the tallest coaster by far, standing at the front of the park and towering over it like a 'king'. With it well past sundown, even though it was only a brief glimpse, it was the best bird's eye view to see all of Sabaody's colorful, neon lights flashing dazzlingly.

And then gravity took over, pulling them down the steep hill that nearly lifted them out of their seats before throwing them into a double loop. Another hill, sharp turn to the left and into a corkscrew; the roar of the train speeding along the track, wind whipping their hair, Usopp screaming ecstatically and Luffy whopping from somewhere behind. They hit one more corkscrew and banked a hard right that made the ground seem close enough that they might collide with it. Then wheels were screeching as they were brought to a halt and back into the loading dock.

Sanji's heart was racing with the rush as the restraints were unlocked, letting him off. He had to reach out and catch a laughing Usopp by his elbow as the younger almost stumbled onto his face getting out. He barely seemed to notice as he cheered, "That one was great!" while a grinning Luffy bounced over to them with Nami in tow.

"Wasn't it!" The other man agreed.

The orange-haired lady spoke up as she readjusted her cute pigtails, "We should go rejoin the others." As the younger two hurried for the exit gate where the others were waiting on the benches just outside, they followed at a more leisurely pace. Nami heaved a sigh, saying, "How do they have so much boundless energy? I'm starting to think I'm getting old."

"Nonsense. You're as a beautiful as an eighteen year old; these rides are just too harsh on your delicate body." Sanji said, drumming his fingers along his pocket where his lighter was. How close was a smoking area from here…

They found the duo already jabbering away with the rest of the group… minus two. "Oi," Sanji said in a slight tone of annoyance, "Where are Chopper and the marimo?"

"Ah, they went to go get more cotton candy!" Franky answered.

"Wait… alone?!" Nami accused.

The mechanic rubbed his neck saying, "Well they've only been gone…"

"Twenty minutes." Robin replied knowledgably, not looking up from the book she must have stashed in her purse.

"And you didn't say anything?"

As an answer, the dark-haired woman held up her phone, showing them a multitude of messages that were no doubt from Chopper. "They're at the game booths."

Nami clapped her hands together and bowed her head. "I'm sorry for ever doubting you."

"I suppose we better go to them then." Vivi sighed, still looking a little pale. The last ride had no sat too well with her.

Sanji quickly declared, "Are you sure you're feeling alright enough for that Vivi-chwan? Because I can certainly drag that idiot here if not!"

Before she could respond, a corn dog was shoved towards her. "I bet if you eat, you'll feel better."

She actually turned a little green, pushed the hand aside. "T-That's quite alright Luffy-san. You enjoy it."

"How-Where!?" Usopp looked around, not seeing a stand in sight. "Was… Was that in your pocket!?"

Already chowing down, he said, "Yep! My meat pocket." And as if he didn't just commit crimes against every food standard law known to man, he walked off, proclaiming, "Now let's go find Zoro and Chopper!"

Either he was already getting used to Luffy's random antics or he was so stunned by his stupidity he didn't know how to properly compute it, but the dark-skinned man just said, "He's not going the right way is he?"

After turning their wayward friend in the right direction, they made their way to the play area where there were about a dozen booths set up with various games to play. There were the typical throwing basketballs into a tiny hoop or ping-pong balls into floating cups. Then there were the more interactive climbing a balancing ladder and Guess-Your-Weight-Age-Birthday games. Most of them expected to see Zoro at the mallet game, blasting the bell right off the top of the meter like in the cartoons.

So, they were all extremely shocked when they did find what booth he was actually at.

"Come on Zoro!" Chopper cheered the man on.

"Gerogerogero. Give it up kid. He's lost." The booth runner said. She was a pretty lady with a strange theme of frogs about her: smiling frog earrings, a frog snapping out its tongue tattooed on her forearm, even the band that held back her purple hair had little frogs dancing on it. Her name tag (which had to be some sort of joke) read Miss Father's Day.

The younger shook his head vehemently. "No way, Zoro's gonna win!"

"Little-bro, what's going on?" Franky was the one to ask as they approached.

Brown curls bounced as Chopper looked over. "Oh, hey guys! Zoro's trying to get me a reindeer for my collection!" He pointed upwards where several stuffed animals hung. The one he indicated was a light brown deer with forked antlers. It could have been any deer, had it not been for the green collar with a small bell around its neck and the telling red nose.

"Isn't that a little off season?" Nami mumbled.

Sanji glanced over towards the target, seeing it was a red star on a white background. The object of the game was to shoot out all the red from the paper but Zoro's page looked more like a piece of Swiss cheese. He turned his eyes to the green-haired man, seeing the scowl of concentration on his face as he shot off the BB gun. Unable to resist, he grinned and said, "So your word is bigger than your balls huh?"

"SHUT UP!" Zoro shouted, his cheeks flushing red. "I'd like to see you do better!"

His blood boiled. "Is that a challenge?!"

A hand on his shoulder pulled him up short. "Now, now, this isn't time to fight. Shouldn't we be figuring out how to get Chopper his prize?"

"Ahh Vivi, you're considerate as always!"

Zoro just rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath as he kept shooting, "Hmph, what do you think I'm doing?"

"I'm not sure." The booth lady replied, placing her chin in her hand. "With how many times you've lost, I think you're just putting in donations at this point."

Robin spared her a glance. "How many times has he played?"

"This is the seventh."

"Wow Zoro, you really stink." Luffy laughed.

"No one asked you!" The swordsman snapped, huffing angrily when his gun gave an empty-sounding click. He slammed it down on the counter along with a few dollars. "Again! I'll get it this time!"

The woman sighed, shrugging her shoulder. "Alright." She took firearm and reloaded it, handing it back over before pulling off the paper and putting up a new one, saying in a mocking Texan accent, "Go get 'em cowboy."

"A-Ah Zoro! Wait!" It was Usopp who spoke up as the man leveled the weapon at the new star. He visibly gulped when the other looked towards him and growled out a disgruntled 'What?'. Still, he carried on, spluttering some in his nervousness, "U-Um, it's just you're not going to win that way. Y-your aim's all off and you can't just shoot for the red parts you got to go ar- um- uh, uhhh…" Sanji was pretty sure Usopp actually started to sweat when Zoro started to approach him. "I-I'm sorry?!" He yelped shutting his eyes tightly – only to open them in shock when he felt the BB gun being shoved in his chest.

"You do it then."

He stared back dumbly as he fumbled with the weapon, nearly dropping it. "H-Huh?"

"You know what to do right?"

"W-Well yeah but…"

"Then you do it." Zoro glanced towards the booth runner. "That's alright, right?"

She just shrugged carelessly. "Doesn't make a difference to me."

"Then it's decided."

"But I uh…. Um, okay." The younger shifted uneasily. Sanji almost had half the mind to kick that permanently pissed off look right off the idiot marimo's face.

The rest of them stood aside so that Usopp could approach the counter, taking a deep breath and looking down at the gun silently for several long seconds. He had to wonder if the other was taking the moment to silently curse himself for speaking up. Sanji scowled towards Zoro for scaring him into it. Not even noticing him, the mossball just stood there with his arms crossed, frowning as if he expected the other to fail.

Tch, the shithead!

The first bang almost made him jump, head jerking around to see Usopp's tongue curled along the edge of his lip as he shot a few more times. The way he held it was different from the way Zoro had. Instead of having both hands around the grip, he had one hand curled lengthwise around the grip and the second around the butt of the firearm and locked around his first hand. Perhaps that was steadier…? He looked to the star, his heart dropping a little when he noticed that, while each one had made a pea-sized hole in the page, none of them had hit a red mark. Oi, Usopp…

Just as Sanji was beginning to devise a complicated plan that would have Luffy dragging them all off before the game could finish, the artist's expression changed suddenly, eyes lighting up like he had just seen a rocket-powered socket wrench.

He adjusted the gun slightly.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The bullets started hitting marks, though he would have believed they were all misses if not for the grin the other was sporting. It took him awhile but he eventually understood what he was doing.

"How very resourceful." Robin mused.

Zoro smirked. "Hoo, not bad."

"Uhahaha! That's some super aim!"

"What? What's he doing?" Luffy asked.

"Is he winning?" Chopper added, tilting his head.

"You'll see. Why don't we just cheer him on?" Vivi said with a smile.

Watching Usopp get nearly halfway down, Sanji hummed thoughtfully before sticking his hands in his pockets and walking off.

"Sanji-kun?" Nami called.

"I'll be right back." He replied with a grin.

By the time he returned, even Luffy understood what was going on as he cheered alongside Chopper and Franky loudly. He looked to the game just in time for the final shot.

Bang!

The bullet went through a centimeter of paper and a wavy circle softly fluttered towards the ground, leaving nothing but a pristine white square with a round hole in it hanging there, no red star to be seen.

"Gerogerogero! It's been awhile since I've had a winner!" The frog lady said, her bored expression finally cracking.

Usopp chuckled, handing the gun back over and nearly toppling into the booth after it when Luffy and Chopper hopped on him from behind.

"That was great Usopp!" The straw-hatted man praised.

"You're so cool!" Chopper gushed.

"Cool… me?" The blush spread all the way to his nose, patting Chopper on the head. "Hey go on. You want the deer right?"

"Yeah! I can really have your prize?"

Sanji decided that was the perfect moment to step in. "Don't worry Chopper. Usopp has his own reward anyways."

"Huh?" The dark-haired man asked, only for his eyes to widen when a churro was held out to him. He took it… and then it was Sanji's turn to get hopped on as Usopp laughed and threw his arms around him."You're the best, thank you!"

He was pretty sure his heart exploded.

At least today was a magnificent day to die.

With the game won, they decided to head towards another ride, Franky having to redirect Zoro when he almost unknowingly split from them. Chopper hugged his new reindeer plush as he asked curiously, "Hey, Usopp? How'd you learn to do that?"

"Ah, my dad taught me." The other replied as he chomped on the churro. "Heh, we used to have that game at the fairs that would come into town. He told me that the guns they let you shoot are always really old so their aim is off. But once you can adjust the aim, it's pretty easy to get the star out."

"I'd imagine you'd have to have a rather high accuracy rate to pull it off though." Robin determined.

The younger hummed softly. "Well yeah, but I've used guns and stuff practically as long as I could walk. Dad was one of the best sharpshooters on the police force and he loved guns, so when he'd go and practice he would take me along and teach me. Last time I tested it, my accuracy was like ninety-five percent."

"I wonder how many live targets you could manage to assassinate."

Still not quite used to the woman's morbid sense of humor, he blanched. "E-EH?! D-Don't say that so calmly!"

"So, so! What kind of guns did you shoot?" Chopper intervened.

"Oh well… more than just guns. When I was a kid, my slingshot was practically always in my back pocket." He started indicating a list on his fingers. "But when I got older I got to use pistols, revolvers, shotguns, rifles… I've shot a crossbow once too." When he noticed the curly-haired boy's wide eyed admiration, a sly grin grew on his face. "…And a bazooka."

"Wow really?!" Both Chopper and Luffy cried.

"Oh yeah. Took down a whooooole mountain! Almost went to jail for it."

"WOW, REALLY?! COOL!"

Nami snipped at them, "Why are you getting excited?! He's obviously lying about the last part."

"Whaaat?!" Twin whines rose in the air.

Caught, Usopp chuckled. "Oh come on, how could you two believe that? There's nothing in the world that can actually destroy a mountain."

"Ah-ah-ah, not quite longnose-bro." Franky said, waving a finger. "A laser beam from giant robot could."

"A beam?!" Now it was three excited voices as Usopp's, Luffy's and Chopper's eyes shined like stars.

Vivi placed her palm in her face as the four started to chatter loudly about how big the robot should be. "How is this even becoming a topic?"

"They're missing something important." Zoro spoke up, moving to stand beside Luffy and saying, "It has to have a sword."

"That's not the important thing!"

Unable to help himself, Sanji also stepped forward. "Tch, of course a mosshead like you would choose something so… minor. A flamethrower would be much more superior."

Just as they started to delve into greater detail about this imaginary automaton, he faintly heard Nami grumble behind them, "It's like a rally of idiots."

The end of the cigarette burned bright orange in the darkness of the secluded smoking area, Sanji breathing in the wonderful nicotine fix. Aaah yes, he had been waiting too long for this. He sighed, relaxing back against the bench and splaying his long legs out in front of him, the dull ache in his heels temporarily forgotten for the moment. Even the annoying sound beside him was being ignored as he shut his eyes and tilted his head back, a gusty spring breeze sweeping through his hair.

"Wow." The voice caused him to crack a lid, seeing Usopp stepping around the blue bench as he carried two drinks. He was eyeing Zoro who was sprawled along it, emitting loud, snorting snores. "Can't believe he's actually asleep."

"Mossball could make power-napping a sport." He replied as the student sat down, taking the drink as it was handed to him. "Thank you. Where's everyone else?"

He sipped on the hot black tea – an Earl Gray strongly mixed with an orange spice flavor – while Usopp slumped against the bench, exhaling deeply and balancing his own drink on the arm rest. "Mmmhmm… Last I checked, the girls were still shopping and Luffy, Franky and Chopper were gonna have some sort of eating competition. Or well a… Cola drinking, hamburger and cookie eating competition. Probably'll be weird, but I'm guessing that's kind of the norm?" He chuckled faintly while falling a few more inches down along the bench, looking almost ready to just slip entirely to the ground. "Man, I feel like I've been shot across the country by a cannon or something. My body is killing me."

Sanji could definitely sympathize. "Sorry. Are you having fun at least?"

"Oh yeah!" The shorter perked up, a wide, toothy smile spreading on his face. "This place is awesome! I haven't had this much fun in years."

Those words really stroked his ego, quipping brazenly in return, "Not even with Kuro?"

"Kuro, at a place like this? Ha! Oh man, I'd like to see that." Usopp took a drink of what Sanji highly suspected was hot chocolate, before continuing, "He's so reserved and-and not prissy really but just so… uhhhh, I dunno, elegant I guess? He's the kind of guy who wants to keep his composure at all times. Even when we're arguing, even when he's really steamed, he's never once raised his voice. Heh, wish I could say the same about myself."

There was a lull and, not knowing what to say to fill it, Sanji just took a long, slow drag of his smoke while Usopp stared distantly towards the holly trees that enclosed the area. It was just as he was nearly burning dry that the other spoke, "Can't believe Luffy's exactly as you described him."

"You thought I was lying?"

"Well exaggerating at least!" He chuckled, sparing a glance to the lump of algae slumbering on Sanji's left. "Zoro too. Although he's a little scarier than I pictured him. He's a big teddy bear with Chopper though, so I guess it's okay."

Sanji laughed aloud at the comparison. Oh, he was going to get a lot of mileage out of that one. "And the girls are naturally flawless right?"

Usopp elbowed him lightly in the ribs. "Not quite, but they are nice. Even Robin."

"Even Robin-chwan? What's with that tag on?" He accused defensively.

"Eeeh hehe, oh you know..." The African avoided his eyes, taking a big gulp of his drink.

He might have started choking on it when Sanji leaned in close, a dangerous gleam in his eye. "Enlighten me."

He swallowed audibly. "U-Uh just that… oh come on Sanji, she's kind of scary!"

"She is not! I'll have you know Robin-chan was a seedling that grew in the soil of adversity and darkness but bloomed into a beautiful woman despite it! Every day she smiles is a day she shows the world just how magnificent and brave she is."

Intrigued, Usopp asked, "Sounds like she had it rough. What happened?"

"Well she uh-" Completely caught up, Sanji realized he had said too much and he cleared his throat, trying to tiptoe over the topic. "Err, that's uh something sort of priv-"

"My aunt used to hit me."

Both of them jerked and looked over their shoulders, seeing the dark-haired woman standing just a few feet away, a shopping bag hanging at her side. "R-Robin-chan…" Sanji swallowed down the sudden dryness in his throat, standing quickly with the intention of running to her side and begging for forgiveness, only to be rooted their awkwardly when his legs refused to move. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's quite alright Sanji. I'm the one who offered the information after all." She said, eyes drifting over to the artist as she leant towards him. The younger male was pale despite his dark complexion and Sanji would have believed he wasn't breathing if not for the small squeak he let out at whatever Robin whispered to him. Usopp's eyes widened a fraction before he looked down towards his lap, fingers shaking around the Styrofoam cup he held between his hands.

She straightened up, placing a hand on his shoulder briefly, before walking around the bench and tapping Zoro on the forehead.

"Huh, is it morning already?" The swordsman grumbled.

"Not quite Zoro-san. Chopper's looking for you though."

"Hnn, alright." He sat up with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head before getting up and blindly heading back.

Robin smiled in amusement, telling them, "It's almost closing time so don't be too long." Then she too walked away, tugging Zoro by his sleeve to lead him in the right direction.

Unsure how to respond to the unexpected turn of events, he looked over at Usopp, who was staring off into space in some sort of frozen trance. "Usopp?"

The other jerked, blinking rapidly a few times before turning his head towards him. "Huh?"

"You alright?" What did Robin say to him?

"Oh uh... Yeah!" The shaky smile he put on did little to reassure him. "I just… wasn't expecting that."

Sanji frowned and then sighed, reaching into his pocket to drag out another cigarette and settling heavily on the bench again. "Yeah, none of us were either."

"So… she really…?"

"Yeah." He flicked his lighter, a teardrop-shaped flame dancing to life. "Her mom was an archeologist and traveled a lot. So ever since she was little, Robin would have to stay with her relatives for several months at a time as she waited for her to return. The whole family was rotten. They made Robin do all the chores and when her cousin would steal her toys or ruin her books, they'd just turn their heads. Her aunt was the worst though. She hated her sister because she was successful and beautiful, so she took her anger out on her niece. She would hit Robin whenever she felt like it and insult her, calling her the spawn of the devil." He scowled, his blood boiling the more he spoke. "Sometimes, they even refused to feed her."

A pained expression crossed Usopp's face. "That's awful! But… But she got out of it right?"

"Not for a long time. Not until after she became friends with us." He replied. "We didn't meet Robin-chan until freshman year and by then she was already extremely closed off. She didn't care to interact with people, didn't seem to want to trust anyone at all really; so, she wasn't exactly interested in us. But after Luffy pulled her into our circle, we all got pretty fond of her. Even when she would try to avoid us by staying in the library, we'd go looking for her and either sit with her or drag her outside. Eventually… she started coming of her own free will. Seemed to even be enjoying herself because she finally started to smile. And then one day, right before summer break…"

He tilted his head back, memories of the painful afternoon flashing in his head. "She just broke down. I can't say why – I'm not entirely sure myself. And why she was able to tell us when she kept the secret from her own mom for so many years I'm not sure about either, but I'm glad she did."

"What'd you guys do?"

"Heh, well death threats aside, we all told her she could come home with one of us. It made her cry even harder, but she seemed happy." He smiled. "She ended up staying at Vivi's until her mom came back from her latest expedition. That's when Robin-chan finally told her the truth. Her mom ended up quitting and things really seemed to get better after that."

Usopp smiled. "That's good. Wow… can't believe she was forced to live like that for all those years." He traced the rim of the lid on his cup, saying, "I bet I can guess why she told you guys. It's probably because you guys make her feel safe."

"Oh? You think so?"

"Yeah. Definitely." He met his eyes hesitantly, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something then shutting it and looking away, frowning.

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Usopp bit on the bottom of his lip, eyes skirting about restlessly as he decided on something before finally turning to him again, saying in a rush, "Sanji I-"

"USOOOOOOOOOOOPP!"

He ducked his head when Luffy suddenly came vaulting over the bench like some species of retarded dolphin, spinning on his heels and latching onto the chemistry student once he'd landed. "Come on, I found an awesome game. You need to come play it. Hurry, before they close!"

"Uh, well o-KAY!" He yelped as he was pulled out of his seat, sparing him a backwards glance as he was tugged away. "Uh-?!"

He just waved his smoking hand in answer. "Go on. I'll join you when I'm done."

As they left, Sanji could only sit there and wonder what Usopp had been meaning to tell him.