Chapter 10

Zoro's POV

The day continued on without any other major problems, except for the extreme boredom. I did my usual training up in the Crow's Nest while Luffy and Ace having arm wrestling contests. Two of the Heart pirates who I'll call 'penguin' and 'caddie' were fishing, and Bepo was watching Chopper make medicine and rumble balls. Usopp was helping Franky make some sort of helpful machinery, as usual, and the curly-cook was pampering 'Nami-swan~' like he always does, the idiot. Law was being rather suspicious and was having a conversation with Robin, of all people.

I felt like being lazy, so I stopped my training and didn't even put on a shirt before I dropped down through the door to the Crow's Nest. I stepped out onto the yard (beam that the sails are attached to) and yelled down at Luffy.

"Luffy! Since the waves are pretty calm, I'm gonna go for a swim. Make sure to look out for Sea King's and such while I'm out there. Also, be ready to pull me in, alright?"

Luffy looked up at me and started to drool a little upon seeing my sweaty bare chest, but I got used to the feeling. He just nodded blankly and kept on staring at me. I shook my head and looked at Ace. He grinned and gave me thumbs up. I grinned back and closed my eyes as I heard others yell and scream at me to stop and that I'll die and stuff like that. Me, die? From something as easy and relaxing as this? Not possible.

I took a deep breath and put out my arms, waiting for the right moment. All at once I opened my eyes, raised up my arms as I bent my knees, and jumped off the end of the beam. It felt like 10 minutes went by as my hair rustled and my body cut through the air on the way down. I took one last breath of air before slicing through the water and going down, and down, and down...

Aces's POV

'Why does he look so sexy when he does that?!' I screamed in my head, 'I wish I could swim again, damnit.' I sighed, picked up Luffy by his collar, and walked him over to the edge of the ship to get a better look. I pointed to one of the passing Heart pirates with a fire-y hand and gave him a sign to 'come here'. He quickly walked over to me and I patted Luffy's back.

"Make sure he keeps an eye on Zoro, will ya? Thanks," I said I walked away, towards the main mast. I grinned and decided to borrow Zoro's stuff for a while. He wouldn't mind, right? After all, I am his boyfriend~ I climbed up to the Crow's Nest and looked around at all the weights and such. Out of the times that I've been up here, I never really took a good look at all the stuff.. Zoro must be really dedicated..

I looked around and decided to pick up one of the lightest weights he had. 150 pounds (68 kg). It wasn't really that heavy, but it wasn't any easy lift either. Hell, that weight was probably close to that man's own weight, yet this is one of the smallest he had... What kind of monster is this guy?

I began lifting weight after weight, feeling my muscles burn as I thought about how much of an amazing man Roronoa Zoro was...

Anyone's POV... :P

While Ace was doing this, most of the pirates had gathered by the side of the ship to watch Zoro swim. Most would have to agree that he either had amazing strength, or amazing looks. Or both. The 'demon cutter' didn't even seem to notice the onlookers, but that was for a reason. He couldn't trust them to keep look out for Sea Kings, so he decided to rely on himself.

Zoro made sure not to put out too much energy as he swam so he could focus more on his hearing. He listened for the distant growls and calls from the dreaded sea monsters that haunted the seas. Closing his eyes, he failed to notice his path was starting to veer away from the ship. Law looked around at the others and appeared to be the only one who noticed the swordsman's fault. Trafalgar facepalmed and tried to figure out a way to get the lost-man's attention. But no such thing was needed as a very large, dark shadow appeared in the waters front of the swimmer. Zoro saw it.

"LUFFY! Get me my katanas! QUICK!" Zoro screamed out.

The others were pulled back into reality upon hearing this frantic tone come out of the fearless pirate's mouth. Luffy blinked before screaming and before launching himself up to the training room. Luffy saw Ace and motioned to get Zoro's katanas. How Ace knew what Luffy meant is a mystery to all, but he understood and opened the window to hand him the swords. Luffy threw the swords down to Zoro who caught them, sort of, and prepared to battle this beast.

"S-so cool!" Luffy said, "Let's make it our nakama!"

"No."

"Awww..."

The Sea King rose from the water only to have all of the Straw Hat's mouths drop in shock. It was the giant turtle they had met on the way to Sky Island, right before they saw the giant shadows of those 'monsters' in the sky. The turtle seemed to yawn and just glanced lazily down at the very small ship, seeming to recognize the Straw Hat's Jolly Roger on the sail. Zoro tredded water while he waited for the familiar turtle to do something while the Heart Pirates were running around screaming at the size of the Sea King; all of them except Law.

The turtle didn't even do anything. He just blinked as he slowly returned to the shelter of the seas below. Zoro couldn't believe it didn't put up any sort of fight, not that he was complaining.

"Ah, Luffy, I guess you can pull me in now," Zoro shouted, still quite a long distance away from the ship. Luffy reached out an arm that Zoro reluctantly grabbed onto. He braced for his impact against the side of the ship which came before he expected it. He just let out a groan as he fell back into the water.

"Sorry, Zoro!" Luffy said as he laughed. Nami and Usopp slapped his face, and no one seemed to notice the figure standing in Zoro's former place upon the yard. Ace, (that idiot XD ).

It had been a long time since he had felt this feeling before a dive. Since before he had set out to become a pirate, actually. He shook his head, not wanting to think about his past right then. Ace took a deep breath and jumped off. As he dove, he turned towards the others and winked. Zoro rubbed his head from where he hit the side of the ship and looked up to see Ace flying toward him. For a second he looked really sexy.. but then it hit him. Literally. Ace landed on the green-haired man.

All the air was knocked out of Zoro, and he sank under the weight of the Devil Fruit user. Luffy screamed and jumped inot the water to help retrieve them, but... he was forgetting he couldnt swim either... Franky sighed and dove in to pull the three back to the Thousand Sunny. Law could not believe how stupid these people, well- allies- were, and how alike the brothers were..

+ ~Ace~ +