What's Not To Love

Chapter 11

Enel stayed with Luffy and Zoro for a small amount of time before leaving. Once he was gone, Luffy turned to Zoro and put on a huge grin.

Zoro laughed and moved over to a grassy patch before taking the kids out of the stroller. Dai was already wide awake but Zoro had to wake Kai up. She wasn't too happy about that though. She began to punch and kick Zoro, causing him to grunt. He ended up just sitting her down and turning her to face Luffy. Not even a second later, Kai began to laugh. At this, Zoro scoffed.

"How is it that when she sees you, she stops crying?" Zoro asked his captain as he began playing with the kids.

"I don't know." Luffy called over, laughing. "Maybe it's because I'm a rubber man." As Luffy made this prediction, he stretched his face in front of the kids making them fall into hysterics.

Laughing along with the kids, Zoro agreed. It probably was due to him being able to do the unimaginable. While Zoro let the kids play with Luffy, he took in their surroundings. The area that they currently occupied was a smaller district with families bustling about. Zoro watched the families doing their everyday chores together. Zoro felt a tug at his heart at the sight.

Swallowing, Zoro turned to Luffy. "Why are you in this part of town?"

Luffy turned his attention away from his tickling fight with the kids and looked at Zoro before also surveying the area. "Nami said that I had to learn how to handle kids and took me here this morning."

"Huh?" Zoro said. He didn't really understand what he meant.

Turning to face Zoro, Luffy spoke. "Nami said that if I wanted to be able to watch Dai and Kai by myself one day that first I had to learn what families do. She made me stay here and survey what the people here did. When it's time to go back to the ship, she's going to ask what I learned and then give me meat." A giant grin consumed Luffy's face by the end of his small story.

Zoro raised an eyebrow but nodded at what his captain had said. He was trying to understand Nami's motive and came up with a theory. Luffy was most likely bothering her about babysitting and gave him this to satisfy him while keeping him out of trouble. It made a lot of sense to Zoro. However, one thing was bugging him. How did Luffy, the captain that can't stay still, even manage to stay in this one location for as long as he had. Looking at the captain, Zoro realized that Luffy was trying to mature and it made him smile.

The captain and his second mate stayed where they for an hour before deciding to leave. Zoro followed beside Luffy and wondered about how Franky's work was going. He was probably done already with how quick he works but Zoro wasn't too sure. It wasn't a big job that he was given, just an important one.

"Zoro."

Zoro turned his attention to his captain. "Yeah Luffy."

Luffy stayed silent for a moment before looking at Zoro and continuing. "Is something wrong?"

The question wasn't that surprising for Zoro. He knew that his captain would ask eventually.

"Yeah." Zoro turned to look ahead. "Nothing's wrong Luffy."

Luffy stared at Zoro before asking the question he knew Zoro didn't want to hear. "How are you and Sanji?"

Zoro bit his lip and contemplated his response. It wasn't like he could ignore his captains question. After a moment, he decided to go with "Its...complicated."

Looking at Zoro from the side of his eye, Luffy said "You and Sanji have always been 'complicated', but that's not what I'm asking."

Zoro kept silence and internally swore as he felt the heat of Luffy's gaze. He hated when Luffy got serious and deep sometimes. It was actually scary, not that he would admit it out loud. Looking down at the kids, Zoro thought of his next response. Cautiously, Zoro began. "We're.... not on the best of terms right now."

Luffy nodded and turned forward again. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing in particular." Zoro answered quickly. When Luffy stayed silent, he continued. "We don't really see eye to eye as of late. "

Luffy looked to the sky, as if thinking. A moment later he looks straight again and the serious air around him disappeared. Smiling, he turned to Zoro and said "Well I'm sure you'll get through whatever it is. If you need my help with anything, just ask okay."

Zoro faced Luffy and chuckled before agreeing. He was happy that Luffy let it go so easily. There was no way he would actually tell Luffy what happened. He couldn't. Him and Sanji may not be the best right now but there was no way that he could throw the cook under. As bad as it sounds, he still cared for the bastard and didn't want anything to happen to him.

Not long after, Zoro and Luffy reached the ship. Zoro was happy for it. He could hear Brook playing music and he suddenly realized that he was quite tired. It was their last night on the island and he had already been through a lot.

As Zoro and Luffy began to board the ship, Chopper and Usopp started to leave it. Once Luffy saw them, his eyes got really wide and Zoro knew that they were going to get in trouble.

"Where are you guys going?" Zoro asked.

"To get stuff for Usopp's new invention." Chopper said excitedly. Causing Luffy to get even more excited.

Zoro just laughed at the scene and decided to leave them be. As he continued boarding, he yelled to the other three teens. "Make sure you don't do anything stupid and make sure you're back by noon tomorrow."

A chorus of "Okay" rang through the air before Zoro heard them all running. He just hoped that they actually did come back on time.

Once on deck, Zoro began to make a trip to the kitchen. When he was close enough, he heard voices and froze. It sounded like Brook was speaking to someone but who? Taking a peek through the small window, Zoro saw the cook making food while Brook spoke to him about something. Grumbling at even seeing the cook, Zoro decided to just take a Mikan from Nami's tree. He knew Nami would be mad later but he couldn't go in the kitchen. Not with him in there at the moment.

Zoro continued to ignore the conversation going on in the gallery as he approached the stairs. Holding the Mikan between his teeth, Zoro lifted the stroller and carried it down the stairs. Once down there, Zoro made his way to his room. He smiled at the look Sanji would have on his face when he found out.

Turning a corner, Zoro almost ran into Franky.

"Sup Zoro-bro." Franky said with his hand full of tools.

"Hey Franky." Zoro greeted.

The two stood there in silence for a moment before Franky lowered his voice and spoke.

"I finished your room. I didn't know where to put his stuff and wasn't sure if he wanted to stay in the men's bunkers with us, so I put him in the spare room."

"That's fine." Zoro said. He kind of felt bad for the cook but one look at the babies changed his mind. This had to happen and he had to remember that.

"Thanks Franky." Zoro said, still feeling a tad bit sad.

"No problem bro." Franky said. He decided that he wanted to be the one to tell Sanji where he was to sleep now. He didn't want Sanji to attack Zoro for anything, not that he thought he would but it's always better to be cautious.

Zoro continued to his room and entered with the stroller. He took the kids out, one at a time, and changed them. When he was done, he placed them in their crib and began to put the stroller away. Flopping on the bed, Zoro started to eat the Mikan. He stared out the window and tried to figure out how the new set up was going to work. Throwing the now finished Mikan away, Zoro cut off the lights and laid in bed. He felt the side of the bed that Sanji used to sleep on and felt another tug on his heart. Sighing he turned away from the spot, ready to forget about the love he had for the cook but it wasn't that easy. He knew it wasn't. If it was, then he wouldn't feel so guilty for being with Enel today.