Eon Island

Chapter 1

Sanji kept his eye on the tiny speck in the distance. Within an hour, that speck would become an island and they would finally be able to dock after an incredibly long month of travel. Of course, there had been a few islands that they had stopped at along the way to gather supplies and explore, but the miniscule dot before them had been their objective, the place that they had been waiting to get to.

Well, some of them anyway. Usopp and Chopper were more than a little nervous, and his beloved Nami-swan was on the more suspicious end of wary. However, the navigator had been the one to tell them about the island.

She had explained that it was charted in her logs, a large island owned by a rich family but managed by the marines. However, her accounts said that the island had been abandoned, a single person its only inhabitant for 315 years. Which was impossible. Which, of course, excited Luffy and got his blood pumping, gunning and itching to check it out. Sanji himself, Zoro, and Robin had been all for it right from the start. A little adventure wouldn't kill them. It hadn't yet, anyway.

A groan somewhere near where he had his elbow propped on the deck made him turn with a raised brow. He could only see the top of the young woman's head since she had her chin resting on her folded arms on the wooden rail, but the deep crimson hair was a dead giveaway. Sanji chuckled. "Not excited about docking, Shiloh?"

Sharp amber eyes met his. "Not particularly, no."

Now Sanji knew that the girl was no chicken. She had travelled with them long enough for him to see that she was willing and open to whatever came their way. Hell, it sure took a lot of guts to even approach them in the first place with the claim that she was Shanks' daughter. Nobody but Luffy had believed her at first, but since the straw-hat wearing idiot was their captain he had the final say and his final say was to promise the redhead that he would take her to her father no matter what. The rest of them had believed that Shiloh might have had hidden intentions, but as time went on, they began to realize what Luffy must have seen in the girl: a simple and honest soul.

She helped out around the ship without complaint, no matter the task. Having been a contortionist/dancer, Shiloh, Franky, and Brook also liked to entertain the others when given an opportunity. Nami had even turned the girl into an investment. The navigator would set up shows for Shiloh and Soul King when ever they would dock, making sure to charge those who watched. Indeed, the girl took on many jobs. Somehow, the small redhead had become a sort of cabin girl for them, despite not technically being part of the crew. Still, since they had no idea how long it would take to make Luffy the King of the Pirates and subsequently find Shanks, they accepted the fact that their helpful little passenger would be with them for quite a while.

Besides having the courage to get on board their crazy pirate ship and hang around their even crazier crew, Shiloh had the gall to somehow develop feelings for a certain green-haired swordsman and the guts to confess and being pursing the oblivious idiot. With a lot of help from Sanji and a little assistance from Nami, Zoro had actually decided to take a chance on the girl and now they were currently… well, a thing. Sanji wasn't sure what to call it but they were definitely in some sort of relationship. A weird and awkward one. Weird because he'd never imagined Zoro being romantic (though he still hardly was. Not at all actually.) and awkward because the pair looked so strange together.

Zoro's hair clashed with Shiloh's, and their height difference was just too ridiculous; the swordsman stood a full foot over the contortionist. Still, neither party seemed to notice (or care) and they got along just fine and Sanji supposed that was all that mattered.

Reaching over to ruffle the girl's hair with a smirk, Sanji teased, "You scared, Shorty?" Sanji had at first tried to treat Shiloh with the care and flattery he gave all ladies, but something about her just prevented him from doing so. Maybe it was because she didn't act particularly lady-like, nor did she look it with her slim but solid build (not like his curvaceous, soft Nami-swan!). To him, she actually looked a little boyish. Zoro had called him a blind dumbass when he had voiced that opinion.

"No," the redhead replied slowly. "I just… have a really weird feeling about that island."

"That's called being scared."

"I said I'm not-"

Sanji sighed dramatically and shrugged. "Don't worry. You're staying on the ship with Usopp and Franky anyway."

Shiloh turned wide eyes on the cook. "What?"

Zoro must have heard their conversation because he was suddenly on the other side of the redhead, casually leaning against the rail of The Sunny. "It's better that way. Safer."

The young woman turned her head back and forth from Sanji to Zoro before saying with a frown, "But Nami and Robin are going."

"And you're not," Zoro stated simply. At the look he was given, the swordsman rolled his unscarred eye and continued, "You're not a Devil Fruit User or a fighter. Hell, you don't even carry weapons, Shy."

"I have throwing knives," the girl grumbled half-heartedly. While the statement was true and she did indeed always have a few knives concealed on her person, it was no secret that the girl only had them in case of emergency and wasn't all that proficient at using said projectiles. Sanji supposed it was better than nothing but in this case, it still wasn't enough. "And we don't even know if the island is dangerous at all," Shiloh added with a meaningful look up at the swordsman.

Sanji saw Zoro's gaze soften. "Let's not take any chances."

With a sigh and a slight blush that matched her hair, Shiloh shrugged and relented. "Alright. If you guys say so."

At the sweet little moment between the two, Sanji just couldn't resist teasing the swordsman a tiny bit. "Smooth, Marimo."

The blooming blush on Zoro's face was worth the sword he suddenly had to dodge. "Shut it, Shit Cook!"

Sanji rolled his eyes as he, Nami, Robin, Luffy, Brook, and Chopper stood on the sand, waiting for Zoro to walk down the gangplank. Quickly losing patience, he took a deep breath and bellowed, "HURRY THE FUCK UP, YOU INCONSIDERATE GORILLA!"

At the lack of response, Sanji squeezed his eyes shut and geared up to yell again, but Nami's adorable giggle invaded his ears and turned his tongue to mush. He moved to fix a heart-shaped eye on the buxom navigator only to be greeted by the sight of her beauty pointing up at the ship.

"How cuuuuttee!" She uttered as Robin and Brook laughed quietly.

Sanji looked up just in time to see Shiloh stand on her tiptoes to give Zoro what looked to be a quick and gentle goodbye kiss. In return, the swordsman offered a nod and small wave as he walked off the ship.

As they began to walk, Zoro falling into step with Sanji, the cook couldn't help but ask the concerned looking marimo, "You worried about leaving your sweetheart behind?"

Zoro gave him an incredibly pissed off looking glare. "As if. She'll be safer there than with us."

Sanji raised a brow. The cook had expected the swordsman to rise to the bait but surprisingly he didn't. That meant that Zoro was not taking this decision lightly. Sanji would never say it out loud, but he was a bit impressed with the respect the idiot swordsman had for his and Shiloh's relationship.

Of course, he himself put his and Nami's relationship on a pedestal, exactly where it should be. The inexperienced marimo would probably never reach that level since he was dumb and not nearly as gentlemanly as Sanji, but the cook supposed no one could since no man was as romantic as he and no woman as brilliant as the beautiful navigator. In his eyes, they were the ultimate couple and no one could ever hold a candle to them, no matter how hard they tried.

So lost was he in the thought of caressing Nami's beautiful pale cheek and kissing her soft lips that he didn't exactly notice that Luffy had abruptly stopped, causing the chef to run into and subsequently bounce off the rubber man and land on his ass in the sand.

"Luffy, what the-"

The words died on his lips as his eyes drew upward, spotting exactly what it was that had stopped his crewmates. He heard Zoro whistle in awe beside him. "That's a big ass tree."

Sanji had to snap his jaw shut to prevent Nami from seeing him gawking at the massive cloud of leaves. What they had thought were the treetops of many trees back when they had started drawing nearer to the shore was actually only a single tree on the other side of the island, it's leaves and branches spreading wide enough to look like the top of a jungle. The strangest part about it, however, was the deep red color of the foliage.

"Do you think the one inhabitant has anything to do with this?" Chopper squeaked nervously from behind Zoro's leg.

"Perhaps," Robin answered quietly.

"It's huge," Nami whispered breathlessly. Sanji dusted off his pants and gently took her hand. He looked up at the gigantic growth and nodded silently.

"It's just a tree," Zoro said with a snort.

Sanji sent him a glare. "You don't know that for sure, you arrogant bastard."

"What did you call me?!"

"You heard me you moss-for-brains sword-happy ass-"

Luffy jumped between them, arms around their necks as he swung forward happily, putting a stop to their fight before it even had a chance to really begin. "I'm getting excited!" He exclaimed. "Let's go and see what else is here!"

With one last glare at Zoro, Sanji began to follow the captain. When they had reached the point where the shore was ending and grass was beginning, he froze. The eerie feeling of being watched tickled the back of his neck and made a chill run down his arms. He turned around and found nothing. Strange…

Stranger still was that none of the others had shown any sign of having sensed the same thing he had. Sanji shook his head. He was probably just imagining things. Maybe he too, after a calm month of sailing, was getting excited at the chance of adventure.

At least that's what he hoped it was.

As he took his first step onto the grass of Eon Island, Sanji tried to squash the feeling of unease that had suddenly gripped his stomach.

It was probably nothing.

Still, as he walked firmly besides Nami, making sure to keep her hand in his, he couldn't help but hear Shiloh's voice ringing in his ears, cautious and worried, "I have a really weird feeling about that island."

A/N

Onwards towards adventure!

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