Still not own One Piece, still not making money with this! Hope you like it!

Warnings: Yaoi, language…

Pairing: Sanji x Zoro

Please review and be gentle! Reviews are welcome! Thx!

"Hi, just as always in the first version not betaed. I hope you´ll enjoy the story. I had to say something more about month four as I thought, so this is an extra to it. In the next chapter our beloved cook and swordsman will get a little closer… ;)"

Month four- part two

Winter island- Library, two days before the attack of the shadow

The library was overwhelming! Unbelievable! A PARADISE to everybody who loved reading, studying, searching; for everyone who loved books. But not at the first sight. At the first sight the library was nothing else than a ratty tall, old building out of big grey bricks, looking as if it would break down every moment. It was attached to a small mountain, which surrounded about ¾ of the building. Also the lobby they entered into through a heavy iron door wasn´t as glamorous as Robin would have thought. It was nothing more than a small, white room with a very high ceiling, about 15 or more meters.

As Robin and the skeleton entered the room which led to the library they didn´t get anything more than a measuring look from the secretary at the desk standing in the middle of it. The old woman looked at her, then at Brook, up and down his white, pale bones.

"Devils fruit?" she asked curious, not the slightest afraid of a ´walking/talking´ skeleton with an afro.

"Yup." was Brooks only response.

"I see. What are you searching for?"

"I am sorry to ask but why is that of your business?" Robin asked, her voice polite and emotionless.

"Because you will not be able to find anything without help and it is also not allowed to anyone to wander around in the library all alone. You can easily get lost in these holy halls. And… As to infer from your wanted- posters I intend your researches to be as fast and as inconspicuous as possible… I suppose…?"

The archeologist just smiled politely and bowed her head.

"Then we would like to search for a very old language which I am not able to translate without help." She then showed the old woman the copy of the text from the treasure- chest. "I am also searching for information about an old treasure-chest which had pictures of a war between demons, angels and a big, black shadow engraved on it."

Again: "…I see… I think Immanuel will be able to help you." she said, her eyes flickering just the slightest but not unnoticed by Robin and Brook.

The secretary then reached under her desk with her right hand, after that she went back to whatever work she had done before the archeologist and the skeleton had entered. Round about 5 minutes later an old wooden door behind the desk opened and a young man about maybe Chopper´s age entered the room. He had dark blue hair, dark skin, was about 1.75 m tall and VERY lean. ´If cook- san would be here right now he surely would have had the urge to feed him´ Robin thought and just slightly raised an eyebrow at the sight of the young teen.

"He is not as useless as you may think now." the secretary answered Robins look, not even raising her head. After that she told the boy what the pirates were searching for as Robin showed him the copy of the text.

"I see…" seemed to be a very popular phrase in these ´holy halls´…

After everything was clear they were led through the door behind the desk. They entered a long corridor from which several doors leaded to other rooms. This corridor seemed to be older than the waiting room in front of the library. Lanterns were mixed with flambeaus at the walls. The whole corridor was made out of big, old, grey stones, though it was several times broken by newer looking red bricks, at some points it had been even whitened. The smell of mold mixed with dampness and another scent, like burned stone and paper raised both of their nostrils, though skeletons not even have nostrils SKULL JOKE! (A bad one, I know XP)…

They had been walking for about 2 minutes as the way in front of them parted into three different directions. They went the left way and after several more minutes, two other directions and four iron stairs, leading them even deeper into the depth of the building, they finally arrived an old, black wooden door with heavy, iron fittings and carvings in it. Immanuel now turned around to face them.

"We now are in the oldest part of the library." he stated. "I thought about your request since we walked down to this part. But I still cannot tell you if I am able to help you… The text you´ve showed me is very, VERY old… I somehow recognize the language, though. It could be the old language. The FIRST language, but I don´t know for sure… I´ve just seen a text in a language akin to this one once in my life before…

"This library is one of the oldest which is still existent. It is said that the collection of books and documents once went back for about 10,000 years. Maybe even this collection wouldn´t have helped you… Unfortunately I have to tell you, that about 100 years ago a big explosion and a fire destroyed almost the whole building and also the most of the documents. Several academics also lost their life that day and have taken their knowledge with them to their grave. Some of the older documents had been successfully saved, but it still was a great loss to the whole world… Since this time we protect and hide all of the older documents which lead more than 100 years back, we especially hide them from the world government…" he said, looking at the archeologist with all-too-knowing eyes, betraying the age of his body.

Robin was shocked. She never had thought the world government would go THAT far to hide the real history from the world… It was more than a pity. It was a crime… No, it was…

It was the first time the archeologist was at a loss for words and at the edge of self- control, tears of anger burning in her dark blue eyes as she clutched her hands into fists at the side of her body…

"So, why are you telling us all of this?" Brook asked. "Couldn´t we also be a danger? And… Why not more safety arrangements if these documents and books are that… valuable…?"

"The more ´open´ safety arrangements the more attention." Immanuel stated, matter of factly. "Believe me when I assure you that the documents are safe…" he said with a deep, dark glimmer in his eyes, again looking older and now more dangerous than ever before. There was no doubt about what the boy (?) just had said. "And why I am telling you all of this… Well, lets say we heard some rumors about you, especially about a certain Nico Robin who is trying to find the Porneglyves… I am sorry to tell you that you will not find one at this island, not even a hint. About this point ´they´ had been very thoroughly…"

Immanuel finally turned back to the door and raised his hand, not touching it.

Only now Brook and Robin were able to see that there was no doorknob or a lock at the door. Immanuel closed his eyes and bowed his head as a low click was to be heard, startling both Nakama. The door slowly, quietly swung open as Immanuel entered the room behind…

XXX

Two days later

Brook had finally been able to drag Robin out of the library without beating her unconscious. It had been a hell of a lot of work, though. If it hadn´t been for the worry about the well- being of their Nakama Robin surely never would have left the old library. Even if she was searching for a translation of the old treasure chest there were still so many books of the history hundreds and thousands of years back. She didn´t sleep, she didn´t eat and just drank the water the skeleton all but forced down her throat. Robin almost became mental as Brook finally stated that they had to go back to the ship.

As exhausted as she was, without sleep and food, Brook decided to carry her back to the ship: bridal style… Maybe he should let her down before the cook saw them… Black shoe imprints were not easy to polish away from a skull…

As Immanuel had said, there hadn´t been as many information as they had hoped. They had found SOMETHING, though they would tell their Nakama as soon as they got back to the ship…

XXX

Same time- Infirmary, Thousand Sunny

Sanji woke up about one hour later after the attack. As he lifted his gaze he was met by a pair of concerned, green eyes and a sleeping girl at his side.

"Ungh… M- My shoulder…" he moaned. "What the fuck happened?"

"You don´t remember?" Zoro asked, concern swung within his voice.

"Just…" Sanji frowned. "Angel screamed, I went up to the crows nest. Then… There was a shadow, surrounding you… After that…" the curled brow furrowed even more as the cook tried to remember what happened afterwards.

"The shadow attacked me. After that you attacked that black-ameba-thing…"

The look on the swordsman face, especially in his eyes now swung between concern, curiosity and… amazement…?

"Since when are you able to use swords? And why did you never tell me?"

"Huh?"

"You really don´t remember, do you? You used Wadou and Shuusui to attack that shadow-ameba-thing. Franky will have your ass for that, you´ve broken a part of the crows nests walls with one of these… Fire-Katana-thing-attack… How- How did you do that? What WAS that attack? How long did you practice for that? I´ve never seen you use swords other than your big cutting knifes. How the hell did you do that? Who taught you to fight like that? Who was your Sensei? What´s the name of these attacks and the name of the style? Since when-"

"Whoa, whoa, stop it, Marimo! I get quite a headache here! One question a time!"

The cook had never seen the swordsman that impressed, his eyes glowing with big interest and something else he couldn´t quite put a finger onto right now, watching him. What the fuck had happened? As the swordsman finally had calmed down enough to tell the cook what the hell HAD happened, Sanji remembered slowly. It had been the same feeling like the first time the Marines attacked. The cook had been in panic both times. The sight of the girl in the Marines arm and the sight of the ameba-shadow-thing strangling his Nakama to death made his mind stop, his heart skip a beat just to start beating even faster, painfully against his ribcage. After that his mind had clouded and he had acted out of instinct, as if he just KNEW what he had to do right now.

All of these memories he told the swordsman (everything but the ´heart-skipped-a-beat-just-to-beat-itself-out-of-his-chest-thing´, OF COURSE!).

The cook was still able to remember the sight of the swordsman, standing in the middle of a circle of blood in a big pile of ruins, soaked in blood, almost dead, falling straight into his arms, unconscious. That had been one of the most worst days in the cooks life and he has had a hard time admitting it to himself, that he never, NEVER wanted to see one of his *CHOKE* best, *SWALLOW* closest friends EVER like that again! So, maybe, MAYBE he had just grabbed Zoros swords out of instinct after his Honey had told him that his own weapons wouldn´t help this time, to protect his Nakama, the (´Oh my god, I do NOT think this for real!´) `MOTHER` of his daughter…

A loud, angry call of

"SHIT-SWORDSMAN, SHIT-COOK!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!? GET YOUR FUCKING ASSES OUTTA HERE! YOU ARE SO DEAD!!!"

pulled them out of their rather confused conversation. They looked into each other´s eyes…

"Uh Oh…"

XXX

Finally Brook and Robin arrived the ship just to find a fuming Franky, an injured cook, a sleeping, little girl, a rather bewildered swordsman and a half blown- up crows nest. An emergency meeting was fast arranged as the cooks injured shoulder was treated by their doctor who had gotten back along with Franky and the rest of the crew.

"…I see…" was one of the phrases which suddenly had become VERY popular at the Red-Line, at least by their archeologist, was she using it several times during the cooks and the swordsmans explanation.

Concerned looks and theories crossed the table in the Galley as suddenly a very tired, blond girl opened the door of the infirmary to the kitchen. Chopper was right behind her, had he just been looking after her since the whole meeting had started. One point had been clear pretty fast: Never leave Angel out of your eyes anymore! Whatever it had been attacking them, it could have met her without anyone around. Angel didn´t seem to remember the whole incident and they would happily leave it at this point, not wanting to scare the child more as they had to do. Maybe the attack of the shadow had been a one-time-thing, then they would scare her for nothing.

It was already 11 pm as the cook and the swordsman grabbed the little girl, not wanting to leave her out of their eyes as they apologized themselves (actually Sanji apologized themselves to the ladies) an went off to bed, the rest of the crew left behind with some sandwiches for supper and their own thoughts.

After Sanji and Zoro had left the kitchen, Robin catched the attention of the rest of the crew, telling them what the skeleton and she had found at the library.

She finally had been able to find out which language it was: It really was the old, the FIRST language ever written down in letters. It was said that they once had been spoken by the people of heaven and the people of hell and, no, Skypea wasn´t meant by that. Unfortunately, they hadn´t found any books to actually translate the rest of the text.

But they had found out something about a war, first between heaven and hell as the earth was still young and the human race nothing more than a slobbering, grunting mess in caves, wrapped in fur. One of the documents said that the war had started even sooner, with a crime no one could describe. Not even god had been able to forgive the crime and finally had, crestfallen, defeated decided to retire, to leave the three dimensions alone to lead themselves into their own doom… Also something had developed out of the crime and the war, something so unbelievable earth- shattering that, once it had been set free to the new, innocent world, not even the lord of heaven and the lord of hell together with all demons and angels had been able to destroy it.

You cannot kill what wasn´t born

(A/N: I hope you know what I mean by that, dunno if I use the right phrase…)

one of the documents had said.

But how the war finally had ended and why still was a mystery… There had been missing oh-so-many documents and books, all gone with the fire or thousands and thousands of years ago that they hadn´t been able to get a clear picture. Not even the treasure-chest or the crime itself had been mentioned in details.

As the crew finally asked why Robin and Brook hadn´t said anything in front of the cook and the swordsman, the archeologist answered, that she didn´t wanted to worry them more as she had to do. They already were worried enough about their ´daughter´. The cook was looking skinnier and sicker from day to day and the worry lines between the swordsman´s brows and upon his forehead had become even deeper since the first attack of the Marines, he also was even more quiet than ever before. Maybe everything she had found out was nothing more than a fairy tale, with not even a notch of truth in it and the girl just a gift to, in some odd ways, connected pair of fighting, bitching idiots.

The bond, though, had been mentioned in one of the documents. But what kind of bond seemed to depend upon the involved persons. There was no doubt anymore that the cook, the swordsman and the girl were connected to each other. Maybe just by friendship, maybe also even deeper, a bond of the heart and the soul, but THAT information was far too personal to speak out loud in front of the crew. It was enough to let them know that, when Sanji and Zoro were fighting seriously, the crew had to distract them, because then something happened to Angel, involving a dark shadow clouding her mind.

They finally decided to watch over the little girl more entirely, letting Sanji and Zoro have their own way with each other. The whole crew knew that they were close friends, even if they maybe didn´t realize this by themselves. They had been just fine like the way they were in the last few years they knew each other. The competitions, bets and fights nothing more than sparing, playing, letting off some steam at long, boring journeys over the sea. If the crew would push them into a forced friendship this surely would end up in a complete disaster, knowing the two stubborn idiots just all too well. Also to hold them off of each other wouldn´t help…

Because the whole crew also knew another thing all-too-well:

Sanji and Zoro maybe couldn´t life with each other, but even more they couldn´t life without each other!

XXX

Zoro was lying in their bed, facing the cook and the girl between them, still awake. It was in the middle of the night, about one or two o´clock in the morning. The heaven in front of the porthole was dark and clear, thousands of stars shining down at the Thousand Sunny together with a full moon. Bright rays of cold, silver moonlight were shining through the small porthole, bathing the two blond, sleeping figures beside him in his pale light.

It was one of the few nights in his life the swordsman wasn´t able to sleep, was his mind just racing, playing the day over and over like an old film or a melody you just can´t get out of your head.

And it all led always back to the fight of the shit-cook and the shadow. He was concerned it might happen again, yes, but that wasn´t what led his attention back again and again to the fight in the crow´s nest.

A small, lean waistline surrounded by his swords as powerful legs catapulted the body they belonged to right into the direction of the enemy. A strong slash, followed by swords of fire, smashing a good part of the walls into thousands and thousands of tiny, little pieces.

A bead of sweat running down this long, slender, pale neck as he tried not only to protect his daughter, but also Zoro himself.

´I am not falling for the bastard. I am NOT falling for the bastard. I am not FALLING for the bastard. I am not falling for the BASTARD.´

The panic and worries clearly written in the heavenly blue eye as he tried to attack the ameba for the first time; at the sight of him, captured by the ameba, not even thinking about his own health… Just like the day back at Thriller Bark as the cook had offered to give his life for no one else but HIM! Not for Nami, not for Robin, not for his Captain, no- for ´the-shitty-Marimo´ and for no one else…

´Iamnotfallingforthebastard! Iamnotfallingforthebastard! Iamnotfallingforthebastard!´

Sanji stirred in his sleep and turned around onto his back, heaving a deep sigh in his sleep, mumbling something about "Get outta the way, Marimo…", the rays of moonlight playing with golden streaks of hair. It looked like liquid silver and gold, running down a beautiful, angelic face.

Zoro merely grunted and turned around…

´I am falling for the bastard…´