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EDITED AN: This chapter has been reedited (-,-)"

Disclaimer: One Piece is not mine...not mine...not mine...

"Everything has its beauty. But not everyone sees it." - Confucius

Chapter 1: The Encounter

"You're supposed to feel bored, ya know? Taking only one theme pics and all."

A certain green haired man glanced to the owner of the voice at his right side. He was used to it by now, it was not the first time someone said that to him ever since he started his work as a photographer. A freelancer, to be exact. He felt the freedom and serenity he had wanted if he chose this path. The only kind of picture he would take was a nature scene. Mother Nature, wildlife, countryside, flora and fauna, anything that is natural and soothing.

"Aren't you talking about yourself? You're the one with boredom here."

"Nope, it's about you, Zoro. And here I thought you would change your mind finally, try snapping a human photo for once."

"I've told you, I'm not interested. It's not like I never take any picture of people before."

The silver locks male went by the name Saga rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, half-heartedly with your second-rate mobile phone. Don't even challenge me to count how many of them you've captured and saved so far. You'll cry that I can get full mark for it."

"As if…."

"Come on man, humans are a lot more wonderful and mysterious than you can ever think of, especially women! The way they bend their bodies at any angle, ah I mean their gestures, the flexibility, skin colours, eye gazes…..."

Zoro tuned out his childhood friend's one-sided mumbling and rechecked his earlier shots within his DSLR camera. Perfect. The unique angle he founded at the top of the hill they were currently stepping on, he managed to catch some nice pictures of a golden sunset. The glittering sea water, a flocks of birds flew home, a single small ship spotted from afar and coincidentally several random fish jumped in and out of the orange-coloured sea were in the range.

Zoro truly loved them. No hypocrisy. No standardisation. Go with the flow.

"Aww God, what should I do?! At this rate, you'll be unaided forever! Get a life, bro, seriously!" Saga acted as if he was in despair of helping his dear friend, for trivial reason.

A vein popped in Zoro's head over the melodrama. "I'm touched. Thanks." At this point, he did not know why Saga even followed him that evening.

Both of them were about to ride on their motorcycles when Zoro's phone went off. Carefully putting away his camera equipment, he answered it quickly without looking at the screen, thinking Nami was the one who called. She usually did and if this was truly her, it became a bad news for him when it rang too long, he would be charged for wasting her time over a single call. Trust her to punish you with insensible amount of payment.

"Hello,"

One gulp. An imaginary thick rope smelled cash readily tightening around his neck.

"…Kenshin-san."

Zoro let out a breather, feeling relieved now he was released from a deadly money compensation sentence. The other party was not Nami to his luck.

"Robin? What is it…?"

Nico Robin, a historian, project director of several archaeological expeditions and the only nakama of his who tended to call Zoro 'Kenshin-san', literally meant 'Mr. Samurai'. She nicknamed him as such from the very first day of their association, the moment he pointed out to her a few errors of historical information about the exhibited ancient katana in the state museum one day. It got her more interested with the fact he too practiced Japanese style of swordsmanship.

Unbelievingly turned out to be Nami's best friend, Robin was quite a mature woman, a tad cunning, but protective towards her circle of friends. She favoured teasing them with worst-case scenario remarks whenever something wrong happened, made Zoro a bit wary of her. Other than that though, he had no hard feeling. Their nakama always thought Zoro and Robin could work out being together, well, they were erroneous.

"Will you spare some times tonight? Nami and Nojiko want to celebrate their mother's successful navy mission. We'll come to get you in four hours."

"Huh? Why do I have to tag along?"

"Because we all said so. Well then."

"Wha –? Wait! Darn... Where's the place?"

There was a long pause through the phone line, before Robin chuckled faintly on the other side, "A host club."

Zoro face-palmed to the revelation, his three teardrop-earrings chimed as they hit each other on his left ear. "I can't go in there, just in case you've forgotten. It's only for female. Go by yourselves."

"This club is different. They serve any customer, despite their genders. It's quite famous. Bet you don't know that."

Of course Zoro did not know it.

He was anti-social, entertaining himself by roaming around the bars and nightclubs were not in his list. Picture editing, arranging, laminating, framing, maintaining, and cleaning his camera kit were much better than those. The same went to his passion on sword-styled combat as well. The way the razor sharp katana swung to various directions, its blade shone under lighting, whole body sweating over a number of vigorous bearings, and tranquillity vibe from the concentrated trainings were enjoyable for Zoro.

Decided to agree rather than winning the situation, Zoro heaved out an exasperated outbreath after the conversation ended, catching Saga's attention beside him. "Hey, who was it? Your ex-girlfriend? Since when you had any in the first place anyway. You didn't tell me?"

"Idiot. She's Robin. We're going to party somewhere."

"REALLY? Can I join? Oh boy, it has been a long time since my last party. Never failed on getting some chicks wrapping around my waist like a boss -"

"That was just the day before yesterday. You had Maya already. Be loyal, will you."

Saga grinned widely to the comment. "Hahahaha don't be stingy, I can come along, right? Which bar is it? There's this bar where most sexy ladies go –"

"The host club."

"Okay, never mind Zoro. Let's go back. My divine Maya is waiting."

Whiskey Peak Host Club. It did not take long to arrive there, while the club's flashy crafted signboard illuminated with colourful neon lamps helped the customers to identify it among the other tacky clubs. The street was occupied with drunk people mostly, despite it was not even midnight. Zoro disliked the atmosphere, plus the cigarette smoke lingered in humid air mixed with variant thick perfumes, he felt nauseated. His female nakama did not affect by those anyhow. Talk about regular.

As they entered, one of the hosts greeted them with a vibrant smile, gentlemanly led them to the front counter. Nami, Nojiko, and the honourable guest of the night, Bellemere chose their favourite hosts meanwhile both Robin and Zoro skimmed the whole room.

It was indeed one of a kind. The design, decorations, and the colours combination were well-balance. Everything seemed sparkled, radiating a sense of happiness to the customers as they all laughing and giggling continuously, a complete opposite than the outside of the club. Hosts were not restricted to male only, they had both genders here, ready to amuse their patrons.

"Like it, Kenshin-san?"

Zoro grunted as an answer to Robin, made her chortled distantly.

All of them were directed to their seats. A few minutes past when several selected hosts accompanied the group. Handsome featured, as expected. Their outfits were almost flawless, no wonder the girls were swooning non-stop over each of them. As the ordered foods and drinks were on the glassy table, the mini party began.

Zoro was shocked at this. The hosts knew how to live up the gathering, their little space became cheerful in a matter of seconds. Everyone in the club enjoyed it together, singing and chatting excitedly, including the wily Nico Robin in her own composed way.

Changing his seat to the furthest one, Zoro sipped on the Sherry calmly. He felt a bit weird, not holding his camera in his hand.

"You're quite a grumpy guy, don't you?"

Whose voice was it? The green haired man looked up in front, his eyes widen instantly to the man before him. He was likely one of the hosts, yet Zoro could tell there was some kind of divergent aura about him.

The said guy was in his own class. Golden locks, half of his face was hidden by his soft hair, while his blackish, tight fitting suit gave away the curvature of his lean body, suited him without a glitch as if he had just came out of a fashion magazine. A metrosexual type of man, and were his eyebrows curled? Whatever it was, Zoro's vision definitely glued to the host, staring at him speechless. He never had been this stunned at first sight towards anyone but his beloved natural landscape. Putting the man within the same category…

He's beautiful.

"May I sit over there?"

Blinked twice, Zoro urged himself to speak something, anything. What should he say? He might be stuttered if he spoke in return, thus nodding was the only gesture he could do. The comfy seat crumpled a little as the said host sat down near him, crossing his legs. They both fell in an awkward silence, until the fascinating guy broke it.

"Is there any particular thing you like? Your wrinkles on the forehead are a bad indication of our service, actually. You never smile from the moment you entered. I can do something about it if you want." Zoro looked at him guardedly. This man was proposing his amenity, a precious opportunity to just let it slipping away. He just needed to tell him what he wanted and -

"Zoro!"

Nami had her eyes set on them at the same time and instantly waved, lastly noticing her missing green haired buddy. "You're supposed to join us! Oh hi, Ouji-sama! No work tonight? You would've been busy at this hour."

"Ah, Nami-swan~ Yeah, the manager gives me a rest today, though she wants me to standby just in case. Lucky for me I listen to my restless heart to visit here tonight, I don't know you lovely ladies will make a celebration~"

Nojiko suddenly interrupted, "This is for our mother's victory! Come here Ouji-sama, we'll introduce you to her."

As a genuine gentleman, the host apparently named Ouji-sama smiled to the ladies and took up the offer. When he was about to stand up, Zoro clamped his forearm by hand, jerking his movement. He turned his head to Zoro questionably, deliberating if the mossy haired male had decided on something. The determined look on Zoro's face flabbergasted him.

"I want to catch you."

The blonde widen his eyes upon such request. It sounded very odd in every way. Seeing the host's displeased expression made Zoro lost his confident. Was he going to refuse it? He should beg for it perhaps? Or did he say it wrong?

Oh.

"It's for my job, I'm a freelance photographer."

Ouji-sama's tensed shoulders had slumped downward slightly as Zoro reconfirmed. Could not Zoro make it more confuse than that, he wondered.

"I see. Not that I'm bragging, there are a lot of people like you had asked me the same thing. I turned them all down. Why do I have to abide yours?"

Prideful and cautious. Slowly Zoro began to analyse this man's persona.

"You…" Zoro hesitated, inhaling the heavy air intensely before he continued, "...are going to be my first humanoid picture."

"And? That makes it you're a newbie. Think I'll accept that easily?" Ouji-sama tilted his head to the left, showing a ridiculous expression to Zoro's answer.

Zoro's poise flew out of him, his grip on Ouji-sama's arm had loosened. He was bad with scouting person for a single shoot. He hated to deal with people. It was a sole purpose of why he started out with nature subject. The editors loved them nonetheless thus he felt nothing else mattered. Zoro dedicated his whole life by taking pictures for such genre, the mesmerising second of natural surroundings he wished to catch and to adore, nothing less and nothing more.

On the contrary tonight, another encounter with the same definition caught his prospect and went straight to his heart, akin to a key that opened the next door. Zoro felt an immerse desire to take the host, relished his gorgeous figure within the frame with the rest of his precious pictures. Only this guy…

That sort of feeling came again, a strange feeling once pushed him to take his first shot of something beautiful long ago and led him to where he was now. Desperation.

"Hmm. Since you're Nami-swan's friend," Ouji-sama smiled sinisterly when he saw the pitiable man's feature, "I'll consider it. Be downright grateful, dearest customer."

A personal card shoved onto Zoro's chest which contained the blonde's real name and a phone number as the latter made his way to the inviting ladies. Still gobsmacked through the entire treaty, Zoro sensed a tad irate to himself and to... He stared at the card. Sanji, was the arrogant host's name. Kurohashi Sanji. Closing his eyelids, Zoro calmed himself down while hoping not to be irked by the other's attitude. He had enough of being an ill-tempered guy excessively in the past. Once he got back home later, he planned to perform a meditation to reflect today's incident.

"Kenshin-san,"

Zoro opened his eyes gradually, glancing to the historian near him.

"Found your match, I presume."

Snickered, Zoro retaliated, "He's a bit tough, I can handle it still."

"I believe otherwise, for sure," Robin playfully whispered. "Call us just in case you're in need of witnesses while writing your will."

"You're a one hell of nakama, Robin." As much as he wanted to deny her grief-stricken comment, he had this lingered feeling that the newly acquainted host would be the death of him. He needed to pull all-nighter tonight for a longer meditation.

Standing in front of a cheap, two storey apartments, Sanji huffed a few smokes out of his burning cigarette. Deceptively, he had been standing there like a displayed mannequin for fifteen minutes upon requested by a certain algae headed man he just met yesterday. Zoro had asked him, nice and neat, to meet in this sunny morning at his house to get on business. Now the said guy made the VVIP waiting for too long, Sanji was about to yell the hell out of him when a creaking sound of a door was heard from the second level with a familiar individual popped out. Speak of the devil.

"You have no concept of time, marimo."

The 'marimo' twitched at it, yet another new nickname for him. He was continuously being spoiled by people around him in thousand different ways, did not he?

"Looks like I've been grudged by a curly-brow."

Sanji snapped to no end. Nobody should never, ever make fun of his eyebrows. "Want me to beat some manners into you?" He could not believe he would come here today for such discourteous person one had only just met within less than half day. "Since you're not really that serious about this, I'm out of here…"

"Hold it."

"Not happening."

Zoro frowned. When would he learn to stay polite on the first encounter with people, he thought to himself. "Sorry. I am serious."

The host halted his steps, slowly looked up behind him to find a pair of indomitable eyes met his.

Truth to be told, Sanji essentially interested to work together with Zoro. It was true that he pushed away most of the modelling invitations, getting too much attention than he already had would be infuriating. Yet he could not help but to follow his unusual instinct thickening after all that short chats last night.

The most expressionless customer in the club sat all by himself at the end of the fluffy seat, apparently thinking over something so hard in the middle of his friends' joy. It was intriguing for Sanji.

He found Zoro's appearance quite exotic, the man's greenish locks plus the tan skin and several earrings dangling on one of his ears. The casual attire consisted of white t-shirt and dark green pants with black boots apt the guy's sturdy limbs. Sanji's body moved on its own accord towards Zoro, spontaneously creating one or two excuses in his mind to initiate a conversation with the latter. The response he received was beyond his anticipation. The way Zoro's grey orbs pierced into his blue eyes, intimidating to the core.

Again, today too, Zoro stared at him powerfully.

Without a single word, Zoro nudged his chin to his door, signalling Sanji to enter his house. Though perplexed, Sanji took some steps ahead the stairs. He did not know how to refuse it anymore, besides, it would be a waste of time if he went home now that he had gotten here.

Zoro opened the entrance door for his honourable guest of the day. Sanji grunted in approval as he walked in, letting the other led him to one of the bedrooms. Zoro leaned against the wall of the room while looking at the blonde, as if he was waiting for the man's reaction. Puzzled by Zoro's silence, Sanji began to inspect the entire space, only to be dumbfounded to the scene before him.

The wall, almost full of it, was ornamented with countless framed photos. The amazing part was how magnificent each of them looked. Every image had its own story, gentleness, and neutrality, which spelled serenity to be looked at. There were pictures of a half-blooming flower sprinkled with what it seemed like morning dews, the longest waterfall in the world taken from an unthinkable vintage, and a dusky dawn with two silhouette birds on an opaque tree branch faced to the treasurable view. All of them were priceless, the one who took those must have been really loved, appreciated the Mother Earth. And that person was none other than Zoro.

Talk about Zoro, Sanji spotted several magazines stacked in a wooden rack at the corner of the room, with some of them even scattered all over on top of it. It was faint, but he noticed a familiar name on them, the reported news kept stating 'Roronoa Zoro' right here and there near the images shown on the covers.

"Wordless now? I rather indulge myself with this style of photos. I take pride in them more than a humanoid picture could offer."

Putting away his cigarette, Sanji gulped in disbelief. He knew now he was not dealing with an average photographer. If what Zoro said was valid, how about him being demanded for the exact purpose? "Then why…?"

"Ah, yeah." Zoro gazed sideways to the exquisite host he had been admiring since yesterday, blushing slightly in awkwardness. "I don't get it either, but you give off the same vibe as these. There's no suitable term to describe it…I think…but the feeling is alike…"

You are as beautiful and enthralling as the nature, captivating me to take you, admire you.

"…passionate. That's how I feel for every catch I'm about to do. I… feel that in you."

For the first time in his life, Kurohashi Sanji lost his words.

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