"You couldn't be romantic if you read shit out of a book!" Sanji snapped, stubbing his cigarette out in a case and storing it back in his suit jacket.

"I can do anything," Zoro insisted. He cast his eyes aside, thinking of Elly and what might come of this. That idiot cook was sure to force this issue too far...

"Prove it." Sanji pulled a chair over to him with one long leg and propped it backwards, resting his arms on it. "I want to see you woo the crap out of your furry girlfriend."

"Don't call her -"

"Your gir-"

"Furry!"

"Well." Sanji chuckled. "Hit a nerve there?"

"No need to say that," Zoro snorted. He stood up and grimaced as he stretched his massive arms over his head. "She's not always ...that way, and you know it."

"Whatever." The blond man dismissed that with a flick of his hand. "You wanna take the bet?"

"What's it worth?" He raised an eyebrow at the skinny cook. When the other mentioned alcohol on his side he grinned fiercely and shook his hand on it.

"Just remember if I win you're kitchen help for a week."

"Pffff. Be back here in fifteen minutes, ero-cook."

Sanji was back in ten.

He waited behind the half-open kitchen door, not imagining he'd ever lose. That big oaf couldn't be romantic even if he tried. He knew it. But after a few minutes around the bend came the woman that they were counting on to prove this and he held his breath when he saw a shadow close behind her.

Zoro reached out a hand and stopped her before the door. Sanji snorted. He'd picked roses? That was the best he could do? It was the oldest trick in the book. And yet Elly seemed transfixed by the image of the man holding the roses out before her. He knelt carefully, one in each hand and one between his teeth. Zoro looked calmly up and smiled through a mouthful of stem.

"What're you doing?" She gasped.

"Something so sweet for my kitten," he said softly. Sanji heard him, though, and the cook raised a curly eyebrow in amazement. How did he think of something so perfect? He couldn't have come up with anything so sweeping himself and this damned swordsman who didn't even know how to treat women just... He paused in his outrage. He was saying more.

"Zoro!" The blush on her cheeks was gorgeous. Sanji caught his breath in admiration at her maidenly confusion. Elly was usually so self-possessed but he could see her legs trembling from here.

"Do you trust me?"

"Trust you - do you have to ask? Yes."

"Fall."

Fall...?

She dropped immediately and the blond young man bit his lip, hard. His single visible eye opened wide. Zoro spat the rose in his mouth out, caught it in one hand and her in the other.

"Good girl," he murmured softly into her hair. It smelled like lavender and faintly of vanilla, a strangely compelling scent that Zoro was familiar with now. And he knew he'd won the bet but he didn't care anymore. All he wanted was to show her he meant the truth - right now as of this moment she was the most important thing to him. Other times he would be concerned about training, cleaning his swords or fighting to achieve his life's goal but he still took time for her. She had a place in his heart, a specific place that wouldn't be pushed aside for anything. The spot might get moved around a little to make space but that just meant he was serious about keeping it there for her.

Sanji watched with dismay as the green-haired swordsman carried the swooning girl up the steps to his quarters. He'd have to lay in a damn good supply of rum and sake to make up for what he'd just lost at the next stop.