It was a lovely day in the small port town where the Thousand Sunny had docked to resupply. Bright, sunny, warm without being too hot, a light sea breeze washing over the small harbor town, and no one was shooting at them. Truly a beautiful day.

And the fact that Zoro was observing this scene alone had him wondering why the hell he was the only one loading supplies. "Luffy!"

It wasn't his captain who answered, but instead Sanji as his blond head poked out of the galley to glare at Zoro for being so loud. "Shut up, idiot, he's not here."

Zoro returned the glare as he hauled another crate of who-knew-what onto the ship. "Where the hell is he?"

"He went with Nami and Franky into town," Sanji said distractedly and turned to head back inside.

Zoro frowned and decided he should pay more attention to that sort of thing. "Then get your ass out here and help."

Sanji paused to send an annoyed look Zoro's way. "I'm busy." This earned him a scowl and he smirked. "What, can't manage by yourself?" he taunted.

"I have better things to do than spend all day hauling this stuff." There sure as hell was enough of it; crates and barrels and other supplies were stacked high on the dock waiting to be carried onto the ship. Sanji had done the shopping that morning with Zoro and Chopper as pack mules, and now Chopper was busy putting away delicate medical supplies while Zoro was stuck with the rest of the labor. And it wasn't as if it was overly difficult, just that it was immensely time-consuming.

Sanji offered him a disinterested look. "If you want to eat, you'll finish loading it." And then he was gone, stepping into the galley again and leaving Zoro to seethe on deck.

"Bastard cook," the swordsman muttered. "Can't even--"

"Gomu Gomu no ROCKET!" Zoro ducked on reflex just in time to avoid Luffy's speeding form as the captain launched himself onto the deck with a shrieking Nami clinging to his shoulders. Franky followed a moment later as he pulled himself aboard with his chain-arm. Apparently neither of them had considered using the loading ramp as a means of getting on the ship. That would have been, you know, normal, and thus no fun at all.

Zoro scrambled to his feet to throttle his captain, but Nami beat him to it by cracking her Clima-Tact over Luffy's head. And anyway, Franky was already offering his help with the supplies, so that served to placate the swordsman slightly.

"We could have walked," Nami harped at Luffy as she regained her footing on the lawn.

"Owowow!" Luffy rubbed his abused head and gave Nami puppy-dog eyes. "But you said it was important!"

Nami blinked and then her eyes snapped to the parcel tucked neatly under her arm. She let out a delighted squeal as if she had just remembered she was carrying it and twirled with it clutched to her chest. Then she stopped and turned on Luffy with hard eyes, girly-moment thus ending. "When everything's loaded and Robin and Brooke get back, bring everyone inside, okay?" And she sauntered off to the galley to get herself a drink. Well, to have Sanji get her a drink. Same thing.

Luffy pouted after her – who was the captain here anyway? - then yelped when a cabbage hit him in the back of the head.

"Get over here and help with this stuff," Franky said as he walked by Luffy with a huge barrel balanced on each shoulder. Well his hands were full, so he hadn't thrown the offending vegetable...

Luffy looked over to where Zoro stood near the railing wearing a too-innocent expression.

The swordsman was standing right next to a slatted wooden box filled with cabbages.

Luffy let out an accusatory sound and charged the swordsman, and Zoro made a valiant attempt to get out of his captain's way, but Luffy crashed into his chest and they both pitched over the railing and fell screaming off the side of the ship, down into the warm waters below.

Franky reemerged a moment later and looked around the lawn with a confused expression, then shrugged and went back to loading supplies.

~ ;3 ~

"You had something to tell us, navigator-san?" Robin inquired as she walked with Brooke into the dining room where Nami had commandeered the dining table. The room was large enough that everyone could fit comfortably and still have a good view of what the navigator had to show them.

"Yes," Nami said with a familiar gleam in her eye. Then she blinked and straightened from the table to do a head count. Franky, Robin, Brooke, Chopper, Sanji, Usopp... "Where the hell are Zoro and Luffy?"

"They were just coming out of the water when we returned," Brooke supplied.

"Out of the water...?" Nami gave the musician a confused look and then turned to the doorway as the missing pair slogged into the room. They were soaked through and looking miserable, though Luffy looked slightly worse. Nearly drowning, being rescued, then having your rescuer pummel you could do that to a person.

"You're dripping all over the floor," Sanji pointed out helpfully and Franky looked less than pleased.

"Shut up, dartboard," Zoro replied maturely as he moved to get himself a seat. He was glad he had left his swords inside, or they would have taken a dunk in the ocean right along with him.

"You starting something, marimo? You--" Nami cut Sanji off before things got messy, "Sanji, could you get Robin and I something to drink? She just got back, I'm sure she's tired."

Everyone tried their best to ignore the sappy show Sanji put on before twirling out of the room to do Nami's bidding. By the time the cook returned, everyone was settled down and waiting to see what the navigator was so excited about.

Nami waited until she had everyone's full attention before speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said grandly as she lifted a rolled-up piece of parchment from the table and drew off the ribbon that bound it in one fluid motion, "I give you.... Libitina!"

The paper unfurled and settled over the table gracefully, revealing that it was in fact a map, and a beautiful map at that; the detail was exquisite and it looked older than any of the people currently in the room. Nami had probably swooned when she saw it.

"A map?" Luffy tipped his head to the side as he studied the paper. "What's it of?"

Nami slapped away the rubbery hand that had extended to touch the parchment and Luffy yelped. "An island," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Is it a treasure map?" Chopper asked, looking excited.

"Yes!" Nami was grinning ear-to-ear. "I picked it up in town this morning."

"You mean you stole it," Zoro commented flatly, looking less than interested. Sanji glared at him in silent warning.

"Liberated it," Nami corrected. No direct denial there. "It's in much better hands now." She lovingly traced one of the faded lines on the parchment with a fingertip.

"Well it certainly is in marvelous condition, if it's appearance is any indication of its age," Brooke said as he leaned over the table to study the large map without actually touching it since Nami was watching both him and the parchment like a hawk. He tapped a skeletal finger against his chin and made a thoughtful sound.

"If it's so old, how do you know it's still accurate?" Zoro asked as he walked over to eye the map with Brooke, though he viewed it with less awe and more doubt.

"Way ahead of you," Nami said gleefully. "I went ahead and hunted up some information on the island while I was in town, and apparently no one's visited the island in decades."

"That you know of," Zoro muttered, eyes scanning the map.

Nami shoved the swordsman back with a hand on his head, since his hair was still wet and threatened to drip sea water on the delicate parchment. "You're too negative," she said dismissively. "And anyway, as the story around here goes, there's a huge treasure hidden on the island." That gleam had returned to her eyes and she looked just a tad evil.

"You're too greedy," Zoro countered mildly, and then ducked to avoid Sanji's foot.

"Don't talk to Nami-san that way," the cook snapped, and Zoro glared at him. "You want a fight?"

"I'll kick--" Luffy stood up abruptly and nearly knocked Sanji over, leaving the blond flailing to catch himself.

Luffy was grinning and everyone knew what he was about to say before he even opened his mouth; "We're going to that island!"

"Are you sure about that?" Franky asked, seeming to lean a bit more toward Zoro's opinion on the matter. "We don't know much about it. What if it's a fake?"

"What if it's dangerous?" Usopp added quickly. "There must be something wrong there if no one's gone to get the treasure..."

"Doesn't matter; we're pirates, and that's a treasure map." Luffy said this like it was the only reason he needed to go chasing after some mystery treasure.

Robin smiled faintly at her captain and rose to her feet to walk over and study the map herself now that the small crowd around the table had cleared up. To her the map looked authentic... though she doubted Nami would be easily fooled by a fraudulent map anyway. She voiced this opinion, and Luffy's grin widened.

"That settles it," the captain said as he straightened the straw hat on his head. "Tomorrow, we sail for Libitina!"

! ~ ;3 ~ !

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AHEAD! :'D

lol Luffy got the name right. XDDD First try!

Libitina, the name of the island, is actually the Roman myth name of a goddess of corpses, funerals, and the dead. Her name was synonymous with the word "death." :3

Ah yes, as you might have guessed this is the much-anticipated (note: not) serious fic. :v It wont be all spiffy and happy like my others... but don't worry, there will be some humor. :3 I just can't abide stories that take themselves too seriously.

I'm not sure about a pairing yet... If anything it'd be SanjixZoro, but if it is, it'll be more like subtle hints instead of REALLY OBVIOUS. :v Which means if you don't like the pairing, you can ignore it. XD But the story will focus mostly on those two in later chapters. Just so you know.

So, ahm, important things to know about this story: mild romance (SORTOF), treasure, and Zoro!sick. :v Well, that's the plan anyway.

o_o And as a side note, I had a hard time remembering all the rooms on the Sunny. How do you people do it? I had to stick with rooms I knew... XD Gad.

Well, wish me luck. I'll need it.