Chapter 2 - Missing?!

Zoro blinked steadily as his consciousness returned. He was surprised to see he was in a bed, a nice soft mattress. He scratched his emerald hair with his fingernails and sat up. The bed made an antique creaking noise as it shifted under Zoro's weight.

The young swordsman looked down, noticing someone had taken off his shirt. He muttered a few curses, thinking the worst, but was silently relieved when he found out he still had his pants on. “Where's my shirt?!” He whispered, looking to all his sides and even above him. But that particular piece of clothing was nowhere to be seen. “Oh well,” he said, and shrugged his bare shoulders as he hopped off the bed. “Now…where's Luffy…” Zoro peeked his head out of a doorway, making sure it was safe, and continued his exploration through what seemed to be a household. His ears caught the distant sound of sizzling, as if on a range. He followed the sound into a kitchen, where he saw a girl standing next to…guess who. A blonde man in black slacks.

The girl giggled, amused by Sanji's cooking talents. She muttered something to him and he turned his head and smiled, then continued on stirring something that smelled delicious. “That looks tasty, Sanji-Kun!” The girl complimented, and pulled something out of a cupboard. “Here, put this…in there.”

Sanji ceased the cooking for just a second to peer confusingly at a bottle. “Is this a spice?” He asked, and pulled the cork.

“Yes,” the girl replied happily. “I preserved it in a wine bottle to give it extra flavor!”

Sanji sniffed the cork, inhaling all the gentle smells of the antique wine. “Wow. I hope whoever enjoyed this wine had good taste.”

“Yes, they did,” the girl's happy disposition suddenly transformed into an almost sad look. Zoro eavesdropped quietly as the pair conversed in the small kitchen. Sanji blinked, unsure of why the girl's attitude had changed. “My parents had great taste for wine. They knew just what to drink it with, too.”

It finally dawned on Sanji what the girl was talking about. He didn't dare bring up the subject again, so he simply changed it. “So, how much should I put i-”

“Two tablespoons.”

Sanji was surprised by the girl's rapidity of answer. “Okay then, two tablespoons. What is in the spice, anyway?”

Zoro's eyes widened as his mind put together the puzzled. “It's a secret spice,” answered the girl, but shushed Sanji him by laying her finger gently over her mouth. “I can't tell you, heehee!”

Sanji laughed at the girl's giggly personality and inserted what he estimated was two tablespoons of the spice. “Okay, it's all ready. Say, when do you think the others will wake up?”

The girl cocked an eyebrow and spread a perplexed look across her face. “The swordsman should have woken up five minutes ago…” she scoffed, and started to walk from the kitchen with a dainty step. “I'll go see if he's still in bed.”

Zoro flinched as he saw her coming nearer, each of her steps seeming like an echo as they hit the tiled floor. Zoro rushed back to the room where he had come from and jumped onto the bed. It wasn't long after when the girl had reached the room, and she saw Zoro sitting up with his legs folded. “Hi,” He stated. `Who the heck are you?”

“I'm Kikilo! I live here by myself, and when I found you guys lying on the beach, I thought you looked like you were in a terrible condition. So…I took you back to my house. I hope you're feeling better.”

Zoro was just fine with her kindness, but was puzzled by one thing. “How'd you get us all back here?”

“Easy!” Kikilo replied, and sat herself on the empty bed next to Zoro's. “I had some help.”

“By…?”

“My cat.”

“Your…cat?”

“Yes! My cat.”

“How the heck could a cat help?”

“Hm? Oh. I'll spare the details until later. At least until the rest of your friends wake up. Considering the math, the one with the straw hat should be waking up in about three seconds…”

Zoro blinked. “Hat! Where's hat!” A voice cried, and a clang was heard in the kitchen. “Darn it, Luffy, you startled me!!!!” Yelled Sanji, and suddenly a sizzling sound was heard. “Youch! Hot pan! Hot pan! Hot pan!”

Zoro and Kikilo heard echoing footsteps as Luffy sniffed his way into the kitchen. “How big is this house?” Zoro asked; hands behind his head. Kikilo chuckled and smoothed the sheets from under her as she stood up.

“Humongous. Sanji-Kun told me that Straw Hat-Chan liked to eat, so it's no wonder why he found his way to the kitchen so fast. But he didn't tell me your name, even though I begged. All he did was reply, `just forget about him.' Is there a reason why?”

“No,” Zoro shrugged lazily, eyes involuntarily drooping as the softness of the bed soothed him. “He's just an idiot.”

“I see…” Kikilo smoothed her skirt and began to trot out the door to greet Luffy, yet stopped as she asked a question. “Once again, what is your name?”

“Roronoa Zoro.”

Kikilo gasped as she leaned against the doorway, taking it all in. Zoro was cautious, thinking she might attack. But instead a widespread grin came about on her face and her eyes grew wide. “Wow! Really?!?! In person?!?!?!”

Zoro cocked an eyebrow as Kikilo put her nose up to his. “Yes…have you heard of me?”

“What do you mean?!?!” Kikilo threw her hands up in the air, startling the entering Sanji. “Of course I've heard of you! Who hasn't?!”

Sanji leaned to the right and put his face next to Kikilo's. “Hi!”

Kikilo blinked and politely `shoved' Sanji face away from her own. “Here you guys are! I didn't even notice it! Roronoa Zoro, master swordsman; Sanji, kicking cook; Luffy, rubber man; and The Great Captain Usopp! You guys are the Straw Hat Crew!”

Sanji cocked his only visible eyebrow and looked Kikilo square in the eye. “But, you left Nami out…”

“Nami?”

“Yeah, our navigator.”

“I'm sorry, but there were only four of you on the shore. There wasn't any Nami.”

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