How could one day go so wrong? Zoro wondered to himself. First, he fell out of bed, giving himself a nasty bruise. Then, Sanji had insisted on picking fights with him. Now, he was in the middle of what was possibly the most dangerous battle of his life. And to top things off, he was alone. He growled as he swung his swords to block two incoming blades. It had started out as just a few guys trying to rob him. Zoro naturally defended himself. But these guys were stronger than they appeared. He shook his head to remind himself that he was fighting as he had to nimbly leap out of the way of a large broadsword swung at his legs. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glimmer of the sun on metal. He ducked and brought his swords up, but to no avail. He felt blood pouring down his cheeks as his vision swam. He gritted his teeth against the pain and tried to focus. But before he could gather himself, one of his mysterious enemies had come up behind him with a large hammer. He could tell what was coming and braced himself. But the pain never came. He turned his head, and through the fog that was developing in front of his eyes he was able to see Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats taking down his foes. He managed to give them a cocky grin before he passed out.
He woke up what felt like much later. He figured there was a good chance that it was nighttime, given that he was unable to see anything. There was also a weird sort of pinching feeling on the side of his head, but he dismissed it as he felt the knot of his bandanna. He stretched for a moment, but realized he was incredibly sore. He got up, slowly, and felt his way around the room. Yes, this was definitely the infirmary. He was surprised when a large pair of hands grabbed his shoulder. "Chopper? What are you doing up so late?"
He felt Chopper tense up when he asked the question, which seemed odd. "Um, Zoro, you-"
"ZORO!"
Chopper was interrupted by the energetic cry of his captain, who realized Zoro was awake. "Luffy, leave him alone."
There was Robin. Is everyone up? He wondered vaguely. His thought was answered by hearing Sanji swooning over Nami and Robin while Usopp bragged to Luffy. Zoro was getting a headache from all the noise. Soon, he decided enough was enough. "EVERYONE GET THE HELL OUT!"
He shouted above the crowd. The crew became dead silent. "Go get some sleep." He added, walking over to the infirmary cot and wondering why they were all up in the first place.
Everyone was silent for a few more moments. Luffy finally broke the silence. "Why would we sleep now? It's 3:00 in the afternoon."
Zoro froze at his words. "What?" He heard Chopper take a deep breath.
"That's what I was trying to tell you before everyone busted in. Zoro… You were blinded during the fight."
Zoro almost fell over at the words. He might have, even, if it weren't for Robin's 'extra' arms. Blinded…? No. No way. Chopper gently shooed everyone out of the room, feeling Zoro might need some time to process this newest development. Zoro sat down, and realized he was shaking. As he willed his hands to steady themselves, he reached up to feel the fabric on his head again. That knot didn't belong to his bandanna. It belonged to a set of bandages wrapping around his head. He leaned heavily against the wall and sighed. "I'm not used to fighting blind. What the hell am I supposed to do now?" He said, louder than he intended.
"How am I supposed to know?" came a familiar voice.
"Stupid dart-brow!" Zoro yelled at the cook. "Chopper told you to leave!"
Sanji rolled his visible eye at Zoro. "Yeah, and you always follow his instructions, stupid marimo." Zoro growled in the back of his throat. "If I could see, you'd be on the ground begging for mercy by now." He swore he could hear Sanji smirk at him. "Yeah, yeah. Get some sleep, stupid." He heard the slight click of Sanji's heels on the wooden floor as he left the room, closing the door behind him.
