This was a requested fic from...er lets see here...Kaitaru Seras Viktoria Hatake (Phew! I hope my spelling's right)...I mean, if you ask so nicely, I can't really fight it, can I?
To be honest, I'm pretty impartial with the pairings with Robin, cause she hasn't really shown any preference towards anyone (even to this crazy fan's eyes) and what's more, I have no experience whatsoever with this pairing so I do hope you guys like it.
This is a sequel, but it's more like a continuation so it would be better if you actually read the first one 'Under the mistletoe' before this one.
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece (I really should get some new disclaimers)
This Christmas was special.
When the resident archaeologist on board came back up on deck, she noticed the cuddling couple and smiled. The last Christmas had been eventful. After they had noticed the captain outside talking to the navigator, she and Zoro had come up with a plan to bring them closer together. Not that she wanted to speed up their relationship or anything, but Zoro had remarked that the two were exceptionally stubborn and needed an excuse to take their relationship to the next level. Which meant that the plan was quickly rejected by Sanji and he attempted to get out on deck to stop them from talking. Leading to the scuffle that ended with Sanji being tied up till his body was completely covered, while his mouth was gagged with a convenient kitchen cloth that was on the table. When they attached the accessory to the top of the door, the cook's struggling reached a new level and he threatened to break through the ropes with sheer willpower. The plan came through beautifully and while most of the crew didn't notice, the two held hands throughout the entire party. Sanji required a lot of convincing just to participate in the party. Although neither she nor Zoro thought that he was capable of mauling the captain, they still intervened when Sanji attacked him. It was a long time later, under the express orders of the captain, did he get out of the ropes. He seemed very depressed, but soon lightened up under the cheery atmosphere of the party.
Of course, no one really expected them to go under the mistletoe the second time. Luckily, Zoro was nearby and they both managed to restrain the furious cook. The couple spent the rest of their night on Sunny's head, which meant the cook couldn't attack Luffy unless he wanted Nami dropping into the sea as well. Sanji was disgruntled, but in a while he grudgingly accepted that Nami was in love with the teenage captain. Which meant he was hanging around Robin a lot more. That was nothing she couldn't handle, but with the cook in such a dangerous mood, it was really hard to stay neutral. Of course, it's always at these times that Zoro would drop in with an insult or two, which would end with them fighting. Always with perfect timing, she would think.
Then there was the incident after that…just thinking about it made her face heat up. The rest had gone out on deck to listen to Brook and Franky's duet, leaving her and the swordsman in the kitchen. They had intended to go out with the rest, but the cook was finding ways to get under the mistletoe with Robin, so she had stayed in the kitchen, with the swordsman involving himself with another fight with the cook. The cook had ended up going out with the rest while Zoro stayed in the kitchen, saying something about 'being allergic to blonde hair'. After Brook and Franky started their third song, they both got up to join the others. It was when they got to the door did they realise that they had forgotten to take down the mistletoe. They both looked up at it, then at each other, before turning away from each other, both sporting distinctly pink faces. Luckily none of their crewmates were there.
Then came the kiss…neither of them really knew who started it or under what impulse did they have to continue, but a quick peck turned into a deep, almost longing kiss, as if both of them had been hoping for it for a very long time. When they parted, they noticed that they were in a tight embrace with their arms around each other. Their faces now red, they quickly separated from each others' grasp. Zoro jumped up to take the mistletoe off the top of the doorway, before they both sat down to calm themselves down, unable to make any eye contact with each other. When Franky and Brook ended their fifth song, they finally got up and left the kitchen, hoping that their faces still weren't red.
None of the crew seemed to have noticed that they had come out together, or that their faces had just 5 minutes before resembled bright-red tomatoes. That reassured her that no one knew their little secret, although the orange-haired navigator, in the lap of the captain who was turned towards the music on deck, may have caught a glimpse of the two of them turning red when they accidentally got eye contact. Both of them stayed out on deck pretty long, the only ones left on deck besides the two were the new couple. Two new couples on deck, she had thought, which made her face turn red again, catching the attention of a certain moss-haired swordsman. The sudden eye contact made them both of them have to leave the deck very quickly, both sporting red faces that neither want the seemingly clueless captain nor the curious and possibly scheming navigator to see.
She was pulled out of her little daydream of the last Christmas together when the captain and navigator came down; to inform her of the little Christmas decoration that Nami was hiding in her pocket. Hiding due to a certain cook being rather paranoid about it because of the last time. She noticed that Luffy was hanging extremely close to the orange-haired navigator. Not at all surprised that the young captain was being rather possessive, she wondered what the cook was going to do about it when he finds out.
The sun had just gone down when Nami came to inform her that dinner would be a bit late as Sanji wanted to add something big for the event. Robin was a bit skeptical about it due to the navigator giving her a somewhat mischievous glance, but for once she passed it off as her paranoia acting up. After all, there was nothing for her to hide, right? She watched her go off to the kitchen, where it seemed that a lot of work was going on with the amount of noise that was coming from there. Was Franky also doing some work? She could use her powers to check, but she would rather their great design be kept secret. It would ruin the surprise, so she resisted the urge to find out. She looked up from her book and noticed Zoro sleeping on deck. She looked to his sleeping face, tracing along his new scar, to the three blades at his side, to his robe, to his boots, to the red sash around his waist and up to his exposed chest, tracing the scar and lines that defined his abs with her eyes…then she turned red as she realised what she was doing. As if on cue, the swordsman woke up to see the red-faced archaeologist staring at him. The sudden eye contact meant that her face became a brighter shade of red as she quickly looked away, extremely embarrassed and not yet ready to face him. Of course, the swordsman was intrigued by such a reaction and proceeded to walk over to her, sitting right next to her chair. Her strange reaction, along with her red face, was a dead giveaway and, despite him being apparently clueless about these affairs, like the captain, he was actually pretty sure what was going on.
"What's wrong? Your face is all red, are you sick?"
Feigning being clueless usually helped the opposite side calm down, but with him employing such a mocking tone, Robin's face could only stay red with the realisation that Zoro seemed to know exactly what was going through her mind.
"I'm not sick, but it seems you know what's happening, so why don't you tell me?"
Zoro wasn't particularly surprised that she tried to play it aggressive, but he still tried to maintain the somewhat neutral position. He stood up and leaned towards her, feigning the same apparent clueless gaze.
"Hmm, what do you mean by that? You really are sick, aren't you?"
The mocking tone was still there, evident to anyone that was there to hear it. Luckily, it seemed that no one was on deck at that moment. Robin's face was still red, so she figured she needed a companion. She stood up quickly and almost jumped on him, taking him to the floor. Her face ended up resting on his chest, prompting his face to turn scarlet in response.
"Now you're sick as well."
They both stayed in that position for a while, staring into each others' faces to look for reactions, before realising their suggestive position and quickly standing up, facing away from each other. Both were pretty embarrassed by that display of affection and hoped that none of their crewmates had spotted them. They stayed like that for a while, trying to get their emotions under check, and then turned around to face each other.
"Ermm..." "Neh…"
They both turned at the same time and for a split second their faces were less than an inch apart. Their faces became a brighter shade of red as they saw how close they were to each other. They quickly backed away from each other, not able to turn away from the other yet not really capable of making any eye contact. They stood in an awkward silence before Robin decided to break into it.
"Err… Zoro…do you have a particular type of girl that you like?"
Zoro was a bit surprised that she would ask such a question. She wasn't as clueless towards his feelings as Nami was towards Luffy's. Or maybe she needed some sort of reassurance that she was right about what she thought. Or maybe she was just teasing him. Well, there's only one way to find out, he thought as he crafted out his answer.
"Hmm… well I don't really know… quiet girls are the best cause they are usually more understanding, if they knowledgeable that's good cause I'm not, and there is a particular woman that I'm interested in that carries a mysterious and macabre atmosphere around her, you should know who she is, don't you?"
At his last statement, she could only raise her hands to cover her flushed cheeks. She then walked over to him and gave him a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"Yup, I think I do know who that woman is."
They stayed like that for a while, before Usopp's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Oi, Zoro, Robin, it's time for dinner!"
They quickly separated, cheeks turning pink as they looked to see if anyone had seen their little show. In actual fact there was no one on deck at all. They looked at each other on last time before heading towards the kitchen, entering through the doorway together.
It only took an instant for the pair to notice that Sanji was not there. Considering that he had been hanging around Robin a lot more since the navigator started going out with the captain, the sudden missing presence was a bit unnerving. Then they noticed something that was rolled up with iron bars and a lot of extras, before realising that it was Sanji with a metal bar this time covering his mouth. Catching the cue from their crewmates, they slowly looked up to the top of the doorway to see a bunch of mistletoe on top of them.
That explained the barred-up and 'gagged' cook, who was struggling even with the massive weight on him. Apparently, the crew figured that he would be well capable of burning through ropes and cloth, but they also added a Haki-reinforced leg from Luffy to coil around the cook just in case he could burn through iron as well. That didn't stop him from trying, so flames could be seen from the perculiar artwork that was covering Sanji.
The both of them looked at each other, wondering what to do while their faces started getting redder by the second. It wasn't helping that the crew was watching them intently, especially the other couple that was giving them burning gazes. Giving in to the fiery gaze of his captain, Zoro pulled the archaeologist close, causing her face to become a lot redder than before, before gently placing his lips on hers.
The kiss was gentle, despite the fact that it was deepening with the tightening of their arms around each other. The crew was cheering in the background, with a certain captain and navigator choosing to steal a kiss behind their backs, while something akin to a volcano was erupting from the back of the kitchen. None of it mattered though, as the new couple continued to enjoy the kiss before finally parting, a twin pair of brown eyes staring into one black eye.
Nothing really needed to be said, the rest of the crew just continued cheering until they got to their seats. Their fingers played with each other, before they entwined around each other. Which was a cause for distress for the cook who was struggling furiously, the metal bars almost melting away if not for Luffy's leg protecting them. They started the party, with Brook and Franky acting as waiters this time round. It was a while before the cook was allowed to come out of the elaborate trap, but almost predictably he attempted to attack Zoro, which the captain quickly stopped and wrapped Sanji up with his leg. It took a lot more persuasion than last time, probably due to the other man being a certain 'marimo' as Robin had teased, but eventually Sanji was out of the 'prison'. He sulked for a while, but the crew's party atmosphere was contagious and in the end all of them had fun.
The time for the opening of the presents was eventful. They moved outside for this, where it was starting to snow, which fit perfectly onto their gigantic Christmas tree and the deck itself.
Most of the crew had, predictably, bought the captain a large piece of meat, but Nami had instead got him a picture book of all the adventures they had managed to get on a camera that had been destroyed on one of their trips. Inside also had a picture that she was not told about, a picture of her first kiss under the mistletoe with him. Both immediately turned red seeing it, and in response to her present Luffy hugged her tightly.
Zoro was, unsurprisingly, given mostly sword components like sword buffers or blade cloths. Robin had given him a full set of cleaning equipment, along with a self-knitted purple scarf. In response to the last on, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which made her face go red, along with another person's head steaming.
Nami was given mostly treasure and money from those who had no idea what to get her. Robin had gotten her a cosmetic set, something that earned her a hug from the navigator. The real shocker came from the captain's gift though, which he revealed to have stolen. It was a silver and gold bracelet with a matching necklace. This earned him a kiss on the lips, which turned Sanji into a raging demon and he was quickly knocked out by Franky, Brook and Zoro at the same time.
Usopp had gotten a lot of new tools, and if the cook was still awake he could have found a new set of cooking utensils, a couple of cookbooks and a new grill. Chopper had a couple of new books as well, along with a new cabinet from Franky and sweets from Zoro and Sanji. The captain had gotten, or rather managed to steal, an entire cotton candy machine, which was a shock to the whole crew as much as it was a delight to the reindeer.
Robin was, as expected, bought books by almost the whole crew. Zoro had somehow managed to purchase a purple-jeweled necklace, which was so mesmerizing that even Nami didn't have the heart to hound him over his debts. Robin's response was to kiss the daylights out of him, so the crew could only watch until they finished before they continued.
Franky was also given a lot of tools, Usopp had managed to get a cola coupon for the next few inhabited islands, which meant so much to Franky that he started crying, prompting the rest to comfort him. Brook was given a lot of musical tuners for his violin and guitar, Chopper and unconscious Sanji had pitched in to getting him a piano, which he showed his appreciation by immediately composing and playing a song on the new piano.
The crew had a real fun time, under their enormous Christmas tree in the snow, with the cook only waking up a bit later when the snow was really starting to fall and the Christmas tree's lights shining brightly in the night. The two new couples were in close embraces, Nami in Luffy's lap asleep, while Robin was in Zoro's, looking at the stars with him. The cook couldn't really feel depressed with that sort of spectacle, when the 'ladies' he sought for were so happy in the arms of the captain and, grudgingly, the swordsman. The rest of the crew was out on deck, with Brook producing some seasonal music to match the snowing night. As Robin looked to the captain smiling down at the sleeping face of the navigator, to the sniper and the doctor who were playing in the snow, to the shipwright and the musician who were trading tunes, to the cook who was taking a smoke while smiling at the rest, to the face of the one she loved…as he leaned in for a kiss, she couldn't help but think.
This Christmas was special. It was special indeed.
So how was it? Give me your honest thoughts of this one!
Thanks for Reading!