Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda own One Piece Oh how I wish I do own them? Tee-hee

Caught in a violent storm the Thousand Sunny started to rock violently. Everyone started to run inside the ship except for Nami. She was analyzing the situation.

"H-hey guys! This shake is getting stronger. Hey, take a look over there!" cried Nami. Before them lay a sight no one had anticipated seeing.

"Stand back everyone! That thing, it's on its way and getting nearer any seconds now. You guys, better get hold onto something quickly!" shouted Zoro.

Everyone was holding on to anything they could get their hands on, trying not to be sucked into a gigantic, spinning whirlpool that roared. But, Nami was not so lucky. Before she could hold onto something, she was pulled away by a strong wind.

"Help! Help me!" she cried. Zoro stretched his hands and managed to take hold of Nami's hand. He was trying his best to drag her to safety without getting himself sucked however, he accidentally slipped and they both were sucked into the whirlpool.

Nami opened her eyes and found herself lying on the shore alone at an unknown island. She stumbled to her feet and started to call out loud. "Hey! Is there anyone here? Answer me please!" Her voice echoed high up into the rocks and came rushing back at her again and again. She waited but there was no sign of the other crews coming through. Nami took a deep breath. She crouched down and laid herself flat. Her eyes closed and she bit her lip.

"Ahh, now I remembered. I was sucked into the whirlpool." Her eyes came open. She looked upon the blue sky. "I thought I was going to die. I am still amazed I am alive," she paused. "Alive but I am here all by myself."

Nami get on her feet again. "I have got to find a way to get out of here!"

She started to search all around. And, suddenly Zoro appeared from behind her.

"I thought you were dead," Zoro stuttered the words out. He caught Nami by surprised.

"Hey Zoro! Am I glad to see you!" Nami laughed delightedly and then stood up on tiptoe to kiss Zoro's cheek. Zoro looked at her. His eyes were as cold as the sea. Nami bit her lip. And she drew breath. "You looked awful, tell me, what happen?" she said, her voice rising.

Zorro laughed at the perplexed expression he spotted on Nami's face.

"Thanks to you I'm stucked in this unknowing Island and without food," he cried.

Nami clasped her hands together and sighed loudly.

The clouds started to grow denser, grayer and the wind had picked up, rattling the bare branches, whistling through the bushes.

"There is a cave that burrow right under this island. We better go inside the cave," said Zoro while pointing towards the big cave on top of the hill. "We'll be safe there."

"Come on, come on! Hurry up! It'll rain soon, and I've no inclination to be stuck out in this weather." Shouted Zoro.

"Yes, yes, of course," Nami responded breathlessly.

It was the cold, drenching rain that began half an hour later. Nami pace slackened as her spirits flagged. The numbing cold rain sapped her strength. Moving became a struggle. She sneezed. The steady gray rain obscured visibility. Nami slipped on the slick winter-browned grass, falling to her knees. Zoro leaped forward to help her rise.

"Worried about me?" She beamed a smile.

"No. I want rid of you." But Zoro smiled too.

Nami eyes appeared more sunken than normal. She was tiring, under these conditions. Zoro admired Nami quiet fortitude.

"How much farther, Zoro?" cried Nami.

"It's not much farther. Are you tired?" said Zoro. With a grim expression he put his arm around her to help her up the steep slope.

Finally, they reached at the top of the hill. The cave appeared like a blessed vision before Nami's tired eyes. She was looking down over the seas to the magnificent cliffs of the island. Truthfully, Nami hadn't seen anything quite like this before, with the seas crashing against its rocks. "Oh, it's beautiful. What do you say to that Zoro?" she cried.

"That's enough, Nami," Zoro snapped. " You're exhaustion and I'm almost fainting from the cold. Let's go! This rain is killing me!" Zoro ordered. Nami made a face at him, and then shrugged.

They both ran towards the mouth of the cave. As they entered the cave, it was almost completely dark. Zoro stood for a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust to the gloom.

Nami looked up at him, her eyes pleasing for something, but she didn't know what. Without a word he swooped her up his arms and carried her the rest of the way inside. He cradled her in his arms and staring down at her face. A rush of protectiveness, followed by warmth, flooded through Zoro as he carried her inside the cave.

Carefully he set Nami on her feet, his arms around her to keep her balanced.

"Let us rest here tills the rain stop. Please make yourself comfortable," he said.

Nami rested her body against the cold wall of the cave.

"Have you been down these caves, Zoro?" she asked.

"Wonderful experience," he answered and sat beside her.

"Are you not frightened you might get lost in them?" she asked again.

"Come on, not many people get lost in the caves. The inland caves mostly come out into this magnificent sea cave. Just like doing the toilet. In one end and out the other."

He grinned wolfishly. "Have you always got to be so coarse!"

Nami smiled at him and placed her head on his right shoulder. She then closed her eyes and straight away falls a sleep. Zoro turned his head to look at her tired face.

"Rest well," he whispered and laying her slowly on the ground. Slowly, he brushed a light kiss against her lips, freezing instantly as she moved slightly, moaning. What had possessed him to kiss her? He was allowing himself to feel things for Nami she didn't want him to feel, feelings he was inexperienced with handling, and that was more dangerous than beating off hundred other pirate crews in a big-winnings fight.

You'd have to be awfully good for her, an unwelcome voice chided him. Are you even good for yourself?

'Shut up," he commanded the voice.

Nami moved slightly, disturbed by his rough tone in the silent cave. Her eyes opened slowly, as if she was still in some hazy dreamland.

"Don't leave me, Zoro," she murmured. She reached out to him. Her eyes were huge and pleading in a way he couldn't bear to refuse.

"I'll be here with you, don't worry." Zoro's heart lurched like a stuck gear. Nami looked too beautiful and way too appealing to ask this of him. He moved toward her, and into her arms.

She sighed, as if he was granting her fondest wish.

"Nami…"

One dainty finger hovered at his lips, stopping his protest. "I'm having a needy moment," she told him. "I don't think you've ever had one of those in your life. You're so independent."

She laughed softly and wound both arms around him. He was astonished by how right they felt lying this way, like two puzzle pieces locking together.

"I need you," she whispered.

He didn't dare to allow himself to hope. "How?"

"Kiss me, Zoro."

He tentatively pressed his lips to hers, amazement flooding him at the softness of her mouth. She didn't pull back, though he waited for any sign of hesitation. When there was none, he pulled away enough to look in her eyes. "Was that all right?"

She smiled, her eyes curving as she gazed up at him. "For a fast-sword man, you're going awfully slow."

"Well, we had set up our playing rules…"

"Some rules are meant to be broken." She stroked a finger lightly along the back of his neck, sending tingles down his spine.

Nami seemed serious. Zoro realized he liked her too much to take advantage of her body. "What is it that we're doing?"

"We're going to make love," she whispered, sliding her hand under his white T-shirt.

The feel of her fingers stroking and gliding across his back was sweet torture. Zoro buried his head in her neck, giving himself up to the moment. "Will you regret this later?" he asked, pressing kisses along her collarbone.

"Only if you do."

She was surer than he would have expected. He was trying to think of any reason to retreat while Nami seemed convinced that being together was right. "I can't think of any reason I would regret it, but Nami, you're not a woman I would treat lightly. I can't offer you with lots of money or anything…"

"Did I ask for anything?"

Though the cave was dark, he could see the blaze in her eyes.

"Shh," he murmured, sliding one hand up under her tight top. "I was just making sure."

"Quit trying to be a noble bachelor," Nami told him. "Playing twenty conditions isn't going to do anything but make one of us angry."

"Okay."

She was right. He had been searching something in her answers, something that would tell him that everything would be all right. That they would be the same two people when they get out of the cave. They weren't going to be, and Nami knew that.

The nearly full moon washed the night landscape in gray and silver hues, leaving only patches of deep blackness for contrast.

"I can't see you," he complained in the sudden darkness.

"It's better that way. A little mysterious," she said.

He felt her hand slide into the back of his briefs, stroking and kneading his skin as if she was trying to soothe him.

He didn't need to be soothed. He needed Nami to finally take him over the edge he'd been on since he'd laid eyes on her again. "My mystery woman," he murmured into her hair. 'It describes you perfectly."

There was Zoro's sword belt in her way, and Nami gently removed it from him, tossing it to the ground. Meanwhile, Zoro carefully drew her sleeves top over her head before dropping it in the same vicinity as the belt. He caressed the side of her waist, moving up to pull her closer to him. Their bodies melded together as if recognizing a suddenly remembered harmony, yet they'd never touched like this before.

"You feel good," Nami whispered.

"You do, too."

"It's been a long time for me," she cautioned.

Zoro raised his head. He couldn't see Nami's expression very well in the darkness, but he wished he could. He stood up and shed the rest of his clothes, reaching to find Nami in the ground before lying alongside her again.

Nami ran a hand over his chest. Putting her into his arms, Zoro reveled in her easy compliance. He went softly, slowly, as if she was a windblown flower whose petals he didn't want to bruise. There were things he hadn't known about her before, but that didn't matter now. What he did know was that, though she was delicate, she was determined to flourish in the weedy, hard-baked soil her seed had been cast in. He admired Nami, his mirror image, who outshone him with her courage.

Moaning with desire he could no longer hold back, Zoro took Nami to him, telling himself to savor this moment because he'd been waiting to feel this way, it seemed, forever.

Destiny had never been on their side. But the way Nami made him feels tonight was something Zoro could never forget.