First Kiss

"Alright. We're here. Now don't you screw things up! It's about time you get yourself a girlfriend. You ARE into girls right?"

Twelve year old Zoro Roronoa-Dracule rolled his eyes at sixteen year old Perona Dracule's senseless comments.

"Tch. Whatever." he replied, coolly.

After making sure he had everything he needed, Zoro hopped out of his big sister's black Chrysler PT Cruiser covered in gothic style decal and nonchalantly headed towards the entrance of the Going Merry's Pizza and Games.

While on his way there, he became completely immersed in his thoughts.

Zoro wasn't even sure why he was going to this stupid birthday party in the first place.

They were always so loud, aggravating, and in his opinion, a complete waste of time.

So someone was turning another year older.

Big whoop.

Zoro didnt think that should call for a celebration. He'd much rather be using his valuable time for sleeping- which to him was what summer vacation was all about!

On top of that, Zoro really didn't want to be near any other kids any more than he had to. It's not like he was trying to make any new friends- especially if they were anything like that girl.

Besides, Zoro very much preferred being a loner overall. The only two real friends that he'd ever had in his entire life- Kuina and Saga- were both gone and he didn't want to replace either of them.

But as luck would have it, this past year at his school, East Blue Primary, there had been a new girl in his homeroom class.

Her name was Nami and because of her having such a fiery spirit to match her flaming orange hair, she always seemed to find herself getting into trouble and somehow always dragging Zoro along into it.

Zoro could barely remember how they even became acquainted with each other in the first place although Nami claimed it was because one afternoon she had spotted him roaming the hallways like a lost puppy trying to find the nearest boy's bathroom.

She had decided to tag along in order to help him locate his destination even though Zoro swore up and down that he knew exactly where he was going as he had been at that same school for the past 5 years.

Once they did find the restrooms (in less than 3 minutes), she had then teasingly pointed out how a new student like her had learned her way around the entire school in less than two days while a regular student like him had had so much difficulty finding a place that was literally down the same straight hallway right in front of him.

Ugh.

Nope Zoro had no recollection of that particular memory at all.

What he DID remember was that later on that same day during lunch, Nami had actually made her way over to his favorite spot in the cafeteria where he always sat quietly in solitude.

Now that had been bizarre. No one had ever wanted to eat with him before.

At first her presence had made Zoro feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't like he could really tell her to go away.

After all, she had helped him earlier and he didn't think that she would ever sit with him again if he just kept quiet.

But he had been wrong.

Nami stayed with him for the rest of their lunch break and continued to do so every day onward not caring that she would seemingly be talking to the human equivalent of a brick wall.

Some days Zoro had tried to drop hints that he wanted to be left alone, but apparently Nami either was too dumb or too stubborn to pay him any mind.

Eventually, out of frustration, he gave up trying to make her leave. If she wanted to be near him so damn bad then that was fine with him, but he would NOT force himself to talk in order to make her feel better.

Zoro's flashback was soon interrupted when he heard a loud honk which was obviously directed at him.

He looked up. It was Perona.

"Where are you going dumbass?" she screeched as she pointed to some random direction. "Going Merry's is that way!".

Zoro followed her finger to where it was pointing to and realized that he was currently heading directly AWAY from the building.

Even his subconscious was supposedly telling him that he didn't need to be here!

Blushing, Zoro quickly spun around and was now back on track to the entrance.

He returned to his thoughts of school and Nami.

Over a week had passed since their first encounter and Nami would still go and sit with him at lunch and chat away while Zoro continued to just stare at her blankly the whole time.

Unfortunately, this odd behavior from the new girl didn't go unnoticed by the other students.

Throughout the day, kids would often make fun of Zoro and Nami eating together and question why such a cute, talkative girl would want to waste her time on a silent, unpredictable, (and possibly hostile) misfit like him.

While Zoro didn't care what people thought of him, he did start to become a little concerned for the girl's wellbeing. Being a new kid wasn't easy (Zoro would know as he too had been new years ago), and Nami seemed to be the really emotional type.

Sure, he did find her to be a pain, but she didn't deserve to be ridiculed!

When he brought up his concerns to the silly girl, she had reassured him that she was fine. Zoro had been doubtful, but there was nothing else he could do about it.

Then things changed one day.

Lunch had carried on as usual, but suddenly Porche, one of the most popular girls at East Blue-along with a few other girls in her clique- randomly approached their table. Zoro's face remained calm, but he instantly braced himself as he knew that some crazy shit was about to go down.

Laughing, she said, "Aww..Isn't this adorable? The new kid and the slow, creepy kid are dating. You two losers make such a nice pair!" She kept laughing and the other girls joined in with their snickers.

Zoro and Nami glanced at each other and although neither said a word, they both silently agreed to just ignore them.

Porche noticed that they weren't reacting the way she wanted them to, so she immediately stopped laughing to dump her entire tray of food on Nami's head!

Now all of the kids in the entire cafeteria were looking at them-some were amused but many others were disgusted.

Nami began to cry and Zoro reacted fast by taking the rest of his lunch and throwing it right at the bitch's face!

Gasps filled the lunchroom and Porche screamed.

A very mischievous kid then shouted, "FOOD FIGHT" and then a food fight ensued.

Zoro looked at Nami and commanded, "Let's go."

Nami, who was desperately trying to wipe blue applesauce out of her hair agreed and they headed out making sure to dodge spaghetti, french fries, green beans, and other random foods being hauled back and forth across the room.

Minutes later, they managed to escape the madness and ended up in the empty hall where at last there was peace and quiet.

"T-thanks for helping me." she said, smiling at him. "I knew you were a cool guy."

Zoro merely nodded as a very unexpected thought crossed his mind. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all. Maybe I can trust her enough to hang around me.

However, Zoro's positive thinking of Nami changed drastically the more the pair spent time together and Nami had finally adjusted to being at her new school.

It wasn't long before Zoro saw the real side of Nami and discovered that she was truly a witch disguised as a child!

As the school year progressed, Zoro had ended up saved her ass so many times from all of her mess that she'd grown used to it and practically expected it from him now.

Sometimes she'd even start fights with other kids after she'd swindled them out of their lunch and allowance money (Zoro couldn't believe that the supposedly sweet and vulnerable girl was even capable of doing things like that) and would tell them that if they had a problem with it then they could take it up with Zoro.

She also did the same thing when she got back at Porche by playing a prank on her a few days later after the food fight incident.

When Porche learned about what Nami had done, she sent her three older brothers Pickles, Hamburg, and Big Pan (aka The Burger Brothers) after her. And what did that Nami do?

She told them to find Zoro to sort out their issues with her instead of just dealing with them and apologizing herself!

Zoro had been baffled when the brothers had came up to him out of the blue and told him that they wanted to fight. Luckily, his father as well as his former best friend Kuina's father, had taught him how to defend himself.

Thus, Zoro had managed to defeat every last one of those goons and once he did, Porche, her friends, and her family never bothered him or Nami ever again.

After the Burger Brothers' embarrassing defeat, time and time again, a different bonehead (that Nami had pissed off) would also want to pick a fight with him after school somewhere in a secluded area. However, Zoro didn't mind at all and would always show up to kick the new challenger's ass and put them in their place just like he'd done to so many others countless times before.

Fighting had been a great way for Zoro to not only cope with all of the crap he'd been through in his short life but to also allow him to let out some steam that came with the frustrations of everyday life.

Plus, Zoro would always win these matches and a lot of the other kids-even the ones much older than him- had started to respect him for his strength which made him feel like he was on top of the world.

So, in a weird way, overtime him and Nami had sort of developed a mutual benefits type of relationship.

However, Zoro had decided long ago that they weren't friends and they definitely WERE NOT DATING!

When the school year ended and summer break began, Zoro firmly stated that he didn't want anything to do with the brat until they had to go back to school. A break from Nami for a couple of months was exactly what Zoro needed to recover what was left of his sanity and thankfully, Nami albeit reluctantly, had actually been leaving him alone for most of the summer.

So needless to say, Zoro had been taken aback when Perona had bursted into his room a week prior to today to shove in his face an invitation letter sent from Nami to attend her 11th birthday party at Going Merry's.

Originally, Zoro had flat out refused to go but Perona, excited that a kid- and a female kid at that- had willingly sought after her little brother to have him attend as social gathering, pestered him every single day until Zoro relented and promised her that he would go if she would just shut up.

He also told Perona that he would NOT stay for the entire time and although she had been upset, Perona had no choice but to accept her stubborn brother's decision.

As Nami's birthday drew closer, Zoro decided to look into what the girl would like as a present. He had spent a lot time searching online to find the perfect gift and his efforts up until that point has been in vain.

Fortunately for Zoro, just two days right before her party, he at last was able to find the right present that could be shipped just in time for Nami's birthday and had been very pleased with himself. "This girl better be grateful that I actually paid any attention to some of her ramblings at school." he'd mumbled right before purchasing it.

When Zoro entered the wacky establishment, Nami had already been standing beside the door waiting for him. "Zoro! I'm so glad you could come! What took you so long ya knucklehead?" exclaimed Nami, which took Zoro by surprise.

She hastily took him by the hand and dragged him towards a large table in the shape of a sheep where a group of odd looking kids sat.

Zoro's immediate impression of them was that none of kids appeared to have much in common with each other. This shocked him. How did any of these kids even meet let alone become friends in the first place?

Nami started with the introductions.

"You guys this is Zoro. He's my friend from East Blue."

Zoro couldn't help but cringe a little. Friends? I don't know about that.

"Um...hi?" He said awkwardly, already regretting his choice to come here.

"Zoro this is Luffy. He's known for his bottomless stomach. I hope he doesn't eat up all of the food in this entire place. If he does we may never be able to come here again." Nami pointed to a fat kid with jet black hair stuffing his face full with as much pepperoni pizza as he possibly could while another little girl with blue hair sitting beside him was grinning and cheering him on. "That girl next to him is Vivi. She's my best friend. You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but she's a princess!"

The two kids were so wrapped up in what they were doing that they didn't even acknowledge either of them.

Zoro huffed, annoyed. How rude. He thought to himself. They could have at least said hello. Especially Miss Princess. Nami on the other hand was giggling though so Zoro assumed that maybe she was used to their crazy antics. He shrugged.

Nami then pointed to another set of kids. "That's Usopp, the tech whiz, Kaya -whose parents own the place- and Chopper, who is sooooo cute and really smart!" she explained.

This group consisted of a child of African descent with a nose like Pinocchio, another girl with pale skin and blonde hair, and a very small, timid child with shaggy light-brown hair.

As soon as Nami finished saying their names, the three stopped conversing to look Zoro up and down as if they were inspecting him. Zoro held his breath, waiting for them to finally acknowledge him.

Once they were done with… whatever the hell that was, they briefly exchanged looks, nodded their heads to one another, and then proceeded to wave at him.

Zoro let out a small sigh of relief and waved back. He had passed their test. Hooray?

Nami then directed his attention to a blonde kid who way too overdressed for this sort of occasion. Zoro could tell just by looking at him that he was going to be a pain in his ass and by the way the kid was staring him down, he could also tell that the feeling was mutual.

Nami didn't seem to notice the sudden tension though. "And this kid right here is San-"

"My name is Sanji Vinsmoke. I'm Nami's boyfriend." the boy announced proudly as he got up from his seat.

Nami groaned and facepalmed as another boy who seemed a bit older than all of the kids and was wearing a white hat with brown polka dots on it furiously walked up to the table from seemingly out of nowhere.

"The hell you are!" The mystery boy cried. "My sisters aren't allowed to date ANYONE. You know that!"

Sanji slowly sat back down, looking defeated and heartbroken.

Zoro sneered. "Wow. What a loser."

"Zoro! Be nice! You don't need to worry about him. He does that all the time. I'm not dating anyone right now." She commented as she winked at him.

Zoro became flustered and turned away, his cheeks turning bright red.

So what if she wasn't dating anybody? He didn't care!

"Anyways," Nami continued on, " this overprotective guy right here is my big bro Law and-"

"That's right." interrupted Law venomously. "And you'd better not try anything either or else Imma kick your ass."

Zoro grimaced. Geez. What's his problem? He doesn't have anything to worry about. I'm NOT interested in Nami.

Nami rolled her eyes as she pointed towards an area a few feet from them. There was a girl with tan skin and short purplish blue hair grinning stupidly at a boy as he was playing some sort of racing arcade game.

"And the girl standing all the way over there next to that cute guy...is my big sis, Nojiko."

"What's she doing?" cried Law as he rushed over towards the couple. "Hey you! Back away from my sister!"

"Wow." was all Zoro could say.

"Ok…" said Nami. "Well now that all of the introductions are outta the way, let's have fun! C'mon Zoro! I wanna play some games and win cool prizes! Are you good at 'Whack a Sheep'?"

Zoro wanted to inform her that he had never played a game by such name before in his life, but he didn't bother. He figured she wouldn't care anyway.

Besides, how hard could a game with a name like that be? For the next two and a half hours, Zoro and Nami tried out all sorts of games and often times some of the other kids would join in and play with them too.

Although Zoro would never admit it, he was having an amazing time. He didn't even bother to call his sister to come pick him up early!

Most of Nami's friends were really cool and they made him feel he truly belonged.

It was such a weird feeling for him, but it was a good kind of weird and Zoro secretly hoped that he'd be able to hang out with all of them in the near future.

It was too bad that they all went to different schools though.

At some point, Nami's mother announced that it was time to head back to their table so that Nami could start opening her gifts.

Before Zoro could make his way over there, Nami grabbed his arm and rushed him to a nearby game booth where the top of it was covered with all sorts of stuffed creatures from pigs, rabbits and dogs to elephants, tigers and even aliens.

"You see that HUGE orange stuffed cat? I want it. Can you win it for me? Please? All you have to do is hit the center with the ball in less than 3 tries!"

Once his mind actually registered what was going on, he became angry. Zoro hated being used. "Why should I do it? Why don't you ask Sanji or Law or one of the other kids to do it?"

Nami pouted. "Because Zoro, I think you're the only one who can! I know you're super strong so this should be easy!"

"I will do it for you sweetie!" Zoro looked around to see where the voice of that annoying blonde was coming from before he spotted the fool running towards them faster than any person he'd ever seen before. (Well, aside from himself that is.)

When the blonde headache finally arrived, Nami tried to dissuade him. "It's ok Sanji. Zoro's going to try to win it for me."

But the boy paid her no mind as he gave the teen running the booth some coins and proceeded to the throw the ball at the target.

Surprisingly enough, he hit it on his second try!

Nami and Zoro both just stood there with their mouths hanging wide and Sanji eagerly rushed to collect the prize and presented it to her. "There you go Nami darling! Do you love me now?"

"Um..yeah Sanji! Thank you." Nami gave him a hug which caused Sanji to faint and fall to the floor.

As she went to check to see if Sanji was alright, Zoro stormed off. Damn brainless loverboy! I didn't even get a chance to try!

The rest of the party went on pretty smoothly as Nami's parents prepared for her gifts be opened, but Zoro couldn't find it in himself to enjoy anything anymore.

In fact, he was ready to go home and forget all about this stupid day.

That idiot had totally ruined it.

Zoro decided to check the time on a clock nearby. Good. It was almost te to leave. He couldn't wait.

Nami opened her gifts one by one and the children oohed and aahed at all of the wonderful things she had received.

Nami was happy and amazed as well, but she was also on the verge of tears.

She very grateful for having such amazing friends in her life, especially since she had had a tough life before her loving adoptive mother, Belle-mere married her amazing stepfather, Rosinante who was very well off and had moved them to a much better and safer neighborhood where none of the previous residents could abuse her and her sister.

Back then she didn't have anyone besides Nojiko and her mother, but now she was surrounded by people who lived and cared about her.

Zoro could tell that something was up with Nami, but didn't know how to handle those sorts of things, so all he could to quietly watch for now.

Maybe once they were alone again, he could try to comfort her by giving her a hug. Maybe.

When it was time for Nami to open up Zoro's gift, everyone had grown silent which made Zoro a bit nervous. Now why were they making such a big deal out of this? His gift would be just as nice as everyone else's.

Nami, who became nervous as well since she knew that her friends would be judging Zoro to see if he deserved to be her friend, slowly started to open Zoro's gift.

All of the kids anticipated how she would react.

When, she finally saw what it is, Nami instantly went from nervous to ecstatic. "Oh wow! An Authagraph Globe? That's so sweet! How did you...?"

"Because you'd mentioned before that you loved studying the world… So when I came across it online, it'd seemed obvious to me that you'd enjoy something like this." Zoro answered with a grin. "It came straight where I'm from too. Japan."

Both Zoro and Nami were just smiling now, however the rest of the kids just stared them totally confused not sure what exactly to say.

"A..what now?" asked Usopp, finally breaking their silence a few seconds later.

Luffy then ran over to Nami and snatched the paper globe from her hands to inspect it. "It looks just like a regular old globe to me! But much more papery!"

He started to toss it up in the air but before he could catch it, Nami pushed him out of the way and caught it herself. "Be careful! It's not just any globe Luffy! The Authagraph Globe said to be the world's most accurate globe! It can go from a 3D tetrahedron globe that can unfold and turn into a map of the whole wide world! I've been wanting something as cool as this for as long time! You rock Zoro!"

"That does look pretty cool." commented Vivi.

"Yes, it's the perfect gift for Nami!" Kaya added. Chopper nodded in agreement. Law was still giving Zoro the "I'm watching you" look while Nojiko, Belle-mere and Rosinante all grinned.

"Yeah, yeah whatever but it's still not as good as the citrus flavored chocolates I handmade for her." said Sanji, who was clearly bitter that he just might have been outdone by some freaky kid with tacky colored hair and absolutely NO sense of style.

"Thank you so much Zoro! This is the best gift ever!" She quickly went to go hug him which caused him to blush again. Curse this girl for making me act so weird!

The rest of the children cheered except Sanji who was now livid that his Nami was holding onto that jerk.

Despite feeling a tad bit embarrassed, seeing all of their reactions made Zoro smirk.

Of course Nami liked her gift. He knew Nami well enough to know what would make her happy. That's why he hadn't been worried when he had ordered it for her.

When the globe had finally arrived in the mail, Perona after seeing it, complained that it would never win over her heart.

Zoro however, had been quite confident with his choice and had disregarded his sister's fussing.

It turned out that he has been right all along and couldn't wait to rub it in her face.

Now the the party was over, the kids all gathered their things and said their goodbyes.

Most of them had told Zoro that they liked him and wanted to hang out with him again.

That warmed his heart. He told them that he couldn't wait for their next meetup to happen either.

Soon enough everyone had left the Going Merry's except for Nami and her family.

As her parents finished up with the payment, and Law retrieved Nojiko from yet another boy trying to make the moves on her, Nami took this opportunity to beckon Zoro to follow her to an isolated spot behind a ball pit stop so that they could have a moment of privacy.

"Well… I guess this is it until school starts again, huh?" asked Nami sheepishly as she looked down at her shoes. Zoro wasn't 100% sure, but if he had to guess he would have thought that she was blushing.

"Nah… Not really." Zoro began trying to put her at ease. "Some of your friends said they wanted to hang out with me again soon. I'm sure we'll meet up way before we have to go back to school."

Nami's eyes grew wide as she looked up at him happily. "Really? That's great!"

Zoro reached over to Nami to embrace her. He also couldn't help but smile at the foolish girl. He would probably never tell her, but not only did he really want to see her friends again, but he wanted to see her again too.

Zoro didn't know why, but despite all of the craziness that she had put him through, he had developed a soft spot for her. It scared him a bit, but Zoro knew that he'd get over his fear soon enough.

As they begin to go their separate ways, Nami gently grabbed Zoro's hand and pulled him towards her. "Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you this. Thanks for coming." Nami gave Zoro a peck on the cheek.

Zoro's face instantly lit up. Ha! Take that you lovesick idiot! She only gave you a hug while I got both a hug and kiss!

Seeing his reaction, Nami had to stifle a laugh. Boys…They were something else!

Minutes later, Perona arrived to take him home and she couldn't help but notice that her younger brother was in a good mood the moment he entered her vehicle. It was such a stark contrast to his usually grouchy demeanor. "So I take it you had a great time?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

But Zoro knew what she was up to. He didn't say a word and just briefly flashed her a grin instead.

Perona simply laughed as she drove them both home.

That was all she had needed to know.

Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter should be up soon! :D