Zoro to the Rescue!
Roronora Zoro was walking swiftly down the street paying no heed to the marketplace calling out to him to try their wares. He had business to settle.
He took a left turn and then a right. Left again near the post office...wait, where was the post office? Oh! They must have meant a post box.
And it's a dead end.
Again.
He turns what he thinks is a 180 degrees and attempts to trace back his steps. Left, right, left wasn't it?
Though he misses, the roads all lead back to the noisy marketplace still clamoring for his attention.
Oh well. He'll just start again.
The boss wouldn't mind if he didn't do a thing. In fact the boss had tried stopping him to no avail. He respected the boss and would essentially have done only what the boss had ordered except he knew his boss too well. Luffy was planning to slip out at some slack time and deal with them himself. No way was he letting him do that!
He would find the place all by himself using the directions Nami had given him. Why she had to tell him the directions with a pitiful look he'd no clue. He didn't need her to draw him a map, her instructions were fine! She'd pinned a map to his shirt in the end but he wasn't going to look at it. He could find the place on his own!
Wait, what was this place again?
He knew it was on 13th Moon Avenue. And Nami had said it was a high-rise with a large Sakura on it's front which one couldn't miss. Their HQ. He's certain that she was pulling his leg. He'd originally assumed it should be the builder's sign or something but no way was there any Sakura splashed building anywhere around here. Or crafted. Not even a little one on the signboards.
He's walking down Moon Avenue from the start once again looking for any high-rise. All he sees are the small petite buildings that eventually lead to the marketplace. The only few high-rises are some office buildings, the Metropolitan Police Department buiding(he'd best stay away from it, he'd been there once and not liked where they took him at all) and a temple atop the hill, but one can't call that a high-rise. There is a Sakura tree in full bloom in the shrine.
Maybe he heard them wrong.
Zoro makes his way towards the shrine.
There's a girl with a broom in the courtyard. A really pretty girl under the Sakura blossoms.
She's wearing a traditional attire with her long black hair tied back. She's sweeping with a grace that should be there but is somewhat lacking and her movements are more suited to mowing grass with a stubborn lawnmower than sweeping with a broom. Her frown is deep and lips pursed in a cute way. Her glasses are slightly tilted.
Wait, hasn't he sen her before?
His approaching footsteps she fails to notice till he is standing right behind her.
He asks her, "Could you tell me where 13th Moon Avenue is girl?"
Without looking back she answers in a slightly irritated tone, "There."
Her left finger is pointing at a building on level with the hill where they stood.
"Damn." , thought Zoro, finally opening Nami's map.
"Well?", she asks, wondering why he's still standing and turning around to see a piece of paper in his hand.
"The police HQ has Sakura's on it's building?", he asks slightly perplexed, looking down at a cross with HQ written on it. Oh. They knew.
"Are you all there? What do you think the police's symbol is?", she asks, much vexed finally looking up.
"A star", he replies simply, looking down at the same time.
"YOU!", they yell together.
When he told her he'd come to settle some business regarding his friend Sanji, she looked at him with weary eyes and told him to wait for her a bit. She'd take him there.
Zoro kept yelling she'd no evidence against him so she couldn't arrest him but she only tiredly answered that he wasn't the culprit here. He didn't really stop but went on with his yelling at last inviting him for some tea she promised she wouldn't drug. She had business regarding his Nakama as well that she needed thrashed out with him.
What she didn't add was that recently she kept feeling they'd been doing a lot more good than bad as it was.
At least she wasn't saying he'd get lost and so she had to lead him. (Not directly anyway but Zoro didn't get that)
Well. As to how they met. Let's say it was a story from long back. Zoro'd lost a sword or two and he and the gang were broke so he'd gone to muscle a few swords out of the dealer. The dealer didn't approve of him appearing in front of one of his 'clean-shop' customers or so he thought at that time but thinking back it was probably because she was a cop.
Anyway while waiting for her swords to be packed after servicing, she helped him pick a great sword-somewhat ancient but apparently cursed and a demonstration of his impulsive skill and luck won it for him for free. Except she saw his gang tattoo on his exposed arm. Too much in awe then, only later did she and that Smoking boss of hers give chase to them.
Well, she was a formidable cop with a sword.
A cop with a sword?
Maybe it was the temples?
He looks around but sees no such sign.
"Whose sword was that?", he asks her as she serves hims some tea.
"Oh. My dad's.. He's the Superintendent by the way."
Zoro almost chokes on his tea.
"Wha.."
"He rarely lets me touch it. Though he taught me how to use it."
Zoro simply nods noting the anger in her voice, not wanting to provoke her though he doesn't quite get the link. The rest of the time there remains a silence.
She goes to change and comes out really fast. She's neat but unimpressive. Zoro appreciates that about her. Shes a serious girl. Even if she had a crush on her boss.
'Poor Tashigi', he thinks, "She'd never impress that boss of hers though.'
They arrive at HQ few minutes later. Though in civilian clothes, she's got her badge with her.
Bit by bit he gathers that today was her day off and for now she was in charge of her department as 'The Smoker' had recently married and was away on his honeymoon. (Explained Tashigi's mood, Zoro thought to himself.) He'd apparently wed that Hina from the Alabaster Co. Fiasco of their gangs.
That Fiasco was really some fiasco! Luffy had befriended the CEO's daughter and thus they spent their time trying to prove that the 'Scarface' consultant Director and his agency was the one messing with the constituent mixture formula. And in the end, Zoro and lot almost got arrested by that Hina-woman.
Sixth floor. They entered a room. It was empty. And hastily cleaned with the floor polished in odd patches. The centre tiles were pretty sparkling while those to the sides were attempted to be hidden by odd furniture. Was that dried blood...or...
Spilt wine?
The next room – the glass in the door gleamed odd colours. The door was tightly sealed. They couldn't see a thing from this room despite a long section of glass as it had been plastered with posters on the other side. Was that an Interrogation room?
Tashigi's lips were pursed tight. In anger.
She flings open the door in one slam.
Inside is the picture of Policeman's hell. A serious policeman like Smoker or Tashigi that is.
A PARTY!
"TASHIGI-CHAN!", came a unified yell from umpteen drunken officers and tattooed and pierced thugs.
Zoro was s glad he didn't let Luffy come. Luffy and parties...
Wait a minute!
There sat Sanji, in between those thugs that had nabbed him, drinking with a lewd expression, flirting with some cute gigging female police officers in short skirts!
"Tashigi-chw~an", he says in a drunken voice,"Join us!"
What the hell were the gang getting so worried about then!?
Zoro's turning a bright red and is about to yell something when a firm hand clasps his shoulder and pulled him into the next room. Tashigi? Did that girl really have so much strength?
"Well...it's embarrassing asking this of a Yakuza...no, it's embarrassing asking it at all but could you please take your friend away?"
"HUH?!"
Now Zoro was astounded!
"Well, you see...", Tashigi fumbled.
"WHAT THE HELL YA TALKING ABOUT? AREN'T YOU WITH THE POLICE?", Zoro continued without paying attention to her feeble efforts.
"Well, as I was saying...", Tashigi attempts but is cut off by his steady ranting.
"AND WHAT'S WITH THAT ERO-COOK PLAYING ABOUT WITH THOSE GANGSTERS AS IF NOTHING IS THE MATTER!"
"THEY'RE POLICE OFFICERS!", she finally yells back.
He's listening. Oh yes, he's listening now.
"What did you say?"
"They're police officers.", she says in a mild tone, embarrassed by her outburst. "They're assigned to the Narcotics department. It's the norm for undercover."
"Undercover.", Zoro snorts, "They're stoned no matter how you look at them."
"Don't make fun of the Poilce." she snarls at him. "It's your friend's fault! Besides, we couldn't prove a thing against him but he's become a nuisance that refuses to budge. And that's the reason I want you to take him away!"
"You want or...perhaps it's your handsome boss?"
Zoro smirks when she turns pink. An angry pink.
"YOU..! You...damned..."
The door suddenly opens with a bang and the partying lot burst in with an absolute drunken madness.
"Tashigi-chan, dance with me!"
"No! ME!"
"Move aside you rats. I'm the one she'll dance with!", says Sanji, a rose procured from thin air held ridiculously between his teeth.
"This is a picture of hell", Zoro says, grinning from ear to ear.
"You can say that again", says Tashigi in an undertone beside him.
She moves a little to the side and suddenly trips on an unnaturally shining tile falling to the floor while her glasses fall on to the table.
"TASHIGI-CHW~AAN", comes the voice of several yelling men.
"Stop the nuisance guys. Get back to work. Work!", she barks, fumbling around the ground looking for the specs.
Several odd skirmishes and tumbling men attempt to get to her but what reaches her is a very tall shadow. Black boots? A figure thinner than Smoker. A grip like steel.
An unified round of protest goes up among the men but Sanji's is the loudest.
She can't hear them. Her heart's beating in her ears and while it's embarrassing, all she can sense is his smell and proximity. Her breath hitches a little.
He raises her effortlessly onto her feet with one hand and tries giving her the spectacles but in her awkwardness to get away she slips on the tile again only to land her head on his chest. He catches hold of her waist and steadies her away from him. She feels his awkward stance. Her face is flushed.
She can hear the men screaming. They sound so very far away. She can hear black leg screaming the loudest. Thank god they're not coming any near at least.
He picks her once by the shoulders and sets her on her feet away from shiny tiles then tilts her head with the frame of her glasses and slips them onto her face, careful not to let his finger touch her nose when he pushes it into position.
She can see again!
Damn! He's so near, they're faces are almost touching.
Somewhere deep down though she feels pleased.
She can see Zoro's handsome rugged face, blushing red.