My first fan fic! Please R&R so I know how I did :)
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Zoro laid in his bunk, gently rocking to the sway of the Thousand Sunny against the ocean. He had his arms folded and his head in hands, staring at the ceiling of the men's quarters. All of the other male crewmates were snoring loudly. Every once in a while he could hear his captain mutter something about meat, but the only thing he was listening to at this moment was the breathing of the beautiful girl lying next to him. She was sleeping on her side, facing away from him. He glanced over and noticed her orange hair that was tucked behind her ear was slightly coming loose. He longed to reach and return it to its place, to caress her cheek, her lips, anything, but he dared not to.
It had only been recently that Nami's late night visits started increasing in number. He remembered what she had first said to him to start their arrangement.
"Zoro." Nami called to him gently shaking his shoulder.
He grumbled, being woken up from a fairly deep sleep, "Wha? Can't you see I'm trying to get some sleep? Go bother someone else woman!" He yawned, stretching his arms out. It had to be late, he had been the first to bed and he noticed as he looked around the room everyone else was passed out, snoring. Why didn't she hit him awake he wondered? It's not like she would have woken these sleeping logs around them.
"Do you think I can sleep with you tonight?" Nami calmly asked. Zoro eyes opened wide as he looked at her. He was surprised at such a request, but he noticed as he observed her face that she seemed pretty shaken by something. She was sweating; her short hair was damp at the tips from the moisture on her neck. Her chocolate eyes were large and glassy, like she had been crying and was about to start again any moment.
"Why what's the matter?" He asked her. He was becoming more alert, and noticed her lips were a bit cut up, like she had been biting them hard.
"I just had a nightmare is all! Don't get the wrong idea! I just need someone to sleep next to, and you're the only one that's not completely hogging their bed!" Nami aggressively whispered. Zoro could see her cheeks were turning red.
Zoro let out a long sigh, "I guess so." He thought about using this as an opportunity to lower some of his outstanding debt he had with her, but seeing her anxious expression he didn't really want to make her more upset.
Her face lightened up with his answer. He started to slide over when she grabbed him by the arm and pointed her finger at him "No touching!" she exclaimed. "Yeah yeah, just get in here so I can go back to sleep" he yawned.
That had been about three months ago. At first she would come to him about once a week, but then she started coming more and more, until he was sharing his bunk five days a week. Some nights she would ask him to put an arm around her. He looked forward to this the most as he was able to gently nuzzle her head and smell her mikan scent. Other nights while he was lying on his back she would turn over and rest her head on his chest. He was never sure if she did it on purpose or sub-consciously, but he liked it all the same. He didn't really want to fall back asleep; she always left before everyone woke up. He wanted to be close to her for just a little while longer.
Eventually he was going to have to tell her. He couldn't keep pretending he didn't have these feelings for her. He couldn't keep hiding his expressions when she walked by, when he saw her smiling, when she was scolding someone (even him). On nights she didn't come, he would lie awake just waiting to hear the door open. She was even effecting his naps during the day, he somehow kept napping closer and closer to her mikan trees, till eventually he would lay directly under them. He needed that scent, her scent, just to be able to shut his eyes. But how was he going to do it? He couldn't just come out and say it to her, that's too easy. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if she laughed at him? All of these what if's in his head were causing him to become restless. He turned, putting his back to her and let out a deep sigh. This caused Nami to turn over as well and move slightly closer, causing her cheek to lean on his back. Zoro could feel her breath on him and started to get goosebumps. He had to tell her. No matter what he could not contain it any longer. But he was going to need help.
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Zoro woke the next morning, sunlight shining through the window of the door. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He must have been the last one awake, everyone was already gone and he heard voices coming from the deck. "Dammit Nami," he thought to himself, "I never sleep this late." He really shouldn't be blaming her; she didn't ask him to stay awake all night thinking about her. But it made him feel better, if only slightly. He got out of bed and went over to his locker to change clothes. "Who should I ask?" he pondered in his head. He needed to talk to someone about telling Nami his feelings; there was no way he was going to be able to think of what to say on his own. Who though? This question was flying around in his head when he exited the men's quarters and walked out onto the deck.
As he was closing the door, Luffy ran past him, almost knocking him over, followed by Usopp and Chopper. "Oi! Watch where you're going!" he shouted at them, but they were already on the other side of the ship. It looked like there was something in Luffy's hand that Usopp and Chopper were desperately after, but what he could not say.
Zoro's eyes searched around the deck. It was a beautiful day out, and everyone was enjoying the sun. Brook was practicing a new tune on his violin, with Franky dancing along. The two female members of the crew were sitting on their lawn chairs, chatting. Nami was wearing dark blue tank top that showed off her milky colored stomach and a white skirt that barely covered her butt. It left little to the imagination. Zoro turned his head quickly before she noticed he had been staring.
Suddenly, Sanji opened the door from the kitchen. "Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Your breakfast is ready!"
Everyone started making their way to the kitchen. "Oi Franky! Brook! You guys got a minute?" Zoro called to them. Might as well get this out of the way early, he figured. And why not ask the two oldest members of the crew? Surely they had to have some experience with girls.
"What's going on Zoro-bro?" Franky asked. Brook walked over as well, "Zoro-san?"
Zoro looked over and made sure everyone else was in the kitchen. "I just wanted to ask your guys opinion on something…" he started to say. Damn, now that he had them here Zoro had no idea what he was going to say.
"Uh… how do you tell a girl you l-like them?" He started to sweat. God why did this have to be so awkward.
"Bro! Found yourself a SUPER girl, huh?" Franky's eyes started twinkling and he was nudging Zoro. "What an absolutely SUPER way to start the day!"
"Zoro-san! Maybe you can give me a peek at her panties every once in a while? Yohohohohohoho!" Brook exclaimed.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
"Anyway Bro, you can't play around when you tell a woman you love them, you have to go all out and do something SUPER! Flowers, chocolates, dancing, dates, anything you can think of!" Franky was shaking from left to right with every romantic thing he could list and finally finished off with his signature pose.
"Write her a song Zoro-san! Women love music!" Brook whipped out his violin and started playing a very uplifting song.
"Hm, maybe that could work." Zoro thought to himself. But after a few minutes he quickly realized, "Wait I don't have any money for that shit. Let alone I have no idea what kind of flowers or candy Nami likes! And I know absolutely nothing about music! I can't do that." Zoro looked up from his thoughts and saw that Franky was dancing on the other side of the deck to whatever song Brook was playing; it seemed they completely forgot he was there.
Yep. Definitely a bad idea.
Zoro walked past them and headed into the kitchen for breakfast.
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After breakfast, Zoro made his way up to the crow's nest to start his morning workout. "That will take my mind off of all of this" he hoped to himself.
An hour had gone by and Zoro was half way done with his workout when he heard the hatch to the crow's nest open.
"Oh sorry Zoro I didn't know you were up here. I think I left my hammer up here last night when I was on watch". It was Usopp. The long nosed teen was looking around the room when Zoro came up with an idea.
"Hey Usopp, can I ask you something?" Asking for advice didn't really go so well with the older males of the crew, so why not try the younger?
"What's going on Zoro?" Usopp looked at him, interested.
"How did you tell Kaya you liked her?"
Usopp's face started to turn really red. "….W-Well you see Zoro, I….I mean Kaya…" He stammered.
"You haven't told her?" Zoro questioned.
"What! No of course I have! I remember like it was yesterday! It was right after I finished pounding Kuro and all of his thousands of subordinates! I walked her out to the shore, holding her hand knelt down and proclaimed, 'Kaya, my love! Though I am a brave warrior with hundreds of ladies throwing themselves at me, you have won my love'….." Usopp was kneeling down, shouting his story like he was actually there right at this moment.
Zoro just gave him a look. "So you never told her, huh?"
"W-What are you talking a-about..." Usopp was waving his hands. "Uhh…anyway… Why do you want to know?"
It was Zoro's turn to get red. "..I was just curious is all!"
"Hm, you like someone don't you Zoro!" Usopp giggled. He couldn't believe the ex-pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro had a crush. "Well, you could always try to be really, really nice!" This just made Usopp laugh harder. He just couldn't get the picture out of his head, Zoro swooning over some girl just like Sanji. Tears were forming in his eyes.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!" Zoro glared at Usopp. This snapped Usopp right back to reality.
"Nothing! Oh geez it's already noon?! I h-have to go take care of something!" Usopp grabbed his hammer and ran out of the crow's nest before he could become target practice for Zoro.
"Baka!" Zoro sighed. "Maybe he's right though, I could try to be really nice to her." Zoro pondered if he should maybe take a page from the love cook's book. "But all she does is ignore him. Nami doesn't want a guy like that. And who wants to act like that idiot?!" Zoro quickly shook the thought out of his head and continued his workout routine.
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Zoro came down from the crow's nest about an hour later. "Man half the days gone by and I still have no idea what to say." As he climbed down the mast, he looked around the ship. Usopp and Chopper were on one side of the deck. Usopp must have invented something new; Zoro could see Chopper's eyes sparkling at whatever the sniper had in his hands. Zoro noticed Luffy sulking on the other side of the ship fishing. Apparently Luffy had broken Usopp's new invention a few times, causing Usopp to ban Luffy from being around it.
He walked over to his captain. "Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose."
"Luffy!" Zoro called to him.
Luffy's pout turned to a large grin when he saw Zoro walking over. "Zoro! Come fish with me! Usopp is being mean!"
Zoro took a seat next to him. "Hey, Luffy, I got a situation for ya."
Luffy turned to look at him, "What's up?"
Zoro tried to think of a way to explain it to his simple minded friend without overcomplicating. "Let's say…. There's this piece of meat… "
"MEAT?!" Luffy looked at him with glowing eyes, drool starting to drip from his mouth.
"NO Luffy it's just a situation! Anyway, so you really want this piece of meat, but you can't just grab it and take it but believe me you really want to….." Zoro started to go off track a bit before coming back to the conversation. "Uhh… yeah… so how would you get the meat without being too rough?"
Luffy gave him a puzzled look. "Um…. Grab it?"
Zoro let out a sigh. "Yep, too much for his rubber head."
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The sun was starting to set. Its golden rays were piercing through the window of the door to the kitchen, which Zoro was currently in. He was sitting at the table, a mug of sake in front of him. He stared down at his drink. "I guess what's one more day, right?" A small part of him wished that Nami didn't come and visit tonight, so he wouldn't have to deal with the torture, but that was quickly erased by the very large part that just wanted to be close to her again.
"Marimo, are you just going to continue to sit there or help me dry these dishes?"
Sanji was currently washing the dishes from dinner. They were the only two in the kitchen. Any other time Zoro would have just shrugged him off, but he needed something to take his mind off of his dilemma, so he got up and went toward the sink. He grabbed a dish rag and started drying the stack of dishes Sanji had already washed.
"And when have you ever just listened to me without putting up a fight?" Sanji looked at him. "What are you, sick?"
Zoro just grunted and continued with the dishes.
Sanji rolled his eyes, "Fine, be that way."
"It's not like you would understand, baka" Zoro stared at the pan he was drying.
The cook had a smirk on his face. "You're the one that doesn't understand anything. Have you ever just tried to tell this girl how you honestly feel?"
Zoro stopped drying, standing there dumbfounded. He looked at Sanji; the swordsman's eyes wide open in shock.
Sanji laughed. "You didn't really expect any of those idiots to keep a secret, did you?" He took a drag from his cigarette. "But seriously, if you're not honest with how you feel when you tell this woman, then there's really no point in telling her at all. I don't know what girl on this planet would want to be with a shitty swordsman like you, but when she does turn you down, you can at least move on from it and never have to regret not trying."
Zoro continued to stare at him, going over what he had said. For once, the love cook was right. "I have to just tell her the truth. I can't beat around the bush. If Nami doesn't love me back, then that's that."
Sanji walked away from the sink, putting the last dish on the drying rack. He walked toward the door to the deck. Opening it, he started to walk out but turned around, "And Marimo, finish that shit up already. I don't need you in here longer than you have to be." And with that he was out the door.
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It was pretty late when everyone started making their way toward their beds. Zoro saw Nami come out of the library and walk toward the woman's quarters. "She must have been in there all day." Before she had a chance to open the door, Zoro grabbed her arm.
"I need to talk to you" He whispered to her. She stared at him, and then gave a slow nod. He could tell she was tired, but it was now or never. They walked over toward the helm. The moonlight sparkled on to her face, highlighting her features, showing just how beautiful she was. Zoro gulped.
"What's this about Zoro? I would like to go to bed." She questioned him, starting to look annoyed.
"Why do you still come to sleep with me?" Zoro stared into her eyes. Nami's face quickly turned red and she looked down to the floor. Before she could answer, he continued.
"Are you still having nightmares? Or do you just really like my bed? I don't know if I can do this anymore Nami, I can't just keep being so close to you without…." Zoro took a deep sigh. "Without knowing how you feel about me." Her mouth opened a little. He didn't let her speak.
"You're always in my head Nami. I can't go an hour without thinking something stupid about you. It's pure torture when you come in at night and are so close yet I can't do anything! Everything about you is so…. frustrating. And yet every time I see your face, I just…." He took a second to choose his next words carefully. "I'm in love with you Nami. I always have been. You're the only one that can make me so angry and so happy at the same time. I've never felt this way before, and if this is stupid and you don't feel the same then we can just pretend-" He was interrupted as she grabbed his head and laid her lips on his. He froze for a second, staring at her face, but then he wrapped his arms around her and returned the passionate kiss. Her arms were around his neck and she pulled him close. Zoro moved his hand to caress her face, then pulled away from her lips and stared into her eyes.
"I love you too." She said softly.
Zoro stood there, holding her, for what seemed like forever. When he had laid all of his feelings out before her, he couldn't help but feel a wave of relief. And then for her to not only kiss him, but to love him back, he grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up and swung her around in a warm embrace.
"Zoro! Put me down!" She said to him, laughing. He smiled, and then brought her close for their second kiss. He loved the feeling of her lips. He couldn't believe that he could love her any more than he did five minutes ago. But now, under the full moon holding the woman of his dreams, he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man in the world.
"I'm sorry, you must be really tired, we should probably go to bed" He could see that her eyes were starting to droop.
"You're probably right" She said to him.
They walked to the bedroom doors and he noticed that she was going toward the men's quarters. He gave her a curious look.
"Well? Aren't you coming?" Nami looked at him with a smile.
He looked at her and a huge grin formed on his face. He followed her into the bedroom and quietly shut the door behind him.
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And there it is! Some of my favorite episodes are when the crew is on the ship just hanging out, so I really wanted to write a story like that. I tried to make it not to OOC but I might have failed with Sanji. They can't always fight though right? :P