Thump, thump, thump. "Hey Zoro!"
Zoro turned towards the sound of the voice. He had just finishing up his training, and was putting his equipment away. "Yeah, Luffy?"
The captain came dancing in, jumping back and forth, smiling brightly. "Tomorrow's Valentine's day, Zoro! What are you going to do?"
Zoro put the last weights back on the rack. "I'm going to do the same thing I do every day, unless we reach an island."
Luffy grabbed one of Zoro's smaller weights and picked it up. "Whoa, this is heavy! It looks a lot lighter than it is!"
"Put that back, Luffy." Zoro said, wiping his brow.
Luffy dropped it back onto the rack. "Hey, what are you going to give Nami and Robin?"
"I'm not going to give them anything. I don't have time to bother with that." Zoro replied.
"But everyone else is! Franky and Sanji and Chopper and Usopp and Brook are all doing it. Sanji even helped me out. You've got to get them something!" Luffy said.
Zoro sighed. "Don't worry Luffy, I'm sure they aren't expecting me to give them anything anyway."
"Well, you're going to be left out!" Luffy said, as he jumped out the window.
Zoro put his shirt back on and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him. When he did, he found that Robin had been standing behind it. He paused as he glanced at her, but then continued towards the stairs.
"Maybe I was expecting you to get me something." Robin said.
Zoro let out a dry laugh. "No, you weren't.
"You're right, I wasn't. But maybe I was hoping you would get me something."
Zoro turned to stare, but Robin was already gone. He considered chasing her down, but decided against it. He would probably end up lost in the bowels of the ship somewhere. Muttering, Zoro turned back to the stairs.
That night, Zoro lay in bed, thinking about what Robin had said. It was fairly well known on the ship how Zoro felt about holidays, and as such he hadn't expected this sort of problem to come up. And on Valentine's Day! Christmas and birthdays, he fulfilled his obligations, but all other holidays he ignored completely. And Valentine's Day, it wasn't a regular holiday either. If Robin was hoping for something from him, was Nami as well? If he gave them something, what would happen next?
Zoro sighed. This was a great example of why he didn't bother with this sort of thing. Robin and Nami were both very attractive, but Zoro considered his nakama to be his family, so he had never really thought about them in a romantic way. He didn't have time for a relationship anyway. It would just get in the way of his training, of his goal.
On the other hand, was it really so bad? What if fell in love? Wasn't that also a worthy goal? And it wouldn't really get in the way of his training if he didn't let it. And after all, wasn't Robin a pretty good person? It wasn't like she was only concerned about money, like some other women he could think of, or anything else that made her a unlike-able person.
But in the end, Zoro though, the only thing that should really matter was what his heart told him.
The next day Zoro woke up to loud crashing and yelling. Just like any other day. For a moment, he almost thought it was. He heard someone running past his door, laughing. Sounded like Luffy. He was followed by several more people, who were yelling at the tops of there voices. Zoro ran to his door and threw it open.
"What the hell are you all doing so early in the morning!?" he yelled. The scene before him was ridiculous. Fanky, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper were all piled on top of Luffy.
"Zoro, help me!" Luffy cried out. "They're trying to steal my Valentine's Day present for Robin!"
Franky held out his hand. "Wait a second, you don't understand. He has a box of chocolates three times bigger than ours! That makes the rest of us look like we're not men!"
"Yeah, we can't allow that to happen!" Usopp added.
Zoro put his hand on his forehead. "Is that all? Come on..." Suddenly Zoro sensed something flying at him. reflexively, his hand whipped out and caught it.
"Zoro, you have to give that to Robin!" Luffy cried out. Looking down, Zoro realized that he was holding a box of chocalte, and a rather large box at that. Robin's name was written out fancily on the top.
Franky held out his hand. "Come on Zoro, hand it over. Our manhood is at stake." As Franky and the others eased up on Luffy, he squeezed out from under them.
"Zoro, I'll trust you to give those to Robin," Luffy said, standing up behind everyone else. "I've got anoter box I've got to give to Nami." With that, Luffy took off down the hall.
"Damn, I won't let him outdo me!" Sanji cried out as he chased after him. Franky and Usopp joined him immediately. Chopper looked between Zoro and the hallway where the others had disappeared for a few seconds, then began running after everyone else. Zoro sighed as he closed his door. He turned around just in time to see Robin coming down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom when she saw him. Zoro hasn't sure why he was hesitating.
"Good morning." Robin said. Zoro's mind snapped back to attention.
"Morning." He muttered. He began walking to the stairs, but when he reached Robin, she moved a hand into his way. He stopped just short of running into it, and glanced at her.
"You've got a box with my name on it. Is it a gift after all?" Robin asked, smiling slyly at him. Zoro stared at her. She really was beautiful, wasn't she? And that smile of hers, it was truly captivating. He could understand why Sanji would fall for her.
Thump.
The box hit the floor. Robin recoiled her hand slightly, but not completely out of his way. Zoro's hand was still wide open.
"I don't know what it is." Zoro said. "Luffy and the others are just messing around. It has nothing to do with me." He moved her arm out of the way, and roughly pushed past her to make his way up the stairs.
Robin turned towards Zoro as he made his way up the stairs, but she couldn't seem to find any words to say. Before she knew it, he was gone. Her face showed signs of shock, and pain as well. She turned around slowly, and then sank down to a crouching position. She carefully opened the box, and looked at all the chocolate inside. She picked a piece out and put it in her mouth. As she did, her hand touched something wet on her face. She hadn't realized that she had started crying. She slowly chewed the sweet candy in her mouth, and sadly smiled.
"It's pretty good..."
