Thriller Bark, the Grand Line...
Zoro lay there on the table, lost to the world. He hadn't regained consciousness at all since the rest of the crew woke up, not even for a moment. Nami occupied a chair next to him, her elbows on the table and her head propped up by her hands. She stared at him and sighed. The rest of the Straw Hats were celebrating the victory with Lola's crew, but she elected to keep an eye on Zoro instead. Chopper checked him every so often, yet Nami had been alone with him for a while now. She glanced over her shoulder to see the reindeer dancing with Franky. They both had chopsticks up their noses.
Nami laughed quietly, a smile briefly gracing her features. It left just as quickly as it came, however. She looked back to Zoro. His eyes remained closed, his face was completely still, and his chest rose and fell slightly as he breathed. He was alive; that's all that mattered. He was practically comatose, but he still lived.
Suddenly, Nami pressed a hand to her lips. When exactly would he wake up? Chopper didn't even know for sure. Nami never once worried about Zoro, except when it came to his directional issues. Yet she was definitely worried about him now. She knew that something else had happened while everyone else was unconscious. If he had just been knocked out like they had, then he certainly would've woken up by now. Nothing could keep him down. So what on Earth happened to make him like this? She'd have to beat it out of him once he came to.
Almost Zoro's entire body was bandaged, courtesy of Chopper, of course. He had bandages wrapped around his head and his torso. A strip covered his right shoulder and came across his chest. He had taken damage when he fought Oars, Nami understood that. They all had. But the wounds that Zoro had were ridiculous if they needed that many bandages, and no one else in their crew was hurt that badly. There had to be something. She needed to know because whatever it was, it was more serious than she thought. She wanted to know what Zoro went through.
Nami checked to see if any of her nakama were heading towards her or looking that way. When she was sure that they weren't, she lowered her hand from her lips and lightly brushed Zoro's hairline, right at the top of his forehead. She ran her fingers through his hair and was surprised by how soft it felt. She hardly expected a barbarian like him to be hygienic and keep his hair clean. Nami then traced a line down to his ear and behind the lobe, making his three earrings jingle. She continued along the side of his neck, and then, she gasped. Goosebumps were rising to Zoro's skin.
She drew her hand away quickly, reaching for her drink that sat on the table near his shoulder. She took a trembling sip and placed the cup back down as gently as she could. Could he... actually feel her doing that somehow? Nami gazed down at him with wide eyes. The goosebumps were slowly fading.
Nami bit her lower lip, considering what to do next. I must be crazy, she thought. She leaned closer to him.
"Hey, can you hear me?" she asked.
Zoro didn't stir at all. It seemed that he wouldn't react to her voice. Nami lifted her hand again, letting it hover in front of her for a few seconds, until she placed it on his shoulder. She trailed her fingers along his collarbone to the base of his throat. His skin was so tan and smooth… until it was covered in goosebumps once more. Nami grinned. There was no way in hell that she would ever have the chance to touch him like this again. It was hilarious that even while he was out cold, his body betrayed him. Normally, Zoro would be in complete control of his physical and emotional actions. However, in this state, he was helpless. Nami knew that this was a rare occurrence. She would probably never see Zoro this vulnerable ever again.
She rested her whole hand on his chest, right over his heart. It beat strong and steady beneath her palm, and while Nami exhaled as calmly as she could, she shivered. Was it strange that she always wondered what this would be like, to touch Zoro like this? She was still fairly close to him; the distance between them was about a foot.
"Zoro…" she whispered. "You have to wake up… Please wake up. It doesn't have to be right now, but soon, okay?" Nami giggled a little. "Luffy has a barrel of sake waiting just for you. I already clocked him when he tried to give you some. But you'll enjoy it once you're better. Maybe even share it…"
Zoro still didn't move. Out of the blue, Nami grabbed his hand and held it in hers. Like the other parts of him, it was covered in bandages. She grasped it tenderly, making sure not to squeeze too much.
"I'll be here when you wake up," she said. "I promise."
Nami lowered her head. There was no way that she would cry, not in front of him, and not in front of everyone there. All of the sudden, she realized that she was vulnerable, too. She had no idea why or how it was happening, but she now cared for Zoro much more than she had before. Things had changed. She didn't even know what he had endured, yet he shouldn't have gone through it by himself. She should have been there with him.
I'm not sure what I could've done to change anything… but at least he wouldn't have been alone, she thought.
She looked at Zoro again. She still held his hand, and she wasn't sure when she started doing it, but she was stroking her thumb back and forth over his bandages. Yet Nami nearly screamed when she saw Zoro's expression. He was smiling.
His eyes weren't open, and he didn't speak. He was still lying there and hadn't moved an inch. Sure enough, though, his mouth was barely turned up and formed a small smirk. Nami took his hand into both of hers and gripped it tightly. She laughed, her voice shaking.
"Don't get any funny ideas. This is a one-time thing, baka."
At that moment, Nami heard someone approaching from behind her. She hardly had any time to really enjoy holding Zoro's hand and let it sink in. But she set it down carefully and picked up her drink once more in a fluid motion, as though she hadn't touched him. Chopper walked around her chair and hopped up onto the table.
"How's he doing, Nami?" he asked.
"Still nothing," she responded. "Even with all of the noise."
"Well, you know how he is. He can sleep through anything."
"He'll be fine… right, Chopper?"
The crew's doctor looked at Nami inquisitively, his head tilted to one side. "I'm sure he will be, as long as he remains stable. He's strong like Luffy and Sanji. He'll pull through like he always does."
"Yeah. That's true."
"Oi… You two talkin' about me?"
Both Nami's and Chopper's heads moved down quickly. The source of the voice was lying between them, his eyes cracked open and his head lolled to the side, facing Nami.
Zoro chuckled and smiled. "Seems like you were pretty worried about me."
Nami sensed that he was mainly talking to her. She balled her hands into fists, her entire body quaking. Chopper made nervous sounds and pranced across the table, holding his arms up to defend Zoro from her imminent wrath.
"I should pummel you for even suggesting that," Nami told him.
"No, Nami, don't," Chopper said anxiously.
Zoro groaned. "I'm hungry. Something smells good."
It was totally like Zoro to ignore everything, even the pain he was in, and switch the subject like nothing was wrong. It pissed Nami off even more.
"I can get you something to eat," Chopped addressed him. "And some water as well. You shouldn't move with all of those bandages."
"But they're so restricting," Zoro complained.
"Don't even think about taking them off while I'm gone! I'll go tell Luffy that you're finally awake, too. He'll be glad to hear it."
"Thanks, Chopper."
The doctor jumped off of the table and left Nami and Zoro together. Zoro gritted his teeth, a hiss escaping from between them.
"Damn. Every time my stomach growls, it hurts everywhere else," he said.
"Serves you right," Nami scolded him. "What the hell happened to you? What did you do?"
She glared at him, her arms crossed. Zoro attempted to keep eye contact with her, but he seemed groggy from just waking up, so his eyes wandered all over her for some reason. She could feel her cheeks getting red as she sat under his gaze.
"Well?" she demanded. Zoro did his best to shrug, and he ended up moaning in pain.
"I was caught in that shichibukai's explosion, just like you and the others were," he said.
"You're lying, Zoro. It was something different. You woke up right after, didn't you? And you—"
"It doesn't matter, Nami."
"It matters to me." Nami was on the verge of yelling at him, and it took all she had to keep her voice relatively level. "I want you to tell me the truth."
Silence passed between them. Zoro opened his mouth to speak, but shut it abruptly when Luffy, Usopp, and Franky came barreling toward the table, led by Chopper. They gathered around Nami's seat and nearly suffocated her as they surrounded her and Zoro.
"ZORO!" Luffy exclaimed right in her ear. "You're up! It's about time!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Zoro said. "Sorry it took me so long."
"No way, you needed the rest," Usopp assured him. "You were beat up really badly!"
"How're you feeling now, Zoro?" Franky asked.
The conversation roared around her, yet Nami's eyes wouldn't leave Zoro's. She could swear that his sparkled when Luffy lifted his barrel of sake onto the table. Zoro tried to sit up, but Chopper climbed on top of him to hold him down. Everyone laughed, yet Zoro had to stop, since he found it difficult to laugh for too long before it ached. Nami chose not to laugh at all.
At last, Chopper shooed everyone, and they backed off from the table a little.
"Zoro's gotta eat some food at least to recover," he stated. "I'll have to feed him."
"I can eat on my own," Zoro protested; however, his words fell on deaf ears.
"We'll be back in a bit then," Usopp said, waving.
"Awww, but he should drink his sake!" Luffy wailed.
Usopp and Franky had to usher Luffy away as Chopper set a plate of steak, chicken, vegetables, and fruit on the table. He began cutting up the meat with a fork and knife.
"I can do that, Chopper," Nami suggested. "You need food."
"Are you sure?" he asked, concerned. "You haven't eaten anything so far, Nami. Can I get some food for you, too?
"Yeah, I'm sure," she replied with a nod. "And don't worry about me. I'll be right behind you."
"Alright then…"
Chopper handed Nami the utensils and leaped from the table. He waved at her timidly, and Nami returned the gesture, fork in hand. When Chopper went the other way, Nami turned back to Zoro.
"You haven't eaten anything at all?" he asked.
"Nevermind that. I'm armed now," she threatened, a wicked smile on her face. "You'd better tell me, Zoro."
"Fine," he conceded. "Put those down, and I will."
Nami did as Zoro said and put the utensils on the plate. She slid it to the end of the table, almost to Zoro's feet. She rested her forearms on the table, looking at him intently. Zoro matched her gaze.
"I… took in all of Luffy's pain," he told her.
Nami's spine went rigid. She shook her head and stammered. "Wait, what? What does that mean?"
"Kuma…" Zoro tried to explain. "It was his Devil's Fruit power. He was able to… push all of Luffy's pain out of him somehow."
Nami couldn't even picture what that would have looked like. She saw the paw-shaped bubbles that Kuma had made, and with a swipe of his hand, he could make someone disappear into thin air. But expelling Luffy's pain from his body… what a sight that must have been.
"No wonder Luffy woke up acting like his normal self even after everything that had happened," she murmured. "None of us could explain it. But you're saying… that's because of you?"
"I guess so," Zoro answered. "It makes sense, anyway."
Their eye contact lingered for just a split second too long, so Nami glanced down at her hands. They felt cold and clammy against one another.
"So… how did Kuma do it?" she asked. "And how did you…?"
Zoro didn't respond right away. He shifted uncomfortably, but whether that was from the bandages or the subject matter, Nami wasn't sure. He sighed a little and settled back into place. He even managed to fold his hands over each other on his stomach.
"Only the cook knows what really happened," he began. "He found me after the fact. Did he take me to Luffy and you guys? Did you… see what I looked like?"
Nami frowned. "Sanji-kun only came to get Chopper while the rest of us joined up with Lola's crew."
"Good," he said harshly. "None of you needed to see that."
"Zoro!" she said in exasperation. "You can't just say that and not back it up."
Zoro scowled. "I know that, woman! I'm getting there."
Nami was legitimately scared now. She had been right. It was definitely worse than she thought, and from the sound of things, it was even more so.
"I made a deal with Kuma," Zoro told her. "I offered my life in exchange for Luffy's. And Kuma would've accepted me in Luffy's place… only if I took all of Luffy's pain: the damage that he had taken from his fights with Oars and Moria, his exhaustion, everything. Kuma used his hand and pushed Luffy's pain out of his body. It made this huge, red bubble. He started by giving me just a small spot of it, and the pain… I told him that I would do the whole thing somewhere else. So we went away from you guys, and I did it. I took in the entire bubble."
"Oh no…" Nami gasped.
"When the cook found me, I couldn't move," he continued. "Yet I was still standing. I was… covered in blood. He asked me what happened, and I told him nothing. Nothing at all. That's when I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was lying here with you and Chopper circling me like vultures."
Nami didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. She knew the truth, like she wanted; however, the truth always hurt more than a lie, and Zoro hadn't lied. Every word he said was true. Her heart ached for him.
She figured out what to do, though. She slapped Zoro as hard as she could, straight in the face. It whipped his head violently to the side and away from her. The sound of it seemed like any other comical noise that came from the crowd that partied around them. Yet the skin of Nami's hand pulsed, hard. It was as though she had slapped a plank of wood. She could see Zoro's cheek turning red and swelling. But he didn't do anything.
"You are the single biggest BAKA that I have ever known," Nami said softly. "Do you know what would've happened if we lost you?"
Zoro turned his head back towards her. "Nami, if I didn't intervene, we would've lost Luffy. Losing our captain isn't an option, so I did what I had to do. How could we continue as a crew without him?"
"I know that!" she exclaimed, frustrated. "We couldn't!"
"Then why does my life matter if it means I could save his?"
Nami gaped at him in disbelief. He struggled to sit up. His bandages made him look like a mummy rising from its tomb, which normally, she would've made fun of him for. This wasn't a normal time, however.
"You said that what you did doesn't matter, and now you're saying that your life doesn't matter," she told him. "Well it does matter. YOU matter. Where would we be without you, Zoro? You're going to become the greatest swordsman in the world, right? How's Luffy going to become Pirate King without you? He needs you! I—"
Nami clamped her mouth shut. I can't believe I was just about to go there! She couldn't bring herself to look at him after what she was about to admit. She was definitely crazy. Zoro stared at her, his eyes wide.
"Zoro, I would die for Luffy, too," she said. "Of course I would. But that doesn't mean that my life would no longer matter. I like to think that I'd be missed. You all probably couldn't continue without me either, since I'm the navigator. All of our lives matter, no matter what we choose to do with them. So for you to say that your life doesn't… it hurts."
"Nami—"
"You don't have to say anything!" she blurted. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.
Zoro lifted his hand and grabbed her chin, certainly not in a gentle way. He pulled her closer to him without any of the finesse or romantic gesture that Nami had expected with a first kiss. But once his lips actually met hers, she melted. She closed her eyes as Zoro let go of her chin to cup her cheek. Nami put her hands on his shoulders, which caused her to sit in her chair straight as an arrow. She hadn't expected Zoro's lips to be so soft, his tongue so deft. In the back of her mind, she sort of worried that she was an amateur compared to him. And she had kissed quite a few men back in her thieving days. But Nami was shocked to find that Zoro was… a really good kisser, better than any she had kissed before. She only wished that they had more time.
Yet Zoro released the kiss and backed off. He withdrew his hand, and Nami did as well. They sat there facing each other in silence. Then, Zoro smiled.
"I'm good at not saying anything," he said.
Nami tried to hold it, but it came buzzing through her lips, and she couldn't keep it in. She opened her mouth and burst out laughing. Zoro laughed, too, as much as the bandages allowed. She hadn't heard Zoro laugh this much in a long time, and what had just happened amazed her. They had kissed.
Was it weird that she had also wondered what that would be like?
"You can't tell anyone what I did," Zoro said suddenly.
Nami blushed. "No, no, I won't say a word," she told him, almost shyly.
"Well, that too," he chuckled. "But I mean what I did for Luffy. He must never know."
"Oh." Nami shook her head. "Well, I won't say a word about that either."
"Thank you."
Had she heard correctly? Had Zoro truly thanked her for something? Nami grinned brightly. She appreciated that more than she could say.
"So, how 'bout that food?" Zoro asked, motioning to the plate at his feet. "I'm starving."
At that exact moment, Nami's stomach grumbled. She nodded. "I am, too. But that food's probably gone cold by now. I can go get you a new plate."
Nami stood up for the first time in a while, and her knees nearly buckled. Her legs felt so unstable. Maybe that was from kissing Zoro and not from standing up, but she couldn't be sure. Before she could get too far, however, Zoro stopped her. He had grabbed her hand.
She looked over her shoulder at him.
"You better get some food for yourself this time," he urged.
She smirked. "Yeah, definitely."
Zoro dropped her hand, yet Nami remained still. He looked at her quizzically. "Well?" he asked.
"Just one question," she said. "Did you dream at all?"
"Huh?"
"While you were out like that… did you dream?"
Zoro scratched the back of his head. "I guess… I remember one where I was on top of a snowy mountain. It was freezing up there."
Nami nearly busted a gut again. She covered her mouth with a hand and shut her mouth tight. Zoro still looked at her in confusion.
"What?" he pressed.
"Nothing!" she claimed, waving her hand aimlessly. She winked at him before she strode off, certainly leaving him in a befuddled state. But with her back turned to him, she giggled. So Zoro had felt her touching him like that after all, only he didn't know what the cause of it was. Nami was going to get a lot of mileage out of that one. She would just have to keep it to herself.
"Nami! Finally!" Chopper piped up as she approached him. "I thought you'd never come get a bite to eat."
"Sorry it took me so long," Nami said with a smile.
Chopper narrowed his eyes at her, focusing on the words she had said and trying to recognize where he had heard them before. Luckily, though, Luffy heaved Zoro's barrel of sake over the little reindeer's head, distracting him.
"Now Zoro can have his booze, right?!" their captain demanded.
"Yes, yes, but not all at once," Chopper answered sternly.
"YOSH!" Luffy yelled. "Mina, let's go and see Zoro!"
Nami hadn't realized it, yet the entire crew was there. Luffy and Usopp headed for Zoro, carrying the barrel of sake between them, and Chopper attempted to catch up before Luffy took things too far. Sanji and Franky walked over there together, talking about something. Brook was the only one not among them, still playing the piano like he had been.
Robin, however, was at Nami's side. She smiled knowingly as she always did, even though she had been completely out of the loop. But Nami never underestimated how perceptive the older woman was.
"You stayed with Zoro the entire time that he was unconscious," Robin said lightly. "And even when he woke, you two seemed deep in conversation."
"It was nothing," Nami lied. "He wanted to know what he missed."
"Perhaps he missed you."
"Robin!"
The archaeologist giggled and walked over to the others before Nami could protest further. How could she possibly know that?! Nami picked up two clean plates and pairs of utensils and piled food as fast as she could. Then, she returned to where Zoro was. The entire crew gathered around him, eating and drinking and having a good time. For some reason, Nami's seat was still open, so she took it.
She set Zoro's new plate next to him and readied her own plate. But before she could dig in at last, Zoro placed an empty glass near her plate. Nami looked at him, not understanding what it was for. She found out soon enough. Zoro had his sake barrel in his arms and poured some into the glass for her. Sharing his sake… Nami thought, bewildered. She never thought she'd see the day.
Had he heard her, too?
That's when Nami discovered that no one else was drinking the sake, except for the two of them.