Holy crap, this took way too long. I apologize for this coming out much later than I said I would.
This is a one-shot request for Max801, in which we see what a typical calm day might entail with Terra as she travels with the Straw Hats, as well as a spar between Terra and Zoro.
This day takes place between the G8 arc and the fight between Terra and Usopp about the Going Merry, which explains the ending of this one-shot.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Terra/Myka is my OC.
"Hey, Marimo! If you so much as give Terra a scratch, I'm going to kick you off of the ship!" threatened Sanji from the deck of the Going Merry. Terra rolled her eyes.
"Calm down, Sanji," she said as she turned to face the swordsman. The two were standing at opposite ends of a sand bar they had been sailing by. The rest of the crew was still on the ship, watching the two with interest.
Just a short while ago, after Usopp warned Nami about the sand bar, Zoro had requested that they make a short stop for a quick sparring session.
"I want to see just where you're at in terms of swordplay," he had told Terra when she asked why, "The deck is too small for anything serious, and I want to know just how much farther you have to go to catch up."
"You assume you're way ahead of me?" she had asked, slightly peeved.
"You don't go a whole year without training and not lose your touch somewhere," he'd said, "Besides, isn't that why you asked for my help?" Terra had dropped the argument. She had already admitted to wanting help. No point in starting a fight about it because of her pride.
Now, she was facing Zoro with her sword drawn. Zoro only had two of his swords out.
"I'll let you have the first strike, so whenever you're ready," he said as he crouched into a defensive position.
". . . Are you sure you're ready? I don't really take things slow," she said, sounding a bit skeptical.
"I've already figured as much. I'll be fine, so just go." Terra shrugged before she surged forward. She was in front of Zoro before he could blink. He quickly blocked her diagonal slash, and she jumped back as he pushed her away. She smirked when she saw the surprised expression on his face.
"I told you that I wouldn't go slow," she said with a slight teasing tone.
"Yeah, I expected that. But could you take this seriously? There wasn't that much weight behind the swing," said Zoro. That wiped the smirk off of Terra's face. Without saying anything, she rushed at him again. This time, after she vanished, she reappeared towards his right, about to swing down. He blocked it again, forcing her back with little effort.
"I said to take this seriously. Are you trying to swat a fly?" asked Zoro as Terra landed a few feet away.
"Shut it!" she yelled, annoyed. She ran at him again, going slower this time. This time, when he blocked her attack, her feet stayed planted on the ground. She had to admit, she never thought about how much power Zoro could put behind a swing. She knew he was strong, but she still wasn't completely prepared. But damn it, she was going to hold her ground this time.
"So you can put some strength behind your sword. Too bad you were going so slow. I was able to read your every move," said Zoro.
"You said you wanted a stronger slash!" she said as the two finally separated. She was forced to take a few steps back while Zoro hardly budged.
"Yeah, but you were supposed to do that while keeping most of your speed. Can you not maintain both strength and speed?" he asked. Instead of answering, Terra tried to attack him again while she was frustrated, going fast again. Instead of blocking, Zoro swung at her. When she blocked the attack, she was thrown back. She landed on her back in the water.
It was just deep enough for her to be completely submerged before her back hit the sand. She sat up, her nostrils burning a bit from the salt water that went up them. She could even feel some of the seawater traveling down her throat.
"You okay?" asked Zoro when she coughed.
"I'm fine," she said, irritated with herself. Suddenly, Sanji ran at Zoro and aimed to kick him in the head. Zoro quickly blocked the kick with the back of one of his swords.
"OI, SHITTY MARIMO! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT HURTING TERRA?!" yelled Sanji, enraged.
"She's fine!" Zoro yelled back, annoyed. The fight didn't escalate much as Terra had gotten up and gave Sanji one good punch to his side.
"I said I was fine!" she shouted, shaking her fist at the incapacitated Sanji.
"Do you remember how you fought before?" he asked. Terra was silent for a moment. Right when he thought that she wasn't going to say anything, she spoke up.
"I would always try to get the first strike in, aiming for the vitals. I think that my goal for each fight was to end it as soon as possible with as little fuss as possible."
"Then what would you do if your opponent wore armor over your targets?" Terra shrugged.
"Beats me. I don't remember." Zoro scratched the back of his head while he sighed, exasperated.
"To be honest, I was expecting you to fare better than that." Terra gave him a slight glare.
"But, like I said, you don't go a whole year without training and not lose your touch. Now that I have an idea about where you're at, I can think of what the best way to help you would be." She looked down and relaxed a little after a moment, sliding the sword back into its sheath on her back.
"Hey, Sanji, isn't it about lunch time?" she asked the cook still lying on the ground.
"Yes! The food is just about ready!" said Sanji in a flirty tone, now up and doing his noodle dance. Just as Sanji ran off to check on the food, Terra began to walk back to the ship.
". . . Thanks," she muttered as she passed by Zoro.
"You can thank me when you've gotten stronger," he replied.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"I thought it was suspicious when you didn't hang around on the deck after that spar," said Terra, irritated. She had a hold on Luffy's left ear while the teen struggled.
"Ow, ow, ow . . . I said I was sorry," Luffy managed through fat lips, "But I was so hungry!"
"You couldn't have waited five more minutes, dumbass!" yelled Sanji. Shortly after Sanji had gone to kick Zoro, Luffy snuck into the kitchen to start eating lunch early. Of course, he ate everyone's share along with his own. Now, he was sporting a couple of goose eggs, courtesy of Sanji.
"We're lucky that you haven't had a chance to raid the fridge, or we would have had a repeat of the voyage between Drum Island and Alabasta," said Terra as she'd let go of Luffy's ear, making it snap against his head.
"I'm sorry ladies, but you'll have to wait a little bit longer to eat," Sanji apologized to the three women standing in the kitchen.
"It's alright, Sanji," said Nami, "We should have kept a better eye on him when you left the food unattended."
"We've gone longer without food. We'll be okay," said Terra.
"You say that like it's easy, but that trip was awful!" complained Usopp, remembering the trip to Alabasta. Terra raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really? You're whining about that now? Because if I remember correctly, Luffy wasn't the only one to empty out the kitchen that time," she said, staring him down. Usopp froze at the memory, sweating a bit nervously.
"U-Uh, I know! I'll go fishing to replace the food Luffy ate!" Usopp said quickly, leaving the kitchen in a hurry.
"Did you have to scare him so much?" asked Nami in a reprimanding tone.
"I was only pointing something out. Not my fault he gets scared over nothing," muttered Terra, crossing her arms.
"Are you sure it's over nothing?" asked Robin, who had been leaning against the wall next to them, "With the kind of temper you have, is it so unnatural for a person to be nervous when you bring up something in such a manner?" Terra opted not to say anything in favor of looking away, although she did tense up slightly.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Terra sat in the women's quarters, going through the more recently developed batch of pictures. She had spent the last hour making sure that, even though the lock was still secure on the box when Luffy gave it back to her after their escape from G8, nothing had been removed. She was satisfied that everything was still in there. Now, she was sorting through the pictures she had tied a ribbon around, separating them from the rest in the box.
These were the pictures she had developed during their last few days on Skypiea. She had learned back when she got the camera how to develop the pictures by herself. It took some practice and several ruined photos before she got it down. Now, she was quite proud of the quality of her photos, each giving a clear picture of the scenes depicted in them.
She had been initially worried that she wouldn't be able to keep developing her pictures after joining the crew, but a short explanation to Nami back in Coco Village had ensured Terra the use of the women's quarters as a dark room as long as she gave advanced notice (although she was now in the navigator's debt for getting her the supplies). Robin also obliged when she learned about Terra's hobby. For the more disruptive members of the crew, Terra made sure to post a sign for when she was working (as well as locking the door and making a few small threats for if they caused the photos to be ruined).
As Terra sorted through the pictures, she came across the ones she took of Bellamy's crew back on Jaya (before she gave them a brutal beating). As annoying as she found the crew to be, she still couldn't help but stare at the Jolly Roger on that one guy's chest (she couldn't remember his name). She wished that she would at least recall the name of the pirate who owned that smiling Jolly Roger. Then she would know just what kind of trouble she should warn the others about. She knew that she had seen this mark in other places, but where?
In the end, she shrugged and went back to her task. She would probably remember soon enough. There was no need to worry about it now.
Feeling stiff from sitting on the futon the whole time, Terra placed the pictures back in the box. She locked it up and placed the small brass key back in the drawer where she kept it. She placed her camera back around her neck and stretched as she walked up the stairs, wondering what everyone else was doing.
She was hardly surprised to find Zoro napping with his back against the mast on deck. She could see Chopper up on the bow. He seemed focused on something, so she figured she should leave him alone. Nami was also up there, sunbathing. Sanji and Robin weren't in sight, so she assumed they were probably in the kitchen. Usopp and Luffy were both sitting on the starboard side railing, fishing.
Something squirmed in her stomach before she turned around and walked through the door again.
About a minute later, she joined them with another fishing pole, hoisting herself up to sit on the banister next to Luffy and throwing her line in the water.
"I didn't know you liked to fish, Terra," said Luffy, a little surprised but more cheerful by the fact that she was joining in on something they were doing.
"Yeah, I thought you hated to sit still," said Usopp, confused. Terra shrugged.
"I got bored. I figured I could give this a try," she said nonchalantly.
"You do know it could be a long while before any of us gets a bite, right?" asked Usopp, still skeptical about Terra's interest in the activity.
"I said that I was going to give it a try. I didn't say that it was going to be successful," she retorted, sounding annoyed. Usopp frowned, but he didn't pursue the argument. Everything was quiet for the next 15 minutes. Terra was honestly surprised by how peaceful this afternoon was.
However, when she had nothing more to do than to stare at a line in the water, she could feel herself getting a little impatient. Usopp noticed when she started bouncing her knee.
"You don't have to keep at this if you're bored, you know?" he said, "Besides, you look exhausted. Maybe you should start napping, like Zoro."
"What? Afraid that I'll catch a bigger fish than you?" she asked with a slight teasing tone, steering the conversation to a different topic not-so-subtly. Luckily for her, Usopp took the bait.
"As if! You're talking to a master fisherman here!" boasted Usopp, "Once I caught a fish that was five times the size of Merry!"
"Is that so?" she asked, looking around Luffy at him, "What kind of fish?"
"It was a catfish! I remember because I used its whiskers to tie it to the boat before taking it back to my village. We ate catfish for a month!" he said, smirking.
"Really? Too bad something that big would only last a couple of days on this ship," she commented.
"But there are less people on our crew," said Usopp, confused. Terra pulled at Luffy's cheek, making it snap back to his head.
"As I said, only a few days."
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that," said Usopp as Luffy rubbed his cheek.
"Hey, are you guys making fun of me?" asked Luffy, frowning.
"Now why would you say that?" asked Terra, smirking at him.
"You eat too much! Why do you think that my fish wouldn't last long?" asked Usopp.
"It's not fair! You guys got to have sandwiches earlier. Sanji wouldn't let me have one," whined Luffy, lamenting on a missed meal.
"That's because you ate everyone's lunch!" said Usopp.
"Sanji! Food!" ordered Luffy, ignoring that last comment. Terra sighed. But, her smirk slowly morphed into a small smile as the two kept arguing.
"Hey, Terra, you got a bite!" said Luffy pointing at her taunt fishing line. Terra blinked as she noticed something was pulling on the pole in her hand. She tugged on the fishing pole. She was met with some resistance.
"Don't just sit there! Reel it in!" said Usopp.
"I'm on it!" she said, pulling in the line as fast as she could. After a minute of tugging and reeling the line in, she could see a shadow in the water.
"Careful, Terra! The line could break!" warned Usopp.
"Don't let it get away!" said Luffy.
"I won't!" she said, a little agitated by the two at the moment. The fish was so close to the surface, but it was still putting up a fight.
"All right, you bastard, let's see you fend this off!" she muttered after she made the line as taunt as it could. She leaned forward, giving the fishing line some slack before pulling back as hard as she could while reeling the fish in again. This time, the fish flew out of the water. Terra smirked victoriously.
The fish was slightly bigger than Usopp's head. She mainly knew that because, due to the way she pulled back on the line to the side and the fish's momentum, the fish smacked against Usopp's head. Usopp fell to the ground, struggling with the fish against his head. Terra watched, a little amused, as Luffy laughed his head off.
"Way to go, Usopp. You caught dinner," she said, keeping her voice surprisingly even.
"Do you think this is funny?!" yelled Usopp, having finally thrown the fish off of him.
"Maybe," she teased. She laughed a second later after Zoro woke up because Usopp had accidentally thrown the squirming fish at him.
"Why was there a fish smacking me?" asked Zoro, irritated. He was holding the (now knocked out) fish by the tail.
"Maybe you offended it?" suggested Terra, still snickering.
"Hey!" Zoro's complaint was drowned out by Luffy and Usopp laughing.
"Sounds like you guys are having fun," said Robin, walking out of the kitchen with a coffee mug in hand. Sanji followed her out, looking a little annoyed.
"What's with all the racket?" he asked. Luffy jumped off the railing and took the fish from Zoro, holding it up for Sanji to see.
"Terra caught a fish! Cook something delicious!" he ordered.
"Technically, Usopp caught it with his face," Terra threw in casually.
"Hey!" Usopp looked a bit annoyed with her, but that did nothing to ruin her good mood.
"If it's Terra's catch, then she gets to decide how I cook this," Sanji told Luffy. However, Terra waved a dismissive hand as she hopped off the banister.
"Cook whatever you want. It'll be excellent no matter what it is," she said.
"Sure thing, my dear!" said Sanji, taking the fish from Luffy before rushing back into the kitchen.
"You seem to be more relaxed today," commented Robin, walking up to Terra as she stretched her back. Terra shrugged.
"We're not getting attacked or anything today, so why wouldn't I be?" she asked. Robin appeared to be observing her for a moment before smiling.
"I guess you're right."
After a light snack of sautéed grilled fish, Terra laid out on another lawn chair next to Nami (who was reading at this time) and napped until the sun hung low in the sky. She probably would have fallen asleep completely if Luffy didn't take her camera in that time to take pictures of something. This had prompted a game of Keep Away as Luffy ran around, tossing her camera to Usopp when she almost caught him. Usopp then tossed it to Chopper, who thought that the game looked fun and wanted to participate.
This kept on until Terra caught Luffy's outstretched arm before he could hand the camera over to Chopper.
Luckily for them, Sanji had announced that it was dinner, so they were able to get away from this without Terra being able to reprimand them.
"Hey Terra, it's your turn for the night watch, right?" asked Nami, after the usual dinnertime ruckus had calmed down.
"Yeah, I remember. My memory's not t that terrible," she said, rolling her eyes.
"No. I was thinking you should skip it this time," clarified Nami. Terra frowned at her.
"Why's that?" she asked, confused. Nami leaned across the table to point at her eyes.
"Have you seen the shadows under your eyes? Plus, you also look pale," pointed out Nami.
"Are you getting sick?" asked Chopper, immediately jumping up next to Terra to inspect her more closely.
"I'm fine," she said, waving the doctor off. Nami frowned at her answer.
"Even if you say so, I still say that you should skip your turn this time. A little extra sleep could do you some good," she said.
"I agree," said Chopper, "Also, you look like you haven't slept in a while. Are you having a hard time sleeping again? Do you need some sleeping medication?" Terra sighed.
"I can sleep just fine. But if it will calm you guys down, I'll go to bed early. Just need someone to cover for me," she said.
"I'll do it," said Zoro. Terra looked at him skeptically.
"I believe the point of me picking a replacement is to get someone who will stay awake," she said.
"I can do the night watch just fine!" argued Zoro, annoyed, "Just get some sleep!"
Terra shrugged as she got up. She bid everyone a good night as she left the kitchen. As she walked back to the women's room, she could feel herself slipping out of the pace she had been in for most of the day.
Truthfully, she did not want to try to sleep. She'd rather be on the night watch. But, she knew that her body would start rebelling against her if she tried.
Oh well. Everything had been calm and easygoing today. Maybe that streak would continue into the night. Besides, a person couldn't have nightmares every night.
Right?
I hope you all enjoyed this!
Updates will still be slow for the next couple of weeks, but I have been working on the next chapter and the next one-shot request, so hopefully both of those will be out soon enough.
Please review and let me know what you think!