What happened before
Long long ago in a kingdom far far away a baby girl named Nami was born to the king and queen. She was the second daughter and soon after her birth her father died leaving her mother to raise her and her sister while ruling the kingdom. The three lived happily and had many good times together before disaster struck when Nami was seven.
A man named Arlong appeared before them demanding that he be named ruler, when his demands were not met he staged a hostile takeover, killing the queen in the process. Nami and her sister escaped into the village after witnessing their mothers death but Nami went back to try and free the village she loved. She made a deal with Arlong to buy back the village and spent the next 11 years of her life stealing from pirates and bandits to save up enough money to accomplish her goal. When Nami was 18 Arlong went back on his deal, he sent out his henchman Hachi to kill her and called on four others to steal all of the money she had collected.
Present day:
A white haired thief ran as fast as she could through the woods. She had shoulder length hair, a white mask, all white clothes and a white sack with something in it slung over her shoulder. She was called Snow White and was infamous for steal from bandits and pirates. Suddenly she came to a stop and turned.
"It seems that you noticed me then," said a large man as he stepped out from behind a grove of trees. The thief made no response to the mystery man. "I have been sent to kill you Snow White, or should I say Nami."
"How did you know Hachi," the girl called Nami said from behind her mask.
"You can't hide anything from Arlong," The swordsman Hachi said naming his boss. "He decided that you don't have value to him anymore and sent me to get rid of you."
"So he sent his swordsman to do all his dirty work did he? And he is backing out of our deal for the village, doesn't he want the money?"
"I don't question his plans, now get out of here before someone comes looking for me, I will not kill a girl I watched grow up but I can't say the same for the others." The thief nodded before swerving off her original path to go to the abandoned cottage that she had visited often with her mother and sister. She was lucky that Hachi was the one that found her, that big softie wouldn't kill a member of his crew if his life depended on it.
Suddenly she came to a screeching halt, she was at the clearing where the cottage from her childhood stood. She had expected to be able to stay the night there, grab all the money she had saved over the years and leave for a new life in the morning. If she was lucky she would even get to say goodbye to her sister who came often to tend the mandarin grove they had planted with their mother. What she really saw when she got there was four of Arlong's men rampaging the lot, probably searching for the treasure she had saved, but how had they known where it was?
Seconds later the cat burglar realized that she couldn't stay here, it was too dangerous. Even though night was falling she had to leave her life tonight, she could probably find somewhere in the woods to sleep, and if she couldn't then she could keep going all night and sleep during the day. Turning back the way she came she ran being careful to avoid the place that she had met Hachi at.
Darkness fell faster than she had anticipated and she was soon submerged in the night in a part of the forest that was hard to navigate in the day, luckily she was good at directions and somehow kept herself from getting lost. She was starting to get paranoid, it felt as if eyes were on her from all directions and as if the trees were grabbing at her. Her wig almost got ripped off her head multiple times and she was thankful for the mask that she had to protect her face.
After what felt like hours of running she finally realized that she was in part of the forest she had never been in before and had no way to determine which way she was going. She was extremely paranoid now, she was tired and scared and to top it all off she was lost with no idea what was going to happen to her. She felt like giving up, the sun was already rising, she had no place to go, she had lost all of her money, and she hadn't slept all night. Dejected she sat down and before you could say money she was fast asleep.
When she woke up she felt much better but she was hungry, she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning and she had to eat to keep her strength up, especially when she was running from Arlong. She started to walk, she had to pay attention to look for anything edible, she couldn't afford to be picky in this situation.
Suddenly a mouth watering aroma surrounded her and she followed it to find a…WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT THING? It looked like a ship but it was on land and there was not water around big enough to hold it for miles. She stared at it for a while longer before her stomach growled and she decided to figure out if they would give her food, she could pay for it after all if she really had to. She approached the ship and climbed the ladder. She looked around the deck of the ship before approaching the door leading to the inside and knocked.
"What do you want," came the reply from inside.
"I am a traveler and I smelled food, I was hoping that you had some you could spare." The door opened a moment later to reveal a tall blonde man with an apron. He looked normal enough until you saw his eye brow, it was a spiral. The instant he saw her his visible eye turned to a heart.
"Of course I always have food for a pretty lady," he swooned.
"Thank you," Nami responded as he ushered her inside. She took in the small but well equipped kitchen, the food smelled even better in here than it had before. She sat down at the table and a moment later a plate full of hot food was set in front of her. She looked at the man warily, she would have to remove her mask to eat and it was possible that he might recognize her, she couldn't have word getting back to Arlong that she had escaped alive. Finally she decided to just lift the bottom part of her mask away from her face to allow the fork through.
"How is it?" the blond man asked, he didn't seem to mind her strange way of eating.
"It is delicious thank you…" she paused for his name.
"Sanji, and I am glad you enjoyed it beautiful lady." Until she had finished her food neither of them spoke again. When she was done he took her plate and washed it. She thanked him again and was about to leave when she heard a huge crash and a lot of yelling. Nami quickly put her mask back on, the more people near here the higher chance she would be seen and Arlong would find out that she wasn't dead.
"SANJI FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD," a voice hollered from outside before bursting through the door. The yeller seemed to be the boy in the red vest with the straw hat and there were five others who came in behind him. The one right behind him was a teenage boy with a bandana and a very long nose, then was a very tiny creature that looked like a reindeer. Behind those two was a woman with straight black hair and a purple outfit. After her came a very large man with blue hair and extremely large forearms with stars on them. Lastly came a skeleton with an afro, she had been able to deal with all the other ones but a skeleton was just a bit extreme, she managed to keep her reaction to just a shudder.
The one with the straw hat jumped on to a seat at the table not ever registering that Nami was already there. He pounded his fists on the table and chanted the word food until a steaming plate heaped with enough food to feed a family of six for a week was set in front of him. Nami tried to sneak away but the moment she moved she alerted everyone to her presence.
"Hey Sauf uf ich dis?" (translation: hey Sanji who is this) asked the boy with the red vest without bothering to stop eating.
"A traveler who wanted a meal," the cook responded, "now don't talk with your mouth full in front of the ladies." The blonde man punched the top of his head so hard that he ended up with a face full of dinner.
"Hey Sanji that wasn't very nice," the teenager whined. Nami noticed that the rest of the people were just laughing quietly or didn't notice at all as they helped themselves to the food. Nami tried to use the commotion to get away but she had no such luck.
"So where are you going?" the long nose man asked her.
"I don't know," she didn't know why she was telling the truth but she felt that she had no reason to lie.
"Well than what are you going to do?" it was the boy in the red vest this time.
"Stay away from anyone who knows me until I can start a new life," this brought reality crashing down on her, she could never free the village now, she was supposed to be dead and could do nothing for them. The only way that she could help them now would be to defeat Arlong and she knew that she couldn't do that, no one could. She felt tear slide down her face and was glad for the mask hiding her face.
"Why do you have to do that?" the straw hat guy had somehow finished his food already and seemed thoroughly engrossed in her story.
"…," she paused, should she tell them the story, she didn't know anything about them and they could easily tell Arlong about her but they didn't seem like bad people. She had learned to be wary but this guy with the straw hat looked like he had all of his emotions on his face. "Arlong wants me dead, he thinks I am dead right now and I want to keep it that way." She knew that she probably shouldn't be telling this to them but maybe they could help her.
There was a strained silence in the room before the straw hat guy laughed. "Now that is an adventure," he smiled. She was in shock about his reaction, in fact the only reactions that didn't surprise her were the long nose guy and that reindeer thing. They both looked like they had seen the devil.
"Hey do you want to stay here with us?" the was straw hat again. She looked at him and couldn't believe what he was saying. "Yeah you should join our pirate crew." She knew that it was too good to be true.
"I won't be a pirate, I hate pirates, they kill people and steal and ruin lives." She was spiteful, after all Arlong was a pirate. She looked around after that line and saw that all the smiles had fallen off their faces.
"I understand why you think that but that's not what this crew is about," that was the cook talking. "Trust me hated pirates but this crew is different."
"Why should I trust you, you are a pirate, you are one of them." She couldn't believe it, she had finally thought she had found somewhere good and they were pirates. "I'm leaving."
"We can't let you do that, who's to say that you wouldn't just go and tell the marines where we are." It was the cook again, he had a point but there is no reasoning with a girl on a mission.
"You can't just keep me here," even if they tried she knew she would just get away the moment there was the slightest amount of opportunity. How could these people be pirates, why did she have such bad luck.
"We can and you wouldn't be missed since you are thought dead." It was the blue haired guy saying this, she had to admit that his logic was there but she couldn't believe this was happening.
"I've decided that you should join our crew," it was straw hat saying this.
"I've already said that I won't join a pirate crew."
"You are going to join our crew."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No, I'm really not."
"Yes you are, I decided," sheesh was this guy five, and why did she get the feeling that he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"He really won't, trust us we all had to deal with that," the cook added, whoops she had apparently said that out loud.
"Fine I'll join your crew," she said exasperatedly, though it wasn't like she wouldn't run away at the first chance she got. Stupid pirates.
"Hooray," the straw hat smiled. "Now I'm Monkey D. Luffy, that is Sanji the cook," he pointed to the blond man, "Robin the archeologist," the woman with the black hair, "Franky the shipwright," the blue haired man, "Brooke the musician," the skeleton, "Chopper the doctor," the reindeer, "and Usopp the sharpshooter. "
"Snow white," she wouldn't tell them her first name and they wouldn't see her without the mask.
In the past in a neighboring kingdom
One year before Nami was born in a neighboring kingdom a boy named Zoro was born. His mother died birthing him and his father distanced himself from the young boy allowing him to do as he pleased. At the age of five the boy discovered his love for sword fights and trained daily at the dojo in the village. His greatest rival was the sword master's daughter and his dream was to defeat her. The two became close with their shared dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman and her death hit the young boy hard, but it also motivated him to train as hard as possible to achieve his dream in her honor.
This young lad wasn't perfect though, he was known to disappear for days and for the longest time no reason was known, finally it was discovered that he had a horrible sense of direction and was just lost during those times. Once when the prince got lost he discovered the Straw Hat pirates and became great friends with them over time. He couldn't join their crew and leave his life as a prince but he was their nakama for as long as his life allowed, though they didn't know that he was a prince. On many days he would travel to their ship, the Going Merry, and spend the day with the crew. Today was one of those days.
Present day
He was later than usual today, he had probably missed lunch, but it was one of those times that his father took interest in his education and demanded he study in the morning. He hated when that happened but there was nothing that he could do about it. He sighed as he continued running towards the Going Merry, it was one of the few paths he didn't get lost on since he had taken it so many times. Hoping there was still some food left over he climbed the ladder and entered the kitchen to witness an unexpected scene. A woman in all white with white hair and a white mask was sitting at the table with the crew.
"What the," he muttered, who was this and how had she appeared since yesterday.
"Oi, Zoro, this is Snow White and she just joined our crew," Luffy yelled excitedly, well he was always excited when there was a new member. Wait did he say Snow White, he had heard that name somewhere before.
"Well nice to meet you," Zoro said the girl in white, he would figure out where he had heard the name later. Instead of responding the girl just nodded, he found it creepy how he couldn't tell where she was looking or how she felt about anything because of the mask.
"Why don't I show you where we will sleep," Robin said the new girl, again the girl only nodded and the two left the room.
"What do you even know about her?" Zoro asked, he was often called the realist of the crew. Luffy just looked at him with a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked, he obviously didn't think there was anything wrong with asking someone they knew nothing about to join the crew.
"She's on the run from Arlong, he tried to kill her and thinks he succeeded," this was Sanji talking, he knew what Zoro meant and took the role of the voice of reason for the crew when Zoro wasn't there.
"What did she do to make that creeper mad?" Now Arlong was someone that he knew, it was hard to not remember the man who had killed the old monarch and staged a hostile takeover of the kingdom next to his.
"We don't know, she had just told us that he thought she was dead when Luffy decided that she should join our crew. After that she got into an argument with him about joining then u showed up after she finally gave into him." The last part didn't surprise Zoro in the slightest, Luffy was stubborn enough that everyone eventually gave in.
"So you let her in the crew when she could be an assassin or a thief," Zoro didn't know how Luffy could just not think about all the possibilities. There was a high chance that she had done something horrible if Arlong was after her, though given the fact that it was Arlong it could be nothing but that wasn't likely.
"I decided she should be our nakama," Luffy responded stubbornly. Zoro sighed there was no reasoning with Luffy when he got like this.
"Just be careful around her, you don't know enough about her to trust her completely," Zoro knew that he would be lucky if Luffy even did that, and if Luffy trusted her than most of the crew would as well.
Nami's pov
Who was that guy? They had called him Zoro, was he part of the crew? But no one had ever mentioned him before. Finally she decided to ask Robin.
"Who was that guy?" She asked, hoping Robin knew.
"Oh Zoro, he is a guy who lives around somewhere and comes around almost every day, he won't join the crew officially for a reason he won't say, Luffy was satisfied by him saying that he would be our nakama though."
'Lucky guy,' thought Nami.
"And this is where we will sleep, the guys sleep below decks," Robin said as she opened the door to a room the size of the kitchen that was stocked with two beds. "We never know if there will be another girl so we kept an extra bed in here." Nami just nodded.
Zoro pov
The rest of the crew had left, they told him to watch the ship while they went hunting. They rotated who watched the ship but it seemed to be his turn quite often, probably because they knew that he would get lost and they wanted to avoid the trouble, it wasn't like he mattered though he could use the time to sleep or train. He was about to start with the first of those two when he heard footsteps on the floor. He cracked one eye open to see that new girl wandering around.
"So they left you behind?" He murmured causing her to jump, she obviously didn't expect anyone to be left on the ship. "What were you doing?"
"None of your business," it was the first thing he had ever heard her say and she had this tone that made him feel like she was trying to sneak away from the ship while the rest of the crew was gone. It wasn't really his business but he knew that if she got away Luffy would not be happy.
"Don't think that I'm going to let you get away." Gosh this was so troublesome, why couldn't he just take his nap.
"And who are you to stop me?" She was obviously irritated that she had been caught, and also obvious that he had been right on.
"I am the one they left to watch the ship, and that means everything on the ship which includes you." He almost slid his eyes closed after this line but he knew that if he gave her even a moment of opportunity that she would be gone forever.
"Oh joy," she seemed to lose all of her energy after that and slumped down to the ground next to him and leaned her head back against the railing. "How did my life turn out like this?" she muttered quietly.
"What do you mean?" Zoro really wondered about that line, he knew that Arlong was after her but hadn't she done something to deserve it? Maybe she was talking about getting stuck with the crew, but it wasn't really that bad to be with them.
"Thought dead by everyone I knew and if Arlong figures out that his plot failed then I am going to have people after my life every day," she tensed up after she said this like she hadn't realized that it was coming out of her mouth.
"And what did you do to deserve it?" he wasn't going to let himself pity this girl, she had to have done something to deserve it.
"Why did I have to do anything," she exploded, she twisted her torso to face him, "Arlong sends for people to be killed if they cough in his presence."
"I doubt he sends for people to follow them across the kingdom."
"So I didn't cough in his presence but he dragged someone through the city tied to the back of a horse for sneezing on him."
"Still doubt that he would chase someone through the kingdom for that, he wouldn't even remember them the next week."
"Arrg, I don't know why I am even talking to you," she growled as she stood up and stalked into the ship. Sighing Zoro closed his eyes as the door slammed, he would have to stay awake incase she decided to try her luck again. He sighed and pushed himself up to start training in clear view of the door.
Nami pov
She couldn't believe that guy, who did he think he was to question why Arlong was after her! What did he think that Arlong was? A guy who had to have legitimate reason to kill someone? And to top it all off she couldn't even get off the ship with him there, he was ruining her life. She growled as she thought more about it, the fact that he was even here meant that the rest of the crew didn't trust her not to leave, that would make leaving difficult. She couldn't believe all that had happened to her, what had she done to deserve any of it?
Zoro pov
There had been no more incident with Snow White by the time the crew returned and Zoro decided that it was time for him to go back home. The moment he entered the door he set off in search of his father's advisor on important people from around the world, he had to figure out where he had heard the name Snow White before and that seemed like the man to ask. He got lost a few times in the twists of his castle, in his defense it was a large castle, but eventually located the man he was looking for.
"Why Prince Zoro what can I do for you?" the man asked, clearly startled to see the Prince.
"What do you know about a girl named Snow White?" Right to the point as always, he wasn't ever one for pleasantries.
"Well," the man always got right down to business when you asked him about something to do with his particular field of expertise, "Snow White is a thief thought to have originated in the kingdom next to ours, many believe that she is just a myth but I believe that she is a real person. She steals exclusively from pirates and bandits. It is said that she wears all white including her hair and mask. That is all the knowledge that we have of this girl besides the fact that she is thought to have first appeared five years ago."
"Thank you," Zoro muttered before scurrying away to his chambers. The description fit the girl he saw on the ship, they were probably the same person. The fact that she was a thief could explain why Arlong wanted to kill her, if she stole from him he would track her down, and she had been carrying valuables with her that she could have been from him. Glancing out the window he realized how late it was, he could get information on her in the morning.
Nami pov
So she hadn't been able to get off the ship yesterday, but it was a new day and she had high hopes. She had slept with her mask and wig on, they were not going to see her without them, and it was going to be annoying as all heck to get the tangles out, that's why she kept her real hair short, less hassle. She didn't have any other clothes with her but that girl Robin had given her a nightdress, and she was planning on going to buy more clothes in the nearest store, it would also be a great chance to sneak away.
Yawning she got dressed in her Snow White outfit and went to meet the rest of the crew for breakfast, it would be the best time to bring up the shopping trip for the swordsman wouldn't be there and he obviously didn't trust her. Realizing that as long as that green haired guy wasn't there she could probably get away put a jump in her step that stopped the moment she entered the kitchen, there at the table sat the green haired swordsman. When she entered he turned his head to look at her before going back to his food.
Scowling behind her mask she stalked up to the cook to receive her plate of food, she didn't pay any attention to his excessive flirting but instead glared at the green haired plan ruiner. Sitting at the end of the table she pulled the bottom of her mask away from her mouth and ate the delectable food, not that she tasted it, she was far to irritated to pay any attention.
Zoro pov
He left the castle at first light to get to the ship before Snow White could talk the crew into something that let her get away. When she walked into the kitchen he almost smirked, it was obvious by the way that she tensed up that she was not thrilled to have him there. Waiting for her so sit down with her food he felt her glare on him, so she probably was planning on betraying their trust. Finally she sat down and lifted her fork for the first bite, he waited for her to remove her mask and to see what she was hiding. She lifted her hand to the bottom of the mask and started to lift, he clenched his fists, it was so close. Her fork darted into the space between the mask and her face and the mask snapped back down. Irritated at her way of unintentionally spiting him he decided to ruin any plans she may have without it seeming like it to the rest of the crew.
"I need to go shopping for some new clothes today," the masked girl stated simply, "can you point me to the nearest store?" And his chance presented itself.
"I can bring you, I have to go there anyway." He felt her wrath descend upon him, she knew that he would never let her escape.
"Then it's settled," said Robin, "Zoro, you take Snow White to the store and you two can guard the ship when you get back." There were nods around the room and Zoro knew that Snow White was trapped with him now.
When they had both finished eating Zoro started for the door waiting for her to follow him. He would have to keep a good eye on her on the way to the store to make sure that she didn't just slip away. He waited by the ladder for her to come out with her money then climbed down and watched her do the same, when she got to the ground he grabbed her forearm.
"What are you doing," she growled.
"I'm not going to let you sneak away and have to take the blame for it, you might have them fooled but not me you thief." That shut her up, he could tell she wasn't happy but she let herself be dragged, well maybe she didn't, it's hard to tell when you have superhuman strength.
"How much longer?" it was the first thing said in ten minutes and it wasn't said nicely.
"About five minutes." There was silence until the store came into sight. It was a lone store in the middle of the woods mean for travelers. It was only one floor but it had almost everything you could need and very rarely left anyone wanting. Entering the store Zoro looked around thankful he hadn't gotten lost, that wouldn't have been fun, and looked around for something he could pass off as what he needed.
"Will you let me go already, there isn't much I can do with only one arm and you are not coming in the dressing room with me."
"Fine but I am keeping you in sight." With that they began to wander the store, he always kept a close eye on her as she picked up different clothes than made her way to the dressing room. After a few minutes he realized that he had forgotten to check the dressing room and she could have escaped, he listened at the door for signs of her still being there but heard nothing.
Mentally cursing himself and her he threw open the door to reveal a shocked girl. At first Zoro thought that he had got the wrong room, this girl had short red hair and a beautiful face with large brown eyes. Without meaning to he took in the rest of her curvy body, she was in only a bra and was putting on a pair of pants, she was bending towards to do that so it's hard to blame him for the blush that colored his cheeks.
"I'm sorry I…" he started to apologize.
"Zoro you idiot get out," the girl yelled as she slammed the door shut.
'Wait,' thought Zoro, ' she knew my name, that must have been Snow White. Oh great I am so going to get killed for this later.'
He leaned back against the wall with his hand covering him mouth as he remembered what he saw. He supposed that he knew that she had had a good body, her clothes had been pretty formfitting but it's one thing to know that and another to see it firsthand. And then there was her face, he hated to admit it but she was really attractive. He knew why she had to hide her face but he couldn't help but wish that she didn't.
Realizing that he didn't want to get caught like that he walked away, he had gotten a good enough view of the dressing room to know that there was no way out. He wandered around the store until he found a dark green bandanna that would be a good replacement for his old one. After buying it and tying it around his upper arm he went back to a location where he would be able to see her leave the dressing room. When she saw him she turned her head away and made her way to pay for her clothes. When she finished she made her way over to Zoro.
"You owe me," she said, he nodded knowing she was right, "to start with you can carry my bags." With that she handed him the bags, he was in no position to refuse so he took them without complaint. The moment they were out of the shop he put all the bags in one hand and grabbed her arm with the other one. It was awkward but he couldn't let her get away just because he made a mistake. There was silence for the entire walk and there was an awkward tension was between the two.
Finally they got back to the ship and Snow White clamored up the ladder as fast as she could and Zoro followed with her bags. She led him into the woman's quarters then shooed him away as she put away her clothes. Back on the deck Zoro thought again of what had happened in the store, he really hadn't meant to see her like that but he doubted that she would accept that excuse, he eventually decided to apologize anyway the next time he saw her, well as long as Sanji wasn't there, he didn't feel like dealing with the cook about that.
"Ugg why did I have to get into this situation, especially with that woman." If it had been anyone at the palace they would have let it go because he was the prince, Robin would have chuckled and anyone else he would have never seen again.
"Oh so you would have rather seen anyone else?" Zoro turned to see Snow White standing there trembling, most likely with rage.
"That's not what I meant, don't go jumping to conclusions when you don't know the whole story."
"Oh like you've never done that," her tone was screaming sarcastic.
"Okay I suppose I deserve that."
"Oh you deserve way more than that but I don't feel like wasting my breath." It was at that moment that Zoro remembered the apology he was going to give her. Sighing he decided that he couldn't let their relationship go on like this if Luffy wanted her to be part of the crew.
"Look I'm sorry okay, you can't blame me for thinking that you used that opportunity to sneak away."
"Fine, you still owe me though."
"Fine, it was still an accident though, and before I didn't mean that I would have rather seen anyone else I meant that I wouldn't get in nearly as much trouble for it happening."
"Oh so this has happened to you before?" She didn't sound to happy and Zoro realized that he should have probably just dropped it.
"That is still not what I meant, this has never happened to me before, if it had I severely doubt that I would have been this nervous about it. I only meant that anyone else I would have never saw again and would be able to forget it ever happened quickly."
"So you're going to think about me like that?" She still sounded pissed but there seemed to be a pleased undertone.
"It's not my fault, I'm a guy and you're a beautiful girl, it's not really something you forget." It was right when he finished talking that he realized that he had broken his pattern of speech and said something sweet.
Nami pov
She was suddenly extremely glad for her mask, it hid the blush the covered her cheeks. Had he really just called her beautiful? Really? Great now she was acting like a girl and she didn't have time for that, she couldn't let him get to her, if she did she would have something keeping her here when she knew she had to leave. And he was one of them, a pirate. She shook her head to get out of the unthinkable mindset, she didn't want to get caught up in this mood. She had to get away before anything more happened, she turned to leave but the moment that she took the first step away she felt a hand on her upper arm.
"And where do you think you are going?" his voice was gruff, she detected a bit of annoyance and even some embarrassment, maybe he really was sorry?
'No,' she shook her head, 'she couldn't let herself feel that, she had to stay annoyed at the hot swordsman…she did not just think that.' She took a deep breath and let herself dwell on that for a minute, 'okay he is attractive but still I can't let myself feel anything more for him, admitting that he is hot is just a statement of fact and nothing more, wait I think he just said something, crap what did he say!'
"What," she probably sounded like an idiot but she really had no idea what he said.
"I said I'm not letting you out of my sight until the rest of them get back, you know the ship better today and I don't trust you not to leave."
"Fine," with that she pulled her arm free and sat in the same place she had been the day before.
"Now why do you wear that mask," he asked as he plopped down next to her, " if he is after you wouldn't he recognize the mask as well?"
"He would but others won't, they will see a nameless woman and it wouldn't work that way id I didn't have it, you can recognize a face and spread rumors about that or talk about it later but a mask makes that harder."
"So you think you are important enough to get recognized?"
"Just because a baka like you doesn't know my face doesn't mean that everyone doesn't know me. Everyone can be recognized by someone." She added the last part almost as an afterthought when she realized that she had said too much.
"I guess that works," he sounded like it was really hard for him to admit that any of her ideas had any merit to them at all. "I still wish you would lose the mask though, you look better without it." Once again she was glad that she had the mask to cover her blushing cheeks.
"So what about you," she asked changing the subject, they had to get out of the dangerous ground, she could not be tied here, "Robin said that you somehow got around joining the crew."
"It wasn't that hard, I came by everyday and Luffy believed me when I said I would whenever I could, we are still nakama and that satisfies him," Zoro leaned his head back and closed his eyes, for once she didn't even think about escaping, she was too busy stopping herself from obsessing over how good he looked.
"Why don't you just join the crew, you obviously want to."
"I can't," he stated simply.
"But why?"
"I just can't, you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"WE'RE BACK!" shouted Luffy.
Inside Nami's journal
The next five weeks passes in a blur, by the end of the first week I stopped trying to run away, I realized that these were not bad pirates, I think Zoro was a big part of that. I still wear my mask and wig but I am thinking of telling the crew the whole truth. I have grown much closer to Zoro during the time, it's usually just us left on the ship, there are a few days that he doesn't come and those are the worst, I had to admit to myself already that I like him, I might even love him. I still haven't figured out his secret but… I have to go, Zoro is here and he says he has to talk to me, I wonder what it is about?