A Silly Little Thing

Zoro wasn't usually prone to sentimentality.

He could of course understand the value of a simple object, such as Luffy's hat or his own Wado Ichimonji but it was because of the weight such things carried. They represented something more than what they were; promises, responsibilities, loyalties. Never had he seen anything that he wanted to keep simply because it looked nice.

Until that moment.

He didn't really even understand why he had ended up with it. What he did understand was that the damn thing had been drawing his eye all day and now it was in his hand as he sat contemplatively on the grassy deck, the nighttime wind chilling his cheeks.

It had started earlier that morning when Usopp came bursting out from his workshop followed shortly by Franky and Shiloh. "We did it!" The sharpshooter shouted, holding up what looked to Zoro like a colorful bouquet of miniature rockets made of cardboard.

"What are those?" Luffy instantly asked with wide eyes and a curious grin. "Are they snacks? They look like candy!"

"No!" Usopp replied, cradling his… whatever they were to his chest before their captain could experimentally put one of them in his mouth. "We," be began grandly, tilting his head slightly towards a smiling Franky and a shrugging Shiloh, "Made the best fireworks on this side of the Grand Line!"

Usually Zoro would have considered the statement a grandiose exaggeration because, well, it came from Usopp. But this time he actually believed the long nosed man. Tinkering with explosives and making weird crap was his specialty after all, and with Franky's assistance, the things were sure to be every bit spectacular as Usopp claimed. He spared a glance at Shiloh, whose job it was to help out on the ship wherever she could, and wondered what it actually was that Usopp and Franky had her do for them. He always figured she was simply handing or fetching them things they needed for whatever they were working on at the time. He would have to ask her later, if he remembered.

That was when he spotted something he would end up noticing the rest of the entire damn day: A white ribbon tied in Shiloh's dark crimson hair.

The young woman's long unruly locks were pulled up into a singular ponytail, surely to keep them out of her face as she was working with the shipwright and sharpshooter, with the thin line of fabric wrapped around the base and ending with a neat bow at the top.

It wasn't as if it was the first time Zoro saw bows or the like in Shiloh's hair. On the contrary, the redhead was known to have an attraction to hair accessories and styles. Zoro himself had bought her a bandana that he often saw her wearing as a headband.

But he just couldn't stop looking at the ribbon.

There was something about it that made his chest tingle in an odd, but not entirely unpleasant way. It wasn't until Shiloh turned slightly, obstructing the white ribbon in her hair from view that Zoro realized she was staring at him.

"What are you going to do with these?"

The swordsman had never been so thankful to hear the cook's bossy voice. At least now he didn't need to explain to Shiloh why he had been staring at the top of her head so intently. He was pretty sure the redhead hadn't been fazed by his staring (much stranger things happened aboard The Thousand Sunny, after all) but that didn't make being caught any less uncomfortable for him.

Before Usopp could answer, Luffy cheered and shouted, "We're gonna set them off, duh!"

"We are not setting off fireworks on our ship, Luffy!"

"Aww, but Nami-"

"Do you want the marines to know where we are? In case you've forgotten, fireworks are bright and loud. It might as well be a beacon telling them, 'Here we are, come and get us!'"

"Nami-swan is right!" Sanji agreed immediately, causing Zoro to roll his unscarred eye. "It's not safe, Usopp. Put those things away."

Chopper made a disappointed sound. "So no fireworks?"

"I'm the captain!" Luffy exclaimed. "And I say we light 'em!"

Zoro sat back and watched as Nami and Sanji attempted to talk down the dark-haired man, obviously to no avail. Brook sidled up to him, out of the way of the three arguing and said to Usopp who was looking at the yelling trio with mild concern, "Might I offer a suggestion? Maybe we can dock somewhere to set off the fireworks?"

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted, both fists in the air in triumph. "Where's the nearest, island, Nami?"

Sighing in defeat, Nami grumbled, "Hold on," before disappearing into her study to retrieve a map. She returned moments later, a look of utter disinterest on her face. "There's a small island about three hours north of us. It's tiny though, more like a glorified sandbar than an island. It's not even inhabited."

"Sounds like the perfect place to set off fireworks to me."

Zoro snorted at Shiloh's comment and at the glare Nami sent the shorter redhead. "Fine," the navigator sighed as Luffy, Chopper and Usopp broke into celebratory cheers. "We can go."

And so they had, and Usopp, for once, had not lied. The fireworks were spectacular and bright, the barbeque dinner Sanji had set up delicious and appropriate for the occasion. As was the Straw Hat Pirates' custom, they had a loud, obnoxious, grand time.

Still, during all the commotion and impromptu partying, Zoro kept noticing the ribbon in Shiloh's hair. The redhead had taken her ponytail down and instead had worn her wavy locks loose about her shoulders and down her back. (Zoro hadn't noticed until then that it had grown much longer since they had first met the young woman.) But the bow remained, tied around her head and ending with a bow to the side as a makeshift headband.

It was beginning to frustrate him how distracting the damn white strip of fabric was. A particularly bright firework had just gone off, bathing everything in a warm pink light, but all he could focus on was how the color reflected in Shiloh's ribbon.

Zoro found himself irrationally irritated and gave a loud groan that was drowned out by the roar of the next explosive. He took a swig from the bottle of sake in his hand and wished the stupid thing would just disappear.

He didn't believe in God but what happened next nearly converted him. A strong and sudden wind blew by, ruffling all three of the woman who were standing right at the shore's edge, heads tilted upwards towards the sky. It was if he saw it in slow motion. The ribbon atop Shiloh's head unraveled until it was completely undone before it blew away. And Shiloh, laughing and giggling with Nami and Robin, hadn't noticed in the slightest. Zoro watched the white fabric twist and twirl in the wind, buffeted along the shoreline and seemingly headed straight for the dark inky ocean.

He leaned back where he sat, did his best not to watch it any longer and thought, Good riddance.

Needless to say, he hadn't been able to let the damn ribbon go. While the rest of the crew danced around and continued to watch the fireworks show, he had gone running after it. He caught it right before it hit the salty seawater, about 150 feet from where they had set up dinner.

The swordsman had fully intended on returning the ribbon to Shiloh as soon as they got back to the ship (he wasn't going to do it on the beach where the others could see and start spewing their ridiculous sentimental nonsense), but somehow he had managed to miss her completely as they returned. He blamed Luffy for distracting him. Their childish captain had attempted to wrestle with him and it had taken Zoro a good ten minutes to unwind himself from Luffy's rubbery arms. By the time he was free from their captain's clutches, Shiloh had already gone to help Sanji wash up in the galley.

So, there he sat, Shiloh's ribbon in his hand, waiting for the redhead to come out. He very well could have just gone in and given it to her, but he sure as hell he didn't want to in the presence of Sanji, who he knew would tease him for having it. He was usually up for a good fight with the annoying cook, but he was currently simultaneous much too full from dinner and not in the mood.

He didn't wait much longer. The door of the galley opened and Shiloh stepped out with one last look and wave at the cook still inside. With a deep breath, Zoro pushed himself up from his sitting position and walked towards the redhead. She spotted him and smiled. "Zoro," she greeted. "I haven't seen you since we got back from the beach. What are you up to?"

His hand tightened around the ribbon still resting against his palm before holding it out o the redhead. "You lost this."

Shiloh's amber eyes widened as her hands went up to her the top of her head to feel the absence of the bow. "Oh," she stated simply. To Zoro's confusion, she didn't reach for the ribbon. Instead she looked intensely first at it, then at him. "Where did you find it?"

Cursing the blush that rose to his cheeks, Zoro looked away and mumbled, "The beach. I saw the wind blowing it away so I went after it."

The long pause that followed made him more uncomfortable than the woman's unfaltering stare. Finally, she blinked and asked, "Why?"

Thrown off guard by the question, the swordsman only managed a confused, "Huh?"

The slight curious tilt of Shiloh's head sent a small jolt of affection through his heart. "Why did you go after it? I mean, it was really sweet of you to do that and I'm thankful, but it's just a ribbon."

Zoro frowned, previous embarrassment and confusion completely gone. "Because it belongs to you." There really was nothing more to it than that. He held it out once more, hoping that she'd just take the thing and be on her merry way so he could forget about all about it.

"Is that why you were staring at it all day?"

The embarrassment came thundering back tenfold. "I was not!" Shiloh gave him a smirk and raised a brow. With a sigh, the swordsman admitted, "Maybe I was. I guess I like it… or something." He struggled for a good minute to find the words for what he wanted to say next so eventually he settled for, "It suits you."

Shiloh rewarded him with a soft smile and a giggle. She stepped closer, and rather than take the ribbon from his still outstretched hand, closed her own around it and laced their fingers as she stood on her toes to give him a gentle kiss. It was merely a quick peck on the lips but the tingle remained long after she had pulled back. "You," she stated as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her, "Really are a sweet man, Roronoa Zoro."

He snorted. "No I'm not."

"You are," the redhead insisted. "You just don't realize it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The stupid blush had returned to his cheeks. He gave Shiloh one last quick squeeze before releasing her and once again offering up the white strip of fabric that had still been clenched in his fist. "Are you going take this damn thing or not?"

Shiloh stared at the ribbon for a long moment, seemingly deep in thought before she smiled and put her hand on Zoro's to close his fingers around the ribbon. "Would you mind… holding on to it for me?"

The green-haired man frowned. What was the purpose of that? "Why?"

With a smile and blush of her own, the redhead replied quietly, "I just have this feeling it's safer with you. I'll come ask you for it when I need it."

Zoro had no idea what the hell she meant, but he could do nothing but agree at the sight of her soft grin and bright eyes. "Alright."

Everyone had long gone to bed when Zoro realized he was still holding Shiloh's ribbon. After the redhead had bid him good night, he had gone up to the crows' nest to keep watch. How he had managed to climb up without noticing or losing the thing, he had no idea. But now that he was aware of the ribbon, he had no clue what to do with it.

Shiloh had asked him to keep it safe, so he would. But it wasn't as if he could just keep it in his hand forever. Besides, then it would get dirty and sweaty and there was no way in hell he'd return it to the girl in any less pristine condition than it had been given. Normally he wouldn't care, but since it was Shiloh's…

A thought struck him and he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner. With a pleased smirk, he pulled Shusui from his side still sheathed and tied Shiloh's white ribbon tightly just under the hilt.

The paleness of the fabric contrasted greatly with his blade's dark hilt, but some how it was pleasing to his eye and felt right. He felt as if together, the ribbon and blade represented him and Shiloh very well; despite his destructive and headstrong nature, Shiloh occupied a small portion of his heart that shone so brightly that he simply couldn't ignore it.

Or something like that.

Satisfied, he put Shusui back where it belonged and leaned back, arms crossed behind his head.

He could finally stop worry about Shiloh's stupid white ribbon. But deep down, despite how good it looked on Shusui, he hoped she would ask for it soon. Seeing it in her hair, no matter how insignificant it seemed, made him happy.

Zoro closed his eyes.

It was such a silly little thing.

Oh well.

a/n

Thanks for reading! Eon Island is still in the works, I promise! Meanwhile, here's more fluffy nonsense to tide you over :)