Zoro cracked his eyes open and let out a grumble of annoyance. He was wide awake… again. He yawned not bothering to cover his mouth. There was no annoying cook to yell at him at such an inconvenient hour so he was free to act as he pleased and right now he was too lazy to cover his damn mouth.
He lazily got out of the hammock; the swordsman didn't even bother to wonder about what time it was. He already knew and he knew why he was awake at such an hour. Zoro swiftly jumped over Usopp's and Chopper's snuggled up bodies, being careful not to wake them up he put a pair of pants on not bothering to look for a shirt.
Just when he was about to make his way towards the door a chattering of teeth stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to face Usopp and Chopper again. The poor long nose was desperately clinging to the young doctor for to gain some heat. Zoro sighed and quickly made his way towards the softly snoring cook; he snatched away the curly brows poorly placed blanket and put it over the long nose.
He waited until the snipers chattering stopped; Usopp snuggled into the blanket and let out a pleased hum. Zoro smiled at the sight, he always forgot about how young they were. It was because of moments like this when he actually realized about their age and even if he would never admit it, Zoro would worry about his nakama a lot. Even the shit cook who was now mumbling something about Nami and panties….
He was not curious to find out about the cooks perverted dream so he quickly got out of the room and started to climb up the wooden stairs of the Merry, with the creaking sounds accompanying him he finally reached the deck. A cool breeze surrounded him and he suddenly regretted for not bringing a shirt with him but he quickly shrugged off the thought and look up towards the crow's nest.
Zoro knew who was up there. The person that was on watch was the same reason he was awake, he wasn't complaining but he wasn't that jolly about the situation either. Zoro had a weird bond with the person on watch and on nights like this, when the bond was actually strong enough to wake him up; it was rarely because the other person was happy.
Zoro climbed up the mast as quickly as possible, when he was close enough he could hear the soft sobs coming from the crow's nest. His heart ached at the sound; he hated seeing such a strong person in such a state. He swiftly jumped in to the crow's nest and saw that she was already wiping away her tears, she chuckled slightly.
"I knew I heard something…" she said looking up at Zoro.
He frowned. Even if she tried to hide it, she was curled up in to her blanket only her face showing and her messed up bright blue her surrounding her face but even so it was quite obvious that she had been crying. Her eyes were still watering and there were tears stains on her cheeks. Zoro sighed and sat across her.
"Vivi…" he began his voice gentle as possible. Vivi averted her brown eyes from his dark ones and glanced at the sky. Zoro mimicked her movement as he glanced at the dark sky; it was clearer than most nights and maybe it was just him but the stars looked brighter than usual.
"The sky is clear today." Vivi spoke, her voice cracking.
Zoro tore his eyes from the clear sky and gazed at Vivi who was still blankly staring at the sky. She always tried too hard hiding her emotions. It was only on nights like this when she actually let go of her mask. He knew that she was scared that she might fail, it was normal, everybody got scared once in a while and Vivi had responsibilities much higher than any of them. She was trying to save her country for fucks sake! How the hell could she not be scared?
Zoro really wasn't the type that could talk about feelings, that was usually the cooks job Sanji was the one that could work his way with words even if he did look like an idiot but it wasn't that easy for Zoro. He didn't have a magic word up his sleeve that could wipe away all of Vivi's fears. He wouldn't want to anyway, fears made people stronger and pushed people forward.
The swordsman acted on instinct and reached toward the princess. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and much to his pleasure she leaned in towards the touch with a gentle smile on her face. Vivi rested her pale face in to Zoro's calloused hand not even bothering to hold in the tears anymore.
Zoro could feel the warmness of her tears on his hand; again acting on instinct he pulled the petite blue haired girl in to an embrace. He could feel Vivi's small hands clinging on him almost like she was about to drown, her tears now pouring freely throughout her eyes.
This was his way of communicating with people, he might not be good with words and putting his thoughts in to it but he was excellent at showing his emotions with gestures.
"Zo…ro," Vivi said choking on his name as she continued to cry. "I'm…I'm scared..."
Zoro smiled and put his hand on her head gently stroking the blue hair. "I know." The swordsman replied simply. It wasn't much but he knew that the princess would understand.
They stayed like that the only sound being Vivi's crying her face buried in to Zoro's chest and the proud flag of the strawhats waving ecstatically with the wind. When Vivi finally stopped she pulled out her head and met Zoro's eyes, her brown eyes were still watery and she was sniffling. He had to hold in a chuckle, she looked so damn young and cute.
"Good thing I wasn't wearing a shirt, huh?" he mused.
"Shut up." Vivi replied giggling to herself, clearly feeling better.
"Don't worry," he whispered. "We'll be there for you always; I'll be right by your side." Zoro corrected himself tugging a blue strand of hair behind Vivi's ear.
"Always," Vivi repeated, nodding to Zoro's words.
The green haired swordsman smiled and was delighted when he saw Vivi responding to him by smiling back. He leaned in brushing his lips against her soft ones. The princess's lips slowly parted as she invited the swordsman inside, Zoro slid his tongue inside keeping the kiss as gentle as possible. The kiss was a way of showing his support for her and it was a promise that he intended to keep.
He would be there. Always.
I wrote this late at night and sorry if it's ooc, I think I might've write Zoro a little too gentle. Sorry for grammar mistakes too :P I hope you enjoyed this and I do have plans of writing more about this couple... I have been thinking about them for a while now plus I love Vivi. Please review and tell me what you thought about it ^^