A/N: I have no idea what inspired me to write this. The idea made me want to cry, but I was still able to develop it into something of a story. A possible one-shot if you will, though if enough people like it, I can continue it…. And also the characters will probably be slightly OOC because I do have a slight problem with that sometimes. I wrote this while listening to "The only exception" By Paramore, if you haven't heard that song, I suggest you go and find it on YouTube.
WARNINGS: Major angst, possible Character Death, implied ZoroxRobin, possibly one sided
Disclaimer: I in no way own One Piece (I wish I did XD) or any of the characters, nor am I making profit off of this story.
Other than that please R&R and enjoy ^.^.
-xXx-
"OI! You guys!" Usopp shouted busting into the kitchen of the Thousand Sunny, where all of the crew, spare Usopp who was on watch, and Robin, who was in the girls' cabin reading books, were gathered.
"What is it Usopp? You're too loud." Nami stated, as if everyone didn't already know it.
"Ship!...Close!... Heading… towards… us!" Usopp stuttered the sentence.
"Usopp aniki, clam down." Franky tried to clam the sniper.
"Usopp, what kind of ship" Sanji tried asking after a few seconds after Franky and clamed him down a little. Usopp looked up at him then at every one else.
"Pirates, one's I've never seen before." Usopp responded. No one was surprised. They were in the Grand Line after all. They were bound to see other pirates, even one's they didn't know.
"Ok, Usopp, how far are they?" Nami questioned. Usopp was about to answer when Zoro, who had been sleeping in his chair, got up and pulling Sandai Kitetsu (1) from its sheath.
"They're here." He stated, and in no less then three seconds later you could hear noise coming from the deck, the clattering of shoes to be precise.
Everyone quickly rushed outside, Luffy taking point. The pirates were quick to rush in large groups. Everyone having their own battles, fighting their own group. Everyone was too busy fighting to notice to 5 to 7 pirates of the mystery crew that were not fighting anybody, and had slipped away to the inside of the ship in hopes of finding some nice treasure.
-
Robin sighed as she closed the book she had been reading. It was a nice one, mainly about the history behind the island they had just left not only two days ago.
She got up and went to the book self, as she did this she heard some yelling, and crashes coming from the deck. She sighed again and let a small smile grace her features, as she though Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were playing around, as they normally did, and Sanji had kicked them around for disturbing Nami.
Though she was dead wrong, not even close, for she did not know of the gruesome battle happening right above her head. Nor did she know that she would never get to see that playful scene, which happened almost everyday, ever again.
Robin had picked up a different book, and was on her way back to the chair she had been sitting in all day. That's when everything went down hill.
The slammed right open as she was walking past it. She was sent right towards the ground, dropping the book a she went. She lifted her head up to see who had come in so suddenly, expecting to see one of her crew mates. Robin let out a gasp when she had seen who had come in.
There in the door way stood about eleven pirates with greedy looks in their eyes.
"Hey, lady, any treasure on this ship?" Robin tried not to make her face seem suspicious as she got up and tried to hide the chest behind her. Nami always insisted that the best treasure be kept in their room, since that was probably the last place they would look. But apparently it was not the best spot.
"No" Robin simply stated while picking her self up off the floor, and move her hands in the position that she always has when using her devils fruit power.
"Oi! Don't stand up!" Robin froze. With only a few feet spreading them they could be over by her ready to attack by the time she got up, and ready to attack herself. One of the pirates in the back suddenly decided to push his way through the crowd and walk right past Robin to the chest that was behind her. Without a second thought, they just trampled across her to follow the other guy. She was pressed back down on the floor, feet stepping on her, making it impossible to move. They clearly did not care at all about her as they quickly opened the chest, to find the best treasure that was on the ship. They took a quick look through it before quickly coming to the conclusion that they were taking it.
They began to make their way out, stepping over her again. Half of them were carrying the chest while the other half were just following. They were all almost out the door, when one man, just one, decided to make a life changing move.
It was a few quick seconds, which was all it took. He turned around, walked right toward her, bent down and stabbed her right in the chest. She gasped as she felt the knife go through her skin, and back out again. The pirate quickly got up and left to catch up with his buddies.
Robin gasp again as pain ripped through her. She turned on her side and clutched the wound. She could feel the blood seeping through her clothes. From what she could tell the punctured her somewhere her left breast, right near her heart but not close enough.
She thought logically about it. If there was really an attack on the ship, they would be to busy right now to find her, and there was no way she could get up and find Chopper and at least try to get help. She knew she would probably die, right here, on the floor. Had this been 3 months ago, she wouldn't have worried about it. She would have embraced the chance to die.
Not now though. No. She had nakama now. People who cared about her and loved her. She had people she cared about and loved too.
She felt tears slip out of her eyes. Partially from pain, but mostly from regret. Regret for leaving the people she loves. Leaving the one person she has loved more than the rest.
Zoro.
Thinking of his name at a time like this brought more tears to her eyes. If she was going to leave this world, she at least wanted Zoro, her special person, to know how she felt.
She crawled, one hand still clutching the wound, to the desk. Nami's desk. She knew she would be mad for using her mapping paper, but this had to be done. She mustered up all the strength she could to pull her self up to the chair, and grab a pen.
xXx
Zoro threw out one last Oni Giri (2) to finish off the last of the wanna be pirates. These guys were pathetic. They had put up no challenge at all for them.
He let out a sigh. He wanted a nap, but he knew that Chopper would want to treat the one wound on his arm that a guy had come up behind him gave him. And even after that they would have to lean up the deck of the ship, and get all the dead body's and put them back on their piece of crap they called a ship.
He walked up the stair way to the ledge that stuck out from the kitchen. Chopper was up there doing what he does best. Heal. He watched as Chopper disinfected, and wrapped a wound for the ero-cook (3), he had received a pretty nasty cut on his leg. It went up from his ankle to about the back of his knee.
The second the little doctor had announced he was done, Sanji stood up, and walked away without so much as a limp. He probably knew he had to start cooking; as Luffy was always hungry after a battle.
"Oi! Zoro. You want me to treat that?" Zoro came out of his thoughts at Choppers voice. He saw he was gesturing toward his arm. He nodded and stepped over and sat down, knowing that even if he said no, the little reindeer would insist on it anyway, even to the point of having to hold him down.
He looked around as Chopper cleaned up his wound. He hadn't noticed it, but everyone was inside the kitchen now. No one was out here besides him and the little reindeer. He winced at little as Chopper put the bandages around his arm a little too tightly. He didn't complain though.
"Zoro, I am done, you want to go to the kitchen with me?" Chopper questioned as he was packing up his supplies in his little back-pack.
"Nah, I going to stay out here a while. You go ahead."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, Arigato Chopper you did a good job."
"Teme! Complementing me won't make me happy!" Choppy sang while doing his little happy dance. Zoro's lips formed into a small smirk as he watched the display. The little reindeer quickly scampered into the kitchen with the rest, leaving Zoro alone with his thoughts.
He heard the shouts and laughter coming from inside the kitchen. He wasn't really the one for lively encounters after a fight. He preferred meditation, or a nap. Something to calm his adrenaline.
He decided on cleaning his swords. They were stained with blood, and he had to clean them sooner or later. The only bad part was his kit was down stairs in the boy's cabin. He took a step back from the railing, and stretched for a second before heading toward the door.
As he reached it, and was about to open it, he heard a rustling from inside, and then the sound of something dropping. He opened the door and looked down the hall. Oh those guys were stupid. They were trying to take off with Nami's treasure, oh if only she found them. But Zoro's reasoning came into play. He knew it would be best to take these guys out and return the treasure to its rightful place before anybody even knew it was gone.
The first part was quickly done. Those guys didn't put up much a fight for him. They were over confident, and way too cocky. They thought they could put a fight next to him! One of The Eleven Supernovas(4), and the world's future greatest swordsman! Now he wasn't trying to sound arrogant or cocky himself, but it was true.
He scoffed as he picked up the chest and started walking down the hall toward the women's cabin. They couldn't even carry this simple chest. It didn't even weight that much, a hundred pounds at the most! If they couldn't carry a simple chest like this one, there was no way that they could even put up any fight against him.
The next minute was a blur for him. As he walked into the room, as he smelt and saw the blood. The body of one of his Nakama atop the pool of blood. The only part he could recall fully was his shout to Chopper, and running to Robin's side to see what he could do.
"CHOPPER!"
xXx
Everyone stopped what they were doing to the shout of the little doctors' name.
"Oh great…What does that brute want now?" Nami questioned in annoyance.
"Was that Zoro?" Luffy questioned through a mouth full of meat.
"Yes, Chopper, go see what that shitty marimo wants, and Luffy, and watch your manners around Nami-Swan!"Sanji said while cooking up a fresh batch of meat.
Chopper was quick to scurry out of there and head towards the shout with no complaint. He headed down the stairs, seeing the swordsman wasn't on the deck, and the shout sounded muffled, presumably by a floor.
He checked the boy's cabin and bathroom quickly, and then headed towards the women's cabin wondering what Zoro was doing in there.
The next moments for him were the same as what had happened before to Zoro.
Blood and lots of it. And Robin. He quickly rushed to her side and took note of the wound right away. It didn't take him long to begin to put pressure on the wound and give directions.
"Zoro, help me get her to the infirmary, I can't treat her properly here"
It was automatic for Zoro at this point. His mind had stopped working properly. He could stand these kinds of wounds, and Luffy to, since he was…well…super human. Hell, Sanji probably could to, but Robin…no, she was a side line fighter. A great one at that, but mostly she never went in head on.
He took her to the infirmary as fast as he could while still using upmost care for her. When he placed her on the bed, Chopper was quick to take over doing things. He took a step back and watched, his eyes finally settling on her face. She looked so calm… so serene.
"Zoro, I need to perform surgery, you need to leave."
Zoro gave a small nod and left the reindeer to his work, hoping that he would be able to save her.
He didn't know what drew him to it, but he went back to the women's cabin, only to stop at the door and survey the scene. He wondered what had happened. Had they taken her off guard? Threatened? Had she fought back and lost? His eyes decided to look at the scene once last time before going and taking to the others, only something caught his eyes.
Chopper struggled to get Robin back. He performed CPR, only to rejoice when he heard a small intake of breath, and after those short labored breaths. His joy was short lived when he remember that he needed to perform surgery, and fast.
He started the process, when Robin started mumbling. He couldn't make out the words, but she started thrashing and her voice got a little louder
"Z-Zor-Zoro!"
"Robin! I need you to calm down so I can start surgery"
It didn't work, she continued to thrash about and call to the swordsman. Until a few seconds later, she fell limp and stopped moving. Chopper was quick to start what he needed.
xXx
Zoro look down that the blood that was in front of him. He leaned down and picked up the pen, that swore was in her hand when he found her. He went to go a place it back on the desk when something caught his eye. It was out of place with all the maps and blank paper that Nami had sprung about. A single piece of paper was atop them all, blank save for one scribbling.
A single heart with a single name. His name. Zoro.
-xXx-
1- Zoro's sword with the reddish looking sheath
2- Zoro's common attack- Demon Slash
3- Love cook
4- If you are up to date till at least episode 380 (I'm pretty sure) You should now what this is. If not, look it up on the wiki.