-Nami-

He's alive.

She stands frozen as the fear and the relief after it overwhelm her, taking her breath away. Then he speaks, and she comes back to life with a gasp.

Her knees give out and the tears that have stopped at the corners of her eyes begin flowing. He doesn't seem to notice. He acts like nothing has happened.

She can't stand it. She wants him to care more. She wants him to not be okay with dying.

He glances her way as he speaks. Her tears stop, and her legs are ready to carry her once again. She stands up, takes two steps and interrupts him with a slap across his face.

Everything she cannot say, she hopes to relay by this childish act of violence. She hopes that he understands, but she also hopes that he doesn't.

'I was worried,' she means to say. 'Don't ever scare me like this again.'

She doesn't know how else to touch him. She doesn't know how he'd react if she does touch him any other way.

She starts nagging. The words come out of her mouth by themselves, she doesn't even hear them. Only thing she can hear is her heartbeat, and she's afraid that others can hear it too. She raises her voice to hide it.

He tells her to shut up at some point. They start bickering. She can feel the blood running through her veins getting warmer.

Someone laughs.

She turns to scold. We're alright, she thinks. We're going to be alright.

-Zoro-

He feels free. Death takes everything away; the responsibilities, the resolutions, the commitments, the pain. Its treacherous promise of ultimate freedom is tempting, and he's close to giving in.

But still he resists with what little he has left, trying to remind himself of his purpose. He takes a look at the life he's about to lose; and vague shapes appear in his cloudy vision.

He hears a voice. It's shrill and it pierces his soul, bringing the pain back. The voice holds him, binds him to the world of the living. His vision steadies.

He smiles. He knows he can't die just yet.

Somebody speaks. He replies.

He senses a presence as he talks. It's the voice, he understands; still clinging to him. His gaze follows the transparent threads that distort the light like heat waves and he sees her.

The voice disappears into her eyes, and his heart skips a beat.

She gets up and walks to him. He knows how this'll end. He lets her.

She vents and he joins in. This is how they communicate.

For now, he thinks, because now he knows something he didn't before.