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One Piece: Happy Birthday Special

Happy Birthday!

Zoro

High in the Thousand Sunny's crow's nest, Zoro swung his large weights, their weight unknown but obviously extremely heavy, and counted off with each swing. "3472…3473…3474…3475…" Today, the Straw Hat crew landed on an autumn island with a big town and even larger forest. He was left with the duty of staying on the Sunny while everyone else collected what they needed. The green-haired swordsman didn't mind; it just meant he could train in peace and quiet.

"Buuu-ba-pffft!" Well, almost. Zoro stopped after another swing as his concentration was interrupted by a strange noise. The man sighed as he turned his head towards an area fenced off from the rest of the room. In the center, the young baby Mika, roughly seven months old, was looking at him with a smile while holding some of her toys.

Zoro scrunched up his eyebrows in annoyance. He was also left with his captain and navigator's baby, and while he did not mind the growing baby Zoro had been regretting it in recent days. The baby was now teething which meant she was fussy at random times and cried too often. So far, she had only peeped up when she was happy and he could deal with that. Until she started talking, gurgling, spitting, and everything else babies' do to annoy him. As the baby girl looked back at Zoro, she stared at him like she was analyzing him. It freaked him out. Zoro soon returned to his training as he swung the weights.

"3476…"

"Baa-pffff!"

"3477…"

"Gah-boo~!"

"347-"

"Ba!"

"Would You Stop It?!"

"Burururururu!" While most babies would've cried from the man shouts, Mika only made joyful noises with her spit and mouth soon followed by her laughing. Zoro clenched his teeth and dropped his weight as the baby's laughter almost seem to mock him.

"You're even more annoying than your father, you know that?!" Though Zoro spoke to Mika, the young baby looked uninterested as she looked to be searching for something. Taking this as insult, Zoro walked over to the edge of the fence and hunched over it even more annoyed. "And you smell worse than him to-(BAM!)." While Zoro tried immaturely to one-up the baby, he was suddenly met with a toy boat that quickly silenced him. Baby Mika then laughed and clapped in joy not realizing what she had done. With the toy now on the ground, Zoro was doing everything in his power not to snap at the girl remembering an earlier threat.

'If I find that you made my daughter cry, I'll be raising your debt so high not even all the money in the world will ever be enough to pay it off!'

With a gulp remembering Nami's threat, Zoro decided against something completely rash to an outlet that would please him greatly. "So…you wanna fight, do you?" Zoro then stepped over the fence and walked over to the baby. Mika watched curiously as the tall adult approached her with a smug grin on his face. She blinked as the man crouched down putting his hands behind his back.

"Here take this." From behind his back, Zoro brought forth a long, cylinder-shaped toy and tried to get Mika to grab it. The little baby girl did though only for the fact that it interested her with its colorful appeal. With Mika taking the toy, Zoro brought another out another and smirked. "They may not be swords, but they can…" Zoro stopped as he was interrupted by some grunts from Mika. He looked down and saw that she also wanted the one in Zoro's hand.

"No, no, this one's mine. I'm gonna show you to respect me." Almost like she understood Zoro, the baby pouted annoyed almost matching her mother's whenever one of them did something. The man chuckled finding oddly cute on said woman's daughter rather than on her. He then continued on to say. "We're gonna play some kiddy swordplay. If I win, you're gonna-(BONK!)" Zoro was suddenly silenced as the toy he gave Mika collided with his face. It surprised so much he lost his balance and fell back. Like before, Mika laughed and clapped finding her actions amusing. However, she soon stopped laughing just before Zoro sat up shouting at Mika.

"Why You Little-"

"Mmmeeeemm." Once again, Zoro found himself stopping himself. He looked back at the little baby as he saw her face begin to scrunch up in pain and her eyes beginning to tear up. Zoro quickly forgot his anger and immediately became worried for the girl. He quickly sat up and picked the baby up trying to stop her from crying.

"Don't cry, Mika. Don't. Cry. Nami's gonna kill me with my debt if you do." Though pleading to the seven month old baby, also holding her awkwardly as inexperienced do, she just couldn't hold out for long. Thinking quickly, Zoro looked around the room for something to hopefully keep the baby from crying. He soon spotted the mini-fridge off to the side and quickly remembered a helpful piece of information.

'Zoro, if Mika starts getting fussy, and she's not hungry or needs a change, give her one of these ice cubes. They'll help with her teething.'

"The ice!" Remembering Chopper's helpful tip, Zoro tucked Mika underneath his arm and stepped over the fence. He then quickly ran over to the small rectangle and opened it. The only item inside was ice, thanks to a ban on all alcoholic drinks started during Nami's pregnancy, and Zoro quickly grabbed a cube.

"Ewwwhh." Zoro start to panic as he heard the cue that would eventually lead to Mika's loud cry. Setting the girl down, Zoro grabbed for an item looking like a pacifier with the rubber part removed and replaced with a net. Usopp called the thing the 'Usopp Teething-Go-Awayer', Zoro just called it his last hope.

"This better work…" Zoro placed the ice cube into the crazy looking invention and then looked over to Mika. At that moment, Mika was ready to scream so Zoro dived with the weird invention aimed for her mouth. With an extreme amount of luck, Zoro landed the pacifier into the baby's mouth while simultaneously landing on his face.

While Zoro lay on his face, Mika soon noticed the cold ice cube in her mouth and how it began soothing her aching gums. The little baby smiled and squealed with joy as she took the pacifier into her own little hands. Zoro growled a bit and lifted his head and glared at the now happy child as she had no concept that he was feeling irritated. "Grr. You're enjoying this aren't you?" Seeing her uncle-in-name's face, Mika leaned forward and grabbed his nose. While Zoro was confused, the baby girl laughed in joy, and, despite his manly attitude, couldn't help be just as amused by the cute gesture.

"Got my nose, huh?" Mika only replied more babble as she released his nose. Zoro smiled at the baby and soon stood back up. He picked up the baby, this time more professional, and walked over to the play area. Before he could set the baby down, Mika soon gave a tired yawn that was immediately noticed by Zoro. "Tired now? Geesh, what did you do that was so tiring?"

Of course, the baby could not reply. Soon after Mika's yawn, Zoro soon gave out a yawn himself. Suddenly a nap didn't sound too bad. Zoro stepped over the fence and walked to the wall where he sat down putting the equally tired Mika into his lap. Zoro did not fall asleep instantly, as he always did, and looked down on Mika as she seemed to be fighting sleep. Zoro smiled at the thought. "Looks like you'll be a fighter like Luffy. And with Nami's looks, you'll probably be a force even worse than Luffy." Mika didn't respond as she was slowly succumbing to sleep and getting comfortable in her sleeping spot. Zoro didn't mind, he wouldn't fall asleep until he knew Mika was, so he just continued to talk.

"Then again, look who you have as family." Yes, even Zoro couldn't help but call this fierce pirate crew of wanted men and woman a family. Totally, this was probably unheard of among pirates, but they were an unusual to begin with. Zoro didn't mind, he could honestly, though never out-loud, say he saw the young baby as his niece and would do anything and everything for her.

"You've got me, the eventual world's greatest swordsman, Usopp; a great sniper and a real warrior when he wants to be, Sanji; while a pervert a skilled fighter, Chopper; a great doctor, Robin; probably the smartest person here and maybe the world, Franky; a skilled shipwright, and Brook; a skilled musician. And with Luffy and Nami as your parents, you'll probably end up learning everything from us; the ultimate pirate, ne?"

Zoro looked down seeing if Mika was asleep or maybe even as excited as he was about the idea. So he wasn't surprised when he saw that the little baby was fast sleep in his lap. Zoro sighed seeing how his rant was left unheard, but smiled as he rubbed the little girl's head. "Well…it was just a thought." With that said Zoro yawned again and soon settled in to sleep knowing that Mika was safe even if she woke up before him.

Later the same day, the rest of the Straw Hat crew was heading back to the Sunny. Many of them held bags and wore party hats while Robin carried what looked to be a cake. Today was Zoro's birthday, a piece of information learned by Robin through unknown means. Once learning this, Luffy had already declared that they would have a party for Zoro and no one argued against it, even Sanji. As the crew walked back onboard, they were met with Zoro and Mika having seen them from the crow's nest. Immediately, Nami took Mika from Zoro giving him some gratitude. He took with his usually comment. "Whatever."

Sometime later, the deck of the Thousand Sunny was lively as the crew celebrated their first-mate's birthday. He couldn't say he was flattered, mainly because of his pride, but when has he ever said no to a party. As the party began to die down, everyone gathered around as they gave Zoro the cake they had bought (?) while in town. As they divided the cake up, Nami decided to through up a conversation with the swordsman.

"Was Mika okay while we were gone?"

"Hmm…yeah." Though Zoro acted like he had to think about it, he only put it up to tease Nami somewhat. He looked over to where the baby sat as Sanji passed a small wedge of cake to her. She then squealed in joy sending everyone in laugh while only making Zoro smile. "We also bonded a bit."

"Really?"

"Yeah-(SPLAT)!" Right as Zoro spoke, he was suddenly met with cake to the face. Nami was surprised and looked over to Mika who was laughing joyfully. The rest of the crew paused for only a moment and then erupted into a fit of laughter. Even Robin and Nami were laughing while Zoro just sighed though still held his smile as he finished. "Yeah…a bit."

Happy Birthday Zoro!