A New Year
A One Piece fanfic by Warm Memories
Chapter One: Something New
Wow…my first story and its not even my birthday yet! This is a gift in some way to my readers and me. I Hope I don't end up screwing this up like I did with the other story I started. Now that story is in another part of town, rotting in some compost pile.
Anyway, this story will be a Zolu because I told myself I would. It's a sort of New Year's resolution for me, or something.
I sure hope you enjoy it!
Um…I think that's it.
The blades on the fan were spinning, slowly, for some reason. It wasn't at all warm, for all Zoro knew it was probably a good 30 degrees out. But still, despite the cold, it spun, cutting through the silence of the small kitchen. Every time the ceiling fan spun it made a light squeaking noise, sort of like a rusty swing moving back and forth.
For all the noise the small fan made, Zoro didn't mind. It was odd; the noise was actually quit comforting as Zoro sat at the small kitchen table. He listened to the fan, watching I rotate as he held a glass full of the amber colored liquid known as Miller Light. It wasn't his brand, but it would have to do…for now.
Another lonely Christmas.
He took a sip of his beer. He then set it down once more, staring at it blankly as he fell back into thought.
So what? I shouldn't care, I've never cared whether I was lonely or not during Christmas…so why…why do I care?
He took yet another sip, this time long and deep. It felt good as it went down his dry throat. He looked up at the dim light of the ceiling fan, which just happened to be the only light in the tiny room. He had almost finished drinking his beer when he heard a light knock at his front door.
"Who could that be?" he said to himself as he set the almost half full glass of beer on the table. Zoro stood up and began to make his way to the front door. The person on the other side knocked once more, this time harder, followed by on irritated voice.
"Marimo, it's me Sanji! Open up already, it's starting to drizzle!"
"I heard you the first time cook!" Zoro shouted through the old wooden door. As soon as he turned the knob to let the cook in, he was nearly shoved to the ground as Sanji pushed the door to let himself in.
"Watch it, you idiot!" the swordsman shouted while regaining balance.
"You were in my way seaweed-head. The only reason I came in so damn fast was to make sure this didn't get wet."
He held out a small battery powered radio to the green haired man. It wasn't exactly the most modern looking, but it looked like it was in pretty good shape.
"Well?" Sanji was still holding out the radio towards Zoro as if waiting for him to take it, which was true.
"Well, what? Zoro asked, not seeming to grasp the obvious message.
"Take the damn thing Mariamo." He shoved the small electronic device into Zoro's hands. Zoro just stared at it blankly. Sanji wouldn't just give him something just for the sake of giving, would he?
"Why are you giving this to me this? I'm pretty sure it's not out of the goodness of your heart."
"Your right, it's not," he was about to take his coat of, but seeing that it was just as cold inside as it was out he decided not to. "Nami-san asked me to invite you to the New Year's party she's throwing on Saturday. I just figured I'd bring that thing along while I was at it." Sanji then searched his coat pocket. He pulled out an envelope with the words 'To Zoro' written on it. He then handed it to the swordsman.
Zoro took the envelope in one hand while holding on to the handle of the small radio with the other. He stared at the invitation for a minute or two before focusing on the portable radio once more.
"Where'd you get this piece of garbage anyway?" Zoro was still holding on to the envelope but was now inspecting the old radio, seeing if it even worked anymore.
"Remember that Christmas party Vivi threw last Saturday, you know, the one you missed out on."
"How could I forget?" He then recalled how throughout all last week, almost every one he knew tried to convince him to come. On one occasion they even tried sneaking up on him, tying a rope around his arms and legs, dumping him in the trunk of Vivi's car, and driving him all the way to the party. Unfortunately, the one how ended up tied up and in the trunk of a car was Usopp.
"Well, there was a gift exchange and I ended up with that thing. Since I have a better on at my place, I figured I'd give it to some one who needed it." Sanji glance around to see the rest of the objects, more like hand-me-downs, that Zolo had acquired. His eyes fell upon the old black and white TV that sat underneath the window which was next to the door.
"Besides, I think it will go nicely with the rest of the garbage in this dump." A small smile spread across Sanji's face while trying to hold back a laugh.
"It's not like your place is any better."
"It is."
Zoro totally ignored this last statement and instead put the crappie radio that Sanji had given him on the kitchen table. He then took his seat and finished drinking his beer.
There wasn't really a division between the kitchen and living room. The only hint of division was where the brown carpet met with white tile. The only other rooms were the bathroom and bedroom which were right down the hall. It was a small house, but if Zoro could live in it, he really didn't care how big it was.
"Mind if I have a drink?" Sanji had watched Zoro finish his beer and got a tad thirsty. Come to think of it, he was kind of hungry.
"Go ahead." Zoro had left his empty glass and instead went on inspecting his little present for any signs of usefulness. Meanwhile Sanji had made his way to the fridge but the only thing he was able to find was a couple of slices of left over pizza, ten chicken wings, and a six pack.
"Hey, Marimo, got anything else besides pizza, wings, and beer?" He turned around to face the swordsman who was now sticking the radio with his fist trying to get it to get the thing to work.
"There's some eggs in there go ahead and take as many as you like," he then resumed trying to turn the goddamn radio on but with no success. "What the hell did you do to thing, it won't turn on."
"Try putting the batteries in, moron." Unsuccessful in finding the eggs, he instead reached over for a slice of pizza.
"What?"
"Batteries: a device for storing an electric charge," he said this as he popped the pizza in the microwave.
"I know what it is, idiot." He felt like throwing the fucking radio at Sanji's shitty little head.
Zoro stud up and walked over to the counter opening a cabinet next to the window. He hadn't noticed how hard it was pouring until he stared out the window. He then realized how hard the drops of rain were falling on the roof of his tiny home. The man turned on his heel, returning to his seat to shove the batteries in their proper place. While hi did this, the beep of the microwave announced that the leftover was now ready. Sanji took the pizza out and began to eat the slice while Zoro kept messing with the knobs of the radio, trying to get a signal.
"It doesn't work to well," Zoro said, still playing with the bottons.
"But it works."
"Yeah."
Neither of then spoke for a while; they just shared glances every now and again. It seemed odd to Zoro that Sanji haden already left. Odd, and somewhat surprising.
The swordsman messed with the radio a bit and found nothing but static. Finally he found a station that they could actually understand, though it still sounded kind of fuzzy. Zoro was about to touch the dial to change the station…
"Don't change it," Sanji said through a mouth full of pizza.
"Why shouldn't I, after all, it is mine." He said with a smirk. He just loved to make the cook suffer.
"Just listen to the damn song seaweed-head!" he shouted in an outburst of rage. Zoro just raised an eyebrow at the of-centered cook. The cook acted strange most of the time, but never like this.
Realizing what he had just said (more like in the way he had said it) he quickly regained composure but did not speak. They just stayed there listening to the lyrics of 'What a Wonderful World.' It was weird, it felt weird, just listening, not only to the song, but every thing else around him. The squeak of the slow moving fan, the pitter-patter of rain drops on the roofs of al the houses, Sanji humming along with the music. It was all so…strange.
…And I think to myself, what a wonderful world…
The song ended, the voice of the DJ came on to the small radio. It made no sense to Zoro. What the hell was so special about this song and, more importantly, what the fuck was Sanji still doing here?
The silence between was broken by Sanji's remark.
"No wonder this place is so fucking cold," he stared at the fan in the middle of the room (just to make it clear, he had finished his pizza during the song), "You might want to turn that of, you could get a brain freeze, not that you have one anyway," he finished of with a grin bordering on a smirk.
Zoro didn't say a word still wondering why the shitty cook was still standing in front of him.
"Then again it might have already happened." He let out a small laugh. Zoro just responded with a dangerous glare. The blond then looked at the navy blue watch on his wrist: 6:39.
"Anyways, I ought to get going. I promised my dear Nami-san and Vivi-chan that I'd take them to the movies tonight. I don't want to keep two beautiful women waiting." The cook said this through heart shaped eyes while clasping his hands together. Sanji turned on his heel and made his way to the door. He opened the door but turned to face the swordsman once more.
"You better come to the party; Nami's got a little surprise for you." With that said the cook left slamming the door behind him.
Zoro just sat there with a pair of tired eyes fixed on the door. What was that about?
Two arms were now crossed, lying on the wooden table. The green haired man just stared at the radio as the song 'Rose Garden' played on the thing.
The hell was up with Sanji? What up with the song? And why the hell did he stay so goddamn long?
He looked up at the clock in front of him. It read 7:20.
Well he's gone now, and that's that.
He then laid his head on his arms listening to a song that he did not know the name of, or simple he couldn't remember.
His eyelids became heavy as the music slowly played, the fan spun, and the rain fell. It was all so peaceful. He slowly fell into a tranquil sleep as the music played on.
…Imagine all the people…
To Be Continued
Well? Forgive my lack of vocabulary, I'm only 13.
Also, if any of the two characters were OOC please do me the favor of telling me!
Um…I think that's all. Please R&R!
Next Chapter: Zoro run into some kid on the street, literally. And what is Nami planning to surprise Zoro with?