Author's Note: Drabble #2! As you can see, it's Nami this time. I don't have much else to say besides please enjoy and leave a review, so without any ado at all:

Please enjoy and leave a review! XD

o-o-o

Nami

He's been gone for too long.

Everyone else in the crew has already returned from their battles. Even Luffy managed to get back, sporting some impressive gashes along with his trademark grin. We're all a bit worse for the wear. Sanji's feet are raw, Usopp's nose is bleeding, Chopper's right horn looks like it's almost been chipped off, and even Robin is covered in a bunch of scratches. As for me, I'm bruised and nursing a sore arm. I think the damn thing may be out of the socket.

But despite all of our wounds and fatigue, everyone has returned to the Going Merry.

Everyone, that is, except Zoro.

"Maybe I should go look for him," Luffy suggests. It's a weak proposal, since he doesn't even look like he can stand.

"Well, someone should. For all we know, the shitty swordsman's lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood," Sanji says darkly, lighting a cigarette and trying to pretend that the image he's conjured up doesn't bother him. I think he knows he isn't kidding anyone, so I let it go.

"I'm going to find him," Luffy says, rising to his feet. He wobbles and almost falls, but Sanji is quick to catch him.

"You're in no state to be going anywhere, captain," he says gently, lowering Luffy to the ground once again. I can tell Luffy wants to protest, so I decide to step up.

"I'll go," I say, making sure that my tone doesn't allow for any dispute. Luffy looks up at me hopefully, so I force a smile. "He's probably just lost and can't find his way back to the ship." Luffy grins back at me.

"That sounds like Zoro!" he chirps.

"Be careful," Robin tells me before I head back into the woods I had just managed to escape. I nod and step into the growing shadows of the forest.

A feeling of foreboding rises in my chest and my heart starts to beat a bit faster. Too many what-ifs cross my mind and I have trouble holding them down.

I'm a pretty pessimistic person most of the time. I can't help it; it's just the way I am. And now my mind it playing out these horrible scenarios in which Zoro has been killed and all I'm going to bring back to Luffy and the rest of the crew is the sliced and bleeding corpse of one of our greatest friends. I've seen too many of Zoro's battles. I know he doesn't often think of his health. He thinks of victory and little else, even if that means dying "honorably."

Something up ahead moves in the underbrush and I'm immediately on my guard. I wish I had thought to bring my staff with me…

But whatever is in the brush suddenly runs, apparently scared off by something else. I take a defensive stance and prepare to meet whatever is coming my way, but it is not necessary once I see what caused the disturbance. My arms fall to my sides and I feel relief coarse warmly through my veins.

"Zoro," I breathe.

He's alive. Bleeding profusely, barely able to stand, and trembling all over, but alive. And I couldn't be more relieved. That should show you the kind of logic that exists in the life of piracy. His eyes are slightly clouded, but he manages to meet my gaze nonetheless, his expression questioning.

"Nami?" he rasps. "What are you doing here?"

I almost laugh at the ridiculous question.

"Looking for you, you idiot!" I half-yell. "Did you think we wouldn't be worried?"

"I'm fine," Zoro says, a knee-jerk reaction. "I was on my way back anyway. You could have waited for –"

"No," I interrupt softly, no longer meeting his gaze. I don't want him to see the encroaching tears in my eyes. Not yet. They appear suddenly but swiftly, and I know it's just the stress of the past few days coming up in one big rush, but I can't help it.

"Nami?" He takes a step toward me, leaning heavily upon his swords. He seems genuinely concerned, and I find myself almost too choked up to speak.

"No, we couldn't have just waited," I manage. "We had no idea where you were, Zoro. It… it was too long." I pause to collect myself, but he says nothing. I am kind of surprised; usually he would take this opportunity to say something offhanded or sarcastic to lighten the mood, but his lack of comment makes me nervous. Is he more injured and exhausted than I had originally thought, or –

My thoughts are cut off by his sudden presence before me and a soothing hand on the back of my head, gently pressing my face against his shoulder. I am a bit surprised. I hadn't even noticed him move. And I had never realized Zoro could be so… tender.

"I'm fine," he says again, and I can feel his voice vibrating deep in his chest. It's strangely comforting. "Really."

I meekly wrap my arms around his waist and we stand like that for a couple minutes, me crying into his already dirty shirt, he being silently supportive. Until…

"You do know you're getting blood all over yourself, right?"

I chuckle wetly and pull back to see him looking at me with a mock-serious face, one brow arched.

"I don't care," I say, leaning back into the embrace. "I'll just add the cost of a new shirt to your ever-growing debt."

"What?! Now hold on a second, you can't just keep adding things –"

I smile as he continues his rant. Now I know for sure that he truly will be fine.

o-o-o

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Next up: Chopper