Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece.
Chapter 2 - His First Time Looking At Her Serious Face
Perona stepped into Zoro's room after she finished washing the dishes.
Her big round eyes quickly scanned across the room. No sign of Zoro. She sighed.
He's most likely lost again. His sense of direction baffles her as usual. Perona floated up and fly out of Zoro's room. She swirled around up and down and used her ghost network to look for Zoro.
Finally, she caught a glimpse of Zoro running about at the 2nd level, and facing the wall.
"I remember clearly there is a stair here," Zoro mumbled to himself. He has been in this castle for some time and he should know where all the stairs are located at.
"Oi! What are you doing here?!" Perona shouted at him while flying towards him.
"Then what are you doing with your umbrella open in the castle?" Zoro asked inattentively, preoccupied by thinking why the stair suddenly disappeared.
"This is call fashion! Fashion! Stupid swordsman like you won't know such stuffs. So, what are you doing here?!"
"Oi, did you do something to the castle? Why does it look the same everywhere I go?"
"Huh?! What… Argh! Hurry up and follow me!" Perona fly ahead of him and lead the way. Dusts can be seen accumulating along the stairs as they went by, she made a note to self that she will make her servant clean the entire castle. Soon, she smirked to herself as she habitually turn back to look at her servant.
Her eyes grew wide as she saw the green hair swordsman walking to the left. Seriously, didn't he just said he know his room is on the right?!
"Oi! Where are you going?! Right is here!" Perona shrieked as the green hair man scratched his head and walked pass her.
"Oi! The first one on the right! Where are you going?! Urghh! Moria-sama, just how do I deal with such a person?!" She squealed as she saw him walking past his room. How can such person be worth a bounty of 120,000,000 beri, does he ever get lost from fighting with the enemy?!
"Ah? Oh..." He frowned, clearly unhappy to have some little girl giving him directions.
"Go in. Bathe. I'll come back later to take care of your wounds after I bathe in my room."
Perona turn away and walk back to the left, her room is the first room from the left. Suddenly she stop, "Wait!"
"Huh?"
"Let me warn you! I forbid you to step a single step into my room! You understand?!"
"Nobody is interested in you bathing."
"HUH?! I DON'T MEAN THAT! But never mind, just make sure don't ever step into my room!" Perona fly into her room while Zoro went into his.
Most of the rooms in the castle have their own bathroom, including Perona and Zoro's.
Zoro room is simple, he didn't bother to decorate it, and neither did he have the chance. On the other hand, Perona's room is fully decorated, mostly filled with black, red, pink and sometimes white.
Perona finished bathing and walk back into Zoro's room to see him already sitting down at the side of his bed, using a cotton ball to tap the blade of his katana.
"You're so slow," Zoro commented as he continues to do what he is doing.
"Shut up and take off your clothes! If it wasn't for what Mihawk promised me with, you think I'll bother so much about you?"
Perona grab the first-aid box that is on top of the drawer at one side and walked towards Zoro.
Zoro kept his katana and took off his top as Perona sat beside him and examine the old and new scars.
"You don't really have to tend to my wounds. I can do it myself actually," Zoro wanted to take the first-aid box from Perona but Perona swing it back to prevent him from taking.
"Apparently you have no idea why I'm here. If you can do it yourself, is there a need for Mihawk to get me to help you?" She remember there's a time when he tried to deal with the wounds himself, and end up he can't even clean them properly, especially those cuts on his back and other smaller cuts around. He even find it stupid to bandage the wounds when he still have to train the next day, and get more wounds, not mentioning about how tedious it is as it will restrict his movements.
Perona opened up the first-aid box and took out cotton pad and medication oil. She wet the cotton pad with medication oil and applies on the scars. Some of the wounds are deep and she wonders how he held on so long with such a straight face.
"Like I say… What's the point of bandaging them when I'll get them tore off the next day when I train?" He doesn't understand the logic.
"Shut up before I leave you alone! You stupid half-dead swordsman!" Perona suddenly applied more pressure onto his wounds and saw him twitching his eyebrow, and immediately regret it.
"Isn't it painful?" Both the old and new scars looked very painful, to be honest, she still doesn't get how he can live so long with all the scars on him.
"I'm used to it."
"Is it even possible to be used to such stuffs?!" Perona took out rolls of bandages and start by bandaging the scars from his waist and chest area, Zoro automatically lifts his arms slightly higher so that she can wrap them up.
Perona kneeled down beside him on the bed as she twirls the roll of bandage around his chest area, her right arm moved to the other side of his body with her left arm reach out from the other side to grab the roll, and continue to bandage, for that moment it seems like Perona is hugging him. Perona felt herself close to his chest for merely just a few seconds, and make a note to self that she will get him to stand up and wrap any wounds by walking around him instead.
She felt embarrassed as it was her first time being so close to a guy; well, excluding Kumashi as well as other plush toys. Not even to Moria-sama have she been so close to. She wondered if she blushed as she could feel herself hot around her face and cheek area.
Roronoa Zoro being very sensitive to his surrounding obviously notice Perona's little body's stiffness even if it's for a second. Well, more like he notice it because he felt awkward initially, and began to think if Perona felt the same, which is that exact moment he saw her arms stiffened up a bit.
"I don't need those. It'll only make my movement slower." Zoro think of something to say to cover up the awkwardness, and apparently this is the only thing he can come up with.
"You don't need any movements anyway; just wrap it, stupid half-dead swordsman." Perona grunted softly, scolding him at the end, trying to hide her embarrassment at the same time. After finishing bandaging up the rest of his wounds, she kept the first-aid box away.
After Perona leave the room, Zoro lazily lie on the bed preparing to sleep, not giving the small incident just now any more thought. Well, it's normal to feel a little awkward when someone comes near to you, isn't it. Before he can even get into a comfortable position, he heard footsteps of a certain noisy being again. He turned around and looked towards the door to see Perona walk in with a basket of cloth and sewing materials.
"What are you doing?"
"Sewing Kumashi," Perona answered as she sits on the chair beside Zoro's bed.
"I can see that much! But why are you doing it in my room?!" Zoro sits up and asked her. Perona was wearing her Pajamas instead of what she normally wears. It was a long and thin black gown with a spaghetti strap. It's his first time looking at her in her pajamas, and he could see a pink bat tattoo on her left arm. Looks like she really like pink a lot. She is also not wearing her red boots, but a black slipper. She also let down her hair, instead of tying it up in two pigtails as usual; there is also no sign of her crown and her favorite umbrella.
"Of course to make sure you don't take out the bandages!" And also to make sure he don't get a fever, she remember how beat up Zoro was when he first arrived, he was even having a high fever, and she have to stay up all night just to monitor his condition.
"I won't," Zoro lie back down on the bed, thinking if this is how she took care of him earlier when Mihawk isn't back yet. Look like he really owes her a life.
"Why are you making plush toys? It's so childish."
"It's not childish! It's cute, and they are always with me..." Perona say without paying much attention to Zoro as she is focusing on making the plush toy on her lap, it was yet another Kumashi-liked plush toy.
"Is that the Kumashi you're always babbling about?" And the Kumashi we eaten for dinner just now.
"Yes."
"Why do you always make it?"
"Why do you have so many questions today?"
"…"
"It's because Kumashi is very cute. Only when it doesn't talk though…"
Zoro look at Perona and saw her serious face for the first time, looks like she can be serious when it comes to certain thing. Zoro closed his eyes attempting to sleep, he can only hear the sound of his and Perona's breathing, once a while, a few murmuring by Perona, and sometimes, Perona will place her warm hand on his forehead, and in the midst of all this, he finally fall asleep. During his sleep, he can still feel Perona's presence beside him; only later in the morning did she finally leave the room.
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