Thanks to everyone that read my story! I'll try my best. Tips would be very much appreciated. :) Well, I'll stop talking now so you can start reading! xD
Robin awoke the next morning to the sound of the waves crashing upon each other. The dim sun was still low on the horizon and the air was still cold, but nonetheless, she had a beautiful sleep. She hadn't dreamed about her past last night like she had for the passing weeks now. She felt great.
She propped herself up on her elbows and examined her surroundings. It was a habit she couldn't seem to get rid off as she had been accustomed to waking up in the most random of places when she was still on the run. But she wasn't on the run anymore. She was with her nakama now, and they would protect her. Or so they always told her.
It took her a moment to clear the fog from he mind, but as soon as she straightened up, she knew where she was and remembered everything of last night in an instant. She had fallen asleep on the chair while reading but now she was on the ground of the Crow's Nest. Had she fallen while sleeping? It was only then, that she notice the bright yellow jacket on top of her. She smiled.
Zoro stepped out of the steam-filled shower and took a deep breath. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't even remember the last time he took a shower or bath. He didn't enjoy showering as he thought it only took away from his training time, but he didn't want that love cook to get a hold of something new to make fun of him for, so he did it occasionally... or tried to at least.
His mind raced to last night with that woman as he dried himself off with the towel. Why had he let her in? Why had he lit that candle? Why had he talked to her? Why had he caught her? And most importantly... why did he give her his jacket? As much as he thought it over, he couldn't find a proper explanation, or even a sad excuse that would only fool himself, to clear his mind. Everything he did and said last night was not him, definitely not him. He decided to shake it off for now. He could worry about that some other time.
With his towel in hand, he pushed open the door and stepped into his room. He dropped everything on the floor and made his way to the closet. He never really bothered with his clothing so he grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants he got a hold of. He slid his swords inside the side of his shirt. It turned out he had grabbed the tight blue tanktop from Skypiea, that was custom made for him, and his usual pants.
"Whatever," he grinned, "can't say I was expecting anything better."
Zoro stalked slowly out of his room and onto the deck. It was still quite early outside and the sun had only risen about half way. His moist hair blew gently in the cool breeze.
Training. That was the only thing that crossed his mind at that second. The others wouldn't have been up yet this early in the morning so he could manage an hour or two before breakfast.
He walked up to the ladder that led to the Crow's Nest and looked at it in disgust. His wounds had been hurting this morning when he left the Crow's Nest to catch a few ZzZzzZZ's in his room, and now they felt raw.
"Mah," he said, "looks like you win this one, Chopper."
He began to climb, and as he came to the halfway point he felt the ladder shake from above.
Shit. He had totally forgotten that that woman was still up there.
She hadn't noticed Zoro yet and was already a ways down before he finally said something.
"Oi..."
Robin looked down.
"Ah, Mr. Swordsman," she replied, not surprised at all.
There was silence. Zoro sighed and re-secured his swords on his waist. "Don't move."
He let his legs hang in the air as he breathed deeply. With a sudden surge of power he pulled himself up the rung and flung himself into the air, legs first. He did a front flip to adjust his angle and then landed perfectly with both his feet on top of the Crows Nest. He chocked up blood. The impact had brought back the pain in the chest.
Robin's mouth parted slightly. "Mr. Swordsman."
He looked at her and gave her something like a semi-cocky-smile-frown and climbed down the ladder from the roof of the nest.
Robin chuckled to herself and then climbed the rest of the way down. Seconds later, after she hit the ground, Nami came down the stairs and onto the deck.
"Robin?" she asked. "What were you doing up in the Crow's Nest? It was Zoro's shift last night, not yours."
"I was reading," she replied with closed eyes and a small smile on her face and walked into the kitchen where Sanji greeted her and grabbed the nearest flowers he could find to give to her.
Outside on the deck a small smile began to form on Nami's devious face as she absorbed everything that happened. Oh, she had the perfect plan to confirm her theory.
"Oi, oi oi!" yelled Zoro as he pushed Luffy's face away from the last fish on the large plate in the middle, "I get this one, Luffy!"
"No way, Zoro!" screamed Luffy in protest as he blindly stretched his arms toward the food. "You got the last one!"
"You dumbass," replied Zoro and stomped on Luffy's arms, "the stupid love cook got that one."
"Hey, Marimo!" screamed Sanji and took the cigarette from his mouth. "You trying to start something?"
"I'm surprised you caught on, double dumbass!"
Nami sighed and placed her hand on her forehead, shielding her view of them. "Robin, I'm too tired for this. Could you please take care of them for me?"
"Veinte Fleur..." Robin crossed her arms, "...Flip!"
Fourteen arms sprouted out from the table and grabbed the three boys' legs while two sprouted from each of their bodies and flipped them off the table. Luffy landed with a loud crack on a pile of firewood, Sanji fell over the kitchen counter and there were sounds of shattering pottery, and Zoro landed perfectly standing up without a single scratch. Robin had indefinitely went easy on him, but wasn't sure why herself.
Nami watched with growing interest. "Oh...?"
Her smirk widened. "Thanks Robin."
The rest of breakfast was very organized and mannered. Everyone had deathly silent after seeing the 3 fighters being knocked out in one hit by Robin. Even Chopper, who had always shared some sort of conversation about books during meals, didn't dare say much to Robin. The only ones that were talking were Nami and her. They enjoyed the mocking silence.
After breakfast Nami demanded that everyone gathered on the deck.
"What's going on, Nami?" asked Luffy when he finally regained consciousness.
"Listen up guys, I have something important to tell you," she said. "I know I should have told you this sooner, but back at Thriller Bark Lola actually gave me a choice of two desetinations. The first, was, of course, to head straight to Sabaody Archipelago and then Merman island. This was the one that I had originally settled on, and thought that the other one was most definitely not going to be our choice. But now considering our condition, I think option two would be a great way to relax from our adventure for once. This option was to stop at an island at the edge of our course that doesn't have a magnetic pull. Of course our Log Pose won't pick it up but Lola did tell me that it could be something easily spotted even from hundreds of kilometers away on a clear weather. What do you guys think?"
"I'm with you, Nami-swannnn!" screamed Sanji before she barely even finished.
"Oh? Vacation? Sounds interesting," smirked Zoro. "There'll be wine."
"Intriguing," commented Robin as she tucked her hair out of her way.
"ALRIGHT! It's settled! Let's go to NIKU ISLAND!" screamed the captain as he jumped energetically up and down, holding his precious straw hat in place.
"You named it MEAT ISLAND!" screamed Usopp and slapped Luffy.
There was a rupture of laughter and enjoyment from the crew as they realized that they'd finally be taking a so long needed vacation and time off.
So sorry! Not much going on with Zoro and Robin in this chapter because I'm using it to develop the rest of the story! I wanted to finish this before I went to bed, so I had to rush bits and parts of it. When I have time, I'll go back and fix them. :) Please give me honest reviews on how to improve my writing and/or style! Thanks for reading! :D
Many many many many many many many many many many many -GASP- many many many many many manyyyyyy thanks to Kaoden, Rastafarai, and burichifan for their great criticism ( I think my Language Art's mark is going to raise by atleast 20% after this story :D [105% o-o]) and suffort, and some beatifully written walls of texts (that make me happy)! Those are the things that inspire me to go on and try to better myself as much as I can!
