Three hours later, they were hiding behind a bunch of rocks off the peninsula next to the harbor where Tikka's satchel was. Sitting innocently in a room at the inn. She hoped.

The marines seemed to be organizing and preparing to head out to sea to chase after them. Perfect.

"It's almost time. The boat is primed and ready...I'll follow you with the larger ship, hugging the shore and staying out of view, and I'll use the rifles we have on board to cover your back when you come running back, with marines close on your heels, I presume," she added with a smirk, turning her head to stare at Zoro a little.

She couldn't help it. The storm had subsided to a low drizzle, but her heart was still pounding from the excitement his lips and the storm had stirred up in her. He was breathtaking, and he'd kissed her back. What, exactly, that meant, she wasn't so sure.

But whatever it was, it was better than what they had before.

"Sound good, sensei?" she asked, massaging her thigh in an attempt to alleviate the pain of her calf a little. She leaned into him to shift her leg out into a different position, then plopped down to the ground, pulled a rifle over to her, and cocked it with expert precision.

Zoro contemplated, ducked down in the drizzling rain after the storm and preparing to storm the fort all over again was getting his blood pumped. Also, sitting next to her so closely that he could smell her was doing him in, his body still thrumming from their… moment… earlier.

He declared that he had been insane in that moment.

He wasn't sure if it was a good crazy yet or not.

"I'm all business, baby," he told her with a wicked smirk, tying his black bandana over his head. It shadowed his eyes mysteriously. He was getting serious. He wanted to keep his head and no bullet wounds.

No one was collecting his bounty today.

With one last look at her, he vaulted the railing and landed in the skiff in the water. It wasn't long before he was bumping against the pier. The post-storm fog had covered his approach well and from here, he couldn't even see the ship, which was good. He had argued with Tikka again about whether or not she was going to accompany him on shore. He'd put his foot down on that one. With a gimp limp, she would slow him down. Despite that he was a crew member, he always worked best alone.

Marines were posted everywhere, guarding the town, standing entry at every store. He couldn't understand it. He'd left town, why weren't they trying to sail out? Did they really think that he'd come back here? Well… it wasn't like he thought he was coming back either. The satchel didn't have anything important enough in it to keep as hostage.

He crept up the pier, using his ninja-like stealth to stick to the shadows. He overheard a couple of young guards complaining loudly.

"He's not gonna come back! Why do we have to stay here like this?" one whined.

"The Commander thinks that the rest of the Straw Hats might come through here. He's suspicious as to why Zoro was alone. Well, except for the girl, but we have no idea who she is."

He scoffed. He wished Luffy would come through here. Unlucky for him, they were on the other side of the sea chart for this section of the Grand Line.

It wasn't hard to get to the inn and slip into the back and up the servant stairs and into the bedroom. Someone was sleeping there, snoring loudly. But the satchel was sitting exactly where they'd left it, albeit rifled through. He crouched down and quickly search it. Ah ha. The treasured golden sash. He tied it around his hips and snapped his head over his shoulder when the man in the bed rolled over with a snort and a groan, blinking blearily for a moment before falling back to sleep. Zoro let out a silent breath of relief.

He left the satchel there, not wanting there to any suspicion whatsoever that he'd been here. After a moment of debate, he grabbed the little bikini too. He had a sore spot for it as much as he hated it.

Getting back to the pier was a little more difficult. He had to silence a few marines who spotted him. The fog was starting to lift rapidly. He was going to lose his natural cover. Ah, fuck.

Back in the little rowboat, one of the guards he'd overheard complaining suddenly gasped and Zoro whipped his head up to meet the marine's eyes. And there was no stopping him when he took a deep breath and hollered, "IT'S ZORO! HE'S BACK!"

"Ah, fuck you guys," he muttered, ducking when bullets rained over him, thumping hollowly against the wood of the row boat. One burst through the wood so near his face that he stared at the hole for a heartbeat in shock. Wooo… that was close.

"Get him!" the commands were called. Marines reloaded, another group headed for the nearest ship to head him off. Another round of bullets burst at his little boat, putting holes in it. He cursed colorfully when it started to fill with water at a dangerously fast pace. There was nothing for it. He had to swim. He gauged the distance between his ship and him. It was far. He would need to be underwater to best avoid the open fire on him. Oh boy.

Leaving it to luck, he took a deep swallow of air and dove into the water. The ocean filled with bullets, slowly them down oddly when the penetrated the surface. He kicked out, pushing hard. He could barely see the hull of the ship through the salt water. He kicked harder, his lungs burning. 150 meters… 100 meters. Bubble erupted from him, his lungs protesting the lack of air. 50 meters… his head was spinning, his chest tightening… he refused to faint…

He broke of the surface of the water with a desperate gasp and a series of choking coughs and grabbed the rope ladder. Once on board, his legs gave out and he fell to his hand and knees, gasping and coughing, dripping water all over the deck.

"Got… your sash…" he told her intermittently, glad that she'd taken his last-minute cue and got back on board of the ship. He untied the sash from his hips and handed her the soaking silk, then the little string bikini, his stomach clenching. "And your bathing suit…"


Tikka waited with bated breath, and then when she saw his green hair, she hefted the rifle up, and took aim with her hawk eyes.

Within moments, all hell broke loose and bullets started firing. She counter fired, and then when he was in the water she sniped a few marine down, hitting them in shoulders and arms, vital shooting spots.

She moved back, and onto the ship when things got too hot.

Even when Zoro was on the ship, she didn't stop shooting until she'd maneuvered the ship far enough away, and then tied the rigging down firmly, aimed away from the island and along the long post at full speed.

Finally, she spun around, rushed to Zoro with her dress swirling around her legs, and swept up her sash and bikini, then threw herself at Zoro.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her weak leg buckling under her and forcing her body to press flush with his. She hugged him tightly, hiding her grin in his neck before she pulled back and smiled up at him.

"Thank you so much, Zoro. Please don't hesitate to ask me anything you want from me. I'll do anything to repay you this kindness." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, mustering her bad leg and stepped back from him. She turned towards the cabin, took two steps, and promptly wobbled unsteadily. Now that her scarf was safe and they were both relatively out of shot of the marines, her adrenaline had vanished from her blood stream.

Her vision blurred, darkened, and she made it three steps before she promptly passed out from being awake too long, loss of blood, shock from her leg, and sheer exhaustion.


Zoro barely had time to recover from heaving up water when she threw herself at him and hugged him tight, nearly bowling him over with the force of her tackle.

The water dripping from his clothes seeped right into her dress, still damp from the thunderstorm and together, the wet material just made the shape of her blatantly clear. He could feel every single curve of her body from breasts to hips and it would be an act of god to keep the blush from creeping up his neck and heating his face. She thanked him profusely and claimed that she'd do ANYTHING for him in return.

Right now, what he wanted more than anything was for her to get off him.

No. Wait, stay. As much as he was freaked out by his own bodily responses to her, he liked feeling her softness against his hardness.

No. Get off. He needed space.

No. Stay.

No, get the hell off.

He settled for patting her back awkwardly and she pushed away from him all her own, giving him some space to breathe. She was such an odd creature. He suddenly felt like there was no air around him…

She started the trek back to her quarters and he saw the faint before it even began. She swayed, her steps became smaller and he pushed off his knees and launched for her, catching her by her waist when she fell. She was limp right against him, like she'd fallen asleep while standing. A weird sensation crept into the hollow of his chest. Sympathy. He felt… bad for her. She'd been thrown overboard with him, nearly froze to death, fought off pirates, trained hard with him in the mornings, landed on a party island, got shit drunk, chased by marines, shot in the leg and stressed about her sash. It was a lot of adventure to take in the first time around. She wasn't a seasoned adventurer yet.

He picked her up, scooping her behind her knees and carried her into her room. Once he laid her down on the bed, he stifled a yawn himself and headed to him own quarters. He'd watched her secure their heading. Wherever they were going… he needed some rack before they got there.

Hours later, Tikka woke to the distinct feeling of a gently rocking ship. It was surprisingly soothing, to the point where she completely forgot about the events preceding her "nap." But as the night caught up with her, her leg gave a throb of pain in reminder.

How did she end up in the room? She remembered walking back, then feeling dizzy…

She must have passed out, and Zoro, the sweetheart he is, must have carried her here.

Heat filtered into her cheeks, but not because he carried her to bed like a knight on a horse, but because she, the warrior daughter of Hawkeye Mihawk, had passed out TWICE in front of Roronoa Zoro.

She was a weakling.

She moaned her worthlessness as she pulled herself out of bed, gingerly putting her foot down to find that maybe it would be worth spending more time in bed.

Her eyes flickered from the door to her room to the bed and back, debating the pros and cons of sleeping more and resting her leg, or going out and being able to see Zoro.

Her stomach twisted and butterflies erupted out of her belly. They'd exchanged kisses last night. Heated, passionate ones. Had it only been in the heat of the moment? Or had something started last night? She couldn't be sure, and she was dying to find out from Zoro.

Should she just ask him? That seemed...awkward. Maybe she should just...be around him. See how they act. Maybe he'll try to kiss her again…

A shiver went down her spine and she forced herself to stand up, deciding braving the pain of her injured leg was worth it. Besides, she would only get weaker by-

"Tikka-baby! You're Loo Bear has come to get you! You can't escape, my crafty kitten, not this time," the sing-song voice belonged to one man and one man alone. Her nanny, Loo.

Her face turned as white as a sheet, and hurriedly she scrambled to find somewhere to hide, anywhere. She was NOT going back! Her father would kill her and she hadn't trained enough to stand up to him yet. Damn damn damn.

Zoro must be sleeping, or elsewhere, for Loo to sneak past him.

She dove for under the bed at the same instant when her door was smashed open, and a tall giant of a man with a thick red beard tied off in a braid at the end and short, perfectly cropped and styled deep red hair. His arms were the size of her torso, and he was, quite simply, a beast of a man.

But then, he HAD eaten the Ursa Ursa Fruit, giving him the ability to become a giant and supremely powerful grizzly bear that was near undefinable.

When Mihawk chose a protector for his precious daughter, he chose well.

"AHA!" he roared, and shot forward with amazing and surprising speed, dragging her out from under the bed by her ankle. Unfortunately, it was the wrong ankle, and his hand brushed her bullet wound as he dragged her back, wrench a stifled cry from her.

"Woah! Tikka-baby, what the hell?" he said gruffly as he abruptly released her ankle, and then gathered her up in his huge arms and straightening. He glanced first at her dress, frowned, then looked down where her leg was tightly wrapped in bandages, spots of blood starting to seep through on both sides of the through and through.

"Loo Loo, it's nothing, a scratch, YOU just hurt me pulling me out," she glared up at him, knowing it was useless to struggle when he was holding her. He was a mama bear to the heart and protected his ward with ferocity, even from herself.

"Nonsense, I didn't hurt ya," Loo corrected her, then turned on his heel and abruptly marched her out of her cabin and up to the deck. All the while, Tikka complained, kicked-with her good leg-and punched her resistance to the idea of going back with him.

"Loo bear! PLEASE don't do this...I want to be a pirate! I'm so bored with my life! If you really love me, you'll let me stay with Zoro. We're on our way back to the pirate ship!" She protested, tugging at his beard now and earning a black glare from his gentle grown eyes.

"You mean to tell me you've been alone on this here ship with Roronoa Zoro?" Loo suddenly roared, stopping dead in the middle of the deck and glaring down at her, then lifting his glare up to try and find the perpetrator. "How dare he! How dare you! I'm going to teach him some manners about the inappropriateness of him being alone with a lady like you! This is simply irresponsible, and your father was so kind as to teach him," Loo's voice got more high pitched and offended as he spoke, and Tikka rolled her eyes and shook her head, struggling in earnest now to get down.

Inside the ship, Zoro wasn't to be found in the captain's quarters. Something about sleeping in a bed – someone else's bed, ESPECIALLY that nasty pirate captain he'd wasted – rubbed him the wrong way. So he slept towards the back of the ship where the crew must have slept and chose a hammock strategically. Hammock sleeping was so… peaceful, the ship gently rocking, swaying the hammock. It had a nostalgic feel for him and when he slept, he dreamt he was back on the Thousand Sunny with his best friends…

A violent thud and some screaming awoke him so fast he flipped out of the hammock and hit the floor. He shook his head to clear it, rubbing a spot on his forehead as more thumping and more yelling and the deep voice of a man had all the hair standing on the back of his neck. An ambush?

Tikka!

Forgoing boots, Zoro grabbed his swords and scrambled for the deck. God damn it! They must be being ambushed by a pirate ship. They didn't fly a pirate jolly roger, so they must think they are civilians on the Grand Line. They'd search the captain and first-mate's quarters first… Tikka was there and with her injury, they take her down fast.

He hit the stairs and his long legs ate them up three at a time until he was at the helm. Alongside them was a smaller vessel, though still large enough for a crew of people and the scuffling was coming from the deck. He hit the railing and what he saw had his throat tightening in fear. A HUGE man, easily eight feet tall with a fro of red hair, was manhandling Tikka across the deck while she squirmed and screamed in protest.

"Oi!" Zoro called fiercely, "Behemoth! Who the fuck are you? Let her go or I slice you into ribbons." The giant seemed alone. Did he not have a crew? That information prickled at his sixth sense. Men who didn't have a crew were either stupid or really fucking powerful. Like Mihawk.

Loo whirled around and Tikka went stock still when she heard Zoro call out. They could NOT get into a fight. She couldn't stand to have either of them killed, or hurt, especially not for her. She strained to sit up in Loo's arms, glaring at her nanny before placing herself squarely between them, her back twisted towards Loo and her face upturned to Zoro.

"He's my...uh...protector, Zoro! Don't attack, he's just doing what he's supposed to do," she called, still squirming. It was making her face white from the pain shooting up her leg, but she said nothing. She would NOT be weak anymore. In fact, her face showed nothing of her pain, just the whiteness.

"You!" Loo called indignantly, pointing up at him and blinking his heavily make-upped eyelashes in a fierce scowl.

"Roronoa Zoro I presume!" he continued, patting his hair very feminely, then promptly turned his back to Zoro and started striding towards the ship he'd left tied to theirs. "I'm taking my charge back with me. You better hide yourself once Mihawk darling finds out who took his darling baby girl. How dare you keep her on a ship by herself, AND you got her injured. Shame on you, honey."

Tikka scrambled up over Loo's huge shoulders and growled at him before straining to see Zoro.

"No! I don't want to go, Loo bear. Let me go, I want to be a pirate!" she punched at his shoulder and strained to get free, getting dizzy from the effort.

Zoro's blanched. Her protector? Was this Loo?

"What?" he exclaimed, "This guy is your protector?" he couldn't even begin to think about it, his mind boggled that this guy had even found them and that he'd come to take her back. And… did he just call Zoro HUNNY? And Mihawk… darling?

He was a quack.

"I didn't kidnap her. She stowed away on our ship. Then we fell overboard. End of story." He supplied, jumping down to the deck, completely unthreatened by this bizarre she-man-man-man. He didn't know what to say beyond that. Should he get involved? She wanted to stay, he wouldn't mind letting her stay. But he really didn't want to get in a row with her protector guy.

Maybe it would be better if she went. He was all sorts of confused by this woman. He needed no more distractions from finding his crew and continuing on his goal to becoming the greatest swordsman. Kissing… his enemy's daughter was probably not in his best interest.

"Well," he mustered up old Zoro, that one that didn't get attached to women like that, stern, stoic, cool Zoro. After all, he did owe Mihawk, and he's be furious about his daughter, so it was for the bedt. "I'll see you around. It's been fun," he lifted his hand in a wave and headed back to the helm to direct his ship to find Luffy and his crew. Inside… he was a swirl of different emotions that both frightened him and debilitated him. She'd go back to her mysterious island and he'd never see her again, unless he defeated her father. It was better this way, to walk away from her before he had a chance to define her as something to him.

"How could you! You promised to train me!" She yelled, her voice getting somewhat of a desperate hitch to it, but it was already too late. Loo was humming his victory and hauled her overboard, landing his huge hulk on the smaller ship, one capable of being manned by one person, but still large enough to defend itself with canons.

"Tikka doll, hush. This is for the best. Consider it; his sensei would flay him alive if he ever found out you were alone on a ship with Roronoa Zoro for who knows how long. He's probably going kill him right away. He's only protecting his own hide, as he should. But man, was he a babe, huh? You better have behaved yourself, missy."

Loo glared down at her, then tucked her down into a bed in one of the cabins. "This is for your own good too. Now stay put. You'll get over it one day. Maybe you're father will let you travel with him soon. Then, technically, you'll be a pirate," Loo smiled, tapped her cheek, which was red with fury, then sauntered out of the cabin, closing the door, and locking it.

Tikka let out a roar of fury, and Loo winced, his shoulders slumping a little. He knew he needed to protect her, and he never went against Mihawk's wishes, but it killed him to see his baby girl so upset. She truly was passionate...And though he knew little of this Zoro, if Mihawk had agreed to train him that he couldn't be a bad person.

With a sigh, and ignoring Tikka's many calls, even as they got hoarse, he set sail. They would go to the next island, resupply, then use their eternal pose to return home.


Two days later, and Tikka still wasn't talking to Loo. He'd bandaged and applied poultices to her leg in silence, left her meals in silence, and brushed her hair in silence. It killed him a little more each morning.

Now, a huge storm seemed to be brewing and she was still brooding below deck.

Loo grit his teeth, fixed his hair, and then went to work.

Hours later, however, the storm was getting nasty, and Tikka had re-emerged onto the deck to help him, yelling over the noise of the storm. Both of them were pulling on riggings when a huge wave suddenly appeared out of the darkness, right above them, and started cresting.

Tikka's eyes widened, and she let out a shout. She didn't even see Loo as he looked up sharply, then dove for her. His body hit hers, and encased it, moments before the wave crashed down.


In the bright and clear morning, Loo the Bear and Dracule Ratikka were drifting across the vast ocean, resting on a large wooden flank from their destroyed boat. Twice wrecked at sea, and Tikka could barely move, making sure to keep her leg out of the water and on Loo's lap, to avoid drawing sea kings with her blood.

Or sharks.


A/N-PLEASE review :) We love to get feedback!

"What are we going to do…?" Tikka ventured quietly, and Loo didn't answer.