Chapter#7Apology

"Maybe it's just me, Zoro san…but I really think you should go apologize to Nami san." Brook suggested in his irritatingly slow tone while taking another sip from his teacup. "After all, I find it very unsettling to watch a decently pretty young lady leave the room in tears."

For a second Zoro was seriously considering dismantling the annoying skeleton. He just didn't get it: Why was he suddenly the bad guy here? Just because Nami was a girl and she could cry her eyes out in front of the whole crew without a care in the world while he could not? It's not like he had done anything wrong; she was way across the line there!

"No. Not gonna happen." Gruffly he told the skeleton off. "I will apologize after she apologizes to Chopper for what she did to him."

"As much as it pains me to admit it—"Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out an exasperated sigh. "–but Nami Swan is a little bit… out of her mind right now; she can't be held responsible for what she says or does. What's your excuse, Marimo? ARE YOU CRAZY TOO?"

The cook was yelling and spitting all over his face. Zoro scooted away an inch to avoid being sprinkled by Sanji's nicotine-flavored spit and calmly wiped his face with one hand before turning to the rest of the crew: "I think we all know who's the crazy one here."

"Don't mind, Swordsman san." Robin smiled slightly amused. "Cook san is just feeling rejected because Navigator san didn't let him into the bedroom."

That was true. After storming out the galley crying Nami had locked herself up in the girls' bedroom for almost a whole day and she had refused to come out when breakfast, lunch and supper were served. Needless to say, the resident cook was devastated. He was so devastated that he even began to question his very own existence on this ship. After all, he had joined this crew 98.72% for his beloved Nami Swan. What's the point of cooking if his angle was not here to enjoy it?

Out of desperation the cook had tried everything within his power. He had tried bringing food to her doorstep; he had practically knelt down and begged her to open the door; he had even promised to toss Zoro overboard and drown his marimo ass to death so long as it would serve to make her feel slightly better—but sadly for Sanji, all his attempts to appease the navigator were to no avail.

"That's it. I will NOT cook until she comes out of that door and starts eating!" The cook snarled slamming his fist onto the table. He sounded downright serious, except that in the next second he swiftly turned to Robin with a sappy look on his face as he promised: "Worry not, my sweet. I'll cook exclusively for you~"

"Oh man!" Luffy groaned holding his head with both hands," Look what you did, Zoro~"

"Whoa—what I did? "This was outrageous. Zoro glared at the captain in disbelief: Seriously? He's gonna sell him out for food?

"Ano, I don't want to make this worse than it already is—"Usopp raised one hand timidly. "But how are we supposed to know if the Log Pose is set if Nami keeps hiding in her room and refuses to come out to talk to us?"

"And where's our next destination?" Franky added his own two cents into the bucket. "I mean I can set sail and navigate the ship for now, but where to?"

"She looked so sad when she left…maybe I overacted…maybe—maybe that nickname was supposed to be endearing…" The young reindeer hung his head low and murmured pitifully.

"Not you too, Chopper." Zoro scowled and sighed. Deep down inside he knew exactly what these bastards were trying to do to him, but the sad thing was he would have no choice but to eventually cave. He knew it and they knew it too.

Letting out another defeated sigh, he glanced over to where Robin sat peacefully with her nose buried in a hard-covered book. "And you can't use your Devil Fruit Ability to unlock the door from inside?"

"I'm afraid you are on your own, Swordsman san." The archeologist replied in a casual tone without looking up from her book. "Last time I tried to help you out, she called me some name I'd rather not repeat. Things like that certainly leave a scar, don't they?"

Translation: She just enjoyed watching him suffer. Zoro growled and rose to his feet. "I'll cut down that damn door if I have to—" he murmured sourly as he marched towards the exit rather irritated, his hand tightening around the hilt of Wado Ichimonji.

"No breaking the ship, Swordsman-bro~ ya hear me?" Franky yelled behind him. But Zoro was too angry to care. Crazy or not, somebody needs to be set straight!

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Okay, he would just ask nicely. If she was smart enough she would not want to mess with him when he was this angry and wanted to cut something this badly…or so he would think.

"Oi! Open the door stupid witch!" The swordsman snarled, pounding his fists violently into the wooden surface. Five minutes had passed without the navigator giving him any kind of response and he had way passed the "asking nicely" phase. Forget about no breaking the ship, he's breaking the ship!

One side kick and that was it. Zoro was no freaking Love Cook, but he found it quite efficient to stamp the door open with the sole of his boot once in a while—especially when his inside was boiling with anger and he couldn't wait another second to peel off that stupid quilt cocoon which was currently wrapping around Nami's cringing form on one of the girls' beds.

"Seriously, Nami, I swear to God if you don't get rid of that damn thing and come with me to the kitchen right now—"He threatened as he made a dash for the navigator-shaped lump on the bed and snatched the quilt off from her head with a swift motion.

"No~~~~~~!" The orange-haired girl shrieked, immediately burying her face into her arms once her cover was ripped. "Don't look! My eyes are puffy!"

Geez, she'd been crying all this time? How crazy was she? Feeling a headache coming, the swordsman rubbed his temples roughly before speaking up in his most tolerant voice:" Come on, let's get you out of here before you dehydrate."

He held out a hand towards her. The girl slowly lifted her head up to meet his gaze. Her taupe-colored eyes were puffy and bloodshot. She looked like a lost puppy.

"Do I look ugly?" She asked in a timid voice.

Zoro closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. This was one of the rare moments that he actually wished that stupid Love Cook could be by his side. That idiot would handle this situation so much better than he ever could.

"No. You look… fine, okay?" He told her as he reopened his eyes.

"I just…" She paused, sniffing her nose before continuing, "I just don't want you to hate me, Zoro."

The swordsman sucked in another deep breath and told himself a little more patience was all he needed to coax her out of this damn room.

"I don't hate you, Nami. We're nakama." He said, trying his best to soften his voice. "But you gotta stop acting like a total bitch, ya know? They are your nakama too. The way you treated them back there—"he gestured a thumb towards the door, "is not right."

For a long moment Nami just kept staring at him with dazed eyes, as if slowly digesting his words. Under her gaze Zoro was starting to feel uncomfortable. There was something in her eyes that he couldn't quite define. The Nami he knew would never look at him this way, like what he had just said meant the whole world to her, like her life was depending on how he felt about her.

"I …I can apologize to them…I guess," After a while she murmured quietly. Her cheeks were tinted with a light shade of pink. "If you want me to."

"Good." He nodded briefly. "That a girl."

The corner of her mouth tilted up slightly at his words. Despite her eyes being red and teary she was smiling up at him. And he had to admit that was a fairly beautiful smile. Zoro felt his heart skip a beat as the girl placed her slender hand on his upward palm. This was the first time he'd ever noticed that the size of her hand fitted in perfectly in his larger palm. A part of him was even questioning how easy this had turned out, until the most inconceivable thing befell him—

Nami suddenly lifted her upper body from the bed and pressed her lips against his.

Zoro's eyes widened in shock as his posture went rigid.

Okay this was way beyond craziness. Moments ago he just told her they were nakama and now she was kissing him.

Clearly this was wrong.

Absolutely and indisputably wrong.

He should turn her down. He should just push her off his body and tell her to get a hold of herself. The ero-cook was right: she was completely out of her mind and couldn't be held responsible for what she was doing to him. While he was the sane one between the two of them and he should be doing the right thing here—which was, to stop.

Just stop.

Don't indulge yourself and stop right away dammit! How hard could it be?

Despite the little voice screaming in his head Zoro found himself lean into Nami's mikan-flavored lips. Maybe craziness was contagious, he even found himself begin to return the kiss and before long he allowed his lips to part when Nami's tongue darted out from her mouth to lick at his lips begging for entrance.

Zoro's eyelids drooped close as his hand found its place on her lower back. Surprisingly in the midst of kissing he felt angry. He had often felt a smidge of anger boiling inside him whenever she was around. Nami had always been a troublesome woman; dealing with her meant living in constant trouble and torment. She could be so annoying sometimes that he even wished that she were a guy so that he could actually beat her up.

But the soft and curvy form he was touching was nothing but feminine. And the faint whimpers she produced as his hand rubbed circles on her back were a severe test to his self-control. She was sexy and sensual and was like a swampy trap he was about to step into. He was lost and frustrated and yet he couldn't bring himself to stop.

Until he felt a sharp pain piercing through his left rib, sending him stumbling several steps backwards before finally managing to steady himself—

His eyes grew wide in shock and confusion as he took in the scene in front of him: the orange haired girl was kneeling on the bed staring blankly into his face. There was a faraway look in her beautiful hazel orbs. A silvery dagger was held loosely in her slightly shaking hand, blood dripping from the tip.

He slowly lowered his head to see the crimson stain on his haramaki quickly enlarging into the size of a palm. Another spasm of pain contorted his face as he clutched a hand onto his freshly-stabbed wound and slowly looked up to see her pretty face once more.

"…you are not her."


Author's Note: So...how many of you are astounded? Well I hope not a lot. Cause I have more surprises for ya in future chapters. :P

Honestly ever since I started writing this fic I've been dreaming of writing this scene. And what I'm gonna say next might probably annoy you cause I've said it A LOT: I really wish my English was better so that I could've writen this scene with more accurate descriptions. But for now, you'll have to deal with what I've got for ya:P

I'm thinking about writing a fic for Zoro's B-day so my next update might be a little late. But at least this one is very timely. So don't you think I deserve some nice R&R? :3

See you next time.

Minami