Tikka was enjoying the breeze when her world was suddenly turned upside down as Zoro shoved her head-first off the ship.
Startled, a small cry slipped out, but she'd been pushed off of things and into water more times than she could count, since Loo loved swimming but couldn't himself, and so lived vicariously through Tikka. It was for that reason why she was such a good swimmer, that and the fact that she was the only one who could guarantee food on the table every day.
As soon as her body was midair, she twisted to see who had shoved her, and saw Zoro's green hair before she fell out of the line of vision to the deck. She landed in a perfect dive, shifting mid-air like a cat shoved off a banister, and finally entered the water from head to toe in a perfect line, plunging her deep into the water. When she finally surfaced, she shook her curls out of her face and aimed a nasty glare in Zoro's direction, then thought better of it and smile sweetly, swimming closer towards him.
"How thoughtful of you, my dear swords master," she murmured in a soft, overly sweet voice as she drifted closer to him still. Finally, she was less than a few inches from his face, and tilted her head to the side. A sign of mischief to come.
"But now you're in my realm of expertise," and with that, she surged forward, planted both of her hands on his shoulders, and used her body weight to very quickly and efficiently shoved him deep underwater, not stopping until her feet replaced her hands and she essentially launched herself out of the water with his body, and subsequently launched him DEEPER under water.
Her strong hands grasped the rope ladder attached to the boat before she could fall back into the water, laughing. As she started to climb up the boat, she said over her shoulder, "I have to get us some supplies, Zoro, so you stay put while I grab us some things."
She was quick, grabbing the box with the bait and hooking it onto the belt which held her knife at her hip. She also grabbed two nets and then another dagger, this one for Zoro.
Gathering everything she needed, she put it in a bucket that Usop had rigged for her, and lowered it down until it was about three feet above the water, next to the ladder, then promptly dove off the boat. She landed close to him on purpose, and landed with her body flailed, to splash him with as much water as possible before she finally emerged from the water and grinned at him. "Ready for this?"
Man. Who knew that bathing suits were so HARD to tie? Monkey D. Luffy couldn't imagine doing this every time he went swimming. Not that he did much swimming, but still.
"I didn't do it on purpose…" he muttered sheepishly, frowning in concentration. She twisted around and he watched as she stretched his fingers out and wrapped them around her torso. It was highly ineffective. Maybe if he pulled… nope. That just tightened the ties.
"This is all your fault…" she blamed him, reaching behind her to untie the straps. All that did was bring them nearly flush together, her breasts brushing against his chest.
Now, Luffy may be slower than average, but it was more because he just took a very simple view of life. Black and white. No shades of gray. He didn't understand much. But he wasn't as clueless as he was when he was a younger man. So when a woman pressed against him, he noticed. He always chose to ignore it, but when it came to Nami, she was harder to ignore.
So his natural reaction… was to go still and for a flush to creep over his face. But he kept his expression calm and stoic and let her work the straps apart and his fingers snapped back to true size.
Nami got a little pink creep in her cheeks as they were pulled flush together for a moment, and she felt his sculpted abs flex unconsciously as she squirmed to untie the swimsuit. And, ironically, it was his body pressed against her that kept the top from flipping up and flashing him right here and there.
She let out a nervous chuckle and reached up to hold the suit down, then stepped back from him, looking away. She drew in a breath, then waved her hand nonchalantly, because this was Luffy, the most clueless guy on the ship, and he probably hadn't even noticed.
"Thanks for trying anyways, Luffy. I'll go find Robin or something," she let out a small laugh, then disappeared into the cabin, a full out retreat in her mind, but she walked calmly and stoically.
Zoro sighed mentally; he should have known that she would retaliate. For her not to get him back for his little stunt would be against her nature. Regardless, he barely had time to gasp in a breath before she dunked him under the water with a forceful shove until she could use his shoulders as a springboard, forcing him under the water even deeper. With a strong kick, he resurfaced to find her clinging to the rope ladder. He lunged for her ankle, bent on retribution, but she laughed at him and climbed up to grab some supplies which they needed to fish.
When she came back down, she handed him some goggles, which he strapped to his head and then a foot long serrated dagger, which he inspected with a raised brow.
"I'm a swordsman," he told her plainly, "What… am I going to do with this wee dagger? I'd rather use my hands first" He grinned ferociously and handed the knife back then flexing his fingers. "All naturale." He going to catch something monstrous, and master this fishing skill.
Tikka rolled her eyes at Zoro and swam closer to him. "You think so, but it's always good to have a knife on hand with fish. You see, sometimes they get right up close to them, and it's hard to maneuver larger weapons or with your hands without destroying the fish or sea king which you wish to preserve and eat. You want to kill it with inflicting the least amount of damage, and do the damage in areas that you don't intend to eat."
She swam right up to him, her eyes glittering with excitement and a little mischief. But she didn't touch him, she slid suddenly to the side and around him, still up close, and only then put her hands up to his shoulders, sliding them down to his back to slide the knife he'd offered back to her into his sash, the blade sliding slowly, delicately, over the flesh of his lower back and butt before she finally released his sash and pat his lower back.
"So even if you don't use it, keep it here," she told him, a smile in her voice, before she propelled herself backwards and tugged out the bait from her side.
"Alright, I'm going to tempt some beasts and fish to us...be prepared. And remember, delicate cuts...you can behead it, but be sure to cut only the head off and not to waste any of the meat." She opened the box, pulled out a really stingy and pungent bug called the Latharos bug, which smelled like rotting meat and blood in the water, which on land was the aphrodisiac to the female of the species.
She needed only one, crushed it in her fist, and dropped it in the water, swirling her hand around before closing the box and tucking it back into her belt. She then grabbed the knife at her hip, and peered down into the water.
When she'd swam up to him, Zoro immediately stiffened, that glint her eyes a warning. He was starting to doubt his sanity in agreeing to this. It was just one bad reason after another for her to torture him with her feminine wiles. Her wet curls stuck to her face and neck, the bun falling apart a little, a few long mermaid ringlets clinging to her shoulders. All he could see was her shoulders and, unfortunately, the swell of her breasts in that bathing suit.
She darted around him and he nearly jumped out his skin when she laid her hands on him and slid the knife into his sash. He could feel the pressure of the steel along his back and ass and he had all his nerves spiking. She even had the audacity to pat him on the lower back.
He was still rocking from her as she reached into the bait bucket and crushed this awful smelling bug and dropped it into the water. Man, if he was a fish, he would not like that at all.
But it was a matter of moments before they started swarming. It started with little fish and little on the Grand Line was sticking pretty fucking big. Little out here was two feet long at least. The bigger ones came after and he couldn't keep his eyes in one spot, watching the fish surround them. They brushed against his legs and he jumped away from them slightly, shocked by how smooth the scales felt. It wasn't often he swam with fish…
"So, when do I get to kill something?" he demanded, his hand drifting towards the small of his back slightly.
Tikka let out a little laugh and swam closer to him again to take his free hand, and said quickly, "I usually wait for the big big ones to see if I only need to kill one fish, but we'll do a little practicing in delicately beheading fish so they don't spoil for eating."
So she tugged on his hand and dove, brining him with her, swimming deep and fast with her powerfully muscled legs and expert swimming techniques, though Zoro had more power behind his strokes, allowing him to keep up with her.
She let them practice for about ten minutes, and she could see he was a going to be pretty good at this, but then the big ones really got in your face and rubbed up against you with their sand-paper and thick skin. The dagger would be much more efficient then, and he'd stop trying to use his damn hands. She rolled her eyes at him in the water.
So when she grew bored on practicing and waiting for the big ones, she turned her eyes on Zoro again, and watched his muscles flex as he swam, clearly gloating in the fact that he was good at it, naturally.
So the next time they went under water, she waited until he might need to take a breath-which was impressively long, she'd come to find out-then swam towards him, swimming up in from of him, her eyes open, her hair flowing out around her like a halo of silken pearls, her eyes twinkling with mischief, and grabbed his face to plant a brief kiss on him, holding him in place when he would need to breath. Then she laughed and pushed him away, watching as he shot for the surface.
Chuckling in the water, she followed in a more leisurely pace, then crested the surface and turned her eyes to him to say, "You need to work on your lung capacity, especially in startling situations."
Man, she was being a major flirt today...She might be pushing her limit, but he was so damn irresistible. She totally blamed Loo and her father for depriving her of any contact with real men for all her life.
As the big ones gathered around the little fish and started to eat them, Zoro sucked in a breath before Tikka dragged him under the water to practice slaying fish under water, or as she called it, "the delicate act of beheading." It was backwards for him at first, so used to just slicing the shit out of his prey.
After a couple of bauched tries using his bare hands, he finally gave in and dragged the knife in his sash. He started to get the hang of it and was slicing and dicing fish left and right, his face reflective of his glee that he was actually pretty good at this thing. Of course he was. He killed things for a living. And he begrudgingly admitted that she was right.
He noticed that she was becoming bored when she started watching him more closely. She hadn't been going for any of these small fry, waiting for the sea kings and monstrous fish. He became instantly aware of her but tried to brush it aside as he gave up on the smaller fish and joined her in waiting for the larger prey. He wanted something so big that it could feed Luffy for a day… which wasn't an easy feat.
After about 15 minutes, he needed to resurface for air. He tucked the dagger back into his sash and was just about to kick for the surface when Tikka was suddenly in front of him, her hair floating around her ethereally in the water. He cocked his head at her in question, but she grabbed his face as an answer and planted a quick kiss on him.
His whole body flushed and the desire of oxygen became increasingly more desperate. She held him firm for another second, two seconds and when she released him, he shot for the surface, gasping and coughing. He looped his arm in the rope ladder, his knees weak suddenly. She surfaced, laughing at him and he gave her a black glare.
"What the hell are you doing to me, woman?" he growled, his chest heaving, but not only because he was underwater for so long, "Knock it off." She was flustering him at every turn! He couldn't stand it, especially because he kinda liked it. Damnnit!
Women were just plain difficult.
Tikka blushed at his reaction, because she was helplessly enamored with his flustered look, but she also couldn't pull back the little chuckle that burst from his lips. He was...fascinating. Man, men were so much grouchier than Loo...Mihawk didn't count, he was always serious, and Shanks was always happy.
She was about to drop the subject and give him a break for once, and tease him instead about his need to hold his breath more, but she was interrupted when a huge-ass fish suddenly appeared in the water, darkening the whole sea right below them from it's size.
A grin lit up her features.
"Alright, Zoro, you ready for some fun fishing? These suckers fight back, and their skin hurts, so be careful, and be fast. You'll have to swim a lot to avoid them because they charge you, and their skin it pretty tough. You have to cut them right at the gills that take their heads off delicately to ensure you enjoy the most MEAT as possible," she grinned, and dove.
Let the fun begin.
Another day passed, and Loo had begun to follow her around suspiciously, so she went a whole day without being able to go near Zoro at all. When she did try, Loo suddenly appeared and asked her to train with him, or do his hair, or gossip, or tan with him, or some other excuse.
So she'd given up for a bit and just hung out with Nami and Robin as Sanji waited on them with delicious drinks and snacks.
But when Loo finally went to bed, and she knew that Zoro had first watch and would be awake and on deck, possibly alone, she snuck out with the expertise of years of practice avoiding her nanny to spy on her father.
She emerged onto the deck with a breath full of fresh air and a sigh. Her eyes swung around, found Zoro by the mast, and she then slowly sauntered over. She drew her sword when she was closer, pointed it at the floor in front of him, and said with a small grin, "shall we train for a bit, sensei? Just to warm your blood for your watch? I've missed our sessions."
She actually had clothes on this time, her sash tied by her waist, her white shirt billowy and loose, her shirt tucked into her breeches and her trousers tucked into her boots. But her hair was down and wild, and because her shirt was loose, her cleavage and a bit of her red bathing suit was visible from the slit in the shirt. She couldn't help herself, she loved making him blush.
They bagged a HUGE fish – "WHOA! Lookit all that MEAT!" Luffy had drooled excessively as they hauled the sea king up to the ship and Sanji had made them a fabulous dinner out of it – and for the next day after, Zoro had a reprieve from Tikka yet again as Loo made it his personal mission to keep them apart.
All it did was give her a chance to steal heated glances at him that had a flush working over his cheeks and forced himself to invest more wholly in whatever his task was at that moment. It also gave him an opportunity to contemplate just what the HELL was going on between them. He liked her and he could no longer deny that the tightening in his stomach every time she looked at him was anticipation. Anticipation that she would do something to him to provoke that deep desire he had for her, that blood pumping, stomach tightening, nerve startling reaction he normally reserved for a fight. She juiced him up and he lived every second of the day waiting for her to give him that feeling.
And it was frustrating the hell out of him that she was stringing him along. Not that he was that savvy with woman, but where they going to do something about this thing between them? Or would she just leave him the hell alone?
He was the first watch tonight, something not normally reserved for him because Nami had so little faith in his skill of keeping them on a course, but tonight, she deemed it his fair share. So he was leaning against the mast pole, the sea was calm, and the sky was clear when he sensed her presence. She came up to him and without a word, took out her sword and pointed it to the ground in front of him, respectfully, and challenged him to a sparring match.
That was all it took for that anticipation to build inside him again. His eyes travelled up the length of the steel to meet her gaze, so confident, so thrilled at the idea of a fight. He couldn't deny her. He smirked and grabbed his bandana to wrap around his head, "You have indeed missed some training," he commented, standing and drawing his blades, "I won't go easy on you for it." He had this secret fascination with how she said 'sensei.' For some reason, it boosted his manly ego.
The sparring match began in earnest. He was harder on her than he should have been, partly born out of his frustration at her, the other part urged forward when she stood up against him so well. But she couldn't keep up with him for too long and within twenty minutes, he overpowered her, trapping her sword hilt and drawing her flush against his body, immobilizing her momentum, one of his blades angled up to pressed against the soft flesh of her neck.
"You'll never beat me," he pitched his voice low, his tone confident.
Though Tikka could tell fairly soon into the fight that Zoro was going to beat her, she simply loved fighting with him and so enjoyed the experience, right up until he finally unleashed the final blow, per se, and immobilized her with his body and his swords, bringing him flush with her.
Oh how she loved how often they seemed to find themselves in this position. Something about their styles just kept brining them together like magnets. Freaking sweet!
Her eyes flickered up to his face, and saw that he was essentially gloating in his confidence to beat her. She figured now was the perfect moment to break his concentration a little.
She dropped her sword to the side, harmless, and stepped up against Zoro to kiss him, but paused right before her lips met his to whisper, "would you consider this a bane...or a blessing...of your victory?"
She smiled, then kissed him again, her lips feathering over his, her breasts momentarily crushed up against his chest, before she dropped down and back. Thrice in two days? She was definitely pushing her luck, but that's what made it exciting. Tikka had never been patient at the best of times...
And wasn't this how one pursued a man? He didn't seem resisting, just...baffled by her.
"Would you consider this a bane… or a blessing to your victory?"
She sent lightning right to his toes with that simple brush of her lips over his. He didn't even attempt to kiss her back because he knew by now that it was going to be so fleeting that it wasn't worth it to try. She was going to tease him and then leave him here to drown in his emotions.
Not. Fucking. Tonight. He was so done with this.
A growl to vocalize his aggression was all the warning she got before he dropped his swords and grabbed her by her arms to back her up until they hit the railing of the ship. He braced his arms on either side of her, trapping her between him and the wood. His face was mere inches from hers.
"What the hell do you want from me, Tikka?" he rumbled, slinking a hand up to cup the nape of her neck, his fingers crushing the silken curls, "Are you trying to provoke me? Because you have." He slashed his mouth over hers, his hand on the back of her head holding her tight to him.
It was their hottest encounter yet, chest to chest, hip to hip, he slipped his tongue inside her mouth to taste her, like fire and ocean and everything else that made Tikka, Tikka. He was running on adrenaline, on the high she gave him. His heart hammering in his chest from their fight and from this and his head spinning. Why was he so damn affected by this girl?
Tikka had been about to turn away, possibly leave, because let's face it, she might like to provoke the beast, but she wasn't actually confident on how he'd really react if she gave him the chance, when his growl had her turning back to face him, just in time to have him pin her back against the railing with his body and cage her in with his arms.
Her heart thudded, her blood pressure spiked, and her breath hitched. His scent, his warmth, everything about him was all around her and she was hyper aware of it. The words he bit out only increased her that awareness. So far, this was a good reaction, she was betting.
But she was floored when he kissed her. No, claimed her, drugged her, dominated her, whatever it was, his kiss swept her mind away from everything and anything but him. This is what she'd been missing on her little island? Holy crap.
And they were pressed so close together, she could feel his hard body, the heat of him. She was already on fire from his kiss, but the feel of them pressed together again set her over the edge. She squirmed against him, unconsciously and very slightly rubbing herself against him like a cat in heat.
Her fingers curled into his shirt and she hung on for dear life, kissing him, sliding her tongue along his as electricity ran up and down her spine. She was mindless for this man; he tied her up in knots and she was helpless to him.
She reacted to Zoro exactly like he thought she would; she trembled, shifted, flexed against him like she couldn't get close enough. Fucked if he didn't feel the same way. He wanted to crawl inside her, skin to skin, rapid heartbeat against rapid heartbeat. She dragged out of him everything he bottled up and guarded against, the heat, the desire. He wanted to be consumed by her…
But… he also knew that she strung him along for days and he was sick of feeling like that, the ache due to lack of satisfaction.
It was with an impressive amount of self control and a will to keep his sanity that he pulled back from her and used her hair to pull her head to the side and whisper in her ear, "How does it feel, to want something you can't have?"
He back away from her, his eyes shadowed by his bandana and picked up his blades, slipping them into their holsters. Without a word to her, he grabbed the rope ladder to the Crow's Nest and climbed up, slicing the ropes when he was a good distance up so she couldn't follow him. He needed a break, some reprieve from her, from her intoxicating sexual allure that he still didn't understand fully. He also wanted her to understand what she did to him, leaving him high and dry all the time, flustering him and his cool resolve.
The sea wind felt good on his face, clearing away some of the fog only she instilled.
All of this was madness.
Tikka was in a complete and utter daze as Zoro climbed up the mast to the crows nest, cutting the rope, and left her to stew in her own desires.
Damn him!
Her body ached for him, an ache she'd never experienced before. It was like she couldn't touch him enough, couldn't get her body to touch his enough. Her cheeks were hot with lust, her eyes molten and drugged from his kiss.
She slid down the railing until her butt crashed to the deck. She had a feeling this would boost his damn ego, but she fanned herself to keep from swooning. He made her lightheaded and dizzy, thrilled and excited all at the same time.
And he just did this to her a left…?
Damn him twice!
But she had to admit, he was right. If this was how her kisses affected him, then she had been leaving him high and dry. She supposed that made her a tease…
A small smile crept up her lips and she sighed, finally pushing herself to her feet. She glanced up at the crows nest for a moment before shaking her head with a rueful smile. She sauntered towards the cabin, deciding that she needed to clear her own head for a while. She'd stop teasing Zoro, guessing that this display was to a prove a point.
Perhaps she had been pushing it to much. A feminine fear went through her; would he like her less?
Tikka told herself to stop being idiotic and pushed her hair out of her face. The action made her eyes land directly on Loo, who was standing suspiciously silently a few feet from her, leaning against the side of the cabin. From that vantage, he would have been invisible to them up on the deck.
"Uh...oh…" she groaned, and knew that she couldn't run from this talk she was about to receive. Loo was eyeing her with a very commanding expression, and slowly pointed one burly finger to the spot next to him.
Hanging her head, Tikka did as he commanded and plopped herself down on the deck. "Loo bear, I don't care what you say, I like him and that's that. And, like you already said, I'm grown up now."
"Honeycakes, you will never be grown up enough for that," Loo growled at her, batting his make-uped eyelashes, then sighing dramatically and hunkering down across from her, indian style. "Darling, the matters of the heart should not be treated lightly. It goes against everything manly inside of me," Tikka perked a brow at him, but he just shot her a quelling look and pushed on, "to not go up to that man and strangle him, but that goes against everything girly in me."
Tikka suppressed a laugh, looking down and letting her hair mask her expression.
"So...I'm going to give you the sex talk."
Tikka's eyes widened and she shot to her feet. But Loo knew her, and his hands shot out the same moment. She kicked with all her might and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Oh no you don't! Loo, let me go!"
The man shifted, for the first time exposing his fruit, and became a half bear half man giant, instantly suppressing her struggles with his inhuman strength. He picked her up and marched around the cabin and out onto the deck. Tikka's cheeks burned with embarrassment as Loo tossed her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, patting her butt, and marched, clear as day and obviously visible to anyone in the crow's nest, towards Loo's private quarters, the storage room, to lock her in and not let her out till he'd done his duty as her step-in-mother!
"Stop struggling, Tikka. It's not that bad, in fact, I think you'll be really interested once I get going," Loo assured her in a high pitched feminine tone, at odds with the rumbled that came from being in her bear form.
"Not talking about it with you I won't!" Tikka cried out and renewed her struggles. Desperate, she looked up to the crows nest in a plea for aid, but Loo was too fast, and already they disappeared into the ship, and Tikka was lost to all of the crew, even the enquiring Nami who'd come to investigate the yelling, for the rest of the night.
Commotion broke out on the deck. Zoro leaned his head over the railing with a curious eye to see that Tikka was being manhandled – er, bear handled – by Loo across the deck, screaming and kicking. Their conversation was loud and clear.
"Stop struggling, Tikka! It's not that bad. You'll be really interested once I get going," Loo's voice was an odd mix between high pitched feminine and deep growl that was oddly disconcerting.
"Not talking about it with you I won't!" she shrieked back, pounding her little fists against her nanny's back. The door to the storage room was thrown open and slammed shut with finality and all her screaming was instantly muffled.
Well. What was that about? A shot of panic went through him. Did that bear man see them kissing? Great… first he was going to yell at Tikka… then Zoro was next.
A laugh sounded from the helm deck and he turned his head to see Nami in her pajamas, leaning against the railing. Apparently, she had been drawn out by the whole spectacle, "Did you see that, Zoro?" she called, a secretive smirk about her.
"Yeah," he replied, "What was that all about?"
She laughed, waving her hand like this was a huge entertainment show, "I think Loo's about to give her the sex talk. You better watch your back, swordsman," and with another chuckle, something a little maniacal for her character, she gave him a jaunty wave and headed back into her cabin.
Zoro paled, then his face exploded with color. He flickered his eyes back to the storage room door. The… sex… talk?
A/N- Please leave a review! Enjoy :)
