As the evening drew to a close, the Strawhat's started to make their way to their own sleeping quarters earlier than usual. The guys all headed off to their room while Nami made her way up to hers.
She hadn't checked up on Robin and Zoro's date yet, nor had she heard anything from either of them, so she was hoping that all was going well. She had been tempted to risk glancing inside but decided against it on the off-chance that it had gone better than she hoped. She didn't want to risk either interrupting them or seeing something she would be better off not seeing.
She decided that she'd just give them privacy for now and ask Robin about the whole thing later on. Besides, she was also feeling pretty worn out due to all the work she had put into the set-up date, and she was ready to retire to her room.
As she walked inside, she noticed that her roommate was already lying in bed. Nami looked at Robin with a surprised expression, as she had assumed that she would have still been with Zoro at this point.
Upon realising that she was not yet asleep, Nami sat at the end of the bed and decided to press her for information.
"So, you escaped, did you?" She asked with a smirk. "How did it go~?" She chimed excitedly, eager for the gossip. "Don't leave anything out, I want to know everything!"
Robin gave a small chuckle at her friend's enthusiasm, but it wasn't her normal cheery laugh. She turned to the redhead before answering. "I appreciate what you did Nami, and it was lovely…" She began as she sat up, but Nami could tell there was something wrong with her tone.
"But?" she pressed.
"I think I might have ended up making things awkward…" Robin admitted, picking up her book from her bedside table and holding it to her chest as a means of comfort.
"Awkward? How so?" She pressed.
"Well..." Robin began but stopped to give a small smile. She wasn't yet ready to confess to Nami that she kissed Zoro. She still couldn't even believe she'd done it herself. A small part of her was elated at the fact she had shared such an intimate moment with the swordsman, but she also felt embarrassed due to making such a bold move, and she was afraid that she'd went too far.
"That part is a secret. I might tell you about it in the future but for now, my lips are sealed." Robin replied, causing Nami to pout in annoyance. She was not happy about the lack of information coming from the woman.
"But I don't think our little date-crasher helped much." She added on after a moment of silence, not wanting to dwell too much on the kiss. "You forgot to lock the back door you know, so we had a little visitor." Robin stated, giggling at Nami's expression that was growing more and more frustrated by the second.
"Wait I did? Damn it…" She cursed. But the mention of a date crasher stole her attention, and she scowled. "Was it Sanji? I swear, if that love-fool sabotaged this just because he hates the idea of Zoro having a girlfriend before he does, I'll kill him." Nami muttered, but Robin shook her head.
"It wasn't Sanji."
"Huh?" Now Nami was confused. If it wasn't Sanji, she had no idea who it could have been. "Then who?"
"I won't tell on them if it's going to get them in trouble, so you'll have to find that out yourself." She teased. Just as Nami was about to protest, Robin rolled over on her side, still holding onto the book. "Now, I'm tired after all of today's excitement, so I'll talk to you more in the morning. Good night Nami."
Nami sighed, getting into her own bed. Robin was one person she didn't have the energy to argue with, because she knew she could be just as stubborn as her sometimes. She knew she'd just have to wait to get the information she wanted.
"Night Robin…" Nami replied as she turned the light off, and the two girls fell asleep.
Zoro was lying awake in the guys' cabin, his mind replaying the events from that day over and over again in his head.
He thought about when him and Robin were in the medical room and how she had hugged him, and then his mind brought back the memory of him and Robin dancing together, and he remembered how he'd got so caught up in the moment.
He felt his lips tingle as he thought about when Robin had kissed him, and he gave a small smile as he recalled how it had felt.
He wished he'd had the time to respond to her before Franky had barged in, because he had wanted to tell her that he was about to do the same, and that she had just beaten him to it. He wished he had reacted quicker and kissed her first, or at least had returned the kiss, but he had missed his opportunity to show her how he felt, and he knew he wouldn't get another chance like that again.
He gave a quiet sigh of frustration and rolled onto his side, but he knew it'd be futile to even attempt to get some rest. His mind was just too active.
After a while of staring at the ceiling, Zoro started to give up on the idea of sleeping, and he stood up, grabbing the book from the side of his bed. He decided to spend some time filling his mind with something else besides thoughts of Robin, but it was too late to train, so he figured that now was a good time to read some more of the book that she had gave him.
Before he could head outside onto the deck, he had to climb over Luffy who was sprawled out across the floor, and he almost tripped over his captain as he worked his way across the room.
Eventually he managed to escape the cabin and ended up outside. There was a cold chill in the air, but it wasn't anything too bad, and he debated where to go to at first. The crow's nest and the aquarium were both good options, but he eventually settled on the library, and began to make his way over, book in hand.
As he entered, he noticed that the room was a lot more organised than it had been previously, when him and Robin had been sorting out her books together. Since he had last been inside, she had cleared away the pile of unwanted volumes and organised the shelves to give it a much neater appearance.
It felt weird for Zoro to be inside the library alone, and it felt even weirder for him to be the one who was willingly spending his free time with an open book in his lap. He never thought he'd see the day he'd be sacrificing sleep in order to read.
He sat on the floor and leant back so that he was resting against a wall, then proceeded to open up the book to where he had left off, immersing himself in the tales of the Wano Samurai.
He found the book to be surprisingly interesting, and he felt inclined to continue reading up until the point his eyes began to ache from a combination of tiredness and from being focused on the book for so long.
It wasn't long before he felt himself beginning to fall asleep, and he didn't attempt to fight it. He gladly let himself drift off into a deep sleep, not caring enough to get up off the floor and return to his cabin.
