Title: Reflexes
Theme: Set #03, #2 Baseball
Claim: Zoro + Chopper
Words: 1114
Rating: G
Warnings: I honestly can't think of anything in this one!
Disclaimers: Nothing you recognize in here is mine in any way. All rights belong to Eiichiro Oda and all the multitude of people involved in production of the One Piece manga and anime.
It had started innocently enough as a simple game of catch with an old baseball. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper tossed the ball around in a triangle, switching direction on occasion to try and keep it interesting. Then they tried to keep passing as quickly as possible, the ball picking up speed as they went.
A particularly sharp toss from Chopper bounced off of Luffy's rubbery fingers and smacked into Usopp's arm. He rubbed the sore spot and then chucked the ball back at Luffy with a mischievous grin. Luffy laughed as the ball bounced off him again. He stretched out his right arm to retrieve the ball from across the deck and wound up his arm, grinning broadly. Usopp's eyes went wide.
"Luffy, wait! Don't-" It was too late! Usopp had just enough time to throw himself to the deck before the ball zinged over his head. Time seemed to slow as all three boys watched the ball hurtle directly toward Zoro's face where he was napping against the railing.
THWACK!
Zoro's left hand gripped the ball firmly. When the hand lowered, the swordsman's eyes were still closed.
"Whoa..." the ball players gasped simultaneously.
Zoro's eyes snapped open and he scowled at them.
"Guess this is mine now." Zoro tucked the ball into his haramaki, ignoring the whining from the others. "Maybe," he spoke over the complaints, "I'll let you have it back later, if you let me finish my nap in peace." With that, he leaned back against the railing and closed his eyes again.
Usopp and Luffy slouched off, grumbling all the way. Chopper lingered behind, studying Zoro intently.
"Fascinating," he mused in a low whisper. "I wonder..."
Zoro cracked one lid and looked directly at Chopper, clearing his throat pointedly. Chopper obediently scurried out of sight.
Chopper spent the next few hours working on his rumble ball supply, and when he ventured outside again, Zoro was awake and weight training. He was counting swings of the large barbell under his breath.
"485... 486... 487... Can I help you with something, Chopper?" He never missed a beat, voice only slightly strained during the upswings. "490..."
"Were you really asleep earlier, when you caught the ball?"
"Right up until I caught it, yeah. 495..."
"It was moving really fast, though," Chopper argued. "It'd be hard to catch even if you knew it was coming!"
"500." The weights hit the deck with a dull, metallic clunk. "Great reflexes?" Chopper snorted. "I'm serious," Zoro insisted.
"You're telling me," Chopper's tone was skeptical, "you're capable of blocking without even thinking about it?"
"I have to be! How can I explain it..." Chopper waited patiently.
"At a certain level of fighting skill, you can't focus on the present moment anymore," Zoro began after a considerate pause. "You've always gotta be thinking several moves ahead and anticipating what your opponents gonna do, so you have to trust your body to do what it has to almost on its own."
"Really?" Chopper frowned. "How is that possible?"
"Well, you practice every movement over and over. After a while, your body just remembers what to do..."
"I see!" Chopper exclaimed. "Muscle memory!"
He trotted over to where Zoro had set out additional training equipment and picked up one of the smaller barbells that Zoro used for arm curls.
"Do you mind if I try an experiment?"
"What kind of experiment?" Zoro asked warily.
"It won't hurt. I promise!" Chopper offered the barbell to Zoro.
"Whatever," the swordsman mumbled, taking the weight in his left hand. "I didn't ask 'cause I was scared..." He looked down at the weight. "What am I doing with this?"
"Just hold it," Chopper told him dismissively. "Do you know what Sanji has planned for dinner?"
"Huh?" Zoro looked back over at the doctor, eyebrow raised. "That's a pretty random change of subject!"
"I'm a little hungry." Chopper shrugged.
"I expect it'll probably be some kind of fish, since Luffy and Usopp caught some earlier." Chopper's eyes had drifted from Zoro's face and he was staring at something, eyes wide. "Are you even listening to me anymore? What's so interesting?"
"It's true!" Chopper's voice was filled with awe. "Your body really does do things on it's own from memory!"
Zoro followed the reindeer's line of sight to where--sure enough--his left arm was enthusiastically curling the weight. He frowned and stopped the movement. For all that this sort of thing was handy in a fight, it was a little creepy at the moment!
"Is that a whale over there?" Chopper pointed over the rail to Zoro's right. He turned to look and squinted at the horizon.
"I don't see anything. Are you sure-"
"This is so awesome!"
He was about to ask what was "so awesome," when he realized that he was curling the weight again.
"Stop it." He wasn't sure whether he was talking to Chopper, his arm, or both.
Luffy came sailing out the galley door, likely courtesy of Sanji.
"Whatcha' doing?" Luffy asked as he ambled over to the two.
"Nothing," Zoro told him.
"Hey, Luffy!" Chopper beamed at the captain, eyes sparkling. "Want to see something really cool?"
"Sure!"
"No." Zoro set the weight down. He ignored Chopper's whine of dismay and started to walk away while Chopper explained about his "reflexes."
"Heads up!" Luffy called after him, and Zoro whirled around and caught the arm weight before it could hit him in the back of the head.
"What is wrong with you?" Zoro seethed. "First of all, don't disrespect training equipment that way! Secondly, if it hadn't been me, somebody would've gotten hurt! Third..." He trailed off as he realized they weren't paying any attention to his words, and he had a pretty good idea why...
Stupid arm!
"See?" Chopper told Luffy.
"Awesome!" the captain agreed. "Usopp's gotta see this!"
Zoro groaned and rolled his eyes. It looked like he'd be getting in some extra arm exercise for a while...