I-I can explain!
I'm so sorry…. It's been like six months or more since I've updated, hasn't it? Five? I don't even know T.T…
Anyway, my computer's had like three viruses on it since then because I attract them. No, honestly…. Then I just forgot about it when it got fixed, then I retyped it on another computer, lost my flash, messed up the computer AGAIN... Again, I apologize! I don't even know what chapter I'm on! I think it's 10 or 11…. *facepalm*
"Poor Nami," Tashigi observed.
"Why 'poor' Nami?" Zoro snorted, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back against the railing, lifting his head to look at the clouds. "She expected too much gold. No one ever said the treasure was a big fortune…"
"There was gold, but not enough," Tashigi pointed out, adjusting her glasses. "I guess she thought it was too much trouble. And she was so angry about the books, too- though Robin seemed to find them accommodating."
"Well, duh. She's Robin." Zoro offered this as a blunt response and Tashigi rolled her eyes and drew out the silvery feather from her pocket and stroked it with a finger, sighing. "Do you think I should sell it?" she asked. "I need a little extra money, but it's so nice."
"Why would you want to keep that?" Zoro scoffed, trying to hide the blush slowly creeping up to his cheeks. "I hope you don't plan on getting souvenirs at every island we stop at."
"C'mon, Zoro, it's pretty," Tashigi said.
"Now I'm really gonna sell it. Have you made a decision about staying yet?"
"SSSSHHH!" Tashigi said quickly, leaping forward into his lap and covering his mouth with her hands. "It's not a for-sure thing yet! I don't want Luffy hearing!"
"Relax," Zoro muttered, pushing her hands out of the way. "Jeez. You're so jumpy."
"Am I interrupting something, Swordsman-kun?" Robin's silky voice effectively parted Zoro and Tashigi as they blushed and stammered, trying to offer an explanation. Robin smirked and waved them off. "Really, am I interruping?"
"What do you want, Robin?" Zoro muttered.
"Tashigi-chan," Robin said. She beckoned her closer. "I have to tell you something." Tashigi looked at Zoro skeptically and then stood up and followed Robin. As they left they passed Sanji, who was making his way towards Zoro. A quite evil smirk moved onto his face as he got closer to the swordsman.
"Something you wanted to talk about, Robin?" Tashigi asked as Robin closed the door to the girls' room behind her.
"Did you hear about what those feathers mean?" Robin pointed at the feather Tashigi was still holding. Tashigi looked down at it and then back up at Robin, tilting her head to the side. "It's supposed to mean something?" she asked.
"It's not just for show," Robin said, nodding. "You remember the legend about Tobias, the old pirate captain on Orange Ring Isle, buried the treasure, and all that, correct?"
"Yes..." Robin reached under her arm and brought out a heavy leather book, flipping its pages expertly to a certain picture. She showed Tashigi the portrait of Captain Tobias and his wife and Tashigi went stark white.
"Ummm, Robin?"
"Yes, Tashigi-chan."
"Tell me Usopp painted this..."
"I'm afraid not."
"But..."
"According to the legend, if you give someone one of those silvery feathers as Zoro handed one to you, it means you're then engaged to be married. They say if you don't follow through with it, you're haunted by a ghost." Tashigi's dark hair fell into her eyes, masking her face.
"Robin?" she said meekly.
"Yes; what is it?" Tashigi looked up to show a big puppy dog pout. "That's not fair at all!" Robin smiled slightly. "Ah, I see. Still in love with Smoker."
"Of course I- ah?" she stopped, slowly processing the thought, and then shook her head wildly. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! That's not it at all! It's just-!"
"It's just...?" Robin prodded, leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed. Tashigi looked down into her lap. "It's just that love is supposed to be spontaneous and real. Some random situation like this isn't romantic at all. It just makes everything much more difficult!" Robin leaned her cheek into her hand thoughtfully.
"Hm," she said. "You don't think that a sudden marriage like this is spontaneous?"
"Robin, I'm not kidding; I'm serious! And I'm not marrying Zoro because some old book told me to!"
"Well, if you want to be haunted by a ghost, that's none of my business," Robin smirked. Tashigi crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled. "I'm not Usopp, Robin. Ghost stories don't scare me." She made her way for the door and Robin watched her, smiling into her hand. "Ghost stories don't scare you, huh? We'll see."
"I can't believe this," Zoro muttered, putting his back into scrubbing the kitchen floor. "I'll kill Sanji for this." Luffy then entered the kitchen. Noticing Zoro's position on the floor, he knelt down next to him. "Hey, Zoro!"
"What do you want!"
"Is Sanji making you clean the floor?"
"No. I'm doing this because I like cleaning the floor," Zoro said sarcastically.
"Oh, really? That's a weird thing to like... it's more like a chore than a hobby..."
"Luffy, get out of here."
"Okay, see you later, Zoro!"
"... I hate being surrounded by idiots." As Luffy walked out, Sanji walked in, eyeing Zoro's progress.
"Having fun, moss head?" he asked, stepping around him to get to the stove. Zoro didn't answer and chose to take out his anger on the dirty floor.
"So, engaged to be married, are you," Sanji went on. "Can't complain about the girl, but I feel sorry for her. Having to live with you and cleaning up your lack of hygiene, dealing with your laziness and your sleeping all the time, having to cook for that bottomless pit you call a stomach."
"Tashigi would kill you if she heard that," Zoro said. "She hates it when men assume all women cook and clean for their husbands." Sanji chose to ignore this part. He didn't like thinking that a woman disliked him. After all, he was the biggest ladies' man on the high seas.
"You do know that there's a legend about being haunted by a ghost, should you not marry her," Sanji said.
"Yeah, and what about it?" Zoro responded, crossing his arms. "I don't believe in ghosts." Sanji shrugged his shoulders and lit a cigarette.
"Scrub the floor, marimo." He kicked the back of Zoro's head. "Don't let me catch you slacking off again."
A loud crash interrupted Usopp's tinkering. He jolted upright and dropped the hammer he'd been holding. He went to the door and opened it, looking both ways down the hall. He stepped out of the room and peered into the room across the hall from his. Finding nothing, he waved it off as his imagination playing tricks on him and turned to go back to his room when he saw a chalk-white figure standing in the doorway. His jaw dropped and his eyes enlarged. He croaked for a few moments in disbelief before catching his breath and hightailing it out of there, screaming at the top of his lungs as he dashed to where Franky had put the loudspeaker. He grabbed it in both hands and yelled into it as loud as he could.
"GHOOOOOOOOOSSSTTTTT!"
Next Time:
"D-do you believe in ghosts, Zoro?" Tashigi grinned nervously. "I-it's dumb, isn't it? Ghosts... haha..."
Zoro rolled his eyes and looked over at her. "If you're scared, just say so."
"N-no, it'll be alright... I mean... you're here, aren't you?"