Note: This chapter was really hard because I've never written anything for ZoTash, but if you don't ship it, you can just skip like the first half of this chapter~

Also police officer Tashigi anyone?

(Note that Zoro and Tashigi's relationship was mentioned in Chapter 1, but I never really did much with it until now. By the way, I'm not a huge ZoTash shipper myself but yolo. )


Chapter 11: One Thing After Another

He was going to kill them.

"Oi. Copy-cat, will you stop walking so damn fast?"

When she didn't respond, he quickened his pace. Just when things had finally fallen into a comfortable pace for him, something as stupid as this had to come along and throw it all out of whack. And damn it all if he wasn't going to make them regret it if this turned into some sort of ordeal.

He knew she wasn't too mad, she wasn't running or blowing up in his face, but he knew she wasn't exactly happy with what she had witnessed. He couldn't say as he blamed her; he probably would have reacted in the same way had he been the one to stumble on such a thing. Actually, he probably would have reacted more violently, but that wasn't the point.

The point was that it was nothing more than a stupid game, and if the other's hadn't been so caught up and enjoying his embarrassment, they'd understand the gravity of the situation. Though, he couldn't blame them all, he had been part of it as well, and none of them were expecting her to show up; she'd actually texted him earlier that day to let him know that the chances of getting out of work were extremely slim.

"Will you stop for a moment, god damn it."

As soon as she was within reach, he grabbed her arm and turned her towards him.

She looked everywhere but at his face, her cheeks puffed out in the same manner of indigence he'd come to know over the years. A heavy sigh slipped past her lips. She wasn't mad, but she was damn close to it.

He wasn't even sure what to say in defense of himself. How exactly could he justify that without making it sound like she was overreacting? Because she really wasn't, in reality, but the way things had happened had only served to make things more difficult; and the fact that he wasn't used to dealing with these situations wasn't helping matters.

Then she bit her lower lip and a surge of panic washed over him. If she started crying, he was screwed. Not only was he horrible at dealing with upset women, if the others found out he'd made her cry, he'd be six feet under by morning. When she started trembling, the panic only grew.

"O-Oi."

She couldn't contain it anymore.

A giggle escaped her lips and she brought a hand up to stifle it, but it didn't accomplish much. She was laughing so hard she couldn't make a sound. Upon seeing the look of utter confusion that twisted his features, she could only turn away.

"Sanji?" She finally managed to choke out. "Of everyone in the room, Sanji?"

His eye twitched. "Oi! It ain't like I wanted to do that! They pushed me into it. And what the hell are you laughing for?!"

She was leaning against the railing that kept blocked the edge of the pouch from the ground below. It creaked dangerously beneath her weight, and despite the current situation, he couldn't help but step forward. He'd seen Luffy fall through it numerous times in the past, and he was not about to let her do the same.

"But Sanji?"

"Tch, as much as I hate to say it, I'm glad it was just him."

She caught the undertone in his words.

Her fit of laughter had died down to the occasional giggle here and there, but he didn't mind overly much. The fact that she was laughing meant she wasn't mad, or that she couldn't stay mad for long. There really was no telling when it came to her.

"I was just caught off guard," she said, catching the serious expression in his gaze. "I'm not mad."

"Sure as hell seemed like it."

"I was trying not to laugh."

His look turned incredulous, but he passed it off with a sigh.

Sometimes it really hurt to look at her. The way she stood, the way she spoke, everything about her reminded him of someone he once knew, and sometimes the resemblance was so uncanny that he found it unbearable.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?"

Her voice was soft, though there was a saddened lilt to it. He grumbled in response. She'd known about Kuina since their first meeting. They'd gotten into a fight, and he refused to hit her on the grounds of how similar she looked to the girl, but she had taken it as a matter of him simply being sexist, which hadn't been the case at all. It had taken years to convince her otherwise.

She sighed. The situation had been addressed several times, and each time she didn't know how to respond. She could only sit and listen to him talk.

And there was always a part of her that wondered what would have happened if she hadn't died.

Then Zoro turned his attention to her again. "I thought you had to work tonight."

"I managed to talk Smoker-san into letting me off. Even if it's new years, there's more than enough people on duty tonight."

"You could have called," he grumbled.

"I did. You were too busy to answer." She started laughing again, but he silenced her with his lips.

The suddenness startled her, and out of sheer instinct, she took a step back, only to kick the railing with her foot. She nearly lost her balance, being as clumsy as she was, but Zoro held her steady. "Stop laughing, damn it."

"Fine, fine," She said, though she couldn't keep the amused smirk off her face. "Let's go back inside, I'm cold."

Zoro turned to open the door when his phone went off. He knit his brows. No one should have been texting him, but upon looking at the message, his brows lifted.

Nami spun the bottle and it landed on Trafalgar. I'd appreciate it if you could get me a picture. - Robin

While he wasn't one for butting into people's personal lives, opportunity was too good to pass up. He quickly brought up the camera and opened the door.


By the time two am had rolled around, most of them were out cold.

Glancing around, she found that her house was a mess, and there was a good chance most of them were going to leave in the morning without helping her clean, but she was too tired to care at the moment. The party had been hectic, but all of their get togethers were. It wasn't surprising she was exhausted.

She plopped down on the couch next to Law.

He raised a brow at that. "You've been avoiding me all night, and now you suddenly decide to sit here?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "I'd be in my room if I could, but I let Zoro and Tashigi take my bed tonight."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He inquired.

She sneered at him. "They're not going to do anything. I only let them take it because Tashigi drank herself sick and Zoro wasn't going to leave her alone in there, but if you have time to be worrying about my friends, I think you should be worried about your own. Shachi's passed out by the toilet and Bepo and Penguin are in the bathtub."

Law shrugged. "They'll be fine. As long as they're still breathing I've got nothing to be concerned about."

"How callous."

He chuckled. "Trust me, Nami-ya. If I thought something was going to happen to them I'd be in there. You seem to forget that I am a doctor."

She rolled her eyes at this and pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped herself in it. "Well you don't look like a doctor. Honestly, if I hadn't met you in the hospital, in uniform, I'd have mistaken you for some kind of thug."

"I hear that quite often."

"Your tattoos don't help matters. Speaking of which, what on Earth possessed you to have the word death tattooed on both hands?"

"Again with the personal questions, Nami-ya? I mean, I know we kissed and all bu-"

He caught the pillow she'd sent his way with ease. She was seething and he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Getting a rise out of her was so easy, and her reactions made it all worth it in the end, even if he did run the risk of getting punched.

"You know there's going to be pictures of that." She muttered.

"Well, considering you have one of Cook-ya and Zoro-ya, it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"It'll be a problem if my sister gets it. I'll never hear the end of it."

He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the couch. He didn't see what the big deal was, granted he was going to face some teasing from Shachi and them, but it wouldn't be nothing he couldn't handle. They knew where to draw the line. Her friends, on the other hand seemed to haven't have grasped that concept yet.

"At least you didn't spit on me." She couldn't keep the giggle out of her voice.

He snorted.

Silence settled over them then, broken only by the snoring of her friends. Normally, he would have left by now, but as much as he played it off, he wasn't up for the idea of leaving them behind. And after the episode he'd had a few nights prior, he was strangely content with not being alone at that moment.

In fact, he'd been so paranoid of another attack he failed to notice just how exhausted he was.

She, on the other hand, hadn't.

"Sleep." Her voice was stern, almost like a mother's in a way. "You look like hell."

"Don't tell me what to do," he grumbled.

"You look like you haven't slept in a week."

She had no idea just how accurate that statement was.

He grumbled. "I always look like that."

"Which is why you need to sleep."

"No."

He didn't want to run the risk of waking everyone up from another nightmare. The last thing he needed was a multitude of questions the second he woke up. Then she surprised him with her next question.

"Is it a matter of you don't want to sleep, or you can't sleep."

Both, he wanted to say but he remained quiet. His earlier conversation with Robin, coupled with the incident when she drove him home was enough to piece together the assumption that she was no stranger to the feeling herself. He was tempted to ask her about it.

As much as he denied it, he was curious.

She was strong, he could see that without being told, but part of him wondered just what had happened in her life to make her that way.

"Where'd you get that scar?"

She knit her brows. "What scar?"'

"The one on your arm, underneath the tattoo."

He glanced at it with a critical eye. He'd seen enough wounds to know that that one wasn't just some cut that hadn't healed properly. Judging by the angle and the way the scar set, he was able to conclude that it was self inflicted.

She reached up to touch it, a small frown turning her lips as the tips of her fingers trailed over the raised area. "Oh, this. Something happened when I was younger."

The way she was sitting, her legs drawn to her chest, and her tone told him that there was going to be no more discussion on the matter. It only served to reaffirm what Robin said; he'd just have to wait for her to tell him, and God only knows how long that'd take.

She was a stubborn woman, after all.

"I suppose the tattoo was meant to cover it?"

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to respond. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "In a way. It's more of a token towards the two people who were like family to me."

She jerked her head towards the picture on the table beside her. "None of us look a like do we?"

He turned to glance at it. There were three people present. A girl with bright blue hair, he recognized her as one of the girls that had come into the hospital room after the accident, a younger girl with fiery orange hair, which he didn't doubt was Nami herself, and a woman behind them with one of the strangest hair cuts he'd ever seen. At first he never noticed the difference in their faces; when he'd seen the picture the time he brought her home, he figured it was just her and her cousins or something.

"No, you don't."

"They aren't my real family." She paused then, as if saying something she hadn't meant to. "Well, they are, but none of us are related by blood."

He took a huge leap then, hoping he wasn't prodding at something that would set her off, or bring something up she'd rather not talk about. "What happened to your real family?"

Much to his surprise, she only shrugged. "I don't know. I never met them. Mom was a Marine when she found my sister and I. Nojiko might remember her parents, but I was still a baby at the time."

She reached for the half empty bottle on the table in front of her and took a swig, grimacing at the foul taste of warm beer. "Mom really liked tangerines. We had a whole grove where we used to live. She had a friend in the town too, a sheriff named Genzo. He always used to have this pinwheel in his hat."

"Why?" Was the only thing he could manage to ask.

Nami giggled. "He always used to try to make me laugh when I was a baby, or so Mom said. Luffy met him once, though I think he was more intrigued by the pinwheel than he was Genzo."

"And that tattoo represents both of them?"

She nodded. "I considered getting one for my sister as well, but the fact that we both have them kind of makes up for it."

The she turned to him, a devious grin spreading her lips. "But since I told you that," she jabbed her finger at him, "you need to tell me about the ones on your hands."

He should have known she would pull something like that. Granted, he could probably easily get out of explaining, but she had opened up just a little bit, and about a subject she initially didn't want to talk about. She'd probably punch him if he backed out.

"Let's just say I've seen death twice." He replied, his gaze fixated on the table in front of him.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. "That's all I'm going to say about it."

Nami held her tongue. There was something in the way he spoke then that sent a shiver down her spine - she was treading into dangerous territory.

She puffed her cheeks indignantly, but didn't push him further. Instead, she opted for the book she'd gotten out earlier that day, a novel that didn't exactly strike her as great, but it was interesting nonetheless. Within minutes, she felt her eyes growing heavy and shortly after that she'd dropped the book into her lap, her head lolling to the side.

Law had positioned himself in a more comfortable position, leaning his head against the armrest. He'd almost nodded off when Penguin came stumbling out the the bathroom in search of water. When he caught the amused look Law was giving him he shook his head and grumbled, "I'm never drinking again."

"You'll be wanting to go to Rayleigh's in a couple days."

Penguin shrugged. There was no point in arguing; he knew he was right. "I'm never drinking with Nami again," he rephrased.

He knew all too well that feeling. He could out drink her, but only barely, and upon the first time he'd witnessed the spectacle, he was certain the words 'alcohol poisoning' meant nothing to her body. The woman had an alcohol tolerance that was almost inhumane. His first suspicion was that she drank too much, but there was also the possibility that she was just one of those people who had naturally had a high tolerance.

"You know damn well that the next time she offers, you're going to."

Penguin downed the glass he'd poured himself and leaned back against the counter in the kitchen. "I'm surprised you managed to beat her."

He snorted. "Keep in mind that I was already half drunk when she started."

"She wasn't exactly sober herself," the other man pointed out. "It was pretty interesting to watch; I've never seen you that bad before. I thought you were going to puke on the last one."

Law simply shrugged in response. He really had pushed himself that night, just to see her limit, and as it would seem, it was about the same as his. It was careless on his part, considering that he probably could have ended up with alcohol poisoning himself, but he came out with nothing more than a headache worthy of Hell.

"Learned my lesson though; don't drink with her unless you're prepared to run the risk of dying." Penguin chuckled.

"Or at least know your limits." Law rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell him I told you this, but the one who put that picture on your computer was Shachi, though it was Bepo's idea."

"And where exactly did they get the picture?"

Penguin ducked his head, hiding his eyes. He wasn't going to tell him he'd taken them.

He was not.

He absolutely was not.

"Penguin..."

"I might have had one?" He offered, flashing Law a nervous smile. "But Zoro sent it to me! I don't know who took the original picture!"

A sigh escaped Law's lips and he reached forward to rub his temple. "Give me your phone."

"I didn't take one earlier, if that's what you're looking for." He obliged anyway. "I don't think anyone took a picture of it, actually. Luffy was still laughing over Zoro and Sanji, and I didn't see Robin with her phone at all."

After a few minutes of looking through his phone, Law handed it back. "And Shachi?"

"I wasn't paying attention to him." Penguin shrugged. "You'll have to ask him in the morning."

"Maybe Usopp?"

"I doubt it," Law waved his hand dismissively. "He still gets nervous around me, I doubt he'd be that bold. That and Nami-ya would likely give him hell if she found out."

Penguin glanced at the woman. She'd fallen to the side, using the arm of the couch as a pillow. "And what exactly do you think of Nami?"

It was a bold question on Penguin's part, but he had been expecting it. Of the three of them, it was often Penguin who got straight to the point.

"I'm not exactly sure," Law responded.

It was difficult to say; if he wanted to use the term loosely, he could consider her a friend, but in the grand scheme of things, at that point in time, she was borderline between acquaintance and friend.

It wasn't much of an answer, but Penguin had no choice other than to settle for it. Pushing wouldn't get him anywhere, and he knew that if Law truly had an answer, he'd have told him. Despite how dysfunctional their group could be at times, there wasn't much they kept from each other.

"You'll tell us when you've figured it out?"

It wasn't a question, not entirely.

Law smiled at him. "Since when have I hidden anything from you guys."

"All the time, Boss." Penguin replied flatly.

He couldn't deny that. "Go check on Shachi and Bepo. The last thing we need is them dying in Nami-ya's bathroom."


Note: I couldn't remember if Mikan meant Orange or Tangerine so I went with tangerine.

I kinda took liberties with Penguin's personality so.