Hey lovelies! It's a shorter chapter this time, but I couldn't push it past where it wanted to be. _ Please enjoy it anyway!

Zoro could not recall a more embarrassing moment in his life than this one.

There were plenty of moments he could think of that were embarrassing, not that he liked to admit moment trumped them all. He could not avoid the burning sensation on his face though, as he dealt with his obvious excitement with only the memory of touching Lithium to get him through it. If one's dick could be disappointed, he was certain his was decidedly unsatisfied and he could not blame it.

Dammit...dammit...what the hell was I thinking...

He finished dealing with himself and stared at his hands. The phantom feeling of her skin still lingered on them. He heaved a sigh and stood up.

That's right...I wasn't thinking...I...I was operating on instinct...but that's no excuse...I have to apologize...

He glanced around the room with another sigh. "Guess I could start by cleaning the room...since she keeps it nice all the time..."

Zoro cleaned up the pieces of of pillow stuffing, swearing with every piece he tossed in their woefully small trashcan. He could no longer deny he wanted her, not with what happened. He was not a particularly affectionate person, but all he had wanted to do from moment he touched her back that stupid bench monument was touch her again. Their sparring matches had done a great deal to ease that desire without causing issues, but now he was not sure that would be enough.

But it has to be...I'm not going to force this...she's had enough people trying to impose their will on her...even...even if she did kiss me back...

He shook his head, throwing the stuffing in the general direction of the over-flowing trash can. Even if she had, he was the insistent one. He started it by tackling her in the first place. He kissed her, not the other way around. He could not be sure she did not just get swept up in his enthusiasm. She said she had no experience in this after all. Maybe he overwhelmed her completely and she did not know better than to just go with it until he was too close to certain parts of her.

And I was so close to touching that cute little ass...Dammit...

Zoro kicked the trash can with a growl. This was not the time to be thinking about that. It was the exact opposite of trying to figure out a way to apologize, aside from picking up the stuffing. Other than that, all he had was words, which did not seem enough. He was becoming more certain he was out of his depth. Every way he thought to start the conversation seem hollow and forced.

But it was all he had.

He wanted her, but he wanted her to feel the same. Isn't that how this is supposed to work?

Zoro gave the room one last look, satisfied that it looked as good as she had left it after breakfast, and headed for the door. He swung it open and nearly ran into Robin, who held her hand up to knock, a book in her other hand.

"Ah Zoro, I was just coming to deliver this to Lithium. She was interested in other types of fermentation aside from her brewing." She held out the book. "I thought she was here."

Zoro took the book and left it on the side table by the couch. "Um...no she left a while ago..."

He tried to keep his expression neutral but he should have known it was hopeless when it came to Robin. She was far to smart and observant not to sense something was off.

"Something is troubling you, isn't it?" Robin asked this with a slight tilt of her head, reminding him of Lithium's more dramatic head tilt every time she was confused or curious.

"No, not at all."

Robin shook her head. "Usopp is supposed to be the terrible liar of the crew. Tell me what the problem is. I'll see if I can help you."

Zoro silently admitted defeat and followed Robin to the port side railing. A few small fish leaped from the water as he stared down at the little waves crashing against the dock supports, unable to look Robin in the eye.

"So then, what's troubling you?"

He closed his eye and sighed. There was no use in lying now. "I think I scared Lith away."

Robin raised a slim eyebrow. "How so? I would think by now she's aware of how strong you are."

Zoro shook his head. "Not like that...I kissed her and it got outta' hand..."

"But you are married, that should not problematic." She paused for a second, examining his face. "Or...have you not yet consummated your marriage?"

Zoro looked up from the deep blue surface of the water, his face deadly serious. "There isn't a marriage, Robin. It was a misunderstanding."

Robin's face registered a mild version of what would have been utter shock on anyone else. "How could this be?"

"Back at the island where we picked up Lith, I broke their one stupid law and she saved me from execution by exploiting the one loophole they had."

"You desecrated their Hero's Monument? I read about their laws."

"Yeah...she ran over and pretended to be my wife to get the local law to pardon me." Zoro sighed, looking back to the water. "And wouldn't you know, Luffy overheard it..."

"Naturally our captain would latch onto the very thing you wish he would not." Robin smiled gently, shaking her head. "But am I to understand that despite this misunderstanding, you are attracted to Lithium? Enough so that you even call her by a nickname, when she has even told our cook he's not allowed to call her Lithium-chan?"

Zoro felt his face redden at this, though there was a swell of satisfaction that he was the only one with permission to call her anything but Lithium. " Yeah...yeah I am."

"You need to talk to her, Zoro." Robin put a hand on his shoulder. "You cannot know if she is truly bothered by your rather unexpected affection unless you do."

"It seems pretty clear since she ran."

Robin shook her head. "You cannot be sure. It could have just been a shock, especially if that's never happened before. You may have been her first kiss. Even grown women can become flustered over that."

"Doesn't help she walked in on my dressing before that." Zoro's smile was wry, but it was at least a smile.

Robin chuckled, her hand over her mouth. "Oh dear, did you kiss her when you were like that?"

Zoro took a surprised step away from the rail. "WHAT? NO! SHE WAS LESS CLOTHED THAN ME!"

Robin laughed out right at this. "Oh is that so?"

"No wait, I mean...dammit!"

They both looked up sharply as Lithium darted past them, leaping off the deck. The minute her feet touched the wood of the dock, she seemed to disappear, only her deep growl left as a sign of her passing.

Zoro lept after her, following the sounds of her footsteps she did not bother to soften, and the slipstream of killing intent in the air.

They had only had a five-minute head start, so the amount of wreckage was impressive to Sanji, even though he knew Zoro was involved in causing it. Chopper picked his way around the large chunks of fallen building, sticking close to him. The rest of the crew were looking for survivors in the ruined buildings. They had chased after Lithium and Zoro as soon as Robin called them from the deck. She had not known why they ran off, only that Zoro was chasing after Lithium and she was afraid he would get lost trying to find her.

The explosions and falling buildings near the marketplace hastened their pursuit of them.

Chopper stopped to scent the air, but he was struggling with the scent of blood in the air from numerous men in strange marine uniforms. They were torn to pieces, not by Zoro's clean methodical slashes, but by rough gouges ripped through them.

Could Lithium-chan have done this to them? It doesn't seem possible...

Chopper examine one of the soldiers, his nose twitching slightly as he checked the wounds. "They have a weird smell...something from a plant I don't know..."

Sanji looked at the soldier, frowning at the wounds on the man's neck. It looked like his throat had been ripped out. "Lithium-chan did say Sea Angel Island has a peculiar smell..."

Shit...don't tell me she did this too...

Chopper's ears went up, catching the sound Sanji could just barely hear. "It's Zoro..."

The doctor started running without another moment's hesitation. "He's yelling for Lithium to wake up, hurry!"

Sanji ran after Chopper, scooping him up and putting him on his shoulders. There was no time for transformations and he could jump over the broken building far better. For Lithium's sake, they had to find them as soon as possible.

Zoro had his back to them when they found them among the rubble of what used to be the art supply store, based on the splatters of paint among the broken timber. He was still talking to her, desperation clear in his voice. It stopped Sanji in his tracks. He had never heard that tone from Zoro before, nothing so broken.

Chopper hopped down, thinking Sanji meant to stop. "Zoro! What happened to her?"

Zoro turned to them, his expression as startling as his voice. Blood ran down his face from a large head wound, but that did not surprise Sanji as much as the tracks of tears he had shed before they arrived. They were gone now, but it was unmistakable that they had been there.

"I don't know...they dropped several buildings on us...I think I was out for a while...after pushing her out of the way of the last one..."

What in the hell happened here?

Chopper began examining Lithium's wounds, motioning for Zoro to set her down. His reluctance was obvious, but Chopper gently insisted, and asked him to step back. Sanji knew the swordsman was truly a mess when he let him pull him away so Chopper had room to work. It was not long though, before Chopper looked up sharply, his face grim.

"We have to get her back to the ship, quickly but gently. I don't have everything I need to operate on her, just my regular kit. We have to keep pressure on her wounds."

Zoro pulled his arm from Sanji's grasp and dropped his jacket to the ground. "Will that help?"

Chopper nodded, and Zoro lifted her with extreme care, settling her in the middle of it. The tiny doctor wrapped her and Zoro lifted her again, walking toward the ship, for once walking in exactly the right direction.