Chapter 12 - Tempers flare! Rei and Zoro Clash!

"NAMI-SWANNNN, ROBIN-CHWANNN! ARE YOU OKAY?" Sanji's voice ripped through the air, accompanied by the thunderous sound of glass shattering, as he kicked through the glass doors of the hospital. He was too much in a hurry to wait patiently for the automatic doors to slide open.

The nurse at the front desk slouched into a tight ball at her desk. She had finally given up after an hour of trying to get the Straw Hats to settle down. Between the talking skeleton that was freaking out the other nurses by asking them to show him their pants, the orange haired girl who kept yelling at "Stupid Luffy" to feel better so they can go get her "promised treasure", the snoring swordsman, who refuses to take his legs off of the seats so other people could sit down in the waiting room, and now this new guy, who just destroyed the hospital doors...it was all just too much.

The rest of the nurses crouched next to her in a supportive huddle. "Nurse Shiyo, are you okay?"

"I try so hard," she whimpered softly to herself, "I try so hard to make this a nice, relaxing place."

"You are doing a great job," the nurses chorused together, "They're just being pirates, that's all."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Nami yelled giving a harsh blow to the back of Sanji's head and shaking him violently by the collar, "Kicking your way through a glass door, scaring the hell out of everyone in this hospital?!"

Actually, you're now doing the scaring, Nami-san, Brook thought as he pitied the now limp body of Sanji.

"I'm so sorry! As soon as I mentioned that you were all in the hospital, he ran out in front of me. I didn't even give him time to explain that not all the crewmembers were ill," John interjected gasping for breath as he finally caught up to Sanji.

"It's actually just Luffy," Usopp corrected, "He has food poisoning."

John was startled by the mention of Luffy's ailment but Ben quickly rushed over to fill him in on the details.

"That idiot captain," Sanji muttered to himself and regained his composure, "Making me worried about beautiful Nami-Swan and lovely Robin-chwan."

"Oy, love cook," Zoro called from his spot, haven't budged even when Sanji made his entrance. His eyes were still closed and his chin was still resting on his chest with his arms crossed in front of him, "Where the hell have you been? We've been waiting for you. Did you get lost?"

"I'm not like you, shitty marimo! My sense of direction is fine!" Sanji yelled back.

Zoro's head shot up and he narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "What is that supposed to mean, snail brow?"

"S-s-s-snail brow?!" Sanji gasped taken aback by the new nickname.

"SNAIL BROW!" Usopp roared with laughter, "He called him Snail Brow!"

"You're one to talk. What's with the new green outfit? You look like a giant piece of seaweed!" Sanji barked out.

Zoro leapt to his feet and his hand went to his swords. "What did you say?"

"Seaweed," Chopper howled while rolling around on the floor and banging his fists on the ground, "Zoro is a seaweed!"

"Shut up, you two!" Sanji and Zoro yelled together at the hysterical Usopp and Chopper.

"Well, this is quite a development," said a solemn voice at the front desk.

The Straw Hats all turned to look at the source and found Rei, with two green cloaks on either side of her. She was standing at the front desk and thumbing through some charts. Her cloaked back was turned towards them.

"Looks like I have some questions for your captain," she said in her faux-boy voice. She turned to look at the crew through her mask.

"Commander Rei!" Ben and John gasped, hurrying to their feet and saluting her.

"Commander?!" Nami, Sanji, and Robin asked in unison.

"Oh, that's right. You haven't met him yet," Brook said, "He saved Usopp and Chopper from being abducted today by bounty hunters."

"What?" Nami yelled, "And you mention this to us NOW?"

Thwack!

Rei smacked the metal clipboard in her hand against the counter. The sudden sound instantly returned the focus back on her. It was efficient, to the point, and got the results Rei needed. "While you all catch up on your day, I'm going to go see your captain now. I can take one of you with me," Rei stated, "Who wants to come?"

All the Straw Hats jumped up and volunteered, besides Robin and Zoro. Robin was thoughtfully silent while Zoro was practically breathing steam out of his nose. The masked fellow irritated him almost as much as that shitty cook.

Robin calmly reached over and grabbed Chopper, plopping him in the arms of Rei. She instinctively caught him and she looked down at the fuzzy creature, who was staring wide-eyed back at her. Robin's gesture had the effect that she was going for and it ended the rest of the Straw Hats' yelling out why they deserve to go see the rubber man.

"Chopper should go. He is our ship's doctor, after all," Robin said.

"Okay, Dr. Reindeer, you're coming with me," Rei agreed and set him back down on the ground. She turned to the Green Cloaks next to her, "I'll be in there questioning Straw Hat Luffy and the doctor. Unit 1, go get copies of his medical history and the doctor's findings. Unit 2, find any additional patient suffering from any signs of food poisoning. I want thorough answers."

"Yes, sir!" the Green Cloaks saluted before each pair took off in opposite directions.

"Room-" a nurse started to say.

"102, yes I know," Rei said cutting her off, "I'm a genius."

"Shut up!" Zoro barked, "Enough with that already."

Usopp immediately flung himself at Zoro. "Please, please don't make him angry. We don't want any trouble."

Rei slowly turned to face the swordsman. She crossed her arms over chest and studied Zoro's scowl. "Did I do something to annoy you?"

The waiting room went deadly quiet as everyone turned their attention to the swordsman and the masked commander.

"Yes, everything you do is annoying," Zoro snapped, much to the dismay of Usopp, "Just leave our crew alone."

Rei tilted to her head to the side. "Saving your friends today from the group was annoying?" she countered, "How about having two Red Cloaks direct you around the island so you and your friends don't get lost? Was that annoying too?"

"Yes, all of it!" Zoro barked, "I could've easily saved Chopper and Usopp myself but you just had to step in. We'd find our way around the island without anyone's help too."

That's not entirely true, Zoro, thought the rest of the Straw Hat crew.

"It does make sense that you'd be able to handle the bounty hunters," Rei said, deliberately not unconcealing the disdain in her voice, "Since it takes one to know one."

"For the last time, I'm not a bounty hunter anymore!" Zoro shouted, "Why is everyone on this stupid island so fixated on that? I'm a swordsman! That's all."

"I don't care what you are. What matters is what you've done!"

"That's hypocritical coming from a Royal Tactician of an island that forgives the past crimes of pirates!" Zoro yelled.

No one had ever accused her of being a hypocrite before and it did not sit well with Rei at all. In fact, for the first time in a long time, Rei lost her temper.

"Bounty hunters are different!" Rei shouted, matching his glare with just as much anger and annoyance, "They don't deserve forgiveness!"

"Why?" Zoro demanded.

"Because-" Rei thundered.

The intensity in her own voice was something she never heard within herself before and it snapped her back into her senses. She stopped herself immediately from finishing her sentence and bit her lip. She was very thankful that the mask blocked them from the surprise on her face.

"Because what?" Zoro pressed, not noticing that her green eyes were no longer glaring back at him but more widened with shock at her own loss of composure.

What is the matter with me?, She thought to herself, disappointed that she even allowed any shred of emotion to come out. I know better than to lose control like that.

She assessed the swordsman in front of her. Nothing about him really stood out to her. Yes, his hair color was nothing she's ever seen before and he was quite muscular. He also wore his three swords in a way that made her know he was not to be toyed with. However, she had stood in front of many swordsmen and bounty hunters before. They've all said hateful things so what is it about this one that made her behave so out of character? She silently vowed to do some extra training when she returned to the castle. She focused her mind and forced herself to calm down.

"Well?" Zoro demanded.

Rei's breath returned back to its even pace. "Because bounty hunters kill for money. Pirates kill for a cause. There is no honor or pride for a bounty hunter. A pirate can be a good man. There is no good in bounty hunters."

With that she turned and walked out of the waiting area. Chopper took a hesitant look back at Zoro, before hurrying behind Rei to see Luffy. Zoro's face had turned from angry to dumbstruck.

Back in the waiting room, Zoro remained frozen in his spot. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and he could feel his face grow red with embarrassment at the attention. "What the hell are you all looking at?" He snapped. Everyone jumped and pretended to be preoccupied by everything besides him. He grunted and sat back down in his seat.

"Hey, Zoro," Usopp started to say.

"Not now, Usopp," Zoro scowled. He leaned his elbows against his knees and stared down at his feet.

How dare he, Zoro thought to himself, How dare he make such accusations about me? I hunted pirates, not innocent children. Did I kill a couple of them to make ends meet? Yes. Were they all criminals? Yes. Does that make me a bad guy? No!

Zoro's mind flashed through all the kills and bounties he's claimed over his years and an uneasy feeling started to spread in his stomach. He quickly forced himself to block it out and concentrated on making the feeling go away. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind.

"Zoro," Nami called out to him and walked over to his side, Taking a seat next to him. the swordsman stayed silent and unmoving. "Besides Luffy, I've known you the longest in the crew."

"Then you'd know to leave me alone, Nami," Zoro said, getting ready to stand up but Nami held her hand up to stop him.

"You're hot tempered," Nami stated, "You're a blockhead. You're a jock that can't run in a straight line for the life of him."

"Huh?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. Where is she going with this?

"You're stubborn. You never know when to back down a fight," she continued, "You're terrible with kids and you have killed people. But…"

"But what?" Zoro finally asked after a long pause from Nami.

"But you're not a murderer," Nami said, looking directly into Zoro's eyes, "You're a good man, Zoro, and I believe that."

"I believe it too," Usopp chimed in, climbing over the seats to Zoro and giving a light punch on Zoro's shoulder, hurting his own hand more than expected.

"Me too," Brook added.

"You are an annoying, shitty swordsman," Sanji reluctantly said, fighting the urge to light a cigarette in a hospital, "But you're not a bad guy."

Robin said nothing but just leaned on the wall next to Zoro and gave him her quiet smile. Even though Zoro kept his eyes on the ground, she knew he understood how they all felt.

"I guess I'll have to prove that know-it-all wrong," Zoro finally said and looked up at his nakama, "And show him I'm not that bad of a guy."

"How?" Usopp asked.

"By not kicking his ass."