As they set sail for Whiskey Peak Nami approached her. She had been barking out orders ship since they had left Crocus and Laboon, and had finally stopped shouting after deciding that they were on the right track to be headed towards Whiskey Peak. Iris could tell by the look on Nami's face that she was wanting to talk about something or another.
"Poor Sanji seems upset... Do you know why, Iris?" Nami asked. The tone in Nami's voice gave away what she was thinking. Nami already knew that Iris was the one that had upset Sanji. When Iris didn't answer Nami started shoving her towards their bedroom. Iris started to protest, but Nami informed her that they needed to re-wrap her arm since the bandages were starting to fall off.
Once they were in the bedroom Nami shut the door behind them and Iris sat on her bed. Nami grabbed a roll of bandages as Iris started to pull her current bandages off. The bite mark from Arlong was starting to heal and she wondered if it would scar. That would actually be a kind of cool scar to have. Scars told a story, like tattoos did, and having a large bit mark permanently on her shoulder would look pretty bad ass she thought.
"What did you do to upset him so badly? Was it because you were letting Zoro sleep on you?" Nami asked. Iris didn't want to talk about it with Nami, but she knew that Nami wouldn't let her get away if she didn't talk about it. She sighed, but she did eventually explain to Nami why Sanji was upset. She was still angry with Sanji for stopping her from going after Luffy, she told Nami about the conversation she had had with Sanji the other night and how he had told her he'd try to change his attitude towards her but hadn't, and how angry he had gotten because Zoro was leaning against her as he slept.
"You should be more patient with him, Iris. He might be annoying, but he's not a bad person. He's not doing anything harmful by being so nice to you. It's kind of nice to have a guy on the ship who treats women how they deserve to be treated," Nami said.
"If you like that fine. He can treat you like a pretty little princess. I don't like that," Iris grumbled.
"That's not my point. There's also the fact that he's probably started to notice that you and Zoro are closer then he and you are. That can't be easy for him to acknowledge, so it probably will continue to come out in anger towards Zoro. You might have to tell him you care for Zoro to get him off your back," Nami said as she wrapped the bandages around Iris' arm. Nami pulled the bandages tight enough that it actually hurt, but Iris did her best not to show any reaction. That would give Nami too much satisfaction.
"No way!" Iris snapped as she shook her head no. There was no way in hell that she would tell that to Sanji. She didn't want anybody to know how she felt until she had decided what she was going to do about it anyway. She was still trying to feel out if Zoro had any interest in her. Quite frankly she wished that Nami hadn't figured out that she was attracted to Zoro.
Nami finished wrapping up Iris' arm, and Iris did notice that the bruising on her arm was starting to fade. Before Nami left the room she tried again to tell Iris to be nicer to Sanji. Iris didn't respond to Nami and so Nami left the room with a sigh.
Iris sat on the bed for a few minutes as she moved her left hand around trying to assess how well the mobility was coming back. She was able to move her arm at the elbow finally, though the movement sent an electric shock like pain up through her arm. That electric-like pain was hard to deal with, but she was willing to deal with the pain if she was able to move her arm.
As she sat there she wished that Nami would stay out of her business. Nami didn't understand; she liked the special treatment she received from Sanji. It wasn't a bad thing that Nami enjoyed being treated like a princess, but that should also mean it wasn't a bad thing that Iris didn't like being treated like a princess.
When she was satisfied that she had found the extent of how well her arm was currently working she then walked out of her room to join the others. Zoro was still sleeping, Usopp seemed to be working on some sort of new invention, Nami was yelling at Luffy over something or another, and neither Sanji or the whale poachers were on the main deck.
Nami looked over at her with an evil grin and pointed at her. Iris raised an eyebrow as Luffy started walking over to her with a large knot on his head where Nami had obviously hit him. She wasn't quite sure what was going on or why Nami was looking at her so mischievously, but it couldn't be anything good.
"Nami says I have to tell you to be nice to Sanji," he said cheerfully. She glared at Nami and Nami continued to smile at her. Nami had figured out that Iris probably wouldn't try to mend the relationship between herself and Sanji on her own, so Nami was involving Luffy. She'd get Nami back later.
"Why don't you like Sanji?" Luffy asked her.
"I just don't. He's a jerk," she answered. Luffy laughed and agreed with her that Sanji could be mean, but he was part of their crew and a good cook. Luffy liked Sanji and so Iris should too. Luffy also pointed out that Iris could be mean too, even if it was a different kind of mean than Sanji was.
"I'm not mean!" she retorted and again Luffy laughed.
"Be nice to Sanji. Captain's orders! Why don't you go talk to him?" Luffy said with a big, stupid grin on his face. She glared at him, and he laughed even harder. He turned his back to her and started walking off without another word.
She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. She knew that Nami would make sure that she talked to Sanji to try and clear things up, so she decided to walk into the kitchen and get it over with. Sanji and the two whale poachers were in the kitchen. Sanji was cooking something and the two whale poachers were sitting at the table not talking.
She asked the two to leave the kitchen, and when they ignored her she bared her teeth and threatened to forcefully remove them if they didn't leave. They glared at her and then left, and she realized that perhaps there was some truth to Luffy saying she was mean. The fact that she resorted to threatening these people so easily wasn't exactly nice behavior. She told herself they didn't deserve to be treated nicely though, so it didn't really matter.
Sanji turned around and asked her if she was hungry and would like something to eat, and she shook her head no. She sat down at the table and he hesitantly sat down across from her. She could tell from the expression on his face that he was trying not to set her off again.
"Sanji... Do you know why I'm angry with you?" she asked him.
"I think so..." he responded quietly as he lit a cigarette. "You're angry because I stopped you earlier. You're angry at me for treating you how a lady should be treated. You're mad at me for trying to get that stupid moss head off of you," he said.
"Kind of," she said with a sigh. "What really pisses me off is that even after I told you how I felt the other night, and you said you'd try to respect my feelings, it's obvious you weren't listening to me. I haven't seen any changes in your behavior towards me," she said. Sure, the reasons he had just listed off did make her angry, but it wouldn't make her so angry if she hadn't blatantly told him how she felt not even a week ago.
"I was listening though! I always listen when you're speaking," he replied.
"You may have heard me talking, Sanji, but you weren't listening. If you had listened to my words I'd be seeing differences in your behavior... Even if I was seeing little changes in your behavior I'd have more patience with you," she continued. She knew he didn't want to hear what she was saying; it was written all over his face. They would have to find some sort of middle ground if they were to get along at all, but to find that middle ground he'd have to make some changes.
"Do you have any sisters, Sanji?" she asked him.
"My only family is the old man back at Baratie," he responded.
"Okay... Well, just try and imagine you had a sister. Would you fawn all over her? That would be beyond weird if you treated a relative the way you treat other women. I'd rather you think of me like a sister," she said trying to convey her feelings in a way that maybe he'd understand. She didn't have any siblings, but she still knew that the way people interacted with siblings was quite different from how you treated other people of the opposite sex.
She watched his face as he thought about he words for some sort of reaction. He seemed to be struggling with something, and she got the opinion that her words had brought up some unpleasant thoughts. Perhaps memories? Was he lying about having family other than Zeff? She couldn't imagine that Sanji was biologically related to Zeff, and if that was the case it would mean he had a family. Perhaps he was an orphan and didn't know his birth family? Whatever the reason he seemed to be extremely uncomfortable thinking about the subject.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?" she asked breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"I think so... But... Even if I thought of you like a sister it wouldn't mean that I wouldn't try to protect you or do things like stopping you from jumping out of the ship into a dangerous situation," he said after a long pause.
She sighed again at his words. She didn't need his protection, but she wasn't going to get that through to him. He was determined to look out of her just like he would for Nami or any other female. She didn't know what Nami had thought she was going to accomplish by talking to Sanji, but it didn't seem like this talk was productive in the least. She didn't think that there was any point in continuing this conversation any further.
Sanji then got up and turned his back to her as he started boiling a pot of water. She was surprised that he had taken his attention off of her; she must have hit a nerve with something she had said. His mood actually seemed to be getting worse. Since the conversation seemed to be over she stood up to leave the kitchen before the mood soured even further.
"Iris, wait," Sanji said as she walked towards the door. He was still looking at the pot of water he was boiling with his back turned to her, but apparently he wasn't as done with the conversation as she was. "I'm sorry that the way I treat you upsets you. I can't change who I am... I want to respect your wishes, they just happen to go against everything I am. I promise to try, but it won't be an overnight change. Please have some patience with me," he continued.
There was a honesty and brokenness in his voice that she hadn't heard before. He really seemed to be struggling with what she was asking of him, and she supposed that if he was struggling with it then at least he was thinking about what she had said. Hearing the sadness in his voice made her feel bad about how easily she let herself get angry with him.
"I won't change overnight either, Sanji. I'm not a patient person... But I suppose I can give you another shot," she said as she sat back down at the table. He turned his attention back to her with a big smile on his face. His eyes still had a hint of sadness in them, but that sadness seemed to be fading away.
"Really?" he asked and she nodded her head. He then poured the boiling water into a cup with some tea leaves and handed it to her. "I'm no doctor, but I've picked up on a few things over the years. There are a lot of foods that can help a body recover from injuries or illnesses. This particular tea is supposed to help promote healing... So maybe it'll help with your arm," he continued.
"Well I feel like a big jerk now... " she said. Even after she had something that had so clearly upset him he was still being thoughtful of her. If she was in his shoes she wouldn't be able to be so gracious as he was being towards her.
"What?! You're not a jerk! I wasn't trying to make you feel bad...What did I do now?" he asked in an alarmed tone.
"You're being nice to me. I've been mean and impatient with you since the first time I've met you. I... I'm sorry that I'm so bitchy with you..." she said. She now truly felt the need to be apologizing to him; this wasn't just her doing what Luffy had told her to do. Apologizing wasn't an easy thing for her to do, and even though she was sorry for being such a bitch she still struggled with the fact that she didn't like Sanji very well. Hopefully that would change easier than she anticipated. She had, after all, gone from hating Nami to being able to get along with her well enough. She was even starting to like Nami a bit.
Sanji didn't seem to appreciate her calling herself a bitch and tried to dispute that, but she stopped him. She finished drinking the tea that he had made for her and thanked him. She went to walk out of the kitchen again, but once more was stopped by him.
"So we're cool, then?" he asked. She wasn't sure how to answer his question since she still didn't have many fond feelings towards him. She didn't want to say anything to upset him again and feel like an even more awful person, but she couldn't bring herself to lie either.
"As long as we don't have to have this conversation again, I think so," she finally answered. He seemed satisfied with her response and looked at her with a genuinely happy expression on his face. She smiled back at him and felt like they had reached somewhat of an understanding. Hopefully he wouldn't try her patience too much, and hopefully she would be able to be a bit more lenient with him.
Luffy then burst through the kitchen door shouting about snow. Snow? She had never actually seen snow before. Her home island had fairly mild temperatures to the point that she only had to wear long sleeves or a jacket a few weeks out of the year. She followed Luffy back out of the kitchen and looked in amazement as fluffy white fakes fell from the sky and started to pile up on the deck.
She hopped over the railing in front of her to the main deck and caught some snow with her right hand. It was cold, and wet. She watched as Usopp and Luffy made some sort of snowmen. Usopp's definitely looked much better than the snowman that Luffy was making, and she laughed as Luffy stretched his arm through the snowman and into Usopp's snowman while yelling out "Snowman punch!" Usopp wasn't as amused as she was and started trying to hit Luffy.
With all of the snow on their ship it was getting really cold. She decided to grab the jacket she had bought at Loguetown and then came back out to the snowy deck. She saw that Zoro was still sleeping in the same place that she had left him and snow was starting to pile on him. He looked cute with snow sticking in his green hair. She picked up some snow with her good hand and formed it into a snowball and threw it at Zoro.
He made an unhappy groan as he rubbed his eyes, but then looked shocked as he realized there was snow on the boat. She formed another snowball and threw it at him. He glared as he looked around to see who was throwing snowballs at him and when his eyes stopped on her she grinned back at him. He smirked as he started making he took some snow in his hands and stood up. He threw a snowball at her and she ducked out of the way. The snowball his Usopp on the side of the head.
"Hey you jerk! What was that for?!" Usopp shouted.
"I wasn't trying to hit you," Zoro responded.
"Come on Usopp, let's team up against him," Iris suggested. Usopp was alright with that and they both started throwing snowballs at Zoro. Luffy joined in too and they all were throwing snowballs at Zoro. He seemed to be getting a little annoyed to have them all teaming up against him and started throwing as many snowballs at them as he physically could while still maintaining any sort of aim.
A snowball hit her in the face as she was bent down making another snowball and she looked up to see Zoro grinning triumphantly at her. She wiped the snow off her face and laughed as Usopp and Luffy pummeled Zoro with snowballs.
Their snowball fight was cut short when Nami came outside and started shouting out orders. Apparently they were now sailing in the wrong direction and they needed to correct that. The weather was starting to change and winds were blowing hard. Then it was pouring rain and their boat grazed a small glacier. The boat was leaking on the lower decks and she ran down to help contain the problem.
She and Usopp went to work trying to repair the damages. She knew a little about repairs from the repairs she had done around her bar, but throwing water into the mix was making things more difficult. She finally decided to let Usopp handle repairs from inside the ship. She grabbed some boards, a hammer, and stuck some nails in between her teeth and jumped over the edge of the boat after throwing her jacket off to try and stop leaks from the outside.
She swam alongside the bottom of the boat and boarded up any damaged spots she could find and when she was finished she swam back up to the surface of the water and called out for somebody to throw down a rope. Zoro threw the rope over the side and she grabbed onto it. She started to climb up the rope and realized that Zoro was pulling up the rope with her on it as she climbed.
"I could have climbed up on my own," she said as she climbed back in the boat.
"Yeah, I know. I figured you might appreciate a hand up with your arm still being busted," he said. She smiled and thanked him, and then felt a twinge of guilt as she realized that she probably would have been annoyed with Sanji if he had been the one to pull her up.
It seemed that the weather had finally calmed down and that they were headed in the right direction again. Nami shouted something about Iris needing to pay more attention to her arm, and Iris noticed that the bandages were starting to unravel again. They weren't waterproof bandages so it made sense that they wouldn't hold up in the ocean. Nami didn't have to worry about re-wrapping her arm again though; she figured her arm would be fine enough with no bandages on it since it seemed to be healing.
"How did you manage to swim along the bottom of the boat like that in those stormy waters?" Ms. Wednesday asked her. Iris thought about ignoring the question, but decided there was no point in it. She already didn't like the woman, and so wasn't like her opinion of Ms. Wednesday would get worse depending on her reaction.
"I'm a fishman. Stormy waters aren't anything I can't handle," Iris stated. She watched the blue haired woman's face for a reaction, but there wasn't much to see. She didn't look disgusted, or angry, or judgmental. Iris was quite shocked at the lack of reaction.
"Huh. You don't look like a fishman," the woman finally said and then walked off. Iris watched Ms. Wednesday as she walked back to the funny looking blonde man and waited for her to start making remarks about Iris' race. When she couldn't see that happening she tried to turn her attention away from them; she didn't want to be creepily staring at them.
They sailed for awhile longer making sure to keep the boat on the right track, and thankfully didn't run into any more crazy weather. Iris had seen more strange weather today than she had cared to see.
"Guys look! We're at our first destination in the Grand Line!" Nami yelled. Iris looked to where Nami was pointing at and saw the strangest looking island she had ever seen. It looked like a bunch of giant cacti. It definitely didn't look like any island she had seen or even imagined. Perhaps this was just how the Grand Line was. Things that seemed so terribly strange to her were probably commonplace here.
When the two whale poachers noticed that the island was in sight they jumped off the boat and started swimming towards the island after shouting a "bye bye baby" in unison. They were strange individuals to say the least, and Iris was glad they were off the boat. She hoped they wouldn't run into them on the island.
"W-W-What if there are monsters on the island?" Usopp asked nervously.
"There probably are. It's the Grand Line after all," Sanji said.
"Monsters aren't all that scary," Iris said.
"We'll deal with that if it happens," Luffy said with a grin. She could tell by the excited expression on his face that he hoped there would be monsters. He was ready for their adventure to start, and monsters would be an exciting start. She was hoping for some monsters herself; she was ready to test her strength out against creatures from the Grand Line.
"You guys are all nuts! I think I'm coming down with my I-can't-go-on-the-island-disease..." Usopp said with his legs shaking under him. It was pathetic to watch how much of a big scaredy cat he was. If he was this scared before they even got to the island she wasn't sure what good martial arts would be for him. She would still teach him like she had agreed to do, but it would probably be pointless. Cowards had no business fighting with any sort of hand to hand combat.
Nami then explained how they would have to stay at Whiskey Peak until the log pose had recorded the magnetic field for the island. The time it took to get a reading was different on every island, so they might have to stay only a few hours or a few days. Iris didn't really care how the log pose worked, but she was somewhat intrigued about there not being any sort of set time before they could take off for the next island.
"Look, there's a river that takes us through the island! Let's go!" Luffy shouted excitedly.
"What if there's a monster?" Usopp cried out.
"So what if there is? Besides... According the the newspaper from the other day the government thinks I'm some sort of monster. Just think, you've been travelling with a monster all this time. So why would a new monster be that scary?," Iris jokingly said to him with a smirk. She thought he was going to pee himself he was so worked up. She had hoped her words might reassure him even a little, but he still looked as scared as ever.
"Don't worry about monsters," Luffy said with a laugh as he eyed the river. The excitement he felt was practically oozing out of him. This was their first stop in the Grand Line, and it was exciting. She looked around at her crew mates and they all, with the exception of Usopp, looked excited.
Luffy's expression spoke of pure bliss at the adventures that were surely awaiting them. Zoro had a confident and sexy smirk on his face. Nami looked proud of herself for having used the log pose correctly and getting them to their first island stop. Sanji had a grin on his face as he looked like he was ready for whatever might come their way. Then there was Usopp who had shaking legs and a panicked expression. She knew the grin on her face gave away her feelings as well; she was pretty damn excited.
Their boat sailed into the river that led up through the island and she could hear the sounds of human voices coming from the shore. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but they were definitely human voices. The others seemed to have noticed the voices as well and were looking around to try and find who and where the voices were coming from.
Suddenly there were cheers surrounding them and large banners being held up welcoming them to the island. There were cheers of pirates being the brave heroes of the seas and Iris' guard immediately shot straight up. There was no way that the first island in the Grand Line was so welcoming of pirates. If that was the case the navy would surely take advantage of that to capture everybody who came through a friendly, pirate supporting island. There was something incredibly wrong with this situation.
She again looked to her crew mates to try and see what they were thinking. Luffy was still as excited as ever, Usopp looked as though his worries were fading, and Sanji was making goo-goo eyes at the women waving banners at them. Zoro and Nami looked as suspicious of all this as she felt. She was glad that at least half of them were smart enough to know that this was too good to be true.
When the boat docked Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp immediately climbed down off the boat. She looked to Zoro and then Nami and knew that they were all on the same page. Since Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp were too trusting they would have to be extra watchful of what was going on. Nami wouldn't be able to do much if these people tried to stage a fight, and she would probably go off looking for treasure at some point, but she could at least alert them if she notice trouble starting.
They were greeted by a tall man with hair that looked like the white powered wigs that were pictured on historical figures and he had an strange way of talking. He kept clearing his throat and then singing a few notes during the middle of his sentences. That would surely get annoying in no time at all.
The man in the powdered wig introduced himself as the mayor of Whiskey Peak, and he invited them to stay the night. He said he had a banquet prepared and that they were free to eat and drink as much as they liked. There was no way Iris was going to take food or drinks from such a suspicious person.
Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp were already on their way towards the where the banquet was being held and so she followed them. She was feeling annoyed at their level of stupidity, and she was trying her best not to let her annoyance cloud her focus. She was trying to be overly aware of her surroundings so that she would notice the instant somebody tried to attack.
Once they had gotten to where the banquet was being held Luffy instantly started pigging out while Sanji was surrounded by women giggling at his every word. Usopp started telling tall tales to a crowd of people. She was tempted to call him out on his lies, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.
Some people came up to her and offered her some food and some sake, and she turned them down. They wouldn't be deterred though; they persisted that she eat and drink and have a good time. When one of the men grabbed onto her arm as he tried to persuade him she kicked her foot up and kicked the man in the crotch. He cried out in pain and the other people around her took a few steps back. She was waiting for somebody to come at her for kicking on of them, but it didn't happen.
"I don't want your food or drinks. Leave me alone," she growled. They seemed upset that she was refusing them, but the did walk off. The people in the room seemed to all be watching her out of the corner of their eyes now. She stood near the edge of the room with her right hand on her hip as her left arm hung by her side, and glared at anybody that looked at her.
Suddenly somebody wrapped their arms around her shoulders from behind and just as she was about to stomp onto the foot of the person behind her with all of her might she heard a familiar voice. That familiar voice belonged to Zoro her face turned a brighter red than a tomato, and he was telling her to loosen up a little and enjoy the party that was being thrown for them.
"Why would I do that?" she asked him after a long pause. She was letting her guards relax much more than she should be, but having Zoro's muscular arms around her was making it hard to focus on her surroundings. She had definitely noticed how muscular and toned his arms were before now, but having them wrapped around her was even hotter than she had thought it would be. She didn't know if she'd be able to focus on anything else if it continued.
"They're trying to get us drunk. I don't know what they're after, but if we play along with them we might find out. So put on a smile, and go pretend to get drunk," he said in a sexy whispered tone sent chills down her spine. He probably had no idea what he was doing to her at that moment, but man he was driving her crazy. She bit down on her tongue hard enough to draw blood trying to snap herself back to her senses.
"I'm not a good actress. They'll definitely notice that I'm acting and not sincere," she responded.
"I don't think they're smart enough to notice that you're acting. Come on, let's get something to drink," he said as he released her from his arms. She felt a sense of disappointment as his arms slipped off of her, but did as he asked and went to go find something to drink.
She started to walk towards where the booze was being distributed, but was stopped when she felt a quick slap to her butt. Zoro walked out from behind her with a smirk on his face, and a flush to his cheeks that gave away that he had already been drinking. He walked past her to get another drink as she paused momentarily.
She knew her face was bright red again and it continued to get redder and warmer as the reality of what just happened set in. Zoro had just smacked her butt and had held her in his arms. She had initially thought that he had put his arms around her because he was trying to restrain her from causing a scene and going after somebody again or starting a fight, but perhaps there was more to it. There was also the fact that he had been drinking; he could be acting this way because of the alcohol.
Whatever the reason she couldn't help but have her hopes start to skyrocket as her heart raced. He was showing interest in her. Her brain was practically screaming at her to focus her attention back on the situation on hand, but her heart was too busy being falling further for him. Her thoughts and feelings were going in a million different directions at a million miles a minute.
She was called back to her senses when Zoro called her over and she promptly responded by joining him and getting a drink. She quickly sniffed the drink to make sure it didn't smell funny and took a sip when she deemed it fine. Zoro was getting himself into some sort of drinking competition with the locals and she was curious how well he would hold out drinking so much while still be able to keep his senses.
Trying to get herself to focus back on the situation they were in she decided to look around the room to see where everybody else was and what they were doing. Luffy was still eating, Usopp was still telling lies, Sanji was still surrounded by women, and Nami was in a drinking competition much like Zoro.
The people around them genuinely seemed nice and welcoming, but there had to be a catch to all of this. This was too good to be true. Especially for them being pirates. She took another sip of her drink trying to pretend like she was enjoying herself at the party, and while she was enjoying the attention she was receiving from Zoro she didn't know if that would come across like she was having a good time. She probably looked flustered more than anything since she didn't know how to handle the attention she was getting from him.
"It's good booze isn't it?" one of the villagers asked her and she nodded her head in agreement while trying to smile back at them. Truth be told it was average tasting stuff at best. It wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either.
She looked back to Zoro who looked like he was getting wasted as he sat on couch next to where she stood as he continued on with the drinking competition. His face was thoroughly flushed and his speech was starting to slur. He looked up to her with a mischievous grin on his face and she instantly forgave him for getting into a stupid drinking competition.
He then grabbed onto her hips and pulled her down onto his lap. To say she felt awkward sitting on his lap in front of her crew mates and all these other people was an understatement. She was more than happy to be receiving this attention from him, but that didn't stop her from feeling awkward. She had never let herself get so close to a human before to even allow herself to be attracted to them, and now she was sitting in the lap of a human she was insanely attracted to in from of a bunch of other humans.
When the villagers around them had their attentions turned to other things Zoro rested his chin on her shoulder as she sat in his lap and he once again instructed her to look like she was having a good time. His words were no longer slurred as he spoke to her, and she realized that he was only acting drunk. He was a good actor; she had totally bought that he was drunk right along with the villagers.
When the villagers had found another person to challenge Zoro in the drinking competition he went back to acting drunk. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and held a glass of alcohol with the other.
She decided she would try and ignore her normal reservations and let herself enjoy the moment. She was sitting on the lap of the man she had been hoping would notice her since he walked through the doors of her bar looking for Luffy a few weeks back. She was happy to be in this situation even if it was suspicious, because if nothing else she was finally getting attention from Zoro. She slid on Zoro's lap to an angle where she was able to put her feet up on the couch and drape one of her arms over his shoulders.
She then put her cup to her lips and took a large gulp of the alcohol. This stuff really wasn't all that potent, and she would be able to drink a lot of it before she felt any sort of effect from it. She could probably out drink anybody in this room including Zoro and Nami. She had developed quite the drinking problem after her dad had been arrested by the navy, and she ended up developing an extremely high tolerance to alcohol because of that.
There was also the fact that she had grown up in a bar and ran that bar starting at the age of 17. She had ran a bar on her own for four years, and she had made enough money to support her drinking habit over the years. She had developed a fine sense of taste for good alcohol, and a high tolerance to even the hardest of alcohols.
After out drinking 13 people Zoro pretended to pass out. He leaned back on the couch and shut his eyes. He was definitely buzzed at this point, though she was impressed that he was able to drink that much and still not be drunk. She glanced around the room to see Luffy passed out in a food coma, and Nami was still drinking. She didn't immediately see Sanji or Usopp, but she could hear Usopp somewhere still talking about how great he was. Sanji was surely drunk off his own hormones with all the women giving him attention.
As things seemed to be quieting down Iris decided she would pretend to pass out as well. She collapsed down onto the couch as casually as she could hoping it didn't look too forced and shut her eyes. Her body was draped over his lap still as she pretended to sleep, and she would be fine with getting to stay like this for awhile.
Since she had nothing to do but pretend to be asleep her mind started to run wild. What would happen next between her and Zoro? The pessimistic side of her still didn't believe he felt anything serious towards her; she was part fishman after all and he was a human. Even though he had seemed fine with her being a fishman when she had told them, that didn't mean he would be romantically interested in her.
Even though she had doubts about what was going on, there was still a big part of her that was hopeful that he was sincere in his actions towards her tonight. It would be pretty awful of him to act like this if he didn't feel some sort of attraction to her.
She knew she needed to quit overthinking the situation, but it was difficult. Pondering over every little detail wouldn't do any good, and it was just getting her worked up. If she kept thinking pessimistic thoughts she was liable to drive herself into a panic, and if she got her hopes up too high and then they were dashed she'd be heartbroken. Instead she should enjoy the moment and see where things go. That would be the wise thing for her to do.
When she couldn't hear any noises in the room any longer other than some snoring she opened up one of her eyes a little bit to see that the lights were out and the villagers had vacated the room. She opened up both of her eyes, but didn't move. She didn't really want to move off of Zoro's lap unless she had to.
"Are you awake still, Iris?" Zoro asked her quietly.
"Yeah," she responded.
"These people are a group of bounty hunters. I've been invited to join them multiple times... I knew there was something familiar about their code names. They're all part of the organization Baroque Works," he said, and that made sense to her. Like she had thought; this was all too good to be true. If they were all bounty hunters that would also explain why the navy wasn't hounding the island. The navy wouldn't have to worry about picking up the pirates if somebody was already doing it for them.
"I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable tonight... I let the booze effect me a little..." he said and let his voice trail off. She decided it was probably time for her to get off his lap, and so she sat up and swung her legs off the couch so that she was sitting next to him now. She looked over to him and couldn't read what he was thinking. The look on his face was intense, but she thought that probably had more to do with his awareness of the situation around them. There was a softness in his eyes too though that made her heart melt a bit.
"Nah. You didn't. I was kind of surprised though," she responded. He opened his mouth to respond, but there was suddenly some noises outside and he stood up. All the softness that was in his eyes a moment ago was gone.
"We're going to have to talk later," he said, and she nodded her head. She was disappointed, but he was right. If these bounty hunters were going to be making their move then that meant they would also need to spring into action. He silently and quickly made a beeline for the back door and was quickly out of the building.
She sat for a moment longer and decided to try once more to move her arm. Movement was slowly coming back, and she would at least be able to move her arm enough to give the impression she could use it. If all the people that had been in this room earlier were bounty hunters then that meant there were a whole lot of them here, and probably more that hadn't been at the party. She didn't want to show any weaknesses in a fight against so many people, so it would be good if she could appear fully functioning.
She heard a noise from behind her and immediately jumped to her feet. Nami was making her way to her feet, which meant that she had been acting as well. When Nami locked eyes with Iris a large grin formed on Nami's face. Nami motioned for Iris to come over to her, and Iris reluctantly walked over to her.
"What was that?" Nami whispered excitedly.
"I don't know what you're referring to," Iris whispered.
"You know exactly what I'm referring to!" Nami whispered a little louder.
"We really don't have time to talk about this right now..." Iris whispered. Nami agreed while making Iris promise to fill her in later, and then left saying she was going to go look for treasure to steal.
Iris looked around the room once more to see Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp still passed out and snoring. She couldn't figure out how those three could be relaxed enough to fall asleep here. This was their first stop in the notoriously dangerous Grand Line, and there was no way a group of pirates would be treated so warmly. They were idiots.
She sighed and then walked out the back door making sure to shut it behind her. She could hear a commotion around the front of the building, and she felt an excitement fill her body. She was still on an emotional high from the physical affection she had receive from Zoro, and the excitement of the looming fight was making adrenaline pump through her body. She was ready to get this thing started!