Chapter 14: Trouble for Her
Tashigi shrugged as she sat the table with Nami, Brook, and Robin. Everyone who drank the smoothie made from the fruit on the island had woken up with fatigue and a fever. Chopper, despite his condition, concluded that once it goes through the systems they should recover.
Zoro, having eaten the most, (for he had been eating them out of their bag on the way to the ship), was completely unable to move even the slightest until his fever could go down.
Tashigi proceeded to smack her forehead when she found this out.
"I've had enough." Nami determined to not be bored, got up from her chair and went over to the cabinet. "I'm cooking. Food will be ready in three hours or so."
"Alright, though can you make some tea for us before you start?" Brook asked, drumming his boned fingers on the table.
"Sure" Nami replied, getting out a large pot. "Tashigi, it's your turn to watch tonight. You should go take a nap in the mean time. We'll wake you for dinner."
"Sounds good, I'll be in the women's quarters if you need me."
"Right," She walked out on to the deck, and breathed in the cool moist air. They had left the previous island three days ago, and according to Chopper, they would be in bed resting for another two at least. Tashigi was very surprised to find the boys obeying the reindeer, though it was possible that they could actually be in that much pain.
The marine peered into the infirmary to check on Zoro. After everyone else had fallen sick, the crew had no chance to move him into the men's quarters. She heard a distinct grunt from him, acknowledging her presence. Tashigi entered the room fully, and approached Zoro to remove the towel from his for head. She dropped the towel into a bucket of water and placed her hand on his forehead.
"You are still running a rather high fever..." wringing out the water, she placed the towel back onto his forehead.
He opened his eyes, a dissatisfied expression present. "Boy, don't you look unhappy."
She ran her fingers through his short hair, wondering how he managed to keep it short.
Zoro looked slightly relieved at the contact. "Tashi," was all that came out as he attempted to speak in a raspy voice.
"No need to speak in your current condition," she stopped stroking his hair and left the room, ignoring his murmur to stay.
She walked across the deck to the women's quarters, and lay on the bed that was a gift from Franky and Robin. It was evident that the woman chose the bedspread, for it was an odd combination of morning glories, lavender, and what she figured were white orange blossoms. Nonetheless, the flowers were pleasant, and she was not going to complain.
This crew of pirates, this family, had grown on her. No matter how much she learned about this crew worth over 700 million beri, there was something that she just didn't understand. They couldn't be pirates. 'Too nice, too understanding, too...' There were no words. Her frustration tired her, and she slowly drifted into sleep.
Like many times before, Tashigi started to dream. They were usually dreams of fighting for her dream, or an old memory. She didn't care what it was about though; she never remembered anyway.
The rest of the crew sat at the table while Nami stirred the stew slowly cooking on the stove.
"Does anyone else want anything with their stew?"
"Some toast would be nice." Robin commented, looking up from her book.
"I agree," Brook looked up, and blankly left his mouth open. "Ah, Nami-san, Robin-chan." Both of the women looked at him waiting for him speak. "Is it truly alright to let Tashigi-chan watch tonight?"
"Yeah, why? She has before in the past." Nami replied, "Why are you asking, is there something wrong?"
"She usually has Zoro to keep an eye on her," Brook paused. "Tashigi is still a Marine." The girls sat quietly, unsure of how to comment.
"You're right, well..." Nami started, trying to defend the Marine.
"I believe if the time came, and we were in danger, she would defend us." Robin firmly stated, looking to Nami and finding her nod in agreement.
Brook showed disbelief, "But it only been a week or so-?"
"Yes, even if there were Marines."
No one pushed the subject any further, and sat at the table quietly as they waited a little longer for the stew to be finished.
Tashigi swung the door open to the small mess hall she had used over the past few weeks. "G'evening everyone" she waved to the few occupying the table, "is the dinner ready?"
"Yeah, just about," Nami got up from the table, and stirred the stew. "Yeah, this is definitely done" she poured soup from the ladle to the bowls lining the counter.
"Stew seems like perfect meal right now." Brook commented, humming, "perhaps the next island will be a fall island. There are so few."
"I'd like some moisture-free weather..." Tashigi laughed, grabbing two bowls. "We better feed those pathetic guys before they claim negligence." The usually clumsy woman backed into the infirmary, gracefully making it to Zoro without mess.
"You awake?" she asked, "I brought you dinner," she placed it on his bed stand, and sat in the chair nearby. She started eating, ignoring the other swordsman's gaze.
"Stop staring." she demanded, blowing on her stew.
'She doesn't look like Kuina anymore.'
He took in the image of the woman before him. Her hair was now long, brushing her shoulders, her bang held back by her makeshift glasses, and the most noticeable aspect in his eyes was her increased feminine appearance. "You kind of need to feed me."
"Still?" she set her own food down, and slid across the floor in the chair to his bedside. A giggle escaped, "I figured you would have manned up by now," she joked.
"You try doing any thing while your body feels like it on fire when you just move slightly," he mumbled.
"I have to go get someone to help get you sitting up"
"You can do it, you're strong enough," he chuckled, staring at her again.
"Fine, you just want me to do everything." She kicked her boots off and crawled onto the bed, her knees on either side of Zoro. "According to you, this is most likely going to hurt." Gripping his sides, she lifted him up, attempting to get him closer to the wall so he could sit up. As soon he was against the wall, their eyes met.
"I think I like this position." he grinned dumbly, staring into her eyes even more so.
She scoffed at his comment and got off the bed, making a point not to say anything. She sat back into the chair, and scooped a bit of stew into the spoon. She held the spoon to his lips, and he accepted the food. "Mm, if that ero-cook can get one thing right, it's cooking."
"Actually, Nami made it." She corrected, "You're awfully chatty for not being able to hardly speak earlier."
"I don't why. It doesn't hurt as much," he laughed, accepting another bite of the stew.
"So I couldn't help but notice that your bust is a lot larger than when you first came aboard the ship, maybe as big as Nami or Robin, but definitely large, good han-!" he was cut off as a large spoonful of stew intruded on his open mouth.
"This fever must have you all out of whack or something..." Tashigi mumbled, annoyed with his sudden ranting.
Zoro decided that any more talking was probably dangerous, so he stuck with perversely staring at her as she fed him. He couldn't help but lick his lips while watching her when she ever so often took a bite of her own stew.
"You have to stop staring. Seriously, it's creeping me out." she commented, slightly turning away from him.
"I don't want to."
"Good night Roronoa." She got up from her chair, leaving him no chance for argument, and left the infirmary for the crow's nest.
Nami and Brook finished feeding Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp, leaving Robin alone with Franky.
"Just get me some cola, I'll be fine. Really, you don't have to feed me." Franky pleaded, looking Robin in the eye.
"You need more than just cola. Once you eat this, I can go get you some. You need substance." Robin stared right back, not willing to back off. "Do I need to use force?"
Franky gulped, and shook his head, deciding that further argument would be bad for his health.
She held a spoonful of stew to his mouth, and he surrendered, opening his lips.
In the end, he finished the entire bowl with no more argument. As promised, Robin retrieved a bottle of cola for him.
"Thank you Robin."
He smiled to her genuinely, suddenly grabbing her hand, and pressing it against his cheek. "You're so beautiful." He almost sung in a soft low voice. He tugged Robin onto the bed by his side.
"Franky, you should be resting" she whispered in his ear, causing the hairs on the back his neck to stand.
Gently, he took her chin between his thumb and fingers and placed a light kiss on her lips.
Tashigi heaved a sigh, staring across the waters lit under dim moonlight. Bored already without conversation, she took to training.
Without Zoro's watching eyes, Tashigi started using more of his equipment. She had managed to find smaller weights that were stashed away, unused by the man with barbaric strength.
The woman trained for hours while watching the waters below. She had performed almost every exercise that she was capable of, and lifted weights, surprised she was lifting 30 lbs more she had originally.
Exhaustion slowly over took her as time went by. Around 1 o'clock she stopped her moving around and just listened, her eyes closed. She breathed and opened her mouth after a moment, watching her own chest go up and down as she lay on the floor.
The open windows allowed a cold wind to sweep through, along with swishing noises of waves. A distinct 'shh' noise was heard below, and Tashigi got up to investigate. "Maybe the boys are attempting to get more food like last night," she mumbled, spotting three figures down below, "Huh?" Quickly she slid down the ladder, watching and listening to the figures in the grass.
"Are you sure this is Mugiwara's ship?"
"Definitely."
"C'mon, we need those pictures, we can't be surprised by their ships abilities again!"
The three scurried in separate directions, one unfortunately made his way towards Tashigi. She tripped him, pointing both her blades at the figure.
"Where do you think you're going? Who are you?" she asked, wickedness in her voice.
"Sergeant Kon Salazar," he weakly replied, gulping nervously as she bent down to get closer. Tashigi's eyes grew wide as she realized he was a Marine.
Seeing the terror in his eyes from the dim light of the torch, she pitied him by knocking him out with hilt of her blade.
She left the man alone and ran across the grass, tracking the one who went into the aquarium room. Her back lay against the wall, waiting for him to exit. She heard him grumbling in confusion as he opened the door, "Why is-!" was all he said before he collapsed to the ground from the force of Tashigi's blunt blow.
She stiffened feeling the presence of the last person behind her. "Drop your blades, and keep your hands where I can see them. You are under arrest in the name of the World Government, you-!" the man was cut off, having to stop her sudden blade swing.
"As if!" she grumbled, deflecting his oncoming attack. A ting of steel echoed through the silence. He pushed his weight into the interlocked blades, and she fell to the ground.
She ignored the sudden flash, and pushed him off, sending him back several feet. They charged at one another, their blades meeting once again. He pursued her continually, backing her into the wall.
He grinned, as she hit the wall. Raising his saber high, he brought it down, shocked when it connected with wood rather than Tashigi.
In the brief moment she had, she concentrated and sliced through the air. Her attack knocked the man out, and she dumbly stood.
"Crap!"
'Oh. My. God. I attacked Marines.' she paced for a few moments in confusion, and then stopped. 'I'll just put them in their dingy, and send them off.'
After a few minutes, she figured out a way to get them into their boat easily. With twenty minutes of shallow cursing and heavy lifting, she detached the dingy and sat in the grass.
"That my first ever illegal action."