Give Me a Hand
Themes: Christmas Decorations (#11 tumblr) / Ornament (#10 Google+)
Word Count: 6,020 words
Rating: K+ / G (pure Christmas fluff!)
Summary: While putting together a Christmas Tree in the library, Nami and Zoro are arguing yet again about this and that. However, there is a horrific causality to their bickering – the Christmas tree topper! Someone is going to need to come up with a solution, and fast!
"Who knew we had so many ornaments?" Luffy remarked casually as he held up two red orbs to his face. From Nami's perspective, it looked as if his eyes had become two spherical orbs of glitter and she couldn't help but laugh at the unsurprising way her captain had managed to make their tree decorating party silly already. The library was filled to the brim with boxes upon boxes of decorations that needed to be accounted for and tended to before the actually party could begin, and the navigator could not believe that the first thing that he did was make himself appear to be a humanoid insect.
Usopp, covered in bows from head to toe, merely looked like a mess as he pushed through the boxes that surrounded him and leapt to his feet. "Agh, I wish we didn't have so much! How am I supposed to find my hand-crafted ornaments in this mess!? And why aren't you helping!?" His fury was suddenly directed at the relaxing archaeologist, who was rather engaged in yet another novel instead of getting her (multiple) hands dirty with the grunt work of preparing a Christmas tree.
She didn't need to say a word to defend herself though, for the lovesick cook came to her defence the moment he made his presence known. Sashaying into the library with trays of nibbles for their decorating party, Sanji barked at the marksman, "Robin-chan's energy is being saved for later, you jerk! Of course she will help once we get everything out on the table, right~?" His eye was heart shaped before he even turned to face the woman he had chosen to champion. A delicate smile was his only response.
Groaning, Usopp simply returned his attention to the next box that needed to be opened. Luffy turned to regard Robin though, curious. "Hey Robin, what are you reading anyway? Don't you want to help pick out what's going on the tree?"
"I'm actually reading some Christmas stories, Luffy-san. I thought I should get into the festive spirit first."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"NO IT DOESN'T!" Usopp declared.
Sanji's aura was instantly ablaze. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YELLING AT HER—"
"Hey, Sanji-kun." Nami called softly. It wasn't her intention to break up their fight, but it was definitely a pleasant side effect to her uninterested interference.
"Yeees, Mellorine!?" Unashamedly pleased to be summoned by the navigator, Sanji skated over to her side, ignoring the fact that he had yet to put down his trays of food. Nami easily took advantage of his handfuls of food and stole a cocktail sausage to sample before carrying on with what she wanted to ask him.
Once she was finished nibbling, she asked, "Where are Franky and Zoro? We can't even start decorating anything until they bring in the tree."
"Ah, I think they were still in Franky's workshop when I came down. If you want, I can go retrieve them for you~"
"Sure. Tell them if they don't get in here soon, I'm going to make one of them the tree's stand and the other one can be the tree topper, until we open gifts on Christmas morning."
"Okay, Nami-chwan~" Content with being her errand boy, Sanji hurried off to deliver her warning to the missing crew members.
Sighing, Nami returned her attention to the tinsel in her hands and suddenly realized that she had finished restoring it to its former glory. She laid it down carefully on her charting desk and then turned to look at the rest of the library, and all of the boxes of decorations that they had left to sort through…
Who knew that the Mugiwara were ornament hoarders?
"We are definitely going to have to prioritize what goes on the tree." Nami remarked, placing a hand under her chin and visibly began to calculate the volume of decorations in correlation to the presumed dimensions of the fake tree they had in storage.
"Definitely!" Came the sudden voice of Tony Tony Chopper as he seemed to magically appear out of one of the boxes, startling everyone.
"H-How long have you been down there, Chopper?" Luffy asked nervously. However, it was Usopp who looked truly uncomfortable, given that he had been shoving many boxes all over the place.
Taking a deep breath, the young reindeer doctor tipped out of a taller box than some of the others and rolled himself closer to Robin's feet. Once he collided with the base of the bench that wrapped around the library, he sighed and laid there in his adorable snowman onesie. "I've been…here the…whole time!" He whined, clearly exasperated while digging through the piles and piles of Christmas things.
Before anyone could coddle the poor doctor, the residential musician came racing into the room.
"Everyone, listen! I finally learned a fair amount of holiday songs that I think will really invigorate us while we—"
"Just get in here and help us already!" Ordered a very irritated Nami.
The poor skeleton blinked, violin and bow in hand, then deflated rather quickly at her command. "Yes, of course. It's time to put our backs into this decorating party…although, I don't how much back I can put into anything, given that I only have a spine! Yo ho ho ho ho ho!" And just like that, Brook had switched roles from music-player to decoration-hunter without any sort of fuss.
Regaining everyone's attention, Chopper whimpered from Robin's lap as she helped him fix his special outfit, "I went through a lot of the boxes at the bottom of the pile but I can't find the star that goes on top of the Christmas tree."
"How did you look through boxes on the bottom?" Luffy wondered as he examined their mighty heap. He even titled his head and pursed his lips in confusion at such a prospect.
The captain's curiosity was overridden by a very concerned Nami. "What!? But we had to have gone through most of the boxes by now! I bought that Christmas star from that village with those weird monkeys who helped us with our laundry and groceries a little while back! It's irreplaceable!"
"Not to mention the fact that we are set to be at sea for another week or so, right? Meaning we can't buy ourselves another one anytime soon." Robin piped up.
Usopp, with a face full of Sanji's snacks, added, "And the next place we go to might not even have anything Christmas-y, let alone a star that can sit on top of a tree."
Unbeknownst to the concern in his Mellorine's heart, Sanji chose that moment to return to the library, appearing rather calm considering the news he had to share. "They'll be here soon; they just have to put the top set of branches on and they'll bring the tree in."
"They…" – Nami was dumbfounded by such an illogical explanation – "they are building the tree in his workshop?"
"Uh…yeah." Sanji answered, unsure as to what had stumped the brilliant navigator.
It hadn't stumped her, oh no. All he managed to do was invoke her all too familiar anger while she was already nervous about finding the star for the top of the poorly assembled tree. "Why would they build it in there!? They were supposed to bring the box here and build it together! They won't even be able to get it through the door if it's already in one piece!" She ignored the captain's snickering at her choice of wording, given that she had enough to infuriate her.
Realizing that she was absolutely correct, the startled chef stood at attention right away. "R-Right! Hey, you shitheads! You're doing it wrong!" His screams echoed while he scaled his way down into the basement, ready to give the two idiotic men hell for upsetting Nami.
Just as all hope seemed lost for a sane celebration, it was none other than Usopp who regained the Christmas spirit. "Ah, hey! I found 'em!" He cheered as he tried to leap out of the clutches of a flamboyant and hefty wreath. In his hands, he held a wide wooden box that held the treasure he had been searching for amongst their mess. With pure pride did he throw the lid open and begin to show off his hand-crafted ornaments, made in the likeliness of each of his crew mates. That is, until he realized a fatal mistake. "Uh…oh shoot! I don't have one for Br—!"
Everyone looked up at the marksman with question marks nearly visible above their heads. His sniper vision seemed to zone in on the afro-wearing skeleton as he laughed nervously under the heat of all of their stares. Then, without a word, he charged through the room in order to run out the door! Never mind the decorations he was knocking over in their mountain of boxes as he dashed away!
"HEY! Usopp—" Nami tried to reprimand his carelessness.
That is, until something much more dramatic caught her attention from outside the room.
"Whoa! What the hell is this!?"
"I told him Nami isn't going to like this."
"Shut up! I'm not taking it apart because she doesn't think it'll fit."
Her brow twitched as she turned herself to face the library's entrance, arms already crossed over her chest. Nami stood tall as she waited for the source of the rustling from the upper deck revealed itself to her! There was only one person in the entire Mugiwara nakama that blatantly protested against her leadership: Roronoa Zoro.
And there he was, trying to forcibly pull the fully assembled Christmas tree through the library's door.
"W-What…are you doing!?" Her fierce bravado was lost the instant that the impatient swordsman tried to defy the laws of physics along with natural common sense.
Grunting, scowling, Zoro snapped the moment he saw her. "We just spent two hours building this damn monstrosity of a tree for you in Franky's workshop!"
"That was a stupid decision – you should have known it wasn't going to make in here like that! Franky should have known!"
"Hey, if we had just agreed to get a real tree when we dock on the next island, this wouldn't be a problem!" Argued the shipwright.
Perkier in her involvement in the conversation, Robin repeated an earlier point that had been made in defence of their synthetic tree. "But the next island we visit might not have the sort of tree we need for our Christmas celebration."
"Ah," sounding understanding in an instant, Franky cooled. "That makes sense."
"What doesn't make sense" – and the first mate's angry pertinent ability to squabble with the navigator was in full swing once again – "is asking us to dismantle everything without even letting me try to fit it in here!"
Unimpressed, Nami tilted her body a bit to one side as if she needed to physically look around the tree in order to reach Franky's ears. "And you're letting him do this?"
Before a response could be uttered, Zoro stomped another step into the room, his arms wrapped around the head of the Christmas tree, gloves digging in deep between the many bristles. "I'm doing this, because I'm not spending another two hours building something I already finished building!"
Bristling in her own way, the redhead grew fiery as she debated his sensibility without any inhibition. "You're going to ruin our Christmas tree because you're lazy!?"
That accusation was a great deal like flashing a red cape in front of a raging bull. The way that the muscles in Zoro's arms bulged as he tried to find a better grip on the tree only seemed to highlight his animalistic nature to the irritated woman he was trying to defeat; while the majority of the tree continued to rest outside of the library, the first mate tried to do his nakama proud and tugged the massive evergreen through the doorway! Everyone watched with piqued interest to see if he could actually channel that otherworldly strength of his in order to achieve yet another impossible feat.
Sadly, the tree defied him when the top layer of its branches shot forward, taking the unsuspecting and thoroughly perturbed man with them.
The worst part of it all was not the unintentionally disassembly of the tree.
It wasn't Zoro's wounded pride.
No, it was the box he stepped on when he fell forward, the one that made a very obvious crunch under his boot.
Everyone remained still for a moment, just processing the injury to their extensive decoration collection. There was not an ounce of emotion in the room, until a very inquisitive captain decided to pose the question, "Do you think our tree topper would make that sound, if it got crushed?"
"WHAT!?" Hollering as if someone had harmed one of her precious mikan, Nami raced towards the crumbled box and shoved Zoro's stiff leg off of the victim of his foolishness. He obeyed due to pure shock while she carefully tore back the flaps of this one particular crate…
"What? What's happening!?" Franky's voice could be heard from the other side of the tree.
Sanji too chimed in. "Did Nami-san beat up that stupid marimo!?" His eagerness for such a possibility shined through in every word.
However, Nami herself could not hear them. While staring down at the mangled Christmas star, she had no words to say, nor any did she want to listen to. Her beautifully glass star, interwoven with crystals and painted delicately with golden sparkles, was now glistening in a million little pieces. The image she had in her mind of such a beautifully handcrafted tree topper sitting on top of their finished Christmas tree was nothing more than a Christmas wish that hadn't come true. Something so stunning that she had gotten for free was no longer useable…
Nami's battle spirit was emanating off of her with enough ferocity that the men outside of the library could have felt it. Slowly, she rose from her kneeling position on the floor. "Zooorooo…!"
"Ah! I-I have an idea, Z-Zoro-san!"
Oh, how quickly her glare shifted from one swordsman to another!
Brook looked nervous as he tried to brave the storm that was Nami's temper. "I-I think we can make a-another tree topper, very quickly too!"
"Better than a beautiful glass star painted in gold!?" Debated the furious navigator, directing her rage towards the skeleton now.
When he nodded, his afro bounced with twice the enthusiasm. "Y-Yes! It will surely hold more meaning! Wh-Why don't we let someone else handle the tree, while Zoro-san and I fix this this little misstep? Okay?" It was clear that he feared for his life while trying to soothe the riled woman before him; even for a man of ninety years, who was essentially undead, it was quite an impressive feat that Nami could still invoke fear in his heart. Or, soul, perhaps it was.
Regardless, Nami despised the fact that she was being pacified in order to stop herself from increasing her bounty from putting an end to the careless, ruthless supernova's life! It was with great restraint that she threw her hands down at her side and merely turned away from him, from everyone. For the sole purpose of avoiding a rough end to their decorating party, she did her best not to focus on her disappointment and instead returned to her previous role of preparing the decorations that had not been destroyed.
It took a ridiculous amount of hours, but the new tree topper was completed just after dinner. It had felt as such a great triumph when compared to building a massive Christmas tree, that much Zoro knew. Nevertheless, there was something oddly satisfying about making something as…personal as his own tree topper, as Brook had put it. Dinner hadn't been his priority while he had been trying his hand at something knew: crafting. Even Usopp had chipped in his time in order to guarantee the quality of what he had made, just to guarantee that Nami wouldn't be even angrier if what he made hadn't met her high standards!
Why he was nervous to face her, Zoro figured he would never know.
As he stood outside the library door, like a child, he peeked into the room to survey the battlefield he would be entering. After the way he had damaged her property, it amazed the usual victim of her schemes that she hadn't taxed his imaginary debt with her until he had promised her his first born! In all honesty, he hadn't understood what sort of pull she had towards the gifted star, but it was enough that she hadn't yelled at him. For Nami to remain silent meant that something was truly wrong, Zoro knew with the utmost certainty.
So to see her simply drawing at her desk while the Christmas tree sat nearby, lit up for all to splendor in, without any sort of angry aura to speak of? It caught him off guard immediately.
Her lamp was on yet it didn't compete with the blinking white lights on the tree. There were ribbons, there were multicolored orbs, there was tinsel of gold – it ended up looking like quite picture perfect. Zoro decided to pretend that he hadn't torn off the top half and admired what was supposedly his handiwork in building something so large, for his crew to enjoy.
Now it was time to see if Nami would like something else he had made.
Summoning his courage, Zoro entered the library and instantly blurted out, "It ended up looking really good."
Nami did not even flinch when she heard him speak to her. The rest of the crew had since moved on to other activities and had most likely left the navigator alone with their Christmas tree so that she could work at her desk, nearby. There was still a few weeks to admire their efforts so dinner had pulled them all away from the library not too long before the first mate courageously entered. It would be just the two of them, while she judged his attempt to fix the problem with their tree.
Why did it feel like he was about to be scrutinized by Koshiro-sensei all over again!?
With his offer of a casual conversation seemingly being so unappealing to her, Zoro piped up with a new topic in mind, "I'm finished. I made you a new tree topper."
"Hm?" Suddenly, those orangey locks shuffled about her head as she turned to look back at him. She was wearing her glasses now and looked as though he had tugged her from some sort of deep concentration. Once she realized who she was talking to, Zoro anticipated that she would resume the scolding Brook had managed to pause. Much to his surprise though, Nami simply stood and walked over to him, gently demanding, "Let me see it then."
Robotically did he deliver what he had made: a cardboard crown, painted gold and doused with sparkles that glistened more than any glass star could.
He watched her right eye twitch the moment she saw what he had to give her. "What… What the heck is this?"
Defensive at once, Zoro shouted, "You didn't think I was going to make you something out of glass, did you? It's a crown!"
"I can see that. This was Brook's solution to what you did?" Nami appeared to be much too bewildered by his craft to raise her voice or put much heart behind her words.
Zoro nodded right away, though his short hair could not bounce the same way that Brook's afro could. "He said that since we have the future King of the Pirates on board, we should have a crown on top of the tree. Plus, he's the Soul King, or something. And we have God Usopp and the Prince of Dumbass Kingdom with us, so…" Hearing the explanation spoken in his own voice made Zoro feel silly for ever agreeing to something as childish as Brook's reasoning!
Nami didn't seem to agree though; the ferocity that he had felt building inside of her instantly dissipated and was replaced by obvious mirth. She found the skeleton's explanation to be hilarious, going so far as to laugh aloud when she picked up the crown to hold herself. Zoro watched her assess it – saw the sparkles that ended up sticking to her skin instead of the glue he had layered on! – and was pleasantly surprised when she whispered, "I guess that's true. It's no star but…what can you do?"
He could have been offended by her meager acceptance of his hand-made crown, but Zoro was much too perplexed to really feel anything else. Nami made her way over to the tree slowly and he couldn't help but notice the drastic change in her mood between their clash earlier and the somber way she spoke to him then and there. She didn't sound defeated, but there was a definite lethargy to her movements and her words all of a sudden. It shocked Zoro how much it bothered him to see her so calm and reserved.
More so curious than he was cautious, the first mate asked, "Did it really mean that much?" His blunt question preceded his approach of the tree, where she was already standing and surmising.
Nami's brow furrowed but she did not let on in her words just how bothered she was by what he had said. "How many Christmases have we celebrated together, Zoro?"
"Uh…this is the second one." The realization was surprising, given that they had known one another for three. Two years away from the Mugiwara sometimes still managed to seem surreal.
Nami's strange behaviour was also a tad unsettling, as she danced around his answer to direct the conversation elsewhere. "What's a Christmas tradition that you used to have as a kid?"
"Huh?" Was his intelligent reply.
Done with her assessment of the tree, Nami turned to look Zoro in the eye as she explained. "Wasn't there something you did every year for Christmas? A tradition of yours."
Without missing a beat, Zoro replied, "Yeah, I used to help bring the Christmas tree into the dojo." He hadn't meant to talk about his past – he wasn't even sure if Nami knew he had lived most of his life in a dojo! – given that most of the crew's origins had remained a secret in any way that wasn't necessary information. But his answer was the truth, even if it might revive their earlier argument about his tree-wrangling skills.
Nami did observe him, scrutinize him. Her response wasn't necessarily cruel, though. "So you should have been an expert in the tree-to-door ratio?" A clever smile was flashed at before she returned her attention to the tree. All Zoro could really do was sigh at her words. He had acknowledged internally that their fake tree was bizarre with its height and width, and that the paper doors of a dojo allowed for more room than the library's. The Thousand Sunny was a large vessel but it did not have the expansive luxury that Koshiro-sensei's dojo had.
Thinking about the man whom he used to spend the holidays with was oddly emotional then. Perhaps it was both a pleasant memory and a disappointing reminder that those days were not going to come around again?
Shaking his head just enough so his earrings would jingle, Zoro looked up at the tree with Nami. He observed how much it towered over a person if they stood beneath it, and it reminded him of Oarz, for some strange reason. In actuality, the swordsman thought that it resembled Kuma more so in height, but the…creative design of its look was much more like Luffy's zombie. He couldn't help but notice how the side that had been facing the library door had looked so elegant, and yet, the other side had more of a theme of pure chaos to it. It was more than likely Luffy's handiwork.
At least Zoro knew his crown was much more…refined than half the tree was.
"Okay," he yawned, stretching his neck from side to side. When he then crouched next to her and Nami had yet to say or do anything in response to his actions, he enunciated his words as he ordered, "get on."
"What!?"
"There is no way we can reach the top from down here. Get on my shoulders and I'll lift you up."
"Oh…I guess that'll work."
For a second, he turned his head to look at Nami to ask, "How did you get to the top of the tree before?"
She just eyed him as if he had suddenly transformed into Kuma and said the one name that made the most sense, "Luffy and Robin."
That made sense, Zoro realized, given that the elegant side of the tree screamed a woman's touch. Another woman probably screamed at the captain on how to dress the rest of it, but he chose not to admit such a thought aloud. Patting his shoulders, he then gave her instructions, "Just hook your legs around my neck and I'll lift you up okay?"
"What if I fall into the tree?" Sounding sceptical, Nami was more than likely trying to determine if they would even make it to the top.
Getting uncomfortable in his weird sitting position, Zoro fought back, "I'm not going to drop you."
It had felt silly when he had repeated Brook's logic behind making a tree topper crown, and he was sure Nami felt just as silly when she realized that she had accused someone she considered to be the strongest man she knew to accidentally toss her into the tree. He felt the hem of her sweater dress tickle his skin when she came close and straddled the back of his neck, the smooth material of her shorts underneath acting as a buffer from the fluffy material. Due to the position, Zoro was forced to place the span of his hands horizontally over the tops of her thighs and he was pleasantly surprised to note how firm they were.
Then, he began to stand.
"W-Whoa!" Nami whimpered from above him as her core muscles tried to steady her body.
"Relax." He advised her with a bit of a snap in his voice. If she didn't calm down and just let him stand without worrying about steadying her himself, then they definitely would fall into the tree!
Both of them were much too intent of remaining upright to carry on their conversation. The only true worry Zoro had was when he stepped on the ends of his green robe and worried about falling backwards. It was never a true concern though, for they were standing upright and proper a moment later.
"Phew, we did it!" cheered the woman on his shoulders as if it had been her strength that had helped him off the ground. "Okay, now move in a little bit closer."
Like a pack mule, he obeyed. He almost gave one luck branch of the tree an Eskimo kiss due to proximity while she reached up nice and high to place his handmade crown on top. She forced some of her weight into the thighs he was holding onto so that she could extend herself a little bit higher and Zoro felt her bounce a little bit while she tried to slip it on. After one, two, three wiggles of her hips – and with him feeling a bit more intimate than he intended with his offer to lift her up – Nami dropped back down into her seat on his shoulders and proudly exclaimed, "All right! It's up there."
"Good—"
"Hey, while I'm up here…" A small breeze tickled his cheek as her hair swung about her body, indicating that she had turned her attention elsewhere. Away from the ground, where he should have already placed her.
"What?" He asked suspiciously.
"There is a book I need from the top shelf over there, next to my desk. Wanna help me get it?" By the time she asked him for that favour, her voice had turned sickeningly sweet, proving that she knew how her request was putting him out.
Though his stomping on her Christmas star was probably an inconvenience to her…somehow.
"Fine." Was the grumble of a reply he gave as he took her over to the bookshelf in question. Due to the reading table in the middle of the library and the gargantuan size of the tree, Zoro was forced to walk around the library to reach their goal.
"Awesome! Thanks, Zoro." Was her chipper-sounding praise. It really was no bother by that point in the evening, so the swordsman wondered why he acted as if it was. He hadn't had the chance to train or nap at all this afternoon but he recognized that it was the collateral damage of his pride that ruined his day.
Thankfully, Nami knew him well enough that his grunting and griping was usually understood as his signature method of conversation; she wouldn't see it as him complaining, only obeying.
Maybe it was the obedience he had an issue with?
Pirates didn't like rules after all.
"Which side of the desk?" Zoro looked up at Nami as they approached her work station. He shouldn't have been surprised that her sweater-covered breasts blocked his view of her entirely.
"The right side." She answered.
So he turned in that—
Quickly, she admonished him, "The right side, Zoro!"
When her thighs locked up around his neck, the nervous swordsman changed his course in the blink of an eye! Upon arrival, Nami actually planted her feet on a shelf and used it as leverage to reach the book they had come to retrieve. However, her odd position had forced Zoro's back to arch as he adjusted his body to match her pose. "N-Nami!"
"Just a…second!" She sounded strained while stretching her arm high overhead, more so than she did when putting his crown on the tree.
The awkward way in which she held his head between her legs was just as embarrassing as it was uncomfortable! Zoro didn't know if he should have remained still, or if it would serve her purpose better if he pulled himself free and then steadied her from behind, with his hands on her waist. He imagined that tugging his head through the place between her legs would have been odd and strangely intimate, so he resigned himself to enduring the strange pose for much as he was forced to.
Trying to collect himself and focus on something else, it was almost reflexive in the way he turned his gaze towards the lamp on her desk. Zoro had never paid any attention to Nami's cartography desk before, and yet its lighting fixture was suddenly his most favourite thing in the world.
Until, he noticed a map on her desk that was titled 'COCOYASHI VILLAGE'.
His attention was immediately diverted, especially since the map didn't look as though it was completed… Was she redrawing a map of her island? During the Christmas season? If there hadn't been a titled already situated at the top, there was no way he would have known which island she had been charting, but he could understand why she might feel the need to draw a map of Cocoyashi at this time of year. After all, he himself had just thought about Koshiro-sensei and how he missed the simplicity of his old traditions for the holidays.
While thinking once more about the tradition with the dojo's Christmas tree, Zoro thought he spied something that was star-shaped on her map. His inexperienced mind – with maps, let alone directions – couldn't help but wonder if a star was a common marker for maps, given how the rest of the island seemed to look untouched and empty of any other symbols. He turned his head to see if he could look at the star more clearly over the top of Nami's thigh and noticed instantly how it looked as if it was sitting on top of Christmas tree! Maybe…that was where Nami's house—?
"AH! Z-Zoro! You're tickling me!" The shuddering tone of her voice, the words she said, and the way he felt the skin of her thigh twitch beneath his cheek was the moment Zoro's patience with her book grabbing escapade ran out.
"H-Have you grabbed the damn book yet!?" He shouted much louder than what was necessary; his voice echoed ever so slightly in the expansive library.
"Yeah, I—"
"Good!" A tad more aggressive than he was the last time he said that word, Roronoa Zoro took one big leap back from the book shelf and was more than prepared to place Nami back on the floor, where she belonged!
That is, until he felt her rake her fingers through his hair.
"Ohhh, were you trying to feel me up Zoro? How sly of you~"
His face was flushed in the blink of an eye. "N-No! I was just—" It was then that Zoro realized he was caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. If he told Nami that he was looking at her map of her childhood island, she could very well lose it on him! He imagined that she'd try to crush his head with those surprisingly strong thighs of hers! But if he didn't tell her the truth, then he really had no excuse for accidentally nuzzling her skin!
The panic had set in long before Nami's upper body leaned over him, but being face-to-face with her while she looked at him upside down was fairly startling. Her stomach cradled the top of his head, her orange hair fell down around them like a curtain, and that fiendish expression of hers was both accusatory and…pleasantly surprised?
Relentless as much as she was a navigational genius, Nami teased him openly, "Who would have guessed that Roronoa Zoro had this side to him?"
"I-I don't!"
"Riiight." Was her evidently disbelieving response.
For a long, hard moment, they just stared one another down in their unique, situational pose. They were just as close as they were during some of their arguments, and something inside Zoro did feel like fighting…but it wasn't at all like how he normally responded to her. Nami had been one of his oldest friends in the crew and he had never looked at her before, the way he was now.
In more ways than one.
Summoning all of his strength from within, Zoro decided he had had enough. His hands found that thin waist of hers and he lifted her high above his head before placing her feet on the floor. Her orangey scent raged around him while he manoeuvred her, and he tried his best to ignore it. To fight its bewitching power, which was something he'd never confess to her. Ever.
"Hey! You don't need to be so rough with me!" Nami chastised once she was standing upright once again. She was straightening out every crinkle in her sweater dress, before she let her eyes lift to look at the nervous swordsman, and she shot him a glance that seemed to say to him, 'unless you really want to.'
"…Tch!" Was all he had to say to her flirtatious ways then, as he decided then to flee the library. As a swordsman, he should know when to pick his battles and there was no way in hell he was going to survive that one. So he fled with his tail between his legs, and his intended gift for Nami still lodged in his pocket.
Brook had told him to make her an 'apology crown' as well, this one painted with something called 'rose gold'.
Usopp had told him Nami would love it and it would give her a way to feel connected to the new tree topper.
Zoro told himself as he headed up to the Crow's Nest to escape her evil clutches that the witch Nami would probably have preferred taking yet another piece of his dignity instead of some stupid handmade crown.
A/N: A bit of a long read, but I really wanted to take this in a unique direction. My wrists hurt now from how intensely I wrote but I finished! This was placebogirl7's prize theme, so I hope she enjoys it~ And damn, was it hard to give everyone in the crew something important to do in this story. I'm scared for when I'll have to write for Jinbe too, but I love his character so it should…hopefully…be okay, ha ha.
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