Kind of a relaxed chilled chapter here. The action is over and everything is back to normal... kind of. Just a bit of a "What happened next" chapter, a few interesting interactions here as well. The last Chapter's response was amazing... Really. It's got to the point where I'm beginning to just expect to get a certain number of reviews each chapter, which is just amazing for me when I consider back to when I wasn't even getting reviews for some chapters. Big thanks to "VirajPatel", "Rumu", "Chemistry-Deaf", "Skipper917", and "Natylol" for leaving reviews.
Zoro yawned as he woke up. He lazily scanned the room, taking in the surroundings. It took him a few seconds to work out that he was in a hospital ward. He blinked, before panicking, memories of the previous night coming back.
"What happened?" he wondered before he heard a large commotion coming from outside. It sounded like at least 10 people had just entered the originally peaceful ward. After listening for a bit, Zoro heard a familiar voice.
"So, do you have any food around here?"
Thud. "We're not here to eat Luffy. We're here to see Zoro."
"Ow! You're so harsh Nami!"
"Shut it! Next time I'll beat you harder!"
"Maybe we should be a little quieter..."
"Nami's so wonderful when she's angry..."
Zoro smirked at the familiar voices. It didn't take long for them to locate his room, with Luffy entering first. When he saw Zoro was up and looking fairly good, he grinned.
"Man, you guys are always so loud," Zoro smirked.
Luffy laughed, "Blame Nami, it was her-" That was as far as he got before Nami and the others finally caught up with him.
"Really, it was my fault..." Nami whispered dangerously. Luffy shook his head vigourously.
"Of course not, who said that?"
Next, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper entered. "Nice going Moss-head, you nearly killed yourself last night," Sanji said, a cheeky grin forming on his face.
Zoro glared at him, "Shut it eyebrow."
"What was that?"
"You heard me."
Usopp then stepped between the two. "Maybe you should save the fighting for when Zoro's feeling a bit better." They both turned away from each other, muttering under their breath.
Next to enter were Franky and Brook. Franky gave Zoro a high-five whilst Brook complimented Zoro's bravery. The last to enter was Robin. Zoro sat up in the bed when she entered, giving him that smirk which she loved so much. Robin smiled, before looking at the others who were all currently staring at her. She glanced at Nami, who smiled before nodding.
"We should go guys," Nami said, heading for the exit.
"Why?" Luffy asked, "I thought we were going to-" Luffy got that far before Nami grabbed his ear and forcibly yanked it, pulling him out of the room. The others exchanged glances, knowing that Nami wasn't messing around here, and followed after the two.
After the others had left, there was an awkward silence between Robin and Zoro for a few seconds. Neither really were all too comfortable with expressing emotions, especially ones like the ones they were feeling now. Eventually, Robin decided to just sit next to Zoro on the bed, with Zoro putting his arm around her and letting her rest her head on his chest.
"Zoro... Thank you," Robin whispered into his chest, tears beginning to form around her eyes. "You risked your life for me. You could have easily died-" Robin began to let the words pour out, but was stopped by Zoro.
"I meant what I said you know."
Robin looked up at him confused, he smirked and leaned in close to her, pressing his lips against hers for a few seconds.
"I'm not leaving you... ever."
Robin smiled, and the two shared another kiss.
######
"Why did you do that Nami?" Luffy groaned, slumping down in his chair. After leaving Zoro's room, the 7 were now in the hospital's waiting room.
"You wouldn't understand," Nami shrugged, her eyes fixed on a magazine she had picked up from the nearby stand.
Luffy perked up, "Of course I'd understand!"
Nami looked up at her stubborn boyfriend, before sighing. "Fine. I wanted to give Robin and Zoro alone time."
Luffy beamed, "Ah I see. Now I get it." Nami looked back down at her magazine for a few seconds before Luffy spoke again.
"But why?"
Nami groaned. She opened her mouth before Sanji interrupted,
"Oi, isn't that Lucci over there!"
Luffy gasped and turned around. Marco was leading a handcuffed Lucci to the front desk. He then looked around the waiting room and spotted Luffy and the others. he then nudged Lucci in the direction of the others.
"Marco? What are you doing here? And why is he here?" Nami asked.
"He's here to see Spandam. Normally we wouldn't allow something like this, but Ace said he trusted Lucci to do this, so I had to take him here," Marco groaned, tiredly running his hand through his hair.
Everyone nodded, before Luffy frowned. "Why didn't Ace take him then?"
"He took the day off. Didn't you know?" Marco answered.
Luffy looked surprised "What? He told me he had work today this morning. Thats why he didn't come with us to see Zoro."
"Ace lied to you?" Usopp exclaimed, shocked. Ace and Luffy had a pretty strong brotherly relationship. Whilst they teased each other frequently, they were a lot closer than most brothers and never kept secrets from each other.
"What do you think he's doing?" Chopper asked.
Marco shrugged. The lady at the front desk then called Marco and Lucci over, and the two left Luffy and the others, heading down the hospital corridor.
Luffy then got up, and headed to the exit. Nami raised her eyebrow.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
Luffy puffed out his cheeks, "I'm going to find Ace. Whats so important that he needs to hide it from me?"
"You should just leave it alone Luffy. I'm sure Ace has his reasons," Franky said to which Luffy shook his head.
"No way! Ace never lets me lie to him about anything. He always forces me to tell him the truth."
"Thats because you're such a bad liar. Its easy to tell when you're lying," Sanji said, rolling his eyes.
"Actually guys... I wouldn't mind helping Luffy," Nami sheepishly said, shocking the others. "Zoro seems OK, and we've got a whole afternoon to kill..."
"We could be like spies!" Usopp cheered, to which Chopper smiled brightly.
"Or Ninjas!"
Luffy then joined in, "Or Ninja Spies!"
Needless to say, the three all received a good bonk on the head for that.
Sanji sighed and got up, "Count me out, I've got to get back to work." Franky nodded,
"I've got a summer job interview."
"And I have a music lesson," Brook added. The three then left together, leaving Nami, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper.
Luffy grinned, "Awesome, an adventure!"
"Haven't you had enough adventure recently," Usopp weakly smiled.
"No way! You can never have enough adventure!" He then sprinted out of the hospital excitedly, Nami hurrying after him, muttering something threatening, clearly annoyed with how hyper Luffy was.
"So... where does he get his energy from?" Chopper asked Usopp.
Usopp shrugged, "Man will never know."
######
"Lucci..." Spandam smiled, seeing his trusted subordinate in front of him, "Thank god. I thought Crocodile had you killed."
Lucci smirked and shook his head. The two stood there in silence, Lucci's eyes fixed on the ground, Spandam's on the ceiling, before Lucci finally spoke. "I'm sorry Spandam. I-I failed you." He continued to stare straight at the floor, not wanting to look his boss in the eyes.
"What are you apologizing for?" Spandam smiled, surprising Lucci, who looked up at him. "Its thanks to you that I'm still alive! If that Straw hat kid hadn't showed up when he did, I'd be long dead!"
Lucci smiled, "I owe a lot to Straw hat. I hope one day I can repay my debt."
Spandam held out his hand to Lucci, "As do I. Maybe one day, when we're free again, we can work together again."
Lucci took Spandam's hand, grasping it firmly. After a few seconds, he pulled away. As he turned around and headed towards the door, he felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Truly a first for Rob Lucci.
######
Luffy's phone buzzed in his pocket. After searching the town centre for Ace, Luffy and the others were now at the park, relaxing, having given up on their little adventure.
"Um... Luffy, come down to the Baratie. Now!" Sanji said from the other end of the line.
Luffy frowned, "I thought you had work. Why are you calling me?"
"Just come here now! You might miss them!"
"Who?"
"Just come now!" Sanji hung up. Luffy frowned.
"What was with that?"
"He sounds pretty desperate. Maybe it's something juicy," Nami smiled, her eyes beginning to twinkle.
Luckily for Luffy and the others, the park was only 5 minutes away from the Baratie. After the small journey, they entered the restaurant and headed to the kitchen, where Sanji was working.
"What is it?" Luffy asked. Sanji smirked and led Luffy out of the kitchen and onto the outside Balcony, overlooking the ocean, the most exclusive area of the restaurant. The Baratie was one of the biggest, if not the biggest restaurant in the whole city, and the only reason Luffy was able to visit it so regularly was because he was friends with Sanji. Regardless, Sanji had never been able to get him onto the outside Balcony, his dad simply would not allow it, so as you can imagine, this balcony was really something special.
"Check it out," Sanji said, gesturing to the far side of the balcony where none other than Ace was sitting, a girl opposite him, her back facing towards Luffy and the others.
"Aww," Nami gushed, "He's on a date."
"A pretty fancy one too," Usopp remarked, staring out at the brilliant view of the ocean. Luffy smiled, and began to walk towards Ace.
"Wait Luffy! We shouldn't disturb him," Nami said as she held him back.
"Why not? Don't you want to know who he's with?"
Nami stopped for a second, before sighing and giving in. She really did want to know who the mystery lady was.
"Oy, Ace!" Luffy called as he calmly strolled towards Ace's table, the others nervously following behind.
"Luffy? What are you doing here?" At the mention of Luffy's name, the woman turned around and smiled. For Ace's date was none other than Robin's mother, Olivia.
"Robin's mom!" Nami gaped, looking at Usopp's and Chopper's shocked expressions, while Luffy just laughed.
"Olivia? You're Ace's girlfriend?"
Ace blushed at this, whilst Olivia giggled, "I guess I am."
"H-How long have you two been together?" Nami struggled to ask, still shocked at the new couple.
"Since that morning," Olivia smiled, referring to the morning when Luffy had introduced Ace to her.
"Actually, I have a confession to make," Ace sheepishly said, scratching his head, "You know that night when we didn't come back, you know when Robin was..."
Luffy nodded. "Well... The reason we didn't come back 'til later was because... we were on a date then too."
Luffy laughed, whilst Nami had now fully recovered, "Why did you hide this from us?"
"We were afraid of how you would react... There is a bit of an age difference between us..." Ace sighed
"So?" Nami smiled, "You know what they say, age is just a number."
Olivia smiled, "Well said."
######
Robin's phone buzzed slightly. She and Zoro had now left the hospital and were heading to his house. She turned it on and glanced at the text message.
OMG! Ace and your mom! It's official! Nami xx
"What?" Zoro choked, looking over Robin's shoulder at the text.
Robin merely smiled, "It could work."
I have a feeling that this is gonna be a marmite couple. You either love it or you hate it. Either way, hope you like the little twist there.
Anyway, from what I could tell from reviews and PMs, you guys are very much in favour of a sequel. So my question is, would you prefer that to be maybe set in the Summer, and maybe even have the gang go on holiday. Or would you prefer me to just skip the summer and roll on another year. Honestly, I suspect the former would be better, but its really up to you guys. I'll do my best to write what you want.