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Lost in Paradise

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Sweet jasmine and sea salt hung in the acrid tropical atmosphere of Plumeria Island, a remote honeymoon destination and summer isle snuggled within the cool aquamarine waters of the New World. On this small island, a certain green haired swordsman and raven haired archaeologist celebrated their two year wedding anniversary. The extravagant resort was Nami's suggestion, a pirate friendly place with zero tolerance for discrimination.

Turning the page of her thin, paperback novel, Roronoa Robin lounged in a comfy chair under the mid-morning heat on the freshly mowed lawn just outside their ground level suit. She'd left her husband snoozing and decided to catch up on some reading until he woke up. It's not everyday the duo found time to themselves, and roping Zoro into one of her romantic escapades was always a fun time. So Robin planned on basking in every second of their little island getaway.

Five page turns later, and a large shadow loomed above her. Glancing up with a tipped head, a warm pair of plush lips teased her temples. Robin giggled, an adolescent school girl. Caressing Zoro's smooth jawline within her slender fingers, Robin leaned her head back as far as she was able, unexpectedly pulling her husband's lips down towards her own.

"How did you sleep?" She released him, shutting the abandoned book propped up on her crossed legs while smiling at his flustered features. It never got old.

"Great." Zoro turned away, stretching out his muscle-bound arms in a failed attempt to conceal his embarrassment. Robin's mischievous games weren't good for his heart, "Luffy's not around to wake us up with his shenanigans." As much as he respected the harbinger of chaos who was his captain, Zoro wished that numb skull could tone it down a bit.

Light laughter left Robin's lips, "It's endearing to some degree." The dark haired beauty stood, playfully smacking Zoro's right bicep with her book, "Now, because of you we missed breakfast."

Zoro rubbed the back of his head, "You should've woken me up earlier, or could've just gone without me."

Raven tresses swung back and forth, "On one hand, I didn't want to interrupt your beauty sleep, but on the other, it would be lonely eating without you. So I settled for just waiting, I'm not really hungry anyway."

"Anything you want to eat, name it and I'll get it." Zoro pulled open the sliding door to their hotel room, allowing Robin entrance into the frigid air conditioning first.

As tempting as testing the limits of his offer were, Robin decided to play nice, "Hmm, okay. How about some fruits?" The restaurant served a generous fruit salad over the past few mornings. Hopefully the staff could be just as kind with sparing any left over from earlier.

"On it." Zoro was already dressed in a pair of cerulean swim trunks with cobalt swirls twirling across the fabric, and a navy blue muscle tee accentuating every line of his chiselled chest. His signature swords hugged his side by a white sash tied at the waist. He was adamant on carrying them everywhere.

The couple planned on spending the day poolside along with a small detour at the hotel's luxury spa – Robin's idea. Zoro left the room first in search of his wife's request while she spent the next fifteen minutes getting ready.

Fifteen minutes in which Zoro had yet to return.

In hindsight, Robin should've seen it coming.

Adorned in her periwinkle bikini, a lavender sarong tied at her hips with hibiscus patterns blooming along its length and silver rimmed sunglasses atop her head, Robin packed all their stuff inside a large, fuchsia beach bag and began the search for her missing husband.

He didn't pay the restaurant a visit, according to the staff, but one bellhop did manage to spot him leaving the property through the beach side exit.

Meanwhile...

The green haired swordsman trekked through thistles and foliage at the end of the beach and soon entered a remote, forested area. There had to be fruit trees around somewhere.

This way, my lovey…

Zoro paused at the sing-song soprano stroking his ears.

I have exactly what you want…

He shook his head but couldn't free himself of the voice trapped in his skull and the incessant compulsion to venture deeper through the thick underbrush. In minutes, he broke through the greenery, entering a secluded cove with large rocks flanking either side of the rolling tide gently lapping at the sandy shore.

Come a little closer...

The trio of swords near Zoro's waist seemingly protested with the idea, the white cord securing them to his side having tangled itself with a stray branch protruding from a tall shrub.

Almost there...Just a few more stepsssssss...

Breathless vocals beckoned him towards the ocean and a harmonious clamour of fallen swords echoed through the trees.

─ ･ ｡ﾟ : *. .* : ﾟ. ─

Disembodied ears picked up a strange sound, an odd ringing tune that bounced across the forest. Robin followed the incessant noise, observant blue eyes sprouting throughout the area. Gentle waves crashed ahead but the beach was definitely in the opposite direction from where Robin found herself. Swatting a noisy mosquito away from her left ear, she turned right and noticed some familiar items on the ground that didn't quite match the jungle atmosphere. She inhaled a sharp breath.

Zoro's swords...

Robin's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right. Picking up her husband's beloved weaponry, the dark haired archaeologist hadn't noticed the secret beach right in front of her until she stood at her full height.

"Yesssssss…that's right." Cerulean eyes widened at the unexpected scene, "Just a little more, my lovey."

She finally found Zoro.

With his back to her, the swordsman slowly paced through the ocean waves, already knee deep in the water as he navigated his way towards a feminine creature just a few feet ahead of him. Glittery porcelain skin that shimmered like the ethereal silver scales trailing her visible shoulders, blonde tresses fluidly running down from her head to the sea below and deep sapphire irises encapsulated by shadowy onyx sclera. Sparkling arms extended in welcome to the sluggish man obeying her enticing call.

"Almost there…nothing to be afraid o–" A gigantic hand sprouted from the nearby rock wall, smacking the creature in the face. It skidded across the sea with a wild screech, sinking to the ocean depths a far distance away.

"Zoro!" Robin dropped her crossed arms, stumbling as she abandoned their belongings and raced towards him but quickly stopped in her tracks when a rolling wave forebodingly crashed on the shoreline a few feet away from her. The green haired swordsman ignored Robin's cry, motionless while waist deep in the ocean.

Robin's hands creased again and duplicate arms blossomed from her shoulders, creating a long chain of arms that steadily reached for her husband's solid biceps. She twisted him around and flinched at the cobalt haze shrouding his vision. Her memory was just as foggy but Robin vaguely remembered coming across that mythical creature in one of her reads a while back. If she recalled the fable correctly...

A snake-like whip of water smacked Robin in her side and she hit the sand, hard. Her grip on Zoro dispersed in a plethora of pretty pink petals. Dust clouded her sights, scratched her throat. Inhaling shallow breaths and raising her upper body took much effort but Robin steadily crawled to her knees.

"You...!" Perched on top of an elevated tidal wave under her full control was the sea creature, dark eyes livid as she glared, hissed at Robin. Zoro remained as still as ever, locked under a sinister charm spell from the blonde at his back. Sharp, silver talons gingerly clawed beneath the unmoveable swordsman's chin, "You're the reason why..." On shaky feet, Robin stood as tall as she could, "But no matter…his resistance broke eventually." A wide smirk cracked the creature's plump lips, "He's mine now..."

Robin's unimpressed scowl was legendary, "Come again?"

Laughter resounded within the closed space, "I'll gladly demonstrate…" The blonde's touch slipped away from Zoro's face, her voice a saccharine coo in his ear, "Get rid of her, my lovey."

In seconds Zoro was on dry land, barrelling towards Robin like a wild beast. His killing intent was palpable, to the point where the archaeologist recoiled from its intensity, slipping and falling to the sand when he pounced. Duplicate hands caught Zoro by the feet, his body slamming into the shifting soil mere inches away from Robin who distanced herself from her deranged husband and swiftly tumbled right, evading a furious water whip.

"What a tragedy…living in delusion all this time…" Robin heard the high pitched voice above Zoro's lowly growl as he shook her weakened hold off his ankles, clawing at the dirt where she once was. Soaring backwards on sprouted wings placed a reasonable amount of space between her and Zoro. The limbs protruding from Robin's shoulders dispersed as she captured the green haired swordsman with multiple arms, pinning him down to the earth, "He never loved you…"

Quivering hands let up for a moment, enough time for Zoro to break free from Robin's grasp. He rushed her and they toppled in the sand. Wrestling against a toned pair of arms with twenty of her own was still an unfair match up. Robin restrained the swordsman towering over her, arcing him backwards without hurting him too badly. Zoro yelped in pain but his melody took a vengeful tune.

"Drop dead already!" Another serpentine coil of sea water darted towards them and Robin formed a pair of gigantic hands to take the blow. In the same breath, a quartet of arms bloomed from the sea creature's scaly skin. Bones splintered in harmony with her violent scream and Zoro's grunt as he went limp, the hypnosis he was under deteriorating to some degree.

Robin's arms lowered him gently onto the sand, her massive hand shield dematerializing. Without a minute to spare, she smiled down at Zoro's handsome yet neutral face before cupping one of his cheeks. Raven locks fanned both sides of his face as Robin savoured the salty taste of Zoro's bottom lip. The movement of his lips against her own along with a familiar calloused hand timidly stroking the back of her head had Robin smirking before breaking off the kiss. Elation flooded her heart at the sight of Zoro's revived senses. Confusion painted his entire face and she tried not to laugh, "Wha…?"

She snickered, "Welcome back."

Zoro sat up, rubbing the back of his head as he took in their surroundings, "Huh?" His mental disarray transformed into panic and the swordsman scrambled to his feet, taking Robin with him as watery vines lashed the spot the duo once occupied. Setting Robin down carefully, Zoro glared in the blonde creature's direction, her dark eyes just as menacing.

A pair of hands envelope Zoro's ears and he turned to Robin who tossed him his swords with assistance from a congo line of arms that retrieved them out of the sand. Her kind smile took a smug turn when it shifted towards the fuming blonde creature, "I'm sorry but he belongs to whom?"

The kiss of death, that was the tale.

Beautiful, glistening sea dwellers with a thirsty desire for freedom from their bondage to the ocean. They croon, call, bewitch humans of the opposite gender into their devious embrace. Draw the life out of them and personify their prey's humanity. Their compulsion's one weakness – true love's cliché of a kiss.

If looks could kill, Robin's corpse would be decomposed to an unrecognizable level, "I'll take care of you myself!" The blonde creature wailed.

One sword hilt propped between his teeth, the others poised in either hand. Zoro assumed his stance, feet lightly sinking in the sand as water whips rocket in a raging beeline towards Robin.

It was over in a single strike.

Zoro sheathed his swords, reattaching them to his side as effervescent seafoam languidly dissolved into the calm tide.

Relief finally settled over Robin. She released Zoro's ears, picking up her beach bag and meeting her still confused husband halfway. His eyes roamed her over, making sure she wasn't injured, "What trouble did you get yourself into this time?"

"Me?" Robin shot him a disbelieving look, "You're the one who has some explaining to do. I sent you to find fruits, how did you even make it all the way out here?"

His head lolled sideways, arms folded, "But that's exactly why I'm here, to look for the fruits."

…

Robin mentally facepalmed. It was her own fault, she never specified the location of her request to him so technically Zoro wasn't wrong. In spite of it all, the dark haired beauty couldn't help but giggle, "Okay then." She intertwined one of her arms with his, proceeding through the trees and back to the resort, "But the breakfast buffet might've had some left over so how about we go check together." Five seconds later and Zoro smacked his forehead. Robin laughed again, tilting her head against his shoulder, "At least this made our anniversary all the more memorable. We can call it, lost in paradise."

"I was not lost." The green haired swordsman scowled but his features softened, his feet paused. Robin did the same, unsure as to why he stopped. Zoro wasn't good at these types of things, "Robin…" But he's learning, step by step, "When I blanked out, I could've still heard that thing's annoying voice inside my head. I…just want everything to be clear." He drooped their conjoined arms, slithering his larger hand into Robin's tiny, delicate one. Zoro faced her, pulling her hand up to his thumping chest, "I love you and I'll never stop loving you."

It was Robin's turn to become red in the face. Articulating his feelings with words was rare for Zoro. Hearing his determined declaration reduced the recipient into a giddy mess, "Zoro…" She knocked the wind out of his lungs, wrapping both arms around the man who held her lovestruck heart captive. Robin spoke into his chest, "Love you too."

Hand in hand, the couple made their way through the trees with Robin taking the lead after Zoro's third wrong turn.

Okay so...

One-shots typically aren't my vibe XD but this was part of a writing challenge some friends and I did for our podcast, where we talk about stuff that we enjoy like anime, manga, video games, webtoons, k-pop situations and such like. It's called the 'Casual Simps Podcast' XD. Feel free to check us out if you fancy three random friends who like freaking out together ^^

Also, I do hope you liked the story. It was a treat to write since Zoro and Robin are my two favourite peoples from One Piece!