A/N:
prompt: blood. she knew him by blood.
his blood, she now knew as her freedom.
your blood is worth more than a thousand words
a zona fic
1.
It'd taken three days for the festivities to finally wind down. It was late. It was quiet. It was hot. Sweat ran slick between her shoulder blades and in the creases of her elbows. She stepped quietly through the empty streets of Coco Village. All the houses were dark, silent. The villagers were snug in their beds: swaddled in the knowledge that they were safe.
After eight grueling years Arlong no longer held their lives in his webbed hands. He no longer held anything in his cruel, cruel hands. He no longer held her.
She was free.
She was free of him and his stranglehold.
Nami had nothing to fear!
She'd spent so many years wearing shackles. Arlong's shackles. She had worn those chains for so long that now they were gone, she didn't know how to feel.
The emptiness inside of her was good. It was so new and so extraordinary, but strange. Her body felt light as a feather! With each step, each breath, each second that belonged completely and totally and utterly to her alone, she relished her freedom.
She was free .
And she couldn't quite believe it.
In the darkness, she walked along the dirt paths she'd spent years too ashamed to. And she reflected. As a child, Nami believed that her fellow villagers hated her. Arlong had planted the seeds of this fear early on and he'd been careful to nurture it through the years. Because she had betrayed them for money, they could never love her again. They would never welcome her back.
Those years, while difficult, had not been the hardest for her.
As a teen, she knew they didn't hate her but she believed they had disowned her. Instead of hate they turned their eyes away from her in betrayal. She imagined their disappointment like a barrier- built it up in her mind and punished herself with it. For years Nami had been too ashamed to walk the streets of Coco Village and too guilty to show her face to anyone but Nojiko.
Worthless.
Filthy.
Pirate.
But these lies had been only lies!
She now knew that they had never been displeased with her at all. Her beloved neighbors and friends had been cheering her on and each in turn doing their part to wait for the day she freed them. They'd entrusted their futures to her even when she didn't know it.
This relief was as soothing as cool ocean currents. Truth was the salve that numbed a decade of shame. Liberation was the reward for her misery.
All these things would never have been hers if Luffy had not released her from Alrong's control. Her mind ran through all the images and the noises and the fear of the past few days.
One thing after another had gone wrong and each set back to her goals had felt like the very sky crashing down around her. In the end, it had been for the best- that's not how it had felt in the moment.
And oh each moment had been terrifying! At first, Nami'd been furious with Zoro for trying to ruin her life. She'd seen all her hard work erased with a single careless smirk. He'd refused to play dumb and leave her be. He'd insisted on taunting Arlong. He'd tested her metal in the most foolhardy way possible.
What kind of idiot jumps into a pool with his hands and feet tied?
Then Usopp, and then Luffy, and then Arlong himself had threatened to tear all her dreams away in a breath.
She'd been terrified. Walking along a razor-thin line above a chasm her past had dug. Luffy'd been the one to shove her off of the wire.
He'd been the one to catch her too.
And Zoro… he'd faced Arlong when his body was battered and beaten past its limits.
All around her lay the remnants of the celebrations. Bottles and dishes and makeshift streamers littered the ground. She was careful to step around the carnage. Careful not to disturb a single thing. Let the clutter and chaos remain. These things represented freedom.
.
Nami found him in the town square. He sat under a canopy, leaning back against a bench someone had dragged out to set by the roasting pit. She recognized him without thought. In the darkness and quiet, he was only a silhouette but his stiff form could be no one else's. She approached. The soft fall of her feet caused him to turn.
"Stars are out tonight." She said.
"They are." Zoro replied.
Warmth still glowed from the popping coals. Even after the sun had set, the night was sweltering. Sweat slipped down her forehead and down her chin. She swiped the neck of her tank over her face, but the clothe was already too damp to do much.
"It's late. Couldn't sleep?" She stooped to look at him.
"Hm." Turning back, he grunted.
Her words fell from her mouth without any forethought. "Why did you do it?"
"Hm?"
Blood. She knew him by blood.
Even now his sweat-soaked bandages were splotched and stained with fresh blood. The stitching looked grisly where it peaked from under the cotton.
He traced the line of her gaze to his chest and looked back at her. He met her searching eyes with steel. "I follow my captain."
"No one else risked as much as you did. You're injured." No one else suffered like you. "You should be dead."
He shrugged, crossing his arms across his bandaged chest. "I'm not."
Nami didn't know why his denial bothered her.
What did it matter why he had fought? They were all alive because of his efforts. All the same she felt a twinge of hurt at the insinuation that none of it had been for her. Even if it was true that he had simply followed Luffy's lead to his death, he had fought to save her.
To rescue her.
And before, when Zoro had every right to mistrust her, he'd risked more than he should have.
When he'd thought her an enemy. A liar. A traitor.
A filthy backstabber.
He'd risked everything to test her loyalty, to call her bluff, and he'd come away with his life.
Blood. She knew him by blood.
His blood, she now knew as her freedom. "Thank you."
He didn't answer. His eyes traced the line of her gaze back to his chest. Blood continued to ooze through his newest stitches into the sodden cotton of his bandages.
"Thank Luffy."
"I have."
He grunted at that, closing his eyes and leaving back against the hardwood bench.
"What gave me away?"
He shrugged.
"There must have been something."
"Luffy would never have accepted less."
But surely there had been some part of him that had trusted her. It couldn't be all for Luffy, could it?
Gently, she touched his shoulder. "Thank you, Zoro."
His eyes blinked open, startled at her touch. He looked at her. This time his gaze had weight. "Just don't try to leave again."
A smile slipped out with her laugh. "I don't plan on it."
"Good." Was his answer.
That had to be enough, she decided.
Her feet carried her past him and out into the dark, farther into the village. No matter his feelings on the matter, Zoro had said his piece and he was too stubborn to budge. He had given her a piece of herself back just as all the others had. Nami was grateful. His blood meant more than she could put into words. So much of it had been spilled. It was precious.
His blood was her freedom.
She continued her light tred through the streets that now belonged to their rightful owners. New tears fell in the dark to pay homage for every tear she had cried in the past eight years. It was going to be okay now. Nami relished her freedom with the quiet night noises.
.
In the morning, his eyes followed her.
.
2.
The afternoon before they set sail, Doc was tending to the skin where her newest tattoo lay starkly against broken skin. "Now you must keep his stitches clean." He'd warned her. He had already finished the lecture on her own wounds. "I don't trust any of these idiots to do it properly. Remember Nami that an infection can be just as deadly as any battle."
She nodded, listening diligently, but she wasn't as concerned as he wanted her to be.
"Don't make me scold you young'un."
"Yes. Alight. I'll make sure he keeps the stitching clean."
He wasn't satisfied but he let her go after she promised.
.
3.
As they two sat on the open deck of the Merry, she helped him to unwrap his bandages. It was difficult. Dried discharge from the healing wound had glued the fabric to his skin. He kept wincing as she worked the cotton this way and that.
Blood flaked away with each layer she peeled back. "It's looking much better."
"Hurts like hell."
She was sure it did. Her own shoulder still throbbed. The mutilated skin underneath her new tattoo was tender, raw. The pain was proof this wasn't all a fevered dream. Each twinge reassured her this was real.
She had him lift his arms above his head so she could wind the bandages away. He scowled as each bump and shuffle disturbed the bruises.
It took quite a bit of self-control not to reprimand him. He was behaving with impressive courtesy considering his injuries.
That was until she began applying the disinfectant.
The air was filled with colorful swearing.
"I'm almost done!" She snapped. "Hold still."
"That hurts!"
"I know it hurts!"
"I'll be fine!"
"Shut up and let me finish!"
Silence but for the little hisses from him.
She was careful but quick.
"There."
The two of them struggled at first with the specifics of wrapping him all up again. It took some maneuvering to do a full torso in bandages.
"Your eyes."
"Sorry?"
"It was your eyes." He said this through his teeth. His knuckles were white against his crossed knees. Even with the pain, he was doing exceptional.
"I don't…"
"I knew you were lying, witch."
Oh.
She finished wrapping the last bit around his torso and tucked the bit of excess up under the tightest edge. Her nails brushed his bare chest under the bandages.
"There. Any doctor would be proud of me."
He grit out a grunt of thanks.
"I wasn't lying."
"No?" He snorted. "Arlong accused you of choosing money over a loved one."
"No. Not that. I truly didn't think of myself as your crewmate. I wasn't your navigator. Not really. I didn't plan on ever seeing you guys again. I… I didn't deserve to be Luffy's navigator and I knew it."
"But now you do?"
"He rescued me. I'll never turn back."
"Glad I called your bluff then."
She grimaced as she wound up the remaining cotton. "I suppose it was all for the best in the end."
"Hm."
"Here." She helped him to shrug into his shirt.
He winced but allowed her assistance. He didn't complain as she straightened the collar. She smoothed it down, sliding fingertips against the strain in his neck. With her touch, he relaxed.
Her fingers made quick work of the buttons. One by one she slipped them into place. "There."
He grunted his thanks one last time. Then he paused, irritation taking over his tan features. "Wait. How often do we have to do that?"
She patted his cheek. She didn't intend to patronize him but she didn't hide her amusement. "That depends on how fast you heal."
She brushed her lap off with ceremony and began to rise. Before she could stand up, Zoro took her wrist.
His eyes were dark with sincerity and his deep voice resonated in the pit of her stomach. "Nami, you were always supposed to be our navigator. Luffy doesn't make mistakes."
She swallowed. Speechless. He sounded so sure: iron and stone.
"And you won't that mistake again."
A/N:
I have always always always wanted to write a fanfic for this paring. Zoro and Nami is my absolute One True Pairing. LIKE my OTP~!
I've tried over the years- mind you I've been reading One Piece since 2013- but both of their voices have always illuded me. I am proud to present to you a complete fanfic with their voices intact! thank you for reading and imma go to sleep now.