Jade: I don't own One Piece… but someday I will!
Luffy: We're gonna have to talk about that…
Jade: O.O eek!
As a prince, Zoro didn't much appreciate being treated like a servant; sure he found it kinda funny that none of the others were capable of carrying the amount that he was, but then, they hadn't been training since early childhood. He also didn't like being left at the end of the line while travelling, he could see Luffy ahead of everyone, swinging off nearly every branch and vine in sight, then walking along at a steady pace was Nami and Ussop, side by side. Zoro frowned, Ussop threw his arms up in the air and said something, Zoro didn't catch what he said, but whatever it was, it made Nami laugh.
Nami put her hands on the straps of her backpack and smiled, she had no idea how long she could keep it up. Ussop was nice but he was damn annoying. She couldn't get rid of him; he was sticking to her like a fly on a toffee. She watched the ground as they walked along. Ussop was going on about how he beat up twenty fully grown men, she let slip another random laugh so he wouldn't feel ignored. She heard Luffy cheer. She looked up and saw the camp that had been her home for the past eight years.
"We're here!" said Nami.
Zoro walked up beside her, "I don't see anything."
"Exactly!" said Luffy with his hands on his hips, "I've disguised it!"
"Camouflage Luffy, camouflage" said Nami stepping forward towards a low bushy tree, "besides, you didn't do all that much."
Nami pushed up a branch to show it covered a cave entrance. She gestured for the others to enter, Zoro grinned and stepped through, finding a bit of difficulty with trying to get the stolen goods in. it was dark inside.
"What about light?" Ussop said while stepping inside.
Luffy ran through and pulled down a couple of make-shift curtains. The light came in.
"Won't there be a big hole on the ground above us because of the windows?" asked Zoro.
"Of course not," Nami giggled, "we planted trees above the holes so the light comes through the gaps between the tree roots and the ground."
"Oh, how obvious, I can't believe I didn't notice" said Zoro sarcastically, then changing the subject to avoid conflict he said, "What do you want all these bags for? Most of them are just filled with clothes."
"Just spilt the clothes into two piles then put a sheet over each of them," came the reply.
Zoro couldn't believe that he just followed her orders without objecting once. He looked around and noticed there were two other similar piles of clothes with a sheet over them.
"What are they for?" Zoro asked.
"Beds!" said Luffy, jumping onto one of the piles that had a bear skin rug on top.
Zoro noticed the other bed also had a bear skin rug, and there was a pile of bear skin rugs on the ground! Not to mention a polished dutches and silver candle stands with candles and the occasional bit of jewellery hung in random places.
Zoro's jaw dropped, "why have you got such expensive things?" he pointed to the bear skin rugs.
"Oh them?" Nami said calmly, "a fur trader passed by, and so do many other people with items that I wouldn't mind having," she grinned, "pity no one travels around with beds" she added.
Zoro didn't really approve of the whole thieving thing, but he wasn't going to stop her. He understood that Luffy was at no fault of the stolen items, he wasn't bright enough to stop Nami telling him that there could be food in a passing carriage, even if there wasn't.
The sun was setting and the light was dimming, Nami had lit a fire outside and was cooking a wild pig that Luffy had befriended for a brief while only to be bitten by it. Ussop had lit the candles in the cave for later and had burnt himself several times in the process. Zoro just lay on his back beside the fire with his hands under his head.
Eventually everyone had gathered around the fire, it was night and the bugs were warded off by the smoke. No one spoke, it was really quiet, the silence unnerved Ussop and bored Luffy.
"Well," said Nami, Ussop jumped at the sudden noise, "why are you deciding to stick around Zoro?"
"I got bored with royalty," Zoro grinned at the sky, "you might say I wanted a challenge. Why are you hanging around Ussop?"
"Ummm, well…" he started, "I don't have any parents or relatives so I just hitchhike around the kingdom for something to do all day, I don't have a home so I figured I was best off with you guys."
"I got taken away from my parents when I was little" said Nami, "and I ran away and started living out here since I was ten."
Catching the drift of the conversation, Luffy put in his part, "I got lost one day out here in the forest, but Nami found me, we've been friends for about a year now," he fiddled with his hat, "my parents just let me go where I please for however long I want, they would probably even let me become a pirate if I wanted to!" everyone laughed, "this hat was given to me by a man who was travelling the land, he made me believe I can do anything…"
Silence.
"Meat's done!" said Nami, carefully taking the pig off the spit and laying it on a large silver platter which matched those candle holders in the cave…
"YAY! MEAT!" shouted Luffy as he ripped off the pig's leg.
Sanji: I was SURE that I would come in this chapter.
Jade: Well you didn't.
Luffy: Good thing you put meat in the story otherwise I couldn't continue : P
Jade: Sorry again about any OOCness by beloved readers, also about the slight change in the character's backgrounds… ok… some changes weren't that slight.
.!REVIEW:. … please… : D
