The meal Sanji serves everyone after they make it out of the lab is as delicious as it always is, even considering its simplicity. Lucy gets the distinct impression that he's trying to impress the Marines, but she's a little confused as to why, considering the way they all seem to worship him already.

Most everyone is enjoying themselves, and the party in general. Torao is off sulking somewhere, and Lucy's not exactly sure where Nami and the Marine lady got off to, but she's sure they're fine. The rest of Lucy's nakama are mingling with the Marines, who seem kind of rough and hardy for the Navy. She likes them. She thinks they're the type of Marine her grandfather must get along with well.

Only Smokey doesn't participate. He looks grumpy. Lucy's reasonably certain Smokey always looks grumpy, at least when he's in any sort of proximity to her person, but that doesn't mean she's not going to try and make him less grumpy.

She bounces over to Sanji, requesting a bowl of the soup. He obliges when she explains it isn't for her, but someone who won't eat otherwise, and his gaze flicks first to Torao, who looks at anything resembling bread like it had personally denounced his gods, and then to Smokey. Sanji nods seriously, tells her he's counting on her with a smile, and compliments her people-reading skills.

Lucy grins at him, and weaves her way through the crowd of Marines to Smokey, holding the bowl close to her chest so it stays warm. She huddles a little into the scarf Zoro lent her earlier, after they made it to the ships. The wind off the sea is cold, and it cuts through her clothing a little too well. The scarf helps though, covering the gap between her collar and her chin. Plus it smells like Zoro, so. Win-win.

Lucy gets the feeling Zoro likes seeing her in his clothes. She'll have to keep it in mind.

It's a minor miracle that she makes it to the Vice-Admiral without tripping or otherwise spilling the soup—or eating the soup, because Sanji can cook, what the hell did Iva-chan teach him, how is it possible he's even better than before—but she does, easily enough, and grins as she approaches the wary man. He watches with highly suspicious eyes as she presents the soup, clearly thinking she's up to something.

"Whaddya want, Straw Hat?" Smokey grunts. He's kind of tense.

It occurs to Lucy that the last time they were this close, he'd managed to pin her to the ice of Marineford, growling something about having finally caught her or some such. She frowns a little, remembering. She's pretty sure it was Hancock that threw him off of her.

But that probably just means it's all the more appropriate that they reunite here, on Punk Hazard. It's just as cold. And this time they're sort-of-kind-of on the same side. They all want the kids safe, at any rate. So Lucy smiles wide again, and wafts the soup under his nose. If his Devil Fruit affects him in any way similarly to the way hers affects her metabolism, he's got to be starving right now.

"I brought soup!" She declares cheerfully.

She sees his nose twitch, and then flare in irritation. "Not hungry, Straw Hat."

Lucy frowns. "Sanji'll be mad if you don't eat it."

Smokey makes an abortive motion toward rolling his eyes. "I'm not afraid of Black-Leg." Then he gives her a sort of judgmental, questioning look. "Are you? He's your cook."

Lucy gives a solemn nod. "Sanji is scary." But then she shrugs. "But not to me. If I make him mad he'll take it out on you." She pushes the soup toward him a little, prompting. "So eat! It's good!"

Smokey huffs a little. "I won't eat anything made by pirates."

Lucy frowns harder, offended on her cook's behalf. "Sanji would never poison food. It's sacred." She gives him a wide grin, reassuring. "And I like you, remember? I wouldn't either."

The memory of Alabasta seems to anger him, more than anything, which is stupid considering how well it all turned out. Lucy's kind of done arguing about this though, and the soup is getting cold, so she more or less drops it in Smokey's lap, forcing him to catch it or risk it spilling all over his trousers. A risky move, considering Sanji's probable wrath in the event of wasted food, but she's confident in Smokey's reflexes.

It pans out the way she expected, with Smokey catching the bowl with a few choice curses and a gnashing of his cigars. He probably has a nicotine addiction to rival her cook's.

Smokey looks up, expression dark. Lucy just grins in response, raising both hands in the air and leaning away from him. "No take-backs!"

Smoker huffs, looking supremely irritated, and turns his glare to the bowl in his hands, looking like he's very much contemplating just dumping it out on the snow beneath his feet.

Lucy hopes he won't do that. Sanji would be upset. Plus he needs to eat. But she has a feeling telling him that won't help anything, so she changes the topic instead. "D'you poop when you're all smoky like that, Smokey?"

Smokey just stares at her, face blank. "What."

"D'you poop when you—"

"I heard what you—" Smokey looks like he wants to shoot things. Possibly Lucy. She cocks her head to the side, innocent. "You know what? Leave. You're irritating me."

Lucy raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, but you're not chasing us right now, so when else would we get to talk?" A particularly strong blast of wind cuts through the bay, and Lucy huddles a little deeper in Zoro's scarf, frowning and absently pressing fisted knuckles to the center of her scar.

Something about the action seems to sober Smokey, because he sits back a little, soup forgotten in his hands. "Why the hell would you want to talk to me. You're a pirate. I'm a Marine."

Lucy shrugs. "So's Gramps. I'd still talk to him." And if doing so would be harder than it used to be, it isn't because Gramps is a Marine.

The scar aches a little more. It's got nothing to do with the cold, but it's manageable all the same. Nothing like it used to be.

Smokey raises an eyebrow, looking somewhat skeptical. Lucy plops herself on the bench beside him. Smokey is a big guy, and his torso is nearly triple the length of hers, so he has to kink his neck down to glare at her. Lucy figures he might actually eat the soup if she isn't standing in front of him, distracting, but she wants to keep an eye on him so she stays where she is.

Before them, their respective crews are intermingling. Nami and Tashigi are…on the bow of the Marine tanker. She can sort of sense Nami, but it's fuzzy, and she mostly only knows because she can see the Marine lady's pink coat even from here. Sanji is still passing out meals, expertly divvying up portions among the remaining hungry, and the strange samurai father-son duo are finishing up their own meals behind him. Franky and Robin are fixing the ship, and Brook is challenging a Marine to…well it looks like they're having a fiddling contest. Torao is sulking off to the side, probably still upset that she declared this would have to be a fast feast rather than that there be no feast.

Honestly, all that running and no feast? She deserves better. Her crew deserves better.

Plus, if they left before the kids were safe, Nami and Chopper would be upset.

Usopp and Zoro are seated across from each other in a circle of the most drunken, rowdy Marines. Usopp is swaying a little, and there's a flush high on Zoro's cheekbones from the alcohol he's consumed. She looks around for the usual three barrels required to get him tipsy, and isn't disappointed when she finds two on their sides behind him and one that's clearly been smashed over the Marine's head.

Zoro laughs at something one of his drinking partners says. His smile is broad and satisfied and it makes her smile in return.

"It's not a good idea you know."

Lucy blinks, and turns her attention back to Smokey. "Huh?"

Smokey grunts and uses his chin to point to Usopp and Zoro. "That. It's not a good idea to get involved with subordinates."

His eyes stray up to the tanker's balcony, and Lucy is pretty sure he isn't thinking about Nami.

(There might be a tiny unclenching in Lucy's chest, one where jealousy just unkinked.)

"Zoro's not my subordinate. He's nakama." Honestly, first Jimbei, now Smokey. People should really get their terminology straight. At least Jimbei figured it out.

Smokey huffs, and cigar smoke wafts from his cigars, right into Lucy's face. She wrinkles her nose, disgusted. She'll never understand people's addiction to these things.

"Doesn't matter," Smokey growls, and Lucy notes the way he raises the spoon in his bowl consideringly. "You're still captain. He's not. It's bound to cause problems." Smokey glares at the soup like it's withholding the meaning to life. Or the One Piece. Same difference. "I've seen plenty of crews go up in flames over something like that."

"Must not be very good crews then."

"Some of them were plenty good. You'd know 'em if I named 'em. Most were as close-knit as yours." Smokey gives her a pointed glance. "The effect is worse when the woman is the captain. Makes men feel emasculated."

Lucy scoffs. "That's stupid."

Smoker puffs his cigars in a manner that could be interpreted as agreement. "It's true though."

Lucy thinks of Jaya, about how angry it made Zoro to be restrained from defending her. She wonders if he was angry when she made him wait two years to comfort her. She hadn't thought to ask.

It's not the same as what Smokey's talking about though. He's acting like Zoro is like Sanji, which, yeah, Lucy could see how that would be a problem. Sanji likes caring for people, especially women, too much. He'd feel…cheated, in a way, if his partner forced him not to.

She and Zoro aren't like that though. She and Zoro are two protectors, and they're highly independent people with a relationship built on mutual respect. Yeah, sometimes Lucy issues orders, but she expects Zoro to stand up to them if he doesn't like them, regardless of their newfound relationship, just like he's always done. He makes her better.

The balance, admittedly, is a bit delicate, but it's not that hard to navigate. Not for them.

"Zoro's not like that." Smokey gives her a skeptical look. Lucy shrugs. "He's strong."

Smokey huffs again, maybe a little amused this time. "No wonder Tashigi hates him then." Lucy gives him a questioning look, not understanding at all, but Smokey doesn't elaborate. "Marines have regs against it, you know. Too volatile for proper ship function."

Lucy grins wide. "Good thing I'm not a Marine then."

Smokey looks somewhat pained at the thought. "No, thank God. We don't need another Garp."

Lucy giggles. "Gramps wanted me to be. I always wanted to be a pirate."

"The hell is so appealing about that?"

Lucy gives him a pointed look. "We can be with whoever we want, for one thing." Smokey's default glare intensifies. Lucy softens a little, watching Chopper play catch with one of the children. "But mostly to be free."

Smokey doesn't say anything to that. He seems a little stumped by her answer though.

They're quiet for a moment. Lucy watches Torao try and fail to fend off Sanji's attempts at feeding him. Poor Torao. He clearly had no idea what he was in for when he asked to be her friend.

Torao grumpily rooms himself to the other side of the gathering. It doesn't help him at all though, because Sanji just orders the Marines to hold him down as he storms over, and informs him in no uncertain terms that Torao will eat or Sanji will not be responsible for his actions.

Aw. Sanji likes him. Lucy thought they would get along pretty well.

Zoro sees the whole thing and peals of laughter ring out over the crowd. Lucy smiles when she hears it, and considers going over to party with him and Usopp in a bit. They look like they're having a lot of fun.

"Oi. Are you just going to sit there?"

Lucy looks up, a bit startled. She forgot about Smokey. That was rude of her.

"Nope! It's a party!" She cheers, standing. She looks at the soup in Smokey's hands, her reason for coming over in the first place. "You should eat that. Sanji'll get mad."

Smokey looks more than a little irritated. "So you've said."

Lucy stares at him a moment more, then shrugs. His funeral. "See you later, Smokey!"

She turns to go find someone else to bother, but the Vice-Admiral stops her. "Straw Hat!" Lucy turns to him, curious. Smokey's face is deadly serious. "You know this doesn't change anything, right? I'm still hunting you."

Lucy blinks at him a few times, because duh. "Of course!"

Smokey looks at her a second longer, and then sighs, apparently coming to some important conclusion about something. He makes a shooing motion with his hand. "Off with you, then."

Lucy grins. "Enjoy the soup!" Then she turns and bounds back to the crowd.

Smokey. What a weird guy. But a good one. If he wasn't a Marine she'd ask him to join her crew.

Lucy's next target is Torao. She finds him aggressively eating Sanji's soup near an empty fire pit.

He notices her approach, raising his head from the food. He's facing away from the firepit, legs splayed out in front of him and he leans against what is probably a relatively warm rock. She stops in front of him, and takes a squat so they're on eye level. He raises an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" He asks when she doesn't speak, the corners of his mouth curled in irritation. He's probably still grumpy about the whole feast thing.

Lucy stares, her own eyes narrowing.

She trusts Torao. More than she should, Nami would probably say. She's not exactly sure what it is about him that makes her think he won't betray her, but it's an instinct sort of thing. It's never led her wrong before, and she's not going to start doubting it now. She's growing quietly certain that he needs help. And Lucy's his friend now. She's not going to turn her back to him.

But there are still boundaries. Lines that need to be drawn, and things Lucy will not tolerate.

Torao frowns a little harder at her silence. "Well? Are you just gonna stare, Straw Hat-ya?"

"You're the one who cut the factory in half, right?"

She sees his face slack with surprise for a moment before he covers it up, his expression set to characteristic blandness. Lucy can sense his wariness though, and maybe a little defensiveness. Observation Haki is useful, sometimes.

"And if I did?" He asks carefully. His eyes are a bit sharper with calculation than before.

"It was you," Lucy says confidently. She asked Zoro about it earlier, before Torao and Smokey arrived. He said it wasn't him, and Lucy is pretty sure Torao is the only other swordsman around with the power to do something like that. His reaction confirmed it. "It was cool."

Torao still seems suspicious, even with the bland expression. "Uh huh."

Lucy raises a hand to her hat, and presses it down over her eyes. "Was it necessary?"

"...what?"

"Was it necessary?"

No answer.

"I figured we'd end up destroying the factory sometime," Lucy admits. "And I figured that's what you meant when you said you wouldn't be able to guarantee everyone's safety after two hours." Lucy looks up at him, and his expression is almost the definition of a void but for the small trace of bone-deep shock around his eyes. "It's okay if you did it the way you did because it was necessary. But if not…" Lucy is careful to make sure her breathing doesn't betray her rage at the thought. "If it wasn't necessary then you endangered my nakama for no reason, Torao."

At the time, none of them had even made it to the tower. Lucy was there waiting with Brownbeard, and it was nowhere near the time limit given to everyone at the entrance. She'd been scared. Worried. Only the fact that she could sense them all alive, if frantic, held her in place.

Before her, something in Torao seems to soften in understanding, for all that he maintains his general guardedness. Lucy thinks he must be a good captain, one who understands stuff like this. She doesn't think someone as cool as a polar bear would follow someone who didn't.

"I won't ask any more about it," Lucy tells him. She doesn't want to talk about it much either. "But Torao…if you ever endanger one of my nakama unnecessarily again, we're not gonna have an alliance anymore."

Lucy doesn't want to do that. She wants to be Torao's friend, and in no small part because she thinks he needs one. But her nakama come first. Her nakama always come first. Being a pirate is dangerous—it's about risking one's life for a dream, and there're no guarantees—but it's Lucy's job as their captain to make sure her nakama aren't risking themselves pointlessly, or sacrificing things for causes that aren't worth it.

You have to guarantee my life, Nami demanded on Skypiea. Lucy hasn't forgotten. She won't forget. It's why they waited two years to meet again.

"Isn't that what this whole thing is about?" Torao asks quietly. "This alliance. It's an unnecessary risk for you, isn't it?"

Lucy shakes her head, a little annoyed that he doesn't seem to get it. "You can risk me all you want," she explains. "But not them."

Torao's green-grey eyes widen, just a little, and then she senses it as he realizes what she's saying.

Lucy takes friendship seriously. Really seriously. And she's Torao's friend now, so she's going to do whatever it takes to make sure he has whatever it is he needs. She's still not sure, exactly, what that is, or how the stupid clown fits into all of this, but it's fine. She's with him until he doesn't need her anymore, just like she would be for any friend. She's strong now. Strong enough to beat up anything that comes their way, and come hell or high water she's going to beat up the shadows in Torao's eyes. She doesn't like them.

But that all changes if Torao asks for what she isn't willing to give up. She will not tolerate anyone hurting her nakama. That was true in the beginning, and even more so now.

Torao needs to get it. Nothing happened this time, but she won't tolerate it again.

"I see," he says quietly. Lucy has a feeling he does.

She nods to him sternly, kind of like she's trying to do a handshake with her forehead. He frown-blinks in response, and Lucy stands, offering him a wave as she walks away.

"Straw Hat-ya," Torao calls. Lucy stops and turns back. He hasn't moved but he looks a little more…animated. There's some kind of determination in his spine that wasn't there before. "It was necessary."

Lucy blinks twice, and then grins at him. "Good. It was really cool."

Torao snorts, and leans back against his half-warmed rock, the suspicion in him finally seeping away. "Glad you thought so."

Lucy turns, eyeing the center of the party, and throws a wave and a parting comment over her shoulder. "Enjoy the soup! Sanji's the best cook!"

"We need to leave soon, Straw Hat-ya."

"Uh huh! Just as soon as everyone's finished!"

"Eating?"

"Partying!"

"Ugh." Torao sounds properly disgusted.

Lucy giggles, and feels her chest lighten when she sees Zoro throw a Marine who went for his sake over his shoulder one-handed.

Right. Now she can have fun.

Leaving Punk Hazard is good. Zoro's spent more than enough time in the mad scientists' lair, thanks. But at least the partying was good. Really good. Sake. Yes.

He may be a bit tipsy.

But it doesn't matter because a small gloved hand is twined with his and Lucy is leaning into him a little as they walk, taking shelter from the cold. Her cheeks are red from the wind, her eyes bright. Her hair whips around her, tangled as usual, and it's only the fuzzy yellow earmuffs that keep it out of her face.

Zoro kind of wants to kiss her. It's too bad she's pulled his scarf over the lower half of her face.

Actually, it's not. He'd rather she stay warm. He'll kiss her when they get back to the ship.

"Did you have fun?" Lucy asks, and her eyes are crinkled at the corners, like she's laughing. Zoro wants to kiss her again.

"Mhmm. Sake was good."

Lucy's smile is easy to detect, even with the scarf over her face. "I'll bet!"

"Straw Hat-ya," A low, irritated voice calls. Both Zoro and Lucy turn to look at the other captain. "Don't dawdle. We stayed too long as it is."

Zoro stares at him, deadpan, and a little nonplussed at the order. Lucy just waves at him sort of reassuringly and nods. "Yeah, we'll leave soon."

Zoro raises an eyebrow. "We?" Lucy didn't manage to recruit another crewmember, did she?

"Uh-huh. We're in an alliance with Torao. We're going to take down Kaido!"

Zoro blinks at her, sobering almost instantly. "You…have a plan?"

"Torao does!"

"You. Plan."

"We're going to kick Kaido's ass!" Lucy cheers, seeming entirely oblivious to the absurdity of that statement. Trafalgar looks bored, and maybe a little irritated. Zoro supposes that makes sense, considering the fact that he's been trying to get Lucy to obey anything other than her whims all day.

"Huh," he says after a moment, staring at Trafalgar. The captain stares back at him, expression bland.

"Oi! Lucy! Come over here for a sec, Chopper found a frozen tide pool!"

Lucy's eyes light up like the freaking sun and she's off like a shot to where Usopp and Chopper are kneeling over the ice.

Zoro looks at Trafalgar.

Trafalgar looks at Zoro.

"You poor bastard," Zoro says after a moment. It's the only thing he can think to say.

Trafalgar's face looks vaguely wan. "Why does everyone keep saying that? Why does her crew keep saying that?"

"Pity, mostly."

"Ugh."

Well at least the comments about not being able to trust Lucy made sense now. Trafalgar is definitely a schemer, in the same way Lucy is an agent of chaos and good cheer. This is a disaster waiting to happen, and Trafalgar clearly came into this thinking Lucy's previous successes in Paradise were the result of careful planning, rather than brute force and luck.

Judging from his facial expression, Trafalgar is just now figuring out he done gone fucked up.

"You poor bastard." It bears repeating.

"Yeah, thanks for that."

Zoro frowns at him. "We're going after Kaido?"

Trafalgar's irritated expression melts into a bland one. "Eventually."

Zoro sort of regrets not being completely sober for this conversation. "Right. Sounds like the sort of thing we do."

"I've got it all planned out."

Zoro has never in his life pitied someone this much. "That's nice. Lucy probably won't follow any of it."

Trafalgar stiffens and scowls. "She agreed to it."

Poor, poor bastard. "She agreed to beat up Kaido. She couldn't care less how it's done."

Trafalgar looks vaguely like someone made him swallow a pickled egg. Zoro notices Lucy, still with Chopper and Usopp, now punching the frozen ice, probably to try and get at the creatures encapsulated in the tide pool.

"How did you people even make it this far?" Trafalgar despairs. Good. Seems like he's finally getting it.

"Fate, luck, and brute force, mostly," Zoro admits. Then his eyes narrow, because something about this whole thing seems…off. "Why Kaido though?"

Trafalgar stiffens, and starts walking toward the ship. It's an easy pace, unhurried, but Zoro's pretty sure he's still dodging the question anyway. "One of his suppliers. I know him. Know how to take 'em both out."

Zoro raises an eyebrow, following the other captain. Not for the first time, he notices the sword leaning against Trafalgar's shoulder, and he wonders if the guy can use it. "You're playing 'em off each other?"

Trafalgar scoffs, nodding to Lucy. "We are."

Zoro chews on that for a moment, and the two of them cross the frozen bay to the gangplank in silence. Kaido is a Yonko. He's not to be underestimated. Lucy is strong, and she will be Pirate King one day but she's not yet, and he doesn't know if she's strong enough to start knocking at the door of the greatest pirates on the seas yet.

In the same way, Zoro knows he has to grow as well. He's strong—stronger than most, even in the New World—but he still has peaks to reach before he can claim his title.

Lucy lost to Caesar the first time they clashed. He doesn't hold it against her—she won in the end, came off the island with zero injuries for once—but with that as their latest mark on their track record…well, are they really ready to take on a Yonko?

"You don't think we're biting off more than we can chew?" Zoro asks lowly. From the deck, Nami hollers something at Franky, but the wind catches her words and it's impossible to make out.

Trafalgar raises an eyebrow. "Gotta admit, I didn't take you for the cautious one."

Zoro rolls his eye. "I'm not." Then his gaze shifts involuntarily to Lucy, now giggling with Chopper at the apparently soaked state of Usopp's clothes, and he mentally amends except when it involves them.

Trafalgar considers him for a moment more, and then turns away. "I informed her that the chances of success are low."

"Hm."

"Straw Hat-ya didn't seem fazed."

"Of course not," Zoro scoffs. Expecting Lucy to be cautious of a fight would be like expecting a lion to fear a deer. "Those are her usual odds."

Trafalgar seems a little amused at this, even if his expression doesn't change. "I figured."

They're close enough to the ship now that Zoro can hear Sanji cooing over Robin and offering her excessive amounts of coffee and cake. He can also hear her polite refusals, and the humor in her voice.

Lucy laughs off to their right, and Zoro looks at her, feels himself soften helplessly. "You're not going to screw her over, right?"

Trafalgar hesitates for a moment before responding. "No more than I will myself."

"Mhm. Well, that's all there is for it then." Zoro claps him on the shoulder, and starts climbing the rigging up to the deck. "Welcome aboard, Torao."

"I'm not joining your crew," Trafalgar mutters petulantly. "I'm a captain. What is with you people."

Zoro smothers a grin. Having this guy on board is going to be fun. The entire crew is going to haze him. Poor bastard. He probably didn't bargain for a passive-aggressive onslaught from the crew when he offered Lucy an alliance.

He catches a downright predatory glance from Nami as Trafalgar makes it over the rail. Zoro can't really blame her for being overprotective. And defensive. They just reunited a week and a half ago, and Zoro is nowhere near ready to split again. He knows the others feel the same. It's no wonder they're all so wary of the newcomers they've picked up on Punk Hazard, and especially Trafalgar, who targeted Lucy specifically.

At least now Zoro is pretty sure Trafalgar isn't out to achieve Lucy's demise. She's just a means to an end for him, and probably not one he's willing to sacrifice ahead of himself. It's good to know. It does make him wonder what that goal is, but. That's what they have Lucy's gut instincts for anyway. If Trafalgar intended her harm she couldn't handle, she wouldn't have accepted the alliance. The guy did save her life after all. He probably isn't interested in undoing all that work. It seems especially unlikely considering the way he's now wandering around the deck, looking at the Mikan trees with reluctant interest.

This plan, whatever it is, is dangerous. Zoro can see that. Maybe the most reckless thing they've ever done. That's not exactly a deterrent for them—actually the idea of taking on a Yonko has Zoro kind of giddy in anticipation—but it is a…consideration. It has to be, now, especially since Lucy's already picked a fight with Big Mam. This is the New World. If they're going to make Lucy Pirate King like they plan to, they need to actually plan. Take new challenges carefully.

Lucy understands this, he knows. He's seen it in the intentionality of her actions in the last week or so, and in the fact that she accepted any sort of alliance at all.

Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world - it is thin, Sensei used to say. This feels like one of those times it's particularly applicable.

Lucy vaults over the edge of the ship, Chopper wrapped in one arm and a hollering Usopp is left behind on the ground. Lucy's got a wide, childish grin on her face and his displaced scarf wrapped around Chopper's antlers, for some reason. There's a high flush on her cheeks from the cold and also her amusement and there's a mischievous light in her eyes that he's missed.

It's not that he distrusts Trafalgar exactly. He doesn't trust him, but Lucy seems to, so it's fine. It's more that he distrusts the situation, and he's not sure Lucy is stepping carefully enough.

But that's fine. That's half his job as her First Mate. It's why they make a good team.

Usopp heaves himself over the rail, and Lucy sprints for Zoro, giggling like mad, and he heaves a great, disaffected sigh as she hides behind him with Chopper still under one arm. She peeks out from under his elbow and squeaks as Usopp charges, snow still melting on his collar. Then the three of them are circling Zoro frantically, with Lucy using him as a human shield.

He puts an end to it by snatching the back of Lucy's collar and yanking her up to eye level. She gives him a blinding grin while Chopper trembles with hilarity in her arms. He gives a panting Usopp a warning look, and receives a satisfactory yelp in return.

"We should get going," he tells her.

Lucy's eyes light up the way he's come to associate with anticipation of a good adventure. "Alright!"

He sets the two of them down, and half expects Lucy to run off again. Instead she sets Chopper on the deck with a grin, the little reindeer still giggling at whatever they did to Usopp, and she unwinds the scarf from Chopper's antlers.

"That was fun!" Chopper cheers.

Lucy's grin widens impossibly. "Of course!"

Chopper giggles again and runs off. Lucy turns back to Zoro, still grinning, and he could swear her heart is in her eyes when she offers him the scarf again. The light catches her perfectly, reflecting off of glaciers and seawater and she seems to glow a little, her freckles standing out against her cheekbones, dark hair sweeping around her face.

God she's pretty. Zoro has to look away to avoid flushing.

"Keep it," he grunts. "You're still cold."

Lucy's smile turns a bit softer, and she wraps the scarf around her neck again. "You're always watching out for me, Zoro."

Zoro's not sure what expression is on his face right now. He's having a hard time beating down his simultaneous embarrassment and satisfaction. "It's my job, isn't it?"

He said it with a casual, accidental sort of intensity, and Lucy's cheeks redden a little. If Zoro wasn't so busy staring, he would probably roll his eyes at her apparent embarrassment. Lucy likes to spout ridiculously frank statements, but she can't take the same treatment, he's found. Lucky for her he finds it more difficult to say stuff like that than she does.

Unexpectedly, her hand snatches out to take his, twining their fingers together. It's a bit awkward and stiff because they're both wearing gloves, but Zoro doesn't mind because he can feel the warmth of her hand through the fabric and it's nice.

A strong gust of wind washes over the ship and she shudders, leaning into him a little for the body heat. Her free hand absently floats toward her chest in a fist, and Zoro closes his hand around it, massaging the fist loose with his thumb, and releases her hand when it goes slack.

"Go inside," he tells her. "We'll be away from the island soon. You can stay there until then."

Lucy shakes her head, scrunching her nose. "Everyone's out here."

Ah. "Let's go then. We've been here long enough." And he wants her to stop shaking, but he figures that's a given.

Lucy nods. "Hm. Nami! Set sail!"

A chorus of "Ayes" can be heard around the deck, and Brook helpfully starts playing an energetic riff on his guitar. Most of the rigging is already prepared, and it's just a matter of navigating away from the shore at this point—something Nami has well in hand if her precise instructions to Franky are anything to go by.

"Hey, Zoro."

He looks down at her, his attention having drifted to the activity on deck, and waits for her to speak.

"You know it's my job to protect you, too, right?" She asks, face earnest.

Some part—a large part—of Zoro rejects that. He hates the very idea of Lucy sacrificing anything for him. He never wants to see a day where she makes the same choice he did on Thriller Bark. He isn't sure he'd survive such a thing, and he will never, ever be okay with it, even if he knows he'd make the same choice for her in a heartbeat. Again.

But he knows she's not just talking about a hypothetical fight where he can't defend himself. He knows she's talking about more than her duty to the crew as their captain, and how her role is kicking the ass of whoever the biggest asshole in town is. She's talking about the little things, like making sure he doesn't cut himself off from their nakama, like he's prone to do, or keep his problems to himself. She's talking about the small, unthinking things they do for each other, how she stays nearby if she knows he's had a nightmare, but not close enough to tip the others off, or how she sets his favorite brand of sake aside at a party. She's talking about…comfort and companionship and the textures of a relationship that make it special and intimate.

"Yeah," he tells her quietly. His voice is a little gruff. "I know."

Lucy beams, and frankly Zoro just doesn't have it in him to refrain from kissing her right then.

Lucy uses the present tense for Garp being in the Marines because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Luffy doesn't actually know his grandfather is retired, right? Like, he was cut off from news for two years, he definitely missed it.

I get the feeling Smoker actually does care about what happens to Lucy/Luffy (especially Lucy, because she looks small and in need of protection, especially when Smoker first meets her in Loguetown). Not in any sort of genuine relationship sort of way, but because Smoker's a good man who doesn't like to see children suffer. He unlike most Marines seems to realize pirates aren't all bad. Smoker also wants to catch Lucy when she's at her best, not because she had a fight with Zoro. If I could have done that scene from Smoker's POV I would have, but I tried to make that pretty clear.

The quote Zoro recalls ("Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world—it is thin.") is from Edna St. Vincent Milay. I've used it in other fics before, but I thought it fit here.

I've been writing like mad, so I actually got a lot of Dressrosa written. There're going to be more Dressrosa chapters than any other arc in this fic, and that's true for a couple of reasons: one, Dressrosa is the longest arc in the series by, like, a lot. And I'm talking individual arcs, not arcs that share storylines, like Water 7/Enies Lobby, or Amazon Lily/Impel Down/Marineford. If we included Punk Hazard in that, it would still be number one or two. Second, a lot happened in Dressrosa. Especially in the early bits. Oda really didn't dwell on this stuff as much as he could have. Chinjao's bringing up Garp was a really interesting way of drawing a parallel between Luffy and Rebecca, and tied it back to familial themes as well, in preparation for Sabo's arrival. I would have loved to see that fleshed out more, especially if we were going to spend around 100 chapters in Dressrosa. I think it would have been a lot more interesting than the endless running we got later, and it's something that's…well, desperately needed, considering the lack of focus on the Straw Hats in general since the New World. They get brief forays into character development/progression and then we back off. It's frustrating, especially since so much time has been spent fleshing out other characters. Three: There was stuff I wanted to change. Like, Rebecca's whole personality. Girl drives me up a wall. Four: I spent a lot of time in the set up/transition period, because I wanted to. So there. Five: For all that Zoro was present in Dressrosa, Oda really didn't spend much time with him. So I invented stuff. Six: I'm trying to cut the chapter lengths back to their original target range of 3-4k. That got all kinds of screwed up after Marineford, so I'm trying to fix it, unless ya'll have some kind of problem with that...?

So anyway, I have lots of runway. I still may not post super frequently because I just had to take my laptop in to get fixed and won't get it back for like two weeks at least.

Please let me know if you liked it! Or if you didn't!