Author's Note:
Hello again. Long time, no see :P
Well I posted the beginning of this One Shot in tumblr, because I was heavily sleep deprived and a sleep deprived me is apparently not a nice writer. Anyway: This One Shot is for all my lovely and perfect ladies on the ZoTash Discord. I am so happy to be part of this Cult.
❤
Stairs
It was still early in the morning when Zoro made his way down from the crow's nest to the deck. As most of the time his night watch was rather boring than exciting, so he spent most of the night lifting weights. And now he was ready for a good day of sleep, after some freshly cooked breakfast, of course. He could already smell the fried bacon when his feet hit the deck and his stomach growled in anticipation. While he made his way to the kitchen, he picked up the newspaper.
"Morni…", he started as he entered the kitchen but froze when he caught on to todays headline.
Tragic death of Navy Captain
Next to that there was a picture… a picture of the Navy Captain who's death was accordingly so tragic.
"Zoro?", he heard Chopper ask but he could not tear his gaze away from the picture.
Her glasses were up on her head, like most of the time when they had meet, her eyes sparkled with joy and on her lips was the biggest smile he had ever seen on her. It was a really pretty picture, though it did not match the headline.
His eye scanned the article and he couldn't help the tremble in his hands, he didn't even notice the questioning looks from his Crew mates. Hot anger started boiling in his veins as he finished reading, then he slammed the newspaper on the table and stormed out of the kitchen.
Stairs.
Fucking stairs.
His hands grabbed the railing so hard his knuckles were turning white.
Why did she had to die because of fucking stairs?
Just when he finally realized Tashigi for her very own personality, she had to do something extremely stupid like falling down the stairs and breaking her neck.
This stupid clumsy woman.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and that was the moment his tears decided to start running down his face.
"I am so sorry", Sanji said.
"Somebody should go up there and check on him."
"Are you crazy? The last time someone checked on him, he scared Usopp to death!"
"A ladybug would scare Usopp to death…"
"HEY!"
"Shut it! He hasn't eaten for days and he hasn't left the crows nest since reading that damned article."
His friends thought they were whispering, but they were the Straw Hats, Zoro wasn't sure if they really knew what whispering meant. He was able to hear every word from them, but he did not care.
Four days have past since he learned about Tashigi's death and he could not get himself to do anything since then.
After Sanji accompanied him at the railing on this faithful day Zoro locked himself in the crows nest. His plan was to train all these negative emotions out but that changed as soon as his gaze hit the big wide sea, instead he had sat down and until this day he was not able to stop his thoughts from circling around Tashigi.
Another fantastic swordswoman gone way too soon. Way before her time. How in the world was that fair? She was still so young and had plans for her life and fucking stairs ruined it all.
Wasn't it ironic?
After all this time it took him to realize that Tashigi and Kuina were so completely different and he was finally able to see Tashigi for who she really was, this twist of fate came along.
It was hard for him to comprehend that these two women, who were so important to him, died the same fucking way. And now Zoro did not know what to do, he felt restless ever since.
It was rather easy for him to find a motivation after Kuina died, they promised each other something after all. But Tashigi's death left a whole in his heart he did not know how to fill. His body told him to do something, but his mind could not tell him what it was what he needed to do. So, he decided to stay up in the crows nest until he had a solution for it.
"Luffy, I need some time off."
All eyes were on him, when Zoro entered the kitchen. He had spent a whole week up in the crows nest and he finally knew what he needed to do.
The looks in his Crew mate's eyes were shocked, to say it mildly. Zoro knew why they looked the way they do. He himself knew that he did not looked good. The lack of sleep, food and water took a toll on him, and he was highly aware that he needed a bath, new clothes and a shave. But he needed to sort this out first.
"You need what?", Nami asked.
"I need some time off. I have stuff to do", he answered without taking his eyes off his Captain.
"Stuff to do?", Nami shrieked, "Listen, moss head, I know Tashigi's death hit you hard and we give you all the time and space you need to grieve, but we still need you here on the Sunny."
"Stop it, Nami", Luffy said strangely serious.
His eyes were locked with Zoro's and the swordfighter could almost see his Captain's train of thought in his eyes.
"Go. And come back whenever you're ready to. The Sunny is your home and she will always be."
Zoro did not have thought at any moment, that Luffy would try to hold him back but nevertheless he felt relieve rushing through his body.
He gave his Captain a short nod and then left the kitchen again. Better not to waste any time.
It has been a hell of a journey and it took him way longer than he expected and wanted to but Zoro finally made it to his destination. As soon as his feet hit the jetty, he scanned the area for any Marines roaming around. It would be so much easier with one of them.
He always hated to admit his bad sense for directions, but he was on a mission. And when he was on a mission everything was allowed.
His eye locked with a young Marine further down the jetty, who was looking at him suspiciously. The young man was probably not entirely sure if he was really seeing Roronoa Zoro coming towards him.
An evil grin spread on Zoro's face when the unsure look of the Marine turned into shock.
He knew exactly what was now running through the man's mind.
It was late in the evening and he was all alone at the harbor and pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro was walking straight towards him, an evil smile on his face. What to do? Oh, what to do?
Before the man could make a decision Zoro grabbed him by his collar and pulled him near.
"I need to talk to your Vice Admiral. Now", he growled at the man, who was so frightened all he could do was nod.
Vice Admiral Smoker was not the type of man who loved to be on land. He was born to be out on sea as often as he could, but headquarters ordered him to be on Liverbalt Chain and orders were orders. Smoker just hoped new orders were coming soon.
His feet up on the desk he ignored the files, that he needed to work on, and stared out of the window. The sun was setting, and Smoker considered going down to the harbor for a walk.
She would have loved that, and it was hard not to think about the things this clumsy woman loved, when she was no longer around.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he almost fell over with his chair, when the office door was slammed open.
A violent curse on his lips, he turned around and stopped when he saw the scared Marine entering his office. But he almost dropped his cigars when he discovered what was the reason for his fear, or rather who.
"Roronoa Zoro", he growled, "What the hell are you doing here?"
The pirate gave is hostage a hard push out of the office and closed the door. Without saying a word, he made his way to Smoker's desk and plopped himself down in one of the chairs.
Smoker watched him closely. The swordfighter had always had an intimidating aura, but something changed; the expression in his eye was darker and the lines on his face harder.
What happened to him?
"Was it her fucking clumsiness?", Zoro spoke.
"What?"
The pirate in front of him seemed to take a deep breath to calm himself.
"Was it her fucking clumsiness that made her fall down the stairs?"
Smoker was still too stunned to answer right away. He blinked a few times and then felt rage bubbling in him. Slamming his hands on the desk he stood up and glared at the green haired idiot in front of him.
"Who the hell do you think you are? Marching in my office, in my base! And start asking me stupid questions?!"
In that moment Roronoa's whole demeanor changed. His posture straightened and he also stood up, glaring at Smoker.
"I want to know the reason for her falling down fucking stairs", the pirate said calmly. His calm voice paired with his intimidating glare, sent shivers down Smoker's spine.
And Vice Admiral Smoker was not the type of man who got intimidated easily.
But he was the type of man who knew when he needed to fight a battle and when not. And this battle was one he could definitely not win.
Sighing he sat himself down again.
"So, you are here to talk about Tashigi."
"I thought I made it obvious."
For a moment Smoker considered picking the fight back up again, but the hassle was just not worth it.
"Get your ass down, I am not talking to you about anything, if you keep standing there looking all demanding and such."
Roronoa did as he was told, but still had this prompting look on his face.
Smoker decided to ignore him and looked back out of the window.
"We were ordered to an island called Lanholm Skerry, there we were told to arrest Kaito Akuno", Smoker started, "It took us a week to track him down and when we finally did he had the audacity to flee. Of course, that dumb woman rushed after him immediately. They were running down these stairs, she tripped and fell."
"So… it was an accident?", Zoro asked after a few minutes of silence.
Smoker simply nodded.
"What happened to the guy she chased?"
"Escaped. I had other things to deal with."
"It was an accident, caused because this Kaito Akuno decided to run away? She fell down the stairs because of Kaito Akuno."
The Vice Admiral looked back at the pirate.
That was… one way to look at it.
"I want Shigure", Roronoa demanded suddenly.
Smoker's eyes widened.
"Excuse me?"
"Did I fucking stutter? I want her sword."
Again, anger started to boil in Smoker. What was that bastard thinking?
"I don't have it", Smoker said simply, trying hard not to yell at this youngster.
"Where is it?"
"I sent it to her parents. Along with her ashes."
Roronoa looked at him shocked.
"You cremated her? Why?"
"Because it was her fucking wish! Not that it is any of your business."
"FUCK!", the pirate shouted and slammed his fist down on the desk.
Smoker heard a cracking sound and when Roronoa lifted his fist there were actual tears in the hard wood.
"What the heck is wrong with you?", Smoker demanded to know. He played along long enough, now it was his turn to get some freaking answers.
However the pirate seemed to have other plans, without looking back he stormed out of the room and even did not have the manners to close the door behind him.
It was freaking unbelievable.
Tashigi was no longer with him, but still he had to deal with her and her stupid boyfriend.
"What was it that Zoro said he had to do?", Nami asked while reading the newspaper critically.
"Stuff", Robin answered without looking up from her book.
"Did he ever mentioned that this so called stuff would involve raiding islands and beating people up?"
Now the navigator had everyone's attention.
"Sorry?", Usopp asked.
Instead of answering Nami just turned the newspaper around.
Half of the page was occupied with an image of Zoro.
Swords drawn. Splattered with blood and blood lust in his eyes.
"Wow…", was all that Sanji could think of.
"The article says that he is raiding island after island to hunt a man named Kaito Akuno down. He was the one Tashigi was chasing when she died", Nami explained, followed by silence.
"I knew, Tashigi's death hit him hard… but this hard…", Sanji said sitting down, still stunned.
"I always had the impression he doesn't even liked her that much."
"Oh, Usopp, you know nothing about loving someone while she is on the other side of the law", Robin answered with a chuckle.
"Zoro? In love with Tashigi? Robin, darling. I don't think that moss head knows what love is."
Instead of answering him Robin just smiled mysteriously at the cook.
Nami sighed and turned around to their Captain.
"Luffy, he is doing this for three weeks now. Don't you think that it is enough? We should get him home."
Luffy, who did not say anything up to this point, looked at Nami and shrugged.
"He will sort this out himself, I am sure."
"Luffy, he is… he is crazy! Even when he is still grieving, he has no right to let it out on innocent people."
"Nami, Zoro would never hurt innocent people. I don't know why he is doing what he is doing but he got his reasons. He lost someone close to him and if that is his way of coping, so let it be it."
Nami just starred at him. It was rare to see Monkey D. Luffy completely serious but right now he was.
She did not like what Zoro was doing, whatever it was what he was doing, but as long their Captain was not concerned, there was nothing she could do about it.
All she could do was hope that Zoro did not do something extremely stupid.
"He is causing mayhem, Vice Admiral", came the stern voice of his superior through the den den mushi.
"I am highly aware of that", Smoker answered.
"You need to stop that, immediately!", came another male voice through the phone.
Annoyed he ran his fingers through his hair.
Roronoa Zoro was causing ruckus and somehow it was his fault.
"I am not responsible for that pirate."
He could sense that this was not the answer his superiors wanted to hear.
"That pirate is doing this because of the death of your Captain, so, yes indeed, you are responsible for him!"
"Stop him, Vice Admiral!"
And with that the line went dead and Smoker fought hard against the urge to bang his head on the table. Instead he looked at the person sitting in front of him.
"You heard them. Stop him!"
Zoro was in a rush.
He knew that.
But there was no way he would stop.
Not until he found him.
Kaito Akuno.
He was the one responsible for Tashigi's death.
He was the one who caused her fall.
He was the one he needed to kill.
And Zoro would not rest until he reached his goal.
In the last few weeks he was visiting island after island to find him. This Akuno seemed to be a pretty famous guy in the criminal world. Huge in human trafficking.
Which was just another reason for Zoro to find him.
Right now he was on an island called Baxfail Island or something, Zoro could not quite remember.
What he remembered was that, accordingly, Kaito's right hand was supposed to be on this island and if one person in this world would know where he was then his right hand.
But the criminals on this island did not make it any easier for him. They were defending the bar, where Zoro suspected the right hand to be, with their lives.
Not a reason for Zoro to stop.
He sliced his way through the men and women, careful not to cut them to deep. So, they would be able to survive, if they got to a doctor in time, that means.
Only a few more than the way was free and Zoro could take a big step in the direction of his goal, when his sword came to an abrupt hold.
Huh? That was new.
He sensed the weapon that stopped his before his eye caught up and that startled him more than the stopping itself.
That could not be!
Hastily he looked up and there she was.
"What the fuck are you doing?", she hissed the same angry look in her beautiful eyes as always.
Zoro dropped his swords and put his hands on her face, not realizing how her gaze changed to irritated.
Forgotten were the enemies he wanted to take down.
Forgotten was the reason he was doing all this.
"You are alive", he whispered softly.
But before she had the chance to answer him, he had already kissed her.
Tashigi widened her eyes as she felt the choppy lips of nonother than Roronoa Zoro on her lips.
What the…
She did not know what to do. Should she slap him? Stop him? Return the kiss?
Wow, where did that come from? There was no returning of kisses from a pirate!
When Zoro finally ended the kiss, he looked at her with the softest look in his eye.
"You are alive", he said again.
"Eh… yes, I am", she just answered. Still not quite sure what was going on right now.
Suddenly his gaze hardened, same with his touch on her face.
"You. Are. Alive."
Tashigi was tempted to roll her eyes but something in Zoro's vibe told her better not to do it.
"And you are repeating yourself", she answered instead.
It was such an absurd situation they were in.
Standing in the middle of the street. In front of the favorite bar of most of the criminals on this island.
Zoro's hands were still on her face and he was starring at her like she was the one beating up hundreds of criminals in the last few weeks. His swords were still lying on the ground like he had forgotten about them. Not a nice way of treating them, Tashigi thought.
"But you died. The newspaper said you fall down fucking stairs. And Smoker… Smoker said he got you cremated."
Uneasy Tashigi looked up and down the street. Most of the men and women Zoro was fighting were still lying unconscious on the floor, the last two standing were looking at them as if they've gone completely nuts.
"Maybe… we should go and talk somewhere else", she said.
But Zoro did not seem to like it.
"Why are you not dead?", he demanded to know.
Tashigi narrowed her eyes at him.
"Would you prefer if I were dead?", she snapped.
Shocked Zoro took a step back, finally releasing her face.
"No… I… that is not what I meant", he stumbled looking at her like a deer in headlights.
If she hadn't been mad at him, because of the things he had done, she would feel sorry for him. Maybe.
But he messed up big time and definitely did not deserved pity.
"What did you mean then?", she asked putting Shigure back in its sheath.
Zoro avoided looking at her by picking up his swords.
"I really thought you were dead", he murmured and Tashigi felt how her anger subsided.
He almost looked like an lost puppy standing there a feet away, looking guilty and avoiding to look at her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed heavily. What world was she living in?
"I was undercover, you idiot!", she then proceeded to say.
Zoro's head snapped up and he starred at her, mouth wide open.
"Undercover?"
Rubbing away the frown on her forehead she just nodded.
"Why?"
Crossing her arms under her breasts she looked at him sternly.
"We never wanted Kaito Akuno, he was always just a blender. A little boy who always pretended to be a big one, but as soon as he messed something up, he would always run back to daddy. And his daddy was who we wanted to capture."
Zoro hang on her every word with wide eyes and anticipating.
"So, when I tripped while chasing him, it opened the perfect opportunity. We knew that Kaito would run directly to his father, when he thought a Navy Captain died while chasing him down."
"So you were not hurt?", Zoro asked.
She was not able to suppress another sigh escaping her lips.
"I sprayed my ankle, but that was it."
"And what about that guy you wanted to capture? Did you do it?"
"We almost didn't, because someone decided to go all psycho on every criminal in this world!"
Tashigi was satisfied to see Zoro flinch at her words.
"But we arrested him and Kaito two days ago."
"Good."
"You freaking out did not help, mind you."
Zoro took a step towards her, grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers. Tashigi was surprised but she did not pull back. The expression in Zoro's eye was so sincere, she could not bring herself do to it.
"I apologize", he said, knocking their foreheads together, "But I really thought I lost you."
She did not know what to say, she did not know what he was doing, she did not know why he went all crazy after reading about her faked death and she did not know why she did not feel uncomfortable being so close to him.
"Go home. Your job is done", she whispered after some time.
Tashigi had closed her eyes, not trusting herself with her actions if she had looked into his eye for a second longer.
"You're not going to arrest me?", he asked also whispering.
She shook her head.
"The order was to stop you."
"And you stopped me."
"I did."
She felt him squeezing her hand once more and then he broke away.
Tashigi opened her eyes and watched him walking down the street, although she could not stop herself from saying:
"Zoro… the kiss…?"
He turned around and his typical grin was back on his face. She did not expect him to come back, rather expected some mocking words.
But he once again took her face in his hands and kissed her.
Softer than the first one. With so much more emotion and there was no way for her to stop her heart from pounding loudly in her chest.
Her eyes fell shout and Zoro deepened the kiss even more.
When they finally broke apart, they were both breathing heavily. There was once again this soft look in Zoro's eye.
"I am really happy that you are still alive, Tashigi."
She looked at him with wide eyes, that was the first time ever that he used her name.
"Stay away from stairs, though."
Tashigi couldn't help but laugh.