"Where's Zoro?"
Luffy looked at the people around him, waiting for an answer. Usopp shrugged, Sanji made no attempt to acknowledge him or the rest of the men on the ship, and Chopper just darted around worriedly, knowing how possible it was that if Zoro went somewhere he might never come back. Finally, Robin put down the newspaper she was reading and took pity on him.
She smiled. "I think he went off with Nami, I saw them playing in the sand earlier."
An audible crack was heard as Sanji crushed the handle of the frying pan he was currently using.
"I'll….I'll kill him."
Robin picked the paper up again to hide her smile, knowing that she probably could have use a better choice of words. Luffy ignored their furious chef and continued looking at her with his eyebrows turned up in disappointment.
"He's never around," he sulked. "And hanging out with Usopp all the time gets boring!"
"Hey, shut up!" Usopp yelled defensively.
"Luffy, that's not nice, you're going to hurt his feelings."
He rolled his eyes at Robin and continued pouting. She giggled a little at his childish reaction. Getting up from her seat, she went over to Sanji, deciding that it she didn't interfere he was likely to burn down the ship, find Zoro, and burn him too. The second she put her hand on his back he was mollified.
Luffy crossed his arms and plopped down onto the sand. "I bet their doing something fun without us."
Hell.
He was in hell.
It had finally happened; all his misdeeds, his indifference towards mankind, becoming a pirate, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro was finally paying for his sins. Satan was a woman and she was leading him to a one way express line to damnation. He put his hands together in a silent prayer. 'Oh God, I'm sorry I questioned your divinity. If this is your punishment then just…just kill me.'
"Zoro, what are you doing, hurry up!"
Nami tugged on his yukata, she had been pulling him by it the entire day. In retrospect, it really wasn't any better than the rope. The sound of her heels clicking against the sidewalk echoed in his ears. For the last three hours she had been dragging him all over town, her idea of 'accompanying him'. So far they had been to six clothing shops, a jewelry store, a pawn shop (oddly enough), and were now on their way to the local library. She hadn't stopped by a bar once.
"Would you let go of me, woman!?" Zoro growled, trying to twist out of her grip.
"Stop whining, you're annoying me."
After several failed attempts he managed to break free. Immediately he started to make a run for it. Zoro had barely made it a few steps before she grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him back. She glared at him for a moment before letting her face fall in resignation.
"Alright, I'll stop dragging you." He let out a sigh of relief. "But! You have to stay with me and you can't just wander off like you always do."
He rolled his eyes. "You're not my goddamn mom, ok."
Nami groaned and suddenly laced her fingers roughly through his, digging her nails into his skin.
"Fine! Be a dick about it!"
She angrily walked, hand in hand, with Zoro trailing behind her. He stared at their connected fingers, not sure how he should react to them. His bewilderment kept him silent while she continued her rapid walk.
After a while, Zoro began to feel weirdly self-conscious. He couldn't stop looking over his shoulder to make sure that none of the villagers were watching. All of a sudden he was acutely aware of how clammy the palm of his hand was getting. Why couldn't she have grabbed his wrist instead, was it really necessary to intertwine their hands like…like…
"We're here!" Nami shouted gleefully as they approached the library.
He wrenched his hand from hers. "Great."
"Who does that idiot think he is anyway?" Sanji spat at the ground, stomping on his cigarette.
Usopp made an 'I don't know' face. "If those two are together somewhere, I really doubt that it was Zoro's idea."
That didn't make Sanji feel better at all. He ground his teeth and took out a second cigarette. They had been gone way too long. If Nami wanted protection she could have - should have - gone to him.
Usopp's shoulders sagged in exasperation, he was sure that wherever they had gone Zoro was not having a good time. He went back to tinkering with the weapon he was working on. The Sunny was quiet now that Luffy had convinced Robin to go exploring with him.
"Maybe I should go after them-."
"No."
The library smelled like dust and paper. Zoro sneezed, Nami gave him a grossed out look when he didn't cover his face to which he shrugged. He watched as she stuck her nose into book after book. He remembered her village and knew a little about her past, when had she learned how to read? He was certain that the Arlong crew never attempted to teach her anything. Had she taught herself? He felt a flicker of admiration as her eyes scanned over each page faster than he knew he would ever be able to.
She picked up a stack of books and dropped them on a table. Sitting down, she began to read more voraciously than before. It occurred to him that, at the moment, he no longer existed. Nami wasn't paying attention to him at all, if he wanted to it would be easy enough to slip away and leave her here. He scrunched his face up in a way that would have been cute on anyone else but on him just looked scary. Seated at the table, surrounded by charts and geography, she looked genuinely happy. Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed and turned his back on her. Maybe there were some books about swordplay, if he was lucky he might find one with pictures.
Zoro grabbed a musty hardcover off the shelf and sat on the floor. He thumbed through the pages absently, not really seeing the words. There weren't any pictures in that one so he tossed it aside and reached for a new one. None of them seemed to have any actual photographs of swords or techniques. Eventually, the words started to blur as his eyelids drooped. Yawning, he decided to give up on reading and take advantage of the soft lighting and quiet atmosphere of the library and fell asleep.
'Zoro.'
He blinked sleepily. Someone was calling his name.
"Zoro, wake up."
He rubbed his hands over his face. Nami was standing over him, waving her hand in front of his face. He stretched but didn't get up. "Nami…what do you want?"
She resisted the urge to pinch him. Wiping the irritation of her face, she gave him a toothy grin. He was a crude narcoleptic but he had stayed with her all day, not to mention let her drag him all over town. She bent down and picked up the books he had strewn messily on the floor then pulled him up by the arm.
"Let's get a drink."
He crooked an eyebrow up suspiciously. She rolled her eyes and -much to his protest- linked her arm through his. She thanked the librarian and pushed through the doors.
"Roooobiiiiiin," Luffy whined. "I don't wanna go to the book place!"
She chuckled but kept walking towards the library despite Luffy's howling. The map she had purchased from the so called 'magic shop' said that it should be close.
"Robin, it's getting late, we might miss dinner!" He clung to her jacket like a toddler that wanted to go home. "Sanji'll save something for you but he'll just call me a bastard and tell me to 'get lost' if I ask for leftovers. He'll be like," He imitated Sanji's tone and pantomimed holding a cigarette, "What are you an idiot?, I only make exceptions for ladies. Now go away Luffy, I need to make sure all my shirts have stripes on them."
She giggled at his impression and continued walking without a hint of hesitation. She felt a little bad for making Luffy miss a meal but thought of it as compensation for humoring him all day. She went to make a right turn but stopped when she heard footsteps.
"Look, Robin, I'm already starting to fall asleep from boredom and we're not even there yet." Drool was pooling at the corners of his mouth to support his claim. "Let's just go-"
"Shh!." She grew an arm on his chest and quickly covered his mouth. "I think I hear something." She turned her ear in the direction of the footsteps, listening for voices.
"..."
"Let go of me, witch! I think it's safe to assume I'm not gonna run off on my own now."
Luffy pushed her hand away. "Is that…?" A grin broke across his face. "Zoro!"
"Quiet, Luffy," Robin said, putting a hand to his lips.
"Stop being so difficult! You should be honored that I'm even touching you...you're sweaty."
Her mouth turned up into an amused smile.
"I am not!"
She turned to Luffy, still smiling. "Let's hide behind the trees."
He frowned at her. Nami was there too and he wanted to see his crewmates since they had been absent all day. Robin didn't wait for an answer, she tugged him under the foliage by his sleeve and they both crouched down, hidden by leaves. Soon enough she saw shadows approaching from the dimly lit pathway.
"Zoro, Zoro are you listening? I said that if you took showers on a regular basis your personality might stink less."
"Would you shut the hell up?!"
Zoro and Nami's bickering figures came into view. Robin held Luffy's mouth shut and watched as they walked past, arm in arm. For the first time in a while, she thought she might blow their cover from laughing too hard. If she didn't have Luffy's voice on lockdown she'd be worried about him doing the same.
"Come on, I think we should head back," She whispered to her incapacitated companion.
He replied by licking the palm of her hand, succeeding in getting her to let go of his face. She furrowed her brow at the spit covered appendage, looking vaguely disgusted.
"I'm not going back, I want to have fun with Zoro," He said firmly, showing no sign of wavering.
"If we leave now we can make it in time for dinner."
"Ok."
"Did you hear something just now?"
Nami looked over her shoulder. She could have sworn that she heard the sound of shoes on the ground.
"Like what?" Zoro asked.
"Like twigs snapping."
He waved her off, Zoro didn't like to brag but his instincts were kind of unbelievably good. If anything dangerous was around he would be able to sense it. Still, it was pretty dark. The occasional lantern didn't provide a lot of light and there were too many trees to see the lights from the village. Nami was probably freaked out from the dark; she wasn't the most courageous pirate in the New World. That, added to the fact that they had been walking for a pretty long time would justify some apprehension.
"It's probably just nerves."
To his surprise, she snorted. "Why would I be scared? You're here."
Zoro felt his face heat up. It might have been phrased rudely, but that was a compliment. She had said, in a way, that she felt safe with him. He couldn't help but feel a little good about it. The pervert cook would have an aneurysm if he heard that.
"What are you grinning at?"
His expression snapped back to its usual stoicism. "Nothing."
"…Ok? Anyway, we made it."
She pointed to the faintly illuminated tavern ahead. She turned to him and grinned.
"I bet I can outdrink you."
He smirked and twisted his arm away from hers. "What, like a contest?"
She nodded in reply, playfully elbowing him in the shoulder. Maybe he had complained enough for one night. The bar looked warm and inviting and company didn't sound that unappealing. He didn't feel like drinking alone either, which was weird since he had spent the entire day with someone at his side. Without waiting for her, Zoro walked ahead and pushed the door open, keeping it ajar for his companion.
"After you."
Nami raised her eyebrows. She had been fully prepared to have the door slammed in her face. She smirked.
"Thank you Sanji."
She laughed when he gripped the handle hard enough to crush it. Zoro closed the door irritably and shoved his way to a table. When he was seated, he didn't waste any time in ordering. Two years had passed since Whiskey Peak and he was going to drink her under the table. She sat down delicately across from him, just as confident in her alcohol tolerance as he was. The tavern's one waitress flounced over to them and took out a small notepad. They started off by ordering two pints of ale but Nami made it clear to her that they would be drinking a lot more than that. It didn't take long for her to shuffle back to them with a tray of glasses.
"Here you are," she said, putting the mugs in front of them. "And this is from the man over there."
She placed an extra cup in front of Nami and pointed behind her to a guy sitting at the bar. Nami leaned over to wink at him and Zoro felt that if he rolled his eyes any harder he would reopen his scar. He took a huge gulp from the ale, watching the man who had sent the drink as he leered at her. She, however, seemed unaffected and began working her way through her first round.
The waitress soon found herself dizzy from going back and forth from the bar to their table, and Zoro felt himself getting more drunk with every passing moment. Maybe he shouldn't have been so self-assured, after all the entirety of his two year training he had been completely sober. Even in his foggy state of mind he was aware that Nami had the upper hand. The bar cheered when she slammed down her 13th round. Their contest had become the main source of entertainment for the patrons. All around them, men shouted encouragement and insults. But mostly they just shouted lewd comments about her physical appearance.
Zoro tried to ignore the obscenities being thrown at her, especially since she was doing a great job of that herself. She shrugged off every vulgarity unfazed and just continued drinking with a smile on her face. Yet, as the night went on, and he became more and more intoxicated, Zoro's indifference wore thin.
"Take off your shirt!"
"Yeah! Show us your tits."
"Is your pussy as tight as those jeans?"
Slam.
He pushed the man who had been calling out the majority of the harassment onto the floor, holding his chest down with his forearm. The jeers immediately stopped and the tavern was quiet. The sound of a chair wobbling as Nami stood up echoed through the room. The patrons all stared in silence at the two men on the ground. Nami hurried towards the one-sided brawl and stood over him breathing heavily, cheeks pink from the booze. She didn't move for a while, then, balling up both her hands into fists, she put her foot on the side of Zoro's stomach and kicked him off the man beneath him.
Expecting to see another guy looking for a fight, He turned his glare onto Nami. When he realized who he was looking at, his expression faded from fury to shock. That shock only increased when she raised her heel back up from the floor and kicked him square in the face. Gripping her fingers through his hair, she threw the money for their bill on the counter and dragged him out the door. He yelled at her to let him go, circling all the way back to anger. Once they were a safe distance from the bar she let go of his head.
"You crazy bitch! What the hell is wrong with you!?"
Nami scoffed. "I should be asking you that." She ran a hand over her hair. "What happened to never fighting a meaningless battle?"
He went silent. She was right, the man he had attacked had been much weaker than him. Thinking about it, Zoro couldn't even remember what he'd looked like. He got up slowly, meditating on what she had said. There was no reason to get involved with that guy, Nami probably could've taken him down on her own. But he had been so mad, and now he couldn't even figure out why. He rubbed his hands over his face. He felt like an idiot. She sighed and put her hand briefly on his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go home."
He nodded, not feeling much like talking.
"And Zoro?"
He couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with her but he glanced in her direction, acknowledging the question.
"We'll have to take a raincheck on the contest." She smiled at him and he felt the corners of his lips twitch into a half smile.
The next day they walked into town side by side. No rope, no pulling, though Nami was a lot more cautious about him losing the path now that he wasn't on a leash.
"You're being a lot more agreeable today," she said, trying not to sound as smug as she felt.
Zoro shrugged, "Well, you attract so many perverts, and if something happened to you Luffy would…I don't know…punch my face in probably."
She smiled. "Sure."
hey guys! i finally put the other members of the crew in this chapter and hopefully this is where you'll start to see more of them :). pls read & review, AGAIN criticism is welcome i want to know if theres anything i can make better. that being said encouragement is always nice and i'll see you next week!