Carnation Island was filled with many wonderful things. Bright flowers lining the meticulously crafted walkways, plenty of food, water, hospitality and an amazing view of the glowing night lights that you could see shining from the Sunny. Most of all though, they had a great bar.
Just like every day, Nami nudged his resting body with her foot and he opened his eyes with a yawn. Grumbling a little about being prodded awake, Zoro followed her like clockwork to the small cabin-like establishment that had the words 'Diner' painted over the walkway.
When they went inside Nami noticed that it was a lot… prettier than the ones they were used to; the soft lighting and jolly music made it almost seem like a respectable establishment. However, the cheap wooden stools and slobbering drunkards quickly dispelled that illusion.
The barkeep gave them a once over, leering at Nami a little longer than he should have.
"What can I getcha for?" he asked gruffly, and began offering them a plethora of flower based drinks.
Zoro's eyes spun. It figured that an island named after a plant would base its attractions on that detail, but all these complicated beverages and unfamiliar names were making his eyes glaze over.
"…Just a beer," he said while avoiding eye contact, afraid that if he looked at the guy he would start rattling off the names of even more libations.
Nami scoffed and rolled her eyes. Smiling, she said, "I'll have the…sunflower beach?" She raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What does that even mean? Sunflowers don't grow on beaches."
"Don't they?" the bartender said mysteriously.
"No," they both replied in unison.
"…You're right, they don't. It's not easy coming up with all these labels."
Zoro rolled his eyes, but to his surprise he heard Nami giggle. The bartender slid him his simple drink and moved onto her more complicated one. After a flurry of pouring and shaking he set a small pinkish glass on the counter then slid a slice of lemon on the rim. Zoro felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he watched her down the gaudy liquid enthusiastically. Drinking was always the most fun with Nami (at least it was when they finally stopped making it a brutal competition). Luffy and Usopp usually passed out after 10 minutes and he and Sanji almost killed each other because of fighting whilst intoxicated. But with Nami, at least when they were drunk, they were the same. Not only that but they were both very, very happy drunks.
"Zoro! You should try one of these. They're really good!" She slammed the glass down on the counter and immediately demanded another.
He shook his head. "I don't drink for the taste"
"Bullshit!" she said, still grinning. "If it gets the job done and tastes good then like…two birds one stone!"
He shrugged noncommittally. "Calm down woman, you're shouting."
Her cheeks flushed a little from embarrassment. She crossed her arms defensively and huffed.
"Whatever. I'm just in a good mood…" Her lips crooked upward mischievously. "Hey Zoro…want to make a little bet?"
At that he dropped his apathetic demeanor and grinned. Zoro loved betting with Nami, mainly because though betting with Nami was still risky, there was just as good a chance of him winning as there was of him losing. He watched her tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear then rest her chin on her palm.
"We drink as many of these as we can," she said, gesturing to the pink concoction. "And whoever can hold their liquor the longest wins."
"Ok, and what happens if we lose?"
She smirked.
"If I lose, I'll pay every time we drink and never pester you to try anything besides your bland, tasteless alcohol again. If you lose, you have to pay and…you have to offer to help Sanji cook breakfast every morning for a month."
"He won't even let me near the kitchen, how am I supposed to pull that off?"
"Wow, you're already so resigned to losing. I guess that's understandable, but-"
Zoro snatched Nami's drink out of her hand and immediately sucked it down. He was annoyed at how easily she had baited him into accepting her challenge, but that didn't matter in the long run. What mattered was that he won, and this time he would. He felt it.
What really ended up happening though, was they both ran out of money around their 13th round and the barkeep consequently cut them off.
Nami almost had to jump on his back to keep Zoro from fighting the entire bar once they had been refused service. In the end she somehow managed to drag him out the door.
Nami sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I guess we'll have to take a rain check on our bet." She turned to look at him, only to be met with an empty space.
"Zoro?!" she spun her head from one side to the other (a bad idea since she was actually a pretty tipsy). When she steadied herself she found a tuft of green hair wandering toward the forest.
'Idiot', she thought, running towards him. Nami briefly wondered how he and Luffy had survived those few weeks before she joined the crew. Finally catching up to him, she grabbed him by his shirt collar and tugged him in the right direction.
"One day you are going to walk straight into a horrible, giant monster's mouth thinking it's the Sunny! Never mind having a bad sense of direction, what made you think you'd find our ship in the middle of the woods?!" She hit on the back of his head.
"Ow! Dammit Nami!" He rubbed his neck. "What the hell did you do that for?"
" 'Cus you're a moron. Come on."
She took his wrist in her hand and pulled him along. Unfortunately, her and Zoro's balance had both been affected by liquor and in less than a minute they were tripping over their own feet. Nami literally fell on her ass and Zoro just face planted. Spitting out dirt, he mumbled something about those drinks being stronger than he'd thought.
He picked himself up first and, offering her his hand said, "Here, I have an idea."
He yanked her up from the ground and put her arm around his shoulder, settling his own on her waist. It worked, what they were unable to accomplish separately they succeeded at together: walking. And after a few drunken stumbles they started on their way home.
By the time five minutes had passed, the 'Sunflower Beaches' were starting to kick in. Suddenly the situation seemed hilarious to Zoro. He snorted- where were they? If Nami had gotten them lost he would never let her forget it.
"Heh...Hehehe...Hahaha!"
Nami turned to look at him, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"What? What's so funny?"
He stifled his laughter and stared at her. Quietly serious and completely genuine he said, "I forgot."
She stared back, wide eyed, looking at his sincere and endearingly confused expression.
"Pffffft!" Nami tried to hold back her laughter by covering her mouth with her hand, but it was no use. She doubled over, holding on to her stomach for dear life. It took only a second for Zoro's befuddlement to disappear and he joined in her outburst. They continued down the beaten fast convulsing with obnoxious laughter in a town that had long been asleep.
Between the sudden bursts of cackling, they started talking about their pasts and scenarios they had encountered before joining the straw-hats.
"So I have this guy tied up, rolling around in the sand, with all of his treasure loaded onto my tiny little sailboat. And he's screaming, like shrieking at me, calling me a bitch and a 'no good tramp.' And I'm like 'Yeah ok buddy whatever makes you feel better,' and I turn to look at him and I swear to god… the man has a huge erection."
Zoro was practically wheezing, tears pooling in his eyes. Nami stopped laughing at her own story and took a moment to watch him. It was weird to see him so visibly happy; she could appreciate the rarity of this situation even through her boozy haze. Noticing that she was no longer giggling with him, Zoro stopped and faced her questioningly. She was smiling pleasantly at him, her hazy brown eyes scrunched up in amusement. They were so preoccupied with looking at each other that they didn't notice they had walked all the way into the ocean until they felt the icy water coil around their ankles.
"EEEK," Nami cried and ran back to land. He squinted at his wet pant legs and soaked boats then trudged back to where his crew-mate had retreated.
When he found her she was leaning against the ship. By some chance they had found their way back home.
finally caught up to where i want to be ohmygod (two months later) thanks for reading! next chapter will be up soon :)