AN: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda!

I'm really sorry about how late this is, I truly am. Things were just a little too chaotic, but I did end up enjoying my two days as Zoro, so it was definitely worth it! My headache has finally shifted, so I'm back to being up and running! ...My mum actually has me shoveling out the bottom of the aviary, which is why this is late :P

Please enjoy! :D


Chapter Five – Being Shattered

"Can I help you?" A cold voice asked over her shoulder as she flicked through a magazine.

"Hm, I wanted to ask how Nami is, but Zoro asked me to stay away from his friends." Robin nodded back to the man standing behind her chair in a set of dark blue scrubs. She hoped he hadn't been busy when the nurse had paged him for her. "I can hardly be breaking that rule by speaking to you and you dislike me already, so there is very little chance of a conversation."

"That's particularly interesting logic." Law smirked, shaking his head as he lowered himself down into the seat next to her. "Why would Nami not be fine?"

"Oh? She seems a little upset about the move." Robin replied carefully, trying not to show her surprise. Why would Zoro not mention what happened the other night to his boyfriend?

"Right...Why? She doesn't seem all that attached to Zoro? Perhaps you are projecting?" Law suggested almost too airily as he glanced at the other people in the hospital waiting room.

"Actually, Zoro and Nami are particularly close, so I know I am not projecting. I believe he and his friends are more like family?" Robin nodded, feeling something twitch inside her. Why would Zoro not mention any of this? "She still has another two years of university, so it is not even as if she can just drop everything to follow after the two of you like Sanji is."

"Sanji?" Law frowned, his grey eyes narrowing as he studied her. "He's following us out there?"

"He said the other night that his father had given him the 'go ahead'," Robin began as her mind carefully tried to piece Law's reactions together with Zoro's decisions, "apparently he'll be starting up his own restaurant."

"Right...I'd forgotten about that." Law nodded thoughtfully as he slowly stood up from his chair. "I need to get back to work, but Nami is doing ok, so you don't need to worry about her."

...

Robin stared at the coffee machine, willing the water to heat faster, needing it to heat faster. She was sure that it was taking longer every time. Maybe she needed a new one? Was this one dying on her too? She had only just bought it! This was why she'd just started getting instant coffee! Then again, she was on her second kettle this month. She still needed to replace the mug that she'd thrown at the floor the morning that Zoro had come home. No, came back to Koshiro's. He didn't live there anymore.

Robin jumped as a loud thumping started on her front door.

She stared down at the shards of broken mug in disbelief. Two mugs in only one week. She'd just have to tidy it up after she'd seen to the constant banging on her door. Why did they have to keep making so much noise like that?! She hadn't even had her morning coffee yet! She looked at her hands as they shook, telling her that it was time for her next coffee. She needed to get rid of this person quickly. Why won't they stop that annoying thump-

She stared at her front door.

Zoro was glaring at her through the stained glass, his eyes fixed on hers, as she stood there. She waved uncertainly at him as he finally finished hitting the bottom of his fist off of the glass. She took a few steps towards him and gulped as he tried the handle. She smiled at him and lifted the key off of the oak cabinet that sat at the bottom of the stairs. She could feel the intensity of his glare coursing through every inch of her. He stood less than two meters away on the other side of the glass. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it was a bad idea to open the door? He could obviously see she was there, but he didn't look like he was here for a friendly visit.

She turned the key in the lock.

"What the hell did I ask you to do?!" He roared as he threw the door open, almost knocking her off her feet.

"Zoro, calm down!" She snapped back, pressing her hands against his muscular shoulders.

"Calm down?! What the hell did you say to him!?" He yelled, grabbing her wrists and pushing her backward so that she was pressed into the gap between the cabinet and the bottom step of the stairs.

"Who? Law? I didn't say anything to him. I just asked him how Nami was; I was worried about her." Robin returned, trying to wriggle her wrists out of his grasp as he pinned her hands above her head.

"About Sanji! What the fuck did you say about Sanji?!" He exclaimed in what seemed almost like desperation. "Wh-What did you say about Sanji...?" He repeated, his initial fury passing as his head fell against her shoulder. "What did you tell Law? He's..."

"I didn't know that he was unaware of Sanji's plans..." She began, finally freeing one of her hands. She slipped her free hand into his now-longer green hair and rested her head on top of his. "I-I didn't mean to cause any trouble...I was-"

"Just checking up on Nami..." Zoro mumbled into her shoulder as she stroked his soft hair soothingly. "Why did you have to go to Law...?"

"You asked me to stay away from your friends and Law doesn't like me anyway, so I thought no harm could come from talking to him." Robin murmured quietly into his ear. "What happened?"

"Can we move from the front door...?" He grunted, slowly raising his head to look back at her.

"Sure." She smiled softly, stroking his hair one last time before Zoro released her.

She closed the door and turned the key in the lock again, making sure that no-one could follow Zoro in. She didn't know what state Law was in, but Zoro was certainly upset. Upset did not quite seem like the right word considering he had come to her. He'd come to her? Was he perhaps only coming to her because Law was upset with him? Like he'd ended up with Law when she had walked away from him? Koshiro was surprisingly still oblivious to what had happened; how had he even caught them in the first place?

She walked into the kitchen and began picking up the mug. She couldn't exactly have a serious conversation while her ridiculous mess lay on the floor. She felt a gentle hand on her waist and lifted her head. Zoro took the shards from her and placed them on the kitchen table, before leading her towards the living room. He opened the door and stopped. Robin turned her head away from him as he stared at her incredulously. She had never needed it, so why should she furnish it?

"It's just as well I stopped Nami from coming round." He muttered as he took her back to the kitchen.

"Nami was coming over?" She frowned, lowering herself into the seat that Zoro pulled out from the table for her.

"Yeah, she wanted to apologise for the other night," he began, turning back to the broken pieces of mug on the floor, "but I told her I'd pass on the message. I hadn't expected to come home to a pissed Law though." He grunted, throwing a glare over his shoulder. "Now, are you gonna tell me why you look like shit? You didn't exactly look much better on Saturday night. You'll also have to explain why you keep smashing up mugs."

"Mugs, Zoro?" She replied, trying to act completely innocent in the face of his accusation.

"Yeah, Law told me that you suddenly, very forcefully, threw a mug at the floor last Saturday. Is this some sort of Saturday morning ritual?" He smirked, throwing the porcelain into the bin with the remains of the other mug and a large, empty, glass coffee jar. "You seem to have a lack of rubbish in your bin?" He added, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Perhaps we should return to the problem at hand?" She suggested pointedly as she stood up.

"Sit back down and, if you're a good girl, I'll make you the coffee you were clearly in the middle of making." He returned, folding his arms across in front of his broad chest. She nodded in defeat as she felt the shaking worsen and sat back down, feeling his eyes study her. "So, you've lost weight, you're paler and you seem to be shaking badly. Not to mention, the only evidence of you having had anything to eat or drink in the last week is an empty coffee jar."

"I'm fine, really." She smiled back, trying to ignore the growing headache.

"No, you're not. What food have you got in the house?" He sighed as he turned to the fridge.

He stood back up straight and closed the fridge door. He walked over to her little freezer that sat under the worktop where her microwave lay and pulled it open. He started muttering quietly to himself as he knelt down on the floor and began pulling frozen vegetables out of it. His face lit up as he tugged on something right at the back. She wasn't even sure what she still had in her freezer, but she doubted there would be anything edible.

She quietly laughed behind her hand as he held up some very frozen bacon. The ice almost completely filled what had been the remaining space unoccupied by bacon inside the clear plastic packet. He shook it, but no sound escaped the crystallised bacon. He stood back up and marched up to the sink. He slammed the tap on hot and ripped the packet of bacon open, only to shove it under the rushing water.

"Right, you're having freezer-burned bacon and frozen mushrooms for breakfast, ok?" He smirked back at her, daring her to argue.

"Fine." She mused as he began searching for her pans. "The cupboard next to the cooker."

"Thanks." He grinned boyishly back at her as he pulled the cupboard open and grabbed the frying pan.

"Is there some scissors? If I cut the bacon up into pieces, it'll hopefully mix together better." He frowned as he lifted the slightly crunchy defrosted bacon back out the sink.

"Top drawer, Zoro." She smiled, watching the young man start cutting the bacon up with a strange enthusiasm.

...

"So, are you going to explain?" Zoro sighed as he sat back in his chair, patting his stomach, having finished his plate of bacon and mushrooms.

"Explain what?" She smiled, hoping that he couldn't still recognise her fake ones.

"Don't give me that shit." He glared, sitting up again to lean on the table. "You're lashing out, you're not eating and, I'm guessing, you've developed a pretty serious caffeine addiction? Just a hunch going by how badly you were shaking before you had that overly strong coffee."

Robin lowered her eyes to stare at the empty plate. When had she last eaten properly? She'd had slices of coffee cake and cheese scones when she'd been in cafes, but she couldn't remember when she'd last cooked. She'd had to eat during the school year, but because it had been a temporary placement, she'd had very little need to do anything this summer. Normally she'd have been away on an excavation, but she didn't have the money to get to any after paying for half a wedding. She was still glad she'd had the sense to pre-book last year's trip, although her fiancé had almost cancelled it when she left him at the altar. If she hadn't used her own bank account to book it, he would have.

"It's been an interesting two years." She offered, still not looking back at him. He had no reason to listen to her and she certainly didn't deserve his sympathy.

"Even I know that much." He snorted, shaking his head at her. "How'd you end up in this mess? Last I'd seen you, you were telling me it had all been a mistake and you were engaged."

"After I walked out on you...I tried to go back to my normal life." She hummed into her mug, staring longingly at the bottom of the now-dry, pale blue porcelain. "I spent the next year planning the wedding and I was 'fine'."

"Lucky you." Zoro chipped in, a slightly bitter tone to his voice stabbing at her chest.

"As I was walking down the aisle, all I could think of was the things you said to me that night...I'd known that what you said about my ex was true... but I don't deserve to be happy...At least that's what I thought." She continued, finally lifting her eyes to meet his. "You told me that you'd show me that I was marrying the wrong man...and that you loved me. No-one's ever said that before and truly meant it...It scared me, even though I 'knew' the one saying it was just a boy and that I was just his 'high school crush'...Look at you now; you cannot deny that you were a boy when you said those words to me."

"Yeah, well, I was definitely a man when you walked out on me." He glared back, forcing another stabbing pain to shatter through her chest.


Hello! Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter! The next (and final) chapter will be up next Monday! It's called 'Ending the Games'!


Robin Roronoa-swan~! Sorry to leave you going insane! Hope you're keeping well!? Really glad you've been enjoying this! There is only one more chapter, as you predicted! XD I really need to get over the obsession of patterns and keeping things 'the same' :P I'm really enjoying your thought patterns, partially because I'm internally screaming "Yay! I got the messages across right!" 0:)

'mina-chan', I'm so glad you're enjoying this so much! XD How are you coping with this latest chapter?! XD

megaME-chwan~! I know! ;-; How are feeling after this chapter?! Robin's a mess and Zoro just can't seem to hold himself in one piece! And I will try to give you some fluff! ;P

'Guest01', hehe, I shall! I'm actually working on something along those lines right now! XD