Chapter 8

2 weeks later

Mezumi woke up and stretched. She looked forward to everyday she woke up on The Thousand Sunny. The past two weeks had been spent on her learning as much as possible. She stopped her morning sessions with Robin in favor of helping Franky and Usopp with experiments. She also used her mornings and any other spare time to read books from the library. She still continued her after noon training with Sanji. Soon after she became a crew member she was 'invited' to use Zoro's training room to gain some strength. Zoro of course didn't invite her in those exact words. It was more like he called her scrawny and told her she should be weight training if she ever wanted to put some force behind a kick. She thought back to the evenings training with Zoro.

Flashback

She stood atop a metal bar used for pull ups. She had been working on her balance for the past few days. She could easily balance on the stationary beam as the waves rocked back and forth. She needed to move on to a new challenge.

Zoro had been bench pressing a significant amount of weight when he set the bar back in the rack. He sat up and looked around. He cursed.

"Whats wrong?"

"This is too easy. I need more weights but there aren't any." She thought for a moment. An idea came to her and she jumped down from the bar she stood on.

"I think I have an answer to both of our problems." Zoro cocked an eyebrow indicating he was listening. "You need more weight to lift and I need more of a challenge for balancing. I will stand on the bar and you can use me as extra weight." She used the bench to take a step up onto the bar in question. She settled on it easily and looked down at Zoro. He smirked.

"Suit yourself." She took that to mean it was an excellent idea and he was grateful to have more weight to use. Zoro was a man of few words. She had to learn to read into his words slightly to grasp the real meaning.

"Great. Just don't drop me Zoro-kun." He took hold of the bar and lifted it off the rack. Unsteady at first, she had to throw her arms out to balance herself. Zoro lifted the bar up and down till she finally got into a rhythm. Centering her right foot on the bar, she lifted her left foot in the air. Zoro gave the bar a jerk. Afraid she had set him off balance and that she would topple to the floor along with the weights, she planted both feet on the bar and steadied herself with her hands again. Zoro gave a snort of laughter and she shot him a glare. His smirk didn't let up.

"Try that again and I will turn all of your weights to dust faster than you can apologize. Then we will see how you can train without them." She smirked at him and he grimaced at her words. Since when had Zoro become almost... playful?

After that first instance of working together, they started to help train each other. Mezumi became extra weight for Zoro as he trained. She would occasionally shout out encouragement in different forms to motivate him. Her favorite time for this was when he was already exhausted from training and was about to stop. She found a particularly excellent motivator, one day, when she was being used as a weight while he was doing one armed push-ups. She saw him start to slow in his efforts after about the 500th push-up. Now was the time for a little encouragement.

"What your going to give up already? Sanji could easily beat you to 1000." She sighed dramatically. "I guess you can just give up now. Everyone else will just have to cover for your sorry ass." Undermining his skills would usually get him to work about and hour past his limit. However, comparing him to Sanji would guarantee almost two hours more.

For her help, Zoro would occasionally help her train by demonstrating proper forms and throwing out tips when she was struggling. She had made the mistake once of adding too much weight to the bar and not having Zoro spot her. She lifted the bar off the rack and brought it down only to realize she couldn't push it back up. While it was inching towards her wind pipe, she tried unsuccessfully to vanish the weights using her powers. Before she was in any real danger, Zoro lifted the bar off of her, effortlessly, and placed it back on the rack. He proceeded to yell at her for her stupidity. Since then, she only ever trained while he was present and he had become almost like her personal trainer.

End Flashback

Getting ready for the day she stopped in front of the mirror. She had gained some much needed weight and a little muscle since she joined the crew. She was still thin by any standard but her stomach was flat rather than caved in and she could no longer see her ribs. Her face rounded slightly to get rid of the gaunt look it previously held. She smiled at her reflection knowing it was all thanks to Sanji taking such good care of her. She though she should really do something nice for him to thank him for all he has done. They weren't anything more than friends but she hoped that would change soon. A gift would give her the perfect opportunity to thank him and show her feelings for him. She headed down to breakfast. She quietly opened the door to the kitchen. Seeing Sanji making breakfast she sneaked up right behind him and whispered into his ear.

"Good morning Sanji-kun."

"Good morning. Too busy dreaming of me to get out of bed early?" Sanji smiled.

"Now what makes you think I would dream of you?" She teased.

"Because I am the most handsome man you will ever meet."

"Someone is a little full of themselves."

"I only speak the truth." Mezumi snorted and sat at the table. With everyone filing into the kitchen Sanji set the plates down. Chopper had finally given her a clean bill of health so she was now able to eat a plate full of food without getting sick.

"There is an island ahead. We should reach it within the hour." Nami informed the crew after they had finished. "We can restock our supplies and relax for a while."

"I'm going to go finish a book before we reach the island. Excuse me." Mezumi left quickly, eager to get back to her book. As soon as the kitchen door shut behind her Franky addressed the crew.

"I have been fixing up the store room below deck for Mezumi-chan. I need to put the finishing touches on it after I get a few things from town. I need some one to keep her away from the ship until I can get it done."

"That is a great idea. Everyone else has their own place to go but Mezumi-chan doesn't have somewhere to call her own." Chopper smiled.

"I have been thinking of going shopping with her. Once we get to a different climate she is going to need different clothes. Not to mention she only has four outfits." Nami wrinkled her nose thinking of her desperate need for new attire.

"We should get her a gift to officially welcome her to the crew. Normally I wouldn't say it was necessary. Franky has already thought to gift her with her own room. But to this day she still doesn't have possession she can call her own."

"She still doesn't have a weapon." Zoro said. "We should get her one."

"Do you have a problem with how I am teaching her to fight, shitty swordsman?" Sanji shouted at Zoro for his comment.

"Only that your weak kicks are nothing against the steal of a sword, shit-cook." Zoro shouted back just as loud. Robin interjected to cease their verbal battle.

"I agree with swordsman-san. A weapon would be an excellent idea. As much trouble as we get into, her powers may exhaust her too quickly. It would be wise for her to have a weapon to fall back on." Usopp put his hand to his chin in thought.

"Well, I could probably come up with something. When should I have it ready?"

"Her room will be ready tonight we can give it to her then." Franky said.

"Tonight? You are giving me less than a day to make up and build an entirely new weapon?"

"You are the one that offered to make something for her. No one forced you into it." Usopp turned away from Franky. He pouted as if it would get him more time.

"Fine, I will do it." He started to shout as he threw his hands in the air. "I will make something amazing and thoughtful and powerful. Because I am the great Usopp!" He stated the last sentence very dramatically. The rest of the crew chose not to notice.

"So I will take her shopping while you finish your work." Nami smiled at Franky. "She will be so surprised!"