[A/N] Woo! Here I is with this new chapter XD I'm so glad I got it finished! I should be updating faster for now on, but i'm not guaranteeing anything since I am in my last semester of my junior year and have a shitload of work plus a job. But i am going to try my hardest! :)

On to the new chapter!

Nicole sat in the dark, thinking about the past few days. She had tried to go back and talk to Miss Tayanaki the day after they first encountered her, but she slammed the door in the red head's face. It frustrated her to think about it. The two women did have a strange relationship in the first place, but not one where one hated the other.

She sighed and rubbed her face before she heard a few footsteps coming her way. The person sat beside her with a few clanks and she knew that it had to be Zoro, "Why aren't you asleep marimo?"

He chose to ignore the remark about his hair and laid his swords to the side, "That's what I was going to ask you."

"My mind is too active to rest," She huffed and rested her chin in her hand, leaning forward, "That old hag needs to get over herself."

"I never thought you could be bothered so much just by one single person ignoring you," He smirked as a tick mark formed on her forehead. She turned and threw her fists at him, but he caught her by her wrists, "Just calm down. It probably isn't anything personal."

"Then what would it be?" She furrowed her brows and frowned. He only shrugged as he lowered her fists to his lap.

"We can find out what's going on before the log post is finished resetting...we just need to be stealthy."

She looked at him and nodded, "I'll do it myself. You guys shouldn't have to get involved in my stuff."

"But that's what we do remember?" He gave a crooked smile as he let go of her wrists and they both stood, "We get into each others business."

"I know...but not this time Zoro," She shook her head stubbornly and jumped off of the boat.

He blinked and jumped off after her, "Well I'm coming at least."

"Do what you want...geez when did you get so nosey?"

"When I started hanging out with you, baka." He ruffled her hair and walked along side her as they traveled up the stony path. She only gave him a glare as she smoothed out her frazzled hair.

The two had gotten a lot closer with the passing time. Through defeating Captain Kuro to beating the crap out of Arlongs crew, to crossing the red line and sailing into the grand line. Even when he fought Mihawk she was there. It was horrifying for Nicole to watch as Hawkeye sliced into Zoro like it was nothing. The man was an old friend of her fathers and she was close to the man as a child, but it didn't stop him from declining Zoro's challenge.

She felt helpless back then, which was a feeling she utterly dreaded. She could only watch as Johnny and Yosaku fished the swordsman out of the water and slapped him into the small boat. She yelled out to Mihawk, but he only stared at her with those golden, soul seeing eyes and told her, her father said hello. That meant nothing to her, she wanted to see him with her own eyes and make him proud.

But then and there she wasn't thinking about her father, she was thinking about the injured man lying unconscious on the small deck of the boat.

She stitched up that wound the best she had ever stitched up anything, including her own wounds. She was freaking out to say the least. She wasn't a doctor so she could only do what she knew. She didn't want to mess up and let him die. She cared for the man too much to let something like that happen, and she would've blamed herself for the rest of her life if it did.

Luckily she was worried over nothing. She underestimated Zoro's will to live, and after sleeping it off he woke up. The relief she felt was immense, and that's when she wondered if her feelings for him was greater then just a nakama or a friend.

Now they found themselves in the grand line on the Nuesa islands, where they were trying to hunt down Miss Tayanaki, Nicole's past caretaker. When they couldn't find her anywhere in the city, Nicole grew worried. The kids were nowhere to be found either. They sat on a limb of the tall bushy tree outside of Miss Tayanaki's home, waiting just in case she showed up.

"Do you think something has happened to her?" Nicole looked down at the door and rested her head on the tree's trunk where the limb connected.

Zoro shrugged, "I'm sure she'll turn up, she just an old lady after all right?"

Nicole sighed and frowned, "But she has a knack for getting herself into trouble with that big mouth of hers."

"What, like you?" He said, gaining a quick glare from the red haired woman. She turned back in front of her as he looked at her and furrowed his brow. She was acting unusual to him, which meant she really cared for the woman.

The face she wore when she was worried was evident as he studied her expression. He had memorized how her mouth would stay straight and her bottom lip would poke out ever so slightly, you wouldn't even be able to tell unless you were looking out for it. Her eyebrows would relax, but her eyes would be focused on nothing in particular, as if in thought. It had taken him a while, but she was a hard one to read when she wanted to be.

Why he had taken the time to understand and get the woman, he had no clue himself.

He hadn't spent half as much time debunking his other nakama like he did her, but he felt the need to with her. They had spent a lot of time with each other. She would train with him, they drank and ate side by side, he would even stay with her from time to time at night as she looked up at the stars. She entranced him when she spoke about the things she would conversate about. Yes, he enjoyed their back and forth teasing and how they would get to one another, but the moments they would have when it was just the two of them were amazing.

He couldn't explain this, but he was attached to her. This was conflicting to him however, he had one goal and one goal only, and he couldn't lose focus on that. But he continued to push this thought aside.

He looked back at her and sighed. He held the top of her head and turned it towards him. She blinked and gave him a confused look, "What?"

He moved closer to her face and opened his mouth to speak, but the blush and the expression she wore on her face stopped him. He had yet to figure this one out completely, and it intrigued his curiosity. He couldn't help but smirk, "Stop, you're worrying too much."

She nodded uncomfortably, "I'm not meaning to...but okay I guess."

This made his smirk grow wider. Pigs had to be flying if Nicole was listening to what he was telling her to do. He moved his body closer to hers, and she backed up where her back was pressed against the tree, "Swordsman...w- what are you doing?"

She furrowed her brows, but her face was still a light shade of red. It was hard to see in the dark, but the light from the street lamp cast slightly over them. She didn't know how to react to his actions, and she was secretly wondering how far he was going to take it.

"I'm seeing something," He softened his smirk and raised an eyebrow at her, him now dangerously close to her. He rested a hand on the tree trunk, and the other was still on top of her head, "Is this bothering you?"

"You're in my personal bubble," She growled, frustrated with being trapped in the situation. She wasn't handling it as well as she usually would, but her mind had been somewhere else and she wasn't expecting this so suddenly, "What is so important for you to see that you have to get up all close and personal?"

"You were blushing," He stated as she looked a bit startled. His playfulness faded as he began to think. He slowly backed away and she relaxed.

"So?" She scoffed and slowly gained back her composure, looking away from him, "I thought you were..."

"Thought I was what?" He questioned as she glanced at him, only for a second.

She growled and punched him on the shoulder. They always had messed around with each other, but this time it had gotten to her a little more then it should have, "Don't play like that, it isn't funny."

He was about to speak, but something rustling behind them caused him to change focus, "Who's there?"

The rest of the Mugiwara Pirates were fast asleep in their cabins as the three children sneaked on board. They quietly tip-toed down the stairs to the mens quarters and shut the latch. They all looked at each other until the middle one took a deep breath and began to yell.

"WAKE UP YOU DAMN PIRATES!"

The girl turned on the lights as Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper jumped out of the bed startled while Luffy had not been awakened. They all looked around until they saw the children and began to yell, grumpy that they had been woken up by yelling.

"Will you boys calm down?!" The little girl flipped her hair and crossed her arms, "We have business to take care of! Miss Tanayaki is in trouble, and like it or not you are all going to help us save her."

[A/N] Dun Dun DUN! :D

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