Thousand thanks to SadEcho, for ... well ... usual stuff *blushing*. I should really learn how to express my endless gratitude in another words ...
Added some illustrations for the chapters 2, 6 and 7. No coloring, just outlines.
I do not own One Piece, just love to mess with its characters in my own ways :)
Warning: Language, bits of adult suggestions
Misunderstandings here, misunderstandings there ... sometimes, the life is full of them. But when the crisis come, they need to patiently wait with their explanation, until their time will come again.
Looking at Chopper, as he was looking over his shoulder back at him every few steps, Zoro sat down on the deck, supporting his back against the railing. Maybe it wasn't the best time to meditate right now, but well, one doesn't know when he will be interrupted again. Even now, when his hammock was occupied, sitting at the deck was a far better solution than trying to sleep on the couch in the men's room.
Drifting slowly through his thoughts, Zoro was still prepared to snap out of it immediately and act, if something was about to go wrong in Chopper's plan. Though he wasn't very fond of their newest passenger, and didn't really understand the little doctor's motives, he just couldn't turn him down. No one would ever guess that the mighty, scary, demonic, pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro had a soft spot for a cute little reindeer doctor. Or that he had any soft spot at all, nor even a heart when it came deeper down.
But as soon as he closed his eye the picture his mind offered to him made him wonder if this part of him was just joking or simply just tried to piss him off. The last thing he wanted to see right now was that idiotic wide grin, that haunted the swordsman for some time now.
"Fucking ... assholic ... shitty ... idiotic ... redheaded ... good-for-nothing ... pain-in-the-ass ..." Zoro huffed, elbows deep in a soapy water. Viciously, one plate after another was scrubbed, while his ego was occupied with finding all kinds of names for the cause of his problems. If it wasn't for that man, he wouldn't be stuck here and forced to deal with an irritated Shakky. "If I ever get my hands on him, he will regret the day he was born!" He felt pretty humiliated, being forced to work in the kitchen. Though, despite their mutual opinions of each other, he secretly began to admire Sanji for being able to do this kind of work for almost his whole life, with a pure joy on top of that, since he personally found it especially annoying.
Good thing his issued two days were ending today. It was already two years since all the strawhats had gathered, and he was looking forward to it. Though the memories of Nami made him slightly cringe and the one's about Sanji's maliciously smirk. Still, he couldn't wait to see all of his nakama again. But being the kind of man he was, Zoro would never admit it out loud.
"Finally." Zoro exhaled, glad, that this ordeal was behind him. He tried to look at the whole thing as some kind of training, but soon he found that pretty much impossible. The only thing it gave him was a pained neck and shoulders from being bent over the sink for past two days. Stretching his arms and back and groaning with satisfaction as he heard his joints pop and loosen a bit, he decided a good drink might improve his mood a little.
"Hell, where are all the pubs hiding?" The swordsman frowned, trying to figure out why he couldn't find even an one inn wherever he went. "Why do the surroundings change all the time?" he grunted, turning back from the supposed way he had just came from, and marched back.
Well, it wasn't exactly "back" since he took the left way, but try to explain that to Zoro ...
As he wandered through Sabaody, some commotion caught his ears. He wasn't really interested in what was happening there, but as it drew closer, the swordsman recognized the much too frequent word that his mind had been teasing him with through the past two days.
"Akagami! Just you wait!" someone yelled, pretty pissed off. "Cut off his path! Catch him at all costs!"
"It's Akage, you idiot, Akage! Hell, get your ears checked! And your eyes too while you're at it if you can't tell the difference!" the hoarse voice was screaming in the answer.
Like a flash, something red sprinted very close to him, almost leaving burning traces carved into the ground.
The red that suddenly flashed through his one-eyed vision had nothing to do neither with the color of the hair, nor the color of the yukata, of the chased person.
"You!" the swordsman roared, launching his own hunting party. No way he would let that bastard escape out of his reach ever again ...
"Oi." A sharp nudge to his ribs dragged the meditating man back to reality. Normally he would be pretty pissed off, but since he didn't really want to watch this particular memory, it was a welcomed distraction, even it came in a such form.
"What."
"The hell you are doing there? Sleeping problems, Marimo? Really?" the amusement in Sanji's voice was more than obvious.
"Are you just bored or simply scared of the dark, curly-brow?"
"Nah, cut out that crap." Sanji waved it off in a manner, that surprised the swordsman. Sanji not participating in their argument? Did the hell just freeze? "Just wanted to tell you, I found something really interesting."
"Are you ill?" Zoro wondered as he stood up, pressing his palm on the other's forehead, ignoring what the cook was telling to him. "You should ask Chopper for a checkup, I think your brain went crazy from all that noodling around the sea witch and Robin."
"What the hell are you are doing, idiot!" The cook briefly slapped Zoro's hand aside. "And don't speak about the sweet Nami-swan like that, or I'll kick your ass!"
"To hell with '-swan' ... " the swordsman cringed, upon remembering that he wouldn't be able to return to his comfortable hammock any time soon. He would rather not try to explain why the navigator was claiming his sleeping place, because Sanji would never understand. Maybe he would. But he would also be so jealous, making it nerve wrecking in the end. With that on his mind, Zoro plopped down again in an attempt to resume his meditation.
"Hey ... " Sanji's wondering voice disturbed his meditation even before he started it again.
"What."
"Where's Nami?" The cook frowned when he didn't find the navigator with his Haki at her usual sleeping place. This new power sure came in handy, as he didn't need to risk his neck to check them personally.
"Showing your true colors?" Zoro smirked with hardly suppressed amusement. "After all that 'I'm not a pervert' crap you were claiming before?"
"I'm not a stalker!" Sanji literally jumped up like being sting by a bee, being caught by the word "I'm just worried about her and Robin-chwan's well being!"
"Yeah, like hell. But don't worry, she is completely fine," he yawned out.
"What do you mean 'completely fine' if she is not in her ..." sudden realization struck Sanji, as he spread his Haki further. "You ... you shitty, idiotic Marimo, what the hell you did do with my sweet Nami-swan?!" the cook hissed, immediately turning bright red, steam of pure revenge coming out of his nose.
"Nothing. She came to me 'cause she was worried." Zoro inwardly sighed and face-palmed. This was exactly the situation he was hoping to avoid at all costs. But on the outside he just grunted it out like nothing unusual happened.
"To sleep in your hammock, like hell I'll believe you!" If he didn't want to alarm the whole ship, Sanji would be probably screaming out loud with anger. "Nami is a nakama, you peanut-sized brain! Do you even know what that means?!"
"Hell, like I would ever want to have something with that bossy witch!" Zoro snapped in a low voice, knowing too well what the cook was referring to. "Going into her panties would be like suicide for anyone who would ever dare to try that!"
That was partially the truth, since no one could be sure, with what kind of demand Nami would come up with after that ... and being indebted for the rest of ones life was probably the best thing one could await after such an attempt. No, messing with Nami was never considered a good idea in any way, shape, or form. Maybe for one night, and then run away for the rest of your life, but definitely not in the long run.
"Besides, just thinking about that makes me feel even more sick, than it sounds!"
For Zoro, Nami was more like sister than the subject of a lust. He never denied her beauty, even if he never praised her out loud, but seriously ... who would want to harass his, almost, sister?
"What did you say?!"
"The truth. Bear with it."
"Like hell you would ever recognize the difference between the man and woman, shitty Marimo!"
"What the hell are you implying, Mr. 'I-will-bleed-out-just-from-stealing-a-glance-at-w oman'?!"
"You..."
Just as Sanji lifted his leg high up to the air, in attempt to slam Zoro right down through the deck, Chopper's frightened voice reached their ears from the opposite side of the ship.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean that!"
"Hey, don't be so tense ... what's wrong?" Joyce grinned at the sudden reaction.
"You ... you're not mad?" the doctor asked shyly and with great uncertainty. He had expected everything from some kind of death glare to a straightforward attack, but not something like this. It was his first time witnessing a stranger being called an idiot and taking it so calmly. Especially coming from a pirate, being addressed to another pirate.
"Nope, to tell the truth, I've already heard worse. On top of that ... I have to admit, that in some situations, I, indeed, am or at least behave like one ... ehehe" The redheaded pirate rubbed at his nose in slightly sheepish gesture. At least one thing was fixed in what little time remained, until that amusing duo arrived.
"Z-Zoro! Sanji!" Chopper screamed in shock, as he spotted two of his nakama filled with murderous intent rushing towards them, just now realizing, what kind of misunderstanding he had just caused. "S-stop! He's hu - aaaaah!" The doctor didn't even have a chance to end the sentence, when a dark skinned hand grabbed him from behind at the collar of his T-shirt and swiftly shoved him out of the way, landing him safely aside onto the soft sailor's sac.
Upon the swift movement, the falcon spread its wings, and with quiet flapping left Joyce's head, settled itself on the railing. Aware, that the blonde man had darted around to retrieve his crewmate, the redhead turned his attention towards the swordsman standing before him.
"Well, aren't you a bit agitated?" The genuinely wondering, but slightly scowling, Joyce asked; his body was still relaxed, despite another danger of being attacked. "Both of you, so ungracefully interrupting our private talk."
"Chopper, is everything fine?" Sanji asked, setting the doctor back down on the deck as the questioned nodded. The cook turned his eye towards the unmoving redhead, observing his staring competition with Zoro.
"Stop that messing of yours," the swordsman ground out in a warning tone. His left hand was ready, positioned over the hilt of Sandai Kitetsu that had partially been flicked out of its sheath. 'No jokes here. Do something stupid and I will kill you.'
"Messing...?" Joyce grimaced, feeling kind of touched by such accusation. "You call this a messing? Man, if I had started to mess with you, trust me, you would recognize it instantly." He shook his head, smirking with amusement. "Or is that, that you want me to mess with you for real?" A roguish grin with two mischievous sparks in the depths of those odd eyes sent a strange shivers up to Zoro's spine.
"You messed with me.. us...," the swordsman corrected himself, "enough already." He grinned devilishly, answering the obvious challenge. "The only thing that's still keeping you healthy is Luffy's acknowledgment of your sorry ass. The moment he changes his opinion, I'm going to finish what you started."
"Then I will certainly look forward to that. Maybe, to make things more interesting, I should also start my messing with you for real? Then it will be even more fun..." The redheads wolfish grin became even wider.
"Aete suru," Zoro challenged outright, leaning closer down to sitting Joyce. "If you ever happen to find the balls for that." His dangerous aura thickened in the atmosphere, clearly displaying his potential threat.
"Finding them would be an awful waste of time, since to do something like this, I technically don't need to have any balls at all. How lucky for me, isn't it?. " Joyce rose up a bit to close some of the distance between them too. Both of the swordsmen's faces were a mere inches from each other, completely locked in their mutual challenging. What they started a mere few hours ago, already had bloomed into something that resembled serious mutual measurement of two pretty big egos, if not of something else and much worse. Or some really creepy kind of flirting.
" ... the hell?" Sanji frowned, looking at the duo who had switched from the verbal challenging to plain, yet still challenging, growling.
If the challengers would lean in a bit more, they would have definitely tried to push each other with their foreheads like two hard-headed rams to measure themselves.
"Hey, you shit-headed Marimo, what's with you?" One second the swordsman wants to kill that obnoxity on the spot, and in the next one he challenges him in such a manner? "Do you even know what you want to do?"
"Am I seeing things, or did someone over there just turned solid green with jealousy?" A roguishly grinning Joyce turned her attention to the cook, who instantly went red.
"Like hell I would be jealous of something so stupid like this!" the cook screamed so loud, it made the falcon whistle in annoyance. Not even out of reach could it get its sleep; what a shame!
"Sanji, no! He's hurt already!" Chopper finally recovered himself out of shock by those loud sounds. Rushing before crouched Joyce, he tried to defend him from Sanji's kicks, he knew might came. But the dark skinned hand stopped his progress again, clearly telling him to stay out of this. "Stop provoking him, please!" he tried to plead with the redheaded pirate.
"You are even less fun than the Greenie." Joyce pouted in disappointment, his hand dropping down as soon as Chopper stopped his movement, staying out of it. "He's at least willing to play with me a little, unlike you. Blondie meanie." The pirate stuck out his tongue at the cook in a mean gesture, ignoring the doctor's attempts to calm the situation down.
"Like hell I would play with you!" Sanji roared .
"I'm not going to play with you!" Zoro immediately reacted to the redheads words, his mood swinging from challenge into irritation in a split of second again. Inwardly, it left him wondering, if this obnoxity has some kind of talent for manipulating people's moods around him. Certainly, his ability to kill an exciting moment with a mere one remark had to be some kind of rare talent.
*SMACK* A boot, that came flying from somewhere within the darkness, hit Sanji squarely over his head.
"Ow! The hell...?!" the cook snapped back, but the only thing he could sensed was a pretty pissed off sharpshooter.
"Shut up you idiots! There are human beings, who need regular sleep, unlike you monsters!" Usopp's angry-at-being-awakened voice resonated over the Sunny's deck. The crashing of the door being swung shut with considerable force that followed right after was even more surprising, given the usual sharpshooter's insecurity.
" ... "
"U-Usopp?"
"Serves you right, ero-cook."
" ...pffft!"
"Shut up you damn Marimo! And you! Stop giggling, you shitty algae-head!"
"Okay gentlemen ..." Joyce tried to suppress another amused giggle and clapped his hands to drag attention to himself as he settled back to his position, sitting against the railing. "Let's calm down and go back to whatever we were doing before this little misunderstanding. As amusing as it would be to play with you two right now, I think I'll prefer to continue my peaceful talking with this little ... " the redhead unexpectedly trailed off.
"Hey ..." Sanji scowled, uncertain, about what the sudden pause should mean. "What's with him?" he turned towards the similarly confused swordsman.
"Dunno, maybe you broke him when you called him algae-head?" Zoro closed the distance he created during the intrusion, now standing right before the redhead, who suddenly went silent in the middle of a sentence, staring with a blank face and unfocused gaze somewhere into the hard wood of the Sunny's deck, both palms pressed against it, balancing in a squat on tips of his bare feet.
"Like hell he would have broken down just from something like that!"
"J-Joyce?" Chopper cautiously waved his hoof before the pirate's face.
"Ah sorry." The redhead flinched a bit, sheepishly smiling while messing his wild hairdo. "I got a bit carried away ..." He turned his look towards the falcon and exchanged a brief glance with the bird. Upon that, the animal spread its wings, and with sharp flapping, disappeared into the night. "Well, this is going to be interesting..." the redhead hummed with hardly suppressed excitement as he got up on his feet, settling himself in his yukata, and headed towards his luggage.
"What are you scheming?" Zoro scowled even more, if it had been already possible. The sudden change in Joyce's behavior was giving out kind of unsettling feeling.
"Zoro!" Chopper tugged at Zoro's pants, trying to calm the swordsman down.
"Nothing much," the redhead pointed out casually.
Untucking the ends of his green sash, tied firmly around his hips so they were hanging loosely down, almost touching the deck, he took out his whip and almost closing the front side of his yukata leaving it partially opened, he secured it with the two rounds of the ends of his sash around his hips. The pirate scooped his swords and tucked them back behind the upper layer of his makeshift obi, positioning both weapons behind the small of his back. Braided, leather whip found its place at the redhead's left side, at his sash, again. "I'm merely preparing myself for a crash."
Instantly, Zoro's blade shot towards Joyce's neck. "What do you mean?!" he snarled in demand, not quite giving the pirate room to refuse the answer.
The redhead's eyes slowly slid along the sharp blade before looking back at the green-haired man. As much amusing as it was to poke this man's ego, right now it wasn't the best idea to waste too much time on that.
"Within a half of hour, at best, this ship is going to sink down, crashing into, I dare estimate, some kind of shelf or reef. That is, if you don't wake up your navigator and helmsman and actually do something to prevent that from happening. Personally, I would really appreciate if you actually would take that action, since I don't really want to be drenched again when I just dried off."
"Like hell your well being matters to us." Sanji voice rose up. His extent of caring for this particular person ended with feeding him so he wouldn't starve. Nothing more was necessary. "We don't have any reason to listen, what you say, nor even trust you."
"I didn't say you should trust me; Feel free to make your own decision." The redhead shrugged his point carelessly off, unaffected. "I merely gave out an advice and presented my own preference." With that, he swiftly tied his sack to the railing.
"Zoro! Sanji!"
The swordsman's attention was dragged towards the alarmed voice of the mikan-headed navigator, who just slammed the constantly abused door of the deck wide open. "Get ready! We have to change the course, before ..." she hadn't the chance to end her sentence, because the Sunny suddenly shuddered, tilting to the side, as it changed its original course within a second.
"Shhh!" Franky cautiously placed a finger from his smaller hand over his lips to silence Usopp, who just entered the men's room as silently as possible after cautiously tiptoeing into the furthest corner possible from Zoro's hammock. It was already bad enough, with Zoro and Sanji arguing so loudly, since they were clearly heard even in the underbelly.
"I hate you, guys." Usopp wiped his forehead, beads of sweat uncomfortably chilly on his skin. "Why does it have to be me?! Do you know how scary it was?!" he whispered with urgency.
"Because you picked the shortest straw, yohohoho!" Brook chimed in a very, very quiet way.
"How did you managed to do that in such short time, anyway?" Franky wondered, almost mouthing his words.
"I just threw a boot at them ... " The sharpshooter heavily blushed, fiddling with fingers in embarrassment. "And it kind of happened to land on Sanji's head ... from what I heard. It's pitch black out there, not even the stars are shining."
"That had to be a super view!" the cyborg grinned widely, resisting the urge to proceed into his trademark pose.
"Good thing it worked." Brook released a sigh of relief. "My heart almost stopped dead ... though I don't have any! Yohohoho!"
"They should be more considerate of us, especially Zoro ... " Usopp was almost shedding quiet, bitter, tears of desperation. "... When he allowed her to stay there ... moreover, if Sanji will ever finds out ... " The sharpshooter shuddered, not being courageous enough to continue in that though.
A muffled groan came from Luffy's hammock, causing all three remaining men to whip their heads in alarm towards that place.
"Hey, Franky, are you sure you silenced him enough?" Usopp was worried, looking at the pile of tightly tied bedsheets across the captain's head. "It's Luffy we are talking about!"
"Well, snoring should be completely muted by now ..." the cyborg mused, scratching with his smaller hand at his buzz cut. "But his vocals during the actual dreaming might require another few layers as reinforcement."
"Then let's do it really fast, before he can start." The sharpshooter briefly scanned the room, counting their options.
Luffy was a hard sleeper, but his snoring and the tendencies to vocalize his inner thoughts during the actual dreaming process was something that one would have to somewhat learn to cope with, if he wanted to get at least some sleep. In most cases, simple earplugs usually provided enough obliviousness to sleep through anything.
But the fact that the rubber captain often simply got up from his hammock, and still half-asleep (in the worst and most frequent case, since it ensued bigger catastrophe), headed right to the kitchen for a "small" midnight snack, was pretty hard to eliminate let alone cope with. So in a tough and dangerous situation like this, any method couldn't be considered as too inhumane. It was solely for the purpose of preventing the navigator from being woken up.
A quiet sigh escaped from Zoro's hammock, and everyone awake stiffed on the spot, not even breathing. Having almost one whole year worth of experiences with the cranky navigator upon being abruptly disturbed from her activities, which also included sleeping, fully justified their current level of cautiousness. And now, when the slender body started to toss and turn, the trio started to seriously consider taking the nearest cover to survive the first, incoming blast.
It was wrong. Something felt so wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Fumbling her hand around, she instantly realized the missing body heat of a swordsman. From the three rapid heartbeats and one loud snoring, she could tell, that at least Usopp, Brook, Franky and Luffy were there, so she should be able to resume her sleeping with ease. But still, it didn't help to ease that nagging feeling, gradually growing inside her head.
Tossing and turning on the bed, she tried to get it out of her mind. If something happened on board, whoever currently held the watch would immediately come down here. But still ...
Was it her imagination, or had someone just yelled out? Nami wondered if her ears are just deceiving her, but in the end she decided to pass that matter to another person to solve. Quiet clicking of the doors assured her, that it might not be her imagination or a dream.
As that person returned, she could hear a very cautious and quiet whispering, so quiet, she couldn't put her finger on who it was. Someone was talking, that was clear, but the subject of the discussion was hard to decipher.
Twisting, as she groaned quietly, she changed her position again when the uneasy feeling intensified. A split second ago her instincts finally clicked together. With a gasp Nami sprang up, almost falling out from the hammock thanks to its unstable nature, ignoring the three strangled gasps of horror as she did so.
"The flow ..." she muttered, instantly sorting her thoughts and analyzing the situation before she jumped out of the hammock, throwing the blanket off. "Franky! ... Usopp? ... Brook?" She turned towards the said man, inwardly sweat dropping, as she found the sharpshooter and the musician hiding behind Franky's impressive frame. All three were pressed into the furthest corner from her current position. Not bothering to think about the meaning, bare footed, and just in her pajamas, she sprinted out of the door. "Everyone get on board! We need to adjust the course!"
With that, the navigator disappeared in the galley, leaving the trio sighing with relief.
"I think we just survived a disaster." Usopp added as all of them darted for the deck.
"Zoro, Sanji!" Nami yelled out. "Get ready! We have to change the course before ..." She didn't have the chance to end her sentence when Sunny suddenly shuddered, tilting itself to the side, making her stagger a bit.
"Nami-swan!" Sanji was instantly at the side of his favorite navigator, catching her before she lost her balance. "Are you all right, my dear?!"
"Too late, it just caught us." Nami whispered with a hint of fear in her voice "The current ... we need to get out of here and fast!"
Zoro's glare slid back across Joyce, who, with a wide, lazy gesture and the eloquent expression, motioned his hand towards the alarmed navigator. Even without words, the swordsman could practically feel what was going on in the redhead's mind; he didn't like it in the slightest. "Here we go ... what did I just tell you?"
"Shut up." The swordsman rumbled in warning, darting towards the navigator, who hastily began to explain what was happening and how to prevent it.
"But I said nothing, Greenie." That annoying amused grin again.
"Then keep it that way!"
Screw that smug, laid-back bastard. As much as he wanted to kill that redhead on the spot, not bothering to count for how many times in a row in a such short time, they obviously had other, more pressing, problems at the moment.
The revenge would have to wait for now, for another time. And Zoro, being Zoro, would definitely want to sort the things out in a fight.
Notes:
Aete suru - Dare to try (that)
Illustration: I have something in my mind, but it needs to be settled down :)
Uuuff ... that took some quite time. I though I'll be able to pull this chapter out sooner, but well ... my mind had another idea. Being stuck in the blind way just ... suck. :X
Anyway; hope you enjoyed this chapter and be sure to leave a review! (My muse wants dessert, after such a hard work! ;))
And I'm going to work at the chapter nine ;)
Jitt