Chapter 5

"In the end I can´t resist a hero… I´ll do whatever you want Roronoa" The tall pirate commented.

Zoro was surprised "Well… If you answer her questions, she´ll give you most of your things back" He looked at Nami from the corner of his eye who nodded smiling.

The shamanic pirate sighed. "Bring the pearl, I´ll show you how it works," he said bored.

"Yeah!" She pecked Zoro on the cheek and moved towards the tall pirate.

The girl walked smiling while she searched for the pearl inside her shirt pocket. Suddenly she stopped, she froze, her face was pale. "I…I…I don´t have it"

"WHAT?" Zoro yelled surprised. Could it be another of her tricks? He wondered but it seemed different; her face showed concern and worry.

The navigator searched in all her pockets for the precious stone without success. "I… I had it right here" She checked her shirt pocket one more time "But… I don´t have it anymore"

"Of course you don´t have it my dear" The Shamanic Pirate said it as it was the most obvious thing in the word.

"What did you do!" She confronted him.

"Me?" He asked his crew in an innocent tone "I did nothing, you don´t have it with you. I knew it since you placed a foot on this ship"

Nami´s worried look turned more anxious "But…but" she kept on searching for the pearl without looking at him but heard him "I repeat: Bring the pearl and I´ll show you how it works" When she shifted her eyes to where his voice was coming from she found nothing.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Zoro said surprised as everybody on the deck disappeared. He looked at Nami to ask her a dozen questions but noticing her concerned look and frantic search, he changed his mind. "Let's go, Nami. You must have dropped it on the way here"

She turned to him, nodded and in few seconds later they were on the land again.

Her eyes were fixed on the floor while she walked back their path.

"Maybe it fell when we…" He suggested blushing.

"I don´t think so" She answered coldly.

"How do you know? It´s a possibility, there were some movements." He followed after her, looking briefly at the floor to search, but not leaving his eye from her, so that he wouldn't lose her.

She stopped and looked at him "It was in the front pocket of my shirt, I would remember some movements there" she remarked ironically while bouncing her boobs on purpose.

He blushed deeply "You are right! We didn´t move those… I mean, I didn´t touch you there… I mean…" he scratched the back of his head in frustration "Do you remember the last place you saw it?"

"Of course!" She said angrily, "It was at… " Suddenly her voice faltered "…Nojiko´s house" and her eyes showed a mix of panic, anger and sadness.

He knew that look, he'd watched it in Arlong Park for the first time, when she had rescued him from drowning and he saw it again five years ago.

FLASHBACK

Zoro had stayed in Cocoyashi for a week since he found Nami. He tried to visit her every day, but she didn´t want to see him.
He should be furious at her for lying to him, running away and cheating on him but she looked so miserable that the only thing he felt was compassion towards the navigator. He didn´t know what to do to cheer her up but he knew he was going to be there for her.
He spent the days resting against a mikan tree she could see from her window, hoping that one day he would be allowed to meet her.
Every now and then Nojiko came out and they chatted about nothing in particular, he asked how Nami was and she sighed and said that she was going through a big depression.
When he was alone he wondered how she could cheat on him and who might be the father, but he tried to avoid those thoughts, he´d have time to be depressed when Nami was ok. Eventually he fell asleep.

The navigator, on the other hand, spent the days in her bed. Not because she needed to rest, just because she felt miserable. All she could think of was that she had ruined her life, she didn´t want to be a mother, she didn´t want to be in Cocoyashi and one more thing, she didn´t want to drag Zoro down to her crappy life and even though she had tried everything to prevent this, there he was sitting in the backyard waiting for her. Somehow, after all that thinking she managed to shift her feelings from depression to anger and with the power of fury, she stood up from the bed and confronted Zoro.

The swordsman had his eyes closed but he noticed something covering the light of the sun.

"ZORO" She called him coldly.

He opened his eye.

"GO. I DON´T WANT TO SEE YOU" She insisted.

He couldn´t get used to see her with that gigantic belly. Her body was as tiny and slim as always only a huge bump popped in the middle. He stood up and grinned. She looked terrible, her hair was messy, she had bags under her eyes and her skin was paler than ever, but she was there with him now.

"ZORO!" She yelled in frustration.

"I´ll go if you give me a reason, for your sake… not mine" he said calmly

"YOU ... "She grated her teeth. All she had been saying to him was that he shouldn´t stay with her because it wasn´t his child, he shouldn´t waste his life and things like that but those would be his reasons so, why would she want him to go? "I´m going to be a mother instead of a pirate"

He waited for her to say something else.

"I don´t want to be the reason for you to give up your life of adventure" she looked down.

He answered quickly as if he had known what she was about to say "You´ll never be that" his fingers searched for her hand. "Listen Nami, I know you are stubborn and you are not going to change your mind until I do whatever you want." Their fingers interlaced. "And though it usually works, this one's not going to go that way: I won´t leave you until I see you are ok!".

"Then you are going to live in Cocoyashi?" she mumbled crestfallen.

He shrugged "This tree is pretty comfortable" he ran his arms around her waist, or at least around what he could. He could feel her sobbing on his chest.
He started to pull her down and resting his back on the tree he placed her on his chest between his legs and arms. It was midday; it would be good to let her be in contact of the warm rays of the sun.
They spent an hour like that, in silence under the tree. Zoro played with her wavy hair and she rested against his chest.

"How's your head?" she asked softly.

"Perfect, it was just a scratch… only a few stitches" He felt her hand caressing his head searching for the injury.

"I always said you were hard headed" she commented.

He chuckled softly.

"Why you are not mad at me?" she asked.

He sighed "MMM… it´s like I have room for just one feeling and it´s worry, I´m worried about you"

"You left the Sunny" she added while she played with her fingers on his chest.

He thought about that. "Yeah, it was getting boring. I got why Sanji and Robin left too"

She giggled "I can tell when you are lying even without looking at you"

He snorted "I wish I had the same ability, I guess things would be different if I could read you like that"

She moved to look into his eyes "Come one, Don´t you know when I´m lying?" her eyes were watery.

He glanced at her. She'd asked it in a condescending tone and her eyes showed panic, anger and sadness. "I don´t know when you lie"

"Then why are you here?" she insisted.

"Because I know that I have to be here for you" His face was serious.

"Even If I lie?" she asked as if she was trying to deflect his last barrier of defense.

"Even if it hurts" he added.

"Until when?" her eyes started to fill with tears.

"I don´t know… I guess I´ll realize it when the moment comes" his hand moved to caress her cheek.

She dried her eyes with her hands and looked at him again, with that look: a mix of panic, anger and sadness. "Since the first night we spent together I have never been with another man" she said solemnly.

Zoro´s eyes grew big. He felt so many things. First he was glad and proud of her confession and then he knew what she was telling him. That baby was his, she lied, she was running away from him and she didn´t want to tell him anything, it hurt so badly.

She could see the anger and pain in his eyes, but he didn´t say a word and pulled her closer to him, placing her head on his chest and caressing her hair. They didn´t speak anymore. Eventually, the two of them fell asleep.

END OF FLASHBACK

"So? Where was the last place you saw the pearl?" He asked again since the red haired kept silent.

"At Nojiko´s house" She mumbled.

"Ok, Let´s go back there" He sighed.

"Yeah" She started walking slowly.

"I can´t believe you dropped it there" he commented.

"Me neither…" she walked in deep thought. There were two options of what could have happened; first one was that Zoro was right, she was ultra stupid and dropped it there. Second one, and most probable, that Kuina had never returned it to her. If the kid had it she´d have to talk to Zoro. But could a little girl steal from the world famous Dorobo Neko? Yeah, she had seen her grab some money from her father and she was under so much stress and emotion when she faced her, that probably her guard was down. She was a little surprised when she thought about the phrase "Like mother like daughter" and felt a glimpse of pride inside her.

"Zoro" She looked at him with those eyes: a mix of panic, anger and sadness. "The last time I saw the pearl was when I was with Kuina"

Zoro´s expression totally changed. His eyes lit like fire, his jaw clenched and he threw a punch to a tree in frustration. "WHAT?" he yelled as the trunk landed a few meters away from the navigator.

"I bumped into Kuina at Nojiko´s" she answered him seriously.

"What?" He insisted, not because he didn´t believe her just because he was trying to process the whole information.

"But don´t worry - I don´t think she recognized me. I just told her I was a friend of Nojiko's that needed to get something and I´d be on my way" she commented.

"And the pearl is missing…" He mumbled.

"Yes" she said

"Nami, she knows who you are!. She must have gotten the pearl so you wouldn´t go away" he said angrily. She had lied to him, again.

This time when he looked at her, he found something surprising, the red head was frozen and in panic.

"She… she knows who I am?" she stuttered.

"Of course" he threw his arms in the air in frustration.

She remembered her face and expressions during their encounter. "You told her I abandoned her" her eyes filled with tears.

"No" her expression touched him. "I told her the truth" he said calmly.

FLASHBACK

Nami´s delivery date was just around the corner and even though Zoro was allowed to be closer to her, her emotions hadn´t changed too much. One day he had convinced her to go to the beach, she never got out of her house but the green haired had been so insistent that she decided to join him. They were arriving at the shore and when the swordsman asked if she wanted to have a smoothie from one of the carts nearby, she accepted.
Nami sat at one of the tables and he went to get the drinks. The navigator observed him talking to the girl from the cart and when she realized he was chuckling she started to think about how attractive he was, and how lucky she was that he wanted to be with her, then her thoughts drove her to how unattractive and fat she was and how unlucky he was for his willingness to be with her, if he wanted to be with her. She wondered if he wasn´t doing it out of guilt and pity.
When Zoro arrived at the table she stood up and asked him to go back to the house. Surprised he accepted and they returned in silence, enjoying their drinks. As soon as they reached the house Nami ran to her room.
Zoro and Nojiko sighed not knowing what to do with the depressed navigator.
A few hours later Zoro knocked on her door.
She let him in and hid behind the blankets.

"Nami" he sat next to her, "why are you so sad?"

She sighed "You know, I don't want this"

He instinctively moved to hug her "Then don´t do it"

"I can´t." She couldn´t get rid of the baby at that point of the pregnancy and she didn´t want to either, she was responsible for this happening and she was going to do it even if she felt miserable for the rest of her life.

"You can!" He looked into her eyes: "Go - I´ll take care of the baby, you be a pirate, draw the maps of the world, don´t regret anything!"

"Zoro" she couldn't believe what she was hearing

For the first time he saw a spark of life in her eyes. "Nami, I want you to be happy"

"I want you to be happy too… This is not what you want" she complained.

"I don´t know, It´s a little scary but I think that having a child could be fun" he scratched the back of his head embarrassed.

"Zoro!" She looked at him speechless.

"You wanted to do it alone and you thought it was fair then - so I can do it alone, too" he added to convince the navigator.

"You said you knew if I´m lying so…" He shuddered.

"Zoro!" she said and jumped to kiss him.

He was surprised at first but then he let himself sink into the passion of their lips lingering and their bodies meeting.

She couldn´t believe what he was offering but it was all she wanted to hear. She couldn´t confront what they were about to go through so he offered himself for the job. She wanted to thank him so much, she could give him all her treasure for that but she knew it meant nothing for him so she just kissed him.

But passion didn´t stop right there and the kissing turned into, nipping, biting and eventually touching, a few hours later, the swordsman and the navigator were in the same position that brought them there; Naked, sweating and breathing anxiously.

"Thank you Zoro" Nami said relived.

The next morning Nami woke up happy, when she turned around to wake up Zoro she found she was all alone in the bed.

A few minutes later the swordsman entered with a breakfast tray for the red head.

She smiled widely seeing him and waited for him to hand her the food. She extended her hand and he took it. She pulled him to sit next to her. After finishing breakfast, when Nami hugged the swordsman she felt him stiffen.

"What´s wrong?" She asked while kissing his neck. She was in such a good mood, she hadn´t been like that for months … 9 months exactly.

His hand caressed hers "I think…" He hesitated about telling her, she seemed happy now, why break the mood?.

"Do you regret about last night´s offer?" she said in a worried tone.

"No!" he looked into her eyes and squished her hand. "I´m keeping the baby, It´s just that…" He paused "I don´t think we should continue this if you are going to leave" His tone revealed his doubts.

Nami was a little taken aback "You… you are probably right" She said without letting his hand go. Her chin started to tremble announcing she was about to cry but she didn´t want to show him that she was sad, he was right. It was probably the best for the two of them, she was going to leave him. She should avoid any romantic interaction with the swordsman to prevent even more suffering at her departure after all this, it was the end of the two of them as a couple "I´m going to take a bath" she stood up.

He noticed her emotions and wondered if he had done the right thing or if he had blown the chances to be with her for a few last times. "Ok" his eyes followed her to the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom Nami started to think about being without Zoro, they had been together for so many years. Those last months she hadn´t thought about it but she had had other problems then - she was sure she was going to miss him. This wasn´t a fair end for the two of them but it was the right one.

She closed the door but he could hear her sobbing inside the bathroom. It hurt - more than when Mihawkeye had almost divided his body in two. He couldn´t go away, he needed to hear her crying, he needed to feel as sad as she was feeling.

Suddenly the door of the bathroom opened, and Nami appeared, still crying "Zo, Zo…" Tears poured from her eyes "I think my water just broke" She said between sobs.

Zoro´s eye shifted from her face to the wet floor. In a second he was carrying her bridal style "Let´s go to the hospital"

Several hours later, after the miracle of birth, an exhausted Nami slept in her hospital room, while the swordsman sat on a chair beside her.

Nojiko and a nurse carrying the new born entered the room.
"Here she is! Do you want to meet her, daddy?" The nurse asked him cheerfully but in a soft voice to prevent waking up the red head.

Zoro nodded and after some help from the nurse, carried the baby in his arms. He couldn´t believe the miracle he and Nami had created, a person, a real human being and she was beautiful.
He looked at Nami and hesitated in waking her up to show her the baby but she had been clear that she didn´t want to see her, so he stood there.
Nojiko saw the opportunity to take a picture of them, the only picture of the three together.

"How are you going to name her, Daddy?" The blue haired asked.

Zoro looked at the baby´s cute face and didn´t doubt it "Kuina"

"I´ll leave you alone" The nurse said and left.

The green haired turned around to look at Nami "Kuina, this is your Mommy, she is a very brave pirate and she wants to see the whole word so she is going to be away, making her dream come true. You will probably miss her some days or you will feel abandoned, but you don´t have to feel like that, because she loves you anyway, even if she is not with you. One day you´ll have a dream, too and you will do everything to accomplish it and you´ll realize how amazing your mother is!"

Nojiko sobbed behind him, touched by his words.

Softly he kissed Nami´s lips and whispered "I love you, Nami. Just be happy, we will be happy if you are too!" he turned around grinning, his eyes full of tears. "I think we should go now"

The blue haired nodded - lacking words to say to the swordsman and watched the huge and fierce Roronoa Zoro, former pirate hunter, walk away carrying the cutest baby she had seen in her whole life.

END OF FLASHBACK

"You told her I abandoned her" her eyes filled with tears.

"No" her expression touched him. "I told her the true" he said calmly.

"I told her you were busy making the map of the world.. I taught her that the biggest adventure she can take is to live the life of her dreams, like her mother" He finished and looked at Nami, she was crying and biting her lower lip, like trying to stop the flow of emotions that emanated from her.

"So, she doesn´t ignore or hate you. She admires you profusely" he ended and gulped.

The navigator started crying uncontrollably. She couldn´t move or talk, she just cried and cried.

Zoro waited a few minutes for her to stop but after not seeing a change in her attitude he moved to hug her "It´s ok" he tried to calm her down.
Yes he was tremendously mad at her for lying to him so many times he had lost count and even more for contacting Kuina without telling him but she had that enormous power on him that made him ran to her aide when she was in trouble, she had that gigantic control on him that only seeing her shed a tear would make him kneel at her service.

Several minutes later Zoro and Nami were ringing the bell at Nojiko´s house.

The blue haired opened the door and couldn´t hide her surprise after seeing them together while she was babysitting their daughter.

"Kuina?" Zoro asked

"She´s at Bellmere´s room" Nojiko, carrying her baby, answered. Nami had such a saddened expression that it worried her. Maybe those two had fought, again.

"Wait here" He said to Nami and entered the house.

The two sisters remained outside the house.

The door of the room was open, so Kuina didn´t notice the presence of her father staring at her while she observed the pearl in her hands.

"Kuina" He said coldly.

The girl quickly hid the gem and looked at him "DADDY!" She ran to hug him.

He petted her head "We need to talk"

The little girl try to hide between his legs, she knew she was in trouble when he said that sentence.

"Come on" He moved to sit on one of the little chairs in the room.

She sighed "I don´t want to talk… let´s go home, I have to do some homework and I need my crayons"

"Kuina…" He insisted

"Belle-chan broke all the crayons here… really, I can´t use them" She complained standing in front of him.
Even with him sitting in that position the girl´s head barely surpassed Zoro´s knee. It was a cute scene, the huge swordsman sitting on such tiny chair.

He sighed "What did I tell you about stealing?"

"That it is wrong" She said pouting.

"Then why did you do it?" he tried to look serious even though Kuina´s cute expressions made it really hard to scold her.

"Did what?… I didn´t do anything" She looked away.

"Oh really… What was that little ball you had in your hand a few moments ago" he pointed at her tiny hands.

The small girl clenched her t-shirt in frustration "YOU STARTED THE LYING!" she pointed at him.

He felt as if her accusing finger had stabbed him "Kuina…"

"You knew she was here and you weren´t going to tell me! You were going to let her go!" Her chin started to tremble and her lips pouted even more.

He was surprised for a moment and thought about what to tell her. He didn´t want to teach her the wrong lesson. "I´m sorry I didn't tell you but sometimes adults do things to protect the children" He tried to explain.

"I just wanted to meet her… and tell her I´m her daughter, maybe I could show her my room and my drawings… just five minutes!" Her knees rubbed together and her fists clenched her shirt as tears started to form in her eyes "Please, I won't lie or steal anymore forever, please"

"Kuina" He lamented. She was breaking his heart but meeting Nami was going to be worst for her. She was used to be just with him, if she met the navigator he was sure she was going to love her at the next second and the separation would be unbearable for the little child. "No, you can´t"

"But…. WHYYYYY!" The last word transformed into a crying scream.

"Because… It wouldn´t be good for you" He said softly but the little girl crying was so loud that he couldn´t be sure if she had heard him.

They spent several minutes like that, Kuina screaming "Why?" while crying and kicking. He decided not to do anything until she ended up exhausted from the howling. If he was lucky, she would fall asleep, he would take her home and buy her ice cream for the whole week or whatever she wanted - and at the end she would forget about it. That´s what he prayed for, either way he had no idea of how to deal with it right now.

Then the little girl started sobbing and he felt that maybe she was tired but he would be surprised. "She... she…" she sobbed. "She doesn´t want to meet me, that´s why you lied and… she didn´t recognize me when I met her" she stuttered and tried to dry her face with the hem of her t-shirt.

Zoro was in panic now. She had figured out everything, that kid was way too smart, but he was sure she couldn´t handle the pain of what she was implying. "No! That´s not true!"

The little t-shirt covered her eyes, showing her cute, round tummy and belly button, while she tried to stop crying. "I… can tell when you are lying... even without looking at you" she said still sobbing.

That phrase was so familiar that he was speechless. He'd thought the only answer to comfort his child was to prevent her from knowing the truth, but if he couldn´t lie to her, the cause was lost. He would have to let her know that Nami didn´t want to see her and the only thing he had been trying to prevent their daughter from thinking in all those years would be the final resolution: Nami had abandoned her. He was so scared to think what that could provoke on a child knowing that her mother had left her, maybe she´d think she was not good enough or never trust anyone anymore, or who knew the psychological implications of how reasoning something like that could affect a child.
He looked at her little cute face, her eyes glistening with tears, her mouth trembling with fear of his response.

"Indeed, Zoro, you are a lousy liar" A female voice interrupted the moment.

The two Roronoa turned their faces to look at Nami who was standing at the door of the room.

TBC

THANKS FOR READING, PLEASE REVIEW!

~Karen K.

Special thanks to BlueLion my betareader!

A/N: I hope you like this chapter. Sorry for the late update. I think the next chapter is going to be the last!