One Piece:

To See Past (All That)


Theme: #69 – Annoyance / #5 – Evergreen

Rating: K (the wintertime makes them fluffy!)

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro X Nami

Timeline: Post-Time Skip


It took the Mugiwara three attempts to get a Christmas Tree for the Sunny.

The first time, Nami had unintelligently sent Usopp and Luffy to choose a tree, with Roronoa Zoro chosen as the tree's chopper (not to be confused with the crew's doctor). She had dismissed the three young men so that she could help Sanji bake off some fresh gingerbread men for…the nakama who were still very much children at heart, given them something to decorate and eat while the everyone else focused on continuing to dress their prized ship with merriment and festivity. Her goal was to make their ship-made home look as if they were sailing on a Christmas Island while they traveled the world, if and when they planned to disembark from Beruna. Though they weren't sure yet where they would station the beautiful evergreen tree, her mind was already designing a map as to where they ornaments would go, how to station the presents beneath it, and that required the most perfect location!

And, of course, an actual tree.

When she heard Usopp calling for her from the docks, she had raced outside with very little concern. When she saw the twig of a tree that Luffy was waving over his head in the form of a greeting, poor Nami felt her spine straighten, hands ball into fists, and her voice rumble in her throat. The frightened marksman tried to explain how it was Luffy and Zoro's fault that the tree was mangled: they had disagreed over which tree to return with, to the point of brawling with one another. The first mate looked uncertain in whether or not he had been correct in returning empty handed, given that his chosen tree could not have looked any better than the one his captain had returned with. Luffy, on the other hand, seemed quite proud. Nami did not hesitate to berate them and call them all idiots.

The second attempt involved Nami entrusting their Christmas tree's retrieval to none other than the eldest three members of the Mugiwara: Nico Robin, Franky and Brook. With Zoro having lost the privilege to cut down a tree, he was then forced to help cut gingerbread men cookies out of dough. Chopper was forced to teach him how to treat the dough gently as the navigator assigned shoveling duties to the other two bums and warned them that if she caught them playing instead of shoveling, she would bury them beneath the ice castle on Beruna Island. Neither one seemed unable to believe that she could indeed accomplish such a feat, and raced out of the kitchen.

Since Zoro and Chopper were responsible for her cookies, Nami moved onto making a proper Christmas cake that did not contain orangette. Her chocolate-tinted eyes glared faintly at the green-haired swordsman while he worked as she thought about that strange lunch they had shared. Involuntarily, she saw the usually stoic man shuddered, and she was suddenly renewed with energy to bake and decorate her handmade dessert. Sanji had no trouble creating small talk with her, and was most helpful in teaching her how to guarantee an airy, fluffy appeal to her cream. They worked quite amicably in the kitchen on the best of days; Christmas-time baking was the epitome of jubilant times.

Then her dear friend Robin walked into the kitchen with the most disappointed expression, and that bliss was stolen away from her. Before she could even ask, the older woman seemed ashamed to explain: Franky and Brook had found a family of wild Snow Ferroxes and danced with them. There were no other words given, no further retelling shared, just obvious dismay on exhausted Robin's face. Nami had quickly calculated that the second trio to attempt picking a tree had been gone for close to an hour and she wondered just how much of that time had been occupied by the impromptu dance party orchestrated by her nakama. Needless to say, the two men were fired and given new tasks – washing the Christmas clothes she had purchased for everyone, including their stockings – before it was her turn to do things her way.

On the third attempt, she would get her tree.

"Sanji, can you help me get a tree?" Nami sounded angry, hopeful, and a tad sweet when asking the cook for a favour.

To her surprise, Sanji did not behave as she expected. Normally, he would twirl about and praise her and accept her request and complete it in record time. Sadly, while wringing out his hands with a dish towel, he sadly said, "Sorry Nami, I'm in the middle of prepping dinner. I'd go if I could leave it to someone else to do, but since they can't even get a tree bigger than Chopper—"

"Hey!" whined the doctor, who sat nearby with his tray of gingerbread men nearly full.

"—I doubt we'll be eating tonight if I do."

"Rrgh, great! I wanted to get it before tomorrow so we can put it up before the next snowfall. Who can I get to come with me then?" Nami asked aloud, hoping one of her nearby nakama had an answer for her.

Robin nearly slammed down her cup of tea as she stated, "I would not recommend asking Franky or Brook." Again, without developing herself, she threw on her reading glasses and immediately dove into a new book. The four nakama occupying the kitchen with her paused momentarily before continuing the conversation in respect to her obvious anger.

"Why don't you try asking Zoro again?" Chopper suggested. He even patted the man's shoulders as if demonstrating an act of confidence in his abilities to redeem himself and cut down a tree, being the official tree chopper of the crew.

Sanji steamrolled right over the remark and asked, "Well if not the cyborg or the pervy skeleton, you could ask Usopp if he's got some handy tree-cutting tool you could use, and just take him and Luffy for the company."

"I guess if I only have one of the two tree-destroyers with me, I should manage to come back with one intact." Nami acknowledged, tapping a finger to her cheek as she mauled over his suggestion.

Suddenly, Zoro turned around in his seat at the kitchen table and barked, "Hey! I cut down that tree. If it weren't for Luffy, it wouldn't have looked like that!"

Nami did not miss a beat and replied, "Then you should have chopped down another tree right away, instead of letting him come back with that thing!"

When she heard Zoro growl at her reasoning, she knew she had defeated him in their verbal spar. Still, she knew that it would be most challenging for her to cut down a tree and bring it back to the ship by herself. And with Luffy and Usopp actually shoveling the deck, she noticed as she spied on them from the kitchen door's port window, it wouldn't serve her well to disrupt them during their first attempt at completing a chore without her supervision. Her brow arched as she swung her gaze back to the swordsman who monitored her like a hawk, as if her words were daggers and she was about to strike him once again.

"All right," conceding, she reached for her coat, found resting on one of the chairs at the table, "let's go Zoro. I don't want to be out after dark."

"Hmph." Was all he had to say about his summons. His hands clapped together when trying to dust off the grainy powder from the dough, then he too snatched up the meager coat he wore during the winter season. No hat, no gloves, just a fabric-like jacket that happened to go to his knees. Nami immediately wondered if she should break the Kris Kringle rules and buy him a proper winter coat, or just find the person who drew his name and give them the heavy-handed suggestion of what to get the swordsman. Then again, that could potentially ruin the game, so she swallowed her critique of his clothes and chose to do something about it tomorrow.

Once they were dressed, they exited the kitchen and inhaled the cold winter hair in an almost synchronized action. Together, they spied the captain and marksman shoveling the snow, and overheard the sound of them making it into some sort of epic adventure in order to clean up with a proper amount of dedication and gusto. Nami shushed Zoro then and advised them to sneak onto the docks of Beruna without being noticed with some complicated gesture that clearly was not understood by the swordsman. It was her turn to 'hmph' at him, and she walked past him to the edge of the Sunny in order to disembark.

Within the confines of her mind, Nami couldn't believe how ridiculous it was that she was being tasked with choosing the tree. From one group's inability to bring a fully grown tree that had not been the stronger of the two involved in some inane tree-choosing fight, to a second group's failure to return with anything, how did they manage to survive the Grand Line, with nakama so inept as some of the Mugiwara!? Sure, Zoro's assistance meant that her gingerbread cookies were going to be baked off before dinner – and, now that he thought about it, he had helped her out with her shopping the other day, too – but her cake was currently sitting in a liquefied state on the kitchen counter and it was everyone else's fault! She hadn't even had the chance to cut up her strawberries, let alone wash them! Was everything supposed to be her responsibility!?

No, she would get her tree, and something else too.

"Hey Zoro?" She called to him the moment she heard his boots land on the dock. Before he could even look into her eyes, Nami demanded, "Carry me."

"Huh?" The word seemed to blurt from Zoro's mouth without much thought. His curiosity was admittedly small, nevertheless, his desire to protest was seen in his eyes.

But the more she thought about it, the better her idea seemed. "I want you to carry me to wherever the evergreen trees are. Come on, think of it as a warm up before you haul it back here all by yourself. You did it in Alabasta, so I know you can do it." Admittedly, the bait she had just fed him was quite weak. It did not bother her though – that was how serious she was about being carried on the back of her…twice-hired steed.

For a while, he said nothing. Instead, he eyed her as if she had hit her head when she had landed on the dock. Nami considered whether or not she should channel the annoyance she had been feeling all day and direct it at him in order to submit him to her will, but to her surprise, Zoro made another 'hmph' sound and bent down for her. Though it had been exactly what she had wanted, it was still quite a surprise to see him squatting before her like a mother hen.

When she snorted at the thought, Zoro eyed her oddly, to which she replied, "Nothing! Ah, I mean, okay." And awkwardly did she climb onto his strong, awaiting back. Nami felt his arms loop around her legs, then moved her hands to grip onto the large span of his shoulders. Her comparison to Alabasta felt tame all of a sudden; when she had last been gifted a piggyback ride, there had been a war around them, both were injured from separate battles, and she had been so focused on helping Vivi. Now, all she could think about was just how…powerful Zoro really was. His scent seemed to be stronger, held an undertone she had never noticed before, when she was this close to him. How strange.

"Hold on." Stated the swordsman, albeit belatedly.

"Mmhmm." She hummed her response, hoping her smile could not somehow be heard in the way she replied. For reasons she could not fully comprehend, it felt like she was being gifted a certain privilege – a personalized right that she held, and no one else – and Nami knew at once that she needed to take advantage of this sort of transportation much more often. Especially during this holiday season, when he seemed to be in a very giving mood.


Author's Notes:

ZoNa Piggyback Ride Part Two: Winter Wonderland! Ha ha, I'd say her day's annoyance was worth it if she got to end it off with Zoro carrying her, wouldn't you? Sorry it's not a summer island, where they'd be in bathing suits at the beach, and he'd be carrying her off to…some mysterious, tropical yet surely romantic private location.

A Snow Ferrox is a combination animal I made that is a snow leopard, a snow ferret and a fox in one. Why were Franky and Brook so interested in these animals? Because they sound freaking adorable, don't they!?

P.S. I will most likely be skipping two themes. Theme #8 is eggnog, and I am not sure how to differentiate it too greatly from my hot chocolate chapter. Theme #11 is snowman, and I don't think I'd be able to properly do a ZoNa story with that theme. It will work out so that, by Friday, I will be caught up with the latest themes and I can do them in order once again.

Thanks so much for reading~!