The moon was out, full and glittering on the sea like shards of shattered glass. The straw hats were notionally scurrying around on deck, finishing what ever needed to be finished before going off to bed. Luffy sat contemplating if he should go up and drag the marimo down by his ear, he was tired of his first mate being sealed off in the crows nest.
"Luffy! Come help me with this!" Usopp called the rubber mans attention over.
"Alright!" the rubber pirate stood, casting one last glance back to the crows nest, in hope Zoro would come down at some point.
…...
Nami collected herself, bending down to gather the shards of ceramic plate that she had allowed to fall to the floor. Scattering the swordsman's food all over the floor.
I-I'm sorry for bursting in on you..." she stuttered.
"Nothing we can do about it now. Better you than that shitty cook any how." Zoro walked over to help her gather the pieces. He saw her flinch as he reached out. "Hey... Are you scared?" there was a hole forming in the pit of his stomach. He was scared, scared to loose her.
Nami reached out, taking his abnormally large hand in hers, running her fingers over his scales, to his claws, until they had there palms together. Her hand was so much smaller than his, frail and fragile in comparison. She took his other hand and stood up, pulling him up and warping her arms around his back pulling herself closer to the stalwart being. "No." she murmured into his bare, rippled, scaled chest. "None of us are scared of you. None of us will be scared of you. Were all a family here. Your still Zoro. Our Zoro. Nothing, no amount of scales, horns and fangs will change that." she was shaking, biting back tears.
He craned his neck, bending over to press his lips into her hair. "I hope your right about that."
Nami pulled away quickly, taking a deep breath and shaking it off. "So, it looks like most of the crew has gone to bed at this point, want me to call Frankie up here?" She turned to look at him.
"No..." he reached up to rub the back of his neck, stopping when he felt the spines leading down his spine. He joined her at the window, "Its a full moon tonight... do you want... me to show you something?" he looked at her.
NO.
She smiled, reaching out she traced a finger along one of the light green horns serving out of his hair, he had smaller horns lining his jaw. His pants were ripped into shorts in order to accommodate the changes to his legs, they looked like Choppers legs in his most deer like form. Dark green scales covered his body, the scales over his pectorals and abs were a lighter green, "If you will trust me with it then sure." she paused, "But first lets clean up this mess." she snickered, gesturing to the shattered plate and its contents on the floor.
"Fair enough." He agreed.
THIS IS FOOLISH. DO YOU WANT TO KILL HER?!
I wont... it will be fine. Zoro gritted his teeth.
"Everything ok? You look aggravated, something I said?" Nami questioned.
"No, its not you, just thinking to myself." Zoro muttered. "Do you remember, when I told you to stay away from me?"
"Ya, what of it? We've sure done a bang up job of that..." she snickered.
"When one of us bites someone, we mark them, kind of like claiming territory. As hellish as that sounds..." Zoro rubbed his temples, "The closer the two individuals are the stronger the tie becomes between the two. However, if I were to mark some random person on an island, the tie between you and I would break, and they would only remain marked until I was far enough away, then the tie would break, and neither of us would be tied." he finished quietly.
"Why are you bringing this up now?" Nami asked, a bit skeptical.
"Because I don't want you to be tied to me." That's a flat ass lie... "You have a crazy ass cook who's willing to do damn near anything for you. I don't want you to be marked by me."
Nami stood and smacked him. "No room for my input on that one. Fine, do what you want." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving the marimo in shock behind her.
He can do whet he wants... He can do whet he wants... He can FUCKING do whet he wants... She repeated to herself, biting her lower lip. Tears dropping one by one, on her way to her map room, the only place she knew she wouldn't be bothered.
…..
The punching bag swung violently as Zoro battered it, punching kicking, not even trying to practice, just trying to drown out the feeling of Nami's tears.
Fuck Fuck Fuck FUCK. He landed a few more solid hits before the bag swung off the hinges and hit the floor. He picked it up and put it back on the hook, hitting it again and again.
Why... Did... I... Do that?! Zoro didn't notice his vision turning black as tears streamed down his face onto his knuckles.
Hush boy, let me take over for a while, rest. Dragaranaga's voice was far from soothing, but Zoro didn't fight him over control this time.