Nerves

Meeting the white-haired, gold-eyed woman at the dinner table had been an unpleasant surprise for Nami; she'd seen the other woman hanging all over Zoro at the party to celebrate Arlong's defeat but hadn't realised that she was another member of Luffy's crew. Nami was also highly suspicious of the way this stranger was always touching the green-haired swordsman: Zoro was not remotely touchy-feely yet he tolerated the constant invasion of his personal space as if it was normal.

"Do you two know each-other?" the navigator eventually asked as Sanji collected the scraped dishes for washing up, taking note of the chef's irritation whenever his visible eye fell on the couple.

"Zoro and I?" the stranger asked. "Not really."

"Then why are you all over him like that?"

The white-haired woman in the orange dress blinked and looked down at herself, taking in her own right hand holding onto the swordsman's shoulder and the lack of space between their bodies. "Oh. Sorry Zoro; I didn't mean to invade your space like that."

"S'fine," the swordsman muttered, getting to his feet and lifting the woman to hers before leaving the main room. Nami stared after him for a second, then turned back to the stranger.

"Who are you anyway?"

The woman smiled, golden eyes curving up into vulpine slits. "Fox."

"Fox lives on the Grand Line, so we're taking her home!" Luffy chirped, his habitual smile firmly in place.

"Really?" Nami was a little wary of the older woman, but prepared to let things slide if it meant gaining information. "What do you do for a living, Fox?"

Fox smiled, absent-mindedly grabbing a damp cloth and wiping down the table. "Whatever really; it pays to be versatile on the Grand Line. My Devil Fruit enables me to heal, which is always in demand, and I can sew, cook and navigate a bit as well. Though my cooking cannot begin to compare to Sanji's," she added with a warm smile to the blond chef. "Seriously, I may have to join the crew just so I can go on eating your food."

"You're too kind, Fox-chan!" Sanji swooned, hearts in his eyes.

The next morning Nami was even more suspicious of their passenger: Fox had not joined the navigator in the girls' cabin for the night. The redhead had quietly gone looking for the older woman but hadn't found her anywhere, not in the lounge, storage room or armoury, on deck or even in the bathroom! Usopp had been in the crows' nest, so she couldn't be there. However at breakfast Fox appeared as if out of nowhere, sat at the table next to Zoro and ate the meal Sanji provided as if nothing strange was going on at all.

"Where did you sleep last night Fox?" she asked.

"The armoury," Fox said, glancing at the navigator briefly before returning her attention to her food and fending off Luffy's extended reach with a spoon. "Zoro helped me put together some bedding before turning in."

There was a lull as both she and Sanji paused between mouthfuls to stare at the green-haired swordsman, who kept his own eyes firmly on his meal. Nami stared at the strange picture the two of them made: the stoic, grumpy green-haired swordsman and the open, smiling white-haired woman sitting so close to each-other Fox was practically in Zoro's lap despite being noticeably taller than him.

Stop crowding Fox-chan, marimo!" Sanji said abruptly, setting his cutlery on his empty plate. Zoro glanced up, raised an eyebrow then quickly went back to finishing off his meal.

"I'm not doing anything to her, dumbass cook," the swordsman mumbled around a mouthful of food. Nami finished her own meal and glanced sideways at Sanji, who was swelling in indignation.

"Thank-you for the wonderful meal, Sanji-kun," Fox said before the chef could act on his growing ire. As she walked out of the room her right hand trailed across the back of Zoro's shoulders; the swordsman didn't even react.

Nami hadn't known him for long but she knew that Zoro hated being pushed around, hated being fussed over and did not let people touch him casually. Ever. He was as prickly as a green porcupine.

"Are you two sleeping together?" she asked Zoro. Beside her Sanji choked on nothing and Zoro spat out the food he'd been chewing.

"The hell gave you that idea? No!" he retorted, flushing scarlet and pushing away the remains of his meal. "Are you trying to kill me or something? Just, just no. Hell no." He rose to his feet and stalked out of the room, face still red.

Nami frowned as Sanji wheezed next to her and Luffy polished off the remains of Zoro's breakfast, oblivious to the conversation. She knew there was something going on between the two of them; the lack of boundaries and effortless synchrony of their actions betrayed that much. That kind of awareness did not just happen. Luffy either hadn't noticed or didn't care, but Nami couldn't let it slide. For the crew dynamic to have changed so drastically so quickly something important had to have occurred. Something she needed to know.

By the early afternoon Nami was even more certain something was amiss: While she was sunbathing and Usopp was tinkering on the rear deck, Zoro was lounging on the foredeck with Fox curled up in his lap and her face buried against his chest, fast asleep. Sanji hadn't noticed them yet, being busy defending her orange trees from Luffy's depredations, but when he did there was sure to be an explosion.

She paid the news coo at her elbow for the newspaper, grumbling about the price, and started reading, keeping half an eye on the odd couple at the other end of the Going Merry. The more she watched them the more it creeped her out seeing Zoro accommodate for Fox as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Did her Devil Fruit allow her to brainwash people or something?

Then the words in the paper in front of her really registered and she screeched.

Zoro was roused from his doze by Nami's outburst, but what really woke him up was the look in Fox' eyes as she lifted her face from the curve of his throat. That bleary-eyed expression of black fury reminded him that Dracule Mihawk had destroyed Don Krieg's fleet for the crime of disturbing his nap and the Shichibukai's daughter seemed to have inherited his dislike of being woken before she was ready. He automatically reached out to stroke her hair:

"You can't kill Nami," he said bluntly; "Luffy won't let you."

Fox leant into his hand, closing her eyes once more. "D'you think he'd let me maim her a little?" She muttered grumpily, relaxing into his touch.

"Probably not," Zoro informed her regretfully. He had not the faintest idea why he felt so comfortable with Fox, how he knew her reactions and moods and didn't mind her flopping all over him at the drop of a hat, but he was a swordsman and he trusted his instincts completely. A few days' worth of almost constant contact had proved said instincts could be relied upon absolutely where Fox was concerned –even if they were practically useless when it came to Nami– so Zoro had deliberately stopped worrying and gone with the flow.

The two of them listened to the conversation drifting down from the rear deck about Luffy's bounty, Fox having planted her forehead back on Zoro's shoulder as the swordsman petted her hair.

"D'you have a bounty Fox?" Zoro asked eventually.

"Not under my real name, but yes," she mumbled.

"How much for?" it was idle curiosity really, but there was nothing wrong with that.

Fox snorted. "You won't believe me."

"Hm?"

"Fine. S'just my first bounty, as they haven't had proof of my doing anything since, but it's 710,000,000 beli-"

"What?!" Zoro hissed, jerking himself upright and pulling her hair so he could look her in the eye. "Seven hundred and ten million?! What the hell did you do?"

"Er, destroyed one of the Tenryuubito clans?" Fox said sheepishly. "As in, murdered every last man and woman descended from the seventeenth of the Twenty Kings, including one of the Gorosei?" She coughed, looking slightly embarrassed. "I was a bit crazy at the time."

"Are you going to get recognised?" Was what Zoro determined to be the most pressing issue after a short mental break to get his priorities in order.

"No. My bounty poster has me wearing a mask and, as I've said, I've not left any witnesses to what I've been up to since. I always wear the mask when I know I'm heading into a fight and I always wear a disguise for shore leave. Nobody will be coming after Luffy because of my past. Well, not yet. If we get in a real fight on the Grand Line and I need to wear my combat gear then people will work out that the Phantom Fox is travelling with you guys as your captain doesn't seem to like killing very much and won't let me kill eventual witnesses."

Zoro let go of Fox' hair and leant back against the deck to contemplate this new complication.

"The sooner I get off the less likely that is to happen," Fox offered quietly.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Luffy's kinda protective of his nakama; he may not let you leave." He paused. "Do you actually have anywhere to go?"

"Not really. I've been living out of my ship for the past four years."

"You have a ship?"

"Yep."

"Where is it?"

Fox smirked wickedly. "Around."

"Crew?"

"Just me."

"How the hell can it be 'around' if nobody's steering it?"

Fox batted her eyelashes at him. "It's a secret. Maybe I'll show you someday."

Zoro deduced said secret to be mostly harmless and let it lie, choosing instead to stare over at the horizon. "Hey, I see an island up ahead," he said, raising his voice so the others could hear him over the sound of Luffy's shouts.

"Loguetown," Fox whispered.

A bit more about Fox.