A/N: First of all a big thank you to everyone who reviewed or added my other One Piece story from last week to their favorites. I hope that you like the first chapter of this story as well :)
The first day on a new island was always busy for the Straw Hat pirates. Luffy couldn't wait to find a new adventure, while Nami was excited to buy even more clothes than she already owned. The rest of the crew mostly stocked up on supplies.
Zoro was the only one who was immune to the whole excitement when they arrived at an island. While everyone went into town, he stayed behind on the ship and trained or slept. However as soon as it was evening and the others were back, he searched for a good bar.
This time Nami and him would go together. Even before they had started whatever this was between them, they had often went to bars together, seeing that they were the only two people of their crew who had a high tolerance for alcohol. The navigator had already left earlier than he had, because he had to finish is training first.
When he was done and had taken a quick shower, he left the ship. The builder of the village had made Zoro's job of finding a bar difficult, because the swordsman could swear that this island was constructed weirdly. After a while he finally saw the bar that Nami had been talking about. It had taken him way too long to get here. Clearly Nami had been so wrong when she had told him that the bar was right next to the harbor. Zoro shook his head, now that he was here, he was ready for a mug of sake and a relaxed night of drinking. However as soon as he entered the bar, the scene in front of him destroyed his thoughts of a quiet evening and his blood began boiling.
There, sitting at the bar with a few men surrounding her, was Nami. By the looks of it they were flirting with her and she wasn't stopping them, if anything she seemed to encourage them. It was nothing new that the navigator was like this to trick some men into buying her drinks, but after what had happened between them, Zoro had thought that she would stop that. As if Zoro's anger wasn't already fueled enough, one of the men next to Nami chose this moment to move his hand from her waist downwards. However before he reached his destination, he lay on the floor knocked out. The swordsman was standing above him, his hand still in the position in which he had punched him. He had been so angry that he hadn't even drawn his swords, but instead had just punched the guy with his fist. Turning to Nami he spoke up, the barely restrained anger was clear in his voice.
"We have to talk." Without waiting for a reply, he grasped her arm and pulled her out of the bar.
"Are a few free drinks really worth it?" He growled at her when they were outside.
"What is wrong with letting those idiots pay for me?" Nami challenged, now angry as well. Surely none of the other men would pay for her drinks after what Zoro had done.
"Money is all you care about, isn't it?" With that said he pulled out a few bills and threw them in front of her feet. "Here, for your drinks."
Nami stared at the money in front of her and was too shocked to say anything. When she looked up again she only saw Zoro's retreating back. What had just happened? She hadn't seen him that angry before and especially never at her. Sure, they bickered a lot, but he had never been really angry at her, only annoyed when she blackmailed him into doing something for her. His words hurt and she couldn't understand why he reacted like this. It was a common thing for her to trick idiots into buying her drinks or at least distract them with flirting while she stole their wallet. Why was he making such a big deal out of it?
Trying to distract herself from the painful squeeze of her heart, that his words had caused, she picked up the money. He had been wrong, she didn't only care about money. She had thought that he would know that, especially after they had been so close the last few weeks. He had seen her caring side. Sure, they hadn't defined their relationship, but Nami had thought that they were at least more than friends. Now it seemed that Zoro and her were even further apart than they had ever been.
Sighing Nami went back to the ship. There was no trace of Zoro on the ship and even if she would meet him, she was sure that it wouldn't make any sense to talk to him right now. He was clearly angry and wouldn't listen to anything she had to say. Maybe tomorrow she could ask him what all this was about.
The next day Nami realized very quickly that he was still angry and had no intention to be anywhere near her. Of course did he know that she couldn't approach him with anyone around, so he made sure to be with someone at all times or training on deck in plain view of the crew. Seeing that for now she wouldn't get anywhere with Zoro, she tried to focus on what had gotten him so angry. After thinking some more about it, she walked into the library. She had to get another opinion on the matter.
"Hey Robin, can I ask you something?" She greeted the older woman after she had closed the door behind her.
"Of course." The archaeologist replied and lay the book, that she had been reading, on the table in front of her.
"Let's say jut hypothetically." Nami began and sat down next to her. She had a feeling that Robin already knew about Zoro and her, after all this woman had eyes and ears everywhere quite literally, but she wanted to at least try to keep this thing with the swordsman a secret. "If you saw someone flirting with anyone else would you get angry?"
"Well that depends. I mean if you're in a relationship with the someone who is flirting, I can understand that reaction. You know, some people even consider that cheating." Robin replied thoughtfully, before smiling mysteriously. "But we're talking only hypothetically."
"Of course." Nami said, not really paying any attention to her friend anymore.
The navigator was deep in thoughts. Zoro and her had never defined whatever was going on between them, so he hadn't really the right to be angry if she was flirting with someone else. However perhaps his reaction meant that he considered that thing between them a relationship. At that insight Nami's heart beat faster. If she was completely honest with herself that thought had crossed her mind more than once. Slowly she realized that a real relationship with the swordsman, where both of them were aware that they meant more than friends to each other, was what she wanted. Sure, they would still keep it a secret from the rest of the crew, but at least they would know what they felt for each other. With that thought in mind, Nami decided to tell him exactly that. However she had to wait until later that night when Zoro would keep watch.
When it was finally dark outside, Nami climbed up to the crows nest. Even before she entered, she could hear Zoro's weights clanking, he was clearly training. She knew how much he hated to be disturbed while training, but he had avoided her the whole day and she really needed to speak to him.
"We have to talk." She repeated his words from last night.
"There is nothing to talk about." The swordsman replied gruffly without stopping his training.
"What about what is going on between us, Zoro? We both know that there is more than friendship and you wouldn't have reacted the way you did if this thing between us isn't already a relationship."
"If that's the case then do you really think that it's okay for you to flirt with other men?"
"That has nothing to do with this."
"This is exactly what this is about." He set his weights down angrily. "You know what? Forget it. It was stupid to even start this whole thing." With that he was about to leave, but this time Nami hold him back. She wouldn't let him walk away again, not after she had realized that a real relationship with him was what she really wanted.
"I would define this as a relationship." She whispered softly.
Zoro looked surprised at the beautiful woman in front of him.
"Is this really what you want?" He asked and looked deep into her eyes.
"Yes." She smiled almost shyly at him.
"Okay, but no more flirting with other men."
Nami rolled her eyes at him, but nodded anyway. That seemed to be the reaction that he had waited for because a second later their lips met in a passionate kiss. Before Nami let her thoughts be consumed with only him, she couldn't help but think that his behavior had been rather strange. She would never act like this, at least that was what she thought until they went into town the next day.
After Nami had dragged him into various shops for new clothes, Zoro had told her that he had to get one of his swords from the blacksmith.
"When did you bring it there?" Nami asked surprised.
"Yesterday. She told me that it would only take a day and even offered to do it for free."
"She?"
"Yeah, the blacksmith." Zoro shrugged.
Nami had always thought of blacksmiths as old guys, but it seemed that she had been wrong. Zoro didn't seem to mind if the blacksmith was female or male, but to Nami it came as a surprise. However true enough, the moment the shop came into view, a woman around their age greeted Zoro.
"Hey, your sword is ready. It was a pleasure to see such a great weapon, but then again it belongs to an awesome swordsman."
Nami, who stood next to Zoro, frowned at the woman's words. She was clearly flirting with him. All the fluttering of the woman's eyelashes, the way she leaned forward so he would get a good view of her body and the compliment she had just given him, made it pretty obvious. Why wasn't Zoro stopping her from that? Looking at the swordsman besides her, her mood sunk even more when he smiled thankfully at the woman. Nami felt her anger rise and suddenly Zoro's reaction from before didn't seem as strange as she had thought. She had to get him away from this woman.
"I'm sorry, but we have to get back to our ship soon, so where is his sword now?" Nami smiled falsely at the blacksmith.
"Oh." The woman looked disappointed at hearing that and it seemed that for the first time she realized that Zoro wasn't alone here. "It's inside the shop. If you want I can get it for you, Zoro."
"That's alright, I'll get it myself." Zoro shrugged and entered the shop.
Nami was sure that the blacksmith was about to follow him, but the navigator wouldn't let that happened.
"He is off limits." Her voice sounded demanding and she had dropped her fake smile and replaced it with a threatening expression.
"I didn't know that he has a girlfriend." The blacksmith looked scared.
"Well now you do."
The navigator was about to continue when she heard footsteps approaching them.
"You did good work." Zoro said when he came back outside. When he sensed the weird tension between the two women he was confused. "Oi what's going on here?"
"Nothing. We were just talking about the weather." Nami smiled brightly.
"You can read the weather too?" Zoro looked surprised at the blacksmith.
The woman seemed not only scared now, but also confused about Zoro's words. Before she could speak up, Nami had already grasped Zoro's arm.
"It was nice meeting you, but we have to go now." With that she pulled Zoro, who only raised his hand as a goodbye, away from the other woman.
When they had almost reached the village again, Nami stopped walking immediately, so that Zoro almost ran into her. He couldn't understand why she was behaving so strangely. Even now she seemed angry and she hadn't let go of his arm despite that they were only a few feet away from the village.
"Let's go to the bar, my treat." Zoro raised an eyebrow at that and she continued. "Don't get used to it. This is only because we didn't get to drink together two nights ago."
Not one to refuse free sake and the woman in front of him, Zoro let her drag him into the bar. He would never understand women, but whatever had suddenly made Nami so generous, he wouldn't complain. When they sat close together in a corner of the bar, both with a mug of sake in hand, Zoro couldn't help but think that this was what he had wanted from the beginning. The last two days he had realized a few important things and he was glad that Nami and him were in a relationship now. Maybe coming to this island had turned out alright in the end.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think :)